Is Gilgit-Baltistan Reaching a Breaking Point with Cloudbursts and GLOFs?

For the past few years, the residents of Hassanabad in Hunza had started fearing the mountain stream that had been flowing beside their homes for generations. This village in Gilgit-Baltistan lies along the Karakoram Highway and the stream coming from the Shisper Glacier has been flowing through it for centuries. But in recent times, the increase in frequency of avalanches falling into the stream had started turning it into a potential precursor of disaster.

In July this year, the fear of Hassanabad’s residents turned into reality.

Malaika Bibi, a resident of the village, says the flood in the stream was so fierce that the ground itself began to collapse. The raging floodwater first swept away the highway and then her home. Seventeen other houses were also destroyed.

“We had built our house with the money earned through hard work and labour. Now, we have neither land nor the strength to rebuild the house. We are farmers but now we have neither crops nor fields for farming,” bemoans Bibi.

Her family could manage to save just their lives and a few precious belongings. Malaika is now living with her parents and three siblings in a tent, two kilometers from her village, provided by flood relief workers.

According to the Gilgit-Baltistan Disaster Management Authority (GBDMA), since the late July this year, at least 45 people have lost their lives in climate disasters across the province. Damage to crops, farmland, water channels, small hydropower stations, transmission lines, roads, bridges and infrastructure is being reported from left, right and centre, with no sign of halt in sight.

Eman Shah, special assistant to the chief minister (SACM) of Gilgit-Baltistan, admits that the situation is unprecedented and such conditions never went on a stretch for two consecutive months. He is simply flabbergasted.

“The fatal combination of cloudbursts and glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) has caused widespread destruction. With very limited resources, our focus is yet on the rescue and emergency relief, while assessments of the damages are underway.”

According to Shehzad Baig, assistant director and admin coordinator at the GBDMA, cloudbursts are a new phenomenon for the region.

“In the past 15 years, only three such incidents were recorded here but now cloudbursts are happening almost every day now. These incidents have affected all districts of Gilgit-Baltistan, leaving no road safe, including the Karakoram Highway.”

Baig says Gilgit-Baltistan is home to more than 7,000 lakes with nearly three dozen of them, being glacial lakes, are highly dangerous because they can burst with the rise in temperatures and pressure, triggering major disasters.

A cloudburst is a climatic phenomenon and experts explain it in the following way.

Moist winds, when pushed upward along cool mountain slopes, condense into clouds that normally lead to rainfall. But if these clouds face intense and continuous pressure from warm, humid air rising from below, they are unable to release rain. Instead, water keeps building up inside them. The moment the pressure decreases or the clouds can no longer hold the load, they suddenly burst. In simple terms, a cloudburst means 100mm of rainfall (about 4 inches) within an hour or less time over an area of 20 to 30 square kilometers.

A glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) literally means a flood caused by a glacial lake burst. Glaciers are vast sheets of ice that remain frozen year-round on high mountains. Pakistan’s largest glacier is Siachen, stretching 76km. It is the second largest non-polar glacier in the world. It is followed by Baltoro which is 63km long. According to a new study, Pakistan has more than 13,000 glaciers and they are primarily located in northern Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

With rising temperatures, parts of these glaciers melt and form icy lakes. These lakes usually remain blocked by solid ice, rocks or debris. This is how many lakes turn into natural dams. But if the melting speeds up and more water flows into the lake or if the ice blocking its path begins to melt, the natural dam bursts. A mix of water, ice, rocks, and debris then rushes down the slopes with furious speed, sweeping away everything in its path. This phenomenon is called GLOF.

Dr Zainab Naeem, a climate expert, tells Lok Sujag that this year before the monsoon, the temperature in Gilgit-Baltistan was 6 to 7 degrees Celcius more than the average temperature which, on the one hand, led to the incidents of cloudbursts while on the other hand quickened the process of ice melting. She explains that the rise in the rate of glacier melting increases the pressure on the soil or soil layer frozen under the ice, which also starts sliding, causing glacial lakes to burst (GLOF).

She says that the cloudbursts and GLOFs in Gilgit-Baltistan are different in nature but the link between them is growing stronger. “Heavy rainfall caused by cloudbursts speeds up glacier melting and puts extra pressure on drainage systems. The weak points of glacial lakes cannot withstand this extra pressure and eventually burst.”

Dr Zainab explains that when a cloudburst and a GLOF occur simultaneously, one disaster amplifies the other. Torrents of rainwater, glacier ice and frozen soil debris rush downhill at a high speed, leading to major catastrophes.

Environmental expert Maryam Shabbir says that the problems of rapid melt of glaciers and GLOFs were already there but now their frequency is making life more difficult for the people of the region. She believes that the rate of temperature increase in mountainous areas is comparatively higher than in other regions and one significant cause of this climate change is the unregulated deforestation.

She emphasizes that the real issue is the unchecked emission of greenhouse gases at the global level.

“The world has failed to control the rise in temperature,” she points out.

In the 2015 Paris Agreement, all countries agreed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to limit the global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Dr Zainab Naeem says that the recent two-month-long floods in Gilgit-Baltistan show that the region’s weather patterns are changing in a major way.

“Floods for a short period used to occur in these areas earlier too, but now it seems that these continuous changes are taking the region to a long-term climate disaster,” she apprehends.

