Air pollution: Doctors report prolonged respiratory illnesses in Lahore’s children, risks from fatal diseases

Students cross a rail track amid smoggy conditions in Lahore on November 30, 2021. (AFP/FILE)
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Updated 05 March 2023
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Air pollution: Doctors report prolonged respiratory illnesses in Lahore’s children, risks from fatal diseases

  • One Lahore study that randomly sampled school children showed 20 percent of children had asthma
  • Doctors say Pakistan lacks national action plan on air pollution, warn kids can get heart diseases, cancer

LAHORE: Data and interviews with experts and paediatricians show Pakistani children are suffering from prolonged respiratory illnesses due to increasing air pollution, with health practitioners warning of a rise in cases of hypertension, heart diseases and even cancer among young Pakistanis in the absence of a “national action plan” to tackle worsening air quality levels.

Pakistan is the fourth most polluted country in the world, with almost all of it’s 220 million people living in areas where the annual average particulate pollution level exceeds the WHO guideline, according to IQAIR, which monitors air contamination worldwide.

The country’s eastern city of Lahore, the second largest by population and area and the capital of Punjab province, is among the world’s most polluted urban centers, with IQAIR recording an Air Quality Index (AQI) of 438 in the city in peak smog season last November, a figure that was globally the highest at the time. Compare this to the fact that air is only healthy up to an AQI of 50 and children suffer the most from pollution since they breathe more rapidly than adults and inhale more pollutants.

“We frequently put up the worst numbers,” Professor Waqar Hussain, a paediatrician at Lahore’s Shalimar Hospital, told Arab News, saying the AQI for Lahore frequently veered between 300 and 400: “This is a calamity of epic proportions.”

“Smog destroys respiratory cilia [which clean up debris in human airways], and once gone, the cilia can’t slow down a virus or an infection,” he said. “Our kids already have low immunity because of nutritional deficiencies, and when combined with environmental pollution, these infections become deadly.”

Hussain said air pollution caused more than 50 percent of lower respiratory infections among children, while pregnant women exposed to toxic air were also likely to give premature births with potential complications.

“The UK and the US have the same viruses and infections as us,” Hussain said, comparing Pakistan’s situation with developed countries. “Upper respiratory tract wise, we all see about 10 episodes per year in a child. But in the lower respiratory tract, in the lungs, our numbers [in Lahore] are four times higher. Pneumonia, for instance, asthma, childhood cancer, early age cardiac problems are all in higher incidence here.”

Smog can also lead to fatal complications with diseases like tuberculosis and prolong respiratory infections.

“America’s school going children get a lot of viral infections but they get better in a week,” he said, while children in Lahore suffered for months in such cases.

“IT’S A CRISIS“

Hussain said he was involved in a recent study that randomly sampled school children from different social strata in Lahore for medical checkup.

“From government schools to elite private schools like Aitchison, when the tests came back, 20 percent of the children were diagnosed with asthma,” he said. “Their families had no idea.”

In terms of children’s illnesses, he said last year was among the worst he had ever witnessed in his medical career.

“That’s why I conducted a seminar this January,” he added. “We called experts. It’s a crisis, we have to do something.”

“The mixture of surface level ozone, nitrogen dioxide, fine particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, lead, it’s a case of picking your poison,” Hussain said while explaining the effects of smog on children. “Fetal development is badly affected. Air pollution also impairs neurodevelopment and cognitive function. Autism is rapidly increasing. These are all things I’m witnessing every year now.”

Pakistan Pediatrics Association’s Punjab President Dr. Naeem Zafar said the rise in the number of serious diseases among children in recent years may also have something to do with the coronavirus pandemic that started spreading in late-2020.

“I think COVID-19 has exacerbated problems [of pollution] in a population with already weakened immune systems,” he told Arab News. “Then there are many influenza strains that have recently evolved.”

“Look, we have had smog for decades,” he added. “There were government commissions set up in the 70s, in the 80s, there were short term or aesthetic remedies, visible smog was reduced but the air quality remained bad. The surge in mortality you’re seeing these last few winters probably has more to do with the viruses. They’re much worse now, even in adults.”

However, Professor Hussain was not convinced and said viruses had been around for thousands of years while pandemics happened periodically.

“We said this in the seminars. It’s to do with smog. We are not doing anything, as a government, as a society. We invited everyone to the seminar, our association went to the health department, but no public policy promises were made.”

