In the southern reaches of Pakistan, Sindh province is confronting an unprecedented  water crisis that exposes the failures of governmental governance and resource management.

The narrative that emerges is one of systematic neglect, calculated misallocation, and a profound disregard for the fundamental rights of millions of farmers and citizens. The roots of this crisis run deep, stretching back over 150 years of institutional discrimination and resource manipulation.[1]

Current data from the Indus River System Authority (Irsa) reveals a shocking disparity: between 1999 and 2023, Sindh experienced a staggering 40% water shortage compared to Punjab’s mere 15%.[2] This is not merely a statistical anomaly but a deliberate outcome of policy choices that consistently prioritize some regions over others.

The  Water Apportionment Accord of 1991, ostensibly designed to ensure equitable water distribution, has instead become a tool of institutional marginalization.[3] Zarif Khero, Sindh’s Irrigation Secretary, has been unequivocal in his criticism of the current water distribution mechanism – a controversial 3-tier formula that systematically disadvantages Sindh by forcing the province to absorb most of the water scarcity. The crisis has reached a critical point with a proposed project that defies agricultural logic and economic sense. Six new canals are planned in Punjab’s Cholistan area, a proposal that farmers argue would render their fertile lands entirely infertile.[4]

The economic implications are catastrophic. Nabi Bux Sathio from the Sindh Chamber of Agriculture presented a calculation that exposes the government’s misguided priorities: the proposed Cholistan canal project would “ruin 12 million acres of agricultural land in Sindh to irrigate just 1.2 million acres of desert.[5]” This is not just poor planning; it is an existential threat to Sindh’s agricultural backbone. The human cost of this crisis is immeasurable.

Farmers have been vocal in their resistance. At a rally organized by the Anti-Canals Action Committee, a coalition of farming organizations including the Sindh Abadgar Board, Sindh Chamber of Agriculture, and Sindh Abadgar Ittehad, protesters emphasized that the proposed canals authorized by the Central Development Working Party threatened the livelihoods of millions in Sindh. The demonstration highlighted the deeper issues of water management and provincial resource allocation. Miran Mohammad Shah urged political leadership, specifically calling on Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari to lead the farmers’ protest, drawing parallels to his mother Benazir Bhutto’s historic protest against the Kalabagh Dam in 1998. This generational struggle underscores the long-standing nature of Sindh’s water challenges.

The current water distribution mechanism effectively exempts smaller provinces from water shortages, with the burden falling disproportionately on Sindh. A recent development offers a glimmer of hope. Balochistan, traditionally not aligned with Sindh on water issues, has now joined Sindh in demanding a fair water distribution mechanism. This unprecedented alliance underscores the depth of institutional failures and the urgent need for comprehensive reform.

The technical details are telling. According to Sindh’s irrigation secretary, the province utilized only 3.560 million acre-feet from April 1 to May 20, against an allocated 4.645 million acre-feet – representing a 23% shortage.[6] This data contradicts claims by other provinces and exposes the systematic underdevelopment of Sindh’s water infrastructure. Historical context adds another layer of tragedy to this crisis. Shah points out that during British colonial times, Sindh once had more cultivated land than Punjab. A testament to how current mismanagement has systematically dismantled the province’s agricultural potential. The current trajectory threatens to transform what was once a fertile agricultural heartland into a barren wasteland.

The Pakistani state’s abject failure in governance is a multifaceted tragedy that exposes a systemic collapse of institutional responsibility and democratic accountability. From the  water crisis in Sindh to broader national challenges, the government has consistently demonstrated a profound disconnection from the basic needs of its citizens. The water distribution dispute exemplifies this institutional rot – where bureaucratic mechanisms like the Indus River System Authority and the Council of Common Interests have become instruments of provincial marginalization rather than platforms for equitable resource management. Instead of serving the collective national interest, these institutions have devolved into arenas of political negotiation where powerful provinces like Punjab can manipulate water allocations, systematically disadvantaging smaller provinces like Sindh. The state’s governance model appears fundamentally extractive, prioritizing narrow political and economic interests over the fundamental rights and survival of millions of agricultural communities.  Decision-making processes are opaque, unresponsive, and seemingly indifferent to the existential challenges faced by ordinary citizens.

