Punjab

This is what the face of the poorest of poor in Pakistan looks like

UAE-based photographer travels through Sahiwal to photograph people living on less than $2 per day

Web Desk July 25, 2015

PHOTO: SOHAIL KARMANI/HOTSPOT MEDIA

With over 60% of the population living under $2 a day, United Arab Emirates based photographer Sohail Karmani travelled to Pakistan with his camera to capture what do these people look like.

Karmani, who works as a writing professor in Abu Dhabi’s New York University, photographed the poorest of poor Pakistanis living in Sahiwal over a period of two weeks.

The result is below:

PHOTO: SOHAIL KARMANI/HOTSPOT MEDIA

Read: Helping hands: 21% people in Punjab living below poverty line, says minister

The photographer wandered around the city to see what stories do such people tell.

Karmani, 48, met people of all age groups; from children to heroin addicts to homeless people, from mystics and fruit-sellers to snake charmers.

PHOTO: SOHAIL KARMANI/HOTSPOT MEDIA

Sahiwal is the 22^nd largest city of the country and boasts a population of around 270,000 people, 99 per cent of whom are Muslim.

Read: Below the line: Increasing poverty affecting 40% population, says report

PHOTO: SOHAIL KARMANI/HOTSPOT MEDIA

For inhabitants of this town, poverty is not the only challenge. The weather in Sahiwal is a mean foe, reaching as high as 45 degrees Celsius in the summer and dropping to just two degrees Celsius during the winter, it offers the poor no quarter.

Karmani’s camera discovered how people managed to survive against such odd circumstances.

PHOTO: SOHAIL KARMANI/HOTSPOT MEDIA

PHOTO: SOHAIL KARMANI/HOTSPOT MEDIA

PHOTO: SOHAIL KARMANI/HOTSPOT MEDIA

This article originally appeared on Daily Mail

COMMENTS (11)

ishrat salim | 9 years ago | Reply @SEAsian: why most of you are after the nukes, it is the only deterrence we have against Indian bad intention, or are you one of those paid India agent ? Instead of getting back the looted money & spend on the poor, you are suggesting we divert from nuke development. Instead of finding solutions for proper governance & stop people from loot & plunder, you are suggesting something that is not FOR SALE.

AA | 9 years ago | Reply @mahakaalchakra: Most people in SA live in abject poverty, that is true, but the root cause is not over population. The staple crop in this region is, rice and wheat, both are in abundance. The two largest countries export access rice and wheat. There had been no famine in this region since the Bengal Famine of 1943. Even that was not caused by shortage of food, rather it was a result of inflation. High prices elsewhere caused the food prices rising out of local purchasing power. People were dying outside of warehouses full of food to be shipped out to other regions. The root cause of this abject poverty is the feudal mindset, in which certain quarters of the society are discriminated in economic opportunities. Those who owns the means of production by virtue of cast and creed subjugate others. In India resides many of the richest 10 people of the world and 300 hundred million who earn less than a dollar a day. Governments of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh does not invest in human capital. The allocation for education is 2.3 percent in India, 2.1 percent in Pakistan and 1.8 percent in Bangladesh. The uneducated masses serve the needs of elite ruling class.

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mahakaalchakra | 9 years ago | Reply Who says Muslims and Hindus of undivided India were/are different. A vast majority of Hindus and Muslims of South Asia (India, Pakistan and Bangladesh) both have common living conditions; they live within or around abject poverty, over-population, illiteracy, ignorance, malnourishment and unhygienic conditions. The route cause is over population. This region cannot sustain any more population. Is this not the time to introduce TWO-CHILDREN policy in the subcontinent? China, the iron-ore brober of Pakistan has successful ONE-CHILD policy since last 20 years or so and have reduced poverty in an unprecedented scale.

raw is war | 9 years ago | Reply Pakistan has poor people? From what I hear on these blogs, they are the richest nation in the world.

SEAsian | 9 years ago | Reply Sell the nukes and provide them with food and toilets.

Dipak | 9 years ago | Reply Don't forget Zardari's palatial houses in Florida. There is always a competition between BB's Billy Boy and Sonia Maid's Pappu.

Norozkhan | 9 years ago | Reply So what, our Prime Minister has an apartment in London worth 80 Million dollars and he wears a watch of 30 Crore rupees, his wife goes to London for treatment of an twisted ankle.. Our President daily expense is 5 million rupees ( 50 Lakh) . Nawaz Sharif has a fleet of official cars that costs ten million rupees to maintain. Zardari spends Crores to hold PPP meetings in Dubai and his family lives in London and Dubai in palaces worth billions of dollars.,

Patriot | 9 years ago | Reply May Allah save us from Poverty and other fatalities.. :(

xzoko | 9 years ago | Reply where are the rest?

goggi (Lahore) | 9 years ago | Reply What religion, what moral values, what conscience have the people who force humans in such a state of despair and destitution?

Yadda | 9 years ago | Reply Look, a woman smoking. Must be "tez", immoral and westernized.

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