The people of Sindh have given great sacrifices for democracy in the country and had never supported military rule or the governments installed in the province through establishment’s maneuvering. Such trust of the people in democracy was never supposed to lead to loot and plunder by the politicians who assume power through their votes. Instead the people of sindh deserved judicious treatment; they deserved a corruption free just society with government institutions not only serving the people but be always accountable to them. But what they have been given in return of their sacrifices, their struggle and their love for democracy: abject poverty, ignorance, unjust society, corrupt government institutions and un-employments.
The people are deprived of respectable life with no quality education from public institutions, no health facilities, no access to safe drinking water, no proper sanitation conditions, no conducive environments to live in, no affordable transport facility, and no opportunities of employment. These are very few deprivations to quote. There is exploitation everywhere; no government is seen, the system has been hijacked by unscrupulous people, the local institutions have simply reduced to play the role of subservient for the stronger. The masses have been misled by the ruler-feudal nexus for the decades; they are given attractive slogans and false hopes of salvation from the poverty, ignorance and unemployment. This all has proved for the people of Sindh as mirage as their sufferings are un-abetted; The feudal and their cronies after being elected to assemblies are resorting to all the wrongs on earth from illegal and unlawful advantages and ill-gotten money for own sake to grabbing people’s land and devouring public funds with impunity. The miserable plights of ordinary people of province do not cause the rulers any remorse instead they live in eternal denial. This all pathetic attitude of the rulers have reduced the people of the province to one of most pitiable society in the world; most illiterate and ignorant in the country, most non productive people among the provinces as poverty is taking away all their human-oriented merits and people from other provinces quip them for being lagged behind.
This state of backwardness and poverty is common feature of daily life for the indigenous people of a province which is mother-bed of the state created in 1947; which is most resourceful among all the provinces in the country; which is producing a large quantity of oil, gas and coal; which is collecting larger taxes than any other province of the country; which is providing opportunities of livelihood to thousands of people who migrated here from various parts of the country; which is gate way of country’s whole economy through its sea ports; which is biggest agriculture and food related supplies, including meat, milk and fruits etc of the country, in term of demand and supply yardstick. What they are getting back for all these contributions to the country: receiving titles of most poor people, most illiterate, most incapable, most unskilled (in term of Information technology and other technical fields) and above all most un-worthy of managing their own affairs politically and administratively. The talk of divide of their province which carries an identity of five thousand years old civilization for the country is like putting the salt in the wounds of indigenous people.
The people of Sindh did not deserved of such treatment; they voted for Pakistan, they fought against the military rule of Gen Ayub, Gen, Zia and Gen Mushraf; they voted for Z.A Bhutto, they voted for Shaheed B.B, they voted for democracy, they always voted for national parties and rejected the ethnic based politics throughout all these decades; they gave their land and properties to migrants who opted for Pakistan in 1947’s partition and above all the role of their mother land in country’s economy is greater than to any other province!
Abdul Samad Channa,
Karachi, September 17.