The lives no one looks at
New Pind is one of the most densely populated areas of Sukkur where diverse communities including Sindhi, Urdu speaking, Punjabi, Pathan, Brohi, Saraiki, Hindus, and others are living without even the basic civic facilities. The main road leading to New Pind from Sukkur is damaged with big craters in some places, and being the only main road of the locality, it remains buzzing with traffic all the time except for a few hours, from late night to early morning.
According to a survey, almost 90 percent of the population is poor and lower middle class, as most of the people living there belong to the labour class or are low grade government employees. There are many colonies and neighbourhoods in New Pind including the Pathan Colony, Ahmed Nagar, Islam Colony, Mughal Colony, Agha Badruddin Colony, Chachar Muhalla, Brohi Muhalla, Darzi Muhalla, Mahar Muhalla, Police Lines Muhalla, and Mohammadi Jamia Masjid Muhalla. Among these colonies and neighbourhoods, there is Sochi Para that houses many Hindus who by profession are cobblers. Although there are many localities in New Pind where lack of civic facilities is obvious, when we talk about Sochi Para, it can be termed the dirtiest neighbourhood in New Pind because of two reasons: lack of civic facilities and residents' indifference to the hygiene of the area. Most of the people in Sochi Para come from very underprivileged backgrounds. They are barely surviving in small and dark houses, built on very narrow streets that are often filled with sewage. The exterior walls of the houses and other structures are tainted with spits of gutka (a form of smokeless tobacco consisting of areca nut, slaked lime, catechu, and sun-dried, roasted, finely chopped tobacco) as most of the inhabitants, including children, are gutka users.
The whole of New Pind is inhabited by mostly underprivileged people who are either uneducated or have very basic schooling. Many of them are inclined to drug addiction due to the easy availability of all types of drugs. A large number of people freely use drugs, and drug sellers are minting money in the area under the umbrella of the local police. Gambling and prostitution are also huge menaces in New Pind, pushing the younger generation in the grip of the people operating these illegal businesses. Gambling is a big attraction for making easy and quick money, but generally, most of the gamblers return home empty handed. Street crimes are rampant, and the police seem helpless or ignorant of the situation. Electricity theft is quite common throughout the area; some people are involved in this fraud with the connivance of some SEPCO officials, while others steal electricity on their own.
Dulari, along with her husband and six children, live in a one-room house in Sochi Para. Apparently, she has compromised to the conditions of her area and looks happy, or she pretends to be. Her husband Parru, like other men of his community, is a cobbler and works in downtown Sukkur to earn a livelihood for his family. His income is too meagre to fully cater to the needs of eight people. Dulari is an expert at making rilli, (a type of traditional quilt or bedspread originating from Sindh). Sewing small pieces of cloth together, the process entails a great deal of hard work, and the completion of a rilli requires at least fifteen days. 'Nowadays, preparing a rilli takes much time and money, and the price the shopkeepers offers us is not even enough for the material used to make a rilli', Dulari says. According to her, electricity in her area remains suspended for around 18 to 19 hours in a day, making it impossible for her to complete even her domestic chores, leave alone making a rilli that requires proper light. 'I, therefore, try my best to complete my rilli work during the daytime because after sunset nothing can be done except for retiring to bed', she says with a big smile showing her gutka stained teeth.
Talking about her children, Dulari says, 'Neither my husband and I have ever been to school nor our children want schooling; a cobbler's son is supposed to become a cobbler, and most of our girls learn to make rillis or other patch work to help support their families.'
Replying to a question about the use of drugs in her area, Dulari says that it is quite common, and nobody cares about it. 'When people are without enough money, they are attracted to crimes, and drug use is one of them', she said adding that even children and young girls are addicted to drugs. 'Gamblers are robbing the youth mercilessly, and the greedy youth, in order to earn money, often lose their hard-earned money at the gambling dens.' According to her, the people running the gambling and prostitution dens are so powerful, they are continuing their 'business' without any fear of any consequence. Sometimes, the police raid the gambling and prostitution dens and also make arrests, but the next day, the suspects are set free. In her area, it is the poor who have to pay the price.
