T HIS is with reference to the article `The economy is growing, but for whom?` (June 6) which talked about the national economy not benefiting ordinary workers.

It contained a picture of a man with his head down, and his painting tools in front of him. The caption read: `A painter sits idly by the side of a road in Rawalpindi, waiting for customers`. Obviously it goes with the story and complements the theme.

Pictures in newspapers can deceive us, and this was one such occasion.

The reality is that the man is not a worker, not a painter, but a beggar, a habitual beggar. Every day, close to Chandni Chowk in Rawalpindi, such men pose as if after all day they had looked for work, but got nothing, and now desperately needed some charity.

Sitting a few yards from each other, such characters are found daily around the place; some with paint and brush, others with shovel and hammer in front of them.

Simply, they are beggars.

When this fad of sitting dejectedly with work tools had started, many were moved.

But now it is going out of fashion.

DaudMalik Rawalpindi