Sanitation has been historically one of the major problems of Pakistan. Trash heaps can be observed in corners of almost every major city of the country. Although ignorance of authorities has been one of the major reasons but awareness in Pakistani citizens regarding cleanliness is also very low.
Saif Ullah Kashmiri has been on a mission to bring change in Pakistan and can be regarded as Captain Planet of Pakistan.
Saif Ullah Kashmiri is on the national tour of Pakistan with motive of “Clean Pakistan, Green Pakistan”. He accompanied by his motorcycle since 1993 is traveling different parts of Pakistan. He used to go to Saif-ul-Malook regularly and he started to notice that the lake was getting dirty and its natural beauty started to affect badly. Tourists camping there would leave their trash behind and he would pick the trash up in front of them to convey a silent message as well as encourage awareness. He used to keep a huge plastic bag for collection of garbage with him.
Beautiful sites littered with trash always made Saif Ullah sad and now he travels across 4-5 cities on daily basis on his motorcycle in order to keep the journey cost-efficient and takes a foldable bed, clothes, gloves as well as plastic bags to get him through tough days.
Saif Ullah Kashmiri also uses social media to his advantage. He posts details of his next visit on his Facebook page and gets 50-100 local people contact him whom he tells to bring their own gloves and plastic bags. After collection of trash, Saif Ullah makes sure that the garbage gets disposed off properly. He once collected garbage in area of 85 kilometer from the China border. He handed the garbage over to authorities who had proper system for burning the trash.
Saif Ullah has printed out certificates in his own capacity which he gives to the people who help him cleaning the trash. He tells that this encourages people and gives them sense of achievement for the hard work they did.
Saif Ullah communicates to the nation by saying that Pakistan is a beautiful country for site-seeing and spending vacation. But if we do not keep it clean, soon it is going to turn into a garbage dump so it is best you always keep a big plastic bag with you while travelling so that you don’t need to throw the trash away on roads and public places. He asks all Pakistanis to pledge that we will give our children a clean Pakistan because they also deserved to witness the beauty we currently are seeing.
His message to the government is that he is traveling solo right now communicating his message to the people. If government can finance him, he will travel to more places and will reach out to more people and can educate them. He thinks that government can spread awareness through newspapers, dramas, social media as well as print and electronic media.
During his travel, he has been through risky roads of Northern Areas but he has blind faith in ALLAH and he thinks that he will be kept safe until he achieves his goals of cleaning important spots of Pakistan.
Saif Ullah Kashmiri has a noble cause and may ALLAH bless him for doing this selfless job.
