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FEBRUARY
2009
ISSUES:
Sustainable
development needs active people
Poor people need to know how to do things so that they can teach other
groups; if they see something profitable, they will change, Father Jorge
Anzorena, a former professor of social architecture at Sophia
University, Tokyo, Japan, said on Thursday.
He was delivering a lecture on “Sustainability and Active-Organized
People.” The event was organised by the Urban Resource Centre (URC).
“Sustainability means development from below. For the poor, we need to
have active people. If he or she is passive there won’t be
development,” he asserted. He further said that sustainable
development “prioritizes the majority” ñ that is, the poor, and
added that there were one billion poor people in world cities today and
by 2030 the figure will shoot up to two billion. He pointed out that the
poor were indebted and they were loosing land. Things will not change if
the situation persists, Father Anzorena said.
He informed the audience that 180,000 people migrate to cities from
rural areas every day because of abject poverty while governments
continue destroying squatter colonies because the privileged classes do
not approve of them. He stressed that one-third of the labour force was
living under precarious conditions and was not paid well. As a result,
Father Anzorena said, they have no housing, insurance or healthcare. “They
can’t even get married,” he said, adding that even in a country like
Japan, 40,000 people were living on the streets. He emphasized the need
to build a movement with the energy of the people living in squatter
colonies because the basic idea of sustainable development was to gain
strength from people’s energy because governments are not ready to
help. “I am always happy to visit Pakistan. I have been coming here
for 30 years and I am impressed by the work carried out by the Orangi
Pilot Project and several other organizations,” he said.
He reported that 43,092 houses have been built in Salvador through “mutual
help” and in Thailand poor people have built 50,000 houses through
their savings, adding that toilets were also built and hand pumps
installed through savings. He declared that change can only be brought
about through such measures. He said a phenomenon of “land-shedding”
was going on across the world and big companies were acquiring prime
land by evicting the poor. In Cambodia, however, as a result of united
effort, the poor succeeded in convincing the government and a big
company agreed to build housing projects for the poor on a part of land
they were forced to evict.
He further said that the OPP model had been replicated in Karachi,
Punjab and other parts of Sindh and was a good example of building
sewerage systems, streets etc.
(The
News, 23/01/2009)
No
forensic probe held into North Karachi fire
A
police team investigating the North Karachi fire that claimed the lives
of 40 people did not conduct a forensic probe into the incident because
the police lack the facility to carry out the investigation of a fire
case on modern scientific lines, it has emerged.
Forty people — 22 of them children – died when a fire engulfed about
two dozen huts in the North Karachi area last month. Later, the
government formed a police investigation team comprising DIG (West)
Abdul Majeed Dasti and SPs Dr Mohammad Farooq and Khurram Waris to
ascertain whether it was an act of arson or the fire was caused by an
accident.
However, in the absence of a forensic investigation, the team, in its
preliminary investigation report, declared that the fire was caused ‘incidentally’.
Well-placed sources told Dawn that the Sindh Forensic Science Laboratory
(SFSL), which was supposed to assist the investigations into any fire
probe, was not capable enough to differentiate between an incidental
fire and an act of arson.
“During the past three years or so the laboratory did not receive a
single fire related sample with the task to determine the reasons behind
the fire because the investigators are aware that such a facility is not
available [in the lab]” said a source.
A senior police official said that in the absence of a forensic probe,
the police conduct the investigations into fire incidents by
interviewing the victims, gathering the witnesses’ accounts and take
all measures to draw a conclusion.
Similarly, on the basis of interviews with the survivors and witnesses,
the team investigating the North Karachi fire also concluded that it was
an incidental case.
He said the SFSL was not involved in the investigations into fire
incidents because it could perform limited jobs and to ascertain the
causes of fires was never on its priority list.
He admitted that there was no alternative to forensic investigation into
any crime but unfortunately, the local police depended heavily on the
conventional way of tracing the culprits on the basis of suspicions.
Established in 1983 in Garden, the SFSL is primarily meant to conduct
ballistics tests, collect fingerprints, conduct the authentication of
vehicles and issue opinions on handwriting samples where legal
implications are involved. Its latest acquisition is the installation of
a computerised automated fingerprints’ identification system, a
project of the National Police Bureau.
