Ten deportees said they experienced or witnessed what they called abusive or violent treatment by ICE. They spent months in detention, they said, before being sent to nations where they had no ties.
The government is struggling to meet a shortfall in fuel and is wary that higher prices at the pump could stir unrest.
A judge temporarily blocked the agency from refusing to deliver ballots in noncompliant states, which could disproportionately affect Democrats and many battleground elections.
Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts has emerged as a vocal defender of transgender rights as he tries to fend off a primary challenge from Representative Seth Moulton.
President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif have extended warm greetings to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the brotherly people of Turkiye on the occasion of Victory Day today of Turkiye, Radio Pakistan reported.
In his message on X, the President said Pakistan and Turkiye enjoy a unique and enduring relationship, rooted in deep bonds of history, faith and mutual support.
He said the Great Victory of 30th August 1922 remains an important chapter in Turkiye’s history.
The President expressed confidence that the close and fraternal ties between the two countries would continue to grow.
Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif in a post on X, said Pakistan joins its Turkish brothers and sisters in honouring the proud legacy of courage and national resolve.
The Prime Minister said the bonds between Pakistan and Turkiye are bonds of the heart, forged through centuries of shared faith, history and struggle.
He said the two countries have further reaffirmed their enduring strategic brotherhood through the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement, alongside the brotherly Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, reflecting their shared commitment to security and collective deterrence.
The Prime Minister reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to further deepening its strategic partnership with Turkiye across all domains for the shared prosperity and security of the two countries.
He expressed hope that the abiding friendship and brotherhood between Pakistan and Turkiye will continue to flourish for generations to come.
LAHORE: A scarcity of gas and oil in the country has forced a reduction in electricity generation across several power plants, ARY News reported, citing the National Transmission and Despatch Company (NTDC).
Sources stated that load-shedding duration has increased by three to five hours a day across Punjab, including Lahore.
The overall electricity shortfall has climbed to 4,000 MW, with sources adding that the deficit in the Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO) region has surpassed 1,000 MW.
Sources further informed that the gas crisis could prolong if the Regasified Liquefied Natural Gas (RLNG) fleet does not dock at the port soon.
To conserve fuel and oil, power plants are currently operating at minimum capacity.
In Japan, the ancient tradition of hikiya involves moving buildings with ropes and rollers. About 4,000 people teamed up to try it on Hirosaki Castle.
Rawalpindi – Westridge police here on wee hours of Saturday arrested an injured rape suspect after he along with his escaped accomplice resist their arrest in Chak Madad area.
A spokesperson for City Police said that a raiding team acted on a tip-off regarding the presence of the two suspects in Westridge. Upon reaching the location, the suspects opened fire on the police party.
During the ensuing encounter, one suspect, identified as Nazimullah, was arrested in an injured state, while his accomplice managed to flee the scene.
In the FIR, a Westride police sub-inspector said that he along with his team was in serach of Nazimulah in connection with a case registered against him for raping a 12-year-old girl on Friday.
He said that he received a tip off that Nazim along with his accomplice Aon Raja was present in Habib Colony near Chak Madad.
He said he along with a raiding party reached at the said spot and saw both the accused walking towards Chak Madad at about 2:35am.
As they saw the police, they started shooting at the law enforcers. They started running away from the police while resorting to firing.
The SI said that Nazim was shot in the leg by his accomplice and he fell on the ground while Aon managed to escape in the dark. The police took the wound man who was accused of raping the 12-year-old girl and was beaten up by the area people on Friday but he managed to run away from the angry crowd.
Attock – A growing imbalance in teacher deployment has left most public sector schools in rural areas of Attock district struggling with an acute shortage of teaching staff, while their urban counterparts continue to have teachers in surplus, officials and education sources said.
The disparity, which has persisted for years due to a freeze on regular recruitment, is now directly affecting the quality of education for thousands of students in far-flung areas of the district.
According to sources in the education department, no regular recruitment of teachers has been carried out in Attock for the last many years. To fill the gaps, the government has been appointing School Teacher Interns (STIs) on a temporary basis. However, education officials say the policy has failed to address the crisis in rural schools. “In rural areas, highly qualified candidates are not available to apply for STI positions,” a source told The Nation. “As a result, many sanctioned posts remain vacant even after repeated advertisements.”