Hussain pointed out the United States, United Kingdom and China burned more fossil fuels than Pakistan, but they had also improved the overall environmental situation in the last many years as climate change became a reality.

“We join a committee, give a recommendation, then what? Where is the implementation? Pakistan lacks a coordinated national action plan on air pollution,” he said.

Arab News reached out to Syed Hammad Raza Bukhari, the Punjab health department spokesperson, several times to seek comment for this story but he declined. 

Noor Ahmed, a deputy director for the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), a research project launched by the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) to monitor Punjab province, was also unavailable for comment.

“THINGS ARE GOING TO GET WORSE“

Dr. Shahzad Khurram, a paediatrician with 15 years of experience running his private clinic, said his anecdotal experience was the same as Professor Hussain’s.

“I treat young kids with bronchitis, ear infections, problems in the nasal passage, and pneumonia every day,” he told Arab News. “I treated a three-year-old child who had asthma for almost two years. No family history, nothing wrong with the child at birth.”

And while it was difficult, he said, to pinpoint smog as a cause, it was not impossible:

“Sometimes the respiratory problems are genetic, sometimes they’re allergies, from pollen, sometimes it’s influenza, but oftentimes we are seeing coughs and shortness of breath without any apparent cause. That’s when we know it’s smog.”

Taken in isolation, he added, these barely constituted two percent of the cases.

“But we don’t exist in isolation,” the doctor said. “If you ask me, the diseases that smog has made much, much worse, that number goes up to 50 percent. Half the children I see are presenting with symptoms much more severe than their illnesses should be presenting with.”

“I see chronically inflamed tonsils. Narrowed nasal passages in growing children. Children using inhalers twice as often as before,” he added.

Preventively, one could wear a double surgical mask, use nebulizers, take steam, monitor the daily AQI and stay in if it was very high, but these were short term alleviations.

“There are going to be more and more young people with heart diseases, hypertension, cancer,” Khurram warned. “These are just the facts out there. Things are going to get worse. It’s not just the air either, it’s the water, the food. But we simply aren’t responding as a society.”


Pakistan police say four militants killed in operation in Punjab’s Dera Ghazi Khan

Updated 01 June 2025
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Pakistan police say four militants killed in operation in Punjab’s Dera Ghazi Khan

  • The operation in DG Khan was launched on intelligence reports about militant movement near the Punjab-Khyber Pakhtunkhwa border
  • Pakistan is currently battling twin insurgencies in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, which Punjab’s DG Khan district borders

ISLAMABAD: Police killed four militants in a successful operation in Dera Ghazi Khan district of Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province, Pakistani state media reported on Sunday.

The Dera Ghazi Khan, or DG Khan, district borders the southwestern Balochistan and northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) where Pakistan has been battling twin insurgencies.

The operation was conducted in DG Khan’s Kot Mubarak area and the law enforcers recovered a sizeable cache of heavy weapons and ammunition from the site of the encounter.

“The swift and effective action of the police teams thwarted the terrorists’ nefarious plans,” the state-run Radio Pakistan broadcaster reported, citing officials.

“Inspector General of Punjab Police Dr. Usman Anwar commended the efforts of the Dera Ghazi Khan Police and said the Punjab police stand as a strong barrier against anti-state elements.”

Pakistan is currently battling twin insurgencies: one led by religiously motivated groups, including the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), mainly in its Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province and the other by ethno-nationalist Baloch separatist groups in Balochistan.

Militants often seek refuge in border areas of neighboring provinces amid intensifying counter-insurgency operations in KP and Balochistan.

The operation in DG Khan was launched on intelligence reports about militant movement near the Punjab-Khyber Pakhtunkhwa border, the APP news agency reported, citing a police spokesman.

“Some suspects fled using cover from bushes and mounds,” it said. “A search-and-sweep operation is ongoing to track them down.”
 


Pakistan Navy conducts exercise to counter sub-conventional, asymmetric threats to major ports

Updated 01 June 2025
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Pakistan Navy conducts exercise to counter sub-conventional, asymmetric threats to major ports

  • The exercise comes weeks after Pakistani and India air and ground forces engaged in a four-day military conflict that killed 70 people
  • Reports suggests an Indian aircraft carrier maneuvered toward Karachi, but Pakistan Navy kept it confined to Indian territorial waters

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Navy has conducted a comprehensive two-day exercise to counter sub-conventional and asymmetric threats to all major ports and harbors, its Directorate General of Public Relations (DGPR) said on Sunday, weeks after a four-day standoff with India.

