LAHORE:
Although minorities’ localities should be prioritized when it
comes to allocation of development schemes,
this does not
seem to be the case for Youhanabad — said to be the largest colony of
Christians in the country.
The
number of Christian voters there determines the fate of any election, but the
MPA to whom the constituency belongs is not concerned enough to even visit the
area.
The
MPA happens to be Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif himself. Locals say the
CM has not visited Youhanabad since the general elections of May 2013.
“The
efforts to uplift minorities can be judged from the attitude of the rulers,”
said Yaqoob Mubarik while talking to The Express Tribune on
a visit to the impoverished neighborhood. “We feel alienated as we do not have
functional water filtration plants, a dispensary or even a public school,
despite being South Asia’s largest Christian colony.”
Dilapidated
state
Roads
in the area are broken and sewage can be seen on several streets when one
enters Youhanabad.
“[People]
living here do not have access to what is considered fundamental rights,” he
said. “Water and Sanitation Agency had installed a generator here [to operate a
suction pump] so that the accumulated sewage water could be done away with, but
it has gone and exists only on paper.”
Sajid
Christopher, who runs a non-profit organisation in the locality, said the
sewerage system and potable water were issues that needed immediate attention.
“We
had high hopes when the chief minister contested from here, but he has mostly
neglected the area,” says Christopher, who believes the minorities are nowhere
in the government’s agenda.
Youhanabad
Union Council Chairperson Asif Sohail Khokhar said Christians living in the
area could not even utilise the 5% job quota reserved for minorities, despite
living in an area that falls under the chief minister’s jurisdiction. He said
locals could not even reach the chief minister, despite trying to contact him
through his social media accounts.
“The
former governor of Punjab, Chaudhry Sarwar, once told me that only 1.5% of the
students in educational institutions of Punjab are from the minority
communities,” he claims. Tall claims were, however, made nevertheless when the
votes of the people of Youhanabad were required. “During the election campaign
of 2013, he [the chief minister] stopped by here and announced that he would
turn Youhanabad into Paris,” Asif Sohail said.
Sans
action
Although
the Punjab Assembly was informed during its session in May of Pakistan’s
largest Christian locality not having a public school, the area still remains
without one. The house was told so in response to a question put up by
minorities MPA Shehzad Munshi. “The situation of minorities cannot be changed
if they are not educated,” Napoleon Qayyum, another local, said. “The
chief minister speaks about education being his priority, but nothing has been
done to build schools in Pakistab’s largest Christian locality.”
However, Shazia
Tariq, an MPA on seat reserved for minorities, and chief minister’s coordinator
for Youhanabad said the chief minister had appointed coordinators to communicate
with people in Youhanabad as he was extremely busy. “We have so far done
development work worth Rs120 million in Youhanabad,” she said. “A school is in
the phase of completion near Christian locality. We didn’t build it in the
colony as there wasn’t any space available.”
As
far as the dispensary is concerned, she added, Lahore General Hospital is quite
near from the area and locals go there for treatment. “Problem sometimes arises
in implementation of job quota but the chief minister tries to stay in touch
with people,” she maintained. “[Moreover] around four water filtration
plants have been installed here. There may be some functional problems but they
normally work.”
Published
in The Express Tribune, October 23rd, 2016.
