PHOTO: EXPRESS/FILE
KARACHI: Women and child rights organisations have held the Sindh government responsible for the deaths of children in Tharparkar.
In a statement issued by the Child Rights Movement (CRM), a collective forum for 40 organisations, activists said that the Sindh government did not take any pre-emptive measures to eradicate poverty or food insecurity and drought has claimed the lives of over 100 children in the last three months in the district.
CRM provincial coordinator Madni Memon lamented that the government only springs into action after a tragedy strikes.
"In 2012, we had told the government that Tharparkar has the highest rate of poverty with 47 per cent of households were below the poverty line."
Moreover, the National Nutrition Survey Pakistan 2013 had stated that in Sindh, the nutritional stunting rate among children under five years of age is 49.8 percent, while 40.5 per cent of the children were underweight.
"Despite the studies published and recommendations sent to both the federal and the provincial governments, they failed to take any serious notice of the situation."
Madni said that diarrhoea is one of the major diseases among children under five years of age. "Many lives could have been saved if proper vaccinations were available."
He said that there should be a proper system in place to provide people with safe drinking water, proper sanitation, health facilities and food.
"Financial aid should be given to the affected families for one year and the government should introduce programmes to eradicate malnutrition."
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But we need to continue to make more nuclear bombs, drone programs, submarines, fighter planes all to fight rather negotiate with the rag tag TTP fighters. People had chosen to eat grass and build atom bombs now is the time to fulfill the promises. Too bad in drought there is not even grass to eat. Shame on us with the wealth in the cities the rural population means nothing to us.