We brace for staggered school timings ending in closures, drones scanning for crop residue burning, restrictions and fines on older vehicles and pockets of respite from artificial rain. Every one of those measures (several sensible, some overdue, and many unfair) asks something of somebody.

Meanwhile, what does Punjab’s most powerful office holder do? Make a trip to London aboard the government’s Gulfstream G500, a 2019 aircraft, to attend her daughter’s graduation ceremony.

It is against that ledger, and not the question of legality, that the use of the Punjab government’s aircraft is worth interrogating. The information minister has said the expenses were met personally. An adjournment motion moved in the Punjab Assembly puts the total estimated cost to the exchequer at around Rs12.5 million, including fuel, parking and related charges. An aviation expert calculated a one-way journey at $84,000 on the lower side. Whichever account is correct (and the receipts would settle it in an afternoon), the question of payment is a rather narrow one because carbon does not check who paid.

And it is the carbon cost that has been missing from the debate. Transport & Environment, the European transport campaign federation, estimates that a midsize private jet emits two tonnes of carbon dioxide in a single hour of flight. The Gulfstream G500 is a considerably larger aircraft. To put this into perspective, the average Pakistani produced 0.72 tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2024, according to Our World in Data. Therefore, just one hour of flight in the G500 releases more carbon dioxide than an ordinary Pakistani produces in two whole years!

What alternatives does a premier have? PIA’s direct Lahore to Heathrow service runs once a week only, which rightly eliminates the option for a chief executive needed in office. Effectively, only connecting flights remain, some even flying twice a day. The United Kingdom government publishes emission factors for long-haul travel, averaged across the aircraft and airlines serving British airports and inclusive of non-carbon warming effects: 0.12 kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent per kilometer flown in economy and 0.34 kilograms in business. If applied to a Lahore-to-London return, approximately 12,700 kilometers, the economy seat comes to an estimated 1.5 tonnes and the business seat to 4.3 tonnes. Only an hour of flight in a midsize private jet, then releases more carbon dioxide than an economy passenger’s entire return journey from Lahore to London. By any metric, and in any cabin, the seat on the government aircraft was the most carbon-intensive way to make the journey.

In the greater scheme of national emissions, the above calculated difference is a rounding error at most, and no serious argument holds that one aircraft movement determines the air quality of a city of thirteen million. But that is precisely why this episode matters. The province is in the middle of Suthra Punjab, billed as the largest integrated waste management program the country has attempted, deploying, by its own account, 172,273 sanitation workers across all 36 districts to lift nearly 55,000 tonnes of waste a day. A program of that scale succeeds or fails on whether ordinary households believe the request being made of them is serious: whether they segregate waste, use the containers provided, and stop burning refuse in the street. Citizen compliance can not be bought with enforcement; instead, it is borrowed against the credibility of the people making the request.

And the above-mentioned credibility is not a provincial matter alone. Pakistan produced 0.47 percent of global carbon emissions in 2024 and was ranked by Germanwatch as the country most affected by extreme weather in 2022, the year floods killed more than 1,700 people, displaced eight million, and caused $30 billion in losses by the government’s own estimate. On that record alone, the country has the strongest moral claim available in climate negotiations. But it weakens each time the delegation carrying it arrives in a way that undercuts it. The Ministry of Climate Change sent 35 officials to COP29 in Baku at a reported cost of over $1 million, financed, reportedly, by the National Disaster Risk Management Fund, a body capitalized to finance disaster resilience. Funds raised to build resilience, spent attending a conference about it. Nor is the provincial aircraft an isolated case: maintaining VIP air and road fleets is common to the federation and to every province, no matter which party holds them.

To be clear, this is not an argument that public officials must not travel, or that a chief minister must only fly economy on a commercial flight to attend a child’s graduation. It is an argument that the carbon cost of official travel must be treated as a priority rather than an afterthought, recorded and transparently published.

The smog season is now only weeks away. It remains to be seen whether a province that will shortly ask a hundred and thirty million people to change how they commute, how they farm and how they dispose of their waste is prepared to hold its own travel to the standard it is about to ask of them.

“Bangladesh should have gone and participated in the tournament,” committee member Barrister Faisal Dastagir said on Tuesday while releasing the 22-page report at the National Sports Council conference room.

The three-member committee found that political tensions between India and Bangladesh, the International Cricket Council’s refusal to relocate Bangladesh’s matches and government intervention had a “very high” impact on the decision not to participate. The Bangladesh Cricket Board’s failure in negotiations was rated as having a “high” impact, while a breakdown in communication was assessed as having a “medium” impact.

Dastagir said the committee had concluded, after examining media reports and speaking to people familiar with the matter, that Asif Nazrul, who was the interim government’s youth and sports adviser at the time, was responsible for the decision, along with the government.

