Pakistan's Punjab set up a "smog war room" to tackle severe pollution, officials said, as poor air quality in Lahore pushed the capital of the eastern province to the top of the rankings as the world's most polluted city.

In an SOS from across the border, Aurangzeb, who also holds the environment protection and climate change portfolio in the Punjab provincial government, claimed the “Eastern corridor winds blowing from India towards Lahore” were taking the smog to dangerous levels.

Senior Minister in the Government of Punjab in Pakistan Marriyum Aurangzeb said that India and Pakistan, especially Punjabs on both sides of the border, to come up with a joint plan to tackle smog.

Pakistan's second city of Lahore will close primary schools for a week over record pollution, government authorities said Sunday, to avoid exposing millions of children to smog several times above levels deemed dangerous.