86 Million Pakistani Voters Say ‘No’ To Extremists – OpEd

86 Million Pakistani Voters Say ‘No’ To Extremists – OpEd

Banned outfits all set to contest Pakistan polls

Sarfraz Ali


LAHORE: Religious extremist groups and banned outfits have fielded 62 candidates for upcoming polls which considered ever high ratio in Pakistan's electoral history, facing charges of sectarian killings, terrorism and anti-state activities under 4th schedule of anti-terrorism act. They have kicked off their election drive after getting clean chit from election commission amid alarming concerns of international community fearing that Taliban like people might hold the atomic power country.
The electioneering, government inaction, election commission baptism and surprisingly complete silence by political parties specially Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan People's Party (PPP), Pakistan Muslim League Quaid-i-Azam (PML-Q) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) are enough to validate the internationally-established dogma that the Pakistan state is itself patronizing the extremists elements and by the core of hearts it wants radicals to hold parliament in the results of 2013 elections.
The Ahle Sunnat Waljmat (ASW), a new face of Sipha-e-Sahaba Pakistan, Muttahida Deeni Mahaz, Tehreek-e-Jafria, Harkatul Mujahiden, Tehrik ul Nisar have placed their candidates in the constituencies of Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces.
Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) sources revealed that four candidates of Ahle Sunnat Waljmat (ASW) including head Maulana Ahmed Ludhiyanvi, Maulana Mawiya (son of late Maulana Azam Tariq), Maulana Ashraf Hassiyanvi, Muhammad Yousaf Rahimi hit hard by 4th schedule of the ACT had made their way clear to reach the parliament as election commission had allowed them to contest the elections. 
Things are looking to be in complete disarray as on the one hand, election commission welcomed banned outfits for polls and on the other hand rejected nomination papers of merely 15 elections candidates due to their inclusion in 4th schedule of the Act. It seems to be eyewash to quell the voices of dissent and satisfy international community that caretaker government has sprung into action against extremists by busting and putting them in house arrest. But it avoided barring these element through constitutional embargo enforcing 62 and 63 clauses.
ASW central secretary general Dr. Khadim Hussain said that party members faced just charges which had yet to be proved and unless they stood guilty, constitution gave them right to contest the election. “We are trying to putting them on the path of political process instead of arming them with guns to help contribute for the development of country but government has launched ruthless crackdown against them,” he explained.
Former Supreme Court Bar Court Association (SCBA) General Secretary Qamar ul Zaman Qureshi said Returning Officers (ROs) accepted the nomination papers of the candidates of banned outfits as they feared that if rejected, they might be subjected to severe torture and killed. “Government’s writ fades in their domains so caretaker set-up has no courage and security paraphernalia to curb the radicals,” he said.
A senior bureaucrat spilled the beans that banned outfits, politicians and even previous governments had obvious friendly relationship. PML-N and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi close ties had already exposed. PML-N former Punjab Law Minister Rana Sana Ullah and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi men found running by-polls campaigns in 2009. PPP previous regime also confessed to get the seats from north Punjab with the help of Sipha-e-Sahaba Pakistan in 2008 polls.
Deputy Secretary of defunct Sipah-e-Sahaba Punjab group Rao Javeed Iqbal had also joined  PPP at an electioneering rally in presence of late Governor Salman Taseer in 2008.
Laying bare the facts, US diplomat in Pakistan said that several terrorist and criminal groups are "backed by security establishment, the secret agencies and other armed bodies of the state". “We are observing the situation minutely how extremists qualified to contest the 2013 elections.”
Former president Pervez Musharraf said in his latest interview conceded that his forces trained militant groups to ″fight India″ in Indian-administered Kashmir. He confessed that the government ″turned a blind eye″ because it wanted to force India to enter negotiations.
After reports made some headlines that political parties are tightening their lips on fanatics’ inclusion in elections, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chairman Imran Khan has started blaming the federal government for providing “safe haven” to terrorists responsible for the rising sectarian violence in the country. Maintaining that there can be no future of the country if terrorism is not controlled, Khan said, “The people of Karachi should not vote for parties with militant, terrorist wings.”
However, a step has been taken by caretaker government as face-saving attempt that ministry of information and broadcasting has written letters to the media representative bodies and the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) asking private media to avoid carrying the statements of banned outfits in the light of the orders of the Balochistan High Court.
The concise statement has been submitted by the Ministry of Information in compliance with the BHC judgement dated April 9, 2013. According to the statement, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, in consultation with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has issued a code of conduct for print and electronic media as well as for the political parties wherein a ban has been imposed on speeches and statements of outlawed organizations involved in sectarian and terrorists activities.
In this regard, PEMRA has specifically imposed financial penalties on a number of channels for violating the terms and conditions of their licences, whereby they are supposed to observe an acceptable code of conduct as per relevant law, the statement said. The ministry says it believes that the organisations banned under Section 11-B of Anti Terrorism Act-1997 should not be allowed to use print and electronic media for propagation of hate literature and negative material which is considered unlawful under the relevant laws of the land.
Under the critical situation, foreign election observers have arrived to have a close watch to endorse transparency and validity of elections process. And if these radicals are not stopped, these observers would definitely release reports to their countries and UN that radical are going to be new rulers of Pakistan so better to declare Pakistan a terrorist country in advance to save world from another Afghanistan and Iraq.
It may be recalled that 40,000 Pakistanis had been killed in terrorism related activities and government had closed down mobile phone service in 5 times.
The writer is Lahore based journalist and can be contacted a sarfraz1168@yahoo.com

