Pakistan welcomes Ireland, Spain, and Norway’s recognition of a Palestinian state

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has left for the provincial capital of Quetta for a day-long visit where he will be briefed about the law and order situation in southwestern Balochistan, his office said on Monday, days after a militant attack killed 18 soldiers in the province.
The Pakistan army said on Saturday 18 security forces had been killed while trying to thwart an “act of terrorism” in the insurgency-plagued Balochistan province, adding that 23 militants were killed in subsequent clearance operations. 
The army said the attack took place in Kalat district’s Mangochar town on the night between Friday and Saturday when militants attempted to establish roadblocks in the area. The banned Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), one of the most prominent separatist groups operating in the southwestern province, claimed responsibility for the attack. 
“Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif leaves for Quetta on a day-long visit,” the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said in a statement. It said Sharif will meet security forces personnel who were injured while battling militants in Kalat last week. 
“The prime minister will also meet the provincial leadership in Quetta and will be briefed on law and order,” the statement added. 
Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar, Defense Minister Khawaja Asif, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar and Power Minister Sardar Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari are accompanying Sharif, the PMO said. 
Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest province by landmass and rich in mineral resources, has long faced a low-level insurgency led by separatist groups like the BLA, who accuse Islamabad of exploiting the province’s natural resources while neglecting the local population.
Pakistani governments have for decades denied these allegations, saying they have prioritized Balochistan’s development through investments in health, education and infrastructure projects.

The BLA has emerged as a significant security threat in recent months, carrying out major attacks in Balochistan and other parts of Pakistan and targeting security forces, ethnic Punjabis they consider outsiders in Balochistan, as well as Chinese interests and nationals working on investment projects.

Over 50 people, including security forces, were killed in August last year in a string of attacks in Balochistan claimed by the BLA. Last month, dozens of fighters of the separatist outfit gained control of a small town in Khuzdar for hours. They snatched weapons and vehicles from the local Levies paramilitary force and set the Levies station on fire.

Violence by Baloch separatist factions, primarily the BLA, killed about 300 people last year, according to official statistics, marking an escalation in the decades-long conflict.
 

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has formally kicked off its first anti-polio drive of 2025 today, Monday, to vaccinate over 45 million children under the age of five, the health ministry said as the country hopes to stem the spread of the disease. 

The Pakistan polio program conducts multiple mass vaccination drives in a year, and this year’s first anti-polio vaccination campaign is expected to continue till Feb. 9. Pakistan has assembled teams of around 400,000 polio workers to go door-to-door countrywide to vaccinate children below five years of age, Coordinator for Health Dr. Mukhtar Bharath said. 

Polio is a paralyzing disease that has no cure. Multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine and completion of the routine vaccination schedule for all children under the age of five are essential to provide children high immunity against the disease.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif launched Pakistan’s first anti-polio drive of 2025 during an event in Islamabad on Sunday, administering polio drops to children during the ceremony. 

“During the polio campaign, more than 45 million children across the country will be administered polio drops,” the Ministry of Health’s spokesperson said. 

Dr. Bharath called on parents to support polio vaccinators and ensure their children received the vaccines. 

“It is the national and moral responsibility of parents to vaccinate all children under the age of five,” he said. 

Pakistan has reported only one polio case this year. However, last year the South Asian country reported 73 cases with Balochistan province reporting 27, the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh reporting 22 case each, and Pakistan’s capital city and eastern Punjab province each reporting one case of the disease throughout the year. 

Pakistan and Afghanistan remain the only two countries where the disease is endemic. 

Immunization campaigns have succeeded in most countries and have come close in Pakistan, but persistent problems remain. In the early 1990s, Pakistan reported around 20,000 cases annually but in 2018 the number dropped to eight cases. Six cases were reported in 2023 and only one in 2021.

Pakistan’s polio program began in 1994 but efforts to eradicate the virus have since been undermined by vaccine misinformation and opposition from some religious hard-liners who say immunization is a foreign ploy to sterilize Muslim children or a cover for Western spies.

Militant groups also frequently attack and kill members of polio vaccine teams.