Database of parks, open spaces, and green belts must be notified and made accessible to the public
By Dr Noman Ahmed
A few weeks ago, two fishermen activists were killed in Karachi in cold blood. They were allegedly eliminated due to their involvement in campaigning to safeguard the mangrove forests of the city. And this is just one reflection on the state of environmental issues.
The environmental assets of the metropolis have been under threat. Unscrupulous elements want to transform them into private ventures for commercial benefits. Whosoever tries to question the status is confronted with dire consequences.
It is disappointing to observe that no worthwhile response has been given by the city administration to protect these precious assets and lives of people who raise their voices for saving the environment.
From a historical perspective, it has been established that Karachi was a city with an abundance of parks, playgrounds, open spaces, green belts and peri-urban land allocations for greenery.
Planners for Karachi and various administrators have made periodic contributions to ensure that the city continues to retain a large proportion of spaces under active landscape. For instance, the Karachi Development Plan (1973-85) which was undoubtedly one of the most comprehensive planning exercises done for the city, proposed to conserve all the existing parks with an upgraded landscape status.
A meticulous framework was laid down to incorporate related land uses for horticulture, urban agriculture, green islands and buffer zones. It is obvious that no landscape or horticultural activity can sustain without a corresponding allocation of suitable land for the purpose.
It is saddening to note that during the past three decades, organised attempts have been made by certain quarters with vested interests to encroach upon these previous public assets of the city. In addition, several development projects have affected the status and existence of parks and open spaces.
Road-widening schemes, commonly initiated to increase road-width, have been executed at the expense of trees and road shoulders spaces. This land allocation has been kept for environmental balance, visual aesthetics and ground water re-charging purposes.
One finds that increasing car ownership has forced city administrators to create greater room for vehicles at the cost of trees and pedestrian spaces. Rashid Minhas Road, University Road, Abul Hasan Isphahani Road, Preedy Street, Shahrah-e-Pakistan, and Shahrah-e-Ibne Sina are only a few mentions in this regard.
Organised encroachment of park land and green spaces is also undertaken by clandestine mafias. The campaign of Gutter Baghicha in western part of Karachi is an example. A brave activist, Nisar Baloch, who was actively campaigning to safeguard this vital landscape, was murdered in November 2009.
Office-bearers of a well-known non-governmental organisation were threatened of dire consequences for their public service litigation efforts for protecting green spaces. The incident of Kidney Hill in societies area is an example. Many land use conversions have been done in blatant violation of law.
Foundation-stone of a hospital has been laid on a large piece of land in Block-7, Gulshan-e-Iqbal. Surveys and investigations conducted by Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) inform that more than two dozen plots in formal planned schemes have been illegally grabbed by different interest groups.
A five-acre park/playground plot on Kashmir Road has been converted into marriage gardens. The Webb Ground in the Lines Area is being taken over by a store. The matter has been subjudice. Many neighbourhood parks in North Nazimabad, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Orangi Town and Gulistan-e-Jauhar have been converted into residential plots, commercial high rises and other prohibited land uses.
NGOs, lawyers, and other professionals have made efforts to protect city landscape from encroachment and conversion. Different approaches have been adopted by these people to fulfil the most vital civic responsibility. Dialogue with politicians, administrators and decision-makers can be one aspect to ameliorate the situation.
Experience has shown that activism cannot succeed unless reinforced by mobilised support of the masses and other stakeholders. There are several vital measures that must be initiated without delay. Database of parks, open spaces, green belts and other category of environmental assets must be notified and made accessible to common public.
This shall ensure public scrutiny and consequent public action. The print and electronic media must give wider coverage to violations of land use rights. Times have proved that this is the single most important input to pressurise those going for vested interests. And corporate stakeholders should extend a helping hand through the business clout and financial assistance. With an objective and fearless cadre of public activists, park and green spaces in the city can have a much better future.
Jun 27, 2011
Backward in Balochistan
Target killings of teachers in Balochistan have forced them to stop performing their duties
By Syed Zubair Shirazi
The modern world which leads us in every field of life achieved its goals mainly because of their education system which guarantees a secure and prosperous future to their generations by making them a productive component of society. But, sadly, when we take a look at the affairs in Pakistan we have to regrettably observe that education sector, undeniably the only key to success, has not got the attention, which is evident from its share under the country’s annual budget.
