HASANABAD, Pakistan: Planting cotton for the first time was shaping up as a shrewd investment for young Pakistani farmer Muhammad Awais — until the floods struck.
“I used good, expensive seed, fertilizers and pesticides ... The first picking made me enormously happy,” said Awais, 26.
“But the floods meant the reaping was my last,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation as he walked among the shreds of his ruined crops on a small plot in Hasanabad, a village in the central cotton-growing district of Dera Ghazi Khan.
Devastating floods linked to climate change killed 1,700 people and submerged huge swathes of land in Pakistan during July and August, wrecking a third of its cotton crop and the livelihoods of millions of farmers, pickers and other workers.
Locally grown cotton is sold to the textile industry that accounts for 60 percent of Pakistan’s total export earnings, and the shortage of supplies has closed scores of mills, with hundreds of thousands of jobs feared at risk, industry sources said.
“A lot of mills are running at partial capacity or shutting down due to non-availability and shortage of quality raw material and tough economic conditions,” said Kamran Arshad, a senior official with the All Pakistan Textile Manufacturers Association.
“With zero state support or social security, I’m afraid, 20 percent to 25 percent of the labor force will lose jobs,” he said by phone from the eastern city of Lahore.
In the textiles hub of Multan, union representative Musawwir Husain Qureshi said about 200 mills had closed. Arshad gave a similar figure for the number of shutdowns and partial operations.
“Our mill has continued despite the odds,” said Qureshi, echoing the industry association’s calls for urgent government aid for the sector, which is also struggling with surging energy costs amid a wider economic malaise.
The government announced discounted electricity rates for millers earlier this month, but officials have played down the risk of mass factory closures and cotton shortages — noting a series of poor harvests in recent years.
“For the last four or five years, they have been meeting the shortfall through imports,” said Muhammad Ali Talpur, an economic consultant at the federal government.
“They will be importing as much as they have already been doing. So no need for layoffs,” he added.
SHATTERED DREAMS
In Pakistan’s cotton farming areas, growers are already counting their losses, which are also affecting a myriad of different workers in the sector.
Truck drivers have nothing to transport and many ginners — who are involved in the process of removing the seeds and debris from raw cotton — are sitting idle.
Like Awais, farmer Omar Daraz had hoped for a healthy yield and profit this year, especially since the price fixed by the government — 10,000 Pakistani rupees ($46) for 40 kg (88 pounds) of cotton — was promising.
“We were dreaming of earning well this time. But the rains and floods shattered all those dreams,” Daraz, 30, said as he surveyed scattered stems of cotton plants across his land, the craters left by the floods still visible.
Before the flooding, Pakistan’s cotton crop was forecast to reach 10.5 million bales, up from 8.3 million last year, and despite the losses, there is time for output to recover, said Cotton Commissioner Khalid Abdullah.
“The cotton crop not fully damaged can compensate. All buds open to flowers during September will translate into fibers,” he said.
Still, the amount of cotton received by members of Pakistan’s ginners’ association (PCGA) is down 24 percent from last year, according to a report published earlier this month.
Cotton picker Khanum Mai used to work at Daraz’s farm, but she and fellow day laborers said the crop losses meant they would miss out on months of earnings.
In the nearby town of Natkani, Commission agent Zahoor Ahmad, who helps farmers grade, weigh, pack and sell their harvests to buyers, told a similar story.
“I used to deal in 6,000-8,000 kg of raw cotton per day. Now I deal in 200-300 kg a day,” said Ahmad as he weighed a bag of cotton brought in by a farmer.
CLIMATE-PROOF CROPS?
Growers called on the government to help them recover by providing solar-powered tube-wells for irrigation, tractors with soft loans, and free seeds and fertilizers.
“You rehabilitate our farms and in six months we will be on our own,” Daraz said.
Abdullah, the cotton commissioner, said the government planned to give producers one bag of wheat seed and one bag of fertilizer to sow wheat for summer harvest.
Daraz, however, said he and other local farmers would not be able to plant due to the damage left by the floods.
As extreme weather fueled by climate change batters farmers across South Asia, Abdullah said Pakistan’s government had started research on cotton “varieties that are climate resilient, and with varying degrees of adaptability.”
Major cotton-producing countries such as Brazil and China offer an example of how technology can be harnessed, said Mushtaq Ahmad Gill, a Lahore-based agriculture expert.
“Brazil has achieved the highest productivity average in the world ... by investing in technology and training of growers, and innovating in research and growing techniques,” he said.