However, the lab’s inability to help the investigations into any fire
incident leaves a question mark on the credibility of an inquiry
committee formed by the Sindh governor to ascertain the causes of some
suspect fire incidents, including the one that engulfed the offices of
the Sindh Board of Revenue, by recommending forensic investigations.
“Fire investigation is (based on) process and expertise,” said Tariq
Moen, secretary of the Fire Protection Association of Pakistan. “In
the first phase, it would definitely include interviews of the people
affected, witnesses and pictures of the affected parts and most
importantly a forensic examination of the articles burnt during the
fire. But one doesn’t know how much these formalities are met before
initiating the process.”
He said following modern lines, one could reach a conclusion about
whether a fire was an act of arson or incidental. But here, the fire
investigations are largely based on speculation and estimates, making it
difficult to unearth the actual reasons behind the fire, he added.
(By
Imran Ayub, Daily Dawn, 02/02/2009)
Pollution
killing 25,000 every year in country
Pollution
is costing Pakistan six per cent of its gross domestic product and about
25,000 people die every year due to it. The worst affected are the
children. The situation calls for a greater collaboration between the
public and private sectors and creating mass awareness about the hazards
of pollution.
Sindh Minister for Environment and Alternative Energy Askari Taqvi said
this while addressing the concluding session of a three-day seminar on
“Banking on mangroves: a case for investing in coastal ecosystems”
hosted by IUCN Pakistan and the South Asian Network for Development and
Environmental Economics (Sandee).
The day’s proceedings were opened by Javed Jabbar, the IUCN regional
counsellor for West Asia.
Mr Taqvi said that awareness about the environmental degradation had
come very late to Pakistan, and the Environmental Protection Act was
only passed in 1997. Citing a 2006 World Bank study, he said that
Pakistan was losing six per cent of its GDP and about 25,000 people were
dying every year due to pollution. The worst affected were the children.
The minister admitted that coastal communities had suffered tremendously
from mangroves’ depletion. He assured the gathering of government
assistance for any project for the rehabilitation of mangroves. He also
referred to the precondition set by the ministry which had made it
mandatory for a developer to plant five mangrove trees in lieu of each
destroyed tree.
Lamenting the fact that fish was no longer Pakistan’s second largest
export, Dr Hafeez Pasha, a developmental economist, stressed the need
for policymakers to focus on the value of mangroves not just in terms of
their economic gains but also from the perspective of natural disaster
protection.
“It is necessary for politicians to address the critical issue of the
reduction of freshwater release down toward the mangroves. In view of
the multi-sectoral nature of the challenge, the creation of a mangroves
rehabilitation and development authority, to serve as a conduit for all
related matters, could be helpful,” he said.
Shahid Khan, the CEO of Indus Earth, spoke about the attitude of most
land dwellers and said that only those who lived along the sea knew its
value and felt for its problems.
“The concentration of policy is on land and agriculture, and very
little attention is being paid to the sea and its resources. This lack
of interest translates into broader measures that negatively impact our
natural resources,” he remarked.
Criticising the government, Mohammed Ali Shah, the chairperson of
Fisherfolk Forum, said that neglect and myopic government policies had
put the livelihood of millions of fishermen at stake. He said that
ecotourism was a threat to fishermen and lamented that efforts of NGOs
and environmentalists had largely been proved fruitless and the area
under mangroves cover had further decreased. He accused the DHA of
displacing fishermen’s communities in the name of development while
blaming agencies like the KPT and the Port Qasim for maltreating
fishermen’s communities.
Fred Smiet of the Royal Netherlands Embassy stressed the need for a
single agency with whom a donor can interact. He underscored the
importance of coastal zone management and the assistance to communities
living in coastal areas through employment generation and protection
methods through the preservation of mangroves. He pointed out that this
was also an issue of rights — right to use land and marine resources
— and if these were not in place, then work needed to be done in this
direction.
Shahid Amjad, the dean Faculty of Marine Sciences, Lasbela University of
Agriculture, Masood Lohar of UNDP, and Khalid Rehman, managing director
of Pakistan Petroleum Ltd also spoke.
