South Punjab deprivations

The feudals, makhdooms, sardars and Sajada Nasheens of South Punjab have been in power before partition and thereafter, not only at provincial level but at federal level. No benefit will accrue to the millions living in stone ages in this area by creation of a separate province which will be ruled by the very feudal nemesis, who are responsible for their plight. When undivided Punjab was ruled by Unioinist Party, it were these feudal from Zamaidara League who formed a coalition with Hindu and Sikhs to rule this province.
After partition the most powerful civil government which has ruled Pakistan was ZAB’s PPP and it was none other than Mustafa Khar, strongest politician of Punjab, followed by several others from this deprived part of Punjab, who enjoyed immense power. While the feudal from South Punjab today own largest sugar mills and are masters of biggest farm houses, the people are illiterate, deprived even of clean drinking water.

South Punjab has the highest ratio of ghost schools and hospitals, where funds allocated were utilized to build infrastructure and hire teachers, doctors etc only on paper, but never was this infrastructure allowed to function and deliver by powerful feudal lobby who by design want hundreds of thousands of deprived to live in abject poverty in the areas under their influence. Billions of rupees have been allocated for construction of roads and bridges, which have been consumed by corrupt local bureaucracy with patronage of powerful MNAs and MPAs of this area. Billions allocated by successive governments to MNAs, MPAs, Senators for development projects have vanished into thin air.

Bridges and roads which if properly constructed should withstand pressures of rains and floods got washed away like sand dunes. The biggest hindrance to development of South Punjab are these powerful feudals whose foreign educated daughters are seen carrying Birken bags, but who would ensure that these deprived millions live forever in deprivation, without any education, never demand equality or even basic rights. No other area of Punjab has such a high rate of female abuse crimes where women are treated even worse than cattle and sheep and minor girls are given away to compensate feuds by panchayats, patronized by none other than powerful political feudal who hold the fort in this most deprived part of Punjab.
SYED JAWAID HUSSAIN
Multan
cURTSEY:pAKISTAN tODAY, AUGUST 28, 2012 

Rajanpur most, Lahore least deprived

Deprivation increases in southern, western Punjab, declines in central Punjab: reporta

 Mansoor Ahmad

 
LAHORE

SOUTHERN Punjab was the most poverty-stricken region of the province in 1998. According to the Punjab Multiple Deprivation Index 2007-08, its population faces the highest deprivation of the basic human needs like income, education, health and water and sanitation.

Punjab has posted the highest growth in the country during the 1999-2008 but the fruits of the growth have been lopsided. The governments, headed by General (Retd) Musharraf and Pervaiz Elahi, paid lip service to the deprived regions of the province.

Rajanpur was the poorest district of Punjab in 1998 according to the Punjab poverty ranking assessed by the then Punjab government where 66 percent of the population was living in poverty. According to the Multiple Deprivation Index of 2007-08 released this week by Punjab government, the deprivation level in Rajanpur is still 63.32 (percent). The most depressing reality in this regard is that the MDI of the district was 59.02 in 2003-04 that deteriorated in the next five years.

The next four most deprived districts of Punjab are also from its southern region, i.e. Layyah MDI 58.85 percent, Muzaffargardh MDI 58.67, Dera Ghazi Khan MDI 56.24, Lodhran MDI 55.29. The water and sanitation deprivation in these districts ranges from 95.85 in Rajanpur to 83.54 in Lodhran.

After them, the other most deprived districts of the province are Khanewal MDI 50.39, Bhakkar MDI 50.65, Khushab MDI 51.39, Chakwal MDI 51.81, Mianwali MDI52.9, Bahawalpur MDI 53.06, Rahimyar Khan MDI 53.52, Bahawalnagar MDI 53.89 and Jhang MDI 54.44. All these districts are from southern and western regions of Punjab.

The least deprived districts of the province are headed by Lahore MDI 16.54 percent followed by Faisalabad MDI31.88, Gujranwala MDI 33.94, Sialkot 34.06 and Sheikhupura MDI 36.67. All these districts are from central Punjab.

Rawalpindi has medium level of deprivation with MDI of 41.35. It has the best education facilities in Punjab with MDI 8.22 percent under this head while Rajanpur with MDI 45.53 has the worst education facilities. In health, Rawalpindi again has best facilities with MDI 9.18 and Rajanpur the worst with MDI of 33.22. In housing, the best in the province is Lahore with MDI of 8.58 while the lowest is again Rajanpur with MDI 57.65. In Water and Sanitation, Lahore tops with MDI 26.33 and Rajanpur the most deprived with MDI95.85. In economic deprivation, again Lahore faces least deprivation with MDI 7.59 while Layyah with MDI 40.70 is the most deprived. The Punjab government report comparing indices of multiple deprivations between 2003-04 and 2007-08 reveals that the deprivation in fact increased in 12 districts during this period most of which were from southern and western parts of the province. In Mianwali, the deprivation level increased by 8.22 percent from 48.88 in 2003-04 to 52.90 in 2007-08. It increased by 7.12 percent in Rajanpur, 6.49 percent in Jhang, 6.36 percent in Chakwal, 6.03 percent in Rawalpindi, 3.85 percent in Sargodha, 3.84 percent in Hafizabad, 2.03 percent in Layyah, 1.09 percent in Bahawalnagar and 1.02 percent in Attock.

