Pakistan reports second polio case of 2025 from southern Sindh province

A delivery boy rides past the building of National Institute of Health (NIH), a Pakistani research institute mainly responsible for biomedical and health related research, in Islamabad on August 16, 2024. (AFP/File)
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Updated 13 February 2025
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Pakistan reports second polio case of 2025 from southern Sindh province

  • Latest polio case has been reported from country’s southern Badin district, Pakistani health authorities say
  • Development takes place days after Pakistan conducted its first national anti-polio vaccination drive of 2025

KARACHI: Pakistani health authorities this week confirmed the country’s second polio case of 2025 in the country’s southern Sindh province, days after concluding a national immunization campaign against the infection. 
Polio is a paralyzing disease with no cure and to ensure immunity, health experts say it is crucial that all children under five complete the oral polio vaccine series. The South Asian country last year reported 74 polio cases in 2024, a sharp increase from just six in 2023.
The second polio case of the year was reported from district Badin in Sindh, Pakistan’s Polio Eradication Program said in a statement on Wednesday. The first case of the infection was reported in the Dera Ismail Khan district in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province last month. 
“The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health has confirmed the detection of the second wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) case of 2025,” Pakistan’s Polio Eradication Program said. 
Of Pakistan’s 74 polio cases reported last year, 27 were from Balochistan, 22 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 23 from Sindh, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.
The Pakistan polio program runs several mass vaccination drives annually. This year’s first anti-polio drive was conducted from Feb. 3 to 9 during which over 45 million children were vaccinated. 
Pakistan and Afghanistan are the last two countries where polio remains endemic. In the early 1990s, Pakistan reported around 20,000 cases annually but in 2018 the number dropped to eight cases.
Pakistan’s polio program began in 1994, but efforts to eradicate the virus have been hampered by vaccine misinformation, opposition from some religious hard-liners who view immunization as a foreign plot, and frequent attacks on polio vaccination teams by militant groups.


Pakistan and China sign agreement to deepen media cooperation at regional broadcast festival

Updated 16 July 2025
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Pakistan and China sign agreement to deepen media cooperation at regional broadcast festival

  • Pact coincides with second television festival of SCO countries currently underway in China
  • Forum brought together over 300 media officials, journalists, industry executives from across the region

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and China have formalized a new agreement to strengthen media collaboration, cultural exchanges and journalist training, state broadcaster Radio Pakistan reported on Wednesday.

The pact was signed by Pakistan Television Managing Director Ambreen Jan and China’s National Radio and Television Administration Vice Minister Dong Xin and coincides with the second television festival of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) countries, currently underway in China. 

The 2025 Media Cooperation Forum in Urumqi, Xinjiang, brought together over 300 media officials, journalists, and industry executives from across the region. 

“Under the agreement, Pakistan and China will exchange information and content, undertake joint media projects, and promote cultural understanding through shared narratives,” Radio Pakistan reported. 

“The collaboration will also include training programs, workshops, and journalist exchange initiatives aimed at strengthening professional skills and fostering mutual learning between media personnel of both countries.”

The accord aligns with the broader emphasis on media cooperation demonstrated at the 2025 SCO forum, which aims to institutionalize collaboration through initiatives like an SCO Media Agency.

Pakistan and China have long maintained strong ties, from economic projects like the China Pakistan Economic Forum to military alliances. Media cooperation adds another layer to the partnership, reinforcing shared messaging and countering disinformation 

The agreement builds on earlier Pakistan–China joint media efforts, including MoUs for film co-productions and shared outlets. In December, Pakistan’s information secretary highlighted that twelve Pakistani films had aired in China since 1957, and a new co-production premiered in Beijing.

Observers say Beijing’s hosting of SCO events like the television and film festival, along with broader media initiatives, reflects China’s intention to use soft power and regional platforms to solidify cultural influence. Pakistan, for its part, often frames such cooperation within a shared vision of regional stability and development.


Audit finds $21 million financial irregularities in Pakistan Cricket Board

Updated 16 July 2025
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Audit finds $21 million financial irregularities in Pakistan Cricket Board

  • Auditors flag $18.6 million in unpaid sponsorships, question spending on police meals during foreign tours
  • Report also cites improper hiring, unauthorized perks for PCB chairman, governance lapses over two years

ISLAMABAD: An audit report has found financial irregularities to the tune of more than rupees 6 billion ($21 million) and governance issues within the Pakistan Cricket Board dating back two years.

