My friend, my mentor: Muhammad Ali Shah

The coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic has snatched many valuable persons all over the world, but for me, the death of my friend, mentor and leader of Pakistan’s fishermen Muhammad Ali Shah was a great loss to the vulnerable communities of the country.

I remember when the paramilitary Pakistan Rangers had unleashed atrocities on fishermen of Badin during the Military rule of General (R) Pervaiz Musharraf (1999-2008), Muhammad Ali Shah along with his deceased wife Tahira Shah stood steadfast with the fishing communities and launched a strong movement against the powerful paramilitary forces. Due to their leadership and mobilization of the fishermen by the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum in 2004 Pakistan Rangers had to leave the control of waters in the Badin district, which they had been illegally occupying since the 1970s. They were not allowing the bonafide fishermen to do fishing on lakes and along the Arabian sea coast in Badin district and only those fishermen were allowed to do fishing, who used to pay the contractor, appointed by them.

As a result of the relentless struggle led by Mr and Mrs Muhammad Ali Shah the Sindh government, at last, ended the contract system for fishing all over the province. The provincial government also made laws to introduce fishing licensing systems and also banned the use of destructive nets. It was for the first time that the most backward community (fishermen) of Sindh got a voice for their usurped rights.

The Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF) got famous all over the world because of the perpetuated struggle of the Shah couple. Muhammad Ali Shah remained an undisputed leader of the fishermen of Sindh (both marine fishermen and inland fishermen) and always remained at the forefront of the rights of fishermen. He faced the wrath of the authorities when he challenged their illegal actions. I remember the DHA authorities had stopped fishermen of Gizri from fishing at Sea View and they blocked the entry by erecting barricades. Muhammad Ali Shah dialogued with the uniformed heads of DHA and as a result, Gizri’s fishermen were allowed to fish. He also fought against the encroachment of a graveyard in a fishing village by the Coast Guard.

When the Pakistan government allowed big fishing trawlers (ships) to do fishing in Pakistani waters, under the deep-sea fishing policy in the 1990s-2000s, it was Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum that came forward and waged a struggle to end the Policy.

I can recall that my friendship with Muhammad Ali Shah started in the early 1990s when he formed a social welfare organisation in Ibrahim Haidry. He was working in the office of the union council as a government employee., but he along with his colleagues at the Ibrahim Haidery Welfare Association used to raise a voice against the problems of fishermen on the Karachi coast. The first time I went to interview him in his office of Ibrahim Haidry union council as I was writing a feature on Sindh’s fishermen. Till that time PFF was not formed.

Since then we used to meet at Karachi Press Club or in Ibrahim Haidry. Our bond further strengthened when in 2005 he asked me to join PFF. I worked for his organisation for a brief period from April to August 2005. Unfortunately, during that period, he was arrested by Hyderabad police along with other PFF colleagues Muhamamd Mallah, Jamal Shoro, Saami Memon and some others when they staged a sit-in outside the office of the provincial Fisheries department. Their arrest was made under the decades-old draconian law famous as MPO (Maintenance of Public Order). The PFF aggressively launched a struggle all over Sindh by holding protest demonstrations, press conferences and issuing statements. He was later released.

Muhammad Ali Shah also tried to make PFF units in Southern Punjab and Balochistan, where a lot of fishermen are living and learning their livelihoods by fishing. He headed the World Forum of Fisher People and remained active in the labour movement of the South Asia region. He was also worried about the destruction of the Indus Delta and the construction of big dams. He launched at least two long marches or Caravans. A large number of fishermen of the Indus Delta in Thatta and Karachi have been displaced and lost their livelihoods due to the intrusion of seawater into the land.

His life became barren when in a deadly car accident in March 2015 he lost his beloved wife Tahira Shah. Both were returning to Karachi from Badin after attending a meeting there and their car turned turtle and dived into a pool of standing poisoned water along the road. Tahira Shah drowned and Muhammad Ali Shah also suffered injuries and his lungs were badly infected due to inhaling the dirty water. He remained hospitalized for many days in Thatta and Karachi after the accident.

