Old age homes.

Byline: AATIF KHAN - Islamabad

Nobody on earth can ever love you more than your parents. In Pakistan, parents are considered as next to God. People consider it a sin to disobey them. Pakistani parents expect their children to look after them when they become old. When their son gets married, they are overjoyed by the arrival of their daughter-in-law, feeling more secure and comfortable.

Most Pakistani families respect their parents and take good care of them but unfortunately there are people who treat their parents as liabilities and make them feel neglected. Of course, there are rare cases when parents themselves prefer the privacy of old people's home but in the majority of cases, it is the cold attitude of children that forces parents to move to old people homes. There is an unnecessary race for more money and luxuries which is intoxicating and shattering the family system. Children think they are doing nothing wrong to keep parents in an old people homes and that's why demand for more such homes is increasing.

Our society's values of taking care of old people are fading away. One often implies that the elderly are only counting down their days. Such comments about individuals who can still contribute much to society should be taken with a pinch of salt. Meanwhile, society itself needs to give serious thought to taking care of the needs of the elderly who have given them everything they have today.