Taza Khabar, P Block Sabzazar, Lahore (2025)

11/09/2025

‘Pakistan’s 2025 floods didn’t just drown fields—they exposed the fault lines of hunger, debt, and climate vulnerability. Relief has come, but it is no match for the scale of loss. The real question is whether Pakistan can turn this moment into a pivot toward resilience, or whether it will remain trapped in the cycle of disaster to disaster.’
The Price of Hunger: Pakistan’s Fragile Balance
…while navigating IMF demands, the shifting role of CPEC, and the uncertainties of climate diplomacy
Pakistan’s 2025 Food Crisis
Pakistan is staring down a food crisis that is both immediate and deeply structural. The monsoon floods of 2025 didn’t just wash away crops—they tore through an already fragile system, exposing weaknesses in agriculture, health, and governance. What we’re seeing now is not only empty fields but a convergence of hunger, disease, displacement, and economic strain that threatens national stability.
The rains left behind more than broken levees. Staple crops are gone, prices are climbing out of reach, and families who were already scraping by are now being pushed over the edge. Behind the headlines are children with stunted growth, mothers unable to find clean water, and farmers who say planting feels more like gambling with nature than making a living.
Relief has arrived—government, civil society, and international partners have mobilized—but the scale of need far outpaces the resources on the ground. And here lies the real question: will Pakistan once again stumble from emergency to emergency, or will this moment become the turning point toward resilience?
The Shock: Crops Lost, Prices Soaring
Floodwaters swallowed rice paddies and cotton fields across Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Farmers in Bahawalnagar report losing nearly 80% of their cotton. In Sindh, the land is so waterlogged that fields may remain unusable for months. Livestock, the lifeline of rural households, has been swept away in the thousands.
Markets are still open, but shelves grow thinner by the day. Wheat—Pakistan’s staple—has jumped more than 60% in just weeks, leaping from Rs2,200 to Rs3,600 per 40 kilos. Tomatoes, onions, and other basics aren’t far behind. Yet farmers aren’t seeing relief; debts pile up while middlemen profit. For many, there is no harvest to sell.
One million people displaced in Punjab alone now crowd into camps or spill into cities. That loss of rural labor has its own ripple effect: the very workforce that sustains food production is itself being uprooted.
Fragility Beneath the Floodwaters
These floods struck a country already on the brink. Even before the rains, 11 million Pakistanis faced acute hunger. Nearly four in ten children under five are stunted, and close to one in ten are wasted. Despite being a producer of wheat and rice, over 80% of households cannot afford a healthy diet—a failure of affordability and access, not supply.
The economy offers little relief. Years of political turmoil and debt have left reserves depleted and imports costly. IMF-mandated austerity collides with the urgent need for food subsidies and social protections. China’s CPEC investments remain strategically important but increasingly constrained, while climate diplomacy now shapes Pakistan’s options in global negotiations. The government is trapped in a punishing dilemma: comply with lenders and risk hunger-driven unrest, or subsidize imports and risk financial collapse.
On top of this comes the relentless pressure of climate shocks. The 2022 floods caused billions in damages. The following year brought drought to Sindh and Balochistan. Now, fields are submerged again. Recovery windows are shrinking, steadily eroding agriculture—the backbone of livelihoods and exports.
Beneath these visible crises lies an invisible one: mental health. In Islamabad and Rawalpindi, 57% of adults report clinically relevant depression, with nearly one in five also experiencing anxiety. In Karachi, more than half of adolescents show symptoms of anxiety or depression, while about 17% of children under eleven struggle with emotional or behavioral problems severe enough to need intervention. Yet diagnostic centers are few, prohibitively expensive, and schools lack even basic counselors or nurses. With nearly 45% of the population at or near the poverty line, care remains out of reach for most.
