Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, speaking in the National Assembly on Monday, condemned the proliferation of hotels, housing societies, and other illegal structures built on riverbeds and natural stormwater drains. These encroachments, he warned, blocked vital waterways and turned seasonal floods into avoidable disasters.
Asif highlighted how urban flooding in places like Sialkot was made far worse because constructions forced floodwaters back into populated areas. He lamented that “we narrowed rivers, sold plots inside streams, and now act surprised when nature pushes back.”
“Seven to eight feet of water stood on roads, entire streets collapsed, and the floodwater carried away everything. Polluted streams flowing from Jammu further worsened the destruction in Sialkot,” he added.
Faltering local governance, especially in Punjab, allowed encroachments to go unchecked. Asif accused powerful groups—including some sitting in the Senate—of establishing societies on river land and criticized the lack of anti-encroachment enforcement.
Rejecting the wait of over a decade for mega-dam projects, Asif proposed building dozens of smaller dams that could be completed quickly, thereby conserving floodwater rather than losing it downstream.
The 2025 Pakistan floods, fueled by pre-monsoon rains and dam water releases, have claimed over 800 lives nationwide, with extensive displacement and infrastructure damage across Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh, and Balochistan.