According to the GBDMA officials, part of the Shishper Glacier in Hassanabad has been breaking for years, and the danger still exists. However, this season there was no GLOF incident, all the damage was caused by cloudbursts.

However, Dr Zainab Naeem says the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other departments of Gilgit-Baltistan work without proper coordination, which result in delays in disaster management efforts. “The lack of implementation of environmental laws and constructions in the river bed and stream pathways increases the risks. Early warning systems in the region are weak, and there is a severe shortage of technical expertise, real-time monitoring and funding. Local communities often have to rely on short-term donor projects, while these donor projects often overlook the local knowledge.”

Dr Zainab believes that national and regional environmental policies in the country are fragmented. The National Climate Change Policy and the National Adaptation Plan mention GLOF but they remain ineffective due to poor implementation.

She says that disaster risk reduction (DRR) should be a central part of the climate policy but it is often treated as a humanitarian or post-disaster measure. To address these weaknesses in Gilgit-Baltistan, she calls for an effective strategy to bring together technology, infrastructure, natural systems and local community.

Residing in Nabi Bakhsh Palari, a village situated on a small island in Kenjhar Lake, Kamal Palari was renowned for his bird-hunting prowess across Thatta, Hyderabad, and Jamshoro. However, in 2008, his life underwent a significant transformation when he established a friendship with a World Wildlife Fund official, leading to a complete shift in his identity.

He oversees wildlife protection in his village by managing a Community Reserve Zone designated as a Protected Area.

"Hunting birds is a distant thing; now aerial firing is also prohibited here," Kamal says.

Kenjhar Lake, like other lakes in lower Sindh, serves as a habitat for migratory birds arriving from the north.

Every year, these migratory birds cover thousands of miles from Siberia and Central Asia, settling in the lakes of Sindh between December and January.

The fluctuations in human activities and alterations in water reservoirs, attributed to climatic variations, directly impact these migratory birds' numbers, health, and survival.

52-year-old Kamal Palari, seated in his otaq (guest room) surrounded by neem, acacia, and devi trees, told Lok Sujag in his Kohistani accent that following the floods of 2022, the usual influx of migratory birds to Kenjhar Lake has noticeably diminished.

Haroon Palari, Kamal's maternal cousin and an avid wildlife photographer, has been actively conserving and tallying the birds arriving at Kenjhar Lake for the past 12 years. Haroon concurs with Kamal's observation.

Haroon said that during his recent count, he identified 52 fire crows and 12 Gargene ducks, a stark contrast to previous counts where their numbers used to be in the hundreds.

Rasheed Ahmad Khan serves as the deputy sanctuary warden for the wildlife department in two districts of Sindh: Thatta and Sajawal. Based at Haliji Lake, he has been conducting bird censuses annually since 1984.

He explains that the methodology employed for bird counting involves using binoculars and a blocking technique.

According to Rasheed, during the bird counting conducted in Sindh from January 15 to February 15 of the current year, 613,000 birds were counted, whereas the count was 661,000 last year.

He mentioned that during the current year, 16,000 birds arrived at Haliji Lake.

In comparison, the count was 45,000 last year, 66,000 in 2021, and 97,000 in 2020.

Ashraf Bhargari, the staff in charge at Haliji, told Lok Sujag that since 2019, feeds such as pulses, wheat bran, and fodder have been provided to birds and other wildlife on the lake.

This initiative has resulted in an increase in the number of birds visiting the lake.

Rasheed expressed regret, citing a lack of resources as the reason for not providing feed after the floods of 2022. He voiced concern that this could be a reason for the decline in bird arrivals.

According to Rasheed, this year's migrating birds include Chico Duck, Stilt, Charo Duck, Ruddy Shelduck, Red-crested Pochard, Tufted Duck, Gadwall, Shoveler, Egyptian Goose, and Black-crowned Night Heron. Local bird species encompass Hangar duck, Lesser Chiko duck, and Bali goose.

According to him, in the bird census of 2023, some rarely seen migrating birds included the white shrike and the red beak.

"Perhaps they have become rare," he says.

He notes a decrease in the number of birds at Haliji this year but an increase in bird counts in Badin, Nariari Lake, and Ranipur Dam in Nangar Parkar. This is in contrast to the past when there were very few sightings in those areas.

Abdul Razzaq Khan, the research officer of the Zoological Survey of Pakistan, sees the situation differently.

He says the estimation of the decline in the number of birds is incorrect.

He states that the migrating guest birds perceived the entire Sindh as a lake this year.

Consequently, they deviated from their traditional habitats and landed where food and tranquillity were readily available.

In his observation during December and January of the current year, he noted that areas affected by floods, including Khairpur Mirs, Dadu, Jamshoro, Badin, and Thatta, witnessed more birds than the usual count.

Asif Sandilo is pursuing his PhD in wildlife at the University of Georgia, USA.

Before that, he worked for ten years with the World Wildlife Fund in Pakistan. He has systematically studied bird migration, behaviour, and life cycles.

He told Lok Sujag that the diet of migratory birds includes small fish, insects, larvae, and other small animals.

He says that after the floods, migratory birds choose their new habitats based on the availability of food and safety. These birds appear to adapt their nesting and living conditions according to the changes in water reservoirs.

