CLIMATE CHANGE, WATER CRISIS, AND THE UNFULFILLED CONSTITUTIONAL DUTIES OF THE STATE (ARTICLES 9 & 14) IN PAKISTAN: A LEGAL AND GOVERNANCE ANALYSIS OF SYSTEMIC STATE FAILURE

Abstract

Pakistan is among the nations that are highly exposed to climate change and are facing an acute water crisis in which the availability per capita has gone below the threshold of scarcity. This combine of convergent hydro-climatic menace is exacerbated by structural governance failures, which essentially convert an environmental dilemma into a serious constitutional crisis. This paper claims that the consistent inability of the State to address the consequences of climate change, to grant water security and to control the vital infrastructure is a direct yet unfulfilled violation of the basic right enshrined in Articles 9 (Right to Life) and 14 (Dignity of Man) of the Constitution.

The discussion outlines the proactive interpretation provided by the superior judiciary in areas such as the landmark cases of Shehla Zia and Salt Miners to create climate resilience, inter-generational justice as well as the right to unpolluted water as the compulsory elements of a dignified life. Nevertheless, systemic neglect is defined by the executive and legislative performance, such as dismal infrastructural inefficiency, such as more than 50 percent conveyance loss of canal water, chronic policy-to-action deficiencies, and financial incoherence in climate adaptation. Such institutional failure leads to a quantifiable population health crisis as poor access to clean water causes a substantial fraction of unnecessary deaths every year.

The fundamental diagnosis is that failure to govern and distributional inequity, rather than the inadequacy of resources is the problem. The article ends with some prescriptions of the remedial frameworks that are required to be implemented with the help of strict judicial enforcement by providing the Public Interest Litigation and profound economic policy changes, including the consent of reforming the water tariffs and obligatory investment in asset management to make the State act according to the Constitution and to protect the life and dignity of the population.