The Auditor General of Pakistan’s report for the 2023-24 financial year was published in The News and highlighted the non-recovery of outstanding sponsorship worth rupees 5.3 billion ($18.6 million) as the major discrepancy identified.

PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi is the third person in four years to lead the sport’s national administration, following Ramiz Raja and Zaka Ashraf. He is also a government minister.

The report also questioned the rupees 63.39 million ($220,000) the PCB spent on meals for police and law enforcement personnel assigned for the security of foreign teams during international matches in Pakistan.

The auditors said providing security was the responsibility of governments, and disagreed with the PCB’s explanation that visiting international teams were given extra safety guarantees that required heavy police deployment.

The audit report also flagged the hiring of three junior regional coaches who didn’t meet the eligibility criteria and the appointment of a media director outside the proper procedure.

Compensation paid to cover utility charges, fuel and accommodation for the PCB chairman between February and June of last year was also highlighted as unauthorized because Navqi received that as part of his government benefits.

The auditors rejected the cricket board’s response that the PCB chairman “is authorized for utility expense as per bylaws.”

The PCB is yet to comment on the audit report.


Nearly 150 killed as Pakistan’s deadly monsoon season intensifies

Updated 16 July 2025
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Nearly 150 killed as Pakistan’s deadly monsoon season intensifies

  • At least 77 dead in Punjab as roof collapses drive surge in monsoon fatalities 
  • Officials urge precautions after 27 people killed in 24 hours in Punjab province 

ISLAMABAD: Nearly 150 people in Pakistan have died and hundreds have been injured since late June due to heavy monsoon rains this season, disaster management authorities said on Wednesday.

The monsoon season brings South Asia up to 80 percent of its annual rainfall, arriving in early June in India and late June in Pakistan, and lasting through until September.

The annual rains are vital for agriculture and food security, and the livelihoods of millions of farmers. But they also bring with them flooding and landslides and cause buildings to collapse.

“Due to this year’s monsoon rains, 77 citizens have died and 214 have been injured,” a spokesperson for the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) in Punjab, Pakistan’s most populous province, said in a statement. 

In the past 24 hours alone, 27 people had died and 46 more injured across the province, the statement added.

On Monday, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) had warned of another wet spell in the country from July 15 till July 17 and said the death toll from monsoon rains and floods had reached 111 since June 26. With the fresh deaths in Punjab over the last 24 hours, that figure is nearing 150.

“Most deaths have been recorded due to roofs collapsing in dilapidated buildings and old houses,” DG PDMA said, urging citizens to avoid staying in old mud homes and to take extra precautions.

“Citizens are requested to take precautionary measures in view of the rainy season … Citizens are urged not to stay in old mud houses under any circumstances.”

On the instructions of Punjab’s chief minister, the injured are being provided “the best possible medical aid” and families of those killed will receive financial assistance under the provincial government’s policy, the agency added.

Children should be kept away from electric wires, poles, and low-lying flooded areas to prevent further casualties, the PDMA said. 

“By adopting precautionary measures, loss of life and property can be avoided.”

Pakistan, despite contributing less than one percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, is among the countries most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.

In 2022, unprecedented monsoon flooding submerged a third of the country, affecting over 33 million people and inflicting more than $30 billion in losses, according to government estimates.


UK removes Pakistan from Air Safety List, clears path for flight resumption

Updated 15 min 14 sec ago
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UK removes Pakistan from Air Safety List, clears path for flight resumption

  • Pakistani airlines were barred from flying to the US, UK and EU following a 2020 PIA crash in Karachi
  • Pakistan says the development will be followed by PIA’s privatization, efforts to resume New York flights

ISLAMABAD: The United Kingdom has removed Pakistan from its Air Safety List, the British High Commission announced on Wednesday, paving the way for Pakistani airlines to apply for permits to operate flights to the UK.

Pakistani airlines were barred from flying to the European Union and the United Kingdom following the crash of a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) Airbus A320 in a residential area of Karachi that killed nearly 100 people in May 2020. The crash was attributed to human error by both the pilots and air traffic controllers and was followed by claims that a significant number of Pakistani pilots held dubious or fake licenses.

PIA resumed operations to Europe earlier this year after a four-and-a-half-year ban was lifted by EU regulators. The airline relaunched flights from Islamabad to Paris on January 10 and introduced direct flights from Lahore to Paris in June.