"Many areas still have standing water. Manchar Lake has expanded so much that residents of Dadu and Sehwan cannot even pinpoint where it begins and where it ends. The impact of these changes was inevitable."

Asif says that instead of a decrease, the floods have likely increased the number of birds because they now have abundant food and new habitats.

Behind this estimate is his experience with the floods of 2010. He said that the World Wildlife Fund conducted a survey on the Indus Dolphin in 2011. This rare species is found between Guddu and Sukkur Barrage, and the survey covered this region. However, the dolphin was also discovered in Kotri Barrage, over three hundred kilometres from Sukkur, which was a surprising finding for experts.

He attributed the expansion of the dolphin population's habitat to the flood. He mentions that the emerging factors in bird counting this year were overlooked, which is not ideal.

Abdul Razzaq of the Zoological Survey of Pakistan rejects the methodology of the Wildlife Department's bird counting, considering it flawed.

He says that the department focuses on lakes like Keenjhar, Haliji, Hamal, Manchar, Nariari, and a few others for bird counting, which he considers insufficient. According to him, the data collected is incomplete.

Abdul Razzaq says the department lacks the necessary staff, vehicles, and resources to conduct bird counting throughout Sindh. He's of the opinion that the current methodology is not in line with internationally accepted scientific standards.

Javed Ahmed Mehr attributes the challenges to the lack of resources and the knowledge and training gaps among the department's officials. Javed has a master's degree in Forestry from the Pakistan Forest Institute and currently serves as a conservator in the Sindh Forest Department.

He says that legislation regarding forests and environmental conservation in Sindh is well-crafted, but the personnel lack the competence and training to implement it effectively.

"Most of the old employees are those whose basic skill set revolves around hunting and collecting."

Javed mentions that the presence of migratory birds in Sindh is temporary. This year, they had more water bodies available, so they settled where there was food and safety.

He acknowledged that bird counting in Sindh is limited to only 30 per cent of water bodies. This year, the new non-traditional water bodies were not included.

He said that not only should bird counting be based on scientific principles, but the methodology should also be adapted to accommodate changes in water bodies after floods.

The law related to compulsory registration of marriage and resolution of family disputes in Pakistan was enacted in 1961 under the name of the Muslim Family Laws Ordinance. It was supposed to be legislated for all citizens of the country at once but here the largest minority, the Hindu community, was kept deprived of this legal right for decades.

Finally, the Parliament passed the Hindu Marriage Act in 2017, whose scope was kept limited to the federal capital of Islamabad, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan but not in Sindh because a similar law already existed in the province.

There, the provincial assembly approved the Sindh Hindu Marriage (Amendment) Act in 2018 and a year later, in 2019, its rules were made, leading to its implementation in the province. The Balochistan government adopted the Sindh rules in 2019 and announced implementation of the Hindu Marriage Act. After the Act was passed in Punjab and Islamabad, it took another seven years for the rules to be formulated there but its formal implementation started there last year. However, the Hindu community of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is still waiting for the implementation of this law despite the passage of more than eight years.

Social activist Pushpa Kumari, a former member of the Sindh Human Rights Commission and a member of the National Lobbying Delegation (NLD) for Minorities, which played a key role in the passage of the Hindu Marriage Act, says that the majority of women in Hindu communities are illiterate and do not know either the law or their rights. That’s why Hindu women are constantly at the mercy of social injustice. Registration of marriages under this law will at least provide them with protection in case of domestic disputes.

“Unfortunately, the Hindu Marriage Act does not seem to be fully implemented in most parts of the country,” she says.

According to the Hindu Marriage Act 2017, marriage ceremonies can be performed according to the local traditions or customs of one party, for which the free consent of both the bride and groom and the presence of two adult witnesses are required.

The law includes a marriage form to be filled by the registrar (registered Pandit). The bride, groom and witnesses will sign this form, while the registrar, as an authorised officer, will record the signatures.

Under the law, marriage registration will be required within 15 days and it is the responsibility of the marriage registrar (registered Pandit), who will provide a copy of the marriage form to the parties concerned and ensure its entry in the official records.

The law states that the government will appoint a marriage registrar through an official gazette notification, which may be one or more for the convenience of the Hindu population living in a district or area. According to the procedure, after the registration of the marriage, a computerised marriage certificate or National Data Registration Authority (NADRA) form is issued by the union council (UC). This means that the role of the marriage registrar or Pandit in the Hindu marriage law is the same as that of the Nikah Khawan (Nikah registrar) in a Muslim marriage.

Tando Allahyar-based social worker Babulal Bheel says the Hindu marriage law was implemented first in Sindh, but in many areas, no Pandit had been registered yet. In some union councils, even if a Pandit goes for registration, the registration staff gets confused due to lack of awareness.

"As a result, in many Hindu-majority areas, marriages are not registered under this law."

The population of Union Council No. 14 of Hyderabad city is about 30,000, including 25,000 Muslims and more than 5,000 Hindus. There are 15 marriage halls registered here, meaning that there is one marriage registrar for about 1,500 Muslim population while not a single Pandit for all Hindu marriages.

UC Secretary Muhammad Zubair confirms that no one has approached him yet for Hindu marriage or Pandit registration.

