No need to rescue any more single men

Orders issued by the district government - rescuers to not ferry lone men to and from the inundated kachcha areas.

KHAIRPUR: As Khairpur district scrambles to take care of the thousands of internally displaced persons that have sought refuge there, the police department has worries of its own.“Since these people have no food, no ration, we expect that street crime is going to increase,” said Khairpur DPO Pir Muhammad Shah. Due to inadequate arrangements, people will go out and loot others, he predicted, adding that for the police, the biggest challenge now was going to be maintaining law and order in the area.

Meanwhile, orders have been issued by the district government to rescuers to not ferry lone men to and from the inundated kachcha areas. While thousands of acres of fields and crops were flooded by the Indus, most of the structures in the kachcha areas remained safe. People in these areas, aware of such flood threats, had built their homes on slightly elevated grounds. As a result, while people needed to be rescued because their houses are surrounded by water, the buildings themselves are quite sound.

Army officers managed to evacuate 75 per cent of the kachcha areas, including Gullu Siyal, in their four-day operation.

Now the navy, which is carrying out relief efforts in the area, has been instructed to only help those people, who ask for aid. Those who wish to stay in their homes in the riverine area, are allowed to stay put.

It is also reported that of the 25 per cent population left in the kachcha areas, many are notorious bandits, who are scared of registering themselves at relief camps. These men, involved in countless robberies and kidnappings across the province, simply stay put in their homes while their wives and children are sent out to get rations from relief camps.

Using their personal boats, these men make full use of relief items received at camps without having to go through the hassle of police and possible arrests.

“We have been told by the district government not to rescue any men without their families,” said Sarfraz, a navy official in his rubber boat.

However, a resident of Gullu Siyal, Mir Ali, complained that the navy boats were only ferrying those people across and back who had some connections with them. “We ask them to take us to the camp, but they refuse,” Ali claimed.

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