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Pakistan captain Salman Agha said India had “disrespected cricket” while Indian counterpart Suryakumar Yadav complained his side were denied the trophy after winning a fraught Asia Cup overshadowed by ill feeling on both sides.The two teams did not shake hands for the third Asia Cup match running as India won a thrilling final by five wickets in Dubai on Sunday.Suryakumar’s men then refused to accept the trophy from Mohsin Naqvi, the president of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC), who is also chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board and Pakistan interior minister.The Indian players instead celebrated retaining their regional crown by mimicking holding a trophy.Suryakumar told reporters: “I think this is one thing which I have never seen since I started playing cricket that the champion team is denied the trophy. “We took the call on the ground about not taking the trophy.”The Twenty20 tournament in the UAE was the first time the Asian cricket giants had met since a deadly military conflict between the nuclear-armed neighbours in May.Tensions had been running high after the two previous matches in the competition saw political posturing and a series of flashpoints between the two teams.”If you tell me about the trophies, my trophies are sitting in my dressing room — all the 14 players and support staff. They are the real trophies for me,” said Suryakumar.”It appeared on the big screen that India is Asia Cup 2025 champion. It was a great journey and moment for us as a team.” The presentation ceremony was delayed for an hour before announcer Simon Doull said: “I have been informed by the ACC that the Indian cricket team will not be collecting their awards tonight. So that does conclude the post-match presentation.”  Pakistan’s Agha said India’s actions during the tournament had been “bad for cricket”.”I think what has happened in this tournament is very disappointing,” Agha told reporters. “If they think they disrespected us by not shaking hands, then I say they disrespected cricket.”What they did today, a good team doesn’t do that. Good teams do what we have done. We waited for our medals and took them.”It’s been seen for the first time. I do not know where it will stop. What has happened in this tournament is bad for cricket.”In Sunday’s final, India’s third win over Pakistan in as many matches, India pace bowler Jasprit Bumrah bowled Haris Rauf for six and celebrated the dismissal with a crashing-plane gesture.Rauf had made a similar motion in the previous meeting between the two teams, appearing to mock India’s military action.Pakistan opener Sahibzada Farhan previously mimicked a gun celebration after hitting a half-century.- Tensions spill into cricket -India and Pakistan only meet in cricket on neutral territory in international tournaments because of long-simmering tensions between the arch-rivals.Both countries claimed victory in the four-day conflict in May that killed more than 70 people in missile, drone and military fire on each side.India tagged its military action against Pakistan “Operation Sindoor”, the Hindi word for vermilion, which married Hindu women wear on their foreheads.The name was seen as a symbol of Delhi’s determination to avenge those widowed in the April 22 attack in Kashmir’s Pahalgam, which sparked the hostilities.”#OperationSindoor on the games field,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote on X after Sunday’s win. “Outcome is the same — India wins! Congrats to our cricketers.”Naqvi was quick to respond, saying: “If war was your measure of pride, history already records your humiliating defeats at Pakistan’s hands.”burs-pst/dh

Pakistan captain Salman Agha said India had “disrespected cricket” while Indian counterpart Suryakumar Yadav complained his side “were denied the trophy” after winning a fraught Asia Cup. The two teams did not shake hands for the third Asia Cup match running as India won the final by five wickets in Dubai on Sunday.Suryakumar’s side did not attend the victory ceremony after refusing to accept the trophy from Mohsin Naqvi, the president of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC), who is also chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board and Pakistan interior minister.Suryakumar told reporters: “I think this is one thing which I have never seen since I started playing cricket that the champion team is denied the trophy. “We took the call on the ground about not taking the trophy.”The regional Twenty20 tournament was the first time the Asian cricket giants had met since deadly fighting between the nuclear-armed neighbours earlier this year.Tensions had been running high after the two previous matches in the competition saw political posturing and aggressive on-field behaviour.”If you tell me about the trophies, my trophies are sitting in my dressing room — all the 14 players and support staff. They are the real trophies for me,” said Suryakumar.”It appeared on the big screen that India is Asia Cup 2025 champion. It was a great journey and moment for us as a team.” The presentation ceremony was delayed for an hour before announcer Simon Doull said: “I have been informed by the ACC that the Indian cricket team will not be collecting their awards tonight. So that does conclude the post-match presentation.”  Pakistan’s Agha said India’s actions during the tournament had been “bad for cricket”.”I think what has happened in this tournament is very disappointing,” Agha told reporters. “If they think they disrespected us by not shaking hands, then I say they disrespected cricket.”What they did today, a good team doesn’t do that. Good teams do what we have done. We waited for our medals and took them.”It’s been seen for the first time. I do not know where it will stop. What has happened in this tournament is bad for cricket.”

