BYRNIHAT, India: Two-year-old Sumaiya Ansari, a resident of India’s Byrnihat town which is ranked the world’s most polluted metropolitan area by Swiss Group IQAir, was battling breathing problems for several days before she was hospitalized in March and given oxygen support.
She is among many residents of the industrial town on the border of the northeastern Assam and Meghalaya states — otherwise known for their lush, natural beauty — inflicted by illnesses that doctors say are likely linked to high exposure to pollution.
Byrnihat’s annual average PM2.5 concentration in 2024 was 128.2 micrograms per cubic meter, according to IQAir, over 25 times the level recommended by the WHO.
PM2.5 refers to particulate matter measuring 2.5 microns or less in diameter that can be carried into the lungs, causing deadly diseases and cardiac problems.
“It was very scary, she was breathing like a fish,” said Abdul Halim, Ansari’s father, who brought her home from hospital after two days.
According to government data, the number of respiratory infection cases in the region rose to 3,681 in 2024 from 2,082 in 2022.
“Ninety percent of the patients we see daily come either with a cough or other respiratory issues,” said Dr. J Marak of Byrnihat Primary Healthcare Center.
Residents say the toxic air also causes skin rashes and eye irritation, damages crops, and restricts routine tasks like drying laundry outdoors.
“Everything is covered with dust or soot,” said farmer Dildar Hussain.
Critics say Byrnihat’s situation reflects a broader trend of pollution plaguing not just India’s cities, including the capital Delhi, but also its smaller towns as breakneck industrialization erodes environmental safeguards.
Unlike other parts of the country that face pollution every winter, however, Byrnihat’s air quality remains poor through the year, government data indicates.
Home to about 80 industries — many of them highly polluting — experts say the problem is exacerbated in the town by other factors like emissions from heavy vehicles, and its “bowl-shaped topography.”
“Sandwiched between the hilly terrain of Meghalaya and the plains of Assam, there is no room for pollutants to disperse,” said Arup Kumar Misra, chairman of Assam’s pollution control board.
The town’s location has also made a solution tougher, with the states shifting blame to each other, said a Meghalaya government official who did not want to be named.
Since the release of IQAir’s report in March, however, Assam and Meghalaya have agreed to form a joint committee and work together to combat Byrnihat’s pollution.
Indians battle respiratory issues, skin rashes in world’s most polluted town
https://arab.news/numh3
Indians battle respiratory issues, skin rashes in world’s most polluted town
- According to government data, the number of respiratory infection cases in the region rose to 3,681 in 2024 from 2,082 in 2022
UN’s top court opens Myanmar Rohingya genocide case
- The Gambia filed a case against Myanmar at the UN’s top court in 2019
- Verdict expected to impact Israel’s genocide case over war on Gaza
DHAKA: The International Court of Justice on Monday opened a landmark case accusing Myanmar of genocide against its mostly Muslim Rohingya minority.
The Gambia filed a case against Myanmar at the UN’s top court in 2019, two years after a military offensive forced hundreds of thousands of Rohingya from their homes into neighboring Bangladesh.
The hearings will last three weeks and conclude on Jan. 29.
“The ICJ must secure justice for the persecuted Rohingya. This process should not take much longer, as we all know that justice delayed is justice denied,” said Asma Begum, who has been living in the Kutupalong refugee camp in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar district since 2017.
A mostly Muslim ethnic minority, the Rohingya have lived for centuries in Myanmar’s western Rakhine state but were stripped of their citizenship in the 1980s and have faced systemic persecution ever since.
In 2017 alone, some 750,000 of them fled military atrocities and crossed to Bangladesh, in what the UN has called a textbook case of ethnic cleansing by Myanmar.
Today, about 1.3 million Rohingya shelter in 33 camps in Cox’s Bazar, turning the coastal district into the world’s largest refugee settlement.
“We experienced horrific acts such as arson, killings and rape in 2017, and fled to Bangladesh,” Begum told Arab News.
“I believe the ICJ verdict will pave the way for our repatriation to our homeland. The world should not forget us.”
A UN fact-finding mission has concluded that the Myanmar 2017 offensive included “genocidal acts” — an accusation rejected by Myanmar, which said it was a “clearance operation” against militants.
Now, there is hope for justice and a new future for those who have been displaced for years.
“We also have the right to live with dignity. I want to return to my homeland and live the rest of my life in my ancestral land. My children will reconnect with their roots and be able to build their own future,” said Syed Ahmed, who fled Myanmar in 2017 and has since been raising his four children in the Kutupalong camp.
“Despite the delay, I am optimistic that the perpetrators will be held accountable through the ICJ verdict. It will set a strong precedent for the world.”
The Myanmar trial is the first genocide case in more than a decade to be taken up by the ICJ. The outcome will also impact the genocide case that Israel is facing over its war on Gaza.
“The momentum of this case at the ICJ will send a strong message to all those (places) around the world where crimes against humanity have been committed,” Nur Khan, a Bangladeshi lawyer and human rights activist, told Arab News.
“The ICJ will play a significant role in ensuring justice regarding accusations of genocide in other parts of the world, such as the genocide and crimes against humanity committed by Israel against the people of Gaza.”
