Waqar Jappa
“Pakistanis will thank God on their knees a hundred years from now that Imran Khan once occupied the Prime Minister House. A man who walked tall in the politics of Pakistan not for his politics but for his vision and statesmanship. Mark my words. No. you better write them down bro. See! This country is at the crossroads of change. The current “not so smooth phase’ will pass soon. There are going to be good days ahead. I understand a great majority of people is not happy with the way PTI led Government is proceeding but its temporary. After all, it’s hardly been 90 days since they have assumed power.
Suhana said it all in one go while lifting her left hand up and down and her right hand moved forward and backward as she spoke looking right into my eyes. Up till then, I didn’t know my dear friend had been watching Barack Obama’s speeches on YouTube. Good God! She must have been watching him a lot lately. Perhaps, it is because House of Cards season 6 without Kevin Spacy was a total disappointment.
Anyways, we were at the Al-Hamrah Arts Council’s lawn to attend the 4th Faiz Festival last week, sipping from a badly made but over charged cup of tea in between the break of a new session where Imran Abbas and Saba Qamar were scheduled to speak about their experience on working across the border. A political discussion was something I would be least interested in. And, my friend here was prophesying about how IK would go down to be remembered in history!
“The haters, she resumed, have already started pointing their fingers on IK but they don’t know God is on his side. They will bite the dust. Insha Allah! They don’t realize, he is not only a visionary but an epitome of empathy. Look at his government’s decision to build Shelter houses for shelter less people who spend their nights at foot paths, parks, hospital benches and on the ground under the wide sky. You know, if Saghir Siddiqui-the wanderer poet were living in our times, he too would have been one of the early occupants of the newly constructed shelter house near Data Sahib. And then, he might not have to complain,
Jis Daur mein loot Jaiey Ghareebon ki Kamai
Uss dour K Sultan se kuch Bhool hui hai
I see! You are right Sohana. The session will start in 10 minutes in Hall no 2. It is better if we go five minutes in advance to get better seats. I humbly submitted to my friend. “But we have another five minutes. Haven’t we?” Yes”, I said helplessly. Great. She resumed with a refreshing enthusiasm after having that tea-like stuff that we had just finished.
“You know the good thing is, this is a joint venture of Punjab and Federal government as land will be provided by Provincial government, but construction will be carried out by Federal government. One shelter will provide place for 93 men and 27 women. I must say she had the statistics right. Four more such projects will be installed in the areas including Data Darbar, Railway station, Badami Baagh, General Bus Stand and Thokar Niaz Baig which are the main areas of people coming from other cities and nearby areas of Lahore.” She concluded with a victorious little smile on her face.
The project would address certain issues like restoration of self-respect of the shelter less people, meeting their requirements at these abodes, reducing the risks besides, expanding periphery of the social responsibilities of the state and citizens. Good God! Wait. Hold on please. Finally, my patience ran out.
Wao! Thank you very much Suhana for enlightening me on this amazing, purpose-built project jointly initiated by CM Buzdar and PM IK. I know it will go a long way in mitigating shelter less people’s woes. It’s a great step in the right direction. I just hope and pray that it is completed on time and people get benefit out of it. Now, can we please go to attend what brought us here in the first place? I am dying to see Saba Qamar. The last time I saw her, she was in my dream where she repeated her dance moves from that stupid tea advertisement.
The writer is a part-time actor, occasional blogger and a regular dreamer. He has an M.Phil. in media studies from University of the Punjab. He can be reached at waqarfcc@gmail.com.
