Posts Tagged ‘Tank’

The real Watergate

,,In the time it takes for a person to finish drinking a glass of water, three innocent children die somewhere in the world. According to Unesco, ,5,000 lives are lost each day, due to preventable water and sanitation-related diseases. Supplying clean water could vacate 40 per cent of hospital beds in developing nations such as Pakistan.

Providing clean drinking water to the world’s sixth most populous city is the responsibility of the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB). Given the 15-million population of Karachi, which grows at six per cent every year, it’s an arduous task.

Since the media is not allowed into the premises of the KWSB water plant, I carried out an undercover survey to determine the quality of water supplied to the ever-expanding metropolis. Located at the COD Hills in the Gulshan-e-Iqbal area of Karachi, this plant supplies 120 million-gallons-a-day (mgd).

The chlorine dilemma

Two water treatment plants, imported from France and Germany, were included in the survey. These plants work on the principle of the pre and post chlorination, coagulation and precipitation of settled matter in sedimentation basin. The last stage involves further purification in rapid sand filter beds.

While this lengthy process is meant to provide clean water, tests conducted at independent laboratories showed starkly contrasting results, which revealed that no chlorine whatsoever was infused into the raw water. This being despite the fact, that the KWSB buy chlorine on a monthly basis. The board also openly claims to monitor the presence of chlorine in the water.

However, the absence of chlorine that I discovered was further strengthened by an official of KWSB who said that he had been working with the organisation for over 10 years and had never seen appropriate amounts of chlorine infused in the water.

Also suggesting the illegal selling of chlorine, a highly reputed official who runs a private business in the chemical industry, on condition of anonymity said, “A few years ago, I needed a chlorine cylinder, which I very easily bought from the KWSB at a reasonable amount.”

According to Farhat Naveed, a retired microbiologist of KWSB, who still serves at the organisation, chlorination tests are carried out “approximately three to four times a day.”

“We are working in collaboration with the Karachi University, Pakistan Council for Industrial and Scientific Research (PCSIR) and Agha Khan Laboratories and there are no chances of error at all,” she told Dawn.com, rejecting all claims of the absence of chlorine.

During this survey, I visited the laboratory at the COD water plant and discovered that the staff was not present on their seats or working rather they were indulging idly in chit chat. Some of the workers’ children, off from school were playing around on the premises.

Following-up on the microbiologist’s claims, I spoke to officials at PCSIR. Dr Askari, the institute’s director for planning and development confirmed that it conducts regular tests on water samples. Curiously, however, no representatives of the PCSIR are involved in the process of collecting samples from the plant.

A female medical officer was reached to comment on the consequences of this absence of chlorine in the water. She quoted, “Among the many cases of diseases that come in, at least 40-45 per cent are those of water borne diseases. Sadly, the situation is getting worse by the day, and due to a lack of awareness programs, people continue to fall prey to these diseases.”

Now it’s clean, now it’s not

In the subsequent process of clarifying, each sedimentary tank that was inspected was either not functioning or found to be in an unserviceable condition. When officials were inquired, they argued that the water coming from the Indus River is free of turbidity, hence, “diminishing the need of sedimentation in the tank.”

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A non-functional sedimentation tank. –Photo by author

With regard to this claim, a senior professor, currently working in collaboration with KWSB said, “The water is not only highly turbid but also contains high amounts of heavy metals which are hazardous for health and KWSB is fully aware of it.”

During the survey I found that only a few sub-plants were functional, especially in the last stage of the filtration process. The granular beds of the filtration plant (which separate the clean water from the impurities) were in dilapidated condition. Shockingly, there was a hole on the side of the bed, the water was forced to gush through it without being cleaned.

This ‘treated water’ is then distributed to Karachi.

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The water is passed through only from one side where no sand bed is present. –Photo by author

To verify the results of the observation, samples of raw water from the filtration plants and storage tanks were collected and checked at an independent laboratory.

The results depicted the true picture: While chlorine (which destroys disease-causing organisms in water) was infused at the initial stage, it was absent at the last stage, making the water harmful for health and leaving the consumers vulnerable to water-borne diseases such as cholera, typhoid and dysentery. Microbiological tests endorsed these findings.

‘A neglected body’

Interestingly, ,KWSB claims that it carries out tests, based on ‘random water sampling for bacteriological analysis’ at the COD Hills plant, as well as counter checking the samples through tests.

When probed about the standard of the water being cleaned and then distributed by the KWSB, officials denied being at fault. “The water is clean and pure until it leaves our premises (COD plant). It becomes unclean during distribution through the water lines, which are not looked after.”

However, according to the board’s website, it adopts remedial measures by expositing the line to locate the cause of any reported contamination in water.

Officials at the KWSB were quick to blame the government for a lack of interest in its grievances. According to one official, only 16 per cent of the city’s population pay their water bills.

“We cannot improve our technology and efficiency under such circumstances,” an official complained, claiming that if the board were provided the same resources as some of the other bodies, like the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC), it could improve the condition of the water plants and lines. Load-shedding, a problem plaguing the entire country is also one of the reasons for the board’s inefficiency, according to one of its chief engineer.

PCSIR’s Deputy Managing Director Ali Muhammad Palijo, when contacted, favoured KWSB’s stance.

“The water (received from Indus River) contains a small amount of turbidity, but the KWSB still infuses chlorine to ensure purity in the water provided to Karachi’s inhabitants,” he said.

Reiterating the board’s protest on lack of funding, he said: “The KWSB board doesn’t have enough funds, which affects the overall results. Eventually, at some stage, raw water does mingle into the treated water.”

Similarly, while officials at the board were reluctant to take the blame for the quality of water being distributed, they did admit that it wasn’t meeting health standards.

