Tanzeel Hassan

Journalist/ Writer

[Tanzeel Hassan @Tanzeel09]

No ink to show as booth number 804, 805 remained locked at GBPS Gulshane Iqbal Block 1 (NA 236/PS-99). Despite several attempts and complaints, we missed our right to vote.
#Elections2024

[Tanzeel Hassan @Tanzeel09]

The day Wahaj was diagnosed with Treacher Collins Syndrome, Tehmina distributed Biryani among friends/ family. “People were clueless about why I am so happy. They did not realise that I had found a path to walk on after lurking in the dark for so long.”

https://t.co/Vkt1rkNeYd

[Nadia Jamil @NJLahori]

So in Punjab no child should be employed under the age of 15. In other provinces it’s 14.
This is not really enforced since we have 10 year old and even 6 year olds working in homes.
As bonded labourers the age goes down to as little as 4 years of age and on the streets 3 years.
As beggars, they start as drugged babies in the arms of women.

The constitution says no child over five should be out of school. Every child has to be in school. Of course The State has conveniently never bothered to enforce this and continues to be a criminal in this regard, regardless of who is at the helm.
Even a 15 year old is hormonal, pubescent and if the child was meant to be in school by 5, it seems as if it’s ok to pull the child out of school at 15, to become a bread winner.

The image I have posted shows the constitution being clear on children being in school BETWEEN THE AGE OF 5-16. So why the confusion. Why doesn’t the state do its job and ensure this is happening? Why give up so fast on poor children?

No one realises that education and vocational training BREAKS the cycle of poverty. So don’t massage your egos too much if you are hiring domestic slaves, who are children. Even if you don’t torture them, you deprive them of their right to an education, to play, to ask questions. You deny them their right to a future.

They serve in large homes where they see rich children play, go to school, be showered with attention and love. Have huge birthdays.
They live on left overs, where the “kind” will allow them to jump on the castle after everyone has left.

It’s simply awful. That we set the bar so low for ourselves as a society. That we set the bar so low for the children of seemingly a lesser God.

That we hypocritically fall on prayer mats and judge each other while turning a blind eye to the child begging, working, being used as a sex slave, all around us. In full visibility.

We are disgusting.

My son was a bonded labourer. I took him out of the brick kiln at 4. He used to make the bricks, squatting in the scorching heat in his chapals. The hair on his face blond with the suns light.
Today he is going to be an engineer.
And he proudly goes around giving motivational speeches to other children, traumatised by poverty and abandoned by parents.

I’m telling you this because you don’t have to ask me what you need to do. You already know it. You do whatever you can to improve a child’s life. It’s easy. You just need to decide to do it and act.

My second foster son is going to join the army some day. His own biological mother sent him to beg over and over burning his legs and his tongue.

So the next time you see a child begging, consider what you can do for their future.

Even if it is to tweet, write, tag @GovtofPakistan
Tag all authorities. Write articles. Keep the conversation going till our children have more justice.

Who will speak for them if not us? If not you and me?

Consider fostering the education and tarbiat of a child?

Consider adoption?

The silent and apathetic are also criminals, by default.

So please speak. And while you are at it, insist that Pakistan recognises “child” as an individual under 18!

Only after then is a young person old enough to marry, healthily bear children and go into full time work. Even 18 seems young, but 14-15-16 is ridiculous. When we make the age so low we expose them to marriage at that early age, and often deprive them of vocational training and work experience. Expose them to issues during child birth and the hardship of raising children in a difficult age, when one is a child oneself.

We have been depriving our children of their rights since before partition of 1947. Since the British Raj deprived them. We simply took over and continued the exploitation of financially challenged children.
They grew up without dreams to be hurt adults.

We truly are a sub continent dealing with generational trauma. Let’s start the healing… and keep it going.

#JusticeFor_Rizwana

[Tanzeel Hassan @Tanzeel09]

Taobat is indeed magical. It heals you from within, and drives you to sing with the birds and dance with the daisies.
https://t.co/GYQjUKtgDz

[Tanzeel Hassan @Tanzeel09]

@neverexpose @EngrSrd @SindhReads

[Tanzeel Hassan @Tanzeel09]

@EngrSrd Keep it up!

[Tanzeel Hassan @Tanzeel09]

Well-informed nations make well-informed decisions. Perhaps, this is the reason our very basic needs are never met and why libraries and book reading have never been a priority for any government in Pakistan.
https://t.co/uLpDZPZcYA

[Tanzeel Hassan @Tanzeel09]

@HumayounAK Allah Pak mukammal shifa ata kre. Ameen

[Agahi Awards @AgahiAwards]

Story: THE GREAT MATERNAL BRAIN DRAIN in category of #reportingonwomen is approved as nomination for #AGAHIAwards, Click to read the Story https://t.co/FBQNEa8DJA

[Agahi Awards @AgahiAwards]

Story: THE UNSUNG SINGLE DADS in category of #identity is approved as nomination for #AGAHIAwards, Click to read the Story https://t.co/C41p9CGDKS

[Agahi Awards @AgahiAwards]

Story: THE ART OF HEALING in category of #inclusiveness is approved as nomination for #AGAHIAwards, Click to read the Story https://t.co/SI5zQobu9q

[Hasan Zaidi @hyzaidi]

COVER: Despite laws existing to protect the rights of women in matters related to inheritance and matrimony, why are many women in Pakistan often deprived of what is rightfully theirs? And what can be done about it? @Tanzeel09 probes for @eosmagazine https://t.co/GovreW4ZtI

[Tanzeel Hassan @Tanzeel09]

While most women aren’t fully aware about their rights to inheritance, they also have a host of fears. Some are blinded by love; others lack the courage to even talk about their share, fearing for their life and safety. https://t.co/TROtxstc18

[Hasan Zaidi @hyzaidi]

HEALTH: Along with physical and mental challenges, the stigma that shrouds menstruation further prevents individuals from talking about it. Now campaigners are targeting ‘period poverty’. @Tanzeel09 reports in @eosmagazine https://t.co/ep4C5YDwLv

[Tanzeel Hassan @Tanzeel09]

With rising inflation and serious lack of awareness and sanitation facilities, chances are, we all know someone who has been through period poverty. https://t.co/PMsUdZWVVd

[Tanzeel Hassan @Tanzeel09]

@Xadeejournalist Congratulations and good luck!

[Tanzeel Hassan @Tanzeel09]

@HumayounAK MashAllah. Congratulations to both of you

[Tanzeel Hassan @Tanzeel09]

SOCIETY: THE ART OF HEALING https://t.co/6jHHpPk1KR

[Tanzeel Hassan @Tanzeel09]

@htalib https://t.co/AwrSYkVaSU

[Hasan Zaidi @hyzaidi]

SOCIETY: Fathers who raise their children on their own are sometimes targets of criticism for taking on roles that do not gel with gender stereotypes. However, their commitment and sacrifices are often heart-warming, as @Tanzeel09 discovers in @eosmagazine https://t.co/RJ3DVi4aRQ