Flooding Shikarpur and Sukkur

In collusion with the revenue and irrigation departments the federal minister was able to save his own lands.

We are at the precipice of a great disaster. I speak amidst all the misery in the flooded areas of Shikarpur. Instead of breaching the Indus at Ali Wahan, (which is where it was breached in 1976 by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto) to divert the water through the dry plains of government land downstream to Kotri and the sea, the water has been diverted to Sukkur, Shikarpur and Jacobabad Districts.

Why? Because Syed Khursheed Shah (a federal minister) advised against it. And why did Khursheed Shah do that? Because, in collusion with the revenue and irrigation departments, he was able to save his own lands on which was a standing crop. He did this also by moving around a thousand of his own supporters in the area to create pressure and a law and order situation so that the breach would not be made.

This is a cruel joke on the people of Sindh. And what I am saying is an open secret. The media is free to ask any agriculturist and will find that what I am saying is true. In fact, your own newspaper has also reported on this as well. We have no business asking for aid before we take to task people like the federal minister.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 15^th, 2010.