Millions in India’s eastern city of Kolkata will draw on millennia-old traditions when they celebrate the Hindu festival of Durga Puja this week with street parties and worshipping idols in elaborate pavilions.The ancient and divine now increasingly interact with the digital and futuristic as wildly popular artificial intelligence apps help generate new design ideas.”Artisans are now using artificial intelligence to find new designs, helping them to stay updated,” potter Monti Paul said as he admired his statue of the goddess Durga.The statue, made of clay moulded onto a wire-and-straw frame and painted in neon pinks and blues, depicts the 10-armed, three-eyed goddess riding a lion while slaying a demon buffalo in a celebration of the triumph of good over evil.Paul, 70, learnt his craft from his father, like hundreds of other potters in the narrow alleys of Kumartuli, the city’s centuries-old idol-making hub.Kolkata is home to more than 15 million people and each year it erupts in a 10-day celebration of art, music, and devotion, an event UNESCO has recognised as part of humanity’s “intangible cultural heritage”.At its heart are the intricately crafted idols and the temporary temples, or “pandals”, commissioned by thousands of community clubs.Many reflect contemporary themes, from politics to pop culture.- ‘AI-driven images’ -Artisans race each year to create works more striking than before. For decades, designs were either drawn on paper or described verbally by the thousands of committees commissioning them, Paul explained.But the commissioning communities now also use AI apps, which generate fantastical pictures through text prompts, to translate ideas into images.”This year, many festival organisers are opting for AI-driven images — they give us pictures of idols from ChatGPT,” he said, noting that they draw on the “thousands of images of Durga idols from ancient times”.”We then try to create the designs of the idols as the organisers wish.”India, with 900 million internet users, according to the Internet and Mobile Association of India, has become one of the world’s largest markets for AI tools.It is the biggest user base for Google’s Nano Banana image-generation model and the second-largest for ChatGPT.China has more internet users, but India is open to US tech companies.- ‘Blessing or a curse’ -The fusion of AI with Durga Puja has itself become a theme for some.Subal Paul, secretary at a century-old community club in north Kolkata, said they chose artificial intelligence as their motif.”We took the help of ChatGPT and other AI tools to get the idea of the pandal and idol of the goddess Durga,” he said.”We took the help of chatbots… highlighting how artificial intelligence is shaping our life.”Their pavilion is decorated with giant computer keyboards and flashing lights, set against a backdrop resembling IT office towers.Two life-size robots guard the entrance, while another whirls atop the pandal roof before the idol.”The old order has changed, yielding place to a new one,” 45-year-old Subal Paul said. “We don’t know if it is a blessing or a curse.”For many, the technology only enhances a festival famed for transcending barriers of class, religion and community.”There is nothing as spectacular and soulful like this tradition,” said Ajoy Bhattacharya, 80, a scholar of Sanskrit scriptures.”It’s an amalgamation of tradition, culture and modernity.” 

