Shocking incidents

In 2015 the number of people living below the poverty line was estimated at 50 million

Poverty forces parents to kill their children and a permanent state of deprivation, hunger and inadequate food lead the poor to eat food collected from garbage dumps and sometimes poisonous eatables found on the wayside. These incidents occur with sickening regularity in Third World countries. The coronavirus pandemic has worsened things for all, but the poor are more exposed to destitution, disease and death.

Recently, two shocking and heart-rending incidents have happened in the country. On Saturday in Patoki, Kasur, a daily-wage worker, with no means left to support his family, threw his four little children and wife into a canal. The man is said to have been out of work for around a week, consequently he had been rendered penniless. He was unable to buy even bread for his family. Driven to utter desperation he killed or tried to kill his family. Reports say the bodies of two of the children, aged five and two years, have been fished out. The man named Ibrahim cried helplessly before pushing his children and wife into the canal. On the same day in Sanghar, a five-year-old girl died and her mother fell sick after they ate sweets laced with poison they found on the wayside. The sweetmeats were placed to kill stray dogs. The little girl died largely due to official negligence, a hallmark of the officialdom. In both these tragic cases, it is the increasing poverty in the country more than anything else that claimed so many lives.

In 2015 in Pakistan, the number of people living below the poverty line was estimated at 50 million. The Covid-19 pandemic would likely push another 10 million into poverty. Of course, the PTI-led government has taken various poverty-alleviation measures. The government, however, should be more focused on creating jobs to lift the people out of poverty. Cash transfer alone does not work, rather it encourages sloth. Poverty is man-made, and it can be avoided. Now many are without food. Let the lovely trees blossom.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 8^th, 2020.

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