#Lahore - "We Thought He Had Covid But It Was Smog": Pakistan's Struggle To Breathe

Lahore with nearly 11 million people near the border with India was once the ancient capital of the Mughal Empire and remains Pakistan's cultural epicentre.

Red-eyed residents cough, everything smells of smoke, and cars shine their headlights in the middle of the day. Smog has again blanketed Pakistan's Lahore, and its citizens are becoming desperate.

The megacity of nearly 11 million people near the border with India was once the ancient capital of the Mughal Empire and remains Pakistan's cultural epicentre.

But now it regularly ranks among the worst cities in the world for air pollution -- a mixture of low-grade diesel fumes, smoke from seasonal crop burn off, and colder winter temperatures coalescing into stagnant clouds.

Syed Hasnain is visibly exhausted as he waits on his four-year-old son who has been admitted at the city's Mayo Hospital.

"He was coughing and not able to breathe properly and had a high temperature. We thought maybe it is coronavirus so we brought him to the hospital. But the doctors told us he has developed pneumonia because of the smog," a visibly exhausted Hasnain tells AFP.

"It's very worrisome," he admits. "I knew that the smog can be bad for health -- but I didn't know it would be so bad that my son would be hospitalised."

Teachers also worry for the children.

"The pollution is a problem even inside class. We see children with red eyes and irritation, others continually cough," Nadia Sarwar, a government school teacher, tells AFP.

One child, who has asthma, has had to stay home for several days because he kept suffering attacks, she says.

Across the border, Delhi has closed schools until the end of the month because of its pollution woes.

But Sarwar says it would be difficult to do the same in Lahore.

The children have already missed so much thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, and to shut schools down now would be making them "pay for a problem they didn't create."

"I feel bad for them," she said. "In the summers it is too hot here for outdoor activities. And in the winters there is pollution and dengue now. What can a child do? Where can he go?"

- 'Nobody cares' -

Adults are also struggling. Rana Bibi, a 39-year-old mother of three who works as a cleaner, uses her dupatta (shawl) as a face mask while waiting for a rickshaw to take her home.

"The smoke hurts my eyes and throat. That's why I have covered my face this way. First they made us do it for corona(virus), but now I am doing it myself," she says.

"When I reach home I am always smelling of smoke; my clothes, my hair, and my hands are dirty. But what can one do? I can't sit at home. I got used to it."

Some of the homes she cleans "have these machines that clean the air. I don't know. That's what they tell me. But there is smoke everywhere here."

In recent years residents have built homemade air purifiers and filed lawsuits against government officials in desperate bids to clean the air.

But authorities have been slow to act, blaming the smog on India or claiming the figures are exaggerated.

"Every year we read in the news that Lahore is the most polluted city or that it had the worst smog in the world. Nothing happens. Nobody cares," says Saira Aslam, who works in the HR department of a tech company.

The 27-year-old is angry: "The government got away with it last year because we were all sitting at home anyway due to the lockdown. But they can't keep acting like nothing is wrong," she says.

"I have elderly people at home who are literally at risk because of the smog. It's a health hazard and needs to be treated like one."

https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/we-thought-he-had-covid-but-it-was-smog-pakistans-struggle-to-breathe-2616239

 

Pakistan in damage control mode after Bangladesh reacts strongly to hoisting of flag

Several Bangladeshi cricket fans were angered after the Pakistan cricket team hoisted the Pakistani flag in the Mirpur ground in Dhaka on Tuesday. The Bangladeshi citizens did not like the act and also felt it was a political gesture ahead of the golden jubilee celebrations of Bangladesh's independence.
The Pakistani cricket team is currently in Bangladesh where it is scheduled to play three T20 matches and two test matches.
Bangladesh is celebrating 50 years of its independence. The southeast Asian nation, a close neighbour of India, freed itself from the rule of Pakistan after a hard-fought battle with help from the Indian Army in 1971.
According to people familiar with the development, Bangladesh minister Dr Murad Hasan was unimpressed by the incident. Hasan also said that the team be sent back with the flag. “Pakistan cricketers hoisted their national flag during practice. This is not acceptable under any circumstances. I can't support it in any manner,” Hasan said.During any sporting event, it is common practice to hoist the national flags of the participating countries before a fixture but hoisting it during the practice match by the Pakistan national team stirred controversy. “Father of the nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's daughter and prime minister Sheikh Hasina took Bangladesh cricket to new heights through various initiatives. Pakistan team’s practice of hoisting the national flag in Dhaka is a great blow to our national spirit at a time when Bangladesh is celebrating the golden jubilee of its independence from Pakistan and Mujib Borsho marking birth centenary of Bangabandhu,” Hasan further added.
Civil society body Nirmul Committee, which was formed to track down and put killers and collaborators of Pakistan during the 1971 war, also condemned the move and said it was ‘intentionally’ disrespectful towards Bangladesh as it celebrates the golden jubilee of its independence.
Pakistan Cricket Board, however, went into damage control mode saying that coach Saqlain Mushtaq began this practice two months earlier. “ Saqlain Mushtaq launched the practice to boost the team's morale,” visiting team manager Ibrahim Badizi told news agency BBC.
https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/pak-in-damage-control-mode-after-bangladesh-reacts-strongly-to-hoisting-of-flag-101637244363678.html