KARACHI - Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari issued show-cause notices to Sindh President Syed Qaim Ali Shah and Deputy General Secretary Manzoor Wassan over their poor performance and mishandling of the famine-hit Thar.
PPP leader Jamil Soomro, while talking to The Nation, made it clear that the notices had not been issued to Qaim Ali Shah and Manzoor Wassan in their capacities as the Sindh chief minister and the provincial anti-corruption minister, respectively. He added the PPP chairman had issued the notices to the party’s provincial president and the deputy general secretary over the worst situation in the famine-hit Thar. He stated the action had been taken on the media reports on the poor performance of the PPP Sindh leadership.
It is worth mentioning that scores of children have died in Thar because of the negligence and lethargic attitude of the Sindh government.  Spokesman for Bilawal House, Aijaz Durrani, has rejected the report on the Thar situation presented to the media by PPP Sindh Deputy General Secretary and Provincial Minister Manzoor Hussain Wassan and said it was immature and too early. He further said PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari was personally monitoring the Thar situation while investigation was also being made in this regard.
Earlier, expressing displeasure over the situation in Thar, Bilawal tweeted that those conspiring against the people of Lyari and the famine-hit Thar must know that ‘Bhutto’ had come in the arena. It is pertinent to mention that on the directives of the PPP leadership, provincial minister Mazoor Wassan had conducted an inquiry into the Thar situation. In the report, Wassan had held the health and food departments responsible for the miserable situation. The report had further said that the authorities concerned of the heath and food departments had not taken preventive measures to avert the situation though emergency had already been declared for the relief activities.
At least 37 people, majority of them children, have died in Tharparkar in the last few weeks because of the drought spell, compounded by poverty, poor nutrition, lack of health facilities and awareness. It has also been reported that around 80 children are in critical condition in the civil hospital.