Balochistan government announced to take the complete guardianship of a street child whose video holding a shoe-polish kit in a freezing temperature in Quetta went viral on social media.
The spokesperson of the Balochistan government, Liaqat Shahwani, announced the decision. He said the video of the helpless child made him upset.
He said the CM Balochistan intends to take the full responsibility of the child adding that the provincial government is bringing in legislation to protect the street children.
“The chief minister has taken responsibility for this [shoe-polishing] child himself,” he stated.
Heartwrenching to see kid👇earning livelihood in bonechilling cold in #Quetta.
Abject Poverty&deprived of basic necessities 4 ordinary human living is sad story of #Balochistan, KP,GB&AJK as result of biased treatment in #Pakistan&its #ARMY.@mjdawar@Pashteenidrees1@SN_Bugti pic.twitter.com/qUHm8YzN6V
— Azeema (@azeema_1) January 15, 2020
“We have already allocated a budget of 50 crores [Rs500 million] for child protection authority and will do effective legislation against child labor,” he added.
The heartwrenching video showed the boy bent to protect himself from the freezing temperature. The little kid, in the video, was purportedly out in the street to earn a livelihood by polishing shoes of people on the streets.
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Shahwani regretted that children of his age must be in schools but are out on the streets to earn.
“It’s heart-wrenching to look at these visuals. I was hurt and upset when I saw those visuals,” he said.
“It was around 12:30 AM when I went there. I’ve been there three times but he was not there. I have assigned people the responsibility to locate the child.”
@ImranKhanPTI
Sir do something for these kind of kids in balochistan as well. https://t.co/Y4ValYP5L4— Shaharyar Malik PTI🇵🇰❤ (@Shaharyarmalik0) January 15, 2020
“I will go myself once we have the address,” he added.
The video garnered attention on social media. Calls were made to provide immediate relief and basic sustenance to the child in this spine-chilling cold of Quetta city.
Perhaps, the implorations of social media users were heard and the Balochistan government announced to take the full guardianship of the child.
https://twitter.com/AliChangz/status/1217385393756176384?s=20
However, this is not the first time, such videos have jolted the conscience of the people.
Earlier, images of a three-year-old Syrian refugee infant, Alan Kurdi, floating on the beach of Turkey after he drowned in the sea.