The majority of long-term, complicated issues in Pakistan call for specialized panels and committees. The PM established a 13-member group to devise plans to improve Pakistan’s resistance to severe weather phenomena, like as cloudbursts, flash floods, and urban flooding, because the continuous and frequent monsoon floods are no exception. Its duties include assessing critical infrastructure, recommending actions to address environmental and urban vulnerabilities, and reviewing current institutional arrangements for disaster preparedness and response.
It is chaired by the federal minister for planning, development, and special initiatives. All parties involved, including federal ministries, semi-government organizations, media outlets, civil society, and provincial governments, will be involved in a special policy conversation forum. To develop short-, medium-, and long-term national strategies for disaster mitigation and climate adaptation, meetings will be held every two weeks. This seems like a reasonable plan on paper. Most critics claim that the state’s reaction to the floods and other climate crises has lacked long-term flood prevention and climate resilience in general. Approximately 600,000 people have had to leave the country so far, and the floods have claimed about 850 lives. Furthermore, it’s likely that both of these totals will continue to rise. As floodwaters from Punjab travel downstream, Sindh is now bracing for a possible “super flood” of up to 0.9 million cusecs, which could impact as many as 1.6 million people.
However, the country has already grown accustomed to these high numbers, and many people have accepted that this is what will occur each monsoon. The institutions that are now in place to address this issue mostly deal with rescue and relief, and given the situation, they have performed well in Punjab. Even though this is a crucial activity, there is a good chance that significant damage will occur after the flooding has occurred. Homes, farms, and schools are wiped away, and even when lives are saved, they are sometimes all that remains for those impacted. It is a distinct task to really prevent flooding, lessen the chance that it will occur, and minimize the damage caused when it does. This calls for stronger coordination, better assistance mobilization, smarter agricultural, smarter infrastructure, and smarter building policies. In these areas, it is hoped that the new policy dialogue forum and committee would truly deliver. It is difficult to blame them for their long-standing mockery of the state’s preference for special committees and panels.
These bodies frequently have no influence, and even when they make wise suggestions, they are not always carried out. Implementation of climatic calamities, especially floods, would probably necessitate actions that would dispense with powerful special interests, such as real estate. Building close to riverbeds and/or in flood zones is a very dangerous idea, as the country’s unchecked urban growth is causing. If the continuing floods have taught us anything, it is that. In the end, even the most well-crafted policies are nothing without the guts to implement them.
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