A father’s plight

This refers to the news story, ‘Father wants son’s treatment abroad’ (Jan 24). I was really moved to read the story, which states that Muhammad Nawaz, the father of one of the victims of the Army Public School has been running from pillar to post to save the life of his injured second son - the elder son having already perished in the attack on the school on Dec 16, 2014. Nawaz says that it has been almost 40 days that his younger son Ahmad Nawaz has been under treatment at the cardiovascular ward at the Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar. Nawaz has already spent Rs250,000 on his son’s treatment and doesn’t have more money to send his son abroad.
One wonders whether this wasn’t a fit case for the government to provide requisite funds for the treatment of this unfortunate child in any suitable hospital abroad. Also, why can’t the Baitul Mal come forward to provide such assistance? The objectives of the Baitul Mal include: financial assistance to widows, orphans, invalids, infirm and other needy persons with emphasis on rehabilitation. Whatever the case may be, the child deserves help. There are hundreds of thousands of philanthropists in our country who provide financial help to needy people and don’t even disclose their name. They should step forward.
Air-Cdre (r) Azfar A Khan
Rawalpindi