In hottest city on Earth, mothers bear brunt of climate change

Rabia fans her son, Manish Kumar, 10, as he lies in bed after having a bladder stone removed, during a heatwave, at Civil Hospital, Jacobabad, Pakistan, May 15, 2022. (REUTERS)
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Updated 14 June 2022
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In hottest city on Earth, mothers bear brunt of climate change

  • Climate change poses significant threat to unempowered women in rural areas and urban slums
  • Studies show global temperatures have risen by about 1.2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels

JACOBABAD, Pakistan: Heavily pregnant Sonari toils under the burning sun in fields dotted with bright yellow melons in Jacobabad, which last month became the hottest city on Earth.
Her 17-year-old neighbor Waderi, who gave birth a few weeks ago, is back working in temperatures that can exceed 50 Celsius (122 Fahrenheit), with her newborn lying on a blanket in the shade nearby so she can feed him when he cries.
“When the heat is coming and we’re pregnant, we feel stressed,” said Sonari, who is in her mid-20s.
These women in southern Pakistan and millions like them around the world are at the searing edge of climate change.
Pregnant women exposed to heat for prolonged periods of time have a higher risk of suffering complications, an analysis of 70 studies conducted since the mid-1990s on the issue found.
For every 1 degree Celsius in temperature rise, the number of stillbirths and premature deliveries increases by about 5 percent, according to the meta-analysis Global Consortium on Climate and Health Education at Columbia University, which was carried out by several research institutions globally and published in the British Medical Journal in September 2020.
Cecilia Sorensen, director of the Global Consortium on Climate and Health Education at Columbia University, said the unfolding impact of global warming on the health of women was “highly underdocumented,” partly because extreme heat tended to exacerbate other conditions.
“We’re not associating health impacts on women and often times it’s because we’re not collecting data on it,” she said. “And often women in poverty are not seeking medical care.”
“Heat is a super big deal for pregnant women.”




Farmer Waderi, 17, fans her one-month-old son Amar Kumar during a heatwave, at home, on the outskirts of Jacobabad, Pakistan, May 17, 2022. (REUTERS)

Women are especially vulnerable to rising temperatures in poor countries on the frontlines of climate change because many have little choice but to work through their pregnancies and soon after giving birth, according to interviews with more than a dozen female residents in the Jacobabad area as well as half a dozen development and human rights experts.
Further adding to the risks, women in socially conservative Pakistan — and many other places — typically cook the family meals over hot stoves or open fires, often in cramped rooms with no ventilation or cooling.
“If you’re inside cooking next to a hot open fire you have that burden of that heat in addition to the ambient heat which makes things that much more dangerous,” Sorensen added.
EXTREME HUMID HEAT EVENTS
South Asia has suffered unseasonably hot temperatures in recent months. An extreme heatwave that scorched Pakistan and India in April was 30 times more likely to happen due to climate change, according to scientists at World Weather Attribution, an international research collaboration. Global temperatures have risen by about 1.2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
As temperatures continue rising, extreme heatwaves are only expected to increase.
Jacobabad’s roughly 200,000 residents are well aware of their reputation as one of the world’s hottest cities.
“If we go to hell, we’ll take a blanket,” is a common joke told in the area.
Few places are more punishing. Last month, temperatures hit 51 Celsius (124 Fahrenheit) on May 14, which local meteorological officials said was highly unusual for that time of year. Tropical rains can also conspire with warm winds from the Arabian Sea to drive up humidity later in the year.




Local residents eat their lunch of curry and flatbread, during a heatwave, at a cafe in Jacobabad, Pakistan May 14, 2022. (REUTERS)

The more humid it is, the harder it is for people to cool down via sweating. Such conditions are measured by “wet bulb temperatures,” taken by a thermometer wrapped in a wet cloth. Wet bulb temperatures of 35C or higher are considered the limit to human survival.
Jacobabad has crossed that threshold at least twice since 2010, according to regional weather data. And, globally, such “extreme humid heat events” have more than doubled in frequency in the last four decades, according to a May 2020 study in the journal Science.




