Of three basic needs

Can we survive without water? Everybody says: No. Similarly, we need ‘roti’ (meal) three times a day, but there are millions and millions of people who hardly get one meal a day.

Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah had referred to this fact during his struggle for Pakistan: the brutal reality hasn’t vanished yet.

Can we live in an old cottage or a newly built house or in a rented hotel room and move about naked? Never: we need clothing to cover our body and protect vital organs and parts from evils.

Exactly, like that, we — middle, lower or poor — have to have a ‘makan’ (shelter) to live as citizens with some dignity and honour.

Educated youths assert they too are among the poor unless employed according to their qualification and talent. “We want to stand on our legs, and we can do that if we have easy access to soft-term loans and no politics is involved in provision of opportunities.”

“We want our leaders go for common people’s priorities; they must first think of our stomach, our clothing and shelter for us before they go for grandiose schemes and big projects which scarcely provide the basic necessities of life,” the youths say.

Disgruntled youths, at the same time, say they believe in real democracy, not in any such persons with magic wand in their hand who’ll whistle and clothes will fall from heaven; who’ll sing a song and houses will be built, or food provided.

Suffering people say leaders will’ve to work and struggle very hard unitedly irrespective of any political affiliation to increase production — for nowhere in the world do things come free to people.

Old citizens say it’s the duty of the followers of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah to mend ways and go straight to the down-trodden masses, peasants and labourers, and share their agony stemming from food price surge, unemployment, nepotism, poverty and neglect of talent.

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