Thai monks in Pakistan for World Peace

A group of Buddhist monks from a monastery in Thailand on a mission “walk for world peace” will leave Karachi for Turkey today evening as they visited some Pakistani cities to spread the message of peace. Entered Lahore through the Wagah border from India these Buddhist marchers were initially to go to Iran, but due to the Coronavirus threat, the Pakistan-Iran border has been closed down, so they are now going directly to Turkey via air, their next destination after Iran.

Draped in the traditional maroon robes of monks, these Buddhist preachers are on a mission to spread the message of Lord Buddha in the world.

In Pakistan, besides Lahore, these eight monks, who were invited by Thailand Embassy, also visited Sukkur, Hyderabad, Khuzdar and Karachi. However, Pakistani security authorities did not allow them to walk on the streets of any Pakistani city due to “security reasons.”

These innocent and poor Monks expressed their sadness with some local friends in Karachi saying:  “Police vehicles were surrounding to our all sides everywhere and they did not allow us to walk on streets.”

Initiated first by a Thai monk Sutham Nateetong, who had walked over 5000 kilometres from Thailand to the United States to promote peace, the other Buddhist walkers joined him on his second leg of the “walk for world peace”. Drawn from different parts of Thailand these Monks started their journey from Myanmar and also visited Vietnam, Laos, Nepal and India.

Watch Video Click Here

They crossed the Indian border by foot, but then they were put in vehicles by the Pakistani Embassy of Thailand.

In Karachi, the Thai Consulate General had arranged their stay in a private guest house in the Bath Island area. Some of the Monks incidentally met with a few Pakistani meditators, who practice Vipassana, a Buddhist meditation system from Maynmar teacher S. N. Goenka. The Karachi friends invited Thai Monks to some private gatherings. They also arranged their visit to the National Museum of Pakistan, where they, with great interest, found the relics of Buddhism periods in different galleries of the museum. They were delighted to see different size well-preserved Buddha sculptures in the museum.

They said they wanted to see Buddhist sites like Taxila and Swat in Pakistan but they did not get permission to go there.

They were also happy to see that many Pakistanis are practising meditations for their inner peace and overall peace of the world.

A video recorded by me Click Here

I fail to understand why when the Pakistan government is promoting tourism, especially religious tourism, then why they put such strict vigilance and restrictions and they did not allow them to walk on the streets. In Pakistan only Sikhs are the single blue-eyed religious minority for the security establishment, the followers of other religions are suspected.

A similar type of treatment was experienced by us when last week some Nepalese peace activists visited Karachi on account of the international peace march “Jai Jagat”. They also faced similar restrictions and the security agencies chased them everywhere. In Hyderabad, they were not allowed to visit the University of Sindh Jamshoro due to “security reasons.”

Although the Thai Buddhist Monks were happy to meet with Pakistani peace activists, they wish to visit again to see the Buddhist historical places in the Northern part of Pakistan.

Corona Virus in Pakistan

Since Wednesday evening, Pakistan, especially its largest city, Karachi, which is also the commercial capital of the country, is in a grip of fear of the deadly Coronavirus. The government announced the diagnosis of two patients affected by Coronavirus, one each in Karachi and Islamabad.

The provincial Sindh government has further added to the fear among common people as the provincial government announced the closure of all the schools across the province for remaining two days of the week (Thursday and Friday). TV channels have further created a scare among kids and families due to news of school closures. The Balochistan government which has already closed down the border with Iran has also announced the closure of schools in the province till March 15. There is an emergency in border districts of Balochistan and Special Assitant to the Prime Minister on Health Dr Zafar Mirza held a press conference along with Balochistan Chief Minister on the coronavirus issue on Wednesday evening.

The profiteers in Karachi are exploiting the situation as medical masks have disappeared from the city’s medical stores and those sellers are charging a heavy price for each mask. Although it has become our national character that in case of emergencies traders try to swindle money through hook and crook and hoardings. We just saw it last week when in the Keamari area 14 people lost their lives due to the release of a mysterious toxic gas and marks became costly in the area.