Kamla is another woman living in Sochi Para, and without any work to keep her busy, she keeps roaming the whole area for gossip sessions with her friends and acquaintances. Kamala, in her late 40s, has three daughters-in-law and ten grandchildren. She is a very popular figure in the area, as she takes interest in resolving the conflicts in the community and is infamous for using abusive language, which is a routine practice for many men. Before talking to the Express Tribune, she reached into the side pocket of her kurta and pulled out a sachet of naswar (a moist, powdered tobacco product), expertly made a tiny ball and placed it inside her lower lip. She says, 'All the men in our locality are too busy to give time to their families but they have enough time to spend at the drug and gambling dens.'
Replying to a question about using naswar, Kamla says, 'I also used to prepare bhang (an edible mixture made from the buds, leaves, and flowers of the female cannabis, or marijuana, plants) sometimes, besides chewing gutka, which is quite common in our locality.' Responding to another question she says, 'Why should l keep myself busy in domestic chores when I have three daughters-in-law? Now it is their turn to serve me?' When asked what would happen if her daughters-in-law refused to serve her because they have to take care of their children in addition to doing the daily chores. In response, she spits on the floor, and using abusive language against her daughters-in-law retorts, 'They cannot dare to say no to me because I can beat them black and blue.' To another question, Kamla replies, smiling proudly, 'As far as my sons are concerned, they don't have the guts to face me when I am angry. You can ask people in the locality, and they will confirm my claim. I am the 'badmash' of the area.'
On being asked why the residents of her locality do not approach the civic authorities to keep their area clean, Kamla says, 'They are busy pocketing money and do nothing for the welfare of the people in this area who live like animals. I think it is good for them because they don't have any sense of how to live like responsible folks. Let them die like animals.' Her tone is angry tone as she passes abusive remarks against the civic authorities and the people in her locality.
Another story of suffering is that of Mai Anwari, a widow in her late 60s, who sells samosas and boiled potatoes in the area. Narrating her story to the Express Tribune she says that her husband was a labourer and used to work at a milk shop. According to her, her husband died three years ago after being ill for one year. 'My sons are now working at the same milk shop but their salaries are too little to feed our family of ten people', she says, adding, 'That is why I used to sell samosas and boiled potatoes to earn some extra money.'
Mai Anwari lives in a two-room house along with her two sons, a daughter-in-law, and four grandchildren. Responding to the question why she is selling samosas and boiled potatoes in a locality where most of the residents are poor, she says, 'I sell a samosa for Rs.10 and a boiled potato for Rs. 5 and earn good money to cater to the needs of my big family. My daughter-in-law stitches clothes to add to the income of the family.' On being asked how much her daughter-in-law is making, she replies, 'My daughter-in-law is stitching ten to fifteen two-piece dresses per month and charges Rs. 400 to Rs. 600, depending upon the design of the dress.'
