Karachi through the eyes of citizens

Text and photos by: Basil Andrews

The recently concluded Karachi International Book Fair was declared a big success, with more than 200 Pakistani and international publishers attending as the annual event celebrated its 7th anniversary.

From the 16th to the 20th of December, Karachi’s Expo Center was open for families and students to ruffle through the pages of scientific, poetry and pose, novels, magazines and much more.

Top publishers of the country as well as foreign publishers were present bringing with them a diverse plethora of books. Many of the publishers were also offering discounts as well as memberships to book clubs. Wide-ranging cultural events and amusement programs were also organized for children on the sidelines of the fair.

Below are a few pictures taken during the course of the fete.

A young boy checking out the new books at a stall

Books ! books! Books!

Books and Magazines on display

Nat Geo Magazines for sale!

Sindhi literature also on display

Attendee standing at the stall to welcome the book lovers

By: Sarmad Lashary with inputs by Waleed Tariq

Four years ago in February 2008 – Pakistan began its transformation to democracy with a general election that brought Benazir Bhutto’s PPP (Pakistan People’s Party) into power. The party decided to continue its policy of reconciliation with all political players. It formed a coalition government with its rival and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s PML-N (Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz) in Punjab, ANP (Awami National Party) in Khyber-Pakhtunkhua, and MQM (Muttahida Quami Movement) in Sindh. All these parties were sharing power with the PPP in the center as well to create a powerful democratic government alliance to oust Musharraf of his presidency and to address all the challenges faced by the country after a decade long dictatorship.

This ‘theory of reconciliation’, which has been presented by the imperialists and their shadows in Pakistan as a new policy of political and social harmony, is in reality an old strategy. Its aim is to distract and undermine the masses to pursue their own selfish interests.

Democracy has to be catalyst of continuous change and progress for the betterment of the people. A country where people cast their vote on the basis of caste and ethnicity, can we expect a ‘change’?

In Pakistan, we have a democracy, where the decisions of independent Judiciary are not respected, where our sovereignty has been spoiled by drone attacks and where parties in power join and leave the government because of their own interests. In these circumstances, the concept of reconciliation becomes beneficial for those who are in power. This has been merely the tool of power-sharing.

In the past four years, reconciliation has been unable to offer us with independent foreign policy on war, we haven’t improved our economy and the government has not provided us with the basic needs of the people.

What has the policy of reconciliation given the people of Pakistan; bloodshed in Karachi in which thousands of innocent Pakistani has been killed by target killing and slaughtering of innocent citizens who have nothing to do with the politics of PPP, MQM and ANP?

What political stability and economic prosperity has been achieved by his reconciliation politics? What is the use of such reconciliation which is unable to change the status quo in the country?

Politics of reconciliation in Pakistan has in fact become a curse and a deception for the masses. It is their self-interest to remain in the government while the problems of the masses such as high inflation, load shedding, unemployment, illiteracy has nothing to do with this political phenomenon.

Isn’t it highly doubtful that the ‘so-called’ democracy won’t pave way for un-constitutional interventions in the near future to come?

By: Andeel Ali

Andeel Ali

Human Rights are the basic rights that every human being holds since birth and shall be available to all regardless of any discrimination on the basis of gender, race, caste creed, religion or sect. The current form of Human Rights can be traced back to the atrocities and crimes committed against the humanity during the Second World War which were later trailed in the Nuremberg Trails.

Pakistan is one of the countries where very few interventions have been made to mainstream human rights education in society and especially to youth work due to various reasons, resulting in ignorance amongst the young people said Andeel Ali at the first session of Know Your Rights (KYR), held at Hotel Days Inn, Karachi from October 28, 2011 till the 30^th of the month. Andeel Ali, District Project Manager of Youth Parliament of Pakistan (Karachi) Hyderabad and Sukkur accompanied Ms. Areeba Wajid, Mr. Ammar Zia Khan along with Ms. Riffat Alam for the sessions.

Training sessions of Know Your Rights are successfully implemented allover Pakistan, enabling youths in improving their quality of life and raising the standard of living of their communities through empowerment i.e. creating an atmosphere where Human Rights are valued.

Around twenty youths were enlightened during these training sessions over the period of three days with twelve themes regarding the Human Rights discussed. These included children, general human rights, human security, citizenship, media, environment, discrimination and Xenophobia, education, gender equality, peace and violence along with health and globalization.

The participants hailing from different backgrounds appreciated the education program and vowed to bring positive change in the society by designing four Human Development Projects focusing on promoting peace, education, transparency and good governance in their society.

Andeel Ali along with the participants

Charter of Demands was drafted at the end of the training comprising of thirty five clauses to be presented to the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Yousaf Raza Gilani on the December 10, 2011, which is the International Human Rights Day. The Charter of Demand comprised of suggestions and ideas that if implemented properly, may fill the gap that is generated in our lives due to the absence of human rights and alleviate the sufferings of our nation and of world at large.

