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the-south-asian.com September 2003 |
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September
2003
Culture
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Wildlife
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- Doon's
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Heaven and Hell
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Letter from Pakistan by Buk Mai
Escape from Monsoons. The last month has been full of monsoon rains; the Sind province especially has been hit the hardest; even Baluchistan received its share of monsoon rains. Karachi city was brought to a standstill. Meanwhile Islamabad with its small hills and valleys has withstood the monsoon rains better. The Night cricket at the weekend in a field near the F-10 market is a pleasant surprise with a small portable generator doing the job. Another surprise was a rock concert by a group called Fuzon on a full moon night at the F-10 Park. Music lovers stood by appreciatively while the Fuzon band cranked out a few numbers well into the midnight hours. A Farewell to arms? Pakistan Parliament politics is at a virtual impasse and standstill. The dark parliamentary horses of the ISI [Invisible Soldiers Incorporated] are not obeying their master’s command. The MNAs apparently go and record their Hazari [presence], and then wander off doing nothing for the taxpayers whose salaries and car perks they live on. The Legal Framework Order [LFO] – a euphemism for the army to rule the land of pure continues to bedevil the relations of the army and the civilian political parties. Power Tripping. The Ghazi Barotha dam upstream of Tarbela [on Indus] was formally inaugurated by the President – this brings Hydropower generation’s share to about 40 % of the national total. It is reported that in a few more years Pakistan will have to radically bring down the cost of its Electric Power production, which currently stands at about 30 % of the cost input for its textiles, garments, and knitwear. China has a cost input of almost 1 % only for its textile production and relies on low cost coal power generation. And quite flows the Indus. The exploding population growth [3.6 %] of Pakistan will put increasing pressures on its fragile eco-systems. Water will soon become the biggest scarce resource in Pakistan and will make the political problems [Kashmir] seem like a joke, as provinces jockey with each other to a share of the waters of the five rivers. This problem has been receiving attention and plans are being made to manage these matters. Karachi – Drowning in a sea of Oil. After getting a strong dose of the monsoon rains, which exposed Karachi to the poor state of the city’s infrastructure, Karachi citizens were in for a baptizing by an oil spill. In the classical tradition of Pakistan’s SNAFU [Situation Normal, All Fouled Up- NASA’s term for system failure] style of management, an Oil tanker the " Tasmanian Spirit" managed to run aground on a sand bar while entering the Karachi harbor to unload its 50 thousand tons of oil. Out of this about 12 thousand tons were washed ashore onto the Clifton beaches and fish consumption promptly came to a standstill. The question " who dunnit?" is still being asked. Nanga Parbat? 50 years of K-2. It turns out that Nanga Parbat is sitting on a bowl of molten lava – the Hot springs near Chilas on the Karakorum Highway are one small evidence of this. Next year promises to be a big celebration of the conquest of K-2. It will be 50 years since the Italians first climbed K-2. Laloo Yadav in Lal Haveli. Of the Indian MPs who came to Pakistan no one touched the hearts of the Pakistanis better than the wily old Laloo Yadav, the Chief Minister of Bihar. He went around the Sunday " Juma Bazar" in Islamabad and went to Sheikh Rashid "SheedaTullly’s" Lal Haveli mansion in Raja Bazar, in Rawalpindi. Apparently after climbing to the rooftop, Laloo was pleasantly surprised at the number of Mandirs dotting the skyline nearby. Such visits must increase between India and Pakistan and we all must learn to live and let live. |
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