The last time, we travelled to the Thar desert for an exposure visit of Karachi’s journalists was on February 13-14, 2021. At that time we had long discussions on the plight of vulnerable communities of Sindh. Fortunately, I stayed in the same guest house in Mithi and had a valuable chat at breakfast with him. He was a passionate leader and always worried about the miseries of fishermen and affectees of Thar power plants.

Lockdown 2021 Diaries: 9th (Last) Day – Ineffective follow up of SOPs

Today was the last day of the COVID-19 lockdown in Sindh province and Sunday was a closed day in Karachi.

If we review this span of lockdown, it remained ineffective as the number of positive cases in Karachi could not come down below 20 per cent. Similarly, there was a rise in cases in Hyderabad as well.

According to official statistics, 1,655 new coronavirus cases and 26 deaths were reported in Sindh during the last 24 hours on Sindh.

A chief minister’s office handout issued stated that during 24 hours, a total of 17,625 tests were conducted and the positivity rate remained at 20 per cent.

Despite the closure of markets and big departmental stores in major cities, especially in Karachi, people continued to avoid following SOPs including warning masks at public places and keeping social distancing.

As there was no ban on every type of inter and intra-city transport people could have been seen commuting by sitting closely in public transport vehicles. The biggest city of Pakistan does not have any public transport system leaves along with mass transit, so people are compelled to use Ching-chi rickshaws (which accommodate 8 persons – six on two seats at the back and two seats with the driver).

People continue to travel in these types of public transport vehicles and there was a blatant violation of SOPs in all vehicles.

This time the government kept closing down the big marts and departmental stores like Metro, Bin Hashim, Al-Jadeed etc. despite the fact in that last year’s lockdown they remained open with strict SOPs. But there was a rush at the department stores and vendors of fruits and vegetables. The medical stores, meat shops, bakeries and Tandoors remained open and people violated SOP thereby not keeping social distancing and avoiding wearing masks.

Meanwhile, the Sindh government announced on Sunday new COVID-19 standard operating procedures that will remain in effect from August 9 to Aug 31, relaxing some of the restrictions as its partial lockdown comes to an end. They include:

• Markets and businesses to function until 8pm, except essential services
• Indoor dining to remain banned. Outdoor dining (till 10pm), takeaway and delivery will be allowed
• Friday and Sunday are to be observed as closed days
• Indoor weddings will be banned; outdoor weddings will be allowed with a maximum of 300 guests until 10pm
• Shrines and cinemas to remain closed
• Indoor gyms to be allowed for vaccinated individuals only
• Offices and public transport to operate at 50 per cent capacity
• District administrations may impose broader lockdowns in specific areas based on the risk.

Lockdown 2021 Diaries: 8th Day – NCOC announces end of Sindh's lockdown from Monday

After a marathon session with the government, the National Command Operation Centre (NCOC) decided to end the 10-day partial “lockdown” in Sindh on Monday, August 9, 2021.

Certain restrictions and SOPs, however, will remain enacted after the culmination of the lockdown, which received severe criticism from federal government coalition partners PTI and MQM-P. Traders' bodies and industrialists also censured the provincial government on the lockdown issue.

Despite the fact there is no significant decline in COVID-19-positive cases in major cities like Karachi and Hyderabad, the provincial government was forced to take a decision in consultation with the NCOC.

At least 1,827 new coronavirus cases were reported in Sindh during the last 24 hours on Saturday with 21 deaths. A total of 15,405 tests were conducted in Sindh.

At a meeting in Karachi, the NCOC decided that the non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) issued by the NCOC for the top 13 cities with high disease prevalence, including Karachi and Hyderabad, will be enforced.

Then smart Lockdowns in high disease prevalence areas will also be enforced to curtail the disease spread of COVID-19, a statement issued by NCOC said.

