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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s most populous province, Punjab, lowered the Air Quality Index in Lahore from 666 to 170 in its first anti-smog gun operation on Saturday, a senior provincial minister said.

The move comes as Lahore, one of the world’s most polluted cities, faces worsening smog each winter from crop burning, vehicle emissions and industrial pollution that threaten public health and daily life.

Smog can cause sore throats, eye irritation and respiratory illnesses, while long-term exposure increases the risk of stroke, heart disease and lung cancer. Children are particularly vulnerable due to higher breathing rates and weaker immune systems.

“This 70 percent decrease in air pollution has been scientifically analyzed and confirmed by our advanced environmental monitoring system,” Punjab Senior Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb said in a video post on X.

“Our commitment to utilizing modern technology to combat smog and safeguard citizens’ health remains absolute.”

The video showed anti-smog trucks spraying fine water mist across Lahore to help settle dust and pollutants.

The smog season begins in late October, peaks from November to January and lasts through February.

Lahore’s 14 million residents spent six months breathing concentrations of PM2.5, tiny particles that can penetrate the lungs and bloodstream at levels 20 times or more than recommended by the World Health Organization.

Pakistan’s main urban centers routinely rank among the most polluted cities in the world, with vehicular emissions remaining one of the top contributors to air pollution.

This severe air pollution also undermines economic productivity and diminishes the quality of life for millions of residents.

KARACHI: Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Asif is leading the delegation of his country to Doha to hold talks with Afghan officials today, Saturday, demanding an end to “cross-border terrorism,” said the foreign office in a statement.

The development comes after days of fierce battles between the two neighbors along their long and porous border, which led to the deaths of dozens of people on both sides, with Pakistan carrying out airstrikes in Kandahar and Kabul before the two sides reached an uneasy truce that opened the window for bilateral talks arranged by Qatar.

Pakistan has long accused Afghanistan of sheltering militant groups like the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the separatist Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) and facilitating their attacks against its civilians and security forces. Kabul denies the allegation, though it has become a key sticking point between the two countries and has led more serious skirmishes than ever before.

“A high-level delegation from Pakistan, led by our Minister of Defense, will hold discussions with representatives of the Afghan Taliban in Doha today,” the foreign office said in a social media post. “The talks will focus on immediate measures to end cross-border terrorism against Pakistan emanating from Afghanistan and restore peace and stability along the Pak-Afghan border.”

“Pakistan does not seek escalation but urges the Afghan Taliban authorities to honor their commitments to the international community and address Pakistan’s legitimate security concerns by taking verifiable action against terrorist entities,” it added.

The foreign office also appreciated Qatar’s mediation efforts, adding it hoped the discussions would lead to peace and stability in the neighborhood.

Only a day earlier, there was a militant attack on a Pakistani security compound in the northwest that killed at least seven soldiers, eliciting airstrikes from the authorities in Islamabad in an Afghan border town against the Hafiz Gul Bahadar group involved in the suicide bombing and gun attack at a military camp.

The Afghanistan Cricket Board told AFP that three players who were in the region for a tournament were killed by Friday’s airstrikes, revising down an earlier toll of eight.

However, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said on Saturday Pakistan had carried out “precision strikes” in which about 70 militants had been killed.

“All speculations and assertions being made regarding targeting of civilians are false and meant to generate support for terrorist groups operating from inside Afghanistan,” he added.

Security sources said that the Doha talks were held to convey a single point to the Afghan administration, which is to stop supporting “terrorism inside Pakistan.”

A day earlier, United States President Donald Trump offered to help end hostilities between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

“I do understand that Pakistan attacked or there is an attack going on with Afghanistan,” he said in a meeting with the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House.

“That’s an easy one for me to solve if I have to solve it. In the meantime, I have to run the USA. But I love solving wars.”
Pakistani security forces also said on Saturday they had conducted a successful intelligence-based operation in Mughal

Kot sector of Bannu in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, killing two militants.

They added that heavy weapons had also been recovered from the militants belonging to the TTP.