Helping hands: People skip work to provide food to protesters

They distributed biryani, strawberry shakes and shawarmas to those who turned up.

KARACHI:

So deeply impacted were Mohammad Hassan and his group of helpers by the attack on the Hazara community that they not only raised their voice against the incident, but money to feed famished protesters as well.

Since the sit-ins against Hazara killings started across the city, Hassan and a number of other young people have taken it upon themselves to provide ample food and water to protesters. Using money collected from donations, they passed out a steady stream of bun-kebabs and chicken rolls to those who had turned up on the first day of the protest. Monday’s menu was a fancier affair: delicious chicken curry, biryani, shawarma and strawberry milkshake. Mineral water, tea, juice and biscuits were provided as snacks.

Sleep mattered very little to these charged helpers - some of them had not even slept a wink for over 30 hours. They spent the night soldiering on as they ensured that all the protesters were well-fed.

“If everyone kept sitting in their homes and offices, the morale of the protesters would have dropped very low. We have come together for humanity, and are staying on the road for this,” said the 30-year-old Hassan, who works for a multi-national company. The volunteers, who don’t have any political affiliations, were also active during the sit-in at Bilawal House in January.

“We target those areas where we are needed. For example, Numaish is the centre of the protest.”



At the Clifton sit-in, the first thing the helpers did was cordon off the area by putting a yellow strip around it. Boys were then selected to maintain security duties and frisk people joining the protest. The protesters used the bathrooms at Hilal-e-Ahmer and a nearby shopping center.

Qasim Kamani, who had not gone to the office for two days, said that he wanted to make sure everybody was comfortable.

“We have been arranging food from restaurants so that nobody goes hungry. We even invite the police and Rangers officials nearby to join us for lunch and dinner.”

Mona Sukaina, who came to the protest from her office near the KPT underpass during lunch break, said it was great the youngsters were taking initiative. “This shows how peaceful our children are. They are managing such a coordinated and organised sit-in.” Before she left, she asked them if they needed something. “We are helping people and they are helping us. We all are hurt from inside and we want all the injustice to end,” said a bespectacled volunteer Aamir Raza, as he handed out a water bottle to a protestor.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 20^th, 2013.