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Strategy to Avert Drought
(Air Marshal Ayaz Ahmed Khan)

Drought, due to the three years long dry spell, has brought havoc to 26 districts of Balochistan, six districts of Sindh, Cholistan in the Punjab and DI Khan district of the NWFP. A million people out of a population of five million in Balochistan have abandoned their homes in search of food, water and fodder. In Sindh over a hundred thousand are homeless, and thousands in Cholistan have left their abodes for want of water, food and fodder. That two million cattle in Balochistan perished, before help reached the stricken people. It is a calamity indeed. The drought havoc was such that on May 22 a drought stricken father tried to sell his 15-year old daughter in desperation to buy food and water for his starving family.

At the camps relief is inadequate and there are reports of mismanagement and corruption. Disaster control procedures are spelled out in the Blue Books, but officials concerned rarely look at them. There are no standing arrangements to deal with natural disasters like droughts, earthquakes, floods, what to talk of nuclear attacks by a rogue neighbour. The visit of the Chief Executive to some of the relief camps had revealed that much remained to be done in terms of food, water, tents, fodder and proper administrative arrangements. Relief Commissioners of Balochistan and Sindh must disclose the amount of atta, rice, ghee, sugar, tea, milk and other food items distributed at each camp, arrangements for regular water supply and how many families have benefited? Why are the starving men, women and children still without tents in the scorching heat of the Thar, Chagai, Nushki and in the other camps across the hot deserts? Has relief been provided to people at their door steps and where? There is a need for a proper strategy to deal with natural disasters, especially recurring droughts. In Cholistan 65000 cattle died due to non-availability of fodder and water. With the death of livestock Cholistanis have lost their means of living.

Bureaucratic bottlenecks and refusal of Commissioner, Bahawalpur to recognise the gravity of the situation have greatly enhanced the misery of the drought homeless. With no fodder cattle were sold at one-fourth the rice to thugs and mafias. There was no government to help the 125000 Cholistanis who have abandoned their homes and lands. In the five districts of Sindh affected by drought including Dadu, khairpur, Tharparkar, Umarkot and Nagarparkar. More than 100,000 people are homeless and hundreds of thousands of cattle have perished. Beginning of May, the Military Government established a Drought Crisis Control Cell in Quetta with Brigadier Shafaqat Mahmood, the Log Area Commander, as the Chief Co-ordinator. He said that a million people are migrating in search of food and water. And two million cattle have perished in Balochistan. He said that ten million cattle were dehydrated and sick. Out of the cattle population of 27 million cattle in Balochistan, half of the livestock will perish if concerted effort is not made to save them. The rural Baluchi people cannot exist without their camels, cows, goats and sheep. Immediate action is needed to provide cattle and fodder at no cost basis to the drought stricken Baloch population. According to United Nations officials three million people have been affected in Balochistan, Sindh and Afghanistan. The mass migration of people in Chagai, Kharan, Quetta, Qilla Saifullah, Loralai, Zhob, Mastung, Khuzdar, Barkhan and Kholu areas and death of hundreds of helpless citizens from thirst and starvation, and millions of cattle could have been saved by development of infrastructure and timely administrative planning. The provincial and district administrations are to be blamed for criminal neglect. The traders strike came at a time when national resources needed to be geared to deal with the country wide drought. Instead of refusal to pay tax, the traders should have shown deep concern for the suffering humanity
in the afflicted provinces.

It is worth mentioning that there are no reports of migration or deaths from the dry spell in Iranian Balochistan. The region between Baam and Zahidan in eastern Iran called Dashte Loot is an extremely hot, dry and arid
desert. But under the Shah, proper strategy was formulated and the Islamic Government of Iran reviewed and implemented it. Highways, deep water wells and irrigation systems were constructed to provide water to cities and
villages and irrigation system were constructed to provide water to cities and villages and irrigation water to orchards. While in Pakistani Balochistan successive provincial and federal regimes paid no attention to develop infrastructure i.e. roads, rails, deep boring i.e. tube wells and water system between Mirjava, Chagai and Dalbandin to Quetta. The dilapidated roads in the area, and railway line between Quetta and Zahidan,
and the drought provides all the evidence of five decades of criminal neglect. The current drought has revealed total administrative neglect in all the 26 districts of Balochistan. In spite of the three years of drought no arrangements were made to ensure continued supply of drinking water for man and beast. With the death of millions of cattle, the frail agro-based economy of Balochistan will collapse. Plans to construct water supply
systems, tube wells, water reservoirs, water channels, and most importantly cleaning and rehabilitation of Karazes (underground canals) must be formulated and implemented on urgent basis. Frontier Works Organisation, National Highway Authority should be tasked to help provincial C&W and Health departments to implement plans to avert future drought disasters. The tardiness of the Sindh Administration was exposed when the press on April 30 reported that a comprehensive package of millions of rupees to rehabilitate the drought affected people of Tharparkar district was lying with the Sindh government for some time for approval. Instead of immediate
action, bureaucratic delays enhanced the misery of the starving people. Rehabilitation must be made under proper strategy and plans. Recent grant of Rs 35 million to Deputy Commissioner Tharparkar and five million to DC
Umarkot must be spent in a planned manner. Millions are being donated into the Chief Executive’s Relief Fund. The Federal Ushr and Zakat Departments released funds for the distribution of food items. Ad hoc allocations
and visible publicity of handing out of cheques by Governors are in order. But ad hoc squandering of millions of rupees will be wrong. Till date 82,000 wheat bags have been distributed by the Army and by Food Department officials at nominal prices in the five drought-affected districts of Sindh. The Sindh Government should disclose the amounts received from Chief Executive’s Relief Fund and from public donations, and how it plans to spend it?