Banned Outfits Set To Contest Pakistan Polls – OpEd

Banned Outfits Set To Contest Pakistan Polls – OpEd

Lahoris breathing poinonousnes air

By Afnan Khan

LAHORE: Residents of the provincial capital are breathing poisonous air due to the government’s failure in controlling massive industrialisation in residential areas and containing the growth in the number of vehicles on the road, which has increased significantly with the passage of time, Daily Times has learnt.
The level of all the major contaminants in the atmosphere has exceeded the given standard, which is not only harming the environment and the city’s ecosystem, but also causing an increase in the number of diseases related to lungs and various types of cancer.
The key pollutants, which are threatening the atmosphere of the city, include carbon monoxide (CO), ozone (O), oxides of nitrogen (NOx), sulfur dioxide (SO2), lead (Pb) and suspended particulate matter (SPM), while nitrogen dioxide (NO2) is the major pollutant out of all other oxides of nitrogen in the air.
The major sources of all these pollutants include furnaces and other factories – mostly operating around the walled city and in the peripherals of Lahore – the relatively higher population growth, the massive increase in the number of vehicles on the roads, the absence of a proper public transport system and garbage and desolated infrastructure such as roads.
Most of the vehicles in Lahore, especially the heavy ones, are not complying with the given standards of international environmental agencies – called Euro-II and Euro-III – which means that the vehicles are not fit enough to avoid spreading any kind of contaminant in the air through their exhaust.
The majority of diesel vehicles using crude diesel oil, two-stroke rickshaws and motorcycles emit excessive graphitic carbon (visible smoke) due to faulty injection nozzles and weak engines. Two-stroke vehicles are the most inefficient in burning fuel and thus contribute most to emissions.
According to experts, air pollution either causes or triggers ailments like Asthma, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, fibrosis, heart-related problems, cancer and diabetes among others.
An Environment Protection Department official told Daily Times that under the World Health Organisation’s standards the level of nitrogen oxide in the air should not be more than 40µg/m3 throughout the year, but the level in Lahore is now 170µg/m3.
Similarly, the level of particulate matter should remain less than 25µg/m3 round the clock, but it crosses 200µg/m3 during different timings in the provincial capital. The limit of SO2 is supposed to be 100µg/m3, but it crosses 200 in Lahore. Similarly, the maximum level of O3 is set at 100µg/m3 within every eight hours, but it also crosses its limits at different points in the city, while other pollutants like CO are also excessively present in the air.
The official said that The Mall was still considered one of the most green areas of Lahore, yet the level of all these pollutants in the area is extremely high, which is enough to understand the plight of the people living in the walled city, Ichra, Mozang, Yateem Khana, Sanda etc, where there is almost no greenery and the highest ratio of population density.
All options: Environment Protection Department spokesperson Naseemur Rehman told Daily Times that the department was looking at all options to control pollutions, including air pollution, and they were running several awareness programmes in this regard.
“The department sealed more than 100 polluting industries during 2009 in Lahore alone, fined 19,298 vehicles for emitting smoke and polluting the atmosphere, specially checked more than 200 chemical units in the city while conducting around 200 follow-up visits on different sites,” he said, adding that citizens should also understand that they have to adopt an environment-friendly life style.
Lahore Bachao Tehreek senior member Imrana Tiwana told Daily Times that the city was now being quoted at international levels for being one of the most culturally rich yet polluted places on the planet, which is a great embarrassment for our government and citizens.
She said that air pollution had already crossed all set limits in the city and it was time to start a proper programme to control air pollution and thoroughly monitor it in collaboration with local and international organisations.
She said that an international environmentalist organisation, called Clean Air Commission, had visited Lahore to lend their support for the eradication of air pollution as they previously did in India, Bangladesh and other South Asian countries, but the government did not accept their proposals.