The picture is stark: malnutrition, economic fragility, climate stress, and untreated mental health issues converge into a cycle that threatens not only recovery but Pakistan’s long-term stability.
The Health Emergency Within
Where floodwaters linger, disease follows. Cholera, typhoid, malaria, dengue—the familiar companions of disaster—are already on the rise. Families in camps struggle without clean water or sanitation. Malnourished children are especially vulnerable, their immune systems too weak to withstand outbreaks. Diarrheal diseases strip away what little nutrition food aid provides, trapping households in a vicious cycle of hunger and illness.
Pakistan’s health system, fragile before the floods, is once again at its limits. Clinics run short of staff, medicines, and diagnostic capacity. Mobile health units cannot meet the scale of need. And while international pledges are announced, the gap between promises and delivery remains wide—a reminder that for families wading through the waters, relief delayed is relief denied.
Civil Society on the Frontlines
In Pakistan, when disaster strikes, it is often civil society that responds first. Local organizations, youth groups, and volunteer networks were already in flooded villages delivering food and water while ministries were still taking stock. The Pakistan Red Crescent Society, backed by the IFRC, has reached more than 17,500 people with food, clean water, and shelter. Grassroots coalitions like the Indus Consortium and Doaba Foundation coordinate district-level relief, while youth-led bodies such as the National Youth Climate Change Council run food distributions and cash transfers directly to families.
International NGOs—including groups such as Solidar Suisse and CESVI—have added targeted support, while external partners like the European Union and Iran have also extended humanitarian assistance. These contributions matter on human grounds, yet they also carry weight in a region where geopolitical tensions run high. Aid is never purely logistical; it reflects both the urgency of humanitarian need and the sensitivities of global politics.
These efforts save lives, but compared to the scale of devastation, they are still drops in a rising tide. The question that follows is not only how Pakistan manages relief today, but how it builds resilience for the crises certain to come.
From Relief to Resilience
Emergency aid buys time, but it cannot build the future. Pakistan’s real challenge lies in transforming short-term relief into long-term resilience. That means moving beyond rations toward rebuilding agriculture—restoring irrigation, supplying flood- and drought-resistant seeds, strengthening community grain storage, and investing in cold chains to safeguard the food supply.
It also means closing the gap in early warning systems. Localized and reliable flood forecasts remain scarce, yet partnerships with countries experienced in predictive hydrology could spell the difference between preparation and devastation. Relief must also be integrated: nutrition, clean water, vaccination, and mobile health clinics should work in tandem, since distributing flour without tackling disease leaves communities just as vulnerable.
Even large-scale projects require reframing. CPEC, for instance, need not be confined to energy and highways. It could evolve into a true resilience corridor, channeling investment into climate-smart agriculture and food security.
Finally, resilience depends on trust. Aid filtered through patronage networks undermines society, but when relief is organized with local committees and farmer cooperatives, it builds dignity, ownership, and long-term strength.
The Choice Ahead
The floods of 2025 have stripped away illusions. Pakistan is one of the world’s most climate-vulnerable nations, and the cycle of flood, drought, and debt will not pause on its own. The resilience of ordinary people—neighbors feeding neighbors, communities opening doors—has been extraordinary. But resilience at the human level cannot substitute forever for resilience at the system level.
If nothing changes, these emergencies will calcify into a permanent crisis. But if seized as a turning point—if leaders, citizens, and partners commit to building a food system that can withstand both natural and political storms—the floods of 2025 could yet be remembered not as the breaking point, but as the moment Pakistan turned toward resilience.
The question is stark and unavoidable: will Pakistan take that path, or resign itself to living from disaster to disaster?

