Grave question of the hour if we are human

In some parts of Pakistan the weather has become so very cold and truly cruel that past record of half a century has broken and thus a person like me living in fully air-conditioned accommodation for all 365 days a year shivers in biting cold as if I am outside in open and therefore in such like worst odd conditions it does not need any highly university educated or enlightened person to realize as to what hell the poor must be facing when they are deprived of their 4 walls of even a hut forget about a mud house to be honest.

Very much surprising as per weather reports which I saw here on Geo TV just a day before Lahore has touched freezing point called minus degree which was the minimum temperature in Murree as well on the same day meaning by that one of the hottest place in Pakistan which is Lahore had been equaled to one of the coldest place in Pakistan called Murree but this not just a news as many may think about provided we are true human if I am not blunt. Let me make it crystal clear that the weather is something which cannot be controlled by any human being and it rests solely with the nature itself leaving apart the artificial manipulation which is out of question so far as this discussion is concerned so if the there is fog, chill, due, rain, dust, heat and or dampness etc we need not grumble against our President Asif Ali Zardari because he is quite absolved of his responsibilities both directly and indirectly so far as weather is concerned but nevertheless we shall have to look much beyond it. Pakistan has faced so many natural disasters during recent past years that thousands of people have been uprooted from their own 4 walls of a hut or even a mud house and due to natural calamities the marooned and uprooted people are obliged to live either in open or under trees or at the most in a tent provided by either by the government or some NGOs so such like are facing the cruel extremities of the weather but regretfully none of us have even thought of them. It is their sheer bad luck that they were very much poverty stricken in the first instance before they were hit but as the bad luck had it they being hit by earthquake or floods etc have become still poorer so now it is way beyond their control to face the biting cold of the weather. However, since they are still human beings though facing untold adversities and therefore they do deserve our sympathies at least now when they are so badly stricken for none of their fault and or contribution.

Isn’t it shameful that now when these poor are so badly hit by the bitter cold none has even talked about them what to talk of giving them even a bed sheet if not a sweater, coat and blanket but why they have been forgotten all together is my very simple and natural question which I simply cannot help asking all those who are liable and responsible? I am more ashamed than feeling sorry as to why all the sections of our society are keeping completely silent about these people who are forgotten altogether though on the contra they deserve top priority otherwise. I have neither seen on any television channel nor read in any newspaper from any quarter whether the government or opposition or political party, NGO or even any philanthropist that these people should be taken care of when they are worst hit. Quite surprisingly and regretfully I did not read any news or commentaries whatsoever about these people in any of our English daily newspapers which are available on net. Does nobody among whole of Pakistani population know that we have such like wretched Pakistanis also living somewhere within us and that too for many months and not just fortnights, weeks and days? What are we waiting for and till what day and time? Are we waiting for that this lot who is still believed to be at least semi alive if not fully alive be stricken by the bitter cold weather to the extent that eventually they breathe their last?

My head bows in shame reading the news that crores of rupees have already been given to police and other law enforcing agencies in connection with Dr Tahir Qadri long march towards Islamabad on 14^th instant which means that we do have so much extra money available with us but at the same why no money has been allotted for those who are shivering in cold and fighting for their lives. I equally wonder as to why and how Dr Qadri who is spending crores of rupees on mobilizing about 4 million people to join long march towards Islamabad did not think of the same lot who true deserve to be saved from biting cold. I have seen that yesterday Dr Qadri while addressing a press conference in Lahore was very much protected from cold as he was wearing a warm muffler and sweater fully covering his chest which was not so when he addressed in the same city a day before meaning by that he himself realizes how sever is the cold but at the same time why did he forget those whom I have discussed here.

Wake up! Time has come for each one of us who is economically better off than these to help the poor compatriots to overcome their untold hardships if at all we are still human beings having heart and mind unless and until we have already written down our condolence messages and just waiting for the news of their demise so that the condolence can be issued.