PESHAWAR, Aug 31 (APP): As the surging muddy floodwaters rush toward Sindh, leaving a trail of devastation across Pakistan, the images that emerge from submerged villages and washed-out roads are grim, necessitating robust efforts to ease problems of flood victims.
Experts said beneath the visible wreckage of this season’s unprecedented floods lies another looming challenge such as the political fragmentation that could stall the nation’s recovery.
The 2025 monsoon season has turned into a national calamity, displacing over 3 million people, including nearly 2 million in Punjab alone, and causing extensive damage across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).
With infrastructure crippled and economic losses expected to soar into the billions dollars, the disaster is being seen not only as a humanitarian crisis but also as a political stress test for Pakistan’s leadership.
“This is not the time for point-scoring,” emphasized Professor Dr. A.H. Hilali, former Chairman of the Political Science Department at the University of Peshawar. “We need a unified national response ie coordinated, depoliticized, and focused entirely on the people who have lost everything.”
His comments come at a time when political infighting continues to dominate headlines, even as millions await clean drinking water, shelter, and medical aid.
The outcry from flood-affected communities is growing louder, and so is the call for political leaders to set aside rivalries and act in unison.
In a welcome step, Prime Minister Mihammad Shehbaz Sharif has announced an emergency meeting with provincial chief ministers and key federal agencies to formulate a comprehensive national strategy to combat climate change and prevent future disasters.
Dr. Hilali argues that this meeting must go beyond symbolic gestures. “It’s time to talk about sustainable water management, dam construction across all provinces, and the institutional reforms needed to streamline relief operations,” he said.
For flood victims like Rehman Ali from Buner’s Pir Baba area, relief activities has been painfully slow. “I waited four days with my children for clean water,” he shared. “No one came. All I saw was politicians fighting on TV.”
Similar scenes are playing out across KP, where torrential rains have taken over 400 lives and injured more than 240 people. According to Chief Minister Ali Amin Khan Gandapur, eight districts in KP have been severely affected. Over 664 houses were completely destroyed, and more than 2,400 others partially damaged, alongside schools, clinics, and roads.
In a high-level meeting in Islamabad, UN officials met with CM Gandapur to coordinate relief and rehabilitation efforts. The Chief Minister announced a significant compensation package including Rs. 2 million for each deceased heirs and Rs. 1 million for each destroyed house.
Crucially, Ali Amin Gandapur emphasized transparency, stating that all disbursements would be digitalized and completed by Sunday. In a rare gesture, he announced compensation even for orphaned children with dedicated bank accounts being opened under district oversight.
While the response has been swift in some areas, critics say more needs to be done and urgently. Relief workers complain of poor coordination, overlapping responsibilities, and insufficient resources.
As political leaders argue, civil society, student groups, and religious charities have filled the gap. Their efficiency has earned public praise, but experts warn that such efforts, however commendable, cannot substitute for organized, government-led disaster response.
“Pakistan cannot depend on charity alone,” said Dr. Hilali. “Rehabilitation of this magnitude needs institutional muscle, clear planning, and political maturity.”
He added that international donors, including the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, and United Nations, are closely monitoring the political environment. Any aid, he warned, will likely be conditional on demonstrable governance reforms.
Experts, politicians, and activists alike are calling for an All-Parties Conference to draft a National Disaster Response Framework, free from partisan control. The aim was to institutionalize relief protocols, disaster forecasting systems, and post-disaster economic recovery plans.
UN Resident Coordinator for Pakistan, Mohamed Yahya, echoed this sentiment during his meeting with KP officials. He reiterated the UN’s commitment to supporting not just flood-hit communities but all vulnerable regions across the country.
Meanwhile, CM Gandapur announced long-term strategies to mitigate future risks, including relocating residents from flood-prone zones, installing debris-control nets in cloudburst-prone mountain districts and building small and check dams, clearing silt and sand from waterways.
Mobile medical teams, water filtration plants, and monitoring officers have been deployed, with cabinet members overseeing local efforts.
As the floodwaters moving toward Sindh, the country finds itself at a crucial junction. The decisions made now in Islamabad, Lahore, Peshawar, Quetta, and Karachi will shape not only the pace of recovery but the resilience of Pakistan for generations to come.
“Just give us clean water, shelter, and some dignity,” pleaded Imran Gul, a flood affected farmer from Manglawar Swat. “We don’t care who does it — just do it together.”
The real challenge now lies not in rebuilding walls and bridges, but in building bridges between fractured political lines. If Pakistan’s leaders can rise above partisan squabbles, this crisis may yet become a turning point — a moment of national awakening that brings enduring reform.
If not, the price of disunity will be counted not just in lost rupees, but in lost lives and lost trust, ultimately increase problems of flood victims.