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Express Tribune
3 days ago
- Express Tribune
The lives no one looks at
Since their childhood, life for women like Dulari has never been easy. Looking at their situation, it seems that their lives are stuck in an endless cycle of misery. New Pind is one of the most densely populated areas of Sukkur where diverse communities including Sindhi, Urdu speaking, Punjabi, Pathan, Brohi, Saraiki, Hindus, and others are living without even the basic civic facilities. The main road leading to New Pind from Sukkur is damaged with big craters in some places, and being the only main road of the locality, it remains buzzing with traffic all the time except for a few hours, from late night to early morning. According to a survey, almost 90 percent of the population is poor and lower middle class, as most of the people living there belong to the labour class or are low grade government employees. There are many colonies and neighbourhoods in New Pind including the Pathan Colony, Ahmed Nagar, Islam Colony, Mughal Colony, Agha Badruddin Colony, Chachar Muhalla, Brohi Muhalla, Darzi Muhalla, Mahar Muhalla, Police Lines Muhalla, and Mohammadi Jamia Masjid Muhalla. Among these colonies and neighbourhoods, there is Sochi Para that houses many Hindus who by profession are cobblers. Although there are many localities in New Pind where lack of civic facilities is obvious, when we talk about Sochi Para, it can be termed the dirtiest neighbourhood in New Pind because of two reasons: lack of civic facilities and residents' indifference to the hygiene of the area. Most of the people in Sochi Para come from very underprivileged backgrounds. They are barely surviving in small and dark houses, built on very narrow streets that are often filled with sewage. The exterior walls of the houses and other structures are tainted with spits of gutka (a form of smokeless tobacco consisting of areca nut, slaked lime, catechu, and sun-dried, roasted, finely chopped tobacco) as most of the inhabitants, including children, are gutka users. The whole of New Pind is inhabited by mostly underprivileged people who are either uneducated or have very basic schooling. Many of them are inclined to drug addiction due to the easy availability of all types of drugs. A large number of people freely use drugs, and drug sellers are minting money in the area under the umbrella of the local police. Gambling and prostitution are also huge menaces in New Pind, pushing the younger generation in the grip of the people operating these illegal businesses. Gambling is a big attraction for making easy and quick money, but generally, most of the gamblers return home empty handed. Street crimes are rampant, and the police seem helpless or ignorant of the situation. Electricity theft is quite common throughout the area; some people are involved in this fraud with the connivance of some SEPCO officials, while others steal electricity on their own. Dulari, along with her husband and six children, live in a one-room house in Sochi Para. Apparently, she has compromised to the conditions of her area and looks happy, or she pretends to be. Her husband Parru, like other men of his community, is a cobbler and works in downtown Sukkur to earn a livelihood for his family. His income is too meagre to fully cater to the needs of eight people. Dulari is an expert at making rilli, (a type of traditional quilt or bedspread originating from Sindh). Sewing small pieces of cloth together, the process entails a great deal of hard work, and the completion of a rilli requires at least fifteen days. 'Nowadays, preparing a rilli takes much time and money, and the price the shopkeepers offers us is not even enough for the material used to make a rilli', Dulari says. According to her, electricity in her area remains suspended for around 18 to 19 hours in a day, making it impossible for her to complete even her domestic chores, leave alone making a rilli that requires proper light. 'I, therefore, try my best to complete my rilli work during the daytime because after sunset nothing can be done except for retiring to bed', she says with a big smile showing her gutka stained teeth. Talking about her children, Dulari says, 'Neither my husband and I have ever been to school nor our children want schooling; a cobbler's son is supposed to become a cobbler, and most of our girls learn to make rillis or other patch work to help support their families.' Replying to a question about the use of drugs in her area, Dulari says that it is quite common, and nobody cares about it. 'When people are without enough money, they are attracted to crimes, and drug use is one of them', she said adding that even children and young girls are addicted to drugs. 