ISLAMABAD: The UN children’s agency on Monday warned that the health of 11 million children in Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province is in danger because of air pollution that experts say has become a fifth season in recent years.
Toxic smog has shrouded Pakistan’s cultural capital of Lahore and 17 other districts in Punjab since last month. Health officials say more than 40,000 people have been treated for respiratory ailments.
UNICEF’s representative in Pakistan, Abdullah Fadil, in a statement urged the government to make urgent and greater efforts to reduce air pollution for the 11 million affected children under the age of 5 and others.
“Prior to these record-breaking levels of air pollution, about 12 percent of deaths in children under 5 in Pakistan were due to air pollution,” Fadil said. “The impact of this year’s extraordinary smog will take time to assess, but we know that doubling and tripling the amount of pollution in the air will have devastating effects, particularly on children and pregnant women.”
Pakistan has shut schools until Nov. 17 in parts of Punjab as part of measures aimed at protecting children’s health. Authorities on Friday ordered the closure of all parks and museums for 10 days, and they have been urging people to avoid unnecessary travel.
According to the Environmental Protection Department in Punjab, Multan remained the most polluted city on Monday, with air quality index readings of about 800. Anything over 300 is considered hazardous to health.
Though the government has ordered the mandatory wearing of face masks, that has been widely disregarded. The government has also said it was looking into methods to induce artificial rainfall to combat the pollution.
UN warns toxic smog in Pakistan’s Punjab province is endangering children
https://arab.news/gkgn7
UN warns toxic smog in Pakistan’s Punjab province is endangering children
- Toxic smog has shrouded Lahore and 17 other districts in Punjab since last month
- Health officials say over 40,000 people have been treated for respiratory ailments
At least one killed, nine injured in IED blast in northwestern Pakistan
- Blast takes place near vehicle carrying employees of Lucky Cement factory in Lakki Marwat district, say police
- No group has claimed responsibility for IED blast as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police launch probe into the incident
PESHAWAR: At least one person was killed and nine others were injured in Pakistan’s northwestern Lakki Marwat district on Monday after an improvised explosive device (IED) blast occurred near a vehicle transporting employees of a cement factory, a police official said.
Lakki Marwat police official Shahid Marwat told Arab News the blast took place on the district’s Begu Khel Road at around 6:30 a.m. The explosion occurred near a vehicle carrying employees of the Lucky Cement factory located in the district, he said.
“Initial investigations suggest the device had been planted by militants,” Marwat said. “A rapid police response force was immediately deployed to the scene to evacuate the dead and wounded, secure the area and collect evidence.”
The police officer said several victims were in critical condition and were referred for treatment to the nearby Bannu district, adding that all those affected by the blast were residents of Begu Khel village.
He said police had launched an investigation into the incident.
No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack. However, the Pakistani Taliban, or the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), have claimed responsibility for similar attacks in the past against Pakistani law enforcers and civilians in the province.
The TTP has carried out some of the deadliest attacks against Pakistani law enforcers since 2008 in its bid to impose its own brand of strict Islamic law across the country.
The attack comes as Pakistan struggles to contain a sharp surge in militant violence in recent months. According to statistics released last month by the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS), combat-related deaths in 2025 rose by 73 percent to 3,387, compared with 1,950 deaths in 2024.
These deaths included 2,115 militants, 664 security forces personnel, 580 civilians, and 28 members of pro-government peace committees, the think tank said. Most of the attacks took place in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Pashtun-majority districts and southwestern Balochistan province, the PICSS noted.
On Sunday, three traffic police officials were shot dead by unidentified gunmen in Lakki Marwat district. No group claimed responsibility for the incident.
Islamabad accuses the Afghan government of harboring militants who launch attacks against Pakistan, a charge Kabul repeatedly denies. The surge in militant attacks in Pakistan has strained ties between the two neighbors, with Islamabad urging Kabul to take steps to dismantle militant outfits allegedly operating from its soil.
