Irfan Khan
After the floods in Azad Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab is now facing its own catastrophe. These floods are far from ‘natural disasters’; they are a direct result of the capitalist system, where the pursuit of profit leads to the reckless exploitation of resources and widespread environmental destruction. More than 1000 people have been killed so far, with the greatest share of devastation falling on the working class and the poor, whose villages and homes have been wiped out.
Millions displaced
Millions in Punjab have been displaced, with thousands of houses, schools, health centres, and roads destroyed. The rural poor and working class, already struggling to survive, are bearing the brunt of this destruction. The resulting wave of inflation will further erode their fragile economic position, and there are fears of a surge in cholera and hepatitis.
The greatest impact has been felt in rural Punjab, where thousands of acres of crops have been destroyed, leaving people with no choice but to live under the open sky. This has brought economic ruin to agricultural communities already burdened by poverty and debt due to government policies.
The capitalist system pits companies against each other in a race to maximise profits and dominate the market. This intense competition leads to the unbridled exploitation of natural resources, accelerating environmental damage. The palm oil industry is a clear example. To meet the demand from global giants like Unilever, Nestlé, and Procter & Gamble extensive deforestation in countries like Indonesia and Malaysia establishes monoculture plantations. This practice not only destroys wildlife but also increases carbon dioxide emissions.
Similarly, companies in the energy, oil, and gas sectors use enormous amounts of fossil fuels, releasing huge quantities of greenhouse gases. These emissions are causing a rise in global temperatures, which has disrupted the natural balance of the seasons. The top 100 corporations are responsible for 70% of global emissions. Their unchecked pollution has rapidly melted glaciers in the Himalayas, Hindu Kush and Karakoram, leading to a dangerous rise in river water levels and causing more frequent and intense floods.
The recent floods in Pakistani Punjab were so devastating due to a rise in extreme weather caused by global warming, which altered established weather patterns and caused severe, unusual rainfall. Destructive rains in parts of India dangerously increased water levels in their dams, also causing massive flood damage there. To alleviate the pressure, India opened the gates of dams like the Bhakra Dam on the Sutlej River. This led to a dangerous rise in the water levels of the Sutlej, Chenab and Ravi rivers in Pakistani Punjab, resulting in further flooding. This situation demonstrates that the effects of climate change impact the entire region and that the nation state is inadequate to cope with a global catastrophe.
Pakistani ruling class
While global factors are significant, Pakistan’s national ruling class also plays a major role. Projects like the Ravi Urban Development Authority, DHA, and Bahria Town displace farmers, seize land around rivers and alter their natural flow. These developments obstruct the natural course of floodwaters, causing them to spread rapidly into urban and rural areas, as seen in the recent flooding in Islamabad, and Karachi. Now, under the banner of the SIFC and initiatives like the „Green Pakistan Initiative,“ natural resources are being seized, laying the foundations for further destruction.
Another major cause of the floods in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan is rampant deforestation. Backed by state institutions for decades, the timber mafia has stripped entire mountains of their trees. Trees are crucial for slowing down and absorbing floodwater; in their absence, the water flow becomes devastating, leading to hundreds of deaths and systemic collapse. After such destruction, the ruling class simply labels it a „natural disaster“ to evade responsibility.
To combat this catastrophe, a coordinated international struggle against the capitalist system is imperative. We must fight this injustice on a global scale, uniting workers of the world and the oppressed across borders. The imperialist corporations and governments in the global north, responsible for the vast majority of historical emissions, must be forced to pay reparations for the environmental destruction they have wrought. This is not aid, but owed compensation.
On a national level, we must organize to oppose every destructive project, like the Ravi Urban Authority and SIFC initiatives, that seizes land and displaces people in the name of profit and so called development. This means building militant mass movements that can physically blockade construction, organize general strikes, and assert people’s control over resources.
As long as the capitalist mode of production exists, prioritizing endless accumulation and private profit over human need and ecological balance, such devastating disasters will not only continue but intensify. The capitalist class and their state cannot solve a crisis they are profiting from. Therefore, these catastrophes can only be permanently stopped by seizing the means of production, placing energy, industry, and agriculture under democratic workers‘ control and reorganizing society on the basis of solidarity and planning to meet human needs. This requires building a revolutionary party capable of leading a global struggle for a socialist future, the only system that provides the basis for a sustainable relationship with our planet.