'Gamblers are robbing the youth mercilessly, and the greedy youth, in order to earn money, often lose their hard-earned money at the gambling dens.' According to her, the people running the gambling and prostitution dens are so powerful, they are continuing their 'business' without any fear of any consequence. Sometimes, the police raid the gambling and prostitution dens and also make arrests, but the next day, the suspects are set free. In her area, it is the poor who have to pay the price. Kamla is another woman living in Sochi Para, and without any work to keep her busy, she keeps roaming the whole area for gossip sessions with her friends and acquaintances. Kamala, in her late 40s, has three daughters-in-law and ten grandchildren. She is a very popular figure in the area, as she takes interest in resolving the conflicts in the community and is infamous for using abusive language, which is a routine practice for many men. Before talking to the Express Tribune, she reached into the side pocket of her kurta and pulled out a sachet of naswar (a moist, powdered tobacco product), expertly made a tiny ball and placed it inside her lower lip. She says, 'All the men in our locality are too busy to give time to their families but they have enough time to spend at the drug and gambling dens.' Replying to a question about using naswar, Kamla says, 'I also used to prepare bhang (an edible mixture made from the buds, leaves, and flowers of the female cannabis, or marijuana, plants) sometimes, besides chewing gutka, which is quite common in our locality.' Responding to another question she says, 'Why should l keep myself busy in domestic chores when I have three daughters-in-law? Now it is their turn to serve me?' When asked what would happen if her daughters-in-law refused to serve her because they have to take care of their children in addition to doing the daily chores. In response, she spits on the floor, and using abusive language against her daughters-in-law retorts, 'They cannot dare to say no to me because I can beat them black and blue.' To another question, Kamla replies, smiling proudly, 'As far as my sons are concerned, they don't have the guts to face me when I am angry. You can ask people in the locality, and they will confirm my claim. I am the 'badmash' of the area.' On being asked why the residents of her locality do not approach the civic authorities to keep their area clean, Kamla says, 'They are busy pocketing money and do nothing for the welfare of the people in this area who live like animals. I think it is good for them because they don't have any sense of how to live like responsible folks. Let them die like animals.' Her tone is angry tone as she passes abusive remarks against the civic authorities and the people in her locality. Another story of suffering is that of Mai Anwari, a widow in her late 60s, who sells samosas and boiled potatoes in the area. Narrating her story to the Express Tribune she says that her husband was a labourer and used to work at a milk shop. According to her, her husband died three years ago after being ill for one year. 'My sons are now working at the same milk shop but their salaries are too little to feed our family of ten people', she says, adding, 'That is why I used to sell samosas and boiled potatoes to earn some extra money.' Mai Anwari lives in a two-room house along with her two sons, a daughter-in-law, and four grandchildren. Responding to the question why she is selling samosas and boiled potatoes in a locality where most of the residents are poor, she says, 'I sell a samosa for Rs.10 and a boiled potato for Rs. 5 and earn good money to cater to the needs of my big family. My daughter-in-law stitches clothes to add to the income of the family.' On being asked how much her daughter-in-law is making, she replies, 'My daughter-in-law is stitching ten to fifteen two-piece dresses per month and charges Rs. 400 to Rs. 600, depending upon the design of the dress.'
Express Tribune
08-06-2025
- Express Tribune
Keti Bandar teeters on the verge of annihilation
'Are we not citizens of this country? Or do we perhaps belong to some other country that you seem to want to punish us in this way?' asks Pir Gulam Shah, a resident of Keti Bandar, a sinking coastal area marking the point where the Indus meets the Arabian sea. Shah's anger resonates with the grievances of a native community deeply agitated at the state of the Indus river delta – a river that has sustained their forebears for thousands of years. Keti Bandar was once a thriving port. However, over the latter half of the last century, the port's commercial use has consistently declined to the point that today, only the boats of local fishermen can be seen at the coast. During the same time, a large number of barrages, dams and canals were built along the Indus River, gradually reducing the water reaching the delta and allowing seawater to mix with the fresh water of the delta's agricultural land. As a result of the saltwater intrusion, acres of fertile land have been destroyed, significantly impacting the livelihoods of those dependent upon farming. 'We were told that all of these barrages and dams were being built for storing water, which would then be sent downstream when needed. However, this still hasn't happened,' laments Shah. Like him, many locals in Keti Bandar feel the resentment with the same intensity as one feels the heat and the wind in this part of Sindh. This gradually sinking town lying 150 kilometres away from Karachi may slowly fade into extinction unless the provincial and federal governments take action to address the lack of water reaching the delta of the Indus and the economic and social implications of the shrinking wetlands. The salty river and the farming crisis There is a phrase in Urdu 'ulti ganga bahna' which translates to 'the Ganges flowing backwards'. This idiom, which is used to emphasise a phenomenon directly contradicting common sense and logic, is an accurate phrase to sum up the absurdity of a river turning salty owing to the scarcity of fresh water reaching the delta. 