2024-04-28 06:29:10
BIG REPORT – In this South Asian state, marked by extreme poverty and the highest rate of population density, the monsoon and river floods, ever more violent with climate change, flood a third of the territory every year. Residents are fighting against the inexorable rise in water levels and fleeing the countryside to take refuge in already overpopulated cities.
- By Erik Orsenna, of the French Academy (text) and Laurent Weyl/Argos (photos)
Once upon a time, there was a region of the world blessed by the gods. Daughter of two great rivers coming from Tibet. Infinitely fertile from all the sediments carried by their waters. And bordered by the quietest of the ocean’s gulfs. Certainly, sometimes the seasonal rains called monsoon flooded the ground. But how can we not see it as another gift from heaven? Additional sources of life to multiply the harvests.
This region was called Bengal for a long time. First a Buddhist kingdom, then a Muslim kingdom before being integrated into India, the jewel of the English colonial Empire. Suddenly, in the middle of summer 1947, the long-awaited hour of independence came. A celebration spoiled by the horror of partitions and millions of displaced people. Everyone knows that births, for those who give birth, are not fun.
Writer Erik Orsenna with Runa Khan, director of the Friendship association. Laurent Weyl / Argos for Le Figaro Magazine
Thus came into the world a new country called Pakistan, and divided into two pieces. Yes, two pieces, invention of diplomats, two pieces separated… by 1600 kilometers, four provinces…
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