Children of the desert

The lives of the children of Thar have remained one of the lowest priorities of our state. More deaths of Thar’s children have been reported through April and early May. The Sindh High Court has been told that 1,340 children have died in Thar since 2014, and around 460,000 children have been brought to the Mithi hospital since 2014. Out of the 517 positions of health practitioners in the district, 332 are still to be filled. Only two child specialists are working in the area while half the seats for gynaecologists are empty. These numbers are criminal. The court has now asked the health ministry to submit a report on measures being taken to make the situation better. The only thing that becomes clear in all this is the apathy of the government, in particular the provincial government. The recent return of Thar to the news cycle has only happened because the Supreme Court of Pakistan took suo motu notice of the death of nine children in mid-April. At least 80 children have lost their lives in the region this year. Water and food shortages as well as a paucity of health facilities have made the drought in the region deadly dangerous. A similar case is being heard in the Sindh High Court, where the farcical response from the Sindh government to half a decade of starvation, malnutrition and disease for the people of the drought-stricken region has been chastised by the court. It has now given the Sindh government two weeks to improve the situation.

While the government has promised that doctors will be appointed soon, there is little credibility in these claims. The region has become an opportunity for many politicians to tout their credentials for public service, but the reality is that nothing has changed on the ground for the people of Thar. Many a state and non-state actor has congratulated themselves on mitigating the misery of the residents of Thar but this has been mostly merely empty rhetoric. This is why the matter is currently in the courtroom – which should technically have no role to play in how the government responds to a drought. But it seems to be the only way out in a context where basic human dignities and constitutionally guaranteed rights are being violated. Thar is not a natural tragedy. Its people are paying the cost of political and humanitarian inaction. No new Wi-Fi or gas connections for its residents will stem the tragic deaths of the children of the desert. It must be remembered that the region is being looked at as the solution to Pakistan’s energy problems due to its large coalfields. Both politicians and businessmen have made claims that the coal belongs to the people of Thar and will be used to benefit them. Each child’s death in Thar shows what the truth of this claim is.