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.

TharCoal Block-1: Plight of Warwai Villagers

The villagers of a well-developed but now under threat to demolish village Warvai near Islamkot town in the Tharparkar district of Sindh are spending restless nights these days as the government and a Chinese company’s high-ups have ordered them to vacate their centuries-old village because is now part of the Block-I of Thar Coal-cum-Power generation project.

Considered a model village in the desert area, Warvai is an oasis of human settlement where over 500 houses of different types (made from mud, cement and thatches) are located along with all other facilities like electricity, RO plant for water supply, a number of wells, 3 government schools including a separate for girls, a government medical facility and a number of mosques and temples.

But now 2200 people of the village are worried about their future as they have to leave their homeland because it would be part of the coal mining pit, which would produce 6.5 Metric tons of lignite coal annually (Mpta) which would then generate 1320 MW of electricity. The coal mining activity would last for the next 30 years.

Allocated to Sino-Sindh Resources Limited (SSRL), a China-owned company with some local private sector partners under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which is a portion of the Belt and Road Initiative linking China with the Middle East and Europe, the Block-1 of Thar coalfield is expected to be fully operational within two years.

Work on this block has started and was in full swing as the mining area is entirely fenced and security is tightened. Only company vehicles can enter the highly guarded area.

At least four villages with a population will have to be resettled and Warwai is bigger of all of them.

“First they asked us to leave the village without paying any compensation, but when we protested, they presented two options to us: take money as compensation for homes or move to the homes, which the company would build,” said Noor Mohammad Rahimo, an elder of the village Warwai.

Village elders were divided into two groups on this offer — one group was in favour of receiving money, whereas another group was preferring to receive built houses from the company.

“Now we have decided that we would receive money as compensation,” Rahimo told a group of civil society and human rights activists who visited the village on January 25, 2020.

“We have other demands as well,” said Rahimo adding that priority in jobs be given to our youth and the company should provide us substitute for our 5000 acres ‘Gauchar’ — collective land for grazing of animals. In Thar, rearing cattle, especially camels, cows, buffaloes and goats is the main source of livelihood as agriculture solely depends on Monsoon rains, which are scant and often droughts emerge after two or three years. Traditionally, a big portion of the land is reserved for grazing animals and this land is a collective property of the entire village.

The villagers say every house is offered the same amount of compensation, but all homes are the same, some are concrete-built Pucca houses and most are Katcha houses in this village. This village has a mixed population as many are Muslims, but half of the population is Hindus. There are three schools in the village including one for girls and a middle school, religious Madressahs and shops in the village as well.

The villagers are an environment-loving community. They claim to have hundreds of thousands of trees in the village and Gauchar area, which they have protected like their children and no one is allowed to cut even branches of these trees. Thousands of peacocks are also living in and around the village and these birds are protected by the villagers. “No one is allowed to kill or catch peacocks, even though we don’t allow government or military men to hunt or kill these birds,” claimed a villager proudly.

All the natural assets of the area are also facing threats along with the human population due to the coal development. Villagers say they are reluctantly receiving compensation money because they are helpless and don’t have any other options.

But so far the company is not ready to further negotiate with the villagers and it has even withheld the money, which it was earlier offered to the villagers as compensation money. “We have forcibly stopped their work in our area,” claimed Rahimi. But the villagers also fear any police action against them as they said earlier police, Rangers and even Army used to threaten them of dire consequences if they resisted. Rangers had earlier established a check-post outside the village.

But villagers are sure they have to leave their homes anytime this year. But their bargaining position is quite weaker. So far many of the villagers have purchased lands for their homes in different areas in the Thar desert on deferred payment terms and they say would pay back when compensation would be received.

Villagers are desperately looking for a miracle to happen so they are not forced to leave their ancestral homes.

Listen to Noor Mohammad Rahomo, explaining the plight of villagers: 

Click Here to watch video

Martyred Queen of Sindhis!

She was not a traditional queen, but still, she is called “Queen of Sindh”, even after her assassination, Sindhi people still call Benazir Bhutto as “Shaheed Rani” or martyred queen in love and respect. They have not forgotten her even after the passage of 12 years and people still remember her with wet eyes.

Another popular slogan famous in Sindh was: “ Zindah hai Bhutto Zindah Hai” (Bhutto is still alive), which started after the execution of former Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. This is the main reason that despite high-level pre- and post-election engineering by the notorious “establishment” in every election, Sindhis always give vote for Pakistan People’s Party.

