Is there light at the end of the tunnel?

A part of me dies when I drive through the slums in Lahore; it makes me question: why are we privileged enough to drive fancy cars, wear designer clothes and live in big mansions, and what wrong did these people do? It pains my soul when I see beautiful children living in slums built on garbage dumps, mostly surrounded by sewage lakes. These children wake up in a world entirely different from ours, a world that is dirty, unhygienic with no basic facilities. Let us imagine living in these impoverished shanties, standing in a long line, crowding along a single water tap, waiting for a few drops to quench our thirst; imagine being that young child who is, literally, left on the streets to fend for himself. My heart bleeds at the picture this conjures up in my mind when I think about the day-to-day lives of these slum dwellers. Most of them, engaged in eking out their daily existences by doing hard labour and construction work and living below the poverty line. Parents, whose children are dying of cholera and dengue, have no hope left but to prepare themselves to bury their children in graveyards, since they have no access to quality medical assistance for their children or themselves. They have not only been denied health facilities or shelter but also the right to hope and dream. I see their hopes being shattered into pieces as I watch them near a traffic light, begging for help. A few coins would do them no good; why don’t we understand that?

Pakistan’s Constitution guarantees the right to education, yet millions in our country still don’t go to schools. We have more restaurants and boutiques on MM Alam Road in Lahore than schools. Our political leaders have the time and luxury to dine out in a newly-opened restaurant or shop at a designer’s outlet but do not have enough funds to set up a strong and cohesive public education system. They spend millions on their political meetings and functions, perhaps, more than that if somebody from Turkey or China is coming to visit them, but will not give relief to an old person lying on a plank in Mayo Hospital, breathing his last. I recently read that the outgoing government in Punjab had promised to issue health insurance cards to the poor; did the outgoing government really mean it, or was it just a stunt?

The people of Pakistan are sick of broken promises; they want to rebuild Pakistan, Jinnah’s Pakistan, where peace and equality prevails. As elections approach, we are all hoping for change, a positive change. The country is in dire need of a leadership that can transform the people’s lives, reform the current system and eradicate corruption from all strata of society. The eyes of Pakistanis, especially the youth, are set on Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf, a party that seems to be the country’s only harbinger of hope.

Pakistan was not made only for its powerful elite, for the corrupt leaders or officials, who have sucked up all its resources and money and accumulated wealth for their future generations. Those who have exploited and abused the country’s resources must be held accountable and must be summoned to the courts. Why is it that some citizens became rich over night? How do they manage to afford Mercedes X Class and huge villas when their previous generations were living on meagre means? It is disturbing indeed, but unfortunately, that is the reality. It can be fixed only if we do away with corruption in our society that is destroying its very fabric.

We should not ignore the poor in Pakistan, who are coping with the vicissitudes of daily life; let us give them a chance to live a decent life. Pakistan’s dilemma is that our leaders sign international human rights treaties and other conventions and that remains the highlight for them; they fail miserably when it comes to their implementation and putting the letter and spirit of such treaties into practice. We have signed the Convention Against the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, yet discriminatory practices are continuously on the rise; we are a signatory to the United Nations Convention Against Corruption, notwithstanding that Pakistan has been ranked 35^th on the list of corrupt states according to Transparency International in 2012, as opposed to 47^th a year before that. We have agreed to the Millennium Development Goals but are still far from meeting them, with poverty being rampant as the prices of basic necessities, such as electricity, wheat and rice continue to soar, and education not being imparted to every citizen, which is their basic right. Besides, Pakistan is faced with severe water crises and the United Nations is giving it a chance to discuss the transboundary water issues at the water cooperation forum, yet many officials and people are oblivious of it. We all know that the dilemma of water scarcity is going to haunt us in the future. It is obvious that we can secure the livelihood of people by building more dams for water storage. Instead of serving the interest of Pakistan’s people, the officials in power are adamant on preventing the construction of every mega-dam project on the Indus. Another massive problem is the terrorism that this country faces, which is leading to atrocious and brutal killings of the innocent. Who will implement the anti-terrorism bill in this country which is the need of the hour?

My humble request to all politicians and leaders of this country is to please not turn Pakistan into a graveyard. Please think about us too, the people of the country, who are struggling day in and day out. Pakistan, our homeland, our most prized possession, is definitely on the verge of falling apart; save it from any further destruction. Let us all hope that elections in May, this year, bring the change that we all are looking for.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 28^th, 2013.