More than 8 million people have been affected from floods in Sindh province. Many people believes that the destruction caused by the floods is the result of natural calamity but some are strongly arguing that this destruction is the result of the decisions made by the men in power. They are arguing that breaches were made by the powerful which affected millions of people. There is big debate going on in the media and political circles in Sindh that who is responsible for this destruction?
The big controversy has developed around the breaches made in the levees and embankments of the Indus River and major canals. According to the irrigation experts and some technocrats of Sindh, the decision to make breaches in the Right Bank of the Indus River has caused much destruction that could have been avoided. According to them, the right thing was to make breaches in the left Bank of the river and diversion of the water into Hakra River. They are saying that in 1976 floods which were bigger than the present one, the breaches were made in the Left Bank and it caused very little damage compare to the this one. There is still small population lives in the bed of Hakra River compare to the areas affected by this flooding. According to some experts, the diversion of floodwaters towards Hakra River would have affected nearly 0.2 million (two hundred thousand) people. At the moment no body is taking responsibility of the breaches in the Right Bank of the river.
Why Left Bank?
Many people are alleging the three big feudal lords and spiritual leaders of Sindh have put pressure on the authorities not to breach the left bank of the river to save estates and properties. Some are also alleging the military generals that they too have pressurised the authorities not to breach the left bank to save the Pannu Aqil cantonment. But mainly two federal ministers of PPP government and the leader of one of the factions of right wing PML-F have been accused for saving their estates. The only city that might have affected in the way was Khairpur, which is also the constituency of existing Chief minister of Sindh province. He equally played important role in this decision. The experts are saying that on technical grounds the best way to save the main barrages on the river is to breach the left bank of the river at place called Ali Wahn. They are also arguing that more water flows through the barrages in 1976 floods without damaging these barrages. They are saying that breach at Ali Wahn means that flood waters will channel through the vacant bed of Ancient River Hakra.
There is no water in this river and people have started to live in the bed of the river. This riverbed goes through the less populated areas of Khair pur, Noshero Feroz, Nawab Shah and Sanghar districts of Sindh province. The floodwaters than enters into a large desert called Achro desert. This is was the route of the floodwaters in 1976. Some experts are also arguing that if the waters would have been directed through the Hakra into the desert than the losses could have been reduced to the minimum. They are saying that the poor farmers and peasants of the desert could have been benefited from this water and could have cultivated their lands for at least twenty years. There is acute shortage of the water in these districts, instead the water was diverted to areas which already had enough water.
Why not Right Bank?
There is big population on the Right Bank of the river. There are many cities, towns and big villages on this side of the Bank. These areas known for rice crop and crop was almost ready for harvest, when floodwaters hit these areas. It was the first time that authorities decided to breach the Right Bank and cut was made at Tori embankment near Kashmore. After this breach, the floodwaters headed towards the Jacobabad City. When the waters started to threaten the Air base in this city, the authorities decided to make cuts in the main highway to direct the waters towards Baluchistan. The ex-prime minister and prominent politician of Baluchistan province has publicly accused the PPP federal minister and big feudal lord Jakhrani for this breach and cuts. He has alleged that the federal minister inundated vast area of Baluchistan to save is estate and lands.
Some people are also pointing finger at the authorities that tried to save the Air base and drowned the hundreds of thousands of people. These areas never been flooded before and have no experience to face such situation. The local feudal lords and administration also made mess of the situation. This waters pass through the right side of Jacobabad and enters Baluchistan province. After inundated the vast areas of Baluchistan, the same waters than again enter into Sindh and inundated more cities, towns and villages. This time these water pass through the left side of Jacobabad. The local feudal lords and provincial ministers tried to save their areas and specially constituencies and build the new embankments and levees in some places to stop the flow of the floodwaters. For instance, the PPP provincial minister and big feudal lord of the Shadad kot district refused to allow the breach in his area and even stopped the natural flow of the water to save his own lands and constituency.
The floodwaters started to swallow and increased to the dangerous level. The increased pressure of the waters breaches the weak embankments and inundated the nearby areas. Than this water headed towards the Hamal lake and also enters into MNV drain. Even Hamal Lake started to over flow and more areas come under water. Every local feudal lord and influential politicians was trying to stop waters entering into his area. The level of the floodwaters again increased and MNV drain breaches at three places, which flooded the Dadu district, and nearby areas. The main tide of floodwater was 18 kilometers wide and 12 feet high which destroyed everything that comes in the way. Than the waters enter into Manchar Lake (one of the largest fresh water lakes in Asia) and people took the sigh of relief that flood has over but that was not the case. Another provincial minister and PPP bigwig refused to allow the breach in the embankment of the lake to release the water. The water continues to enter the lake and reaches to the dangerous levels. The weak embankments of the lake failed to sustain the water pressure and breached from different places. These water alone inundated more than 150 villages and three towns in Dadu district. Now finally, the water has started to enter the Indus River and to the sea.
All this did not happened in a day or a two, but it took more than five weeks. During this whole period of time no state official intervened to stop these feudal lords and influential politicians to make these criminal and careless decisions. When this flood started it was undoubtedly a natural disaster but later the powerful of this country turned this into men made disaster. 17 districts, 8 million people and hundreds of thousands of acres of land have been badly affected due to the decisions made by the handful of feudal and local officials. They have destroyed the lives of millions of the people to save their own estates, properties and lands. Most of these feudal lords belong to the so-called pro-people Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). PPP leadership is defending these feudal lords and denying any wrongdoing in the breaches. The Provincial government of PPP has already refused to establish an independent commission to probe these allegations and accusations.