05/09/2025

The Return of the Department of War: Language, Power, and the New Age of Choice

When governments rename institutions, the implications extend far beyond mere bureaucracy. Names carry power—they are declarations of intent, psychological anchors for the public, and strategic signals to the world. This is why the United States' 2025 decision to revert the "Department of Defense" to its original title, the "Department of War," signals a profound shift with consequences beyond semantics.

Initiated by President Donald Trump, this move reinstates the historic name retired in 1949, replacing it with a more direct expression of America’s military role. However, what does this mean for how Americans view their armed forces, how allies interpret U.S. commitments, and how adversaries react? Most importantly, it redefines the geopolitical calculus for nations relying on American aid and alignment.

From Defense to War: The Weight of a World

The term "Department of Defense," adopted in 1949 following World War II and the creation of the National Military Establishment, embodied a postwar strategic pivot. The U.S. sought to signal a posture of deterrence and protection, with war as a last resort, emphasizing defense of freedom and democratic values rather than offensive warfighting. President Harry Truman’s renaming reflected the dawn of the nuclear age and the desire for a unified, defensive military command structure.

Prior to this, the "Department of War" was the agency responsible for directing U.S. land forces from George Washington’s presidency through both World Wars. During WWII, under leaders like Secretary Henry L. Stimson and General George Marshall, it was the powerhouse of American military mobilization, coordinating vast resources and strategies critical to victory. It symbolized the projection of power and the acceptance of war as a central national activity.

The 2025 renaming signals a return to this candid wartime posture. President Trump contends that "Defense" is too "defensive," obscuring the military’s readiness and lethality. The new “Department of War” title aims to better reflect America’s willingness to wage war decisively if needed. This is not just cosmetic; it demands a psychological shift among Americans and sends a clear message abroad about Washington’s future intentions.

Psychological and Strategic Ripples

For U.S. citizens, this renaming normalizes war as a constant element of national security. It shifts public discourse from passive defense to active readiness and engagement. Discussions in Congress, media coverage, and everyday conversations will now reflect a hardened stance toward conflict.

For adversaries like Russia, China, and Iran, the move removes diplomatic ambiguity. The U.S. openly signals preparation for confrontation, likely prompting those nations to intensify military posturing and armored competition.

Allies receive mixed signals: some draw reassurance from a clear U.S. commitment, while others worry their territories could become staging grounds for America’s declared wars, increasing geopolitical instability.

Aid in the Shadow of War

The renaming’s symbolism extends deeply into U.S. foreign aid. Traditional aid favored soft power—dividing assistance between civilian development conducted by State and USAID, and military aid administered by the Pentagon. These dual tracks allowed for a humanitarian façade alongside strategic military partnerships.
Under a "Department of War" label, military aid loses its humanitarian cover. Accepting U.S. assistance increasingly equates to endorsing America’s war agenda. For countries where aid underpins political survival, this presents existential dilemmas:

* Egypt, the second-largest recipient of U.S. military aid after Israel, relies heavily on this support to maintain its armed forces and regime stability. Today, however, it is viewed less as a traditional ally and more as a war partner, openly aligned with U.S. combat priorities.”

* Jordan also faces similar pressures. Its longstanding military aid relationship risks being interpreted domestically as enlistment in America’s expanding conflicts, straining fragile legitimacy.

* Frontline states in Asia and Africa, like the Philippines and Kenya, find aid reshaped into overt warfighting alliances, escalating political risk.

The veneer of humanitarian aid thins, forcing recipient states into stark choices: align clearly with U.S. military aims or risk political and economic isolation.

Pakistan’s Precarious Position

Nowhere are these dynamics sharper than in Pakistan. Throughout the post-9/11 era, it served as a frontline state in the War on Terror, funneling billions of dollars from U.S. military reimbursements. Despite accusations of double-dealing with militant groups, this aid propped up key political and military institutions.

Pakistan’s parallel embrace of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) through the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and deepening ties with the BRICS bloc—including Russia and Iran—provided strategic latitude. The rebranding threatens that balance.
To continue accepting U.S. "war money" would signal overt military alignment with Washington’s global conflicts. Alternatively, leaning fully into SCO and BRICS partnerships risks severing crucial U.S. lifelines. Pakistan faces narrowing strategic choices amid internal strains: fighting the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) insurgency, economic fragility, and political polarization.

