Sindh

Political party activist among eight people shot dead

KARACHI: Eight men, including a political activist, were gunned down in the city from Monday to Wednesday.
In Orangi Town, 45-year-old Shahid Siddiqui was shot dead near his house, said the Pakistan Bazaar police. They claim that Siddiqui was walking out of a barbershop in Gulshan-e-Bihar when unidentified men opened fire at him on Monday. They said that he was affiliated with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM).
A man identified as 32-year-old Bakar Ali was killed in Naval Colony, Baldia Town, said the Mauripur police. They claimed that Ali, a resident of Ittehad Town, was driving somewhere when unidentified men on a motorcycle shot him on Tuesday. The body was taken to Civil Hospital, Karachi.
A man idenitified as 30-year-old Shafiq was shot dead in North Karachi, said the Khawaja Ajmair Nagri police.
They claimed that Shafiq worked as a labourer and was from a Seraiki family. According to the police, Shafiq was sleeping outside his house when unidentified men attacked him. The body was taken to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital.
The body of a man identified as Noman alias Nomi was found near Yousuf Haroon Road, said the Risala police. The police claim that Noman was reported as missing and was a resident of Lyari. The body was taken to Civil Hospital, Karachi.
The Airport police found the body of 75-year-old Maher Bai.
They suspect that Maher Bai’s husband, an alleged drug addict, killed her with a sharp object.
The body was taken to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre. The police claimed that Maher Bai was from Rahim Yar Khan and was living in Jamali Colony, Gulshan-e-Iqbal. A man identified as Aurangzaib, 32, was gunned down outside his house near Manghopir Road, said the Pirabad police. The body was taken to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital. They claimed that the family was not cooperating with the police. Initial investigation suggests that his brother might have killed him.
The body of a security guard was found in Orangi Town, said the Iqbal Market police. The guard was identified as 55-year-old Khawer and used to work for a private school. The body was taken to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital.
Tension gripped Old City areas after a MQM supporter was injured in firing near Kharadar. Asif was taken to Civil Hospital, Karachi. District S outh SSP Asif Ejaz Sheikh said that at least half dozen men on three motorcycles opened fire at people and injured Asif.
Two groups had a clash in Block 7, Gulberg, the police claim that no one was killed or injured.
In Lyari, at least five people, including a woman, were injured when unidentified men opened fire in Moosa Lane. The injured were taken to Civil Hospital, Karachi. The police claim that the incident took place in a group clash during a Qawwali on Wednesday. No arrests were made and no case was registered.
The body of an unidentified man was found in Khuda ki Basti by the Surjani police.
Busted
Law enforcement agencies claim to have arrested two men from the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) during a raid in Manghopir. They said that the suspects were caught on a tip off. The police seized a map of Karachi, hand grenades and other weapons from them.
They suspect that the men were planning an attack on Eidul Fitr. The suspects were taken to an undisclosed location for further questioning.

Safari Park blast: In strange request, police asked to book US diplomat

KARACHI: The case of Safari Park bomb blast has hit a roadblock as the aggrieved party has insisted the police book a rather unusual suspect: the US Consul General in Karachi.
This is why the case has not been registered for five days.
Two men were killed and another 13 were wounded when a powerful roadside bomb exploded on University Road in Gulshan-e-Iqbal on August 17. The 2.5-kg bomb targeted a bus carrying the participants of a downtown rally organised by the Imamia Student Organisation (ISO) – a welfare outfit of the Shia community. The Al-Quds rally is held every year on the last Friday of Ramazan to condemn Israel’s occupation of Palestinian lands.
According to the police, the request to register the case has been submitted, but it was sent to the “higher authorities” for approval due to its “unusual nature”.
In Pakistan, conspiracy theorists often blame the US and the “Zionist lobby” for a plethora of ills. A nexus of the US, Israel and Indian spy agencies and even the ‘foreign hand’ is said to be secretly funding terrorist activities in Pakistan to destabilise the “strategically important” country.
A man identified as Nawaz, a cousin of victim Imtiaz Ali, has asked the police to nominate the US Consul General in Karachi and seven militant outfits under the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 for the attack on the Ahle Tasheeh or Shia men.
“The activists of some banned [militant] organisations, including the Punjabi Taliban, working at the behest of the US Consul General in Karachi, were involved in the attack,” argued ISO’s Qasim Naqvi. “We think the US diplomat was directly involved.”
He drew similarities between the bus attack and the December 2010 bomb blast inside Karachi University, suspecting the involvement of some former university students. The police have so far refused to register the case and the ISO has decided to take the matter directly to court, Naqvi said.
Gulshan SHO Rana Haseeb told that the police did not refuse to register the case. They are waiting to acquire a legal opinion.
The law enforcers suspect the involvement of the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan in the blast but so far have no conclusive evidence.
Another victim dies
A man who was injured by the roadside explosion succumbed to his injuries on Wednesday at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre.
Fazlur Rahman was the driver of the car owned by Syed Suleman, who died on the spot, SHO Haseeb said.

 

 

Water woes: Little to drink, but lots to waste

BELLAGIO / KARACHI:  So much water is lost around the world in leaky pipes that it would be cheaper to just give people five litres of drinking water in cans each day. The Italians would need seven litres, though, because they need to boil pasta.

The wry humour of urban development advisor, Nicholas You, barely masks subterranean frustration. He wants us to stop and think about something as dry as water and sewage.
To put this loss in perspective, Karachi loses more than one-third, or 35%, of its water to leaks, estimates the water board. Singapore, at the other end of the spectrum, loses less than 5% of its water. How did the island city state, which at one point imported all its water from neighbouring Malaysia, manage this feat? Can Karachi take a few lessons from the smart city state?
Singapore’s water (re)cycle
For starters, Singapore rigorously replaced its pipes, bringing down the number of leaks from over 18,000 to 4,500 in ten years. Now, the pipes are fitted with technology that detects leaks by noise.
Singapore, however, has good reason to be smart. The island’s 99-year agreement with Malaysia on water expires in 2061, and it is racing ahead to become self-sufficient. At present, nearly 40% of its total supply comes from rainwater. Every drop is collected in a 7,000-km network of drains, canals, rivers, storm-water collection ponds and reservoirs.
The island’s responsibility does not stop there though. It may make you squirm, but one-third of the Singapore’s water demand is met by the cleverly named NEWater: recycled sewage that is used by factories, and is so clean, after ultraviolet and advanced membrane treatment, that you can drink it.
The philosophy of recycling is so strong that it is almost as if Singapore ‘rents’ water out to its residents, who use it and return it.
“What is truly amazing is that [a water-stressed state like] Singapore will have an excess of [93m“ per capita per year] of water,” says You.
Dumping sewage into the sea
Karachi generates 472 mgd of sewage but just treats 55 mgd, or 11%, of it. The bulk of the sewage is dumped raw into the sea after travelling through a complicated pipe network that is 5,670km long.
“The three sewage treatment plants are outdated. We have to replace them now,” says Zaheer Abbas, chief engineer for the sewage treatment and water filtration plants.
“The treatment plants were built in the 1960s and these facilities normally don’t have a life of more than 15 to 20 years,” he adds.
An ambitious plan, however, hopes to recycle wastewater for factories. The project was conceived a few years ago, but its cost has since doubled to Rs13 billion.
It also doesn’t help for Karachi to be situated right at the end of the River Indus, which means that a large part of used water from other cities is reaching Karachi’s taps.
The contamination is so bad that the water board admits it needs to over-chlorinate because the source, Keenjhar Lake, is heavily contaminated.
Desperate for drops
Nicholas You says that food and energy supplies aren’t finite, but fresh water supplies are.
No where is that more evident than in Karachi, which is piping in water from sources farther away than ever.
“Almost all major cities in the world in the 1950s got their water locally,” You said, citing the example of Barcelona that used groundwater six decades ago; the water travelled zero kilometres to reach taps at home. In the year 2000, the Spanish city transports water from over 100 km away.
Karachi currently gets its water from 150 km away and is largely dependent on external sources: Indus River, Haleji lake and Hub dam among others. The desperate water board just announced it was going to drill 500 feet down at the century old Dumlottee wells to try and get a fresh supply.
Even Karachi’s newly sanctioned K-IV project is going to bring water from hundreds of kilometers away. That is a problem because migrating water from so far away costs money, and consumes energy – resources that the water board has little of. The entity is unable to pay its bills and Karachi’s electricity supplier frequently cuts off power at pumping stations. It is only when the governor, or other high authorities intervene that KESC switches the power back on.
Nicholas You was presenting the information to 31 urbanists who had gathered in Bellagio over July 30 to August 4 for a summit organised by the Urban Land Institute and Citistates Group.
Pay-per-sip
Charging for water to control demand
Water is treated like any other utility in Singapore: there are water meters checking consumption, and the more you use, the more you pay. So, for example, if you use under 40m“, you pay S$1.17 per m“. If you use more than 40m“, the price goes up to S$1.4. Still, the average bill for a small household is fairly affordable, at about S$30 a month. If you steal water you can face up to S$50,000 in fines and three years in jail.
The population, therefore, has become water-conscious and the government has won the battle that is being lost in so many other countries. Household water consumption has gone down from 165 litres per person per day in 2003 to 154 litres a day last year.
Karachi Water and Sewerage Board’s problem is that it charges too little for water and sewage and only 1.4 million customers are on its list in a city of 18 million. Consumers are also not charged for how much they use, since there are no water meters attached to their homes, leading to waste. The billing, instead, is pegged to plot size. A 500-square-yard single storey house, for example, pays Rs6,200 a year for its water supply, no matter how much it uses, and Rs768 for sewage services.
Competing jurisdictions
To Many Cooks Spoil The Water
Urban development advisor Nicholas You explains the plague of competing jurisdictions: In an ordinary city, one authority exploits the water, one transports it to a reservoir, one sends it to a bulk supplier, who will purify it and send it to a municipal authority. Add to that three entities dealing with wastewater and you have up to seven separate agencies dealing with water.  In Singapore, however, supply, demand and treatment are all managed by one agency – the Public Utilities Board (PUB).
“I’m not saying it’s a model you can repeat all over the world but we have to start thinking about it,” urges You.
In Karachi, the water board handles the supply and sewage, but it has to contend with the Indus River System Authority and unofficial agents that interfere with the supply: they range from the army-run housing authority with its failed desalination plant to the water tanker mafia that steals from hydrants, to households that use supplies brought on donkey carts and boreholes.

 

As devotees rush in to greet spiritual leader, six lose their lives in stampede

SUKKUR: Five women and a boy were killed in a stampede on the first day of Eid as they tried to catch a glimpse of their spiritual leader Pir Sahib Pagara at the Dargah Rashdia in Pir jo Goth.
Thousands of followers, including children, have been gathering at the Dargah Rashdia for decades as it is customary for the Pir Sahib to make a public appearance (Deedar-e-Aam) on occasions such as Eid.
According to the in charge at the Dargah, Faqir Jan Muhammad Mangrio, around 0.5 million devotees of Pir Pagara visit the shrine on Eid.
On August 20, the first day of Eidul Fitr, men and women waited in separate sections of the Dargah for the Pir Sahib to appear in the balcony. According to reports, when the management opened the doors, people rushed inside and some fell on the ground.
As chaos unfolded, the management called the district administration to send a team of doctors and ambulance at the Dargah but five women, Zaibun Nisa, Almi Khatoon, Naseeran, Safia and Zarina, and ten-year-old Hakim reportedly died on the spot before help arrived.
Ghulam Nabi Mahar, the Dargah Rashdia’s spokesperson, confirmed six deaths on the first day of Eid.He said that a request was sent to the district administration to establish a medical camp and provide ambulances for emergencies, but nothing was done. “When we called the administration for medical aid, we were told that doctors were unavailable due to Eid holidays and ambulances were busy in VIP duty.” He added that even the rural health centre in Pir jo Goth, where they were asked to send the patients, had no doctors. “The administration usually arranges medical camps and provides ambulances on such events, but we don’t know why this time nothing was done.” Pir Sahib Pagara is known to make public appearances four times in a year – Eidul Fitr, Eidul Azha, 27th Rajab and 12th Rabiul Awwal.

 

‘What’s the point of medical school if you’re just hunting for husbands?’

KARACHI:  The Pakistan Medical Association requested the Supreme Court on Wednesday to revisit a decision that created an “open merit” system for medical college admissions. As a result of this policy, the country has been churning out far more female doctors than male doctors, but as 75% of the women abandon work after graduating, the healthcare system is suffering. 

In 1991, the Supreme Court abolished the 60:40 ratio for male and female students in medical college admissions. “We had hailed the decision in 1991, but [in hindsight] it seems that it has backfired,” said Dr Mirza Ali Azhar at a press conference on Wednesday.
Today, there are not enough doctors to staff rural health centres and basic health units, which are small clinics that are supposed to fill the gap in the countryside where hospitals do not exist. Balochistan, Gilgit-Baltistan and other conflict zones in the country are also short of medical professionals.
The doctors took great pains to clarify that they were not against women attaining a medical education. They merely want for the human resource situation to be calibrated so that staff is deputed where needed instead of there being chronic shortages.
Dr Azhar added that when he started his medical education in 1973, there were 80 girls and more than a hundred boys in his class. “All the men are still working,” even though less boys were admitted than girls.
According to Dr Idrees Adhi, young men are not attracted to the medical profession anymore as women have traditionally outperformed them in academics.
They are also worried about financial uncertainty as government healthcare jobs do not have the safety net of salary and promotion rules. “When they graduate, they [feel that they] are far behind their colleagues who choose commerce or any other field,” he added.
It is no secret that male doctors were moving aboard for better job prospects. “The Middle East and other countries do not need to spend money to produce their own doctors,” said Dr Qazi Wasiq, “as they are getting them from our country.”
He also alleged that private medical colleges in Pakistan were only worried about making a profit instead of ensuring adequate healthcare delivery. “It has become a status symbol for parents to enroll their daughters at private medical colleges, as it makes it easier for them to find a future spouse,” he said. These young women graduate but are then reluctant to work in rural areas. They don’t even like doing night duty, remarked Dr Qaiser Sajjad.
Separate medical colleges for boys
The PMA demanded that the Supreme Court form a committee to work on recommendations to revise the policy.
They suggested that 10 medical colleges should be reserved for boys as there are six medical colleges that are exclusively reserved for girls. They asked the government to improve the service structure for doctors, so that more male students would choose the medical profession and also decide to work inside the country.
“It took us twenty years to see the results of the decision that was taken in 1991, and it will take at least half that time to turn it around to fix the problem. Therefore, the government should wake up right now to address the issue,” said Dr Mirza.