Such methods could include laser-guided land levelling to flatten croplands to an even plane, which helps reduce operational costs and boost yields, and conservation agriculture that safeguards natural resources, biodiversity and labor.
His farming hopes dashed, Awais is now focusing on the master’s degree in mathematics he was pursuing.
But first, he said he planned to have his cotton spun and made into a quilt out of his first and only batch to remind him of this year’s disaster.
“This memory will live on with me,” he said. ($1 = 216.7500 Pakistani rupees)
Pakistan floods leave cotton workers’ dreams in tatters
https://arab.news/6ywcn
Pakistan floods leave cotton workers’ dreams in tatters
- Floods have wrecked a third of Pakistan's cotton crop and livelihoods of millions of farmers and other workers
- Locally grown cotton is sold to the textile industry that accounts for 60% of Pakistan's total export earnings
Pakistan PM Sharif heads to Azerbaijan for ECO summit focused on climate, trade
- Regional leaders gather in Baku to discuss sustainable development, connectivity
- PM Sharif expected to reaffirm Pakistan’s commitment to ECO Vision 2025
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will be in Azerbaijan from today, Thursday, to attend the two-day 17th Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) summit in Baku, where regional leaders will meet to discuss sustainable growth, climate resilience and increased intra-regional trade.
The theme of this year’s summit is “New ECO Vision for a Sustainable and Climate Resilient Future.” The ECO is a 10-member regional bloc comprising countries from Central and South Asia, the Caucasus, and the Middle East.
According to a report published in state broadcaster Radio Pakistan, Sharif will lead the Pakistani delegation and “share Pakistan’s perspective on key regional and global challenges.”
The report said he will also “reaffirm Pakistan’s commitment to the ECO Vision 2025 and advocate for enhanced intra-regional trade, transport connectivity, energy cooperation, and sustainable development.”
On the sidelines of the summit, Sharif is scheduled to hold bilateral meetings with other ECO leaders to discuss matters of mutual interest.
This marks Sharif’s second visit to Azerbaijan this year. He last traveled to Baku in May 2025, where he met with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and discussed deepening bilateral cooperation in energy and trade.
The ECO was established in 1985 by Iran, Turkiye, and Pakistan, and was expanded later to include Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The organization aims to promote economic, technical, and cultural cooperation among member states.
Hindu pilgrimage begins at Kashmir site where April attack triggered brief war with Pakistan
- Last year, half a million devotees took part in the Amarnath pilgrimage to a cave above the town of Pahalgam
- Pahalgam is site where April 22 attack killed 26 tourists, unleashing brief but intense war with neighboring Pakistan
PAHALGAM, India: Hindus began a vast month-long pilgrimage in contested Indian Kashmir on Thursday, with many of the faithful starting from near the site where a deadly April attack triggered conflict with Pakistan.
Last year, half a million devotees took part in the Amarnath pilgrimage to a sacred ice pillar located in a cave in the forested Himalayan hills above the town of Pahalgam.
Pahalgam is the site where gunmen on April 22 killed 26 mostly Hindu tourists.
New Delhi said the gunmen were backed by Pakistan, claims Islamabad rejected — triggering a series of tit-for-tat diplomatic measures that escalated into a four-day conflict.
It was the worst standoff by the nuclear-armed nations since 1999, with more than 70 people killed in missile, drone and artillery fire on both sides, before a May 10 ceasefire.
But pilgrim Muneshwar Das Shashtri, who traveled from Uttar Pradesh state, told AFP “there is no fear of any kind.”
“Our army is standing guard everywhere. No one can raise a finger toward us,” he said.
India has ramped up security for the event, deploying 45,000 troops with high-tech surveillance tools overseeing the grueling trek to reach the high-altitude cave, dedicated to the Hindu deity of destruction Shiva.
“We have multi-layered and in-depth security arrangements so that we can make the pilgrimage safe and smooth for the devotees,” said VK Birdi, police chief for the Muslim-majority territory.
At Pahalgam, soldiers have turned a tented base camp into a fortress encircled by razor wire.
Troops in newly deployed armored cars, or from gun positions behind sandbags, keep a close watch — efforts boosted by facial recognition cameras.
“High-quality surveillance cameras have been installed at all major points along the route,” said Manoj Sinha, the Indian-appointed top administrator for Jammu and Kashmir.
All pilgrims must be registered and travel in guarded vehicle convoys, until they start out to walk.
Camouflaged bunkers have been erected in the forests along the route, where dozens of makeshift kitchens provide free food.
Electronic radio cards pinpoint their location.
