| December 17, 2007 | Monday | Zilhaj 6, 1428 |
North Nazimabad vs land grabbers
Pir sohawa saddling the Margalla Hills sits atop the dividing line between the Hazara division and the capital city of Islamabad which offers its best views from this vantage point. Bestowed with all the gifts of nature — a thick green cover that is still there, broad avenues, a lake by a forest, natural parks, a dazzling skyline by the night, what have you — it is no wonder people with power, money and influence in any useful combination or all three in a bunch, once they have spent a few evenings here, forget their home towns and settle down never to look back.
On the other side of Pir Sohawa, Hazara is equally beautiful but not as attractive as Islamabad. For one, it lacks basic facilities and of course it cannot attract that kind of influence and power. Take for example, the occurrence of bird flu every now and then. This year alone, more than 79 outbreaks of bird flu have been reported here involving hilly Mansehra and the picturesque Abbotabad.
“During the last two months, the region had a total of five bird-flu outbreaks, the latest on November 30”, says Dr Rafiqul Hasan Usmani, a spokesman for the ministry for agriculture on bird flu. As standard operating procedure, all the chicken stock was culled, the areas disinfected and movement of birds to markets blocked. What happens next is that a report is passed on to the health ministry for follow up observation on human lives. The livestock officials are obviously not entitled to speak about human life.
It may just be a coincident that Ejaz Rahim, who himself hails from the same region, is the caretaker health minister. “You know I receive a lot of death reports everyday, how can I say how many of them were because of heart attack, bird flu or any other disease”, said Mr Rahim. “As minister, I have to deal with policy issues and it is the responsibility of the officials of the ministry and provincial governments to talk about any specific issue under the rules of business”, he said. Imagine, he is talking about rules while serving an extra-constitutional regime.
That perhaps sits very well with the overall policy of President Pervez Musharraf. “I give overall policy advice and then oversee the implementation. Don’t ask me nitty-gritties”, he recently said in a television interview.
As health minister Mr Rahim, however, is not only honest but forthcoming as well. “Do you know how many children die every day in Pakistan, he asks and then informs that one child dies of infection every second, why don’t people ask about deaths that take place due to infant mortality, measles and polio. About 18 new cases of polio have been reported recently, that is a big number. The argument is relevant for domestic consumption but should he not be prepared to do something as minister and belonging to an area which is host to thousands of families — not individuals — associated with poultry industry and where outbreak has now turned into a routine thing in winters. As a former federal secretary he is aware how many export orders are put on hold and even cancelled if such reports are not addressed immediately.
He says that Pakistan ranks among countries having the highest infant mortality rate, with figures standing somewhere between 300,000-400,000. Should we ignore other deaths in the meanwhile? It is the small digit that turns into a big number later. That is why, Pakistan’s social and poverty indicators, despite big growth numbers, are below those of other countries with similar per capita incomes and have improved more slowly than others with similar growth rates.
Huge investments in this and that sector may be very high but that means that construction of buildings may have been on the positive side, the service outcomes may not have improved due to corruption, missing equipment, medical supplies and lack of proper staff. Policies that are designed and followed in isolation are set to fail and politics that fail to synchronise with the wishes of the people can never bring desired results.
Pakistan’s 120 million population out of 161 million currently lives on less than Rs120 per day when one kg flour is sold at Rs22 (on Eidul Fitr, tomatoes were sold at Rs120 per kg). Unless these 74 per cent people having less than $2 earning per day, living on both sides of Pir Sohawa are accounted for, whether they suffer from measles or bird flu, it hardly matters as along as governments keep busy with manipulation of data and fail to bring the change.
Sir,
On Dec 8, 2007, Mr Azizullah Sharif filed an investigative report in your newspaper about a controversial project in North Nazimabad located by the Major Arshad Shaheed Bridge. Irregularities were apparently committed by the Karachi Building Control Authority in favouring a powerful builder.
