Scavengers' rehabilitation: Anyone listening?

ISLAMABAD - For Hayatullah and Abdul Haq, who are just 8 years old, the day commences early in the morning.
Living in Faizabad (the main gateway between the twin cities), they take a wagon down to Islamabad, where
they, amongst several others, begin their work of rummaging and sifting through heaps of garbage, lying on the
floor, or, in dumpsters.
Their large, intelligent bright eyes stare at me as I ashamedly, and, as subtly as possible, turn off my car AC and
step out into the scorching heat, into their world. Flies continuously buzz around them and sit on their faces yet,
the children do not flinch.
Their clothes are tattered and filthy, fingers blackened and rough whilst the stench emanating from them is
unbearable. The children, following their fathers’ footsteps have been garbage pickers for 3 years now.
“I don’t want to go to school” says Hayatullah boldly, “this is easier and more rewarding.
I earn Rs200 (equivalent to $2) a day” he says proudly.
From 8 am to 3 pm, they roam the streets of different sectors in Islamabad, and without the use of the tong
(instrument used to pick up garbage), facemasks and gloves (which are must haves), these scavengers filter
through rubbish in search of paper, plastic, metal and any other recyclable material.
They carry this rubbish for hours on their aching, hunched backs. After having collected a substantial amount,
they take their collection to a stall where they sell it to the stall owner.
Maqbool Alam, a scruffy looking man who appears to be in his late 50’s, is a stall owner in the affluent F-6/2
sector. He then sells this material to factories where it is reused. “For the past six months, due to the situation in
the country, work has been at a standstill in factories and so it is affecting us.”
“No one’s an officer for the poor,” says Maqbool as he keeps chewing paan (Betel leaf). The Capital
Development Authority (CDA) threatens these young scavengers and stall owners to graft money from them, or
else they take away the material they have collected. In other words, they take away from them their livelihood.
Jabbar Ali lives in Golra Sharif, which is set between the urban and the rural areas, as if unsure where to stand. It