Picture this: A hot Lahore forenoon in July, Main Market, Gulberg, one of the poshest areas. I get out of my car to go to the ATM machine, my son and I are going to do some shopping. Actually I am, he just likes to tag along. I love him for tagging along. Just next to the machine in the veranda, two boys, seeming to be street urchins, are sleeping on an old foam mattress that has lost its cover. I looked at them, i looked at my son in the car, wearing his nightsuit and waiting for me in the air-conditioned car while he played some game on a Samsung Note phone. And yes, apart from all disparities, he is fair, and the urchins are brown, with sun bleached blonde hair. I didn't like it. I felt guilty. Now if i were to follow the usual political rhetoric, which is reflected in wearing of khaddar, establishing it war bazaars and turning off ACs in offices to show solidarity with the plight of the poor, in vogue in Pakistan, me and my son would come out of the car and stand in the heat with these guys and postpone our shopping plans. But would it help them? No. Neither would it if i gave them some money and got rid of my guilt. The charity would help them for some time, but would not take them out of this vicious circle of poverty. What we need in our country is not superficial acts of charity to give impressions of caring, but a system that throws a lifeline to the poor to get out of poverty with their own efforts.
I , perhaps cruelly, and certainly not respecting their privacy, took their picture and posted it on twitter, calling for a safety net for such children. it got lots of response, but one comment hurt and revolted me to my core. Somebody wrote, Rab di Marzi, or that it is as Allah has willed. It is the same mentality that feeds the above superficial acts. It is engendered by the erroneous belief that somebody who is born at a particular class is supposed to remain there because he was born there through the will of God. And, as good muslims, we are supposed to surrender to His will and not try to change things too much. This attitude is in itself tragic. It makes us take the opium of acceptance, and prevents us to make an effort to change even the things that can be changed. As Muslims, we are supposed to accept the things we cannot change as the will of God, but we are exhorted to make efforts to change the things that we can. In fact, it is our duty as muslims to struggle to put things right. If we recall, it is called Jihad, and is one of the pillars of Islam. It is this effort to create a more equitable society that Jihad envisages, not terrorism .
Now whose responsibility is to establish a more equitable society? Individual effort definitely counts, but it is the State which has to do this huge task, because it taxes us and then decides where to spend its revenues. Right now, whatever efforts are being made at State level are in the old mode of giving charity, subsidies, and short term relief to the poor. Very little effort is there for creating an enabling environment for them to get out of poverty through their own efforts, learning some self respect and gaining confidence along the way. But we are ignoring our children the most. We have so many young people, and we need to very quickly devise a system, a safety net to enable them to get out of poverty and illiteracy. The answer is in giving street children access to education, nutrition and skills to get them off the streets and into educational institutions, and then to workplaces. Our children are the future and we can jump start progress by investing in them. A mega project that funds such a safety net for our young people is much more valuable for us than brick and mortar. This is the real will of God. This is what He enjoined us to do.
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