India defeated Pakistan by five wickets for a record-extending ninth Asia Cup title on Sunday but skipped the trophy presentation in a tournament without handshakes between the two rivals.India finished unbeaten to retain the Asia Cup title — they won the last edition in the 50-over format — but Suryakumar Yadav’s team did not collect the trophy in Dubai.The presentation ceremony took more than an hour to get going with media reports saying India did not want to get the trophy from Pakistan Cricket Board chief and head of Asian Cricket Council Mohsin Naqvi.”I have been informed by the ACC that the Indian cricket team will not be collecting their awards tonight,” presenter Simon Doull said. “So that does conclude the post-match presentation.”Chasing 147 for victory, India depended on Tilak Varma’s unbeaten 69 to reach their target with two balls to spare in a tense chase.Varma put on a key stand, including a 60-run fifth-wicket partnership with Shivam Dube, who got out for 33 at the end of the 19th over.Needing 10 off the last over, Varma struck a six and Rinku Singh hit the winning boundary as the pair ran off to celebrate with their team, leaving Pakistan to shake hands among themselves.Kuldeep Yadav set up India’s third victory over their rivals in the regional tournament played under the T20 format as his figures of 4-30 helped bowl out Pakistan for 146.Kuldeep ended the tournament as the leading bowler with 17 wickets. Indian opener Abhishek Sharma won the player of the tournament with 314 runs, including three fifties at a strike-rate of 200.India were in trouble at 3-20 and 4-77, but Varma kept calm to anchor the chase as he hit three fours and four sixes in his knock.”It was a bit of pressure, but I wanted to stay at the wicket and finish the game,” Varma said after being named player of the match. “I was prepared to bat anywhere and I was backing on my game.”Wicketkeeper-batsman Sanju Samson’s 24 and then a supporting knock by Dube took India home at a nearly packed stadium dominated by Indian fans.”It is a tough pill to swallow,” Pakistan skipper Salman Agha said. “We could not finish well in the batting. Bowling, we gave everything.”- Bumrah retaliates -The two neighbours came into the title clash with tensions high from their previous two clashes in the competition, which witnessed political posturing and aggressive on-field behaviour.India pace bowler Jasprit Bumrah raised the heat in the first innings on Sunday when he bowled Haris Rauf for six and made a gesture similar to the one the Pakistan bowler had done to the crowd in the previous meeting between the two teams.Put in to bat after no handshakes at the toss, Pakistan started strongly as openers Sahibzada Farhan, who made 57, and Fakhar Zaman, who made 46, put on 84 runs but the team slipped from 113-1 to be bowled out in 19.1 overs.After Farhan fell, Zaman took charge and along with Saim Ayub kept up the attack with regular boundaries until Kuldeep struck in the 13th over.Ayub fell to Kuldeep’s left-arm wrist spin as Pakistan lost six wickets for 21 runs.Zaman fell short of his fifty and Kuldeep struck with three wickets in the 17th over, including Agha for eight.India and Pakistan met earlier in the competition for the first time after deadly fighting between the nuclear-armed neighbours, who have not played a bilateral series in over a decade.The two only meet in multi-nation tournaments at neutral venues as part of a compromise deal.India comfortably won their earlier two matches, but in the Super Four clash Farhan mimicked a gun celebration after his half-century.Rauf made gestures appearing to mock India’s military action during the four-day border conflict in May that left more than 70 people dead.In the group match, India skipper Suryakumar had refused to shake hands with Pakistan counterpart Agha and the two teams kept up the stance for the rest of the tournament.

