Ever wiped a tear from an orphan’s cheek or put a palliative hand over his head! Ever spend or thought of spending not a fortune but a little on his bread, butter or education! This Shahr-i-Masawat beckons to share a part of our earnings with these unfortunate souls. Spending few thousands less on luxuries may make an orphan’s not just a day but a month. Though money can’t buy them what they have lost but it can lessen their burden of life a bit.
The social obligation towards orphans and destitute can neither be wished away nor can a conscious human being wash his hands by putting few coins in begging bowls. Reaching out to a huge population of orphans of Kashmir and parts of Jammu needs organized and concerted efforts of the whole society. The affluent can adopt orphans without uprooting them from their hearths, and there are hundreds of such cases.
Next best option is to donate for boarding, lodging and proper education of the orphans lodged in orphanages with perfect credentials; not making business ventures out of human misfortune and suffering.
We should resist from falling prey to elements of dubious credentials begging for donations in the name of orphans. Leaving alone these orphans and destitute and not attending to our social obligation toward them is not merely a sin but a heinous crime for which the next generation would be punished. The surging number of the neglected lot would fight for social justice using the age old weapon of desperate – violence in most unconceivable means.
So, to sow peace for coming days and years, nurture these orphans by extending a helping and loving hand toward them, in whichever way is possible- by word, deed and of course, money. This may not get an orphan back what he/she has lost but would definitely get some physical comforts for him/her.
The government for all these years had made a deliberate distinction between an orphan of a civilian, cop and that of a militant. Without any logic and justification some peanuts that the government would spend on orphans were denied to the sons and daughters of slain militants. Apparently, this was aimed to sustain the society’s underdog for a future use of ‘collateral damage’. Under intense political pressure the system is being corrected but the damage has already been done. A boy who lost his militant father in 1990 is 19 years old now. Society must step forward to undo the wrongs that the system has committed in the national interest.