The added complexity of Iran’s nuclear advancements and Tehran's tenuous relations with Pakistan deepens the risk calculus. Pakistan is simultaneously viewed by Washington as a potential staging ground for surveillance or contingency operations relating to Iran, while enduring sporadic violence it attributes to Iranian proxies.
This multifaceted pressure risks destabilizing Pakistan’s fragile political order, as the middle path between great power camps disappears.

The SCO Factor: A Parallel Axis in a Divided World

As the U.S. asserts a Department of War posture, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO)—led by China and Russia—represents a parallel axis advocating a different global order. The SCO, a Eurasian political, economic, and security alliance, champions a multipolar world rejecting hegemonic dominance and emphasizing cooperation over confrontation.

The 2025 SCO summit in Tianjin highlighted robust initiatives, including an SCO development bank and financial packages aimed at economic integration and infrastructural connectivity. Many member states—such as Pakistan, India, and Central Asian Republics—are critical players caught between U.S. pressure and SCO influence.

Militarily, the SCO has enhanced joint exercises and developed mechanisms focusing on regional security, counterterrorism, and confidence-building, reaffirming commitments to non-interference in internal affairs. This offers aid-dependent states an ideological and practical alternative to U.S. militarized aid.

Although internal conflicts among SCO members—like the India-Pakistan disputes and Russia’s war in Ukraine—challenge cohesion, the SCO’s ongoing emphasis on economic collaboration and regional security presents a growing counterweight to Western-led institutions.

For nations facing the stark choices presented by America’s Department of War realignment, SCO offers a different narrative: multilateralism without the explicit invocation of war, presenting a complex geopolitical chessboard in the emerging global order.

The Global Dilemma of Aid and Allegiance

Pakistan’s situation is dramatic but emblematic. Egypt, Jordan, and other U.S.-aligned recipients confront a new reality: American assistance in the Department of War era signals explicit wartime allegiance.

States dependent on U.S. aid must clearly align or risk isolation amid increasing polarization. The international aid framework, once nuanced with diplomacy and development, hardens into a tool of global power competition—splitting the world into stark camps.

Naming the Future: What Lies Ahead?

Restoring the historic "Department of War" name is more than a symbolic gesture. It declares war a permanent component of U.S. policy identity, psychologically preparing the public for continuous conflict, signaling allies and adversaries alike, and forcing aid-dependent nations to confront stark decisions.

The original Department of War was the crucible of American mobilization during World War II and the engine that propelled the U.S. onto the global superpower stage. Now, in this cyclical return, America readopts a posture openly embracing war as a core mission.

The crucial question remains: How will the world react to a United States openly declaring war readiness as a central strategic tenet? Will nations align openly with this new reality, or seek refuge and forging alternatives in a rapidly fracturing global order?

04/09/2025

From Monsoon to Moscow: How Local Disasters Expose Global Power Games

(How Do We Measure Leadership … in the Rubble of Rhetoric?)

“The flood came, a huge flood came, it swept away everything—home, mother, sister, brother, my uncle, my grandfather and children,” said Muhammad, a survivor in Pakistan’s Buner district (Reuters, Aug. 22, 2025).

The wedding celebration he attended turned into 24 funerals. For families like Muhammad’s, the floods are not an abstract “natural disaster” but a life split in two: before the waters and after. Entire villages stand submerged, crops are gone, and the displaced queue for food that rarely comes fast enough. Pakistan’s tragedy this monsoon season is a reminder that while water erases borders and boundaries, the world’s response is still measured in politics and power.

Even as Pakistani officials scramble for aid, international attention is consumed by rivalries elsewhere: Washington and Caracas trading barbs in a renewed U.S.–Venezuela standoff; Moscow hosting high-level meetings to project its endurance under sanctions; North Korea’s Kim Jong Un firing missiles in defiance of isolation; and India’s Narendra Modi navigating between Western partnerships and the BRICS bloc.

