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Pakistan and India are not on speaking terms, nowadays. The two countries have ordered tit-for-tat expulsions of some diplomats on charges of spying and there are reports in the Indian media that the two countries might downgrade their diplomatic relations by recalling their high commissioners in the days to come.
Whenever they resume normal ties and restore the dialogue process, which they have to do eventually, they would discuss a range of topics which they have been talking on for decades.
But it seems that in future, they might have to add one more topic on their agenda of talks - environment.
The emergence of smog phenomenon in central Punjab as well as in the Indian Punjab over the past several years, has made it all the more important for the two countries to cooperate on how to keep air pollution-free, which is affecting millions of people living on both sides of the border.
Appearance of thick fog has become a regular feature in Lahore and other parts of central Punjab in December over the past several years, which reduces visibility to zero, causing flight disruptions, road accidents, and health problems.
More than 600 road accidents caused by smog were reported in 36 districts of Punjab last week causing at least 20 deaths.
The problem has grown from bad to worse over the past few years for the people of Punjab, particularly Lahore because of growing levels of pollution and poor air quality caused by increased vehicular emissions and unchecked industrialisation in the vicinity of the city.
Smog usually occurs in December, but this year it began appearing in the beginning of November.
The government of Punjab is mulling over a proposal to shut down schools in order to prevent children from getting exposed to health hazards.
This climatic aberration is not just restricted to the winter season, but now even in summers, a permanent layer of haze hangs in the air.
Dr Qamar Zaman Chaudhry, an expert on climate change and former director general of Pakistan Meteorological Department, says the smog is caused by deposition of moisture on the pollution parties in the air.
Unbridled industrialisation, particularly coal-based power plants, majority of which are on the Indian side of the border, are considered the major cause of smog, but emission of pollutants from our own factories and cars has aggravated the problem.
Though some conspiracy theorists blame India for deliberately setting up coal-based plants near the border to pollute Pakistani air, the toxic emissions from these industries are causing more harm to India itself than Pakistan.
It is not just industrial emissions in India that are causing pollution and resultantly smog in the country as well as adjoining parts of Pakistan. The recent images released by the US upper space and research organization, NASA, show that setting the rice fields to fire by thousands of farmers in Indian Punjab and the adjacent Haryana state, where much of the country’s wheat and rice is grown, are the major reasons behind air pollution and smog.
An estimated 32 million tons of leftover straw are burnt by the farmers of these two states during this season.
This practice threw a blanket of smog over New Delhi and also affected Lahore and other parts of Pakistani Punjab.
The burning of the leftover straw from the summer crops to prepare soil for the winter crop has been going on unabated despite the orders of the country’s environment court, the National Green Tribunal, to the government to stop the practice.
According to some estimates, smoke emitted from the crop fires accounts for about one-quarter of the most dangerous air pollution in the winter season. The pollution in New Delhi, a city of nearly 20 million people, soared well above the hazardous level last month.
Both New Delhi and Lahore were ranked among the most polluted cities of the world in 2014.
According to the Indian environmentalists, fireworks associated with the Hindu festival of Diwali complicated the pollution problem.
But why the burning of crops remnants is causing such a huge environment problem now as this practice has been going on for ages in this part of the world?
The experts say no or less rains and long dry spells because of climatic changes are making pollutants to stay longer in the air, resulting in smog.
“The rains wash away the pollutants, but since there have been no rains during this period, it resulted in thick smog,” Chaudhry said.
The experts, however, say climate change is a natural phenomenon and it could not be changed overnight. They say efforts are needed at the government level to reduce environmental hazards to allow people to live in a cleaner environment.
According to the World Health Organisation, around seven million died across the world as a result of air pollution exposure in 2012, meaning that it is the world’s largest single environmental health risk.
Both Pakistani and Indian governments need to take steps to ensure pollution-free environment for their people and if needed coordinate their efforts to achieve this objective.
Unless they take stringent measures to make their industries comply with pollution control mechanism and promote use of fuel efficient vehicles, this problem cannot be mitigated.
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government in Punjab has taken a series of measures to control pollution, like complete ban on issuance of registration and route permit for two-stroke engine rickshaws and conversion or replacement of such rickshaws into four-stroke, but a lot more needs to be done in this regard.
Though some reports suggested that rapid deforestation and imprudent cutting of trees, as done for the metro bus service and orange train projects, also contributed to air pollution in Lahore, the Punjab government authorities have rejected these suggestions.
Qamar Zaman Chaudhry said deforestation does have negative impact on environment, but blaming Lahore development projects for the environment-related issues would be an exaggeration.
“We need sustainable development which means that we need to protect our environment and ecosystem while making progress in other fields and areas,” he added.
The writer is a senior journalist based in Islamabad
