More lost causes

SEPTEMBER 2003 - While most of us are unable to tell the difference between LFOs and UFOs, both being equally elusive – incidentally what is LFO – it is reassuring to know that after all the noise about the Karachi oil spill, miraculously there has been no damage to the Karachi coast line and the health of the citizens remains in top form. It is also proof that there is a God after all as no heads have rolled and everyone gets to keep their jobs with all the perks and advantages that come when you shed your uniform and get another one for keeps. It is also wonderful to hear that whether we built the dams or we don’t build them, we will still be damned. With the Madre Millat caper behind us and consigned to oblivion where the Madre Millat was till Farazande Rawalpindi resurrected her, we can move on and understand whether the MMA is coming or going. Personally I think going since they are not into coming.

It is hard to comment on what important events are driving this country forward. Other than the marvelous and inspiring introduction into the great game of cricket by the find of all times, Mr. Junaid Zia, not much else seems to have been going on. Not that it has stopped the President and the Prime Minister from staging fairly regular appearances all over the country – the first sign of which is the mammoth traffic hold ups that leave the citizens of Pakistan stranded at street corners like debris floating on a open sewerage in any city of Pakistan. When the President first ousted the bald fatties of Raiwind, he declared that for him traffic will never grind to a halt and his entourage would observe the laws of the land. Of course this was before the dogs staged an appearance and long before the divinity of his mission began to infect his eardrums. Now of course, hours before he is due and hours after he is gone, thousands of over-protective security personnel who are able to spot terrorists in every flower pot in Pakistan, ensure that the entourage travels at the speed of sound and the blackened windows protect the protector of Pakistan from harm. Mr. Jamali is even more of a security risk because with him chances of missing are slim – if you will excuse the unfortunate turn of phrase. So while we make appropriate noises all week long and make peace gestures and aggressive motions in the same breath with India, life does plod along much as it has before and much as it will stay the next week.

In all this coming and going, spare a thought for the beasts of burden who we all see throughout the day working under abject conditions, hauling unbearable loads and carrying on in spite of unmitigated cruelty and neglect by their owners. One may well ask the relevance of such an issue when 40% of this country has no water to drink and 60% totters on the edge of extinction unable to feed itself, but then this is a country of startling paradoxes and there is no reason to remain silent over what may or may not constitute the quintessence of Pakistani lifestyle but is still another blot on our conscience – it should be because it probably is not even registered. Many of us believe that the thousands of animals we utilize in running our various businesses live terrible lives of pain and cruelty. Although their strength and fortitude brings business to many many households, it is just as hard to witness their neglect at the very hands that these animals feed. The sight of body sores and fly-ridden wounds carried day after day by these animals who are invariably at the receiving end of a swift stick is a sight that is pretty common yet not one of us will ever take the trouble to admonish even a single cart driver and remind him of his basic obligation. Instead, some of us look the other way and most of us don’t even look. It never ceases to amaze that such spindly and apparently weak looking legs can carry such huge loads of steel, bricks, wood, cement and household goods. Even the size of the donkeys is in such disproportion to the immense loads they are burdened that taking one step looks like a miracle in motion – yet they just go on and on, day after day till they drop dead of exhaustion or illness.

If there are owners of these carts who are humane and caring, it must be one of the most closely guarded secrets of the land. I have yet to see one man doing even one gesture that half implies an act of kindness. The other kind of behaviour is much to common and depressing to put down on paper. Often you will see a fruit cart parked on the side of the road where with its diminishing load it will stay from sunrise to sunset and long after that. I think that it is not rocket science were the owner to unburden the cart and simply anchor it to the ground – such an act would leave the animal free of carrying the weight which is in many many kilos all day long. Instead, the contrary is the norm. A small gesture, a small thought of kindness does not cross our mind. The burden of pain belongs to someone else and in this case it is mute and unable to run leave alone, protest. At other times one has seen such carts parked in the blazing sun for hours on end while within 3 feet of the cart there is shade available – the thought doesn’t arise and someone else endures the pain.

There was a time at least in Lahore when there were people who felt enough emotion to fight for animals and try and get them some basic facilities. The sight of water troughs was not uncommon in the city and while tongas may have been largely replaced by rickshaws, there has been no end to the engaging of other beasts of burden who are visible throughout the day – be they donkeys, bullocks, horses or camels. In Lahore Mrs. Sheikh and Mrs. Jalil fought like tigers for the rights of these animals. Mrs. Sheikh was known to take the cane that was used to flog a horse and use it on the owner – such action would have left her today with a thousand bullet holes in her body. These two ladies, long gone, were the patron saints of Lahore’s wretched animals and many of them got better living conditions thanks to the great effort of these two spirited women. Those animals who were wounded, were given treatment and owners were forced to take them to hospital in serious cases. That was another time and while organizations like the Brooks Hospital for horses (it is British – who else would do it ?) is a sight for sore eyes, the apathy and plain indifference of all of us means that our dumb and hardworking friends have little chance of a half way decent existence.

This may not cut much ice with most people but a society that can look the other way when gross injustice is rampant and when the rights of those less privileged than ourselves are constantly battered, someone must speak. We treat our poor and those who are marginalized in one way or another, with the same cruelty that we exhibit so blatantly with our animals and since there is a God who looks down upon this world, such actions can bring no gain, no solace and no happiness to those who see no injustice in these actions.