Pakistan, May 2 -- Pakistan has learnt to speak fluently about climate justice abroad, citing colonial emissions, loss and damage, debt, floods, drought and the cruel arithmetic of a country that contributes barely one per cent of global greenhouse gases yet remains among the world's most climate-hit states. That case is valid and should be made loudly, though the harder truth still lies inside the country: Pakistan cannot credibly demand climate justice internationally while allowing water theft, reckless construction, coal dependence and environmental impunity at home.

The water crisis is now a national-security question. Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal recently warned that per capita water availability has fallen from over 5,000 cubic m...