Recent monsoons in Pakistan have had a deep and devastating effect on Baluchistan and South Punjab. The most affected areas of South Punjab are Rajanpur and Dera Ghazi Khan, especially in tehsil Taunsa sharif. According to a news report, almost 185 mauzas and 33 unions were hit by floods, and 80,000 people were displaced from flood-affected areas, but the total death number is not confirmed yet. Thousands of acres of crops in Rajanpur and Dera Ghazi Khan were devastated by the flood.
In 2013, Dera Ghazi Khan and Rajanpur were also affected by the flood, but the recent flood has broken all previous records. The most important question that has to be addressed is why are these areas mostly affected by the flood. To get the answer to this question, we should have to look at the pattern of floods that started in Baluchistan. The flood water primarily originates in Baluchistan from Darra Kho and enters Rajanpur and Rajanpur districts along the Baluchistan border has two ways to water, one is Chhachar and the other is Khaa.
When the rainwater comes from Khoo-Solmaan with a high-speed fist, it affects Rajanpur and then Dera Ghazi Khan, but in every flood, mostly poor people are affected badly by the flood. The reason behind this is that the government has no protective measures like dams in the Darras of Khoo-Solmaan. Due to the lack of dams, tribal lords protected their areas with paved flood protective walls. When the water has no way to pass, then it hits the poor villages. Another thing is that governments have not worked on these issues and local landlords are the main cause of Wasaib’s devastation. The Saraiki are living in between the two cruelties. One is insufficient government policies and the other is Lagharies and Mazaries sardars. Poor people have nothing to eat, no clean drinking water, and no roof, and the consequences of this flood will remain for almost five years. The federal government and provincial governments should take preventative measures to save Saraiki Wasib.
