The writer is Director News, Express News. He tweets @fahdhusain
fahd.husain@tribune.com.pk
The deaths of more than a hundred kids in Thar (some say the figure may be as high as 200), is an unpardonable crime perpetrated by the Sindh officialdom. Were it not for the media, and especially the aggressive coverage by Express News, Qaim Ali Shah and his merry men and women would have kept snoring. What followed this public outrage has been nauseatingly familiar: a flurry of high-level visits to the area, the barking of executive orders and suspensions, and transfers of minions. Some lowly heads will now be chopped and meaningless inquiries ordered. Little babies will be buried and the grief of their devastated parents monetised by the government. End of the saga.
Things will not change. This sickening status quo will prevail, not because the government is short of funds, or lacking in manpower or even expertise. The status quo will prevail because the PPP mindset is out of step with the times we live in. The party is frozen in the 1970s and whatever its young leader may say, the awami party is proving itself to be a dinosaur.
The Sindh chief minister is as uninspiring as a chief minister can get. He lords over a cabinet stuffed with moustachioed feudals, who represent the worst of a terribly suppressive system. What an irony that the best people in the PPP hail from Punjab; but they got routed. The party’s worst are now ruling Sindh. And in Thar, these guys outdid themselves.
Incompetence can, perhaps, be cured. A medieval mindset cannot. The PPP feudals in Sindh just cannot fathom that the poor people of Thar do not have to die from starvation. They just cannot comprehend that crippling effects of creeping natural disasters can be combated with deft, advanced planning and swift measures. They just cannot understand that poor people — their haris — do not have to die of starvation and that this is not an acceptable natural phenomenon. No sirs, if you just step out of your monster jeeps and luxury sedans and take off those Ray-Bans you may glimpse the contours of a new age. Yes, the new age, where your old ways are nauseatingly outdated and your archaic mindset is fast going out of fashion. Yes, you Makhdooms and Sardars, yes you waderas and pompous party patriarchs, can you look the dying infant of Thar in those small, innocent eyes and see the reflections of your crimes? Are you man enough to do this?
The PPP in Sindh rides on the shoulders of these dinosaurs. The party celebrates the culture of Sindh and buries the children of Sindh. It glorifies the history of Sindh and kills the future of Sindh. It tries to reinvent its tainted and tattered image and then proceeds to commit suicide in the barren landscape of Thar. And yet again, it reminds everyone that it is simply not fit to rule.
If the party leadership has any moral courage, it would axe the chief minister for the carnage in Thar. Then it would hang its head in shame and apologise to the people of Thar.
Yeah sure, like that’s gonna happen.
And therein lies the tragedy of a party, which once meant everything, and now means almost nothing. The party could go ahead and die for all we care, but the problem is that it is dragging the people of Sindh with it. The hardy people of Sindh deserve better than to see their kids die of malnutrition because their rulers just do not care.
They do not deserve to live their lives under the stranglehold of a few landed families, which have exploited them for generations. One such family has lorded over the epic disaster in Thar. Two brothers held the position of DC and the third is the elected MPA from the area. If this isn’t a vicious and murderous stranglehold, what is?
Thar begs for justice. Thar should demand vengeance — electoral vengeance. The federal government must step in immediately and save the beleaguered people of Thar from the criminal negligence of the Pakistan Peoples Party.
Tweet this Bilawal.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 9th, 2014.
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COMMENTS (44)
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To all those hating or opposing the writer:
Yes while it may appear that the writer may have vented out but it does not mean he has no background of Tharparkar, Sindhi Govt and PPP. In the most shortest and comprehend able manner I can just say that the CM as well as PPP are to be primarily blamed. Here's why. Both, CM and PPP are old hands when it comes to Sindh province. How could they both not see it coming. Did the famine just happened overnight? Did they not have any prior idea of what Tharparker needed this time let alone the challenges faced by its people in the yesterday years. They do not have the WILL to do their bit. And yes, CM is indeed a WADERA and I'll be surprised if someone doesn't know that. If he doesn't have the guts or moral value to resign himself then he should be kicked out. And I'd be further surprised if someone has an issue with these options.
Even peacocks got more attention than Thar People
Zinda hai Bhutto ...
@junaid israr , god bless you man u said something that has really given me peace ,his shitty brat ,
Rhetoric without substance. Hari and Thar? The writer must know that there are no haris in That.. as such..it is a barani area. Looks like an essay of school child full of emotion devoid of substance.
