OBAMA, INDIA, MYANMAR,US, NATO, AFGHANISTAN...SOME THOUGHTS.

US President Obama addressing Indian students.

After the midterm strategic defeat after which the president addressed his nation  in a pensive mood, the Indian visit of Mr Obama was relaxed and friendly. President Obama seemed very respectful of the Indian hosts during this visit. His  interesting answers were to the University students who asked him some very smart questions. The thing what struck me about the Indian students was their very courtesied yet easy behavior and language when addressing the president. Unlike the Pakistani youth whose way of addressing the seniors especially if they are foreign dignitaries is usually accusative, in weak grammar and mostly generalized. Mr Obama did say that India will become a security council permanent member but it had to improve its behavior vis-a-vis  Myanmar and Iran. The Pakistani commentators have mostly ignored this answer but I think this was a very smart annexure on the part of Mr Obama. The Myanmar support that India so openly gives to the dictatorial and fascist regime shows the utter duplicity and pretensions of India being such a big democracy. The human rights abuses, the utter inhuman treatment and genocide of the Karen people that the Myanmar regime is blatantly doing, has been totally ignored by all Indian governments. They are even ignoring the fact that North Korea is quietly and steadily helping the despots build a nuclear facility. It is a shame that at such a time that they have staged a sham election, Indian government smilingly shakes hands with the US president and asks for actions in Pakistan.
Aung Sun Su Kyi is still imprisoned and had asked the people to boycott elections. A reporter inside told CNN that the response was not so bad from where he was but I think from the faces and skin of the people it seemed that a lot of them have suffered unbearable violence. This has been reported continuously even from the Muslim Karen community who are misnamed Nepalese or Bengalis in Karachi that unimaginable violence and repression is used unashamedly by the Myanmar army regime.
As regards Iran India is on good terms with Afghanistan government , Iran government and is even accused of destabilizing the Baluchistan province of Pakistan.
The US and NATO forces may be suffering some losses but would be foolish to leave the region any time soon. The matters are too serious and somehow the surge will have to continue. The spill over effects in Pakistan as quoted by Kazi Hussain Ahmed of Jamaate Islami are not because of the presence of these forces  but is part of a larger Al-Qaeda/ Islamist plan to take over the region of Afghanistan & Pakistan and establish an Islamic Caliphate. This kind of movement will intensify if these forces leave early.
The talks with Taleban should not be a no no but the other stake holders like the Pakistan army who are directly fighting the Pakistani militants have to be consulted.
US realizes the strategic importance of a stable Pakistan and it did emphasize this to India in order to bring the Kashmir problem to focus. With the Republicans taking over the lower house and the elections in two years time, we have to hope that Afghanistan is stabilized by that time. Any move to inflame Iran at this time will again reverse any gains made maybe more severely than the silly but dangerous war opened in Iraq. With the bombings and killings of Shias by Sunnis in Iraq , this same kind of scenario will become common in Iran which will be very dangerous for this nuclear armed region.
Pakistan must do its part to bring stability in the region by taking head on the militant and terror groups but that to me seems impossible as this society is too polarized with small vested interest groups in all its makeup.

The Flood Relief Efforts By Youth In Karachi.

FLP team with 9 year old volunteer and Highway Patrol Officer.

The team of volunteers with Future Leaders of Pakistan.

The massive devastation and displacement caused by floods in Pakistan brought immense grief and difficulties for the people affected but the youth of Pakistan especially that from Karachi showed the spirit of humanitarian volunteerism and caring.It gives us hope that the Pakistani nation is alive and has a bright future inspite of the immense negative challenges and destructive obstacles to its progress and development. One such extremely active, smart and sincere group is the Future Leaders Of Pakistan.

 Its members including Jamal Ashiquain, a photographer, Sana Saleem , a medical student, blogger, writer and activist, Hira Saleem, a student, artist and photographer, Mrs. Malik, Sana and Hira's aunt and lady transport enterpreuner and many other young volunteers have adopted camps around Hyderabad and Jamshoro. They have provided them food, Shelter, Wash and NFI's and are now planning their rehabilitation.