Although only one case of Coronavirus has been reported in Karachi, who had reportedly arrived by air at Karachi airport from Iran on 20th February and is not under treatment in Aga Khan Hospital, there is a widespread scare due to the non-availability of healthcare facilities in Sindh including special isolation wards in the government hospitals.

The Sindh government has announced to set up an Emergency Centre (whose phones seldom work), but no special isolation ward is identified in any government hospital in the city. According to media reports, isolation wards are already available in three major government hospitals including Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), Civil Hospital, Abbasi Shaheed Hospital and a costly private Aga Khan Hospital.

On Thursday the provincial cabinet met and decided to form a task force on coronavirus.

Photo courtesy: dawn.com

After the emergency meeting on Thursday morning the Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, in a press conference said that over 1,500 people have been identified who had returned from Iran or had come into contact with those coming from Iran and later entered Sindh in the past 15 days. Those 15,00 people would be tested and if suspected some symptoms would be kept in quarantine for treatment and observation.

There are improper and inadequate arrangements at the airports in Pakistan for testing any patients of coronavirus. All those who arrived from Iran on 20th February along with the affected patient of Karachi were allowed to leave to homes without checking.

Pakistan has very poor healthcare facilities to meet such types of intense emergencies. In the Larkana district, last year hundreds of cases of HIV positive were detected and the provincial government failed to test or provide medical facilities to those patients, despite the fact the World Health Organisation (WHO) provided assistance in this regard. After the WHO campaign, those patients don’t receive any medical help.

Similarly, the country faced a shortage of rabies vaccines and many deaths were reported due to rabies in Sindh but the provincial government seemed inept to provide the vaccinations in even every district hospital. The local government bodies are unable to kill stray dogs.

But handling Coronavirus is a big challenge for the health ministry of Sindh as after the 18th Amendment in the Constitution, health has become a provincial subject and the government has no capacity and capability.

The official Emergency numbers are not working: A video by a social worker of JDC

The health experts have been issuing only preventive advice, which also included keeping hygiene and washing hands with soap frequently.

The coronavirus, which started in China at the end of last year has spread over many countries. European developed countries Italy and neighbouring Iran have reported multiple deaths and hundreds of infected patients due to this endemic disease. Iran has also no quality healthcare facilities and due to restrictions on the media correct figures are not arriving in the media. Similar is the situation in China, from where only official data is released.

No vaccination or antibiotic is available anywhere in the world to prevent or treat this virus, which is said to be transferred in human beings from animals in Wuhan city in China.

Given the healthcare situation in Pakistan and the non-availability of effective treatment of infectious diseases, there is widespread fear among the population, even though the mortality ratio is quite lower (about 2 per cent) in this virus.

So please don’t panic but take preventive measures, avoid going to busy places and use tissues or handkerchiefs in case of sneezing or coughing. God bless all humanity!

International Mother Language Day

The United Nations (UN) has declared 21st February as International International Mother Language Day to promote awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity and to promote multilingualism.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) was first announced on 17 November 1999, which was formally recognized by the United Nations General Assembly with the adoption of the UN Resolution No. 56/262 Multilingualism in 2002.

The idea to observe International Mother Language Day was an initiative of Bangladesh as 21st February is the anniversary of the day when Bangladeshis fought for recognition of the Bangla language. There is a public holiday on 21st February in Bangladesh.

In 1948, the then Government of Pakistan declared Urdu to be the sole national language of Pakistan even though Bengali or Bangla was spoken by the majority of people combining East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). East Pakistan’s Bengali-speaking people protested. At that, time the majority of the population was Bengali speaking so they demanded Bangla be at least one of the national languages, in addition to Urdu.

