New crisis facing Pakistan, 40 villages become barren as water in Indus Delta dries up, 12 lakh displaced

Pakistan 40 Villages Sinking in Indus Delta:

Pakistan, India’s neighboring country, is currently facing natural disasters, losing lives due to earthquake, rainfall, floods. In the southern part of Pakistan, the Indus Delta River area is drowning in the sea. Due to this, 40 villages have become deserted. People are fleeing. A permanent membership has been destroyed in the Indus Delta region. In fact, people located in the Sindhu Delta region adjacent to the Arabian Sea on the southern end of Sindh province were traditionally farming and fishing, but in recent years, the river water has been salted as the water level of the sea has risen. So that the village is inundated.

About 12 lakh people have migrated from these villages. Most of them have settled in Karachi. Habibullah Khatti, who recently fled in Karachi, came to his paternal village Mirbahar to give a final farewell to his mother’s grave. Because his village is now drowning in the sea. Where his mother has a tomb, there is now a sea salt empire. When he arrived at his mother’s grave, half-half legs were shaved in a heap of salt. The village is about 15 km from Indus Delta, where the Indus river meets the Arabian Sea.

More than 40 villages disappeared

According to Habibullah, there were first 40 villages in Kharo Chan, but most of those villages have disappeared as the seawater area grows. According to census data, the city’s population was about 26000 in 1981, which has dropped to 11,000 in 2023. Habibullah Khatti is also going to settle with his family in Karachi. Like them, about 12 million people have migrated from this delta. According to a report published by the Think Tank Jinna Institute, about 12 million people have fled from Indus Delta in the last two decades.

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Water flow dropped 80 percent

According to a study conducted by the US-Pakistan Center for Advanced Studies in Water in 2018, water flow in the Indus Delta has dropped by 80 percent since the 1950s due to the effects of climate change such as irrigation canals, hydropolitan dams and melting snow and glaciers. Due to this, seawater is infiltrating the delta and the nearest villages have been depleted. Since 1990, delta’s water salinity has increased by about 70%, which has made it impossible to grow crops and destroyed lobster fish and crab species.

India adjourned the Indus Water Treaty

The Indus River from Tibet flows through Kashmir and then flows into Pakistan. After the terrorist attack in Pahlgam, India has suspended the Indus Water Treaty. Due to this, the flow of water in Indus has been reduced. About 80% of the river and its tributaries irrigate Pakistan’s cultivated land and provide livelihood to millions of people. The delta, made up of trembling on both banks of the Indus river, was once ideal for farming, fishing, mangrove and wildlife.