Biban, a pregnant farmer, clears unwanted grass at a muskmelon farm, during a heatwave, on the outskirts of Jacobabad, Pakistan, May 17, 2022. (REUTERS)

Sonari, who is in her 20s, and Waderi work alongside about a dozen other women, several of them pregnant, in the melon fields about 10 km from Jacobabad’s center.
They begin work each day at 6 a.m. with a short afternoon break for housework and cooking before returning to the field to work until sundown. They describe leg pains, fainting episodes and discomfort while breastfeeding.
“It feels like no one sees them, no one cares about them,” aid worker Liza Khan said more broadly about the plight facing many women in Jacobabad and the wider Sindh region which straddles the border of Pakistan and India.




Liza Khan, 22, project manager at the Community Development Foundation (CDF), walks to her office in Jacobabad, Pakistan, May 18, 2022. (REUTERS)

Khan’s phone rings constantly as she drives to one of three heatstroke response centers she has helped set up in recent weeks as part of her work with a non-profit group called the Community Development Foundation.
With a finance degree, Khan has lived in cooler cities across Pakistan but returned to her hometown because she wanted to be a voice for women in the conservative area.
“Nowadays I’m working 24/7,” said the 22-year-old, adding that her organization was finding the impact of extreme heat increasingly intertwining with other social and health issues affecting women.
THE FRONTLINES OF SUFFERING
The harsh conditions facing many women were brought into tragic focus on May 14, the day temperatures in Jacobabad hit 51 C, making it the world’s hottest city at that time.
Nazia, a young mother of five, was preparing lunch for her visiting cousins. But with no air conditioning or fan in her kitchen, she collapsed and was taken to a nearby hospital, where she was pronounced dead from a suspected heat stroke
District health officials did not answer requests for comment about Jacobabad’s record of heat-related deaths in recent years, or more specifically about Nazia’s case.
Her body was taken the following day to her ancestral village to be buried and her children, the youngest a one-year-old who was still breastfeeding, regularly cry for their mother, a relative said.
Widespread poverty and frequent power cuts mean many people can’t afford or use air conditioning or at times even a fan to cool down.




Kaloo, 60, repairs a fan with a spoon while at work in a cafe, during a heatwave, in Jacobabad, Pakistan May 14, 2022. (REUTERS)

Potential strategies recommended by experts include providing clean-energy stoves to replace open-fire cooking, offering women’s medical and social services during early morning or evening hours when it is cooler and replacing tin roofs with cooler material in white to reflect solar radiation away from the home.
Climate Change Minister Sherry Rehman told Reuters that women were likely bear the brunt of rising temperatures as they continued to scorch the country, adding that climate change policies in the future needed to address the specific needs of women.
“A megatrend like climate change ... poses a significant threat to the well-being of unempowered women in rural areas and urban slums,” she added. “Pakistani women, especially on the margins, will be impacted the most.”
Some in Jacobabad find it galling that Pakistan is responsible for just a fraction of the greenhouse gases released in the industrial era and now warming the atmosphere.
“We are not contributing to the worsening, but we are on the frontlines as far as suffering is concerned,” said Hafeez Siyal, the city’s deputy commissioner.
NO WATER, NO POWER, WE PRAY
In a residential neighborhood of the city, a donkey-drawn cart stacked with blue plastic jerrycans stops near the entrance to warren-like lanes leading to a cluster of homes. The cart’s driver runs back and forth delivering 20-liter containers of water from one of a few dozen private pumps around the city.
Most residents of Jacobabad rely on such water deliveries, which can cost between a fifth and an eighth of a household’s meagre income. Still, it’s often not enough, and some families are forced to ration.
For young mother Razia, the sound of her six-month-old Tamanna crying in the afternoon heat was enough to persuade her to pour some of her precious water over the baby. She then sat Tamanna in front of a fan, and the child was visibly calmer, playing with her mother’s scarf.




Women and children wash themselves after work at a muskmelon farm, during a heatwave, at a hand pump on the outskirts of Jacobabad, Pakistan, May 17, 2022. (REUTERS)

Local officials said water shortages were partly due to electricity cuts, which mean water cannot be filtered and sent via pipes throughout the city. There are also severe water shortages across Sindh, with climate change minister Rehman flagging shortfalls of up to 60 percent of what is needed in the province’s key dams and canals.
Rubina, Razia’s neighbor, fried onions and okra over an open fire, explaining she usually felt dizzy in the heat and tried to soak herself in water each time she cooked to prevent herself from fainting.
There was not always enough water to do so, though.
“Most of the time, it ends before it’s time to buy more and we must wait,” Rubina said as she closely supervised her children and grandchildren sharing a cup of water. “On the hot days with no water, no electricity we wake up and the only thing we do is pray to God.”


