“I served in the armed forces for 20 years as non-commissioned personnel. After my retirement in 2004, I started working as a labourer in the markets. It’s the army’s training that I am still on my feet and working hard. My routine has changed a lot over the last few decades, I wake up before dawn and go to Islamabad’s sabzi mandi, where I load and offload fruits and vegetables, and then in the evening I work as a labourer in Rawalpindi’s Raja Bazaar and in other markets. Life has been going on like this for many years. I have children and they are doing well but I don’t depend on them. I like to work and do everything on my own. There are hardships, not much earnings, and the prices of everything are getting higher and higher. But the labourers are still there, no one talks about them. But I am satisfied with what I am doing to survive.”

Published in Dawn, January 30th, 2016