Meanwhile, the newly appointed Administrator of KMC Barrister Murtaza Wahab inaugurated a COVID Vaccination Centre at Karachi Press Club on Saturday.

Lockdown 2021 Diaries: 7th Day - ADB support for vaccination

After news about the shortage of vaccines in Karachi and other parts of the country, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) announced the approval of a $500 million loan to help Pakistan procure coronavirus vaccines.

This amount is in addition to the funding provided by the World Bank, IMF and other donors previously.

According to Gulf News, the ADP project will support Pakistan’s national vaccination plan by helping to procure and deliver an estimated 39.8 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine, safety boxes, and syringes.

Earlier, the World Bank said it would reallocate $150 million to Pakistan for the procurement of the vaccines.

Despite vaccine supply constraints globally, the Government of Pakistan has procured and administered more than 35 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines. With a population of over r220 million, Pakistan has mainly relied on vaccines imported from China including Sinopharm, CanSino and Sinovac. Pakistan has also received around 8 million vaccine doses through the COVAX facility including AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Moderna.

Nearly 7.2 million Pakistanis have been fully vaccinated and more than 28 million have received one dose as of August 6.

Meanwhile, it was the seventh day of lockdown in Sindh on Friday as the province reported 2,170 new cases of COVID-19. 42 more patients lost their lives due to the virus and 18,223 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours, reporting a positivity rate of 11.9 per cent.

Meanwhile, the federal health ministry said there is no shortage of vaccines in the country.

Lockdown 2021 Diaries: 6th Day – Vaccine shortage in Karachi

For the second time, the city’s vaccination centres complained shortage of vaccines on Thursday. A few weeks earlier, the country had witnessed a shortage of vaccines and a sufficient supply of Sinovac and Moderna vaccines had fulfilled the demand. But since the announcement of the lockdown in Sindh a large number of people thronged to the vaccination centres in Karachi and long queues can be witnessed outside the major vaccination centres. To meet the demand the provincial government has increased the number of round-the-clock vaccination centres and deployed mobile vaccination vans.

According to Sindh Health Department, the main vaccine brands like Sinopharm, Sinovac, and AstraZeneca are short in the city, as thousands of people have thronged at vaccination centres i the city since morning.

The shortage is reported from the largest vaccination centre at Karachi Expo Centre as well as other important centres like Dow Ojha Hospital, and Sindh Government Children’s Hospital. The supplies to vaccination centres at New Karachi, Liaquatabad, and Lyari have been suspended.

Most of the vaccination centres are not providing the first dose of Sinopharm, Sinovac, and AstraZeneca whereas only a second jab is provided whose dates are due.

Meanwhile, the provincial health department claimed that 12 mobile vaccination units have been deployed in six districts of Karachi to ensure maximum vaccination to the people. The officials believe that it may take a couple of days to receive a fresh supply of vaccines in the city.

The NCOC statistics indicated the death of 60 more people due to COVID-19 during the last 24 hours in Pakistan. In Sindh 2,315 new coronavirus cases and 28 more deaths were reported. A total of 16,9537 coronavirus tests were conducted in the province in the last 24 hours.

According to reports, the number of COVID-19 cases is on the rise in the second largest city of Sindh – Hyderabad.

Lockdown 2021 Diaries: 5th Day – Cases surge in Hyderabad

Business activities in Karachi remained suspended in Sindh except for essential items shops, like groceries and medical stores.

The war of words between Sindh’s ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and opposition political parties like PTI, Jamat Islami and MQM-P continued. Karachi Ameer of JI Hafiz Naimur Rahman criticised the provincial government’s decision to give powers to Police officers to impose lockdown SOPs. Earlier, those powers had vested to Assistant Commissioners or magistrates.

The federal education minister said in a press conference that federal government schools continue to run with 50 per cent attendance, whereas there will be no exams for compulsory subjects, while students would only take exams for elective subjects.  marks acquired by students in elective subjects would proportionately be given in compulsory subjects, along with an additional of 5 per cent.

