**As Water Levels in the Indus Surge Again, Experts Say the Real Flood Threat Comes Not from the River but from Within the Communities**
Pakistan is on the brink of yet another humanitarian disaster. Torrential monsoon rains have battered the country since July, submerging entire districts, displacing over 2.3 million people, and claiming more than 720 lives nationwide.
Yet, as the nation rushes to sandbag embankments and set up emergency relief camps, the most destructive forces in this crisis are not natural but man-made.
### Return of the Zamindari Bunds
Unofficial embankments—locally called *zamindari bunds*—built by powerful landowners are once again under scrutiny across Sindh. Constructed to protect farmlands, farmhouses, and private estates, these unauthorized earthen walls obstruct the river’s natural spillover, raising water pressure and forcing catastrophic flows toward downstream communities.
“Every time the river floods, these private bunds trap the water like a dam,” says Azmat Kunbhar, a Hyderabad-based environmental activist. “When they break, they don’t just collapse, they explode, sending floodwaters racing into nearby villages.”
None of this is new. In 2010, during the worst flood in Pakistan’s history, villagers in northern Sindh accused influential landlords of deliberately breaching levees to divert floodwaters away from their crops—at the expense of less protected areas.
Similar stories circulated during the 2022 floods: unauthorized structures along the Indus, especially in *katcha* areas, were blamed for bottlenecking the river and magnifying destruction.
### Invisible Barriers
The problem, however, goes far beyond illegal bunds. Across both Sindh and Punjab, thousands of acres of forest and riverine land have been illegally occupied by politically connected groups.
These include housing societies built on the river bed and flood zones, poultry and dairy farms set up near embankments, private bungalows, and farmhouses within riverbeds and on forest land.
In Jamshoro district alone, 15 major private housing schemes have either been completed or are under construction on protected forest land. In neighbouring Hyderabad, at least seven housing projects have been developed inside the Indus River’s floodplain.
Despite multiple petitions to the courts, complaints to authorities, and media coverage, enforcement has been ineffective.
“Builders operate with impunity,” says a senior irrigation official requesting anonymity. “They are backed by politicians and bureaucrats, including police officers. The law doesn’t apply to them.”
### Deadly Topography
What makes the situation even more dire is the geography of the Indus basin. The river flows along an elevated ridge, meaning surrounding lands are lower than the river itself.
This topographical anomaly eliminates any possibility of controlled breaching during high flow situations.
Mohammad Ehsan Leghari, Sindh’s member of the Indus River System Authority and an expert in Pakistan’s water management system, says:
“Once water escapes the riverbed here, it does not return. It spreads, stagnates, and destroys.”
Leghari emphasises that the post-2010 plans to create additional outlets and flood bypasses were never completed.
“We keep trying to fight super floods with a system built for normal flows. That’s a recipe for disaster,” he warns.
It was sheer luck that the Indus River was sluggish and hill torrents were lethargic when the flood peak approached the province this year. Coinciding inflows from these two sources could have tested the barrages and embankments of Sindh.
With current flows potentially reaching 850,000 cusecs—20 percent above historical danger levels—Leghari says it must be treated as a level-1 flood emergency.
### Institutional Deadlocks and Denials
The responsibility for flood management lies with a web of institutions: the Irrigation Departments, the Sindh Irrigation and Drainage Authority, the National and Provincial Disaster Management Authorities, district administrations, and revenue authorities.
In practice, coordination is weak, communication often delayed, and accountability elusive.
Leghari calls for unity of command and a wartime-like mobilisation of the three Ms:
– **Man:** community patrols and trained volunteers
– **Material:** pre-positioned flood-fighting supplies
– **Machinery:** excavators, bulldozers, and life-saving equipment
Over 1,400 miles of embankments are being monitored currently, with 140 critical points flagged as vulnerable to erosion or failure.
Analyst and researcher Manzoor Solangi highlights an even more disturbing trend: the rebuilding of private bunds dismantled after 2010. The Supreme Court ordered their removal. Many were removed.
“How did they come back between 2010 and 2025?” Solangi asks. “Who authorised the construction? Who looked the other way?”
This, he says, is a silent crisis—a collapse of regulatory enforcement.
He also warns of infrastructure bottlenecks that exacerbate floods: narrow river bridges, incomplete culverts, and ageing barrages.
In 2022, a cut in the Dadu-Moro bridge approach helped prevent catastrophic flooding. The Sindh Indus River Commission had recommended widening all river bridges from bank to bank, but implementation remains stalled due to funding constraints.
### External Factors and Domestic Reforms
The Foreign Office recently accused India of violating the Indus Waters Treaty. While certain actions by an upper riparian can complicate flood management, some experts insist that the focus must remain on domestic reforms: improved drainage systems, sustainable basin management, and immediate enforcement of anti-encroachment laws.
### The State of Disaster
Currently, over 2.3 million people have been displaced across Pakistan. Relief efforts are underway, with more than 300 relief camps set up by government agencies and NGOs such as Khalsa Aid and Concern Worldwide.
Yet, many refuse to evacuate, unwilling to leave behind their livestock—their only source of livelihood.
In Larkana, a flood survivor said:
“We have seen this before. We know this will happen again unless they remove those bunds.”
### Breaking the Cycle
Floods in Pakistan are no longer mere natural disasters; they are also engineered catastrophes, fuelled by greed, weak governance, and systemic neglect.
Experts and activists call for:
– Dismantling all unauthorised embankments
– Criminal accountability for illegal riverbed construction
– Urgent completion of flood bypass and outlet projects
– Strict enforcement of land-use and forest protection laws
– Real-time monitoring and geospatial mapping of river zones
Ultimately, says Solangi,
“This isn’t just about floods. It’s about restoring the rule of law over that of the powerful.”
With more heavy rains forecast over the next two weeks, the window for action is narrowing. In an era of increasingly extreme weather, there can be no resilience without reform.
Until private bunds are removed and the river is allowed to flow freely, Pakistan’s floods will remain less a natural calamity and more a self-inflicted wound.
https://www.thenews.com.pk/tns/detail/1345066-flooded-by-power
