Lahore is the world's most polluted city. Here's why Pakistan is blaming India for it

Pakistan’s second-largest city, Lahore, was ranked as the world’s most polluted city last week after its air quality index (AQI) reached a record high over the weekend. However, Pakistan’s government has blamed India for the rise in pollution levels.

On Sunday, Lahore topped the global list of most polluted cities, recording a record-high pollution reading of 1,900 near the Pakistan-India border the previous day, according to data from the provincial government and Swiss monitoring group IQAir.

Notably, AQI levels are categorised as follows: zero to 50 is ‘good’; 51 to 100 ‘satisfactory’; 101 to 200 ‘moderate’; 201 to 300 ‘poor’; 301 to 400 ‘very poor’; 401 to 450 ‘severe’; and above 450 ‘severe plus’.

Pollution levels beyond World Health Organization (WHO)-recommended safety limits are estimated to reduce life expectancy in Lahore by an average of 7.5 years, according to the University of Chicago’s Energy Policy Institute.

United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) estimates that nearly 600 million children in South Asia are exposed to dangerously high levels of air pollution.

‘Green Lockdown’ in Lahore

Amid worsening air quality in Lahore, authorities have implemented a “green lockdown” to control the impact.

Primary schools have been closed for a week and Pakistan’s Punjab Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb has advised parents to ensure children wear masks. Citizens are urged to stay indoors, keep doors and windows closed, and avoid unnecessary travel, the minister said, adding that hospitals are now equipped with smog counters.

To reduce vehicle emissions, 50% of the office staff has been asked to work from home.

Further measures include a ban on rickshaws and a halt on construction in certain areas to control pollution levels. Factories and construction sites that violate regulations risk closure, she said.

Last month, children across Lahore were restricted from outdoor activities until at least January 2025, with school hours adjusted to avoid peak pollution times.

ALSO READ | Emergency measures imposed in Lahore as air pollution hits historic high

Pakistan blames India

Speaking to the media, Pakistan’s Punjab Information Minister Azma Bokhari said, “The wind direction brings air from India into Pakistan, yet India does not seem to be taking this problem as seriously as it should.” She also urged the Punjab authorities in India to take this matter seriously.

“Delhi ranks first in smog levels today, with Lahore closely following in second place. Delhi’s air quality index is around 393, while Lahore’s is close to 280,” she said, adding that China has also battled smog for 26 years.

Meanwhile, Marriyum Aurangzeb said last week that the government would ask the Pakistan Foreign Office to raise the issue of cross-border pollution with India. “Easterly winds from Amritsar and Chandigarh have spiked Lahore’s air quality index to over 1,000 for the past two days,” she said.

“People should take precautions, especially the elderly and children.”

Aurangzeb, who holds the environment portfolio in the cabinet, said Punjab plans to formally communicate with New Delhi through the Foreign Office.

At a recent Diwali event, Pakistan’s Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz also hinted at coordinating with her counterpart in Punjab to address the smog jointly. “This matter needs to be resolved diplomatically with India. I am considering writing to Indian Punjab’s chief minister. This is not a political issue; it is a humanitarian one.”

Not the first time Pakistan has blamed India

This is not the first time Pakistan has blamed India for poor air quality in Lahore.

In October last year, Pakistan announced that it would raise the problem of “stubble burning in Indian Punjab” with India at a diplomatic level after Lahore’s air quality worsened. During a meeting with the-then interim Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar, Punjab’s then-caretaker chief minister Mohsin Naqvi said “crop residue burning in Indian Punjab” was a major factor behind the smog affecting Lahore.

In 2019, as Lahore residents were struggling with breathing issues, stinging eyes, and nausea from thick smog, then Minister of State for Climate Change Zartaj Gul Wazir placed the blame on the country’s neighbour for worsening air quality. “Misinformation is being spread about Lahore’s air quality,” Wazir wrote on X, adding that “It is nowhere as bad as being asserted by vested elements.”

In a separate X post in 2018, Wazir labelled smog as an “environmental concern in Pakistan” and connected it to “unconventional warfare” with India. She wrote, “Smog is a major environmental concern in Pakistan. And we have to accept and acknowledge that it’s connected to the unconventional warfare we’re embattled in with our eastern neighbour, India.”

However, a 2019 report by Dawn, a Pakistani daily, dismissed these claims, arguing that the idea that crop burning in India causes Lahore’s smog was “not only without evidence” but also “statistically false with a very small correlation coefficient.” The report clarified that the transport sector, rather than crop fires, was the primary cause of air pollution in the city.

Preparations for artificial rain among steps to combat smog

Aurangzeb announced that preparations for artificial rain were ready, though suitable clouds were currently unavailable.

Listing the steps taken to combat smog, Aurangzeb mentioned that Maryam Nawaz had mobilised departments over the past eight months to combat smog. Farmers are now receiving 1,000 subsidised super-seeders, with plans to increase distribution to 5,000, and rental options available at the local council level to discourage crop residue burning, she said, Dawn reported.

Aurangzeb added that 550 kilns had been shut down, construction projects not following SOPs were restricted, and vehicles emitting excessive smoke were being seized. She added that the Environmental Protection Department had been restructured to improve its effectiveness and that an electric mass transport system was in development.

“Authorities will use the week to conduct research, mapping, and studies to reassess and determine if extended school closures are needed,” the minister was quoted as saying by the state-run APP.

Notably, the WHO warns that breathing polluted air can lead to serious health issues, including strokes, heart disease, lung cancer, and respiratory diseases. Smog is especially prevalent in winter, as colder, denser air traps pollutants from low-quality fuels used in vehicles and factories near ground level.

With inputs from agencies