The heart-wrecking images that we’re seeing in thar - of
hunger, misery and death, are enough to bristle the hair on the back of your
neck.
Yet, our governments remain so inefficient - either trying to
brush the damage under the carpet, or using it as a political opportunity by
blaming an opposition party and establishing new voter’s base. Is ‘humanity’ a
word that ever sounded familiar to them?
Oh sure, they’ll be granting the aid money to wipe off the
issue – but only temporarily! A permanent solution for recurring annual famine,
lack of basic infrastructure or utilities in such a vast piece of land would
never strike them. For, they won’t bear sowing seed for the next government in
line to reap.
It’s not just Thar, the entire province, apart from the
metropolitan and adjoining urban areas, is awfully under-developed with
extremely scarce access to education and economic welfare. The irony could be
imagined by the mere fact that even Larkana district of Sindh, the birthplace of two
Pakistani Prime Ministers from the PPPP that is the ruling party in Sindh for
consecutive governments, is considered scarcely developed. And all that keeps the current Sindh government busy is the promotion of the ‘much-needed’ Sindh festival, that too out of public funds.
It reminded me of the childhood story of a king, who in a
competition to beautify kingdoms, invested all the kingdom’s treasure and
labour in getting the splendorous structures being erected and roads being beautified,
while his subjects stood in rags, starving, as inspected by the competing king.
Bushra
2320 hours
Sunday 9 March 2014
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