MITHI: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has called for immediate steps, in consultation with indigenous population, to address the host of problems being faced by the people of Thar mainly those leading to death of children in the wake of the persisting drought in the region.

It said that fundamental rights of Thar people were at stake due to natural disasters as well as intervention on the part of non-state actors.

In a statement issued at the end of its team’s visit to Tharparkar, the organisation said: “HRCP is acutely aware of the limitations of analysing the intricacies of the situation in Thar in this short visit,” and appreciated civil society activists, development experts, local population and the media for sharing their observations and experiences with the team to help it assess the situation leading to death of children and other miseries being faced by a large number of indigenous people.

Senior journalist Ghazi Salahuddin expressed astonishment over the Thar people could not see a bright future despite having the huge mineral deposits in their region.

On the second day of the team’s visit, Dr Sono Khangharani, a development activist, informed it that Thar had a huge force of unskilled workers, 30 per cent of whom were youths without a livelihood. The youths deserved to be provided employment and training to develop their skills. Natural resources like grazing fields, agricultural lands and livestock were available to them but lying unutilised for want of proper maintenance and attention.

The drought, he said, affected their livestock much of which had perished or turned weak enough to be sold even at a throwaway price. Ali Akbar Rahimoo told the team that Thar had been facing a drought-like situation for years but it had always been mitigated by ‘local wisdom’.

Sometime the state intervened when the situation aggravated. He said that in the mid-80s, certain NGOs started their work, media started covering the situation in 1999 and finally the judiciary took notice of the disaster this year. However, he said all these players together failed to help mitigate the sufferings of Thari people or contain the aggravating drought.

Another activist, Mama Vishan, said Thari people needed water but installation of reverse osmosis (RO) plants in this area appeared to be unfeasible due to technical problems in their operation.

He also informed the team that the basis health units and other health facilities functioning in Thar were usually closed at around 2pm and this was affecting service delivery, which was required to be available to patients round-the-clock. He attributed many of deaths relating to maternity to this particular issue. He also stated that there was no concept of post-natal or antenatal care at the healthcare centres situated away from major cities.

“It’s true that drought in Thar is a phenomenon but it turns into a disaster when He claimed that a 40 per cent rise in suicide cases relating to poverty had been reported this year compared to the figure of last year. timely action is not taken at the state level,” said Mr Rahimoo.

He recalled the measures taken to address the issue during the British era, and said such steps succeeded in minimising the impact of drought. “Local people were engaged in digging canals and setting up food supply channels to ensure provision of food and water to the affected people and provide employment to the same affected people at higher than normal wages,” he said. Such measures were not being considered now, he added.

Mr Rahimoo also spoke of missionaries and Islamic seminaries exploiting the situation to convert the affected people by offering money and other assistance. “Such organisations are acquiring lands in Thar to establish their centres,” he claimed.

He also rejected the claim about Tharis’ migration being ‘seasonal’ or ‘traditional’, arguing that nobody would leave his land or ancestral abode if he was happy and satisfied with his domestic economy. “Of course, there are compulsions that force people to move from one place to the other,” he insisted.

Published in Dawn, December 28th, 2014