One must think of those homeless people, shivering in that cold, without coats or blankets, who are fighting the cold with courage. The roof of the house, made of wood, is weak; when it rains, a river of water droplets runs through it, and in the snowfall a storm of cold surges in.
What hope must the children, the young and the old have, as they wake from their dreams at dawn? What would be the dream in their hearts, and what would their intentions be?
Today's rain from the clouds will again drench our house, and take away our sleep, our rest, our peace and calm. It will spoil what little remains of the rations in the kitchen...
These thoughts come because our young men are not in jobs, our old are not on pensions, and our women do not receive any funds.
And these thoughts come because, to buy new rations, will we be able to go to the city? The rain will block not only the road from the village to the city but also the road from one village to another. If the rain brings illness, where will a hospital be found?
A job requires education. Among us there is no school at all, nor any teacher who would, under a tree, give our boys and girls the benefit of learning.
Our young men can only cut wood from the forest and sell it, but these days even that is forbidden. The government says this is (deforestation) and that it reduces forests, and in any case the total forest cover in our area is no more than 4 per cent.
As he thought, the old man grew more and more tearful, and the tears from his eyes were wetting his land...
As he went, he stopped somewhere and, with trembling lips and tearful eyes, said that this bloody government knows very well how to ban things, but why does it not know how to restore them, to give rights, facilities and employment?
Paji was going on about "the government, the government" when a thought suddenly came to his mind, and he began to say: these people who have set themselves up as our rulers and go about enjoying life's pleasures in luxurious houses, with every facility.
Do they not think of us even a little?
Then he said: if they did, we would not be like this.
The contributor, Yousuf Baloch, specialises in the discussion of human rights offenses worldwide.
Reach out to him @YousufBaluch1.
