ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan government has announced the formation of a committee to identify companies financially supporting Israel’s war in Gaza and recommend banning their products, according to a close aide to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday.
Rana Sanaullah, the PM’s political adviser, shared the decision after negotiating an end to a sit-in by the religious group Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), which was demanding an official ban on such products and increased food and medical assistance to Palestinians.
The TLP, which also asked the government to declare Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “a terrorist,” called off its week-long sit-in after reaching an agreement with the government, as shared by the information ministry.
“Israel has emerged as a terrorist state and Netanyahu has committed war crimes,” Sanaullah said in a news conference in Islamabad after the TLP agreement. “Pakistan’s prime minister has condemned this in strong words during the Shanghai conference and Pakistan government will continue to condemn this on every forum, using all the possible steps to help Palestinian Muslims.”
“We have also agreed on and will follow it with details that not just Israel, but all the products related to them or those companies who, in any way, directly or indirectly, are involved in this cruelty or assisting that country [Israel] and its forces in any form, will be boycotted and use of their products will be banned,” he continued. “We have formed a committee in this regard, and we will go in detail to find out the companies that might be linked to Israel and if we may be using their products and because of that these forces who are involved in this cruelty are being helped financially.”
Many people in Pakistan have called for a boycott of foreign companies suspected of supporting Israel since the beginning of the war in Gaza.
Social media campaigns and public figures have also voiced support for such a boycott, urging consumers to choose alternative products.
Israel’s has so far claimed at least 39,000 lives, many of them women and children. The casualties have sparked anger and protests worldwide, including in Pakistan, where the country’s civil society and political factions have consistently led pro-Palestine rallies.
The TLP set up its protest camp last Saturday at a busy traffic juncture, the Faizabad Interchange, connecting Rawalpindi and Islamabad.
Known for its hard-line stance on blasphemy laws, the party also staged similar sit-ins at the same spot in the past, significantly disrupting the flow of traffic between the two cities.
Pakistan forms committee to identify businesses supporting Israel as religious party calls off sit-in
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Pakistan forms committee to identify businesses supporting Israel as religious party calls off sit-in
- TLP supporters staged a pro-Palestine sit-in at Faizabad Interchange connecting Rawalpindi and Islamabad last Saturday
- They asked the government to declare Israeli PM ‘a terrorist’ and send more food and medical supplies to Gaza Strip
Pakistan to launch first national anti-polio drive of 2026 today to vaccinate millions
- Pakistani health volunteers will aim to vaccinate over 45 million children from Feb. 2-8, reports state media
- Pakistan reported 31 polio cases last year, which were significantly lower than the 74 cases it reported in 2024
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani health authorities will launch the year’s first national anti-polio drive today, Monday, to vaccinate over 45 million children against the virus, state media reported as Islamabad aims to eliminate the disease.
Eliminating poliovirus remains a critical health initiative of Pakistan, which along with Afghanistan, is one of only two countries worldwide where the virus is endemic. Pakistan reported 31 cases of polio in 2025, which authorities say is a significant decline from the alarming 74 cases of the disease it reported in 2024.
Prime Minister’s Focal Person for Polio Eradication Ayesha Raza Farooq announced last month that the anti-polio vaccination campaign will be conducted across the country from Feb. 2 to 8, during which over 45 million children under the age of five will be targeted. She said a total of 400,000 trained health volunteers will go door-to-door to administer polio drops to children.
“A varied duration anti-polio campaign in Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will begin from tomorrow [Monday],” state broadcaster Radio Pakistan reported on Sunday.
The National Emergency Operations Center (NEOC), in an earlier statement, said six national polio campaigns were conducted across the country in 2025. The NEOC urged parents to fully cooperate with polio teams and ensure their children receive polio drops.
Polio workers and their security escorts have repeatedly been targeted in militant attacks, particularly in parts of Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan provinces, complicating efforts to vaccinate children in remote areas.
A gun attack targeting a polio vaccination team in Pakistan’s northwestern Bajaur district in December 2025 left one police constable and a civilian dead.
Natural disasters, such as floods, have also disrupted vaccination campaigns in recent years.
