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Friday March 29, 2024

Delivering for the state

By Kamila Hyat
August 24, 2017

Within a period of two years, two state funerals were held in Karachi for Maulana Abdul Sattar Edhi and, more recently, Dr Ruth Pfau – both of whom were honoured for their services to humanity. Certainly, they deserve this honour.

But did the dignitaries who had gathered at these funerals consider the fact that these individuals – with their limited resources and boundless commitment – had, in reality, taken on precisely what the state should be doing for its people and bore the responsibility for it themselves? These humanitarians demonstrated that it is possible to create a better welfare setting for the people and achieve what appear to be virtual miracles, such as the eradication of leprosy.

Dr Pfau played a pivotal role ensuring that Pakistan is declared a leprosy-free state by WHO in 1996. Many other countries – including India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Ethiopia, Congo and Brazil – are still struggling to eliminate this disease. We should remember that Pakistan has not yet been able to eliminate polio despite the mass drive and state-run programmes carried out in all four provinces. And yet, one woman, who worked with a small team of volunteers and a dedicated staff, achieved what the state had failed to do.

Through his astonishing network of shelter homes, ambulance services, drives to recover missing children and other charitable efforts, Maulana Edhi also managed to go far beyond anything that the state has achieved. We still do not have government-run soup kitchens or other services running in a country where 24 percent of the population suffers from malnutrition and 50 percent of children are stunted.

Edhi saved children who had been abandoned by their families silently offering a space where they could be left in safety. His wife, Bilquis Edhi, has pointed out that when offered state help on various occasions, the Edhi Foundation maintained that it was, in fact, already performing the services of the state and, therefore, did not require assistance from it.

There are other examples in our society as well. Malala Yousafzai, who came so tragically close to requiring a funeral in 2012 – when she was shot near her school in Mingora – has done a great deal more than most ministers or state representatives to propagate the education of girls. Despite the vilification she has suffered in her own country – barring a few exceptions, such as a moving tribute from boys at a Shangla government school after she gained admission to Oxford University that demonstrated far greater generosity than what is shown by others who have demonised her – Malala has shown us what teenagers can achieve when the spirit and will exists and there is true belief in what they are attempting to achieve.

There are other people who are performing similar services on a smaller scale. A housewife in Karachi began a food service for those who are unable to obtain a meal when she saw their situation. Others have opened schools for the most deprived children in their communities – sometimes even in their own homes.

Doctors set out to serve people who have no or limited access to care. Dr Shershah Syed, an obstetrician in Karachi, offers an example of this through his effort to change the lives of thousands of women who are unable to obtain any other kind of help after suffering childbirth complications, such as fistula. There are others like him who can be found across the country.

The state has been unable to match the feats of any of these individuals. Just consider where we would stand in terms of social welfare if the achievements of Edhi, Pfau and others were replicated on a large scale, utilising the vast resources and infrastructure of the state. Certainly, the situation would vastly improve. Edhi alone brought hope to so many. On a larger scale, others could have received similar assistance. All this requires is empathy, concern and a giant dose of commitment.

These factors seem to be missing in the running of the state and the delivering of good governance. Something has gone terribly wrong somewhere. Yes, perhaps infrastructure projects, such as new roads and transport systems, are important. Lahore today has witnessed giant bridges and the pillars that support them along its considerably changed roads.

There are some questions over whether the altered traffic systems have improved vehicular flow. Yes, cheap, fast transport systems have helped people. But would more essential needs have been met if the same resources had been used to also improve operations at a few hospitals, refurbish even some government schools, train teachers and save children from the monotonous education they will be receiving as they return to schools after the summer break?

These are questions that we need to think about and find answers to. The reason why people like Edhi, Pfau, Malala and others have succeeded is simply because they are convinced of the need and necessity of what they do. Maulana Edhi repeatedly urged the state to do more for the people. His pleas brought no change in the functioning of this entity. We have not seen change over the many decades during which Pakistan has been in existence. As a result, people depend on individual efforts – at whatever scale they can be mustered up – on charity and their own incredible survival instincts which enable them to manage in the most impossible of conditions.

We still have people who live in little more than caves or the weakest of shacks. Yet, despite this, no effective state-level housing programme exists. Those which have been attempted have run into multiple problems tied with corruption, mismanagement and a lack of honesty in allocating homes. As a result, there are millions of homeless people across the country who sleep on pavements every day regardless of the weather and, for years, have no permanent address.

Apart from organising state funerals and, by doing so, honouring those who have taken on its work, an honourable state should attempt to address these issues on its own. So far, we have not seen such attempts being made. Occasional schemes have been launched. But in the ocean of misery, which has spread out across our nation – partially as a result of failures of planning and administration – these matter very little.

In some cases, actions taken by the state have added to people’s misery as it has demolished homes in order to set up other more lucrative projects or mine for resources, even though this can result in massive losses to communities who inhabit the area.

The relentless cutting of trees to widen roads is a miniscule example of this. The loss of trees culminates in high temperatures, more pollution and the threat of environmental havoc that we are already told lies ahead. Most of all, it often translates into worsening conditions in the lives of the people and the failure of governments to deliver to these people is one of the reasons for our failures.

Determined individuals such as the German-born Dr Pfau and the Gujrat-born Maulana Edhi demonstrated how much could be achieved with relatively little. They have shown us that there is a very real possibility of change and have often provided succour to the most deprived and the most ostracised.

Beyond the funerals, the real challenge is to take their work forward and demonstrate that we are indeed capable of replicating or building upon the efforts of these individuals and, by doing so, creating a more stable, stronger country.

 

Email: kamilahyat@hotmail.com

The writer is a freelance columnist and former newspaper editor.