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.
Toddler of Kashmir
Day before yesterday a heart-wrenching picture went viral on social media in which a toddler sitting on his grandfather’s chest seeking world’s attention. His grandfather was killed by brutal Indian Army in India-occupied Kashmir. It illustrates how India has incepted the savagery on innocent Kashmiri people. The United Nations remained quiet, no attention, no action has been taken yet. According to United Nations, Kashmir is a disputed territory. After separation of Pakistan and India in 1947 the status of Kashmir remained undecided and this exacerbated the border tension between two nations – India and Pakistan.
Later on, UNSC passed a resolution on Kashmir in 1948 urging the two countries to hold a plebiscite to determine whether the Kashmiris want to join Pakistan or India. However, no plebiscite has been conducted yet. The bigger tragedy is that on one hand no plebiscite has been held to decide the fate of the people, on the other, India has revoked the semi-independent status of the State and the international community is witnessing all this as mere a spectator. Encouraged by the silence of the international community, innocent and armless Kashmiris are being killed like animals by the brutal Indian security forces. Still, there is time that the international community must do something to refrain India from inhuman actions being perpetuated in the Vale, unless it is too late.
SANAULLAH KALWAR
Kashmore,Sindh
Train accident
Whenever there is natural death of some body, one can console himself saying it’s because of God’s will. But at the same time, if any death takes place because of our follies like accidents, mishaps, then one cannot control the emotions to curse the people responsible for such happenings. My heart bleeds when I hear news of loss of lives in accidents. Let’s make Pakistan safe, let’s say no to corruption.
One more train accident has taken place in which over 20 precious lives lost, most among them the Sikh pilgrims. Why don’t we learn from our past train causalities? How unfortunate is it that the stakeholders own no responsibility nor attempt to take corrective steps. According to the statistics, more than 100 train accidents take place last year. Sadly, Pakistan has not learnt any lesson from those accidents. All of them can’t be total black swan accidents, but poor safety protocols. Thousand of kilometres track is extremely rusty, therefore, such kind of accidents are inevitable. On a serious note, government ought to take measures to safeguard the lives of public. They need to protect the lives of innocent, poor people .
ZAHOOR ABBAS SAMO
Larkano
LG and
Covid-19
Well, in this pandemic situation, there is a dire need of local government as it reaches every nook and corner. To my knowledge, the local government rarely completed its any term due to the non-serious behaviour of the federal or provincial governments towards it. In this current scenario, governments have failed to facilitate poor people. The Federal Government has set up Tiger Force to reach the poor people of remote and backward areas especially to facilitate them in this pandemic crisis.
Although the government registered one million people in Tiger Force with little or no expenses on the force, the main question here is that why the government dissolved local bodies in 2019 when only one year had been left in their tenure in Punjab and KP.
We should not ignore the Constitution of Pakistan. Articles 32 and 140-A give protection to the local government, put emphasis on its enhancement and allow every province to form the local government. If we see in provinces of Pakistan Punjab, KP, Balochistan and Sindh there are no local bodies in the first three provinces; just Sindh has a local body but it also looks paralyzed. When we see the 18th Amendment, we come to know that it’s not about just constitutional provincial autonomy but it’s also about to give autonomy to the local bodies, so that they can protect basic and peripheral needs of people at most basic level by giving awareness about social distancing, using of personal protective equipment by giving aid, subvention and by other means.
Governments are constitutionally obliged to hold local body elections. If it does not, the Supreme Court is requested to force the government to hold LG elections, as it did a couple of years in the past.
SAJID BASHIR WATTO
Lahore
Websites could help!
For the last three/four months there has not been a single day when government removed the lockdown properly for working people. We are facing a pandemic situation in which we all are helpless and every layman is facing financial problems and it is the writing on the wall.
We are facing destruction in which we need excellent government policies. I request the government to launch some websites in which at least literate people could do job and earn something so that they could help themselves in their daily needs. Until we find the vaccine, we continue to do so.
Joyce Banaras
Via email
Pakistan
runs dry
While almost 70% of the Earth is covered with water, many parts of the world suffer from clean water shortage. Conserving water is important because it keeps water pure and clean while protecting the environment. Pakistan could “run dry” by 2025 as its water shortage is reaching an alarming level. According to a recent report by the IMF, Pakistan ranks third in the world among countries facing acute water shortage.
Researchers predict that Pakistan is on its way to becoming the most water-stressed country in the region by the year 2040. Pakistan has the world’s fourth-highest rate of water use. Experts say that population growth and urbanization are the main reasons behind the crisis. The issue has also been exacerbated by climate change, poor water management and a lack of political will to deal with crisis.
Water scarcity is also triggering security conflicts in the country. Experts say the economic impact of the water crisis is immense and the people are fighting for resources. Water scarcity in Pakistan has been accompanied by rising temperatures. As the government takes policy measures for an inclusive strategy, the civil society needs to step up as sensitization agents and the people need to adopt basic lifestyle changes. We need to do this for the next generation.
HAFSA NADEEM
Islamabad