Turtles’ genocide on the rise in Pakistan

Sarfraz Ali

The genocide of turtles in the waters of Sindh is on the rise, posing threat to the generation of this wildlife.
The turtles are being soled in the markets of Karachi at high prices as their demand is very high. The contractors in Karachi have set links to people in Lower Sindh for catch of turtle from waters.
The local people provide turtles to them at low prices, who sell them at high rates and thus are minting money.
It is reported that people catch turtles from canals and then keep them at their own water ponds for growth. The turtles are caught from Phuleli and other canals of Thatta, Hyderabad and Badin.
The Wildlife Department Sindh is not paying any heed for the protection of turtle generation in the lower Sindh. It is reported that these turtles are used for making medicines while people also eat their meat.
Two species of marine turtles nest on the Karachi coast, the green turtle (chelonia mydas) and the olive ridley turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea). The main threats are commercial trade in turtle skin, shell, medicines and cosmetics, and destruction of eggs by predators, especially feral domestic dogs.
Other dangers to turtles come from poachers, accidental capture in fishing nets, and extensive coastal development, which results in human disturbance at the nesting sites and pollution.
However, WWF-P is striving to protect endangered marine turtles and conserve their critical nesting sites. The many freshwater ponds and small lakes have dried in Sindh, decreasing the growth of turtles.
The threatened species of turtles are sold across Sindh as there are no checks to stop their illegal trade.
Furthermore, the flow of pollutants including industrial effluent in Keenjhar Lake also pose serious threat to turtles, therefore, urgent steps are required to be taken to conserve them.

Coastal area without health amenties, water

SHAFI BALOCH

KARACHI - Coastal areas of Karachi, which is the stronghold of the Pakistan People Party, is deprived of the basic facilities, says a survey.
During last the general election, all PPP's candidates won the election in fishing locality. "We are supporters of the PPP. We have been casting our votes for the PPP' candidates since its formation," said Dad Baksh, a fisherman of Mubarak Village, while talking to this scribe.
He complained that the government had not taken any concrete step towards developing their village into a model village despite making a pledge to do so. The Sindh government had announced in October 2009 that it would develop Mubarak Village, which is located along the western coastal side of Karachi, into a model village having all basic facilities of life.
However, he complained that the government had not taken any practical step to fulfil their long-standing demands.
According a survey, several fishermen's villages in Keamari Town have been facing numerous problems including lack of civic amenities for long time. These villages situated near the sea shore of Arabian Sea have been neglected for years due to apathy on the part of civic agencies.
Haji Daraya Khan Goth, Moosa Goth, Haji Faizo Goth, Haji Juma Goth, Pub Faqir Goth, Manjar Goth, Sukkur Goth and Mubarak village of Deh Mann and others are among the more affected ones.
The above-declared villages lack in water supply and electricity, health and education facilities, causing tremendous problems for their residents. They are compelled to live as wretched of the earth, having seldom hope of salvation. .
It is learnt that in October 2009 Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah visited the Mubarak village and handed down ownership rights and lease documents to some residents of the village, announcing that that the village would be developed into a model village where fishermen would enjoy all basic facilities.
However, the fishermen regretted that despite the chief minister's announcement, no officials concerned had paid any visit to the village. They said that it had yet to be confirmed whether they had prepared any plan in this regard or not.
A vast majority of villagers live in abject poverty and nearly 95 per cent of the population mainly depend on small-scale fishing. The fishermen complain that they have been facing a lot of problems in unloading fish catch because there is no any jetty facility.
Mostly these fishermen transport their catch to the Karachi Fish Harbour for auction and they have to sell their catch to middle men at throwaway prices.
There are 100 large boats in Mubarak village, which travel up to Gwadar and Pasni and about 300 small boats providing livelihood to these small fishermen, the survey shows. Talking to this scribe, the fishermen demanded immediate construction of a small jetty at the Mubarak Village.
They complained that availability of potable water was the most pressing problem for them. At present water is being supplied to these villages through tankers by the Union Council of Gabopat and the public health engineering department.
They said that the supply of water was not regular and insufficient. A majority of the people still depends on wells. In a number of villages, women and children have to walk long distances to fetch water from ponds. This water is usually contaminated and unfit for drinking and washing purposes. The villagers urged that a water supply scheme be launched by connecting the village with the water distribution system of the Hub Dam.
Villagers from Moosa Goth, Haji Faizu Goth, Haji Juma Goth and Sukku Goth also complained of lack of healthcare facilities and urged construction of maternity homes in these villages.

