Swat fish resources facing extinction

Fish resources in the Malakand river network are threatened with extinction owing to ruthless conventional and non-conventional fishing techniques.

This was stated by WWF-Pakistan’s chief technical adviser Ashique Ahmad while briefing a group of Lahore-based journalists in Peshawar.

WWF-Pakistan had arranged a four-day trip for journalists from different national dailies to Swat to have a look at the freshwater network in the Malakand division. The WWF team comprised communications director Amjad Aslam, communications manager Rauf Hameed and photographer Imran Maqbool.

Before leaving for Swat from Peshawar, Mr Ashique Ahmad told newsmen that the valley that was called “Switzerland of the East” was the origin of the Gandhara and Buddhist civilizations. He said that the valley that was blessed with plenty of natural and ecological resources like lush green forests, thickly vegetated landscapes, rich biodiversity, splendid cascades, silent glaciers, gleaming springs, meandering rivers and productive plains had tremendous national and international significance.

He said the rivers flowing across the Malakand division gave the soil a fascinating look. Composed of rivers Swat, Shangla, Barandu, Panjkora and Chitral, he said the network was host to a number of fish species. He said that most of the local population living along the rivers in the Malakand division was dependent on fish resources. He said that all fishing practices whether legal or illegal put a tremendous pressure on fish. He said the river life was fast deteriorating both in size and number because of destructive fishing methods like use of dynamite, poison, DDT, insecticides and electric current. He said there were insecticides in use that were insoluble and persistent and they remained in the body of a fish. He said that if these practices were allowed to go unchecked, nothing would be left in the rivers in the next 10 years. He said fishermen also used an improvised form of raft for fishing pursuits. The increase in the level of pollution had made Swat river water unfit for human consumption and more and more gastroenteritis cases were being reported daily, he said.

At another briefing in Saidu Sharif, WWF-Pakistan project officer Ahmad Saeed said that fresh water network of Malakand had great biological, economic, social and recreational value. He said that River Swat was the habitat of 11 indigenous fish species —- Swati, Thalk, Chunar, Deqai, Mahasheer, Gulabi, Katasar, Marmahai, Braitai, Singi and Chinacarp. Apart from native fish, he said two exotic fish species —- Brown Trout and Rainbow Trout —- were also found in the river.

Giving reasons for the loss of fish population, he said fishing through genocidal ways was the main problem. He said there were other factors responsible for the depletion of fish in the rivers like overfishing, fishing in the breeding season, catching under-sized fish, solid and liquid waste disposal, lack of awareness in the local community about the sustainability of their livelihood source and non-enforcement of fishery rules.

Giving a break-up of destructive fishing practices, Mr Ahmad Saeed said that 65 per cent fishermen resorted to dynamiting in Swat district while 90 per cent used dynamite in Malakand Agency, 15kg dynamite was used in Swat district every month against 93kg in Malakand Agency, 45 per cent of the fishing practices were carried out through electric shocks in Swat against 16 per cent in Malakand Agency, four per cent fish caught through poisoning in both Swat and Malakand Agency. He said that the ratio of conventional means of fishing to destructive methods was 1:2.2 in Swat. It was 1:1 in Malakand Agency, he said, adding it was because of these methods that two indigenous fish species —- Mahasheer and Thalk —- were facing extinction.

Ecological composition of these rivers, he said, was being spoilt by solid and liquid waste generated from hotels, factories and settlements. He said all organic, inorganic and biological waste had adverse effects on river ecology particularly on fish already under pressure from different fishing practices.

About the WWF-Pakistan initiatives to conserve fish in the River Swat, Mr Ahmad Seed said that they maintained a close liaison with the custodian department that helped reduce illegal fishing by around 30 per cent. He said they organized 30 fish conservation communities that helped in the reduction of illegal fishing practices. Walks were organized and dialogue arranged for people living around fish hotspots. Communities were motivated to form four community-based fish reserves for the first time in the history of Swat. Ten schools were involved in fish conservation through nature club activities.

ALAMGANJ VILLAGE: WWF-Pakistan took newsmen to a village along the River Swat, Alamganj, where they met local community and Village Development Committee office-bearers.

Committee president Sohrab Khan said in his address of welcome that said the village committee was formed in 1997 with the support of WWF-Pakistan. He said initially it was very difficult for the locals to get together on a platform because they were tangled in rivalries. As time went by, he said, saner counsel prevailed. Then came a time when the people started to think seriously about working as a community. He said youngsters were particularly responsive and they played a major role in resolving differences.

Counting their achievements, he said they planted pine on 2,700 acres of land and created a three-kilometre-long fish conservation area on the River Swat. He said it was a full-time job to keep an eye on illegal fishing practices at one segment of the river. He said they had a volunteer from within the community who had been performing watch and ward duties without any material gains.

A septuagenarian committee member, Tora Khan, said that they had also planted olive trees on the land. He said if grafted, they could sell olives. For this, he said, they required 2,000 to 3,000 cuttings for grafting.

