Civil society

In Upper Kohistan, 98 out of 718 babies – roughly 13.65 per cent – were born underweight, making it the most affected district in the province. Kolai Palas followed with a 9.04 per cent rate (34 out of 376), while Upper Chitral recorded 76 such cases out of 1,212 births, translating to 6.27 per cent.

Pakistan can see the writing on the wall and knows that it must refrain from using the heyday of the alliance during the early years of the Cold War as the baseline because that world no longer exists. More importantly, Pakistan is no longer the same.

While official forecasts have suggested potential weather shifts that could help disperse pollutants, scientists caution that air quality may remain poor in the coming days without sustained reductions in emissions.