Sindh, one of the four
provinces of Pakistan and a refuge to many and remembered for its agricultural
lands, one of the two deserts, culture and brief history - since the past many
centuries has been a mound of the feudal lords - from the time of Raja Dahir,
its people have suffered a big time. Feudalism has been eradicated from many
different countries and states but somehow it still exists very strongly in
Pakistan, particularly in Sindh, although not in its original sense.
Today we find feudal lords with large landholdings, bonded labour and much more
that that. As a result of the loyalty of the peasants there's a very strong
sovereignty of Waderas in all parts of Sindh. They have supremacy over economic
corridors and they also enjoy the beneficiary links with Thanas. Due to the
enormous and colossal power base of the feudal lords no one is able to raise
their voice as they're scared of being economically trodden and crippled and
that the sway might destroy their generations and in accordance with that they
keep quiet and endure the rants and wrath of the feudals.
This fear is so strong and peasants so terrified that they seem to have accepted
the domination, which goes totally against the basic human rights. Due to this
domination, the freedom to vote is suppressed and hurdles are faced in the
democratic process in the province. The meaning of word feudal is quite easy to
understand; keep the people illiterate, economically dependent, backward, rule
them through 'thanas' and the 'official machinery' and consolidate your power
over the area. The problem of lack of Education is very dire and dreadful; most
of the children of school going age don't go to school and, from the very little
age they start to weave carpets and do labour.
There is a mafia who is running educational franchises in the name of private
schools; environment of these mushrooming private schools is very clear before
us. They catch the fish and hand it over to a kid, but they do not teach them
how to catch the fish. In fact we are in compilation, using right or wrong way
to win the status. We compare ourselves with the person living in our neighbor,
that is why we don’t focus on our targets and achieve them through right path.
CM and other politicians want to educate the children in government schools
while their own offspring studying abroad. Will these politicians enroll their
children in government schools, if not, then why are the hollow claims and
unplanned announcements being made? Just to win the sympathies of media and
international communities? I wonder in our country people are not prepared to
accept any change, any law before it is imposed and it is announced. First of
all sensitization is needed to the respective change, law, act etc. Number of
other laws need to be repealed, like child labor, at this time large number of
kids are employed in agriculture sector, carpet weaving, domestic labor,
workshops, brick kilns, factories and other hazardous works but no any law is
implemented in real sense to restrain all these practices.
Education has an inverse relation with feudalism; it's either feudalism or
literacy. A feudal cannot tolerate impudence or a poor peasant or his children
standing up and saying 'No' to him. Mass education shall lead to prosperity and
a difference between right and wrong shall be prevailed, which will lead them to
economic independence and they will become eligible for bigger jobs which will
hurt the feudals and most probably, their business might stop working. The
poverty level in the interior of Sindh is alarmingly high. The poverty ratios in
Sindh and Baluchistan are twice as high as in other provinces of Pakistan.
The problem of poverty in the province is compounded by low rainfall, poor
quality water, saline land and lack of water supply because of the poor quality
of canal irrigation system because Sindh's economy depends on its agriculture
and farming. Sindh lacks opportunities for skillful people which is why the
gypsies totally seem to be dependent on the feudals. It's a matter of fact that
the farmers do have at least an acre or two of their own for which they borrow
loans from the feudals to cultivate and often the cultivation fails but the debt
has to be cleared - and even the interest is not abated but increased two to
three fold. This means that the peasant has to give up his life if the feudal
wants it to be that way.
In this way, the peasant never seems to get rid of this loop as this vicious
cycle goes on and on. In half of the cases, the feudals go to the extent of
borrowing funds from the financial institutions in the name of the peasants
which results into miseries and financial problems. Of course feudalism is not
the only reason for the backwardness in the province but is one of the many ills
imposed on people. Without going into the severity of the issue, one thing is
evident; feudalism is a curse and needs to be tackled sincerely.
Twitter handle: Sarah_Illahi.