While air forces and armies of both countries traded jet, drone, missile and artillery strikes last month, the two navies did not reportedly engage each other during the four-day standoff.

Media reports, however, suggested that Indian aircraft carrier Vikrant had maneuvered toward the southern Pakistani port city of Karachi, but Pakistan Navy kept it confined to the Indian territorial waters.

The DGPR said on Sunday the naval exercise was aimed at validating and refining Tactics, Techniques and Procedures (TTPs) to ensure robust defense of critical maritime infrastructure against “evolving” asymmetrical threats.

“The exercise involved coordinated operations by PN (Pakistan Navy) Fleet units, Pakistan Marines, SSG (Special Services Group of Navy) and Naval Aviation assets,” it said in a statement.

“The exercise’s scenarios were designed to simulate a range of sub-conventional threats including sabotage, infiltration and unconventional attacks, enabling participating units to enhance inter-agency coordination, situational awareness and rapid response capabilities.”

During the exercise, Pakistan Coast Commander Rear Admiral Faisal Amin visited various operational setups at ports and harbors and witnessed live action simulations carried out by participating units.

“COMCOAST appreciated high level of preparedness and professional conduct demonstrated during the exercises,” the DGPR said.

“He emphasized the importance of maritime installations and added that secure functioning of ports and harbors is directly linked to national economic stability and growth.”


Haris hits maiden hundred as Pakistan whitewash Bangladesh

Updated 01 June 2025
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Haris hits maiden hundred as Pakistan whitewash Bangladesh

  • Haris, playing in his 17th T20I, carted seven sixes and eight boundaries in his 107 off just 46 balls
  • Pakistan chased down 197 runs in 17.2 overs for their first home T20I series win in over three years

LAHORE: Mohammad Haris hit a swashbuckling maiden international century to guide Pakistan to a 3-0 clean sweep of Bangladesh with a seven-wicket win in the third and final Twenty20 international in Lahore on Sunday.

Haris, playing in his 17th T20I, carted seven sixes and eight boundaries in his 107 off just 46 balls as Pakistan chased down a challenging 197-run target in 17.2 overs for their first home T20I series win in three-and-a-half years.

Pakistan won the first two matches by 37 and 57 runs at the same venue.

Bangladesh’s Litton Das (right) with teammates walk off the field on the end of the third Twenty20 cricket match between Pakistan and Bangladesh, in Lahore, Pakistan, on June 1, 2025. (AP)

Parvez Hossain smashed four sixes and seven boundaries in his solid 34-ball 66 to lift Bangladesh to 196-6 in their 20 overs.

Pakistan lost Sahibzada Farhan for one in the first over but Haris, whose hundred came up off 45 balls, added 92 for the second wicket with Saim Ayub and an unbroken 60 for the fourth with Salman Agha who made 15 not out.

Ayub hit four sixes and two boundaries in his 29-ball 45 while Hasan Nawaz scored 13-ball 26 as the home batters enthralled a near-capacity 30,000 crowd at Gaddafi Stadium.

Bangladesh’s Litton Das (right) with teammates walk off the field on the end of the third Twenty20 cricket match between Pakistan and Bangladesh, in Lahore, Pakistan, on June 1, 2025. (AP)

Earlier, Parvez shared a 110-run opening stand with Tanzid Hasan (32-ball 42 with three sixes and as many boundaries) after the tourists were sent in to bat.

The Parvez-Tanzid stand gave Bangladesh an ideal start for their highest T20I total against Pakistan beating the 175-6 they made against them at Pallekele in 2012.

Bangladesh’s Tanzid Hasan Tamim (right) plays a shot as Pakistan’s Mohammad Haris watches during the third Twenty20 cricket match between Pakistan and Bangladesh, in Lahore, Pakistan, on June 1, 2025. (AP)

Towhid Hridoy, who scored 25 from 18 balls with a six and two boundaries, then added 49 for the third wicket with Litton Das who made 22.

Fast bowlers Abbas Afridi (2-26) and Hasan Ali (2-38) were the pick of the home bowlers.


