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n in the early 17th century, as soon as the monsoon waters gave flowers to the Chenab River, the city of Multan suffered a flood that could wipe out the map. The Mughal engineers have constructed a turning canal, expecting a seasonal flood that removed the river’s attitude around the city. The villagers looked at the falling water, but the canal saved houses, grains and lives. It was a period of era and governance – proof that human ease can live with anger of nature. Today, after more than 400 years, the rivers of Pakistan increased once again. But the streams and dicks of the state are falling. Reacting to its plan. Millions of citizens have been suffering from catastrophe.
Climate change has turned Pakistan into a frontline climate. Nevertheless, instead of building historical lessons, our leaders are stuck in corruption, denial and short -term politics. This neglect is nothing new. From 1950 to 2024, Pakistan endured destructive floods, every time after the promises of reform. Every frequent disaster meets over and over. The deep injustice of climate change is deeply globally. Pakistan contributes less than one percent of the global greenhouse gas emissions, yet it is one of the world’s largest climate -driven countries.
The German Watch climate risk index 2025 is the most difficult in its list, with a loss of $ 30 billion in just 2022 floods. Just two years later, the 2024 floods in Punjab displaced millions and destroyed the crops, once again exposed the state ready to save its citizens. The ND Gain Index indicates this imbalance: Pakistan is the 41st weakest country, but the 150th is the least ready.
Science is clear. Climate change has promoted 2022 monsoon rains, which has increased 50-75 percent heavily compared to the heavy rainfall. The IPCC has warned that surpassing the threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius will only increase such extremes, which will bring more devastating floods, droughts and heatwaves to South Asia. The plight of Pakistan, therefore, is not just environmental – it is deep political. It has become a symbol of global climate injustice and domestic mismanagement, where they pay the least responsible price, while institutions mean to protect their fall.
This neglect is nothing new. Since independence, Pakistan’s history has been devastating floods – 1973, 1992, 2010, 2011, 2014, 2014, 2022 and 2024. The cycle is painful: Destruction strikes, leaders pledge reforms, donors arrive with aid, and immediately become vapors in months. Citizens have been released to give a timetable for the next monsoon, knowing that it has changed very little.
The 2022 flood was the best reminder of this style. When one -third of the country sank, the devastation was on a scale of the Bible: the villages were erased from the maps, millions of people were displaced, crops and livestock were destroyed. “We fell asleep in our homes and woke up in a river,” remember a farmer in Sindh who lost everything, including his ancestral land. Families went on the side of the road without shelter and cleanliness, and saw their children sick with contaminated water.
For many people, the flood was not just a natural disaster – it felt like abandoning. In Islamabad, the election and talk show theater, eclipse relief efforts, while in Sindh, Balochistan, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the communities supported the depths of poisonous water without any state.
As a result, the government unveiled the support of the United Nations, the World Bank, EU and Asian Development Bank, flexible rehabilitation, rehabilitation and reconstruction framework (4RF). It described the amazing losses: .9 14.9 billion losses; In economic spending .2 15.2 billion; And nine million new poor people. On the paper, he promised a strong and smart construction. Still, two years later, the truth on earth tells another story.
The lesson of every flood since 1950 is clear but unorganized: Without systematic reforms, the people of Pakistan will survive through courage and reform.
FLIMSY Pashtuns still rows of swollen rivers, which offer a bit more than false assurances. Insecure houses continue to flourish in the flood fields. In Rajanpur, a widow was washed away in 2022 to rebuild her house at the same site, “Where else should I go? This is all I have.” Local governments – Frontline is in the mouth to become flexible centers. In Balochistan, a community leader expressed regret: “We are the first floods, the last is to be heard.”
Nevertheless, in the midst of this space, the common people have shown extraordinary flexibility. In Dadu, women arranged temporary schools in tents to keep education alive for homeless children. In southern Punjab, the farmers developed resources to rebuild irrigation channels after the official promises made. These movements of solidarity show that there is flexibility, but with the help of the state, it is being run on the back of weak people.
Subsequently, what remains intact is not only environmental exhibition but also institutionalism: a governance culture that is suffering from crisis crisis, reacts rather than preparation and preference for optics. The lesson of every flood since 1950 is clear but unorganized: Without systematic reforms, the people of Pakistan will survive through courage and reform, while their government is caught in the neglect of neglect.
The National Disaster Management Authority, which was formed after the 2005 earthquake, was formed after anchoring the destruction. In 2023-2024, the auditors flagged Rs 28.6 billion in financial irregularities, in which only one part was recovered. The public survey shows dissatisfaction with 84 % of citizens. In the flood -hit areas, most residents do not have the initial warning, not to train evacuation and not after destruction. Regional surveillance is the same: dozens of climate observations in Punjab and Islamabad, while Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir-where the melting glaciers eat dangerous rivers. This is not just incompetent. This is structural neglect.
This false step in international donors.
UNDP’s 90 million flood recovery program has rebuilt houses, supported women’s led measures, and provided cash for employment restoration. In Sindh, a mother remembers how a cash grant bought food and medicine for her children. In Balochistan, a farmer describes the dignity of rebuilding his village through community programs. These stories affect them, but they also indicate the person: Pakistanis are still alive not because of their own state. A nation cannot outsource its survival.
Donor lines are needed to break the cycle. The NDMA should be rebuilt with a colored budget to prevent, subject to independent audit, and give the real authority to harmony with the provinces. Initial warning systems should be prepared from ambiguous suggestions in village -level evacuation orders, which are spread through SMS, radio, mosques, schools and women’s networks. Flood plane rules should eventually be enforced to prevent negligence development, while investment must prefer the infrastructure created to cope with flexible housing, mangrove and valleys, and the climate of climate presented by the IPCC.
Above all, flexibility should be rooted in societies. Citizens are not inactive. They are the first respondents, often protect neighbors from boats or rebuild their homes with their hands. They have to be empowered as trained, resource and decision makers. Donors can help, but Pakistan will have to claim its survival ownership.
Climate change has made Pakistan a frontline destructive but helplessness is not destined. The Mughal engineers, who rescued Multan centuries ago, proved that governance and far -reaching nature can live. Today, this truth is still intact: the water will be reduced, but they will stand up again. And the biggest tragedy will not be a flood. It will be a state that knows what is coming right now refused to prepare.
Author is a professor at the Faculty of Liberal Arts at Bacon House National University, Lahore.