The PPP has been making governments in Sindh province after three consecutive elections since 2008. Even though many major political parties including Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Tahrik-e-Insaf (PTI) (the current ruling party) have been contesting from Sindh, Sindhis have always preferred PPP in the love of its past leaders. It is the main reason that Asif Ali Zardari, the spouse of Benazir Bhutto has publicly announced the name change of his only son Bilawal as Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.

It is also a matter of the fact that there is no alternative political party in Sindh province, which can appeal to Sindhi voters, despite a record corruption and non-spending of budgets on the development of the backward areas of the province. Many PPP leaders are facing corruption charges in NAB and other anti-graft courts.

A Bloody Year

The 2007 year was full of events, which are still very clear in my mind. There was a lot of political upheaval in Pakistan, after a long military dictatorship of General Pervaiz Musharraf since the 12^th October 1999 military coup d’état. Military dictatorship was first challenged by then Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry when the dictator and his other Generals asked Chaudhry to resign and he refused. The lawyers of the country announced support for Justice Chaudhry and launched the famous lawyers’ movement, which ultimately resulted in the restoration of the judiciary in 2008 and overall democracy in the country.

In the meantime, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto announced to return to the country despite a reported deal under the so-called National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) pact with the dictator General Pervaiz Musharraf, as she had said to be promised not to come back to contest the General Elections announced by the government in early 2008.

On her return to Karachi on 18^th October 2007, a deadly bomb blast occurred near Karsaz at her procession caravan heading towards Mazar of Quaid-e- Azam resulted in the deaths of over 170 workers of the Pakistan People’s Party, however, Benazir remained unhurt. After the incident, Benazir Bhutto blamed the government for the attack and named three close aides of General Pervaiz Musharraf including his cabinet minister Brig (Retd.) Aijaz Shah, a former head of the spy agency ISI Major General (Retd.) Hameed Gul and Chaudhry Pervaiz Ellah, a former Chief Minister of Punjab province and central leader of the pro-Musharraf Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid-e-Azam).

The following events in 2007 were more tragic and deadly as Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in a shooting and bomb blast incident in Rawalpindi just after she was coming back from an election rally at Liaqat Bagh on the 27^th of December. Elections were to be held on 8th January 2008 but were postponed till 18^th February after her assassination.

The entire country was engulfed in fire as protesting people set ablaze vehicles on roads in the cities and highways and burnt railway bogies at the main tracks. Pakistan railway reportedly suffered a loss of over Rs. 6 billion as 35 locomotives, 139 coaches and 65 stations were burnt, 36 bridges and 27 manned level crossings were damaged, signal and communication systems and tracks besides six tracks machines and cranes in the Karachi and Sukkur divisions of the railways were uprooted, suspending all kinds of rail traffic to and from the Sindh capital for five days. (Reference: daily Dawn, 28 Dec 2008)

Although Benazir Bhutto’s murder case in an Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) has been decided in which all five arrested accused belonging to Tahrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) have been exonerated by the trial court and only a couple of police officers have been sentenced to jail terms, who are restored to their jobs after getting bail. The main petition against the Military dictator is still pending at Islamabad High Court and there is no hope for any punishment for the main killers.

After the 2008 elections, PPP succeeds to form a coalition government with support from PML-N, MQM and JUI-F. PPP and PML-N led government forced the dictator General (Retd.) Pervaiz Musharraf to resign from the office of President on a threat of impeachment. PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari was elected President.

The PML-N withdrew its support to the PPP government on insistence to restore the judges as the PPP-led government of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani refused to succumb to their demands. PML-N remained in the opposition for the remaining tenure, even though the PPP government had restored the judiciary.

Unfortunately, 5-year government at the PPP was not able to arrest the killers of Benazir Bhutto even though the government got an investigation done by the UN investigators. Even the Sindh government has not succeeded in nabbing the responsible for the October 18, 2007 bomb blast at Karsaz, despite the fact it is in the power since 2008.

Aftermath riots in Karachi

I still recall that saddest eventful evening when I saw a ticker on the TV screen that Benazir Bhutto was seriously injured in a bomb blast in Rawalpindi. I was about to leave my office in the Clifton area at 5.30 pm on 27^th December 2007 and within a few minutes, another ticker flashed on the screen which stated Benazir is dead. It was really a great shock for everyone in Pakistan.

At that time I used do a part-time job in Daily Times as a sub-editor at its Business desk in the evening. The newspaper’s office was located at I. I. Chundrigar road near MCB’stallest building and my routine route were to go from Clifton via Mai Kolachithen Keamari flyover and Tower.

But on that day I could not reach the Keamari flyover as the entire traffic from the Tower side was coming back on both tracks of the Molvi Tamizuddin Khan (Queen’s) road and a car driver told me that people from Lyari have come out on the roads and closed down the bridge.