The source added that urban schools, on the other hand, attract a large number of applicants, leading to a surplus of teachers in cities and tehsil headquarters while village schools continue to operate with minimal staff. Another major reason behind the crisis, according to department insiders, is the lack of authority among education officers to transfer surplus teachers on administrative grounds.
“The education officers are toothless when it comes to rationalization,” the source said. “They cannot transfer teachers from schools where there is a surplus to schools where there is an acute shortage. Because of this, we have schools in urban areas with extra teachers sitting idle, and schools in rural areas with just one or two teachers for all classes.”
The officials urged the provincial government to relax transfer and posting policies specifically for rural area schools and to give district education authorities more powers to balance the staff. The problem is compounded by the Student-Teacher Ratio (STR) policy which mandates one teacher for every 40 students.
Educationists in the district argue that the policy does not reflect ground realities in rural schools. “Under STR, these 40 students may belong to different classes, from grade 1 to grade 5, and each class has different subjects,” a senior teacher from a rural school said.
“How can a single teacher handle 40 students of different classes with different subjects at the same time? It is practically impossible.”
Teachers said the result is overcrowded multi-grade classrooms where neither students nor teachers can perform effectively. Many schools are forced to combine classes, leaving younger students with little attention and older students unprepared for higher classes.
The crisis is further deepened by a shortage of head teachers. Many rural schools in Attock are currently operating without a permanent head, leaving administrative work, record-keeping, and coordination with the education department incomplete.
Teachers also pointed to the “no pass-fail” policy up to the elementary level as another challenge. They said that because students are automatically promoted regardless of performance, learning gaps accumulate year after year. By the time students reach middle and high school, many lack basic reading and math skills, making it even harder for the limited staff to teach effectively.
Teachers, parents, and local educationists have urged the Punjab government and the education department to take immediate steps to address the imbalance.
Key demands include immediate recruitment of teachers with a special quota for rural areas, relaxation of qualification and domicile requirements for rural postings to ensure vacancies are filled, empowering district education officers to transfer surplus teachers from urban to rural schools on administrative grounds reviewing the STR policy to make it class-specific rather than school-wide, filling vacant head teacher positions on a priority basis.
“Our children in villages deserve the same quality of education as children in the city,” said a parent from Pindi Gheb. “But right now, one teacher is handling five classes in a single room. This is not education, this is just managing.”
Education experts say that without urgent policy intervention and recruitment, the learning outcomes in rural Attock will continue to decline, widening the gap between urban and rural education in the district. This journalist contacted a few education officers for their comments but no one was ready to comment.
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Rawalpindi – Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) here on Saturday condemned the heavy levy on petroleum products, terming the Rs 125 per liter charge an extortionate burden on citizens already struggling under severe inflation.
Addressing a press conference alongside JI City District Rawalpindi Chief Syed Arif Shirazi and other party leaders, JI Punjab North Secretary General Iqbal Khan declared that the nation was currently trapped in the tight grip of record inflation due to incompetent governance. He stated that JI has launched a nationwide movement to protest these unfair economic measures.
“Charging a petroleum levy of Rs 125 per liter is sheer injustice,” Khan stated, demanding an immediate reversal of recent fuel price hikes and the total elimination of unjustified taxes. He noted that JI was already holding protest sit-ins across major provincial capitals, including Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, and Quetta.
As part of the ongoing anti-inflation campaign, the party announced a massive public gathering today, Sunday, August 30, at the historic Liaquat Bagh in Rawalpindi.
Emir Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman will deliver the keynote address at the rally. During his visit to Rawalpindi, the party chief is also scheduled to meet with local trader associations to take them into confidence regarding the nationwide shutter-down strike called for September 3. The organizers confirmed that administrative committees have finalized preparations for the event. Extending an invitation to the public, Syed Arif Shirazi urged the residents of the Pothohar region to attend the Liaquat Bagh rally in large numbers to stand against the rising cost of living.
