Tragic realities about the state of poverty and its impact on society are staring us in the face yet again. A South Asia report, ‘Crises, Vulnerability and Poverty in South Asia — Peoples’ Struggles for Justice and Dignity’ has recently highlighted that 40 percent of the world’s poor live in South Asia. That is a massive number considering that as many as 1.6 billion people live in the region — about a quarter of the entire globe’s population. That 40 percent of 1.6 billion live in shameful conditions due to lack of access to quality education, income and healthcare speaks for itself. The income disparity and the general gap between rich and poor are so evident that it is a wonder the world is still silent about this issue. South Asia is home to some of the least developed nations, where development projects take place that are almost always skewed in favour of the rich and prosperous, so much so that even the middle class is shrinking and joining the ranks of the cash-strapped. The trickle-down theory has been refuted with only the rich getting obscenely richer and the poor going to heartbreaking lengths to break free of their misery. A case in point is that of the Lahore-based couple who, on Wednesday, murdered their two children — an eight-month-old son and two-year-old daughter — because of poverty. A drug addict, unemployed husband, and a wife and children who had not seen food on their table for three days and the only solution seemed murder. The children were starving and the mother had no other choice but to kill her malnourished son and daughter. Whatever the exact facts of the case, and there will be many reported, only one reality comes to mind: for a mother to take the lives of her own children is the end of hope for society. This is a wakeup call, a gut-wrenching one but a wake up call nonetheless, to the government and all those who have allowed poverty to seep into almost every section of society. This is a wakeup call for all those who live behind sky-high walls and manicured lawns to take note of the fact that the hunger festering in our country kills and it does so irrespective of age, gender and even social standing. South Asia is rife with rebellion, particularly amongst the youth, who may seem complacent now but, have no doubt, the fire that lights in the belly due to starvation is one that brings people out onto the streets — violently. There has to be hope for the future and for the masses, which have known no better fate. If the murder of innocent children will not make these ‘leaders’ see the misery that surrounds them, nothing will be able to save them from revolutionary ire. *