KARACHI - Terrorism, ethnic strife and sectarian violence are serious challenges which the incumbent PPP government is facing in its bastion. But neither worsening law and order situation in major cities like Karachi and Hyderabad nor the food insecurity looming large in interior Sindh has led to any awakening on part of the party elite.
The party, which for all practical purpose has now shrunk only to parts of Sindh, is oblivious of the serious consequences that may result in its further political downfall and cause an economic disaster for the inhabitants of the province.
Hundreds of families belonging to Kutchi community have left the strife-torn Lyari locality of Karachi and taken refuge in Badin and Thatta districts, but instead of rectifying the situation, the Sindh government is terming this exodus politically motivated and accusing its political rivals and the centre for all the ills in the province. The Lyari gangsters are reportedly issuing warnings on loud speakers to the Kutchi community members, who have not moved out, to leave the area or face death.
Political circles are flabbergasted on the move of the chief minister who on one hand has constituted a committee to resolve the Lyari issue while on the other has picked a minister in his cabinet on the choice of banned Peoples Amn Committee, which is behind the persecution of the Kuttchi community. How the situation in Lyari would improve when the government is playing a game of running with the hare and hunting with hounds, they say.
The Lyari criminals are spreading their tentacles to other localities of the metropolis. A recent clash between two groups near airport was should have proved a wakeup call for the authorities but it has not, unfortunately. According to Korangi SP Irfan Mukhtar Bhutto, the clash took place in Falak Naz apartments near Star Gate at the airport between PP) and Lyari elements, who were trying to gain control of the area. Political analysts say that the monster of terrorism has also crept in other parts of the province. The recent bomb blasts in Hyderabad testify this fact, but the government remains drenched in miss-governance as it did during its past full five year term.
On the economic front, a number of reputed international institutions including World Food Programme and several independent researchers have revealed that over 71 percent households in the province are food insecure. The figures quoted by these globally credible organisations are the highest level of food insecurity among the provinces of Pakistan and in the region.
It is an alarming situation but the PPP government has turned a deaf ear to these reports. Sindh Food Minister Jam Mehtab Dahar, when asked to comment on the WFP report, said the province has enough food in store and that he could not understand the rational of such baseless assertions.
Dahar, who hails from a landlord family of Ghotki, seems to be oblivious to the fact that the worst kind of floods in two consecutive years have ruined the poor people of interior Sindh who are now facing acute food insecurity. Moreover, burgeoning price hike and rampant unemployment has eroded the purchasing powers of the poor.
A similar report by the NNS in 2011 had showed that around 72pc of the population in Sindh was facing acute food insecurity, with the children less than five years needing emergency measures since 17.5pc of them were suffering from acute malnutrition and seven percent were severely malnourished.
The PPP has not learnt any lesson from the election fallout of sheer miss-governance during its previous tenure and is once again not caring for its constituents who voted it again into power despite that they were not properly severed. But there are few chances that they would again ignore the government insensitivity and vote for the PPP in the next general elections.
Peoples Party is playing with fire by ignoring the ground realities and by not caring about the poor of the interior of Sindh, the experts are of the view. Ignoring the warnings about malnutrition and food insecurity is also a criminal act as the resulting deprivation could result in major onslaught of diseases and case large-scale deaths, they add.