Pakistan reaffirms commitment to macroeconomic stability as Ipsos survey shows rising consumer trust

Updated 01 June 2025
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Pakistan reaffirms commitment to macroeconomic stability as Ipsos survey shows rising consumer trust

  • The latest Ipsos survey revealed that 42% Pakistanis now believe the country is heading in the right direction
  • The development comes amid stabilization of key indicators, including inflation, exchange rate and forex reserves

KARACHI: Pakistan on Sunday reaffirmed its commitment to macroeconomic stability after Ipsos, a Paris-based global market research and consultation firm, said consumer confidence grew in the South Asian country in the second quarter of this year.

The Ipsos survey revealed a significant surge in consumer confidence, with 42% of Pakistanis now believing the country is heading in the right direction — the highest level recorded in six years.

Perceptions of the economy being strong reached their most favorable levels since August 2019, and optimism overtook pessimism that marked a key psychological shift among the population, according to the survey.

Pakistan’s Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said the “encouraging” data reflected the success of his government’s disciplined and targeted macroeconomic strategy implemented over the last 14 months.

“He highlighted that consumer confidence in making major purchases and investments has doubled compared to the same period last year, indicating that households are beginning to feel more secure in their financial prospects. Similarly, confidence in job security is now at its highest since 2019, a sign that

labor market conditions are gradually stabilizing in response to pro-growth policies and reforms,” the finance ministry said.

“Senator Aurangzeb reaffirmed that the government remains committed to maintaining macroeconomic stability, accelerating structural reforms, and ensuring that economic growth translates into real and inclusive progress for all citizens.”

The development comes amid stabilization of key economic indicators, including inflation, exchange rate, foreign exchange reserves and fiscal discipline, that has led a renewed public trust in Pakistan, which is currently on path to economic recovery under a $7 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) program secured in Sept. last year.

Aurangzeb pointed out that this upswing in consumer confidence spans across urban and rural areas, and is particularly evident among youth and women, demonstrating the broad-based nature of the economic turnaround.

He linked this optimism to sustained government efforts to create an enabling environment to enhance private sector growth, exports, social protection and financial inclusion.

“The findings of the IPSOS survey are a timely validation of Pakistan’s economic direction and a clear signal that the country is on a steady path toward recovery and resilience,” the minister said.


India arrests 81 for ‘sympathizing’ with Pakistan

Updated 01 June 2025
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India arrests 81 for ‘sympathizing’ with Pakistan

  • There has been a clampdown on social media since an April 22 attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir
  • New Delhi blamed Pakistan for backing the militants it said carried out the attack, Islamabad denies the allegation

GUWAHATI: Indian police have arrested scores of people for “sympathizing” with Pakistan, a month after the worst conflict between the arch-rivals for decades, a top government official said Sunday.

The arrests took place in the northeastern state of Assam, where Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said “81 anti-nationals are now behind bars for sympathizing with Pak.”

Sarma, from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist ruling party, said in a statement “our systems are constantly tracking anti-national posts on social media and taking actions.”

One of the persons was arrested after he posted a Pakistani flag on his Instagram, Assam police told AFP.

No further details about other arrests were given.

There has been a wider clampdown on social media since an April 22 attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir, the deadliest on civilians in the contested Muslim-majority territory in decades.

New Delhi blamed Islamabad for backing the militants it said carried out the attack, charges that Pakistan denied.

India and Pakistan then fought a four-day conflict, their worst standoff since 1999, before a ceasefire was agreed on May 10.

India’s counter-terrorism agency last month arrested a paramilitary police officer for allegedly spying for Pakistan, while authorities have arrested at least 10 other people on espionage charges in May, according to local media.

Sarma is also pushing efforts to stem the contentious issue of illegal immigration.

Assam shares a long and porous border with neighboring Muslim-majority Bangladesh.

Indian media have reported that Assam’s government has allegedly rounded up dozens of alleged Bangladeshis in the past month and taken them to the frontier to cross.

The Times of India newspaper on Saturday reported that Assam was “dumping them in no-man’s land,” suggesting that at least 49 had been pushed back between May 27-29 alone.

The Assam government has not commented on the reports.

Bangladesh, largely encircled by land by India, has seen relations with New Delhi turn icy, after the Dhaka government was toppled in an uprising last year.

Bangladesh has also moved closer to China, as well as to Pakistan.