Cries for Thar: MPAs tell govt to come out of its ‘state of denial’

They demand the formation of committee to investigate mismanagement

KARACHI:

It matters not how much the Sindh government and its cabinet ministers claim they are serious about dealing with the Thar crisis. Members of the Sindh Assembly want accountability for the crisis in Thar.

Through a unanimous resolution adopted by the assembly on Tuesday, Sindh's lawmakers demanded the Sindh government to come out of its constant 'state of denial' with regards to the loss of human lives due to the drought in Tharparkar.

During the session, all other agenda was deferred to discuss the resolution that was moved by the opposition leader, Shahryar Mahar, of the Pakistan Muslim League - Functional. The resolution was supported by representatives of all parliamentary parties, including the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and the Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz. It reads: "The government is in a state of denial over this matter. Rather than trying to defend or politicise the issue, the government should form a committee to investigate the issue so that such incidents are not repeated in the future."



Around 18 MPAs from the treasury and opposition benches spoke for around three and a half hours on the matter. The opposition members lashed out against the government and demanded registration of a murder case against officials responsible for the situation. Meanwhile, treasury members defended the measures being taken by the district administration and the Sindh government.

"This is the third consecutive drought in Tharparkar," said Mahar. "We want to know why the government failed to take preventive measures. We could have saved many innocent lives with timely intervention. The government has failed to provide relief to the people.

The lawmakers strongly criticised the provincial government for not taking action against the officials responsible for the situation. "These officials have now been given promotions and important positions," said Nusrat Seher Abbasi, adding that the government must accept its fault, instead of criticising the media for highlighting the issue.

For his part, PPP MPA Dr Khatu Mal Jeevan defended the government, saying that all efforts were being made in Thar, which was neglected by the previous governments. "Our party got the mandate from the area in 2008. Those who were in power for last fifty years did nothing for the district," he said, blaming the media for creating unnecessary hype.  "The media reports that people, especially children die of hunger. I want to ask how a two-day-old child can die because of hunger." Dr Jeevan reasoned that untrained midwives, pneumonia and bad weather were the main reasons behind the deaths. "We do realise the shortage of medical staff and hospitals, but the government has set up around 70 dispensaries in various areas and appointed doctors to these facilities," he said.

The provincial minister for livestock, Jam Khan Shoro, had his own success story to share. He said that the PPP had done more work in the area in the last seven years than previous governments had done in the last fifty years.

Opposition members were, however, adamant not to let the government off so easily. They questioned the veracity of the nutrition programme being run in Tharparkar on which millions of rupees were shown as expense. "This programme is being run by the planning and development department under the chief minister, but its performance is zero," said Khawaja Izharul Hasan of the MQM.

Jam Mahtab Dhar, who has now been given charge of the health department, was of the view that the Thar issue cannot be resolved merely with the distribution of wheat bags and establishment of hospitals. Primary health care is the need of the hour. "We have now started screening mothers and children and surveyed 1,300 villages out of the total 2,256 villages in the district," he said. "We have also approached Aga Khan Hospital to send a team to Thar to examine and point out the lack of facilities at the hospitals in the district," he remarked.

After the resolution, the speaker adjourned the session till Friday.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 12^th, 2014.