The miseries of ordinary people do not trigger any remorse in the rulers; instead, they live in eternal denial
KARACHI: The people of Sindh have made great sacrifices to establish democracy in the country and have always refused to support military rule or governments installed through the establishment’s manoeuvering. A faith in democracy was never supposed to result in loot and plunder by politicians who assumed power through votes. The people of Sindh deserved judicious treatment and a corruption-free society, with government institutions not only serving the people but also held accountable to them. In return for their sacrifices, struggles and love for democracy, the people of Sindh have been burdened with abject poverty, ignorance, an unjust society, corrupt government institutions and unemployment.
Even souls with proverbial hearts made of stone would melt upon seeing the plight of the people of Sindh. There is exploitation everywhere — unscrupulous individuals have hijacked the system and local institutions have been reduced to play a subservient role to the powers that be. The people have been misled by the feudal elite for decades, through the use of attractive slogans and false hopes of betterment of their lot. This has proven to be only a mirage for ordinary citizens; they have been dragged into the darkness of poverty, ignorance and deprivation. Most of them are slaving away while the politicians, whom they once voted for, are gradually assuming the role of kings, unanswerable before anyone or even to the law of the land. The feudals and their cronies, after being elected to assemblies, resort to all kinds of wrongs — from ill-gotten money for their own sake to grabbing people’s land and devouring public funds with impunity. The miseries of ordinary people do not trigger any remorse in the rulers; instead, they live in eternal denial. This pathetic attitude of the rulers has reduced the people of Sindh to a pitiable state. They are the most illiterate and ignorant in the country and the most unproductive among the provinces.
This state of backwardness and poverty is a common feature in the lives of the indigenous people of the province, that is the ‘mother-bed’ of the state created in 1947; the province that is the most resourceful among all in the country, producing a large quantity of natural resources, collecting larger taxes than any other province, providing opportunities of livelihood to thousands of people who migrated from various parts of the country, a gateway to the country’s whole economy through its seaports, and possessing the most agriculture and food-related supplies with regard to demand and supply. In return for these contributions, the citizens of the province receive titles for being the most poor, illiterate, incapable, unskilled and unworthy of managing their own affairs. The talk of dividing the province that carries the identity of the country’s 5,000-year-old civilisation, feels like salt on their wounds.
Abdul Samad Channa
Published in The Express Tribune, September 25th, 2015.
Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.