When Climate Meets Geopolitics
Pakistan has long been on the front lines of climate vulnerability. Floods in 2010, 2022, and now 2025 have displaced millions, destroyed farmland, and battered an already fragile economy. According to the National Disaster Management Authority, this year’s floods have left more than a million homeless, with bridges washed away and schools reduced to rubble.

In Sindh province, farmer Abdul Hameed described standing in what was once his cotton field: “There is no land anymore, only water. I don’t know how we will eat this winter,” he told a local news outlet. In Balochistan, families who fled the torrents now shelter under plastic sheets on the roadside, their children coughing from waterborne disease. And in Karachi’s poorer districts, food prices have doubled, deepening urban despair far from the overflowing rivers.

These stories should prompt swift global solidarity. Yet Pakistan’s appeal for aid competes with larger geopolitical agendas. With IMF negotiations ongoing and foreign reserves stretched thin, Islamabad is caught in the push and pull of Washington’s cautious promises, Beijing’s Belt and Road commitments through CPEC, and Moscow’s offers of discounted grain and fuel. A humanitarian lifeline becomes another bargaining chip in the world’s great game.

Venezuela’s Parallel Struggle
The story is familiar elsewhere. In Venezuela, political standoffs and sanctions have left ordinary citizens struggling with shortages and inflation that strip dignity from daily life. Washington insists on maintaining sanctions until democratic reforms take root, while Caracas blames foreign pressure for every domestic hardship. The oil that once underpinned prosperity now flows under tight restrictions, leaving buses idle and factories silent.

Teachers walk miles because they cannot afford transport. Families queue for hours outside bakeries, hoping the day’s flour delivery has arrived. In Caracas, a mother of three was quoted by local reporters saying, “Every day is a fight to find food. We are tired of politics—what we need is bread.”

The resonance with Pakistan’s displaced is striking. Whether wading chest-high through floodwater or lining up for bread, citizens far removed from geopolitics pay the steepest price for policies forged in distant capitals.

Summits, Sanctions, and Spectacle
In Moscow, Vladimir Putin convenes high-profile meetings designed to show that Russia remains unbowed despite its costly war in Ukraine and Western sanctions. Grain shipments, energy discounts, and diplomatic support are offered to countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. For nations like Pakistan, struggling to import wheat and fuel in the wake of floods, Moscow’s hand can look like an alternative lifeline. Yet every deal carries strings, reminding smaller states that the generosity of great powers is rarely without calculation.

Across East Asia, North Korea’s Kim Jong Un once again courts global headlines with missile tests. Each launch is a signal of defiance, a reminder to Washington, Seoul, and Tokyo that Pyongyang cannot be ignored. Yet away from the spectacle, United Nations assessments describe widespread food insecurity, stunted children, and households surviving on little more than cornmeal. Just as in Pakistan’s flooded valleys, survival here is precarious—but in North Korea, it is overshadowed by the leader’s theatrics on the world stage.

India’s Balancing Act
Meanwhile in New Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi walks a careful line. India deepens defense and technology ties with the United States, aiming to shape the Indo-Pacific as a counterweight to China. At the same time, Modi champions the BRICS bloc, aligning with Moscow and Beijing on calls for a multipolar world.

India’s voice on climate resilience has grown louder at international summits, pledging greater investment in renewables. Yet its domestic reality is complex: still one of the world’s largest consumers of coal and oil, still facing urban smog and rural droughts.

For Pakistan, the contrast is stark. Both countries share rivers that flood unpredictably, yet cooperation on water management remains minimal, constrained by decades of rivalry. As Pakistan struggles to rebuild after monsoon devastation, India projects itself as an emerging global power. The imbalance is not only of resources, but of narrative—whose story makes headlines, and whose suffering is sidelined.

Lives Between the Lines
The pattern is unmistakable. In Buner, Muhammad buries his family. In Sindh, Abdul Hameed stares at drowned cotton fields. In Caracas, a mother skips meals so her children can eat. In Pyongyang, citizens whisper about empty shelves. And yet, the headlines fixate on summits, sanctions, and speeches. The human cost becomes a footnote to the power game.

