Sir: It seems that the PPP has not learnt any lessons from its recent defeat in the general elections. It has been ruling over Sindh for the past six years yet the rural population (most of whom voted for it) is still living in the Stone Age. The annual budget of the province is Rs 600 billion but the condition of hospitals in the rural areas is pathetic. To add salt to our wounds, the rulers and their kin were singing and dancing during the Sindh Festival while hundreds of poor babies were dying not very far away. Not surprisingly, the tiny amount of aid that was sent to the affected families did not reach them, mainly because close relatives of the ministers have been put in charge throughout the province. It seems the PPP’s motto is, ‘the poor be damned, as long as we can make merry’. SHAKIR LAKHANI Karachi