CM forms judicial commission to probe Thar deaths

Karachi

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah on Sunday ordered to constitute a two-member judicial commission to probe into Thar deaths and propose measures, if any required, within 15 days.

Provincial chief secretary Siddiqui Memon was tasked with forming the committee under the chairmanship of Justice (retd) Ghulam Sarwar Korai and retired district and sessions judge Arjun Ram.

Claiming to have taken all measures required to mitigate the crisis, the CM said he improved health services, up-graded basic health units, dispensaries and Taluka hospitals by providing them with equipments, while the budget for medicines was also increased.

“After having taken all these measures, the media continues to report that infant deaths were on the rise in the district," the CM complained.

The commission is to start its work from Monday (today). 

  The Sindh government's handling of the Thar issue has been contentious at best, as ministers and leaders of the ruling provincial party have come out with ill-advised statements over the matter. In the Sindh Assembly session this past Thursday, while dismissing the widely held impression that Thar has not seen any development since 2008 when the Pakistan Peoples Party came into power in the province, Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah had said the infant mortality rate and other health indicators have improved in the desert area due to his government’s timely intervention.

He was speaking in the provincial assembly where he gave a policy statement before the house concluded debate on Thursday on health and food emergency situation persisting in the desert area. 

"We are not providing any excuses for deaths of children in Thar. These are our children as the death of even a single child is highly tragic. Matters of life and death are with God but it is obligatory upon the government to save these lives.” 

In his speech, Shah had compared Sindh’s health indicators with those of Punjab, and said the situation especially related to newborns in the province was not so seriously alarming as it was being portrayed in the media. 

He referred to the statistics of the Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey-2014 showing that 88.4 babies died per 1,000 at birth in Punjab, and in Sindh the infant mortality rate stood at 74.8 per 1,000.

He said his government had been conducting consultations with national and international experts on controlling the health emergency situation in Thar, while the health department had also been working to reverse the situation.

“During the period of [Zulfikar Ali] Bhutto, an arid zone was announced for the area, while now we are in the process of constituting the Thar Development Authority.”

He said 400 reverse osmosis water filtration plants had been established in Thar for providing clean drinking water to its dwellers. In most of the areas in Thar, basic facilities, including electricity and hospitals, had been established, he added. 

Shah protested that opposition parties and media had been incorrectly depicting the situation in Thar.

He added that in the year 1971 when he had travelled from Mithi to Chachro in Thar, the journey had been completed in nine hours, but in the present day the same journey could be completed easily within one and a half hours.

“Karachi belongs to all of us while I acquired all my education from the city while Thar also belongs to all.”

Shah had said that former chief minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim, now an opposition MPA, did not do anything for the development and progress of the desert area although he was a native of Thar.