will not improve.”
Jameel Yusuf, former chief of the Citizens-Police Liaison Committee (CPLC), said child labour was prohibited legally but the law was not implemented practically.
“The government and the elected representatives are responsible for the child labour, but we as citizens should also boycott such shops where child labour is offered,” he said. “We cannot terminate the problem in one day but we must put our sincere efforts to teach street children according to our resources and capacity.”
Naeem Sadiq, a social activist, while answering a query, criticised inefficiency of the police department. He said the department was serving influential political leaders and bureaucrats instead of performing their duties independently.
“Society is raising voice against the corruption and political recruitments in the police department, but we need to speak more loudly to make the department perform independently,” he said. “Forty percent of the policemen render their whole day services to protect only 200 influential people in a city like Karachi where citizens are killed and robbed every day.”
He said it was unfortunate that many elected representatives were tax defaulters. “Our system is too complex to let an honest man enter the arena of power where he could wipe out the dirt of corruption and malpractices,” he said.
Sadiq criticised the government for issuing an excessive number of licences of weapons and not keeping a proper record of it.
“Civilians almost possess 20 million weapons and only three to four percent of them are issued genuine licences,” he said.
He also criticised the announcement that schoolteachers and children would be trained to use weapons to make sure their defence. He said instead of deweaponising the country and taking effective measures to stop terrorist attacks, the authorities were introducing a wrong way of rescue.
The schoolchildren presented presentations, music and art to highlight the objectives of the I Am Karachi campaign.