Youth Parliament of Pakistan – YPP was founded by the famous polymath, Abrar-Ul-Haq who started his career as a faculty member at Aitchison College Lahore, then rose to popularity as a pop singer and currently heads the philanthropic organization called Sahara for Life Welfare trust and. He is also serving as the Goodwill Ambassador for Humanitarian efforts for the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC).

Youth Parliament of Pakistan is a non-profit, non-political, non-religious organization whose mission is to foster and translate talent and excellence of adolescents and youths of Pakistan into tangible actions and community service.

Purpose of KYR is to promote Education, training and information aimed at building a universal culture of human rights. It’s comprehensive education that provides knowledge about human rights and the mechanisms that protect them, and imparts the skills needed to promote, defend and apply human rights in daily life. Human rights education fosters the attitudes and behaviors needed to uphold human rights for all members of society.

There will be for more workshops in Karachi followed by five workshops in Hyderabad and Sukkur respectively.

KNOW YOUR RIGHTS!!! Event on FB: http://goo.gl/JGBix

Registration form for which can be filled at: http://goo.gl/jZz3C

For further info Mr. Andeel Ali can be reached at: andeel.ali@youthparliament.org.pk

By: Waleed Tariq

CNG green buses run under the City District Government Karachi (CDGK) authorities have once again become operational, Monday after immediate directives of the Sindh Governor; Dr Eshrat Ul Ebad.

Initially, two routes have been started, which are to be extended soon.

Bus service, launched in 2009 was abandoned by the CDGK appointed contractor on account of possible threats from the fearsome transport mafia ruling the city.

The news has been welcomed by Karachiites as it would likely reduce some burden of the present bunged transport system.

by Laiba Tariq

Pakistan’s federal interior minister Rehman Malik is going to become Dr. Rehman Malik as he will get honorary PhD. degree for creating peace in Karachi – country’s largest city. Media sources are reporting that he will get the PhD. degree tomorrow (Tuesday) as Karachi University Vice Chancellor Pirzada Qasim confirmed the news.

Vice Chancellor of Karachi University Pirzada Qasim has told the media that this degree will be awarded to him for his “services to bring peace to Karachi”.

Karachi has seen a large increase in street crimes and target killings this year. The target killing spree came to an almost end in September after all quarters of the country took interest especially judiciary, government and political parties.

Although Rehman Malik’s visits to Karachi always brought some dramatic changes in city’s law and order situation, the minster was recently criticized strongly by resigned provincial minister for interior Dr. Zulfiqar Mirza.

Rehman Malk was also awarded presidential award on 14th August this year.

By: Saadia Bakhtawar

The inundation of hundreds of villages have left thousands of people stranded in the flooded areas of Badin. PHOTO: YOUSUF NAGORI

Last year’s floods in Pakistan brought massive devastation. The scope and scale of the crisis which emerged during and mostly after the floods was unexceptional. It affected the lives of more than half the population of the country, washing away communities, societies, villages and forcing millions to leave their houses and take refuge in different camps. Despite the crisis, people of Pakistan showed enormous courage and strength throughout the disaster, supporting each other to overcome the extraordinary adversity.

The people had not yet fully recovered with the last year’s crisis that floods due to monsoon rains were back yet again this year; 2011 that is, destroying almost everything people had hopes from. The affected areas primarily include the southern province of Sindh and over twenty districts in Baluchistan. Badin is the worst affected district in Sindh, with over 6000 villages under water. Other calamity-hit areas include Benazirabad, Mirpurkhas, Tando Muhammad Khan, Tando Allahyar and Khairpur.

The scale of the disaster was not only magnificent – cutting off many villages and making them inaccessible to government and relief workers – with that the aid response was much less than  last year, which has further added on to people’s misery, exponentially. According to the official records, more than 5.5 million people so far have been affected, about 1.2 million homes have been washed away and around 1.5 million acres of cropland have been damaged.

In order to help in such a calamity, once again, military was called in to carry out a flood relief operation. Military officials with the help of boats helped affected people move from their respective areas to the flood relief camps. According to an unofficial data, the Sindh government claims to have put an estimated of 280,000 affected people in nearly 2,000 refugee camps. However, all over Sindh, some 2,250 emergency relief camps have already been set up for the homeless where cooked food and other necessities have been provided to the affected people.

Apart from the provincial government, federal government also took measures to help out in the flood relief work. Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, in order to increase the efficiency of the flood relief work formed a Flood Relief Committee to coordinate all relief efforts. The committee included: the chairman of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA); the cabinet secretary and the personal secretary to the prime minister as well as several members of Parliament.

Other than that, Pakistan’s government has also appealed foreign countries to help out Pakistan in such a calamity. However, many have not come forward to help out Pakistan this time; as they did last year which itself has allowed many questions to emerge in accordance to define the efficiency of the current government. Moreover, many non-governmental organizations (NGO’s) have also played their role in helping out the affected people.

The impact of floods is not just limited to an increase in the death calamities. More than two million people are suffering from Acute Watery Diarrhea (AWD) with other water-borne and vector-borne diseases which further are an indication towards a major health risk in flood affected areas. With that, the common causes of morbidity and mortality are diarrheal diseases including cholera, which affects many of pregnant women and children under five.

