A large number of residents of Tharparkar and Umerkot districts arrived in Karachi on Sunday to register their protest against what they said the apathy of the provincial government and local parliamentarians towards their problems.
The Bheel Intellectual Forum, an independent group working for the rights of the people belonging to the scheduled caste, had organised the protest march that started at the Mazar-e-Quaid and ended at the Karachi Press Club. Hundreds of people from the Thar region participated in the march, a majority of whom belonged to the Hindu community’s scheduled caste. Some of the protesters were also clad in the traditional Thari costumes.
The march was led by community leaders Lala Bheel, Lajpat Bheel, Hemraj Bheel, and Dilpat Singh who addressed the marchers at the end of the procession. A number of leaders of various political and community organisations, including the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum and the Qaumi Awami Tehreek, joined the protest to express solidarity with the marchers.
The speakers said the government had failed to mitigate the miseries of the drought-hit Tharis for the past many years where severe drought conditions had caused deaths of thousands of infants and pregnant women.
They also criticised Prime Minister Imran Khan, saying that his visit to the desert region proved to be of no use for the Tharis as he failed to announce any relief package for the drought-hit people of Tharparkar.
Explaining various issues being faced by the Tharis, the speakers called on the government to provide facilities in the desert region. They said Thar had been witnessing a rise in the number of deaths by suicides and the most worrying trend was that of joint suicides. “Poverty, unemployment, and marginalisation are the main reasons behind the rise in suicides but it is unfortunate that the governments are not interested in resolving the issues,” said a speaker.
The speakers also complained that various bodies, especially the Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company (SECMC), were not honouring their commitment to provide jobs to the people of Thar. “Because of it, there is severe resentment and despair among the local youth,” he said.
They also said that dozens of people were killed due to lightning in November. “This was a big calamity for the poor people, they have neither been properly rehabilitated nor compensation paid,” said another speaker. He said the government should pay immediate attention to the matter and urgently pay the due compensation.
