ISLAMABAD: Pakistan President Arif Alvi on Tuesday approved the Maternity and Paternity Leave Bill, 2023 to enact it as a law, allowing woman employees up to 180 leaves during pregnancy and men 30 30 days thrice during their employment tenure.
The bill, which was passed by the country’s parliament last month, had been in the works for several years after being initially moved by Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Senator Quratulain Marri in 2018.
Dr. Alvi gave his assent to the bill under Article 75 of the Pakistani constitution, under which bills that are sent to the president are formally enacted as laws after his approval.
“President Dr. Arif Alvi on Tuesday gave his assent to the Maternity and Paternity Leave Bill, 2023,” a statement from the President House said.
“Under the bill, the women employees of the public and private departments under the administrative control of the federal government will be entitled to avail maternity leave with full pay three times during service – 180 days for the first time, 120 days for the second time, and 90 days for the third time.”
صدر مملکت ڈاکٹر عارف علوی نے زچگی اور پدریت کی چھٹی کے بل، 2023ء کی توثیق کر دی۔ pic.twitter.com/HMDeY2CujV
— The President of Pakistan (@PresOfPakistan) June 20, 2023
According to the new law, male workers will be entitled to apply for paternity leaves for 30 days three times throughout their employment period.
In case of a violation of the law, employers can be subjected to imprisonment for up to 6 months and a fine of up to Rs100,000 ($348), or both.
Last week, the president also approved the Daycare Centres Bill 2023, under which facilities will be set up for children at public and private departments in Islamabad.
Violators will be liable to pay a fine of up to Rs500,000 ($1,739) after the first warning, it said.
PESHAWAR: At least 11 people, including four children, were killed and six injured after flash floods and landslides triggered by monsoon rains swept through Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) over the past 24 hours, officials said on Friday.
According to the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA), heavy rains caused flooding in the Swat River near Khwazakhela, damaging homes and infrastructure in several areas.
Swat was the worst-affected district, where 10 of the 11 reported fatalities occurred.
“According to the PDMA’s preliminary report, a total of 11 people have died and six others were injured,” the authority said in a statement. “The deceased include four men, three women, and four children, while the injured include three men and three women.”
Residents gather, after tourists, who were on a picnic, were swept away by overflowing floodwaters in the Swat River, in Swat Valley in Pakistan on June 27, 2025. (REUTERS)
“Swat district was the hardest hit, where flooding, landslides and flash torrents killed 10 people and injured six,” it added. “A total of 56 homes were damaged in the affected areas, six of them completely and 50 partially.”
The PDMA statement said its Emergency Operations Center was active and coordinating with district administrations, rescue services and relevant departments.
Flood alerts have also been issued to district administrations in Nowshera and Charsadda in KP, with instructions to implement preemptive safety measures in anticipation of further rainfall.
The statement informed the PDMA has supplied 136 trucks of non-food relief goods to district authorities as part of its monsoon contingency plan.
These include tents, tarpaulins, kitchen sets, blankets, pillows and sleeping bags. An additional Rs450 million ($1.62 million) has been disbursed to local governments for immediate relief and compensation needs.
Monsoon rains in Pakistan often cause widespread flooding and damage, particularly in mountainous northern regions.
Earlier this week, Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) warned of heavy rains and flash floods in several parts of the country from June 26 till June 28.
A youngster rides his bicycle on a street during heavy rainfall, in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, on June 27, 2025. (AP)
It advised residents in flood-prone areas, particularly near nullahs, low-lying zones and slopes, to remain alert and avoid unnecessary movement, calling on emergency services to ensure readiness for any potential incidents.
Pakistan is currently bracing for another extreme monsoon season and ramping up efforts to deal with any potential calamity.
Commuters make their way through a flooded street following heavy rainfall in Hyderabad, in Sindh province on June 27, 2025. (AFP)
In 2022, deadly floods brought by record monsoon rains and glacial melt killed over 1,700 people and impacted 33 million people in Pakistan. Raging currents swept away homes, vehicles, crops and livestock in damages estimated at $30 billion.