Schools in Sindh will remain closed till August 8, the provincial education minister Saeed Ghani said in Karachi. The remaining intermediate exams in Sindh will take place after the coronavirus situation gets better, he stated.

According to the NCOC statistics, there is a letup in Coronavirus positive cases in two major cities – Karachi and Hyderabad. The positivity ratio in Hyderabad has touched 24 per cent, which is alarming, whereas this ratio in Karachi has hovered around 23 per cent for many days. Despite the lockdown, this positive ratio is not receding.

Rush is still being witnessed at the COVID-19 vaccination centres across the city. The provincial government has started operating mobile vaccination vans in different parts of the city.

The official figure indicated a total of 2,438 new cases emerged as 19,427 COVID-19 tests were conducted. Overall positivity of cases in the entire province remained at 12.5 per cent.

Lockdown 2021 Diaries: 4th Day – Sindh govt. under fire

There was no letup in the COVID-19-positive cases in Sindh as the province reported 2,438 new cases during the last 24 hours on Tuesday. 12 patients lost their lives in the province.

Despite a very loose and partial lockdown and other preventive measures, the Sindh government is still facing backlash from the federal government’s coalition partners including MQM-Pakistan and of course, the PTI minister.

The MQM-P’s leaders along with the city’s traders held a press conference in Karachi in which they, as usual, termed the lockdown as “discrimination” against Karachiites.

Dr. Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui was saying in Shahzeb Khazada’s programme on Geo News that in the Urdu-speaking dominated areas there is the strict imposition of the lockdown, whereas in posh localities like Clifton and Defence the businesses are open.

Fawad Chaudhry, Federal Minister for Information at a press conference in Islamabad blamed the provincial Sindh government for the worsening Covid-19 situation in Karachi and Hyderabad. According to him the percentage of vaccinated people in these two major cities of Sindh was lower than in other major cities of the country.

However, the Sindh government brushed aside all allegations. The provincial health department announced that it has converted 12 mobile hospitals in Karachi into vaccination centres to reach citizens in various areas of the metropolis and help them get vaccinated with ease.

Two of each such mobile vaccination centres would be sent to districts South, West, East and Keamari, three to district Central and one in District Malir.

A total of 19,427 coronavirus tests were conducted in the province in the last 24 hours while 548 more people recovered from Covid-19.

Meanwhile, Sindh Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah said the provincial government has started vaccination of those adults who do not possess CNIC due to various reasons. A large number of Bengali and Burmese origin people live in Karachi’s Katchi Abadis and shanti towns and do not possess official documents. The minister pointed out that any document like a school certificate, B form or a personal guarantee would be acceptable for getting COVID-19 vaccination. Mobile vans would also be sent to localities where such people live in large numbers.

Lockdown 2021 Diaries: 3rd Day – No Respite to Public

It seems the provincial government has further tightened the lockdown restrictions as the main departmental stores in Gulistan-e-Jauhar and Gulshan-e-Iqbal Karachi remained shut down on 3rd day of the partial lockdown in Sindh.

Even one of the major cash-and-carry -cum- departmental store Metro remained closed down despite the fact it remained open during the first complete lockdown in 2020. The security guards posted outside Metro said it will remain closed till the end of the lockdown.

Only Street grocery stores, bakeries and medical stores are opened. Those medical stores, which are also selling grocery or general items have closed that section with curtains. For example, the famous Seven86 medicos at Jauhar Chowrangi is opened but it is selling only medicines. 

Due to the closure of the major stores, where a majority of people do shopping due to discounted rates, families feel frustrated in these localities.

Despite the announcement of 11 new round-the-clock vaccination centres in the metropolis, a large number of people were visiting the Expo Centre’s largest vaccination point in the city. Today the government has deployed Rangers and Army personnel to discipline the long queues at Expo Centre. According to reports, a similar rush is witnessed on other major vaccination centres including JPMC, Civil Hospital and Khalid Dina Hall in district South. Meanwhile, the traders’ bodies demanded the government to set up vaccination centres in major shopping points in the city.

