Day of the urchins
June 5, 2005
By Amar Jaleel
With such a powerful force in numbers, it is high time the street urchins too had a representation in our parliament
“When I was six years of age Feroz Khan Noon was the Prime Minister of Pakistan.” The statement came from a skinny, short, and dark complexioned kid.
“How can you claim that when you still appear six years of age?” A surprised media man exclaimed.
“Mr media man!” A boy in tatters rose to his feet, and said, “On the condition of not poking your nose in our proceedings we allowed you for the coverage of our conference.”
The skinny kid repeated his statement, “When I was six years of age Feroz Khan Noon was Prime Minister of Pakistan.”
“You are mixing up two names. Feroz Khan Noon was not Prime Minister of Pakistan.” A small boy said, “In fact Feroz Khan Afternoon was the Prime Minister of Pakistan.”
It was a great gathering of the street urchins. Well-known and unknown street urchins of Karachi had assembled in a very large number under the old Clifton Bridge. They were in different age groups. Youngest among them was of five years of age. The eldest urchin who looked tall for his age was twelve years of age. Most of them were barefoot and shabbily dressed. Some of them were in tatters, and some of them were hardly covered. It was an uncommon gathering. Never before in the captivating history of Karachi such a large number of homeless children were seen together at one place.
“Every dog has his day in Pakistan.” A delegate announced, “Why not we too have our very own Day?”
Among the urchins were the runaway children of the Afghan refugees. They were scavengers, and had come along with filthy sacks dumped with stinking rubbish. It was their valuable possession. They were sitting in a separate group. Irrespective of their age some of the Afghan urchins were smoking. A child, hardly five or six years of age was sucking at a piece of an unlit cigarette. Among the urchins were children from NWFP. They had accompanied their unskilled male parents to Karachi in search of livelihood. While their elders dug the trenches in the roads for cables, gas and sewerage pipes the children explored the Metropolitan on their own. During the adventures they seemingly had lost their way, and never returned to the parents who lived in makeshift huts, and kept moving for shelter from place to place.
A substantial number of street children in the gathering were from Punjab. It nurtures more population than the population of other three provinces Sindh, Balochistan and NWFP put together. The politicians prior to the disintegration of Pakistan in 1971 viewed this kind of phenomenon with awe. East Pakistan sustained more population than the collective population of four provinces of West Pakistan, namely Punjab, Sindh, NWFP, and Balochistan. In the great congregation of the urchins the street children of Punjab were in dominant majority. The Balochi children were conspicuous by their non-presence. The street children from Sindh though few, made the loudest noise. No wonder, it was a mammoth congregation of the street urchins of Karachi they call mini Pakistan.
The men and women from media were left wonderstruck. They had never witnessed such a spectacle before. A five-member delegation of the urchins had warned the media men, especially women to remain at a safe distance from the children. You just can’t predict anything about the homeless children. Most of them had no idea who their fathers and mothers were. What struck the media men and women the most was the unannounced universal brotherhood of the children of the lesser gods.
“We have been walking all our life.” A lame boy addressed the audience, and said, “It does nothing. How many times have the well fed walked for the redress of the starving children, and with what result? It’s rubbish.”
The atmosphere roared with a resounding echo, “No walk-no walk.”
“Then, what do you suggest?” A lanky kid asked.
“We will run, and run berserk.” The lame boy said, “We will keep running Eastwards, Westwards, Southwards and Northwards till our one and only demand is accepted.”
The lame urchin was street children’s intellectual and a scholar. He elaborated upon the lone demand of the street children from the Government. “We are in absolute majority.” He said, “Our share in the population of Pakistan is more than thirty per cent.”
The atmosphere echoed with loud, “Oh.”
The lame intellectual said, “We want proportionate number of seats in the National Assembly.”
“What about our representation in the Provincial Assemblies?” A semi-naked boy asked.
“We are one hundred per cent Federal in our character.” The lame urchin said, “Therefore, we demand for our representation in the National Assembly.”
“Are you suggesting we contest the elections?” A boy with running nose asked.
“Of course!” The lame urchin said, “We are a massive and a gigantic party in Pakistan.”
A hunchback said, “But brother non of us is more than 12 years of age!”
“You are mistaken Kubray Bhai. We have been in existence since 1947.” The lame urchin smiled, and said, “By the next elections in 2007 we will be 60 year old.”
