ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has appealed to the nation to offer prayers for rain to combat the persistent smog that has covered the eastern parts of the country.
In a statement on Thursday, PM Shehbaz urged religious scholars and leaders to play their role in organizing the prayers. He said the rain would improve the environment and greatly help get rid of diseases.
The Prime Minister said special prayers should be arranged so that human life can be relieved of the problem of smog. He added that the prayers should be organized in all mosques under the federal and provincial governments.
He stated that the rain is urgently needed to alleviate the impact of the ongoing smog crisis.
The Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) has predicted rain with thunderstorms and snowfall in northern and southwestern parts of the country over the next two days.
According to the PMD statement, rain is expected to reduce foggy conditions and significantly improve air quality, particularly in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the Potohar region and central Punjab.
Lahore, which ranked among the most polluted cities globally, is at the centre of the crisis, with other cities such as Multan also experiencing dangerously high smog levels. According to a report by IQAir, which tracks real-time data on air quality worldwide, the Air Quality Index in Lahore reached 1097 on Thursday while PM2.5 concentration in the city was 125 times the WHO annual air quality guideline value.
The Punjab government has also decided to use artificial rain in Rawalpindi to alleviate hazardous pollution levels, local media reported while citing government officials. Last year in December, Pakistan used artificial rain for the first time in the country to combat hazardous levels of smog in Lahore.
Pakistan has the second worst air quality in the world after Bangladesh. Millions of people die each year from air pollution-related health issues. UNICEF reports that nearly 600 million children in South Asia are exposed to dangerous levels of air pollution, with half of all childhood pneumonia deaths linked to it.
According to UNICEF, every year, air pollution is estimated to cause the deaths of 130,000 children under the age of 5 in South Asia.