Pakistan hopes for fair deal from ICC on Champions Trophy impasse with India

Updated 11 sec ago
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Pakistan hopes for fair deal from ICC on Champions Trophy impasse with India

  • PCB says it’s unacceptable that Pakistanis play in India while Indians don’t come to Pakistan
  • Pakistan has spent millions of dollars on the upgrade of three stadiums chosen for tournament

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan hopes it will get a fair deal on “equality” when the International Cricket Council (ICC) holds a virtual meeting on Friday to finalize details for next year’s Champions Trophy.
There’s an impasse for the eight-team, 50-over format tournament after India declined to tour Pakistan for the event, scheduled to be held from Feb. 19 to March 9.
A decades-long tense political situation between the two South Asian countries hasn’t seen India playing international cricket in Pakistan since 2008 when it competed in Asia Cup.
Both nations have competed in ICC tournaments with Pakistan touring India last year for the 50-overs World Cup.
“I promise we’ll do what is best for Pakistan cricket,” PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi said in Lahore. “We’re still clear in our stance that it’s not acceptable that we play cricket in India, and they don’t play cricket here. Whatever will happen, will happen on the basis of equality. We’ve told the ICC very clearly, and what happens next we’ll let you know.”
The ICC board could decide the issue in a vote among members.
“Whatever we do, we will make sure the best outcome for Pakistan is achieved,” Naqvi said. “But I repeat, and I am sure you know what I mean, it’s not possible that Pakistan play in India, and they don’t come here.”
Earlier this month, the ICC told the PCB that the Board of Control for Cricket in India had informed the game’s governing body it will not tour Pakistan for the event. The PCB sent an email, asking the ICC reasons behind India’s refusal.
Naqvi said he’s been in “constant touch” with the ICC chairman Greg Barckley, but didn’t say whether he got the answers from the game’s governing body as to why India was not willing to tour Pakistan.
Naqvi, who is also the interior minister in the Pakistan government, said that whatever decision the ICC makes on Friday, he will go to his government for the final approval.
Pakistan has spent millions of dollars on the upgrade of three stadiums in Karachi, Lahore, and Rawalpindi — the three venues chosen for the Champions Trophy. Naqvi said he hoped the renovation of three stadiums will be completed well in time to host the event.


Pakistani stocks breach 100,000 points first time in history, marking historic milestone

Updated 22 min 17 sec ago
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Pakistani stocks breach 100,000 points first time in history, marking historic milestone

  • Pakistan Stock Exchange has surged 150 percent from 40,000 points in just 17 months
  • PM Shehbaz Sharif congratulates the nation, says investors trust government’s policies

KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) reached an unprecedented milestone on Thursday, with the benchmark KSE-100 index surpassing 100,000 points for the first time in history.
The index stood at 100,334.91 after gaining 1,065.66 points by 10:48 AM, recovering from its biggest-ever decline of 3,506 points, or 3.57 percent, earlier this week.
The market’s rally is attributed to a combination of positive economic developments, including Pakistan’s new $7 billion loan agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which has bolstered investor confidence.
The IMF’s disbursement of the first tranche of approximately $1 billion in September, along with fiscal and monetary reforms, has improved market sentiment.
“A remarkable 150 percent return from 40k to 100k in just 17 months,” Mohammad Sohail, CEO of Topline Securities, exclaimed in a social media post. “New IMF loan coupled with fiscal and monetary discipline [is] improving investor sentiment. Moreover, faster than expected fall in inflation and interest rates [is] adding cash liquidity to the stock market.”
The PSX’s historic rise coincides with a steady decline in inflation and interest rates, which have provided liquidity to the market.
Pakistan’s inflation dropped to 12.5 percent in October, from its peak of over 38 percent earlier this year, creating a more favorable environment for investors.
Additionally, the three-day state visit of Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko to Pakistan has contributed to optimism. The two nations signed multiple agreements aimed at boosting trade and investment, signaling Pakistan’s efforts to stabilize its economy and attract foreign investment.
The PSX’s growth trajectory reflects its resilience over time.
“From less than 1,000 points in the late 1990s to 100,000 today, market is up 100 times,” Sohail said, adding the milestone was a testament to the ups and downs, bull runs and bear runs, optimism and pessimism the market had endured over the last 25 years.”
He maintained the PSX’s performance underscored the resilience and potential of Pakistan’s financial sector, even amid ongoing economic and political challenges.
Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif congratulated the nation on the PSX crossing 100,000 points for the first time.
“This milestone showcases the trust of the business community and investors in our policies,” he said in a statement. “It is a testament to the hard work of our economic team and officials working to promote investment in the country.”
The premier also reaffirmed his commitment to ensuring economic stability and national progress.
 


