Pakistan’s national highways, from Balochistan to Punjab, Sindh, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, are becoming corridors of shame, where women, children, and elderly passengers travel long distances with no guarantee of a safe, clean, or even functional toilet. The situation in Balochistan is the worst, but the crisis is spreading across provinces, exposing a nationwide failure that is both alarming and deeply embarrassing.
Despite massive infrastructure spending, public toilets, the most basic human need, remain missing, broken, locked, or unusable on almost every major route. Even on the Motorway network, considered Pakistan’s pride, many washrooms are either non-operational, poorly maintained, or dangerously unhygienic.
A Silent Emergency on Balochistan’s Highways
In Balochistan, the conditions are especially grim. Key national highways, including N 10, N 25, N 30, and N 40, offer virtually no dedicated public toilet facilities for travelers. Mothers with young children, female passengers on long-haul routes, and elderly travelers often have no option but open fields, risking safety, dignity, and health.
- This is not just an inconvenience; it is a humanitarian failure.
- No Funds, No Planning, No Urgency
There is no ring-fenced funding from the National Highway Authority and the provincial government specifically for building or maintaining toilets for women and children along highways.
While billions are spent on road construction and toll collection, sanitation, the most visible sign of a civilized society, remains ignored.
Current WASH programs, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene, focus mainly on schools and health facilities, led by NGOs and international donors like UNICEF and the World Bank. Highway travelers are not on the priority list.
Legal Action After Lives Disrupted
The situation has grown so dire that activists have filed a petition in the Balochistan High Court, urging the government to take urgent action. Petitioners say the lack of facilities violates the dignity and security of passengers, especially women, children, and senior citizens.
A Nation Forced to Depend on Petrol Pumps
With no public rest areas in sight, travelers are forced to rely on private petrol stations, roadside dhabas, or restaurants, many of which lack separate toilets for women, are unclean, or are simply unusable. In some areas, there are no such private facilities at all.
For many families, traveling across Balochistan means planning restroom breaks like emergency operations, stopping only in towns or hotels, if they exist.
A Country That Builds Roads but Forgets People
The sanitation deficit in Balochistan mirrors a nationwide problem. Across Pakistan, whether on GT Road, coastal highways, intercity routes, or even Motorways, operational, clean, and accessible toilets remain a rarity.
Experts warn that this failure reflects a broader national mindset: we build infrastructure, but rarely maintain it, we demand development, but ignore human needs, and when problems emerge, we blame everyone except ourselves.
The Human Cost
The crisis affects women’s safety, children’s health, elderly passengers, travelers with medical conditions, tourism, and economic mobility.
For a country trying to promote domestic tourism and development, the absence of toilets is a glaring contradiction.
A Wake-Up Call
Pakistan urgently needs dedicated budgets for highway restrooms, separate and secure toilets for women and children, monitoring and maintenance systems, public-private partnerships, and accountability from the National Highway Authority and provincial governments.
Until then, Pakistan’s highways, especially in Balochistan, will remain danger zones for dignity, where millions travel without the most basic human right, a clean, safe, functioning toilet.