(By
Faiza Ilyas, Dawn-15, 01/12/2008)
113
suicides in city during 2008
At least 113 people committed suicide in different parts of Karachi
during the past year.
According to data compiled by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan,
the figure comprised of 93 men and 20 women with reasons behind their
decision including poverty, unemployment, social injustice and domestic
problems.
Though the number remained lower than 2005, when around 142 suicides
were reported, it was higher than the 98 suicides in 2006 and 95 in
2007. After the collection of this data, the total number of suicides
from 2005 to 2008 accumulates to 448.
According to the data, a lesser number of women, as compared to the past
three years, took this extreme step in 2008, as 25 women had committed
suicide in 2007, 39 in 2006 and 36 in 2005. There were no child suicides
in 2008, although, according to HRCP data, three children committed
suicide in 2007, one in 2006 and 19 in 2005. Moreover, at least 211
persons have attempted suicide in the city over the past four years,
with the number of females and children in this figure being 85 and
four, respectively. The year 2005 also remained the worst on this count,
as more persons attempted suicide in 2005 than any of the other three.
According to statistics, some 109 people, including 47 women and one
child, attempted suicide during 2005, while in 2006, at least 42 people,
including 12 women and three children tried to end their lives. A total
of 22 people attempted suicide in 2007, with the number of men and women
being 11 each.
The number of attempted suicides in 2008 remained at 38, including 23
males and 15 females.
Unfortunately, the HRCP does not have any records of suicides in other
parts of Sindh where, according to reports, the numbers are much higher
than Karachi.
(By
Razzak Abro, DailyTimes-B1, 15/01/2009)
Violence
claims 7,997 lives in 2008
At least 7,997 people were killed and 9,670 injured in 2,148 incidents
of violence in Pakistan during 2008, according to a Pakistan Institute
for Peace Studies (PIPS) annual report made available to Daily Times on
Tuesday.
The incidents include terrorist attacks, clashes between security forces
and militants, military operations, political violence, inter-tribe
sectarian clashes and border clashes.
The highest number of terrorist attacks was reported from NWFP (1,009),
followed by Balochistan (682) and the Tribal Areas (385), the report
said. It said 35 attacks took place in Punjab, 25 in Sindh, seven in
Islamabad, four in Azad Kashmir and one in the Northern Areas.
More than 3,182 people were killed and 2,267 injured in operational
attacks, 655 killed and 557 injured in clashes between security forces
and militants, 162 killed and 419 injured in political violence, 1,336
killed and 1,662 injured in inter-tribe sectarian clashes, and 395
killed and 207 injured in border clashes.
More than 95 clashes between security forces and militants, 88 incidents
of political violence, 191 incidents of inter-tribe sectarian clashes
and 55 incidents of border clashes took place during the last year.
At least 2,267 people were killed and 4,558 injured in at least 2,148
terrorists attacks reported in 2008.
At least 967 people were killed and 2,108 others injured in 63 suicide
attacks in the country during the last year.
The NWFP faced 32 suicide attacks in which 389 people were killed and
688 injured, Punjab was second with 10 suicide attacks that claimed more
than 201 lives and injured 508. Sixteen suicide attacks were reported in
FATA due to which 263 people died and 497 were injured.
More than 112 people were killed and 321 injured in four suicide attacks
in Islamabad while one suicide attack was reported in Balochistan in
which two people were killed and 22 others injured.
The report said 381 rocket attacks, 46 incidents of beheading, 112
remote controlled bomb attacks, 110 landmine explosions, 451 incidents
of shooting and 373 blasts by improvised explosives were recorded during
2008.
At least 4,113 suspected terrorists including 30 from Al Qaeda, 3,759
affiliated with Taliban and other such groups, and 354 Baloch insurgents
were arrested during the year.
According to te PIPS report, at least 907 people were killed and 1,543
injured in 675 incidents of violence during 2006, and 3,448 people were
killed and 5,353 injured in 1,535 incidents during 2007.