 

Pakistan flag: Despite wrong green, China now supplier of choice

KARACHI:  On August 13, 55-year-old Zameeruddin frowned as he watched excited people buying parrot-green flags, instead of the dark green ones stacked at his stall.

“What has happened to our people?” he said. “We are buying Pakistani flags that were made in China.” For him and fellow vexillographers, Pakistani flags made in China have not only eaten into their sales but have also ideologically upset them. “No one cares that they are buying the wrong-coloured flag. The Chinese have altered our original color, and have made it brighter.”
The difference is clear to see, highlighted by the Chinese choice of material which is satin and not polyester.
The imported flags are also a shiny bright green and not the traditional dark green.
Murtaza, who bought three Chinese-made flags, said, “This flag looks good to the eye, and is attractive,” just as his son excitedly clutched them. A policeman’s motorcycle, which was parked nearby, sported a similar flag.
But it seems that business can’t or perhaps doesn’t want to tell the difference. Most of the shopkeepers at Paper Market had stocked up on the Chinese imports. “It’s cheaper than the Pakistani-made flag, and the finish is very good,” explained shopkeeper Irfan Latif.
Chinese flags had been finding their way to Saddar’s Paper Market for roughly two years. This neighbourhood is the biggest source of flags, buntings, streamers and badges for Karachi as smaller vendors buy in bulk here before fanning out into the city. A shopkeeper, who was selling flashy heart-shaped badges, in addition to the foreign flags, said, “We sell Chinese-made things because they’re the best. Everything is made in China these days. The local flags tear easily.”
The imports can cost from Rs30 to Rs 600 and the locally made flags are priced at Rs40 and upwards. The most expensive flag at the paper market at Rs100,000, was a mammoth 75 inches by 50 inches, and was ordered by the deputy commissioner east to be hung at the Quaid-e-Azam’s mausoleum today.
Men like Zameeruddin have been preparing green-and-white flags at their homes in Orangi for the last 25 years, taking great pains to ensure that the product retains true to the original. But now home-based workers like him in Lyari, New Karachi and Orangi are being squeezed out. Many textile factories have been undercut by the free trade. “We are selling accurate flags, but it’s sad how people are opting for foreign-made ones,” said Asim Nisar of VIP Flags.

 

13% more Pakistani students sat CIE 

KARACHI:  This year there was a 13% increase in the students sitting the exams, according to Uzma Yousuf, the Cambridge International Examinations (CIE) communications country manager.
Nearly 500 schools are preparing students for the Cambridge O’ Level and Cambridge International AS/A’ Levels in Pakistan. They registered approximately 180,000 students. The total percentage increase also includes students who sat the exams privately and not through registered schools.

Another trend to note this year was that Cambridge Checkpoint has become one of the fastest-growing qualifications in Pakistan and across the world. It includes diagnostic tests that are used by schools just before their students enter the O’ Level stream (usually class VIII). Students receive a statement of achievement indicating academic progress and predicting how they will perform at the O’ Level or IGCSE. The three most popular subjects for O’ Level students are English Language, Islamiyat and Math, and at the AS/A’ Level Math, Physics and Chemistry.
“The results are a reflection of the enormous talent in Pakistan, not only amongst the learners but also within the teaching profession,” said William Bickerdike, who is the CIE manager for the Middle East, North Africa, and Pakistan. “We are very proud to congratulate learners across the country on their results.” The CIE will release the list of higher achievers in December.

 

Cambridge exam results: If A* were gold medals, Karachi’s students swept the CIE Olympics 

KARACHI:  Who would have thought that watching the Spice Girls and Take That perform at the closing ceremony of the 2012 Olympics in London would delay the O’ and A’ Level results from reaching Karachi on Monday. Well, it did.

Farah Imam, the principal of Happy Home School, and a science teacher at The Lyceum School both claimed that this was the first time the results had been delayed. “We usually get the result very early in the morning,” said the Lyceum teacher. “Today, we didn’t get anything till 5am GMT and then we had to sort through the data so that took much longer. But the results this year were brilliant so I guess it was worth the wait.”
Brilliant is perhaps an understatement as Karachi’s main schools all reported exceptional results. The number of students emerging with the coveted A* appeared to be much higher. An A* is gener ally considered scoring between 90 and 100 marks.
The Habib Public School appeared to be bent on supplying the bulk of future mathematicians for Pakistan, as a majority of its O’ Levels students went home with A* and A grades in Math. Ali Zaigham Jafrani (10A*, As) said that he was hoped he would get into Karachi Grammar School.
At the AES School for Girls, Aji Syed, emerged with the best result of 9A*s and one A.
Avicenna school was over the moon with the O’ Level results. With over 320 students sitting the exam, according to Ghulam at the administration desk around 50 students received A*s, and a 100 others received As.
A Lyceum biology teacher said that the results exceeded expectations. “More than 90% of the science students got As and A*s,” she said. “I heard that we only had one B in mathematics.” One the best results at The Lyceum was Alisha Sethi’s 4A*s 1A.
A hyperventilating Myra Merchant at The Lyceum scored 4As, including one in Art. Batool Abid, a prefect who was ushering students in and out of the library for their results, said it was so good that one of the worst things she saw was people crying over Bs. “No one fainted, vomited or threw things around,” she said. “People usually get upset when they didn’t get the grades they wanted.”
Nixor College Dean Nadeem Ghani said that this year’s result was even better. Naseema Kapadia, the headmistress of St Joseph’s Convent School’s Cambridge section, said that their students stood out in World History. “If you compare our result with others, it may not sound like we have a lot of A*s or As,” she said. “We only have 37 students and our school is known for consistently performing well.”
St Patrick’s High School’s A’ Level Dean Dolan Rodriques said that the result was exceptionally good, especially in Maths, Physics and Biology.
The teachers kept handing out the results till 1:30pm to 450 students because of the CIE delay.
Shrieks of excitement echoed down the halls of Foundation Public School’s DHA campus as principal Yasmeen Minhas announced the result. Out of the 168 O’ Level students, 98 scored more than 5As, four students from the North campus got 9As. Around 50 students got A*s and 58 got As in English, Economics, Islamiyat, Biology and English Literature.
At the Happy Home School, principal Imam was ecstatic with Anas Masood’s 7A*s. “Around 68 of our students sat for their O’ Levels and did amazingly well,” she said. “The worst grade we got this year was an E.” Most of her students were planning to go to Nixor College or Beacon House School System for A’ Levels. “Of course, two or three of our students are also planning to apply to Karachi Grammar School but you know they are very strict.
“They only want the crème de la crème. The students who want to pursue social sciences will be applying to The Lyceum School.”
Samreen Mahmood, the O’ Level coordinator at L’ecole, said that the students at the school had performed very well in Sociology, Business Studies and Economics. “The class strength for each of these subjects was 12 students on average. All of them scored As, except for maybe one or two,” she said. “The results at L’ecole have been getting better each year and I think that the student-teacher ratio, which is around 15 children to two teachers, is helping us secure better results.”
Other worries
Habib Public School star student, Anas Miftah, who scored 10 A*s, however, had other worries on his mind. The only thing that could bar him from enrolling at The Lyceum School, is the fees, he told. “I got an unconditional acceptance from the school,” he said. “I hope they will reconsider their decision about awarding financial aid after my they see my O’ Level result.”
Danish Gagai, an A’ Level student at Southshore School, claimed that most students at the school were unhappy with their results. “Last year was a disappointment too – it’s more of the same actually,” he said. “Quite a few students had to sit for the same AS level papers this year after a dissatisfying crop of results back in 2011.”
Already off to university
At The Lyceum School (TLS), Sahrish Jaleel (4As) was glad she had met the requirement for Lahore University of Management Science. “I was so nervous in the morning that I puked my guts out before coming to school,” she said.
Fahad Moten (A*, 2As) will be studying Civil Engineering at University College London from September. “Last night, I stopped caring about the result,” he said. “I knew I did well in the exams.”
Samiur Rahman will be attending the University of Maryland. He said that all the university wanted were his SAT scores.
“Almost everyone I know was thrilled to meet their conditional university offers,” said Muhammad Abdullah Qureshi (3As, B). “Now I can finally get some peace.”
British Council can text your result 
The students who sat the exams as private candidates received their results via text message from the British Council on Monday.
The students texted the word ‘result’ to a British Council number using the mobile phone number they listed on the registration forms. This system has the added advantage of making traffic to the website more manageable. This smart method works well for students too.
with reporting by Tooba Masood, Samia Saleem, Usman Liaquat, Ali mehdi and Fahd Siddiqui

 

Tragedy averted: 12kg bomb planted near Safoora school defused

KARACHI:  A 12 kilogramme roadside bomb planted near Safoora Chowrangi was defused by the Bomb Disposal Squad on Friday – four days after a similar explosive was dismantled near the Rangers headquarters off Super Highway. Both are believed to have been made by the same person.

The bomb was planted near a private school in Sacchal police limits. The school was closed due to summer vacations. The school’s security guard had informed the police about a suspected bomb at 9:10am.
A team of law enforcers cordoned off the area and the Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS) was called to defuse the bomb.
Bomb disposal officers said that it was an improvised explosive device (IED). The explosives with ball bearings, nuts and bolts were packed in a cement block. The bomb also had a detonator, indicating that it was a remote-controlled device.
Investigators believe that the IED was similar to the bomb recovered on July 16 near the Pakistan Rangers’ Sacchal Wing, with the intelligence and law enforcement personnel as likely targets.
Similar explosives have also been used in earlier attacks in Buffer Zone, Quaidabad, Super Highway and the naval headquarters.
BDS expert Abid Farooqui told that the locally manufactured bomb on Friday was not different from the one found on July 16. “They were made by the same person,” he added.
In December 2011, at about 200 feet from the spot from where the bomb was found on Friday, a roadside bomb planted near a Rangers patrol van had exploded, killing three jawans and wounding about six others
With the main road leading to Malir Cantt, the route is routinely used by intelligence officers. Since last year’s bombing, no police or Rangers van has been allowed to take up position at the same spot.
SHO Azhar Ali Iqbal said that the bomb was “fortunately” found in time or it would have exploded.
“Obviously, we [intelligence, law enforcers] are the targets,” he said. “All recent terror activities are being planned by the same group.”
The police have registered a case on behalf of the state against unidentified suspects.
Rangers officials were of the view that nothing could be said about the militants’ targets as an investigation was underway.

 

 

 

Police defuse 25 kg bomb in North Nazimabad 

KARACHI: Police defused a bomb in North Nazimabad area of Karachi, late Monday night. The bomb was planted behind popular shopping center, Dolmen Mall.
Area Station House Officer (SHO) said that the bomb weighed at least 25 kilogrammes and had been defused by the Bomb Disposal Squad.
No arrests had been made so far, while police had registered an FIR against unknown persons.
The situation was normal in the area.
Earlier, a 12 kilogramme roadside bomb planted near Safoora Chowrangi was defused by the Bomb Disposal Squad on August 10 – four days after a similar explosive was dismantled near the Rangers headquarters off Super Highway.

 

Terrorism case?: Dr Waheed in police custody in Karachi

KARACHI:  Dr Akmal Waheed – who was acquitted in 2006 on charges of providing medical treatment to militants – has been remanded in police custody for two days after his return to Pakistan.

Dr Waheed is in the custody of the Gulshan-e-Iqbal police and will be presented before Anti-Terrorism Court-I (ATC-I) on Monday. His nephew told that as far as they knew, they only had to present two men for Dr Waheed’s bail.
Dr Waheed, whose brothers have also been implicated in terrorism cases and are currently missing, was acquitted by the Supreme Court of the charges. At the time, it is believed that he had agreed to inform the police of his whereabouts.
He was then reported to have left Pakistan and moved to the United Arab Emirates.
According to his former lawyer Shaukat Hayat, “At the time a petition was filed in the high court alleging that he had gone missing. Notices were issued to the interior ministry, the foreign ministry and the UAE Embassy for information. Subsequently it was learnt that Dr Waheed was facing trial in the UAE.”
The accused was then tried there and served a jail term. According to media reports, Dr Waheed was arrested in April 2010 in the UAE along with Dr Ayaz, also accused of providing treatment to militants.
The doctors were serving at a hospital in the Ras-al-Khaimah emirate.
According to Dr Waheed’s family, he returned to Karachi on a 2 am flight on August 8. He was taken into police custody on arrival and initially presented in ATC-I on Friday. Dr Waheed’s detention is reportedly because he violated the undertaking with the police that he had to report his whereabouts and did not inform them before he left for the UAE. The police reportedly filed an FIR against Dr Waheed after he left.
However, Hayat – who was not aware of what the undertaking may have comprised – said that because Dr Waheed was a government employee, he must have resigned from his post officially before he left the country.
Dr Waheed used to work at the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases in Karachi. The lawyer said he has not been contacted as yet in connection with the case.

 

No dance parties but dars allowed, rules DHA 

KARACHI:  Defence Housing Authority (DHA) has restricted its residents from hosting musical programmes and dance parties at home while allowing other events such as Quran Khwanis and dars gatherings.

