pakistan blames india for air pollution

Days after Pakistan blamed India for the worst air pollution in Lahore and Karachi, New Delhi said it has not received any formal notification from Islamabad to hold diplomatic discussions on the issue. According to a report by Dawn, senior minister Maryam Aurangzeb cautioned citizens about the smoke coming from India, saying that winds will continue to blow towards Lahore for at least a week. He had said that Punjab would write to the Foreign Office on Monday (November 4) to raise the issue with New Delhi. However, reacting to the claim, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said the department has not received any request from the Pakistani side.

The second largest city of Pakistan is facing extreme pollution and urban pollution. The air quality index (AQI) reached more than 1,900 last week. Switzerland-based air quality monitoring organization IQAir has placed the air quality in the hazardous category. The provincial minister said during a press conference that easterly winds coming from Amritsar and Chandigarh have been pushing the air quality index in Lahore to more than 1,000 for the last two days. Dawn quoted the minister as saying during a press conference that the wind from India towards Lahore is pushing the smog to dangerous levels and the wind is likely to maintain its direction till at least next week… People are being unnecessarily affected by the haze. We should take care of ourselves by avoiding going out of our homes. The elderly and children should be especially careful.

New Delhi grapples with intense pollution every winter as cold air traps emissions, dust and smoke from farm fires in the nearby agricultural states of Punjab and Haryana, resulting in frequent school closures and construction work. But there is a stop. The Ministry of Earth Sciences said the air quality in the region is expected to remain very poor till Wednesday, and is likely to remain from ‘very poor’ to severe for the next six days.