Ali Mohammad Shah sells candy, cigarettes and some dry fruit out of a tiny wooden shack a short way from the houses that go by the name of Goth Ali Mohammad Shah after him. The village is part of the precinct of Deh Bumbto of Thatta district and sits in the delta of the Sindhu River. In the hour or so we spend together, Shah attracts no more than a couple of customers for this is a very poor country.

'Why did I have to be so unfortunate that Nature deprived me of the sweet water that was my wealth and my life and blighted my land with bitter water instead?' he says with genuine anguish when I press him to tell me of the days gone by.

Until the late 1970s, when Shah was in his 20s, he lived in the village of Keti Bandar where, so he says, his family had lived for several generations. Sitting between two branches of the Sindhu River with the sea to the south and east, Keti Bandar was virtually an island. Fertilised by the nutrient-rich silt brought down by the river, this was a country of fertile farmland lying smack on the seaboard where men knew either farming or fishing. They who lived by the rich land and the richer sea were prosperous.

Ali Mohammad Shah's father owned 300 acres of this prime land. That made him a well-off landowner whose property was worked by twenty-five mazaras (labourers) to produce, among other crops, no fewer than nine different varieties of rice, including the famed Basmati. Because of the plentiful pasturage, he also maintained twelve pairs of the finest breed of milch cattle that Sindh could boast of and there was ample milk to drink and turn into ghee.

As a young man Ali Mohammad had heard his father fret over the ever-decreasing flow in the river. He had heard the man worry about the shrinking pastures and the falling yield of the once flourishing land. By the late 1970s the inflow of the river was almost negligible: save for the rare summer when heavy rains in the upper reach brought some water down to the delta, there were years when the several branches of the river that flow around Keti Bandar remained dry. That was the first time the young Shah saw mesquite encroaching into the sandy bed of the Sindhu where once silt-laden waters flowed.

As the Ochto and Hajamro branches of the river that skirt Keti Bandar began to dry up, Shah and the others noticed the sea intruding up these creeks. This intrusion was particularly noticeable during the summer monsoon months when the sea churns with comparatively higher waves. Over time, the drinking water of the hand pumps turned bitter and the land barren.

In 1979 or the year after, Shah watched the graves of his ancestors overtaken by the sea. That was when he abandoned his home and led his extended family inland to establish the village that now goes by his name. The man who had known reasonable prosperity is today reduced to poverty because the rich farmland that he knew as a young man is now submerged under the intruding sea. That he has at all been able to keep body and soul together, he says, is because of his sons who work as sea-going fishermen.

But even the sea is turning against them, says Shah. Though there is only a slight decrease in fish, the shrimp and prawn catch has fallen drastically. He may once have been clueless, but now because of greater interaction with NGOs working on the environment as well as Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum that seeks to protect the rights of the country's fishing communities, Shah has some idea of the setback. The decline in the crustacean harvest as well as that of some fish species, he knows, is because of the dwindling mangrove forests where these creatures breed.

Years ago he may have assigned a divine cause to the thinning out of the mangroves and the resultant decrease in shrimps, but now he knows that the mangroves are dying for the same reason that the sea is advancing. Now he understands that mangroves thrive in the delta when it is regularly flushed with the alluvium rich waters of the river. They are dying because now the Sindhu hardly ever reaches the delta to bring it the required dose of fresh water. In turn, the death of the mangroves is killing the species that breed in them. This resultant scarcity will eventually squeeze the life out of the fishing communities that live on the seaboard.

Ali Mohammad Shah is not a solitary case. He is one of the hundreds that have been ruined by sea intrusion and the resultant salination of perfectly productive land. We know that the fishing villages of Rehri, Ibrahim Hyderi and those along Sandspit and Hawke's Bay in Karachi are now home to dozens of families that lived in the delta as little as forty years ago. That these families were forced to migrate has something to say about the deteriorating health of the Sindhu delta. The big question then is why is the delta dying?

Decreased flow of fresh water in the Sindhu River downstream of Kotri Barrage is killing the delta. Point. Over the past sixty years, we have built barrages and dams in the upper reach of our river system together with a network of canals taking off from them to slake our ever-thirsty farmland. Consequently freshwater that once reached the seaboard is now used up to provide the people of Pakistan food and clothing.

With population growth rampant in the face of severe opposition to birth control by the religious lobby which looks upon every new birth as a possible addition to the legions of holy warriors, the country needs more and more land to be brought under the plough. In turn this means ever less water flowing down the river to the delta. First the Thal Desert was reclaimed and now it is Cholistan where new watercourses are changing the landscape.

It is interesting that a water accord signed between Punjab and Sindh in 1991 recommends at least 10 million acre feet (MAF) inflow to the delta annually. This contravenes the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) stipulation of no less than 27 MAF in order to maintain the delta ecosystem in reasonable health. Coastal communities meanwhile demand as much as 35 MAF. In reality the current release to the delta is negligible.

Tahir Qureshi of IUCN makes an astute observation concerning the proportion between land being brought under the plough in the Cholistan Desert and what we are losing to sea intrusion and salination in the districts of Badin and Thatta in Sindh. According to him four times more land is being lost in the south than is being rehabilitated in Punjab. An estimated 2.2 million acres of farmland in the districts of Thatta and Badin has so far been taken over by the sea.

