After The Flood, Hunger And Betrayal Awaits

Asem Mustafa Awan

Islamabad: A child sits alone on a woven charpai, his small frame dwarfed by the vast sheet of muddy floodwater that has swallowed his home and his world. In his eyes, there is neither complaint nor expectation — only a silent wait for food, for care, for life itself.

He may not know it, but he has become the face of a tragedy that has uprooted millions across Pakistan.

Who knows if he will survive?

Only God knows. But survival, for children like him, is not simply about escaping the rising waters.

It is about what comes after — the hunger, the disease, and the long years of deprivation that leave scars far deeper than any flood.

The floods have left thousands of villages in ruin. Families who once lived off the land — sustaining themselves through crops, livestock, and simple means — now sit in makeshift shelters or stranded under open skies.

Relief camps are too few, too scattered, and cannot possibly hold the enormity of human loss. For every child pictured in aid appeals, there are thousands more waiting unseen, hungry and forgotten.

These children are already victims of a silent crisis. Even before the waters came, Pakistan’s poorest bore the burden of stunted growth, of malnutrition that robs bodies and minds of their futures.

They were fed food laced with unchecked adulteration, with no punishment in sight for those who profit off poison. Dead meat — from chickens and even donkeys — has been cooked and fed to rich and poor alike, a betrayal of both health and faith. What greater betrayal could there be than to strip people of dignity through what they eat?

Now, in the wake of the floods, their suffering deepens. Waterborne diseases lurk in stagnant pools. Mosquitoes breed freely, bringing malaria and dengue. With crops destroyed, food insecurity will tighten its grip. Aid may pour in, but too often, the faces of the poor are paraded to extract donor money while real accountability never arrives.

The child on the charpai does not know this, but he is already being used — as a symbol of tragedy in a cycle where the suffering of the poor becomes currency for others.

Those who died in the floods have departed for an eternal abode. But those left behind face the toughest of times.

Their survival will not depend on handouts alone but on whether this country can finally awaken to its duty — to protect, to provide, and to punish those who exploit misery. Until then, the wait of this child, and thousands like him, continues.

Asem Mustafa Awan has extensive reporting experience with leading national and international media organizations. He has also contributed to reference books such as the Alpine Journal and the American Alpine Journal, among other international publications.

The article is the writer’s opinion, it may or may not adhere to the organization’s editorial policy.

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