Forgotten Thar already?
Poverty, they say, is the worst form of death. And while Pakistan as a whole is no stranger to the phenomenon, the trend is worse in some areas. Take Thar, for example, so often host to drought and famine, now setting records for suicide. The statistics are extremely worrying – 24 suicides in ’11, 35 in ’12, and 31 so far this year in Tharparkar district alone. Authorities tend to attribute this trend to growing incidents of domestic violence, but few aid workers that are found on the scene draw a more direct link with poverty, of which the former is just one fallout.
It seems no manner of suffering can move authorities to these people’s benefit. When hundreds of children starved to death not too long ago it seemed the magnitude of the tragedy would finally shake the Sindh government to the core, and serious efforts would be made to ensure nothing of the sort was ever allowed to happen again. Yet the droughts and famines continue, and extreme poverty is pushing more and more people to end not only their own lives, but also their children’s.
The Sindh government must act not only for the sake of the suffering people of Thar, but the whole country in general. Poverty is the fountainhead of many social ills. The disenfranchised not only turn to crime to ensure basic subsistence and survival, but also carry a deep sense of bitterness towards society, especially the polity that is charged with their care but couldn’t care less in our unforgiving, unfair social setup. This sense of estrangement is strengthened when corruption is the order of the day in the highest offices of government. Those in charge must realise that they are turning our sons and daughters against the state in the long term for no reason at all, and act quickly to remedy their mistakes. Otherwise they may survive for the time being, but if the people truly turn against them, nothing will hold them for long.
