KARACHI: With pollution in Pakistan hitting record highs in recent years, citizens clutching air monitors and legal papers are taking the fight for clean air into their own hands.
More than a decade ago, engineer Abid Omar had a “sneaking suspicion” that what the government described as seasonal fog was actually a new phenomenon.
“It wasn’t there in my childhood” in Lahore, said the 45-year-old who now lives in coastal Karachi, where the sea breeze no longer saves residents from smog.
With no official data available at the time, Omar asked himself: “If the government is not fulfilling its mandate to monitor air pollution, why don’t I do that for myself?“
His association, the Pakistan Air Quality Initiative (PAQI), installed its first monitor in 2016 and now has around 150 nationwide.
