“In information warfare, perception is the battlefield. If the news damages the other side—true or false—amplify it. Post it. Share it. Make it viral. Let panic spread across the border. If the news harms us — even if true — bury it. Suppress it. Disarm it before it spreads. This is not journalism. This is war. Every post is a bullet. Never fire one at your own country.”
— Anonymous X user, Indo-Pak conflict, May 2025
“Jung karni ho to 9 baje se pehle kerlena — 9:15 per gas chali jati hai humari.” (If you want to finish a war, do it before 9 PM — our gas goes off at 9:15.)
— Pakistani X user, also during the conflict, May 2025
When Indian missiles struck multiple targets inside Pakistan on May 7, 2025, two wars began simultaneously. One war involved aircraft, coordinates, and competing casualty figures that neither side would ever fully agree on. The other war was fought on X, Instagram and WhatsApp, in Urdu, Hindi, English and meme formats that require no language at all.
The first war ended in four days of contested claims and a ceasefire both sides described as a victory. The second war had a clearer and a far more unexpected result. Our netizens turned the odds in their favour. They not only fought but actually won the narrative battle. It is the question of how it did this that illuminates the direction of information warfare, and who, unexpectedly, is leading it there.
It shouldn’t have been this outcome. India entered the information war with every structural advantage. Multi-decade disinformation influence operations documented by international watchdogs produced one of the most organised online nationalist ecosystems on the planet. India was coordinated, enormous, and primed for exactly this kind of conflict.
While we might take pride in our fifth-gen warriors or 5Gs, Pakistan entered the infowars with a year-long ban on the platform where most of the battle would be fought, in a country where blackouts (electricity, internet, press freedom) are a condition of daily life rather than a wartime imposition. And yet, we prevailed.
We saw a preview in Balakot, circa 2019, in a brazen act of diplomatic trolling. India’s Mirage jets crossed into Pakistan and, by India’s telling, killed hundreds of militants in a precision counter-terrorism strike. According to Pakistan’s version and that of Reuters reporters who visited the site, India actually killed four trees and some crows. India held a press conference. Pakistan filed an FIR against unnamed IAF pilots for environmental destruction, submitted a formal dossier to the United Nations demanding India be declared an “eco-terrorist,” and moved to strip Modi of the “Champion of the Earth” award the UN had given him. A song was composed in memory of the fallen trees. An annual holiday (Fantastic Tea Day) was established to honour Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, who had been served chai in Pakistani captivity and had called it “fantastic”.
Pakistan did not contest India’s narrative. It replaced it with one so specific, so absurd, and so verifiably grounded that India’s victory claims curdled on contact. This is Malcolm Gladwell’s David and Goliath at work. The giant loses not because David is stronger, but because David refuses to play the giant’s game. India wanted a narrative war conducted on the terms of the powerful—solemn, institutional, credential-heavy. Pakistan showed up with an eco-terrorism complaint and a tea holiday. The giant never recovered its footing.
Coming back to 2025, India’s information manual against Pakistan was, and usually has been, straightforward (some might even say boring): you are poor, you beg from the IMF, your infrastructure is a humanitarian emergency, you commit rights violations, you’re a terrorist state, your country doesn’t have resources, etc. These are real vulnerabilities which are documented, painful, and definitely not invented. As weapons of narrative warfare, they should have been devastating.
And yet, they were not. Because Pakistan fired them first. At itself. And laughed. When a Pakistani user posted “Jung karni ho to 9 baje se pehle kerlena—9:15 per gas chali jati hai humari,” they weren’t being self-pitying. (If you want to go to war, do it before 9pm, our gas load shedding starts at 9:15pm). They were challenging the Indians to do their worst…what can they do that we haven’t done to ourselves already?
Owning a weakness so completely, so publicly, so cheerfully, neutralised any attempts at damage. You cannot humiliate a country that is already laughing harder than you are. And you certainly cannot humiliate one that has beaten you to the punchline. What is more, we didn’t need a coordinated effort to achieve this, just a shared sense of deprecation. Linguist Steven Pinker, in When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows, calls this common knowledge. It is the public, visible consensus that coordinates collective posture without issuing orders. We don’t need to explain it because everyone gets it. And everyone’s in on it. Every Valima-in-a-heatwave tweet, every transformer-mistaken-for-a-nuclear-strike thread was building a global audience, aligned and laughing in synch.