I was rather amused to learn from officials at the site that when high-ranking government officials visit the plant’s premises, they are served branded bottles of mineral water.

Officials offered me a visit to their ‘LED’ plant, assuring me that was in a much better condition, to which I inquired: “What is the fault of the people receiving water from the COD plant?” Befitting my expectations, they just smiled and said they don’t have any choice.

A PHD professor who is also conducting a research on the water quality of KWSB stated that he was only offered a visit to the LED plant, the COD water plant was not mentioned.

Problem faced by the journalist

Initially, I was helped by a person directly involved with KWSB, I promised to not disclose his identity through out the investigation, and I stand by my promise.

But somehow my source was disclosed by KWSB officials, after which he started pressurising me stop the survey, and subsequently the article. When I declined to do so, I started receiving threats from him.

I discovered from my source that the KWSB personnel, who had officially given me their statements, were threatening my source of severe consequences in the case that this article was published.

My source additionally said that after I met with the KWSB’s officials, chlorine was now being properly infused to delude the public and counter my claim.

KWSB officials are accusing me of manipulating the results, however, I’d be more convinced of their attempts were they not approaching my friends and calling me continuously to stop the article.

I also discovered that a political party’s interest is vested in the organisation which is hindering the efficiency of the organisation and increasing corruption in it.

During this ordeal, I was perhaps most disappointed when my own friend (also a lecturer in a reputed university) called me and requested that I stop writing on this. He simply said: “Do you really think the status quo will change by what you’re doing? Nothing will change!”

I have only stated the above so, that the readers of this article realise the odds against the media in trying to render services to the public. Hundreds of thousands of lives are at stake. And it is your awareness that will improve the chances of the KWSB working efficiently. It is your awareness that will challenge the status quo.

,,The writer is an Assistant Multimedia Producer at Dawn.com

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Via DAWN.com

Rebel rivalry and suspicions threaten Syria revolt

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Syrians and local residents shout slogans and wave a giant Syrian opposition flag during a protest against Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad and in solidarity with Syria’s anti-government protesters, in Tripoli, northern Lebanon. -Reuters Photo

ANTAKYA: Rebel fighter Mustafa and his trio of burly men look out of place at a trendy Turkish cafe near the Syrian border, dressed in tattered jeans and silently puffing on cigarettes as they scoop into tall ice-cream sundaes.    

Their battleground is across the frontier in Syria, where they are fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad. But like many rebels in northern Syria, they are so desperate for weapons and money, they are searching for new donors in Turkey.

“When it comes to getting weapons, every group knows they are on their own,” says the 25-year-old with a patchy beard. “It’s a fight for resources.”

Nominally Mustafa’s rebels fight for the Free Syrian Army (FSA), but the FSA, lacking international recognition or direct state funding, is a often just a convenient label for a host of local armed groups competing fiercely for scarce financing.

So fiercely, they sometimes turn their guns on each other.

“Everyone needs weapons. There is tension. There is anger and yes, sometimes there is fighting if rebels in one town seem to have an unfair share of weapons,” said Mustafa, who comes from Syria’s northwestern province of Idlib, which borders Turkey and has been a hotbed of resistance to Assad.

Such mistrust is compounded by the competing agendas of outside parties who are further fragmenting the rebel movement.

Finding a donor usually means using personal connections, rebels say. They get relatives or expatriate friends to put them in touch with businessmen or Syrian groups abroad.

But once fighters go to private donors for weapons, they have to negotiate, and the price may be ideological.

Many say Islamic groups, from hardline Salafists to the exiled Muslim Brotherhood, bankroll many battalions that share their religious outlook. The Brotherhood has representatives in Antakya ready to meet interested rebels, fighters say.

Leftist politicians and other opponents of Islamic militants are trying to counter that influence by funding rival armed bands.

“These groups are all making their own militias, like they are some kind of warlords. This is dividing people,” said one activist who asked not to be named. “They aren’t thinking about military strategies, they are thinking about politics.”

SPLINTER GROUPS  

With the UN peace plan for Syria on the ropes, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, regional rivals of Assad’s main ally Iran, are likely to increase calls for the insurgents to be armed.

Western powers wary of military entanglement in another Middle Eastern hotspot have so far said this would not be helpful, while proposing non-lethal aid to the opposition.

Even if that were to change, it is not clear how military supplies could be directed to competing insurgents hopelessly outgunned by Assad’s artillery and tanks, many of whom don’t even agree on a military strategy.

Several rebel groups have formally broken with the FSA to form outfits such as the Syrian Liberation Army, the Patriotic Army and The Alternative Movement, whose real identity and clout are hard to assess, because the government restricts media access to Syria.

The FSA has pledged to honour the shaky UN-backed truce that took effect on April 16 if the army reciprocates. But the Syrian Liberation Army says it will keep fighting.

“We don’t accept the ceasefire. We have slowed down a bit, only because we don’t have enough weapons,” its spokesman, Haitham Qudeimati, told Reuters.

Fighters say private donors, possibly frontmen for Gulf states such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar, have funnelled millions of dollars to favoured rebel groups. Many suspect the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafis are getting the lion’s share.

A 60-year-old rebel commander called Abu Shaham, from the central city of Hama, accused the Brotherhood of hanging back from the battlefront to overpower other rebel groups later.

“The Brotherhood is pumping money into the rebel units yet their men don’t fight as much as us. They are almost always the first to retreat. Why?” he asked.

“They are not thinking about this phase in the battle. They care about what comes next. They want to save themselves for the struggle after Assad falls, to come out the strongest.”

