India Hands In Pakistan Air Pollution: Pakistan is becoming a unique country. During the time of Imran Khan, Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad used to be his minister. You must remember his ‘Pav-Pav Bharke’ Atom Bomb and Imran Khan’s “Ghabrana Nahi Hai” was a superhit. Now there is a new government. When its Prime Minister congratulates Donald Trump on becoming the President of America, he is accused of breaking the laws of his own country. Actually, Shehbaz Sharif congratulated Trump on X, but X is banned in Pakistan. Shahbaz congratulated Trump on X so that the whole world could read it, especially to reach Donald Trump, but he forgot that X is banned in Pakistan. Now there is an uproar over this. Similarly, on the rise of smog and increase in air pollution in Pakistan, Information Minister of Pakistani Punjab Azma Bokhari has alleged that the winds coming from India are deteriorating the air quality of Lahore. Earlier, Imran’s Minister of State for Environment Zartaj Gul Wazir had also made a similar allegation in 2019. He had even accused India of using smog as a weapon against Pakistan.
Pakistani newspaper had told the right thing in 2019
Pakistan’s power changed, no thinking
Obviously, power changes in Pakistan but thinking does not. The leaders there enjoy power by blaming all the problems of Pakistan on India. If this had not happened, Azma Bokhari would have at least remembered the article published in Dawn, the largest media organization of her own country. Then Dawn had published a story and told its then minister Zartaj Gul Wazir that Pakistan Clean Air Action Plan (PCAP) was started in the year 2005, due to the policies of the governments, PCAP never succeeded. The Smog Commission’s recommendations issued in May 2018 seem to be facing a similar fate, as Punjab’s Environment Protection Department (EPD) has failed to procure the required number of air-quality monitors (AQMS) even after two years. At least 240 AQMS is required to be able to collect. However, currently there are only five.
Pakistani media organization had called it false
Dawn also reported that the University of Chicago’s air-quality life index calculated that the life expectancy of Lahore’s citizens would increase by 5.1 years if the World Health Organization’s air quality guidelines were met. If Punjab has to succeed in its fight against smog and poor air quality, it will have to create evidence-based policy approaches instead of taking superficial actions like issuing notices to a select few or blaming the toxic air on India . Don further wrote that the political leadership needs to resolve this issue instead of making statements and spreading misinformation on social media. The crisis demands that environmental experts be brought on board for policy formulation, monitoring and evaluation and bureaucrats be entrusted with the sole task of policy implementation.
The air remains bad throughout the year
However, the Pakistani government has so far treated air quality as if it were a seasonal issue, starting in October and continuing through January. Data collected by PAQI shows that Lahore suffers from poor air quality throughout the year. Citizens breathe bad air throughout the year, which worsens to dangerous levels in December and January. Factors such as temperature, wind, relative humidity and rainfall affect the level of air quality in any environment. However, it needs to be acknowledged that Lahore itself produces enough emissions to keep the city polluted throughout the year. The only exception to this seems to be the monsoon months, when frequent periods of rain prevent pollutants from accumulating in the air.
Told to avoid conflict
According to Dawn, environmental experts have repeatedly argued that crop burning is not the only or the biggest cause of poor air quality, but EPD Punjab has been trying to make it a bigger issue. The most recent example is NASA satellite photos. This shows that it is wrong to blame India. Farmers of Lahore and Punjab themselves are burning stubble in their fields. It can also be seen that at the end of the Rabi crop season every year in May, stubble is burnt in the same proportion in India and Pakistan, but the air quality is not affected. It happens as the Pakistani minister is claiming. Claims that crop burning in India causes smog in Lahore are not only without evidence, but also very light, reflecting the lack of scientific understanding needed to deal with the crisis. This is likely to create further discord between the two countries. Going to do.
Pakistan knows the truth
The R-Smog report, published in collaboration between the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Punjab Agriculture Department, is a great example of what can be achieved if departments work efficiently. In the past, a similar data was prepared with the help of the World Bank, which detailed the policy actions needed to curb the deteriorating air quality in Pakistan. Both these studies found stubble burning to be the biggest driver of air pollution, rather than stubble burning. The biggest reason is considered to be the transport sector. Although the two studies had different methods and study areas, they found agricultural sources to be the third largest cause proportionally.
These are the main reasons
Pakistan has little control over emissions in the transport, power and industry sectors. Environmental departments are tasked with checking vehicle and industrial emissions, but emissions can only be controlled by stopping them. The World Bank study said that PM 2.5 emissions in Lahore and other cities of Pakistan have a very strong correlation with carbon monoxide (CO) emissions, meaning both have a common source. There is evidence that poor fuel quality is the potential villain in the fight for clean air. Fuel quality also affects the power and industry sectors. The sulfur content in furnace oil used to generate electricity in thermal power plants can be up to three percent. Lahore has at least eight thermal power plants, which use furnace oil instead of cleaner natural gas.
Pakistan will be able to do this
Sahiwal Coal Power Plant is likely to increase emissions from the power sector in Punjab. The result is large hotspots of emissions, which can be seen via satellite. However, diesel vehicles are the largest cause of pollution in urban areas. Pakistan adopted Pak-2 fuel-quality standards (equivalent to Euro-2) in 1998, but uniform implementation of these standards across the country has never been evaluated. Euro-2 diesel contains 500 ppm (parts per million) of sulfur. Countries around the world are currently moving towards Euro-5 and Euro-6 standards. Similarly, India uses Standard-4, which is equivalent to Euro-4, which contains 50 ppm sulfur. The irony is that Pakistan is still using Euro-2.
