Sindh
Kamna Arora
Sindh is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. The province’s dominance on hydrocarbon resources makes it even more significant. Sindh is the second largest province in Pakistan population-wise and the third largest geographically-wise. Home to Thar coalfields, Sindh has the Pakistan`s largest coal reserves. Moreover, the province produces more than 70 percent of the country’s natural gas. Pakistan is struggling with a worsening energy crisis; it has become a national issue. The Thar Coalfields in Sindh Province can be the perfect solution for the crisis facing Pakistan. But the political parties have, since its discovery more than 20 years ago, have failed to develop it to help the country, which is in dark. The new government has a huge responsibility to tackle power crisis issue in an efficient manner.
Other key issues in Sindh are:
Corruption: The traditional stronghold of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) is facing unparalleled corruption in almost every sphere, right from education to irrigation. The PPP’s outdated tenets of roti, kapra aur makan are not expected to sway the Sindhis anymore. Other political parties have a great chance to turn the tables in their favour.
Violence against Hindus: Hindus live in all the four provinces in Pakistan, but a majority of them are settled in the Sindh province. The problems Hindus face in Sindh are conversion, kidnapping, rape, face neglect in job offers. Increasing violence has led to migration of a number of Sindh Hindus to India.
Terrorism: A monthly report published by the Pak Institute for Peace Studies states that Karachi, the capital of Sindh, was the worst-affected region of Pakistan as far as casualties caused by terrorist attacks in March. Notably, Sindh has 3,621 sensitive and 4,629 most sensitive polling stations, according to Election Commission of Pakistan.
Unemployment: Despite the fact that Sindh is an energy-rich province, more people were unemployed in Sindh as compared to Punjab, which can be credited to poor law-and-order situation and economic recession in Pakistan.
Water scarcity: The scarcity of both irrigation and drinking water in many parts of Sindh is quite worrisome. It has sparked protests by farmers and others in the past. According to researchers, water crisis in Sindh is not much due to general water shortage but because of poor mismanagement of the water resources by those in power.