Pakistan contributes less than 1% to global emissions, yet it is among the hardest hit by climate change. This year alone, over 739 people have lost their lives in floods and glacial lake outbursts, with Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa suffering the worst damage.
Yesterday, I walked through what were once the villages of Raushan and Taalidas. A sudden midnight flash flood had erased nearly everything, more than 140 houses swept away or submerged after the Ghizer River was blocked, creating an artificial lake.
The villagers survived because two shepherds, watching from the mountains, made a phone call in the dead of night. Their warning saved an entire community.
As I stood there photographing the aftermath, I felt the weight of silence, the absence of homes, of voices, of ordinary life. For me, as someone from Gilgit-Baltistan, documenting this is not just photography. It is bearing witness to how climate change is reshaping our mountains and our people, faster than we ever imagined.
Aneela, 16, her mother Noor Jahan, and her sisters Sharifa and Radhika lost everything to the deadly Raushan floods, their home, their land, and the animals that sustained them. Photo: Taseer Beyg/Pamir Times
Aneela and Radhika crossing the flood debris over their village in a sandstorm. Photo: Taseer Beyg/Pamir TimesSumaira Akbar, a high school student who dreamed of becoming a doctor, wept as she told me how the flood had taken everything her school, her home, her books, even her uniform. Photo: Taseer Beyg/Pamir TimesAnjum Ahsan, one of the shepherds, made a quick phone call that saved more than 300 lives in Raushan giving the entire village time to evacuate before the deadly flood swept through their homes. Photo: Taseer Beyg/Pamir TimesWasiyat Tanha, a shepherd accompanying Anjum Ahsan who warned the villagers about the deadly flood in Thaalidas and Raushan. Photo: Taseer BeygShehzada, Didar Karim, and Shehryar had returned to their native village for their cousin’s wedding, carrying all their academic documents with them. A day before the celebration, the flood struck. Photo: Taseer Beyg/Pamir TimesIjlal Hussain, a resident of Thaalidas, sits tense inside a shelter tent. Photo: Taseer Beyg/Pamir Times
Pamir Times is the pioneering community news and views portal of Gilgit – Baltistan, Kohistan, Chitral and the surrounding mountain areas. It is a voluntary, not-for-profit, non-partisan and independent venture initiated by the youth.
