THE power of social media has arrived in Pakistan and its full force was felt all over the country with the tale of Shabbir Hussain.

Young Shabbir was returning home to Skardu from Islamabad in a passenger van when he lost his bag near Chilas because it fell off the luggage rack on the vehicle’s roof. The bag contained his original education documents and the entire medical records of his father, who has a brain tumour.

When the young man realised his loss and the fact that his dad’s treatment would stop if the medical record was not traced he decided to go viral with his plea. Shabbir’s heart wrenching plea on social media for the return of the bag became popular and caught the attention of Major Gen Asif Ghafoor, the Director General ISPR.

The DG shared Shabbir’s video and also offered him assistance for his father at the combined military hospital. The appeal to locate the missing bag gathered momentum and it was found within hours and returned to its owner.

Let us use social media for good.

Sania Saba

Karachi

Published in Dawn, June 13th, 2018