Among South Asian countries, if we would have followed the example of Sri Lanka, plight of our education sector had not been deplorable to the extent as we witness at present .Sri Lanka is a very small country which remained confronted with a civil war over three and a half decades. Having personally observed the competence of Sri Lankan education system which I did during my ten-day visit to Sri Lanka to attend a Conflict Reporting workshop in June 2008, I found it exemplary organised for national building.
Today, literacy rate in Sri Lanka stands at 98 percent, the highest among South Asian countries and its major export is skilled human resource that earns a huge foreign exchange by rendering services in Middle East, Europe and even US.
Balochistan, which enjoyed an independent status until it voluntarily ascended to Pakistan in 1948, is the largest province of Pakistan in terms of land mass besides having a unique geography with over 720 kilometers long coast.
The insurgencies by the aggrieved Baloch were the result of resentment caused by utter negligence on the part of central government, which is amply evident from its backwardness in every field of life than the other three provinces.
The plight of social sectors, including health, education, agriculture, clean drinking water, etc, grew further following the insurgency that erupted in 2004. Of these, the education sector suffered the most due to deteriorating law and order, particularly in areas where ethnic Baloch community is dominant.
Target killings of teachers forced the community to stop performing duties at schools to save their lives. Principal Cadet College Mastung, Maqbool Hussain, Balochistan University Professor Nazma Talib of Mass Communication department, Vice Chancellor designate of the University of Balochistan Professor Safdar Kiani, Principal Tameer-e-Nau College Professor Fazal Bari, Principal Commerce College Quetta are few of the many renowned educationists who fell prey to targeted killing.
A majority of the workforce rendering services in various provincial government departments comes from cities close to the province’s border like Dera Ghazi Khan, Multan, Dera Ismail Khan, and others who settled in Balochistan in view of easy access to employment opportunities in public sector departments.
Same is the case with Balochistan’s education sector, which employees over 60, 000 teachers of various categories, i.e, primary, middle, secondary and higher secondary, lecturers and professors, a majority of whom belongs to Southern Punjab. Public sector educational institutions serve as the only educational outlets across the province, a majority of them are stated to be settlers, a term used for people who have settled in Balochistan from other provinces.
Balochistan consists of 31 administrative districts of which 21 are districts where different ethnic Baloch tribes form a majority, including Awaran, Barkhan, Chaghi, Dera Bugti, Gwadar, Jaffarabad, Jhal Magsi, Kachi, Kalat, Kech, Kharan, Khuzdar, Kohlu, Lasbella, Mastung, Naseerabad, Naushki, Panjgur, Sibi, Washuk and Dalbandin.
According to School Census 2009-10 by Balochistan Education Management Information System, some 632241 out of total 1029461 boys and girls students enrolled in Balochistan government primary, middle, and higher secondary schools belong to Baloch-dominated districts.
Another reason that serves as a major impediment for students to pursue their education is lack of educational institutions. For instance, in Awaran district there are primary schools with a capacity of 162 boys where some 6613 students are currently enrolled while there are only 13 middle schools for boys across the district.
The question arises how such a limited number of schools can enable a large number of students from primary schools to continue studies? As a result, very few numbers of students are able to complete their middle school education and fewer among them can complete their high school education for which they would have to travel for tens of kilometers daily.
For them, college and university level education is a dream. The same situation prevails in the rest of Balochistan districts, compelling parents to make their children apprentice rather than sending them to schools. A place like Balochistan, where boys’ education system is in a deplorable condition, girls’ education is in a very poor state.
Poor law and order situation in the wake of the military action in Balochistan in 2005 left a very bad impact on the overall education sector of the province.
According to a report, over six thousand teachers submitted applications for their transfer to other provinces while the number of teachers who demanded for their relocation to schools in Pashtoon-dominated districts of Balochistan is higher because law and order situation is comparatively better there.
If a comparison is made between the education sector of Balochistan with that of the other three provinces the disparity would be huge. Balochistan has only one medical education institution, Bolan Medical College, Quetta which has not yet been granted post-graduate status. There is only one University of Engineering and Technology Khuzdar for over 10 million population.
When the government’s attention is drawn towards backwardness of Balochistan it simply holds its vast area and scattered population responsible which is not fair. There is a long list of injustices done to the province. Quetta has very few numbers of private schools.
This is, indeed, a high time for mainstream political leadership to sit together and draw an effective strategy for amicable resolution of Balochistan issue in order to restore peace to the province.