Two months ago, DHA issued the new set of guidelines on its website and outside its main office listing permissible and prohibited activities.
Mehndis, nikkahs and birthday parties are allowed but musical and dance parties have been banned in what some residents see as DHA’s attempt to morally police its residents. “DHA has no legal authority to issue such a directive,” reacted Asad Kizalbash of the Association of Defence Residents. “Responding to a complaint from a neighbour about too much noise is something different. Issuing a firm directive like this means they are out to teach us morality. This is unacceptable.” The Association of Defence Residents is an umbrella group of half a dozen associations.
The largest one is Defence Society Residents Association with 3,000 members.
DHA vigilance staff has been directed to stop events held without permission.
In a meeting held with DHA Administrator Brig Aamer Raza a few weeks back, the association registered its protest. “Vigilance staff will be taking the law into their hands if they start peeking into our homes,” pointed out Kizalbash.
There are close to 50,000 tax-paying households in DHA and Cantonment Board Clifton which has its own bylaws on the use of property. Some residents suspect that DHA’s restrictions are an attempt to clamp down on people renting out houses for private events even though there are clear delineations on residential and commercial spaces.
According to resident Nasir Husain, a 1,000 sq yd house will fetch a maximum of Rs100,000 in rent. “Give it for any other purpose and you can earn Rs250,000 a month. Owners are naturally tempted to let all this happen.” He gave the example of a house off Khayaban-e-Rahat being used to record or ‘dharna’ or protest with 30 people. In his brief remarks, a DHA spokesman said residents have to seek permission before arranging any event. “This has been done to address complaints about noise pollution,” he said. DHA has thus restricted the use of loudspeakers to play music but has not said anything about religious congregations.
The DHA neighbourhoods are not close knit like others around Karachi. “When you know your neighbour, you get to learn about each other’s family background and the dislikes,” said one resident. “If loud music, drinking and dancing is an issue, you can simply talk things over. That doesn’t happen here.” The association for residents has realised this problem and is organising meetings to bring residents together.
This would help at least spread the message – which for now was only available on the website and at the DHA office. Residents Farea Khan and Amra Ghazanfar told that they had no idea that there were restrictions. “Why would they do that?” added Farea.
As for one resident Mehek Ali, the news was met with skepticism: “I don’t see it lasting – no one is going to stick to the ban.”

 

Pir Pagara points at local PPP leadership for reconciliation hurdles

KARACHI: The Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F), which has had strained ties with the ruling Pakistani Peoples Party, hinted on Saturday that a discord at the local level prevented reconciliation.
Speaking at Jam Madad Ali iftar-dinner, PML-F chief Pir Pagara said that there were not a lot of differences with the PPP, but promises made by President Asif Ali Zardari are not always implemented by his party’s local leadership.
The Pir Pagara’s party has been making strides on the political in recent months front with a number of allegiances and influential politicians of Sindh joining their ranks. The PML-F has now emerged as a serious contender for the next elections. Pir Pagara added that previously they only had the Jatoi and the Maher clans with him, but now some form the PPP and from the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, a major partner of the PPP in Sindh and National assemblies have also allied with the PML-F.
He added that the incumbent Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf was intrinsically a PML worker.
More of the same next turn
In a sordid prediction for those hedging on change in the next general elections, PML-F chief Pir Pagara predicted that it will be a difficult task to hold elections, but if the country did manage to go through with them, then they will be greeted with more or less a similar set up on show in the parliament  today.
He said that one Prime Minister has already been sent home and no new law will be introduced to protect a second prime minister from being sent home, ensuring a repeat of what befall Yousaf Raza Gilani.
“Not only Prime Ministers, we all are guests too,” he remarked.

 

Education conditions Sindh public schools in shambles: Report

 

According to a report submitted before the Supreme Court this week, the condition of public schools across Sindh appears to be in shambles. As a result, Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry has asked for a complete record on the matter from the chief secretary of Sindh.
Classrooms have been turned into hujras (community centers) at 21 schools in Sukkur, while the rest of Sindh is home to some 10,000 schools that are functioning without shelter or basic facilities, a report on the Sindh education department revealed.
A three-judge bench of the apex court headed by the Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad chaudhry is hearing the case. Sukkur is the constituency of Federal Minister for Religious Affairs Khursheed Ahmad Shah, who is also chief whip of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party.
Taking stern notice of the miserable conditions of public schools across the country, the Supreme Court took suo motu action on Thursday and directed the provincial governments to improve their conditions on a priority basis.
During a hearing on August 8, the chief justice observed that a large number of schools in the country are not functional and students are being forced to study without any shelter. The court then asked the provinces for legislation to fulfill their Constitutional obligation.
The provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab and Balochistan submitted their reports and assured the Supreme Court that they will implement required legislation in order to provide free education to children aged 5 to 16 years as per article 25A of the Constitution.
The K-P government’s report said that a large number of schools in the province had been destroyed due to disasters and militancy. The report added that a total of 2,905 schools were damaged during the 2005 earthquake, out of which only 1,141 schools have been rehabilitated so far.
On Friday, Punjab submitted their detailed report and Punjab Additional Advocate General Jawad Hassan said that the the Punjab government has spent Rs350 million on Daanish schools so far and the cost of running each school is roughly Rs1.5 million.

 

Suspected kidnapping: Teen Hindu converts, marries

JACOBABAD:  A teenage Hindu girl, MK, has converted to Islam and married a man identified as Ghulam Murtaza Channo, her parents informed Jacobabad SSP Muhammad Younis Chandio late Thursday evening.
The family had thought that she had been kidnapped five days ago. SSP Chandio met her father, Riwatt Mal alias Beebo, and uncle Sanjay Singh, and Hindu Panchayat President Babo Mahesh Lakhani at Janta Hall on Thursday. He informed them that the couple appeared in the Sindh High Court in Sukkur in the morning and demanded protection.

Their daughter has taken the new name of Mehwish. The district police have been directed to provide them protection. “M phoned us today and said that she had married but we heard the voices of two men and a woman and doubt that she was being allowed to speak freely,” Beebo and Singh. “We’ll migrate to India, if M is not recovered. We can’t live with this situation now.”

 

Congo virus claims sixth victim of the year

KARACHI: A patient suffering from the Congo virus died in a Karachi hospice late on Thursday evening.
Doctors at private a private hospital in Gulshan-e-Iqbal, as well as Dr Shakeel Aamir Mullick, the in charge of the Dengue Surveillance Cell at Civil Hospital Karachi, which also collects data of Congo patients reported in the province, confirmed the infection and death.
The patient 42, years of age, was a resident of Sohrab Goth and was admitted at the hospital on August 7. He was a livestock owner and had many lambs which are being suspected as the source of virus..
The latest case has taken the tally for deaths through the Congo virus to six in 2012. The other five deaths reported so far at the cell too had some connection with livestock. He said that last year a total of four cases were reported which is not higher than the usual average.

 

Money for nothing: MPAs hold their breath as higher salaries considered

KARACHI:  A delayed payday may be in store for key government members if salary increases are approved.

A standing committee has recommended a 60% increase in salaries and allowances of members and a 40% hike in the salaries and allowances of the speaker, deputy speaker, ministers and special assistants. But the decision, if approved by the Sindh Assembly in its current form, may actually be in effect from July 1, 2011. This would mean their cheques would have to be backdated. The only problem is that finance bills cannot be retrospective, clarified Syed Sardar Ahmed, who is the parliamentary leader of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement and a former provincial finance minister. Ahmed is quoted in the report as saying this to the committee.
The report by the Standing Committee on Law, Parliamentary Affairs and Human Rights was presented to MPAs in the Sindh Assembly on Wednesday, but the discussion was deferred for ‘financial considerations’.
The committee offered its recommendations on four government bills referred to it: for amendments to the Salaries, Allowances and Privileges Acts for ministers, special assistants, MPAs and the speaker and deputy speaker.
The committee slightly revised downward the government’s proposals. For example, the government had proposed to increase ministers’ pay to Rs80,000 from its current Rs39,000. The committee recommended it to be increased to Rs54,600. It has also been proposed that ministers’ sumptuary allowance be increased to Rs42,000 from Rs30,000. Special assistants to the chief minister will be paid Rs15,400 instead of Rs11,000.
The committee has also recommended raising the pay of MPAs from Rs15,000 to Rs24,000, the sumptuary allowance from Rs3,000 to Rs4,800 and house rent allowance by Rs6,000 to make it Rs16,000.
While the committee has proposed a Rs10,000 monthly allowance for MPAs, the finance department told the committee that the impact would be more than Rs6 million per year. The department said that the impact of a 40% increase per year would be Rs30 million.
For the speaker and deputy speaker, the government had proposed a monthly salary of Rs80,000 and Rs70,000 respectively, which the committee approved. It has also proposed increasing the Sindh Assembly speaker’s housing allowance from Rs39,500 to Rs55,300 and the deputy speaker’s housing allowance to Rs49,000 from the current Rs35,000.
The members of the committee, and the ministers invited to partake in their discussions, made some rather interesting points. The education minister noted that Sindh received half of the office maintenance allowance Punjab did.
PPP MPA Humera Alwani said that 10 consultants hired for the Sindh Education Foundation were being paid Rs250,000 and Rs275,000 every month, while a Sindh minister was paid Rs30,000 a month. “It was being said that MPAs having VIP status and (sic) more privileged then (sic) consultants,” the report states. In another meeting of the committee, Alwani said that while “public representatives and ministers will be gladder to work without a single penny but then there should be reduction in the salary of the consultants keeping in view the constraints of the public exchequer.” In another meeting, she said that the elected representatives were not being given salary increases with the reasoning that it would be a burden on the provincial exchequer.
At a meeting in 2010, the standing committee had decided to propose a 100% increase in MPA salaries and a 50% increase for ministers, advisers and special assistants to the CM, and a 60% increase for the speaker and deputy speaker. At a meeting in 2012, the committee decided to change this to 60% for MPAs, the speaker and deputy speaker and 40% for ministers, advisers and special assistants.

 

For political parties & their victims, Karachi’s Fitra collection more sin than sawab

KARACHI:  This newspaper cannot name the political parties in this story where we need to.

We apologise.
Instead, we bring you silence – of the police, the Orangi family who lost their son and the businessmen. This silence is about the gouging of the city’s populace before Eid when charity gathering turns into extortion.
“I have five more brothers. I can’t risk their lives by talking to the media,” comes the plain reply from the brother of the 21-year-old intermediate student Muhammad Shahid who was shot dead in Orangi last Wednesday.
The family couldn’t fork out Rs40,000 in Fitra demanded by political activists. “Our house has since been fired at. Outside, people are watching us,” he whispers. Their home at Rehmat Chowk sits right next to a political party’s neighbourhood office, since sealed, six activists reportedly suspended. Outside, men parked there against the wall keep an eagle eye on Shahid’s black gate, monitoring the comings and goings. They innocently let the breeze lift their shirts to show TT pistols tucked into their pants.
On a charpoy under the shade of a tree inside the house, Shahid’s father, a garment trader, stammers his son’s name. He wanted to speak, register a case. “We have been told by our ‘elders’ not to talk to anyone, not even the police.” However, the police openly accept that it was a case of forced fitra collection.
The Rs40,000 that Shahid was killed for is a far cry from the Rs80 per person decreed as compulsory charity to be paid by Muslims in Ramazan before Eidul Fitr. The money is supposed to go to the deserving and is the equivalent of 2.25 kilogrames of flour. The scholar who fixed the rate this year, Mufti Muneebur Rehman, explained that people can pay more than the fixed amount, but it is un-Islamic for groups to go around demanding Fitra. “Money which is collected by political parties by force of guns or sticks is not acceptable in Allah’s eyes,” he remarked. The government has said no door-to-door collection is allowed. It urged parties to set up camps where people could come themselves.
A history
The Jamaat-e-Islami was the first political party in Karachi to start the concept of Fitra collection with its welfare organisation, Al Khidmat Foundation. The Muttahida Qaumi Movement later formed its Khidmat-e-Khalq Foundation.
For years, they were the only ones. Then arrived the Sunni Tehreek’s Ahle Sunnat Khidmat Foundation Trust, the banned Peoples Amn Committee’s Lyari Resource Centre and the Awami National Party’s Bacha Khan Welfare Trust (in 2010). The pie thus grew smaller and traditional turfs began to overlap.
Hotspots and turf wars
The highest amount of Fitra is collected from the old city areas where activists try to one-up each other. “This year it seems that we won’t be able to complete our target in these localities,” said one political worker.
An activist from a rival group now they need to first cut through two other political parties before they can even think of reaching the people. “People used to give us Fitra because of their political or sectarian preferences,” he said. “But today they give it to the most powerful one in the area, which is the […].”
The amount can go as high as one million rupees. Some parties give out entire Fitra booklets like the perforated double-slip ones used in charged parking and others helpfully write you a receipt.
Traders are already paying extortion money all year round. A prominent trader, heading an association with 300 markets, said that shopkeepers across the city have received one party’s booklets worth Rs2,000 to Rs10,000. “Everyone knows that the city’s largest political party is involved the most in forced Fitra collection. But no one complains.”
When the business started in Ramazan, the traders complained to one religio-political group’s leaders. But that group just changed its tactic and instead of going shop to shop, started sending a ‘request’ to the head of the business association. Even non-Muslim businessmen are being netted. Christian shopkeepers in Essa Nagri and Azam Basti were told to pay Rs500 by activists from one party using another party’s name.
The police have noted that slips for one party have surfaced in what was considered the absolute stronghold of another party. Their theory is that parties are using each other’s names so that they don’t get caught. One political entity uses the less formal system of hand-written notes or verbal requests.
“This is not Fitra. This is bhatta,” declared an angry resident in Kharadar. “We don’t get to donate to the charity of our choice.”
Some markets are finding themselves paying more than one party. A frustrated shopkeeper in Jodia Bazaar has shelled out Rs500,000 to different groups. “We are not even earning as much as we have been asked to pay!”
And pay they do. As the owner of a Maripur truck stand: “Everyone paid them because no one wants to be killed for just Rs3,000.”
A top police official requesting anonymity said apart from areas where parties collect charity, there are some disputed areas, in which more than one group operates. A resident of Landhi D-1.
 In the first week of Ramazan, two activists asked for the total number of family members in the house. “Though we told them that we won’t give them Fitra, they harshly said that the Fitra has to go to them.”
A human rights activist living in an apartment in North Karachi received booklets worth Rs1,400 with 25 slips. “They just hand you the entire booklet, and you can’t say no.”
In Zamzama, a retail outlet staffer said that one party’s men walked in and handed out booklets, but since the shopkeepers had “strong” connections the threats were defused.
The party line
As has been their stance, MQM leader Wasay Jalil pegged the problem on criminals who used the party’s name and said that they were tracking them down. The activists who are collecting Fitra carry an official letter. The party has an annual function where the poor are given  money, basic appliances and household goods.
The ANP took the same position with Bashir Jan saying that while he does not know of any case, if anyone uses the party’s name, the police should arrest them and if the ANP catches an activist, they would be expelled and handed to the police. “Fitra is the right of the poor, helpless and orphans in society and the ANP does not like to snatch the rights of orphans.” The party used to collect hides after Eidul Azha for its Bacha Khan Welfare Trust but stopped last year.
For their part, the banned Amn Committee’s Zafar Baloch said that they did not collect Fitra like other political parties. “We don’t have a parchi (slip) system. Friends and relatives collect or donate their share to our charitable organisation, the Lyari Resource Centre. But we haven’t forced anybody for Fitra neither this year nor before.”
The Sunni Tehreek assigns only five men at the provincial constituency level to collect Fitra, Zakat and rations. “Ordinary activists are not allowed,” said central leader Shahid Ghauri. “We have issued special cards to those who have been given the job of collection for the Ahle Sunnat Khidmat Foundation Trust.” The ST distributes Rs5 million in food among 2,500 families each Ramazan.
Good cop, bad cop
The official code of conduct is not followed but no arrests have been made. A senior police official said that they just want to see the holy month pass peacefully. “Things are in control, and targeted killings have gone down,” he said. “We don’t want to ruin the peace of the city by getting involved in this.”
For whatever it is worth, Additional IG Iqbal Mehmood said they were taking action on specific complaints. The problem is, perhaps, though that most people are too scared to complain.
Ghostbusters
To make a complaint:
Sunni Tehreek: 021-32775462; 021-32761789; 021-32775382
Peoples Amn Committee: 021-36065570; 021-35432929;
Awami National Party: 021-35803030;
Jamaat-e-Islami: 0301-8221900;
MQM: 021-36313690;
Home department: 021-99207772;
Police complaint centre: 021-99212652; 021-99212653; 021-99212662;