Pakistan has been rehearsing for this moment for decades. We practised on Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s couplets aimed at military dictators, truck-art commentary running up GT Road and with barely hidden references to Vigo kee sawari and Mehkma-e-Zaraat. In Weapons of the Weak, political scientist James C. Scott called it the “hidden transcript” or the subordinate group’s resistance conducted not through rebellion but through jokes, coded language, and the quiet appropriation of the Master’s narrative. The peasant who cannot challenge the landlord directly learns to challenge him indirectly through foot-dragging, feigned ignorance, and the precise deployment of the apparently innocent remark.
The information war was also lost to myopia. India was talking to Indians. Pakistan was talking to everyone.
India’s digital ecosystem of viral news anchors, coordinated hashtag campaigns and studio generals declaring cities captured was calibrated for a domestic audience already marinated in a decade of Hindutva-inflected media. The claims didn’t need to be accurate, just emotionally satisfying to people watching from Mumbai and Delhi. The international press, the foreign policy community, the undecided global gallery: none of these were the target. They were the collateral audience, and collateral audiences notice when you’re lying.
Pakistan’s memes, by contrast, were legible everywhere and spoke to a global audience. The Vince McMahon escalation meme required no knowledge of South Asian geopolitics. The shrimp karahi tweet from the allegedly bombed waterfront required only the ability to recognise absurdity. The Lowy Institute noted that Pakistan’s memes made it appear “cool-headed and composed, while India appeared reactionary and militaristic”. This was a verdict delivered not by Pakistani state media but by an Australian foreign policy think tank reading the international room. The Columbia Journalism Review called India’s coverage the smog of war (man-made, and known to be so by those making it).
The specifics are worth cataloguing. Zee News announced India had captured Islamabad and Pakistan surrendered. Times Now Navbharat declared Indian forces had entered Pakistan. Aaj Tak aired footage from the January 2025 Philadelphia plane crash as an Indian airstrike on Karachi. Major (retd) Gaurav Arya “reported” that the Indian Navy had bombed Karachi’s port—a claim met, in real time, by a Pakistani journalist filing from a restaurant beside the allegedly destroyed waterfront, eating shrimp karahi. An AI deepfake of DG ISPR Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry was circulated as authentic footage of him admitting Pakistani jet losses. India’s military later acknowledged that 15 per cent of operational time had been spent debunking fake news, and most of it was homegrown. The trolls were not operating in a parallel ecosystem but were on primetime television.
India’s information war defeat was largely self-inflicted. The enemy’s most effective psychological operation was India’s own media. According to BOOM Live, India’s leading fact-checking organisation, 68pc of all fact-checks conducted in May 2025 were related to Operation Sindoor. Not 68pc of the defence-and-security fact-checks, 68pc of everything. In a country of 1.4 billion people, with a media ecosystem covering every subject imaginable, two-thirds of all verifiable falsehoods circulating in that month were about one four-day military operation. India’s information war was not undermined by Pakistan. It was undermined by India’s own media infrastructure, operating at full speed, in the wrong direction.
Pakistan’s most disciplined information operation was also its simplest: 6-0. Six IAF aircraft downed, deployed in press conferences and memes simultaneously, with the consistency of a brand campaign.
The Rafale was the centrepiece. India’s most prestigious military asset, the jet Modi had staked significant political capital on acquiring, was now the subject of a Washington Post report confirming three crash sites in Indian territory. French intelligence acknowledged at least one loss. It was the first Rafale combat loss in the aircraft’s history. Pakistan had shot down India’s most expensive jet with a PL-15, and before the debris had cooled, had put it in a metaphorical tandoor, named the hashtag Operation Tandoor, and was serving it with naan and half a million impressions.
The Defence Minister joined the bandwagon personally and retweeted an AI-generated image of Modi cycling the Rafale wreckage to the Bilal Ganj scrap market. 533,000 impressions. The state and the meme had become a single, grinning entity. Even the Chinese chimed in with their own videos.
India named its operation Sindoor, or the vermilion marker worn by married Hindu women, invoking the widows of Pahalgam, framing its military strikes as masculine national grief made kinetic. Feminist scholars were not impressed, noting that branding a military campaign after a symbol of female marital subservience was a peculiar flex. Pakistan did not miss the opening, albeit with a rather regretful display of misogyny wrapped in jingoism.
