01/14/2013
They prowl the streets of Islamabad with cell phones glued to their ears. Seemingly harmless they walk from door to door serving as helpers or cooks. They claim to be worthy of mercy and tell epic tales of their poverty stricken lives where the husband forces his wife to work while he smokes pod and manufactures children to follow in his footsteps. This all seems sorrowful to the hearts of the homemakers who want to provide just a dash of happiness and comfort to these melancholic damsels! They also charitably facilitate by bestowing their designer lawn joras to this less privileged femme fetale. So much so that it is impossible to tell an educated homemaker from her helper.
Yes by now you all know I am insinuating at the Maid Mafia that has erupted from slums such as Mehr Abadi and Kachi Abadi. The Kachi Abadis have a tremendous inflow of money hoarded through theft, ensnaring and crime of the lowest demeanor. It is so successful that the Authority should now declare it as an Industry of Con Artists who is answerable to no one. They practice their art with full liberty. There are no laws for them, no way to curb their felony!
Most astonishingly they have established a “rate list” for each of their services and their efficiency at each task is always dubious. Yet they claim that they or their daughters are a pro at housework and yes there is the all famous “Getting married or Death in the Village Syndrome” that can possess your maid at any time of the year and the only treatment is in the complete surrender to the destiny! And of course the morals of the civil homemakers and their general regard for all things humane beguiles them into giving in and they ensure that all the debts are cleared before these enchantresses leave for good!
The government is oblivious that these so called helpers don’t have any id on them. Their whereabouts are unknown. Their demands other than salary are met by the employees as they are conniving enough to always brag about how the earlier or other employee generously gives! Women give only because they don’t want their neighbor to think that they are any less fortunate than the one living next door. That’s another flaw of our society where even the homemaker is at fault. Then the obvious technological miracle … the cell phone has the maids starry eyed! They keep it next to their heart “pun intended” literally! And you can see naïve sixteen year old girls who have never been to school with phones pressed to their ears as they giggle sheepishly on the sidewalks oblivious of their surroundings. The mothers mostly know yet don’t restrict their daughters simply because this would give rise to a rebellious strike where the daughter would refuse to work. Hence the livelihood of the house would be affected.
Most of my friends and family have fallen prey to loss of their irreplaceable valuables such as gold, expensive crystal pieces, clothes and even cutlery. When a maid enters your house everything is under scrutiny from your spoons to your sofa set. She plots on how to take the maximum from you. Not just that some valuables have sentimental affiliation that are conveniently snatched away from whimsically and if found with the maid she conveniently denies its presence with her and begins of how unfair you have been towards her. This is where your mouth is flung open in awe as you stare at your maid!
Islamabad, being the capital city has great expectations to meet. It is famous for its beauty and good municipal control. However that illusion falters when you drive across the 11th avenue where the road is broken to the bone and encroachments and filth have engulfed the road completely. While driving one is uncertain as to whether there is any road or not or if it’s all Mehr Abadi. This is the dwelling place of criminals that run amuck all over Islamabad searching for a potential prey.
Yes most of you must be thinking “why keep them? Why not deal with the house chores on our own?” Well some families aren’t fortunate enough to live in a set up where there are many people to take care of house chores and some homemakers are up till the elbows with household work and need help due to an ailment. This is where they need help and seek the assistance of a helper. Instead they end up being conned all due to the government’s incapacity to tame and manage these savage beings.
There is so much that the Authority can do. If the Mehr Abadi and Kachi Abadis cannot be demolished or relocated then at least a committee should be formed headed by the Chairman CDA and the Chief Commissioner of Islamabad who take up this matter on first priority.
• All maids must be allotted a computerized hiring registration card and a track record must be maintained. Where their hiring and firing record is kept.
• Before being recruited in a house they must report to the concerning directorate and the employee must also approach the same for hiring a suitable maid.
• All credentials of their familial background must be recorded.
• Their charges for each piece of work must be established strictly and followed. So that they cannot demand more than what they are worth.
• Mehar Abadi must be fenced and all activity from there must be monitored. Every time that the maids enter and exit they must be checked for any theft.
• If a maid leaves due to any unforeseen reason a replacement must be provided timely to avoid any inconvenience.
• The employees must be strictly prohibited to give extra money or perks other than zakat and if a maid tries to blackmail the employee she must be held answerable.
• Most importantly government must employ women to conduct religious lectures in these slums to educate maids as they are faithless and know nothing about their deen. Hence all the crimes and low moral values.
Me, like many other homemakers are fearful that if this maid mafia isn’t curtailed in a small city such as Islamabad, these slums will nurture more and more individuals that are criminals and liars and it’s a fact that these slums have more children than all the sectors of Islamabad put together. This article is simply a humble effort on my part as a citizen of Islamabad to bring people’s attention to a seemingly harmless issue but how quickly this mafia is becoming stronger each day is alarming! It’s becoming strong enough to engulf the city. It’s about time we pulled up our socks and did something about it.
