Key facts
- Lahore recorded an AQI of 263 on Tuesday, November 10, 2026, classed as very unhealthy by IQAir.
- IQAir said Lahore's PM2.5 concentration was 37.2 times the WHO annual guideline.
- Marriyum Aurangzeb said pollution was expected to ease from early afternoon as winds shifted direction.
- Indian government data showed firecrackers accounted for nearly 55% of Delhi's PM2.5 a day earlier.
- India's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Pakistan's Punjab Environment Protection Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb said on November 10, 2026 that pollutants had been carried into the region by light winds and air drifting from India in the aftermath of Diwali, the Hindu festival marked with firecrackers over the weekend.
Lahore topped Swiss group IQAir's ranking of the world's most polluted major cities for a second day on Tuesday, November 10, 2026, with an air quality index of 263, which IQAir categorized as very unhealthy. IQAir said the city's concentration of PM2.5, airborne particles small enough to penetrate deep into the lungs, was 37.2 times the World Health Organization's annual guideline.
Aurangzeb said air pollution was expected to gradually decrease from early afternoon as weather conditions improved and winds shifted direction. India's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
IQAir ranked Delhi the world's second-most polluted major city on Tuesday, November 10, 2026, with an AQI of 188. Indian government data showed firecrackers were responsible for nearly 55% of PM2.5 in the Indian capital a day earlier. Vehicle emissions, construction dust and smoke from crop-waste burning are also major contributors to winter pollution on both sides of the border.
Pakistan attributed its toxic air in 2024 to crop-waste burning in Indian Punjab, but officials from India's weather department said at the time that the wind direction meant airflow was from Pakistan into India. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party has also blamed crop-waste burning in Indian Punjab, governed by a regional opposition party, for Delhi's poor air quality in November 2026. Local media reported a sevenfold increase in farm fires in the state on Sunday, November 8, 2026, when Diwali was celebrated. Indian Punjab's state government says incidents of crop-waste burning have fallen compared with previous years.