Sir: According to a news item, two beauty parlours have been raided in Defence Housing Authority (DHA), Karachi because, reportedly, they were undercover prostitution dens. The police, it seems, caught the parlour workers red-handed and have taken them into custody. While I understand the logic behind taking action against such shady activities, I cannot help but consider that this is an unfortunate outcome of the times in which we live. We are being burdened by economic miseries every single day. We live in a country where taxes are levied only on those honest and foolish enough to pay them so that the rich and tax-exempt grow richer. We see our meagre salaries decreasing substantially because of ever growing income taxes with every annual budget. How does anyone expect to see people making both ends meet in a society where the disparity between the filthy rich and everybody else is so large? Prostitution is the oldest profession there is but it is also a vocation of last resort for women and men who must earn a livelihood when those in power could not care less about the condition of the people. TANWEER SHAUKAT Islamabad