| October 30, 2005 | Sunday | Ramzan 25, 1426 |
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‘Slow foxtrot with India’
Spirit of ’65
‘The real moral lesson’
National cohesion
Dome technology
Karachi quake history
PIAC dividend
Mushtaq Memon
TV discussions
ADVERSITY and natural calamity have the potential of bringing out the real character of an individual or a nation. The outpouring of sympathy and assistance by individuals and groups offered in the spirit of genuine volunteerism in the wake of the recent earthquake has shown that there surely is some mettle in this nation. Unfortunately, however, this is not complemented by adequate institutional capacity to properly channel it.
Faced with the present crisis the performance of the existing institutions, such as the emergency relief cell and civil defence department, established specifically to respond to emergencies, leaves much to be desired. Hence the creation of a new institution (s) or organization (s) to cope with the problem.
But merely increasing the number of institutions with overlapping responsibilities makes the task of proper coordination even more difficult. No country in the world can claim to have foolproof arrangements to protect its citizens against all natural calamities. Yet there are wide gaps in the respective capacities of different countries to cope with the havoc caused by natural disasters.
Pakistan’s standing in this respect cannot be said to be enviable. While we need to take all necessary steps to strengthen the organizations designated to arrange relief and assistance in emergencies and streamline the related procedures and the mechanisms put in place in this regard, the authorities concerned would be well advised to consider the following points also:
While designing projects, there should be least interference with the natural contours of the land. Any project that requires this should be preceded by a proper topographical study.
If all those trees had not been cut in Azad Kashmir and Margalla Towers been constructed after proper technical evaluation and in accordance with correct architectural specifications, wouldn’t the damage from the earthquake have been much less?
Almost all buildings built by government departments in AJK have been razed to the ground. Does this indicate some trend or syndrome?
The master plan of Islamabad did not envisage construction of high-rise buildings. It was because of this requirement that the old buildings in the Blue Area are not more than six storeys — one plus five. This condition also applied to government-owned flats.
However, exception to this requirement has since been allowed. Incidentally, Margalla Towers was the first such exception for high-rise residential flats built by the private sector for sale. Since then the CDA has granted permission to a number of parties to construct much higher buildings than the ill-fated Margalla Towers.
According to seismic surveys, Islamabad 50 years ago was less prone to earthquakes. At present, however, due to geological shifts it has become more vulnerable to earthquakes.
Vertical urban growth becomes necessary only if the option of horizontal growth is not available or its economic cost is prohibitive. In the case of Islamabad, since space is not a problem, vertical growth of the city should be shunned.
It may be mentioned that even the best of high-rise buildings in Islamabad, namely, Saudi Pak Tower, NIC building, ADBP building and many others have developed cracks as a result of the recent earthquake. Under the circumstances, shouldn’t the authorities concerned review the policy of allowing construction of high-rise buildings in the capital?
I have some suggestions in this context: there should be a prohibition on the construction of high-rise buildings; rules and regulations relating to civil works should be ensured; cutting of trees on Margalla and Murree hills should be banned and the New Murree project should be reviewed.
KHALID IDREES
Islamabad
APROPOS of Mr M.P. Bhandara’s article “Slow foxtrot with India” (Oct 23), one would like to question his belief that “territory retained or won by arms cannot be given away on the table”. He seems to have forgotten (or didn’t he know?) that 10,000 square miles of Rajasthan territory won by the Pakistan Army in the 1965 war was given away by Ayub Khan on the table during peace talks with India in Tashkent.
I agree that Pakistan has a long list of missed opportunities to solve or try to solve the Kashmir.
I would like to share with the writer and readers the details of an event mentioned in the Urdu book Court Martial by Jalees Salasil. The story as told in an interview by the main character himself reveals an effort for a possible solution of the Kashmir dispute.
Maj-Gen Sher Ali (who was later to become a cabinet minister in Yahya Khan’s government) went to India just after independence to see his brother, the Nawab of Pataudi. On this occasion he met India’s first home minister, V.B. Patel, a friend of the Nawab.
