A technician examines a vehicle to test its emissions on a road in suburban Islamabad. Photo: AFP
ISLAMABAD:
Truck driver Muhammad Afzal did not expect to be stopped by police, let alone fined, on his way to Islamabad this week due to thick diesel fumes emanating from his exhaust pipe.
“It’s unfair,” he said after being asked to pay 1,000 rupees ($3.60), with the threat of having his truck impounded if he did not “solve” the problem. “I was coming from Lahore after having my vehicle repaired. They pressed the accelerator to make smoke come out. It’s an injustice,” he told AFP.
The checkpoints set up this month are part of a crackdown by authorities to combat soaring smog levels in the city, with winter months the worst due to atmospheric inversions that trap pollutants at ground level.
“We have already warned the owners of severe action, and we will prevent their entry into the city if they do not comply with the orders,” said Dr. Zaigham Abbas of the Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as he inspected the checkpoint on the southeastern edge of the capital.
For Waleed Ahmed, a technician inspecting the vehicles on site, “just like a human being, a vehicle has a life cycle. Those who pass through it emit fumes dangerous to human health.”
Self-inflicted crisis
Although it has not yet reached the extreme winter levels of Lahore or the megacity Karachi, where heavy industry and brick kilns release tons of pollutants every year, Islamabad is gradually closing the gap.
So far in December, seven “very unhealthy” days have been recorded for PM2.5 particles above 150 micrograms per cubic meter, according to Switzerland-based monitoring company IQAir.
Intraday PM2.5 levels in Islamabad often exceed those of Karachi and Lahore, and in 2024, the city’s average PM2.5 reading for the year was 52.3 micrograms, surpassing Lahore’s 46.2.
These annual readings far exceed the five microgram safety level recommended by the World Health Organization.
Built from scratch to become Pakistan’s capital in the 1960s, the city was considered an urban model for the rapidly growing country, with wide avenues and vast green spaces adjoining the foothills of the Himalayas.
But the neighborhood’s sprawl discourages walking and public transportation remains limited, meaning cars — mostly older models — are essential to residents’ commutes.
“The capital region is choked largely by its transportation sector,” which produces 53 percent of its toxic PM2.5 particles, the Pakistan Air Quality Initiative, a research group, said in a recent report. “The fog surrounding Islamabad… is not the smoke of industry, but the exhaustion of a million private trips – a self-inflicted crisis,” he says.
His fundamental right
Announcing the crackdown on December 7, EPA chief Nazia Zaib Ali said more than 300 fines were issued at checkpoints in the first week, and 80 vehicles were seized.
“We cannot allow non-compliant vehicles to poison the city’s air and endanger public health at any cost,” she said in a statement.
The city has also started installing stations where drivers can have their emissions inspected, and those who pass receive a green sticker on their windshield.
“We were worried about Lahore, but now it is Islamabad. And all because of vehicles emitting pollution,” said Iftikhar Sarwar, 51, as he had his car checked on a busy road near a park in Islamabad. “I never needed medicine before, but now I get allergies if I don’t take a pill in the morning. The same thing happens with my family,” he added.
Other residents say they fear that the government’s measures will not be enough to counter worsening winter smog.
“This is not the Islamabad I arrived in 20 years ago,” said Sulaman Ijaz, an anthropologist. “I feel uneasy when I think about what I will say if my daughter asks for clean air – it is her basic right. »
