LAHORE, Pakistan: The air smells burnt in Lahore, a city in Pakistan’s east that used to be famous for its gardens but has become infamous for its terrible air quality.
Toxic smog has sickened tens of thousands of people in recent months. Flights have been canceled. Artificial rain was deployed last December to battle smog, a national first. Nothing seems to be working.
Lahore is in an airshed, an area where pollutants from industry, transportation and other human activities get trapped because of local weather and topography so they cannot disperse easily. Airsheds also contribute to cross-border pollution. Under certain wind conditions, 30 percent of pollution in the Indian capital New Delhi can come from Pakistan’s Punjab province, where Lahore is the capital. There are six major airsheds in South Asia, home to many of the world’s worst polluted cities.
Experts are calling for greater cross-border cooperation among countries such as Pakistan, Bangladesh and India to address air pollution together rather than working in silos on a city-by-city basis. But it’s a tall order when political relations in the region are fraught.
Ties between India and Pakistan are broken. Their interactions are riddled with animosity and suspicion. They have fought three wars, built up their armies and developed nuclear weapons. Travel restrictions and hostile bureaucracies largely keep people from crossing the border for leisure, study and work, although the countries make exceptions for religious pilgrimages.
“There’s a recognition among the technical and scientific community that air pollution doesn’t need a visa to travel across borders,” said Pakistani analyst Abid Suleri, from the nonprofit Sustainable Development Policy Institute. The culprits and problems are the same on both sides of the India-Pakistan border, he said, so it makes no sense for one province to implement measures if a neighboring province across the border isn’t adopting the same practices.
Regional and international forums offer opportunities for candid discussions about air pollution, even if governments aren’t working together directly or publicly, Suleri said, adding that countries should treat air pollution as a year-round problem, rather than a seasonal one arriving with cold weather.
“Airshed management needs a regional plan,” he said. “But 2024 is an election year in India and Pakistan, and government-to-government cooperation hasn’t reached that level.”
Pakistan is weeks away from voting in national parliamentary elections. So far, only the former foreign minister and political party leader Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has pledged heavy investment in climate adaptability, following record-breaking floods that killed more than 1,700 people.
In India, air pollution doesn’t figure as a core issue that people would vote on, said Bhargav Krishna, a fellow at the New Delhi-based Sustainable Futures Collaborative think-tank. But the experience or impact of climate change could make people think about how they vote.
Krishna said that regional elections sometimes see air pollution-related promises. “It was a feature of every party’s election manifesto in the New Delhi elections in 2020,” he noted.
According to the World Bank, a regional airshed management policy would involve countries agreeing to set common air quality targets and measures that everyone can implement, meeting regularly to share their experiences and, if possible, setting common air quality standards.
The global body said almost 93 percent of Pakistanis are exposed to severe pollution levels. In India, it’s 96 percent of the population. More than 1.5 billion people are exposed to high concentrations of air pollution in these two countries alone. It estimates around 220,000 deaths a year in Pakistan’s Punjab can be attributed to causes related to bad air.
Gray haze hangs pall-like over Punjab’s homes, mosques, schools, streets and farmland. There are 6.7 million vehicles on Lahore’s roads every day. Construction, emissions and waste are rife. There is scant visibility at major intersections after dark. Smog shrouds landmarks like the Mughal-era Badshahi Mosque.
The shopping website Daraz has reported a spike in searches for air purifiers and face masks since last October, especially in Punjab.
Pulmonologist Dr. Khawar Abbas Chaudhry laments the deterioration of Lahore, which he describes as a “once beautiful” city. The hospital where he works is part of the Bill Gates-backed Evercare Group that has hospitals in the region, including India and Bangladesh, and in East Africa.
Chaudhry says he has seen a 100 percent increase of patients sickened with respiratory illnesses this winter. He attributes this rise to air pollution.
There are forums within Evercare to discuss issues like air pollution, and he and colleagues, including those from India, talk about smog’s health impact. But this dialogue is only happening within one institution.
“Countries, governments, departments need to be involved,” said Chaudhry. “They need to meet regularly. Ultimately, people need to reach out and that could put some pressure on movers and shakers on both sides of the border.”
Pratima Singh, a senior research scientist at Bengaluru-based Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy, has researched air pollution in India for over a decade.
She said South Asian countries could emulate the European Union model of collaboration to deal with pollution challenges, formalize new policies and share data and best practices.
After India launched its National Clean Air Programme in 2019, authorities quickly found it was crucial for cities to understand what was happening in surrounding areas — and the boundary kept expanding. “Everyone started realizing that airshed management is essential if we want to actually solve the problem,” Singh said.
The director of Punjab’s Environment Protection Department, Syed Naseem Ur Rehman Shah, is proud of local achievements to fight air pollution. Emissions from industry and brick kilns are under control, farmers can soon buy subsidized machinery to end the menace of crop stubble burning, and there is a drive toward getting electric three-wheeled tuk-tuks, motorbikes and buses on the roads, he said.
Although things are getting better, Shah said it will take time.
He has gone to India to discuss climate change and said a regional body, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, provides opportunities for countries to talk about air pollution. But he acknowledges the absence of formal cooperation at a ministerial level with India.
A screen in a monitoring room, called the Smog Cell, showed Pakistan’s Air Quality Index to be higher than China’s that day. Shah said the province only exceeds World Health Organization-recommended levels for PM2.5 — fine particulate matter that can be inhaled. Everything else about the air quality is within parameters, he said.
His assessment is of little consolation to Pakistani poet and former ambassador Ata ul Haq Qasmi, who is in Evercare for respiratory issues exacerbated by air pollution. “If my friends aren’t in hospital, they should be,” he said. “You only have to step outside for it (the smog) to grab you.”
Air pollution and politics pose cross-border challenges in Pakistan, India
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Air pollution and politics pose cross-border challenges in Pakistan, India

