Sindh | Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Autho­rities on Wednesday war­ned that heavy rainfall, ranging between 50 to 100 mill­­imetres or more, would batter Karachi and parts of Sindh over the next 12 to 24 hours, raising concerns of urban floo­ding, waterlogging and disruption to daily life. According to the Zoom Earth weather tracking website, an intense system forming over Sindh would hit urban centres like Hyderabad and Karachi after midnight on Wedn­esday. The system, which is likely to head out to sea by the morning, might precipitate heavily concentrated downpours in lower Sindh. A spokesman for the National Disaster Mana­gement Authority (NDMA) advised residents in vulner­able areas, including Karachi, Hyde­rabad, Thatta, Badin, Mirpurkhas and Sukkur, to remain alert and closely monitor official updates to mitigate potential hazards. Urban flooding is expe­cted to persist in Kar­achi, Hyderabad, Sukkur and Mirpurkhas due to continued downpours and poor drainage infrastructure. Simultaneously, districts such as Thatta, Badin, Jams...

All public and private schools and colleges in Karachi will remain closed today as heavy rains have left parts of the city waterlogged, the Sindh Education Department announced. Power was nearly restored across the city, and only a few roads had remained inundated after Tuesday’s heavy downpour before a late evening spell of heavy rain accompanied by gusty winds on Wednesday interrupted Karachiites’ hopes for a quick return to normalcy. The Sindh government had ordered all private and public educational institutions across the city to remain closed on Wednesday, after Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab declared a rain emergency. Notifications issued on Wednesday by the Sindh government’s college and school education departments stated that schools will remain closed today due to the heavy rain. The notices are available with Dawn.com. The government notified that the closure will apply to all private and public institutions in Karachi division, which are under the administrative control of the Sindh government’s Col...

One new poliovirus case was confirmed each in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh, bringing Pakistan’s total count this year to 21, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) said on Monday. Pakistan is one of the last two countries in the world, alongside Afghanistan, where polio remains endemic. Despite global efforts to eradicate the virus, challenges such as security issues, vaccine hesitancy, and misinformation have slowed progress. A statement from the Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at Islamabad’s NIH said the latest cases involve a six-year-old girl from Union Council Pattan in KP’s Kohistan district, and a 21-month-old girl from UC Matli-2 in Sindh’s Badin. “With these detections, the total number of polio cases in Pakistan in 2025 has reached 21, including 13 from KP, six from Sindh, and one each from Punjab and Gilgit-Baltistan,” the statement noted. Polio was a highly infectious and incurable disease that could cause lifelong paralysis. The only effective protection against the debilitat...

Sindh Minister for Local Government Saeed Ghani said that arrangements were in place to deal with the upcoming monsoon spell as parts of Karachi received light rain on Monday. Monsoon rains fall across the region from June to September, offering respite from the summer heat and are crucial to replenishing water supplies. However, heavy downpours also trigger deadly floods, landslides and displacement, particularly in vulnerable, poorly drained, or densely populated areas. Under the influence of approaching monsoon currents, Karachi experienced hot and humid weather on Sunday and the Meteorological Depart­ment forecast rain with thunderstorms for today in the city. Speaking at a press conference in Karachi, Ghani said: “There are chances of severe rains in Sindh, especially in Karachi, with chances of urban flooding … regarding that, whatever is humanely possible, which a person, government or institution can do, we have made those arrangements.” He added that instructions were given earlier as well about rain...

The Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) has forecast rainfall accompanied by strong winds and thunderstorms in Karachi and several districts of Sindh from Sunday evening or night.

KARACHI: The Sindh government has allotted 300 acres of land in Jhimpir to Moro Power Company (MPC) for establishing a 100-megawatt hybrid wind and solar project, the first business-to-business (B2B) electricity venture under the province’s own regulator. Officials said the project, to be executed under the Sindh Electric Power Regulatory Authority (SEPRA), will enable MPC to supply power directly to industries in Nooriabad through the Sindh Trans­mission and Despatch Company (STDC). The initiative is aimed at providing industries with reliable and cheaper renewable energy, reducing costs and strengthening the provincial industrial base. Sindh is the only province in Pakistan to have its power regulator, giving it authority to set tariffs and oversee generation, transmission and distribution independently of the federal government. The Jhimpir project is therefore viewed as a pioneering step towards decentralised power generation in the country. Moro Power to set up 100MW wind-solar hybrid project in Jhimpir ...

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has called on the federal government to allocate more funds for Sindh’s development.

National health stakeholders on Tuesday called for greater advocacy and public awareness to ensure the success of Sindh’s upcoming human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination campaign. The HPV vaccine protects against genital warts and most cases of cervical cancer. Estimates indicate that every year in Pakistan, 5,008 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer and 3,197 die from the disease. It is also the third most common cancer in women nationwide and the second among those aged 15 to 44. The Sindh government recently announced it would launch an HPV vaccination campaign in September for schoolgirls aged nine to 14. Studies and clinical trials consistently showed that HPV vaccines were extremely effective at reducing infections with the types of the virus that can lead to cancer, as well as cervical precancers. An event titled ‘Safeguarding Girls’ Futures’ was organised by Aga Khan University’s Department of Paediatrics and Child Health today, aiming to raise awareness about HPV, share global evidence on the vac...

KARACHI: The Sindh government has officially announced a public holiday on August 15, 2025, Friday for all public and private educational institutions, to honour Chehlum of Hazrat Imam Hussain (RA), which falls on 20th Safar 1447 AH, ARY News reported. The announcement regarding the school holiday on Chehlum was circulated through a notification on August […]

The Oil & Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) has announced a new oil discovery at the Chakrun-1 exploratory well in the Chakar–One Oil Field, located in Tando Allah Yar, Sindh.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has issued the schedule for by-elections on 52 vacant local government seats in 19 districts of Sindh, with polling set for September 24, 2025.

