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May 6, 2004
Bleak futures
A 12-year-old boy and his two brothers were abandoned by both their parents in a village in the Frontier and have to fend for themselves, living off the charity of those who take pity on their sorry tale. Their story, while tragic, is not a unique one, says Muqaddam Khan
About two months ago I came across a strange boy in our neighbourhood and assumed that he might be visiting a relative in the area for a few days. After a month I gathered the courage and asked him who he was visiting. I was shocked to discover that his parents had abandoned him and his two brothers and that he was now living with a philanthropist Muzaffar Khan in Naro Banda village.
The 12-year-old boy, Shahid Khan, was just two years old when his father, Gul Bacha, divorced Shahid’s mother and remarried. Bacha, who is from Maini Swabi in the Frontier, was one of the more than a million Pakistanis addicted to heroin. It seemed that no one could do anything to rid him of his addiction, including his wife, with whom he fought a lot over his spending money on his nasha.
Shahid and his brothers moved out with their troubled mother after their father stopped even buying food for them, and the boys had to rely on the generosity of their neighbours for leftovers. If Shahid’s mother asked her husband for food items, she was severely beaten by him. This is nothing to say for the humiliation Shahid and his brothers had to endure in the community for being sons of a drug addict.
The boys’ maternal uncles and other relatives refused to take them in and their only aunt was sympathetic, but because of her own impoverished situation she was unable to assist them as much as she would have liked to. The boys spent most of their time in hunger; their young age prevented them from getting any jobs and social traditions disallowed their mother from going out to look for employment. This went on for three years and it seemed to deteriorate to a point of no return.
It took yet another ugly turn when Shahid’s mother remarried a man named Akhtar from Fathijang in the Punjab and took her sons with her. Their aunt had played a role in Shahid’s mother’s remarriage, thinking that this would be good for her nephews’ future. However, the stepfather was not interested in keeping the children and began mistreating them, perhaps hoping they would leave.
He made them work on his lands, grazing buffaloes and cows from dawn to dusk, and if the boys returned home earlier than they were supposed to, he would beat them. “Abusing and beating had become routine affairs. We never ate a comfortable dinner as we were always crying tears of agony,” said Shahid. Their mother was helpless and if she raised a voice, she was silenced by her husband, and perhaps she knew there was little she could do for she feared being abandoned by a husband again.
The boys took this abuse for two years but finally made their escape and returned to Swabi. They managed to get to Swabi by begging for money until they reached their destination — but they didn’t return to their father. In fact, they hadn’t met their father for over a decade. “Why should I meet him? What has he given us?” asked Shahid. “What can be expected from a ‘heroinchi’ (heroin addict)? Why am I staying with others when I have parents? I don’t want to meet either of them in the future because the past still echoes in my mind.” Shahid recounts that he and his brothers had once tried to meet their father, but he refused to recognize them and warned them of dire consequences if they tried to meet him in future or tried to return home.
When asked why his mother hadn’t thought of seeking legal recourse, Shahid said they were unfamiliar with legal matters and moreover who would finance their concerns? When TR approached Shahid’s father Bacha to ask who was responsible for the plight of his sons, he replied, “Who authorized you to question the internal affairs of my family? I know what is best and there is no need for your lecture.” All three boys are illiterate and it doesn’t take a genius to figure out what the future has in store for them.
However, the question one needs to ask is who is responsible for the agony these children have been forced to endure? Why has the government remained inactive? What has been done by NGOs who make a hue and cry about children’s rights and claim to have done a lot of work for their welfare? Why have the jirga members not raised this issue? How can these children contribute to the betterment of their country? Why has the sanctity of father-son relations, sanctity of marriage and blood relations been violated?
The answer to all these questions is that the parents are responsible for the plight of their children. They have to educate them, inculcate moral values in them, take steps for their future and provide them with guidance and security. There is no value of abandoned children in our society, and they remain at the mercy of others who can exploit them for their own purposes.
The future of these children remains dark and this is not a unique story as cases are abound in the country. Raising children is an art that many people are unfamiliar with, and it requires both parents playing an active role in child rearing. A lack of education makes things worse which is why population control is a must. It is better to produce one engineer or doctor than 20 poor labourers.
The government, NGOs and jirga members should come forward to collectively work for the rehabilitation of abandoned children. The most vital role anyone can play is to ensure that they are educated. It would improve their position in society and they can also play their due role in building the nation.
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