They can’t believe Muslims can do this

DOWN in the street, in front of Sheherazade’s door, sat burnt-out Hassan the potter. When he saw her at old Yusuf the perfumer’s shop, in her glance flashed the brilliance he longed for even when he was not aware.

Years passed for him as time passes in a buried city; clay in the clay vats — which once ravished him with its fragrance — lay stone-hard. Flask, jug and cup, candlestick and vase — props of his trivial life and of his art — lay broken. Hassan thought of nothing but those talisman eyes.

In her eyes was bewitchment numbing his body and soul. He spent 1,001 nights chained to the spell of those eyes, of the dreamy Baghdad streets, the bank of the Tigris and its sleepy boatmen. The potter’s wheel did not turn and hunger started knocking at the door of this master craftsman.

On night 1,002, he set sail for unknown lands across seven dark, unfathomable seas. He ignored the warning that those who cross the seven seas lose everything: land, friends, and family, even their names. So in New York nobody knows Hassan Koozagar. The owner of the liquor store where he works calls him Zee, and Zee is his name now. He is a Muslim but works at a liquor store, although his religion forbids drinking, selling or making alcohol. The owner too is a Muslim who was Maqsood back home but is now called Max.

Max is the son of a village imam. He feels bad about selling liquor. Whenever he has time, Max tells Zee how he would like to pull out of this business and open a grocery store. “Next year, God willing. Next year,” he says as Zee nods his head in affirmation.

Max has been saying this for nine years. Meanwhile, he has added another merchandise to his store. A stack of fleshy magazines sits nicely behind his counter, enticing customers as they come to pay. “Perhaps you will always do this. So why don’t you stop feeling bad about it,” says Zee. Max does not agree.

“You should never forget who you are,” says Max while showing off the rosary his father brought to him from the Holy Land. Max used the money he made from selling forbidden drinks to send his parents for Haj, but he never told them the source of the money.

Although they prefer to live in their village back home, Max’s parents often visit. When they are in New York, Max sometimes brings them to the store, presenting Zee as the man who owns all the “dirty bottles” in the store.

As far as the parents are concerned, their son Max makes his living selling food and non-alcoholic drinks to dozens of liquor stores. “Somebody has to sell halal (kosher) food to these non-believers too,” says his mother, Bibi.

Whenever the parents visit the shop, Bibi never tires of telling Zee how he should close down the liquor store, even if it means having to return home. “You are sowing the seeds of sin. God will punish you for this,” she says. And Zee assures her that when they next visit New York he will be running a grocery store.

The father says nothing. Zee thinks he already knows who really owns the shop, but does not want to embarrass his son. Max disagrees. He says his father is a simple villager and if he knew the truth, he would say so.

Max is an easy-going man, difficult to annoy. But he gets upset when someone suggests God would refuse to reward his parents for the Haj because the money came from a liquor store.

“God is not a magistrate. He is not always judging people,” he argues. “I could not have sent my parents to the nearest city had I stayed in my village, toiling the land.”

There is a sign behind the counter that says: “No politics please.” It is there because Max has many Jewish customers and he does not want his Muslim friends — and friends always seem to be in the shop — to drive off his customers with fiery debates, such as the Palestinian and Israeli disputes. Yet politics is what Max and his friends discuss when there’s no customer in the shop.

One of the subjects hashed and rehashed but is still fresh: who was behind the Sept 11 terrorist attacks? Most of them do not want to believe Muslims are capable of such a horrible crime and so they always are receptive to conspiracy theories.

One of the theories that sparks heated debate is that the Jews planned the attack on the World Trade Center to defame the Muslims. The more educated among them do not agree. They argue that, unfortunately, there are people among the Muslims who would do anything to vent out their anger and frustration.

“A Muslim killing innocent people? No way, it is against the teachings of Islam,” counters Max. He acknowledges similar attacks elsewhere in the world, but says: “That’s different. Those attacks are politically-motivated. But the World Trade Center? No way. Don’t you know that hundreds of Muslims were also killed in the attack? Why would a Muslim kill fellow Muslims?

All this keeps Zee occupied. But when he closes the shop and walks back to his apartment at 2am, he almost always thinks of Baghdad and the large luminous eyes that forced him to leave.

Who is sheltering whom?

RECENTLY, dozens of kidnappings for ransom have taken place in Karachi. It is generally believed that all those kidnapped are kept in the Balochistan areas near Karachi. This is also confirmed by the officials who have noted down the frequency of mobile phone messages demanding ransom money. The area so identified is in the Dureji subdivision from where the culprits are communicating with the families or relatives of the victims.

Also, it is for the first time that the criminals are using the mobile phones of their victims to avoid trouble from the police or other law-enforcement agencies.

The kidnapped people include the owner of a farm on the outskirts of Karachi and related to a Karachi-based journalist, four Ismaili traders, a senior officer of the Pakistan Customs — all moneyed men. They have potentials to pay ransom, which the culprits are demanding in millions.

Moreover, vehicles which are hijacked or stolen in Karachi are often brought to Balochistan. Again, the Lasbela district is an ideal place for quick disposal because of its nearness to Karachi. Some such vehicles are also taken to Naseerabad where some tribal elders and political figures shelter gangs of organized criminals.

