KARACHI: Pakistani student Aqsa Shabbir is hot, tired and frustrated. A keen field hockey player, she can no longer train during the day because of a brutal heatwave, she can’t sleep at night and she fears she will not play well in a tournament at the end of June.
The 17-year-old, who lives in Jacobabad in the southern Sindh province, already had to overcome many obstacles — like many girls who live in Pakistan’s smaller cities where exercising in public is frowned upon — and the heatwave is making things harder.
Two years ago, Jacobabad was named the hottest city on earth after temperatures reached 51 degrees Celsius (124 Fahrenheit). This year, as a heatwave seared southeast Asia, temperatures shot up to 52 degrees Celsius (126 Fahrenheit) in May.
“We cannot keep waiting for the weather to get better — it won’t,” Shabbir told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone from Jacobabad.
Rising temperatures are one more barrier for women and girls who want to stay active in a country where there are few training spaces available to them, apart from private sports clubs reserved for the wealthy.
A 2022 study found that the main obstacles to participating in sport in the Muslim-majority country are “religious and cultural limitations, a lack of permission from parents, and a lack of sports facilities and equipment.”
Now add extreme heat, linked to climate change, to the list.
Shabbir is a member of the Star Women’s Sports Academy in Jacobabad, the only women’s sports club in the city of nearly 300,000 people. The girls have started training later in the day in a bid to beat the heat but parents are unhappy with their daughters returning home late on their own.
And there is little rest at night either. Shabbir says the one air conditioner her family has invested in provides “little comfort” because of frequent power cuts. The long days and nights are affecting her performance. “I am not playing my best,” she said.
Haseena Soomro, who plays hockey at the same club, is equally frustrated.
“Of course the heat impacts our game,” the 19-year-old said. “The heat makes you sluggish, and this game is defined by speed.”
‘LONG AND UNBEARABLE’ SUMMER
Sport has long been an often unaffordable luxury for girls from low-income households in Pakistan. It costs money to get to the few sports clubs available and even eating well is costly.
Some sports clubs try to help out with expenses but Erum Baloch, who founded the club in Jacobabad where Shabbir and Soomro play, says that can also be difficult.
And now she is also grappling with the challenge of training her team on outdoor pitches during what she calls the “long and unbearable” summers.
The situation is complicated by the fact that the women wear long clothing when training. Even though Baloch’s club is in a women’s government college, the girls she coaches are uncomfortable swapping shalwar kameez for jogging pants, never mind cooler shorts.
“Families don’t like them wearing pants … shorts is too far-fetched a concept,” said Baloch. “Until society is ready, we need to concentrate on (making) sports for women acceptable instead of letting a dress come in our way.”
Farwa Batool, from Khairpur city in Sindh, wears long sleeves beneath her T-shirt to cover her arms and also wears a hijab when she plays field hockey.
“You cannot imagine the heat we bear,” she said, adding that she envies the men who can wear just shorts and T-shirts. She gets up at 5.45 am to train at the mixed gender club, hoping no men will be around.
“If we could have women-only grounds, or women timings are introduced with men strictly not allowed, we too can be free of yards of cumbersome clothing.”
In Jacobabad, Baloch is hoping to get financing from the government or a sponsor to pay for an indoor facility with air conditioning.
UNSUSTAINABLE EXPENSES
Zamzam Allahbuksh said she pays out of pocket to top up water and ice supplies at the women’s sports club she runs in Mirpurkhas, 230 km (143 miles) east of Pakistan’s largest city Karachi.
“I don’t want them catching a heatstroke,” she said.
To manage costs, she has introduced games like football and volleyball because she does not have enough equipment for everyone to play cricket or field hockey.
“At least with one football or one volleyball, quite a few girls can play a sport,” she said.
Baloch, too, arranges for drinking water every day for her 43 field hockey players along with oral rehydration solutions but this is not sustainable.
“I don’t know how long I can carry on doing this,” she said. “We cannot train girls on an ad hoc basis — there needs to be a continuous and full government support for them, if they want to play their best.”
As heat threatens the viability of the few facilities available to women and girls, Baloch said she hopes they don’t lose out on the opportunities sports can provide.
Some of the athletes Baloch has coached went on to attend university on sports scholarships.
Bushra Arif, a former field hockey player, is keenly aware of what sport offers girls in her country.
