Unique example of serving IDPs

PESHAWAR: A hairdresser has set a good example by opening a free of cost haircutting shop for the internally displaced persons (IDPs) at the Jalozai camp in Nowshera district.

A Gujranwala-based hairdresser, Shamrez Khan, who also owns two shops in Peshawar, recently opened the decorated shop in Phase 8 of the Jalozai camp. Shamrez, a diploma-holder in haircutting, and his three other colleagues, worked the whole day and mostly children of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) were seen standing in a queue for their turn.

The free of cost haircut is proving a great relief to the IDPs who cannot afford Rs30 to 50 to get their hair cut or those of their children at a barbershop. Shamrez says he will continue the service till the return of the people to their respective areas. He said it was his father’s desire to serve the displaced people in their own capacity and he came to open the shop.

In the tent, there were four rotating chairs with as many fixed mirrors and four people were standing cutting the hair of children while some others were waiting in a queue outside the tent.

The hairdresser said he was using his own conveyance to come in the morning and return to Peshawar in the evening. He had also established the tent and other equipment from his pocket money without getting any help from a welfare organisation or the government.

Talking to The News, Shamrez said it was the first step of its kind in the history of relief work. “I wanted to be the founder of this novel method to help the people in trouble,” he remarked. He said the tent could accommodate four more chairs in case of need. “I can install four extra chairs and hire more workers to cope with the rush,” he added.

The shop was inaugurated by Tahir Orakzai, the camp administrator, and Major Anwar, a military officer working at the camp. Appreciating the step, the IDPs said they would hardly afford buying chocolate or ice cream for their children. So how could they take them to the barbershop to have haircut. “Opening of this free of cost haircut shop will help all of us,” said Dilawar Khan, an elderly man from Bajaur.

Standing in a queue outside the shop, Anees Khan, a displaced boy from Swat, said he did not cut his hair since they left their area mainly because his parents could not pay for that. The 14-year-old said he rushed to the tent as he heard about free of cost haircut.