Soan River's legacy now a monsoon nightmare

Once a witness to some of the oldest extinct civilisations, the crystal-clear stream that became today's Soan River has turned into a deadly torrent.

Each year during the monsoon, it claims lives and livestock.

The river originates as a network of small water trails from Murree and its history predates the establishment of Rawalpindi.

According to a 1905 map printed on cloth, the river once spanned 600 feet in width — today, it is reduced to just 200 feet, with the remaining 400 feet consumed by encroachments.

This measurement was reaffirmed by a 2021 Survey of Pakistan report, which also declared the palatial homes and commercial plazas along its banks as illegal.

Despite notices being issued, the matter was quietly buried.

Stretching over 250 kilometres, the river traverses Murree, Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Chakwal, Attock and Mianwali before merging into the Indus at Kalabagh.

A historic railway track still crosses the river, with remnants visible today. During the regimes of Ayub Khan and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, proposals were floated to build a dam at Soan Camp, claiming it to be 60pc naturally complete.

These proposals were shelved following the fall of Bhutto's government.

Archaeological evidence near the riverbanks, including tools dating back 2.2 million years believed to be made by Homo erectus, was discovered in caves.

The Attock District Gazetteer notes tools like hunting knives, scrapers, and axes found in the ancient village of Dhoke Pathan. Thick forests and abundant wildlife once surrounded the area, where locals fished, drank from the river, and women washed clothes.

Some of these ancient caves still exist near the Fauji Foundation Hospital. Fossils of giraffes, crocodiles, rhinos, and deer—believed to have been discovered along Soan—are preserved at the Museum of Natural History in Islamabad.

In British colonial times, the water was so clear that licenses were issued to extract gold from its sands.

Today, however, the Soan River is polluted, its flow has been reduced, and it poses significant environmental threats.

Rawalpindi and Islamabad's sewage, hospital waste, industrial effluents, and stormwater from 15 drains all pour into it. When Rawal Dam's spillways open, thousands of fish are swept into the river and die upon contact with its toxic waters.

Transporters at the nearby Soan Bus Terminal now wash hundreds of vehicles in the river daily.

Each monsoon, its floods wreak havoc on settlements and farmland. This year, upscale housing societies also fell victim to the deluge.

Longtime residents like Asghar Kayani and Raja Zaryab, who've witnessed over five decades of flooding, say that the river's original width once allowed floodwaters to pass harmlessly. Now, with 400 feet lost, destruction is inevitable.

They demand the removal of illegal structures and restoration of the river's original breadth. Locals believe that if the government builds a dam here, it could surpass even Tarbela in storage capacity, thanks to a 200-kilometer catchment area.