‘Environmental terrorism’ responsible for climate carnage in Pakistan: PDP

KARACHI: Holding what he called ‘environmental terrorism’ as responsible for the climate carnage in Pakistan, Pasban Democratic Party (PDP) chairman Altaf Shakoor said millions of flood victims in Pakistan demand environmental justice from the capitalist industrial countries involved in the crime of carbon emissions.

He said on the occasion of COP26 Glasgow Conference that it was committed to form a trillion dollar a year fund from 2025 - after a previous pledge for richer countries to provide $100 billion a year by 2020 was missed.

He said the promise of one billion dollar fund proved to be white lie.

He said the Glasgow agreement had pledged to significantly increase money to help poor countries cope with the effects of climate change and make the switch to clean energy.

He said climate change carnage in Pakistan demand from the industrial world to honour their pledge.

He said the share of Pakistan in carbon emissions is just one percent but it has paid a hundred percent penalty in presence environmental terrorism caused by brutal climate change.

He said the world community has left alone the Pakistani nation reeling under the climate carnage and it is not ready to pay their due share of this global climate penalty. He said hatred and anger in Pakistan against the countries responsible for world carbon emissions is rising.

He said had any non-Muslim country suffered this huge climate carnage, the whole world would have opened their hearts and purses, but due to global discrimination against Muslims, the millions of Pakistani flood survivors are left alone.

Altaf Shakoor said dengue, malaria and other vector diseases are spreading fast in the inundated areas. Millions of people urgently need tents, food, mosquito nets and medicines.

He said this is a global burden of climate change and Pakistan alone cannot fight this environmental terrorism. It needs a huge global support that is presently seen nowhere. He said Pakistan has fought the war on terrorism for the whole world but when it is fighting the war of environmental terrorism it is left alone. It shows the double standard of the world, especially the unreliable west.

Altaf Shakoor demanded from the federal and provincial governments and Pakistan army to deploy heavy duty pumping machines to swiftly de-water inundated areas.

He said sowing for the Rabi season is due just in two months. He said if the farmlands are not de-watered within this period and Rabi crop is missed millions of peasants would face hunger for whole year.

He asked to form a National Drainage Authority to redesign the whole drainage system of Pakistan, especially in Sindh and Balochistan as the present drainage system has proved a big disappointment during recent monsoon season.

He asked to erect new dams including Kalabagh Dam, besides digging mega artificial lakes to divert and store flood water.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022