Pakistani journalist critical of government, military ‘picked up’ in Islamabad — family

Updated 16 min 6 sec ago
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Pakistani journalist critical of government, military ‘picked up’ in Islamabad — family

  • Matiullah Jan’s son says he was taken by unknown people from outside Islamabad’s PIMS hospital 
  • Jan has been covering opposition protests, had criticized authorities’ version of the killing of troops 

ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani journalist critical of authorities’ handling of recent anti-government protests was ‘picked up’ from outside a hospital in the federal capital of Islamabad while reporting on Wednesday, his son said in a video statement on Thursday. 

The disappearance of Matiullah Jan, known for his outspoken reporting and criticism of the all-powerful military, comes after he published reports on his YouTube channel that a paramilitary officer killed during recent opposition protests had been run over by the force’s own vehicle. 

In recent years, journalists in Pakistan have complained of increasing government and military censorship, intimidation and harassment as well as digital abuse. Authorities deny they persecute journalists. This has been an especially dangerous year for the press in Pakistan, with at least six journalists killed in direct or suspected relation to their work, the Committee to Protect Journalists said last month.

“Yesterday, my father [Matiullah Jan] was picked up around 11:30 p.m. from in front of PIMS [hospital] along with uncle Saqib Bashir, picked up by unknown people in unmarked cars,” Abdul Razzaq said in a message on X, posted from Jan’s account. 

“They made no introduction that we are from the police, Rangers or we are someone else. They didn’t introduce themselves because it is the democratic republic of Pakistan so what’s the point of informing people who is who?”

Razzaq said the other journalist, Bashir, was allowed to get out of the car after a short distance.

“[They] stopped somewhere and after that, they said to Bashir Uncle, ‘We have no issue with you.’ He was let go. They said, ‘The issue is with Matiullah Jan’.”

Prominent Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir, a friend of Jan’s, said on X the journalist was being detained at the capital’s Margalla Police Station but did not share further details. 

The government and Islamabad police have yet not issued a statement on the issue. 

Jan was picked up once before in June 2020 but released after about 20 hours. The Committee to Protect Journalists said at the time, demanding Jan’s release, that he may have been picked up for sharing anti-state remarks on social media.

Jan has been at the forefront of reporting on protests that began last week by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party of jailed former premier Imran Khan. The government says three paramilitary troops and one policeman were killed in violence by protesters, with Jan questioning the circumstances of the deaths in his reporting. 
 


Imran Khan’s wife Bushra Bibi forcibly removed from Islamabad protest, claims her sister

Updated 28 November 2024
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Imran Khan’s wife Bushra Bibi forcibly removed from Islamabad protest, claims her sister

  • Maryam Wattoo says Bibi was taken by KP administration, with her location concealed from family members
  • A senior PTI leader and close aide of ex-PM Khan dismisses Wattoo’s claims, says they should be ignored

ISLAMABAD: Bushra Bibi, the wife of Pakistan’s incarcerated former Prime Minister Imran Khan, was forcibly removed from a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) protest in Islamabad and her whereabouts are now unknown, her sister said during an interview with a local media network on Wednesday.

The protest, led by Bibi and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, drew tens of thousands to Islamabad’s D-Chowk, located near the country’s parliament building and other government installation, demanding Khan’s release more than a year after his imprisonment.