The demand was raised first by Dhirendranath Datta, a member from East Pakistan on 23 February 1948, in the constituent Assembly of Pakistan. To demolish the protest, the government of Pakistan outlawed public meetings and rallies. The students of the University of Dhaka, with the support of the general public, arranged massive rallies and meetings. On 21 February 1952, police opened fire on rallies. Salam, Barkat, Rafiq, Jabbar and Shafiur died, with hundreds of others injured. This is a rare incident in history, where people sacrificed their lives for their mother tongue.

In Pakistan, the day is being observed with enthusiasm for the last few years as at two times the legislators from smaller provinces (Sindh, Balochistan and KP) have submitted two separate bills in the Parliament (National Assembly and Senate) to declare other languages of Pakistan as National Languages.

Even the Senate’s Standing Committee on Law and Justice passed “The Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2016” on March 9, 2018, seeking the status of national languages for major provincial languages, including Punjabi, Sindhi, Pashto and Balochi.

But on both occasions, the proposed bills were rejected on the basis of majority as Punjabi-speaking people are in dominant in the Parliament.

Most of the information for this blog is taken from Wikipedia

Toxic gas release: Still a mystery

Mystery still shrouds around the leakage of deadly toxic gas, which caused the deaths of over 14 people and sickness to over 300 people in Karachi port surrounding areas in Keamari till Tuesday evening.

According to a report by the daily Dawn provincial Local Government minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah and Karachi Commissioner Iftikhar Shallwani addressed a press conference on February 18, and said they were still clueless about the source of the gas and what was its nature. Authorities are still investigating it.

A laboratory report released by the International Centre for Chemical and Biological Sciences (ICCBS) indicated that soybean dust (aeroallergens) was found in the samples of those who died on Monday.

The new development of the lab report has further deepened the crisis as the Karachi Port Trust (KPT) authorities denied the release of soybean dust and said a patient who died in a hospital was already admitted to the hospital before the anchorage of the soybean ship.

Although there is no confirmed cause of the deaths, the environmental watchdog Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is also blank.

Meanwhile, the residents of Keamari, Jackson and Railway Colony staged a protest demonstration at the main road against authorities on their failure to ascertain the cause of the toxic gas.

Deaths due to mysterious gas leakage in Keamari port area

At least six persons died and dozens were seriously got an illness and admitted to two major hospitals in the port area of Keamari – Kutiyana and Ziauddin — early in the morning on Monday, media reports said.

The mysterious poisonous and deadly gas is suspected to have come out from a chemical storage warehouse in the Keamari area. The authorities have kept mum on the cause of the release.

“Port authorities are trying to hide the facts,” said Faisal Edhi, head of Edhi Foundation, the top ambulance service in the country in a video shared by media. “They should tell the truth so further deaths and damage be prevented,” Edhi added.

Watch wideo by clicking herehttps://youtu.be/T7Bn9GS-prQ

According to police, most of the affected people have become unconscious after inhaling toxic gas and many others are facing difficulties in inhaling.  

It is a very serious matter and criminal neglect on part of the authorities as they have failed to prevent the release of deadly and toxic gas in the congested port area. They are now trying to hide the fact to save their skins.

The police and port authorities should locate the place from where the gas was released and all the responsible persons or departments be taken to task. Besides Police, the Karachi Port Authority, Federal Government’s Ports and Shipping Department, Pakistan Navy, Environment Protection Authority (EPA), KMC (City Government) and the Civil Defence departments should be asked to play their roles. Not only the culprits be nabbed, but the government should take preventive measures so a similar incident has not happened in future.

Families Demand Students be Repatriated from China

A large number of parents and relatives of Pakistani students studying in China staged a protest demonstration outside Karachi Press Club demanding the repatriation of all the students from Wuhan city of China, where they are kept inside their rooms or homes due to the viral epidemic Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19).

Many countries including neighbouring India have airlifted their students from China, but Pakistan has refused to repatriate its citizens as according to authorities Chinese government is taking care of the Pakistani students very well.

“Wapas Lao Wapas Law, Hamare Bache Wapas Lao (bring back our children)” chanted the protesting relatives.

