Tag: Dadu

  • Electioneering in Sindh – VI

    Electioneering in Sindh – VI

    In the last part of this series on election politics in Sindh, we will look into three districts – Thatta, Jamshoro, and Dadu districts of the Hyderabad division, where four National Assembly (NA) and nine provincial assembly (PA) seats are at stake. On NA 223 Thatta, 12 candidates are contesting the polls. Sadiq Ali Memon of PPP, Imtiaz Ahmed of JI, Junaid Siddiqi of MQM-P, Rasool Bux Jakhro of – and Syed Jameel Ahmed Shah Bukhari of PTI are the main contenders. Looking at the 2018 results, it looks like the PPP candidate has a clear lead over his opponents. Riaz Hussain Shah Shirazi of PPP, Muhammad Farooque of PTI, Abdullah Adam Gandro of JI, Muhammad Arshad Memon of JUI-F, Mahar Ali Shah of QMM are noticeable among the 12 candidates on PS 75 Thatta-I. Going through past results, it seems the PPP candidate is poised to win this seat. Eights candidates are contesting on PS 76 Thatta-II. Altaf Hussain Kachi of TLP, Saeed-Ur-Rehman of JUI-F, Ali Hassan Zardari of PPP, Muhammad Ali Khan of JI, and Muhammad Umer Nahyo of Khadmeen-e-Sindh are the main competitors in this constituency. The PPP candidate can easily win this seat.

    On the single NA seat – NA 226 – of district Jamshoro, the PPP has awarded ticket to Malik Asad Sikander while Munir Hyder Shah, Ubedullha Jamro, Abdul Hakeem Chandio are running on GDA, TLP and PTI tickets respectively. The GDA candidate will try to put up a fight. However, past results show that the PPP candidate will likely stand victorious. Former chief minister of Sindh, Syed Murad Ali Shah, is contesting to retain his seat on PS 77 Jamshoro-I.

    A total of 15 candidates are in the field against the PPP candidate. GDA’s Roshan Buriro, TLP’s Manzoor Ahmed Halepoto and PTI’s Muhammad Farooq are prominent among them. In 2018, Murad Shah beat Jalal Mehmood Shah of SUP, and this time again, he is the frontrunner. Dr. Sikandar Shoro gave a tough fight to PPP’s Malk Asad Sikandar on then PS 82 Jamshoro as an independent candidate; however, later he joined the PPP and is contesting election on PS 78 Jamshoro-II against Badaruddin of TLP, Syed Munir Hyder Shah of GDA, Sadaf Raza Warraich of PML-N and nine other candidates. The main contestants on this seat are PPP’s Sikandar Shoro and GDA’s Munir Shah. Razia of JUI-F, Malik Sikander Khan of PPP, Meer Ahmed of GDA, Muhammad Tayyab Khan of Pakistan Rah-e-Haq Party, Peer Murtaza Ali Shah Jillani of PTI and independent candidate Malik Changez Khan are vying for PS 79 Jamshoro-III. A close contest is expected between PPP candidate Malik Sikander and independent candidate Malik Changez.

    There are two NA seats in Dadu district. On NA 227 Dadu-I, former CM Sindh Liaquat Jatoi is contesting on a GDA ticket after parting ways with PTI. His rivals, among others, are PPP’s Irfan Ali Leghari, JUI-F’s Hajan Khan Leghari, MQM-P’s Zulfiqar Ali and PTI’s Shahana Nawab. PPP’s Irfan Leghari defeated Liaquat Jatoi by getting 95,891 votes while Jatoi got 82,658 in 2018. Incumbency and anger among voters due to the 2022 floods may jeopardise the PPP candidate’s chances of a victory. Rafique Ahmed Jamali of PPP and Karim Ali Jatoi of GDA are again in the field on NA 228 Dadu-II along with 13 other candidates, which include Abdul Majeed Chahwan of MQM-P, Zafar Ali of JI, Rashid Ali of TLP and Abu Bakar of JUI-F. PPP’s Jamali beat Jatoi in 2018 by securing 81,215 votes against Jatoi’s 63,032 while independent candidate Jan Muhammad Panhwar got 19,906 votes. In this constituency, the incumbency factor may go against the PPP candidate.

    On PS 80 Dadu-I, GDA’s Karim Ali Jatoi, PPP’s Abdul Aziz Junejo, MQM-P’s Shahid Hussain Shah, JUI-F’s Taj Muhammad, TLP’s Bashir Sodhar, PTI’s Asghar Ali Sodhar and JI’s Mir Murtaza are prominent among 12 candidates.

    PPP’s absence from the ground during the 2022 floods may favour GDA candidate. Fayaz Butt of PPP, Liaquat Ali Jatoi of GDA, Abdullah of JI, Parveen of TLP, Talib Hussain Panhwar of MQM-P, Muhammad Masood Panhwar of JUI-F and Majeed Khoso of PTI are noticeable among 19 candidates on PS 81 Dadu-II. Although PPP won this seat in 2018, this time the previous ruling party may feel the heat due to its bad handling of the 2022 floods in the area.