Analyst Joseph Holliday, of the US-based Institute for the Study of War, said if foreign powers do not engage with the rebels in an orderly way, their rivalries could create chaos.

“If we don’t recognise the rebels, anyone can set up shop in Turkey and start funding opposing groups,” said Joseph Holliday, of the US-based Institute for the Study of War. “We don’t know who is arming who … I’m afraid by the time the West decides to do something it may be too late.”

Some rebels worry Islamist radicals could stoke tensions between majority Sunni Muslims, who have driven the revolt, and minority Alawites, Shia’s and Christians, who are wary of it.

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Via DAWN.com

Muzaffargarh Ranges: Kayani witnesses jamming of tanks

The Pakistan armed forces successfully experimented with the technique of jamming movement of tanks and using laser technology in modern warfare. ‘Enemy’ tanks were tracked and jammed through centrally controlled laser technology via wireless supervision and monitoring.

The workout was held in reply to the recent exercises conducted by the Indian armed forces and after comprehensive deliberation by the research and strategic division of the Pakistan armed forces.

Armour troops exhibited their skill and crafty manoeuvres were seen during the exercises. Cobra gunship helicopters also engaged targets successfully at different positions. The Miraaj Aircraft of Pakistan Air Force also participated in the exercise providing air cover to the troops in offensive and defensive manoeuvres.

Infantry and Army troops also demonstrated their skills. The aim of the exercise is to provide a tactical environment to the troops of armour, infantry and artillery for handling weapons and equipment during war.

The COAS appreciated the high standard of professional skills displayed by the participating troops. He congratulated the officers and troops for their successful exercises and advised them to keep improving their professional training.

COAS, while talking to troops over lunch, said: “We are continuously focusing on the health and efficiency of our troops on individual and collective level.” He discussed the benefits of useful new insurance policies for the troops adding that they were highly beneficial for them and their families.

Kayani also discussed the new facilities launched by Canteen Stores Department (CSD) for the armed forces.

He personally met the troops of all regiments who shared their problems with him. The COAS assured them of being aware of their challenges and working to make improvements with the available resources.

Earlier, on his arrival at Multan, the COAS was received by Commander Multan Corps Lieutenant General Shafqaat Ahmed.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 25^th, 2012.

Pakistan Railways benefits from recent air scares

In days following the crash, Pakistan Railways witnessed an unprecedented increase in its passengers, especially on the Business Express train being operated as a joint venture between the Lahore and Karachi junction.

With growing public distrust in air safety of private airlines and the national flag carrier, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) operating at full capacity, commuters are now flocking to the Business Express train as an alternate mode of travelling between Karachi and Lahore.

According to Zaffar Chauhadry, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Business Express, Karachi bound trains witnessed additional passengers on Monday.

“On a regular Monday, the overall passenger occupancy is estimated around 40% which has increased up to 60% this week,” Chauhadry added.

The increase in passengers, he said is definitely due to the recent air tragedies as people are now frightened of travelling via private airlines.

Despite having its own problems, and limited fleet of operational locomotives, the PR has managed to return life back to the platform of the otherwise vacant Lahore railway station.

“We were scheduled to fly on Sunday via private airline, but when news of fuel tank leakage hit the news circuit we decided to travel via the rail network,” said Jamal Shah, an apprehensive commuter travelling to Karachi along with his wife on the Business Express train.

“I am not the only one to choose the Business Express, there are many families who have quit air travel for the time being due to the series of incidents,” he added.

“The recent incidents have tainted the airline industry, but railways have always carried more passengers during the summer season, mainly due to lower fares for air-conditioned coach services,” said Pakistan Railways spokesperson Ijaz Shah.

Conversely, the road network has failed to attract skeptic air travelers, primarily due to the low quality of roads and longer distances, shortage of quality bus transportation companies and dilapidated highways.

Correction: An earlier version of the article misspelt Chauhadry as Chauhady. The correction has been made. 

Published in The Express Tribune, April 24^th, 2012.

Regime fire kills 28 civilians in Syria’s Hama

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An image grab taken from a video uploaded on youtube on April 23, 2012 shows smoke rising following bombardment from Syrian security forces in the city of Hama. -AFP Photo

DAMASCUS: Syrian troops killed 28 civilians in the central city of Hama on Monday, monitors said, as UN military observers toured protest centres near the capital and both the European Union and the United States imposed new sanctions.

The persistent bloodshed 11 days into a promised ceasefire sparked growing criticism from opposition activists of the fledgling UN mission which still numbers just eight observers out of a planned initial deployment of 30.

Government troops strafed Hama’s Arbaeen neighbourhood and its environs with light and heavy machineguns, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Video footage posted online by activists showed mortar rounds hitting the area with plumes of smoke rising skywards. The UN observers visited several rebel suburbs near the capital and were met by thousands of protesters demanding the collapse of the regime.

Amateur video posted by activists on YouTube showed four of the unarmed observers in blue helmets walking in Douma, a northern suburb of Damascus, surrounded by a huge crowd waving Syria independence flags.

“The people demand the fall of the regime,” some chanted while others called for the arming of the rebel Free Syrian Army.

Monitors also visited the town of Zabadani, 50 kilometres (30 miles) northwest of the capital, where regime forces and rebel fighters have clashed repeatedly in past months. Fares Mohamed, an activist in Zabadani, said the observers’ visit lasted barely a half hour.

“They refused to head to a location less than a kilometre (mile) from the town to see tanks hidden by the regime,” said Mohamed, who was reached via Skype.

Two members of the observer advance team on Sunday set up base in the central city of Homs, scene of some of the fiercest fighting between government troops and rebels since the outbreak of the 13-month revolt against President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

The official state news agency SANA said the observers toured the battered city’s Al-Waer neighbourhood on Monday.

