As Pakistan chokes on smog, is the government doing enough?

Islamabad, Pakistan – With a staggering 1.8 million people requiring medical treatment in Pakistan’s eastern province of Punjab and 11 million children facing health risks, according to the United Nations, provincial authorities are scrambling to combat hazardous smog that has driven air pollution to unprecedented levels.

Lahore, the provincial capital of 14 million residents, was the world’s most polluted city on Thursday with an air quality index (AQI) reading surpassing 1,400, according to IQAir, a Swiss climate monitoring group.

The city frequently makes it to the list, but pollution levels this month have been unprecedented, touching 1,900 in some places earlier this month. The AQI measures the concentration of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in the atmosphere. Any reading above 300 is considered hazardous by the World Health Organization.

In order to combat such alarming levels of pollution, authorities in Punjab, Pakistan’s largest and most populous province, have launched nearly 200 mobile clinics and added more beds in hospitals. Earlier, they shut schools until November 17, ordered early market closures, and imposed other restrictions, including shutting down brick kilns and banning outdoor events.

For Lahore resident Shoaib Naveed, the past few days have been nothing but “dreadful”, impacting every aspect of his life.

“It is incredibly difficult, especially for families with children. Schools have been shut now for weeks, and what was traditionally one of the better seasons in Lahore has become the worst time to live in the city,” the father of a four-year-old son told Al Jazeera via telephone.

Naveed said the toxic environment has forced families to keep children indoors and made masks a necessity. Air purifiers cost anywhere between $100 to $250, and so cannot be afforded by most city residents.

Raja Jahangir Anwar, Punjab’s secretary for environment and climate change, told Al Jazeera on Thursday that the government was “seriously considering” a complete lockdown in the worst-hit areas, similar to those implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We have to take stringent measures given the emergency we are facing, even though we understand the economic costs,” he said.

Last year, the Punjab government experimented with artificial rain to mitigate the smog, doing so with support from the United Arab Emirates, where the measure is often taken up to tackle pollution or hot weather.

This year, Anwar said, the government aims to repeat the process using homegrown technology. “We are watching the weather closely and are hopeful we can induce artificial rain in Lahore by Saturday,” he said.

But Sara Hayat, a climate policy lawyer based in Lahore, said that while closing schools saves students, especially young children, from exposure to toxic pollution and reduces vehicular traffic, the efficacy of artificial rain was unclear.

“The government tried this last December with minimal success. The rainfall was light and did not significantly improve air quality, especially since it wasn’t accompanied by wind,” she told Al Jazeera.

Some experts argue that the government’s approach this year in tackling pollution is inadequate and merely repeats past strategies.

“The government’s smog mitigation plan, originally proposed in 2017, is essentially the same, with minor updates,” said Abid Omar, founder of Pakistan Air Quality Initiative (PAQI), a climate research and advocacy group. He argued that without targeted, evidence-based policies, air quality will not improve.

In a letter to the Punjab government earlier this week, PAQI emphasised the need for “scientific evidence and global best practices” in air pollution management, recommending three primary measures: the shutdown of all brick kilns, vehicle emissions control, and the closure of noncompliant industries.

“If these three actions are taken, urban air pollution levels could potentially drop by 45 percent,” Omar said, adding, “If this is truly an emergency, the government’s response needs to reflect the urgency.”

Calling the government’s pollution mitigation plan “business as usual”, Omar added, “They have declared a smog emergency, yet the measures are not making a difference. The AQI readings speak for themselves. Unless we address the biggest polluters directly, the situation won’t change.”

Anwar, the government official, said authorities have issued loans to the polluting industries to support compliance, imposed large fines on polluting vehicles, and shut down more than 800 brick kilns across the province.

Despite these efforts, he admitted that this year’s smog has been overwhelming.

“We began preparing for this season four to five months ago, and AQI levels in September showed improvement compared to last year. However, unexpected weather patterns, including eastward winds bringing pollution from India, surprised us,” he said.

Omar, the climate expert, stressed the need for a deeper understanding of smog composition to determine the major polluters and assess the cost-effectiveness of mitigation strategies. “We don’t fully understand why the AQI is so high, but changing meteorological patterns are likely contributing,” he said.

The government’s response to pollution has faced further criticism due to the absence of Punjab province’s Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, who is on a personal trip to Switzerland and the United Kingdom with her father, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. The province’s senior minister, Marriyum Aurangzeb, who looks after climate issues, was also with them, amplifying complaints that the government was not addressing the crisis seriously.

Maryam Nawaz told supporters in London that she was seeking treatment in Switzerland. Meanwhile, Aurangzeb returned to resume her duties on Wednesday.

But Zartaj Gul of the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, who served as federal minister of state for climate affairs in former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s cabinet, criticised Nawaz for leaving the country when it was facing record pollution and a health crisis.

“People cannot breathe in the province due to such smog, and there is zero visibility. But the chief minister has left the country to the mercy of god and flown out from where she is asking the public to wear masks,” she said in a video message.

“This smog should be treated as an emergency requiring all hands on deck,” Omar said.

Anwar, however, stressed that authorities in Punjab were working “tirelessly” to combat the pollution crisis affecting the province’s 130 million residents.

“We understand the gravity of the situation. We are holding almost daily meetings with stakeholders to find a collective solution. This issue isn’t just about Lahore or Punjab. We need everyone to work together to resolve it,” he said.

But Lahore resident Naveed feels the government has abandoned its responsibilities towards the people.

“It just seems like every basic necessity of everyday life, which should be the responsibility of a basic functioning government to deliver, has to be arranged by the individual themselves,” he told Al Jazeera. “Electricity, gas, schooling, healthcare, water and now even clean air are all basics that the state feels they are not responsible to deliver.”