- Toxic smog has sickened tens of thousands of people in Lahore in recent months
- Experts demand greater cooperation among Pakistan, Bangladesh and India on smog
At least 1.2 million Afghans forced to return from Iran and Pakistan this year — UN

- Iran has deported over 366,000 Afghans this year, with the 12-day war increasing departures
- Pakistani officials have set a June 30 deadline for nearly 1.3 million Afghan nationals to leave
ISLAMABAD: At least 1.2 million Afghans have been forced to return from Iran and Pakistan this year, the UN refugee agency said Saturday, warning that repatriations on a massive scale have the potential to destabilize the fragile situation in Afghanistan.
Iran and Pakistan in 2023 launched separate campaigns to expel foreigners they said were living in the country illegally. They set deadlines and threatened them with deportation if they didn’t leave. The two governments deny targeting Afghans, who have fled their homeland to escape war, poverty or Taliban rule.
The UN high commissioner for refugees said that of the 1.2 million returning Afghans, more than half had come from Iran following a March 20 government deadline for them to leave voluntarily or face expulsion.
Iran has deported more than 366,000 Afghans this year, including refugees and people in refugee-like situations, according to the agency.
Iran’s 12-day war with Israel also has driven departures. The highest number of returns was on June 26, when 36,100 Afghans crossed the border in one day.
“Afghan families are being uprooted once again, arriving with scant belongings, exhausted, hungry, scared about what awaits them in a country many of them have never even set foot in,” said Arafat Jamal, the UNHCR representative in the Afghan capital, Kabul.
He said women and girls are particularly worried, as they fear the restrictions on freedom of movement and basic rights such as education and employment.
More than half Afghanistan relies on humanitarian assistance. But opposition to Taliban policies and widespread funding cuts are worsening the situation, with aid agencies and nongovernmental organizations cutting back on basic services like education and health care.
IRAN URGES FOREIGNERS TO LEAVE QUICKLY
Iran’s attorney general, Mohammad Movahedi Azad, said Saturday that foreigners in the country illegally should leave as soon as possible or face prosecution, state media reported.
“Foreign nationals, especially brothers and sisters from Afghanistan whom we have hosted for years, help us [so] that illegal individuals leave Iran in the shortest period,” the official IRNA news agency quoted Azad as saying.
Iranian authorities said in April that out of more than 6 million Afghans, up to 2.5 million were in the country illegally.
Iran’s top diplomat in Kabul, Ali Reza Bikdeli, visited the Dogharoun border crossing with Afghanistan and promised to facilitate the repatriation of Afghans, state TV reported.
Iranians have complained about the increasing presence of Afghans in recent months, with some accusing them of spying for Israel since the outbreak of the war.
TALIBAN PLEDGE AMNESTY
Earlier this month, on the religious festival of Eid Al-Adha, the Taliban prime minister said all Afghans who fled the country after the collapse of the former Western-backed government were free to return, promising they would be safe.
“Afghans who have left the country should return to their homeland,” Mohammad Hassan Akhund said in a message on X. “Nobody will harm them. Come back to your ancestral land and live in an atmosphere of peace.”
On Saturday, a high-ranking ministerial delegation traveled to western Herat province to meet some of the Afghans returning from Iran.
The officials pledged “swift action to address the urgent needs of the returnees and ensure that essential services and support are provided to ease their reintegration,” according to a statement from the Taliban deputy spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat on X.
People get food, temporary accommodation and access to health care upon their return, said Ahmadullah Muttaqi, the director of information and culture in Herat. Everyone receives 2,000 Afghanis, or $28.50, in cash and is taken free of charge to their home provinces.
“Upon arrival, they are housed in designated camps until permanent housing is arranged, as residential townships are currently under construction in every province for them,” he told The Associated Press.
Meanwhile, Pakistani authorities have set a June 30 deadline for some 1.3 million Afghans to leave. Pakistan aims to expel a total of 3 million Afghans this year.
Pakistan army chief hails cadets from Arab and allied nations at Naval Academy graduation

