Bumper Crops, Starving Villages

Ali Nawaz Rahimoo

Umarkot: In the faded two-inch photograph of two-year-old Nimra, she appears peacefully asleep eyes closed as though resting in eternal silence. Death had not disfigured her innocence. It seemed even death itself had recoiled from her purity.

Yet the poverty and despair in which her father lived stripped away the safety of her existence. In an act of unbearable desperation, he consigned not only Nimra but four of his daughters to the river.

That tiny photograph now tells the story of thousands across Sindh people perishing in the suffocating grip of poverty, neglect, and hopelessness.

Nimra’s closed eyes have opened countless questions, piercing the conscience of a nation where the majority of citizens, often reduced to nothing more than political slogans, are being stripped of their very humanity.

Politicians rise to power on promises of food, clothing, and shelter, pledging to safeguard lives, yet poverty continues to silence the masses.

Poverty’s Deep Roots in Sindh

In rural Sindh, where poverty runs deepest, families sink into despair one by one. Scholars often say: “Poverty breeds inhumanity.” But who truly embodies inhumanity?

Read More: https://thepenpk.com/groundwater-quality-in-tharparker-a-parched-land-in-need/

Is it only the desperate mother who ends her own life and those of her children?

Was Wahid Hassan the only father who drowned his four daughters?

Every day, girls are slaughtered by fathers, brothers, and relatives. Every day, suicides rise. To blame only the poor and uneducated for such tragedies is to ignore the collective numbness of a society that stands as a silent spectator while children are abandoned, sold, or starved.

The crisis is systemic, and official data lays it bare:

45% — higher than the national average of 39.5% (PIDE, 2024).

75.5%, meaning three in four rural residents live in deprivation.

In 10 districts, over 70% of people remain below the poverty line despite billions spent.

In Thatta, Sujawal, Kashmore, Badin, and Jacobabad, poverty surpasses 80%, even higher than Tharparkar.

66% in Thatta and Jacobabad, 59% in Kashmore, 56% in Badin, and 51% in Sujawal.

15.6% in Thatta, 12.2% in Kashmore, 11% in Badin, and 5.2% in Sujawal.

Nearly 50% of children in Sindh are stunted — the highest rate in Pakistan (World Bank/PDHS).

These figures expose the brutal truth: poverty in Sindh is not a marginal problem — it is a humanitarian disaster.

Wheat Surpluses, Empty Stomachs

How can Sindh celebrate bumper wheat harvests while its children starve? Landlords, owning vast tracts of land, quarrel over storage and procurement. The government debates exports. Meanwhile, a grandfather leaves his granddaughters at an Edhi center because he cannot feed them.

In flood-hit camps, children resemble those from Ethiopia — swollen bellies, frail bodies — even as granaries overflow with surplus wheat.

Where Humanity Ends

Is inhumanity the inheritance of the poor alone? Or does it rest with rulers who amassed fortunes while their tenants drowned in hunger and debt?

When Seetal, a mother, killed her children to spare them from slow starvation, was she inhumane? Or do the true faces of inhumanity belong to those who govern — indifferent to hunger, yet drowning in wealth?

In just three years, poverty in Sindh has deepened, while the wealth of rulers has multiplied. Their fortunes grow in gold and property, while ordinary citizens are crushed under unemployment and hunger.

Read More: https://thepenpk.com/zubeida-mustafa-a-trailblazing-role-model-for-women-in-journalism/

Jobs are reserved for the allies of the elite; those demanding livelihoods are beaten by police. Teachers, health workers, and laborers are punished for protesting. Billions are allocated not for development but for police and rangers to maintain “order.”

Exiles on Their Own Land

The people of Sindh have become exiles on their own soil. Flood-hit children beg on the streets. Generations displaced by disasters are now displaced again by poverty — denied food, shelter, and work. Meanwhile, the ruling elite revel in extravagance.

Poverty has not only swallowed resources and the economy; it has begun eroding human bonds — a mother’s tenderness, a father’s protection, the warmth in a grandmother’s eyes.

So, where does inhumanity truly lie?

In Seetal, who could not bear to leave her children in such a merciless world and chose death with them? In Wahid Hassan, who drowned his daughters to escape taunts and shame?

Or in the society itself — which watches silently, unmoved, as its people die every single day in poverty?

He added that his client had filed a claim to settle matters with his first wife. However, when asked whether this claim was submitted before or after the second marriage, the lawyer failed to give a clear answer.

The bench ruled that the arguments presented carried no merit and upheld the trial court’s sentence of three months in prison along with a fine of Rs1 million.

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

The writer is a social development professional based in Umerkot Sindh. He can be contacted on anrahimoo@gmail.com.