UN leader Ban Ki-moon has decided that the deployment of 300 ceasefire monitors in Syria can start next week, a UN spokesman told AFP on Monday.

Following a UN Security Council resolution that allowed the mission, Ban was left to make an “assessment” as to whether it was safe for the monitors to go. “The decision has been taken” and the monitors should start arriving next week deputy UN spokesman Eduardo del Buey said.

Activists have been sceptical of the UN mission, saying the regime was simply buying time and was not committed to the ceasefire plan.

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Via DAWN.com

Two boys drown separately

KARACHI – Two boys drowned in separate mishaps in the city on Sunday.
The first incident took place in Abdullah Goth, where four-year-old Raza, son of Hashim, was playing at a cattle farm with his friends when he jumped into a water tank and drowned. He had drowned when area people rushed to his help. The body was shifted to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre and later handed over to the …

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Bhoja Air crash: ‘Acceleration at low height caused mid-air explosion’

An initial investigation report compiled with information received from air traffic control has revealed that the Bhoja Air plane was flying at 500km per hour which caused the fuel tank to burst, resulting in a mid-air explosion, scattering debris for miles around, Express News reported on Saturday.

The plane, which was in landing position, should have been at 1,500 to 1,700ft above ground and was only at 200ft and was travelling at 500km, Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) sources said.

The plane was 10km away from the runway, considering this, the plane was flying too low and too fast to make the landing, sources told Express News.

According to the initial investigation report, the last words the co-pilot said to air traffic control were “I have lost control of the plane”, after which they lost contact with the plane at around three minutes before crash.

Sources said that this report was not made with information from the black box and was just a result of initial investigations conducted.

Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira, talking to the media, vowed that the investigation into the crash will be done as soon as possible. “We will make sure that there is no human delay… We will try to arrange for the compensation as well.”

When asked about the investigation of the Airblue crash, Kaira said that the investigation was done and the report was presented to the public too, now it is up to them whether they want to believe the report or not.

“AirBlue belongs to our opponent party, why would we have hidden the truth?” he questioned and added that before the details of the Bhoja crash come, everything will be ‘just speculations’.

He announced that the CAA will hold a press conference at 4pm and further added that 115 bodies of the crash victims have been identified.

The passenger flight travelling from Karachi to Islamabad carrying 121 passengers and six crew members came hurtling down towards the outskirts of Rawalpindi at 6:46pm on Friday evening.

Among the passengers were five infants and six children. There were no survivors.

Bhoja Air’s aged B737-200 took off from Karachi airport at 5:05pm and crashed five nautical miles from Islamabad airport on the village of Hussainabad. However, rescuers said people on the ground remained largely safe as the bulk of the wreckage fell in an open area.

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Homs calm as UN team visits: Syrian activists

Members of a UN monitors team, tasked with monitoring the UN-backed ceasefire in Syria, arrive at a hotel in Damascus. — AFP file photo

BEIRUT: Fighting and government shelling stopped in Syria’s central city of Homs Saturday and troops hid tanks in advance of a visit by UN cease-fire observers who toured the area, activists said.

An advance team of seven UN monitors has been in the country for about a week to assess compliance with an internationally brokered cease fire that went into effect on April 12.

The team has visited several restive areas including the southern province of Daraa and some of the suburbs of the capital Damascus. But their visit to Homs is particularly important as the city, Syria’s third largest, along with its hinterland are among the regions hardest hit by the violence that has left more than 9,000 people dead over the past 13 months, according to the UN.

A municipal official in Homs said the team met with the governor in the city, then went out on a tour. They official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to speak to the media.

The United Nations hopes to have 30 observers in the country next week to monitor the tenuous cease-fire between regime troops and the opposition, and the Security Council reached a tentative agreement Friday night on plans for the deployment of up to a total of 300. France’s UN Ambassador Gerard Araud said the text, negotiated over many hours, would be sent to capitals overnight for consideration and the council would meet Saturday for a vote.

The UN advance team did not did not venture out Friday, the day when anti-government protests are usually held after the noon prayers, in a blow to the protesters’ hopes. The team’s head, Col. Ahmed Himiche, said they did not go out ”because we don’t want to be used as a tool for escalating the situation”.

Activists say Syrian troops fired tear gas and bullets that day at thousands of protesters who spilled out of mosques after noon prayers, while the state media reported that bombs and shootings killed 17 soldiers.

In contrast, much of Syria was quiet Saturday, activists said.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Homs was peaceful for the first time in more than a week.

”Until now I have not received any report of violence, including the city of Homs that was witnessing daily shelling,” said Rami Abdul-Rahman, who heads the Observatory. ”It is quiet until this moment, unlike the past days.”

Salim Qabani, an activist based in the Homs province, said troops hid armored vehicles. He said tanks were pulled off the streets and into a police base. ”We heard that the observers are coming to Homs today,” he said.

Qabani added that regime forces hid nine tanks in trenches in nearby Qusair. Rebels hold parts of the town, which is near the border with Lebanon and has witnessed daily shelling over the past week.

The Observatory said troops were detaining people in the southern town of Sahm al-Golan where a large roadside bomb killed 10 soldiers Friday.

The state news agency meanwhile reported that ”armed terrorists” blew up an oil pipeline that carries crude oil from one of the fields of the oil-rich eastern province of Deir el-Zour. SANA did not give further details but there have been similar attacks on pipelines in the past months.

