Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who was named after his grandfather, former prime minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, said he met people fearful of what the future might bring and heard the sound of houses collapsing into the water. “I received countless calls for help from people in my hometown Sindh and I decided to go to my village near Naudero town in the middle of the rain to be among people,” the textile artist and wildlife activist, a member of the political organization . prominent Bhutto family, he said. “When I arrived in my village two weeks ago, all the houses had fallen and people were taking shelter on the embankment. While we were walking towards the fields, the houses were falling down. There was a ‘boom’ sound as the houses fell. It sounded like a bomb… it’s because of the climate crisis.” At least 1,250 people have died as a third of Pakistan is under water after the country was ravaged by floods caused by weeks of unusual rainfall since mid-June that washed away livestock, crops, roads and bridges. Bhutto said his work had focused on gender identity and queer Muslim culture, but the urgency of the climate crisis, the river and the endangered Indus river dolphins changed him as an artist. He said he believes artists should be part of the climate crisis conversation. The awakening came when Bhutto returned to Pakistan from the US in 2020 after graduating in fine arts. Visiting his village for the first time in six years, he said he felt the Indus River was dying. “I know it sounds strange. But it’s true. We have had evidence of other rivers that have died in the past,” he said. “And this is the soul of our country. This is the soul of this nation. About 90% of Pakistan is dependent on Indian. “We are bound by this river and water. It is a sacred link. For me it was very urgent,” she said, as she sewed a piece of cloth with a dolphin painted on it. He said that as he visited villages and towns flooded with water, people he met expressed serious concern about the future. “Most people are displaced and are climate refugees, but there are also people who come from the middle or upper middle class who survived the floods – and they are not sure what to do in this crisis,” he said. He believes the river has been damaged by human engineering, including the colonial-era British Sukkur Dam that cut off the river’s flow to irrigate cash crops for export. “And after the independence of Pakistan, we continued the same policies of the British,” Bhutto said, adding that the highways were built in the natural watershed and floodplain of the Indus. He said this explains why when he was returning to Sindh a few days ago, the highways were flooded. “Of course, this is an extreme event, but we have completely eliminated the way we treat the river. So he gets agitated and angry and breaks and spills all over again. Creates pressure points. We should not invade nature and close its paths,” Bhutto said. Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you to the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our site and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Two textile artworks by Bhutto depicting the Indus River and mangrove forests in AD750 (left) and the river today, with an extensive canal system and declining forests (stitched in green). Composite: Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Bhutto said the crisis had angered the people and they were not hiding it. Locals in Sindh told him that their houses had collapsed but that no representatives had come to visit or help them. “A revolution is coming because when people are angry, they don’t think about what they have to lose, as they have already lost everything.” He added that the crisis had highlighted Pakistan’s huge disparities between rich and poor. “I don’t know if people will call for land reforms or revolution. Will we go into amnesia and forget all of this next year? I don’t know, but I hope it will be a catalyst for change,” he said. Bhutto said his grandfather was the only politician who introduced land reforms in the country, adding that after he was hanged by dictator General Zia-ul-Haq, those reforms were reversed. “It is time we need land reforms and we need equality,” Bhutto said. “We need these reforms for the people so that everyone has a say in development and we don’t disrupt the course of nature.”
