ISLAMABAD: As people belonging to almost every social and economic stratum continue to bear the brunt of super-inflation, those who are at the receiving end, including the shelterless and the homeless, feel the heat the most and they are not immune from its devastating impact.
In 2019, the previous Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government started shelter homes and Langar Khanas and rolled out food trucks to feed the poor and needy twice a day. The revolutionary hunger-free initiative received plaudits nationally and globally, with philanthropists and well-to-do people generously contributing to the programme.
Though the current coalition government led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has not rolled back the social protection programme, it has comparatively lost steam with the needy and deserving people facing cold shoulder at the hand of the managers of these set-ups.
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Shelter homes in Islamabad do not have enough space to accommodate the homeless, primarily jobless daily wagers, who rely on these Langar Khanas for food and shelter to avoid freezing nights.
Daily wagers wait on footpaths and sidewalks for hours to find labour jobs in the hope of running errands for their households. In the process, they are often offered food by philanthropists or passers-by and they pass their days in the hope of doing a living errand
Labourers from various parts of the country could be seen sitting on green belts in G-9 Markaz along with tools like drills, shovels, wrenches, painting instruments and hammers, etc., hoping to be hired by people for the day’s work. Each time when a vehicle stops by, they all jostle and run toward it in the hope of being hired for work.
A few of them find a day’s job and the rest sit idle only to return home (shelter homes) after waiting all day and with the dashing hope of trying their luck the next morning.
Murad Khan, a young daily-wager from Nowshera Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, told World Echo that he believed the poor are people of lesser God, as they have no place to hide and opportunities in any city no matter how big or small to make a living.
Talking about the shelter homes, he expressed his worries about the influx of homeless who will face difficulties in getting accommodation in these shelter homes as the winter approaches. The shelter homes have a policy of not accommodating people for more than two weeks.
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Sitting outside Langar Khana run by Silani Foundation, 60-year-old Abdul Rehman from Swabi complained about the lack of space in the shelter home, saying: “When I get a space in the shelter home for a night stay, I take a deep sleep in a warm blanket on a comfortable bed, otherwise, “I sleep under shades of shops in the market using my shawl on the floor.”
Abdul Rehman, who hailed from Swabi, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, said that he came to Islamabad with a dream to get enough work in the capital city to earn enough money to support his four children and wife but he found the town repudiating he was lurking without work for the last seven days.
He shared with World Echo that the shelters were once home to people like him, but now they refuse to accommodate them as, as, according to him, they often run out of space and prefer to give space to newcomers”.
“We are no more welcome for them as we are considered inhabitants of green belts,” Rehman said while wrapping a traditional Pashtun grey warm shawl around his neck to safeguard himself from the shivering coldness.
An official sitting in the office of a shelter home at Peshwar in G-9 Markaz told a completely different story. The official shared that these daily wagers have become habitual aid seekers and do not work, gossiping all day on green belts.
“During the previous PTI government’s tenure, these people used this place like their homes but now we are targeting the neediest, mostly the attendants of patients admitted to public sector hospitals in the capital,” the official shared on condition of anonymity, fearing a reprisal from the top authorities.
During the previous government’s tenure, these shelter homes used to be state-of-the-art places and we would always be vigilant and provide the best possible services to the needy as the programme was close to the former prime minister’s heart. Officials from Prime Minister’s House used to make frequent visits to check the service delivery and compile daily reports to the PM Office,” the official said.
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According to the official, though they get funds from Pakistan Baitul Maal, hardly any official visits these shelter homes to check the service.
The official also complained about the dwindling contributions by the general public and philanthropists after the present government took over.
“Earlier, every day and especially on Thursdays and Fridays, we used to receive a huge quantity of cooked food including biryani, qorma, zarda (sweet rice) and meat of sacrificial animals. We had a separate cage for storing the meat of slaughtered animals but now the cage remains empty and hardly we receive any cooked food from people,” the official said.
Talking about the difference, the official said that after the change of hand at the federal level, although thy get funds from the government to run the shelter homes, the sense of ownership from the PM House was missing. “This lack of ownership also affects the services and a big chunk of donations and contributions from the people has almost ended now.”
A total of four shelter homes are operational in the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi. The shelter home in G-9 Markaz can accommodate 100 people and provide food to more than 300.
Earlier, a shuttle service was in place to shift the extra people to other shelters in Bhara Kahu and Tarnol but that has also stopped, and people prefer to take refuge under shade in front of shops and bus stations. They lack the wherewithal to afford bus fare to visit remote shelter homes to stay at night.