    Pir Mujeeb-ul-Haq of PPP is vying on PS 82 Dadu-III against Ashique Ali Zounr of GDA, Shahid Solangi of MQM-P, Zameer Ahmed of JI, Karim Bux Siddiqui of IPP, Zulfiqar Mallah of PTI and 16 other candidates. The GDA candidate will put up a resistance but the PPP candidate has a bit of an upper hand. On PS 83 Dadu-IV, 20 candidates are running for victory, which include Pir Syed Salih Shah Jilani of PPP, Imdad Ali Leghari of GDA, Bandah Ali Leghari (independent) and Anwar Ali Panhwar of PTI. Syed Ghulam Shah Jillani of PPP won this seat in 2018 and after his death, his son Salih Shah Jillani won in the by-elections. Local internal rivalries in the PPP and incumbency factor due to the 2022 floods can cause damage to the PPP candidate here.

  • ‘Never seen this level of devastation’: first-hand account of what’s going on in flood affected areas

    ‘Never seen this level of devastation’: first-hand account of what’s going on in flood affected areas

    Pakistan is in the throes of devastating floods that have wreaked havoc across all four provinces. The scale of devastation has been estimated to be more than $10 billion. Midwife, public health practitioner and founder of Mama Baby Funds (MBF), Neha Mankani, visited the flood-affected area of Dadu, located in Sindh, which is through and through inundated with floods.

    Neha Mankani, who was in the area for two days shared her experience of what she calls a devastation she has never seen in her career. Dadu is strategically located in an area where it gets water from Manchar, Hamal Lakes and hill flows from Gorak Hills.

    Talking about the wreckage, Mankani said, “It’s safe to say I have never seen this level of devastation in my entire career.”

    Sharing pictures from the site on her Instagram story, Mankani wrote, “The next few images are of the water separating Dadu city and Juhi- which now has many many villages under it.”

    “There are IDP’s on the embankments of cities in makeshifts tents. The boat ride was an hour long and cost Rs 600 per person, a simple equation of demand and supply. We encountered two maternal deaths and 25 pregnant women in the first hour of our arrival. Both women died because they couldn’t get care on time.”

    “I wore a lifejacket for the first time. We heard many incidents of boast tipping over because they got stuck in trees or electric poles under the water. A flood water lake that’s swallowed 100’s of homes felt a lot more untrustworthy than the sea I’m used to.”

    Mankani explaining the aftermath and the toll the devastation has caused said, “Sujag Sansar [a right-based development organization working for the marginalized in most backward areas] told us that no one is really thinking about the children and how they are dealing at camps.” She further explained that women were given basic things like baltis, lotas, detergent, mosquito coil, towels, shoes, matches, and hygiene products. Sujag Sansar also informed them about how floods had taken them 50 years back, as everything was drowned under water.

    Mankani along with the volunteers who had accompanied her said that women their were told how to use medicals kits, make ORS and how will they be able to manage basic health challenges at their camps. Mankani also conducted an antenatal clinic both for women and some babies in a school.

    Explaining the conditions of health care, Mankani said that a baby was born on a boat without any medical support. She said that they found no health care providers on either side of the water- except for one government dispensary with a caretaker who dispenses medicines when he felt like and one woman who had turned herself into a dai after she reached the camps.

    The MBF founder further said that once they reached the boat dock, the only option for them was a donkey cart or wading through knee deep water. Adamant on spreading the message of the antenatal camp, Mankani said that they wanted to give women on both sides of the water the idea of the camp. And on how many clean delivery kits were needed to get to them.

  • Justice for Dadu fire victims, demands Twitter

    Justice for Dadu fire victims, demands Twitter

    Nine children, a woman lost their lives and more than 20 other persons including women suffered severe burns after a fire broke out in three villages in Dadu district of Sindh Province on Monday night.

    Dadu Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Irfan Ali Samoo confirmed the deaths.

    The fire reportedly broke out in the kitchen of a small hut. More than 150 buffaloes, cows, goats and other animals also perished in the fire.

    According to the affected families, the blaze started around 9 pm on Monday and raged throughout the villages, over the next 12 hours. No fire tenders reached the village until it subsided at 8 am in the morning, they said. Moreover, they told that even the Deputy Commissioner (DC) of Dadu and other officials had arrived after 12 hours

    The villagers later held a protest against the administration and urged the provincial government to take notice of the situation.

    Following the news, Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif said the federal government will take measures to provide relief to the victim families of the fire incident. 

    Due to devastating effect that the incident has left on people, social media users have strongly condemned it and questioned the incompetency of the concerned authorities.

    https://twitter.com/SaifSamejo/status/1516561598948659200?s=20&t=T1PFVBvdrZwfUzIpOmOZtA

    https://twitter.com/arshadalikhoso/status/1516714870342754310?s=20&t=T1PFVBvdrZwfUzIpOmOZtA