The shortage of river water is forcing the people of the Indus Delta to migrate

Does our government or the concerned administration have any strategic plan in this regard, or will this migration lead to another crisis?

Shabina Faraz

“We were once so prosperous that every Monday we would distribute milk at the village shrine,” recalled Ghulam Hussain. “We used to serve milk to everyone there. But now everything has changed. When there’s no water to drink in the mighty Indus River, where will the water for our livestock come from? These days, we can’t even provide milk for our children.”

Ghulam Hussain is a resident of Sheikh Kerio Bhundari, the last village in Sindh’s coastal Badin district, about 40 kilometers from the main city. Another villager, Raheema, shared her story: “We used to be landowners, but now we fish for a living,” she said with sadness. “Sometimes we catch fish, sometimes we don’t. When we don’t, my husband goes to the city to work as a laborer.” A mother of four, Raheema supports the household by sewing and making traditional embroidery.

This village, once thriving at the edge of the Indus River, is now a shadow of its past. A few decades ago, it was home to hundreds of families, with lush red rice fields and vibrant festivals at the local shrine. Today, only a few homes remain, seemingly ready to leave as well. The river no longer reaches here. The land is now barren, tainted by the salty intrusion of the sea. During high tides, the sea comes dangerously close.

The story is the same for every resident: “We were once prosperous farmers growing rice, wheat, and vegetables. Now we travel far for menial labor.” As the river’s flow dwindled, seawater crept in, devouring once-fertile land and replacing prosperity with poverty.

Sajan Sheikh, another villager, was preparing his fishing net. He said his Sheikh community has lived here for over four centuries. His grandfather spoke of ancestors from the same village, six generations spent on this land. He remembers a time when fresh river water flowed through creeks and canals, making the land fertile and lush with Mangroves forests. But now, nothing grows in the saline soil. “Circumstances turned us from farmers to fishermen,” he said.

Ameer Ali noted that due to polluted water near the coast, quality fish have disappeared into deeper seas, which they cannot access. “The fish we catch now are so small we sell them cheaply for poultry feed.”

Writer and blogger Abu Bakr Sheikh, who grew up in this area, confirmed the villagers’ stories. “This land was once famous for red rice. Yields were so abundant that we didn’t have enough workers to harvest them. People were happy. There were freshwater fish in lakes and creeks. Life was vibrant.”

But now, all that is history. Due to neglect and climate change, the Indus River, its resources, and the people who depend on it are all at risk.

The Glory Days of the Indus River

The Indus River, along with the Nile, is one of the great rivers of the world, known for carrying massive amounts of fertile silt. In fact, it carries three times more sediment than the Nile. According to a British gazette, by 1873, the river had created nearly 97 square miles of new deltaic land through sediment deposits.

Cradle of Civilization

Throughout history, great civilizations have emerged along the banks of mighty rivers and the Indus is no exception. The ancient Indus Valley Civilization, locally known as the Mehran Civilization, flourished along its waters, spanning vast regions of what is now Sindh, Punjab, Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and parts of India.

Although traces of this remarkable society were noted in the early 20th century, it was the 1922 discovery of Mohen jo Daro that truly unveiled its significance. This accurately planned city featuring broad streets, sophisticated drainage systems, storage granaries, and beautiful craftsmanship which revealed a civilization that dates back as far as 5,000 to 7,000 years. Remarkably, it predates and surpasses the ancient civilizations of Egypt and Mesopotamia in both scale and complexity.

These were the times when the Indus River still flowed unrestrained, generously nourishing its delta before gracefully meeting the sea.

The Decline of the River

While the river still exists, we are rapidly destroying this precious resource through neglect, mismanagement, ecological damage, and climate change. On top of that, upstream infrastructure projects have blocked water from reaching the delta. One recent example is the controversial six-canal project, which has been widely rejected by the people of Sindh.

The suffering is not limited to Sheikh Kerio alone it spans the entire Indus Delta. Droughts and reduced rainfall have worsened the situation. According to Iqbal Haider and Abdullah Mallah from the NGO Laar Humanitarian & Development Program (LHDP), they are trying to support communities across 1,800 villages in coastal areas of Sindh, including providing essential needs despite scarce resources.

In Sheikh Kerio, for instance, there is no gas pipeline despite gas being extracted from nearby towns. People cut wood from faraway areas for fuel. Water flows in the canals only once or twice a year, so people collect and store it in ponds, which also a source of drinking water for human and animals too. This contaminated water is a major cause of gastrointestinal diseases.

As freshwater flow has diminished, the sea has encroached upon the delta, submerging large swaths of farmland. In the 1960s, 84 million acre-feet of river water reached the delta (before the construction of the Tarbela and Mangla dams). In April 2025, only 190 cusecs reached the region, a catastrophic drop.

The Pakistan Meteorological Department has also issued a drought alert this year, but meaningful government action is nowhere to be seen.

According to Hussain Jarwar, CEO of Indus Consortium: “Tail end communities are paying the price for decisions made upstream without their consent or consideration. Safeguarding their water rights isn’t just an environmental issue, it’s a matter of justice, survival and equity”

Looking at the condition of Sheikh Kerio and other similar villages, it can be said that the shortage of river water is forcing the people of the Indus Delta to migrate. But does our government or the concerned administration have any strategic plan in this regard, or will this migration lead to another crisis?

Read: Death of the Indus Delta

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Shabina Faraz is a senior environmental journalist, who frequently writes for BBC, The Third Pole and other local and international publications.

All photos provided by the author