Thirty-five-year-old Tilok Chand, a resident of village Donbaro in tehsil Chhachro of Tharparkar, is a Pandit from Meghwar, the largest Hindu community living here. His job is to conduct marriages and perform other religious rituals.

Chand says he came to know in October last year (2025) that the Hindu Marriage Act had come into force in the province, for which he (the Pandit) will now have to register.

“When I reached the UC office to register, the secretary was unaware of this law. I told him that Pandits are being registered in Umerkot, that is why I have come, but he refused to register me. After a month and a half, I was registered on the request of the UC chairman,” says Tilok Chand.

Awareness campaigns are conducted all over the world before the implementation of new laws and facilities are provided to the public for their implementation but nothing like this happened here.

Pandit Rana Ram, a resident of Rajar Colony in Mirpur Khas city, was the first person in this district to register himself as a marriage registrar. He said he had to pay Rs5,000 as a fee for his registration. The municipal officer clearly said if he wanted to register himself, he would have to pay this fee in any case.

It should be noted that the government fee for the registration of Muslim marriage priests in various union councils of the same district ranges from Rs800 to Rs1,000.

Chandan Malahi, a member of National Lobbying Delegation (NLD) for Minority Rights, and coordinator of the National Human Rights Commission in Sindh, says that there are some obstacles in the full implementation of the law. Local bodies in Sindh are autonomous in setting their own fees and they have done that for Pandits and marriages in various UCs at their own pace.

He says the second major problem is that while there is a uniform form of marriage certificate for Muslim citizens across the country while the government has not prepared any such form or certificate for Hindu marriages. Every Pandit makes his own marriage certificate, which may lead to some problems.

“Last week, our delegation met with provincial additional secretary for local government, Aamir Hussain Panohar, in which the issues of uniform registration fees and uniform marriage certificate were put before him. He assured that both our problems would be resolved under the new rules. Officers will also be trained in this regard, for which the Hindu Marriage Act has already been included in the curriculum of the Local Government Academy,” says Malahi.

Krishan Sharma, chairman of the Pakistan Hindu Temple Management Committee, a federal body established to maintain temples, says that full implementation of the marriage law is very important. In this regard, he is not only in touch with the authorities, but all his colleagues are also running awareness campaigns in their respective communities. He seems very optimistic, but agrees that the pace of implementation of the Marriage Act is certainly slow, but the situation is constantly improving.

Krishan Sharma says the Hindu Marriage Act is applicable in all four provinces, but unfortunately, rules have not been made in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa yet. He, along with other colleagues, also met with provincial ministers and the speaker of the provincial assembly in Peshawar.

According to him, the proposed rules were previously a football match between different provincial ministries. Now it has been revealed that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa law ministry has found a flaw in this act, for which it has proposed an amendment.

He says that in Sindh and Balochistan, the responsibility of registering Pandits and marriages has been given to the Local Government Department. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa law ministry believes that the law has made the 'government' responsible for registration and the government means ‘cabinet’.

Therefore, the registration of marriages and Pandits should either be done by the provincial cabinet or the law should be amended to replace the word 'government' with 'local government'.

Haroon Sarab Diyal, a leader of the Hindu community and social activist in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, says that dozens of cases are pending in the provincial courts, which cannot be decided due to the lack of rules for this law.

“This law was made to protect our daughters-in-law but due to the lack of rules, we are not able to register our marriages despite the passage of years. Therefore, it is necessary to approve the rules immediately in the province.”

In Punjab, the implementation of this law has begun but the procedure is very complicated. Unlike Sindh, here, the responsibility of registering Pandits lies with the Human Rights and Minority Affairs Department while the registration of marriages is the job of the local bodies.

According to the Punjab Hindu Marriage Rules 2025, the Pandit will apply to the deputy commissioner for his registration who will send it to the Human Rights and Minority Affairs Department after verification. The same department will issue a registration certificate to the Pandit.

The Pandit (Marriage Registrar) will be responsible for issuing and maintaining records of the marriage certificate. He will submit the marriage certificate to the UC concerned from where the NADRA certificate will be issued.

Rahim Yar Khan district of Punjab has the largest Hindu population in the province, consisting of 176,416 people. Pandit Devaji Ram, a resident of this district, says that so far only five Pandits have been registered in the entire district and registration of marriages has not started yet.

Hindu marriage was implemented in Balochistan six years ago where the Sindh rules have been adopted, but Pandits (marriage registrars) or marriage registration has not started yet in the entire province. However, NLD member Shezan William from Quetta says things have been streamlined. Hopefully, marriage registration will start here soon.

The Hindu community, consisting of five million people, is the largest religious minority in Pakistan and the married daughters of this community are not given a share in the family inheritance and the property of their deceased father. Simply because in the country, the same centuries-old outdated system is prevalent that does not consider daughters as heirs.

The Hindu Law of Inheritance (Amendment) Act 1929 is one of those laws of the British Raj that were implemented in Pakistan after independence without any amendment. The country's courts not only have no objection to it but they are also setting new precedents in the 'light' of old decisions.

After the 18th Amendment, these matters are the responsibility of the provinces. The largest representation of the Hindus in parliament is in Sindh, but there is no such law there that can give daughters a share in their father's property.