His clothes should always fit and he should have shoes.

 They hold medical camps also where they invite specialists to see the patients and provide medicines. Active in this group is also very kind officers of the Hyderabad Highway patrol who not only provide security but also much needed medical and emergency help to these camps. The initial condition of the flood affectees was so bad according to Sana Saleem when the mainly Marri tribes people settled around Hala came almost without any belongings clutching to their kids and a goat or two. They had no shelter and as there were no trees in the Jamshoro area where they landed they just sat along a few bushes. The difficulty the young volunteers faced was that the women in the camps were not allowed to take any food or help without the men's permission. The traditional male dominance and mistrust of the strangers was gradually won over by persistent and consistent humanitarian behaviour of the volunteers. When I visited the camp last month for a medical camp the people were very welcoming and flocked around for medical help. We provided medicines and the highway Patrol Officer even provided link for free medical tests as advised to a few patients in Hyderabad in addition to providing promptly the medicines that were not there.
Sana Saleem had arranged with the Pakistan Medical Association water purification filter systems which were installed.The incidence of diarrhea was not so prevalent in this camp as they were using water in clean ,covered containers provided. It seemed the major problem was the Sanitation as there were no toilets and the women were especially without bath. Many skin infections in children and women were because of lack of  bathing facility. This problem is seen in almost all camps in Pakistan as the toilets and shelter cluster is only around 12% pledged. As the water drainage in Sindh will take almost an year to be completed, there is dire need for temporary Wash and shelter facilities to be given for rehabilitation. many houses will not be inhabitable as almost all areas are flooded and the houses have to be rebuilt. The one room concept now accepted as part of OCHA planning is already proposed by the Institute of Architects of Pakistan. We have inspected the shelters made of bamboo and reed which can be used for home abodes, clinics, schools and offices.the entire structure can be easily installed and dismanteled and relocated. Bathrooms can also be made from the same materials. Details are on this blog. http://developmentpakistan.blogspot.com/

Mother and Child health should be the first priority in Pakistan's development.

The amazing youth Sana Saleem.

Dr Meher Zaidi loves welfare work.

We should give them hope and a future with education.

The wheel of Life must go on.

Medical check.

Water filters.

The groups from Karachi like the Future Leaders of Pakistan have a long way to go and I am sure people like these will make Pakistan a country worth living.

THE SOCIO_CULTURAL DEGENERATION OF SINDH..THE RED FLAG OF KHIPRO CASE.

THE SOCIO-CULTURAL DEGENERATION OF SINDH.

Sheikh Ayaz 

Sachal Shrine

Shah Latif Shrine.

Bhagat amazing art form.

Sindhi footware most original.

sindhi gaj work 

.

Sindhi Alphabet.

The ancient land of Sindhu has a very vast, extremely rich socio-cultural background. This is a land of more than a million saints. Not an inch of this fascinating land of Sufis, sages poets,  and singers is bereft of a cultural history so rich and varied that it may take several intellectual lifetimes to unravel the mysteries of the wise saints and poets and yet the task may remain unfinished. The works of great saintly poets like Hazrat Sachal Sarmast, expressed in languages of the Indus region as varied as Seraiki, Sindhi, Punjabi, Persian, remain to this day mainly unpublished, translated or intellectually explored. His great poetic expression is a vast and deep treasure of religio-philosophcal wisdom that has been the hallmark of linguistic and intellectual expression in the Indo-Pak subcontinent. Nowhere in the world such profoundly humanistic and almost divine poetical methods of expression is used by millions of sages in a short space of history as it is in Sindh, It seems that all the love, tolerance, intellectual expression in poetic form of divine  thought has passed into the souls of these great Sindhi poetic saints.