By Amar Jaleel
With such a powerful force in numbers, it is high time the street urchins too had a representation in our parliament
“When I was six years of age Feroz Khan Noon was the Prime Minister of Pakistan.” The statement came from a skinny, short, and dark complexioned kid.
“How can you claim that when you still appear six years of age?” A surprised media man exclaimed.
“Mr media man!” A boy in tatters rose to his feet, and said, “On the condition of not poking your nose in our proceedings we allowed you for the coverage of our conference.”
The skinny kid repeated his statement, “When I was six years of age Feroz Khan Noon was Prime Minister of Pakistan.”
“You are mixing up two names. Feroz Khan Noon was not Prime Minister of Pakistan.” A small boy said, “In fact Feroz Khan Afternoon was the Prime Minister of Pakistan.”
It was a great gathering of the street urchins. Well-known and unknown street urchins of Karachi had assembled in a very large number under the old Clifton Bridge. They were in different age groups. Youngest among them was of five years of age. The eldest urchin who looked tall for his age was twelve years of age. Most of them were barefoot and shabbily dressed. Some of them were in tatters, and some of them were hardly covered. It was an uncommon gathering. Never before in the captivating history of Karachi such a large number of homeless children were seen together at one place.
“Every dog has his day in Pakistan.” A delegate announced, “Why not we too have our very own Day?”
Among the urchins were the runaway children of the Afghan refugees. They were scavengers, and had come along with filthy sacks dumped with stinking rubbish. It was their valuable possession. They were sitting in a separate group. Irrespective of their age some of the Afghan urchins were smoking. A child, hardly five or six years of age was sucking at a piece of an unlit cigarette. Among the urchins were children from NWFP. They had accompanied their unskilled male parents to Karachi in search of livelihood. While their elders dug the trenches in the roads for cables, gas and sewerage pipes the children explored the Metropolitan on their own. During the adventures they seemingly had lost their way, and never returned to the parents who lived in makeshift huts, and kept moving for shelter from place to place.
A substantial number of street children in the gathering were from Punjab. It nurtures more population than the population of other three provinces Sindh, Balochistan and NWFP put together. The politicians prior to the disintegration of Pakistan in 1971 viewed this kind of phenomenon with awe. East Pakistan sustained more population than the collective population of four provinces of West Pakistan, namely Punjab, Sindh, NWFP, and Balochistan. In the great congregation of the urchins the street children of Punjab were in dominant majority. The Balochi children were conspicuous by their non-presence. The street children from Sindh though few, made the loudest noise. No wonder, it was a mammoth congregation of the street urchins of Karachi they call mini Pakistan.
The men and women from media were left wonderstruck. They had never witnessed such a spectacle before. A five-member delegation of the urchins had warned the media men, especially women to remain at a safe distance from the children. You just can’t predict anything about the homeless children. Most of them had no idea who their fathers and mothers were. What struck the media men and women the most was the unannounced universal brotherhood of the children of the lesser gods.
“We have been walking all our life.” A lame boy addressed the audience, and said, “It does nothing. How many times have the well fed walked for the redress of the starving children, and with what result? It’s rubbish.”
The atmosphere roared with a resounding echo, “No walk-no walk.”
“Then, what do you suggest?” A lanky kid asked.
“We will run, and run berserk.” The lame boy said, “We will keep running Eastwards, Westwards, Southwards and Northwards till our one and only demand is accepted.”
The lame urchin was street children’s intellectual and a scholar. He elaborated upon the lone demand of the street children from the Government. “We are in absolute majority.” He said, “Our share in the population of Pakistan is more than thirty per cent.”
The atmosphere echoed with loud, “Oh.”
The lame intellectual said, “We want proportionate number of seats in the National Assembly.”
“What about our representation in the Provincial Assemblies?” A semi-naked boy asked.
“We are one hundred per cent Federal in our character.” The lame urchin said, “Therefore, we demand for our representation in the National Assembly.”
“Are you suggesting we contest the elections?” A boy with running nose asked.
“Of course!” The lame urchin said, “We are a massive and a gigantic party in Pakistan.”
A hunchback said, “But brother non of us is more than 12 years of age!”
“You are mistaken Kubray Bhai. We have been in existence since 1947.” The lame urchin smiled, and said, “By the next elections in 2007 we will be 60 year old.”
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