The farmers’ protest is more than a regional dispute; it is a fundamental challenge to the government’s priorities. As the lands of Sindh continue to parch and farmers face potential economic ruin, the Pakistani government’s inaction speaks volumes. The crisis demands immediate, comprehensive intervention – not just for Sindh, but for the very sustainability of Pakistan’s agricultural future. Without immediate action, Sindh could experience significant migration within 10 years. The proposed canal projects would “devastate” the province, turning productive agricultural lands into an unproductive desert. The situation is dire. With water flows downstream of the Kotri Barrage reaching zero under normal conditions, and total dissolved solids in water reaching hazardous levels, the very survival of Sindh’s agricultural communities hangs in the balance. The farmers of Sindh are not just fighting for water; they are fighting for survival, for their lands, and for a future that seems to be evaporating before their eyes. To address the water crisis with urgency and compassion should be the priority, or but not witness the systematic destruction of an entire province’s economic and ecological foundation. (Khaama Express)

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A second case of poliovirus in as many days took this year’s tally to 24 on Saturday, four times more as compared to 2023.

The latest child to be affected by the paralytic disease is a 29-month-old boy in Hyderabad district of Sindh, the Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradica­tion at the National Institute of Health confirmed.

The child, a resident of Chishtian colony, was vaccinated on Sept 11 during the recent nationwide vaccination drive, and again on Sept 19, according to Hyderabad Deputy Commissioner Zainul Abiden Memon.

The vaccination “did weaken the virus” but couldn’t eradicate it completely, as per the official.

After visiting the child and his family at their residence on Saturday, the DC said the child’s stool sample had been collected on Sept 14 following the family’s complaint of paralysis in the child’s body.

After ten days, the sample confirmed the presence of wild poliovirus (WPV1), the official added.

This is the second case from Hyderabad this year after one was reported in Aug­ust. Of the 24 polio cases, 15 were from Balochistan, five from Sindh, two from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad, a lab official confirmed.

Of the two dozen cases, seven have been reported since the vaccination campaign concluded on Sept 14. According to the polio programme, the nationwide polio vaccination campaign covered 33 million children under the age of five in 115 districts.

Despite the challenges, the polio programme hopes to curb the virus transmission by mid-2025 through a “comprehensive roadmap”.

The roadmap, made in consultation with the provinces, was focused on ensuring the vaccination of every child in polio high-risk areas, plugging operational gaps, building community trust through open communication, mapping and vaccinating all migrants and strengthening management and oversight to achieve the objective of polio eradication.

The polio programme has planned two more vaccination campaigns before the end of the year to boost immunity among the children.

Prime Minister’s Focal Person for Polio Eradication Ayesha Raza Farooq has called on parents and communities to fulfil their duty and ensure polio vaccination for children.

“Polio has no cure, yet it is entirely preventable with the help of an easily accessible vaccine that the government provides to families at their doorsteps.”

Meanwhile, experts have raised concern over the virus situation in the country.

A polio expert, wishing not to be quoted, told Dawn that it was a testing time for the new leadership as the widespread immunity gap would lead to more cases in the next couple of months despite a lot of hard work on the ground. (The Dawn)

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In Sindh, Pakistan, Hindu community lives under constant fear of being accused of blasphemy by radical Muslims and extremist groups like Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), all of which enjoy patronage from the Islamic state.

Even for those who have been discharged by the court for being wrongly accused of blasphemy, there is constant danger of being lynched.

Take the case of Notan Lal, Principal of a private school and a resident of Ghotki, Sindh. In 2019, some of his students accused him of blasphemy. It was not an ordinary accusation–the charges would lead to life imprisonment or even a death sentence under the most heinous penal clauses in the world. Pakistan, over the years, has made the law against blasphemy so retrogressive that more often than not people charge others, especially minorities, of blasphemy for revenge, taking over property or forcibly marry.

Notan Lal’s case triggered an orgy of violence in Ghotki. Hindu temples were razed. Hindu families were attacked and driven to fear. The school where Notan Lal worked was attacked by arsonists. The attack against Hindus was led by Mian Mithoo, an influential Sunni leader who have been accused of promoting forcible abduction, rape, conversion and marriage of young Hindu girls. A fact finding committee, appointed by the Ministry of Human Rights, concluded that the attacks on temples and riots were premeditated, politically motivated and had tacit political support. In 2022, Notan Lal, a father of four children, was sentenced to life.

Early this month, a High Court judge threw out the case against the Hindu teacher on the ground of the case being investigated shoddily and prosecution failures to produce material witnesses to prove the charges against the teacher.