The deprivation declined in Sialkot by 24.45 percent during this period. It declined by 19.34 percent in Shiekhupura, 18.76 percent in Lahore, 15.84 percent in Gujrat, 15.53 percent in Bhakkar, 14.87 percent in Narowal, 14.31 percent in Toba Tek Singh, 12.52 percent in Jhelum, 11.76 percent in Kasur, and 10.73 percent in Faisalabad. Baring Bhakkar and Toba Tek Singh the highest improvement in quality of life was attained in the central Punjab.
Curtsey:The News, Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Oppressed South Punjab

The winds of change and call for ending exploitation may finally release millions of oppressed who for centuries have been exploited in Balochistan, South Punjab, rural Sindh, parts of Central Punjab, KP, and tribal belt. Pakistan’s national security and economic progress can only be ensured if equal rights, equal opportunities and security of life are enjoyed by all citizens, irrespective of their caste, creed, sex and ethnicity as provided in constitution.
Inspite of the fact that numerous politicians from South Punjab have held important public offices ranging from PM, CM, Governor, Speaker NA, Provincial and Federal Ministers, this region continues to be deprived of education, health and other basic necessities of life. It is an area where politics is dominated by feudal, gaddi nasheens, big landlords, industrialists and those involved in crime, who by design never allowed education to spread there. However while these politicians send their own daughters and sons abroad for education, they have ensured that if any government has ventured to construct schools, the building is used for any purpose other than education.
Panchayats headed by feudal elite deprive justice to oppressed poor masses. It is an area with the highest number of ghost schools, notorious for crimes against women and forced labour. The powerful ruling elite of South Punjab fear that if masses get education, their political domination stands to be challenged. This void has been filled by madrassas, some of them serving as recruiting grounds for foreign funded fundamentalist involved in terrorism.
It is time the Federal Government ensured that the exploitation of the poor and crimes against women be curtailed through education.
TARIQ ALI
Dubai, UAE
cURTSEY:PAKISTAN TODAY, OCTOBER 26, 2014 

Intolerance growing in South Punjab: Report

By Zahid Gishkori

Report by the Minority Rights Commission states minorities in the region have been living in fear of persecution. PHOTO: AFP/FILE
ISLAMABAD: 

South Punjab, perhaps the most impoverished region of the province, has little to offer to its religious minorities.
With growing discrimination and a flawed registration system, members of minority communities in the region have been living in fear of persecution, according to a report by the Minority Rights Commission.
Over 0.25 million non-Muslims live in five districts of south Punjab – Rahim Yar Khan, Muzaffargarh, Multan, Layyah and Khanewal.
As a result of increasing persecution and discrimination, members of the Hindu community in the region are being forced to convert to Islam. Non-Muslim women are also being forced to change their religion and marry Muslim men.
According to the report, this new trend of forced conversions and forced marriages is on the rise in South Punjab, particularly in Rahim Yar Khan and adjacent areas.

School admissions refused
The report further revealed that growing intolerance and flaws in registration processes is shutting the doors to education for minorities in the region.
In Rahim Yar Khan, members of minority communities, particularly Hindus, are unable to register their children in government schools, which have refused admissions due to the absence of birth certificates.
Furthermore, without Computerised National Identity Cards, over 150,000 non-Muslims have been unable to register their children for secondary school examinations since 2001.
Hindus are also unable to get their marriages registered in the absence of formal laws in the country.

Land grabbers
Furthermore, the report claims that in Muzaffargarh district, land grabbers have snatched hundreds of acres of cultivated land from Christian families, who have been tilling the land for the last 35 years. Over 20,000 non-Muslims reside in the district.
Balmiki Hindus, a sect of the religion, are facing their own share of alleged highhandedness by Muslims in Multan, where the community has lost their ancestral graveyard to the land-grab mafia.
Multan has allegedly attracted the binary attention of jihadis and religious fanatics due its significance as the new hub of political power and economic activity.
The Auqaf Department in Multan receives millions of rupees as rent from the commercial properties of Hindus, but the money is spent on Muslim, instead of Hindu, festivals, the report claimed.
The minority community has staged demonstrations against this injustice but authorities concerned have failed to take any action so far.

False accusations
Layyah district, where over 20,000 non Muslims reside, is also witnessing a peculiar trend of false accusations of desecration of the holy Quran and blasphemy against minorities.
A majority of non Muslims in Shantinagar, Khanewal district, have been living in fear since decades. In 1997, 900 houses burnt out in a village in the area after it was alleged that pages of the Holy Quran were burned by local non Muslims.
The quota for non Muslim women in government jobs in the district has also been restricted.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 3rd, 2012