Rhetoric without substance. Hari and Thar? The writer must know that there are no haris in That.. as such..it is a barani area. Looks like an essay of school child full of emotion devoid of substance.
@Shahid Kinnare: Please identify the culprit if it's not sindh government. One can always blame somebody else, and here it is very logical for sindh government to claim responsibility of an area under their rule. It is high time for accountability and accountability has to start somewhere, you can not keep saying but look at what the other person is doing and just get away with your incompetence. Dr. Ataul Aziz
Well written but sad to see the drought getting politicized. It seems like people are more interested in political point scoring than helping the victims.
Mind blowing article. An eye opener for PPP/Bilawal supporters.
Us Pakistanis should at least have some decency of not ever electing leaders like Qaim Ali Shah or Bilawal in the near future!
Although I disliked the author's obvious Punjab bias ("the best people in PPP are from Punjab..." Really? Could you be any subtler with your baseless claims?), the truth is that you can never expect much from PPP in its rural Sindh stronghold because they know that even with the worst possible performance they will get unquestioned votes. This PPP jiyalaism is a poisonous drug for the Sindhi masses and needs to be abolished once and for all.
While rural Sindh seems like a lost cause until then, at least we could give MQM more autonomy in urban Sindh (especially Karachi) where they remain the best bet despite the odds - whether you like them or not, they have the capability to get things done and this capability needs to be harnessed positively before PPP drags Karachi further down its cesspit of incompetence.
The last line is so sarcastic and meaningful.It sums up the write up.
The author is trying to shame the shameless..........well done. If anyone can do this its the media because democracy / elections have been fine tuned to work only for the 1 %.
Do you think Sind Govt is shameful enough to respond?
At least the PPP can never be accused of being honest and competent.
@afroz I know writer's write in favor of PPP just like Hamid Mir, Syed Talat Hussain and likes. And to be frank I would prefer his every article iis against PPP it help us to learn our short comings What I am trying to say is his lack of knowledge about Interior Sindh.
Thumbs up for this piece.
Cant Believe this is the same party for which our parents gave sacrifices during Zia ul Haqs tenure after Bhutto's capture...... And to those who are still defending the incompetence of PPP, u better get a life losers..... This is the sole reason why nobody in Baluchistan, Punjab and KpK voted for your leaders. A similar situation arose when floods had destroyed countless villages in Sindh during the ex government of PPP but just like Tharparkar, the situation was dealt with utter sluggishness and incompetence..... This is why nobody likes PPP and everybody pisses on Zardari and his brat
Fortunately enough, bhutto lives ...
@Shahid Kinnare first of all there sure is middle class in Sindh but zero percent of it is in politics. even if a middle class person enters politics he resorts to corruption and becomes super rich. secondly, I am Sindhi and I am ashamed of PPP's incompetency. it is taking us back to the stone age. lastly, Qaim Ali Shah is not a middle class man. he belongs to the elitest of the elite in Pakistan.
The PPP is'nt incompetent but it is worse than incompetent.
so what was nero doing when rome was burning...
I feel sorry for the people In Thar who are going through this horrible experience,but writers like Fahd Husain never wrote about the fake medicine crisis at the Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC) hospital in the Lahore region of Punjab, Pakistan, claimed the lives of over 100 heart patients under SHABAZ SHARIF watch,Fake medicine crisis were not like natural disaster but was man made crisis,can anyone tell me if Shabaz govt punished criminal who played with lives of innocent?So far according to media reports,PPP,BILAWAL Bhutto in Sind doing their best to get help to the needy in Thar.Crisis in Thar started before 2000,but did any govt paid attention to this issue,its not only PPP but the system should be blamed.
Its shameful how PPP supporters are trying to defend the cruelty committed by PPP, the so called liberals cant absorb the criticism which they truly deserve and pretend themselves as progressive Pakistani n Sindhi Please dont progress at the cost of poverty n hunger striken sindhis. The most shameful thing to say is that famine is a natural disaster now from where all the tons of aid (food) is coming why didnt it come earlier?
Very well written article! Agree with every single point of yours. And I loved the ending..."tweet this bilawal" LOL!
Baby Bhutto has better things to do. He is resting himself in suburban Paris. Let us not worry him. He will come when he is refreshed. his Papa is busy in Dubai. At the family Villa. It is being renovated. And he will come when he can come. The villa's renovation is more important. Let them eat cake If there is no bread.
