Infrastructure, Development, and Displacement in Pakistan’s “Southern Punjab”

This article explores the relationship between infrastructure, uneven development, and displacement in Pakistan’s “Southern Punjab”. It focuses on three historical episodes spanning colonial era to present: (1) agricultural colonisation during colonial/early post-colonial period; (2) Great Indus Flood of 2010; (3) contemporary initiatives develop energy infrastructure Southern Punjab within framework CPEC, China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. These correspond with colonial, post-colonial, phases infrastructure-led development respectively a history dispossession that problematises common sense understandings as enabling connective. Popular mobilisation resistance are examined through phenomenon Siraiki ethno-nationalism, which infuses struggles for environmental justice Punjab. The also considers parallel entwined role state-sponsored infrastructures Islamist militancy creating an increasingly hostile environment nationalists other progressive social movements.