Police and paramilitary Rangers cracked down on the demonstration on Tuesday night to disperse the crowd, as senior PTI leaders vanished from the venue despite announcing an indefinite sit-in in the capital and telling their party supporters they would not return without the ex-premier.

Initially, it was not clear where Bibi and Gandapur had gone, though media reported on Wednesday morning they had reached Mansehra district in KP and were going to address a news conference.

While Gandapur appeared on the media, calling the sit-in a movement and saying it would continue, Bibi did not give a public appearance.

“For several hours, we had no idea what was happening,” her sister, Maryam Riaz Wattoo, told ARY TV during an interview. “We were only being told that she had gone to KP. But I couldn’t believe that she would leave for KP so easily because I knew she was determined to stay there until it was do or die.”

Wattoo said she tried to contact her sister but no one was willing to put her through. 

“I got to talk to her through my own means very late in the day,” she said. “And I asked her to tell me clearly, ‘Did you leave with your own will?’ She said, ‘No. I never wanted to leave. I was ready to die there.’“

The sister maintained Bibi was taken by the KP administration, with her location concealed even from family members.

She also described the chaotic scenes as Bibi was removed, with gunfire in the background and her vehicle’s tire punctured.

“Bushra didn’t even know about the press conference,” she said, referring to the planned media interaction by Gandapur and her that was reported in the media. “She has been taken to an unknown location.”

Wattoo said that while she did not accuse Gandapur of ill intent, the lack of family communication was deeply concerning.

“I find it strange that even if they are moving her for security reasons, why is her family not informed about it,” she asked.

Sayed Zulfikar Bukhari, a senior PTI leader and close aide of ex-premier Khan, dismissed Maryam Riaz Wattoo’s claims as “not true,” adding that they should be ignored.

Pakistan’s Geo TV also aired CCTV footage purportedly showing Bibi in Islamabad, where she is seen stepping out of one vehicle and boarding another before leaving the federal capital.

The government has faced criticism for using excessive force while dispersing protesters, but the PTI leaders have also expressed disappointment over how the demonstration unfolded before reaching an abrupt conclusion.


Oxford vice chancellor bid, popularized in Pakistan by Imran Khan, ends with election of Lord Hague

Updated 28 November 2024
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Oxford vice chancellor bid, popularized in Pakistan by Imran Khan, ends with election of Lord Hague

  • Former British foreign secretary and ex-Conservative party leader William Hague elected chancellor 
  • Pakistan’s Khan, in jail since August 2023, had applied for chancellor election but was not shortlisted 

ISLAMABAD: Oxford University announced on Wednesday it had elected Lord William Hague, a former Conservative party leader and ex-British foreign secretary as its chancellor, months after rejecting former Pakistan premier Imran Khan’s bid for the post. 

Khan, who ruled Pakistan from 2018-2022, has been in prison since August 2023 on charges he says are politically motivated. His aide Sayed Zulfikar Bukhari said Khan filed his application for the chancellor’s role in September.

Oxford later released a shortlist of 38 candidates for the first round of the voting among its alumni. Khan’s name was not featured in the list. 

“Lord Hague will be formally inaugurated as Chancellor early in the New Year and serve for a term of 10 years,” Oxford University said in a report. “He becomes the 160th recorded Chancellor in the University’s history, a role that dates back at least 800 years.”

Hague was a leader of the Conservative Party from 1997-2001 and later served as Britain’s foreign secretary from 2010-2014. He also served as Secretary of State for Wales, Leader of the House of Commons and Minister for Disabled People, in which role he was the author of the Disability Discrimination Act. 

He spent 26 years as a member of parliament for Richmond, Yorkshire.

Hague graduated from Magdalen College, Oxford, in 1982, where he studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics. He was president of the Oxford Union as well. 

“Thank you to my fellow Oxonians for placing such confidence in me,” Hague said. “I regard being elected as the Chancellor of our university as the greatest honor of my life.”

The chancellor is the titular head of Oxford University and presides over several key ceremonies. The chancellor also undertakes advocacy, advisory, and fundraising work, acting as an ambassador for the university at a range of local, national, and international events. 

Hague succeeds Lord Patten of Barnes, who announced his retirement from the post in February.