ISLAMABAD:
As Raja Jahangir’s hunger strike against corruption entered its fifth day on Friday, eminent historian Mubarak Ali noted in a press release that Pakistan is facing challenges from corruption, lawlessness, terrorism, insecurity of life and property and increasing army expenditure, which deprives the common people of their basic rights.
The resources that should be spent on the provision of education and health facilities to the people of Pakistan are not being utilised on these sectors due to heavy expenditures on the military and prevailing corruption, the press release said.
Ali closed by saying that this protest comes at a time when our political parties and leaders are engaged in personal infighting and have shown little regard for public problems and deprivation, leaving the people they represent at the mercy of the elements.
Although Akthar’s blood sugar dropped 70 mmol/l on Thursday, he continued his strike on Friday and was in good spirits, interacting with a number of visitors and supporters at his camp. However, he has been forgetful, according to his doctor and some of his supporters, which is likely linked with his lack of food intake.
Around 30 members of Pakistan Youth Forum from different area of Pakistan arrived to show their support and a silent protest was also organised in Super Market, across the road from the protest camp, where supporters of the cause held a large banner and placards calling for the acceptance of Akhtar’s demands in their entirety.
For total starvation in healthy individuals receiving adequate hydration, reliable data on survival are hard to obtain. At the age of 74 and already slight of build, Mahatma Gandhi, the famous nonviolent campaigner for India's independence, survived 21 days of total starvation while only allowing himself sips of water. In a 1997 article in the British Medical Journal, Michael Peel, senior medical examiner at the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture, cites well-documented studies reporting survivals of other hunger strikers for 28, 36, 38 and 40 days. Most other reports of long-term survival of total starvation, however, have been poorly substantiated. [Editor's Note: Reports of the 1981 hunger strike by political prisoners against the British presence in Northeast Ireland indicate that 10 individuals died after periods of between 46 and 73 days without food.]
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