Operation Suhag Raat trended within hours, reducing the widow-avenging solemnity to bedroom comedy. AI images of Modi as a Hindu widow (Operation Widhwa) circulated with the confidence of a finishing move. A Pakistan Army soldier applying sindoor to a woman in the Indian tricolour sari, beneath the banner “New Chapter Begins,” completed the inversion: in the ritual, the one who applies the sindoor is dominant.
India had named its operation after what husbands give wives. Pakistan replied by demonstrating who, in this version, was the husband. More work for the feminist scholars here.
Perhaps the coup-de-grace was the ceasefire announcement. US President Donald Trump announced he had brokered the deal, saving (by his own escalating estimate) somewhere between five million and fifty million lives, a figure he has revisited more than eighty times. India firmly rejected any US role, insecure of resolving any issue with Pakistan multilaterally (case in point: Kashmir).
Pakistan not only accepted it, but embraced it, nominating Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize. Twice. PM Shehbaz Sharif, flanking the US president in Egypt, offered a salute and called him “the man this world needs most at this point in time”. The flattery was extravagant to the point of parody. It was also, as a piece of diplomatic manoeuvring, near-perfect—each nomination costing nothing, purchasing significant goodwill from a man who responds to recognition the way a plant responds to water. And we are all in on it. Common knowledge.
The result? For the first time in a generation, Islamabad is warmer with Washington than New Delhi is. The underdog played the room. The giant, too proud to flatter, paid full price.
The lessons of 2025 can be summarised in a paradox we may not dwell on too much. As much as we may want to give credit to the 5Gs and our communications statecraft, the voice that won this information war—irreverent, uncontrollable, brilliantly indirect—is precisely the voice the State has spent years trying to silence, citing electoral disinformation and digital terrorism.
Whenever the bans came, we didn’t stop, thanks to the VPNs. War was, ironically, a welcome relief. Seeing the trends, the ban was lifted overnight, arguably because the same forces who saw this behaviour as a threat, suddenly found its irreverence an asset. The weapon it had spent years confiscating turned out to be the one that critically turned the tide in our favour.
The lesson of 2025 is not that Pakistani trolls were more creative than Indian ones, even though they were. It is that a government which treats free expression as a threat to be managed will find, at the worst possible moment, that it has disarmed its own most effective weapon. We would do well to value the humour and resilience of this expression.
This country’s humour is not decoration. It is load-bearing. It carried us through Balakot, through the IMF, through every blackout of every kind—and when the missiles came, it was the first thing the world heard and the last thing India could answer. The condition is simple: let the people speak. Not when it’s convenient. Always.
© REUTERS
© AFP-JIJI
Foreign Office (FO) spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said on Thursday that Islamabad was hopeful about an agreement between the US and Iran and was expecting it to happen soon.
He said while responding to a question during a weekly FO briefing, adding that Pakistan would welcome a settlement between Iran and the US wherever it may be reached.
“If an agreement is reached in Pakistan, it would be an honour for us,” he said. The FO spokesperson also said he could not say whether the draft of the agreement would be one page or longer.
Andrabi’s remarks came after the US and Iran seemed to inch toward a peace deal on Wednesday. There were reports that Tehran was reviewing a fresh proposal from Washington for a peace following the suspension of ‘Project Freedom’ launched by the US to open the Strait of Hormuz.
The FO spokesperson recalled in his weekly briefing the Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had welcomed the “timely announcement” regarding the pause in ‘Project Freedom’ and noted that Pakistan remained firmly committed to supporting all efforts that promoted restraint and the peaceful resolution of conflict between the US and Iran through dialogue and diplomacy.
He added that PM had also expressed the hope that the “current momentum” would lead to a lasting agreement that would secure durable peace and stability for the region and beyond.
Andrabi further stated that “working with the same spirit of optimism and positive engagement”, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar had remained in contact with his counterparts throughout the last week in an effort to pursue peace, diplomacy and a peaceful settlement between Washington and Tehran.
The latest episode of hostilities between the two sides began with more than two months ago when the US and Israel launched strikes in Iran on February 28.
While a deal for a complete end to the war is yet to happen, the hostilities have been largely ceased since a the two sides agreed on a Pakistan-brokered ceasefire on April 8.
Following the ceasefire, a first round of historic direct US-Iran talks was held in Islamabad on April 11 and 12, with Pakistan playing the role of a mediator. The talks had ended without an agreement, but also without a breakdown.