Back at home, Notan Lal and family are haunted by an equally deep rooted fear of being attacked by militant groups. The local community wants security for Lal. They fear that powerful Sunni groups could either frame him on trumped up charges or kill him brutally.

Such fears are widespread in the Hindu community in Sindh. In Kandiyari Sanghar for instance, a woman and her three children were abducted. The main accused is an influential cleric in the region, Maulvi Mula Baksh. Her husband has been trying his best to file a criminal complaint but without any success so far. The police, as often in cases of atrocities against Hindus, are doing everything possible to fudge the case.

Members of the Bheel community in Sindh have also been protesting for long against forced acquisition of their land by local Muslim communities. Their houses have been demolished or burnt by marauding Muslim locals. The community lives under constant fear.

The fear stalks Hindus elsewhere too in Sindh. Young girls and women, even married, constantly face harassment from Muslim men; many of them are abducted, raped and forced to convert before being forcibly married. Police, judiciary and political authorities are equally complicit in these heinous crimes. (Singapore Post)

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Qaumi Awami Tehreek president Ayaz Latif Palijo has termed selection of only six urban districts for extension in census deadline ‘discriminatory’ saying it reflects policymakers’ bias towards rural Sindh where aborigines reside for centuries.

Palijo said in a letter addressed to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Federal Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal on Tuesday that the selective extension was a mean attempt to divide people of Sindh. The days of ‘divide and rule’ were gone and entire Sindh stood united against such injustice, he said.

He called for complete scrapping of the census exercise since it was based on discrimination and was part of an anti-Sindh plan to undercount actual population of the province in general and in rural areas in particular.

He urged the premier and the federal minister to scrap ongoing census exercise since it was based on dishonesty and discrimination and reminded them that although international norms and the country’s constitution required that census be held every 10 years but this one was being conducted only after five years under the influence of some ethnic groups.

He said that people of Sindh would not remain silent if injustice was meted out to the province. The QAT and other political parties of Sindh had been warning since January this year that they would reject the census results if their reservations were not addressed, he said.

He said that a 12 member-advisory committee formed to finalise a working paper for holding of census exercise did not have a single demographer from Sindh. The census, he said, was a subject that fell under the purview of Council of Common Interests (CCI) but all decisions on its conduct were taken by a coterie of anti-Sindh individuals, who had made Census 2017 and 2023 controversial and unacceptable, he said.

Palijo said that highly inaccurate and moth-eaten block maps were fed into tablets used in the much trumpeted digital census and thousands of villages of Sukkur, Larkana, Mirpurkhas, Benazirbad and Hyderabad divisions and over 20 million people living in riverine areas, Kohistan, Thar, Nara, Achro Thar, coastal belt and Kachho were left out of the count.

He said that it was a shame that even British colonial rulers who used only pencils and paper in their census had not done such injustice to Sindh as the technologically advanced federal government had done. Other countries completed counting within a single day while this census was lingering on for two months, he said.

He said that Rs35bn spent on this exercise had gone down the drain because not only the methodology but the very intent was foul. Therefore, he said, no extension in census date could undo the damage done to Sindh.

Govt urged to take back hike in life-saving drugs’ prices

Palijo demanded in a statement issued here on Tuesday immediate withdrawal of recent raise in the prices of life-saving drugs and said it was tantamount to depriving the poor of their right to life.

He said that rulers were in fact making death cheaper than life. The insensitive government did not have anything for labourers, peasants and the poor and their life did not matter to them because they saw people as only their ‘voting machines’.

He said that privileged class easily proceeded to London, Dubai and America for treatment and that was why public healthcare sector had been left in a shambles.

The government must put an end to anti-people steps and take back raise in the prices of life-saving drugs, he said.

He said that on the one hand people did not have quality healthcare facilities while on the other medicines’ prices were being raised, which were already pretty beyond their reach.

He said that healthcare facilities, if any, were available only to rulers, capitalists, jagirdars and the affluent, leaving only a faulty, malfunctioning health system for the poor.

He said that PML-N, PPP, JUI-F and MQM would not be allowed to play with integrity of Sindh through digital census. These parties might do anything for their lust for power but they should leave Sindh alone, he said, adding real change could be brought about with change in system and not change of faces.

Palijo said that rich, capitalists, rulers and jagirdars had handed over the country to international imperialist forces for their petty gains. Pakistan faced a crisis and it required a national government to settle down things, he said. (Dawn)

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