LONG queues in front of a multinational coffeehouse and restaurant chain in Lahore recently made waves on social media platforms, and the sales revenue is said to have set some kind of a record for the said company. For a country on the verge of default, this sounds embarrassing.

Is it not a pity that the poor are lining up to get a pack of wheat flour to ensure survival, while the affluent are standing in queues to get a cup of coffee? The gulf between the filthy rich and the miserly poor in the country is gigantic. And it is getting worse with time.

Social injustice, insecurity and corruption are rampant everywhere. Society at large is about to collapse due to callous governance. Social injustice and inequality increase the misery and sufferings of the poor in an already marginalised and polarised society.

It is time we did something to protect the right of the poor by ending social injustices caused by the massive inequality between the poor and the rich.

Dr Ashraf Jafrani
Sujawal

Published in Dawn, March 13th, 2023