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Via DAWN.com

Aircraft fuel tanks exploded in the air: CAA report

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) on Saturday issued a preliminary investigation report on the Bhoja Air plane crash.
According to the report, the plane was properly positioned when it begun its approach. Three minutes before the crash, the plane’s captain had informed the control tower that the plane was getting out of his control as a fuel tank had caught fire. The pilot asked for help …

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Japan no longer rich by 2050

TOKYO  – Japan could fall out of the league of developed nations by 2050 as a shrinking and greying population as well as slowing productivity makes its economy contract, a think tank has warned. The 21st Century Public Policy Institute said a dwindling workforce, caused by a chronic low birthrate, will combine with lower savings and shriveling investment to drag the once mighty economy …

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Safe-haven yen lower in Asian trade

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As positive news boosted risk appetites, traders shifted from the safe-haven Yen towards the US dollar and the Euro.

TOKYO: The yen fell against the dollar and euro in early Asian trade on Wednesday as risk sentiment shifted on easing worries over Europe’s debt crisis, following a successful Spanish bond auction.

The dollar firmed to 81.25 yen in Tokyo trade from 80.87 yen in New York late Tuesday. The euro also rose to 106.62 yen from 106.16 yen while buying $1.3123 against $1.3127 in New York.

Share-price gains in the United States and Asia boosted investors’ risk-taking appetite, prompting a sell-off in the safe-haven yen, dealers said.

There were also rising expectations that the central Bank of Japan will usher in new easing measures at its April 27 meeting, Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking chief manager of currency trading Takao Yahata told Dow Jones Newswires.

Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index was 1.59 percent higher in late morning trade following overnight rises in US and European markets.

On Tuesday, the International Monetary Fund raised its 2012 global economic growth outlook to 3.5 percent, reigniting hopes for an improving world economy.

“Financial markets have leaned to risk-on sentiment again,” Credit Suisse said, noting a smooth Spanish bond auction, improved German economic data, solid US corporate earnings and a rate cut by India’s central bank.

Hopes for additional monetary easing by central banks around the world were the main driver of bullish sentiment, it said in a research note.

However, Credit Suisse warned it was unlikely that the US Federal Reserve and European Central Bank would move on additional easing in the immediate future.

“If macro-economic data started showing deterioration, the market mood will again turn risk-off,” the report said.

Spain on Tuesday raised a higher-than-targeted 3.18 billion euros ($4.2 billion) in 12- and 18-month bonds, albeit with high borrowing costs. The sale eased concerns that Madrid would be unable to finance its massive public debt and be forced to seek a bailout.

Sentiment was also boosted Tuesday by data showing that German investor confidence rose, unexpectedly, for the fifth month in a row.

The ZEW think-tank’s economic expectations index edged up by 1.1 point in April to stand at 23.4 points.

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Via DAWN.com

The Herald live blog

On April 16, Monday, the Herald has invited Malik Mohammad Iqbal and Muhammad Amir Rana to conduct a live blog about sectarian violence, its causes, effects and the groups and individuals involved in it. We invite you to pose your questions to our experts in either of the two time-slots.

April 16, 7 pm to 8 pm (PST)
Muhammad Amir Rana is a security analyst and the director of the Pak Institute for Peace Studies, an independent Islamabad-based think tank. He has worked extensively on issues related to counter-terrorism, counter-extremism, and internal and regional security and politics.  He has also worked as a journalist with various Urdu and English daily newspapers between 1996 and 2004. He is the editor of Pakistan Annual Security Report, English research journal Conflict and Peace Studies and Urdu monthly magazine Tajziat.

April 16, 9 pm to 10 pm (PST)
Malik Mohammad Iqbal joined the Police Service of Pakistan in 1976. During his career, he held important positions at the hotspots of sectarian violence across Pakistan; as Capital City Police Officer in Lahore and Deputy Inspector General (DIG) in Gujranwala, Multan and Karachi. He also headed the Punjab Police’s special branch before becoming the Inspector General of Balochistan Police and then the Director General of the Federal Investigation Agency. His last assignment has been as the head of the National Counter-Terrorism Authority.

Questions can also be e-mailed beforehand to letters.herald@dawn.com

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Via DAWN.com

UN votes to send Syria monitors amid shaky truce

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Turkish Ambassador to the United Nations Ertugrul Apakan speaks to the media after a Security Council meeting at the United Nations in New York. — Photo Reuters

BEIRUT: The UN Security Council has voted unanimously to dispatch a first team of monitors to Syria to shore up a brittle cease-fire as escalating fighting between regime and rebel forces threatened the truce at the heart of special envoy Kofi Annan’s peace plan.

Syrian troops shelled residential neighborhoods and rebel gunmen fired rocket-propelled grenades in the central city of Homs on Saturday in the first use of heavy weapons since the cease-fire officially took effect Thursday. Loud booms echoed across the city as smoke rose above badly damaged apartment blocs. In other parts of Syria, both sides described several deadly shootings and ambushes, and reported at least 14 people were killed.

Saturday’s resolution gave the 15-nation Security Council its first united front since the uprising against President Bashar Assad began 13 months ago — it called for immediate deployment of up to 30 monitors, to be followed by a larger contingent of up to 250 once the situation has stabilized.

Emphasizing that both sides must halt the violence that has killed more than 9,000, the council called on Syria to pull soldiers and heavy weapons out of towns and cities _ a truce provision Assad’s regime has ignored. It also demanded urgent compliance with Annan’s six-point plan intended to lead to talks between the regime and the opposition on Syria’s political future.

The plan is widely seen as the only remaining chance for diplomacy, mainly because it has the backing of Syria allies Russia and China which shielded Assad from Security Council condemnation in the past.

