Pakistanis, settled abroad, seem to be more concerned about the environmental pollution and diseases that claim hundreds of lives each day than the local people who live here and have immediate stakes in the cities they live in.
One such Pakistani, Syed Fayaz Naqvi, who had visited Pakistan in the mid of 2005, told Business Recorder on Tuesday that during his trip to Karachi, he fell ill due to consuming adulterated food and contaminated water.
The smoke filled air aggravated his respiratory tract infection and the medicines he used proved ineffective, he said, adding the adulterated food contributed its share of complications. He took up the issue with local authorities and tried to divert their attention toward basic problems that were hurting human rights of the people, but it turned out to be a wild goose chase.
After going back to his home in London, he took up the issue with Prime Minister Tony Blair, local MP Martin Linton, Human Rights Society Secretary, Norfolk, (Mrs) J. J. Murray and the United Nations Environmental Programme and World Conservation Monitoring Centre, besides a number of other agencies.
In his letter dated October 4, 2005, Naqvi wrote to Human Rights Society, Norfolk, about water pollution, deaths he had noticed in Karachi and other cities of Pakistan due to bacterial infection through the use of unclean water, frequent power outage and garbage collection on roadsides.
He wrote that the civic bodies as well as the local administration had a cold-hearted attitude toward these basic problems. The in-attentiveness of the concerned officials had compounded people's worries and their basic rights were being violated, he added.
He had discussed unemployment, poverty level, wide gap between the rich and the poor population, absence of social security in Pakistan, old age problems, soaring utility bills and a number of other difficulties that the common man in Pakistan faces.
Naqvi, in his letter to the Human Rights Commission, also asked the Commission to intervene and look into his complaint.
"I am lodging a complaint against the Pakistani government for violating the right to food and right to water. To stop hunger, food water must be provided," he said.
In response to his letter Naqvi received reply from Prime Minister Tony Blair through his secretary R Smith, "The Prime Minister has asked me to thank you for your recent letter and the enclosures in it. The contents will be carefully noted.
"Blair has asked me that your letter be passed to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, which has particular responsibility for the matter you raised so that they are also aware of your views."
Naqvi said that his efforts to contact a civic body officials in Pakistan did not succeed. "You in Pakistan have accessibility problem whereas in Britain the Prime Minister is available to listen to the problems of even those who are not original Britishers."
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