Thar is dying, and if we keep turning a deaf ear to the situation, one day everything will be destroyed. They should be a genuine focus on the development of this remotest and poorest district of Pakistan.
A particular region’s contentment can be gauged by the prosperity of its local dwellers. Allocation of fundamental needs of life equally among every inhabitant is said to be the key factor in making local people prosper.
Thar is changing rapidly. The sand dunes of past have been transformed into concrete buildings and widespread network of roads connecting remote villages to urban territories. The region also has a beautiful airport now. But in this development drive, the missing element is the entitlement of deprived locals. This all happened due to the buried coal wealth. The excavation work is going on at one end while on other, anxiety among the desperate souls of this region is increasing day by day.
Some considerable fears of displacement, environmental hazards and socio-economic degradation are in the minds of locals. No one is sure regarding what is going to happen in coming years. Predictions are around, but no one is there to spell out the gist of real development to deprived Tharis.
Serenity happened to be the other name for this wonderful land. People from all over the country used to visit this region, especially in monsoon season to witness ultimate attractiveness of this stunning landscape. Though children were dying due to malnutrition and thirst, people didn’t have proper health facilities and unemployment used to be the fate of this region’s youth, but there was a balancing act of peaceful human-hood social bond and religious harmony among the communities of Thar. It looks like the murky footsteps of development have only brought a development dilemma in Thar, nothing else.
Slogans for change seem like a joke. There is no one to provide even the basic necessities of life to the locals
A struggle for survival was already underway, which still exists. So what sort of change has been brought by the hardnosed companies, NGOs and other entities which have been working here for several years to overcome the intricacies of the people? Slogans for change seem like a joke. There is no one to provide even the basic necessities of life to the locals. To me, three factors are important where governmental as well as non-governmental entities have to focus for a change in the region.
Thar coal project is one of the most beneficial projects of the country in terms of development and would bring a massive social as well as economic change in the lives of many Pakistanis. But it requires sincere execution of work by the government and concerned company officials.
Since the inception of this worthy project till today, nothing significant could happen due to the company’s mind-numbing approach to deal with certain issues. Thar has the highest ratio of uneducated women in the country. Moreover, the youth of this region does not have any significant education facility. How can one expect highly qualified individuals with the terrible condition?
Consequently, most of the youngsters get rejected by the companies working in the region due to a lack of requisite skills. But with time and pressure from the local people and media, some companies have kicked of training-cum programmes for the youth where they recruit newly qualified professionals and train them for the requirements of relevant jobs.
Displacement of local villagers has also become a headache for the company officials. There are several villages which come in the line of the proposed project area. But these people are not ready to leave their ancestral villages. The concerned company should compensate the people of these villages adequately.
Sadly, there is not a single well-equipped hospital or a university in Thar. Poor Tharis have to go to Karachi, Hyderabad or other parts of the country to avail these services. They are being ignored for a long time, but this is the right time to facilitate them. I believe that the future of Thar can be a shining one if they start getting a royalty of their land.
The writer is a freelancer based in Badin, Sindh and can be reached at [email protected]
Published in Daily Times, April 20th 2018.