'The water you see here is the salty water of the Indus,' said Nazir Shah, another resident of Keti Bandar. 'There was once a time when the sea used to be 100 kilometres farther from the present-day shores of Keti Bander,' added Pir Shah, while speaking of the area where seawater intrusion has devastated the land fertility of the agricultural area. 'This farmland was once fertile. We used to grow large quantities of bananas, papaya, melon, watermelon, bottle gourd and betel leaf. We already don't have enough water, but if the government builds more canals, all of Sindh will become barren,' worried Pir Shah. Driving by Keti Bander, one can clearly see acres of land with yields that have died before the harvest season purely due to the unavailability of an adequate amount of non-salty water fit for agriculture. Dr Altaf Ali Siyal, Professor at the Sindh Agriculture University, noted in a study titled 'The Indus Delta: The Impact of Sea Water Intrusion' that an analysis of the annual flow below the Kotri Barrage in billion cubic meters (BCM) from 1937 to 2017 revealed an 80 per cent decrease in water flow. However, it should not take an exceptional economist's intellect to figure out the impact of water shortage on Sindh's economy, where the majority of the population earns a living either through agriculture or fishing. In fact, many residents have tried making up for their lost farming income by fishing however, this too has failed to offer relief since the destruction of mangrove habitats due to reduced water has caused drastic changes to the environment hence reducing the fish population. 'The Palla fish used to be abundant here, but the decimation of mangroves has ruined their habitat, and the fish are no longer spawning as they once did,' noted Pir Shah. This can be corroborated from the website of the Sindh Forest Department which estimated that 90 per cent of commercially important tropical marine fish species, especially prawns, spent at least some part of their life in the mangroves. Therefore, the degradation of the mangroves will endanger up to 250,000 tons of fish caught off the Sindh Coast. (IUCN) Deforestation, loss of income and migration Mangrove deforestation has significantly altered the natural landscape of the wetlands, which are neither fit for agriculture nor for fish farming. As a result, the local people, robbed of their primary source of income, are forced to migrate to the cities. WWF's technical advisor and fisheries expert, Moazzam Khan, during an interview with the Express Tribune, highlighted the fact that there has been a significant reduction in the numbers of the mangrove species. 'There used to be six species of mangroves which have been reduced to just one. This will harm the overall biodiversity of the delta,' said Khan. While emphasising the economic importance of the mangroves, the Sindh Forest Department's website claimed that they provide important breeding zones for commercially important marine fish, shrimps, lobsters and crabs, which helped the national economy to earn foreign exchange worth 100 million US dollars annually in addition to providing employment to more than 100,000 people associated with the fishing industry. Khan too confirmed a reduction in the yield of the fishing industry. 'This reduction is aggravated by the Kotri barrage, which has impacted the population of the Palla fish by segmenting the fish population,' noted Khan, whose claim mimics similar concerns raised regarding the segmentation of the endangered Indus river dolphins due to the construction of canals and dams. Understandably, people frustrated with the state of the economy in the coastal areas are forced to migrate, many often choosing to go to cities like Karachi. According to the Jinnah Institute, approximately 1.2 million people have migrated to Karachi from other coastal regions of Sindh. This is primarily linked to the shrinking of the wetlands of the delta, and the corresponding economic implications. 'The land that we are standing on is a 2,000-acre land, but due to a lack of water not even one acre of this land is fertile. Many people have already emptied, locked, and vacated their homes while others will be doing the same in the coming months and years. There is a state of drought here hence people are forced to leave," said Ghulam Nabi, a resident of Keti Bandar. It is worth mentioning that the Sindh Irrigation Department had given a drought and water shortage alert in March this year, a development many in Karachi may not even be aware of. In many Western countries, drought like situations necessitate a total ban on non-essential uses of water, such as watering lawns. Responsible development: The state vs. locals In a world full of passionate views on international affairs, people are often more outraged about crises and issues that are far from home. Perhaps it is easier to passively implicate oneself in a distant victimhood narrative than to acknowledge and address the suffering of people in one's own country. For the people of Keti Bandar, the word 'economic progress' is a sour reminder of the futility of their own existence in the wider rat race for development. 