Thar continues to remain in the news for deeply disturbing reasons: little children dying from hunger-related diseases; persistent drought conditions; shortage of drinking water; and the provincial government's callous attitude towards human suffering. A team of National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR) and Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (Piler) recently went on a fact-finding mission to Thar to tell the same sordid story. While talking to journalists at the Thar Press Club the team members said the Sindh government was not making any serious effort to mitigate human suffering in the area, and that medical facilities are grossly inadequate whilst about 250 children have died from malnutrition. Because of lack of water and fodder for the cattle for the last four years, many families have migrated to the barrage areas.
Sadly, the provincial government has been blaming the high incidence of child mortality on under-age marriages and for other issues offering ill thought-out, transient solutions. For instance, instead of installing small need-based potable water projects in different areas it has opted for fewer but costly reverse osmosis plants, most of which remain out of order due to poor maintenance. In fact, not long ago Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah while claiming things were not so bad said 400 reverse osmosis plants had been installed, admitting at the same time that another 700 plants are needed. Which merits the question, what is he waiting for? Meanwhile, reports say over 300 doctors' posts lie vacant in Thar hospitals for the past many years, and also that about 70 percent of the existing medical facilities are not functional. This has gone on despite the media and civil society groups repeatedly highlighting the plight of the Thar people. When three public-interest petitions recently sought the Sindh High Court's intervention, the Sindh government's attorney opposed the petitioners saying the situation in the famine-hit areas had improved sufficiently. The NCHR and Piler findings show little has changed. One is at a loss to understand as to what would it to take for the government to mitigate the suffering in Thar.
Given the changing weather patterns, drought is likely to become a consistent feature. That means Thar desert's 1.5 million people cannot depend on their cattle for livelihoods as the grazing grounds are disappearing due to recurring dry spells and other factors such as ill-conceived development projects. There is an urgent need for both short- and long-term solutions aimed at making the place livable through such obvious measures as improving drinking water and medical facilities as well as devising policies that encourage employment generation-oriented development. Former Justice Ali Nawaz Chowhan who headed NCHR team told journalists he would submit a detailed report to the Prime Minister, National Assembly, Senate and Sindh Assembly, and that NCHR would also set up a special complaints cell for Thar at its Islamabad office. Hopefully, Thar will soon have respite from the vagaries of weather compounded by governmental neglect.
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