PESHAWAR: Authorities in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province are probing the alleged sale of soap bars, which were provided by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) for the country’s campaign against polio, at a market in Peshawar, officials said on Friday.
The comments came after the seizure of over 200 soap bars at the Faqeerabad market in the provincial capital, which bore the “not-for-sale” marking, according to Additional Assistant Commissioner Azimullah Mehsud.
The local administration acted on a tip-off about UNICEF-tagged soap bars being “diverted” to the open market. A preliminary investigation suggested the consignment originated in the southern Sindh province.
Authorities arrested a shopkeeper on June 25, who was selling these soap bars on Facebook and in the local market in the northwestern Pakistani city.
“According to initial investigations, he [the suspect] said these [soaps] were being supplied to him from Sindh,” Mehsud told Arab News. “The person we have arrested posted them on Facebook and said he is an Afghan national.”
This handout photo, released by the District Administration of Peshawar, shows recovered UNICEF-tagged soap bars after a raid at the Faqeerabad market in Peshawar, Pakistan on June 25, 2025. (Photo courtesy: Handout/District Administration)
He said the UNICEF-tagged soaps were recovered by the city administration and handed over to the anti-corruption department of the city circle for further investigation.
“The suspect allegedly sold these soaps to buyers who would then change the packaging and supply them to various locations, including Jalalabad, an eastern province of Afghanistan, and inside Pakistan such as Dera Ismail Khan district,” he continued.
Asked about the tip-off, he said: “We were told that they have 20,000 cartons.”
Mehsud said the authorities recovered three cartons during the raid, with a total of 216 soap bars.
He informed the suspect claimed to have additional stock.
This handout photo, released by the District Administration of Peshawar, shows recovered UNICEF-tagged soap bars after a raid at the Faqeerabad market in Peshawar, Pakistan on June 25, 2025. (Photo courtesy: Handout/District Administration)
“Authorities suspect a large network may be involved [in the activity], but investigations by the anti-corruption department is expected to shed more light on the matter,” he added.
Arab News reached out to UNICEF’s communication specialist, Zia-ur-Rehman, for comment but did not receive a response.
Meanwhile, the anti-corruption department plans to send an open letter to UNICEF and the Sindh provincial administration to further investigate the matter.
One of its officials, Humayun Khan, confirmed to Arab News that his department had launched an investigation into the case.
Polio is a paralyzing disease with no cure, making prevention through vaccination critical. Multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine, along with completion of the routine immunization schedule for all children, are essential to build strong immunity against the virus.
Pakistan, one of the last two countries where polio remains endemic, made significant progress in curbing the virus, with annual cases dropping from around 20,000 in the early 1990s to just eight in 2018. The country reported six cases in 2023 and only one in 2021.
However, Pakistan witnessed an intense resurgence of the poliovirus in 2024, with 74 cases reported. According to Pakistan’s polio program, 13 cases of the virus have so far been confirmed this year.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s top court on Friday ruled the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan is not entitled to reserved seats in the national and provincial legislatures, setting aside an earlier judgment that had granted the party its share.
The Supreme Court’s Constitutional Bench dismissed all review petitions filed by PTI and allied petitioners, reinstating the Peshawar High Court’s earlier ruling rejecting the allocation of reserved seats to the party.
“The impugned majority judgment dated 12.07.2024 is set aside… and the judgment rendered by the Peshawar High Court, Peshawar is restored,” the short order read.
The dispute about the reserved seats stems from the February 8 general elections, where PTI candidates contested as independents after the party lost its electoral symbol for not holding valid intra-party elections, as required under the Elections Act.
Despite winning the most general seats in the national polls, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) ruled that PTI was ineligible for reserved seats for women and minorities in parliament, which are allocated based on proportional representation from among the seats won by political parties.
Last year in July, the Supreme Court reversed the ECP’s decision, terming it unconstitutional and ordering the reserved seats to be allocated to PTI.
However, the government subsequently passed amendments to the Elections Act, 2017, in a move widely seen as targeting PTI’s eligibility for reserved seats.
The revised law stipulated that only those candidates who had formally declared their party affiliation before the returning officer — and whose party had submitted lists of nominees for reserved seats within the legal deadline — would be entitled to such allocations.