Despite, all the flood relief activities, people still have not been able to get back to their normal lives which somehow have brought in many questions in people’s mind both locally and internationally. Therefore, not only the government but also civil society needs to work together in order to help out the countrymen through all means. The role of the government is not only to help out the affected after the calamity but also to take preventive measures much before so that such calamities don’t repeat in the near future.

By: Waleed Tariq

Pakistani commuters cross a flooded street during heavy monsoon rain in Karachi - Photo by AFP

Heavy monsoon rain in the southern Pakistani metropolis of Karachi on Tuesday paralyzed routine and commercial activities as the Stock exchange, businesses, schools and most banks remained closed.

The submerging roads and streets, exposed the ineffectiveness of the city government`s rain emergency plan. Scores of trees, power poles and wires were toppled leaving many parts of the city without electricity for hours.

Flooding also caused long traffic jams as cars were stuck and several fuel stations were inundated. No visible efforts were underway to drain water.

More rain is expected on Wednesday.

By: Saadia Bakhtawar

TEDx was back in town with yet another bang ‘TEDx MazarEQuaid’, which took place at The W Training and Networking Centre this Sunday 17^th July, 2011. First of all I would like to congratulate, Asadullah Khalid and his dedicated team for their hard work. An event worth attending was only possible due to their hard work since its inception to its final execution. Before I describe the excellence of the event through my words, firstly I would like to give you all a brief introduction about TEDx – what it is and how it works. TEDxLive is an extension of the TEDx program, launched by TED in 2010. TEDxLive events are TEDx events built around the live webcast of TED Conferences. TEDxLive events enable TED enthusiasts all over the world to experience live sessions of the TED Conference; events can be simple viewing events, and may also host live speakers.

More than one-fifty people registered for this event, however only seventy of them were selected to attend. After the introduction by Nazia Rehman, all together six videos clips from live TEDx were shown to the participants.

The first video captivated everyone’s attention because of the topic discussed in it. The topic was ‘Lie Detector’ by Pamela Meyer, she discussed how one can find out if the other person is speaking the truth or lying to hide something. She also said that it’s not our words rather our posture, eyes, breathing rates, fidgets, and a host of other indicators which help us whether the person is lying or not.

The second video was related to the field of psychology presented by Alison Gopniks who was a child development psychologist. She spoke about how ‘babies’ who, from a very tender age start to comprehend things around them.

Photo by Mehlum-Sadriwala studio

Another video showed Robin Ince a comedian by profession and running his own radio show the ‘Uncaged Monkeys’ in which he has been trying to answer very basic questions, ‘Is rational thought funny? And is comedy scientific? He has brought in a new perspective towards comedy and that is its relationship with science.

Computer viruses and hacking are so prevalent in this era that in order to protect our computers we all have installed different antivirus. Mikko Hypponen a cyber security expert has leaded his team through some of the largest computer virus outbreaks in the history.

Extremism is another issue with which we all our linked very closely and when someone talks about it we are all keen to hear out very clearly. So was the case when Maajid Nawaz an anti-extremism activist started talking (in the video); though he himself was part of the one of the extremist’s party Hibz ut-Tahrir.

The party’s aims were to hijack Islam for political purposes and that its aims were dangerously similar to the aims of fascism. After going through an imprisonment Nawaz is now working as an anti-extremism activist and in 2009 founded Khudi, a counter-extremism social movement working to promote a democratic culture in Pakistan.  He has also co-founded Quilliam in UK, the foundation engages in “counter-Islamist thought-generating” – looking for new narratives of citizenship, identity and belonging in a globalized world. He also said: “I can now say that the more I learnt about Islam the more tolerant I became”.

We all admire art so it is of any form and Joe Castillo – sand artists, proved that art has no boundaries yet another time. Drawing with his finger through a screen of sand, Joe makes fluid lines that cohere into characters that become stories. For me personally watching Joe was very much thrilling it grabbed all my attention throughout. For even a split of session I couldn’t take my eyes off the screen and so was the case with everyone in that room. As if we all were glued to the screen it was such an inspirational work of art.

The live sessions in the end, by Talha Iqbal and Zain Goplani brought in the energy into the participants. However, they didn’t took much of our time but whatever they had they proved that they are best at doing their jobs. Talha in his very casual tone and body movements made us all realize one important which somehow we all have forgotten and that is of living with what we have. His activity was based on ‘Breathing.’ He said: “Whatever we do we can’t stop breathing therefore we shouldn’t even stop trying harder and harder. Breathing is important; therefore we need to breathe our hard works into our lives to keep it moving.”

Zain on the other hand, also had a mature thought process and determination. He shared his story of reaching the position he was today. It was not easy for him; he had to fight not only his family but also the society – a struggle worth inspiration. One of his statements, which is still intact in my mind is “Main karoga!” and yes he is still doing it.

A three hour event of remembrance; excitement and inspiration came to an end by thanking first of all the speakers; the management team and lastly the participants for making the event a success.