By Syed Zubair Shirazi
The modern world which leads us in every field of life achieved its goals mainly because of their education system which guarantees a secure and prosperous future to their generations by making them a productive component of society. But, sadly, when we take a look at the affairs in Pakistan we have to regrettably observe that education sector, undeniably the only key to success, has not got the attention, which is evident from its share under the country’s annual budget.
Among South Asian countries, if we would have followed the example of Sri Lanka, plight of our education sector had not been deplorable to the extent as we witness at present .Sri Lanka is a very small country which remained confronted with a civil war over three and a half decades. Having personally observed the competence of Sri Lankan education system which I did during my ten-day visit to Sri Lanka to attend a Conflict Reporting workshop in June 2008, I found it exemplary organised for national building.
Today, literacy rate in Sri Lanka stands at 98 percent, the highest among South Asian countries and its major export is skilled human resource that earns a huge foreign exchange by rendering services in Middle East, Europe and even US.
Balochistan, which enjoyed an independent status until it voluntarily ascended to Pakistan in 1948, is the largest province of Pakistan in terms of land mass besides having a unique geography with over 720 kilometers long coast.
The insurgencies by the aggrieved Baloch were the result of resentment caused by utter negligence on the part of central government, which is amply evident from its backwardness in every field of life than the other three provinces.
The plight of social sectors, including health, education, agriculture, clean drinking water, etc, grew further following the insurgency that erupted in 2004. Of these, the education sector suffered the most due to deteriorating law and order, particularly in areas where ethnic Baloch community is dominant.
Target killings of teachers forced the community to stop performing duties at schools to save their lives. Principal Cadet College Mastung, Maqbool Hussain, Balochistan University Professor Nazma Talib of Mass Communication department, Vice Chancellor designate of the University of Balochistan Professor Safdar Kiani, Principal Tameer-e-Nau College Professor Fazal Bari, Principal Commerce College Quetta are few of the many renowned educationists who fell prey to targeted killing.
A majority of the workforce rendering services in various provincial government departments comes from cities close to the province’s border like Dera Ghazi Khan, Multan, Dera Ismail Khan, and others who settled in Balochistan in view of easy access to employment opportunities in public sector departments.
Same is the case with Balochistan’s education sector, which employees over 60, 000 teachers of various categories, i.e, primary, middle, secondary and higher secondary, lecturers and professors, a majority of whom belongs to Southern Punjab. Public sector educational institutions serve as the only educational outlets across the province, a majority of them are stated to be settlers, a term used for people who have settled in Balochistan from other provinces.
Balochistan consists of 31 administrative districts of which 21 are districts where different ethnic Baloch tribes form a majority, including Awaran, Barkhan, Chaghi, Dera Bugti, Gwadar, Jaffarabad, Jhal Magsi, Kachi, Kalat, Kech, Kharan, Khuzdar, Kohlu, Lasbella, Mastung, Naseerabad, Naushki, Panjgur, Sibi, Washuk and Dalbandin.
According to School Census 2009-10 by Balochistan Education Management Information System, some 632241 out of total 1029461 boys and girls students enrolled in Balochistan government primary, middle, and higher secondary schools belong to Baloch-dominated districts.
Another reason that serves as a major impediment for students to pursue their education is lack of educational institutions. For instance, in Awaran district there are primary schools with a capacity of 162 boys where some 6613 students are currently enrolled while there are only 13 middle schools for boys across the district.
The question arises how such a limited number of schools can enable a large number of students from primary schools to continue studies? As a result, very few numbers of students are able to complete their middle school education and fewer among them can complete their high school education for which they would have to travel for tens of kilometers daily.
For them, college and university level education is a dream. The same situation prevails in the rest of Balochistan districts, compelling parents to make their children apprentice rather than sending them to schools. A place like Balochistan, where boys’ education system is in a deplorable condition, girls’ education is in a very poor state.
Poor law and order situation in the wake of the military action in Balochistan in 2005 left a very bad impact on the overall education sector of the province.
According to a report, over six thousand teachers submitted applications for their transfer to other provinces while the number of teachers who demanded for their relocation to schools in Pashtoon-dominated districts of Balochistan is higher because law and order situation is comparatively better there.
If a comparison is made between the education sector of Balochistan with that of the other three provinces the disparity would be huge. Balochistan has only one medical education institution, Bolan Medical College, Quetta which has not yet been granted post-graduate status. There is only one University of Engineering and Technology Khuzdar for over 10 million population.