Patel asked Sher Ali, then a brigadier, to take India’s official offer to Mr M. A. Jinnah to accept a swap. He said: “Take Kashmir and give us Hyderabad (Deccan)”. With hindsight, one considers that we should have accepted the easy solution. Both countries in those early stages of their nationhood would have been spared much hatred and bloodshed. Strangely enough, probably due to deeply-held suspicions, the proposal was rejected.
Mr Bhandara wisely describes why ordinary people turn into terrorists: “Who would not be a terrorist if he saw his family molested or home pillaged by merciless heavy-booted aliens” (the Indian occupation forces in Kashmir).
I lend my support to his suggestion that “India should climb down the same ladder, step by step, that it climbed up during post-1953.’
S.M. KAZIM NAQVI
Karachi
THIS refers to Mr Ayaz Amir’s column “Spirit of ‘65 & parallels with today” (Oct 21). He writes about Kashmir: “Let us turn the line of control into a soft border and let’s get our troops out of Siachin. Why is India dragging its feet over this last issue?”
As regards turning the Line of Control into a soft border, it will mean that we have buried the Kashmir issue and accepted the status quo, the persistent Indian chant. One may observe that during the earthquake, they were insisting on sending military helicopters across the Line of Control but not permitting the kith and kin of the victims of either side to help each other. The question arises: should we become instrumental in depriving the people of Kashmir of their inalienable right of self-determination? “Azadi” is their slogan which they will, God willing, achieve one day.
If the Berlin wall could be demolished, the Americans and French humbled to leave Vietnam and Algiers, Ariel Sharon cornered to vacate Gaza, the day is not far off when India will be forced to withdraw its military from the Kashmir valley. It will not be out of context to mention here that the US dropped three million tons of explosives on Vietnam which was more than the total tonnage dropped by the US and Britain in World War II (including the atomic bomb).
The second part of Mr Amir’s column is about Siachen. This is again a complex issue. Like Kashmir, India is an aggressor in this case also. The occupier vacates the aggression; we are only on the fringes of the Belafond Glacier. The Indians should get back to the pre-Shimla agreement deployment, i.e., south of reference points NJ 9842 and NE 7410.
Very briefly let me apprise Mr Amir that India is not dragging its feet on Siachen. They have come to stay there. Their grand strategy is to capture Baltistan and block the Pakistani route to the prized K-2. In phase II, they want to reach the strategic Silk Route to sever the Pakistan-China land route. One may ask, does India possess such capabilities? It occupied Kashmir in 1947, East Pakistan in 1971, and Siachen in 1984. Why should we underestimate India’s capabilities, especially when it has become a strategic partner of the sole superpower?
LT-Col (retd) SAFIR A SIDDIQUI
Karachi
APROPOS of your editorial ‘The real moral lesson’ (Oct 25), an implacably agnostic view of the gigantic natural calamity is also not flawless. Our preponderant majority here believes in one Creator and in His last revealed Guidance vouchsafed to His last messenger, Muhammad (peace be upon him).
If that is a true premise, then — as it should be — the field of search for causative factors must include the scriptures too. I am certain a focused answer in all likelihood would reside somewhere there. Perhaps a careful reading of chapter 11 might be rewarding in that it could provide a spectrum of causative factors and the nature of consequences.
Explaining one of the central verses (117) of this chapter Imam Razi, the celebrated commentator, says: ‘God’s chastisement does not afflict any people merely on account of their holding beliefs amounting to ‘shirk’ and ‘kufr’, but afflicts them only if they persistently commit evil in their mutual dealings, and deliberately hurt (other human beings) and act tyrannically (towards them).
Hence, those who are learned in Divine Law hold that man’s obligations towards God rest on the principle of (His) forgiveness and liberality, whereas the rights of man are of a stringent nature and must always be strictly observed” — “the obvious reason being that God is Almighty, needs no defender, whereas man is weak, and needs protection”.
