Sindh: Fight breaks out among the poor after the flood, Christians flee village
Six months after the calamity that sowed death and destruction in large parts of Pakistan, the families helped by AsiaNews were forced to leave Allah Bachao Shoro under threat from some Muslims. They still live under tents, exposed to insect bites and diseases. “These cruel floods have ruined our lives,” said one displaced person who prays to God to “send someone to support us.”
Sindh (AsiaNews) – Pakistan is still reeling from last summer’s devastating floods, which seriously damaged homes, crops, and infrastructure in large parts of the country.
For minorities, discrimination has made the situation even worse. No more so than in Allah Bachao Shoro (literally. May God save us), a village in Sindh province, heavily impacted by the natural disaster. In its wake, AsiaNews launched a campaign to help its residents.
Unfortunately, tensions fuelled by the lack of the basics led the 45 Christian families who lived in the village to leave to avoid violence at the hands of some Muslims.
Of his group, 16 families moved to Ghot Shora, a slum village in Sindh where a local social activist made land available to them; 12 families moved to the Ghareebabad slum, and 17 families moved to Hari Camp, on the bank of a canal.
All these families still live in tents provided by funds raised by AsiaNews, but they are forced to sleep on the ground on bedsheets because they lack proper equipment.
Malaria and skin diseases are spreading among them because of their precarious living conditions, compounded by the use of canal water for human use because of the lack of clean water.
Nasreen Bibi (pictured), a 38-year-old Christian mother of three, has skin cancer and her kidneys are also not working well.
"I don't know when this terrible period will end," she told AsiaNews. “I'm sick of this pathetic life,” she added. “I always look up and pray that God Almighty will send someone to support us. [. . .] These cruel floods have ruined our lives”.
"It is very unfortunate that, based on different faiths, people do not accept each other in such difficult times after the heavy floods,” said Imtiaz Masih, a local social activist.
“The Catholic church tried to buy a piece of land for these people compelled to move to other places, but the cost of the land is too high,” he told AsiaNews. “The price of one acre is about 6 to 8 lakhs rupees (6-8 million rupees or US$ 21,000 to US$ 28,000), and the Church does not have such a large amount to buy land for them."
.png)
