| May 14, 2005 | Saturday | Rabi-us-Sani 5, 1426 |
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Sukkur prison riot
Solar powered villages
YET another group of illegal Pakistani immigrants has been deported from Oman. Including the 1,117 who reached Karachi on Thursday, the number of Pakistanis deported from Oman this year has reached 4,500. For the last five years, the figure stands at 33,000. If to this we add the number of Pakistanis either deported or in jails abroad, the number must truly be enormous. Italy alone has 80,000 illegal immigrants from Pakistan, of whom 40,000 have been regularized. Italy is not the only country through which Pakistani immigrants are trying to smuggle themselves into Europe. Another favourite entry point is Greece, which they reach via Turkey after a perilous journey across the burning desert of southern Iran. Their collaborators in this are Pakistani border officials and the unscrupulous among the recruiting agents.
Not all recruiting agents are crooks though. Many operate within the law and provide jobs to Pakistanis in oil-rich countries in the Middle East. But quite a few run emigration rackets. Their victims are mostly illiterate and unskilled villagers whom they lead up the garden path and in the process fleece them. Their methods include getting advance payments from would-be immigrants or asking them to pledge their salaries for a given period of time. Since they are mostly illiterate, they do not know whether they are travelling on forged documents and are arrested immediately on arrival at a foreign destination. In the case of some Gulf countries, illegal immigrants are made to travel in boats and dumped secretly at night on deserted beaches. Quite often, this has resulted in tragedies, with people drowning while swimming to the shore. Regrettably, while illegal immigrants are tried and convicted by the host countries or on return by Pakistani courts, one seldom hears of recruiting agents getting caught and punished for their illegal activity.
The issue is not merely one of controlling illegal immigration and punishing those involved in it; the real factor is the bleak economic situation at home that makes people risk being caught and punished in trying to go abroad. There is pervasive poverty in the country, especially in the countryside. There are no jobs for new entrants to the employment market. Investment, foreign and local, is shy for many reasons, including a precarious law and order situation. For that reason, rapid industrial expansion of the kind taking place in some Asian countries is missing in Pakistan. Money for investment is there, but it is flowing into the construction sector or food business. As for agriculture, its performance is far below its potential. New lands are not being brought under the plough — there is no national consensus yet on the Kalabagh or Bhasha dam, thus leaving the jobless peasants with no option but to move to the cities in search of jobs or try to emigrate, inspite of all the risks involved.
To check illegal emigration, the government has to root out recruiting agencies which run emigration rackets by violating the law and fleecing the unsuspecting migrants. But this will merely be a negative effort; the positive effort has to be in the form of an economic breakthrough that is long overdue. At present, the agricultural sector is stagnant; it must be made vibrant so as to sustain the fast-expanding rural population. Only a changed economic scenario that gives the people a reasonable standard of living can put a stop to illegal emigration. Job creation must be a priority for those drafting the new budget.
IT is unclear what precisely caused the uprising by prisoners at the Sukkur Jail on Thursday, but the incident once again underlines the unsatisfactory condition of our jails. These conditions can best be described as inhuman and appalling. Pakistani prisons suffer from overcrowding as well as a lack of facilities that inmates are entitled to under the Jail Manual. This includes proper food and space, safety and security for inmates and adequate facilities for transportation to and from courts. Jail officials say that crux of the problem is over-crowding, which puts an added burden on the limited facilities available. For example, in the 30 jails in Punjab, against accommodation facilities for over 17,000 prisoners, nearly 50,000 prisoners are lodged. The same is the case in other provinces as well. One of the reasons for overcrowding is that the vast majority of inmates are under trial prisoners (UTPs). Due to bureaucratic delays, corruption at various levels and the over-burdening of the judicial system, most prisoners in jail today are those waiting for their cases to be heard or decided. In some instances, the length of time spent waiting for the relevant case to be heard exceeds the punishment that is prescribed for it under the law.
It is time that the government took this situation more seriously. For one, a fast track system should be put into place, which would decide cases in a matter of days and not years. To clear the massive backlog of cases the cooperation of the judiciary should be sought and a lenient view be taken for those booked under minor offences. At the same time, due attention should be paid at improving the state of affairs within the country’s 150 jails and to check abuse of power by jail staff, many of whom revel in sadistic behaviour. The institution of jail visitors committees ought to be revived to keep a check on what goes on in our prison system. One of the most encouraging things about Thursday’s incident is that a former jail official was able to convince the inmates to return to their cells. This proves the fact that prisoners are open to positive influences in the system and would gladly welcome such changes on a larger scale.
ONE HUNDRED homes in Narian-Khorian, twin villages about 65 kilometres from Islamabad, were provided with solar energy on Saturday by the Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB). This pilot project, which cost Rs 3.9 million, provides homes with essential equipment to store solar energy, and the villages with a water disinfection plant, a park that will be light up using solar energy, public toilets for men and women and a solar computer room where children can be trained. Thanks to this endeavour, the villagers have received all this equipment — which has a life span of 25 years — free, although they will be required to bear the maintenance charges, which one hopes will be kept to a minimum. The AEDB should monitor the progress of this project which could serve as a model for other villages in the country as it can ultimately help improve the lives of those who do not even have access to electricity. The Narian-Khorian effort will be rated as the first substantial move in the direction of exploring alternate energy sources
Experts believe that the country could face a serious energy crisis in 2010 if alternative sources are not developed now. The Pakistan Council of Renewable Energy Technologies is working hard to process technologies in new fields, like designing solar water heaters, solar cookers and solar desalination plants — all of which would prove to be beneficial for the environment and the common person. The government should encourage and promote investments in all renewable energy fields as its people will be beneficiaries of such projects. In countries like Pakistan where sunlight is free and abundant, it seems criminal not to utilize the technical expertise now available for harnessing solar energy. Similarly, in the coastal areas, the use of windmill technology should be fully explored.