There is a number of old advocates of human rights in Rawalpindi, Islamabad and Lahore, who strongly love Pakistan and wait for the day shackles of socio-economic slavery are broken and common people feel they are free and independent to make their homeland a welfare state as envisioned by Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah. Coming across such patriots while taking round of city streets on the Iqbal Day and a day after was a good experience. One learnt their focus is on health and education of children, especially of the poor. Similarly, visiting doctors of the federal capital turns out to be very informative. For instance, city children’s welfare becomes a topic of discussion among parents who come from various localities to a medical complex near China Chowk for examination and treatment of their ailing children. It’s normal for a newsman to drag doctors also into discussion on health, education and rights of children and their future role in the development and progress of the country. Dental surgeons and skin specialists stress the need for protection against vagaries of weather and keeping children alive in a clean and healthy environment in all circumstances. “They are the real future of the nation.” They recall the role of teachers and parents in healthy growth of children into good citizens, highlighting the importance of strength of teeth and gums while cautioning against the use of unwashed and dirty clothes, also advising the parents to ensure that children’s nails are cut and kept clean regularly and hands are washed properly. “That’s all the more important for overall body-health of schoolchildren.” It’s the duty of parents to send their children to educational institutions regularly in time and take care of them at home as teachers do it at schools. “A schoolchild has to be saved at all costs from falling into a bad company; children are promising sons and daughters of the soil: they have a right to acquire free education up to matriculation and healthcare anywhere in the country until their death,” say human rights advocates. Dental surgeons say a child’s strong teeth mean they are without any caries (‘keera’) and lesion (‘choat’), and gums are healthy. A feeder in a child’s mouth during night-sleep may develop caries. Similarly, school children should avoid toffees, chocolates and chewing-gums. “Children are the real future of the country facing problems; they’ve to be brought up properly,” say advocates of children’s health, education and rights. They want laying of a foundation for social and economic justice as visualised by the founder of Pakistan. Young children say: “we do not know what human rights are because we are not dealt with as humans, we only know we are born to be treated as slaves, to be abused, to be kidnapped, sold, tortured mentally and sexually, education is far away from us because we are given birth by poor women, who will liberate us from shackles of ignorance, poverty, joblessness and disease, who will raise voice for us, we’ll do it ourselves through our own assembly -- the Children’s Parliament.” zasarwar@hotmail.com
