The government of Sindh was precisely aware of the magnitude of super flood torrent the province was to receive after it had destroyed much of Pakhtunkhwah and inundated almost the entire southern Punjab. This massive torrent was ultimately destined to discharge in the Arabian Sea through the Indus River that runs in the middle of Sindh. The super flood ultimately hit Sindh with full ferocity and the fragile dykes of the province gave way which caused inundation of almost 1/3rd of the province. Most of the northern districts of Sindh got submerged in floodwaters that left millions shelterless. Their only source of livelihood, the standing crops and livestock, sunk without a trace in water. Their small huts and kiln homes in which they had been dwelling for centuries gone, these people are now nomads in their own homeland, malnourished, sick and without hope of a future in sight. The obvious question is that who is responsible for the agony of these millions of afflicted people? Although floods of high magnitude have passed through Indus system every once in a decade but the scale of present destruction is unheard of in the history of floods. The reason, of course, is the official negligence in upkeep of protective levees, a responsibility that was completely ignored and left to the builders mafias. They kept digging for gravel to use in their construction, especially near big towns. All this while, the loggers were constantly hacking our riverine forests that existed on both sides of the riverbed and used to protect the dykes. This mercilessly slaughter of our natural protection against floods left the land vulnerable. The policy of allotting lands to influential people also helped the flood kill. They created their own dykes to protect their crops, one major cause of damage to the protective bunds. The maintenance and upkeep of the levees/ bunds is the sole responsibility of provincial Irrigation Department for which sizable allocations are made in budget every year. The Irrigation Department not only failed to maintain these protective structures but when the crisis unfolded, actually abandoned its responsibility by handing over the maintenance to Pakistan Army. The handing over of this safety mechanism to Army at the eleventh hour could not save the millions that have perished in the run of water that came in million of cusecs this time. -ALTAF HUSSAIN, Hyderabad, August 30.