Annan said in Geneva that he was ”very relieved and happy” about the council vote.
France’s UN ambassador, Gerard Araud, said he hoped the vote ”will open the way to a cessation of brutal violence, and we hope that we’ll be able to say to the Syrian people that the time of indiscriminate violence is finally behind it.” The latest attacks in Homs ”lead to some doubts about the reality of the commitment of the Syrian regime,” he added.

Western powers and opposition leaders remain skeptical about Assad’s willingness to ease his tight grip on the country, ruled by his family for four decades. The regime appears to have complied with parts of the Annan plan, while flouting others.

With the exception of Homs, the military has halted random shelling and mortar attacks on rebel-held residential areas, which were the daily norm in recent weeks.

However, it has maintained an intimidating presence of troops, tanks and plainclothes security agents in the streets and demanded that anti-government protesters seek permits, despite Annan’s demand that peaceful gatherings be allowed.

Since mass protests against Assad broke out in March 2011, the regime has restricted the access of outside observers, including foreign journalists to Syria. Even a small team of UN monitors could help stabilize a cease-fire by calling out those violating it.

Russia initially objected to language in a Western-backed draft of Saturday’s resolution that let observers travel where they want in Syria. However, in the end Russia voted in favor.

”There have been too many casualties, too much suffering … with too many destructive consequences if the crisis continues to ratchet up,” not only for Syria but for the region, explained Russia’s UN ambassador, Vitaly Churkin.

Annan spokesman Ahmad Fawzi has said an advance team of about a dozen observers was on standby to fly to Syria once the Security Council approved the mission and could quickly be increased to 30.

The council said it wants to dispatch a larger UN team after talks between UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the Syrian government, and once all violence has halted. Ban said Saturday that he will make concrete proposals by Wednesday for a larger UN team that could include about 250 observers.

The heaviest fighting erupted Saturday in Homs, an opposition stronghold pounded by daily regime shelling in the three weeks leading up to the cease-fire. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an activist group, said at least three civilians were killed by tank shells and mortar rounds Saturday.

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Via DAWN.com

The general, the dog & the flasher

,,The MRD Movement in 1983 was one of the biggest uprisings against the Ziaul Haq dictatorship. In Sindh it almost tipped over and become a full-fledged armed insurgency against the state.  

Sindh, September, 1983. The agitation by the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) led Movement for the Restoration of Democracy (MRD) is whirling out of control, not only for the reactionary dictatorship of General Ziaul Haq but for the MRD leadership as well.

Ever since MRD announced the beginning of a nationwide movement against the Zia regime (August 14, 1983), the Pakistani province of Sindh is in great turmoil.

Its capital Karachi is witnessing court arrests and protest rallies on a daily basis by labour and trade unionists, student leaders and anti-Zia politicians.

But it is the central and northern parts of the province that are in the grip of serious violence. The MRD movement here has taken the shape of a Sindhi uprising bordering on a Sindhi nationalist insurgency against the Pakistan Army.

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MRD activist shot dead by military troops in Moro, Sindh, September 1983. –Photo Courtesy: BBC

Faced with a volley of questions (mainly by foreign journalists) regarding his military regime’s challenged legitimacy in Sindh, Zia decides to prove that ‘only a handful of troublemakers’ are involved in the violence taking place against his government in the troubled province.

So, the grinning general (after issuing a fresh round of curbs on the already restricted local media outlets), announces that he will take a whirlwind tour of Sindh to attest that he is as popular there as he (thinks) he is in the Punjab.

So off he flies in his big shiny military aircraft (C-130) with some of his ministers, military cronies and his favorite batch of journalists to Karachi. He is however, aware that BBC Radio has imbedded a host of reporters in Sindh who are covering the MRD movement.

The reporting is largely being done for the BBC Radio’s Urdu service that a majority of Pakistanis have been listening to – especially ever since Zia (a migrant, conservative Punjabi general) toppled the government of the country’s first popularly elected prime minister, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (a well-to-do but populist Sindhi who was equally well-liked in the Punjab).

Zia’s plane lands in Karachi. From here he plans to fly to Hyderabad with his posse. Joining him here is a crew from the state-controlled Pakistan Television (PTV) that will cover the general’s ‘successful tour of Sindh.’

The rallies being taken out against him by leftist students, journalists, trade unionists, women rights groups and politicians in Karachi don’t bother him.

Most of the country’s senior anti-Zia leadership has already been put behind bars, while the second tier leadership of agitating student outfits, trade and journalist unions and anti-Zia political parties ‘are being made an example of’ by being publically flogged.

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Trade unionist, politician and MRD leader, Miraj Muhammad, being hauled up by the police in Karachi. –Photo Courtesy: Zahid Husain

MRD was formed in 1981 as a PPP-led alliance to agitate against the Zia dictatorship and to force him to end military rule and hold elections. The alliance’s core parties were: Pakistan Peoples Party; Pakistan Democratic Party; Pakistan Mazdoor Kissan Party; Pakistan National Party; National Awami Party; Qaumi Mahaz Azadi Party; and Jamiat Ulema Islam.

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Women’s rights groups clash with police outside Karachi Airport where Zia’s plane had just landed, September, 1983. –Photo Courtesy: Zahid Husain

It was also being supported by Jamiat Ulema Pakistan, as well as by various left-wing Sindhi nationalist parties, progressive student organisations, trade unions and women’s rights groups.

Zia, after arriving in Karachi, briefly talks to a select group of journalists and reiterates his views about the situation in Sindh, insisting all was well, and that the MRD movement was the work of a handful of politicians who were working against Islam, Pakistan and the country’s armed forces.

He sounds confident about the success of his visit to the troubled spots of the Sindh province. This confidence was not only built upon what he was hearing from the sycophants that he’d gathered around him in the shape of ministers, military personnel, religious leaders and advisors.

