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ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) on Friday warned of heavy rains and hailstorms in the capital Islamabad, central Punjab and northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province from Oct. 3 to 6, as the country reels from devastating flood losses.

Landslides, floods and rainfall this year have killed 1,037 people and injured 1,067 throughout the country from June 26 till October 1, according to Pakistan's National Disaster Management Authority.

More than 3.6 million people were also affected across 3,363 villages, with nearly 1.29 million moved to safer areas and hundreds of relief camps set up in inundated districts in Punjab, Pakistan’s agricultural heartland.

"Thunderstorm and hailstorm [are] expected in Potohar, Punjab and southern KP," the PMD said in a post on X. 

"Rain and thunderstorm in Gilgit Baltistan [are also expected] for next three days."

It added that rain and hailstorms were also expected in Rawalpindi, Lahore, Faisalabad and Dera Ismail Khan.

The PMD also said windstorms and lightning may damage mud houses, electric poles, billboards and solar panels in the lower parts of southern Sindh province.

In April, a severe hailstorm accompanied by heavy rain hit Islamabad and nearby areas, damaging vehicles and shattering house windows.

Pakistan is among the countries most vulnerable to climate change, where scientists say rising temperatures are making South Asian monsoon rains heavier and more erratic.

The seasonal downpours provide up to 80 percent of the country’s annual rainfall but also cause regular devastation.

The catastrophic 2022 floods in Pakistan submerged a third of the country, displacing 30 million people and causing losses exceeding $35 billion.
 

KARACHI: The provincial administration of Sindh on Friday announced tough measures against parents refusing polio vaccination for their children, as the country grapples with a rising number of cases of the crippling disease.

Last month, the National Institute of Health confirmed two poliovirus cases in the province, raising the nationwide tally to 29 this year. Pakistan remains one of the two countries, alongside Afghanistan, where polio is still endemic.

Efforts to eradicate the virus have been undermined by parental refusals, misinformation and militant attacks on vaccination workers. In some areas, inoculation teams operate under police protection, but security personnel have also been targeted and killed.

“I have no other option but to penalize those who shirk their national responsibility of eradicating polio,” Shah Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah told officials at a meeting in Karachi, according to a statement circulated by his office. “This responsibility begins at home and affects the entire province and the country.”

The statement said Shah’s administration was considering blocking national identity cards, mobile SIM cards and passports of parents refusing vaccination to deny them travel and communication privileges.

The chief minister also ordered the establishment of a polio refusal cell, directing the health authorities to provide detailed data on refusing parents at the union council level so refusals can be countered through social, political and administrative channels.

He also instructed that vaccination be ensured in all such households.

Shah asked the provincial chief secretary to prepare a plan to block IDs, SIMs and passports, adding that the forthcoming Oct. 13 vaccination campaign should be run like a “war strategy” and warning that negligence would not be tolerated.

Some health and administrative officials have already been removed for poor performance, he said, and more could follow.

Polio is a highly infectious and incurable disease that can cause lifelong paralysis. The only protection is repeated doses of the Oral Polio Vaccine for every child under five, alongside routine immunizations.

Pakistan recorded 74 cases in 2024, up from six in 2023 and just one in 2021.

The official statement said Sindh had reported nine cases so far this year, with many of the infections, particularly in Karachi and Malir, linked to parental refusals.

Environmental samples from several Karachi neighborhoods have also tested positive for the virus.

During the September campaign, over 216,000 children in the province missed vaccination, including 35,000 whose parents refused.