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NEW DELHI: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has asked the country’s lenders to increase scrutiny over funds flowing indirectly from Pakistan, according to a letter seen by Reuters that cited a “high risk” of such money being used to buy arms.

Direct flows of funds from Pakistan to India are largely prohibited with every transaction requiring the central bank’s approval.

The directive, dated August 6, follows investigations by Indian agencies after the two neighboring countries engaged in a fierce four-day military conflict in May.

It named Pakistan as “high risk” jurisdiction from an arms financing perspective and cited Indian investigations into arms financing but did not go into detail about their findings.

According to a government source with direct knowledge of the matter, Indian investigative authorities found that some Pakistan nationals had sent funds to India via other countries. India’s banking channels are at a “high risk” of being used for arms funding by Pakistan, said the source who was not authorized to speak to media and declined to be identified.

The central bank has general guidelines in place for banks to prevent money laundering, and the financing of arms and terrorism, but a directive drawing attention to Pakistan is rare.

The Reserve Bank of India did not respond to a Reuters’ request for comment.

Zafar Masud, president of the Pakistan Banks Association, said in a statement that Pakistan’s “anti-money laundering laws and combating the financing of terrorism is very strict and robust.”

The RBI letter to banks and non-bank lenders also separately cited instances where Pakistan has been accused of violating global sanctions and rules.

It noted that a June 2025 report by the global anti-money laundering watchdog Financial Action Task Force had accused a Pakistan state-owned entity, the National Development Complex, of evading sanctions by importing items for missile development without declaring them.

Pakistan’s foreign ministry did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.

The letter also listed North Korea as a “high risk” jurisdiction, citing sanctions imposed by the United Nations Security Council on the country in the past. 

PESHAWAR: Pakistan has confirmed two new polio cases in its northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, bringing the total number of children affected by the crippling virus this year to 23, health authorities said on Tuesday.

Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries where polio remains endemic. Pakistan made significant progress in curbing the virus, with annual cases dropping from around 20,000 in the early 1990s to just eight in 2018. Pakistan reported six cases in 2023 and only one in 2021, but the country saw a sharp resurgence in 2024 with 74 cases recorded.

Polio is a highly infectious and incurable disease that can cause lifelong paralysis. The only effective protection is through repeated doses of the Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) for every child under five during each campaign, alongside timely completion of all routine immunizations.

“The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health (NIH), Islamabad, has confirmed two new poliovirus cases from South Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, one from District Tank and the other from District North Waziristan,” the National Emergency Operations Center for Polio Eradication said in a statement.

The cases include a 16-month-old girl from Union Council Mullazai in District Tank and a 24-month-old girl from Union Council Miran Shah-3 in District North Waziristan. 

Of the 23 confirmed cases so far this year, 15 have been reported in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, six in Sindh, and one each in Punjab and Gilgit-Baltistan.

Health authorities noted that despite major progress in recent years, the continued detection of polio cases in southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was alarming. 

“It underscores that children in hard-to-access areas and those with low vaccine acceptance continue to be at risk. However, the National and Provincial Emergency Operations Centers are taking all possible measures to ensure the implementation of high-quality vaccination campaigns,” the statement added.

To stop transmission, the National Emergency Operations Center has drawn up a vaccination campaign schedule for the upcoming low-transmission season. 

“The first campaign of the season will be conducted from September 1–7, 2025, while in southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the campaign will commence on September 15. More than 28 million under-5 children will receive polio drops in door-to-door vaccination campaign,” the statement said.

The center stressed that eliminating polio required collective responsibility.

 “Polio eradication is a shared responsibility,” it said, urging parents to ensure children complete all recommended doses. 

The statement added that communities could play their part by supporting vaccination campaigns, countering misinformation and encouraging others to immunize.

Past efforts to eradicate the virus have been repeatedly undermined by vaccine misinformation and resistance from some religious hard-liners, who claim immunization is a foreign plot to sterilize Muslim children or a cover for Western espionage. 

Militant groups have also frequently targeted polio vaccination teams and the security personnel assigned to protect them, particularly in KP and Balochistan.