Rahim Yar Khan, Where Punjab Meets Sindh

Rahim Yar Khan is Punjab’s southern gateway. The district touches Sindh at Sadiqabad and Ghotki, reaches into the Cholistan sands on one side and the Indus riverbank on the other, and is surrounded by sugarcane and cotton fields that feed some of the country’s largest sugar mills and a fertiliser complex. Many people who search for an NGO in Rahim Yar Khan belong to farm-labour and tenant families who live from one crop to the next.

PHWO (Peace and Humanity Welfare Organization) is based just across the provincial line in Larkana, Sindh, and works with Punjab’s families remotely. It keeps no office, depot or staff in Rahim Yar Khan, Sadiqabad, Khanpur or Liaquatpur. People contact it on the website or through Message PHWO in a free PHWO account. All help is free of charge.

Four tehsils, one mostly rural district

The 2023 Census counted 5,564,703 people in Rahim Yar Khan District, of whom only 24.1% lived in urban areas. Its four tehsils are Rahim Yar Khan, Khanpur, Liaquatpur and Sadiqabad, each with over a million residents. Liaquatpur is the most rural, at just 8.3% urban. Saraiki is the leading mother tongue, followed by Punjabi, with Sindhi and Balochi spoken by families along the Sindh border and in the riverine belt.

Rain, floods and crop losses

In the 2022 monsoon, south Punjab took heavy damage. Dawn reported crops destroyed across Rahim Yar Khan, Sadiqabad and parts of Cholistan, and houses collapsing in the rain (Dawn). Tenant farmers who had borrowed for seed and fertiliser lost both the crop and the means to repay. The riverine katcha land along the Indus floods regularly, and families there are often far from hospitals, schools and government offices.

Heat is the other seasonal danger. Summer temperatures in this part of Punjab regularly pass the mid-forties, and field labourers cannot stop working just because it is hot. Heatstroke, dehydration and lost workdays all push up household costs in exactly the months when crop income has not yet arrived.

What a request from Rahim Yar Khan usually looks like

A good request is short, honest and specific. For example: a cotton picker in Liaquatpur whose husband is ill and whose children need a month of flour and ghee; a student in Khanpur who has an admission offer but no laptop to follow classes; a family in Sadiqabad paying a moneylender every week after a hospital bill.

Send yours through the request help page and add a clear live photo of yourself. Volunteers then confirm the details. Support is arranged when a need is shown to be real and PHWO is able to meet it. Nothing is guaranteed, and it is not possible to give a date.

Family legal aid for Rahim Yar Khan

The district courts in Rahim Yar Khan, and the Lahore High Court bench in neighbouring Bahawalpur, hear many family cases: unpaid maintenance, khula, dowry disputes and guardianship of children. Women in remote chaks often cannot afford even the travel, let alone a lawyer. PHWO’s legal aid is free and starts online. There is no need for an FIR before applying. Volunteer advocates go through each request, and matters of child custody or with an imminent hearing are handled first. Whether a lawyer can represent you depends on volunteer availability, so PHWO makes no promise of representation.

If anyone is threatening your life or your children, call 15 or the women’s helpline 1043 now.

Public services in the district

• Sheikh Zayed Hospital, the main public teaching hospital, linked to Sheikh Zayed Medical College.
• Rescue 1122, which covers the national highway and the canal network where drownings happen each summer.
• BISP Kafaalat enrolment points in each tehsil.
• Bait-ul-Maal assistance schemes run by the Punjab government, and zakat committees in each union council.
• PDMA Punjab for flood warnings along the Indus.

A Saraiki-speaking volunteer base

Much of south Punjab speaks Saraiki, and applicants find it easier when someone can explain a form in their own language. If you are an advocate, a teacher or a student in Rahim Yar Khan, you can help PHWO by checking cases, guiding applicants, or raising money. Lawyers in Pakistan and fundraisers anywhere are needed most. Join via the volunteer page. PHWO recognises volunteers with a certificate and two letters confirming their contribution.

Zakat, donations and sponsorship

Sugar and cotton money, and remittances from Rahim Yar Khan workers in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, fund a great deal of local charity. You can channel yours through PHWO’s donation page, in money or in goods, from Pakistan or abroad. Zakat and Sadaqah are given entirely to people in need. Sponsoring a case lets you support one verified family, and the calculator helps landowners work out what they owe.

For families arranging marriages, PHWO’s free Rishta Desk is open to every faith. It checks each profile with a live selfie and a PHWO staff review, leaves all choices to the families, and cannot guarantee a match.

Public services in Rahim Yar Khan you can also use

• Sheikh Zayed Hospital Rahim Yar KhanPublic teaching hospital
• Lahore High Court, Bahawalpur BenchHigh court for the Bahawalpur division
• Rescue 1122Emergency services
• Benazir Income Support ProgrammeCash support for eligible families
• PDMA PunjabFlood warnings and relief
• Punjab Zakat and Ushr DepartmentLocal zakat committees

These are public or independent services, listed to help you. They are not part of PHWO.

Frequently asked questions