KARACHI – Pakistan Society, a Karachi-based non-governmental organisation (NGO) dealing with healthcare and social services, has planned to take out a long march from Karachi to Garhi Khuda Bakhsh on March 10 for HIV/AIDS patients and other neglected members of the society.
Moreover, the NGO managers have also threatened to commit self-immolation in case their demands are not met or if any breakdown occurs before they reach their destination.
The Pakistan Society president told Pakistan Today that they have planned a 500-kilometre march from the city up to the shrine of Pakistan People’s Party’s slain leader Benazir Bhutto to press the government for their demands.
“This is going to be a very hard and tiring struggle. We are, however, confident of our success because a large number of people – including HIV/AIDS patients, transgenders, sex workers, drug users, their families and friends, men and women, young and old, and representatives of the civil society, professional organisations, rights activists, NGOs and concerned citizens will be marching hand in hand with us,” he said.
According to latest UNAIDS estimates, 100,000 Pakistanis are infected with HIV, of which 50,000 live in the province of Sindh. As many as 40,000 people in Karachi are estimated to be HIV positive.
This is an extremely alarming situation, especially when there are literally no HIV/AIDS prevention steps being taken generally in Pakistan and particularly in Sindh, the NGO’s president said.
“In spite of a long and hard struggle by the Pakistan Society, there has been a complete silence in response to all our advocacy, demonstrations, and SOS messages as if HIV/AIDS is not an individual, collective, national or international concern of pivotal stakeholders, including federal and provincial governments, National and Provincial AIDS Control Programmes, local and international donors, the private sector and the UN system,” he added.