I took a U-turn and tried to take the route via PIDC and Shaheen Complex. The roads were full of traffic and eventually, I reached Dawn’s office, but it was almost impossible to enter into I. I. Chundrigar road as the entire thoroughfare was full of cars coming from the tower area, and even a single lane was not available to enter Chundrigar road.

After a wait the traffic started slowly as one track of the road was opened. It was just for passing a car, but even that was disturbed by the motorcycles that were trying to use that single lane with intervals. That one and half kilometre distance were covered in almost half an hour. But entering the building was a gigantic task. I succeeded in taking a U-turn from New Chali and fortunately found a space for a car inside the building. Earlier, it was almost impossible to find a space for a car inside the building, but I was lucky to find one on that day.

I came home at 1.00 am at night but there were horrible scenes on the road. At least two cars and a bank were burnt in my area in Khadda Market (DHA phase-5 Stadium Commercial). For the next three days, the entire market area was closed down and there was a curfew-like situation. There was a shortage of food items in many areas and at last, Rangers were deployed in the markets and the shopkeepers opened their markets.

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.

Unabated Forced Conversion of Hindu Girls in Sindh

Another forced conversion case has emerged in Sindh as a Hindu girl, Ms Mehak Keswani was reportedly kidnapped from Karachi’s Defence (DHA) area and after five days her 20-second video was released on social media in which she confessed that she has been converted to Islam on the hand of Mian Javed, a Khalifa (disciple) a notorious character and a so-called religious Pir Abdul Haq alias Mian Mithoo who was once MNA of PPP and currently a leader of the ruling Pakistan Tahrik-e-Insaf of Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Belonging to the Ghotki district Ms Keswani’s relatives staged a protest demonstration outside Karachi Press Club on Wednesday (December 18) along with other human rights activists and civil society members, demanding to stop forced conversion in Sindh.

An uncle of the girl told reporters that when a girl is kidnapped and kept in captivity, she might have been given the statement under duress and after alleged mental or physical torture or intimidation.

A family member girl also spoke to journalists and narrated the ordeal of the family since Mehak disappeared. She appealed to the Prime Minister, Chief Justice of Pakistan and Sindh Chief Minister to stop the kidnapping and forced conversion of Hindu girls and get her sister united with the family.

She demanded that the girl be allowed to meet with relatives as in such cases of forced conversion, the converted girls are not allowed to meet their relatives. She regretted that the police were not cooperating with the family after their complaint about the kidnapping of the girl.

It has been a practice that Hindu girls are first kidnapped and when parents get the case of kidnapping registered or approach the courts, the same girls appear suddenly in courts or on social media saying they have got married on the will after conversion to Islam. Rinkle Kumari case got the attention of the media and former Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chowdhry had taken suo moto of the case. However, he had accepted the conversion and marriage at-will story and since then the girl has never met with her family.

The forced conversion is solemnized by two notorious Pirs in Sindh province — Mian Mithoo in upper Sindh (Daharki in Ghotki district) and Pir Ayoub Jan Sarhendi in lower Sindh (Samaro in Umerkot district).

The Sindh Assembly passed a law against forced conversion in November 2016 after amending the Sindh Criminal Law (Protection of Minorities) Bill, 2015, but after pressure from religious parties especially Jamiat Ulema Islam (Fazlur Rehman), the Sindh government had to withdraw the bill and the Governor of Sindh did not sign on it. This badly disappointed the rights activists and Hindu communities.

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, at a function organised by the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER) to mark International Human Rights Day on 10th December 2019 stated that the provincial government would soon bring a new law after removing lacuna from the previous law.

Raj Kumar a human rights activist told me that Hindus are the real owners of this land and through these measures like forced conversion of their girls, they are forced to leave this land. “We are sons of soil and will not leave our motherland Sindh,” he stated in a live video on my Face Book page.

Uber, Careem exploit their drivers

App-based cab companies Uber and Careem are allegedly exploiting their drivers who are, in fact, the manpower asset for these transportation networks operating in major cities in Pakistan.

It is pity that the drivers, who are called “Captains” by Careem, are hired on attractive terms and the companies often show them green pastures in the advertisements to attract them, but when they enter into the real business, they face a number of issues including meeting fixed targets of trips to earn commission and imposition of unnecessary fines, invisible deductions and taxes.

A video was viral on social media recently showing a Captain of Careem ransacking the Gulistan-e-Jauhar office of the company in protest against a reduction in his payments. He was using foul language (that is why it cannot be shared here) and can be seen trying to sprinkle petrol on his clothes to set him ablaze in the protest. Although there were no further details in the video as it was filmed by an armature user of a mobile phone camera, certainly he was suffering extreme mental stress due to the company’s policies. He was seen saying the company is exploiting the driver and frequently reducing their rates.

