Balochistan housing fund diversion could deepen poverty, disaster risks: Report

IANS | August 11, 2026 5:03 PM

New Delhi, Aug 11 (IANS) The World Bank has warned that capping housing assistance and redirecting funds from a multi-billion-rupee resilient housing programme for flood-affected people in Pakistan's Balochistan to infrastructure projects could deepen poverty, increase disaster risks and fuel social tensions, a report has said.

Systemically repressed since 1948, Baloch have been treated as subjects and not citizens of Pakistan

IANS | August 11, 2026 3:37 PM

Islamabad, Aug 11 (IANS) In its 2025 annual report, titled 'Balochistan's Crisis of Trust', the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) noted that during its fieldwork in the province, it found locals concerned about the "escalating erosion of human rights and civic space in Balochistan. Discussions revealed a convergence of structural exclusion, gendered vulnerability, repression of youth voices and the weakening of public institutions". The "structural exclusion" is not a recent development in the Islamabad-Balochistan relations but started as early as 1948 when the province was annexed after it had declared independence on August 11, 1947.

China’s subsidised exports hurting other countries: Report

IANS | August 11, 2026 2:19 PM

New Delhi, Aug 11 (IANS) China’s weak domestic demand and excess industrial capacity forces the country’s government to subsidised exports in order to spur economic growth, but this is causing problems in the world economy as cheap Chinese goods are being dumped in other countries where the local industries get hit, according to a new report.