A Labourer & His Three Donkeys
Pakistan in Picture
Asem Mustafa Awan
This is not an uncommon sight. The donkey handler is a hardworking labourer, one of the lucky one who at least has means to rake out some basic living to be able to feed his family and his three donkeys.
Pakistan leads the world in many things and has the biggest untapped human resource namely youth but being bogged down in political and economic uncertainty is a major debilitating factor in not being able to fully develop and utilise its full potential.
The labourer in the picture belongs to a class of people in our nation who refuse to be beaten by poverty. Likewise, there are millions of others who see honour in hard work, he is able to apply himself ferrying loads on his animals to feed his family and the animal.
Pakistan holds a unique place in the world. It is a nuclear nation in which the average commoner is barely able to keep his head above the survival line.The Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif, has time and again asked international organizations to ease off the terms of loans for the poorer countries. He has repeated it again in an international conference for the least developed countries.
It was not a long ago, Pakistan’s economy was on the upward swing and many economic and social goals were in sigh of achievable.
Pakistan’s 70 per cent of the population in some ways is connected to the agriculture. Once, a self-sufficient, is now experiencing a dire shortage of its wheat, the staple food for millions. It is heart breaking to see millions lining up to receive a bag of flour.
- Why and who is responsible?
- What has gone wrong?
- Why aren’t see the meaningful public friendly policies?
- Why there is an attitude total ambivalence to the public welfare?
The three donkeys have an equal distribution of weight and their master ensures equality and fairness to all. With discipline they all follow a line. In there, there is a lesson for those who may take time for a deeper dig into this photo.
The government of Pakistan should give the ‘commoner’ a little slack with policies that encompass the welfare of the poor.
The donkey owner has been associated with the trade that dates back hundreds of years, ferrying loads for the ‘rich’. It is in the interest of the rich to keep the providers of these basic but essential services at bay.Yet, these are the ‘unsung heroes’ who have helped to build many of the iconic buildings in our nation but having build these are unable to enter these.
This labourer will be lucky to have his national identity card on him, the only proof of his identity and ownership. Getting a national ID card also involves a hefty fee and bureaucratic nightmare for many.
Castles are not made with words; the leaders set the pace and are helped by the public in achieving the goals. Health, education, infrastructure, peacekeeping, tourism, stability of democracy, agriculture, industry, energy, communication, aviation, transport, trade and production policies come to the fore when commitment and dedication are there.
It is a sad reality that people who are at the helm of affairs are failing miserably in taking Pakistan out of the abyss yet at a very personal level they have many stories of success to tell.It only shows if they can do things to achieve personal success, they have the capability to achieve success for the nation yet they continue fail miserably in this respect. We can only infer insincerity on their part when it comes to the building of Pakistan.
The nation is seeing those at the helm enjoying the perks and privileges while the nation is being asked by the Prime Minister for austerity drive at all levels.
Pakistan currently is in a nose dive heading for a crash. The nation needs a new sense of direction and energy uplift of the millions like the man in the picture with donkeys. They are the true nation builders. There energy and effort is keeping the nation afloat and from a total collapse.The writer is a journalist based in Islamabad and writes on a wide range of issues.
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