Nasreen Khan, Baldia Town, Karachi

She sees him in her dreams. He is young, but older than the age at which he died. He comes towards her, and asks after her, inquiring about her health, about his sisters and whether they liked the clothes he

Abdul Aziz Khan, Baldia Town, Karachi

Abdul Aziz Khan bequeathed poverty – and its daily rituals of survival, to his son Atta-Ullah Nabil. His dismissal from his job five years earlier because of his failing health, robbed Nabil of his childhood. Abdul Aziz Khan had succumbed

Aruba, Bilal & Sanobar Ahmed, Baldia Town, Karachi

As I walk into the room, I see them sitting waiting for me. Sirjeel Ahmed’s mother Kausar Parveen, his sisters Aruba and Sanobar, youngest brother Bilal and a cousin, Imran all greet me politely and sit back down in silence.

Mohammad Mehrab, Baldia Town, Karachi

“I need to tell you more about my mother.” Mehrab’s voice sounds irritated. “She isn’t just this corpse you have come to ask about.” I feel the sting of his reprimand. We are walking through the streets of the neighborhood

Syed Azmat Ali, Baldia Town, Karachi

As we approach the building, the men accompanying me lower their voices. There is a small crowd standing in the alleyway. They stare at us as we push past, but no one says anything. They know why we have come.