Unaddressed crisis

The water crisis is arguably Pakistan’s most urgent yet most under-discussed emergency. As we move deeper into 2025, the country faces extreme water stress, with millions of citizens lacking access to clean water. This scarcity is fundamentally a crisis of governance. The 2018 National Water Policy remains largely ignored and our irrigation methods and infrastructure are outdated. Cash crops like sugarcane and cotton continue to consume enormous water resources but remain subsidised and politically protected.

While cross-border water politics are real, the slow devastation caused by internal neglect is far more widespread and long-term. We need to reframe the water issue as a rights problem. Pakistan urgently needs public awareness campaigns, more water experts in media discourse, water conservation education in curricula and coordinated governance reform.

Rizwan Ahmed Pato

Khairpur Mirs