Back in January 2007, I wrote about beggars on the streets of Lahore, Karachi and the growing indifference in our society towards these extremely poor and forgotten people. Hundreds of organized gangs are operating in almost every big city of Pakistan who amputate the organs of little kids, old and young people and then leave them on streets to make good money for them. But what about the unfortunate beggars themselves?
We see them every day at traffic signals and footpaths from our car windows and most of the times just throw a coin at them and try to ignore them as they don’t exist. This level of indifference in our society is sad. May be we were put on this side of the car window for a reason, to be able to help those on the other side.
Our courts are too busy solving the legal and constitutional issues, the law enforcement agencies are occupied keeping an eye on politicians or arresting and deporting them, and all of us are too busy debating all this … but, for whom? Maybe it is those who are debating the ‘big picture’ who are really missing the big picture that can only be seen in the small pictures.
The photograph above by Jawad Zakariya, once again reminded me of the miserable life of these unwanted people in our country. Society rejects them and police harshly beats them on daily basis, adding to their misery.
Jawad writes with this photograph on flickr and I can totally relate to him as many times I must have done the same:
As I was taking photos in and around Data Darbar. This old man asked me to come over.
“Will you print these photos in the newspaper?”, he asked. Before I could explain that I wasn’t affiliated with any paper, he continued. Tell them how the police brutally beat us up all the time….and he showed me the injuries on his arms and legs.
“Why do they do that?”, I asked.
“Because we sit here begging. This is Data Darbar ! where else can I go.”
… and he started crying … print this in the paper maybe then they’ll stop … then he thought for a moment …
maybe if you print it they’ll get more angry….
another pause …
print it, maybe some higher up will see it and make them stop.“They hit old crippled men”…..”shameless animals”….”Is this why we made this Pakistan”…..”Is this Why ???”………..he kept asking as he wept.
I had no answer … I got back into my Civic … turned on the AC … and started driving away.
“Is this why we made this Pakistan?” I have asked myself this questions many times and never found an answer. Can you think of an answer?
It was rather sad to read this post but let it not become a popularity contest between India and Pakistan.
I work with local food bank and other charities in the US and come across worse cases even in the land of plenty.
Poverty and sufferings are just as old as the mankind. And since we cannot bring back the time of Caliph Omar, the best we can do is to alleviate poverty through fair distribution of resources and education. But…
Alms-giving on the run, as we do in our streets, only benefits professional beggars, not the deserving. Rather than handing over 5 or 10 rupees to beggars piecemeal, it will be more beneficial to the needy if we support a charity that works on the uplift of the poor. Good established charities not only identify deserving groups but employ long-term strategies to bring the target groups of the cycle of poverty, mostly by arming them with skills, tools and business finances.
Here is an example from Indonesia, which is not much different from Pakistan in its socio-economy, that we can follow to eliminate the curse of ‘high-earning’ professionals and exploitive thekedars, who literally buys and sell their quarries.
http://tinyurl.com/2ao6vo
why Pakistan alone…..the divide between rich and the poor is widening everywhere in the world. The issue of power and money being handled by a few is everywhere…..the class divide is gaping everywhere in the world and consumerit culture is robbing us with the old human values. It has nothing to with a nation rather it has to do largely with consumerist culture where we just think about ourselves and forget about our responsibilities towards a larger society. Add to the misery the politicians and people in power use this as a plank to keep their rule and feed on the resources which can fill this gap.
In India too the gap has drastically widen and though the class of “haves” has increased but the rate of increase of “have-nots” is a lot greater. Same is in US and pick any country the story will be the same, it is more pronounced in more populated countries of south Asia.
If we do not co-operate and work towards welfare of the poor, i am sure the internal clashes will do us all in. A very black picture but could well be true.
Please visit india once. See the situation there. See how people live there. People there have much more serious problems. In spite of our many problems and weaker institutions, the quality of life is much better here. This is not to say that we should shut our eyes towards the problems which we have in our society. But things should be kept in perspective without blowing them out of proportion.
As for Pakistan not developing in 60 years, maybe it would be worthwhile to read sometime about what we had when Pakistan was created (virtually scratch) and what we have now. Then we can better answer those who try to paint Pakistan as failed state due to their personal frustrations.
Well, I don’t know what an Indian beggar in a similar situation would say… but my guess as to why we Pakistani’s might more frequently resort (in desperation) to the basic question of why Pakistan was created is that it seems the most ‘pertinent’ question - given that we haven’t moved on much since partition! Some would say Pakistan is a failed state. So when you feel that most of the things in your country are a disaster, or on their way to becoming a bigger disaster, you may tend to question the existence of such a country. Maybe there is enough progress, and enough scapegoats, in countries like India and the US for their beggars to not feel that they have been completely shortchanged (again, intended) and can so point fingers of accusation at specific institutions or persons. I don’t think any one institution is developed enough, or has enough credibility to care for the poor in Pakistan, so they can’t blame any one organ, but the entire organism…!
Qandeel,
My sympathies with the poor beggar not withstanding. I wonder what a poor beggar in similar or even worse situation in india would say. Would he be justified in questioning why was india created and yearn for the return of mughals?
More specifically, would educated well off people like us, who are the answer to ‘why our country was created’ be justified in asking the same question?
Thansk Adonis. That is what I thought.
I did not get that meaning from the headline, but given that there are those who like to question Pakistan’s existence, your reaction is understandable.
Meanwhile, since the originator of the headline, the photographer, has explained that this was NOT the intent of the headline and that the headline was not meant to question existence of Paksitan but suggest that we should have done more for our poor. Maybe now we can all move on to the real topic of the post, the plight of our poor. Otherwise, we will be doing what the post really accuses us of doing - ignoring the poor!
Daktar,
So the bottom line is that you are right. I agree with the gist of the post but not its headline.