Published on, Aug. 30 -- August 30, 2025 1:08 AM

Floodwaters gushing through mountain villages, fields turned into swamps, and mourners huddled at fresh graves are no longer a shock to Pakistanis. What is shocking is how clearly they lay bare a disturbing truth: the country's disasters are not entirely natural. They are produced and magnified by human choices, by a political economy where profit and short-term greed routinely trump human safety. Trees are felled, rivers encroached, floodplains sold to the highest bidder, and drainage networks choked to serve real estate, industry, and patronage. The result is a cycle of destruction whose roots run deeper than rainfall itself.

History offers sobering warnings of how devastating water can...