“Sports teach lifelong values like endurance, teamwork, confidence, overcoming challenges,” said Arif, now the director of physical education at Khursheed Begum Girls Degree College in Hyderabad in Sindh.
Despite all the challenges, Shabbir is trying to look on the bright side ahead of her important tournament in the neighboring Sukkur district.
“Who knows, we may outdo other teams from other cities with relatively lower temperatures, being more acclimatized to this extreme heat.”
Game changer: extreme heat stifles women’s sports in Pakistan
https://arab.news/zkgqp
Game changer: extreme heat stifles women’s sports in Pakistan

- Sport has been unaffordable luxury for girls from low-income households in Pakistan
- It costs money to get to the few sports clubs available and even eating well is costly
UN estimates 2.5 million refugees will need resettling in 2026 from Pakistan, other countries

- The largest refugee populations likely to be resettled were Afghans, Syrians, South Sudanese, Rohingya from Myanmar, and Congolese
- Part of the decline in resettlement is linked to the US, long the world’s biggest resettler of refugees, which has now shut its doors
GENEVA: An estimated 2.5 million refugees worldwide will need to be resettled next year, the UN said Tuesday, at a time when the United States but also other nations are shrinking resettlement access.
UNHCR, the United Nations’ refugee agency, said the needs were down slightly from this year, when around 2.9 million refugees are estimated to need resettlement.
“This is mainly due to the changed situation in Syria, which has allowed for voluntary returns,” UNHCR spokeswoman Shabia Mantoo told reporters in Geneva.
“We are seeing some people pull out of resettlement processes in favor of plans to go home to rebuild,” she added.
Mantoo said that in 2026, the largest refugee populations likely to need to be resettled were Afghans, Syrians, South Sudanese, Rohingya from Myanmar, and Congolese.
Most of the refugees will need resettling from major host countries including Iran, Turkiye, Pakistan, Ethiopia and Uganda, she said.
The announcement came as the UNHCR’s resettlement efforts face towering hurdles.
“In 2025... resettlement quotas are expected to be the lowest in two decades, falling below the levels seen even during the Covid-19 pandemic, when many countries paused their programs,” Mantoo said.
Part of the decline is linked to the United States — long the world’s biggest resettler of refugees — which has now slammed its doors shut.
Shortly after returning to the White House in January, President Donald Trump halted the US refugee resettlement program.
Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden had embraced the program designed to facilitate legal resettlement of vetted refugees, resettling over 100,000 refugees in the United States last year.
Mantoo stressed though that the problem was not with just one country.
“We have indications that a number of countries are reducing or adjusting quotas,” she said.
Stressing that resettlement among other things “offers a concrete alternative to dangerous journeys,” Mantoo urged countries to “sustain their programs and increase their intake.”
In recognition that the needs far outstrip the available spots, she said that the international community had set itself a goal of resettling 120,000 refugees in 2026.
“Recent history shows that this is achievable,” she said.
Last year, she said that despite the challenges, the UNHCR supported the resettlement of 116,000 refugees globally.
“Every place is invaluable for those fleeing danger.”
Earlier this month UNHCR said a record 123.2 million people worldwide were forcibly displaced from their homes at the end of 2024.
But that figure dropped to 122.1 million by the end of April this year, as Syrians began returning home after years of turmoil.
PM hosts Pakistani delegates for successfully presenting Islamabad’s case on India crisis

- Pakistan, India engaged in a military conflict last month that saw the neighbors attack each other with drones, missiles and artillery
- Pakistani delegates this month visited key capitals to apprise them of India’s unilateral moves, including suspension of key water treaty
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday hosted a dinner in honor of a Pakistani delegation, led by former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, that presented Islamabad’s stance on recent crisis with India before key world capitals.
Pakistan and India engaged in a four-day military conflict last month that saw the two neighbors attack each other with drones, missiles and artillery in their worst fighting in decades.
The conflict had raised fears of a full-blown war between the nuclear-armed neighbors who agreed to a United States-brokered ceasefire on May 10, with the conflict killing nearly 70 people on both sides.
Bhutto-Zardari led Pakistan’s mission to the US, United Kingdom and Europe to apprise the world powers of Indian unilateral actions, including the suspension of a World Bank-brokered water-sharing treaty with Pakistan.