 

Religious freedom limited for minorities in Pakistan: Report

 

The State Department’s annual International Religious Freedom report for 2011 observed that there have been instances in which law enforcement personnel in Pakistan have reportedly abused religious minorities while in police custody, along with a general apathy shown by the authorities to persecute extremists or those targeting religious minorities.

The report, which highlights the state of religious freedom in several countries, says that some government practises in Pakistan have limited the freedom of religion, particularly in the case of religious minorities.
“Abuses under the blasphemy law and other discriminatory laws continued; the government did not take adequate measures to prevent these incidents or reform the laws to prevent abuse. Since the government rarely investigated or prosecuted the perpetrators of increased extremist attacks on religious minorities and members of the Muslim majority promoting tolerance, the climate of impunity continued.”
The executive summary of the report said that there was an increase in intolerance and violence against minorities and those Muslims promoting tolerance. “There were reports of societal abuses or discrimination based on religious affiliation, belief, or practice.”
The report highlights that many hesitated to speak out in favour of religious tolerance in the light of the killings of Salmaan Taseer, the former Governor of Punjab, and Shahbaz Bhatti, the Federal Minister for Minorities.
The IRF report says that extremist elements demanded “that all citizens follow their authoritarian interpretation of Islam and threatened brutal consequences if they did not abide by it.” The report also highlighted that there had been attacks on Ahmadi, Hindi, Sufi and Shia gatherings and religious sites in 2011.
The only seemingly positive aspect of the report was that the government had taken some steps to improve religious freedom, via the creation of a Ministry of National Harmony. “Following the assassination of Minister of Minority Affairs Shahbaz Bhatti, the president appointed his brother, Paul Bhatti, as his special advisor for minority affairs.”
It also noted the inauguration of Darul Qaza (an appellate or revision court) in Swat by the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa chief minister in January as a step to implement the Nifaz-e-Adl Regulation.
Highlighting intolerance in the press, the report said that some Urdu newspapers in the country “frequently published articles that contained derogatory references to religious minorities, especially Ahmedis, Hindus, and Jews.” Additionally, while the government barred the sale of Ahmedi religious literature, “some Sunni Muslim groups published literature calling for violence against Ahmedis, Shia Muslims, other Sunni sects, and Hindus.”
The State Department IRF report said that while madrassahs in Pakistan were barred from teaching sectarian or religious hatred, yet in recent years “a small yet influential number of madrassahs have taught extremist doctrine in support of terrorism in violation of the law.”

 

Scenes from Jacobabad: Over news of mass Hindu migration, CM orders inquiry

SUKKUR:  The widely publicised report of Hindus migrating to India en masse has blown up – with the Sindh chief minister taking notice – but conflicting accounts about the reason for their visit have emerged.

The CM wants a three-member committee to be headed by the minster on minority affairs report back in two days. Sources in the Indian High Commission in Islamabad said they could not comment because of the conflicting reports in the media.
The former head of the Hindu Panchayat of Jacobabad, Lal Chand Setlani,,a renowned Maharaj of Jacobabad, Santosh Puri, along with his followers left for a Yatra (religious pilgrimage) to India. As the Maharaj has a huge following, a large number of people from Balochistan, Jacobabad and Kashmore had come to the railway station in Jacobabad to bid him farewell.
While his departure was portrayed as a permanent migration, Setlani said that only 11 of the followers accompanied the Maharaj. The rest were there to see him off.
The state of law and order and forced conversions in Sindh has made the situation “intolerable”, said Hindu Panchayat Jacobabad President Baboo Mahesh Lakhani. Kidnapping of Hindu traders and children for ransom and extortion is common, he said, but they are not just restricted to Hindus. But when people started playing with our honour, it became intolerable, he said.
“MK, a 15-year-old resident of Gharibabad Mohalla Jacobabad, was kidnapped five days ago and nothing has been done so far.”
Lakhani said that it was wrong to assume that every family boarding a train or bus for Lahore from Jacobabad was migrating to India.
He added that while Hindu families have migrated to India, they don’t get a red carpet welcome there.  However, he criticised elected representatives of minorities. They either live in Islamabad or Karachi and the “hot weather of Jacobabad and other areas is keeping them away from us”. Other representatives from Jacobabad, such as Aijaz and Gul Mohammad Jakhrani, have supported them instead.
Ramesh Lal, who is the president of Hindu Panchayat Thull, was recently kidnapped by armed men near Khairpur and was kept hostage for 11 days. Lal said that while Muslims are also being kidnapped for ransom, the kidnapping and conversion of Hindu girls was simply intolerable.
According to Lal, most of the Hindu families have migrated from Jacobabad, Thull, Garhi Khairo, Buxapur, Kandhkot and other areas. However migrants usually go to Indore in India, where a large number of Sindhi Hindus are settled. They help them with accommodation and jobs. While most people go to India for religious pilgrimage, about 15% stay back.
Dr Ramesh Kumar Vankwani, the patron in chief of the Pakistan Hindu Council, claimed that dozens of families were migrating to India every month.
It is believed that the families who have migrated are from the middle class who cannot afford to pay extortion money. According to Vankwani, hundreds of families migrated to India in the early 1990s but many returned in 2000. “The law and order situation was satisfactory till 2006 and the issue of migration arose again in 2010,” he said.
Sindh minister Mukesh Kumar Chawla said that the reports of migration are exaggerated. “If a Hindu girl is eloping with a Muslim boy of her free will, then what we can do,” he said. He responded to allegations of ignoring Hindus by citing the example of the recovery within 11 days of Ramesh Lal.
The president of the Hindu Panchayat of Karachi Division Amarnath Motumal said that the issues were being politicised. “Which community or sect is safe in Pakistan? Hindus are not migrating but they go on visit visas and come back. The issue is being exploited,” he said.
“First, we are Pakistanis and then Hindus. No one shares facts and figures of migrating families. One can’t cry that all Hindus are migrating when a few are moving for certain reasons. People want to live here. They are more secure here than in India. I know they come back after spending a couple of months there.”

 

Students gather on University Road to set a new anthem record

KARACHI: In an attempt to set a new world record, thousands of students gathered on Tuesday morning at University road and sang the national anthem. Though there was a great display of patriotism at the event, the target of setting a new record could not be achieved.
Last year, around 5,857 people gathered at a stadium in Khadda market and set the world record for the most number of people singing a national anthem simultaneously. However, the record was broken earlier this year. On January 25, around 15,243 people in Aurangabad, India, simultaneously sang the country’s national anthem. The organisers of this year’s event claimed that they succeeded in gathering around 10,000 students, which means that the record made in India stands.
As part of the Independence Day celebrations, Islami Jamiat-e-Talba (IJT) members along with other students clad in shades of green and white, participated in a rally at Karachi University. They marched from the administration block to the Silver Jubilee gate with a 146-feet long flag. Hundreds of students from the neighbouring NED University of Engineering and Technology joined them at University road. The celebrations continued till noon and the students dispersed to their respective universities after singing the national anthem together.
Soon after the event ended, a clash erupted between IJT and Imamia Students Organisaion (ISO) in which 10 students were injured.

 

 

JPMC neurology dept paramedics demand pay, continue protest

KARACHI: The unpaid paramedics of the Jinnah Post Graduate Medical Centre’s (JPMC) neurosurgery department protested on Wednesday and criticised the hospital administration for taking action against two of their colleagues who had raised their voices in another demonstration a couple of days back.
A doctor who works at the department, meanwhile, said that the employees’ protest did not affect any activities in the ward, and expressed his hope that their concerns would be addressed.
The paramedics, who have not been paid since the past two months, protested outside the directorate and accountant offices.
JPMC’s neurosurgery department employs 120 people, who work from grades one to 15. They include technicians for CT Scan, MRI, angiography and operation theatre, as well as nursing attendants, guards and sweepers.
They have been protesting for almost a week, and were particularly upset that the hospital administration had formed an inquiry committee to investigate two paramedics who had lodged their grievances before media personnel during an earlier demonstration.
Ameer Ali Dinari blamed the hospital administration for the paramedics’ predicament, as it came out that the accounts department had not sent their bills to the health department. The employees observed that this lax attitude could be explained by the fact that their service structure had never been clear.
Apart from demanding an immediate release of their salaries, the paramedics also wanted the administration to include them in the computerised pay system like other employees. The average monthly pay of the department’s employees is about Rs8,000, but can go as high as Rs14,000.
“When they can pay doctors and nurses [on time], why are they taking time in our case?” asked Ghulam Sabir, who works in the radiology section of the department. He added that many employees had already quit their jobs because of the delay in the payment of their salaries. “Most employees who work here come from different parts of the country, and could not afford to remain unpaid for up to seven months.” Out of 250 departmental employees, 130 had left during the past year.

 

Students of Aisha Bawany take to the streets to raise awareness about Myanmar 

KARACHI: It is rare when a well recognised school supports a cause on an official basis to inspire international forums. Yet, students and teachers at the Aisha Bawany Academy came out in large numbers on Wednesday to protest against what they termed ‘insensitivity of the international community on the genocide of Muslims in Myanmar’.
The move appeared bold, especially as the government and human rights organisations are silent about the persecution of Rohingya Muslims. “But the school’s managing trustee, Ismail Bawany, consented to this protest when teachers and children of the school approached him,” said the academy’s spokesperson, Imdad Hussain Shah. At noon, nearly 500 students, in their school uniforms, left the school building located at Sharae Faisal to gather on the sidewalk. These students, from grade four till grade eight, were holding placards and posters, some with very gory visuals while the rest carried statements urging to stop the massacre.
Near to a 100 teachers chaperoned the students to make sure they made sure that the activity did not result in disturbing the flow of traffic on one of the city’s busiest roads. This seemed necessary as the young lot appeared enthusiastic about the task. Most children, however, appeared amused with their involvement in the activity yet there were those too who thought of it as a serious cause.
Ahmed Hasan, who teaches O’ Level students at the academy, tried to explain the students’ passion, saying that the children know what was happening around the world as media was creating awareness in them. He added that the teachers also supported the students for this cause.
All major international organisations and powers intervened in cases like East Taimoor but they were silent about this Muslim genocide where even women and children were not spared. “We demand the government and human rights organisations to immediately raise this issue at an international level,” said Shah.
“The Burmese are Muslims and so are we. This makes them our brothers and we should protest if somebody does wrong to Muslims anywhere in the world,” said 12-year-old Sibtain Haider, while holding a poster which stated: OIC says ‘Oh I See’ but does nothing.
Another student, 14-year-old Syed Anas, was displaying a placard ‘Don’t expect justice from so-called champions of peace’ and accused the United Nations and America for being two faced in matters where Muslims anywhere in the world were oppressed. His argument was also conceded by the academy’s spokesperson.

 

Crackdown: Two food inspectors arrested for extortion 

HARIPUR:  Two officials of Haripur health department’s food and sanitary section were arrested on charges of extortion on Monday.

