The drive along Raiwind uncoils into wild abandonment with patchy habituation along the road. The metropolis fades away with every mile and the clutter of the homeless along the road condenses with inverse proportion. It’s a gloomy sight, most of the homeless are men or varying ages, as young as 15 to as old as 80 donning rags and sad excuses for clothes, in most cases smoking drugs. These are the men that have no places to call home or roof to sleep under after they are done with the daily business of life.
He told us that despite his drug habits he visits home often and he wishes his Eid to be colorful for him and his children, he imagines his children wearing the best and being happy. Despite his state he said to us baqi Allah malik hy ¬(I leave the rest to Allah) when we parted. We complied and left him in God’s hand while he should have been dropped off at a rehabilitation center by his family. This litter of drug addicts that clings to the city has been abandoned by their own and the society. Numerous NGO’s actively work to gain foreign donations but a substantial change has yet to be registered. Who is to blame? The easy trafficking of drugs in the city? The reluctance of the victim’s family? Or us who ignore the ones consumed by this plight?
