Tharparkar in Sindh is in the news mostly for wrong reasons. We get to know that children are dying of hunger or malnutrition, there is a drought-like condition most of the time, schools are closed, and hospitals are not functioning. On the other side, the PPP government in Sindh claims that the situation is not that serious, the news items concerning Thar are largely biased, the number of children dying there is highly exaggerated, and the health and school facilities are as good or bad as in some other districts of Pakistan.

During my recent visit to Sindh, I decided to get some first-hand exposure in Thar so that I could share with my readers what I saw. To be fair, a lot is happening in Tharparkar, and it is no more an idyllic and quiet place, as it used to be till a couple of years ago. The main reason for this ongoing transformation is the Thar Coal Project with majority share of the government of Sindh and minor shares of private companies, including a Chinese firm. The open minefield that extracts coal is a sight to behold; it is awe-inspiring and encouraging at the same time.

The minefield is a huge hollow created after digging and removing millions of tons of sand and stone. The crater-like mine presents an enormous sheet of coal at the bottom where heavy machinery is at work. The most interesting aspect of this gigantic workshop is the fact that hundreds of local Tharis are now gainfully employed and the job opportunities have been extended to womenfolk too. Dozens of women are driving dumper trucks and operating them with ease. Dozens more are getting training to start work at the minefield.

Since this was an unannounced visit by this writer and no pick and drop or accommodation was availed, there was no question of staging a show for the visitor. The women who were getting motor training were all from the local villages and even those who were training them belonged to Thar. Most of them were Hindus belonging to the lowest castes of their religious hierarchy. Malnutrition was definitely there, but one could see a visible change of energy level between those who had recently joined and those who had been working there for months.

The jobs these women are getting, have a tremendous potential of changing their socio-economic conditions. Once they have a regular income of around 25,000 rupees per month, not only their own nutrition level improves but also of their children. The main cause of death among children is two-fold. One, the early marriages of teenage girls who are barely able to conceive a child and then bear the birth pangs. Two, because of malnutrition among mothers the embryo does not receive the required nutrients during the first eight weeks of pregnancy. When the embryo becomes a fetus in the ninth week of gestation it is already week and unable to develop as a healthy organism.

This has a lot to do with poverty and lack of livelihood opportunities. Previously the number of infants dying was much higher because of the distances and a lack of infrastructure. Now the roads in Tharparkar are much better than the roads in many other districts in Pakistan. With my wide travels across Pakistan, I can confidently say that not many districts in the country can match the road infrastructure in and around Tharparkar. This is mainly thanks to the efforts the government of Sindh has put in during the last ten years.

Since the government of Sindh is also the majority shareholder in the Thar Coalmining Project, the requirements of the project have also prompted the government to fulfill its responsibilities. In addition to the government of Sindh there are other non-governmental organisations such as Baanh Beli led by Javed Jabbar, Indus Hospital led by Dr Abdul Bari, Thardeep Rural Development Programme led by Dr Allah Nawaz Soomro, Thar Foundation led by Naseer Memon, The Citizen Foundation led by Dr Kamlani and many others. These organisations are working in consonance with each other and trying to bring about a change that should have taken place much earlier.

At the moment Thar Foundation is at the forefront of this transformation. As a new player in the field it has new blood in its veins and hired local educated youth to contribute to the development of this region. They have established a partnership with Indus Hospital, Karachi, to provide free healthcare to underprivileged people of the Thari society. They are already on the way to make Islamkot a model taluka (tehsil) for health facilities in Sindh, which can be followed by other districts. For example, their Marvi Mother and Child Clinic has been operational since 2015, and one could see Thari women and children get the best possible primary healthcare that is the hallmark of Indus Hospital in Karachi.

When this writer paid an unannounced visit to Gorrano village, he could observe mother-and-child health services being provided to the local people. Free medicine and treatment, and that of high quality, is appreciated by the local men too who accompany their wives and children to these clinics. Informal chats with the local people disclosed that they are appreciative of the efforts both the Sindh government and the Thar Foundation are doing. Islamkot is also going to be the location of a 250-bed hospital already underway in its earlier phase.

Almost a 100-bed facility is already completed and is expected to start functioning in the next couple of months and will be operated by Indus Hospital. Since the Thar dessert has a vast terrain with sparsely populated areas, mobile clinics’ network is also underway. With regard to education also, The Thar Foundation has achieved a lot in collaboration with the Citizen Foundation. It is presenting an ideal example of private-public partnership by offering to adopt and operate all government schools in Islamkot to begin with. Twenty-four school units have already been set up in Islamkot and Mithi, having capacity of 5,000 pupils.

Some of the campuses spotted on the way and visited, again unannounced, showed smartly dressed children attending classes. Though malnutrition was visible on their faces and poverty reflected in the nearby villages where they come from. The Thar Foundation claims that the multimillion dollar Thar Coal Project employs almost 75 per cent of its staff and workers from the area. Still, a major challenge is creating food security and eliminating or at least reducing malnutrition. This challenge is compounded by the fact that agriculture is possible only in scattered areas due to high salinity in groundwater.

An attempt is being made to introduce bio-saline agriculture with the help of both the government of Sindh and the Thar Foundation, and the local communities are more than enthusiastic to try this new adventure. Now in selected areas cluster beans, millet, melons, and lentils are being grown to the amazement of the local population, and Pakistan Agriculture Research Centre (PARC) is also on board. Another unbelievable development is aquaculture development in the Thar Desert. A large pond has been created in which 100,000 fish seeds have been released.

This and many other initiatives are transforming Thar, for which the Sindh government, the Thar Foundation, The Citizen Foundation, and Indus Hospital are to be appreciated. Though the scale of these interventions is still meager, they need to be expanded for a sustainable change in this region.