Relief efforts are underway in full swing across the country after the government vowed to do everything it can amid the worsening virus conditions. Food and money are being provided to the needy at their doorsteps. However, a viral video on social media about a slum in Islamabad is showing a different picture as if they are children of a lesser god.
The local administration in the capital is destroying the homes of the poor in a slum of sector G11. Reportedly, most of the inhabitants of the area are daily wagers. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, daily wagers are already struggling in the country. Under such circumstances, the step of the administration is beyond belief.
Source: Twitter
The video proof
Behold the ‘pro-poor’ government of @ImranKhanPTI. This is G-11 katchi abadi, Islamabad (populated by the poorest daily wagers) where dozens of homes are being bulldozed *today*, making hundreds homeless in the middle of a pandemic. This is beyond disgusting. #StopEvictionsNow pic.twitter.com/pkEoa2Geck
— Ammar Rashid #StayHome #BasicIncomeNow (@AmmarRashidT) April 16, 2020
As per sources, in 2018 and 2019 also, the local administration had tried to demolish the houses in the area. However, after the interference of civil society, it failed to do that. But, the same story is being repeated now.
This is abject cruelty. They tried to destroy this abadi earlier as well, in 2018 & 2019, when we & @tsohail2010 (who teaches the kids here) did our best to stop them. Now they’re using the cover of the coronavirus lockdown to do their dirty work. #StopEvictionsNow pic.twitter.com/YuN2fJTF8p
— Ammar Rashid #StayHome #BasicIncomeNow (@AmmarRashidT) April 16, 2020
Is the step justified?
On one hand, the government is initiating schemes like the ‘Ehsas Program’ to counter poverty and on the other hand, it is destroying the homes of daily wagers. This is quite paradoxical. Even if the impoverished ones are living on illegal property, in these critical times, the government should not have razed their homes.
Source: Twitter
Look how the poverty-ridden people are reacting
Construction package for the rich means destruction of the poor!! #RebuildNOW #HousingForAll
— Tooba Syed ☭ #RedistributionOfWealthNOW (@Tooba_Sd) April 16, 2020
Furthermore, it is the responsibility of the government to provide them with facilities to survive the pandemic. The daily wagers, would not be able to live on rent as the lockdown in Pakistan has hampered the economic activities. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the administration, who yearns to make Pakistan ‘Riyasat-e Madina’, to provide them with bread and bed.
A resident narrating the destruction story
Sattar, a daily wage laborer from G-11 katchi abadi, talks of how they begged the CDA & police to not raze their homes, asking where their children will go, but they didn’t stop & beat them up instead. This is absolutely criminal. There must be accountability. #StopEvictionsNow pic.twitter.com/6Pr2cUnWRx
— Ammar Rashid #StayHome #BasicIncomeNow (@AmmarRashidT) April 16, 2020
These people are homeless and do not have a job. Sattar said, “when we go out the police beat us and when we stay here the CDC thrashes us.”
Prime Minister Imran Khan has warned that the viral disease would increase in the days to come. He, therefore, also ensured the distribution of Rs12,000 four-month stipend among 12 million poor and daily wage through 17,000 points across the country. What he needs to know is how the same daily wagers are being treated under his nose, by his officials and that too in Islamabad.
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