Saving Sindh will take some doing.

THE people of Sindh have welcomed the recent understanding achieved between the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and the main faction of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM-P) to live together and collectively work for the people of the province regardless of the urban-rural divide.

Even though this is not the first time the two parties have arrived at such an understanding, people are hoping that the two parties will strictly adhere to the spirit of the understanding and work for the betterment of the province.

As things stand, Sindh is seriously suffering from overpopulation which is the root cause of many ills that are afflicting life across the province. This over-population is the result of internal migration from the other provinces as well as millions of refugees who cross the border into Pakistan from various directions and then move straight to urban centres in Sindh in search of livelihood.

This livelihood to both internal and external migrants comes at the cost of the local inhabitants who stand deprived of employment opportunities. Federal government departments and autonomous organisations discriminate on the basis of domicile-based quota system, while the larger corporate sector and private-sector industries have no preference for the local talent.

As a result, from the lowest rung to the...