In a country where more than 8 million people live below the poverty line, where the corporate sector is profit frenzy
ISLAMABAD: In this cold winter, two fires sent chills down my spine; the inferno in the Suzuki van and Mir Hassan setting himself on fire inside his home for being unable to provide warm clothes to his schoolgoing children. Six people were burnt alive in the Suzuki van that caught fire. Mir Hassan’s death is a perfect and sad example of the growing desperation and dejection in our society marred with scarcity of opportunities for the ordinary people. Penury leads to all sorts of crime but poor people sometimes make self-destructive moves and kill themselves as did Mir Hassan.
We spend hours and hours on reading posts and commenting thereon. We remain engaged on social media for appreciating and criticising every single event but not use it positively and practically to help the poor. We have left everything to Edhi and Chhipa. This sad incident calls for immediate remedial action by the government as well as the civil society. The level of apathy for the poor is awful. In a country where more than eighty million people live below the poverty line, where the corporate sector is profit frenzy and oblivious of its social responsibility, what to talk of self-respect for the poor masses?
Iftikhar Mirza
Published in The Express Tribune, January 21st, 2020.
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