With challenges in convening a second round, Islamabad has shifted back to its role as a facilitator and go-between.
But, there were some positive signals on Wednesday, with Trump saying he had had “very good talks” with Iran over the past 24 hours. Meanwhile, Tehran appeared receptive to the fresh US proposal to end the war, saying that it was reviewing the agreement and a response would be relayed to Washington via Islamabad.
US news outlet Axios also claimed that Washington and Tehran were close to agreeing on a one-page memorandum of understanding to end the war and “set a framework for more detailed nuclear negotiations”.
Among main issues that remain a sticking point between the two sides are unrestricted navigation through the Strait of Hormuz and Washington’s demand for long-term commitments on Iran’s nuclear programme, including constraints on enrichment and safeguards against weaponisation.
During today’s briefing, the FO spokesperson also addressed the detention of 54 Pakistanis in Cambodia following a raid on a scamming compound.
Earlier, it was reported that more than 200 Pakistanis were in the custody of Cambodian police in overcrowded facilities and facing a lack of basic facilities.
Andrabi said emergency travel documents had been issued to the detained individuals after ascertaining their nationalities.
“On our embassy’s request, the host authorities allowed all 54 individuals to travel back to Pakistan. And as of today, I understand 49 individuals have returned and three are being are processed. And I understand this complete repatriation will take place soon,” he added.
The second day of the second edition of the Breathe Pakistan International Climate Change Conference, organised by DawnMedia, is currently underway in Islamabad.
Despite contributing minimally to global emissions, Pakistan remains among the most climate-vulnerable nations, underscoring the critical need for coordinated, locally grounded, and globally informed responses.
The two-day conference is bringing together policymakers, experts, and stakeholders from across sectors to examine intersecting challenges and chart a path forward.
On the first day, federal ministers, government officials, business leaders, and agriculture and water experts were among the various speakers who presented their perspectives on tackling the climate crisis.
View the full agenda here.
1:40pm — Lunch break
1:35pm — Solar boom ‘not surprising, but rational’
A representative from the Global Renewable Congress, Ali Gülcegün, addressed the conference in a video message and said that Pakistan’s solar boom was not “surprising, but rational”.
He said that Pakistan’s official electricity registry showed “30,000 net meter solar installations”. However, he added that the “reality was different”.
Gülcegün added, “The vast majority of connections are unregistered,” pointing out that Pakistan’s energy planning “has been working with the wrong numbers”.
He further stated that Pakistan’s solar transition happened as a result of “the grid failing to deliver what people needed as well as soaring prices”.
With load shedding in temperatures of 45°C and reduced solar panel cost, the official said that “with these factors combined, the consumer decision was rational”.
1:28pm — ‘Many factors’, not financing catalysed Pakistan’s energy revolution: expert
Lums Energy Institute Director Dr Naveed Arshad, speaking about Pakistan’s energy revolution, said, “We have not used probably a single dollar of climate financing in all this transition. There were many factors combined together.”
He noted that Pakistan witnessed “a very interesting revolution of the grid that we have not seen in any country”, adding that the transition was from a connected grid to a distributed grid.
1:21pm — Expert notes need for good policies, very smart financing mechanisms
People of Asia for Climate Solutions Founder Tom Xiaojun Wang noted that Pakistan and China have reacted to the fossil fuel prices differently.
“When we talk about energy anxiety, this is exactly where” new and already existing technology can be used, he said, mentioning the recent energy crisis resulting from the oil crisis.
“We are not really in shortage of technology, we are not really in shortage of even financing in many ways […] What we need to do is mobilise very good policies and very smart financing mechanisms,” Tom emphasised.
1:12pm — IRENA official calls for investment in solar infrastructure
Kamran Siddiqui, programme officer for energy and infrastructure at International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), speaking about Pakistan’s solar transition, said there was a “need for investment at the infrastructure level, particularly at the grid side”.
“We need to decide how the energy is going to be deployed, whether it’s behind the meter or net-metering.”
He also noted an increase in the import of solar batteries “over the past three years”. However, he added that the solar boom had also “created challenges for the government as the demand for grid supply has reduced”.
1:05pm — ‘Consistent decline in fossil fuel consumption over last 3-4 years’
Haneea Isaad, energy finance specialist at Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), noted that Pakistan was managing the ongoing situation resulting from the Middle East war relatively well, with no fuel shortages.