Pilgrims can take several days to reach the cave, perched at 3,900 meters (12,800 feet) high, around 30 kilometers (18 miles) uphill from the last easily motorable track.
“Whatever the attack that was carried out here, I am not afraid. I have come to get a glimpse of baba (the ice formation)” said Ujwal Yadav, 29, from India’s Uttar Pradesh state, undertaking his first pilgrimage to the shrine.
“Such are the security arrangements here that no one can be hurt.”
Sinha has said that “public confidence is returning,” but admits that pilgrim registration had dipped by 10 percent this year.
Once a modest, little-known ritual, attended by only a few thousand mainly local devotees, the pilgrimage has grown since an armed insurgency erupted in 1989.
India’s government has since heavily promoted the annual event, which runs until August 9.
Rebels fighting against India’s control of Kashmir have said the pilgrimage is not a target, but have warned they would act if it was used to assert Hindu dominance.
In 2017, suspected rebels attacked a pilgrim bus, killing 11 people.
The gunmen who carried out the April 22 killings remain at large, despite the manhunt by security forces in Kashmir where India has half a million soldiers permanently deployed.
On June 22, India’s National Investigation Agency said two men had been arrested from the Pahalgam area who they said had “provided food, shelter and logistical support” to the gunmen.
Indian police have issued wanted notices for three of the gunmen, two of whom they said were Pakistani citizens. Pakistani has rejected the claim.
Pakistan PM orders doubling of digital payment targets to boost cashless economy
- Move aims to deepen transparency, widen tax net as mobile app users set to rise from 95-120 million
- Government targets expansion of QR code usage, e-payments and Internet access across the country
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has ordered the doubling of all key digital economy targets, including mobile-based payments, QR code adoption, and overall transaction volumes, as part of Pakistan’s push to accelerate its transition to a cashless economy, his office said on Thursday.
The directive comes as authorities aim to increase mobile payment users from 95 million to 120 million, and QR code-enabled merchants from 0.9 million to 2 million. The total value of digital transactions is expected to rise from Rs7.5 billion ($26.9 million) to Rs12 billion ($43 million), according to figures shared in a meeting chaired by Sharif on Thursday. A statement released after the discussions did not provide a timeline for meeting these targets.
Sharif said the targets were not ambitious enough and must be doubled across the board to match the scale of Pakistan’s digital transformation agenda.
“A digital transaction system is essential for bringing transparency to the economy,” Sharif said. “It is an urgent need of the hour to ease payments between citizens and businesses and raise awareness about the use of digital systems.”
Pakistan, a country of over 240 million people, has a vast informal economy and low tax compliance. The government has long identified digitization as a key tool to improve governance, reduce corruption, and expand the country’s narrow tax base.
Three committees — the Digital Payments Innovation and Adoption Committee, the Digital Public Infrastructure Committee, and the Government Payments Committee — have already been formed to oversee the transition.
At Thursday’s meeting, Sharif directed the bodies to present “workable proposals in collaboration with all stakeholders,” the statement said.
The State Bank of Pakistan is developing strategies to simplify digital transactions for traders, including special incentive packages for small businesses. The government also plans to expand the use of digital mobile apps and improve access to digital public infrastructure.
Sharif was also briefed on new services set to launch soon, including e-stamping, as well as public Wi-Fi expansion across hospitals, schools, parks, government offices and metro lines in Islamabad.
He instructed officials to roll out these facilities across all federal territories, as well as Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan.
Pakistan issues fresh monsoon flood alert as deaths rises to 64 in over a week
- New rainfall system threatens Pothohar, central and southern Punjab, KP provinces
- NDMA warns of glacial floods, landslides as rivers expected to swell across country
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s disaster and weather authorities issued fresh flood warnings on Thursday as new monsoon rains are expected in parts of the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces, with the national death toll from rain-related incidents rising to 64 in just over a week.
A weather system is currently active over Chakwal, Talagang, and Mianwali districts and is expected to bring rain, wind and thunderstorms to areas including Khushab, Sargodha, Bhakkar, Dera Ismail Khan and Lakki Marwat in the next two to four hours, the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) said in an advisory on Thursday morning.
“Public is advised to take precautionary measures during the weather activity accordingly,” the PMD said in a statement issued from its Islamabad office.
Separately, the Punjab Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) also warned of a fresh spell of monsoon rains across the province from July 5 to 10, with heavy downpours expected to trigger flash flooding, especially in low-lying and river-adjacent districts.
“The second monsoon spell will begin from July 5 across Punjab,” the PDMA said in an alert, listing expected rains in Rawalpindi, Murree, Attock, Chakwal, Lahore, Faisalabad, Sargodha, Bahawalpur, and D.G. Khan among other districts.
