Pakistan’s Ravi River, once alive, is on hospice. Pockets of water sit stagnant and large sections of the tributary are polluted with untreated sewage from Lahore.
Photographer: Betsy Joles/Bloomberg
Land Grab or River Revival? Inside Pakistan’s $7 Billion ‘Green’ City
The government wants to spend $7 billion to develop the Ravi riverbank, but opponents say that risks replicating the environmental and societal problems in nearby Lahore.
After the British divided Pakistan and India more than seven decades ago, Suleman Mohammad Sajjad Warraich’s father received a section of land on the outskirts of Lahore. It was a place to put roots in the new nation. Later on, Warraich and his family filled their 300 collective acres with vegetable plots, marigold gardens, and guava groves.
The property was supposed to pass through generations. But early last year Warraich was told that the government would be acquiring the land. He’d be compensated, and his farm turned into something other than agricultural land. That didn’t sit right with him, so he filed a petition opposing the acquisition.