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: 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)

Lockdown 2021 Diaries: First Day of chaos

The first day of the “partial lockdown” in Sindh was a panic day at least in Karachi. There was a hue and cry of businessmen in the media on the closure of markets and non-export industries and those still un-vaccinated people had thronged to vaccination centres to get their jabs to avoid any harassment by police for not producing vaccination cards.

Incidentally, there was the 2nd jab date for my son so we have to go to the Arts Council vaccination centre for the vaccination. At Rashid Minhas Road and then Shara-e-Faisal, there was normal-day traffic and jams at one or two places as usual and we were asking each other where these people were going in cars and motorcycles as offices and markets are closed. At least at 2 places, the police had erected barricades, which caused jams and slowdown of the traffic at Shara-e-Faisal.  

Outside Arts Council, we realized that there would be a rush inside as a large number of cars were parked outside the building. And that was the fact. An unusual number of people were standing in queues at the registration desks on the terrace.

Thank God, due to a better arrangement by the management of the Arts Council of Pakistan, Karachi, we went through the entire process and came out within one and a half hours.

But the situation at the largest vaccination centre of the city, Expo Centre was even worse. The media reported a large number of people had gathered there to get themselves vaccinated since early in the morning and due to the rush some people had broken the entry glass door, therefore, the vaccination process was stopped for many hours. There was also a report of a strike by the staff as they were not paid salaries for many months. I received a live report from Expo Centre as a brother of mine also went to get his first job and was standing outside the main hall in s long queue.

There was a report in the media that the government’s computer system to record the vaccination has also crashed due to heavy rush.

Even though the government had allowed the opening of grocery shops, police forcibly closed down major departmental stores in my area (Gulistan-e-Jauhar). I was buying some groceries at Al-Jadeed departmental store at main University Road, and the management suddenly started making announcements to vacate the store as soon as possible. The entry and exit gate shutters were pulled down in a panic as a Police officer at a petrol van told me that there was a violation of SPOs in the store so the Assistant Commissioner ordered to close it down. Two other major stores in the area – Bin Hashim and Bin Safeer were also closed down in the afternoon (much before 6 pm).

Sindh government on Friday (July 30) announced a “partial lockdown” in the entire province effective from July 31 till August 9 as COVID-19 cases have shot up to around 30% in a single day in Karachi city alone. Export-related manufacturing industries, medical stores, bakeries and grocery shops were allowed to open in specified times. Later, the provincial government amended the notification twice and announced further relaxed conditions like it allowed inter-provincial transport movement and plying of rickshaws and other passenger transport within the city limits by following standard operating procedures (SOPs). It also lifted a ban on pillion riding on motorcycles. 

Local businessmen’s bodies, the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Anjuman-e-Tajran rejected the closure of the business. Even the federal government and its ruling party Pakistan Tahrik-e-Insaf severely criticised the Sindh government for closing down the businesses to prevent the spread of the Delta variant of Coronavirus (COVID-19) in Sindh, especially in Karachi.

Sindh government spokesman Murtaza Wahab and later PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari censured the federal government for its unrealistic criticism of the Sindh government on COVID-19 lockdown.

Federal government ministers Asad Umer, Fawad Chaudhry and Shaikh Rasheed opposed the lockdown and Asad Umer said the lockdown in India has pushed the economy of India on a backtrack and even it went down by 7% and still has not recovered. So the only solution is a smart lockdown. They said instead the provincial government had to focus on the implementation of SOPs. On the other hand, the Sindh government said it had no option but to impose restrictions to control the spread of the pandemic variant Delta. Murtaza Wahab emphasized the need for continuous engagement in dialogue with the federal government

Heavy rains expose Sindh, City governments' inefficiency

Karachi city has been experiencing the worst-ever breakdown of civic utilities as the city received heavy Monsoon downpours in different areas on two consecutive days (Sunday and Monday). At least five people lost their lives due to electrocution in Karachi on Sunday.