“A comparison of the security situation in 2008 with 2005 indicates a
746% increase in terrorist attacks,” the report said.
“Terrorist groups affiliated with Al Qaeda and Taliban are using
sophisticated techniques employed by insurgents in Iraq,” it said. “Such
a progression could be traced in three major terrorist attacks in
Pakistan in 2008” – the attack on the Danish embassy and the
Marriott Hotel in Islamabad and the FIA headquarters in Lahore.
(DailyTimes-A12,
21/01/2009)
Education
policy: will it work?
ON
Pakistan Day, the nation will be presented with a gift from the
government — a new education policy. The education minister told the
media the other day that the draft policy had been sent to the
provincial governments for their feedback.
The assurances Mir Hazar Khan Bajarani held out amounted to offering the
people the moon. Hence disappointment may be in store.
The policy is emphatic about the stakeholders having a sense of
ownership if the draft is to be implemented. But having been witness to
a train of education policies that have been announced only to flop, the
people have given up hope. How does the government plan to create this
sense of ownership? We do not know. But were it to be placed before the
provincial assemblies to be debated and adopted by the representatives
of the people, it would at least have some credibility. Much will be
heard about the NEP in the days to come, one hopes.
Just as the taste of the pudding is in the eating, the test of a policy
is in its implementation. Unfortunately, failure to implement policies
has been the hallmark of our system of governance over and over again.
The NEP itself takes note of this “implementation gap”, as it is
described. This, in the view of the authors, is partly to be attributed
to a lack of commitment. They are very kind or simplistic in their
approach to the power barons in this country when they say this lack of
commitment is not due to “a lack of belief in education’s true worth”
but their disagreeing with the policy goals.
We know that the real reason for the lack of commitment is that the
elites who rule Pakistan want to keep the masses away from the power
centres and the most effective way of achieving that goal is by keeping
the people shrouded in the darkness of ignorance.
The policy is dismissive of the assessment by the Economist Intelligence
Unit, which it quotes, that “Pakistan’s education system is among
the most deficient and backward in Asia, reflecting the traditional
determination of [the] feudal ruling elite to preserve its hegemony”.
It is not just the “feudal elite” but also the “economic haves”
who want to preserve their monopoly by preventing the have-nots from
acquiring a bigger share of the cake by denying them good education.
That would explain why implementation has always been such a problem
when policies are designed to improve the education sector. But one
should not overlook other factors, many of which are in-built in the
policies themselves, which also contribute towards the failure of
implementation. The NEP envisages phenomenal expenditure — phenomenal
by current standards — of Rs12.9 trillion in 2005-2030. In 2005 the
expenditure on education was Rs132.9bn. By some calculation which has
not been very clearly explained, the policy expects this expenditure to
be affordable.
There are three caveats in this approach. First, as Javed Hasan Aly, the
author of the 2007 education policy white paper, the best produced so
far, points out there is a disconnect between the identified financial
resources needed for implementation and the goals and targets set. He
asks, “Has the education ministry consulted the finance ministry and
the Planning Commission and obtained some commitment from them if such a
huge amount will be made available for education in the years to come?”
In the past many policies have floundered because the policymakers
discovered soon after they had embarked on their ambitious mission that
money was not available. There is also the big factor of corruption that
is gnawing away at the core of society. If excessive money is somehow
generated, it will either remain unutilised or will be embezzled if
capacity-building has not been undertaken concurrently. Aly, a strong
advocate of good governance through efficient processes, believes that
the task undertaken immediately should be to build capacity for
planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.
The NEP draft does not have much to say about monitoring at the micro
level which is an important feature in any policy especially in Pakistan
where the education sector is one of the biggest employers with a reach
that is widespread and that goes into remote areas. Efficient and
effective monitoring would introduce a measure of accountability in the
education department. It would be difficult to monitor the
implementation at the macro level in the face of vague and ambitious
targets with no benchmarks having been set in terms of quality that
embodies good teaching, good assessment and good curricula and
textbooks.
For instance, the policy aims at 100 per cent primary enrolment by 2015,
100 per cent middle enrolment by 2015 and 100 per cent secondary
enrolment by 2020. Can these goals be met? According to Unesco data, in
2006 Pakistan’s net primary enrolment was 66 per cent while secondary
enrolment rate was 30 per cent.
