The ongoing human tragedy of deaths of children in Thar shows no signs of abating
TURBAT: Having a child who is frail and falls sick frequently is nothing new for Tharparkar’s people as the tragic cycle of children’s death in the district seems to have started once again, raising the death toll to 11 since January 1 this year. According to estimates by relevant officials, 479 children lost their lives in 2016 while over 2,200 children have died over the past three years. Some 57, 345 children below the age of five were treated at several hospitals without government health facilities in 2016. The World Health Organisation’s guidelines say if the global acute malnutrition rate among children and women is above 15 per cent, it is to be deemed an emergency situation.
The ongoing human tragedy of deaths of children in Thar shows no signs of abating, despite all the tall claims by the government. It is tragic that the provincial and federal governments are spending millions and even trillions on constructing motorways, corridors, underpasses and F-16s, but no one cares about the safety of the aborigines of Pakistan.
In many societies around the globe, a human life is worth the value a society places on it and even a dog in those societies is cherished and given high importance. In Pakistan, though, many people die while the society and government shed only a few crocodile tears, forget about it and then move on. Here, in Pakistan the rich and the well-connected are above the law, while the poor are not protected even though it is the fundamental duty of the state to see to it that all citizens are provided protection. This is a time that for the sake of humanity, we must feel the pain of others no matter how far away they live or what their religions or ethnicities are, so that precious lives are saved.
Zeeshan Nasir
Published in The Express Tribune, January 19th, 2017.
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