Momal Bheel is a resident of tehsil Islamkot of Tharparkar. She is the third of five daughters of her father, Ladhu Bheel. They are all married and live with their respective in-laws. Momal says that her parents’ house and her father’s 180 acres of arid land are in village Malho Bheel. When her father died, her uncle’s sons threw her (Momal’s) mother out of the house and occupied the entire property.

“We (five sisters) asked for our share, but they refused. Mother is forced to live in our younger sister’s house. We complained to the assistant commissioner Islamkot as well as the tehsildar but they told us to decide the matter mutually or we would have to visit to look into the matter. When our cousins came to know about the case, they sold our father’s land. Now we have no choice but to remain silent,” laments Momal.

Kewal Menghwar was a resident of the village of Warwai, which was part of the Thar Coal Project. Jiyan Bai is his only child. When Kewal’s wife died, he married his daughter, kept his daughter and son-in-law in his house and died some time later.

iyan Bai says that when the coal company evacuated the village, it promised to compensate the victims for their houses and lands. As soon as this news came, her paternal cousins ordered her to go to her in-laws’ village with her husband.

“I said that I am the sole heir of my father’s property and I will take the compensation for the house. At this, they (the cousins) filed fake cases against my husband, evicted us and took the compensation for our house themselves. Now I can’t do anything.”

Tharkparkar District Council Vice Chairperson Kamla Bheel confirms that dozens of such cases are pending in the courts of Tharparkar, especially in the coal project area, which daughters have filed to claim their inheritance rights.

“They are facing endless trials. People also come to us with complaints, but we cannot do anything because there is no Hindu inheritance law,” she says

Bhagwan Das Bheel, a lawyer, informs Lok Sujag that in Sindh, the Hindu Marriage Act 2016 recognises some rights of women, including marriage and divorce, but there is no comprehensive inheritance law.

“In the cases involving Hindu women, family courts usually give decisions based on traditional Hindu principles or British-era law, which go in favour of men,” he adds.

Bhagwan Das Bheel refers to a judgment of last year (March 6) in which the Sindh High Court quashed the order of the district court under which a married Hindu woman was declared a legitimate sharer of her deceased father’s property. The high court passed the said order on the petition of Shrimati Saraswati Devi, who had challenged the decision of the lower court. The petitioner maintained that the survivors of her husband Khem Chand included three daughters, two sons and a widow (herself). Under the Hindu law, married daughters are not entitled to share in their father’s property during their mother’s lifetime. Two daughters did not object, while the third daughter objected, so the trial court gave her a share contrary to Hindu law. The petitioner's daughter argued that she was entitled to her rightful share in the inheritance as the daughter of the late Khem Chand. She said the country's Constitution guarantees equality without discrimination on the basis of sex, caste, religion or race, and any law that contradicts the Constitution is considered null and void.

“The trial court's decision is in accordance with the constitutional principles that protect the rights of women and prohibit gender discrimination.”

The lawyer for the defendant (daughter) cited the precedent of the Indian Supreme Court's decision under which daughters have been given equal inheritance rights as sons. However, a single bench of the Sindh High Court ruled that the district court's decision was not correct because laws and customs applicable to the Hindu community in Pakistan should be interpreted within the Pakistani legal framework. Therefore, the inheritance certificate will be issued only in the name of the deceased's sons, widow and grandchildren, excluding married daughters.

Punjab is still under the Hindu Succession Act of 1929, while Sindh sometimes takes help from the Indian Hindu Succession Act of 1956, sometimes the Hindu Succession Act of 1929 and the Hindu Women's Right to Property Act of 1937.

In the Saraswati Devi case, the high court had made it clear that the trial court had misapplied the Mitakshara principle in the decision. Under Mitakshara, daughters are not entitled to share in the father's property during the mother's lifetime, their right to inheritance arises only after the mother's death.

The Sindh High Court also gave a similar decision on the petition of Ratna Devi, widow of former caretaker Chief Justice Rana Bhagwandas. His daughter Mrs Anita Kumari was deprived of her father's inheritance while the widow (the petitioner) and her two sons were declared entitled to the property.

In the sub-continent, Hindu law of inheritance was derived from two major cultural and traditional principles called 'Mitakshara' and 'Dayabhaga'. The Dayabhaga system was prevalent in Bengal and adjoining areas, while the Mitakshara was prevalent in the northern and eastern parts of India and the present-day Pakistani territories. Under this, the daughter was not considered a sharer in the family property. Only the widow could get a share after the death of her husband, and that too was limited. Both the above systems, which are based on patriarchal agricultural social traditions, deprive daughters of inheritance. India replaced these traditional rules with the Succession Act in 2005, but in Pakistan, they are still being ruled on by outdated customs.

Advocate Bhagwan Das explains the above traditions as follows: “In the Hindu community, marriages are not done within blood relations. Therefore, the dowry is declared as the daughter's share so that the inherited land and house are not divided.”

Last month, a meeting of the Sindh Assembly Parliamentary Working Group (Minority Parliamentary Caucus) was held under the chairmanship of Giyanchand Essrani, and Hindu inheritance laws were also discussed along with Christian marriage.

The meeting was attended by Special Assistant to the Chief Minister Dr Sham Sundar Advani, Deputy Speaker Anthony Naveed, Rana Hamir Singh, minority members of the assembly, the secretary Minority Affairs Department and other officials, as well as members of the National Lobbying Delegation (NLD) for Minority Rights.

