WASHINGTON: “All politics, no focus on flood victims,” complained a US scholar of Pakistani origin as media reports warned that Pakistan could soon face a major food crisis if the situation did not change.

“All politics, no focus on flood victims,” Madiha Afzal, an expert of South Asian affairs at Washington’s Brookings Institution, wrote in a tweet.

“The majority are in rural Sindh — will PPP raise its voice for them and help in providing them relief?” she asked.

Michael Kugelman, another scholar of South Asian affairs at Wilson Center, Washington, complained that the country’s obsession with politics shows as if “Pakistan’s catastrophic floods never happened.”

Commenting on the long-march, Ms Afzal wrote: “Undeniable that PTI can hold and sustain huge rallies better than any party in Pakistan at the current moment.”

In a piece he wrote for the Foreign Policy magazine, Mr Kugelman identified four developments that “inject more uncertainty” into Pakistan’s immediate political future: Imran Khan’s disqualification, the killing of Arshad Sharif, PTI’s long march and speculations about the next army chief.

“All this threatens to intensify Pakistan’s polarization, but it also increases the uncertainty swirling around its immediate political future,” he wrote.

A report, carried by Al-Jazeera, noted that this summer’s catastrophic floods in Pakistan had pushed the country to the brink. However, “the awful reality is that this is just the beginning. Another big crisis birthed by the floods faces Pakistan — that of food insecurity,” the report warned.

The report, while noting that Pakistan has some of the highest levels of malnutrition in the world, added, “With the entire supply chain damaged in recent weeks, the country is likely to witness increased vulnerability to malnutrition, especially among women, young people and children.”

Unicef Regional Director for South Asia George Laryea-Adjei, who visited the flood-hit areas last week, warned climate devastation in Pakistan was an ominous precursor of catastrophes to come.

“As the flood waters and the media attention recede, the crisis in Pakistan has become an acute child survival crisis. Frail, hungry children are fighting a losing battle against severe acute malnutrition, diarrhea, malaria, dengue fever, typhoid, acute respiratory infections, and painful skin conditions,” he wrote in a report published this week.

“As well as physical ailments, the longer the crisis continues, the greater the risk to children’s mental health.”

The report said hundreds of children had already lost their lives while nearly 10 million needed immediate support.

“Over 1 in 9 children suffers from severe acute malnutrition – a life-threatening condition. Panic-stricken parents are searching for food to bring even a simple meal home to their children,” the report added.

Published in Dawn, October 31st, 2022