In Thatta, Pakistan, near Dando Jetty, a small fishing village in the vast Indus Delta, life is closely tied to the rhythms of the Arabian Sea. The melodic sounds of Sindhi folk singer Fouzia Soomro fill the air from a nearby boat’s loudspeaker. This coastal district, located in the eastern part of Sindh province, is home to a thriving fishing community, but its prospects are threatened by the ongoing encroachment of seawater into the land.

Local resident Zahid Sakani, once a farmer, now recounts the loss of his ancestral lands to the sea and his forced migration to Baghan, where he now works as a tailor. The port at Kharo Chan, where Sakani once cultivated 200 acres of land, now stands deserted, its former prosperity replaced by abandoned boats and the remnants of a bygone era. The shrinking of Kharo Chan from 42 villages to just three is a testament to the widespread issue of coastal erosion affecting numerous villages in the Indus Delta.

Envisioned plans under the “Green Pakistan Initiative” could lead to additional environmental pressures. The government aims to cultivate 1.5 million acres of barren land and modernize agriculture, launching several canal projects including one that could divert water from Indus River to the Cholistan Desert. Critics argue the lack of water resources and question the feasibility of such projects.

Environmental consultant Hassan Abbas points to the historical engineering of the Indus – from British colonial policies to modern dams – as primarily responsible for the delta’s degradation. The World Bank estimates the delta, once spanning 13,900 square kilometers, now covers only 1,067 square kilometers, an alarming decline threatening not just the land but also the livelihoods of communities dependent on the river.

The water scarcity does not only affect agriculture. It is also diminishing fisheries and causing people like Nathi Mallah to resort to risky and labor-intensive work searching for aquatic creatures, like the “maroarri”, which are collected and exported.

Allocating water and managing resources more efficiently could be the key to sustaining the agricultural might of Pakistan, rather than continuously diverting water from the Indus River. With no clear answers in sight, the future of Dando Jetty and the Indus Delta remains uncertain, a poignant reminder of the delicate balance between man and nature.

Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/3/17/swallowed-by-the-sea-pakistans-indus-delta-now-threatened-by-canals?traffic_source=rss