Anti-Corruption Police Assistant Circle Officer Syed Piambar Raza told that Food and Sanitary Patrol Officer Sheikh Javed and his assistant, Muhammad Waheed, were booked after marked notes amounting to Rs4,000 were recovered from their offices during a raid.
Raza said that Ishaq Shah, who runs a milk shop on Dhenda Road, lodged a report with the anti-corruption police on Sunday alleging that Javed and his assistant Waheed demanded Rs9,000 from him in order to ‘clear’ the samples of yogurt and milk collected from his shop earlier. He claimed that the two food inspectors expressed concern that he has not yet paid them for allowing him to do business in the area for the past few months.
Raza said that police obtained search and arrest warrant for the two officials and raided the office of Javed in the presence of Judicial Magistrate 1 Mansoor Shah. After recovery of the marked notes, the two officials were booked under section 161 of the Pakistan Penal Code and 5/4 of the Prohibition of Corruption Act.
Haripur’s health department, which is headed by Executive District Officer Health, has a food and sanitary section that is tasked to check adulteration of food items.

 

Corruption: Patwari arrested ‘for taking a bribe’

 

KASUR: The Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) on Saturday arrested a revenue official on charge of taking a bribe from a complainant.  Patwari Muhammad Sarwar was arrested while taking Rs7,000 bribe from one Muhammad Aslam to update his property record in accordance with a court order. The raid was planned by ACE Circle Officer Rana Jehanzeb after Aslam, a resident of Beedian Usman village, approached him with the complaint. The circle officer said the amount seized in the raid was returned to the complainant.

 

Sindh Assembly: Anti-Corruption Minister grilled over corrupt officials

 

KARACHI:  The Sindh Assembly closed up shop for an indefinite period on Wednesday after a mere two-day session, but there was a considerable deal for MPAs to ponder over.

The performance of the Anti-Corruption Establishment was on the agenda during the Question and Answers session. Sindh Anti-Corruption Minister Abdul Haq Bhurt looked entirely unprepared for the volley of questions that came his way, mostly from MPAs who asked why there had been no prosecutions for officials implicated in corruption cases. Moreover, even a case from Hyderabad involving misappropriation of Rs4 million is still in preliminary investigation stage, though the FIR was registered in 2011.
The minister was also unable to say whether the government had suspended any of the officials implicated in the cases while there were enquiries pending against them, a point raised by Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) MPA Humera Alwani. Alwani said that officers “continue their corruption” because they are not suspended or let go.
As far as the prosecution was concerned, Bhurt retorted that this was up to the courts, not him. Sindh Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ayaz Soomro had to assist Bhurt with questions on how investigations are conducted, while Sindh Minority Affairs Minister Dr Mohan Lal helped Bhurt through the questioning by passing him notes. The Sindh Assembly was also briefed by relevant ministers on follow-ups to some of the biggest news stories out of Sindh right now.
Soomro told the assembly that the police officers involved in parading a couple naked in Ghambat, district Khairpur have been suspended and orders will be issued to fire them. He also said that a standing committee of the Sindh Assembly was preparing a report on hiring teachers who are currently working on a contractual basis.
Daya Ram Essarani, the wildlife minister, told the assembly that the department had been tracking the deaths of peacocks in Tharparkar since the first case was reported.
However, Essarani said only “38 mortalities had been confirmed, and 30 more birds are sick.” He said that the department had also started a public service campaign through the media and that the Newcastle virus was ‘incurable’. He said that according to an unofficial survey, there were 70,000 peacocks in the Tharparkar area.
Sindh Culture Minister Sassui Palijo also briefed the assembly on the status of the Gandhara artefacts seized in Karachi last month. “It has been reported in the media about why the statues are being kept outside the museum and not inside. They weigh a ton and more and we are still in the process of verifying how many of them are real. An expert has said that perhaps 40 to 50 per cent are genuine and the others are fake. We have asked for a report to be submitted in 10 days and will also display the artefacts after Eid,” Palijo said. She offered assurances that the government will ensure the security of the artefacts.
The assembly also passed a bill for the establishment of the Shaheed Benazir Bhutto University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences in Sakrand. The Sindh Assembly was prorogued for an indefinite period.
Talking politics
While Sindh Assembly Speaker Nisar Khuhro did not allow PPP MPA Imdad Pitafi to speak about the judiciary within the hall, Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon defended the PPP’s stance outside the assembly. According to Memon, there was a “conspiracy against democracy”. Memon also hit out at the Supreme Court issuing a contempt of court notice to Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf and summoning him to appear in person.
“This is what we could expect from a PCO judge,” Memon said, referring to the Provisional Constitutional Order from the Musharraf era. “The president has immunity under the constitution and we cannot write a letter to the Swiss in violation of that,” he said. “In cases where there is immunity, there is contempt [notice] after contempt [notice.”  “We will not change the constitution on someone’s agenda,” Memon said.
The information minister also denied that the government would be looking into replacing the Supreme Court chief justice. “We’ve waited so long, we can wait for longer,” he said. “We will not repeat what Musharraf did.”
However, Memon said that the results of the reference against the CJP sent by former president Pervez Musharraf to the judicial council should be revealed. “Why doesn’t he answer how his son got so many positions,” he said. The minister also said that ‘government employees’ were sending the government home. “The elected representatives of this country made the constitution and there are a 1,000 of us who are ready to defend the constitution.”

 

Making a mockery of justice 

Notions of decency, dignity and morality seem to be vanishing fast from our land of the pure and what we appear to be left with is a twisted sense of honour and justice. This painful reality hit home like never before with the shameful events that took place in Gambat, Sindh, coming into limelight. As reported in this newspaper, a woman and a man were paraded naked in public by the Khairpur police on July 27, on allegations of  “intent of adultery”. The case that was registered for the incident recounted that “the police received a tip-off about a man, who had called on two women for adultery”. On reaching his residence, the three were allegedly found to be in a compromising position by the policemen. This triggered the most depraved of responses from the law enforcers with a video clip of the incident revealing that the area’s SHO and his henchmen paraded the man and one of the women naked, while escorting them to the police station as an apparent punishment for their alleged crime.
This event brings into sharp focus the mentality of our law enforcers — especially those stationed in smaller towns and villages — who abuse their authority with extreme abandon and have absolutely no qualms about taking on the roles of judge, jury and executioner. This is not the first time that the law enforcement mechanism, instead of providing justice, only served to make a mockery of it, and unfortunately, this will not be the last time this happens, either. Whatever wrongdoing the accused may have been involved in, subjecting them to such an ordeal — and that, too, by those who did not have the authority to pronounce judgments on their actions — goes beyond the norms of justice and decency. One associated acts of this nature with the kind of vigilante justice that jirgas meted out, but to see law enforcers acting in a similar manner is highly disturbing.
Thankfully, the SHO in question along with his cohorts, have been suspended from duty. Now is the time to set the right precedent. All those involved in this despicable act must be dismissed from the police force and criminally charged. Anything less than this will only serve to encourage those enjoying power to continue to abuse it at will.

 

Khairpur Police parades man, woman naked for ‘intent of adultery’

KHAIRPUR: A woman and a man were paraded naked by the Khairpur Police on July 27 on allegations of “intent of adultery” while onlookers recorded videos with their cell phones.
The police, who were witnesses to the case themselves, have remained unavailable to comment.
According to the case registered for the incident, “the police received a tip-off about a man named Mumtaz Hussain Mir Beher who had called on two women for adultery. When the police reached his house, they found him sitting with two women in his arms. No other witnesses were present at the moment, so the two police officials present were taken as witnesses to the case,” as quoted by the BBC Urdu report.
As the officers paraded the man and the women through the streets, eyewitnesses speaking to BBC Urdu said that they had told the SHO that he was not doing the right thing. As if acknowledging the protest, the officer made the naked woman sit in the police van and paraded the man up to the police station.
Witnesses added that the second woman was fully dressed.
The report added that Beher was a local dealer and has been released on bail, while the two women are in Larkana Jail.
However, Beher alleged the police were conspiring against him and had meted him injustice. He added that he has filed a petition against the incident in the Sindh High Court which has been admitted to be heard on August 8.

 

Women paraded naked after ‘asking for girl’s hand in marriage’

A woman and her sister were paraded naked in the Khangarh subdistrict of Muzaffargarh on Wednesday after she asked for a girl’s hand in marriage for her son.

According to details, Jamila* Mai’s son wanted to marry Khadija, daughter of Bilal Arayen, who lived in their neighbourhood. Jamila, along with her sister, Rukhsana* Bibi, took her son’s proposal to Bilal’s house.
Bilal, who has connections with a feudal family, became angry on a “poor” family asking for his daughter’s hand in marriage. When the women arrived at his house, he locked them up in a room and called three of his friends – Abdul Ghaffar, Shahid and Irfan. The men tore the women’s clothes and recorded videos of them. Then they tied the women to a motorcycle rickshaw and paraded them naked in the area.
The police remained reluctant to take official action, but when the residents protested and the situation became tense, the police arrested two suspects Abdul Ghaffar and Irfan, who were found guarding the motorcycle rickshaw.
No FIR has been filed against the suspect and the police said that they will take action when an application is filed.
Sub Inspector Chaudhry Ghulam Rasool the incident involved a property dispute instead of a marriage proposal. He added that Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) local leader Amir Karamat gave protection to the women after the incident.

 

Public humiliation: Six cops accused of parading couple in custody for 14 days 

SUKKUR: Six policemen charged with parading a man and a woman naked in Gambat have been sent to the judicial lockup for 14 days to give police time to investigate the crime.
Cases were registered against them by the Gambat police on orders from the Sukkur DIG, Dr Ameer Ahmed Shaikh, with Khairpur SSP Irfan Baloch conducting the case.
Former Gambat SHO Khair Mohammad Samejo, ASIs Raheem Bux Jamro and Ameer Ali Shar and constables Ghulam Raza Sial, Abdul Latif Junejo and Ghulam Akbar Khaskheli were produced in the court of the civil judge and judicial magistrate on Monday.
According to the police, Jamro, Sial, Shar, Khaskheli and Junejo were arrested on Saturday night, while Samejo was arrested late Sunday night.
The lockup, Samejo said that he was not part of the contingent which raided a man, MM’s, house on July 28. He added that he was not responsible for parading the couple naked to the police station. He claimed that there was no concrete proof against him and that the media was deliberately implicating him in the case.
Previous cases against Samejo
Samejo has a reputation for using ‘unorthodox’ methods while arresting and interrogating suspects. While he was posted at Lakhi Ghulam Shah police station, he was accused of threading a string through the nose of a man named Sonu Jatoi and for unleashing his pet monkey on him while he was tied up. Samejo has denied all accusations.
In another case he was accused of the same thing. Replying to a question about putting the string through the nose of Imam Din Chijjan whilst posted at Salehpat police station, Samejo said that it was all fabricated. He had appealed against a petition filed against him in the Sindh High Court’s Sukkur bench by Chijjan.
Due to this petition, a restriction was placed upon him from being posted as SHO to any police station. He had appealed against the verdict of the high court in the Supreme Court and won, he said.

 

 

Dr Aftab Qureshi’s killing: Karachi police defied limits

HYDERABAD: The defiance of Karachi police officials in their failed bid to rescue Dr Aftab Qureshi was highlighted, as the judicial commission on the neurosurgeon’s murder recorded statements on Monday.
Haseeb Afzal Beg, the former SSP Hyderabad, submitted that Karachi’s Citizens-Police Liaison Committee (CPLC) and Anti-Violent Crime Cell (AVCC) officials had not informed the Hyderabad police before conducting the raid.
“We received the first call at 5:18 am when the operation was already under way,” he told Additional District and Sessions Judge-II Aijaz Khaskheli. “When the [Bhitai Nagar] SHO reached the place, he saw one of the suspects lying about 500 metres away from the bungalow.”
On May 30, Dr Qureshi, a policeman and a suspected kidnapper were killed during a raid to recover the doctor who was kidnapped earlier that month from Karachi.
The former SSP told the court that the incident’s FIR was lodged at the Bhitai Nagar police station, implicating the slain kidnapper and unidentified suspects. The case registered on the complaint of an AVCC policeman was, however, transferred to the Crime Branch on the Sindh inspector general’s order.
The judge has so far recorded testimonies of AVCC chief Noorul Haq Rind, CPLC deputy chief Najeed Danewala, Dr Baldev of Civil hospital, Ghulam Sarwar Noonari, the owner of the bungalow used in the crime, and the doctors of Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences.
In addition to the judicial inquiry, the forensic report of the crime scene has also provided some intriguing revelations. The bullet casings found from the bungalow matched the ammunition of the AVCC. This was in contrast to the assertions of the AVCC and CPLC that they did not fire any shots inside the house.
Earlier in June, the Crime Branch had arrested five suspects on the information obtained from a suspect, Ashok Kumar, who was arrested along with his mother from the bungalow. DIG Farhat Ali Junejo had claimed that a professional gang of kidnappers was involved in the doctor’s kidnapping.

 

In Sindh’s cities, safe sex sermons have kept HIV/AIDS out of sight

KARACHI:  Female sex workers operating in Karachi, Hyderabad and Sukkur have low HIV prevalence rates – although this is a statistic that could change either way if government programmes are pulled.

