PESHAWAR: Rafique was a lost child but even today as a teenager he is invisible in the eyes of the state as he belongs to no Nadra’s family tree, has no address — in short no identity.

Rafique — named as such by a poor factory worker Amanullah from Karachi, who picked this lost child in Kohat while passing by — has no memory of where he was born or who were his parents. His first memory as a child that is still fresh in his mind is that he was not family. All he remembers is being treated as an unwanted lost child and no family wanted to keep him due to their own insecurities.

Rafique is not even sure of his exact age. But his thin moustache is a sign that he is a teenager. Unlike other teenagers, he has no fun or amusement in life. He has too many worries on his young mind — getting an identity the most important one. Education is still his only desire.

Rafique has no memory of his family or parents

“I have no answer when a security guard stops me to check my identity card. I have no answer when someone asks me where I am from and what is my father’s name,” says Rafique, who finds himself in more trouble since he has come to Peshawar four years ago to start life anew like an adult but is faced with an identity issue.

Before coming to Peshawar to start life on his own, he has a past life full of abuse and misuse. He was handed over to a divorced middle-aged woman Wakila Jan by Amanullah as he took the lost child with him from Kohat but could not keep him at home once he returned to work in Karachi.

Wakila loved Rafique but he was scorned by her husband and grown up children. Rafique found love and kindness in a private school owner Ms Falak, a mother of three grown up children. He started living with her but this life of solace was short as she died of blood cancer. In her life, she handed over Rafique to an apparently pious man and he obeyed her last wish.

However, the man handed over Rafique to another family, and yet another family. He was handed over from one family to another like an object and was treated thus and even abused at a family that adopted him for a short while.

All this while Rafique, who got little education at a private school and discontinued it from time to time, could not achieve his dream of getting an education and was tossed around as no one wanted to give him a name or identity. He was given a birth certificate in January 2015 by Amirullah Khan, the husband of Wakila Jan, after her insistence.

Rafique got his birth certificate registered as the son of Ameerullah Khan, at union council No.6 Bhutto Nagar in Landhi, Karachi but it didn’t help him get any further education or legalisation.

Disheartened with his adopted families’ treatment, Rafique came to Peshawar as once his Pakhtun teacher mentioned this city. He got some affection from a family of Tirah here but he was left behind as the family went back to the village and he could not accompany them as he had no identity card.

Rafique has a small job at a restaurant where he works for a monthly salary of Rs8,000 and sleeps there at night. He is often taunted by his illiterate co-workers, who ridicule him for having no one and still strives to work and live a life. He is made fun of for still dreaming of education when he is almost a teenager.

“I continue to live despite having no family or identity. I don’t think there is a way to find my family. I just want an identity so I can say I am a Pakistani and I have my rights,” says Rafique.

He says there would many lost children like him having no memory of their home or family. He says he is positive-minded and making an effort to live a normal life but there would be many, who might not have been such lucky and may be suffering due to their situation and identity crisis.

“If I don’t have a family, can’t the state be my mother and father. It is hard to ask for care and love but can’t someone give me identity as a Pakistani,” asks Rafique.

Published in Dawn, June 25th, 2018