Govt more interested in collecting political points than aid, say flood victims

Residents claim that neither the government nor their MNAs helped them.

BADIN/ KARACHI: As the people of lower Sindh suffer from devastation caused by the recent rains, victims accuse their elected representatives and the government of neglecting them.

They claim that the representatives are trying to gain political mileage instead. While the affected people are demanding tents for shelter and medicines to prevent them from suffering water-borne diseases, MNAs associated with the ruling party are only making empty promises while those from opposition parties are exploiting the situation to blame the government, they say.

The rain-hit areas, which include Benazirabad, Sanghar, Mirpurkhas, Umerkot, Tharparkar, Badin, Tando Muhammad Khan and Tando Allahyar are represented in parliament by prominent land-owing families like the Zardaris, Talpurs, Arbabs, Rashdis, Syeds and different kind of Pirs. While they command great influence over their areas, when it comes to rescue, relief and rehabilitation, they seem to be unable to rise to the challenge.

“The rain started around August 9 but there was no elected representative to be seen for about ten to fifteen days. Human corpses and bodies of livestock were floating in the flood water, the canals were overflowing,” recalls an elderly man, Ghulam Muhammad Mallah, who said that there was not a single boat to rescue those trapped by the water. Mallah is now living at a relief camp in Badin and is angry at the absence of these prominent families when they should have helped.

The people of Tharparkar are equally bitter. Residents of Mithi, Islamkot, Nagarparkar, Chhachro and Diplo complained that neither the government nor their MNAs helped them in their time of need. “Thar is the most affected area where more than 800 millimetres of rain was recorded.  Our communication system has collapsed.  Roads have been washed away and out of 4.6 million livestock head, around 0.8 million have perished. But we have not seen our elected representatives in our areas.

They are confined to their own villages,” laments Bahru Mal Armani, a social worker from Tharparkar district.

In response to the rising criticism, local sardars and MNAs say that they have been trying to help in every possible way. Talking to The Express Tribune, MNA Arbab Zakaullah, who belongs to PML (Q) and is from the influential Arbab family said that it seemed that the government “is taking revenge by diverting the flood water to our areas especially our home town Khaitlari and Naukot.” He shifts the blame to the ruling party.

He said that no government official had ever visited their area in order to rescue the rain victims and provide relief to them but that his family had rescued thousands of people from different stranded villages and shifted them to safer places.  “We are facing acute shortage of medicine and food. We are utilising all our resources. But it is not possible for us to provide relief to every corner of Thar,” he said, adding “We are doing with whatever we can with the resources we have.”

PPP MNA Nawab Yousuf Talpur, who belongs to Umerkot district, said that around half a million people of the district had been affected but neither government, nor NGOs or donor organisations had turned up to help. “I requested the CM and the parliamentary committee constituted by prime minister to visit our area but they were not listening. No doubt we have influence in our area, but we can not afford to play the role of the state. We can feed one thousand people but cannot provide medicines and shelter to 0.5 million,” he said.

An estimated 70,000 to 80,000 rain victims are living in the Nohto camp set up near Umerkot. So far, no senior government functionary or MNA has visited the site say those living there. Setting aside these claims, Talpur says that he had not only visited them but he was the person who rescued the people in the first place.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 19^th,  2011.