Many areas in Malir, district East received heavy rains on Sunday as the met office recorded maximum rainfall of 86.2 millimetres (mm), or 3.3 inches, in the Gulshan-i-Hadeed area. Other areas, which received heavy included University Road,/Gulistan-i-Jauhar (80.8 mm), North Karachi (61.9 mm), Keamari (50.8 mm), Jinnah Terminal (58 mm), Saddar (51 mm), Pahalwan Goth (49.6 mm), PAF Base Faisal (49.2 mm), Nazimabad (28 mm), PAF Base Masroor and Landhi (23 mm).

With the first drop of the rain, power in many areas was shut down, which was restored after many hours.

On Monday the worst affected areas by the rain were in districts Central and West. Gulistan-e-Jauhar, Gulshan-e-Iqbal in district East also received heavy downpours on Monday.

This video was shared on social media (WhatsApp) by a journalist

Many areas in Orangi Town area were badly affected as water entered into homes due to rain as well as overflowing of the rain drains.

Residents have shared videos of North Karachi where gushing rainwater was even pushing vehicles and many cars and motorcycles can be seen floating on the water.

In Orangi area volunteers rescued dozens of students from a Madressah, where water from a Nallah (rain drain) had overflowed and entered into the premises of the religious school.

Reports of submerging of low-lying areas in Gulshan-e-Iqbal and Gulistan-e-Jauhar caused agony for the residents.

No government authorities were seen on roads to rescue people. For example in Orangi, volunteers of a religious charity organisation rescued children from the Madressah. The city government of Karachi had failed to maintain a drainage system in the city. The floodwater drains were not cleaned on the time and the provincial Sindh government and Karachi Metropolitan Corporation or City government were seen at the loggers’ heads to blame each other for their failure to maintain the sewerage system. The City Mayor, whose tenure is about to end on August 2, 2020, remained off the scene during the two days’ devastating rains.

کورونا وائرس وبا، ماسک اور ہمارا رویہ

آج گلشن معمار میں بینک گیا. ہفتے کا پہلا دن ہونے کی وجہ سے رش بہت تھا. نمبر لے کر کونے میں بیٹھ گیا۔

دیکھا کہ کچھ لوگوں نے (مجھ سمیت) ماسک پہن رکھے تھے مگر کافی لوگ بغیر ماسک یا سیمی ماسک لگائے ہوئے تھے (مطلب ماسک تو لٹکا ہوا تھا مگر آپس میں بات کرتے ہوئے مونہہ سے ہٹارہے تھے۔).

ایک شخص جب گیٹ سے اندرآیا تو ماسک پہنا ہوا تھا. مگر بیٹھتے ہی ماسک جیب میں ڈال دیا۔ گیٹ کا چوکیدار بغیر ماسک کے اندر آنے نہیں دے رہا تھا۔

پاس میں دو پثھان بغیر ماسک کے ایک ساتھ بیٹھے تھے، ان کے کندھوں پر چادریں تھیں، جن کو مونہہ پر ڈال کر اندر آئے تھے مگر بیٹھتے ہی کپڑا ہٹا دیا. بینک افسر ان کے پاس آیا اور کہا کہ اپنا مونہہ ڈھاپ لیں یا ماسک پہن لیں. کہنے لگے گرمی ہے اور تمہارا اے۔سی بھی ٹھنڈک کم دے رہا ہے اس لیے کپڑا ہٹا دیا ہے. افسر کے اسرار پر بھی انہوں نے اپنا چہرہ کھلا ہی رکھا۔

جس بندے نے ماسک جیب میں ڈالا ہوا تھا اس کو بھی افسرنے پاس آکر کہا کہ ماسک پہن لو، مگر اس نے سنی ان سنی کردی اور ویسے ہی بیٹھا رہا۔ مگر جب اس کا نمبر آیا تو میں نے دیکھا کہ اس نے جیب سے ماسک نکالا اور پہن کر کھڑکی پر گیا۔

بیٹھے بیٹھے میں سوچتا رہا کہ ہماری قوم اس وبا کے پھیل جانے کے باوجود بھی کتنی نان (غیر) سیریس ہے اور میں ایسے رویوں پر افسوس کرتا رہا۔

پھر میرا نمبر کال ہوا۔ جب میں کھڑکی کے پاس پہنچا تو دیکھا کہ شیشے کے اس پار بیٹھے تمام کیشیئرز میں سے کسی ایک نے بھی ماسک نہیں پہنا ہوا تھا۔

