The writer
is a freelance columnist and former newspaper editor
It seems really odd that our media continues to be obsessed with the continued
MQM-PPP farce, the tussle between the executive and the judiciary and all kinds
of other issues rooted in the murky national political arena, even while a far
larger problem looms.
A number of recent reports have spoken of growing food insecurity in Pakistan
and the fact that a majority of people simply do not have enough to eat. This
should be a problem that draws far greater focus from political leaders given
its gravity.
Pakistan, as a country which grows enough wheat to feed its people, should not
be confronted with so many starving citizens nor should it suffer from levels
of hunger which match those of sub-Saharan Africa. The fact that this is
happening is shameful.
A report by the Islamabad-based Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI)
reveals that 48.6 percent of the population suffers from food insecurity. The
levels are worse at 67.7 percent in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas
followed by Balochistan, where the rate is marginally lower. The SDPI links
food insecurity with growing conflict, violence and militancy in the country.
This is hardly a far-fetched conclusion. We know that militant groups thrive on
recruiting desperate young men and boys who see no hope for the future, face
ceaseless joblessness and come to believe, when the right propaganda is
directed their way that a gun in the hand will give them the power and sense of
purpose they seek.
The level of despondency that exists here can be gauged from incidents of the
kind recently reported in which eight young Pakistanis stuffed into a cramped
container died at the Turkish border while trying to make it to Greece.
They had paid agents large amounts from their savings and had even borrowed
money so they could go overseas. Others before these young boys from Sialkot
have followed a similar route. Some no older than 14 or so years have been
apprehended on the Afghan or Iran borders. Others have tried to cling on to
wheels of airplanes headed overseas. This degree of desperation is unusual and
indicates the plight of millions.
A recent report by Oxfam makes things even plainer. The survey states that
Pakistan is one of 21 countries in the world where food insecurity has grown as
a result of fluctuations and increases in prices.
About 120 million people or two-thirds of the population spend 50 to 70 percent
of their incomes on food. One can only imagine what is left to meet other
urgent needs including healthcare and the education of children.
Humanitarian agencies’ fieldworkers report rising levels of malnutrition among
men, women and children. The impact on women and children is most severe.
Levels of stunting and wasting among children is said to be growing.
Concern has already been expressed by Unicef over this situation, uncovered to
some extent after the floods of 2010 and exacerbated but not created by them.
Experts believe the hunger existed well before water swept over large tracks of
land and left people everywhere along the Indus homeless and destitute.
What is most disturbing about this situation is that official policies have, in
many ways, directly created the crisis. The decision last year by a government
that has consistently described itself as ‘pro-people’ to raise the wheat
support price to Rs950 per 40 kg from the previous rate of Rs550 for the same
amount has had a drastic effect and comes under terse criticism from
international agencies such as the World Food Programme.
While the government, including the prime minister himself, asserts that the
price increase is intended to help the rural poor and prevent smuggling to
neighbouring countries notably Afghanistan, one can only wonder if the
leadership considers this a reasonable step given the starvation it is causing.
It is true some farmers have benefitted from the increase. But the millions who
live off salaries, remittances or other fixed incomes in both rural and urban
areas can simply not manage.
To add to complications farmers growing sugar-cane or other crops are switching
to wheat – creating the threat of a sugar shortage and further price rises in
the future. It appears a key factor behind the steep increase is to collect
rural votes – but the morality of this needs to be examined against the spectre
of mass hunger.
We need to direct more attention towards the issue. The matter is of course a
humanitarian one; the knowledge that people die regularly simply because they
cannot get enough to eat is horrific. It deserves far more media attention –
going beyond the relatively isolated incidents of a family committing suicide
or parents selling children. But the problem is also one of security.
Links between poverty, militancy and deprivation have been well established.
There is no coincidence in the fact that the worst problems lie in the most
deprived areas – Fata and Balochistan. We cannot rid ourselves of terrorism
till the key issue of the people is addressed and food for all ensured.
While it is obviously Pakistan’s own leaders who need to act in the interests
of their people, and place the need to tackle starvation on a much higher
priority, we also need more international attention directed towards the issue.
The development of the people holds the key to the future and the escape from
the growing violence we face. Beyond militancy, this comes also in the form of
growing crime, frustrations unleashed in other ways and a growth in intolerance
and desperation.
There have been warnings already of a descent into anarchy if people cannot get
enough food. The hunger of millions in an agrarian nation is a crisis. It is a
much bigger one than the quibbling between political parties or even the power
crisis.
More and more international studies are highlighting the extent of a silent
calamity, to which, even now, there appears to be indifference from the
political leadership and a lack of readiness to bring in the changes in policy
needed to curb food price inflation of around 18 percent seen over the past
three years or create the opportunities to earn a livelihood that people
everywhere so desperately need.
Email: kamilahyat@hotmail.com
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