Tilak Varma hit an unbeaten 69 as India defeated Pakistan by five wickets for a record-extending ninth Asia Cup title with no handshakes between the sides again on Sunday.Chasing 147 for victory, India depended on Varma’s 53-ball knock and a key 60-run stand with fellow left-hander Shivam Dube to reach their target with two balls to spare in Dubai.Dube got out for 33 at the end of the 19th over and, with India needing 10 off the last six deliveries, Varma struck a six and Rinku Singh hit the winning boundary as the pair ran off to celebrate with their team, leaving Pakistan to shake hands among themselves.Kuldeep Yadav set up India’s third victory over their rivals in the regional tournament played under the T20 format as his figures of 4-30 helped bowl out Pakistan for 146.India were in trouble at 3-20 and 4-77, but Varma kept calm to anchor the chase as he hit three fours and four sixes in his knock.Wicketkeeper-batsman Sanju Samson’s 24 and then a supporting knock by Dube took India home at a nearly packed stadium dominated by Indian fans. – Bumrah retaliates -The two neighbours came into the title clash with tensions high from their previous two clashes in the competition, which witnessed political posturing and aggressive on-field behaviour.India pace bowler Jasprit Bumrah raised the heat in the first innings on Sunday when he bowled Haris Rauf for six and made a gesture similar to the one the Pakistan bowler had done to the crowd in the previous meeting between the two teams.Put in to bat after no handshakes at the toss, Pakistan started strongly as openers Sahibzada Farhan, who made 57, and Fakhar Zaman, who made 46, put on 84 runs but the team slipped from 113-1 to be bowled out in 19.1 overs.Farhan fell after his second fifty in this edition of the Asia Cup after the batter attempted a second successive six off spinner Varun Chakravarthy.Zaman took charge and along with Saim Ayub kept up the attack with regular boundaries until Kuldeep struck in the 13th over.Ayub fell to Kuldeep’s left-arm wrist spin as Pakistan lost six wickets for 21 runs.Zaman fell short of his fifty and Kuldeep struck with three wickets in the 17th over, including skipper Salman Agha for eight.India and Pakistan met earlier in the competition for the first time after deadly fighting between the nuclear-armed neighbours, who have not played a bilateral series in over a decade.The two only meet in multi-nation tournaments at neutral venues as part of a compromise deal.India comfortably won their earlier two matches, but in the Super Four clash Farhan mimicked a gun celebration after his half-century.Rauf made gestures appearing to mock India’s military action during the four-day border conflict in May that left more than 70 people dead.In the group match, India skipper Suryakumar Yadav had refused to shake hands with Pakistan counterpart Agha and the two teams kept up the stance for the rest of the tournament.The Asia Cup was widely seen as a dress rehearsal for the T20 World Cup to be co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka in February-March of next year.

India skipper Suryakumar Yadav won the toss and elected to field first against Pakistan as the two teams stuck to no handshakes and cold vibes in the Asia Cup final on Sunday.The two neighbours come into the title clash with tensions high from their previous two clashes in the competition, which witnessed political posturing and aggressive on-field behaviour at the same venue in Dubai.Defending champions India and Pakistan are playing a final in the Asia Cup for the first time in the tournament’s 41-year-old history.India, who remain unbeaten in six matches of the Asia Cup, made three changes to the team from their previous win with all-rounder Hardik Pandya to sit out with injury.Jasprit Bumrah, Shivam Dube and Rinku Singh make the team in place of Pandya, Harshit Rana and Arshdeep Singh.Pakistan captain Salman Agha said he would have batted first anyway had he won the toss as his team come in unchanged from their previous win over Bangladesh.India and Pakistan met in the regional contest played under the T20 format after deadly fighting between the nuclear-armed neighbours, who have not played a bilateral series in over a decade.The two only meet in multi-nation tournaments at neutral venues as part of a compromise deal.India comfortably won both their games in the tournament, but in the Super Four clash Pakistan opener Sahibzada Farhan mimicked a gun celebration after his half-century.Pakistan pace bowler pacer Haris Rauf made gestures appearing to mock India’s military action during the four-day border conflict in May that left more than 70 people dead.In the group match, Suryakumar had refused to shake hands with Pakistan’s Agha and the two teams kept up the stance in the previous match.India won the previous edition played in the 50-over format.The Asia Cup is being widely seen as a dress rehearsal for the T20 World Cup to be co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka in February-March.TeamsIndia: Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav (capt), Tilak Varma, Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dube, Rinku Singh, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun ChakaravarthyPakistan: Sahibzada Farhan, Fakhar Zaman, Saim Ayub, Salman Agha (capt), Hussain Talat, Mohammad Haris (wk), Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf, Abrar AhmedUmpires: Ahmad Shah Pakteen (AFG), Masudur Rahman (BAN)TV Umpire: Raveendra Wimalasiri (SRI)Match Referee: Richie Richardson (WIS)

