The thick blanket of smog shrouding Pakistan's Punjab province was due to excessive burning of coal by thermal power plants in India, the Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission has claimed.
A study by the agency has claimed that the smog was caused by excessive fossil fuel combustion (mainly coal) in India's north-eastern region.
The study, parts of which was carried by the Dawn daily in Islamabad on Monday, said excessively high sulphates (varying between 49.8 and 141 mg/m3) and nitrates (from 3 to 74.5 mg/m3) were found as components of the smog. The chemicals are emitted during combustion of fossil fuel.
Exceptionally high traces of aerosol concentrations, including selenium, arsenic and antimony, were also found, again because of fossil fuel combustion. A tracer study showed that air particles contributing to the Lahore fog originated from approximately 580 km south.
The remote sensing satellite data taken from Meteosat, NOAA and Modis satellites reportedly showed that fog extended over 1,500 km from north-eastern India to northeastern Pakistan and was a result of excessive coal burning in India.
Suparco officials claimed these findings were informally shared with Indian experts on a number of occasions but the Indian side insisted that the fog in Pakistan was the result of massive vehicular pollution in that country.
Once further findings confirmed the role of India's thermal plants in causing the smog in Punjab, the issue was likely to be taken up formally with the Indian government, Pakistan's Minister of State for Environment Malik Amin Aslam said