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ISLAMABAD: Police in Pakistan’s Punjab province have arrested 89 suspected militants in hundreds of intelligence-based operations across the province over the past three months, they said on Monday, amid a surge in militancy in the South Asian country.

Pakistan is currently battling an insurgency led by religiously motivated groups, including the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), in its Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, which borders Punjab. The attacks in KP this year forced Punjab authorities to heighten security in the region.

The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) of Punjab police conducted 940 raids and arrested 28 militants from Lahore and Rawalpindi, seven each from Faisalabad and Bahawalpur, 12 from Jhang and Sargodha, five from Sahiwal, four from Gujranwala and six from Gujrat and Bahawalnagar districts.

“Among the arrested militants were 55 linked to Fitna Al-Khawarij [Pakistani Taliban], five to Daesh, two to Al-Qaeda, two to Hizb ul-Tahrir and two to Jiye Sindh,” the Punjab CTD said in a statement.

“In the last three months, 13,521 combing operations were carried out during which 1,131 suspects were arrested.”

It said officials seized explosives, detonators, safety fuses, propaganda pamphlets, cash, primacord and other materials from the suspects, who were “planning attacks at various locations” to spread fear and panic among public.

The statement came hours after at least 24 people, including militants and civilians, were killed when a suspected bomb-making facility exploded on Monday at a compound used by Pakistani Taliban fighters in KP’s Tirah valley, according to media reports.

Fifteen people were killed this month in a suicide bombing claimed by the Daesh group at a political rally in the provincial capital Quetta.

According to the 2025 Global Terrorism Index (GTI), Pakistan is the world’s second-most affected country by militant violence, with deaths rising 45 percent to 1,081 in 2024.

The 12th annual GTI report, published by Australia-based think tank Institute for Economics and Peace, ranked 163 countries in 2024, covering 99.7 percent of the world’s population and analyzing the impact of militant activities worldwide. Pakistan is second only to West African country Burkina Faso on the list.

Pakistan has struggled to contain a surge in militancy in KP since a fragile truce between the Pakistani Taliban and Islamabad broke down in Nov. 2022. The country faces another decades-long insurgency by Baloch separatists in its southwestern Balochistan province.

Islamabad has frequently accused Afghanistan of allowing the use of its soil and India of backing militant groups for attacks against Pakistan. Kabul and New Delhi deny the allegation.

KARACHI: Health authorities have confirmed a new polio case in the southern Sindh province that brings the total number of children affected by the crippling virus this year to 27, the country’s polio program said on Tuesday.

The regional laboratory for polio eradication at Islamabad’s National Institute of Health (NIH) confirmed the new case in Sindh’s Hyderabad district, according to the country’s polio program. Of the 27 cases reported nationwide, it said, 18 are from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, seven from Sindh, and one each from Punjab and Gilgit-Baltistan. 

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 for every child under five during each campaign, alongside timely completion of all routine immunizations.

“Polio eradication is a collective responsibility,” the polio program said. “While dedicated frontline polio workers deliver vaccines, parents and caregivers must ensure their children receive all recommended doses, including routine immunizations.”

Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries where polio remains an endemic. Pakistan recorded 74 cases in 2024, a sharp rise from six in 2023 and just one in 2021.

Pakistan’s efforts to eliminate poliovirus have been hampered by parental refusals, widespread misinformation and repeated attacks on anti-polio workers by militant groups. In remote and volatile areas, vaccination teams often operate under police protection, though security personnel themselves have also been targeted in attacks.

This month, Pakistan’s National Emergency Operations Center (NEOC) for Polio Eradication conducted a sub-national polio vaccination campaign across 88 districts of the country, which successfully reached approximately 21 million children under the age of five, according to the polio program. 

The next nationwide polio vaccination campaign is scheduled for October 13-19, with health authorities aiming to reach approximately 45.4 million children through more than 400,000 dedicated polio workers who will go door-to-door to ensure that every child is vaccinated.

“These campaigns are designed to rapidly strengthen immunity and enhance protection as part of ongoing efforts to eradicate polio from Pakistan,” the polio program said. “Vaccination remains the only effective protection against lifelong disability.”