By Muhammad Mohsin Iqbal
As the fierce heat of early June settles across the plains of South Asia, it arrives not merely as another season but as a reminder of a reality that has shaped generations. In Pakistan and neighbouring countries, the relentless sun scorches fields, dries rivers, and hardens the earth long before the monsoon clouds appear. For centuries, people have adapted to this harsh climate with remarkable endurance, turning resilience into an inseparable part of daily life. Yet the summers of today are no longer simply a familiar hardship. They are becoming longer, hotter and increasingly dangerous, driven by a changing climate that knows no borders.
History offers a revealing perspective on this enduring relationship between people and heat. The founder of the Mughal Empire, Zahiruddin Babur, reflected in his celebrated memoir, the Tuzk-e-Babri, on the oppressive summers of the Indian subcontinent. He described the humid monsoon months as difficult to bear, finding relief only in the sweetness of seasonal fruit, believed by many historians to have been the mango. Even the sight of its green leaves, he suggested, lifted the spirit. Yet Babur himself often longed for the cool air of the Ferghana Valley or the mountain retreats that offered refuge from the relentless summer heat. More than five centuries later, that desire remains remarkably familiar.
Across Pakistan, the arrival of intense summer temperatures inspires similar dreams of escape. Families who can afford it head towards the cool valleys of Gilgit-Baltistan, Swat, Murree or the Galyat, seeking fresh air and lower temperatures. Others travel abroad to spend the hottest weeks with relatives in Canada, Britain or the United States. Such journeys have become part of modern life, reflecting both rising prosperity for some and the growing discomfort of summers at home.
Even in ordinary neighbourhoods, conversations often revolve around the weather and the search for relief. In Islamabad, neighbours gather beneath slowly turning ceiling fans, sharing tea while discussing holiday plans and family visits overseas. One such conversation involved a retired banker who had eagerly planned to visit his son in Canada and hoped to watch a FIFA football match in person. Yet reports of an extraordinary European heatwave, where temperatures climbed above 40 degrees Celsius and thousands of vulnerable people faced growing health risks, forced him to reconsider. With characteristic humour, he remarked that if unbearable heat had become unavoidable even in Europe, perhaps it was better to remain among those who had spent their lives learning to endure it in Pakistan.
There is undeniable truth in that observation. Pakistanis have developed an extraordinary ability to live and work under conditions that would overwhelm many others. As temperatures approach or even exceed 50 degrees Celsius in parts of Sindh and southern Punjab, road workers continue repairing highways, mechanics labour in workshops, farmers tend their fields, and women prepare meals over hot stoves in homes with limited cooling. Markets remain crowded, public transport continues to operate and daily routines carry on despite the exhausting conditions. Such scenes demonstrate remarkable determination, but resilience should never be mistaken for immunity.
The danger today is not simply that summers are uncomfortable. It is that climate change is pushing temperatures beyond what human bodies, infrastructure and natural ecosystems were designed to withstand. Pakistan has endured prolonged heatwaves this year, accompanied by worsening drought and growing pressure on already fragile water supplies before the uncertain arrival of the monsoon. Agriculture, public health and energy systems all face mounting strain as extreme weather becomes increasingly common.
Yet responsibility for this crisis is profoundly unequal. Pakistan and much of South Asia have contributed only a small fraction of the greenhouse gases that have accumulated in the atmosphere over the past two centuries. The overwhelming share of historical carbon emissions originates from the industrialised economies that built their prosperity through the extensive use of coal, oil and gas. The United States alone accounts for nearly one quarter of cumulative carbon dioxide emissions since the Industrial Revolution, while the countries of the European Union collectively represent almost another fifth. China has become the world’s largest annual emitter in recent years and now ranks second historically, while Russia and several other major economies have also made substantial contributions. Global energy-related carbon dioxide emissions reached another record level in 2024, further accelerating the warming that intensifies heatwaves across every continent.
Ironically, Europe is now experiencing many of the consequences of the warming that industrial development helped create. The devastating heatwave of 2022 caused more than 60,000 heat-related deaths across the continent. Subsequent summers have continued the trend, and the severe heat experienced during 2026 has already claimed well over a thousand lives within weeks, with scientists identifying climate change as a major factor behind the increased intensity of these events. What once seemed like a distant challenge affecting poorer countries has become an undeniable reality for wealthy nations as well. Climate change has proved indifferent to national borders, levels of income or historical privilege.
(The writer is a parliamentary expert with decades of experience in legislative research and media affairs, leading policy support initiatives for lawmakers on complex national and international issues, and can be reached at editorial@metro-Morning.com)