Millions of people from all over the subcontinent have been drinking out of this fountain of beauty and love. The ancient ritual of finding a mentor, a teacher and then spending one’s whole life at his feet, trying to reach God, in one’s own way, through intellectual probing that was the tradition in the Indo-Pak subcontinent has gradually been eroded , like the “Kallar” that has eaten away the fertile land of Sindhu’s vast expanse.

As the transition from an ancient to a modern life has been  intellectually uneven and incomplete in Sindh, the ugly spectre of immorality, dishonesty  and violence has become a part and parcel of the average man’s life. The recent case of the Khipro rape, blackmailing and utter devastation of the entire population of an ancient town has been raised like a red flag for all of us to realize our demoralization and deviation from our ancient path of dignity, tolerance, love and respect that was the gem of our socio-cultural existence. The ugliness, the baneness and the smallness is so profoundly writ by this incident that we must react by rejecting this sort of attack on our cultural values.

Will there be discourse on this ugly fact as a very narrow , modern religio-political concept of Islamism ala deobandi/Pathan/ Islamist   or a more probing, humane search for answers in a sagely manner which is so characteristic of Sindhis of yore years.

The poetry of Hazrat Sachakl Sarmast  Marvandi, the poetry of Shah Abdul Lateef Bhittai and a million other Sindhis is there as a guiding light to show us the true path of reaching God, by treading softly on the sands  of the Sindhu’s warm lands. We must turn away from the ugly, superficial, bitter modern path of intolerance and blackmail. We must treat the human body like a cherished beautiful creation of God. We must respect the soul of a  person ,be it  a man  or a woman. This ugly creation of the modern Islamist of taking away the right of education of a girl by exposing the society to these immoral acts where a modern life is infested with immorality in our society must be fought against. This shows that in the towns of Sindh there is utter breakdown of law and order. This shows that there is vast disconnect between the administration and the people of the town.This shows that there is no true representation of the people in matters of the state .The implication that this gang of about 17 boys and girls who are operating some kind of a  pornographic blackmailing ring in Khipro since quite some time shows that how far and wide the gap between the average citizen and the administrative machinery has become. Each seems to operate in a different sphere. Due to continuous Martial laws and disenfranchisement of the people, the voice and say of the common man is inconspicuous. The decisions for the town well being are not made. All are imposed and that too in an arbitrary manner. Sindh is a state where there should be research on how there was so much cultural cohesion in ancient and premodern times and how the state has become so superficial and cruel in modern times. The Sindhi speaking population has to address these issues in a cultural context.

A large complaint by the Hindu community which has been  living in Sindh pre-Islam that their girls have been largely targeted shows the ugly religious intolerance that is breeding amongst the administrative setup imposed on Sindh. Hindus in Sindh are accepted culturally and socially as equals since ancient  times. Post Pakistan’s creation this harmony continued till a certain time when the neo-Islamist/Deobandi mentality especially of the administration and police has eroded the fabric of this harmonious society. The concept of ruling from the centre has continuously weakened the consensus and tolerant socio-cultural harmony. The modern politician who has to fight an election is continuously on the defensive, always looking over its shoulder for safety. No time is given for true representation of the people. The Wadera keeps his power because not enough time is given to a democratic polity to develop. The naming and division of Sindh along minority that is religious and majority has really harmed the socio-cultural profile of Sindh. This is against the Sindhi spirit. Now that Pakistan is a reality, this continuous tussle and tension will not let the spirit of Sindhism survive. Even the nationalists who may have been on the left of centre have become small groups behaving like a “Pseudo-Center” itself. That there are so many of them and not even agreeing on basics, and fanning their fire on ethnic intolerance is a comment on itself.

The whole concept and soul of Sindh is tolerance and a deeply spiritual path to strive for truth and God. It has nothing to do with superficial and artificial worldly existence such a s the body form. What does “Moomal” stand for? Treading softly on the warm sands of the “Bhit” will there be not a “New Sindh” same as the ancient SIndh where men and women are equal . Equal in the eyes of God, humans and  the poet Sufis. Where the only path to God is through love, the heart and tolerance. Where the rich and varied colors of the Ajrak and the Rilli emphasize and empathize with the woman, man and child. Where the peacock dance is as precious in the sands of Thar as it is  on the stage of  an auditorium.

