SINDH NEEDS INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT

by Dr Ali Akbar Dhakan, Karachi, Sindh

All the macro economic objectives can be obtained through the development of industries both small and large scale because they provide employment facilities, increase supply of goods, boost up exports, control inflation and price hike, reduce poverty and provide chances of prosperity through improvement of purchasing power of the common people .The problem of unemployment in Sindh particularly in Rural areas is due to lack of focus and attention to be given to the development of this sector.

Protests in Oman Spread

By NADA BAKRI

BEIRUT, Lebanon — Demonstrators blocked roads and clashed with police on Monday in Oman, the normally quiet oil-rich country along the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, as three-day-old protests calling for political reforms and better living conditions spread to Muscat, the capital.

In the northeast port city of Sohar, where the protests originated, demonstrators blocked roads to the port, Oman’s second biggest, and an industrial area that includes a refinery and an aluminum factory, according to two witnesses in Sohar and news agencies. They also set a supermarket on fire and clashed with the police. Protesters have also been camped out for three days in the city’s main square, called Kurra Ardiyah Roundabout, despite efforts by police and army to push them out, a resident in Sohar said by e-mail. …

Read more : The New York Times

Pakistan Today Is Better Than It Was 20 Years Ago

by Farid Ahmad
Sitting in the middle of load-shedding, watching the political theater roll-on ad infinitum, and reading the news of another security incident somewhere, it is easy to be depressed about Pakistan these days.

Depression, however, is parasitic.

It jumps from person to person and grows in strength unless treated. It makes you weak and vulnerable  and sometimes it is necessary to break the circle. Yes, Pakistan is going through very tough times, but there is no reason to throw all hope to the wind and to start denying the things that are going right  and a lot has gone right in the past twenty or so years.

First, the necessary disclaimer: The intention here is not to sweep Pakistan’s problems under the rug or to try and rationalize away the immense suffering of the victims of recent violence and economic turmoil. There is no doubt that things have taken a very serious turn in recent months and millions of people are paying a heavy price every day.

With that disclaimer in place, here’s a collection of things that I have seen change for the better in my life in Pakistan – from high-school in the eighties to today.

It is necessarily a very personal list, though others might be able to relate to some of it. Traveling apart, I’ve spent my life living in Islamabad and Lahore and my memories are naturally specific to these places. So again, I’m fully conscious of the fact that not everyone can relate to or agree with my attempt at optimism.

But even if I come across as being overly optimistic, it is only to counter those who are becoming unnecessarily pessimistic.

Maybe you have your own stories, your own inspirations, your own rays of hope that keep you going… these are mine. And I share them with the hope that they will help someone else break out of the circle of pessimism.

Roads: 1989: Driving from Lahore to Islamabad was an ordeal on the mostly single-lane, badly maintained GT road.
2010: Driving from Lahore to Islamabad is a pleasure on the motorway. And it is not just this one road, a lot of roads have been added to the network or improved. I know people in my office in Islamabad who routinely drive to Karachi with their families. We need many more roads – but we have certainly not been sitting idle.

Communications: 1989: Calling from Islamabad to Lahore meant going to the market to a PCO, telling the guy to book a 3-minute call and waiting around till it got connected. Even if you had an STD line at home, your fingers were likely to get sore from dialing before you got connected. And once the call was connected you watched the clock like a hawk as it was so expensive.
2010: Instant, cheap calls worldwide for everyone from cellular phones.

Internet: 1995: I was first introduced to the wonders of Email in 1995. It was an offline ‘store and forward’ system (remember those @sdnpk email addresses?) . If you sent a mail in the morning, it reached in the evening when your Email provider called USA on a direct line to forward it.
2010: Broadband, DSL, WiMax, Dialup, Cable – instant connectivity for everyone. More generally, I’ve gone thru a series of denials about the adoption of new technologies in Pakistan. I went through thinking that cellular phones would never gain widespread adoption – I was wrong; that internet would remain a niche – I was wrong; that broadband would never take off here – I was wrong; that Blackberry would never be adopted – I was wrong. Here I speak from some experience as I work for a cellular company and I’ve seen all these numbers grow exponentially. The fact is that Pakistan and Pakistanis love technology and are eager to adopt and adapt the latest technologies as soon as they become available. With its huge population, this creates a large market for every new technology in Pakistan and businesses rush in to fill it. This bodes well for the future. ….

Read more : Pakistaniat

Poor Conditions Of Roads In Sindh

By Dr Ali Akbar Dhakan

During my visit to rural Sindh from Karachi after a long time, I found very dangerous condition of link roads even of main roads from Sehwan to Ratodero and Naudero. The single roads already constructed about 30-40 years ago were left without shoulders at the both sides of all roads. They have been so much in derogatory, dilapidated and dangerous conditions for vehicle plying on single main roads looking like big holes and pits dug at both sides of them and the running of vehicles have met with terrible accidents many times which became the cause of loosing thousands lives from time to time. It seems the road authorities do not care and look after all the roads but wait for loss of lives due to recurring accidents and wait for their earning from contracts of construction of whole roads and they do not feel their duties to maintain the roads when at various places, they get holes and pits on them. When the roads become out of use and running on them become difficult, they prepare estimates of contracts of the whole roads and start digging and scratching them. In this way they start process of constructing new roads and take about half a century to get it completed and make it worth for running of vehicles. As a first phase, a large distance of about 30-40 Kms is dug, and dust is poured in them to make it at high side and put stones and keep it stony for many years with the result of losses of lives and vehicles as their tyres burst out and the vehicles become unable to run on such roads which are under repairs or construction. The best example we found from Dadu, Mehar, Nasirabad, Wagan, Khairpur juso up to the Larkana city. At the other side, we faced such miserable difficulty at the under construction road from Nasirabad to Badah-Moenjo Daro upto the Larkana City. How the people of the above areas live and pass their lives as they face such difficulties daily. Even in the city of Larkana at many places all internal roads and streets were full of water and holes and illegal breakers constructed by local authorities of the city showing the best proof of the neglected and apathetic attitude towards the welfare and health of the people living in the city. If some where work on repairs was started but it was run on the whims of the authorities without any checks and speed. The next experience of roads we saw when we visited Thatta, sujawal to Tando Muhammad Khan Road and later on from Thatta to pir pitho. It is shameful on the part of the local Govt authorities to neglect and ignore such dangerous roads, link as well as main roads throughout the whole Sindh Province. We saw that those roads were constructed during the first regime of PPP Chairman Shaheed Zulfiqar Bhutto but remained unrepairable and reconstructed since about 40 years. Are the authorities concerned treating the people of these areas as animals and belonging to inhuman generations. For God’s sake, the PPP regime should take these tasks and save the people of all the areas in interior Sindh from tragic accidents and loss of precious lives and vehicles as well and financial loss. The latest example of accident is of a very young MPA of Sindh Minister Mr. Jalil Memon of Thatta and his brothers while going from the Thatta to Pir Pitho through a very dangerous single road having no shoulders and borders at both sides constructed 30-40 years ago. It is therefore suggested to the chief secretary and CM Sindh to get all the old roads reconstructed with necessary shoulders or borders at the both sides of all single roads. This will save many lives and financial loss of the people of Sindh and Pakistan.