This indeed is the moral lesson for the whole world.
As for the many departed souls, that is God’s domain. Who knows they may already be in precincts happily well appointed.
M.J. AS’AD
Karachi
THE Oct 8 earthquake has produced great national cohesion.
Leader of the opposition Maulana Fazlur Rehman proved his deep concern for the victims when he disregarded the MMA’s boycott of the National Security Council and allowed the NWFP chief minister to attend a meeting held to discuss measures to tackle the quake situation.
In this hour of national catastrophe when focus of all segments of society is needed to augment efforts towards resettlement of the quake-affected, Qazi Hussain Ahmad, chief of the Jamaat-i-Islami, is out spreading despondency through disinformation. During a recent press conference in Islamabad, he objected to the gesture of NWFP Chief Minister Akram Durrani in attending the NSC meeting under the chairmanship of President Musharraf.
At a time when the army is in the forefront of the rescue operation, Qazi Hussain has demanded the task should be taken over from the non-elected institution.
Almost the entire world has come forward with help. Must Qazi Hussain spoil it by raising questions like not accepting aid from India, Israel and the US?.
SYED G.B. SHAH BOKHARI
Peshawar
IN 1977, I had an opportunity to witness at the PAF Base Masroor an impressive presentation and demonstration of a technology of rapid and low-cost construction of dome-shaped buildings and houses. After briefing by the firm, participants moved to a non-restricted area, adjacent to the PAF base. Here on the ground, there was a previously-prepared large round pavement, of more than 200 feet diametre, above which was laid an equally large circular deflated balloon, made of a plastic type of material, connected to a blower operated by a generator. Above the flat balloon was placed a large circular network of straight and concentric steel bars joined with steel rods rising from the ground level plinth. Nearby were big concrete mixers ready to pour freshly prepared liquid concrete on the steel network. All this preparation, we were told, had taken about 10 days.
On our arrival, the motor blower was started and the liquid concrete was poured on top of the steel network and the flat balloon. The flat balloon started gradually bulging into the shape of a half-cut orange or a dome. At the same time, the straight steel bars started bending inwards under the pressure of the blowing and within 45 minutes the entire steel network along with the concrete took the shape of an inflated balloon or a domed hall. The inflated RCC dome was left for 10 days for curing, after which the blowing equipment and the balloon were removed for making other such domes. After curing, doors and windows were cut by chiselling at the periphery while the dome was partitioned into a number of rooms with fabricated boards or bricks. This was the technology about 28 years ago. I am sure it must have made great strides since.
We were told that the balloons came in various sizes and that the construction was very strong, weather- and earthquake-proof, as it was one solid structure while there were no beams, pillars or slabs to fall in case of an earthquake. Moreover, the domes could be quickly made and the cost of their construction was much less than the cost of normal construction in Pakistan. A simple government E-size domed bungalow in those days cost about Rs60,000.
Two such structures of two different sizes then constructed are standing in a non-restricted area of the Masroor Base, and are being used by the knitwear factory of Shaheen Foundation, PAF. Any interested government official may visit the site.
A large dome, partitioned into about two dozen two-roomed adjacent shelters along the periphery, can immediately accommodate about two dozen quake-affected families, each in a separate shelter. A wide corridor could be left in the centre for movement of the families and for entering/exiting the dome through the main entrance doors cut in the periphery on either end of the corridor. These domes could be later used as schools, colleges, hospitals and government offices, etc, with the rooms rearranged.
I am told that since earthquakes are very frequent in the area in the US where Nasa is based, most of the buildings, including residences, there are dome-shaped. When a serious earthquake occurs, the domes move a few inches, but nothing falls down.
WNG-COMND (retd) SUHAIL AHMED FARID
Karachi
THIS is with reference to Mr Omar R. Quraishi’s article “Karachi earthquake history” (Oct 26).
