Millions of poor hapless Pakistanis face the brutal assault of nature while the state and its machinery seems in a state of limbo. Sindh had a warning of more than 9 days before the floods actually hit the province and yet all we see there is utter confusion, or worse an air of indifference in all strata of provincial administration. The notable politicians of the area seem more interested in saving their own landholdings instead of helping the poor who voted them into power. Those in power fail to learn from history. Chateaus in Switzerland, or villas in France, Florida, Spain are mere possessions in far off lands, trappings of material wealth that is nothing compared to a place one might earn in hearts and minds of the people. And this wealth is so fickle and lacking that all the worldly possessions of Shah of Iran had provided no solace to him. His friend Zulfikar Ali Bhutto lives to this day despite his physical death because he had served his people. Those who witnessed his tireless dynamism in the 1976 floods are shocked to see the present self-proclaimed inheritors of his legacy turn a blind eye to those that elected them. -ANEELA CHANDIO, Sukkur, August 17.