But also because by the time he reaches Sindh’s second largest city, Hyderabad, he’s already had telephonic conversations with Sindh’s most respected nationalist leader and scholar, GM Syed.

Syed was the architect of the historical and scholarly narrative behind Sindhi nationalism and separatism. After building up a powerful narrative against the ‘Punjabi ruling elite,’ Syed formed the Jeeay Sindh Tehreek and (in 1973) called for Sindh’s separation and independence from Pakistan.

Ironically, when Sindh erupted during the MRD movement in 1983, Syed was nowhere to be found. He decided to stay out of the movement, a fact cleverly exploited by Zia.

This was a decision that would cause Syed his political career. Though respected as the ‘true son of Sindh’ and the Sindhi nation’s greatest scholar till the time of his death in 1995 (and even now), Syed however, lost his political clout when a major faction from his Jeeay Sindh party and its student-wing, the JSSF, broke away and joined the MRD movement.

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Members of JSSF and PPP’s student-wing, PSF, flash victory signs after being arrested in Karachi in August 1983. –Photo Courtesy: DAWN

Syed was no fan of the military, particularly not of Zia, a Punjabi running an army majority of whose recruits too were from the Punjab. But Syed saw MRD as a PPP-run show, a party run by the Bhuttos.

Now here was another irony. Syed also detested PPP’s founder and chairman, Z A. Bhutto, even though the latter was a fellow Sindhi. During the 1968 movement against the Ayub Khan dictatorship (that had turned Bhutto into a popular leader in Sindh and Punjab), Syed had accused Bhutto of ‘helping the Punjabi establishment to retain its hold over smaller provinces and former East Pakistan.’

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A 1979 poster of GM Syed.

When, after the fall of East Pakistan, Bhutto came to power, Syed again accused Bhutto of using democracy to constitutionally reinvigorate the lost prestige of the military and the ‘Punjabi establishment’ and consequently stunting Sindh’s nationalist movement.

Syed was always of the view that the ‘Punjabi establishment’ will use Bhutto to regenerate itself (after the humiliation of the 1971 defeat to India), and then throw him away.

At least that’s how he explained Bhutto’s execution at the hands of Zia’s dictatorship. In fact, when Bhutto was hanged (through a bogus trial) in April 1979, Syed went on record to say: ‘I hope they (the ‘Punjabi ruling elite’) realise that today they have executed their greatest ally.’

Syed’s logic for not taking any part in the MRD movement is linked to his perception of the PPP being a party that is being used by the ‘Punjabi ruling elite’ to keep nationalist sentiments in Sindh at bay.

This narrative was well known by Syed’s admirers. But what shocked many of them was not really the act of Syed not taking part in a PPP-led movement, but the fact that Syed was actually responding to Zia’s friendly overtures towards him.

Syed’s apologists have suggested that Syed did this to neutralise Bhutto and the PPP’s influence in Sindh so he could construct a Sindhi nationalist and separatist movement on his own terms.

Though Syed’s Jeeay Sindh party would eventually go on to split into over a dozen factions, in 1983 however, Syed sat pretty but nervous, watching the MRD movement in Sindh fast becoming a Sindhi nationalist uprising – without him.

In Hyderabad, Zia talked about the inherent patriotism of all Sindhis. By this he meant not only indigenous Sindhis, but the Urdu-speakers (Mohajirs) and the Punjabis settled in the province as well.

Radical left-wing Sindhi nationalist leader, Rasool Baksh Palejo, scoffed at Zia’s comment. Palejo was languishing in a jail at the time, but a Sindhi newspaper managed to publish his reaction.

Palejo, though not a Syed disciple, echoed Syed’s original narrative about Mohajirs. Syed had accused them (in the 1960s) of coming to Sindh (as migrants from India), but instead of integrating themselves into Sindhi society and culture, they had started to behave just like the invading Europeans had done against the Red Indians in America.

In 1983 there was no Mohajir/Mutahidda Qaumi Movement (MQM). The Mohajir majority in Karachi and Mohajirs in the rest of Sindh were voters and supporters of three main political parties.

The progressive Mohajirs were associated with the PPP and with various leftist student outfits such as the NSF; the conservative Mohajirs backed the Jamat-i-Islami (JI) and Jamiat Ulema Pakistan (JUP).

After the rise and growth of MQM in 1986 however, almost every Mohajir would go on to become a MQM devotee.

But in 1983 there were just a few Mohajir nationalist organisations, all of them small and largely based out of Hyderabad. They too decided to sit out the MRD movement.

The Sindhi nationalists’ biggest grudge during the MRD movement, however, was with the Punjabi settlers. Sindhi nationalists had been accusing the Zia regime of sending and settling ambitious Punjabi traders and agriculturalists in Sindh to prop-up a constituency for himself in the province.

The nationalists claimed that these settlers were taking over Sindhi businesses and jobs and siding with pro-Zia feudal lords to repress Sindhi nationalism.

Zia knew that the pocket rallies he was to address beyond Hyderabad will be organised by outfits run by these settlers; outfits like the New Sindhi Organisation and the New Sindhi Students Organisation (NSSO).

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A PTV video grab of Zia speaking to dignitaries and media at a gathering in Hyderabad, 1983.

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So on he went to tour the troubled interior of the Sindh province. He particularly wanted the cameras to capture his tour of Dadu and Moro, the two cities most affected by the movement.

It was decided by his security team that he will use an army helicopter to fly there. His aids seemed a tad fidgety and nervous, because to curb the movement, the military had begun to use tanks and heavy weaponry, wiping out whole villages in the process.