“The delegation presented the events from Pahalgam to the Indus Waters Treaty [suspension] in the right perspective and in a good manner,” Sharif said. “I hope that with the guidance, cooperation and suggestions of all of you, we will overcome all internal and external challenges.”
Other members of the Pakistani delegation included Sherry Rehman, Musadik Malik, Hina Rabbani Khar, Bushra Anjum Butt, Faisal Sabzwari, Khurram Dastgir and Jalil Abbas Jilani.
On Monday, Bhutto-Zardari said Islamabad had defeated New Delhi on the “battlefield, in diplomacy, and in the war of narratives.”
“India has two options: share water fairly or we will deliver water to us from all six rivers [of the Indus basin],” Bhutto-Zardari said, while addressing the lower house of Pakistan parliament.
“The attack on Sindhu [Indus river] and India’s claim that the IWT has ended and it’s in abeyance, firstly, this is illegal, as the IWT is not in abeyance, it is binding on Pakistan and India but the threat itself of stopping water is illegal according to the UN charter.”
His comments followed a statement from Indian interior minister Amit Shah in which he said they would take the water that was flowing to Pakistan to the Indian state of Rajasthan by constructing a canal.
“Pakistan will be starved of water that it has been getting unjustifiably,” Shah told Times of India newspaper.
The IWT grants Pakistan rights to the Indus basin’s western rivers — Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab — for irrigation, drinking, and non-consumptive uses like hydropower, while India controls the eastern rivers — Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej — for unrestricted use but must not significantly alter their flow. India can use the western rivers for limited purposes such as power generation and irrigation, without storing or diverting large volumes, according to the agreement.
Islamabad is also exploring a legal challenge to India’s decision to hold the treaty in abeyance under international law.
Last month’s conflict between Pakistan and India was triggered by a militant attack in Indian-administered Kashmir’s Pahalgam town.
India accused Pakistan of backing the assault that killed 26 tourists on April 22 and suspended the Indus Waters Treaty, which ensures water for 80 percent of Pakistani farms, among a slew of punitive measures.
Islamabad denied the allegation and offered to join a credible, international probe into the Kashmir attack, followed by its own set of diplomatic measures against New Delhi.
Pakistan PM discusses Middle East crisis with Saudi Crown Prince, calls for de-escalation

- Heightened tensions after Iranian missile attack on US base in Qatar spark fears of wider Gulf conflict
- Sharif also holds third call with Iranian president in as many days, urges diplomacy to restore peace
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday spoke by phone with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to discuss the situation in the Middle East amid escalating tensions between Iran and Israel.
The call followed Israeli and United States strikes on Iran and Tehran’s retaliatory missile attack on a US base in Qatar on Tuesday. Qatar condemned the Iranian strikes as a “flagrant violation” of its sovereignty, raising fears the crisis could draw in other regional powers if not defused.
During the call, Sharif said Pakistan supported immediate de-escalation of the Iran-Israel conflict and its peaceful resolution through dialogue and diplomacy.
“While referring to last night’s attacks, he called for adherence to international law and the UN Charter principles by all sides,” Sharif’s office said after the telephone discussion with the Saudi Crown Prince. “In this context, the Prime Minister reaffirmed Pakistan’s unwavering support for the Kingdom’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
Sharif also praised the Saudi crown prince’s efforts to restore calm, describing them as reflective of the kingdom’s leadership role in the Muslim world and its position as a peacemaker, according to his office.
The crown prince, for his part, appreciated Pakistan’s show of solidarity and acknowledged Islamabad’s constructive role in supporting a peaceful resolution to the conflict.
“His Royal Highness said that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was fully committed to efforts aimed at fostering lasting peace and stability in the Middle East,” Sharif’s office said.
On Monday, US President Donald Trump said Israel and Iran had agreed to a “complete and total ceasefire” to be phased in over 24 hours. However, Israel warned of possible missile launches from Iran early Tuesday, and the launches began after 4am local time in Tehran.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran would halt its attacks if Israel ended its airstrikes.
It was unclear how the latest developments would affect the planned ceasefire.
Separately on Tuesday, Sharif held a third phone call in as many days with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and again urged dialogue and diplomacy to restore peace in the region.
The crisis has left Islamabad navigating a delicate balance between ties with Iran, other Gulf partners and the United States, which remains one of Pakistan’s largest trading partners and a major source of military and economic assistance.
