A technician examines a vehicle to test its emissions on the outskirts of Islamabad.—AFP ISLAMABAD: Truck driver Muhammad Afzal was not expecting to be stopped by police, let alone fined, as he drove into Islamabad this week because of the thick diesel fumes emanating from his exhaust pipe. “This is unfair,” he said after being told to pay Rs1,000, with the threat of having his truck impounded if he did not “fix” the problem. “I was coming from Lahore after getting my vehicle repaired. They pressed the accelerator to make it release smoke. It’s an injustice,” he said. Checkpoints set up this month are part of a crackdown by authorities to combat the city’s soaring smog levels, with winter months the worst due to atmospheric inversions that trap pollutants at ground level. “We have already warned the owners of stern action, and we will stop their entry into the city if they don’t comply with the orders,” said Dr Zaigham Abbas of Pakistan’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as he surveyed the checkpoint at the southeast edge of the capital. Checkpoints are part of plan to combat capital’s soaring pollution For Waleed Ahmed, a technician inspecting the vehicles at the site, “just like a human being, a vehicle has a life cycle. Those that cross it release smoke that is dangerous to human health”. Self-inflicted crisis While not yet at the extreme winter levels of Lahore or the megacity Karachi , where heavy industry and brick kilns spew tons of pollutants each year, Islamabad is steadily closing the gap. So far in December it has already registered seven “very unhealthy” days for PM2.5 particulates of more than 150 microgrammes per cubic meter, according to the Swiss-based monitoring firm IQAir . Intraday PM2.5 levels in Islamabad often exceed those in Karachi and Lahore, and in 2024 the city’s average PM2.5 reading for the year was 52.3 microgrammes — surpassing the 46.2 for Lahore. Those annual readings are far beyond the safe level of five microgrammes recommended by the World Health Organisation. “The capital region is choked overwhelmingly by its transport sector,” which produces 53 per cent of its toxic PM2.5 particles, the Pakistan Air Quality Initiative, a research group, said in a recent report . “The haze over Islamabad… is not the smoke of industry, but the exhaust of a million private journeys — a self-inflicted crisis,” it said. Crackdown Announcing the crackdown on Dec 7, EPA chief Nazia Zaib Ali said over 300 fines were issued at checkpoints in the first week, with 80 vehicles impounded. “We cannot allow non-compliant vehicles at any cost to poison the city’s air and endanger public health,” she said in a statement. The city has also begun setting up stations where drivers can have their emissions inspected, with those passing receiving a green sticker on their windshield. “We were worried for Lahore, but now it is Islamabad. And that is all because of vehicles emitting pollution,” said Iftikhar Sarwar, 51, as he had his car checked on a busy road near an Islamabad park. “This is not the Islamabad I came to 20 years ago,” said Sulaman Ijaz, an anthropologist. Published in Dawn, December 15th, 2025