It is indeed a serious issue that the builder in question has launched this project on one of Karachi’s jugular veins, dooming the city’s future mass transit system.
Interestingly, just across the road from this disputed project, on land reserved for a green belt, a foreign fast-food chain is building an outlet, perhaps with the help of the same builder. It would further block the ramps for a future flyover or underground passage in the planned corridor of North Nazimabad via Nazimabad-Gulbahar-Lasbella-Gurumandir.
In all such deals, the builders have heavily bribed certain unprincipled KBCA officials and a few crooked politicians. Now, to save the infrastructure from destruction, the city government must acquire these pieces of land.
A month ago, I visited the CDGK’s main office to see the DCO to share my distress about this situation. He agreed with me, but said that nothing could be done as the CDGK has commercialized the whole area -- along with others -- starting from the bridge and beyond. Whoever permitted this is not disciplined in the art of city/town planning.
Now, countless irregular and rampant commercial concerns are opening up in pure residential areas and on the main roads. Not only is the privacy of homes compromised, but within a couple of years, North Nazimabad would mirror Boating Basin, Burnes Road, M.A. Jinnah Road or other areas that were once residential localities but have been heavily commercialized.
Many prominent citizens once lived in North Nazimabad while many still reside there. The Sindh governor still maintains his residence there. They all should take serious notice of such gross violations by the KBCA, which would turn the city’s most planned district into another disfigured concrete slum.
KUNWAR KHALID YUNUS Karachi
Appeal to Sindh governor
Sir,
A sectarian attack was carried out on a Suparco bus on Oct 3, 2003, in which six persons were killed and seven were wounded. Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad sanctioned a compensation of Rs100,000 each to the families of those killed and Rs50,000 each to the injured persons.
Four years have passed and only 50 percent of the amount has been paid to the victims in spite of continuous persuasion by Suparco.
We, the families of the shaheeds, are facing great financial hardships and are in dire need of the compensation amount. We request the governor to kindly instruct the government of Sindh for early payment of the balance compensation money.
BEREAVED FAMILIES Karachi
Phone problem
Sir,
The telephones at my Old Golimar house (Nos 256-5777 and 256-5306) have been out of order for the last three months and have not been restored even after repeated calls to the complaint centre, DE Site General STR III.
This is the second time in five months that the phones have been found ‘dead’ for an extended period of time. The last time they remained out of order for three weeks. Ironically, the monthly bills never reflected this.
I request the telephone exchange concerned to redress the grievance at their earliest.
M. SALEEM BALOCH Karachi
Medical professionals
Sir,
We are fresh graduates of Dow Medical College, Karachi. Five years ago, we remember sitting in the huge auditorium of our prestigious college, welcomed by big names telling us that we “were the cream of society” and the “dignified servants of the country”. Now that we have graduated, we feel like we were fooled. Working at Civil Hospital, Karachi, under circumstances that are well known, we feel like the most unlucky people on earth!
We earn a mere salary of Rs6,210 when our friends who have earned BBA, BE and BS degrees are earning multiple times. We work 36 hours nonevery alternate third day. Apart from our professional duties, we have to do the technicians’ job due to humanitarian reasons. Other provinces are paying Rs12,000 to their fresh doctors, unlike Sindh.
We have complained, shouted, protested and appealed. We have talked to our in-charge, the MS Civil Hospital, former health secretary Syed Sardar Ahmed and Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad. We have written to all these persons, as well as to former chief minister Dr Arbab Rahim. But all our hue and cry has gone in vain. We have gotten hollow promises and nothing more.
We appeal to the prime minister and the president to look into the matter.
Many doctors leave their motherland, and we blame them. Yet if things don’t change for the better, we’ll have to follow them. The developed countries pay their doctors high salaries. They know the importance of the ‘healers of society’, unlike us.
Save our souls.
House Officers’ Action Committee via e-mail
city@dawn.com