“I’m grateful to aviation experts in the UK and Pakistan for their collaborative work to drive improvements to meet international safety standards,” British High Commissioner Jane Marriott said in the statement. “While it will take time for flights to resume, once the logistics are in place, I look forward to using a Pakistani carrier when visiting family and friends.”

The High Commission said the decision to remove Pakistan and its carriers from the UK Air Safety List followed years of engagement between the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority and UK regulators.

The UK’s Air Safety Committee, which oversees the safety list through an independent technical process, determined that Pakistan had made the necessary improvements, continued the statement.

‘IMPORTANT MILESTONE’

Reacting to the development, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called it an “important milestone” for the country, adding it would enhance Pakistan’s reputation at the international level and further strengthen bilateral cooperation with the UK.

He vowed to bring Pakistani airlines into competition with global carriers.

A PIA statement also announced the national airline was finalizing preparations to resume flights to the UK “as quickly as possible” and was in the process of filing a flight schedule. It informed it was planning to launch three weekly flights after getting approval from the UK authorities.

Addressing a news conference in Islamabad, Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Asif maintained the next step was the privatization of PIA, adding the resumption of flights to Britain would add value to the airline’s proceeds.

“We will now get a better price for it because we are restoring all of PIA’s international routes before privatizing it, which is maximizing its value,” he said.

“We are also making efforts to resume the New York flight,” he continued, adding there was no ban on the flight but it had to be discontinued due to the unavailability of planes.

With over 1.6 million people of Pakistani heritage living in the UK and thousands of British nationals residing in Pakistan, the UK decision to allow flights from Pakistan is expected to ease travel and boost trade between the two countries.

The UK is Pakistan’s third-largest trading partner, with a bilateral relationship valued at £4.7 billion.


US lawmaker warns of shrinking freedoms in Pakistan, cites Imran Khan’s continued incarceration

Updated 34 min 31 sec ago
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US lawmaker warns of shrinking freedoms in Pakistan, cites Imran Khan’s continued incarceration

  • Congressman Chris Smith says life in Pakistan ‘is marked by rampant government violations of basic freedoms’
  • Zulfi Bukhari says in his testimony Khan and his wife are kept in ‘solitary confinement’ and ‘inhumane conditions’

ISLAMABAD: A senior US lawmaker on Tuesday voiced concern over the human rights situation in Pakistan, saying basic freedoms were in jeopardy under the current administration and expressing alarm over the continued incarceration of former prime minister Imran Khan in a high-security prison in Rawalpindi.

The remarks by Rep. Chris Smith, Co-Chairman of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, during a congressional hearing in Washington on “political repression” in Pakistan. The bipartisan commission was established in 2008 by the US House of Representatives to promote and advocate for international human rights through hearings, investigations and policy recommendations.

Its latest hearing focused on Pakistan and featured testimony from several witnesses, including Zulfi Bukhari, a close aide to ex-premier Khan and a senior figure in the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party.

“Life in Pakistan today is marked by rampant government violations of basic freedoms, particularly freedom of speech and media freedom, and the denial of free and fair elections,” Smith said in his opening remarks.

“Pakistan is a country of over 250 million people — the fifth-largest country in the world — so the human cost of this repression is immense in its scope as well its severity,” he added.

Smith maintained Pakistan’s democratic crisis was not new, though he asserted the government’s human rights record had “taken a sharp turn for the worse” in recent years.

The American lawmaker pointed to the confrontation between the South Asian country’s powerful military establishment and Khan’s PTI, calling the former prime minister a “genuinely popular leader” who had challenged public corruption and military interference before being ousted in what Smith described as a “political coup” in 2022.

Smith noted that last year’s general elections were “widely seen as unfree and unfair, including by the US government, marked as they were by a ban on the PTI party, harassment of PTI officials, bans on public gatherings, a national Internet shutdown, and massive voting irregularities.”

In his testimony, Bukhari said that “Imran Khan and his wife are in solitary confinement for over 23 hours a day,” describing their conditions as “inhumane.”

He also questioned the legality of the February 2024 elections, which PTI has repeatedly alleged were rigged, and criticized the military trials of civilians that he said led to the conviction of dozens of party members and supporters.

“This is a purge,” he said. “It’s not justice.”

Toward the end of Bukhari’s statement, Smith urged the US administration to sit up and take notice of the situation in Pakistan.

He also urged the Trump administration to “redouble its commitment to democracy and human rights” in the South Asian country.