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Article: Emroz Khan is having a bad day: which is not unusual, and helps explain why Pakistan's youth are tinder for Islamic extremism. (International).(the overwhelming poverty in Pakistan)
- Article from:
- New York Times Upfront
- Article date:
- January 21, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 Scholastic, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Emroz Khan destroys for a living. He dismantles car engines, slicing them open with a sledgehammer, tearing out pistons, and throwing the metal entrails into a pile that will be sold for scrap. His hands and arms are stained a rich black, like fresh asphalt, and ribboned with scars.
He is 21 and has been doing this sort of work for 10 years, 12 hours a day, 6 days a week, earning $1.25 a day. Emroz rolls up his sleeve and puts my finger along a bulge on his forearm; it feels as hard as iron. It is iron, a stretch of pipe he drove into his body by mistake. He cannot afford to pay a doctor to take it out.
"We work like donkeys," Emroz says, a few paces ...