In terms of human displacement the disparity is frightening: while the Punjab desert lands are being reclaimed mainly for retired soldiers and politicians who will never live on their farms, whole families are being uprooted from the delta. These are our Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) that have not registered on the monitors of any government agency. As sea intrusion increases -- and it will only increase -- these IDPs will multiply. Are concerned quarters even aware of this huge tragedy in the making?

If it was simply loss of good acreage, that would be one thing which many, especially those who benefit from the schemes in Cholistan, could justify. But we have not yet started to measure the cost of losing our precious mangrove swamps. The recent tsunami, still fresh in our memories, has shown that countries (like Thailand) where the coast was protected by healthy and dense mangrove stands, suffered less damage than those with denuded seaboards. And experts tell us that our mangroves have fallen by fifty percent in the past forty years.

Because of global warming, the one thing we can safely predict in otherwise unpredictable weather patterns is an increase in tropical storms. The late 1990s saw Badin and Thatta ravaged by storms and tidal waves and we have only Providence to thank for the three storms over the past as many years that fortunately closely skirted Karachi. Our luck may not hold out much longer. And when the next big typhoon makes landfall on our seaboard, there will be precious little mangroves to save coastal habitations.

Pakistan cannot be negligent of its food needs however, but the Agriculture Department could at least have been judicious. Dr Ghulam Akbar of WWF-Pakistan points out that we have given undue importance to irrigation-intensive crops like sugar cane and cotton. He also believes that a broad, well-established and efficient industrial base set up over the past sixty years would have served the country better.

In a recent National Conference on the Indus Delta, Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum has put forward a declaration. While all the clauses of this declaration are appropriate, there are a few points that need be recounted here briefly.

A New Water Paradigm calls for better management of all surface and ground water with an eye on the link between water use and environmental and economic considerations. It calls for a moratorium on any further diversions on the rivers in order to ensure adequate water flow to the delta. Most importantly the declaration demands a comprehensive study of the damage suffered by the lives, livelihoods, ecology and biodiversity in the delta of the Sindhu River.

If the government fails to take cognizance of the unfolding disaster in the Sindhu delta now, it may become a catastrophe difficult to manage.

Maulana Atta-ur-Rehman took oath as the Minister for Tourism on Jan 26, 2009. He is the brother of Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman and the vice president of JUI-F NWFP chapter. 63 years old Atta got his early religious education at the local madrassa and went on to complete his Masters in Islamic Studies from Gomal University, Dera Ismail Khan. Atta was also elected as an MNA in the 2002 elections. The very first order issued by our new minister of tourism was the cancellation of liquor permits of Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC) hotels, motels and restaurants with immediate effects. Atta, supported by parliamentary secretary for tourism Mufti Ajmal Khan who is also from JUI-F, also vowed to stop 'immoral' activities in PTDC hotels and motels across the country including ban on liquor for local and foreign tourists. The intention, according to the minister, is to make the tourism industry alcohol free. It seems that both the federal minister and the parliamentary secretary for tourism aim strict policy measures to follow its agenda of 'Islamisation' of society.

"Since taking the charge as the minister I have been engaged in briefing sessions with the ministry officials. Once I am done with the briefings I will be able to think what is required for the promotion of tourism in the country," he said. Not happy with the popular fear that a mullah (cleric) can not run a tourism ministry and will affect it badly he said "tourism can be promoted within the limits defined by Islam and this is not a good impression that a cleric will spoil it. This portfolio is not my choice, rather it is the collective decision of my party."

First of all, Atta said, there can be no tourism in a country without peace. "Without improving the law and order situation, the concept of tourism will remain a dream. Secondly, the potential areas of tourism are Northern Areas of the country including many parts of NWFP like Swat." He said that since tourists can not go to these areas "we are left with some areas in Punjab including Murree." The minister also plans to find and develop some more areas for tourism in the country so that the gap created in tourism due to this war-like situation in the Northern Areas could be filled. He believes tourism needs priority and funding. "This is an area which not only generates revenue but also shows the images and culture of a country and becomes a source of exchange of cultures through foreign tourists." He said that tourism is also promoted in Holy Quran since Allah has urged people to see and explore the world. "So this is a blessing from God and people who think that a mullah will spoil tourism are wrong," he argued.

When asked how he intends to attract foreign tourists with his policy of 'purging' tourism from alcohol he replied, "our religion does not allow use or sale of liquor. Moreover, this is Islamic Republic of Pakistan and our Constitution also does not allow it either." The minister said that Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto had stopped this culture of open selling of liquor but, later, General Zia-ul-Haq started these permits perhaps to facilitate foreigners. "By cancelling these permits and licenses of PTDC hotels etc we have reversed what General Zia-ul-Haq did. These hotels cannot offer or sale liquor even to foreigners." He said when foreigners come to Pakistan they need to follow our rules and our system. Atta affirmed that he can not bar purchase or selling of liquor privately but he'll make sure hotels don't provide it. While dispelling the argument that this would affect tourism or tarnish the image of the country he said following Islamic teaching is not a loss but gain. "We do not care about international impression and believe they the foreigners will have to accept what is the law of the land."

To another question that his strict policies might discourage tourist in the name of 'immoral activities' he said "we just want to maintain Islamic identity. We are not discouraging anyone but we will do whatever Islam says." He said the JUI-F would follow Islamic rules within the ministry's jurisdiction and nothing beyond that. He also favoured collaborations with neighbouring countries to promote tourism.