Police charged three close aides of a popular actor and politician with culpable homicide and negligence on Sunday after a stampede at his rally in southern India killed at least 40 people, officials said.Some 27,000 people thronged a public road in Tamil Nadu state in the hope of seeing the politician, known by the single name of Vijay, on Saturday but panic broke out, triggering a deadly crush.Such crowd incidents happen frequently during mass gatherings in India and are often blamed on lax safety measures.Police filed a case against three senior members of Vijay’s party, whom they identified as Bussy Anand, G.R. Nirmal Kumar and V.P. Mathiyazhagan.”A case has been registered and the investigation will reveal all who are involved,” senior police officer S. Davidson Devasirvatham told reporters.All three have been charged with “culpable homicide not amounting to murder” and negligent conduct endangering human life.Witnesses cited hours of delays, insufficient police presence and people falling from a tree branch onto the audience as reasons contributing to the crush.Vijay was addressing the rally in Karur district when the crowd surged suddenly, forcing him to halt his speech.Videos on social media showed him tossing water bottles to supporters shortly before the panic broke out.”I am at a loss for words to express the pain my heart endures,” the 51-year-old star said in a statement on Sunday.”This is indeed an irreparable loss for us,” he said, adding that he would pay two million rupees ($22,000) to each of the victims’ families as compensation.Senior district official M. Thangavel said 40 people had been killed in the stampede, raising an earlier toll of 39.Nine children were among the dead.- Huge crowds -State police chief G. Venkataraman said crowds had been waiting for hours after the public was told that Vijay would arrive at the venue by noon.”The crowds started coming in from 11 am. He came at 7:40 pm,” Venkataraman told reporters. “The people lacked sufficient food and water under the hot sun.”He said 10,000 people were expected but about 27,000 had turned up.Vijay launched his party in 2024 and has drawn huge crowds at campaign events ahead of state elections due next year.Survivor B. Kanishka said he was “pushed down by the crowd all of a sudden”.”There was absolutely no space to move,” he told the Hindu newspaper. “I subsequently fainted.” Others said poor organisation and an hours-long wait left people restless before the gathering spiralled out of control.Another survivor, identified as Karthick, told the paper that the disaster could have been prevented “if people were not forced to wait for hours together”.”Poor planning and execution of the programme and lack of police personnel at the spot were also the reason,” he said.The Indian Express newspaper said panic spread after supporters who had climbed into a tree fell onto the crowd below.In January, 30 people were killed in a crush at a major religious fair in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, and 121 were also killed during a Hindu prayer meeting in the same state last year.Eleven fans were crushed to death in the southern city of Bengaluru in June during celebrations for the local team’s first Indian Premier League cricket title.

A stampede that killed dozens at a south India political rally happened after a crowd of thousands waited hours in baking heat without sufficient safeguards, officials and witnesses said Sunday.Some 27,000 people thronged a public road in Tamil Nadu state in hopes of seeing popular actor-turned-politician Vijay on Saturday, but panic broke out and 39 were killed, authorities said.Witnesses cited hours of delays, insufficient police presence and people falling from a tree branch onto the audience as contributing to the tragedy.Deadly crowd incidents happen repeatedly during mass gatherings in India, often blamed on lax safety measures. Vijay, known by one name, was addressing the rally when the crowds surged suddenly, forcing him to halt his speech in Karur district. Videos on social media showed him tossing water bottles to supporters shortly before the panic broke out.”My heart is shattered at this tragedy,” the 51-year-old star said in a statement. State Chief Minister M.K. Stalin told reporters on Sunday that 39 people had died, raising an earlier toll of 36.Nine children were among the dead, he added, announcing a judicial enquiry into the disaster.State police chief G. Venkataraman said crowds had been waiting for hours under hot sun without sufficient food and water after the public was informed that Vijay would arrive at the venue by noon.”The crowds started coming in from 11 am. He came at 7:40 pm. The people lacked sufficient food and water under the hot sun,” he told reporters.He added 10,000 people were expected but some 27,000 turned up.Vijay launched his own party in 2024 and has drawn huge crowds at campaign events ahead of state elections due next year.”I was pushed down by the crowd all of a sudden. There was absolutely no space to move,” B. Kanishka, a survivor, told the Hindu newspaper. “I subsequently fainted.” Others said poor organisation and an hours-long wait left people restless before the situation spiralled dangerously out of control.Karthick, a survivor, told the publication that the situation could have been prevented “if people were not forced to wait for hours together”.”Poor planning and execution of the programme and lack of police personnel at the spot were also the reason,” he said.The Indian Express newspaper said panic spread after supporters who had climbed onto a tree branch fell onto the crowd below.In January, 30 people were killed in a crush at a major religious fair, and last year 121 died during a Hindu prayer meeting in Uttar Pradesh.In July last year, 121 people were killed in northern Uttar Pradesh state during a Hindu religious gathering.

