Pakistan Association Dubai hosts climate action event to promote sustainable solutions

Pakistan's Consul General in Dubai, Hussain Muhammad, addresses an event to promote sustainable solutions in Dubai, UAE, on January 24, 2025. (Consulate General of Pakistan)
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Updated 26 January 2025
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Pakistan Association Dubai hosts climate action event to promote sustainable solutions

  • Pakistan is counted among world's most severely threatened countries due to climate change effects 
  • Event brings together climate activists, advocates and youth leaders to discuss climate challenges

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Association Dubai (PAD) this week organized a climate action event in the city to promote sustainable solutions and highlight the dangers of deteriorating weather patterns, the Pakistani embassy in the UAE said. 

The event on Friday was a collaboration between community climate action platform Extreme Hangout Dubai, social enterprise Earth Warriors and the Pakistan Youth Forum. 

It featured climate advocates and members of the Pakistani community in the UAE, and Pakistan’s Consul General in Dubai Hussain Muhammad.

“Pakistan remains committed to be part of the solution,” Muhammad was quoted as saying by the Pakistani embassy in UAE. “However, global solidarity, climate finance, and technology transfer are essential to tackling this crisis.”

The event featured entrepreneurial stalls showcasing innovative eco-friendly solutions, keynote speeches and panel discussions by experts, activists and youth leaders who engaged in insightful discussions on climate action strategies and the importance of collective efforts.

The event also included performances and artistic presentations highlighting the beauty of nature and the necessity of preserving it for future generations. 

“The Consul General encouraged the Pakistani community in the UAE to act as global ambassadors for Pakistan’s climate challenges through storytelling, social media and community engagement to raise awareness and bring change,” the embassy’s statement said. 

The South Asian country is counted among the most severely threatened countries in terms of climate–induced challenges, especially in the context of its dependency on climate-sensitive sectors such as agriculture, water, natural resources and the environment, and socio-economic issues such as poverty. 

Unusually heavy monsoon rains and melting of glaciers in June 2022 triggered flash floods across the country which killed over 1,700 people and dealt damages to critical infrastructure across the country. 

Pakistan estimates damages from the floods to be around $33 billion. 


Sindh assembly passes resolution rejecting move to separate Karachi

Updated 21 February 2026
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Sindh assembly passes resolution rejecting move to separate Karachi

  • Chief Minister Shah cites constitutional safeguards against altering provincial boundaries
  • Calls to separate Karachi intensified amid governance concerns after a mall fire last month

ISLAMABAD: The provincial assembly of Pakistan’s southern Sindh province on Saturday passed a resolution rejecting any move to separate Karachi, declaring its territorial integrity “non-negotiable” amid political calls to carve the city out as a separate administrative unit.

The resolution comes after fresh demands by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and other voices to grant Karachi provincial or federal status following governance challenges highlighted by the deadly Gul Plaza fire earlier this year that killed 80 people.

Karachi, Pakistan’s largest and most densely populated city, is the country’s main commercial hub and contributes a significant share to the national economy.

Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah tabled the resolution in the assembly, condemning what he described as “divisive statements” about breaking up Sindh or detaching Karachi.

“The province that played a foundational role in the creation of Pakistan cannot allow the fragmentation of its own historic homeland,” Shah told lawmakers, adding that any attempt to divide Sindh or separate Karachi was contrary to the constitution and democratic norms.

Citing Article 239 of Pakistan’s 1973 Constitution, which requires the consent of not less than two-thirds of a provincial assembly to alter provincial boundaries, Shah said any such move could not proceed without the assembly’s approval.

“If any such move is attempted, it is this Assembly — by a two-thirds majority — that will decide,” he said.

The resolution reaffirmed that Karachi would “forever remain” an integral part of Sindh and directed the provincial government to forward the motion to the president, prime minister and parliamentary leadership for record.

Shah said the resolution was not aimed at anyone but referred to the shifting stance of MQM in the debate while warning that opposing the resolution would amount to supporting the division of Sindh.

The party has been a major political force in Karachi with a significant vote bank in the city and has frequently criticized Shah’s provincial administration over its governance of Pakistan’s largest metropolis.

Taha Ahmed Khan, a senior MQM leader, acknowledged that his party had “presented its demand openly on television channels with clear and logical arguments” to separate Karachi from Sindh.

“It is a purely constitutional debate,” he told Arab News by phone. “We are aware that the Pakistan Peoples Party, which rules the province, holds a two-thirds majority and that a new province cannot be created at this stage. But that does not mean new provinces can never be formed.”

Calls to alter Karachi’s status have periodically surfaced amid longstanding complaints over governance, infrastructure and administrative control in the megacity, though no formal proposal to redraw provincial boundaries has been introduced at the federal level.