Adil Najam
This is a beautiful photograph. But the circumstances in which the picture was taken are sad.
The original caption reads:
A young Pakistani boy internally displaced walks across a bridge separating the camp at the Yar Hussain UNHCR camp in Chota Lahore on July 6, 2009 in Swabi district, Pakistan. Approximately 3 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) have been created as a result of an on-going military operation against the Taliban. Pakistani forces are battling militants in the Swat valley, Lower Dir and Buner. New camps are sprouting up while others continue to grow as people shift away from the city of Mardan where thousands were living with families and schools as the UNHCR and other aid agencies struggle to deal with the needs of so many. The refugees are facing extremely harsh living conditions in the searing heat in over crowded camps.
When I see this picture I am flooded with all sorts of emotions. Of resilience, of defiance, of sadness, of hope, of frustration, of responsibility.
What do you think of when you see this picture?
P.S. I wanted to use this post to also update on our fund-raising drive. We will close this current collection with this post. We will add another $1000 what is collected here and donate all to appropriate agencies helping the IDPs (in the past all the collection has been given evenly to the Edhi organization and to UNHCR). In the previous fundraising drive ATP readers had contributed just under $5000, which we had topped off to $5000 and added another $2000 from ATP. This time we will top off whatever is collected from the readers to $2000 and add another $1000 from ATP advertising. So, the total would come to $10,000 from All Things Pakistan to IDP relief (including $3000+ from ATP advertising). Our thanks to all those who have contributed to this drive (including some who have done so more than once), and to everyone who has supported IDP relief anywhere, through any means. We hope you will continue doing so through whatever avenues you find most useful to you.
Nishaan yehi hai zamanay main zinda qadmon ka
Kay subh-o-shaam badalti hain un ki tadqeerain
Anyone who wears “Shalwar kameez” would not get comment
from me. Call me self hater or have inferiority complex, but I would not move an inch from my resolve, which is that cricket (butterfly) is a lousy game and shalwar kameez is a lousy outfit.
I mean whats wrong with Tennis or soccer, I mean football, I mean soccer.
Son, we will give you a future but without that is too bit outfit.
I see that in every darkness there is light…. a ray of hope :)
A picture of someone completely engrossed in his circumstances. Albeit, hopeful and resilient within them.
A picture of a child who is not being given a fair chance at life.
I see hope. It may be dark now but there is a brighter tomorrow. And all of us have to do our part to make sure that tomorrow is bright for these displaced Pakistanis.
sad to say it is the sun set
I would like to believe that is not a sun setting, but a sun rising on the horizon. Horizon of this young child’s future and of our own and our country. -Amen
— Adil Najam Sahib.
Should I appreciate the power of the image which pierces our hearts or should I put up a ” she’r “for another heart wrenching description.
— bujhi bujhi si hain rahein, chiraagh jalte hain,
dhoain bharain hain diloan mein , dimaagh jalte hain —-
Naseer