OIC, COMSTECH to hold inaugural meeting in Islamabad this month on water security in OIC states

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday condemned a “terrorist attack” that targeted a Levies checkpost in southwestern Pakistan and resulted in the killing of one paramilitary soldier, his office said. 

The casualty occurred in southwestern Balochistan’s Kalat district where a checkpost of the paramilitary Levies force was targeted in an attack, Sharif’s office said. As per local media reports, two other Levies personnel were injured. 

“Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif strongly condemns the terrorist attack on a Levies post in Kalat,” the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said in a statement. “The prime minister pays tribute to martyred officer Ali Nawaz.”

Sharif also prayed for the speedy recovery of the injured personnel, saying that “terrorists” were enemies of Balochistan’s progress and development. 

“Will not allow the nefarious objectives of terrorists to succeed,” Sharif was quoted as saying by the PMO. 

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 Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), who accuse Islamabad of exploiting the province’s natural resources, such as gold and copper, while neglecting the local population.

Pakistan’s government denies these allegations, saying it has prioritized Balochistan’s development through investments in health, education and infrastructure projects.

Earlier this month, 18 security forces were killed and five, including two civilians, were injured after separatist militants launched overnight attacks in Balochistan's Mangochar town. The BLA claimed responsibility for the attack

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: The government in Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province has launched a campaign to plant 634,000 trees in Lahore in its bid to curb smog in the eastern city, a minister of the provincial government said on Sunday. 

Air pollution or smog choked Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province, particularly Lahore, for weeks in November 2024, sickening nearly two million people and shrouding vast swathes of the province in a toxic haze.

The intense air pollution forced Punjab to close schools and offices, ban outdoor activities and shorten timings for restaurants, shops and markets last year in a bid to control the smog. Lahore also consistently ranked among the world’s most polluted cities in the world. 

Senior Punjab Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb announced that the provincial government has launched the tree plantation project on 978 acres of land on the banks of River Ravi in Lahore. 

“A tree plantation campaign in Lahore is essential to end air pollution and extreme heat,” Aurangzeb said. “A green belt on 978 acres on the banks of the Ravi River will provide fresh oxygen and clean air to citizens.”

She urged citizens to join the government in its efforts to erect “a wall of trees” in Lahore to ensure a smog-free Lahore, adding that 105,000 trees have already been planted on 144 acres of land near River Ravi. 

Punjab’s battle against smog led it to install Pakistan’s first locally designed smog cleaning tower in Lahore in December 2024. Smog towers are large-scale air purifiers designed to reduce pollution by filtering out fine particulate matter and other harmful pollutants. 

Using fans, the towers draw in polluted air, which passes through high-efficiency filters to capture PM2.5 and PM10 particles, which pose severe health risks. The cleaned air is then released back into the surrounding area, improving local air quality.