Since PTI-backed candidates contested the February election as independents, and the party did not submit lists for reserved seats, the amendments effectively barred it from claiming a share.
With Friday’s verdict, the apex court has now ruled that the independents backed by PTI in the February election cannot be treated as party nominees for the purpose of seat allocation.
Responding to the development, Khan’s party described the short order as the “funeral … of justice” in a social media post.
The government, on the other hand, welcomed the decision, with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif congratulating its legal team’s “tireless efforts.”
“The decision has upheld the supremacy of the Constitution and law, and ensured correct interpretation of legal provisions,” he said in a statement.
“The opposition should now join the government in playing a constructive role for the country’s development and prosperity,” he added.
The reserved seats in question will now be allocated to other political parties, including Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party and its coalition partners.
The top court’s verdict will numerically strengthen the government while dealing yet another blow to Khan’s PTI, which has faced legal and political challenges since the downfall of its administration in a no-confidence vote in April 2022.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar said on Friday his country did not turn a blind eye to US airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities earlier this month, adding that close relations with a country do not justify silence in the face of wrongdoing.
The statement came during a news briefing in the federal capital, where Dar spoke to the media about Pakistan’s recent diplomatic engagements, including his participation in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) meeting in Istanbul and the Pakistan-United Arab Emirates Joint Ministerial Commission.
Despite a recent revival in bilateral ties with Washington, Pakistan formally condemned the US strikes in a statement, calling them a violation of international law and affirming Iran’s right to self-defense under the UN Charter.
“Just because relations are good with a country doesn’t mean you should consider something wrong to be right,” he told the media.
“As you witnessed, we didn’t hesitate or delay,” he continued. “I spoke with the foreign secretary, gave a task to the spokesperson and we exchanged draft statements. It’s now a part of the historic record: we criticized the attack, and we did it on record.”
Dar’s remarks came in the wake of a 12-day conflict between Iran and Israel that erupted after Israeli strikes targeted Iranian nuclear and military sites, prompting retaliation from Tehran.
The war began while the administration in Tehran was holding nuclear negotiations with the US that later joined the fray, launching its own strikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities.
While Washington said the attacks had set back Iran’s nuclear program by years, there was international concern over a wider regional war.
Dar said he had been personally involved in formulating the country’s response as Islamabad prepared its official statement.
Pakistan, currently a member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), also raised the issue at the world body in New York.
KARACHI: Pakistan on Friday approved a 10 percent increase in natural gas prices for industrial users and power plants starting next month, in line with reforms mandated by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to ensure cost recovery and tariff rationalization, an official statement said.
The decision was taken by the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet, chaired by Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb.
While prices for bulk consumers and gas-fired power plants will rise, household consumers will be shielded from the increase.
“To protect household consumers, gas prices will remain unchanged, with only fixed charges revised,” the Finance Division said in a statement released after the meeting. “However, prices for bulk consumers, industrial units and power plants will be increased by an average of 10 percent.”
The statement said the revised pricing structure, submitted by the Petroleum Division, complies with regulatory obligations under the OGRA Ordinance and meets structural benchmarks under Pakistan’s ongoing loan program with the IMF.
It also supports a shift from cross-subsidies to direct, targeted assistance for low-income consumers.
DEFENSE GRANT
The ECC also approved a Rs15.8 billion ($55.3 million) supplementary grant for the Ministry of Defense to cover a shortfall in salaries, allowances and pending dues.
The funding includes disbursements under the prime minister’s compensation package for martyrs of the recent Pakistan-India war fought last month.
In a separate decision, the committee gave in-principle approval to launch a risk coverage scheme for small farmers and underserved regions by August 14.
The program is expected to bring 750,000 new borrowers into the formal credit system and unlock a Rs300 billion ($1.05 billion) agricultural loan portfolio over three years (FY2026-28).
The statement said the total budgetary support for the scheme, covering risk coverage and bank operating costs, is estimated at Rs37.5 billion ($131.25 million), to be disbursed between FY2027 and FY2031.
The government has directed relevant ministries to incorporate additional safeguards before the official rollout.
