JIWANI is a small town located in eastern Gwadar. In fact, it is one of the four tehsils of Gwadar district which is approximately 70km away from the central part of the district. The tehsil lacks many basic facilities, but its water woes are unbearable. The first thing locals do in the morning is to search for water from water wells and other places.

They have protested for years, blocked the coastal highway, and even lost three precious lives for this cause, but the crisis has remained unresolved.

In 1987, when unarmed townspeople were holding a rally in the main bazaar to protest against the shortage of drinking water, the security forces had opened fire, killing three people, including a child.

Jiwani would surely be the only town in the world where people have lost their lives simply because they were demanding access to drinking water. Ironically, nothing has improved and the problem remains the same as it was back in 1987.

The town receives water from Ankara Dam via pipeline which is too old to serve the purpose. Therefore, the water takes a long time to reach its end point. On the other hand, the population is increasing rapidly and the need for water is high. Most of the people live below the poverty line, and cannot afford to buy water through commercial tankers.

Besides, in 2021, the provincial government had approved a fund worth over Rs937million to tackle this problem, build new dams and lay new pipelines, but no progress has been made so far.

The government must wake up from its rather deep slumber and take immediate measures to address Jiwani’s decades-long water woes before it claims even more lives.

Waseem Saleem
Gwadar

Published in Dawn, October 22th, 2022