India’s neighbor urges ‘climate diplomacy’ as air turns toxic 

Pakistan’s Punjab province has called for urgent action to address cross-border air pollution, citing dangerous levels of smog coming from India, local media have reported. Officials have been forced to close schools in the provincial capital, Lahore, after air quality levels deteriorated in recent days.     

Punjab is the second largest province in Pakistan and borders India to the east. Officials in the region will reportedly request that the Pakistani Foreign Ministry take action over the air quality, which exceeds the levels considered safe by the World Health Organization (WHO). The local government has been forced to close primary schools in Lahore from November 4 to November 9. 

In a press conference on Sunday, senior minister Marriyum Aurangzeb stated that the smog was coming from northern India due to easterly winds, which are expected to continue for at least a week.

“The wind from India towards Lahore is carrying the smog to dangerous levels, and this direction is likely to be sustained for at least the next week. People should take care of themselves by avoiding unnecessary outings. The elderly and children should be particularly careful,” Aurangzeb was quoted by the APP news agency as saying. She added that the Punjab government would write to Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry to approach Indian authorities for talks on joint efforts to curb the smog.

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The air quality index (AQI) in Lahore crossed 1,000 over the weekend, a record high in Pakistan, briefly placing the city in top spot on a real-time list of the world’s most polluted cities on Sunday, according to IQAir, a global pollution monitoring platform. India’s capital, New Delhi, has consistently ranked among the most polluted cities, according to IQAir. The air quality in New Delhi remained at the higher end of the “very poor” category for the seventh straight day on Tuesday, with the AQI reported at over 380. 

The landlocked Delhi capital region and surrounding areas are particularly vulnerable to smog buildup during the winter season, according to experts. However, the most recent surge in pollution was recorded following Diwali festival celebrations in India last week, which traditionally include firecrackers. Media reports suggested that a ban on the sale and production of firecrackers in the Delhi capital region, imposed by the Indian Supreme Court in 2018 in response to a petition seeking measures to control pollution levels, was largely ignored by residents.

On Monday, the Supreme Court demanded accountability from the Delhi government for widespread violations of the ban during Diwali, asking the police and administration to share details on how they will prevent a repeat of such violations next year and whether the capital needs a permanent prohibition on such celebrations.

According to a report released earlier this month by Airvoice, a global company that develops solutions for air quality monitoring and management, in some areas of northern India, including New Delhi and the states of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, concentrations of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) exceed the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) by up to 875% during Diwali celebrations. However, the report noted that these effects are short-lived, and that air quality tends to return to pre-festival levels within 24 hours. 

Ties between India and Pakistan have been frosty since 2019, when Islamabad downgraded its relations with New Delhi after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government revoked special constitutional privileges for Jammu and Kashmir. The region has been at the center of a territorial dispute between the two neighbors since their independence from British colonial rule in 1947. In recent months, militancy has increased in the region, with New Delhi accusing Pakistan of supporting cross-border terrorism.