KARACHI: All educational institutions in Pakistan’s financial hub Karachi will remain closed on Thursday, the Sindh College Education Department said in a notification, as the city reels from heavy monsoon rains and urban flooding.

The intense monsoon downpours, which began in Karachi on Tuesday, killed 17 people and submerged major thoroughfares to leave citizens stranded for hours. News outlets reported that several areas of the city remained without power for over 24 hours till Wednesday night.

Private weather forecasting company WeatherWalay said the city experienced “an extraordinary rainfall event” from Aug. 19-20, recording the highest 24-hour precipitation in over four decades when it received between 150-259 millimeters of rainfall across various locations.

Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab said most of the city’s roads, including its major thoroughfares and important underpasses, were cleared for traffic on Wednesday morning.

“All public and private educational institutions within the territorial jurisdiction of Karachi Division under the administrative control of the College Education Department, Government of Sindh shall remain closed on Thursday, 21 August, 2025 due to heavy rains,” the education department’s notification said on Wednesday.

Karachi, a city of more than 20 million with dilapidated infrastructure, has often seen even moderate rains trigger flooding in parts of the city, threatening residents’ lives and causing hours-long power outages.

Karachi has faced repeated bouts of urban flooding in recent years. In July-August 2009, the heaviest rains in three decades killed at least 26 people and damaged infrastructure.

Torrential downpours in August 2017 left 23 dead and large parts of the city paralyzed, while heavy rains in 2019 killed 11, mostly from electrocution and collapsing structures.

The following year brought the worst flooding in nearly a century, with record-breaking rainfall in August 2020 killing more than 40 and cutting power to many neighborhoods for days.

In July 2022, intense monsoon showers again submerged parts of the city, killing at least 14 in early July and several more later that month.

Karachi has been lashed with heavy rains at a time when Pakistan is witnessing an intense monsoon season that has already ravaged several areas, particularly in the country’s north, where cloudburst-triggered deluges have killed nearly 400 people since Aug.15.

In total, over 700 Pakistanis have died in this year’s monsoon season, which began on Jun. 26, according to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).

ISLAMABAD: Islamabad, Beijing and Kabul have pledged to strengthen joint efforts against “terrorism,” deepen cooperation in several sectors and extend a multi-billion-dollar energy and infrastructure project to Afghanistan, the Pakistani foreign office said on Wednesday following talks between the three sides in Kabul.

The trilateral dialogue between China, Pakistan and Afghanistan was institutionalized in 2017. It aims to promote political trust, counterterrorism coordination and economic integration between the three countries.

The talks helped ease tensions between Islamabad and Kabul, who have been at odds with each other amid a surge in militant attacks in Pakistan. There has been a thaw in relations after both sides agreed to elevate diplomatic ties in May to the ambassadorial level. China brokered the deal in an informal meeting in Beijing to improve relations between the two neighbors, under which it was also agreed to extend the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) to Afghanistan.

“The Sixth Trilateral Foreign Ministers Dialogue was held on 20 August 2025 in Kabul,” Pakistan’s foreign office spokesperson said in a statement issued after the meeting, which was attended by the foreign ministers of the three countries.

“The three sides committed to strengthen joint efforts against terrorism,” the statement said, adding that the dialogue focused on political, economic and security cooperation between the three.

“They [Pakistan, China & Afghanistan] also reaffirmed their commitment to deepening collaboration in trade, transit, regional development, health, education, culture, and combating drug trafficking as well as extension of CPEC to Afghanistan,” the spokesperson said.

CPEC is a multi-billion-dollar project that aims to connect China and Pakistan through a network of roads, railways, and energy pipelines.

Dar held a bilateral meeting with his Afghan counterpart, Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi, on the sidelines of the dialogue. Both welcomed the recent elevation of diplomatic ties between the two countries from chargé d’affaires to the ambassadorial level, a separate statement from the foreign office said.

“Dar acknowledged the encouraging progress in political and commercial ties, while expressing progress in the security domain, especially in counterterrorism, continues to lag behind,” the foreign office said.

Dar highlighted a recent surge in militant attacks inside Pakistan, saying the attacks were perpetrated by groups operating from Afghan soil.

He urged Afghan authorities to take “concrete and verifiable measures” against entities such as the Pakistani Taliban or Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, and the separatist Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA)/Majeed Brigade.

Islamabad alleges these militant groups, which carry out attacks against Pakistani law enforcers, operate from sanctuaries in Afghanistan. Kabul denies the accusations.

“The Afghan Acting Foreign Minister reaffirmed Afghanistan’s commitment to ensuring its territory is not used by any terrorist group against Pakistan or other nations,” the statement added.

‘VERY POSITIVE DEVELOPMENT’

Foreign affairs experts said the trilateral dialogue in Kabul was a “positive development” that could help address Pakistan and China’s shared concerns over “terrorism.”

“This is a very positive development as Pakistan, China, and Afghanistan sat together and agreed to work jointly to rid the region of terrorist elements,” Naghmana Hashmi, Pakistan’s former ambassador to China, told Arab News.

She said the commitment expressed by the three neighboring countries to extend CPEC to Afghanistan was also an encouraging sign that would help the project achieve its true potential.

“It is a natural extension, since without peace in Afghanistan and smooth transit routes through its territory, CPEC cannot fully deliver for Pakistan, which needs access to Central Asian states and beyond,” she added.

Former Pakistani diplomat Asif Durrani said the outcome of the meeting would become evident in the coming weeks, depending on whether cross-border “terrorism” incidents take place or not.

“It is an ongoing process and some improvement has taken place, so we remain cautiously optimistic and keep our fingers crossed,” he said.

Durrani said growing engagements at the leadership level were encouraging for both Pakistan and Afghanistan.

“It is important that both countries keep talking, as seen in the case of Pakistan and India, where dialogue stopped and unresolved issues created a visible regional impact,” he added.

The trilateral talks took place as Pakistan presses ahead with a deportation drive against “illegal immigrants,” mostly Afghans, which it launched in 2023 citing security fears and illegal migration.

The process has continued in phases, with Islamabad now planning to expel documented Afghan refugees after Sept. 1, having refused to extend their stay permits.