Sindh deserves better leader and better government. The question is about survival now, forget the infrastructure development and education. If you look back at the years of PPP Governance, it has not been able to even deliver in urban areas forget about the rural. Fahd is right to highlight that its a party run by some feudals. I would simply add illiterate in the prefix
@ProgressiveSindhi
It's like you saw a peel of banana again, concluding you have to fall again. I don't hate PPP but I do blame them because they are in Governance and the custodian of the resources built up with my tax money. I have to push them to prioritize their spending so that they become proactive and do some basic planning for such calamities and don't celebrate next time when their is a funeral in their neighbourhood
@Shahid Kinnare
If you are the regular follower of the articles of writer then you would have never claimed that writer is biased toward PPP.It is an advice to you go and read his last ten artcles wherein most of the time he tried to resurrect PPP, but PPP and followers of PPP only believe in the politics of martyrdom and hate and performance is always the last priority of PPP.
Please ask your Bilawal to come to Thar and take the same interest in surviving the humanity as he took interest in his civilisation of dance, bhangra and singing. The kids who died of starvation were our future and to apply out energy for our future is far more important then the civilisation which your Bilawal want to portray.
Excellent article. Well done for saying it is. Yes, tweet this Bilawal.
This is outrageous to term whole Sindh PPP as incompetent. This shows lack of the writer's understanding of PPP. Hundreds of thousands people are killed by TTP, PMLN and PTI did nothing to stop it for good, but that is not incompetency. Dengue fever killed over 1000 people in Punjab,but CM Punjab is the best administrator, Peshawar was about to be called as capital of most Polio cases, but PTI is again the best. On contrary, Whole media and certain segment of society gears up as soon as they hear any news item worth bashing PPP. No doubt, there have been some governance issues in PPP govt, that must be improved, but this is also fact that Bilawal Bhutto was the first one to come forward monitor the situation. Note that, the nature hit Drought is common in any desert area, needs to be controlled with proper planning. That's what PPP Govt should do, and stop listening to all the noise in media. Action should speak now.
Sir we are all responsible. We voted for this kleptocracy and continue to insist with straight faces that its democracy. Well, why cry now.
the reason i won't vote for ppp ever is because of the incompetence and corruption deeply rooted in them
khappay
@ProgressiveSindhi Droughts are natural events. FAMINES ARE NOT (please educate your self). You talked about how PPP can do this and that. WAKE UP, PPP HAS BEEN IN POWER IN SINDH SINCE THE 70's and they haven't done anything except making things worse. This party has been one of the greatest curse to Pakistan.
A criminal case against the CM and company should be started and there can be only one logical conclusion: conviction and imprisonment.
What a article.. spoke his heart out and Fahd expressed exactly what I feel right now about this issue.. every ordinary citizen of Pakistan feels this way and that's what makes this article so brilliant, everyone can relate to it.
Drought and famine is natural outcome of desert climate zones. Some voices are making noise, just because they hate PPP, but Thar has been seeing such drought hit periods every now and then, while successive Govts, whether PPP or not have failed to resolve this problem on permanent basis. However, if there is seriousness, Deserts can be turned into better living abode by implanting better infrastructure and relief system. Many African and Gulf countries have successfully managed to control drought in deserts. Relief is always slow and reactive process, while, what one needs, is to place a system which improves infrastructure in Tharparkar- a sustainable, environment friendly and economic zone which could avert any future drought. Secondly State never cared Tharris, to my view,mainly because they are Hindus of Sindh, they are second class citizen of this land of pure. Finally PPP has to deliver else get ready to be perished in next elections.
I welcome you to 'Sind Fest' Rap it Like, Bakhtawar! Now ET will never publish this comment yet Rant, Freedom of Speech every now and then
That one image of a starved dead child should have started a revolution
For a change writer could have blame NDMA. But he choose to blame Sindh Govt. It seem very clear from the writing that he hates PPP. Of course Sindh Govt was responsible for all that is said by the writer, but it does not mean CM or his Government has shown any negligence. But it is also truth that writer has not done his research and wrote this article as an school assignment. Here Editor also to be blame for allowing such mediocre article to be published in his paper. Just because CM is from interior does not make him feudal. CM belong to middles class which writer has no idea that their is middle class in interior Sindh.