Living in Tharparkar

Sindh government must develop infrastructure with adequate medical and educational facilities for Tharparkar.

LAHORE: There is a lot of media hype on the drought and famine in Tharparkar district of Sindh. Allegations have come forth, followed by counter- allegations, regarding who is to blame for the catastrophe. The prime minister has taken the Sindh government to task and the chief justice has also stepped in, taking suo-motu notice of the deaths of more than a hundred children. The fact is that drought and famine have happened before in this part of Sindh. Both are perpetual problems for those who live in the area simply because the region is a desert and it does not rain much there. The one difference this time is the intense and unrelenting focus by the media on the famine this year.

India has built a comprehensive infrastructure on its side of the Thar Desert but Pakistan has done basically nothing for the 1.5 million people who live in 10 talukas of Tharparkar district. I spent over six months in this district during the 1965 war and personally saw the plight of the inhabitants who were living like animals with no civic amenities available to them. The sick and diseased people had to rely on local hakims and very few could go to the nearest health centre or hospital located in Khokhrapar or Mirpurkhas. Travelling even within a taluka took long because there was no regular transport option and there were hardly any metalled roads. For drinking water, the local people would either wait for the rain or dig wells from which mostly muddy water would come. The Sindh chief minister may have admitted his own failing over this catastrophe on television but that is not enough. The very least he needs to do is to step down. But alas, resignations are not the norm in this country. Distribution of rations or money to the people of the drought-hit areas is a one-time solution and not a permanent one.

The Sindh government must develop infrastructure with adequate medical and educational facilities for the people of Tharparkar. At present, most of the budget of the Sindh government is spent on the urban centres.

Muhammad Azhar Khwaja

Published in The Express Tribune, March 17^th, 2014.

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