Pakistan: Revolutionary Flood Relief and Protest Campaign in Sindh

Floods continue to devastate Pakistan and yet help to the victims is painfully slow. The government and the rich of Pakistan are more concerned about protecting property than helping the millions affected. In this dramatic situation the comrades of the PTUDC continue to do all they can with the meagre resources available. Here we have a report on their activities in Sindh.

The flood in Pakistan is still devastating many parts of the country and the government authorities and the Army have been doing their best to direct the waters towards where large populations live in order to save the lands of big landlords and army officers. Currently the flood is causing havoc in Dadu in the interior Sindh. Also hundreds of thousands of people are migrating from flood affected areas in Sindh towards Hyderabad and Karachi.

PTUDC comrades in Sindh are doing their best to provide relief to flood victims in this hour of need and are also organising protests against the authorities to save the homes and lands of poor workers and peasants of the area.

Currently this campaign is continuing in Karachi, Hyderabad, Thatta, Mirpur Bathoro, Dadu, Johi, Khairpur Nathan Shah, Bhan Saeedabad, Khairpur Meerus and Tando Ghulam Ali. When the flood was devastating parts of other provinces the rulers in Sindh were waiting like vultures for these waters. Instead of strengthening the barrages and bands, the fascists, feudal and other reactionary forces in the Sindh government were waiting for the devastation of millions of people in Sindh so that they could also pocket funds from various sources being sent for the flood victims.

Comrades Khalid Jamali, Saddam, Anwar Panhwar, Aftab and Ejaz Bhagia When the flood reached Guddu Barrage its 22 doors could not be opened due to lack of maintenance over many years. Some doors were forced open with cranes but still 13 of them are out of order. Normally when more than one million cusecs of water reach Guddu it is directed towards the Achro (White) Thar Desert by a cut in the river at Ali Wahan. But this time – and for the first time the cut was made at Tori Band which was under the supervision of the Army. Due to this changed strategy the land, fish farms and poultry farms of the Federal Minister for Labor Khursheed Shah and many Army Generals were saved and the whole cities of Shikarpur, Jacobabad and Qambar Shahdadkot were flooded which forced more than a million people to leave their homes and migrate.

After that the flood waters reached Khairpur Nathan Shah from Mehar through the Hamal Lake and now there is a risk of the flooding of Dadu City. Currently the cities of Dadu, Johi and Bhan Saeedabad are on red alert and are at the risk of being flooded at any time. People of these cities have started migrating in big numbers.

The comrades of the PTUDC in these areas have not only stood with the people of the area but have also patiently explained to them the real causes of this disaster.

In Johi City the government has stopped the work of strengthening the ring Band which is protecting the city, but the comrades of the BNT and PTUDC have organised the youth and workers in strengthening this Band themselves to protect the city from the flood waters. All the government officials have run away but the comrades are motivating the people to come forward and work to protect their homes and lands.

In Dadu the comrades have organised a Medical Relief Campaign for the flood victims in which comrades Dr. Vinod, Babar, Hanif, Saddam, Zahid and Nizam are playing an active role. The comrades are also involved in arranging boarding and lodging facilities for those affected by the flood in Dadu district and have organised a food committee, health committee, security committee and discipline committee to save the situation from falling into anarchy.

The comrades are also collecting funds from the people in all the cities of Sindh along with clothes and food items and are distributing them in the flood affected areas. Many comrades have been affected themselves by this flood. Nearly 50 comrades in Khairpur Nathan Shah have lost their homes permanently and nearly 150 others have affected with their families. They have been shifted to safe places in Dadu City. Comrades in Tando Ghulam Ali and Khairpur Meerus are sending financial aid along with food items to comrades in Dadu.

In Thatta a medical camp is being organized by the comrades of Mirpur Bathoro at the historical graveyard of Makli. This graveyard has now become the living place of more than a million flood affected people. Comrades Jabbar Zinour, Sikandar Zinour, Ghani Zinour and Mukthiar Zinour are working day and night to provide medical relief for these people. A stock of medicines has been sent to them from comrades in Multan. Comrades have also organised more than 15 committees there, including food, medical and health committees. Comrades are also distributing leaflets among the victims to make them aware of the real cause of this disaster.

Comrades in Sindh have also organised many protests in different cities against the government calling for the strengthening of the Bands around the cities. In a protest in Khair pur Nathan Shah on August 25 more than 100 people participated. The participants of the protest reached the K.N. Shah Press club in the form of a rally where it became a public meeting. Those who addressed the meeting were the president of the Tehsil BNT in K.N. Shah, Asif Lakheer, PPP city leader Badr Sheikh, General Secretary of the K.N. Shah People’s Labour Bureau Nizam Chandio, president of the Sindh BNT Ejaz Bhagio and comrade Aftab from the PTUDC.

More protests have been held in Dadu and Johi against the negligence of the government and the brutal role of the feudal landlords and the Pakistan Army.

Migrations are continuing across Sindh with the government forcing people to go to Karachi. There the Sindhi nationalists and PPP leaders in Sindh will use these people as pawns for land grabbing and other criminal activities.

In this hour of destruction and devastation, the ruling classes have increased their plundering and looting. However, they are also being exposed in the eyes of masses at a faster pace. The comrades of the PTUDC and BNT are playing their role in relief and protest activities which is getting a big response from the masses.

We need more funds to continue our relief activities and save as many people as we can. In this, we can also reach more and more people with our message of revolutionary socialism and prepare ourselves for the stormy events that are coming ahead. We hope that with our patient and concrete work we will bring about the conditions for the socialist transformation of Pakistan and put an end to this rotten capitalist system that brings so much suffering to the masses of ordinary working people.

PTUDC website: www.ptudc.org