ASIA/PAKISTAN - The choice of the poor: either send their children to school or eat

Okara (Agenzia Fides) - "Values such as equality, justice and education can and should bring Pakistan out of the hellish vortex of poverty and exploitation involving adults and children." This is the testimony sent to Fides Agency from a Pakistani missionary committed to human rights in the country, which does not want to be mentioned for security reasons. "The phenomenon in the country continues to grow disproportionately. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer - continues the missionary -. The latter suffer excessively, they are barely able to eat three times a day. In Pakistan – he adds - dominated by poverty, political instability, leaders are committed to exclusively taking care of their own interests and not those in favor of the common good, the poor are forced to make a dramatic choice: either send their children to school and allow them an education that will ensure dignity and a better future, or choose to eat. In the latter case it would satisfy their physical needs but not their thirst for knowledge. In a society impoverished as this there is no compassion for the poor, justice and equality for all is needed," concludes the missionary. (AP) (Agenzia Fides 11/6/2012)