The writer is a staff member of 'The Nation'. www.nation.com.pk

Shortage of infertility centres hits desperate couple

AMRAIZ KHAN

LAHORE - About eight per cent population of the country is facing infertility issues, while 90 per cent causes of the disease are curable and only 10 percent are complicated.
These views were expressed by In-charge Assisted Conception Unit (ACU) Dr Salman Ahmed Imtiaz in an interview with The Nation on Friday.
Assisted Conception Unit In-charge Dr Salman Ahmed said ACU was the only infertility centre in Pakistan, which is running under the Punjab government at Services Hospital. He was of the view that infertility rate was increasing alarmingly in the country but unfortunately there were no enough infertility centres in Pakistan to provide medical facility to the infertile couples.
Dr Salman who is consultant obstetrician, gynaecologist, embryologist and infertility advisor at Services Hospital said that there are only three to four qualified embryologists in the City who are authorised to treat the infertile couples in accordance with the latest concepts called Assisted Reproductive Techniques like IUI (Intra Uterine Insemination) IVF (In Vitro Fertilisation) and ICSI (Intra Cytoplasmic Sperm Injection).
But unfortunately at present many doctors who are simply gynaecologists are engaged in exercising latest techniques on the infertile couples.
Dr Salman said reasons behind infertility in Pakistan are 40 per cent because of male, 40 percent because of female, 10 because of both and 10 per cent are unexplainable. He said 90 per cent diseases are curable while only 10 per cent are unexplainable.
In many cases youngsters feel shy to contact a qualified doctor and resultantly they are trapped in the hands of quacks, hakeems and inexperienced practitioners for their treatment. And these very quacks treat them with heavy metals and steroids without going into their problems, resultantly these steroids damage not only their kidneys but also enhance their fertility problems. About the common problems of infertility in the male, he said there could be sperm productivity problem with males, or blockage in the sperm delivery system.
Moreover injury to testis, hormonal imbalance, anatomical problem, past infection specially mums, tuberculosis, diabetes, blood pressure and medicines of blood pressure and ulcer could cause infertility in males. Dr Salman was of the view that dietary habits, less exercise, smoking, drugs, steroids, alcohol and steam bath could also cause infertility like diseases in men. He said people performing hard duties like drivers and those who have to stay in sunshine during duties suffer with infertility.
I have treated more than 400 infertile couples and with the blessing of Almighty Allah they are now having their babies, some of them had to go through latest technologies like IUI, IVF and ICSI and some were treated normally.
ACU centre was inaugurated in Services Hospital in the year 2000 by then governor Punjab. Punjab government then planned to provide medical facility to the infertile couple on cheaper rates. Certain private circles who were running their private clinics in the market tried to create hindrance in the operation of the unit.
He said ACU is providing cheaper treatment to the people as compared to the private clinics running in the country. He said 20 to 30 infertile couples visit the unit daily for their treatment. He said consultancy fee is not being charged from the these people while nominal charges are taken from them on their different tests being carried out against heavy amounts in the private testing laboratories. He suggested the government to introduce more infertility centres in the country to provide better and cheaper health facilities to the infertile couples.
He also stressed upon the need to start public awareness campaign regarding infertility causes and precautionary measures countrywide and asked the infertile couples for the counselling with a qualified embryologist.

The writer is a Staff Reporter of daily 'The Nation'. www.nation.com.pk