“Over the past three to four years, we have seen a consistent decline in fossil fuel consumption, whether its oil, gas or coal,” Isaad pointed out.
She highlighted Pakistan’s “rapid solarisation drive”, adding that the shift took place in 2022 after the Russia-Ukraine war broke out.
12:57pm — Panel talk on clean energy begins
A panel talk, titled “Empowering Pakistan’s Transition to Clean Energy”, is now underway.
National Credit Guarantee Company Limited CEO Ammar H Khan is moderating the session.
12:52pm — Must discuss impact of climate shock on urban poor: NED Pro-VC
Dr Noman Ahmed, Pro Vice Chancellor at NED University of Engineering and Technology, highlighted that since opportunities for livelihood were diminishing in rural areas due to climate risks, people moved to cities, where they “face ruthless evictions”.
“Their plight is not acknowledged,” he added, stressing that “anti-encroachment drives were anti-poor operations”.
He further stated that it was vital to discuss the impacts of climate shocks on the “poor, particularly the urban poor and see what can be safeguarded by the right type of policy and planned intervention”.
12:48pm — Largest cities of Pakistan facing ‘haphazard’ urbanisation
Dr Noman Ahmed noted that locations and hinterlands that were “not supposed to be urbanised” were undergoing urbanisation.
“The largest cities of Pakistan are basically shouldering the load of urbanisation in an extraordinary manner. And these are the cities that are under an enormous amount of duress […] so Karachi, Lahore, Faisalabad and all the largest cities of Pakistan are experiencing an extraordinary scale of sprawl,” he said, adding that it was leading to a “very haphazard type” of urbanisation.
12:36pm — Urbanisation not planned, but absorbed: IOM Pakistan official
Sumera Izhar, recovery advisor at IOM Pakistan, pointed out that in Pakistan, urbanisation was “not planned but absorbed”.
She noted that in the past, the main factor for migration was better job opportunities, but “now it is changing to climate-shock-induced” migration. She added that in Pakistan, “more than 13 million people were migrating internally due to climate shocks”.
She further added that the issue was being looked at as a “humanitarian one,” rather than through the lens of “climate mobility”.
12:29pm — Having data alone not enough: Urban Unit CEO
Urban Unit CEO Muhammad Omar Masud noted there was now a “political economy of urban planning”, terming it an issue.
He noted that about 45pc of Punjab’s population was urbanised. Masud added that data alone was not enough, observing that there was a need for governments to start sharing data with the public.
“You need to have those institutions that are going to transmit it all the way to policy.”
12:21pm — UN-Habitat official decries lack of urban planning
UN-Habitat Pakistan Senior Advisor and Programme Manager Jawed Ali Khan decried the lack of urban planning, which he said is “triggered more intensely by climate change”.
“Our planners have to be conscious; they must study the challenge and build necessary safety zones,” he said, recalling urban flooding in Islamabad and Lahore last year as well as Karachi’s heat island effect.
He stressed that urban planners must “design the infrastructure keeping in mind the challenges we are facing”.
12:14pm — Panel discussion begins
A panel talk, titled “Are Climate-Smart Cities Possible in the Developing World?”, has begun.
Climate adviser Dawar Hameed Butt is moderating the session.
12:10pm — UNEP official notes cities not directly engaging with financiers
Mirey Atallah, head of adaptation & resilience at United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), noted that often, there was not a lack of funding, but rather accessibility of funding.
“Cities are not directly engaging with financiers. It’s always through the Ministry of Finance of the federal government,” she noted.
The UNEP official pointed out that countries like Pakistan, which have high indebtedness, were faced with barriers because the ministry may not be willing to give an NoC to cities for more loans to manage the overall debts.
12:06pm — Opportunity to ‘leapfrog’ through indigenous solutions: Mirey Atallah
UNEP Head of Adaptation & Resilience Mirey Atallah highlighted that there exists an opportunity to “leapfrog” through “innovation, creativity, and indigenous solutions”.
However, she noted that the opportunities were “challenged by speed,” adding that the “speed” was related to population increase and expansion.
12pm — Tariq Alexander Qaiser calls for Karachi’s islands not to be turned into ‘high-rise communities’
Architect Tariq Alexander Qaiser said, “The days of mega corporations and globalisation are dying. It is and has to be about local benefit.”
He called for more mangrove plantation work to be done on Karachi’s coastal islands and its western delta.
