KHARO CHAN: Salt crusts crackle underfoot as Habibullah Khatti walks to his mother’s grave to say a final goodbye before he abandons his parched island village on Indus delta.
Farming and fishing settlements have collapsed as a result of seawater intrusion into the delta, which is located in the southern part of the country where the Indus River meets the Arabian Sea.
Khatti told AFP from Abdullah Mirbahar hamlet in Kharo Chan, about 15 kilometers (9 miles) from the river’s mouth, “The salty water has encircled us from all four sides.”
With only four of the 150 houses left, the 54-year-old resorted to tailoring as fish stocks declined, until it too proved unfeasible.