The thick forests around Moro and Dadu had become sanctuaries for hundreds of activists escaping Zia’s tanks and gunships. Another rallying point for the activists, mostly angry young men, were the many big and small shrines of Sufi saints across Sindh.

As Zia sat in the helicopter, waiting to land in Dadu, some of his military advisers shared with him the army’s latest triumphs in the area: Hundreds of ‘troublemakers/traitors/agents’ had been arrested and eliminated, he was told. And that a plan was also afoot to flush out rebels from the shrines and the forests.

That had made Zia even more nervous. Most influential pirs of Sindh were already opposing him, especially the Pir of Hala. So Zia contacted another influential pir, Pir Pagara, asking him to use his influence to make the keepers of the shrines reject Sindhi rebels.

Pagara tried, and failed. But thankfully, no tanks were sent to the shrines.

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Sufi shrines such as this one in Khairpur were prominent rallying points and sanctuaries for MRD activists.

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One September evening of 1983, Pakistanis watched a video clip on PTV’s 9 pm Urdu news showing Zia descending from an army helicopter and being greeted by a dozen or so smiling men in Sindhi caps.

Viewers were told that Zia was ‘warmly greeted by patriotic Sindhis during his tour of Sindh.’ Zia seemed to be beaming.

The next day, however, when Pakistanis tuned into BBC Radio’s Urdu service at 8 pm, the BBC newscaster after detailing the nature of the day’s rallies, protest marches and violence in Sindh, added two more reports from the BBC correspondent covering Zia’s trip.

These reports also became the topic of amusement at the Karachi Press Club that too was heavily involved in accommodating the journalists taking a direct part in the movement.

This is what happened: As Zia’s helicopter landed at a helipad in Dadu, he was greeted by a few men wearing Sindhi caps. He was then escorted towards a bulletproof limousine, followed by army jeeps. He was expecting the roads of Dadu to be lined up by Sindhis cheering his arrival. In fact he was sure that his men had done well to organise a colourful show of his popularity for the TV cameras.

His motorcade moved into the city, on way to a building where he was expected to speak to the press. To his satisfaction, he did find a sprinkling of people on the roadsides, holding little Pakistani flags, until his speeding limo almost hit a stray dog.

But this was no ordinary dog. It had been pushed in front of the general’s motorcade by the small roadside crowd. On the dog’s tense body something (in Urdu) was scribbled with red paint. It said: ‘Ziaul Haq!’

The journalists and the BBC correspondent accompanying the motorcade were not sure what Zia’s reaction to this was. But this is not all.

As the motorcade moved on, a donkey was being made to run on the edges of the scruffy Dadu road that Zia’s limo was travelling on. The poor beast was being chased by small kids and on its body too the red paint screamed Zia’s name.

So much for the show of pomp and popularity the general was expecting from his aids.

The general’s limo now gathered speed, until it came to a bumpy portion of the road. Here it slowed down. In front of the limo was an army jeep. The jeep came to a sudden halt and soldiers rushed out. What happened?

A middle-aged man, hiding in a tree whose branches hung over this part of the road had suddenly jumped (from the tree) and landed right in front of Zia’s motorcade.

The man was wearing a traditional Sindhi dress that also included a dhoti (a long piece of cloth wrapped around the waist, reaching till the ankles).

As the man was about to be hauled up by the soldiers, he lifted his dhoti to expose his privates and shouted (in Sindhi) ‘Bhali karey aya! Bhali kary aya!’  (Welcome! Welcome!).

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Benazir Bhutto was in jail throughout the MRD movement. She went into exile later. The movement was crushed by Zia, but it did help set the scene for Benazir to make a triumphant return to Pakistan in 1986.

Nobody knows what happened to the gentleman/flasher after he was arrested. But Zia did decide to end his ‘famous’ tour of Sindh the very next day – terming it a ‘great success.’

References:
DAWN (August/September 1983)
BBC Radio’s Urdu Service archives
Author’s personal interviews with Miraj Muhammad Khan (2009)
A. Ahmed’s ‘The Rebellion of 1983’
AA Chandio’s ‘Struggle for Democracy in Sindh’

Nadeem F. Paracha is a cultural critic and senior columnist for Dawn Newspaper and Dawn.com

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Via DAWN.com

Series of crackers blasts, firing incidents rocks various districts of Sindh

A series of crackers blasts and firing incident rocked various districts in Sindh on Wednesday. Unknown miscreants set ablaze two oil tanker while two persons were injured in firing incidents. The police arrested more than 20 suspects in connection with the blasts and firing.
Two persons were injured due to firing of unknown armed men in Latifabad No 7 & 10 of Hyderabad. The injured were …

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Chemical tank explosion sows panic

KARACHI – Panic gripped Keamari Town after a chemical tank went off with a big explosion at Al-Rahim Depot in the Jackson Police Station limits.
According to sources, fire that broke out after the chemical exploded was extinguished by four KPT fire tenders. No loss of human life was reported.

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Chemical tank’s ceiling blows off causing panic in Karachi

Rangers’ officials stand outside a chemical factory in Keamari where a boiler was exploded on Tuesday. – Photo by White Star

KARACHI: Ceiling of a chemical tank of a private company was blown off near oil installations in Keamari area on Tuesday evening, causing panic in nearby areas, KPT Fire Station sources said.

A fire extinguishing officer said excessive gas in the chemical tank of Home Protect International Company (HPI) located on Plot No 45 near PSO terminal-C, generated the huge blast.

The resultant spill of chemical caused an inferno and spread chaos in the nearby areas, he said and added that fire tenders controlled the fire by using foam.

He said no one was injured in the incident.

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Via DAWN.com