Despite being the ancestral home of two former prime ministers, Larkana presents a dismal picture

The road is lined on both sides with tents. Home to thousands of residents of Qabu Saeed Khan taluka whose homes and crops were washed away by the floods of last year, this is the road that connects Chuki – a town bordering Balochistan – with district Qamber-Shahdadkot. For these hapless people the day passes well if they can scrounge together a single meal for the family. “Why should we vote in the elections? No politician came to our aid,” says a man sitting by the roadside.

Qamber-Shahdadkot was part of the Larkana district till two years ago when it was given the status of a separate district. Today both these districts are an ironic commentary on how the arbiters of the nation’s destiny treat their own backyard — the area is the ancestral district and the constituency of two former prime ministers, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto. In fact, old Larkana, which included Qamber-Shahdadkot, has been a stronghold of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) since the 1970s. The party has not lost a single National Assembly seat from the area since 1988 — the area boasted of three seats which were increased to four shortly before the 2002 elections. The absence of Benazir Bhutto from the scene had no impact on the party fortunes in the area as it won all the four seats in 2002. Since 2004 district Larkana consists of four talukas — Ratodero, Larkana, Bakrani and Dokri.

Carved into a district more than a century ago in 1901, Larkana was so prosperous in the days gone by that according to a Sindhi adage “you could not visit Larkana without money in your pocket.” But this is no longer the case. Indeed, such is the security situation in the district that the saying can easily be rephrased to “you cannot visit Larkana with money in your pocket”. Neither are the area’s problems limited to a growing crime rate.

Not only is there absence of a sewage disposal system in the entire district, heaps of garbage are also a common sight. Once known as “the garden of Sindh” because of its clean and serene landscape, Larkana is now one of the dirtiest areas in the province. At the same time the district also lacks a water supply system, forcing people to dig wells or bore into the ground for water or draw it from irrigation canals. “This adds to our woes,” says a resident of Larkana, as the water from the irrigation canals is polluted. Consider Larkana city: its sewage is drained into the Rice Canal – a non-perennial channel – polluting the water used for irrigation and drinking. And in winter when the canal dries up, sewage accumulates in it, creating further environmental and health problems. Similarly, the sewage of taluka Ratodero in Larkana district is pumped into the Dadu Canal. Shahdadkot city, too, is supplied water from a canal which does not flow from June to August. During this period the residents of the city buy two to three gallons for rupees 50 as the subsoil water is saline and not fit for consumption. Those who cannot afford this make do with saline water. Clearly, health problems are a major concern in the area.

At a glance it seems that the state and the constituency’s representatives have done something for the area. One medical college hospital (Chandka), two taluka headquarter hospitals, five rural health centres, 28 basic health units, 21 dispensaries and three maternity homes provide health care. In the education sector, facilities incorporate one intermediate college, four higher secondary schools each for boys and girls, 36 boys’ high schools and 16 girls’ high schools, 42 boys’ middle schools and 22 girls’ middle schools, 965 boys’ primary schools and 244 girls’ primary schools. The health and education facilities for a population of one million look satisfactory on paper. However, the situation on the ground is anything but.

“A large number of school premises in the entire district are used as cattle pens and autaqs [guest houses] by landlords,” says a local. In Naudero, the late Benazir Bhutto’s hometown, for instance, there is only one rural health centre and one maternity home for 80,000 people. And the less said about the conditions and resources of the two facilities the better. The maternity home remains open for only six hours a day with only one female doctor on duty. While it does boast of six beds, there is no inpatient service. Neither is it equipped with X-ray or ultrasound facilities. “I can only hand out the medicines provided by the executive district officer,” the doctor tells the Herald.

In not too dissimilar a state is the only rural health centre in Naudero. Intended to provide 24-hour emergency service, the centre has an operation theatre and a labour room but both are non-functional. Neither does it offer any facilities for carrying out blood tests or blood screening. The 12 beds in the centre are filthy and unusable. During a visit to the centre in early December, the Herald found only a few patients in the outpatient department while the general ward was empty.

In fact, the health facilities at almost all the government-run hospitals and health centres are extremely poor. No wonder then that the local residents are convinced that even the reputed hospitals provide substandard medicines. “We end up buying the medicines,” says one man.

Other facilities suffer from a similar lack of attention. The road infrastructure within city areas is almost non-existent. In addition, no new industry has been established in the Larkana and Qamber-Shahdadkot districts for over 20 years. The main reason for this is the poor security situation. Robberies and kidnappings for ransom are so rampant that highways are considered unsafe, especially after dark. Instead of providing a solution the local police force is suspected of being involved in such crimes themselves. According to observers, the high unemployment rates in the area contribute to increasing crime, which in turn discourages investment in the area.

Indeed, people admit that there has not been much improvement in socio-economic conditions during Benazir Bhutto’s two tenures as prime minister. Nevertheless, most of them add that she did provide them employment. And such are the politics of Pakistan and the hold of the Bhutto family over the area that the poor socio-economic indicators of the region and the lack of development will have no adverse impact on the PPP’s electoral prospects in the two districts. Bhutto’s tragic and untimely death has only strengthened her family’s hold over the region.