When the government’s attention is drawn towards backwardness of Balochistan it simply holds its vast area and scattered population responsible which is not fair. There is a long list of injustices done to the province. Quetta has very few numbers of private schools.
This is, indeed, a high time for mainstream political leadership to sit together and draw an effective strategy for amicable resolution of Balochistan issue in order to restore peace to the province.
Connectingthe dots
Use of social media acted as a catalyst and an effective tool of communication in countries where formal media faced restrictions
By Ahmad Nazir Warraich
On 17th December, a young man doused himself with fuel in front of a police office in Tunis and set himself on fire. This self immolation was triggered by police high-handedness. This single act of ultimate defiance and protest set ablaze a revolution that ended in the removal of the Tunisian government. But it proved only to be a first step, the fire leaped across the region to Egypt, and Libya, and beyond, on to Bahrain, Syria, Jordan and many other Arab states, with varying degrees of intensity and results.
In recent history, the Arab World is not known for its progress in the field of human rights, democracy, and freedom of press and independence of judiciary. In many cases their last acts for achievement of civil rights were getting rid of the yolk of the coloniser. Across the region, people had no voice as there was no forum for open discussion. Arab states suffered from repressive, non-representative regimes, lack of a free media and independent judiciary. Resultantly, the Arab political scene had become stagnant, which perhaps explains why the region has been set alight like a tinderbox.
The communication revolution of the last century has converted the world into a global village where ideas, cults, and political philosophies have global reach. So the common Arab knows that there are vast parts of the world, with fully functional democracies, free press and independent judiciary. As a proud people, with a glorious history, they yearned for the same.
The reality on the ground was, of course, different. For example, an indication of the state of press freedom in these countries can be gauged from the press freedom index of Reporters Without Frontiers, 2010, which ranks Egypt, 127th, Libya, 160th, Tunisia 164th and Syria at 173rd in the world. It is because of this state of the press freedom that some of the rebels turned to social media, as a tool to organise themselves because the print and electronic media were under heavy governmental control and censorship.
Protests in these countries have borrowed from the classical twentieth century armour of civil disobedience, by using protests, strikes, demonstrations, marches and rallies, however, the new tactic used here for perhaps the first time in the Arab world, is the use of social media. This was effectively used for organising, awareness creation, and communication, thus bypassing the established communication networks and censorship.
The use of social media acted as a catalyst and an effective tool of communication in countries where the formal media faced restrictions. It also kept the outside world informed about what is happening within and giving an alternative view to that postulated by incumbent governments.
Social media has the advantage of being able to bring together otherwise remote and disparate groups. Second, by bypassing the state controls they can tell their own people and the outside world of what is going on. The various digital tools used by the revolutionaries have included videos, blogs, face book, mobile messaging etc.
A video provides immediacy and involves the viewer. It is also low-cost and easy. Blogs are very effective, and at the same time easy to develop. They also help create an environment of trust. E-mails are very easy to share with the increasing reach of internet and computer and mobile facilities.
Social media has, thus, advantages that have made them useful in these revolts of the people. They are cheap, easily accessible, and allow even private individuals to share information. It has the advantages of reach; which is potentially global, accessibility; people can start them with little expense, anybody can use them with the minimum of skill and training. It has the advantage of immediacy; there is no time lag, the moment you send, it is received, if it is a blog, the moment you post something, anybody who connects, can read it, if it is a video on YouTube, all you have to do is record on any device, post on YouTube, and the intended recipient can access it.
In the words of one Egyptian activist, “We use Face book to schedule protests, Twitter to coordinate, and YouTube to tell the world.” In the world of Omid Memarian, an Iranian journalist and blogger, “I think it is becoming more and more difficult for the authoritarian regimes in the Middle East to dominate their narrative of events. They cannot be any more the only source of news and legitimacy.” In Tunisia, the social media was used to keep the outside world updated about events in the country. In Syria, where foreign media is tightly controlled both with regard to entry and movement it is videos posted on YouTube and other such social media, which is keeping the outside world informed about events.
However, no one is of the opinion that social media in itself caused the revolution. It is a tool, no matter how important. The people of these countries were fed up for a variety of reasons, but the use of social media provided the ability to revolutionaries to circumvent the classical governmental strategy of keeping people separate and isolated, and therein lies the usefulness of the social media to this Arab Rising.
