Highlighting the social issues in Sindh

The province of Sindh, despite being the country’s second-largest province lags behind others in terms of socio-economic conditions. Although, it undoubtedly makes massive contributions to the country’s economy yet is confronted by various issues and has a fragile regulatory framework. Some of the most pressing social problems in Sindh are:

● Child marriages
● Religious extremisms
● Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR)
● Sexual assault and Honor killing
● Discriminated educational system
● Ethnocentrism
● Feudalism

Child Marriages

Any person who is below 18 years of age is legally considered a minor in Pakistan, and child marriages refer to the practice of marrying children under the age of 18 years. According to the Child Marriage Restraint Act 1929, the minimum legal age for a girl’s marriage is 16 and 18 for boys. Later on, the Sindh Child Marriage Restraint Act 2013 revised this age by and stated that marriages under 18 years are not legally permissible and that the individuals will be punished yet the marriage of minors remains prevalent in the province. The foremost reasons behind this social issue are poverty, cultural traditions, bride rice, illiteracy, social pressure, hopelessness about the child’s marriage in adulthood, religious customs, lack of awareness, dowry, etc. It is also seen as a way of protecting girls from sexual assault, reducing the economic burden on family, and may involve the practice of Vani (settlement of disputes), transfer of money and making the male independent, etc. In Pakistan, during the years of 2008-2009, 24228 children of between 10-14 years were reported married and 1029784 children between 15-19 years were reported married. According to 2016 UNICEF data, Pakistan has a 21% prevalence rate of child marriages all over the world. The demographic and health survey (DHS) revealed that before 18 years’ marriage in the year 2017 was 29.9% in Punjab whereas 43.1% in Sindh. Therefore, this practice is very common in the rural areas and villages of Sindh.

Religious extremism

Sectarian killing and religious extremism is not a new problem in Pakistan and its respective provinces. There have been never-ending conflicts between various religious groups such as Shias, Sunnis, Ahmadis, Barelvis, etc which disrupts the entire country’s social structure and deteriorates the internal peace and security. Almost 4000 innocent people have been killed in these clashes from 1987-to 2007 in Pakistan. Although this extremism is seen in almost all provinces of Pakistan, Sindh dominates the national scene in sectarian violence. In the first three months of 2017, 150 were injured and 93 people were killed in Sindh as a result of these religious clashes (particularly the Shia-Sunni community) that was the highest number of causalities countrywide. The suicide bombers attack on Abdullah Shah Ghazi shrine in 2010 and the Shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar Shrine in 2017 are just two other examples depicting religious extremism in Sindh.

Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR)

The despaired and inconsistent health care services throughout the country have adversely affected the mothers and their fetuses. According to the Pakistan Maternal Mortality Survey; Sindh has 224 maternal deaths per 100,000 as compared to 157 deaths in Punjab, 165 deaths, and 298 maternal deaths in Baluchistan. The women’s health in Sindh is at high risk due to the high number of pregnancies every year, lack of family planning, and inaccessibility to satisfactory healthcare services. The National Nutrition Survey 2011 revealed that 24.6 % of pregnant women in Sindh suffered from iron deficiency or anemia. Whereas, almost 49.5% of pregnant women have Vitamin A deficiency and 44.6% of pregnant women have a zinc deficiency. They suffer from severe physical weaknesses, lack the support system, live in poverty, do not have regular hospital visits, no proper diet, a workload which just makes this pregnancy pain unbearable for them since their bodies are biologically not fit for it. The majority are underage at the time of delivery and their fetus are born underweight as well. This is a very persistent and significant social problem since the society is made up of both males and females and when the females’ health is so neglected then the society is bound to collapse.

Sexual assault and Honor killing

The sexual assault, rape cases, honor killings, physical molestation cases are up surging in Sindh with every passing day. The honor killing is referred to as ‘KARO KARI’ and is done since the family believes the woman has bought dishonor to them. Such cases are very common in upper Sindh, villages, and small rural towns. From the year 2014 to 2019, almost 769 people including 510 women became the victims of this so-called honor in Sindh according to police sources. Moreover, legal justice is highly lacking since out of a total of 649 such criminal cases, only 19 cases were handed sentences by the court. The statistics of rape cases reported in Sindh are significantly alarming as a total of 340 cases were reported in 2020, 310 cases in 2019, 337 cases in 2018, 289 cases in 2017, 271 cases in 2016, and 326 rape cases in 2015; making up a total of more than 1, 873 cases. In addition to this, 448 cases alone were reported in Karachi; the biggest city of Sindh in the previous 3 years. The authorities are silent overall this heart-wrenching situation and no strict action is taken; thereby making it a leading social issue existing in Sindh.

Discriminated educational system

One of the major social issues is the out-of-school children in Sindh which is approximately 6.4 million and accounts for 40% of total children in the province. Even more sad is the fact that this already weak education system is also discriminated against; as the enrollment ratio of boys is 61% compared to 39% of girls. The dropout rate is high of schoolgirls since the parents restrict the girls from going to schools, there are harassment issues, lack of female teachers, poverty, the orthodox mindset of preferring boys over girls, etc. The two major reasons for girls’ dropout are either parents asking for their help in work (29%) and simply not giving them permission to attend schools (27%); compared to only 5% dropout rate of boys and a total of 13% of girls. This issue needs the utmost attention of NGOs, other organizations, and most importantly of government.

Ethnocentrism

Ethnocentrism fundamentally refers to the idea of evaluating other cultures in accordance with one’s own cultural practices, customs, and standards. So, in this scenario, there is huge ethnic hate among people in Sindh. Karachi basically attracted the majority of Urdu-speaking individuals and started playing a significant role in the economy of Sindh which hence displaced the local elite and this ultimately created disturbances between them. The local Sindhi people do not like Urdu-speaking people since they are very passionate about their own language and customs. According to the 1998 census, 48.52% of people are Urdu as compared to only 7.22% Sindhi; although there must have massive changes in these statistics Urdu’s are dominant in Sindh, commonly known as “Muhajirs”. Moreover, there have been Mohajir-Pashtoon riots from 1985 to 1987, Mohajir-Sindhi riots in 1988 and from 2009-2010 there were Mohajir-Pashtoon riots in Karachi. This led to widespread unrest in the city and fear in locals about their ethnicities. There have been power struggles and language issues among them as the Sindhi language is considered an integral element of cultural heritage. Therefore, there have been massive tensions between these two linguistic groups which are adversely impacting the social relations among people.

Feudalism

Pakistan is an agricultural country and since these lands are owned by feudal lords so this concept of Feudalism exists in all provinces of Pakistan. Comparatively, feudalism is seen a lot in Sindh and Baluchistan than in KPK and Punjab. The poor peasants get crushed by this feudal power, they destroy the values and morals, the wives and daughters of these poor peasants are mistreated, labor exploitation is done and just all the brutal acts one can do are done by these feudal lords. In the rural areas of Sindh, these feudal lords consider themselves Gods, and make all decisions about the people in their areas, they feel like they have a license to kill poor people and exploit them for their own pleasures. They impose utmost power and authority and destroy human rights completely; so many vicious crimes are committed by them but are not held accountable. They do not allow their subjects to improve their standard of living or improve their socio-economic conditions. Pakistan has been facing this issue since the Independence and will continue to do so if not properly addresses and their unnecessary power is not limited.