A third factor that is bound to affect implementation is the failure of
the policy to address unequivocally the core issue of governance and
management. Who is to oversee the implementation of the policy? Javed
Hasan Aly points out that informally enhancing the oversight role of the
inter-provincial education ministers’ conference without changing the
rules of business will not make the process effective.
Under the existing arrangement six ministries deal with education
matters, namely, the education ministry, the Higher Education
Commission, the labour and manpower ministry, the special education,
ministry, the science and technology ministry and the national technical
and vocational education commission. These are sometimes working at
cross purposes. How their working will be streamlined is not clear at
all. And what will be the function of the “newly formed ministry for
human resource development” about which we have not been given any
clue?One hopes that these obvious obstacles in the path of
implementation will not be glossed over.
Policymakers concede that Pakistan has been overtaken by many countries
that were previously way behind it. Since without implementation, all
else has no meaning I have taken up this aspect first. How the policy
seeks to rectify the flaws in our education system also call for some
rethinking. But more about that later.
(By
Zubeida Mustafa, Dawn-7, 18/02/2009)
Retrospective
increase in water tariff approved
Following
in the footsteps of the city government that recently imposed a
so-called infrastructure tax on the overtaxed citizens of the city, the
Karachi Water and Sewerage Board has increased a water tariff by nine
per cent with a retrospective effect after merging sewerage and water
charges, it emerged on Monday.
The hike will apply to all categories of KWSB consumers, except for
those living in apartment buildings, with effect from July 1, 2008.
The KWSB last increased the water and sewerage tariff for domestic
consumers in 2001-02 and for its bulk consumers in 1998, and, as such,
water tariff for domestic consumers has been enhanced after seven years
and for bulk consumers after 10 years, according to sources.
Though the notification pertaining to the nine per cent increase in
water charges was initially issued in June 2008 by the then KWSB
managing director, Sulaiman Chandio, when its control was with the Sindh
government, it was held in abeyance by Karachi Nazim Syed Mustafa Kamal
in his capacity as the chairman of the KWSB shortly after the utility
was given into the administrative control of the city government.
According to the sources, the approval for the new rates was given in
the light of a Sindh cabinet decision of 2001, whereby the KWSB was
authorised to revise the water tariff by eight to nine per cent not only
in 2002-03, but also in subsequent years.
Officials argued that the utility did not raise even a single paisa on
water charges during the last eight to 10 years, although electricity
charges during the same period registered a sharp rise.
Asked about the logic behind exempting the residents of flats from the
increase, the officials said such a decision was taken with a view to
bringing an end to an anomaly in the water tariff of 2001-02 under which
people living in flats were already paying higher water and sewerage
charges than those living in houses having the same and more area.
New tariff
The
new water tariff, including sewerage charges, per month for domestic
un-metered consumers living on a plot measuring up to 60 square yards
will now be Rs37; from 61 to 120 sq yards (Rs51); from 121 to 200 sq
yards (Rs79); from 201 to 300 sq yards (Rs117); from 301 to 400 sq yards
(Rs163); from 401 to 600 sq yards (Rs239); from 601 to 1,000 sq yards
(Rs362); from 1,001 to 1,500 sq yards (Rs718); from 1,501 to 2000 sq
yards (Rs927); from 2,001 to 2,500 sq yards (Rs1,181); from 2,501 to
3,000 sq yards (Rs1,497); from 3,001 to 3,500 sq yards (Rs1,825); from
3,501 to 4,000 sq yards (Rs2,171); from 4,001 to 4,500 sq yards
(Rs2,533) and from 4,501 to 5,000 sq yards (Rs2,988).
Bulk supply rates
Metered
domestic water consumers under the revised tariff will be charged Rs48
per 1,000 gallons while industrial and commercial consumers will be
charged Rs80 per 1,000 gallons.
