KARACHI: The II Chundrigar Road and Dr Ziauddin Ahmed Road intersection is not just famous for the countless travel agencies, banks and media outlets that dot it. It is also known for the druggies and junkies who find the lengthy shadows of multi-storey buildings looming over the pavements safe to sniff or smoke. These men (occasionally an old woman can be seen accompanying them giving two hoots about the rest of the world) roam around freely, their eyes glued to the ground, oblivious to the mad traffic, looking for scraps of paper and a quiet corner on the footpaths. It is hard to miss them. Scruffy looks, unkempt hair, tattered clothes and trembling hands are their common features. They are everywhere.
Who are they? Why do they do drugs? Why doesn't anyone admonish them? Do they feel remorse? Walking on Ziauddin Road from the PIDC signal to hit Chundrigar Road, the pavement with a small shed meant to function as a bus stop is a more intriguing nook of the area than it looks. Iqbal is sometimes found here. He is lean but not thin, medium-height, has a bushy beard with shades of grey, and a full head of salt 'n pepper hair.
The coat he has put on has a layer of dried mud on it and his loosely fitted pair of trousers is barely hanging on to his waist. He crouches in a strange way, as if he is about to pounce on his prey. The paraphernalia which has almost become part of his character is a familiar sight: a matchbox, a cigarette case not packed with cigarettes, aluminum foil, some powder and an inhaler. All of them, sometimes barring one or two items, combine to make him smoke the drug that he cannot or does not have the courage to get shot of.
Iqbal (not sure if that's his real name) is addicted to heroin, but claims he detests it with a vengeance. For some odd reason, he does not shy away from answering questions about his addiction.
"Why do you do that?" "It's a torture. Don't ask. It's a torture, " he gets a bit dramatic.
"But why do you do that if it's a torture?" "I can't help it. Just can't help it," he says though there's no pain on his face.
"Are you a jilted lover?" "You think that's the only cause for getting into drugs? There are other things in life more serious than that. There can be the grief caused by the loss of a mother, by the heavy-handed behaviour of a father... there can be tons of things..."
"Where do you get this stuff? The cigarette, the aluminum foil, the powder. Isn't it expensive?" "Who do you think I am? I'm a beggar. I beg," he says in a matter-of-fact manner.
"But again, where do you get this stuff?" "We have to go beyond Hyderabad ..."
Naturally, Iqbal is clever enough not to tell which part of Karachi he visits to fetch the drug or who provides him with it. The addiction has not had a damaging effect on his senses, it seems.
"No one bugs you... the police, the law enforcers?" "If you start doing drugs, they'll catch you because you look affluent. They'll pick you up and unless you cough up enough money to them, they won't let you go. But they can't do anything to us. We are a useless lot. We become their liability if they nab us. I will say that again, it's a torture. There's no pleasure in it. Don't even think of getting into this stuff. It will rip you of everything that you have, " Iqbal turns around as if he's had enough of the questions.
Iqbal claims he was born in Peshawar.
Neither his looks nor his accent suggests so. Either he is a darn good liar or has partially lost his memory. The former is more likely. There is a bunch of addicts who accompany Iqbal in their pursuit of escape from life. Not all of them are willing to talk about it.
'Sense of reward'
Consultant psychiatrist Dr Zafar Haider opines, "There is a sense of 'reward' in the central nervous system of the living body, which in a way is related to the pain and pleasure principle. Drug addicts want to stimulate the reward centre over and over. What happens in the process is that they make drugs the focus of their lives, the only goal. To seek that pleasure they can stretch to any limit and sacrifice whatever they can."
Explaining this, Dr Haider cited an experiment where microelectrodes were inserted in a monkey and the reward centre was stimulated. As a result, the monkey was found repeating a certain activity, he said.
"This mostly happens to those people who have the tendency to get hooked.
You must've seen individuals who drink tea more frequently than others. Many of them want to excite the reward part of the brain. Some people get unknowingly entrapped. For example, those with stomach aches are sometimes given a painkilling injection, and since the injection carries morphine, they get used to it," Dr Haider added.