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Flood Affectees Assert Their Presence at Jashn-e-Faiz.

Vow to fight for their rights; Lament states apathy; describe floods as a blessing that rid them from

the clutches of feudal landlords

Karachi, April 17, 2011: Regretting state apathy and urban citizens memory lapse regarding their plight,flood affectees at a seminar organized at the Jashn-e-Faiz mela in Karachi on April 17, pledged that they

would continue to struggle for their rights.

Coming from Gulshan-e-Maymaar Flood Relief Camp, Super Highway Camps and Hyderabad Sabzi Mandi

Camp, people displaced by August 2010 floods in Sindh felt their days of struggle continue in the face of an indifferent state. The seminar was organized by the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education andResearch. Apart from testimonies from the affectees, Nazim Haji or Etimaad Trust and Karamat Ali of

PILER spoke at the seminar.

Whatever little help was there when we were pushed to the cities after floods, is all gone now. People

are being made to feel that the displ acement is not states problem. This is unfair. Not only the poordisaster management of the government added to our miseries, the disaster itself was the result of governments poor policy and governance structures. Now when the government and the urban c itizensthink of us as nobodys problem, one wants to tell them that there are serious questions that need tobe answered. Forcing us back to go home when the water has neither receded nor have there anyarrangements made to clear the debris is most unfair and amou nts to treating us as outsiders, said

flood affectees in their testimonies

Ironically, few flood affectees, in their testimonies, declared floods as a blessing in disguise. The floodsforced us to move to the cities, and it was only upon reaching here that we realized how claustrophobic

life has been living in the clutches of feudal landlords. People need to ask why flood affectees want tolive in the cities and not go back if given an option. The fact is that we have been living a life of slaveryfor generations. Why should we be forced to live a life where our being is tied with the whims of the

powerful feudal landlors.

Identifying access to clean drinking water, health facilities and education, non delivery of watan cardsabsence of livelihood options as critical challenges, flood affectees said they do not expect much fromthe government. We are ready to help ourselves, but the state must provide an opportunity to improve

our lives. We are not ready to accept the life of misery that we have been living in the past.

Speaking as one of the participants, Nazim Haii, Trustee Etimaad Trust said that preparations for the

coming years floods should start in advance in the wake of predictions of another cycle of floods andthe poor state response on the issue. He said, people will have to stand up and work on a self help basis.There has been poor state support for flood affectees. Enthusiastic and committed citizens who hadearlier generously helped, too have slowed down. The worrying part is that if the country faces another

round of floods in the coming three to four month s, how would that be dealt with?

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Karamat Ali, Executive Director PILER and labour rights activist said that flood affectees need to reasserttheir presence. Nobody can under stand and speak for flood affectees issues better than the affecteesthemselves. They need to raise their voice consistently and loudly. It is important to work on self-helpbasis but that shouldnt lead the state into abdicating from its responsibilities. He urged the floodaffectees to change their approach towards citizenship rights. We are equal citizens of the country. We

have the right to demand the state to treat us with dignity and deliver on social services and otherresponsibilities. Flood affectees have not come here from foreign countries. They are the nationals of this country. Expecting them to beg for their entitlements is unjustified. Also the state has no right to

force them to go back to their towns, even when they want to settle in the c ities.

Flood affectees demanded that they be allotted land in cities. When free land is allotted to the eliteclass on one pretext or the other, why cant we be allotted land to live here and start a new life.Hundreds of acres on the outskirts of the city have been doled out to the powerful who would now be

selling it out as commercial enterprises. We have the right to states land and other social provisions.These must be allotted to us with dignity.

Flood affectees also took out multiple rallies throughout the Jashn-e-Faiz event. The event wasorganized by the Citizens for Democracy, a network of individuals and groups committed to work againstthe abuse of religion in politics. Jashn-e-Faiz marked the centennial celebrations of sub- continents mostimportant ambassador for peace, humanist and progressive poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz.

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