Left to starve

Ever since global warming became a widely recognised phenomenon, there have been dire predictions about the fate of humanity. For the people of Thar, the vagaries of uncertain weather patterns have had deadly consequences. For several years, Thar has been suffering from drought and drought-induced starvation. The area has the highest under-five child mortality rate in Pakistan. While this has given the media ample opportunity to broadcast footage of starving children, it has not resulted in any concerted efforts to fix the grave issue on a long-term basis. Year after year, women continue to give birth to babies with stunted growth and the number of lives cut short by suffering and hunger keeps on rising. While the food shortage has affected all residents of the region, its effects are made worse by local societal values.

A UN fact-finding mission has discovered that men are fed first and given more food as compared to women and children in the area. Combined with a diet short on protein, reduced number of meals due to food scarcity and lack of clean drinking water, the deaths of small children are inevitable. They are born of underfed mothers and are underfed themselves throughout their brief lives. It doesn’t help that there is little long-term planning to uplift the people of the region. Education and healthcare facilities are clearly inadequate and the programmes started to provide clean water and free food fail to reach the most destitute and needy. The situation has deteriorated beyond the point of being salvaged by bags of wheat or handouts of a few thousand rupees per family. With traditional means of earning having evaporated with the water, the people of Thar have been left in the lurch. For women and children, it’s even worse as they are dependent, have little mobility and even more likely to be left behind to suffer. The Sindh government remains oblivious to their plight. This has to change otherwise the disastrous situation in Thar, especially for women and children, will continue to worsen.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 20^th, 2016.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.