Qaiser called for the preservation of Karachi’s coastal islands, mainly Bundal Island and Khiprianwala. “The city requires them to be covered in mangroves, not human commercial enterprises,” he added.
“These islands should not be developed into high-rise communities or industrial zones. They need to become protected areas for nature reserves and inter-title biodiversity,” he asserted.
“For our progeny to live healthy, productive lives, we need our cities to exist in this intersection — the nexus of man and nature. That is the only way forward,” Qaiser added.
11:56am — ‘Cities divided into those with access to clean water and those who don’t’
Qaiser spoke of the effluent being washed away into the sea, stating that it was not going “into treatment plants or solid waste facilities”.
“Draining systems get clogged; they are built upon [..] disease vector spread,” he added, stressing that the city was divided into “those with access to clean drinking water and those who did not”.
“Our cities, our lives suffer from deep inequity; this is overwhelming, and it should be for all of us.”
11:49am — Environmentalist notes need for new laws with ‘holistic understanding’
Tariq Alexander Qaiser, an architect and founder of TAQ Associates, underscored the need for new laws. “New ones are needed, ones that will be accepted by all.”
He noted that science and humanities had been separated and were studied in silos, wondering why philosophy had been “put aside”.
Qaiser emphasised the need for a “holistic, integrated and deeply sensitive understanding of issues” in today’s world.
11:40am — Punjab ‘case study’ for rest of world
Marriyum Aurangzeb said that with the provincial government’s interventions, Punjab has become a “case study” in terms of environmental protection for the rest of the world.
“A lot of countries have approached us,” she said, adding that the government was working in collaboration with the “environment sector, legislative lawyers”.
“We have the test policies, test legislation, it is just time to act, bring them together and make them work,” she added.
11:36am — Punjab minister underscores importance of collecting data
The Punjab senior minister underscored the importance of collecting data, saying, “We can’t govern what we can’t measure.
“We have mapped the entire industry, we have mapped the sectors. We have data now available with us and that is being used in our spatial planning,” she added.
11:31am — About 35pc of PM2.5 reduced over past 1.5 years: Punjab minister
Marriyum Aurangzeb mentioned various steps and initiatives being undertaken by the Punjab government, including a smog mitigation plan.
She said, “With all what we have done in a year and a half or two years, about 35 per cent of PM2.5, according to the international website, we have reduced over the last year and a half.
“So whatever we are doing seems to be working and having an impact, but a lot needs to be done, of course, in other areas and sectors also,” the minister acknowledged.
Aurangzeb said that the launch of a climate observatory was also being planned, which would have satellite offices across Punjab.
11:20am — Environmental protection, urbanisation not opposing forces: Marriyum Aurangzeb
Punjab Senior Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb spoke of Punjab’s actions on moving from “a vulnerable province to more of an environment, climate-resilience leadership”.
Aurangzeb said she did not see environmental protection and urbanisation as opposing forces.
She maintained that if the decision-making takes into account the protection of ecological balance, climate resilience, and infrastructure, “urbanisation can be made inclusive, sustainable and responsible”.
She emphasised that Punjab had taken a “more of an ecosystem approach”, using a multisectoral lens.
The minister mentioned the launch of public buses and the environment protection force as some of the steps to transition towards an environment-friendly urban city.
11:12am — Climate crisis demands solidarity: Maldives’ envoy to Pakistan
The Maldives’ high commissioner called on the Global South to go beyond negotiations and focus on sharing knowledge, technical cooperation and capacity-building.
“Climate crisis demands not only urgency, but solidarity,” he emphasised, affirming that the Maldives remained committed to working with Pakistan and the Global South on the issue.
11:09am — Maldives, Pakistan ‘stand on the frontline of climate vulnerability’
Mohamed Thoha, High Commissioner of the Maldives to Pakistan, spoke about climate challenges faced by his country.
“Both our countries are different in geography and scale, but we have to stand on the frontline of climate vulnerability,” he said.
Thoha explained that Maldives faced rising sea levels and coastal erosion, threatening long-term sustainability. He added that the Maldives was committed to transitioning 33pc of its energy consumption to sustainable and clean resources.
10:58am — Melting glaciers ‘shared vulnerability’ for countries like Nepal and Pakistan: envoy
Rita Dhital, Ambassador of Nepal to Pakistan, noted that melting glaciers were a “shared vulnerability” for countries like Nepal and Pakistan.