Mera Saeen Shah Abdul latif Bhittai. 

We have to come out of the soapy, artificial  Indian/Bollywoodsy cultural assault  on our  values. We have to stand against the ugly, deathly  Islamic/ neo-fascist assault on our Sindhi culture. We have to find our roots in the deep abyss of peace that shines bright on our future, within our Sufis, within our folklore, within our music, within our poetry. The Sindhi literature  has to be researched and published. The young Sindhi has to make choice between MBA degree or the Social sciences  and art degree. The young Sindhi has to find the meaning in life by not just pursuing a government job and worldly goods but also a fulfilling life as a teacher, social scientist, agricultural expert. Above all the young Sindhi has to endorse the seal of love, tolerance and peaceful co-existence. The young Sindhi has to reach out to the world not through blackmail and the internet misuse but through researching and truly publishing its enormous literary and socio-cultural wealth and wisdom. Only by this spirit of research and finding the truth will the young Sindhi make an indelible mark on the history of the modern world. States may come and go but true poetry, literature and culture of a people remains.

The Politics For Fools..A Citizen's Perspective.

Pakistan has faced the biggest floods in modern history. The world seems ignorant of the devastating impact of the dire consequences, bleak future and dark, grim reality that awaits like an ugly Mephistopheles in the lurch behind. The political circle of fools continues spinning incessantly, throwing spits of blood, gory and putrid. The citizenry trudges along, heavy with economic burden, with emaciated bodies and sore, shoeless feet. Like a Picasso image, so etched in memory or like a Sartre opening paragraph from Iron in the Soul.


Is there dignity in the way citizenry is treated? We are but ignorant fools. We the poor, burdened emaciated citizens. As the thick, poisonous , tentacles of the ivies of treachery and deciept spread around us, we the fools, pretend not to notice. The shrill laughter of the decieptful  beauracrats, politicians, smugglers, religious gangsters, murderers, tricksters, fuedals and their sycphantic lepors and parasitic servants continues to bleed us  incessantly.http://www.cartoonstock.com/lowres/plo0090l.jpg
They think we are fools but we see with our Heart's eyes, with our soul's purity. Yes we do see.
We see how the fools have been playing silly politics by showing you and me category where it should have been us. In Karachi, in Hyderabad, in Sindh. We have been playing irrelevant politics where we should have been working on the field , with the people, among the people in Punjab but where the party head of the popular government has totally become irrelevant whereas his younger brother has taken on all uniforms on one man role for this day and age. We have been playing dormant, intellectually and socially in Baluchistan where the Booted Elite has tied our hands and nailed our feet. Where our so-called friendly fools have turned our economic progress into a war for freedom.
Alas the people have to rise. Alas the  people have to be given free and fair chance to lead their lives with dignity and egalitarian values. We , the citizens have to demand our basic rights to health, education , employment, freedom to worship, and dignity of labor.
The wily, slippery, street smart head of our state does manage to steer the ship along turbulent, choppy waters, with politics of inclusion but he has not been manouevering before. So , this does seem an experiment. but do we have a choice? There will be no state left if we do not let the rooster rule. We have to bear the brunt till completion of term. The mad media may shout, churm, and froth at its wide open mouth. We have to tolerate the role of being the corn in the cobmill for another few years. but the world moves fast. The idiotic, bigotted, demigods, with Draculine facies and Medusian minds from across and inside our borders continue to prey on our childrens' flesh and bones.

So will the ruling elite of extremely questionable intelligence and character be fair now and not fight uselessly over irrelevant issues and just work to improve the bad, bad, condition of its citizens. If there are no citizens , there will be no state. A big kick on your big fat asses.

Dr Meher Zaidi , the writer with her Moro flood region patients.