احفاظ الرحمان: ایک دانشورصحافی اور صحافی حقوق کے رہنما

میں ایک صاحب کردار آدمی ہوں

اور ایک صاحب کردار آدمی کی حیثیت سے

یہ چاہتا ہوں کہ جب مروں تو

میرا چہرہ سورج کی طرف ہو : احفاظ الرحمان

کینسر جیسے موذی مرض سے جنگ لڑتے ہوئے سینئر صحافی اور پاکستان فیڈرل یونین آف جرنلسٹس کے مرکزی لیڈر احفاظ الرحمان آج (12 اپريل 2020) اتوار کو دن طلوع ہونے سے پہلے اس دنیا سے کوچ کرگئے۔ وہ نا صرف ایک اچھے لکھاری تھے مگر ایک اعلی پیمانے کے شاعربھی تھے۔ ان کے گلے کے کینسر کا آپریشن ہوا تھا اورانہوں نے باقائدہ علاج سے بیماری کو شکست بھی دے دی تھی، مگراس دوران وہ کافی کمزور ہوگئے تھے جس کی وجہ سے ان کو کئی مرتبہ ہسپتال میں داخل ہونا پڑا تھا۔ اس لاک ڈائوں کے دنوں میں بھی وہ ہسپتال میں داخل ہوگئے تھے۔ صبح صبح ان کی شریک حیات مہناز رحمان کی فیس بوک پوسٹ دیکھے جس میں انہوں نے یہ افسوسناک خبر دی اور اوپر دیا گیا شعر بھی شامل کیا تھا، جس کا ایک ٹکڑہ میں نے شیئر کیا ہے۔

جب میں نے 1991 سے انگریزی صحافت میں قدم رکھا تو احفاظ صاحب کو نہیں جانتا تھا، مگر جب بھی کراچی پریس کلب میں جانا ہوتا تھا تو اکثر ان کے اشعاراورنظمیں کلب کے نوٹس بورڈ پر آویزاں دیکھتا تھا اور پڑہتا رہتا تھا۔ دوستوں نے بتایا کہ وہ جنگ اخبار میں کام کرتے ہیں۔

پھر شین – فرخ کے ساتھ مل کر انٹر پریس کمیونیکیشن (آئی پی سی) میں حصہ لینا شروع کیا تو ان کے گلشن اقبال والی صحافی کالونی کے گھر پر مہناز رحمان سے ملاقاتیں ہوئیں، اس طرح احفاظ صاحب سے بھی تعارف ہوا۔ مگر ان سے قربت تب ہوئی جب میں نے کے یو جے اور کراچی پریس کلب کی سیاست میں حصہ لینا شروع کیا۔ وہ ہمارے رہمنا تھے اوراکثر اوقات الیکشن کے دوران ہدایات دیتے تھے۔ بہت ساری میٹنگز میں میں نے ان کو کئی سینئر رہنمائوں کو ڈانٹے ہوئے بھی دیکھا تھا، اوراکثر اراکین ان سے بہت ڈرتے بھی تھے۔ مگر پریس کلب میں جو دوشخصیات مجھے بہت محبت سے ملتے تھے ان میں احفاظ صاحب اور مرحوم محمود علی اسد تھے۔

احفاظ صاحب کی ٹریڈ یونین کے لیے طویل جدوجہد ہے جس کی داستان بھی اتنی ہی طویل ہے۔ انہوں نے جنرل ضیا کی مارشل لا کے دوران آزادیء صحافت کے لیے پی ایف یو جے کی جدوجہد میں نمایاں کردار ادا کیا اور جیل بھی گئے اور ان کو بلیک لسٹ کردیا گیا جس کی وجہ سے کافی عرصے تک بے روزگاربھی رہے۔

بے نظیر بھٹو کے پہلے دور میں ان کو چائنا میں کام کرنے کا موقع ملا جہاں سے ان کی شریک حیات مہناز رحمان باقائدگی سے اخبارجہاں میں چائنا کی صورتحال پر کالم بھی لکھتی رہی ہیں۔

