{"id":225397,"date":"2025-06-30T01:30:14","date_gmt":"2025-06-30T01:30:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/225397\/"},"modified":"2025-06-30T01:30:14","modified_gmt":"2025-06-30T01:30:14","slug":"pakistan-tops-global-emerging-market-rankings-in-sovereign-risk-improvement-bloomberg-intelligence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/225397\/","title":{"rendered":"Pakistan tops global emerging market rankings in sovereign risk improvement \u2014 Bloomberg Intelligence"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Pakistani province probes alleged sale of UNICEF-tagged soap for anti-polio campaign\n <\/p>\n


\n\tPESHAWAR: Authorities in Pakistan\u2019s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province are probing the alleged sale of soap bars, which were provided by the United Nations Children\u2019s Fund (UNICEF) for the country\u2019s campaign against polio, at a market in Peshawar, officials said on Friday.<\/p>\n


\n\tThe comments came after the seizure of over 200 soap bars at the Faqeerabad market in the provincial capital, which bore the \u201cnot-for-sale\u201d marking, according to Additional Assistant Commissioner Azimullah Mehsud.<\/p>\n


\n\tThe local administration acted on a tip-off about UNICEF-tagged soap bars being \u201cdiverted\u201d to the open market. A preliminary investigation suggested the consignment originated in the southern Sindh province.<\/p>\n


\n\tAuthorities arrested a shopkeeper on June 25, who was selling these soap bars on Facebook and in the local market in the northwestern Pakistani city.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cAccording to initial investigations, he [the suspect] told us that they got this supply [of soaps] from Sindh,\u201d Mehsud told Arab News. \u201cThe person we have arrested told us he gives this [to people] on Facebook marketplace and said, \u2018I\u2019m an Afghan national\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t
\n\t\t\"\"
\n\t\t
\n\t\t\tThis handout photo, released by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governor\u2019s focal person for polio Tariq Habib, shows UNICEF-tagged soap bars allegedly recovered after a raid at the Faqeerabad market in Peshawar, Pakistan on June 25, 2025. (Handout)

\n\t\t <\/p>\n


\n\tMehsud said the authorities recovered three cartons during the raid, with a total of 216 soap bars. He said the suspect claimed to have additional stock.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cHere people used to buy [a soap bar] from him at a cost of Rs40 or Rs45 and then used to change its packaging at Rs3, and then [they were] being supplied to Jalalabad, Afghanistan and here in Pakistan, I think, including D.I. Khan and many other places,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cWhen we contacted him, he [suspect] told us to come tomorrow and he will arrange 3,000 more [soap bars] for us. Then we told the anti-corruption to locate the link to his network.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tArab News reached out to UNICEF\u2019s communication specialist, Zia-ur-Rehman, but did not receive a response to its queries seeking comment on the matter.<\/p>\n


\n\tPolio is a paralyzing disease with no cure, making prevention through vaccination critical. After a significant decline over the past decades, Pakistan witnessed an intense resurgence of the poliovirus in 2024, with 74 cases reported. According to Pakistan\u2019s polio program, the country has reported 13 cases of the virus so far this year.<\/p>\n

\t
\n\t\t\"\"
\n\t\t
\n\t\t\tThis handout photo, released by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governor\u2019s focal person for polio Tariq Habib, shows UNICEF-tagged soap bars allegedly recovered after a raid at the Faqeerabad market in Peshawar, Pakistan on June 25, 2025. (Handout)

\n\t\t <\/p>\n


\n\tThe KP anti-corruption department plans to send an open letter to UNICEF and the Sindh provincial administration to further investigate the matter.<\/p>\n


\n\tHumayun Khan, the Peshawar circle officer of the anti-corruption department, confirmed to Arab News that his department had launched an investigation into the case.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cIt [investigation] will go ahead properly with a procedure,\u201d he said. \u201cIt will take time.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pakistani province probes alleged sale of UNICEF-tagged soap for anti-polio campaign PESHAWAR: Authorities in Pakistan\u2019s northwestern Khyber…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":225398,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3090],"tags":[51,1700,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-225397","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-economy","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114769731656430528","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225397"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225397\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/225398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}