Stories of distressed citizens

A city elder living near ‘Kali Tanki’ at Saidpur Road got immersed in the Holy Quran for guidance to help solve socio-economic problems of neighbours the other day. He was in midstream of deep thoughts when some hard-pressed people, including youths, from Rawalpindi and Islamabad came to him after learning he had kind heart for the downtrodden. 

They got involved in discussion on ‘how to share one another’s worries and how best to serve the masses sandwiched between extremists and militants, on one side, and corruption and poverty, on the other.’

Two public servants also joined the debate: there were some ‘news breaks’ during the exchange of thoughts. For instance, Iftikhar Hussain of Satellite Town disclosed that his red-colour Suzuki car had been stolen in broad daylight from his office, near the General Post Office, on The Mall.

General store-keeper Naseer Bangash, construction contractor Arshad Malik and Mubin confirmed two motor-cars were lifted from Rawal Town (former Gowala Colony). Former teacher Akhlaque revealed his Toyota stolen by a gang of car-lifters in the Blue Area had not yet been recovered by police.

That is not all. Meat seller Shera said a gang of thieves had stolen a sacrificial goat and two milk-producing she-goats two hours before Fajar prayer. The man who had bought the ‘bakra’ for Rs10,000 about a month before the Eidul Azha is a hard-working and honest fresh vegetable and fruit seller of Rawal Town of Islamabad.

A thief stole ornaments after midnight from the house of a person who lives in a well-known colony near Rawat.

The consensus was that car-lifters and thieves remain active with connivance of some policemen in the twin cities. The debate participants agreed that one factor behind the rising anti-social activity is uncontrolled hike in food and energy prices.

“And what about the population explosion”, interrupted one Pushto-speaking participant. He asserted that rapid increase in population has created a supply-and-demand gap, pushing prices up.

A usually silent neighbour related heart-rending story of Sufi Ramazan who was a victim of some allegedly dishonest persons in the federal capital’s civic body: they had deprived him and his son of their genuine means of livelihood. An examination of photocopies of the documents provided an ample proof of alleged victimisation of stall holders by two employees of a directorate of the civic body.

Ramazan’s son Zafar Iqbal was allotted a stall in the weekly ‘Juma,’ ‘Itwar’ and ‘Mangal’ bazaars to sell cold drinks and food items and thus support his family as did his father. Receipts showed conservancy charges were being regularly paid by the man when his stall was forcibly taken from him and given to someone else. 

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