A cross-sectional study conducted for the Canada-Pakistan HIV/AIDS Surveillance Project mapped the number of female sex workers in these three cities during 2005 and 2006.
Of the 14,900 female sex workers working in Karachi, Hyderabad and Sukkur, 1,158 workers were interviewed for the project. The findings of the study challenge several stereotypes associated with the sex trade.
For one, HIV was not rife among sex workers and they had knowledge about safe sex practices. Condom use at the last sexual act was highest among brothel-based workers in Karachi – 68% of those surveyed – but lowest in Sukkur.
The sex workers were also tested for HIV. Only three from Karachi – one based on the street and two out of kothi khanas/homes – tested positive. In Hyderabad and Sukkur, no sex workers tested positive for HIV.
The study also notes that even though heterosexual contact is the most common mode of HIV transmission globally, in Pakistan the use of injection drugs has been the main mode of transmission since 2004.
Intervention programmes
The study’s authors link the use of condoms by sex workers to the intervention programmes. In Hyderabad and Karachi, there has been a service delivery programme since around 2004.
According to author Arshad Altaf, “Condom use was low among female sex workers in Sukkur because there was no intervention on the ground for them whereas in Karachi a programme targeting female sex workers was functional.  So a targeted programme does make a difference.”
The study also notes that the programmes were focused on the brothels because of convenience and easy access. For example – only 30% of the street-based sex workers knew of the programme but more than half of those based at home or kothi khanas had engaged with the programme.
The ease of access is also because there is a key contact at homes – such as a ‘madam’ or an ‘auntie’ – whereas street female sex workers tend to keep a low profile. As a result, reported condom use in the last sexual act by street-based female sex workers was 12.3%.
There is also an intervention programme in place at Karachi’s jails. A 2009 study on the prevalence of HIV among jail inmates in Sindh stated that the “the overall prevalence of HIV in jail inmates was one per cent.”
However, the use of injection drugs impacted this. According to this study, by members of AIDS control programmes run by the World Health Organisation and the Sindh government, “The high figure of 2.8% of HIV in Karachi Landhi Jail is due to large number of drug users in this jail, which is reflective of the overall high prevalence in this risk group.”
Any HIV prevention programme for high-risk groups for HIV/AIDS, including female sex workers, should be well-organised with emphasis on effective coverage ie reaching the maximum number of persons. The programme should have an adequate number of trained outreach workers or peer workers. The importance of peer outreach workers cannot be undermined for any HIV prevention programme.”

 

Taliban involved in ‘bhatta’ collection in Karachi, says Sindh CM

 

KARACHI:  A meeting at the Sindh chief minister’s residence on Monday was informed that certain militant groups, especially the Taliban were collecting extortion money or “bhatta” in Karachi.

The meeting was jointly chaired by Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah and Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik.
Since the police had no facility to trace callers who are threatening citizens for extortion money, the federal government asked the Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited to supply a Call Detail Record (CDR) to the respective IG police.
The meeting also decided that more areas of Karachi will be patrolled henceforth, including highways, to prevent extortion crimes.
It was claimed that the Taliban’s involvement in such crimes, particularly against the business community, has been witnessed. However, Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah said that with the concerted efforts of the police, Rangers, law enforcement agencies and the general public, the law and order situation had rapidly improved in the city.
Malik said that the objective of criminals was to destabilise Karachi. He warned the target killers, ‘bhatta khors’ and the ‘perchi mafia’ of fierce action if crimes were not curtailed.
The meeting was further informed that 133 ‘bhatta’ collectors had been arrested by the police and Rangers from January to August. Furthermore, over the last few months, 55 policemen and two rangers were martyred in action against criminals. It was also decided that paramilitary forces will take action against Taliban dens and other criminals while exercising zero tolerance.

 

Local government: Sindh government files appeal against court order to hold elections in 60 days

KARACHI: The Sindh government has gone to the Supreme Court to appeal against an order from the Sindh High Court to hold local government elections. The SHC said in its short order that it was giving the Sindh government 90 days to hold elections. Two months are left to the deadline.
On May 18, 2012, a high court bench headed by Justice Faisal Arab ordered the Sindh government to hold elections in 90 days. This was the outcome of a petition filed by Dr Raheela Gul Magsi, a former nazim.
The system of running Sindh’s cities expired legally in February 2010. Elections were supposed to take place in 120 days – but 18 months have passed. In the meanwhile, a bureaucrat has been running Karachi as opposed to an elected representative.
On Monday, the Sindh Advocate General filed the appeal through Mrs Sheeraj Iqbal Choudhry, the Advocate on Record, naming the chief election commissioner and Dr Raheela Gul Magsi as respondents.
The Sindh government maintains that it had sixty days left to file an appeal against the high court order. It is still waiting for a detailed judgment in the high court’s order, however. Sindh is not the only province to have gone to court to seek more time to hold local government elections. The other provinces’ appeals are also pending adjudication.
As the Sindh Local Government Ordinance 2001 had lapsed, the government restored the local government system of 1979. Now under the 1979 law, the government has to again carry out the exercise of the delimitation of the constituencies and unless this is done, local government elections cannot be held, contends the Sindh government.
Its appeal also maintained that a new draft law of the local government system was being discussed by stakeholders and the government was consulting all major political forces before the new piece of legislation would be placed before the Sindh Assembly for a vote.
In these circumstances, holding elections on the high court’s orders is not possible. The general elections could also be affected, contended the Sindh government.
The Sindh government says it had filed requests for a detailed Sindh High Court judgment but it got no response which is why it has gone to the Supreme Court.
The Sindh government’s appeal was received at the Karachi registry of the Supreme Court and was forwarded to the principal seat for an order by the chief justice of Pakistan.

 

Water world: Dr Attaur Rehman senses a scam behind man touting water kit

KARACHI: Sindh Senior Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ayaz Soomro is the latest to jump on the infamous ‘water kit’ bandwagon, having called the man touting the ‘invention’ a national hero.
“Agha Waqar’s invention of a water kit has proved and recognised Sindhi people on world level,” Soomro told journalists at his office. “He is our national hero.”
Eminent physicist Dr Pervez Hoodbhoy and former Higher Education Commission head Dr Attaur Rehman have criticised Agha Waqar, who claims to have invented the water kit that can power a car, for making a mockery of science. However, Soomro called Dr Attaur Rehman, a “production of dictatorship” while categorically rejecting the latter’s scepticism at Waqar’s claims.
Dr Atta refused to respond to the provincial law minister’s statement. He said that it should be enough to evaluate the veracity of the allegation that he was never affiliated with any political party but received civil awards for his services from almost all political leaders, including Benazir Bhutto.
Meanwhile, the question of proper technical examination of the water kit was only brought up in a meeting held at the President House on Wednesday. The meeting, which was presided over by the principal secretary to the president Salman Farooqui, concluded that the car with a water-kit installed will be sent to the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) in Islamabad. The officials were supposed to send the car to the university on Thursday morning but this did not happen.
When Waqar was asked why he did not show up at NUST on Thursday, he said that the plan had changed. “The technical examination has now been deferred for an unidentified period of time and will not happen soon,” he said. When inquired to explain the reason for the deferral, Waqar simply hung up the phone.
Debunking the water kit
“The car has not been subjected to scientific examination and yet the issue has been blown out of proportion by irresponsible media coverage and praises showered by ministers,. He added that he was and is calling for scientific examination of the claim and did not know if he has been served a legal notice for this just demand.
“Had he been genuine and not leading ministers around him with his bizarre claims, he would have filed an international patent to protect his invention and only then he would come out with the claim.” He also believes that there is a massive scam behind the claim to mint money from government and corporate sources.
Waqar has become a household name after he appeared on several primetime talk show hosts to showcase the water kit, which he claims can power vehicles.
Dr Rehman rubbished Waqar’s claim that a 1,000CC vehicle will get 40 kilometres per litre of water, and said these statements could only be made in Pakistan. “In countries where scientific research is taken seriously, nobody would pretend to joke about science in this manner.”
Dr Rehman said that the “self-proclaimed inventor” did not have knowledge about basic processes like electrolysis.
“This is the first mistake he is making and he does not even know that you can’t even get electrolysis on distilled water,” he said, “For this purpose you have to have an electrolyte [a solution that conducts electricity] which can be decomposed by electrolysis.”
He explained that a powerful energy source, which could only be a battery in this case, is required to separate water into hydrogen and oxygen and then recombine them through combustion to release energy. “But firstly, the energy which is required to separate hydrogen and oxygen will always be greater in amount than the energy released and secondly, the external energy source will eventually die out to fail the process since the efficiency of electrolysis in hardly 20 to 30%.”
He added that if this were not the case than this man has invented a “perpetual motion machine” which again, according to a scientific consensus, is impossible. “What this man is proposing is scientifically impossible; he is defying the first law of thermodynamics,” he added.

 

SHO, three cops arrested for parading couple naked in Gambat 

SUKKUR:  The police on Sunday arrested four policemen out of the six who were booked on charges of parading a couple naked from Mirbahar Muhalla to Gambat police station.

A case was registered against all six policemen on Saturday and ASI Raheem Bux Jamro and constables Ghulam Raza Sial and Abdul Latif Junejo were caught near midnight. However, SI Khair Mohammad Samejo was arrested later on Sunday night. Constables Ameer Ali Shar and Ghulam Mohammad Khaskheli are on the run.
The Gambat police had alleged that the couple were involved in an adulterous relationship which is why they had raided the house of the man, MM, with a team led by SHO Khair Mohammad Samejo, on the complaint of the area’s residents. Though the people tried to toss out some clothes to the couple, the police stopped them in their tracks. The couple appeared in court on July 30 but were released on bail and have returned home.
According to the residents MM, often used to invite women to his house and had been arrested twice earlier as well after his neighbours complained.
Though earlier, Khairpur SSP Irfan Baloch was not ready to take action against the responsible police officials, he had to do it after the media took up the case. Khairpur SI Mohammad Samejo was demoted and suspended, while other police officers were suspended. Inspector Haq Nawaz Lolai replaced SHO Samejo.
Sukkur DIG Dr Ameer Ahmed Shaikh expressed his anger over the incident and called it an ‘inhuman act’. He said though MM was not an angel, the way the couple was paraded around and disgraced was despicable. He said that SI Samejo should be awarded exemplary punishment. SI Samejo has been accused of using brutal and extrajudicial methods against suspects. During his posting as Lakhi Ghulam Shah SHO, he had passed a string through a man’s nose and later unleashed his pet monkey on him as “punishment” for an alleged robbery. He used the string again at another man in Salehpat and then he was transferred.

 

Karachi back to being a reservoir for polio, as WHO discovers virus in sewage in Gadap 

KARACHI: As the World Health Organisation appears discouraged from taking further part in future polio eradication campaigns in the city, a new report released by the organisation on Sunday points out that researchers discovered high traces of the poliovirus in sewage samples of several towns in the city.
The discovery is considered to be correlated with inability of teams to visit certain areas due to the tumultuous law and order situation in the city.
The WHO report mentions that the virus reemerged in Sohrab Goth, Badin, Gadap Town, Hyderabad city and Sukkur, which raises questions about the outbreak of the disease beyond Karachi.
Meanwhile, Karachi seems to have regained its status of being one of three high-transmission polio zones in the country. Sewage samples from multiple localities in the city continued to present traces of the virus in lab tests till 2011. However, the efforts of polio teams appeared to have paid off when later samples appeared devoid of the virus, allowing the city be stripped off its high-transmission status for a short period of time.
The resurgence of the virus in the city’s sewerage system has been blamed on the failure of the latest nationwide polio campaign in July to reach thousands of children in Karachi and other trouble spots in the country.
Attacks on dedicated polio workers in the city on July 17 and 20, which left one person dead and two injured, meant that 22,000 children in areas like Gadap could not be vaccinated.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, WHO pointed out that the poliovirus was found in sewerage water samples collected from Gadap. The area has been dubbed as one of two reservoirs of the poliovirus in the country, and has been the focus of much anti-polio campaign activities in the past.
Meanwhile, the latest sewage samples collected from Baldia Town also showed the presence of the poliovirus for the first time this year, after 12 previous samples collected earlier in the year did not.
The bigger picture
Pakistan has reported a total of 27 polio cases so far this year, with 13 of them from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, six from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, three each from Sindh and Punjab, and two from Balochistan. These polio cases were reported from 15 distinct districts in the country. Apart from Sindh, sewerage water from Lahore, Rawalpindi and Peshawar also contained traces of the virus.
“While polio eradication has become a global emergency and it is time to reach more children, it looks like we are determined to miss out on more children than before,” lamented a WHO official who did not want to be named.
The causes for the presence of the poliovirus among the top high transmission areas in the country, are said to be varied. Gadap, Baldia and Gulshan-e-Iqbal are considered black spots in the city because parents in these areas reportedly often refuse to allow their children to be administered the oral polio vaccine. The deteriorating law and order situation, on top of the targeting of polio workers, only makes the matter worse.
Meanwhile, North and South Waziristan have become high transmission zones as polio campaigns have been banned there, depriving more than 200,000 children from being vaccinated. The Bara tehsil in Khyber Agency has been inaccessible for vaccination teams since September 2009. As a result, 10 of the 13 polio cases reported from Fata have actually come from Bara.
Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf has called a meeting of the National Polio Task Force on August 7. The four chief ministers, health ministers and secretaries are supposed to attend the meeting.

 

Loud sound creates scare in DHA

KARACHI:  Tension prevailed in Defence locality after a loud bang was heard at 26th Street Defence Housing Authority (DHA) within the limits of Boat Basin police station on Saturday night.

There were some unconfirmed reports that at least two men riding a motorcycle hurled a hand grenade at the office of a local builder who was getting threatening calls for extortion money and upon refusal, the culprits attacked his office.
As a result, one person was injured while a car parked outside the office was also damaged. SP Dr Farrukh Ahmed when contacted said that investigations suggest that there was no such incident and the builder also denied any call for extortion and no damaged car was found there.

 

Extortion retaliation?: Grenade thrown at departmental store

KARACHI: A man was injured while at least three vehicles caught fire when armed men threw a hand grenade outside a departmental store near the NIPA flyover on Friday evening. 
The Chase departmental store is situated near the NIPA Chowrangi in Gulshan-e-Iqbal within the limits of Aziz Bhatti police station.
Upon being alerted on the attack, a heavy contingent of Rangers and police reached the site while the bomb disposal squad was also summoned to the site.
Police officials said that two men riding a motorcycle had thrown the grenade. They added that some parked vehicles were partially damaged in the attack.
The assailants managed to make good their escape.
Officials believed the grenade was thrown after the store operators refused to pay extortion money, before hastily adding that investigation were still underway.

