The Gawala is back!

Milk men are evil. In Pakistan they don’t come strolling to your doorbell with a six pack of milk bottles, bow tie slightly crooked, and humming a tune. In Pakistan, they arrive on a broken down Sohrab motorcycle, struggling to carry the weight of the huge copper drums slung carelessly on either side. The fumes from their ancient two-stroke bike produce an evil black hue that undoubtedly affects the milk in some way or the other. 

They also aspire to make sure your kids don’t grow tall. Which is why they all connive to mix water in your milk and inject their animals with the worst kind of steroids that will speed up your journey to the afterlife. That, at least, is the perception countless television exposes have fed to us, with reporters from small networks that nobody watches armed with a microphone and camera kicking down the doors of milk shops to test the quality of the milk inside them.   

Perhaps no one symbolised this milk hysteria more than former Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Mian Saqib Nisar. While there were many issues his lordship took to heart during his glorious reign, liberally using his suo motu powers, his deep interest in and concern for the state of dairy in Pakistan was enough to grab international attention. When the economist profiled his honour, they captioned a full length picture of him with the words “judge, benefactor, milkman.”

These milkmen are central to a vast, largely informal network that provides milk in a country that is one of the largest producers (third) in the world, and has a population that consumes nearly 210 kilograms of milk per capita per year. They are also in a raging battle against major manufacturers of packaged milk such as Friesland Campina and Nestle. 

And they are beating them to a pulp.