Rafael Mariano has arrived in Pakistan for a two-day official visit as the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
The Foreign Office claims that Pakistan and the IAEA have been working together since 1957.
One of the biggest beneficiaries of the IAEA’s Technical Cooperation Program, which covers nuclear energy, health, food and agriculture, and water resource management, is Pakistan.
His visit strengthens the IAEA-Pakistan relationship on nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

The 74th Wild Poliovirus type 1 Case of 2024 in the Nation has been confirmed by the National Institutes of Health’s Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication.
One Shikarpur polio case was confirmed by the lab. This case started on December 15, 2024. This is Shikarpur’s second polio case of 2024.
In 2024, Pakistan reported 74 cases in total. Of these, one each from Punjab and Islamabad, 27 from Balochistan, 23 from Sindh, and 22 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Only one case of polio has been reported from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in 2025.
Polio is a crippling illness for which there is no treatment. To provide children a high level of immunity against this horrible disease, all children under the age of five must receive multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine and complete the recommended vaccination schedule.
The Expanded Program on Immunization offers vaccinations against 12 childhood diseases at no cost at health facilities, while the Pakistan Polio Program organizes many large vaccination drives throughout the year to provide the vaccine to children at their doorstep.

The foreign office spokesperson expressed regret that some media circles have attempted to misrepresent and distort Pakistan’s stance through a narrow spin, but that the country’s policy on terrorism and foreign occupation has not changed.
The spokesperson claimed that this also misinterprets the OIC and international consensus on counterterrorism and foreign occupation in response to inquiries from the media about Pakistan’s stance on these issues.
We must address the underlying causes of terrorism, which include poverty, injustice, and protracted unresolved conflicts, as well as foreign occupation and the denial of the right to self-determination to peoples under colonial and foreign dominance and alien rule, such as in the occupied territories of Palestine and Jammu and Kashmir, the permanent representative of Pakistan stated during the UN Security Council briefing.
The need for a comprehensive counterterrorism strategy that tackles the underlying causes of terrorism, such as conflict resolution, the end of foreign occupation, resistance to oppression, and initiatives to end poverty while fostering sustainable economic growth and development, has long been stressed by Pakistan and the OIC.