Far from the attention of mainstream media, a deadly drought is silently ruining the rural economy of district Nushki in Balochistan. Situated at a distance of a little over 100km from the provincial capital of Quetta, Nushki district is experiencing a drought where the biggest victims are the under-privileged people of the rural areas. The worst part of the problem is that neither government nor the non-governmental aid agencies have shown any regard for the grave problem.
A visit to Nushki district and meeting with the concerned officials paints a bleak picture of the situation. According to the livestock department, 75 percent livestock in district has perished due to shortage of food. The number of livestock has decreased from 600,000 to 150,000 during the last few years. A modest estimates of the price of livestock shows that there has been a loss of over Rs. 4.5 billion due to death of livestock. In a locality where livestock is the backbone of the economy, such a huge loss is nothing more than an economic nightmare. Livestock which has survived is very weak due to shortage of food. A camel which was sold for over Rs. 150,000 now hardly fetches Rs. 35,000 in the unfortunate district of Nushki. Drought has forced the poor livestock owners to sell their source of livelihood at throwaway prices.
The major cause of this drought is shortage of rainfalls in the region over the course of last few years. Over 50 percent area in Nushki district is rain fed and lack of rainfall means that agriculture production has almost crippled. That has created shortage of food for not only humans but also for animals.
Shortage of food on one side has destroyed livestock and on the other hand it has created problem of malnutrition. A visit to a major hospital in Nushki would result in witnessing a lot of children who are ill due to acute malnutrition. Doctors in the district believe that drought has created a situation which is alarming from the health point of view. They even claim that a Thar like situation can transpire anytime soon in Nushki if no action is taken.
Devastating droughts are not a new phenomena for Nushki and nearby districts of Chagai, Kharan and Washuk. From 1997 to 2005 a devastating spell of drought wreaked havoc in the region. According to government estimates, which are always modest, over 1.76 million cattle died and provincial exchequer suffered a loss of over Rs. 25 billion due the drought. A worse catastrophe can take place this time given the increased magnitude and size of impact of drought this time around.
No serious effort has been made by the Balochistan government to mitigate the losses in the drought. In October 2014 Balochistan government announced just Rs. 1 billion for drought affected regions. As of this moment, not a single rupee has been spent on drought relief in Nushki or any other area. Balochistan government can spend billions of rupees on meaningless sports festivals and political projection actives but not for drought relief.
Another reason for inaction by government is the bureaucratic red tape and bad governance. Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) had asked Deputy Commissioners (DCs) of drought affected districts to submit need assessment of their regions. DC of Nushki claims that he has submitted the required report over a year ago. However, sources in PDMA claim that they have not received any such report and without it they cannot commence relief activity. This senseless bureaucratic mess is exacerbating the problem in the Nushki district.
Usually, where government cannot provide relief due to its limitations, the NGO sector steps in and helps the affected people. Unfortunately, that’s not the case in Nushki where the NGOs with resources have shown no interest in helping out the people despite knowing about the gravity of the situation. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is the only major aid agency working in the area but its functions are limited and it’s not working in drought affected regions. Clearly, Nushki is an example of how the so-called social development sector is seeing the people die and doing nothing.
When a city or district faces such problems, its elected representatives come to the front and demand help. This is not the case with Nushki, where both Member of Provincial Assembly (MPA) and Chairman District Council are unmoved despite the severe nature of drought prevailing in their constituency.
It should be the first and foremost responsibility of provincial government of Balochistan to release funds for drought relief activities in Nushki and adjoining areas. Nawab Sanaullah will hopefully not make the same mistake as his predecessor did in form of pacing up drought relief activity. If provincial government shows its resolve then all the bureaucratic hurdles can be removed overnight and relief activities can be commenced right away.
Likewise, the so-called social development organizations who have billions of rupees of funds at their disposal, should not concoct anymore excuses to avoid relief activity in Nushki area. Those organizations can no longer use security situation as a pretext to avoid working in the area because all such fears are unfounded and non-existent. Otherwise, people of Nushki are already bracing themselves for a human catastrophe in the form of a deadly drought.