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40 . My Contribution to society
I have been a pen pusher for most of my adult life . Firstly I had been associated with the Government as a civil servant and an officer from 1969 till 2005 . Secondly , after retirement , I have been writing and mostly espousing the problems faced by the marginalized segment of the society . It is true that no major newspaper ,except the Pakistan Observer, has picked up my writings for policy reasons perhaps . But I have found way out by using emails and Facebook , whether they like it or not ,to spread awareness . I have written about 150 essays in this period of eight years covering 4000 pages . I dare say that despite my best efforts to become a Robert Fielding or a Thackeray or a Hardy , I failed to elicit interest in my essays .However, I am a poor imitation of Voltaire , Mills ,Carlyle or Ruskin of Europe .I am still writing in the hope that perhaps , my children may find a publisher to print them after I have gone . .
I moved to my new house in Naval Anchorage , a suburb of Islamabad, when it was completed in September 2005 . Surrounding the colony , there are tiny villages . Nearby is the area which is called Sihala . The inhabitants of this locality and the surrounding hamlets are poor but proud : so proud that they do not let their women folk to work in others’ houses .
During the past eight years since we moved , I have engaged some of them in doing odd jobs in my house eg painting the house or tending my garden as gardeners . Now that the cold weather has set in , these people have no proper clothing to face the severe cold . My milkman came to deliver milk to my house today dressed only in his shirt while it was drizzling . My gardener comes wearing a very thin sheet of cloth . When anyone from among them falls ill , they have no or little money for the treatment . Naturally , they go to cheap charlatans , soothsayers or go to tombs of the holy people . Resultantly most of become stoics .
I have asked many of those people about their education . Almost everyone is as school drop outs . They have the same story to tell , poverty .
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Often I come back home by a taxi cab when my son drops me and drives off to work . Sometimes their stories are heart rending that they are not the owners but they drive another’s car or they are in debt after they had obtained the cab .Once a cab driver told me that he had earned no fare all day and no money to feed his children including an infant . It was eight at night . I was moved to tears . I paid all the money I had . It was triple the usual fare .
In another part of Rawalpindi (Rawalpindi is the city sister of Islamabad ) where Dr. Farzana Niazi (an old friend’s sister ) runs her free dispensary established after her son ,Khurram Sami khan, met with an unfortunate accident about twenty two years and became handicapped. She attends to thirty five women daily . Sitting with her for two hours as a great experience and listen to their moving stories would melt the heart of the most obstinate man or woman .These are the poorest of the poor .
Or visit Bhabra Muhalla and its labyrinthine streets in the inner city of Rawalpindi . The houses there were built by the Hindus over the past centuries . Most of the houses were allotted to the inmates during the rehabilitation process of the 1950s and 60s . Those are three storied and very fragile .Most of them are very poor or they are not eager to move . But mostly they have become stoics .When I was the Deputy Secretary (World Bank) in the Economics Affairs Division , I convinced the Bank to appraise it for the World Bank funding .But unfortunately I fell ill and was on leave for nine months . Subsequently the project was never included for the Bank’s financing .
These places and the people who live there are “ vermin of the earth “ insignificant to be anxious. Be it the ‘democrats’ or the ‘military rulers’ , they work according to their agenda . In fact , the ‘democrats’ behave like big or small potentates like Emperors Akbar , Jehangir or Shahjehan . In reality , they are . For eg . the PPP wanted to build a mausoleum for the assassinated Benazir Bhutto . They are advised by their advisers from the politicians and the bureaucrats . Whenever the army comes to power , they are pressurized by the world powers to switch to democracy . And each time , they associate the ugly politicians into power . The politicians’ way of thinking is confined to their self interests the world over . Here , in Pakistan , we have been brought in believing “ simple thinking and high living” .
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However , in the west the governing principle is “ the greatest good of the greatest number” . Gone are days of the Mayor of Nottingham and Robin Hood . Most in the west have their needs fulfilled through policy making . Things available to kings and emperors in the past are available in most of the houses through advanced technology .. If not , the complaints are speedily redressed .
One of the female members of my family was shown in a picture wearing an university’s convocation academic dress . I envied her .I began to think what was and is wrong with us . Despite the fact that we teach our generations that Islam and the Holy Prophet (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him ) laid great emphasis on education , male and female , an overwhelming majority of us are unlettered . The donor countries/agencies have been extend financial aid in the shape of very easy credits or grants (Remember John Perkin’s book ‘ Confessions of an economic hit man ‘) . But these ends into unseen pockets .As an illustration , the World Bank has twice given IDA Credit for Primary Education ie 1986 for about US$ 450/ million for the four provinces and Azad Jammu and Kashmir and recently about 2002 or 2003 IDA Credit 1200/ million for the same purpose.
I wish every male and female child of Pakistan and of the entire Muslim world be educated . There shall be no school drop outs .Without quality education the dream of advancement will be a dream only.
MAHFOOZ UR RAHMAN
ISLAMABAD
NOVEMBER 07 , 2013
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