The participants said that due to the vague Hindu inheritance laws, daughters are being abused in the distribution of property. During the discussion, several suggestions came up, on which Giyanchand Essrani directed the law department to prepare a legal draft and present it in the next meeting so that progress could be made towards legislation.

NLD member Krishan Sharma, who is also the chairman of the Pakistan Hindu Temple Management Committee, says that neighbouring India, which has the largest Hindu population in the world, has had a comprehensive inheritance law since 2005, which declares sons and daughters as equal sharers of the father’s property.

Sharma adds: “We want our daughters to have equal rights. We are working on a legal draft that will be presented in the assembly after consulting Hindu panchayats and legal experts. Hopefully, our daughters will get good news soon”.

Forty-year-old Walhi Kolhi is sitting on a charpoy in a hut made of wood, thatch and grass. Next to the charpoy, there is a small trunk where she has put some chips, eatables and snacks for children and she calls it her shop.

Walhi, who talks shyly to her husband Ramji Kolhi, has a constant smile on her face. She says that earlier she too used to work in the fields, but now only Ramji goes to work, who gets Rs400 to Rs600 per day.

The couple live in a house consisting of a mud room and a hut with a thatched roof in Bheo Farm near Tando Soomro, a model village in Tando Allahyar. They have only one daughter who is married. The couple is very happy to have solar energy.

“We thought that electricity and a fan in the house were probably not our destiny.”

Walhi Kolhi used to receive a stipend from the Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) but she has not received it for the last two years. Twenty days ago, she received a solar kit, which includes a pedestal fan, three bulbs and a battery system.

“There was no electricity in the house. At night, my husband would light the bulb with a motorcycle battery and turn it off after a while. They sleep under the open sky at night but spending the day in the heat was torture,” she remembers.

The government has provided the solar kit for Rs6,000, which she (Walhi) deposited in the Sindh Bank under the guidance of the non-governmental organization, National Rural Support Programme (NRSP).

The NGO workers brought the solar kit home. An electrician who was accompanying them fitted the solar plate and equipment and turned on the fan.

According to the authorities, the solar home system has a two-year insurance and if it breaks down, it will be refunded.

An agreement has been signed with five NGOs for the distribution of solar kits, including the NRSP, Health and Nutritional Society (HANDS), Sindh

Agricultural and Forestry Workers Coordinating Organization (Safwco), Sindh Rural Support Organization (SRSO) and Thardeep Rural Development Program (TRDP).

The original price (head price) of each kit is Rs42,000 and about R 17,000 is tax on it. The user has to deposit a total of Rs6,000, which is difficult for some families. The provincial government tried to get the duty and sales tax waived off from the FBR but it did not happen.

Under the Sindh Solar Energy Project, solar kits have been provided to 36,000 poor households in 30 districts. According to the official website of the World Bank, in collaboration with the Department of Energy, it launched the Sindh Solar Energy Project in 2020 with the aim of promoting green energy. The project has four components, including the establishment of a grid-connected solar park, installation of panels on government buildings for net-metering, distribution of solar kits (solar home systems) among poor communities and training of manpower.

The bank has approved a loan of USD 100 million for the project, which includes the cost of 200,000 solar home systems (SHS/kits). However, the Sindh government has borne the operational costs of distributing the kits.

Sindh Solar Project Director Engineer Mahfuz Qazi says initially it was decided that the government would provide a 40pc subsidy to poor households on solar kits and the remaining 60pc would be collected in installments. Under this scheme, only 322 kits were distributed in 2022.

He says then there was a flood in the region and this process was stopped. Due to the increase in poverty, it was decided to provide solar kits for free but government goods (kits) started being sold in the market. After this, the Sindh government redesigned the project. Under the Solar Policy 2024, these 200,000 home solar kits will be distributed in the first phase. The subsidy amount has been increased to 80pc and 20 percent (Rs6,000) will be given to the eligible households so that they can take ownership of these kits.

According to the Sindh Energy Department, the distribution of 200,000 solar kits under the World Bank project started in March and 36,000 families have received the kits in about three months.

Wali Kolhi says, “It's good that someone remembered the suffering of the poor and provided us with a solar system. Now the house is bright, the fan is running day and night, we are sitting peacefully; otherwise, our whole life would have been wasted in the dark”.

Fifty-five years old Bawri Kolhi at Bhaiya Farm also received a solar kit. She is sitting on the ground in her hut, watching her five-year-old grandson Hamir, who is busy playing games on a smartphone charged with a lithium battery. Bawri Kolhi’s sons and daughters are married. She gets a stipend from the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) and lives with her son. She is happy that the house has electricity and now her children do not have to go to any shop to charge their phones.

In Sindh, in the first phase, solar kits are being provided to the female heads of eligible households based on the BISP survey.

Jan Muhammad, a social mobilizer of NRSP, says that his organisation has to install 6,600 kits (solar systems) in Tando Allahyar district by July. Almost the same number of kits is being provided to the poor in each district.

“We have the union council-wise lists of the Benazir Income Support Survey. We get the system installed in the concerned households after signing the consent form by the family head and deposit of Rs6,000 in the bank.”