India’s remote high-altitude desert region of Ladakh has been in turmoil since four people were killed in violent protests demanding greater political autonomy for the Himalayan territory.Growing resentment with New Delhi’s direct rule over the territory, and fears of losing livelihoods boiled over on Wednesday as crowds took to the streets in the main city Leh, torching a police vehicle and the offices of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).Initially police said five people had died but later revised the toll to four.The sparsely populated region, home to some 300,000 people, borders both China and Pakistan and is a strategic enclave for India. Around half of Ladakh’s residents are Muslim and about 40 percent are Buddhist. AFP looks at some of the issues.Why are people protesting?Modi’s government split Ladakh off from Indian-administered Kashmir in 2019, imposing direct rule on both after cancelling the region’s partial autonomy.Since then, resentment has been growing in Ladakh over Delhi’s rule, with concerns about losing traditional livelihoods, land rights, and cultural identity.Residents say the end of semi-autonomy stripped them of protections over land, jobs, and resources.Decisions on development are made in Delhi and implemented by officials sent from outside, leaving the local elected council sidelined.”All the protections we had within Jammu and Kashmir were all gone,” lawyer Mustafa Haji told AFP.Who is leading the demonstrations?The Apex Body Leh, led by veteran leader Chering Dorjay, has become the main voice of the protesters.”We have been used like slaves,” Dorjay, 77, said, vowing to continue the struggle in the days to come.Wednesday’s demonstrations were also organised in solidarity with prominent activist Sonam Wangchuk, who had been on hunger strike for two weeks.New Delhi blamed the unrest on “provocative speeches” by Wangchuk who was detained by police on Friday.What are the core demands?The protesters are demanding protection of land rights and to stop outsiders from buying property in Ladakh.They also want constitutional autonomy under the “Sixth Schedule” of India’s constitution, which would allow a local legislature to make laws on land use and jobs.Constitutional protections sought by Ladakhis may seem far off, but sustained negotiations with New Delhi have yielded some “small victories”, Dorjay said.The government has already reserved 85 percent of jobs for locals and frozen acquisition of domicile status for Indians from outside Ladakh until 2036.But Dorjay says “there is a long way to go.”Why is land a sensitive issue?The government has announced large-scale solar projects and industrial plans in Ladakh that require thousands of acres of land. Locals fear this will endanger grazing grounds critical for pashmina goat herding, already under pressure from climate change and military buffer zones established with China. “The danger to this centuries-old livelihood undermining lives of thousands of pashmina goat herders is another issue now,” Dorjay said.Ladakh is heavily militarised, with Indian troops guarding its disputed borders with Pakistan and China.Tensions soared after deadly clashes with Chinese forces in 2020, and new buffer zones have further reduced land available to herders.”A situation where you don’t have any protection for your land and identity is not a happy one,” lawyer Haji said. How do Ladakhis view relationship with India?Unlike in Kashmir where opposition to Indian rule runs deep, Ladakhis have historically aligned with India, backing its troops in past conflicts with Pakistan and China. But many now say they feel betrayed. “For 70 years we have helped protect India’s borders,” Haji told AFP. “Now we want ourselves to be protected.”