- Among the 127 graduating midshipmen were 19 cadets from Bahrain, four from Iraq and two from Palestine
- The army chief says Pakistan’s response to India standoff showed armed forces ready to defend the country
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, on Saturday hailed the presence of cadets from Arab and allied countries at a Naval Academy graduation ceremony, saying it reflected the high standard of training the country offers to its military partners.
The commissioning parade, held in Karachi, marked the completion of the 123rd Midshipmen and 31st Short Service Commission courses.
Among the 127 graduating midshipmen were 19 cadets from Bahrain, four from Iraq and two from the State of Palestine, with additional participants from the Republic of Djibouti and the Republic of Türkiye.
“The Pakistan Naval Academy has consistently provided excellent professional training to cadets from allied nations,” the army chief said, according to a statement issued by the military’s media wing, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).

“The presence of cadets from Bahrain, Iraq, the State of Palestine, the Republic of Djibouti and the Republic of Türkiye in today’s commissioning parade is a reflection of the Academy’s high training standards,” he added.
Pakistan regularly trains cadets and officers from partner nations and sends its own officers abroad to institutions in countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom for advanced military education and joint training.
The ceremony was attended by senior officials from Pakistan and other countries, government representatives and families of the graduating cadets.

In his remarks, the army chief also praised the Navy’s professionalism and its efforts as a regional maritime force committed to securing international sea lines of communication.
He also referenced the recent standoff with India, saying the country’s armed forces had “responded swiftly and decisively against a numerically superior enemy,” and were fully prepared to defend Pakistan’s sovereignty.
Pakistan army chief vows retribution as 13 soldiers killed in militant attack in northwest

- Armed forces say 14 militants were killed in a firefight during a clearance operation after the convoy attack
- Field Marshal Asim Munir vows to avenge innocent Pakistani lives and respond swiftly to militant violence
KARACHI: Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, on Saturday vowed retribution after 13 soldiers were killed in a suicide bombing on an armed forces convoy in the country’s northwestern tribal belt, in one of the deadliest attacks on security personnel in recent months.
The military said the convoy was targeted in Mir Ali, a town in North Waziristan near the Afghan border, when an explosives-laden vehicle rammed into one of the lead vehicles after a failed attempt by a suicide bomber to detonate earlier.
Three civilians, including two children and a woman, were also injured in the blast.
Militant violence has surged in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in recent years, particularly in the tribal region, where attacks have targeted soldiers, police, government officials and civilian residents.
Saturday’s assault marked one of the highest single-day tolls for security forces this year. The military said it was followed by the killing of 14 militants in a firefight during a clearance operation launched by the security forces.
“Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir … visited Corps Headquarters Peshawar today, where he was briefed in detail on the prevailing security situation and ongoing counter-terrorism operations,” the military’s media wing, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), said in a statement. “During the visit, the Field Marshal also attended funeral of Shuhada [martyrs] of the incident at Bannu Garrison and visited the injured at Bannu CMH [Combined Military Hospital].”

“Reiterating the state’s uncompromising stance, the Chief of Army Staff vowed that all facilitators, abettors, and perpetrators of terrorism will be relentlessly pursued and brought to justice— without exception and at all costs, and the face of true perpetrator of terrorism in the region will be exposed to the entire world,” the statement added.
Most militant attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have been claimed by fighters belonging to the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), an umbrella group of armed factions that the Pakistani state refers to as khawarij — a term rooted in Islamic history used to describe a violent extremist sect that rebelled against authority and declared other Muslims as apostates.
The army described the assault as a “cowardly attack planned and orchestrated by the terrorist state of India” and executed by its “proxy Fitna Al-Khawarij.”
It said Pakistani forces intercepted the initial suicide bomber, but the attackers rammed a second explosive-laden vehicle into the convoy, killing 13 soldiers.

