Slum dwellers looking for more than hollow promises
Christian residents call for equal treatment.
Anil Mehmood, 10, waits for customers at his father’s vegetable stall where a banner has been used as a wallpaper at a slum in F-6 (top). A woman washes clothes behind a poster that is being used as table cloth at a slum in the heart of Islamabad. PHOTO: MYRA IQBAL/EXPRESS
ISLAMABAD:
In the dust of the capital’s slums, 500 Christian families are crammed in tattered tents. They fled their homes last August when a girl from the community was accused of blasphemy by a local cleric are living in a make-shift settlement between sectors H-9 and H-10.
Makeshift tents without electricity, adequate water supply and squatter status are some of the issues residents long to resolve by ‘bargaining’ with the politicians who approach them for support.
“Members of major political parties visit us and promise jobs, basic facilities and non-objection certificates for acquisition of land but we have yet to decide,” said Ijaz Ghauri who works in a local NGO. Our children get infected by malaria and other d
Christian residents call for equal treatment
he added.
At the camp, the pipe carrying potable water runs over a pile of trash, close to the makeshift toilets, which are actually two holes dug up in the ground.
Sitting outside a church erected in a makeshift tent donated by a charity, 60-year-old Boota Masih hopes their dreams materialise.
“I hope we are never harassed. I wish for security, availability of basic facilities and equal treatment like Muslims, after all we are human beings first and religion comes second,” he remarked.
The slum dwellers’ complaints were echoed in other settlements. “Majeed or Muhammad can get a job here but a Masih (Christian) is either ineligible or treated as a social outcast,” laments Patris Randhawa, discussing the upcoming elections, Christians’ expectations and hopes in the G-7 community centre that serves as a church.
“We face more problems than other slum dwellers. It’s election season but there are more promises than practical measures,” he said. Though the houses in Randhawa’s area have some basic amenities, other areas consist of clusters of shanties without a sewerage system or dependable water, power and gas supply.
Christians reside mostly in slums and on the banks of nullahs. They live in abject poverty and their lifestyles have not changed over the years; a large number work as janitors.
Talking about the upcoming election and the solution to the host of problems the community faces, Younus Bhatti, who runs a local charity, said the biggest issue they face is the selection of members of National Assembly on reserved seats.
“Whenever we approached them with our problems, they would say, you did not select me, I’m not bound to solve your problems,” how depressing is such a reply,” he stated.
“This has kept this community below the poverty line.” This is not called an election but a selection; we need a separate electorate, he remarked.
Bhatti was of the view that the Muslims in the neighbourhood did not concern themselves with their prayers and religious festivals but the local cleric has many a times interrupted their rituals, saying, “This is hindering our worship.”
Published in The Express Tribune, April 26th, 2013.
In the dust of the capital’s slums, 500 Christian families are crammed in tattered tents. They fled their homes last August when a girl from the community was accused of blasphemy by a local cleric are living in a make-shift settlement between sectors H-9 and H-10.
Makeshift tents without electricity, adequate water supply and squatter status are some of the issues residents long to resolve by ‘bargaining’ with the politicians who approach them for support.
“Members of major political parties visit us and promise jobs, basic facilities and non-objection certificates for acquisition of land but we have yet to decide,” said Ijaz Ghauri who works in a local NGO. Our children get infected by malaria and other d
Christian residents call for equal treatment
he added.
At the camp, the pipe carrying potable water runs over a pile of trash, close to the makeshift toilets, which are actually two holes dug up in the ground.
Sitting outside a church erected in a makeshift tent donated by a charity, 60-year-old Boota Masih hopes their dreams materialise.
“I hope we are never harassed. I wish for security, availability of basic facilities and equal treatment like Muslims, after all we are human beings first and religion comes second,” he remarked.
The slum dwellers’ complaints were echoed in other settlements. “Majeed or Muhammad can get a job here but a Masih (Christian) is either ineligible or treated as a social outcast,” laments Patris Randhawa, discussing the upcoming elections, Christians’ expectations and hopes in the G-7 community centre that serves as a church.
“We face more problems than other slum dwellers. It’s election season but there are more promises than practical measures,” he said. Though the houses in Randhawa’s area have some basic amenities, other areas consist of clusters of shanties without a sewerage system or dependable water, power and gas supply.
Christians reside mostly in slums and on the banks of nullahs. They live in abject poverty and their lifestyles have not changed over the years; a large number work as janitors.
Talking about the upcoming election and the solution to the host of problems the community faces, Younus Bhatti, who runs a local charity, said the biggest issue they face is the selection of members of National Assembly on reserved seats.
“Whenever we approached them with our problems, they would say, you did not select me, I’m not bound to solve your problems,” how depressing is such a reply,” he stated.
“This has kept this community below the poverty line.” This is not called an election but a selection; we need a separate electorate, he remarked.
Bhatti was of the view that the Muslims in the neighbourhood did not concern themselves with their prayers and religious festivals but the local cleric has many a times interrupted their rituals, saying, “This is hindering our worship.”
Published in The Express Tribune, April 26th, 2013.