Three-year-old Lahore girl sues Punjab government

A three-year-old girl in Lahore has sued the government of Punjab as record-high air pollution levels have sent hundreds of people to hospitals, forced school closures and triggered stay-at-home orders in the city.

“Under Article 9-A of the Constitution, the government is obligated to provide citizens with a clean and healthy environment,” says the petition filed by three-year-old Amal Sekhera, who appeared in the court with her mother Mehek Zafar on Thursday. 

Amal said she was seeking justice for herself, her friends and the future generations as children and the elderly were the most badly hit by air pollution and smog. She criticized the Punjab government for failing to protect fundamental rights guaranteed by the constitution of Pakistan.

The Lahore High Court issued notices in response to the petition to the Punjab government, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the City Traffic Police. The hearing has been adjourned till Nov. 12, with the court instructing the government to ensure the presence of the provincial secretary of the Environment Protection Department and the director general of the EPA in court at the next hearing.

Lahore has been engulfed by a thick, toxic smog for the last one month or so. On Friday, Lahore, home to 13 million people, had the worst air quality of any city in the world, according to IQAir, a Swiss air quality monitoring company.

Research shows children exposed to high levels of smog may suffer from reduced lung capacity, pneumonia, bronchitis and other lung infections and more asthma attacks and worse symptoms than adults.