In the sprawling urban centres of Pakistan’s large cities, Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi, the streets have become a makeshift home for millions. They represent a significant and growing population stuck in the cycle of poverty.
Current estimates suggest a staggering population of 1.5 to 2.5 million children living and working in the shadow of the primary or informal economy. These children are not merely “poor”, they are trapped in a vicious cycle of begging, street vending and petty crimes. Many are found living on footpaths. Often are victims of domestic violence and abandoned most probably due to extreme poverty.
At every major traffic signal, the scene is identical, children between the age bracket of seven to mid-teens, cleaning windscreens, selling wilted flowers or scavenging through trash. They start working from the first light of dawn until late into the night, seemingly immune to the fears that usually govern childhood. While official demographic pattern suggest, only 8 % are females, this figure is widely considered an underestimate, as young girls are often funneled into even less visible forms of domestic exploitation.
The heartbreaking reality, on the surface you might see them playing or
“doing musti “, among themselves–A brief flash of the childhood they should be having. But when questioned about school, the facade breaks. The stories are repetitive and tragic. A deceased or chronically sick father, a mother overwhelmed by younger siblings, or the grim reality of parental drug addiction.
The COVID—19 Pandemic acted as a Catalyst, pushing families already living on the edge into total economic collapse, much below the poverty line. For them, the choice wasn’t between school and work, it was between begging and starvation. Poverty a major factor.
Here, the question arises, who is Responsible?
In order to answer the above question posed by the crisis, one must look at three distinct levels of failure:
1) The State: A lack of enforced child protection laws and the absence of a functional social safety net. This allows these children to slip through the cracks.
2) Organised Exploitation: In mega cities like Karachi, “begger mafias” often control specific intersections, treating children as revenue streams rather than human beings.
3) The Public: By giving small change at signals, we often inadvertently sustain the cycle that keep these children on the street rather than in a classroom.
Further, to move beyond just identifying the problem, one must look at the specific roles of various stakeholders. The primary types of street labour can be categorised in large cities such as Karachi..one can also identify the unique risk associated with each:
1) Category: Begging, a primary activity is to soliciting cash directly, most often using infants as props. They are seen as the victims of chronic malnutrition and also long — term psychological trauma.
2) Category: Service Labour, Cleaning windscreens and shining shoes considered primary activities. They are prone to the risk of high exposure to “Begger Mafias”, and also physical intimidation
3) Category: Venders, Theìr primary job is to sell flowers, small toys, balloons, ball point pen, tissues at traffic signals.
High risk involved of road accidents, heat stroke during severe hot weather. Also verbal abuse from commuters.
4) Category: Scavengers, as suggested by the name, the primary activity consists of, collecting plastic, metal or paper from roadside trash heaps. These children are easy victim of respiratory illness, various infections, cuts and obviously exposure to toxic waste.
Analysed and answered the question who is responsible? Now must find the answer to what can be done?
The responsibility does not rest on the single pair of shoulders. It is the failure of the state that cannot protect it’s most vulnerable, a society that has become desensitised to the sight of a child cleaning a windshield, and an economic system that offers no exit.
The doable solutions needed. A feasible, achievable action plan, having said that, it is not an easy task in the presence of strong mafias.
However, here are three viable actionable steps to help shift the tide:
1) Support informal education: Due to their age and work schedule many street children cannot enter the standard school system. NGO’s like The Citizens
Foundation (TCF) or Azad Foundation can support provide “bridge” schooling to street children. A difficult task to convince children as well as their parents. Maybe, it becomes easier when they are payed a monthly stipend.
2) Responsible Charity: Instead of giving small change at traffic signals, which often ends up in the hands of exploiters, these can be redirected to agencies like Sailani,
JDC who can provide them food, health care and even legal protection when required.
3) Policy enforcement by local government:
Here enters the role of the local government. The representatives of the local government must be pressurised to enforce the Sindh Child Protection Authority Act, and other similar laws that can mandate the rescue and rehabilitation of poor street children found working in hazardous conditions.
Until we treat street children as a “National Emergency” rather than a nuisance at a traffic stop, their childhood will remain “LOST” to the concrete.
ANYBODY LISTENING?