We want health, education, dignity of existence, food and right to choose life.

The floods 2010 washed and slapped across our fat faces the state of chronic malnutrition, hunger , bordering on starvation of our common man, woman and children.

This is how the common Pakistani man really looks like, if you take his torn and tattered clothes off.
The Pakistani Muslim reality that the Soapy, Vomitty, Media should continuously show. Its not the govt. DUMBOS its all of us.

My Broken Heart.Sindhi Health.

Mera dil tau hai sanam ashna 

Mujhe kiya milega namaz mein

Mere dard-e dil- ke  O charagar

Ke huwee hai tujh ko yeh kab khabar

Mein yahan chupaye hoon bechargee

Tu hai bekhabar, O charagar

Mera dil kata

Mera dil bujha

Mera jism faqat 

  Misaal Qafas-e-sar

Aye bekhabar, aye bekhabar

Kahan khawab mere

Kahan khawahishain

Tau hai kab mujhe tatolta?

Mein hun nange sar

Sare rehguzar

Yeh saraab saje haen jo Sindh par

Woh mere wajood ke hain zalzale

Woh mere naseeb ke hain hosle

Jo faqat bane hain mera

Ek sada muqaddar

Aur yeh lutere, charagar

Jo bane mere hain hamsafar

Sare Soo-e Daar

Charadhain ge

Mujhe Muqtadar

Mere charagar

Mein yuheen paree

Rahe-rehguzar

Na hai charagar

Na koi safar

Bas ek khamosh

Bund aur safar

Mujhe kiya milega namaz mein

Mein woh husn ki jo hun Marvi

Mein woh paak Mumal ki Ranui

Mein yuhee kharee hun

Is bund par

Sar-e rehguzar, nang sar

Aur kho gaya hai woh charagar

Kaheen dard mein, kaheen khawab mein

Yeh jo faasle hain beqadar

Kabhi khatam  hon

Na umeed kar

Yehi dhool mere naseeb ka

Banee sada Muqaddar

Mera nang sar

Mera dil bujha

Aur yeh aas bhi hai ab toot chukee

 Mujhe kiya milega namaz mein.

Bas aik lamha-e besabar

Bas aik Umeed-e Besehar

Meri sookhi aankh 

Ka khusk motee

Tau dekh le 

Aye charagar

Tujhe kiya milega namaz mein

Tera dil tau hai sanam ashna 

Tujhe kiya milega namaz mein

Tau hai Muqtadar

Par O charagar

Tau hai bekhabar

Tau hai bekhabar.

