Rice Mixed with Chickpeas

By Imran Naeem Ahmad, "Bari Imam Shrine: Revival of Langar Khana result of food inflation" - Daily Times - Lahore, Pakistan
Saturday, August 2, 2008

Islamabad: The growing inflation has led to an increase in people queuing up for free food at the shrine of Islamabad’s patron saint Bari Imam.

Raja Jaffer, a worker at the shrine, told Daily Times on Friday while previously only beggars and the needy used to visit the ‘langar khana’, now the labourers were also joining in.

“The number of people coming here for free meals has more than doubled in recent months, so tremendous has been the price hike,” he said, asking how could the poor afford to pay for food when even an ordinary cup of hot tea was being sold for Rs 7.

On a normal day, the distribution of food starts early and continues through to 10.00pm. This ritual at the shrine that is located in Nurpur Shahan Village at the foot of the Margalla Hills has been going on for years.

Bari Imam, whose real name was Shah Abdul Latif Kazmi, was a 17th century Sufi. It is said that when he first arrived at the village, it was inhabited by dacoits but his presence and preaching drew them towards a pious way of life.

The ‘deg’ sellers in the vicinity of the shrine said rice mixed with chickpeas remains in great demand with people buying the stuff from their outlets and dispatching it to the “langar khana” for distribution as charity.

Inflation has broken the back of many people who now find their earnings not sufficient enough to cope with the skyrocketing prices.

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According to WFP (United Nations World Food Programme) analysis, 38 percent of Pakistanis are food insecure, meaning not able to afford poverty line intake of 2350 kcal per day. The situation is such that people living below the line of poverty are facing severe malnutrition and hunger.

[Picture: the Tomb of Bari Imam in Islamabad. Photo by Asikhi, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bari_Imam].