Pakistan - Article from Citizen Journalist

Slums in Lahore

Posted on October 19, 2011
Written By: Danish Mughal From Institute of Communication Studies, Punjab University Lahore

A dirty, unhygienic cluster of impoverished shanties with long lines of people crowding around a solitary municipal water tap, bowling babies literally left on street corners to fend for themselves; endless cries and voices emanating from various corners.

Most of them are engaged in eking out their daily lives, always below the poverty line, by working as construction labourers, domestic helpers, rag pickers and chhotus in neighbourhood colonies. In spite of poor conditions in slums, second generation residents who are not nostalgic about their rural background – feel that life in slum is reasonably tolerable and city life is probably better than rural life.

“Slums are the problems of failed policies, bad governance, corruption in appropriate regulations, dysfunctional land markets, unresponsive financial systems and fundamental lack of political will”.

Lahore the second largest city of Pakistan and is the economic hub of Punjab. According to the population survey, the population of this glorious and magnificent city is more than ten million. Out of this, more than half people are living in the slums, where they don’t have proper food, health, sanitation, living and education facilities, & it is turning out to be the biggest dilemma for our society. Moreover, it is thought provoking for our elected representatives especially for the chief Minister of Punjab Mian Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif who is the constitutional head of the province.

I have personally visited to the slum area (Kachi Abbadi) of Youhana Abad (Christian community) located on Ferozpur Road towards Kasuar District on this weekend. I went to this area whose population is about one million as one of the sources told me. After my personal visit to this place, it came into my knowledge that this is the largest slum or Kachi Abbadi of Asia.

My visit has opened many windows of pain, ignorance, lack of health and education facilities, no proper sanitation as well as no proper infrastructure etc for them. “Our ancenstors born, lived, died while seeing all these conditions, me and my children will also see all this for our whole life”. A forty five years old Josephs Masih who has seven children said.

The people living in this area have only one complain. They complain that whenever the General Elections are announced, the representatives of different political parties always promise them that after winning the election they will address their all the problems but after their success they forget them and those poor people remain lives their lives on the same pattern without having the basic necessities.

On my visit I also observed that there is no water drinking facility for those people and they are forced to drink water from a pound situated just outside their settlements from where animals were also drinking the water.

I want to suggest the Government authorities that they should provide proper sanitation, health, food and education facilities to them with the help of NGO’s and also build cemented houses of two rooms for them so they can live properly.

The problems prevailing in the slums give us the challenge to rebuild a society that is more equitable where equal opportunities could be provided to all for living with dignity.