APROPOS Dr Shahnaz Rashid’s letter ‘Polluting Mubarak village’ (Nov 14). The recent oil spill near Mubarak village was caused by a ship going to Gadani for shipbreaking but surreptitiously and unlawfully discharged bunker oil on its way, which then floated down to the Mubarak village and surrounding beaches.

This has been established through investigations carried out by relevant authorities. It is not fair for anyone to keep suggesting it may have been caused by leakage from an oil pipeline.

Byco Petroleum has the only undersea oil pipeline in the country and this fully conforms to all applicable international standards of construction and safety. It is subjected to stringent regular inspections and the question of leakage does not arise. To say a refinery and a power plant have put the marine life of the coastal area in danger is a rather irresponsible statement, and ignores the critical role these institutions play in our economy.

We expect the Centre of Excellence in Marine Biology to know that by far the gravest threat to our marine life is the discharge, every day, of over 470m gallons of untreated sewerage into the Arabian Sea. This is the real issue that needs to be addressed.

Shehryar Ahmad
GM, Byco Petroleum
Karachi

Published in Dawn, November 23rd, 2018