 

Suspicious Minds: Woman killed over karo kari 

SUKKUR: A man and woman may have been killed on the pretext of karo kari in Shikarpur. The police are still looking for the body of the woman who was identified as Sabhai.
They claim that her husband, Roshan Ali Jatoi, killed her and Shaman Jatoi. The couple and Shaman were residents of Ali Murad Jatoi village in the limits of Rustam police station. According to sources, Sabhai was gunned down by Roshan while she was cooking dinner. Later, Roshan allegedly kidnapped and killed Shaman but that is yet to be confirmed. “Roshan and his accomplices have kidnapped my father and I am afraid they might have killed him,” said Shaman’s son, Shahmir Jatoi.
On the other hand, some sources claimed that Shaman might have gone into hiding after hearing about Sabhai’s murder and the claims made by his son might be false.The Rustam police head constable, Ali Sher, said that he had heard of a woman being killed on the pretext of karo kari but no FIR was registered.

 

Sisters not only preach good deeds, but lead by example 

KARACHI:  In 2006, Sister Rosy watched a church in Sukkur burn down in the name of blasphemy. But four years later, when the devastating floods swept away villages, she and her religious congregation did not think twice about helping those who attacked the church.

“Jesus emphasised forgiving others and that is what we try to follow every day,” said Sr Rosy, who was visiting Karachi for her congregation’s platinum jubilee.
The Franciscan Missionaries of Christ the King celebrated its platinum jubilee on July 28 when Archbishop Joseph Coutts encouraged them to continue serving humanity.
Formed in 1937 by Mother Bridget Sequeira in Karachi, the congregation also spread its services to India and Sri Lanka. Approximately 300 sisters are associated with the congregation out of which 60 are serving in Pakistan.
The sisters travel to impoverished villages around the country, imparting religious teachings, treating the ill and distributing food. Dutch-born Sister Gertrude Lemmens of the congregation is the founder of Darul Sukoon while other sisters also run a home for the elderly in Karachi.
Sr Catherine Wilson, who has been a part of the congregation for the past 35 years, heads the missionary school near the Mazar-e-Quaid. Her affiliation with the Franciscan Missionaries of Christ the King traces to her mother who was adopted by Mother Bridget. “When my mother lost her parents, it was Mother Bridget who adopted her, took care of her and got her married.”
Sr Catherine saw her mother volunteer, teach Urdu to priests and give alms. “When my brother, a priest, returned home and told me about the activities of the nuns, I was motivated to join the congregation.” Sr Catherine was 18 years old when she decided to dedicate her life to God. “My father objected as I was the only daughter. He wanted me to lead a ‘normal’ life and get married. But God had already chosen me,” said the 62-year-old woman.
Sr Catherine also spent several years in Sukkur and Quetta. She continued her work despite resistance; in 1996 she was attacked with a knife in her school in Karachi.  “There are ups and downs in life. But we are content with the path we have chosen and will continue our good work.”

 

Peacock deaths: Fudged figures are being reported in media, say wildlife officials 

HYDERABAD:  As unconfirmed reports about the death of more peacocks continue to float about, wildlife officials have started wrangling with reporters over the veracity of the death toll being reported in the media.

Unofficial estimates place the number of deaths at around 150 since the Newcastle disease hit seven districts of the province. About 12 more peacocks reportedly died on Friday in Sanghar and the toll for Thar was 15 birds. Around 9 peacocks also died in Thar on Saturday. However, the wildlife minister, Dayaram Essarani, said that the number of deaths being reported by the media was grossly inaccurate and blamed it for sensationalising the issue.
Even members of the World Wildlife Fund for Nature have cast suspicion on the numbers being reported by the media. “I have doubts that the villagers’ claims are crosschecked,” said Subhash Dawani, WWF’s conservation manager, who was in Thar to gather facts about the spread of the contagious virus. He said that he had checked six newspapers for stories on peacocks’ deaths and discovered that all of them had reported a similar death toll. “This suggests that the reporters have a select few sources that they approach for information.”
Dawani met journalists in Thar and questioned them about the accuracy of their news stories. He asked them why they had not verified the villagers’ claims by going to villages and seeing the dead peacocks themselves. “I also feel that the media should raise awareness about how to stop the spread of the disease. Newspapers should tell people how to call for help and what the proper method to bury a dead peacock is.”
The journalists refuted the allegations that they had been reporting inflated figures. “On the contrary, we feel that we are not reporting all the deaths occurring in Thar,” the reporter of local newspaper. He claimed that reporters have been getting information from around only 25 villages and there are many others from where information has not been amassed.
The estimated peacock population in Thar alone is between 50,000 and 70,000. An official census has not been conducted in the recent years. The bird can be found in around half of the 2,300 villages of the district, said Bhairumal Ambrani, a wildlife activist working for Society for Conservation and Protection of Environment. He also feels that the actual number of deaths caused by the virus has evaded the reporters as well as the government.
Given the enormous size of Thar, which is spread over 19,638 square kilometers, the reporters said that they lack resources and face conveyance problems which prevent them from visiting far flung villages. “The villagers who keep us informed about new deaths are mostly the ones whose villages we have already visited to verify earlier claims,” said another reporter of a television channel.

 

Water under the Lyari bridge: Faryal brings Lyari rebels back into the PPP fold 

KARACHI:  The promise of elections holds a thaw for those who were frozen out. After nearly a year of sub-zero relations, the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party has brought to the table Lyari’s two warring groups. The party is, after all, mindful of the high stakes in the constituency where its popularity had sunk.

The president’s sister broke the ice. MNA Faryal Talpur has met Baloch and Kutchi representatives after some groundwork was laid by three PPP Karachi leaders in a series of meetings. Abdul Qadir Patel, Senator Yousaf Baloch and Senator Saeed Ghani were tasked with wooing back the men who represented the wounded voters. It got so bad that men considered loyalists, Uzair and Zafar Baloch, had announced that they would stand against PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari.
The two groups are the Kutchi Raabta Committee, and the Peoples Amn Committee, which was banned by the Sindh government on October 10, 2011. In order to get around the slight difficulty of negotiating with a banned organisation, a Buzurg [Elders] Committee emerged from the Peoples Amn Committee. These elders are Professor Iqbal, Shabir Baloch, Habib Hassan, Mama Umair Ali, Pir Bux Lasi and Kamran Baloch. The Kutchis sent 10 men, including Akhtar Kutchi and Siddique Kutchi.
Initially the PPP met the Buzurg committee and the Kutchis separately. On Friday night, Talpur chaired the third one at Chief Minister House, a significant setting. As expected, the Buzurg Committee complained about the Lyari operation and cases registered against Uzair Baloch, Zafar Baloch and Habib Jan Baloch. This skirmish between the police and resistance in Lyari lasted eight days and left 26 people dead in April. An estimated 150 people were injured, including 28 policemen. The committee put the number of casualties at 40, however. “The people of Lyari have given sacrifices with their lives,” said Habib Hassan, referring to the past under Benazir Bhutto. “But instead of rewarding them, the government has put head money for their arrests.”
Sources privy to the development said that the PPP reportedly assured both groups that cases registered against their people, including PAC’s Uzair Baloch and Zafar Baloch, would be withdrawn. These two key players in Lyari are worth a combined Rs6 million in head money. Compensation would be given to those who either were killed or shot and injured during the Lyari operation. For their part, the Kutchi Raabta Committee complained about the Peoples Amn Committee who according to them was patronizing the gang war in the area to kill their workers. “We have no issue with Baloch people living in Lyari, but some criminal elements have made our lives miserable,” Kareem Kutchi referring to his earlier meeting with Talpur. “We have clearly asked her to take action against them.” He did say, however, that Talpur had stressed they mend fences with Baloch families.
Another significant conciliatory overture was the assurance that Lyari’s local leaders would be consulted before candidates were nominated from Lyari for the local and general elections. Kareem Kutchi Talpur had promised that Kutchi and Baloch families will have major stake in local government and general elections. “There are two provincial and one national assembly seats, which will be divided among Kutchi and Baloch living in Lyari,” he said
Zafar Baloch, who once was in charge of security at Bilawal House, Benazir Bhutto’s residence, and later became a founding member of PAC, confirmed the meetings took place. “[Faryal Talpur] is our addi (sister in Sindhi),”.“President Zardari Saheb has no time to meet us. She called us many times to sit and resolve the issue and that is why our people have held a meeting with her.” Sources said a further meeting may take place with the president.
“People living in Lyari, whether they are Baloch or Sindhi, are diehard supporters of the PPP,” remarked Senator Yousuf Baloch, who was one of the three negotiators. “Families fight. But you can fix it.” The fixing will involve a certain amount of legal gymnastics when it comes to the cases against PAC’s Uzair Baloch and Zafar Baloch. “We will look into the matter,” said Senator Yousuf Baloch. “The decision can be reviewed if they are innocent.” This news will not make the Muttahida Qaumi Movement happy. The party is part of the PPP’s coalition government and has been a vocal critic of the PAC, saying it was patronizing gangsters involved in extortion and other crime. On Saturday, the MQM’s Wasay Jalil said, however, that they had no idea about the meetings. “The government has banned the PAC. We cannot comment at the moment on this recent development, but we will give our reaction later on.”
No matter what the reaction is, it seems for now that the PPP and its estranged supporters in Lyari have warmed to each other. Hassan Habib of put it plainly. “It will be difficult for the PPP to get votes from Lyari without the support of PAC,” he said. “We have persuaded Addi Faryal and she has promised to withdraw the cases against PAC leaders.” The winds of change are already blowing. Following the Friday night meeting at CM House, the PPP named Hassan Habib the vice-president of the party’s Karachi division.

 

 

Policeman who paraded couple naked suspended

 

SUKKUR:  A police officer who paraded a couple, accused of adultery, naked to the police station was suspended on Saturday.

Earlier on July 28, a team of police officials in the town of Gambat, led by Station House Officer (SHO) Khair Mohammad Samejo arrested a man and two women and charged them with intentions of committing adultery.
A video clip on Saturday, however, purportedly revealed that the law enforcers, led by SHO Samejo, paraded the man and one of the women naked while escorting them to the police station. Locals tried to stop this by helping them put their clothes back on, but the police prevented them from doing so.
On July 30, the accused were produced in court and their bail pleas were accepted. After the issue was taken up by the media, action was taken against SHO Samejo who was subsequently reverted and suspended.
According to sources in the area, Mumtaz often invited escorts to his house, despite strong complaints from his neighbours.
The sources also alleged that SHO Samejo is known for adopting notorious measures for punishing the accused.

 

Political killings: JSQM chief asks DIG why they haven’t arrested the killers yet

 

SUKKUR: Frustrated with what they call laziness of the police in arresting the killers of party workers, workers of the Jiay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz (JSQM) organised a protest and sit-in outside the office of Larkana DIG on Wednesday afternoon.
The activists were led by the acting chairman of the JSQM, Dr Niaz Kalani and party leader Sanan Qureshi. The rally emerged from Jinnah Bagh and ended with an hour-long sit-in in front of the DIG office.
Addressing the activists, Dr Kalani said that four JSQM workers were gunned down in Guddu, but the police had done nothing to arrest the killers. Another worker was also killed in Larkana, while a JSQM rally in Jacobabad was ambushed resulting in injuries to some workers. He said that even though FIRs were registered the police have yet to arrest anyone.
Dr Kalani and Sanan Qureshi also met the Larkana DIG Dr Saen Rakhiyo Mirani. They alleged that the crime branch SP Aftab Halepoto withdrew the name of the main suspect, Haji Abdul Rauf Khoso, from the Guddu killing case after taking a hefty bribe.
However, the DIG assured the leaders that the men involved in the killing of JSQM workers in Larkana and injuring activists in Jacobabad will be arrested within a week. As far as the case of Guddu killing was concerned, DIG Miranis aid that the crime branch was directly controlled by the Sindh Police IG.
Dr Kalani confirmed that DIG Mirani assured him that the men responsible for Larkana killing and Jacobabad attack will be arrested within a week.

 

Onto the next one: Overcrowded, rickety buses for millions in Karachi

KARACHI:  No new bus models have come into Karachi since 2003, say public transporters, given that those who could afford to invest in the business have made an exit.

According to public transporters unions 18,000 public transport buses, minibuses and coaches operate in Karachi daily. Only 2,000 of these are large buses, and the remainder are minibuses and coaches that can only accommodate 32 passengers each.
“Our minibuses and coaches have 32 seats but usually a single coach or minibus carries up to 80 people due to the shortage of public transport vehicles in the city,” said Syed Mehmood Afridi, the general secretary of the Muslim Minibus and Coach Owners Association.
According to Afridi, Karachi has two main transport bodies – the Karachi Bus Owners Association and the Muslim Minibus and Coach Owners Association – who own the public transport vehicles. “The latest models among the public transport minibuses and coaches are from Mazda, dating to 2002 and 2003. Since 2003 we have not brought new vehicles into our fleet because of the deteriorating law and order situation of the city,” said Afridi. “The large buses have been on the roads since 1980. Some are 1974 models. They are also sold for scrap.”
When the city’s security situation was somewhat stable, those flush with cash were able to bring in new vehicles. However, Afridi says these people were forced to leave the business because of the riots and the violence. “We would have more vehicles if those rich people had not left the field. They would have brought latest vehicles from every corner of the world,” Afridi said. A transporter owns two or three vehicles and has no money to buy new ones.
Getting a new route
The city had 130-131 routes for public transport buses and coaches. Only 80 to 84 are these are regularly used. According to the Transport Deputy Secretary in Sindh Ali Nawaz Panhwar, routes are assigned and specified by the District Regional Transport Authority (DRTA). They issue route permits to the transporters or bus owners. Bus owners are required to renew their route permit every year by submitting the fee of the route. The process of getting a new route involves an application to the DRTA and resolving any objections raised by a board. Transporters need at least 10 buses or coaches to start a new route.
Making money
Transporter and bus owner Rab Nawaz said they pay their drivers and conductors on a daily basis “The drivers and conductors give us the details at the end of the day when they stop the vehicle. They get their daily charges from the money they earn in the day. It’s up to them how much they take and the remaining amount comes to us.”
Forced to operate
Mohammad Imran, 30, has been associated with repairing public transport buses. “The condition of these vehicles is declining every day as they completed their lives years ago. The emergence of the CNG system has almost brought these vehicles to their end. Their engines are made for diesel but transporters run them on CNG to minimise fuel expenses. This has destroyed the old engines and they need some sort of repair daily.” There are also issues with the vehicles’ brakes and gears nearly every other day.

