The coastal villages of Taluka Jati in district Sujawal are deprived of almost all the basic amenities of life for the past two decades, forcing a large number of fishers to quit their ancestral occupation and resort to some other work to make a living.
Though a considerable number of coastal populations have adopted other occupations, still a large number of people rely on fishing to earn their livelihood and manage the household.
It is quite a pitiless approach on the part of provincial as well as the federal government that it has not taken progressive measures for the amelioration of issues faced by fisherfolk and the massive population of the coastal region stretching over 100 kilometres.
Around half a century ago, the Indus River flowed with rhythm without any hindrance and the deltaic region was the centre point of penetration of the Indus river into the sea. The region was fertile, and the people of the coastal belt lived a happy life. However, by the end of the 20th century, everything was disrupted.
After 19 May 1999, everything came to a grinding halt in these areas amid massive loss of human lives and destruction of infrastructure, which curbed the development of this region.
The cyclone that struck the coastal belt, including Badin, Thatta and Sujawal district, in 1999 left adverse environmental effects on these areas. This led to an intensifying of sea intrusion that has so far affected around 3.8 million agricultural and non-agricultural land.
This dreadful catastrophe made many princes a pauper in the coastal villages of district Sujawal, including the villages Abdul Rehman Dhandhal, Noor Muhammad Chaaklo, Abdul Rehman Thehmore, and many others of Union Council Jati.
“We lost everything in that tragedy that struck all of a sudden at midnight and snatched everything from us,” says Mahi Rukayat, who heads the family in the absence of her husband.
“I also go fishing in the absence of my husband to make both ends meet daily, because my husband returns after three to four months,” Mahi says and adds, “When the fish price drops in the market, I collect and sell wood in the market’.”
Zaibunisah, who is the sole breadwinner for her elderly mother and father says, “I lost my four brothers to the cruel calamity after which the onus of my old aged mother and father is on my shoulders. I wish I had my brothers alive.”
Seventy-year-old fisherwoman Miyan Wasai said that her 25-year-old son fell prey to the high tides during the cyclone and added that her other son was suffering from a bizarre mental disorder and her husband was not capable of earning due to old age.
“I Am responsible for the protection of my family, including my two young daughters and I also venture into the sea for fishing to keep my household afloat,” she says with tearful eyes.
Mai Sukhan, who is 56-year-old, still goes to the sea daily – both in the morning and evening. She asks fishermen who are going or returning from the sea about the whereabouts of her two young missing sons, Abdul Jabbar and Karim Bux, who were in the sea on that day.
She says, “Both Jabbar and Karim have wives and children and we have no male in the house since they went missing. How will we women survive and nurture our children?”
Inferior infrastructure and unavailability of quality healthcare continue to cause loss of human lives at a large scale in these areas. Even today, if the government shows up to launch development drives for the coastal region, the fate of its population may likely change soon.
