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A smog-choked province in eastern Pakistan has issued a rare plea for cross-border collaboration with India, as major cities in both countries endure severe air pollution that risks the health of millions.
Officials in Punjab, Pakistan's most populous province of 127 million people, have drafted a letter to the Indian government to open a dialogue on the issue, Punjabi Secretary for Environment and Climate Change Raja Jahangir Anwar said.
"We need climate diplomacy, as a regional and global issue," Anwar told CNN, just days after Punjab's megacity of Lahore, roughly 15 miles from the Indian border, saw its highest-ever levels of air pollution.
"We are suffering in Lahore in a way due to the eastern wind corridor coming from India," he said. "We are not blaming anyone, it's a natural phenomenon."
India and Pakistan have for decades navigated fraught and at times hostile relations, but as the issue of toxic air worsens, the neighbors are being forced to confront their shared responsibility – and fate – when it comes to the climate.
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📷: Arif Ali/AFP/Getty Images; Sakib Ali/Hindustan Times/Getty Images; Parveen Kumar/Hindustan Times/Getty Images
