Articles and letters may be edited for the purposes of clarity and space. They are published in good faith with a view to enlightening all the stakeholders. However, the contents of these writings may not necessarily match the views of the newspaper.
Afghan conundrum
Against the backdrop of current looming and unpredictable situation in Afghanistan, world is going to be polarized into two factions post-US’s ambiguous withdrawal—in the words of many expert analysts and political commentators, after a “failure of US” in two decades of war.
First, US will woo India and possibly Japan to counter the Chinese influence in the region especially in regard to its (Chinese) Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
Second, Moscow and Beijing will attempt to fill the vacuum created by a hasty and presumably a ‘deliberate’ mismanaged US withdrawal.
But, both China and Russia would never want a Déjà vu of war and anarchy in Afghanistan simply because this will definitely have detrimental consequences for the entire region which can engulf both countries too.
Especially for China, Afghanistan, being an important region for completion of its billion dollar BRI project, any chaos and civil war can hamper, or even stop its ongoing work on the project.
Notably, from the very start of the announcement of BRI, US was much concerned about growing Chinese influence over the world.
Therefore, soon after BRI, US also announced same sort of worldwide mega project. It also wooed with India to counter China in region.
As far as Pakistan is concerned, a peaceful settlement of Afghan conundrum will be a sigh of relief to Pakistan for clear reasons.
Although, hawkish anti-Pakistan statements from some of officials and even President Ghani about its alleged involvement in supporting Afghan Taliban to collapse Ghani government were made recently.
But, irrespective of its past pro-TTA stance, this time around, Pakistan is clear about a peaceful Afghan-led and Afghan-owned political setup for vivid reasons.
First, Pakistan cannot afford further fallout of violence, militant extremism and terrorism from the neighbour.
It is evident from its border fencing that Pakistan is concerned about spillover of war, and thus, would want peace and stability in Afghanistan. Secondly, due to unaffordable refugee issue, Pakistan will never want civil war in Afghanistan.
ZAHID ALI NAGRI
Nagar, Gilgit-Baltistan
World Hepatitis Day
World Hepatitis Day, observed on July 28 every year, aims to raise global awareness of hepatitis — a group of infectious diseases known as Hepatitis A, B, C, D, and E — and encourage prevention, diagnosis and treatment.
Hepatitis affects hundreds of millions of people worldwide, causing acute and chronic disease and killing close to 1.34 million people every year. Hepatitis causes liver diseases and can also kill a person. In some countries, hepatitis B is a commonest cause of cirrhosis and may also cause liver cancer.
The viruses are transmitted through different routes – Hepatitis A and E through contaminated food and water, Hepatitis B – through unsafe blood and other bodily fluids and Hepatitis C – mostly through infectious blood.
The objective of dedicating a day for Hepatitis Awareness is to provide an opportunity to focus on strengthening prevention, screening and control of viral hepatitis and the diseases that it causes.
JUBEL D’CRUZ
Mumbai, India
Globalisation & pandemics
Globalization remains intact in previous pandemics. Plague is one of these pandemics, it is an infectious disease caused by Yersinia pestis, a bacteria transmitted from rodents to humans by the bite of infected flies.
It caused devastation by killing one-third population of Europe, known as the Death of the 14th Century.
Moreover, another pandemic Malaria is also one of the deadliest diseases in human history which is caused by bites of infected mosquitoes. It killed a hundred thousand people between 1900-1950.
From these pandemics, it is evident that Globalization cannot be completely halted. Globalization can further be promoted owing to sporadic pandemics which helps boost coordination among developed countries, development in research and biotechnology, development in medicine and sanitation.
The pandemics can be eradicated through proper medicine and proper vaccination. Hence, globalization can not be harmed by pandemics, but, eventually, it is progressing ahead.
WAQAR BADAR KANDHRO
Larkana
A disaster waiting to happen
Climate change and Global Warming have increased the temperature in Pakistan by 1 to 3 degrees as per studies.
It is believed that it is the greatest threat to Pakistan and other countries of South Asia. Pakistan is among top 20 countries that will be hit hard by climate change in near future.
This disastrous change in climate is bringing aplenty issues that will exhort people to migrate and will cause food security issues and water scarcity etc.
Pakistan is an agricultural country and due to an already existed mammoth but neglected issue of water scarcity has made the agriculture devastated.
Whereas, Pakistan is an overpopulated and middle to lower-income country. Therefore, people do not have the resources to protect themselves from the impact of climate change.
There’s too much food waste in Pakistan and the footprint of this is not calculated because we don’t have enough research and resources.
Hence, the most effective step that we can take individually is to reduce our food/organic waste which can be done via composting and the most effective way is to improve our education.
Unless our people are not educated and they don’t understand what climate change is and how it is affecting us this inevitable climate change will never stop.
SARMAD HASHIM
Matli, Badin