Jan Muhammad says he found several people who refused to take the solar kits simply because they did not have Rs6,000 in a lump sum with them. Some borrowed money to get the kit installed while some households had already installed their solar panels.

According to the Energy Department, there are 3.2m households in Sindh that do not have electricity. More details are being obtained from Hyderabad Electric Supply Company, Sukkur Electric Supply Company and Karachi Electric.

The project director says that seven districts of Karachi are also included in the first phase. However, Nangarparkar in Tharparkar district, Juhi and Kachho in Dadu, while Sanghar, Khairpur, Miras and Sukkur, Achro, Thar, Salehpat are a priority along with other areas where there is no electricity system.

The distribution plan of 200,000 kits funded by the World Bank will be completed in July 2025. But, the Sindh government has announced an extension of this programme, under which Rs5bn will be spent on more solar kits in the new financial year from the annual development programme.

Engineer Qazi says that 250,000 more kits would arrive in August, which will be distributed under the current standards and procedures.

“Forty-eight percent of Sindh's population lives in villages where there is 18-hour long electricity loadshedding. Therefore, the provincial government wants all households in the province using less than 300 units of electricity to be provided with solar kits.”

The government solar kit (SHS) includes an 80-volt solar panel, three 25-volt bulbs, a solar pedestal fan and a 24-ampere DC battery. This lithium battery, which has a five-year warranty, is capable of continuously supplying power to the system for eight hours on a single charge, which also includes a switch button for charging mobile phones and laptops.

As many as 2.52m people will benefit directly from the distribution of 450,000 kits in Sindh.

According to Engineer Qazi, this solar system can be moved from one place to another without hesitation. Those who move to work in villages or those who have rented houses in the city can take it with them anywhere. This project will make people’s lives easier.

Dr Nayyar Hussain, associate professor of Electrical Engineering at Mehran University, Jamshoro, says that under the solar project, more than 3,000 people will be given technical training, who will train more people. This will provide employment to thousands of people.

“The solar energy will reduce the use of fossil fuels, which will protect the environment from damage to some extent. There are no grid station and transmission charges or any tangled wires. Low-income households will be spared from high electricity bills, which will stabilize their financial situation and improve their quality of life,” he adds.

Zeenia Shaukat, director of The Knowledge Forum, an organisation working on green energy and climate justice, welcomes solar projects. However, she believes that sustainable planning is needed for their implementation.

“The life of a lithium battery and plate, etc. included in the Sindh Solar Project kits is said to be five years, after which we do not know where the solar waste and garbage will go. A clear policy for solar equipment disposal will have to be introduced in the country,” she suggests.

The project management says that a robotic call system has been introduced to receive complaints related to solar kits where about 100 complaints have been received so far. About 30 systems were replaced on complaints of technical malfunction. There were some complaints against HANDS in Hyderabad that they did not deliver the equipment to their homes as per the agreement. The customers were called to the office and handed over the kits, for which they had to spend additional money and time.

Complaints have also been received against some NGOs whose social mobilizers or representatives have collected more than the stipulated challan fee (Rs6,000). These complaints are present in the computerised records.

Zeenia Shaukat expresses the fear that people in the huts are charging their mobile phones while keeping the battery on their feet, which may pose a danger to them. This needs to be thought about so that people are informed about precautionary measures along with provision of solar kits.

Thirty-five years old Farzana (not her real name), a resident of Qadirabad locality in Mianwali city, was alone at her home when her close relative, Azizullah, entered the house and raped her.

Her husband, a bus driver, had gone to Bannu as a part of his work. This is what she told the City Police Station on April 9 in her first information report (FIR) and the police registered a case the same day.

Despite the passage of months, when this report was filed, the suspect had not been arrested. Sub-Inspector Jabal Al-Warid, the investigating officer at the City Police Station, says the police had registered a case with any delay under Section 376 of the Pakistan Penal Code and the victim underwent immediate medical examination. She claims that the police fully supportedthe victim.

Farzana says the family elders were not in favour of filing a case and wanted the matter to be resolved at home.

“But my husband went with me and filed an FIR with the police station.

Now, except for my husband, all the men in the family are pushing for reconciliation because our frequent visits to the police station and court are hurting their honour.”

A report by the Sustainable Social Development Organization (SSDO) shows that 4,641 cases of rape were reported in Punjab in 2024. Lahore, the provincial capital, topped the list with 532 cases, followed by Faisalabad, Kasur and Okara districts with 340, 271 and 213 cases, respectively.

According to the list, a total of 31 rape cases of women were registered in the Mianwali district last year.

To the question whether rape incidents are less common or underreported in Mianwali compared to Lahore, Faisalabad, Okara and Multan, most lawyers and social workers here seem to agree that the majority of people in Mianwali do not report such incidents despite being aware of the laws.

District Women Protection Officer Sameera Alvi says that in the feudal rural society, women are considered a symbol of honour and dignity and that’s why the relatives of the affected women usually try to suppress incidents of sexual violence or rape.

The family of Muhammad Bilal (not real name) has been living on the outskirts of Isakhel for decades. Two years ago, an influential person raped his 16-year-old daughter. Instead of filing a case against him, he left the area with his wife and children and settled in a rented house in Mianwali city.

“I am no longer able to face anyone in his village, how can I take my daughter to the police or court?”

