ISLAMABAD: Among the sloganeering to make a new Pakistan, an Australian national of Pakistani origin wants to make the country healthy, neat and clean.

For the last five days, Sydney-based Tariq Khan has been collecting garbage from the venues of the ongoing sit-ins in the federal capital.

“Someone is talking about old Pakistan, someone is trying to break and remake it, but I want to make it a healthy neat and clean country.”

Sydney-based IT expert is collecting garbage from the venues of sit-ins

An Information Technology (IT) consultant by profession, Mr Khan recently moved to Pakistan to do something for the country.

Talking to Dawn, he said every day he collected 40 bags of garbage from the venues of the sit-ins. But he was annoyed with the educated workers of the PTI for ‘cheating’ him. Mr Khan said he had no affiliation with any political or religious party.

He said a few days ago he handed 30 large bags to the PTI workers to help him in clean the venue. However, he added, instead of using the bags for the garbage collection, the participants used them to protect themselves from the rain.

“It was so shocking for me. I cried after seeing the PTI educated workers putting the bags in their pockets and then using them as shelters against the rain,” he said, adding he would now lift the garbage alone.

Asked why he selected this venue for picking the garbage, Mr Khan said actually he wanted to grab the attention of a large number of people to motivate them to make the country clean and healthy.

Wearing a T-shirt with a printed slogan to make the country clean, green and healthy by 2020, Mr Khan, who is now settled in Mardan district of KP, said he was very optimistic that the target could be achieved by 2020.

In reply to a question, he said if every citizen realised their responsibility, the country could be made clean and green.

To another question, he said his children were born in Australia, which was a green and healthy country. Recently, when I moved to Pakistan, my children started asking me about the garbage and empty bottles littered everywhere. “That was the moment when I thought I have to play a role for my country.”

Published in Dawn, August 25th, 2014