This year’s monsoon has reiterated the “preconceived notion” that our government has historically let every problem go under the carpet. The floods of 2022 caused unprecedented damage; a stark manifestation of deforestation, mismanagement, and a clear lack of resource allocation.

Despite the devolution of the Disaster Management Authorities post the 18th Amendment to the provinces, there has been little or no contingency planning for rain-induced disasters. Those who credited good governance for the last two years’ calm may want to reconsider; it was luck, not leadership that spared us. A lack of precipitation simply left our fragile contingency systems unexposed till the worst came.

Alas! If only adding words to the Constitution could alleviate the plight of citizens. Article 9-A which was added in October 2024 to the Constitution, was supposed to provide every Pakistani with a “clean and healthy environment.” Things have shaped up differently though, and the numbers tell a very different tale, with 645 dead and over 900 injured nationwide in monsoon-related disasters since June 26, including 327 deaths in KP alone over the past week.

The NDMA’s 2025 Monsoon Infrastructure Guidelines were released on schedule, emphasizing pre-disaster planning. These protocols just seem like a duplication, mimicking guidelines issued from 2022, which themselves echoed 2020’s version. One might conclude that disaster management, like much else, has merely been reduced to an annual copy-paste exercise.

Supreme Court Justice Mansoor Ali Shah said in July that delays in climate reforms endanger citizens’ fundamental rights under Article 9-A, noting that climate finance is essential to upholding rights to life and dignity. Parliament had already responded by passing Article 9-A. The floods arrived anyway apparently unaware of their “unconstitutionality”. So unconstitutional, in fact, that they claimed even those attempting rescue operations—a government helicopter crashed in Mohmand during relief efforts, killing five crew members. A day of mourning was announced for those who died trying to save others from our scheduled catastrophes.

In May this year, the IMF approved a $1.4 billion climate loan to help Pakistan build resilience to........

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