Though the sewerage charges have been merged with the water tariff, the
sewerage tariff at a rate of 25 per cent of water charges will be
applied to all bulk and retail water consumers, all constituent bodies,
industrial units and agencies under the control of the government,
irrespective of their location, who are discharging their sewerage
either through the KWSB sewerage system or any other system directly or
indirectly, collectively or individually anywhere, the newly appointed
chief revenue officer (CRO) of the KWSB, Ghulam Mohammad, explained.
(By
Azizullah Sharif, Dawn-17, 24/02/2009)
Shershah
bridge collapse
Probe
body holds NHA, consultant responsible
The federal ministry of communications has released an inquiry report of
the September 2007 Shershah bridge collapse, holding a private
consultant and the National Highway Authority (NHA) responsible for the
tragedy.
Some half a dozen people were killed in the accident while the collapse
caused losses worth billions of rupees to the exchequer. However, while
making the report – prepared by the Prime Minister’s Inquiry
Committee (PMIC), which presented it to the authorities in February 2008
– public, the ministry did not come up with any reason explaining why
it took more than a year to release the names of the individuals and
organisations responsible for the act of “criminal negligence”. The
delay caused President Asif Ali Zardari to intervene. At a briefing at
the presidency on the performance of the NHA last week, he asked the
authorities concerned to make the report public.
Surprisingly the findings and the recommendations incorporated into the
report more than a year ago seem to have made little impact on the
authorities concerned as none of the recommendations made by the experts
after going through the roles and contributions of every individual and
organisation have been implemented by the government.
Interestingly, the inquiry team, during the course of the investigation,
questioned the role of the National Logistics Cell (NLC), which
outsourced the project to the private consultant – Engineering
Consultants International Limited (ECIL) – but did not find the NLC
among those responsible for the deadly incident.
“The word criminal neglect on the part of M/S ECIL seems to be too
feeble a word to express the wrong they committed,” says the report
while compiling its findings and fixing responsibility.
“Due to (the) egregious structural design of the bridge, M/S ECIL are
solely responsible for the physical collapse of the Paracha Chowk
Bridge.”
Representatives of M/S ECIL were unavailable for comment.
The report also reached the conclusion that the federally-administered
NHA, which launched, initiated and supervised the project both as the
regulatory body and the government’s representative, contributed to
the criminal act.
“Notwithstanding the physical collapse due to faulty structural
design, the neglect on part of (the) NHA in discharging its duties
shall, however, remain the root cause of collapse of the Paracha Chowk
Box Girder Bridge, as (the) NHA ignominiously failed to ensure
implementation of the project,” the report observes.
The inquiry report, which was signed by three of the committee members
despite the fact that the task was initially assigned to seven experts,
also named the senior officials of both the organisations, who had been
declared responsible at individual levels.
ECIL chairman Zaheer Mirza, along with all the directors of the company,
have been declared responsible for the tragedy. Similarly, former
chairman of the NHA, retired Major-General Farrukh Javed, with some of
his team members have been found guilty of the same criminal negligence.
The 70-metre Baldia loop of the Shershah bridge collapsed on Sept 1,
2007, a mere 20 days after its inauguration by then president Pervez
Musharraf. The accident claimed nearly half a dozen lives. Dozens of
people were trapped under the mangled mass of concrete for over seven
hours before being rescued by government organisations and volunteers.
Along with action against the culprits, reconstruction of the bridge
seemed to be at a standstill till a few months back, as the tragedy put
a stop to the reconstruction of the over Rs3.5 billion Northern Bypass
project. Also, the findings of the inquiry, ordered by the then
president and prime minister hours after the incident, took around 17
months to materialise.
In total contrast to the suggestions of the inquiry committee, which
also named some senior officials and recommended action against them,
one of them had been promoted as chairman NHA well before the report was
made public. Similarly, the “recommendations for immediate action”
mentioned in the report are also awaited.
“The name of M/S ECIL should immediately be removed from the list of
short-listed consultants and the firm should be blacklisted for
undertaking consultancy job in the future,” the report recommends. “Pakistan
Engineering Council should also not only be informed of the decision and
the basis thereof but also be requested to initiate appropriate and
exemplary action against the company and its directors.”
(By
Imran Ayub, Dawn-17, 25/02/2009)
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