Pakistan’s floods are a warning shot: crises of climate and survival are now inseparable from geopolitics. If global powers can mobilize billions for weapons and war games, can they not show equal urgency for displaced families, empty stomachs, and failing farmlands?

Closing Reflection
Muhammad’s grief is not just a local tragedy but a mirror for the world. His loss is echoed in the hunger of Venezuelan families, the silence of North Korean households, and the anxieties of ordinary Pakistanis watching leaders make promises that rarely arrive with food or shelter attached.

At this moment, nearly every nation is questioning its leadership. Citizens look to their governments not only for stability but for proof that rhetoric can translate into relief. For Pakistanis knee-deep in floodwater, for Venezuelans queuing hours for bread, or for those enduring shortages in Pyongyang, the measure of leadership is not in carefully worded communiqués or grand summit photos.

So the question stands: How do we measure leadership … in the rubble of rhetoric?

Until global powers prove that compassion carries as much weight as competition, the answer will remain buried in the mud and the ashes—where the world’s most vulnerable are left to pick up the pieces.

28/08/2025

Pakistan’s August 2025 Floods: A Preventable Tragedy Revisited
'The Persistent Flood Crisis in Pakistan'
“Pakistan cannot stop the rain, but it can prevent much of the suffering by fixing manmade vulnerabilities. Floods will happen, but disasters don’t have to.” — Rafi-ul-Haq, Karachi-based Ecologist (Dawn, August 25, 2025)
The monsoon season has long been both a blessing and a curse for South Asia. Rain brings life to parched plains, fills reservoirs, and feeds crops. Yet, when coupled with swollen rivers and ill-prepared infrastructure, it unleashes devastation. Pakistan, still bearing scars from the catastrophic floods of 2010 and 2022, once again finds itself submerged in sorrow after the August 2025 deluge. Entire districts lie underwater, thousands of homes washed away, and families grieve for loved ones lost to the torrents. While the government rushes to promise prevention measures post-tragedy, the familiar question arises: why do these commitments surface only after disaster strikes?
A Timeline of Warnings and Water
This year’s disaster was not entirely unforeseen. By late July, the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) issued monsoon alerts forecasting heavier-than-average rains across Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), and Sindh. Concurrently, communication channels with India—mandated under agreements on sharing hydrological data—became critical. India, upstream on the Indus and tributaries, is obligated to inform Pakistan prior to dam water releases that could worsen downstream flooding.
By late July, Indian officials signaled they might open spillways on the Sutlej and Ravi rivers if rainfall intensified in Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir. Early August brought confirmation: dam releases were imminent. On August 3 and 4, India sent technical data indicating elevated discharge rates. Pakistani officials acknowledged receipt; however, as in previous years, coordination with provincial disaster agencies lagged. Local administrators in vulnerable districts—Kasur, low-lying parts of KP, and Sindh—received warnings mere hours before floods arrived.
By August 6, floodwaters breached embankments in Kasur and Okara, displacing entire villages. Two days later, water release combined with relentless monsoon rains to wreak havoc in KP’s Buner district and Swat Valley, washing away bridges, roads, and hundreds of homes. By mid-August, breaches spread along the Sutlej and Chenab canal networks, flooding areas still recovering from the 2022 catastrophe.
Counting the Human Cost
The true tragedy lies in shattered lives. By late August, official counts tallied roughly 800 deaths across Punjab, Sindh, KP, and particularly Buner district. Many perished in flash floods, swept away before rescue teams arrived. Others died from collapsing houses or electrocution from submerged live wires.
Displacement is staggering. Relief agencies estimate over 1.5 million people have fled homes, crowded into temporary shelters or seeking refuge with relatives on higher ground. Crops—cotton, rice, sugarcane—across central Punjab lie flattened, threatening livelihoods and the national economy. In Sindh, families still rebuilding from 2022 now watch fragile shelters drown anew.
