Endemic of Water 

Editorial Pictorial

Asem Mustafa Awan: These three siblings walk for miles on daily basis to obtain water. They have grown up carrying these containers because the most precious natural resource of clean water is denied to them. Their daily quest for water goes on rain or shine, cold or hot.
The scene is set in Quetta, the provincial capital, key to China Pakistan Economic Corridor being enacted, the updates of which are regularly shared so enthusiastically by the government every other day.

The daily chores of the three siblings are common throughout the land of ‘five rivers’. These scenes are to be observed and seen throughout the country in many cities. The failure to provide the basic facility of clean drinking water to its subject tantamount to the gross dereliction of the responsibility by the State. For these children education and health come well below on their list of priorities as much of their day and energy is taken up fetching water.

The numbers can be fudged and figures can be altered but the fact remains there is no change in the lives of millions who face this arduous task everyday.

The nation’s exasperation increases when we add to the plight of these children to those already on or below the poverty line, millions of flood victims and millions that are added to the poverty line by closure of industries by downturn in the economic.

The list gets longer and longer. What we observe and what we see is just the tip of the iceberg. The actually reality is far more unforgiving.

Pakistan has become a nation of unrelenting ‘queues’- queues for clean water, queues for flour bags , queues for fuel, an unending queues for millions with no end in sight. The land of five rivers and agriculture is unable to feed its citizens. For years citizens are having to go without basic essentials.

The national exchequer is also empty and it is not because it has been spent on the welfare of people. This is the biggest conundrum which only those in government and authority can explain.

According to the data from the international organization namely Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO),  Pakistan, only a few years ago, was amongst the world’s top ten producers of wheat, cotton, sugarcane, mango, dates and oranges, and was ranked 10th in the production of rice.
Despite its impressive agricultural production, the country is still facing high levels of food insecurity. According to a global report published jointly by FAO, WFP, UNICEF, WHO and IFAD in 2019, 20.3 per cent of Pakistan’s population (40.0 million people) is undernourished/food insecure.

The prevalence of malnutrition amongst children aged 6-59 months is also very high, with an estimated 40% children stunted, 28% underweight, 18% wasted and 10% overweight.

This is an international report prepared with due consideration and it must have reached the policy makers, yet we are not seeing any remedial action. If there is an planning which we don’t know about than it must be the best kept secret which the politicians and their advisors feel that the public should not know.

Many of senior politicians in or out of government have acquired to live elsewhere. They only come to Pakistan otherwise they happy to remain in their havens outside the country. They can be truly described as visitors to Pakistan with abodes, bank accounts and investments in abroad.

Charles Mackay wrote these words in the 19^thCentury ‘there’s a good time coming’. Our politicians are quick to harp this tune. But the time never comes.

The writer is a journalist based in Islamabad and writes on a wide range of issues.

Photo Credit: APP