'As a result of this progress, our lives have been devastated. Does it make sense to irrigate and cultivate land that is a natural desert while abandoning and ruining a land that is cultivable, forcing its people to leave? The canals that they are building are robbing us of our rights. We should be consulted before any such project is announced,' urged Pir Shah. From the government's perspective however, corporate farming is required to modernise the agrarian economy fuelled by the Indus, in line with IMF recommendations thereby opening up the economy to the market. Although this is not bad in principle, these projects should be initiated once there is a consensus amongst the relevant stakeholders, which includes people like the ones here in Keti Bandar - small landowners, farmers, and fishermen. 'Before devising a new policy, we should be briefed on whether or not the scheme will benefit us or not. The Green Initiative Program should benefit areas that are already cultivable and already have people living there,' opined Pir Shah. Many a times, when the government fails to address the basic grievances of people living on the margins, the inclination among society is to turn to charity. Similarly, when people face droughts and conditions similar to the people in Keti Bander, a common instinct is to supply them with aid however, locals from the sinking wetland make it clear that they are not interested in charity. 'We don't want electricity, or roads, or any economic development projects. Just give us our water. We were happy before and we can be happy again. We don't need anything from the government except for what's been a faithful companion for the people of Sindh for thousands of years: the Indus river,' clarified Pir Shah. At the moment, as far as the eyes can see, Keti Bandar is little more than barren land where nothing except for the occasional red chilli can be cultivated. People who had farmed for centuries were forced to fish but just as they were learning to fish, the fish habitat was also being annihilated. Economic growth is important, but an ideological commitment to improving people's lives is critical. The farming project in Punjab may very well be good for the country's economic growth, but there's no reason to believe that the average standard of living here in Sindh will improve rather than worsen. To hammer the point home, Pir Shah shared a morbid request. 'You should simply drop the atom bomb on us. We won't complain or scream since neither the humans nor any other form of life will survive.' Despite their inflammatory nature, sentiments such as these are quite common in Keti Bandar. And this alone should be a wakeup call for the country. Zain Haq is a freelance contributor All facts and information are the sole responsibility of the author
Business Recorder
04-06-2025
- Business Recorder
India sets date of population and caste census
NEW DELHI: The world's most populous nation India will conduct a census in 2027, its first since 2011, the government said Wednesday, which will also count caste – a controversial accounting not done since the country's independence. 'It has been decided to conduct Population Census-2027 in two phases along with enumeration of castes,' the Ministry of Home Affairs said in a statement. Most of the vast nation will take part in the census on March 1, 2027, but for the high-altitude Himalayan regions, the counting will take place earlier before snow sets in – on October 1, 2026. Those areas include the states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, as well as in Ladakh, and the contested region of Jammu and Kashmir. India to ask caste status in next census for first time in decades Caste remains a crucial determinant of one's station in life in India, with a rigid societal chasm dividing those of higher castes – the beneficiaries of ingrained cultural privileges – from people of lower castes, who suffer entrenched discrimination. More than two-thirds of India's 1.4 billion people are estimated to be on the lower rungs of a millennia-old social hierarchy that divides Hindus by function and social standing. The decision to include detailed caste data as part of the next census – originally due in 2021 – was approved by a government meeting headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in May. Caste data was last collected as part of the official census exercise in 1931, during British colonial rule that ended with Indian independence 16 years later. Successive governments have since resisted updating the sensitive demographic data, citing administrative complexity and fears of social unrest. A caste survey was conducted in 2011 but its results were never made public because they were purportedly inaccurate. That survey was separate from the 2011 general census, the last time India collected demographic data.
