ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s political and military leadership on Friday marked the annual Day of Solidarity with Kashmir, vowing to continue political support for those living in the Indian-controlled part of Kashmir and for a solution to the disputed region’s status in accordance with U.N. resolutions.
Thousands of people were expected to take part in anti-India rallies across Pakistan, as well as in the portion of Kashmir that Pakistan administers. Prime Minister Imran Khan was set to deliver a speech later Friday in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-held Kashmir.
Kashmir is split between Pakistan and India and claimed by both in its entirety. India accuses Pakistan of arming and training Kashmiri insurgents in India’s portion of the Himalayan region. Pakistan says it only provides moral and diplomatic support and denies it supports militants.
Shibli Faraz, Pakistan’s information minister, told The Associated Press that “the onus is on India to create an enabling environment by rescinding its illegal and unilateral actions,” referring to India’s revoking of Kashmir’s semi-autonomous status in August 2019.
In southwest Pakistan, at least 16 people were wounded when an unknown assailant threw a hand grenade at people standing along a road minutes after a pro-Kashmir rally passed through the area, local police chief Wazir Ali Marri said. No one claimed responsibility for the attack, which took place in Sibi district in Baluchistan province. The restive province has been the scene of a low-level insurgency by separatists demanding a greater share of local natural gas and mineral resources.
In Kashmir, Pakistan has long pushed for the right to self-determination under a U.N. resolution passed in 1948, which called for a referendum on whether Kashmiris wanted to merge with Pakistan or India.
The future of Muslim-majority Kashmir was left unresolved at the end of British colonial rule in 1947, when the Indian subcontinent was divided into predominantly Hindu India and mainly Muslim Pakistan.
India and Pakistan have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir. In 2019, a car bombing in Indian-controlled Kashmir killed 40 Indian soldiers and brought the nuclear-armed rivals to the brink of war.
India has an estimated 700,000 soldiers in its part of Kashmir, fighting nearly a dozen rebel groups since 1989. In many areas, the region has the feel of an occupied country, with soldiers in full combat gear patrolling streets and frisking civilians. More than 68,000 people, most of them civilians, have been killed in the conflict.
Pakistan marks 'Kashmir Day' with rallies, speeches in support in disputed valley
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Pakistan marks 'Kashmir Day' with rallies, speeches in support in disputed valley
- Thousands of people take part in anti-India rallies across Pakistan as well as in the portion of Kashmir that Pakistan administers
- In southwest Pakistan, at least 16 wounded when an unknown assailant threw a hand grenade at people standing along a road for a pro-Kashmir rally
Gun attack kills policeman, civilian during polio drive in northwest Pakistan
- Pakistani authorities have temporarily suspended vaccination activities in Bajaur district
- The campaign that started this week aims to vaccinate over 45 million children in Pakistan
PESHAWAR: A gun attack on a polio vaccination team in Pakistan’s northwestern Bajaur district killed a police constable and a civilian on Tuesday, prompting authorities to suspend vaccination activities in the area, officials said.
The attack took place in a small settlement of Bajaur’s Salarzai tehsil, near the Afghan border, where militants have targeted health workers and security personnel involved in polio campaigns in the past despite police escorts assigned to protect vaccination teams.
Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan are the only two countries where polio remains endemic, and vaccination drives have frequently been disrupted by militant violence, misinformation and vaccine hesitancy.
Authorities routinely deploy police and paramilitary forces to guard polio teams, but attacks have continued in recent years.
“The incident occurred at approximately 12:20 p.m. in Village Tangi Loei Khel, UC Khar 2, when unidentified individuals opened fire on Constable Sajjad, killing him on the spot,” said Shadab Younas, a media officer at the Peshawar Emergency Operations Center.
A civilian bystander, Fazal Rahim, was also hit by gunfire and later died of his injuries after being taken to Khar Hospital, Younas continued, adding that the polio team itself was unharmed.
Global polio tracking data show that 30 of the 39 confirmed wild poliovirus type 1 cases worldwide in 2025 were reported in Pakistan, with the remainder in Afghanistan. Pakistan recorded 74 polio cases in 2024, a sharp rise from six cases in 2023 and just one in 2021, underscoring the fragility of eradication efforts.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attack and directed authorities to swiftly identify and bring the perpetrators to justice, according to a statement from his office.
He said the assault on those serving the nation’s polio eradication effort was “deeply regrettable” and reaffirmed that the campaign would continue with full resolve until the disease is eliminated.
The National Emergency Operations Center (NEOC) said the nationwide polio campaign was continuing for a second day, reporting that more than 13.3 million children were vaccinated across the country on the first day of the drive.
The campaign, which started on Dec. 15 and will continue until Dec. 21, aims to administer oral polio drops to more than 45 million children across the country.
Health officials urged parents and communities to cooperate with vaccination teams and ensure children under five receive the drops.
Pakistan and Afghanistan are conducting the polio campaign simultaneously, the NEOC said.
