News Desk: Pakistan has blamed pollution drifting from India following Diwali celebrations for worsening air quality in Lahore, claiming that light easterly winds carried smoke and pollutants across the international border. However, an independent assessment by the Pakistan Air Quality Initiative (PAQI) has questioned whether fireworks in India were responsible for the deterioration, highlighting the complexity of the region’s worsening air pollution crisis.
Lahore, which has been struggling with hazardous air quality, was ranked the world’s most polluted major city for two consecutive days this week, according to Swiss air-quality monitoring organisation IQAir. Pakistan’s Punjab Environment Protection Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb attributed the deterioration partly to smoke from Diwali fireworks in neighbouring Indian Punjab, saying light winds had transported polluted air towards Lahore.
The minister said air quality was expected to improve as weather conditions changed and wind direction shifted. The issue has once again brought cross-border pollution into focus, with both India and Pakistan facing severe winter smog caused by a combination of agricultural fires, vehicle emissions, industrial activity and unfavourable weather conditions.
According to Pakistan’s provincial government’s assessment issued on November 8, smoke from Diwali fireworks could reach Lahore within five to 13 hours, depending on wind speed and direction. Amritsar, located approximately 50 kilometres from Lahore, was identified as one of the potential sources of pollution moving towards Pakistani territory.
Pakistan blames India’s Diwali fireworks for Lahore’s toxic air https://t.co/1QpIodtKmi
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Winds carried air from Indian territory
The PAQI assessment, released on November 10, examined the movement of air masses between India and Pakistan following Diwali celebrations on November 8.
According to the report, 45 of the 48 air-mass trajectories arriving over Lahore, Kasur and Sialkot between 9 pm on November 8 and midnight on November 10 had passed over Indian territory during the preceding 12 hours. The air movements were most frequently traced to areas around Tarn Taran, Amritsar and Jammu.
However, the assessment made an important distinction between the movement of air across the border and the actual contribution of Diwali fireworks to Lahore’s pollution. It concluded that the available evidence was insufficient to establish that fireworks in India were responsible for the deterioration.
The findings also revealed that Lahore’s average PM2.5 concentration between 6 pm on November 8 and 1 am on November 10 stood at 234 micrograms per cubic metre, around 10 per cent higher than the average during the same hours over the preceding seven days.
Interestingly, the increase was considerably higher in some cities farther from the international border. Faisalabad and Multan recorded increases of approximately 40 per cent, while Kasur registered 27 per cent and Sialkot 33 per cent. This geographical pattern weakened the argument that pollution transported directly from across the border was the principal reason for Lahore’s deterioration.
Crop-residue burning remains a major concern
The PAQI report also highlighted the continuing problem of agricultural residue burning in Pakistan’s Punjab province.
Satellite observations detected 16,714 likely crop-residue fires between October 1 and November 9. Lahore recorded an average PM2.5 concentration of 126 micrograms per cubic metre during the 40 days for which valid data were available, approximately eight times the World Health Organisation’s annual guideline of 15 micrograms per cubic metre.
The assessment found a relationship between agricultural fires in areas upwind of Lahore and higher pollution levels. On days when air trajectories passed over areas experiencing fires, average PM2.5 concentrations in Lahore reached 175 micrograms per cubic metre, compared with 93 micrograms on other days.
Nevertheless, the report cautioned that stagnant weather, lower wind speeds and poor atmospheric dispersion also played a significant role in trapping pollutants close to the ground.
India and Pakistan face a shared pollution crisis
The controversy has revived the debate over transboundary air pollution between the two neighbouring countries. Northern India and Pakistan’s Punjab province share similar geographical and climatic conditions, making the movement of polluted air across the border a recurring environmental concern.
During winter, lower temperatures, weak winds and atmospheric inversions can prevent pollutants from dispersing, allowing smoke from agricultural fires, vehicles, industries and other sources to accumulate over large urban areas.
The Pakistan Punjab government’s assessment had identified 2,347 crop-residue burning incidents in Indian Punjab up to November 4, including 1,081 incidents in Tarn Taran, Ferozepur and Amritsar districts.
However, establishing the precise contribution of these fires and Diwali fireworks to Lahore’s pollution requires detailed atmospheric and chemical analysis. The PAQI report noted that monitoring stations lacked measurements of specific chemical elements, including potassium, strontium and barium, which could help distinguish fireworks emissions from other sources of particulate pollution.
The episode underlines the need for India and Pakistan to move beyond mutual accusations and strengthen cross-border environmental monitoring, data sharing and coordinated action against pollution. Without addressing the common sources of emissions, the seasonal smog crisis is likely to continue affecting millions of people on both sides of the border.