********************

Charagar Ka Jawab

Mein hun bekhabar, yuheen charagar

Mera dil tau hai sanam ashna

Mujhe kiya milega namaz mein

Mein khara yuheen is bund par

Sare rehguzar

Na jawab mere paas hai

Na hisaab mere paas hai

Na zulf ka aseer hun

Na jaam-e dastgir hun

Mera dil tau hai sanam aashna

mujhe kiya milega namaz mein

Mein tau aseer  apne wajood ka

Meri puhanch  bas meri Quba

Yeh jo zindagi ka hai silsila 

Mein isee ka hee ab aseer hun

Mere raat din hein ek saraab

Mere jid juhd ek faraib

Mein hun bekhabar hisaab se

Mein hun behaya , na hun basharam

Mein tau juhl ka hee aseer hun

Mein tau zulm ba qafas-e zameer hun

Mere silseley hein bare bure

Tau jo dekh le 

Tau jaan le

Mujhe kiya mile ga namaz mein

Yeh jo jaal hein phailaaye huwe

Mei ne apne wajud ke faraib se

Diye hein taqwiyat yeh faraib ko

Mere zulm-e laazawal ko

Mujhe kiya milega namaz mein

Mere haj, zakaat aur silsile

Yeh tere wajood- naheef ka

Karte hein aujhal silsila

Mujhe kiya milega namaz mein

Mere but bhi aur, mere jaam aur

Mera kaaba aur,  Shyaam aur

Mujhe kiya milega namaz mein

Mein hun bekhabar

Hisaab se

Magar ab theher O nang-e sar

Mujhe aati hai 

Khushboo-sar

sar-e daar se

Tu jo Nooh ki malook hai

Tu jo Moosa ki  hai hamsafar

Shayad tera bhi hai koi Khuda

 Muqtadar, Muqtadar

Woh kitaab hai utaarta

Woh bhaag hai sanwarta

Woh hai Muqtadar

Woh hai Muqtadar

Mein kaarobar sameit loon

Joh hai Jabal-e Shar

Mein shayad nijaat pa bhi loon

Mujhe kuch mile ga namaz mein

Tere hosle jo hain beqadar

Kaheen unka bhi kamal ho

Usee sajda-e nasooh mein

Mere zulm ka bhi hisaab ho

Teri aankh ka woh moti

Ho mera zareeai hisaab 

Aye Muqtadar

Aye nang sar

Teri thokaron ke hisaab mein

Mera dil hai ab bujha huwa

Mein hun Muqtadar ke saamne

Mera sar hai ab jhuka huwa.

Translation :

Alas my heart is an idol worshipper

Woe, what my namaz

O my dream maker

O my problem -solver

O my physician

O my Landlord

O my politician

O my ruler

Whence did thou know of my helplessness

O whence did thou know of my destitution

O whence did thou know of my hunger

O whence did thou know of my lost dreams

You are unaware

Alas you do not know

That my heart is broken into numerous shattered pieces

That my heart is bleeding from deep, deep cuts

It is smouldering, sorrowful, 

My weakened body, my hungry existence is just a parody

of life , of existence

O unaware, O unaware.

Where are my dreams, thou should ask

Where are my desires?

Ah, but whence do thou search my heart?

whence do thou probe my dreams?

I am wihout a shade

In this incessant sun

On the pathway

Shelterless, eternally

Landless, eternally.

Yes I follow the mirage of Sindh

Dusty, parched

Dreamless!

Those are the earthquakes of my existence

Those are the courage of my fate

That are my fate only

Eternally

Only

And these are the looters

And these are the dream-makers

False, false

Oh,so false!

These are my Humsafar

They will but hang me on the death hanger

My worldly lords, my dream makers

My abandoned existence on the dusty path

No solace, no helper

This quiet existence , no journey to a dream

 I lie, I lie abandoned.

Alas what solace in prayers will my wretched self get?

Or  will  it? 

Or is this my only hope

Yes my only lifeline is this link to God

 Otherwise ?

I, the beautiful pure Marvi

Stand alone on the Bund

Without scarf, without hope

And lost is my dream- maker

In some faraway dream.

Will these unassailble distances lessen

Do not hope

This dust is but my fate

In this land

My open head and my broken heart

My hope is also gone, lost

What will I get in prayers

Only a fleeting moment of joy?

Only a dark long night of unredeempt hope

And the dry, lustreless pearl of my eye

Is tearless

 Do you see it, O my dream-maker?

What will you get in namaz.

You are but powerful

But O dream-maker you are unaware

The Dream-maker's Answer

Lo and behold I am but an ignorant fool

Pretender, helper, dream-maker

My heart is but an abode of false idols

Here I stand on the bund

On this dusty path

I have no answer to your forlorn queries

Alas I have no accountability

I am not an ardent lover of your sweet, sickly face

O, Marvi

Neither does my heady wine flows for your parched lips

O Marvandi

My heart is but a den of idle idols

What use prayers for me

I am but a prisoner of my  false, fake existence

I can only concerned with my bodily comforts

I am but a prisoner of this intricate worldly life

Alas, my days and nights are

But a mirage

My strife and effort a false pretense

I am oblivious of repentance

I am but shameless

I am but a slave to ignorance

I keep my conscience in a cage, entrapped

Imprisoned

Lest it becomes free

My life's intricacies are despicable

I keep them hidden from your eyes

Lest you see them

 Lest the ugly truth be revealed

Huh, what will I get in prayers!