احفاظ صاحب ایک بڑے صحافی بھی تھے۔ پروفیشنل معاملات میں بھی میں نے سنا ہے کہ بہت سخت تھے، کام میں کوئی کوتاہی برداشت نہیں کرتے تھے۔ جنگ کے بعد جب ایکسپریس اخبار نکلا تو وہ اس کے ادارتی عملے میں شامل ہوگئے۔ ان کے کالم بھی ایکسپریس میں چھپتے تھے۔

جب ملٹری ڈکٹیٹر جنرل پرویز مشرف نے 2007 میں ملک میں ایمرجنسی لگا کر ٹی وی چینلز پر بھی پابندیاں لگائیں توانہوں نے کراچی میں صحافیوں کے احتجاج کی سربراہی کی اور کراچی پریس کلب کے سامنے پولیس کے ڈنڈے بھی کھائے اور گرفتار بھی ہوئے۔ بعد میں جب صحافیوں کو چھوڑا جارہا تھا تو انہوں نے لاک اپ سے نکلے سے انکار کردیا اور پولیس والوں سے کہا کہ جب تک آخری صحافی کو چھوڑا نہیں جاتا وہ لاک اپ سے باہر نہیں آئیں گے۔

وہ کئی کتابوں کے مصنف بھی تھے جس میں ان کی شاعری کے مجموعے بھی شامل تھے۔

مجھے احساس ہے کہ ایک فیملی کے سربراہ کے طور پر یہ ان کی فیملی کے لیے بہت بڑا نقصان ہے اور میں ہماری سول سوسائٹی کی ایک اہم ساتھی محترمہ مہناز رحمان سے اس موقع پر دلی افسوس اور تعزیت کا اظہار کرتا ہوں اوران کے درجات بلند ہونے کی دعا کرتاہوں۔ یقیناً یہ ایک بہت بڑا صحافتی نقصان بھی ہے اور اس خال کو پر کرنے میں کئی سال لگ سکتے ہیں۔

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.

Street Library: A novel idea?

It seemed a novel idea that a street library is established at a footpath along the eastern wall of Hotel Metropol (outer wall of the parking area) facing the main artery of the city Sharae Faisal, but without any vision or intention to facilitate the general public. People wonder why it was there?

Marked as Commissioner’s Corner the “STREET LIBRARY” houses two sets of wall-mounted three-door wooden bookshelves (double door almaries)and sitting benches at the other side of the footpath, which is fenced with a beautiful railing. The wall is also beautifully decorated with inscribed pictures made with yellow-stone plaster of the leaders of the independence movement and some famous buildings of the city.

The Karachi Commissioner Iftikhar Ali Shallwani has taken the credit for establishing the street library from the platform of the Council of Karachi Libraries. He inaugurated this library on 25^th December the birthday of the Father of the Nation Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah. A number of new and old booksellers were also invited to set up their bookstalls alongside the road, which is a portion for the traffic turning alongside the Metropol. That lane was closed to traffic.

The street library is reported to offer the exchange of books, but on the first day, there were no arrangements for availing that facility as there was no attendant from the office of the Commissioner to guide visitors. After the formal inauguration in the morning, I visited the place in the afternoon and found the doors of the library were open. All were filled with books. I peeped into the shelves and founds books in English, Urdu and Sindhi languages. English books were mostly on the course subjects but Urdu and Sindhi books were on literature and novels.

A person, who said he was a representative of a private company, which had arranged the inaugural function, told me that no staff from the Commissioner or any other government office was available to reply to my questions. He himself was not aware much.

A middle-aged Sindhi-speaking couple was also desperately looking for a concerned staff. They want to take a couple of books from the shelves. The male fellow told me that he was there at the time of the inauguration and the Commissioner had said that books can be exchanged (which means you bring your books and take books from the shelves as replacements). But the guard and the private guy did not allow them to take the books even in exchange. The guard, which belongs to a private security company, later locked all the books almaries with keys in fear of stealing.

Some other people were also looking for any concerned people but they were disappointed like me. The Sindhi couple, with whom I spoke later said they were happy to learn about this library but it seems it was similar to other government projects just to spend the budget. Maybe Commissioner Sahib had visited some European countries and the idea inspired him so he brought this street idea from there and implemented it here. According to him, this may be part of the World Bank Project, which is being implemented in the Saddar town area. But how the Commissioner's office will manage and maintain it, he was also blank.