Lawmakers call for discussion on children’s deaths in Thar

Submit application for a Sindh Assembly session

KARACHI: More than a dozen lawmakers submitted on Tuesday an application calling for a Sindh Assembly session over the death of nearly 500 children in Thar this year and the acute shortage of potable water in the province.

The joint opposition parties, with MPAs from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Muttahida Qaumi Movement - Pakistan (MQM-P) and Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA), submitted the application to the Sindh Assembly secretariat.



Haleem Adil Shaikh of PTI, Hasnain Mirza and Nand Kumar Goklani of GDA and Muhammad Hussain of MQM-P were among the signatories to the application, which reads, "The session may be summoned under Rule 28 (2) of the Rules of Procedure of the provincial assembly of Sindh."

Speaking to media, Shaikh said, "Every day, many children die in Thar, but the Sindh government is in deep sleep." According to Shaikh, there were no basic health care facilities in the talukas and people couldn't even shift their children to Mithi hospital due to lack of transport and ambulances.

"Billions of rupees have been spent in the name of malnutrition and medicines, but the locals have not benefited from it. Where does this money go?" he asked, adding that opposition members want to discuss this issue on the assembly floor so a session must be summoned without delay.



Mirza drew the media's attention towards the severe shortage of drinking water and said, "Potable water is [a] fundamental right of the people, which the government has failed to provide."

Meanwhile, Goklani said that major irregularities have been found in the distribution of wheat in Thar and other drought-hit areas.

"The example of health services can be measured from the fact that government ambulances were found idle at the house of a PPP [Pakistan Peoples Party] leader. How can one expect change?" he questioned.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 17^th, 2018.