Misinformation plagued the first rollout of a vaccine to protect Pakistani girls against cervical cancer, with parents slamming their doors on healthcare workers and some schools shutting for days over false claims it causes infertility.The country’s first HPV vaccine campaign aimed to administer jabs to 11 million girls — but by the time it ended Saturday only around half the intended doses were administered.A long-standing conspiracy theory that Western-produced vaccines are used to curb the Muslim population has been circulating online in Pakistan.Misinformation has also spread that the vaccine disrupts the hormones of young girls and encourages sexual activity, in a country where sex before marriage is forbidden.”Some people have refused, closed their gates on us, and even hid information about their daughter’s age,” vaccinator Ambreen Zehra told AFP while going door to door in a lower-middle-income neighbourhood in Karachi.Only around half the intended vaccines had been administered, according to a federal health department official who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity.”Many girls we aimed to reach are still unvaccinated, but we are committed to ensuring the vaccine remains available even after the campaign concludes so that more women and girls get vaccinated,” they said on Friday.One teacher told AFP on condition of anonymity that not a single vaccine had been administered in her school on the outskirts of Rawalpindi because parents would not give consent, something she said other rural schools had also experienced.A health official who asked not to be named said some private schools had resorted to closing for several days to snub vaccine workers.”On the first day we reached 29 percent of our target, it was not good, but it was fine,” said Syeda Rashida Batool, Islamabad’s top health official who started the campaign by inoculating her daughter.”The evening of that first day, videos started circulating online and after that it dipped. It all changed.”A video of schoolgirls doubled over in pain after teargas wafted into their classroom during a protest several years ago was re-shared online purporting to show the after-effects of the vaccine.The popular leader of a right-wing religious party, Rashid Mehmood Soomro, said last week the vaccine, which is voluntary, was being forced on girls by the government.”In reality, our daughters are being made infertile,” he told a rally in Karachi.- ‘This will control the population’ -In 95 percent of cases, cervical cancer is caused by persistent infection with Human Papillomavirus (HPV) –- a virus that spreads through sexual activity, including non-penetrative sex, that affects almost everyone in their lifetime.The HPV vaccine, approved by the World Health Organization, is a safe and science-based protection against cervical cancer and has a long history of saving lives more than 150 countries.Cervical cancer is particularly deadly in low and middle income countries such as Pakistan, where UNICEF says around two-thirds of the 5,000 women diagnosed annually will die, although the figure is likely under-reported.This is because of a significant lack of awareness around the disease, cultural taboos around sexual health and poor screening and treatment services.It is underlined by the damaging belief that only women with many sexual partners can contract sexually transmitted infections.In Europe, where the HPV vaccine has been highly effective, there were around 30,000 diagnoses across all 27 EU nations in 2020, of which around one-third of women died, according to the European Commission.”My husband won’t allow it,” said Maryam Bibi, a 30-year-old mother in Karachi who told AFP her three daughters would not be vaccinated.”It is being said that this vaccine will make children infertile. This will control the population.”Humna Saleem, a 42-year-old housewife in Lahore, said she thought the vaccine was “unnecessary”.”All cancers are terrible. Why don’t we tell our boys to be loyal to their wives instead of telling our girls to get more vaccines?” she told AFP.Pakistan –- one of only two countries along with Afghanistan where polio is endemic -– remains stubbornly resistant to vaccines as a result of misinformation and conspiracy theories.After marking one year without polio cases for the first time in 2023, the crippling disease has resurged with 27 cases reported in 2025 so far.In response to overwhelming misinformation about the HPV vaccine, Pakistan’s minister of health, Syed Mustafa Kamal, took the bold move to have his teenage daughter vaccinated in front of television cameras.”In my 30-year political career I have never made my family public,” he told reporters.”But the way my daughter is dear to me, the nation’s daughters are also dear to me, so I brought her in front of the media.”zz-stm-sma-nz-ecl/dhw