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PESHAWAR: Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister, Ali Amin Khan Gandapur, has directed the provincial Health Department to strengthen monitoring mechanisms and ensure uninterrupted healthcare delivery across the province. He issued these instructions while chairing an important meeting to review the six-month performance of the department’s Independent Monitoring Unit (IMU). The meeting was attended by Advisor on Health, Ehtesham Ali, the Secretary Health, and senior departmental officials. The forum was briefed on the implementation of earlier decisions and the overall performance of the IMU. Officials informed the chief minister that during the last six months, IMU staff carried out 17,743 visits to healthcare…

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Friday disposed of petitions filed by Sunni Ittehad Council Chairman Hamid Raza, Rai Hassan Khan, Rai Murtaza Iqbal, Rai Haider Ali, and Rai Ansar Iqbal against their disqualification by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), directing them to approach the concerned high courts instead. The case was heard by a two-member bench comprising Justice Waqar Ahmad and Justice Muhammad Ijaz Khan. During the proceedings, the petitioners’ counsels, Additional Attorney General Sanaullah, Additional Secretary Law of the Election Commission, and other officials appeared before the court. The petitioners’ lawyers argued that their clients, elected…

Pamela Anderson and Liam Neeson relationship update Pamela Anderson and Liam Neeson’s relationship is very much the real deal, despite speculation suggesting otherwise. Sources close to the pair tell PEOPLE that their romance is not a publicity stunt, shutting down claims that their connection was manufactured to promote their new film The Naked Gun.“Everything between them has been genuine. Neither would ever take part in a publicity stunt. They have a great time. Neither of them needs the publicity,” a source close to the film explained.  Another insider added, “Their relationship isn’t just for show. They have a real connection. There’s…

The recent revelation by the Auditor General of Pakistan that 324 government officials embezzled over Rs37 million from the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) funds is a stark reminder of the systemic corruption eating away at the nation’s social safety net. According to AGP officials, BISP staff from Grade 1 to Grade 22, or literally every level of seniority and qualification, were involved in graft. BISP was designed to provide a lifeline to millions living in poverty, but has repeatedly been undermined by corruption and malfeasance at multiple levels. The Rs37 million graft is merely the tip of the iceberg.…

Serious education reforms are being pushed in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, but they reflect the scale of decay in the province’s schools. The government has chosen to replace the outdated annual examination system up to grade 8 with a two-semester model. Officials argue that this will reduce the burden on students, prevent months-long learning gaps and lighten schoolbags with smaller books. Yet, education experts note that the measure stems not from foresight but from necessity as majority of students are failing their middle school examinations, exposing the depth of the crisis. More significantly, the government is considering outsourcing and privatising thousands of public…

As a society, we are not too mindful of sanitary workers who are unfortunately treated as pariahs. But that is not the case in literal sense, as these marginalised, poor and ignored workers are one of the prime contributors in civic edifice, and their job is worth appreciating. A latest report by the National Commission of Human Rights (NCHR) has brought to the fore the discrimination, bias and neglect faced by sanitary workers across the country. Incidentally, most of them belong to the Christian community and are also a victim of apartheid when it comes to compartmentalising the community on…

Pakistan’s green spaces — particularly its forests and mountainous regions — are in a desperate struggle for survival. They face a double threat: an increasingly volatile climate and a ruthless timber mafia. Both forces, one natural and the other man-made, are devastating precious tree cover. While nature’s fury may be beyond human control, the human predators are not — yet those tasked with reining them in often act as their protectors. No surprise, then, that a well-entrenched nexus of vested interests — corrupt officials, their political patrons and greedy timber traders — has placed the fast-depleting forests of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa at the heart of what may…

There’s something unsettling about watching the world’s largest democracy learn the tricks of the world’s most authoritarian regimes, and doing it with a smile. That’s what makes the clash between Elon Musk’s X and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government more than just a corporate dispute. It’s a test case for whether democratic countries can slowly choke free speech without tearing up their constitutions. India’s new weapon is the “Sahyog” portal. On paper, it’s a system to remove harmful or illegal online content. In reality, it’s a fast-track censorship machine, letting almost any government body, from city police to federal ministries,…

The recent flash floods in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa have unleashed unprecedented destruction in many parts of the province. Karachi, the largest city of Pakistan, was also paralysed by the onset of heavy rains and urban flooding. Drainage lines were blocked, traffic systems collapsed and a large part of the city remained in the dark due to prolonged power outages. These events have added to the long list of climate-related disasters that have struck Pakistan in the year 2025. Summers in Pakistan began with an intense and protracted heatwave with temperatures reaching as high as 52 degrees Celsius and a death toll of…

Just when I thought I was out… they pulled me back in. Or, as they say, it is in the nature of bizarre things that you cannot look away. When I wrote last week about Modi's black box (newsflash: it is getting blacker), I thought this week I would move on to better things. But not a chance. Things got more bizarre and fascinating in India. Last week, the assumption was that given India's massive bureaucracy and diplomatic muscle, the country would be saved by the bell and somehow manage to dodge the twenty-five per cent additional tariffs as a penalty…