A group of drivers of both companies (Uber and Careem) staged a protest demonstration outside Karachi Press Club early this month and they had similar complaints. A news item published in daily Dawn on 3rd December quoted representatives of the driver saying that their management was reducing their share, exploiting their working hours and deducting a certain percentage in the name of tax.

APS massacre: Have we forgotten?

It was a tragic day for the entire humanity when innocent students of Army Public School (APS) in the fully-guarded military area in Peshawar were massacred by the heavily armed and dreadful 7 Taliban terrorists on 16^th December 2014. It was actually more than a tragedy as the helpless students and their teachers (a total of 150 including 132 children) were hit with bullets in their heads and chests by animal-like terrorists of Tahrik Taliban Pakistan and there was no one who can save them. A military operation later killed all seven terrorists and saved the remaining students and teachers present in the school.

The TTP spokesman accepted responsibility for the attack terming is as revenge for the Army Operation “Zarb-e-Azb” in North Waziristan. The TTP spokesman released the names and photos of the terrorists, all of them foreigners.

1. Abu Shamil (also went by Abdur Rehman)— a Chechen fighter and thought to be the ringleader of the group
2. Nouman Shah Helmand — an Afghan citizen from Helmand Province; the U.S. had placed a $500,000 bounty upon Nouman
3. Wazir Alam Herat — an Afghan citizen from Herat
4. Khatib al-Zubaidi — an Egyptian citizen
5. Mohammad Zahedi — a Moroccan citizen
6. Jibran al-Saeedi — a Saudi citizen

The entire Pakistani nation was in deep shock and even other nations were mourning the deaths of the APS students. The Indian government announced national mourning to show solidarity with the Pakistani children. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani condemned the attack and sent condolences to the families of victims and Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang both sent separate messages of condolences to the Pakistani leaders. Later Chinese Ambassador Sun presented a cheque for $50,000 to the victims of the attack.

Protests erupted across the country against this gruesome incident. I remember we were holding protests every week in Karachi and then every month on the 16th to mourn the death and arrest of the responsible. Once we held a protest demonstration at Guru Mandar chowk near the Binoria Mosque in New Town. A huge protest demonstration was held in Clifton against Molana Abdul Aziz of Lal Mosque, Islamabad who, in a statement, had supported the Taliban.

Pakistan's government took swift actions including intensifying the military operation against the Taliban in tribal areas, lifting the moratorium on capital punishment and establishment military courts for speedy trial of the terrorists. A 20-point National Action Plan was made with the support of all political parties which contained commitments and measures to curb terrorism, extremism in the society and protection of minorities.

The 21^st Constitutional Amendment was passed by the Parliament unanimously on 6^th January 2015 allowing the trial of terrorists through military courts for the next two years. This period was further extended for the next 2 years in 2017. But the opposition parties in January 2019 refused to give further extension to the Military courts as the ruling party did not have a two-thirds majority to amend Constitution.

Despite the passage of 5 years, there is no progress on the National Action Plan and the government seems to have no intention to even talk about it, leave alone take measures to implement it.

Following were the 20-points of NAP:
1. Implementation of the death sentence for those convicted in cases of terrorism.
2. Special trial courts under the supervision of the Army. The duration of these courts would be two years.
3. Militant outfits and armed gangs will not be allowed to operate in the country.
4. NACTA, the anti-terrorism institution will be strengthened.
5. Strict action against the literature, newspapers and magazines promoting hatred, extremism, sectarianism and intolerance.
6. Choking financing for terrorist and terrorist organizations.
7. Ensuring against re-emergence of proscribed organizations.
8. Establishing and deploying a dedicated counter-terrorism force.
9. Taking effective steps against religious persecution.
10. Registration and regulation of religious seminaries.
11. Ban the glorification of terrorists and terrorist organizations through print and electronic media.
12. Administrative and development reforms in FATA with an immediate focus on the repatriation of IDPs.
13. Communication network of terrorists will be dismantled completely.
14. Measures against abuse of the internet and social media for terrorism.
15. Zero tolerance for militancy in Punjab.
16. Ongoing operations in Karachi will be taken to its logical end.
17. Balochistan government to be fully empowered for political reconciliation with complete ownership by all stakeholders.
18. Dealing firmly with sectarian terrorists.
19. Formulation of a comprehensive policy to deal with the issue of Afghan refugees, beginning with the registration of all refugees.
20. Revamping and reforming the criminal justice system.