 

UN polio suspension hits 22,000 children in Karachi

 

KARACHI: Around 22,000 children are at risk in Karachi after the World Health Organization suspended polio vaccinations over a spate of bloody shootings, a UN official warned Thursday.
WHO, a partner in government efforts to eradicate the disease, suspended activities in parts of Karachi last month and has not yet been approved to take part in the next campaign due in September.
On July 17, a UN doctor from Ghana working on polio eradication and his driver were shot in Gadap town and three days later a local community worker who was part of the same campaign was shot dead in the same area.
“We had a successful campaign in Karachi until those attacks,” said Elias Durry, senior WHO coordinator for polio vaccination in southern Sindh province.
The campaign targeted 2.2 million children in Karachi, but 22,000 children in Gadap town were not administered polio drops because of security fears, he added.
“We fear the children of Gadap could be in danger of polio if we cannot go to them during our next campaign in September,” Durry said.
Maryam Yunus, WHO spokeswoman in Pakistan, said activities would remain suspended in the area until police gave the go-ahead.
Police said they were still investigating the July shootings.
“We are investigating the incidents and trying to ensure fail-safe security for health workers in the future,” said Mohammad Sultan, a local police official.
Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria are the only three countries where polio remains endemic.
But Mazhar Nisar, health education advisor at the prime minister’s polio monitoring cell, told AFP that the number of cases was in decline.
“Pakistan is no longer the country with the highest number of polio cases. It was for the past two years consecutively. Now Nigeria is the country with the highest number of polio cases,” he said.
He said that 27 polio cases had been reported so far this year, compared to 71 for the same period last year and 198 for the whole of 2011.
“But there is no reason for complacency and we have to work harder to achieve the goal of a polio-free Pakistan,” he said.
In Pakistan’s northwestern tribal areas, health officials said 240,000 children were also at risk after warlord Hafiz Gul Bahadur and the Pakistani Taliban banned vaccinations in protest at US drone strikes.

 

U-turn: Court summons chief traffic officer on Aug 1 

LAHORE:  Hearing a petition against shifting of a U-turn on Ferozepur Road in front of the General Hospital, the Lahore High Court on Thursday summoned the chief traffic officer on August 1, the next date of hearing.

The U-turn was shifted four kilometres to facilitate the Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS).
Earlier on Thursday, Traffic Engineering Transport Planning Agency Chairman Saeed Akhtar appeared in the court and said that the BRTS was a public welfare project. He said after the completion of the project the changes made on the roads will be restored.
Justice Nasir Saeed Sheikh, however, expressed dissatisfaction with the chairman’s explanation and summoned the chief traffic officer for the next hearing.
The petition was filed by a resident of the area who said that the authorities removed the u-turn in front of the hospital for the construction of the BRTS project. He said the shifting of the U-turn will cause problems for the patients and ambulances.

 

Landhi to Saddar in 30 minutes, thanks to rapid transit

KARACHI:  In Karachi, a new transport system is in the making. In this metropolis, where absence of subways or metros leaves the citizens with no other inexpensive option than to board the old, rusted passenger buses, finally there may be an alternative which allows them to shun the rickety coaches that take forever to reach one part of the city from another.

Construction is about to start on a dedicated bus lane for the Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS). The 22.4-kilometre track from Dawood Chowrangi in Landhi to Numaish Chowrangi in Saddar is expected to reduce the travelling time by half in this ever-expanding city. Another couple of months remain in its paperwork but the actual service will become available before 2014.
The city administration – Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) – thinks the project is imperative, considering the worsening traffic chaos.
“This is the way forward for Karachi,” says Anwer Baig, the director of Karachi Mass Transit Cell (KMTC). “It is the quickest and the most affordable way to travel around a city, which is fast expanding.”
With fuel prices soaring and car parking increasingly becoming a headache, the authorities have shown renewed interest in fixing the public transport system. The BRTS envisages around 200 large articulated buses running on either sides of the road’s green belt at an interval of few minutes.
“The median will be dedicated for buses only and the New Jersey barriers will be placed parallel with the track to stop motorcycles and cars from coming in,” said Baig.
The first BRTS track has been named Yellow Line. Once it is complete, around 13,000 passengers will be using it every hour.
The official said that the success of the project will centre on speed, convenience and privilege. While the average speed of traffic in Karachi is between 14km and 17km per hour, the rapid transit will offer the travellers to travel at 25km to 30km per hour. At present, the public transport buses are the most used medium of commuting but the most disliked also. Passengers are forced to ride atop the buses due to congestion and there are no speed regulations.
The passengers using rapid transit will have some privileges. At many intersections on its route, the buses will get longer “green time” – which means the people in private cars would have to wait at the stops a bit longer.
“We cannot have a dedicated track on the entire length of a route like Sharae Faisal. Rapid transit buses will mix with regular traffic before re-entering the tracks. This is done everywhere in the world but the traffic needs to be regulated at such points,” Baig said.
“Intelligent traffic lights will have to be installed for this purpose,” he said. “The role of traffic police to make [rapid transit] a success remains imperative.”
Too grand for Karachi?
The authorities believe there is every reason to be optimistic. “Many cities around the world are rapidly adopting this solution,” says Baig, who has been associated with the project since its inception.
Previously, many government-sponsored transport projects have come to a standstill. The poor condition of Green Buses and Metro Coaches are an example of the official apathy towards the issue. Even the rapid transit project was conceived a couple of years ago, but no headway were made until recently. But the KMTC director says some things have changed for the better this time.
“We have the Karachi Master Plan 2020 and a separate transportation plan. The Public Private Partnership Act 2010 is already in place, so we have legal cover,” he said. “Things will go smoothly.”
The authorities’ seriousness can be gauged from fact that the KMC is finally inviting expressions of interest (EOI) to carry out a feasibility study of the Yellow Line. An amount of Rs500 million has already been set aside for the rapid transit buses in this year’s budget.
It’s all business
The Yellow Line has been conceived on public-private partnership to make sure government has some role in public transport. According to officials, the cost of the project is estimated at Rs2 billion, which means Rs20 bus tickets would be enough to sustain it.  “Any company which runs the system can easily good earn money without pushing up fares,” said another official. “There are 21 stations along the route. They can use them for earning advertisement revenue. There are many other ways to make use of the space.”
Design
The stations will be built at the median of the road and will be four metres wide. Once a bus leaves the station, the median’s width will reduce to 0.75 metres to provide enough space for the buses to run on the roads. Each bus track is 3.5 metres wide.
The stations will be connected to sidewalks with a pedestrian bridge to let people coming from both sides to come onto the platform. The platform will be at an elevation to let passengers easily walk onto the bus without using stairs.
According to initial details, the buses will not be air conditioned, which has been done mainly to keep costs low and the fare within affordable limits. There is one problem, however. “People will have to get used to using the right-side door of the bus,” Baig says. “This means the driver’s side as the platform is in the middle of the road.” A Japanese firm – Japan International Cooperation Agency – has carried out detailed studies for two more rapid transit tracks. Six BRTS have been proposed for Karachi.

 

Police shuffle: Range Crime Cell done away with ‘for the better’ 

KARACHI: Only nine months into its inception, the Karachi police’s Range Crime Cell has been dissolved – in an apparent bid to strengthen the investigation wing. The authorities are also mulling to restore the police investigation wing as previously, although with some changes.
Since the system of separate investigation and operation wings was abolished, the SHOs were the given the responsibility to investigate the cases also After the Police Order 2002 was done away with, junior police officers were dealing in cases and were appearing before the courts to explain headways in investigation. The investigation side was getting neglected and the cases were piling on.
In October 2011, the police authorities had set up the Range Crime Cell to avoid ‘incapable’ officers dealing with high-profile cases. An officer at least the rank of a police superintendent was appointed to investigate such cases. SSP Niaz Ahmed Khosa was posted to the east wing, SSP Khurram Waris to the west and SP Arshad Kamal Kiyani at the south zone.
Unfortunately, the cell was only dealing with cases specifically sent by the deputy inspector general or additional inspector general.
Now the Range Crime Cell has been dissolved on the orders of Sindh Inspector General of Police Fayyaz Leghari “for the betterment of the investigation side”.
Karachi AIG Iqbal Mehmood  the police investigation wing is being restored again but not in line with the Police Order 2002. “The authorities are trying to increase the investigation benchmark,” he explained. According to Mehmood, the SSPs working at the Range Crime Cell will now be simply referred to as SSP Investigation and will deal with all special cases sent by the DIG level officers. All zones will have one SSP with two SP-ranked officers as his subordinates who will probe the cases of their respective police stations in the zone. The investigation officers will work at the police stations under their respective SHO.
Under the Police Order, 2002, the police had two separate wings – investigations and operational. The station investigation officer (SIO) were responsible for the investigation aspect at police station and had to report to the supervisory police officers (SPO) – an officer ranked DSP or ASP, who looked after two to three police stations. The SPO would then report the cases to the SP, SSP and then the SSP to DIG Investigations.
Range Crime Cell’s SSP Saqib Sultan, who earlier replaced SSP Khurram Waris, they were waiting for the official notification on the next strategy to deal with investigation cases.
“Simply saying, the cell’s name has been removed and all five zones [of Karachi] will have SSP Investigation,” he said. “Obviously, this will help to reinforce investigations.”

 

Electoral rolls: Number of voters drops in Sindh  

KARACHI:  The numbers of registered voters in Sindh has plummeted to 10.84 million – about 1.3 million less than the number of voters in the 2008 elections, revealed the computerised electoral rolls, which were displayed on Tuesday by the provincial election commission.

According to the new list, the five districts of Karachi have 6.8 million voters. The Sindh election commissioner Sono Khan Baloch said that the drop in the number was because the body had made sure there were no loopholes in the registration process, leaving no room for people to register themselves multiples times and subsequently cast a vote more than once. In previous elections, some people had managed to vote more than once by using their computerised cards, manual identity cards, driving licences  as well as club membership cards.
But this time around, the only documentation that is being accepted for voters’ registration is their CNIC, said Baloch. He said that those people who obtained CNIC cards on or before June 15 have also been included in the new list. Registration will continue till the government announces the date of the general elections. Baloch said that if anyone complained about errors in the electoral roll, these would be rectified promptly. After a number of petitions were filed in the Supreme Court of Pakistan challenging the authenticity of 2008 electoral rolls, the National Data Registration Authority (NADRA) was asked to verify these rolls from their data base which revealed that there were 37 million bogus votes in the list.
But the provincial election commissioner remains optimistic that there will be no mishaps this time around. “The election staff will not come under any pressure and hopefully the entire process will be fair and transparent,” he said.  He hoped that NADRA’s computerised list would also allay fears that the upcoming elections would be tainted by massive fraud.
Baloch also added that a conspiracy to register around 1.2 million votes of Sindh in Balochistan had been foiled. “We have registered a case against five people of the election commission,” he said.
The crackdown came after PPP MPAs including finance minister Murad Ali Shah and Ghulam Qadir Chandio alleged that votes of their constituencies had been transferred to Balochistan. However, Senator Shahi Syed of the Awami National Party criticised the new electoral rolls, claiming that thousands of votes from Sindh have been transferred elsewhere.

 

Nurses ‘poisoning’: Christians call for inquiry 

KARACHI: Christian leaders have called for an impartial inquiry into the alleged poisoning of nine nurses at a government-run hospital.
Nine Christian trainee nurses at the Civil Hospital Karachi fell ill Sunday night allegedly after drinking poisoned tea prepared at their hostel. They were claimed to have been deliberately poisoned because of their faith.
Parliamentarian Saleem Khokhar, called on the government and the police to launch a joint investigation to find out the actual cause of poisoning. While rumours initially floated that the poisoning took place as the nurses were drinking tea when their Muslim colleagues were fasting, Khokhar ruled that out, saying that the incident took place late night when everyone had broken their fast.
Condemning the incident, Christian leader Michael Javed went a step ahead and asked for a judicial investigation.
Claiming that the society has become extremely intolerant and was not allowing the minorities to live in peace, the former MPA requested the chief justice to take suo motu notice of the incident. “The government has turned a blind eye to the persecution of minorities; our girls are being [forcibly] converted and our churches are being attacked,” he lamented. Javed said that it was unfortunate if the nurses were really poisoned because the religious minorities also respect the Muslim faith and refrain from drinks and food in front of them. Human Rights Commission of Pakistan’s Abdul Hai also expressed concern over the incident. “A large number of nurses are Christians and are [already] subjected to ill-treatment and prejudice,” he added.
Lambasting the incident, the Christian community members also organised a press conference at the Karachi Press Club on Tuesday.
William Sadiq, the coordinator of a welfare organisation working for minority women, was suspicious of the hospital administration and alleged that they were hiding the real matter. She suspected some other girls in the hostel may have poisoned the students over some rivalry.  “It could even be religious targeting,” said Sadiq. The Christian leaders also shouted slogans outside the Karachi Press Club against the hospital’s administration and the rising religious intolerance.
The Civil hospital medical superintendent, Prof Saeed Quraishy, ruled out the involvement of anyone from the hostel, however. “They made the tea themselves, how can there be someone else involved,” he said.
He added that the hospital has registered a case at the Eidgah Police Station and tea samples have been sent to the Aga Khan University Hospital for toxicology tests. He confirmed that except for one student who is still admitted to the hospital, all ‘poisoned’ nurses were discharged.
According to one of the affected nurses, a colleague had made the tea after 10pm and immediately after drinking the liquor they fell ill. They were taken to the Civil hospital’s emergency and sent back after treatment. But the students developed complications in the morning and had to be taken to the hospital again.

Tweet