“The prime minister said that Pakistan was closely following the rapidly evolving situation in the Middle East,” Sharif’s office said after the call with Pezeshkian. “He reiterated Pakistan’s support for Iran at all diplomatic forums, including at the UN Security Council and the OIC [Organization of Islamic Cooperation], while calling for adherence to international law and the UN Charter principles.”
Army major among two soldiers, 11 militants killed in Pakistan’s restive northwest

- The casualties occurred during an intelligence-based operation in South Waziristan district, which borders Afghanistan
- Pakistan and India often accuse each other of backing militant groups that launch cross-border attacks on the other’s soil
ISLAMABAD: Two Pakistani soldiers, including an army major, and 11 militants were killed in a shootout in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, the Pakistani military said on Tuesday.
The operation was conducted in KP’s South Waziristan district, which borders Afghanistan, on intelligence reports about the presence of “Indian-sponsored” militants, according to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the military’s media wing.
The intense exchange of fire killed 11 militants and injured seven others. The shootout also left two Pakistani soldiers, Major Moiz Abbas Shah and Lance Naik Jibran Ullah, dead.
“Sanitization operation is being conducted to eliminate any other Indian-sponsored kharji [militant] found in the area,” the ISPR said in a statement.
Pakistan and India often blame each other for supporting militancy.
Islamabad accuses India of backing a separatist insurgency in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province as well as religiously motivated militant groups, like the Pakistani Taliban, in KP. India denies the allegations.
Pakistan has struggled to contain a surge in militancy in KP since a fragile truce between the Pakistani Taliban, or the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), and Islamabad broke down in late 2022. The TTP and other militant groups have frequently targeted security forces convoys and check-posts, besides targeted killings and kidnappings of law enforcers and government officials in the region in recent months.
In a statement, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif paid tribute to Major Shah and Lance Naik Jibran Ullah for thwarting the evil designs of the enemy.
“We will continue the fight against the scourge of terrorism until it is completely eradicated from the country,” he said. “The entire nation, including me, stands by our Pakistani forces in their unwavering resolve to protect the homeland.”
In call with Iran president, Pakistan PM urges dialogue to restore peace in Middle East

- The development came a day after Tehran attacked a US base in Qatar in retaliation for airstrikes on its nuclear facilities
- The crisis appeared to put Islamabad in a difficult position to balance its equation with Iran, other Gulf partners, and the US
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday spoke with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian for the third time in as many days and urged dialogue and diplomacy to restore peace in the Middle East, Sharif’s office said.
The development came a day after Tehran attacked a United States (US) base in Qatar in retaliation for US airstrikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities late last week. The US strikes followed days of Israeli attacks on Iran’s nuclear program and military leadership.
Qatar condemned the Iranian missile attack and called it a “flagrant violation” of its sovereignty, saying it reserved the right to respond directly and in accordance with the international law. The Iranian attack raised fears about a wider conflict in the already volatile region.
The crisis appeared to put Islamabad in a difficult position to balance its equation with Iran, other Gulf partners, and the US, which remains one of Pakistan’s largest trading partners and a critical source of military and economic assistance.
“The prime minister said that Pakistan was closely following the rapidly evolving situation in the Middle East. He emphasized the importance of restoring peace through dialogue and diplomacy,” Sharif’s office said after his telephonic conversation with the Iranian president.
“He reiterated Pakistan’s support for Iran at all diplomatic forums, including at the UN Security Council and the OIC [Organization of Islamic Cooperation], while calling for adherence to international law and the UN Charter principles, by all sides.”
The development came hours after US President Donald Trump said that Israel and Iran had agreed to a “complete and total ceasefire” to be phased in over 24 hours.
But Israel warned its public to take shelter after detecting missile launches from Iran early Tuesday. The launches came after 4am local time in Tehran, the time Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran would stop its attacks if Israel ended their airstrikes.
It was unclear yet how the latest developments would impact the possible ceasefire agreement.
President Pezeshkian appreciated Pakistan’s consistent and principled support to Iran throughout the crisis, according to Sharif’s office.
“He also acknowledged Pakistan’s constructive role in promoting a peaceful resolution to the conflict,” it said. “The two leaders agreed on the importance of unity among the Ummah during this most challenging time. They agreed to remain in touch.”