Samira Alvi says that even despite overcoming stumbling blocks of the police stations and the heavy expenses, very few people get justice. “That is why only a few women dare to file such a case,” she adds

According to SSDO statistics, the conviction rate in the rape cases in Punjab last year (2024) was only 0.4pc.

According to the District Judicial Complex Mianwali, from January 1 to December 31, 2024, a total of 97 cases of rape of women were pending in the courts here, including the pending cases of the previous year. During this period (one year), 14 cases were decided. In only one case, the accused was convicted, the accused involved in 11 cases were acquitted while the accused in two cases were never caught by the police. Thus, the conviction rate, according to the court, was 7.14%.

According to the court records, there was no reconciliation between the parties in none of the aforementioned cases.

When Muhammad Bilal was repeatedly asked why he did not file a rape case against his daughter, he replied passionately.

“Has anyone else gotten justice from the police station? Instead of filing a case, I thought it would be appropriate to leave the area so that I would not have to face the public.”

Sub-Inspector Jabal Al-Warid believes that there are two main reasons for the low conviction rate in rape cases. “The first is that the victimised women reconcile during the trial due to pressure or other social issues, which wastes all the police’s hard work. The second major reason, in my opinion, is the registration of bogus cases, meaning that most rape cases are bogus (false), due to which the courts acquit most of the accused.”

Since the Independence in 1947, the cases of sexual assault in the country were registered under sections 375 and 376 of the Pakistan Penal Code (Act 1860). Section 375 defines rape and section 376 prescribes its punishment.

Under this law, the punishment for rape is death or imprisonment for 10 to 25 years and a fine, while for gang rape, the punishment is death or life imprisonment.

However, in 1979, when the Hudood Ordinance came, rape was removed from the Pakistan Penal Code and placed under the category of ‘adultery’. That is, the difference between rape and adultery was almost eliminated.

Naila Dhoon, a lawyer associated with the Mianwali Bar Association, says that in the Hudud Ordinance, the accused and the victim appeared in the same dock. “For the implementation of ‘Hud’, the confession of the accused or four pious, sane and adult male witnesses were required as witnesses. In a rape case, the burden of proof was on the victim and no medical or documentary evidence was accepted, which made it very difficult for women victims of sexual crimes to get justice.”

However, in 2006, amendments were made to the Pakistan Penal Code, the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and other laws through an Act for the protection of women. Under these amendments, sections 265-B (kidnap for forced marriage), 367-A (kidnap for rape), 371-A (sale for prostitution) and 371-B (purchase for prostitution) were added to the Pakistan Penal Code and the definition of ‘rape’ in section 375 was also changed.

Section 375 of the Pakistan Penal Code (Amendment Act 2006) reclassified rape and made it a penal offence. But the punishment (from 10 years imprisonment to death penalty) was left to the discretion of the courts.

Advocate Naila Dhoon believes that the steps taken in the Protection of Women (Criminal Laws Amendment) Act, 2006 were also very weak and full of flaws. This time too, rights were given with one hand and taken away with the other, but this improved the conditions of women somewhat.

On September 9, 2020, the horrific incident of gang-rape of a French woman of Pakistani origin on a motorway in front of her children sparked a debate in the country once again and changes were made to the laws.

On December 1, 2021, the Parliament passed the Anti-Rape (Investigation & Trial) Act 5, under which special courts were established across the country to hear rape cases quickly and they were made obliged to decide the case within four months. Crisis cells were set up in every district to register FIRs, provide medical examination and immediate assistance to the affected women in forensics. In this regard, the Punjab Police also formed units consisting of 1,450 officers, each of which includes at least one woman officer.

The law includes measures such as creating a system (national register) in collaboration with the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) to monitor criminals and deter them from reoffending, keeping their identities confidential to protect victims and witnesses, and using veils or video links. But even after this law, there has been no significant reduction in the incidence of sexual assault.

According to gender parity reports, 3,914 cases of rape were reported in Punjab in 2022, 6,624 cases in 2023, and 4,641 cases in 2024.

Ansar Khan, a member of the Mianwali District Bar, believes that the Anti-Rape (Investigation and Trial) Act 2021 is an important legal development but it is not being fully implemented. The rate of referral of cases to Anti-Rape Crisis Cells (ARCCs) by the police is very low, due to which the victims do not get immediate help.

“Measures to protect victims and witnesses, such as anonymity and testimony via video link, are also virtually non-existent,” he adds.

Samiullah Khan, a human rights lawyer in Mianwali, disagrees with the views of female police inspector Jabal Al-Warid. He blames the poor police investigation and judicial system for the low conviction rate. He says that the majority of police officers are not sensitive to sexual crimes and lack proper training in evidence collection. Forensic labs are scarce, almost all samples are sent to Lahore, and often it takes six months for reports to arrive.

He believes that criminals often escape punishment due to delays in the court system (trials), poor evidence, and witnesses changing their statements under pressure.

Legal expert Khalid Saeed advocate says that changes to anti-human smuggling and trafficking laws and anti-rape laws are positive developments. However, the National Sex Offenders Register for monitoring is not yet fully operational.

“Just legislation is not enough, effective implementation of laws is more important, for which institutional training and public awareness are urgently needed,” he stresses.