It’s a lot easier to get together a critical mass of people because there’s been an increase in the number of people on Facebook and Twitter and mobile phones. The role of social media is accepted by most people, including by Barack Obama in his recent Middle East Policy speech. However, there is some debate as to the exact role of the social media in these ongoing revolts, whether the revolts would have still happened or would they have happened later in time, is another question, and can never be authoritatively answered.
By Ahmad Nazir Warraich
On 17th December, a young man doused himself with fuel in front of a police office in Tunis and set himself on fire. This self immolation was triggered by police high-handedness. This single act of ultimate defiance and protest set ablaze a revolution that ended in the removal of the Tunisian government. But it proved only to be a first step, the fire leaped across the region to Egypt, and Libya, and beyond, on to Bahrain, Syria, Jordan and many other Arab states, with varying degrees of intensity and results.
In recent history, the Arab World is not known for its progress in the field of human rights, democracy, and freedom of press and independence of judiciary. In many cases their last acts for achievement of civil rights were getting rid of the yolk of the coloniser. Across the region, people had no voice as there was no forum for open discussion. Arab states suffered from repressive, non-representative regimes, lack of a free media and independent judiciary. Resultantly, the Arab political scene had become stagnant, which perhaps explains why the region has been set alight like a tinderbox.
The communication revolution of the last century has converted the world into a global village where ideas, cults, and political philosophies have global reach. So the common Arab knows that there are vast parts of the world, with fully functional democracies, free press and independent judiciary. As a proud people, with a glorious history, they yearned for the same.
The reality on the ground was, of course, different. For example, an indication of the state of press freedom in these countries can be gauged from the press freedom index of Reporters Without Frontiers, 2010, which ranks Egypt, 127th, Libya, 160th, Tunisia 164th and Syria at 173rd in the world. It is because of this state of the press freedom that some of the rebels turned to social media, as a tool to organise themselves because the print and electronic media were under heavy governmental control and censorship.
Protests in these countries have borrowed from the classical twentieth century armour of civil disobedience, by using protests, strikes, demonstrations, marches and rallies, however, the new tactic used here for perhaps the first time in the Arab world, is the use of social media. This was effectively used for organising, awareness creation, and communication, thus bypassing the established communication networks and censorship.
The use of social media acted as a catalyst and an effective tool of communication in countries where the formal media faced restrictions. It also kept the outside world informed about what is happening within and giving an alternative view to that postulated by incumbent governments.
Social media has the advantage of being able to bring together otherwise remote and disparate groups. Second, by bypassing the state controls they can tell their own people and the outside world of what is going on. The various digital tools used by the revolutionaries have included videos, blogs, face book, mobile messaging etc.
A video provides immediacy and involves the viewer. It is also low-cost and easy. Blogs are very effective, and at the same time easy to develop. They also help create an environment of trust. E-mails are very easy to share with the increasing reach of internet and computer and mobile facilities.
Social media has, thus, advantages that have made them useful in these revolts of the people. They are cheap, easily accessible, and allow even private individuals to share information. It has the advantages of reach; which is potentially global, accessibility; people can start them with little expense, anybody can use them with the minimum of skill and training. It has the advantage of immediacy; there is no time lag, the moment you send, it is received, if it is a blog, the moment you post something, anybody who connects, can read it, if it is a video on YouTube, all you have to do is record on any device, post on YouTube, and the intended recipient can access it.
In the words of one Egyptian activist, “We use Face book to schedule protests, Twitter to coordinate, and YouTube to tell the world.” In the world of Omid Memarian, an Iranian journalist and blogger, “I think it is becoming more and more difficult for the authoritarian regimes in the Middle East to dominate their narrative of events. They cannot be any more the only source of news and legitimacy.” In Tunisia, the social media was used to keep the outside world updated about events in the country. In Syria, where foreign media is tightly controlled both with regard to entry and movement it is videos posted on YouTube and other such social media, which is keeping the outside world informed about events.
However, no one is of the opinion that social media in itself caused the revolution. It is a tool, no matter how important. The people of these countries were fed up for a variety of reasons, but the use of social media provided the ability to revolutionaries to circumvent the classical governmental strategy of keeping people separate and isolated, and therein lies the usefulness of the social media to this Arab Rising.
It’s a lot easier to get together a critical mass of people because there’s been an increase in the number of people on Facebook and Twitter and mobile phones. The role of social media is accepted by most people, including by Barack Obama in his recent Middle East Policy speech. However, there is some debate as to the exact role of the social media in these ongoing revolts, whether the revolts would have still happened or would they have happened later in time, is another question, and can never be authoritatively answered.
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