KETI BANDAR: Along the southern edge of Sindh, where the mighty Indus River meets the Arabian Sea, a silent war is unfolding — one between the advancing saltwater tides and the dwindling freshwater flows that once sustained thriving coastal communities. What was once fertile farmland and bustling fishing ground is now slowly being consumed by the sea.
Local fishermen at Dando Jetty return from week-long trips, their boats filled with modest catches. According to Mohammad Khan Katyar, the seasonal floods bring temporary hope. “When the Indus sends its freshwater down, the fish return — it’s life for us,” he says. But that hope fades as soon as the river recedes.
Residents of Keti Bandar, like 68-year-old Haji Ahmed Murgur, recall a time when floods were a blessing. “They pushed the sea back,” he explains. “Now the sea keeps coming — and we keep moving.” The coastal belt of Sujawal and Thatta districts tells a grim story: over half of the land has either vanished beneath the sea or turned saline and barren. Out of 32 dehs in Sujawal, only three remain habitable.
Scientific studies confirm what locals witness daily. Research by the Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) and National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) reveals that seawater has intruded up to 140 kilometres inland, reaching dangerously close to Kotri. Satellite data shows the sea swallowing one to 1.2 kilometres of land annually in some regions, reshaping Sindh’s coastline.
Experts warn that the situation is worsened by land subsidence — the gradual sinking of deltaic land due to groundwater depletion and geological shifts. Some areas around Dabbo Creek and Kharochan have sunk by as much as 300 millimetres, allowing seawater to advance even faster.
Adding to the crisis, freshwater releases from the Kotri Barrage have plummeted to just 84,000 cusecs this month — a fraction of what the delta requires to survive. With winter approaching, water flow is expected to fall further, tightening the sea’s grip on the region.
As land disappears and livelihoods vanish, the people of the Indus Delta face an uncertain future. The struggle between river and sea is no longer a distant environmental concern — it is a fight for survival, fought one wave at a time.
This story has been reported by PakTribune. All rights reserved.