Public entry to Sindh’s museums and heritage sites will be free from August 1 to 14 this year as part of Independence Day celebrations, the province’s Culture, Tourism, Antiquities and Archives Department announced on Tuesday. According to a notification issued in this regard, this year’s celebration theme will be “Marka-i-Haq”, referring to Pakistan’s military response to Indian aggression during May, including Operation Bunyanum Marsoos. The two countries entered a brief but intense military escalation after India, without evidence, blamed Pakistan for the April 22 Pahalgam attack. On May 6–7, New Delhi launched air strikes that killed civilians, followed by a week-long missile exchange. A US-brokered ceasefire ended the war. The list of museums includes several government-owned sites, including Quaid-i-Azam House Museum in Karachi, Sindh Provincial Museum in Hyderabad, Folk and Craft Museum in Sehwan Sharif, Banbhore Museum near Thatta, Kotdiji Museum in Khairpur, and Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Museum...

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Islamabad on Saturday confirmed three new polio cases in the country, taking the total number of cases detected this year to 17. Pakistan is one of the last two countries in the world, alongside Afghanistan, where polio remains endemic. Despite global efforts to eradicate the virus, challenges such as security issues, vaccine hesitancy, and misinformation have slowed progress. The latest cases include one each from the Lakki Marwat and North Waziristan districts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and one from Sindh’s Umerkot district, a statement by the Pakistan Polio Eradication Programme (PPEP) said. A 15-month-old girl from Takhtikhel in Lakki Marwat, a six-month-old girl from North Waziristan’s Mir Ali tehsil and a five-year-old boy from Umerkot’s Chajro were the latest polio cases confirmed by the NIH’s Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication. With these new detections, the total number of polio cases in Pakistan in 2025 has risen to 17 — including 10 from KP, f...

KARACHI: The Sindh government on Friday officially abolished all roadside charged parking across Karachi — a practice that had long been seen by Karachiites as a gross exploitation of taxpayers, carried out on city roads for the past 25 years. The decision comes into effect at once. The Sindh local government department, acting on the directives of the chief minister of Sindh, issued a notification announcing the end of parking fees on public roads throughout the city’s 25 Town Municipal Corporations (TMCs). As per the new policy, no municipal body or private entity is allowed to collect any parking fee from vehicles parked on roads anywhere in Karachi. However, the move also granted the councils of the TMCs the authority to designate any ‘specified area’ within their remit as a charged parking space. According to the notification, the Sindh chief minister “imposed a ban on charged parking fees from roads. The charged parking fees can be collected only on plots / plazas / areas specifically maintained by the ...

The Pakistan Meteorological Department has forecast rainfall in southeastern Sindh and several other districts on July 30 and 31, with occasional gaps, while widespread monsoon activity is expected across the country starting July 27.

• Leaders say millions of farmers are ready to court arrest, but will not pay the tax • Sindh Chamber of Agriculture vows to move court or go for some other crops HYDERABAD: Sindh Chamber of Agriculture (SCA) has announced that it will challenge the 45pc agricultural income tax in court. It described the tax as ‘unconstitutional, illegal and unethical’, and asked its members and farmers across Sindh to boycott wheat cultivation this year. The decision was taken at meeting of the chamber held here on Tuesday under the chairmanship of its patron-in-chief, Dr Syed Nadeem Qamar. The meeting rejected the tax and claimed that it was imposed under directives of the Inter­national Monetary Fund (IMF). The farmers who attended the meeting argued that they were not receiving fair prices for their produce and, as such, there was no justification for the imposition of such a tax. The meeting asked farmers across Sindh not to pay the tax, and warned that if government resorted to arrest them for on this disobedience, mill...

At least six people were killed and 12 others were injured when a bus overturned and fell into a ditch near Makli in Sindh’s Thatta district on Sunday morning, rescue officials said. According to the Edhi rescue service, the bus overturned near the Thatta Bypass, following which a rescue team reached the site of the incident and transported the injured to a hospital. “The bodies of the six victims were initially taken to a mortuary in Orangi Town,” the service said in a statement, adding that they were later transported to Edhi’s morgue in Karachi’s Sohrab Goth. The bus was carrying a group of picnickers from Karachi to Keenjhar Lake when it overturned while taking a sharp turn, killing six passengers and injuring dozens others, state-owned Associated Press of Pakistan reported. “Local authorities and rescue teams were quick to respond, reaching the crash site within minutes. The injured were rushed to Karachi hospitals, with several reported to be in critical condition,” it said. In another incident, at leas...

KARACHI: Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Friday expressed concern over federal policies that were “creating major hurdles” in the development of Sindh’s energy sector and said that despite the province’s vast potential to serve as a key contributor to the nation’s energy needs, current federal approaches were obstructing progress on multiple fronts. Speaking as the chief guest at the Sindh Energy Diversity Conference, Mr Shah described the province as the country’s “energy basket,” endowed with rich reserves of coal, natural gas, wind and solar energy. However, Mr Shah pointed out that federal policies had created ongoing challenges that hindered energy sector development in the province. He also recounted historical setbacks, including investor reluctance after the 1996 government change and federal opposition to wind power projects in Sindh. Mr Shah urged the gathering of stakeholders, experts and policymakers to discuss the province’s vast energy resources and the urgent need for sustainable energy s...

Shah pushes for Sindh as Pakistan's energy hub

Sindh’s Minister for Culture and Tourism, Syed Zulfiqar Shah, announced on Thursday that the provincial government is prepared to take responsibility for the burial of actress Humaira Asghar if her family continues to refuse to claim her body.