Charity, (in)justice and hunger

Have you ever seen a politician, bureaucrat, or any other member of the elite waiting in line for free food, subsidised petrol, or a government relief package? Have you ever spotted them outside charitable organisations, NGO offices or public departments in Pakistan? You probably haven't. However, you might not have missed pictures of them standing in queues abroad. Why not in the country? The country's queues are reserved for the people. For people who stand in lines for survival or service, the queues might seem like lifelines - a grand favour or a blessing. They are, in fact, the queues of decay: of life, of hope, of dignity as humans, of rights and potential, of responsive and efficient governance. For most of these borrowed lifelines lead to a lifeless life.

Though we take pride in being one of the world's most philanthropic nations, boasting hundreds of charities and NGOs, we still harbour a deeply marginalised population. Reports indicate that half the country is trapped in abject poverty - to say nothing of the even more horrendous ground realities. Per the Global Hunger Index 2026, Pakistan faces severe, systemic hunger, alongside grappling with rampant begging, injustice and governance failures.

One might wonder how philanthropy on such a massive scale can coexist with endemic poverty, hunger and crisis. The truth is, it is not the sheer volume of charity that determines a society's well-being, but its underlying intent, how it is received by the masses, and - critically - the presence of justice. Unjustly depriving people of their systemic rights, only to meet their basic needs as a mere courtesy, does not fix the system; instead, it fosters a self-sustaining culture of dependency.

Granted, charity helps sustain lives and makes up for the governmental vacuum in service delivery; yet the ultimate acceptance of this as a culture costs the people in many ways.

First, charity absolves the ruling elite of its responsibility vis-à-vis delivering to the masses and allows it to evade potential accountability for its failures. Second, the culture of charitable settings and NGOs makes people live unquestioningly at the receiving end. Third, it reinforces begging tendencies and causes people to abandon the traditional means of survival they once relied on, thereby rendering them subservient to others. In short, charity prevents people from becoming self-reliant.

Fourth, an excessive emphasis on these cultivated servile tendencies makes the victims internalise dependence as their fait accompli. Fifth, by operating under the dictates of the rulers, charitable settings also carry out propaganda, and thereby strengthen the stakes of the system. Behind their magnanimity, they advance agendas that serve their stakeholders, donors included.

Last, they tend to present an improved picture of people's development and prosperity, casting people's plight in an overly optimistic light and sweeping under the carpet all that people truly struggle with.

A society with justice rarely needs charity, and one without it will not establish justice through charity. An ungenerous society with justice will not need charity. An unjust one, however much charity it may have, will remain unjust - or grow even more unjust over time. Charity is no substitute for justice and rights. It should follow the provision of people's rights, filling gaps in delivery or resource constraints.

When charity precedes justice and rights, it both blinds people to their rights and deepens the unjust divide between the rich and the marginalised. Behind the scenes, charity, presented as a grand favour, generates an ill-conceived goodwill in the hearts of the people toward those who usurp rights.

Today, we have multiplying charitable organisations, growing hunger and dysfunctional institutions - all existing within a strange mix of goodwill and complicity. It suggests that systemic injustice and the denial of rights are merely being atoned for with ever more charity.

The day you see the elite standing in queues in the country will either be the day of equitable justice or the day of equitable injustice.