The federal government-run National Command Operation Centre (NCOC) after a weekly meeting in Islamabad on Monday announced further restrictions for other cities of the country including, early closure of markets, resumption of 50 per cent work-from-home policy in government and private offices, operation of public transport with 50 per cent occupancy, two-day holidays in a week, restriction of indoor dining and marriage halls etc.

Sindh reported 1,847 new COVID-19 cases during the last 24 hours (down from 2,549 yesterday). Moreover, 36 deaths were reported by bringing the total deaths to 6,057. In Sindh, a total of 13,107 Covid-19 tests were conducted in the province.

Meanwhile, the district administration in Hyderabad has started a survey of vaccinated people in the district to ascertain the vaccination situation.

 

Lockdown 2021 Diaries: 2nd Day - Further Relaxation

Despite being a weekly holiday, Sunday remained quite calm as people remained at home on the second day of the 10-day COVID-19-related partial lockdown in Sindh. All markets remain closed on Sundays and only weekly make-shift bazaars are organized on weekends in different parts of the city. Those Bachat Bazaars were not organized this Sunday.

There were reports of heavy rush at the Karachi’s Expo Centre’s vaccination centre since morning, however, it remained operational throughout the day without any intervals. No untoward incident happened in this round-the-clock largest COVID-19 vaccination centre in Karachi.

The provincial government announced to open 11 more round-the-clock vaccination centres in the government hospitals in six districts of Karachi. These centres would be located at Dow Ojha Hospital in the East district; Khaliqdina Hall, JPMC and Lyari General Hospital in the South district; Children Hospital, SG Hospital New Karachi, SG Hospital Liaquatabad in the Central District; Sindh Government Qatar Hospital in the West district; SG Hospital Murad Memon Goth in Malir district; and SG Hospital Saudabad in Korangi district.

Keeping in view the traditional inefficiency of the provincial government’s machinery, it is really hard to believe that these new 24/7 centres would be functional from the first day for 24-hour service. Except for Expo Centre, the other government-run vaccination centres in the city often function between 9 am to 5 pm on weekdays. According to a report, the government is setting up new counters at NED University’s grounds. The mobile vaccination vans are also been sent to different localities in the city.

The poor performance of the health authorities in Sindh can be gauged from the fact that it has recently established a state-of-the-art new COVID-19 isolation/treatment centre at KMC’s Abbasi Shaheed Hospital in Nazimabad, but its healthcare staff including doctors held a protest demonstration against the non-availability of PPEs and other facilities to them. Karachi’s Administrator had recently inaugurated the intensive care centre.

Pl. click to watch the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2ocJRtY7_k

The federal government continued its criticism of the Sindh government’s decision of imposing partial lockdown on the entire province instead of clamping smart lockdowns in selected areas. The Prime Minister in his public address on phone also criticized the provincial government’s decision. “We had a small problem between the federal government and Sindh,” the PM admitted. “Sindh government wanted to impose a lockdown, which is the correct decision and will curb the spread of the virus. But on the other hand, the thing to see is that will we be able to save the economy from the lockdown? Then there is the issue of hunger … the daily wage earners and especially the poor section of our society … how will they make ends meet during the lockdown?”

A high-level meeting of NCOC would be held in Islamabad on Monday to further discuss the pandemic situation.

According to daily statistics of the National Command Operation Centre, 62 people lost their lives in Pakistan during 24 hours on Sunday with 5,026 new cases in the country. Sindh has reported 2,549 new coronavirus cases; 20 more people lost their lives, with the death toll rising to 6,021 in the province.

A total of 18,618 Covid-19 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours, while 368 more patients recovered from the disease.

Feature photo: Courtesy dawn.com website (Source: https://www.dawn.com/news/1638177/pakistan-reports-more-than-5000-daily-cases-for-first-time-since-april)