LAHORE: A consultation, attended by civil society activists, lawmakers and gypsy community, discussed the issues of gypsies and the way forward.

The participants learned there were seven million gypsies in the country, of them two million were in Balochistan, and 1.1 million in Punjab.

Take a look: Meet the gypsies of Lahore

The gypsies were treated as untouchables by society, while the state and government neglected them.

Ashraf Bhutta, of Gujranwala, said gypsies faced most of the problems for not having ID cards.

“They cannot vote, which means they have no political representation,” he said.

“They face rapid displacement which means that they must keep moving all over the country in order to find any kind of work, so they have no permanent address and registration with Nadra becomes even more difficult. They also lack awareness.”

GODH, the organiser of the seminar, is helping gypsy children receive non-formal education, along with vocational training. It also works to provide them a permanent address, so that they get registered for ID cards.

Gypsies, the participants learned, also lacked basic amenities like electricity, gas, potable water and health facilities. There was no question of birth and death registration. As far as the State was concerned, these seven million people in Pakistan were invisible – they did not exist.

MPA Aliya Aftab said many of the gypsies had excellent skills but these were not brought to the forefront. She urged the media to highlight their talent. She said that data collection was extremely important and so was the non-formal education that they received.

She said it was important to teach gypsies about cleanliness and hygiene as they lived in appalling conditions which made them prone to diseases. Awareness and hands on training was one suggestion which could help them.

MPA Lubna Faisal said in the case of gypsies, there was no proper documentation. She said that questions must be raised from now on in the assemblies regarding these gypsies. She said elected representatives did not bother to actually work for the people. When the government tried to help them, gypsies did not follow through with correct procedures.

Salman Abid, regional director of the Strengthening Participatory Organisation, said even within the State institutions there were rampant problems mainly because of bad governance. The institutions had to restructure themselves. The media tended to ignore common man’s problems, and instead current affairs were the only hot topic. He said political parties and representatives must be made to engage more with people.

In another session, participants discussed the issues of gypsies and Pakhtun in Punjab.

Political activist Talimand Khan said Pukhtun were facing problems in acquiring ID cards because of ‘war on terror’.

Mr Khan and his other colleagues had come to attend the conference from Islamabad and Swat to highlight their harassment by law enforcement agencies in the Punjab.

He said the Pakhtun were the most peripatetic people in Pakistan and were true symbols of national integration.

“In the wake of the war on terror, Pakhtun labour migration squeezed due to mobility restriction and the deliberate erroneous image constructed about them. At present in the aftermath of every terrorist incidence, the Pakhtun face a crackdown by the law enforcement agencies in Punjab,” Mr Khan said.

He demanded uniformity of laws for every citizen despite lineage and that Nadra follow the same procedures in issuing CNICs as it did for the people of the Punjab or Sindh.

Dr Karim Khan, of Zhob, was critical of people’s nonchalance in taking the name of Khyber Pukhtunkhwa by abbreviating it to its initials KP.

A satirical travelogue by Fazal Maula Zahid, a researcher and a social activist, highlighted the deprivation and way of life of the gypsies of Cholistan.

Published in Dawn, April 29th, 2015

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