Carrying banners and placards, a large number of males and females, children and a wheel-chaired woman were demanding Prime Minister Imran Khan, Army Chief and politicians including Bilawal Bhutto Zardari to bring back their loved ones who are stranded in Wuhan city, where over 1500 people have died of viral infection and thousands are under treatment as Pakistan government had decided to keep them in China due to non-availability of effective quarantine and healthcare facilities at home.

According to reports, there were a total of 1300 Pakistani students enrolled in 25 universities of Wuhan before the outbreak of the Coronavirus epidemic but due to vacations about 500 students had already left the city but 800 were still stranded.

“We just want to see our children back in Pakistan as we don’t demand the government to make arrangements for their air tickets,” said a male speaker adding “we only want our children to be given permission to come back from Wuhan,” he added.

A woman said their children were kept in jail-like conditions in their homes and they were facing strict surveillance and restrictions despite the fact none of them is infected by the disease.

Some elderly women were weeping and said they felt helpless as the government has left the Pakistani student at the mercy of the Chinese and no politician or media is raising their voices for bringing back Pakistani students.

A man contacted a girl student living in China on his small phone and showed the girl’s face (which was covered with a mask) and said she was trying to tell their ordeal.

After some time of the protest, the protesters disperse peacefully.

Mahak’s Forced Conversion:

Another Hindu girl feared becoming victim of Pakistan’s legal system

It was my apprehension. But it seems my anxiety may become a reality as strong indications have started coming after the court proceedings inJacobabad. Because today the judge did not announce the verdict in the Hindu girl MehakKumari case, which he reserved yesterday to announce today.

Even the judge ordered to re-record of the girl’s version on 18th February for the third time. Before the announcement of the verdict, the Hindu girl Mahak, who was allegedly kidnapped and then forcibly converted to Islam would have to meet her parents and her kidnapper husband.

The same situation happened when in 2012 another Hindu girl Rinkle Kumari was also made to go with her alleged husband after she made a statement in court about her conversion. But she had previously insisted to go with her parents. In the suo moto case, the then Chief Justice of Pakistan Chaudhry Iftikhar Muhammad had earlier sent her to a shelter home.

Video link: https://youtu.be/9WTBmIO8hCY

There are many identical things in both Mehak and Rinklecases: The girls were sent to official shelter homes and the religious zealots influenced the courts in their favour despite the civil society’s protest and hue and cry on social media.

“The judge was positive in favour of the girl yesterday and I am hoping he would allow her to go with her parents,” said a social activist and a local lawyer from Sukkur Sattar Zangejo when I called him at 12.30 pm. He said, “we are still waiting for the verdict to be announced in favour of Mehak.”But later the local media reported adjournment of the case till February 18.

The interesting point case of Mehak's forced conversion is that the girl was declared as a minor of 16 years of age by the official medical board that issued a certificate on the orders of the country. The court had earlier ordered the constitution of a medical board to ascertain the age as the girl’s lawyers had objected that marriage after conversion was illegal under Sindh Child Marriage Restraint Act 2013. The court had sent the girl to Darul Aman of Larkana.

Yesterday (February 6) workers of a right-wing religious party Jamiat Ulema Islam (JUI) -Fazlur Rehman group were present in the court in a large number and they also held a protest demonstration outside the court today(February 7) against a potential verdict in girl’s favour.

The local leaders of JUI-F had Yesterday also addressed a press conference in Jacobabad by threatening to the girl, her family and the lawyers, although a large number of human rights and civil society activists and lawyers were also present in the court in support of the Hindu girl. The indigenous Hindus of Jacobabad seemed helpless against the religious fanatics.

Mehak Kumari was reportedly kidnapped and later converted to Islam early this month. She appeared in a video saying she was married off to a twenty-eight-year-old Muslim Ali Raza Machhi who in fact, along with his father has been working on the construction site of Mehak’s father Vijay Kumar.