
Violent Pakistan Storms Trigger Floods, Landslides Killing 10
At least 10 people were killed and 43 injured as strong winds and thunderstorms triggered flash floods and destroyed homes in central and northern parts of Pakistan, officials said Wednesday.
Four women and a man died in Pakistan-administered Kashmir and three in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the State Disaster Management Authority said, while other officials said two died in Punjab.
"One person is still missing," Haroon Rasheed, a senior government official in Pakistan administered Kashmir told AFP, adding that 12 houses and a mosque were destroyed in one village.
Storms on Saturday killed at least 14 people and injured over 100 more across the country, which is grappling with increasingly frequent extreme weather events blamed on climate change.
Stormy weather is expected to continue in northern and central parts of the country until Saturday, according to the National Disaster Management Authority.
Soaring temperatures in April and May are becoming more common in Pakistan, which usually sees summer begin in early June.
Temperatures reached near-record levels in April -- as high as 46.5 Celsius (116 Fahrenheit) in parts of Punjab.
Schools in Punjab and southwestern Balochistan provinces have closed early for summer vacations because of the heat.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Asharq Al-Awsat
3 hours ago
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Rain, Storms in Pakistan Kill 32 in a Week
At least 32 people have been killed and more than 150 injured in Pakistan in a week of storms that followed a heatwave, with officials reporting on Friday five more deaths. Five people including a child were killed on Thursday in different districts of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa during heavy rains and strong winds, the province's disaster management authority said, according to AFP. Stormy weather is expected to continue in northern and central parts of Pakistan until Saturday, according to the national meteorological office. Heavy windstorms killed 10 people on Tuesday and 14 on Saturday in different parts of the country, one of the most vulnerable to climate change and grappling with increasingly frequent extreme weather events. Three children were killed on Wednesday in Hyderabad in Sindh province, a senior official said. While the majority of the deaths were caused by collapsing walls and roofs, at least two people died after being hit by solar panels dislodged by the whipping gusts. People are killed every year in Pakistan by intense storms, which were unusually frequent this month.


Arab News
4 hours ago
- Arab News
Pakistan criminalizes child marriages in Islamabad despite opposition from Council of Islamic Ideology
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari on Friday signed into law a bill criminalizing child marriages in the federal capital of Islamabad, despite opposition from a constitutional body that advises the Pakistani government on the compatibility of laws with Islam. The law criminalizes underage marriages and introduces strict penalties of up to seven years in prison for family members, clerics and marriage registrars who facilitate or coerce children into early marriages. Any sexual relations within a marriage involving a minor, regardless of consent, will be considered statutory rape, according to the law. An adult man who marries a girl under the legal age could face up to three years in prison. Pakistan's National Assembly had unanimously passed the Islamabad Capital Territory Child Marriage Restraint Bill tabled by Pakistan Peoples Party's (PPP) Sharmila Faruqui on May 16. Under the new law, the minimum legal age for marriage for both men and women in Islamabad is 18. Previously, it was 16 for girls and 18 for boys. However, the Council of Islamic Ideology this week declared the said bill 'un-Islamic,' saying that clauses of the bill, such as fixing the age limit for marriage and declaring marriage below the age of 18 as child abuse and punishable, did not conform with Islamic injunctions. 'The Islamabad Capital Territory Child Marriage Restraint Bill, 2025 is assented to, as passed by the Parliament,' President Zardari was quoted as saying in a notification issued from his office. In Pakistan, 29 percent of girls are married by the age of 18 and 4 percent marry before the age of 15, according to Girls Not Brides, a global coalition working to end child marriage. In comparison, five percent of boys marry before 18. PPP Senator Sherry Rehman thanked the president for signing the bill into law 'despite all pressure.' 'Proud moment for Pakistan,' she said on X. 'Thank you to all the women and men who made this possible after a long journey of twists and turns.' Thank you President @AAliZardari for signing into law the #ChildMarriageRestraint bill despite all pressure! Proud moment for #Pakistan Thank you to all the women and men who made this possible after a long journey of twists and turns. — SenatorSherryRehman (@sherryrehman) May 30, 2025 Pakistan ranks among the top 10 countries globally with the highest absolute number of women who were married or in a union before turning 18. Girls who marry young are less likely to complete their education and are more vulnerable to domestic violence, abuse and serious health complications. Pregnancy poses significantly higher risks for child brides, increasing the chances of obstetric fistulas, sexually transmitted infections and even maternal death. Teenagers are far more likely to die from childbirth-related complications than women in their twenties.

Al Arabiya
4 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Indian Navy will lead New Delhi's response to any future Pakistani aggression: Minister
India will use the firepower of its navy in response to any future aggression by Pakistan, India's defense minister said on Friday, weeks after the fiercest fighting in decades between the two nuclear-armed neighbors. Relations between India and Pakistan are tense after four days of fighting this month, which involved fighter jets, missiles, drones and artillery before a ceasefire was announced. 'If Pakistan resorts to anything evil or unethical, it will, this time, face the firepower and ire of the Indian Navy,' Defense Minister Rajnath Singh said on the aircraft carrier INS Vikrant off the coast of the western Indian state of Goa. A spokesperson for Pakistan's military referred Reuters to a May 12 statement, which said there would be a 'comprehensive and decisive' response whenever Pakistan's sovereignty was 'threatened and territorial integrity violated.' The latest fighting erupted after 26 people, mostly Indian tourists, were killed in an April 22 attack in Kashmir, a disputed Himalayan territory claimed by both nations. New Delhi blamed the attack on 'terrorists' backed by Pakistan, which denied the charge. A ceasefire took effect on May 10 and a top Pakistani military official told Reuters on Friday that both countries were close to reducing their troop build-up along their border to pre-conflict levels. The Indian Navy has said it deployed its carrier battle group, submarines and other aviation assets in the northern Arabian Sea within 96 hours of the April 22 attack. Defense Minister Singh said 'Operation Sindoor', under which India launched the strikes on Pakistan, was paused, but not yet over. 'We stopped our military actions on our own terms. Our forces had not even started showing their might,' he said.