Though relief work was started several weeks ago in Sindh, it has not reached most outlying villages. Village population of Patta, Ardo, Toh, Chanbar, Sonhor and Nagarparkar, have lodged protests for neglect with the
authorities. According to the Sindh Relief Commissioner 4,613 victims of drought have received free food. Medical teams have visited 347 villages and vaccinated 1.5546 million heads of cattle. There is no mention if sick and
starving men, women and children were given medical relief. That out of 100,000 drought-stricken people in Sindh, only 4613 i.e. 4.6% have received food relief, is an extremely low figure. Besides the claim that 1.5546 million heads of cattle were vaccinated is grossly exaggerated. The Animal Husbandry Department of Sindh government lacks the resources to vaccinate millions of cattle in such a short time. Presently the starving humans and
cattle need food, water and fodder. Let the people know the truth. There are reports that, “the money and food supplies are being swindled and are being distributed on political basis at the behest of waderas”. That the drought-affectees are being deprived of relief by corruptionist mafias needs to be investigated into. Initially a cash amount of Rs 15.18 million was distributed among the affectees. The Chief Executives Relief Fund must be
spent for the relief and rehabilitation of the victims of the drought in a planned manner. Reportedly the Sindh government has plans to establish road network in Tharparkar district. This should have been done decades ago. Presently high priority must be given to water supply. This would entail construction of deep tube wells,overground covered water reservoirs, overhead water tanks, rehabilitation and extension of canals and water distributories, supply of hundreds of water tankers and repair of existing water reservoirs and water evaporation plants along the coastal areas. The affected people must be consulted before plans to avert drought are formulated and implemented. All such plans must be made public. As no roads have been constructed during the last five decades in the Thar, development of roads must be done over a period of time. The telecast of Chief Executive’s visit to the Thar area brought out clear evidence of decades of neglect. The suffering people were shelterless in the blazing Thar heat. There was no evidence of tents, water tanks, water tankers or food and water supply systems for man and beast. TV and media teams should investigate and report.

The three districts of Thar have suffered periodic drought since decades. During the drought of 1980’s the local peasants and nomads were forced to eat tree barks, roots and leaves. The people of Thar have suffered from
hunger, disease and neglect since long. The state, specially the Sindh government, has never cared for the local people. This abysmal neglect was duly noted by the Chief Executive. The Thar people are forgotten people
albeit they are Pakistani citizens with equal rights.

The Chief Executive has promised to restore to them all the amenities that they deserve as citizens of Pakistan. General Musharraf must follow up on his promises. The Hindu population of Thar routinely migrates in search
of water, food and work. They have become nomads because of the misery they are faced with. They have to fend for themselves, because the state has never cared for them. Local tehsil, district and divisional officers have been engaged in coverups to hide their criminal neglect which forces thousands of men, women and children to wander around every year in search of food water and work. Since 1970 government officials have been reporting that there was no drought, no hunger and no crisis. Press reports were dubbed as exaggerations by the bureaucrats at Karachi and Hyderabad and were ignored.

But this time the Chief Executive of Pakistan landed among the suffering Hindus of the Thar, and assured them that they are equal citizens of Pakistan, and would be taken care off, and would be provided food and economic security.

The army government has acknowledged the drought in Balochistan and Sindh, and has promised to mitigate the sufferings of the affected people. Long-term strategy and plans be made and firmly implemented under strict supervision to ensure the safety, security and prosperity of the suffering people of Balochistan and Sindh,including the deprived Hindus of the Thar.