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KARACHI: Pakistan has vaccinated more than 10.6 million children in the first two days of a nationwide anti-polio campaign, health authorities said on Wednesday, as the country battles a resurgence of the virus that has already left 24 children paralyzed this year.

The weeklong campaign from Sept 1-9 is the country’s fourth drive of 2025 and aims to immunize 28.7 million children under five across 99 high-risk districts. 

The National Emergency Operations Center (NEOC) said the push was being conducted simultaneously with Afghanistan, the only other country where polio remains endemic.

“In the first two days of the campaign, 37 percent of children nationwide [from target of 28.7 million] have been vaccinated,” the NEOC said in a statement.

Vaccination rates so far include 23 percent in Punjab, 47 percent in Sindh, 41 percent in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), 49 percent in Balochistan, 44 percent in Islamabad, 59 percent in Gilgit-Baltistan and 65 percent in Azad Kashmir. 

The drive was postponed in nine Punjab districts due to flooding and will begin in southern KP on Sept. 15.

Polio, an incurable and highly infectious virus that causes lifelong paralysis, can only be prevented through repeated doses of oral vaccine and routine immunizations. Pakistan recorded 74 cases in 2024, a sharp rise from six in 2023 and just one in 2021, underscoring the challenge of eradication.

Pakistan has made major gains since the 1990s, when annual cases exceeded 20,000, reducing the toll to eight by 2018. But vaccine hesitancy, fueled by misinformation and resistance from some religious hard-liners, continues to undermine efforts.

Polio teams have also faced frequent militant attacks, particularly in KP and Balochistan, where health workers and security personnel have been killed while administering drops in remote communities. Officials say such violence, coupled with natural disasters like the current flooding, are complicating nationwide eradication efforts.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan warned on Wednesday of fresh flooding risks in Punjab after India conveyed a “high flood” alert for the Sutlej and Tawi rivers, even as rising waters on the Chenab threatened downstream districts where millions are already reeling from monsoon devastation.

Punjab, Pakistan’s most populous province and its agricultural heartland, has been under a flood emergency for more than a week, with at least 41 people killed and more than 2.4 million affected in the last 10 days, according to the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA). 

Nationwide, rains, floods and landslides have killed 881 people since June 26, reviving memories of the catastrophic 2022 deluges when a third of the country was submerged, more than 1,700 people died, 30 million were displaced and economic losses topped $35 billion.

With fresh inflows working through Punjab’s waterways, authorities have warned riverside settlements in districts of Kasur, Okara, Vehari, Bahawalnagar, Gujrat, Sialkot and Jhang to prepare for possible evacuations in the coming days.

“The High Commission of India to Pakistan has conveyed the following information … Flood Data: High Flood, Sutlej (Harike below, Ferozepur below) and Tawi, Jammu, at 0800 hrs on 3rd September 2025,” Pakistan’s Office of the Commissioner for Indus Waters said in a statement.

The PDMA said the Indian intimation meant “Sutlej, Harike and Ferozepur below, and Tawi, Jammu is at high flood level … which will affect the water levels in downstream respective districts.”

Much of the flooding crisis in Pakistan is driven by unusually heavy monsoon rains, but water levels also surge when India releases excess flows from its upstream dams and barrages once reservoirs fill to capacity. 

Under the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty, India retains control of the eastern rivers — Ravi, Beas and Sutlej — but is obliged to notify Pakistan of releases that could cause flooding downstream, a process meant to prevent sudden inundations.

RISING RIVER FLOWS

According to the PDMA’s latest update, water levels were continuing to rise along the Chenab River, with flows at Marala Headworks crossing 468,000 cusecs, Khanki at 367,000 and Qadirabad at 253,000. 

Levels on the Ravi were also climbing at Jassar, Ravi Siphon and Shahdara, while the Sutlej was steady but carrying more than 269,000 cusecs at G.S. Wala.

PDMA chief Irfan Ali Kathia said the civil administration, army and line departments had been placed on alert, pledging that citizens’ lives and property would be protected.

Authorities have directed district administrations to strengthen embankments, pre-place heavy machinery at choke points, and stockpile food, medicines and drinking water in flood-prone areas. Evacuation teams and Rescue 1122 units have been pre-deployed.

POWER DISRUPTIONS

Floodwaters have also battered electricity distribution networks across multiple regions. A federal Power Division report said tens of thousands of households in districts such as Jhang and Toba Tek Singh remained without power as of Wednesday, while Chiniot and Faisalabad had restored service to more than 90 percent of affected consumers.

In Jhang, only about 5 percent of over 81,000 impacted customers had electricity back, while in Chiniot nearly 95 percent of 72,000 affected consumers had been reconnected. The ministry said most repairs were targeted for completion between Sept. 4 and 5, subject to floodwaters receding.

“Restoration of electricity in affected areas is the top priority,” the Power Division said.

Monsoon rains, which provide 70–80 percent of South Asia’s annual precipitation between June and September, are crucial for farming but increasingly unpredictable due to climate change.