Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Rome (Fides Service) - According to the Azad Foundation and NGO which works with street children, the number of abandoned youth living in the streets of Islamabad the capital of Pakistan had doubled to reach a total of 70, 000 homeless minors. The situation in the city is becoming steadily worse and the numbers are multiplying. In 2003 there were 8,000 minors living in the street in Islamabad, today their number in the capital has risen to 12,000. There are 7.000 street children in Lahore, 5,000 in Peshawar, 3, 000 in Rawalpindi and 43,000 elsewhere in Pakistan.
About fifty percent are involved in illegal activity and risk getting AIDS. Many in the 10-12 age group leave home because of abuse. They beg or wash cars, clean shoes or sell water to make a living, but many turn to theft or prostitution in exchange for a plate of rice.
According the Azad Foundation 4 out of 10 street children are affected by sexually transmitted diseases, many sniff glue a cheap drug which causes irreversible brain damage. In the Islamic Republic of Pakistan 47 per cent of the population of 142 live below the poverty line on less than a dollar a day. (AP) (10/5/2005 Agenzia Fides; Righe:20; Parole:260)