And these nets that I spread for trapping

By my fake existential being

These enhance and strengthen the falsehood

My tyrannical prowess

Huh, What will I get in prayers!

My Hajj, zakat and other silsile

Hide your emaciated existence

From the eyes of the world

Huh; what will I get in prayers!

My idols are different

My wine is but a different flavor

My Kaaba different

My Shiyam different

What will I get in prayers?

I am but ignorant

Of the ultimate accountability

But behold 

Wait O uncovered

I do hear the news

I do smell the smell of accountability

From the site of the hangman's place

Yes you are the wretched poor follower of Noah

Yes you are the journey partner of Moses

Yes you do have a God

Powerful, Almighty

He that sends down the books

He that adorns your ways

He is the powerful

He is the Almighty

Wait

let me pack my business

That which is a mountain of evil

Maybe I can find redemption

Maybe I get something in prayer

Your strengths unbound

They should be rewarded

This eternal prostration of redemption

May lead me to freedom from sin

Your dry eyed pearl

should be enough for my redemption

O ,that with uncovered head

O powerful

In your feet I lie

For salvation

My heart is smoldering now

I am in the presence of the powerful 

My head is bowed in front of the Almighty.

What the Floods Revealed in Sindh : Politics, Progress, Governance.

http://blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/755/guns-and-poppies-in-sindh/