She highlighted that Glofs hampered tourism, agriculture and hydropower generation in Nepal, recalling that her country has experienced “major Glofs” since 1970s that resulted in significant loss of lives.
Dhital spoke about Nepal’s actions to tackle glacial melting, including using engineering to lower lake levels and identify lakes that pose a potential threat of outbursts.
10:51am — Opportunities lie in Global South: private sector adviser
Seed Advisory Group Principal Seema A. Khan, speaking about the private sector’s role, explained the concept of “patient capital”.
She highlighted that it was the Global South where opportunities were present.
“Patient capital is in negotiations with the people who are around this group to discuss where the intersection is between money, policy and national development, because that’s the most profitable,” she said.
“One of the areas that I have found to create the most resilience is the evolution of sovereign capital to look at all of these resources as ways to create banks that then benefit the people,” Khan further said.
10:38am — Romina Alam notes ‘nothing happened’ on Loss and Damage Fund
“What about the Loss and Damage Fund? Where is that fund? Nothing happened,” Romina Khurshid Alam pointed out.
She called for everyone to work together, including the development and private sectors.
“Justice is right now very much important, but more important is survival,” the PM’s coordinator said.
“No blame, no shame. Just take action,” she said.
10:31am — PM’s coordinator highlights need for ‘regional solution’
Romina Khurshid Alam, coordinator to the Prime Minister on climate change, stressed the need for a “regional solution” rather than a global one, as every region had its different issues.
“This region is suffering. Our children are suffering. We are not in the state of crisis. We are in the state of war from climate change,” she said.
“The developing countries’ people are resilient nations. If you talk about Pakistan, we have proved in the floods that we are not looking for aid; we are looking for trade because this is not something we created.”
10:20am — Goal is to advance resilience in development: climate expert
Renato Redentor Constantino, international policy adviser at Climate Vulnerable Forum, noted that many people think of climate change as an environmental issue but “we are in the middle of a development crisis”.
He stressed, “Our goal is not to reduce emissions, per se. Our goal is to advance resilience in development.”
10:08am - Expert highlights concept of ethical leverage
Dr Erum Sattar, a water law and policy expert, said, “Pakistan sits where the transboundary water-sharing is very, very complex. There is India in the East and the Kabul River.”
She said that Pakistan sat at the intersection of complexities that affected many nations. She also referred to the concept of ethical leverage.
“Pakistan can experiment at all of these scales,” she said.
10:06am - UN official says Pakistan’s experience not unique
Mohamed Yahya, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Pakistan, said,” Pakistan’s reality is unmistakable; from floods to prolonged droughts to glacial melts. This experience is not unique to Pakistan. It reflects a reality across South Asia.”
He said that the panel’s discussion would be how South Asia can help itself, saying that regions had to work together.
10:00am - IFAD official says climate change shaping agriculture in Pakistan
Lamichhane said that climate change is already shaping agriculture in Pakistan. “There’s no denying it, we have to act on it. But this is also a chance to modernise and build resilience,” she said.
She went on to say that resilience was achievable when solutions were integrated, financed and designed for scale. She also said that partnership was a multiplier effect.
9:50am - IFAD official says climate ambition not constrained by ideas
Lamichhane has said that the Asia Pacific is IFAD’s most dynamic and largest portfolio. She said that across the region, five things were given priority: climate resilience; technology and productivity; strong value chains and private sector engagement; inclusion of youth, women and indigenous communities; and a shaded approach that matches solutions to country context.
“Pakistan, facing high climate risk, sits at the intersection of these priorities. We cannot dissect climate from other priorities; it has to go hand in hand,” she said.
“Climate ambition is not constrained by ideas … it is constrained by finance and delibery systems,” she said.
9:50am - IFAD official says Pakistan on the frontline of climate change
Anupa Rimal Lamichhane — the International Fund for Agricultural Development lead for regional climate change — has said that Pakistan is on the frontline of climate change.
“Agriculture contributes 23pc to GDP,” she said. Agrifood systems and farmers are not just the victims but they are also a major part of the solution, she said.
“Yet, globally, only 0.8pc of climate financing reaches farmers,” she said.
9:50am - 7th session begins
The seventh session, titled ‘Collaboration of the Global South Towards Climate Action’ has now begun.
9:46am - 2nd day of climate conference begins
The second day of the Breathe Pakistan International Climate Change Conference has begun in Islamabad.
Login