The committee said the players and supporters had suffered most as a result of Bangladesh’s absence and concluded that the national team should have travelled to the tournament.

The report included testimony from BCB president Tamim Iqbal, who criticised the role of political considerations in the decision.

“Personal grudges powered by another country’s opinion should not be the factor in destroying the dreams of players and people of Bangladesh,” Tamim was quoted as saying.

He alleged that security concerns had been used as a pretext and that the decision was driven more by political positioning and an anti-India sentiment than genuine sporting considerations. According to Tamim’s testimony, the sports adviser and government officials initially favoured Bangladesh’s participation before subsequently changing their position.

Tamim also told the committee that 14 teams had opposed Bangladesh’s request to move its matches out of India, while the Pakistan Cricket Board had supported the proposed venue change.

The dispute began on Jan 3 after Indian Premier League franchise Kolkata Knight Riders released Bangladesh fast bowler Mustafizur Rahman from their squad following a directive from the Board of Control for Cricket in India.

Amid deteriorating relations between India and Bangladesh, the BCB subsequently asked the ICC to move Bangladesh’s matches from India to Sri Lanka, citing security concerns. The ICC rejected the request after reviewing security assessments and said there was no credible or verifiable threat to Bangladesh players, officials, media or supporters in India.

On Jan 21, the ICC Board confirmed that Bangladesh’s matches would remain in India. The governing body said changing the schedule at that stage was not feasible and could undermine the integrity of future ICC events. Bangladesh subsequently refused to participate under the published schedule and were replaced by Scotland on Jan 24. The tournament was held from Feb 7 to March 8 in India and Sri Lanka.

The decision generated considerable controversy in Bangladesh, with players reportedly keen to participate despite the government’s position. State Minister for Youth and Sports Aminul Haque announced in March that an investigation would be conducted into why Bangladesh had missed the tournament.

The National Sports Council formally constituted the three-member committee on May 10. It was headed by Dr A.K.M. Oli Ullah, additional secretary at the Ministry of Youth and Sports, with former national captain Habibul Bashar and Dastagir as members. The panel was initially asked to submit its findings within 15 working days.

The committee interviewed 12 people and included summaries of their accounts in its report. However, it acknowledged that it was unable to obtain statements from Asif Nazrul and former BCB president Aminul Islam Bulbul. The committee also did not contact the ICC during its investigation.

Nazrul, after the report was released, said he had never denied that he made the decision not to send the team to India. In a Facebook post, he said the decision was primarily his as sports adviser and defended it on grounds of national dignity, the safety of cricketers, journalists and supporters, and stability ahead of Bangladesh’s national election.

Nazrul also questioned why the matter had been investigated several months after the tournament and maintained that the interim government had made extensive efforts to have Bangladesh’s matches moved to another venue.

The committee recommended that cricket be kept separate from political disputes, that the BCB’s independence be strengthened, and that communication between the government, board and other stakeholders be improved during crises.

It also called for greater priority to be given to players’ welfare and security and recommended the development of a national framework for sports diplomacy.

Muhammad Moazzam Khan, technical adviser on marine resources at World Wide Fund for Nature-Pakistan (WWF-P), said the fishy smell was a result of decomposing microscopic marine algae called phytoplankton — a naturally occurring event.

He explained that when the regional monsoon system ends in mid-September, it results in significant changes in the sea conditions. Consequently, these phytoplankton, found abundantly during the monsoon, begin to decay.

Phytoplankton are found in the upper 100 metres of the sea, where sunlight can penetrate, and are not visible to the naked eye.

The WWF-P expert said this phenomenon — also witnessed in 2024 — often causes a foul smell to permeate the air in the coastal areas. He added that the smell would likely dissipate in a few days.

The Pakistan Meteorological Department’s (PMD) spokesperson, Anjum Nazir Zaigham, and climate change expert Fatima Yamin attributed the scale of the smell to the weather conditions too.

Yamin said a low-pressure area off the coast of India’s Jamnagar was circulating wind around Karachi’s coastline, which was turning into smog because of air pollution.

She added that the combination of smog and the weather conditions was causing the smell to “circulate throughout the city”.

Zaigham also pointed out the low-pressure area and the smog, in addition to the south-easterly wind direction.

He said the air would likely get better by the evening with the sea breeze.

The stench was also reported across the metropolis in October 2024, with Clifton, Defence Housing Authority (DHA), SMCHS, PECHS, Korangi, Orangi, North Nazimabad, Federal B Area (blocks 9 and 10), and Saddar witnessing it strongly.

Asked about possible health risks at the time, ecologist Rafiullah had said that while there was no “concrete” evidence yet, prolonged exposure to the combination of dusty winds and the smell might affect sinusitis.