“The blood of every innocent Pakistani shall always be avenged,” the ISPR quoted the army chief as saying. “Any attempt to undermine Pakistan’s internal stability will be met with swift and decisive retribution.”
He also called for increased institutional support for civilian law enforcement agencies, particularly the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police, urging government stakeholders to prioritize capacity enhancement while reaffirming the army’s commitment to assist.
In a separate statement, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attack, offering prayers for the fallen soldiers and condolences to their families. He praised the security forces for their response, including the killing of 14 militants, and said the entire nation saluted its martyrs.
“We are determined to eliminate every form of terrorism from the country,” Sharif said.
Pakistan plans to finalize Roosevelt Hotel privatization structure at next cabinet committee meeting
Pakistan plans to finalize Roosevelt Hotel privatization structure at next cabinet committee meeting

- Privatization Commission denies reports claiming a $100 million base price has been set for the hotel
- It points out the deal’s value will depend on the government-approved transaction structure, final terms
KARACHI: Pakistan is expected to finalize the transaction structure for the privatization of the Roosevelt Hotel in New York at the next meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Privatization, the government said in a statement on Saturday.
Located in Midtown Manhattan, the hotel is owned by Pakistan International Airlines Investment Limited (PIAIL) and occupies a full city block on Madison Avenue and 45th Street. It has also remained one of Pakistan’s most high-profile yet politically sensitive overseas assets.
“The base price and expected proceeds from the privatization of the Roosevelt Hotel will depend on the transaction structure and final terms approved by the government,” the Privatization Commission said in an official handout. “The transaction structure is expected to be finalized at the next meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Privatization.”
The statement informed no base price had yet been set for the property, rebutting some local media reports that claimed the government had fixed a $100 million floor.
It also pointed out such a value could only be determined at the time of bidding, adding that the deal’s potential value would depend on the transaction structure and final terms approved by the cabinet committee.
Over the past two decades, successive Pakistani governments have floated plans to sell, lease or redevelop the property, but no proposal has advanced beyond early-stage planning.
Earlier this month, Muhammad Ali, the prime minister’s adviser on privatization, told Arab News that the government had completed the hotel’s baseline valuation and appointed US-based consultancy JLL to conduct market sounding.
“We just need to get approval from the cabinet committee on the structure, and we’ll move ahead,” he said.
Pakistan tops global emerging market rankings in sovereign risk improvement — Bloomberg Intelligence
Pakistan tops global emerging market rankings in sovereign risk improvement — Bloomberg Intelligence

- Government calls the development ‘a resounding signal’ to investors about Pakistan’s improving economy
- It attributes the new outlook to economic stabilization, structural reforms and successful IMF engagement
KARACHI: Pakistan has recorded the world’s sharpest decline in sovereign default risk over the past year, topping Bloomberg Intelligence’s Global Emerging Market (EM) Rankings for credit risk improvement, according to new data cited by a senior finance official on Saturday.
The data, published by Bloomberg’s research arm, showed that Pakistan’s credit default swap-implied probability of default fell from 59 percent to 47 percent over the past 12 months, a drop of 11 percentage points. The change marks the biggest reduction among tracked emerging markets, outpacing countries like Argentina, Tunisia and Nigeria, as default risk rose in others such as Egypt, Gabon and Turkiye.
Credit default swaps (CDS) are insurance-like financial contracts that allow investors to hedge against the risk of a government failing to repay its debt. Issued and traded by large financial institutions, these contracts pay out in the event of a default. The higher the cost of a CDS, the greater the perceived risk. Bloomberg Intelligence uses CDS pricing to assess a country’s sovereign risk in its Global EM Rankings.
“Pakistan stands out globally as the most improved economy in terms of reduction in sovereign default risk,” said Khurram Schehzad, adviser to the finance minister, in a social media post. “This is a resounding signal to global investors: Pakistan is not only back on the map— it is moving forward with stability, credibility, and reform at its core,” he added.
Bloomberg Intelligence is a highly regarded financial data and media company widely used by global investors, analysts and institutions.
The improvement in Pakistan’s risk profile comes after the South Asian nation narrowly avoided a sovereign default in 2023. With dwindling reserves and mounting debt repayments, Islamabad secured a short-term bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) with the support of key allies including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and China.
Since then, Pakistan has undertaken a series of IMF-recommended structural reforms and fiscal adjustments aimed at stabilizing the economy.
Credit rating agencies such as Standard & Poor’s and Fitch have acknowledged the progress with improved outlooks, while the government has prioritized timely debt servicing and macroeconomic discipline.
Schehzad attributed the improved outlook to “macroeconomic stabilization, structural reforms, successful IMF engagement and timely debt repayments,” noting that investor confidence had begun to return.