Height of helplessness

TOBA TEK SINGH: A 27-year-old lad from Bahawalpur’s Khairpur Tamewali area, who claims himself to be the world’s youngest tallest man, faces a trying ordeal.

Haq Nawaz, who is 7 feet 8 inches tall, is suffering from malnutrition issues which have led to a bone-related disease due to poor food intake.

Nawaz, who is on a visit to private schools of the city on an invitation and also visited the press club on Thursday, told reporters that he was unemployed and found it hard to make both ends meet. He said the Bahawalpur police paid him Rs2,000 a month just to honour him but the amount was too meagre to feed himself.

He said his daily dietary requirement included 40 chapatis, five litre milk, one dozen eggs and two dozen bananas which were out of his reach. He appealed to the government to provide him a job which could enable him to make out a living or ensure his livelihood by any suitable means.

Published in Dawn, January 8th, 2016