“All relevant departments have been issued preemptive alerts on the instructions of Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz,” it added.
The warning comes as Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) confirmed in a statement on Wednesday that at least 64 people, including 45 children and 31 women, had been killed and over 113 injured in rain-related incidents since June 26.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province accounted for 22 deaths, followed by Punjab with 21, Sindh with 15, and Balochistan with five, the NDMA said.
The authority has issued impact-based alerts highlighting the risk of urban flooding, flash floods, landslides and glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) across northern regions like Gilgit-Baltistan and KP as well as hill torrents in DG Khan and Rajanpur.
“The National Emergencies Operation Center has issued multiple alerts in light of forecasted severe weather conditions expected from 2nd to 8th July 2025,” the NDMA said.
In the country’s mountainous north, especially in Gilgit-Baltistan, high temperatures have accelerated glacier melt, compounding the risk of sudden floods and landslides in narrow valleys and near vulnerable glacial lakes, the authority added.
“Tourists are advised against visiting high-altitude and glacial regions during this period,” the NDMA warned, instructing municipal and district administrations to clear stormwater drains, activate emergency response teams and prepare for possible evacuations.
Pakistan, home to over 240 million people, is consistently ranked among the countries most vulnerable to climate change. In 2022, record-breaking monsoon rains and glacier melt caused catastrophic floods that affected 33 million people and killed more than 1,700.
In its alert on Thursday, the PDMA specifically warned of urban flooding in northern and central Punjab, while the PMD warned of localized thunderstorms and strong winds hitting key agricultural and urban districts over the next 48 hours.
The authorities have urged the public to stay indoors during thunderstorms, avoid unnecessary travel and keep children away from electricity poles and waterlogged areas.
For emergencies, the PDMA advised citizens to contact its helpline 1129.
Pakistani’s Bioniks fits first prosthetic limb on Gaza child survivor Sidra
- Pakistani startup provides arm to young girl through Jordan partnership as part of Gaza amputee support mission
- Founded in Karachi, Bioniks specializes in low-cost, customizable prosthetics using 3D printing and smart sensors
KARACHI: Pakistani health-tech Bioniks has successfully fitted its first prosthetic limb in Gaza for a young girl injured in the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, the firm said on social media on Thursday, marking the start of its broader effort to support amputees in the besieged territory.
The company said the fitting was made possible through its partnership with Mafaz, Bioniks’ official collaborator in Jordan. The recipient, Sidra, lost her arm during the war and now becomes the first beneficiary of Bioniks’ long-term humanitarian initiative aimed at war victims in Gaza.
“This marks the beginning of Bioniks’ mission to support amputees in Gaza,” the company said in a statement posted to X on Thursday, adding that Sidra’s journey “reflects the resilience of so many in Gaza.”
Bioniks said it hopes to give survivors “mobility, confidence, hope, dignity, and independence ... in a place where conflict has taken so much.”
Bioniks did not specify how many Gaza patients it plans to support or the timeline for future fittings but said its mission will be sustained and scaled in coordination with regional partners.
Founded in Karachi, Bioniks specializes in low-cost, customizable prosthetics using 3D printing and smart sensors. It has gained international recognition for its work with children and war survivors across Pakistan, and has begun expanding its outreach to conflict zones in the region.
The latest war in Gaza began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas carried out a cross-border attack on Israeli communities, killing around 1,200 people and seizing 251 hostages according to Israeli tallies. Israel has since been carrying out a devastating air and ground assault on Gaza, whose health ministry says the offensive has killed over 56,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, and tens of thousands more have been injured. The fighting has displaced nearly 80 percent of the population and decimated the strip’s already fragile health infrastructure.
Aid organizations have widely reported a growing number of amputations, especially among children, due to Israeli airstrikes and the collapse of trauma care. UNICEF estimates that between 3,000 and 4,000 children in Gaza have had one or more limbs amputated. The besieged enclave is now home to more child amputees per inhabitant than anywhere else in the world.
Bioniks said its goal is to reach more children and adults in Gaza with personalized prosthetic limbs and follow-up care.
“Bioniks believes that no one should be left behind when it comes to mobility and dignity,” the company said in the press release. “Through this initiative, our goal is to reach more children and adults affected by war with customized prosthetic limbs and long-term care.”
The company has previously worked with Pakistani hospitals and rehabilitation centers to provide smart prosthetics to underprivileged children and adults, often using crowd-funding and donor support to cover costs.