As I wrote the article on the Drug/ Wadera nexus that is destroying Sindh, the floods that washed almost half the area in Sindh and especially the same areas that I mentioned were notorious for poppy cultivation, so many truths about life  in Sindh are coming to light. Some issues I will discuss here.
The areas of Dadu, Shahdadkot, Khairpur Nathan Shah, Jacobabad, are notorious for the dacoities and kidnappings if you are travelling by road. Almost all these areas are no go if you travel without armed escort or local wadera or overlords' cover. The only way to reach or do anything in these areas is by contact with the local overlord or Wadera who also is usually the elected politician. Almost all the people who get elected to seats in provincial and national assemblies are sons, daughters and wives of these overlords. The entire area is owned by these people and the cities are mere extensions of their jaagirs as became clear in the  massive flooding of the entire town of Khairpur Naathan Shah. The elected representative who goes by the name of Imran Leghari and who is supposedly the son of some Zafar Leghari , a supposedly respectable PPP stalwart of yesteryears, came on Sindh television and other Sindhi channels again & again complaining that his town was drowning and the administration was doing nothing and all his crops and lands were drowned. The fact of the matter is that these so called elected representatives, the jaagirdaars and Waderas of Sindh were enjoying almost Pharoahnic power  of Biblical proportions where they not only enjoyed enormous crop wealth but also all the money from taxpayers plus all the development funds plus the various mafia businesses and drug/ poppy cultivation businesses that were the new wave of making enormous money in Sindh.I must add to this the businesses of kidnapping, car thefts and other smuggling like human smuggling.
 All the Kaccha land was bieng ocupied by these drug mafia, who are not foreignours but waderas of the same areas.  I hav efrequently visited the "Bela" areas and Kaccha areas in the past for medical and social work so I am well aware of the demographics and the geography.
What had Mr. Imran Leghari, though young in his years done to devise any plan for protection, evacuation, logistics and preparedness of Khirpur Nathan Shah residents in case any disaster fell upon its residents? What had he planned in case a fire engulfed the market? What had he planned in case an epidemic hit the area? Nothing. He is just talking non-sense blaming other people for these woes. All his concious life he has just been acting like a Prince himself, illiterate, unkind, lording over his subjects. All this has become apparent in total lack of relief and rescue when an entire city which has so much businessmen in its fold was drowned helplessly overnight. This kind of lethargic behaviour is apparent in all towns of Sindh where local communities like business community, agricultural community etc have no citizens development or rotary clubs. All over Sindh there is little or no community behaviour of philanthrophic oversight and citizen participation. The vestiges of local governments which would have cultivated some grassroots participation were abolished by the Wadera/ Elitist/ Politician nexus. This is not negative criticism. This is a fact.
While the Thori bund breaches were taking their toll on other lands the waters re- routed their wrath and like God's wrath they hit this town. Had Mr. Imran Zafar Leghari, the crowned prince alias 'Elected Representative' of Khairpur Nathan Shah had truely and informedly, uncorruptly worked, planned for his people, he would have not appeared so helpless like a poor Sindhi Karo-Karid woman and said that oh the administration failed and we were only helped by army and maybe some by Zulfikar Mirza. There are still several thousands who are sitting shelterless, foodless, helpless, in scorching heat and dust in open areas in Sindh because they are poor. There are still several thousands of the "Riyaya" of these lordly 'Princes" who are helpless, naked and hungry in the parched lands of Sindh, and who do not have "relations" with these waderas and fuedals , who do not have three houses, one in Karachi, one in Hyderabad and one in native town, and who do not have 50 lakh, blackened windowed, air conditioned cars for comfortable travel, frequent raping of underage  girls inside these vehicles ,even in Defence areas of Karachi,(as most of their Karachi houses are in Defence), frequent carrying of murdered people in these vehicles as they are never, ever checked, especially with a party flag displayed.
The thiefs and dacoits are very active looting the flood affectees, their properties and whatever is left in their homes. The Sindh television anchor Mr Manzoor asked as to how they were so active with boats whereas the evacuation was so slow and limited. The answer is simple. The dacoits and theives with boats were always there . They are residing in Sindh towns, Bela and Kaccha areas. They are supported by the local overlords and they are ignored by the administaration and police. By the way the police is insufficient in numbers, corrupt and its lower staff behaves like servants of the local powerful.The non-Sindhi officers who are posted get transferred after a short term on the whims of the local fuedal.
Majority of these so called elected representatives are riding on the backs of the fame of the now dead leaders and are using their names to show or legitimise their claim to power through ballot. Due to complete lack of choice and also illiteracy and poverty, the masses in Sindh have no way of knowing who else to elect. The tragedy is that these younger lot instead of educating themselves , coming down from their occupied 'thrones' and understanding the political economy of a modern state and politics, are whiling away time. The state of Pakistan is bieng termed a "failed state" not becuase it means to finish off its existence but to bring about improvement on its indices on governance, development, corruption, social sectors and justice.
To survive in the modern world the state's apparatus has to be competitive in its thinking, educated and aware in modern statecraft, world politics and the challenges of economy locally and of the world. Unless the people who are aware enough of modern statecraft, economic and political issues are governing Pakistan , we can never come out of this swamp like situation we are in. It is high time that the Pakistan Peoples Party and other political parties in Sindh (and I am specifically addressing the Nationalist parties as they are worst in their political behaviour and obligations to the peopel) understand this fact.[The in-humanitarian behaviour of the so-called Nationalist parties and Sindh Nationalist Party (Mumtaz Bhutto) was seen as they made the flood affectees stay in non-government camps and the people were neither registered and have to suffer because the govt. aid apparatus does not operate there and whatever little help they can get will not be given to them].
The era of dynastic politics is over. It has to be over. If the younger Bhuttos have to think to compete in governance they have to understand that in order to exist on the map, Pakistan, especially Sindh has to come out of "Lordly" politicians and devolve power to the grass roots and they have to find support from eductaed, informed, proactive, honest, middle classes. I think they do exist in Sindh. I am sure that they exist in Sindh. The Sindhi politician has to undergo a major behaviour change for the better and ultimately best or else perish.

FLOODS IN PAKISTAN:HUMANITARIAN HEALTH NEEDS & RESPONSE (WHO)

#HELPPAKISTAN http://twitter.com/#search?q=%23HELPPAKISTAN

http://www.who.int/hac/floods_pakistan_humanitarian_health_needs_presentation.pdf