Ameen Ali, a fruit vendor in Lahore’s Badami Bagh area, will not have a day off on the Independence Day as he is not ready to sacrifice his one day earning in this age of inflation.
Ali, who came to Lahore, some twenty years ago from a village of Khanewal to earn livelihood for his family said that Pakistan did not achieve anything in the last 69 years as the living standard of poor is not improving.
“I was employed at the salary of Rs 1000 in a factory when I came to Lahore and my family was extremely happy with my earnings at that time but it is hard to live an easy life when I am earning ten times more than my first salary”, Ali, 37, told Pakistan Today. He earns Rs 300 to 400 per day and according to Ali, successive governments came with the slogans of changing the fate of Pakistan but not a single one of them tried to uplift the deteriorating condition of the poor.
The issues of my community are multifaceted and range from inflation to the blackmailing of police and officials of the municipal corporation, he added.
“The policemen and officials of the municipal corporation eat my fruit without paying and warn of dire consequences if I dare to ask for money, says a dejected Ali.
An 85-year-old man Aslam Butt told Pakistan Today that Pakistan came into being after a deadly bloodshed but this holy piece of land has been occupied by landlords and politicians for their nefarious designs.
“We came from Gurdaspur, a district of Indian Punjab, and were allotted a 2-Marla house in Lahore and we are still living in that small house after 69 years”, he said. Butt says that the state of Pakistan is on a continuous decline in past 69 years and there is no hope for its improvement. He further added that he has not seen the kidnapping of children on such a massive scale in his whole life but the recent incidents of kidnapping are serious concerns for every citizen. “I do not let my grandchildren go outside because of the fear of kidnapping,” Is it what we have achieved in 69 long years, he questioned.
Hafeez Jalandhri’s mausoleum in poor condition:
When the nation is set to celebrate its 69th Independence Day, the mausoleum of Hafeez Jullundhri- the man who wrote the national anthem of Pakistan- is in a severe dilapidated condition as the marble tiles of his tomb have been broken. A resolution condemning the negligence of government in this regard has been submitted in the Punjab Assembly by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) lawmaker Saadia Sohail Rana.
Talking to Pakistan Today, the provincial lawmaker said that the government is spending millions of rupees on development projects but it has forgotten the national heroes. “The plaque of the tomb has been broken and the monsoon rains have also affected it”, the text of resolution said.
According to the lawmaker, a delegation of PTI will visit his tomb on the Independence Day to lay the wreath and will pay homage to the poet of our national anthem. She further added that minorities are not secure in Pakistan while Quaid-e-Azam had vowed to give them protection and security. “This country was a blessing of Allah Almighty but our politicians and rulers have ruined it during last 69 years”, she concluded.
Citizens feel unsafe in wake of recent attacks:
Parvez Akhtar, a practicing lawyer of Lahore High Court, told Pakistan Today that it is the responsibility of the state to protect the lives of its citizen but it has miserably failed to do so. “As many as 60 lawyers were killed in a brutal suicide attack in Quetta and the culprits have not been arrested yet”, he said. The lawyers are considered educated and well-to-do people, even their security is at risk these days, how can a common man consider him secure in this situation, he asked. “Pakistan was acquired to implement the rule of law but this very rule of law is missing since its inception”, he commented.
