Soaring troubles: Bahawalpur ‘giant’ in battle for survival

Haq Nawaz claims he has no source of income to deal with his medical ailments.

BAHAWALPUR: Twenty-five-year-old Haq Nawaz claims to be the youngest tallest person in the world, measuring close to 7 feet 8 inches. But recognition seems to be the last of his worries.

A resident of Khairpur Tamewali, some 60 kilometres from Bahawalpur, Nawaz says that as he continues to grow, so do his problems in dealing with the number of health issues that he can’t afford to treat.

Giving an in-depth picture of his background and family life, Nawaz told The Express Tribune that his father passed away when he was eight and ever since he has been struggling to make ends meet. The Khairpur giant went on to say that since there wasn’t a stable source of income in his household, he never managed to make it past primary school in his village. However, for Nawaz, the situation has only become worse as time has passed by. He claims that he is unable to afford his dietary needs as he has no source of income.

Nawaz, who has four siblings – two brothers and two sisters – don’t suffer from gigantism and are his only lifeline when it comes to providing him with food he needs to survive.

According to doctors, Nawaz said, his daily dietary requirements included five kilogrammes of milk, two kilogrammes of apples, two dozen eggs, two kilogrammes of meat and three dozen chapattis.

Furthermore, making a case for his unfortunate state of affairs, he told The Express Tribune that he weighed 96 kilogrammes at the moment when doctors have told him that, taking his body structure into consideration, he should weigh 170 kilogrammes at least.

Nawaz says that he also faces discrimination when it comes to the use of public transport, saying that APV and coach drivers often ignored his pleas to be accommodated.

Expressing his dismay at countless politicians he had met over the years, Nawaz said that even though all of them were happy to meet and snap a few pictures with him, their assurances of providing him help were nothing more than mere promises.

Nawaz has also appealed to President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif to help provide him with the medical and financial assistance he needs, however he has not received a reply from any of those leaders as of yet.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 23^rd,  2012.