Karachi lies in Zone 2B of the uniform building code as specified by the Karachi Building Control Authority. In terms of seismic hazard rating it is placed in the upper moderate hazard zone with an equivalent peak ground acceleration (PGA) of 0.25g. There is no doubt in my mind that Karachi together with Thatta, Sujawal, Badin and Nagarparkar are prone to earthquake activity. Mr Quraishi has rightly pointed to the active faults which are likely to affect the Karachi region.
The building damage that any earthquake may cause generally depends on the design of structure, whether low or high, and the nature of the ground on which the building may be erected. High-rise buildings founded on soil are more likely to be affected than ones resting on rock. On the other hand, low-rise buildings resting on rock are more prone to damage than ones resting on soil.
In any case, more work is needed to characterize the ground motion and shaking periods of buildings resting on different types of ground in Karachi. The earthquake of Oct 8 that shook the northern areas of Pakistan is certainly not related to the tremors that were recently felt by the residents of Defence and Clifton.
PROF (DR) ASADULLAH KAZI
Vice-Chancellor, Isra University,
Hyderabad
I ENDORSE the suggestion advanced by Mr Abdul Hameed (Oct 8) as I am sailing with him in the same boat like thousands of other shareholders who opted to fly with the “great people” by paying a price of Rs20 for each share of the face value of Rs10. Later we learnt that all that glitters is not gold, which is proved by the fact that the present market value has dipped to as low as Rs7, hitting hard senior citizens like me who have lost all hopes of the recovery of their original investment.
It is not clear as to what was the justification for allowing PIA to offer its share at such a high premium which not worth its face value.
The management is requested to consider the scheme of miscellaneous charges orders (MCOs) to provide some relief to the small investors. Of course, the suggestion, if implemented, will have no adverse effect on the health of PIA.
Any comments from the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan, which is committed to protecting the overall interests of shareholders in general and small investors like us in particular?
A. RAUF SOZER
Karachi
THE death of Mushtaq Ahmed Memon is a great loss for the peace-loving people Of this country.
Coming from a well-to-do business family of Karachi, Mushtaq Memon had opted for the underdog and began striving for the resolution of the social order on an egalitarian and democratic basis.
His role in the National Students Federation and his active participation in the anti-Ayub movement and the working class struggle in Karachi and elsewhere was unparalleled. It is interesting to note that in the early 70s the national struggle in Sindh was at its peak but nothing much was heard about it abroad. The credit goes to Mushtaq Memon who contacted the progressive circles of interior Sindh for forging a grand alliance of the Pakistani left for highlighting the national question of Sindh on a class basis.
His younger brother Nisar Memon had joined the federal government as information minister in the Moin Qureshi government, and later on in the Musharraf government. Mushtaq loved him dearly as a brother but never compromised on principles and neither did Nisar Memon ever try to persuade his brother to compromise on his principles.
Towards the end of his life Mushtaq Memon had become disillusioned by the hypocrisy of the so-called middle class intellectuals whose opportunism, narrow-minded approach and dishonesty was very shocking for this sensitive person.
Mushtaq Memon was an internationalist, a lover of Che Guevara and was very much concerned about the South American revolution and always opposed American imperialism. His opposition to military dictatorship was profound and far-reaching. Let us hope that the young generation will learn a lesson from the life and ideals of this dedicated journalist and political worker.
NAZIR AHMED CHANNA
Karachi
DURING the recent earthquake private channels have become very active. I happened to see one panel discussion on multi-storeyed buildings in Karachi.
One junior officer of the KBCA was sitting beside the ex-chairman of ABAD. It was a poor discussion — ABAD’s representative having full praise for the KBCA and vice-versa. Will these channels bring credible persons for a discussion? Bring senior officers of various government authorities for interface with analysts/critics who are professionals and well-versed. It appears that the channels want to fill in the time with whoever is available.
.A. ALI
Karachi
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