The trauma is cumulative. Entire generations in Pakistan’s riverine belt now regard the monsoon with dread rather than renewal.
A Pattern of Reaction, Not Prevention
In Islamabad, a familiar political cycle unfolds: prime ministerial calls for “urgent measures,” commissions announced, promises of future resilience dominate press conferences. Yet the bitter reality remains—Pakistan has been here before.
The 2010 floods killed nearly 2,000 and displaced 20 million; sweeping reforms were promised—embankment reinforcement, canal management improvements, integrated floodplain zoning. After the 2022 floods submerged a third of the country inflicting over $30 billion in damages, the mantra “building back better” echoed loudest. Billions in international aid flowed, earmarked for climate adaptation.
Yet little funding translated into durable infrastructure or systemic change. The August 2025 disaster underscores this failure. Despite 12 years since 2010 and three since 2022, reliance on ad hoc evacuations, sandbag defenses, and international relief appeals persists. Without long-term planning, floods become a recurring nightmare.
Could It Have Been Different?
Monsoon intensity may be uncontrollable, but destruction’s scale need not be inevitable. Practical measures exist. Pakistan has regional examples to learn from.
A promising solution involves interconnected reservoirs, dry lake beds, and diversion canals acting as flood buffers. These systems can absorb excess water and redirect it to arid regions like Tharparkar, storing water for agriculture. This dual-use design—flood mitigation and irrigation—has precedent.
China’s “sponge cities” integrate wetlands, permeable surfaces, retention basins to blunt flood peaks. The Netherlands’ “Room for the River” designates floodplains and basins to spare urban centers.
Within Pakistan, the Chashma and Tarbela reservoirs regulate flows, although not designed for monsoon surges intensified by climate change. Sindh’s Left Bank Outfall Drain system expansion is proposed to safely channel excess water to the Arabian Sea, reducing farmland flooding. In KP, linked retention ponds could tame cloudburst runoff in upper valleys.
Such systems might not have prevented all flooding in August 2025 but could have drastically reduced deaths, destruction, and displacement.
The Climate Dimension
Climate change silently accelerates Pakistan’s crisis. Scientific studies confirm warming oceans and changing weather patterns intensify South Asian monsoons—more erratic, severe rainfall. Warmer air holds more moisture, causing sudden downpours; retreating glaciers alter Indus basin hydrology.
In 2022, UN labeled Pakistan “ground zero” for climate vulnerability—disproportionately suffering despite less than 1% global emissions. The label remains true in 2025. Floods are meteorological events magnified by infrastructural neglect and global inaction.
The Way Forward For Pakistan, August 2025 truly must be a turning point.
Strengthen Early Warning Systems
India’s informal dam release notifications are insufficient. Pakistan needs real-time, transparent, binding data-sharing reinforced by diplomacy. Internal channels must rapidly reach local administrations—warnings delivered hours, not days, before floods.
Invest in Storage and Diversion
Infrastructure Linked reservoirs, basins, diversion canals are imperative. Though costly, absence costs tens of billions in damages. Redirecting water to areas like Tharparkar could convert vulnerability to opportunity.
Adopt Climate-Adaptive
Agriculture and Zoning Floodplain areas should be zoned away from permanent housing. Resilient crops and adaptive farming should be prioritized.
Promote Community-Led Resilience
Centralized responses won’t suffice. Local training in evacuation, timely rescue equipment, and empowerment can save thousands in critical flood hours.
A Nation at a Crossroads
The floodwaters will recede, leaving cracked earth, ravaged landscapes, and ruined homes. Survivors remain, weary yet enduring. The question lingers—will Pakistan’s leaders allow this flood to become just another forgotten tragedy, or will they rise to break this relentless cycle of disaster?

Address

P Block Sabzazar
Lahore
54000

Telephone

+92-333-4558566

Website

http://www.tazakhabar.pk/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Taza Khabar posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to Taza Khabar:

Taza Khabar