Earlier, it was the Afghans who would take the hijacked vehicles to their country. But now the gangs are denied sanctuaries inside Afghanistan for political reasons.

It is a painful fact that some members from the anti-car lifting squad of the Sindh police are hand in glove with the racketeers. That is why the news about any movement on the part of the squad reaches the Balochistan province before the squad arrives at Lasbela. An alarm is thus set off for the criminals to take caution and go into hiding, as well as to shift the vehicles to safer places.

After this racket was widely reported by a Quetta newspaper, the squad bust a gang of carjackers in Karachi’s Red Light Area and made some arrests that also included a number of prostitutes. The raiding party disposed of at least 25 cases of carjacking etc in a single action, a typical police way to close the files of those cases by busting the gang or showing recoveries.

Another interesting aspect is that the squad people make adequate arrangements for tracing the hijacked or stolen vehicles in Balochistan and elsewhere and ask the victims to re-buy their own vehicles or pay the ransom. In other words, it is an organized crime patronized by government functionaries themselves.

Most of the victims are people with modest means who buy cars to reach their workplaces in time or to pick and drop their schoolgoing children in Karachi.

The twin problems of kidnapping and carjacking are discussed in the press everyday, but the government has done little to contain these. On the contrary, more and more people are being kidnapped and more and more showrooms for stolen vehicles are coming up in the areas close to Sindh.

Who is sheltering whom? It is in the knowledge of the government at the highest level.

Indiscipline on Independence Day!

What is the relationship between celebrations of the country’s independence and the removal of silencers from two- wheelers by young people in this society. Obviously one is saying this keeping in mind what young men on two-wheelers were doing in this city on the eve of the 56th Independence Day. It was worrying, to say the least.

How should one interpret this jubilation? Is this an act of defiance by the young to what they see happening around? Is their celebration carries some strains of dissent? Is there some deeper symbolism in the indiscipline of the younger generation, a lament and a point that is often singled out on numerous other occasions, too? Unity, Faith and Discipline is not being referred to at this stage. Though that is at the back of the mind.

It is truly significant that while the unruly behaviour, even scary and horrifying, says

A teenaged girl who saw it from the rooftop of her apartment termed it scary and horrifying. Sadly, all this has been witnessed in almost entire city, but there has been no mention of this jubilation in the print media. Even in conversations on Aug 14 and later on it has not figured anywhere — reflecting the point that we seem to accept such deplorable social changes in this society with an attitude of resignation. Even the print media seems to have missed the point. It was a nuisance to say the least that was not reported. Waving of our flags was not enough.

That evening on Aug 13 while some of us may have been reflecting over the way the nation has fared in its 55 years of freedom, there were others who were somewhat petrified at scenes of unrestrained hooliganism on streets, in so many residential areas. I was sitting in an apartment alongside one of the newly-built bridges near the Karachi Club, and somewhere after 11 pm, there were frightening sounds of the two-wheelers without silencers. From the sound alone, it was evident that the boys had a freehand, and that they were having a good time also. They were celebrating their freedom, not with music, but with noise.

The family we were with, was complaining that they had to live with this noise pollution on various occasions.

This is what needs to be emphasised. Why is there an unknown fear among children when our youth celebrate this way? Why does this jubilation become terribly undisciplined, and border on the lawlessness? It makes it difficult for thousands of innocent families who want to go out to see illuminations. So they stay at home or take the risk of getting caught in a traffic jam or get trapped in the ugly situations created on the roads when these boys on motorbikes get out of hand. Who pays for the damages?

It was inevitable that we reflect that evening on the way things have changed even vis-a-vis our Independence Day and its illuminations, for example. There was a time, even in the recent past when families used to go round the city in various modes of transport to seen the colourful illuminations. Karachi was small, and there was a time when there wasn’t the socalled glamour and glitz of Clifton and Defence. To see the twinkling lights on Chundrigar Road (Mcleod Road then) or Saddar or the Elphinstone Street of yesterday, or government buildings was something to look forward to. Now things have changed. Have they done so for the better is a serious question.

Not just do the young show their education and upbringing now on the 14th of August but also do so on occasions like New Year’s eve, or Shabe Barat. On the latter occasion there is a disgusting demonstration of the use of dangerous firecrackers, even though the local administration keeps on banning them repeatedly, year after year. But every year the problem of the indiscriminate use of firecrackers even in the educated sections of the city grows, reflecting the leniency of parents and elders, or the nonchalance that the young show for advice and instruction they are given. What happens on the occasion of New Year’s eve is something that is known to all, and it all compels one to contemplate as to what kind of future lies ahead. Are there going to be more occasions where the young will demonstrate their lack of good manners, and rank misbehaviour will this trend grow?

With reference to what we saw on Karachi’s roads this year once again, it is beyond comprehension why the law enforcing agencies were lenient and generous in their attitude. Admittedly the young need to celebrate their country’s freedom, and they need healthy ways and means to do so. Perhaps all this is also an indication of the lack of opportunity for them to celebrate in a meaningful way. It is here that society’s planners and decision makers have to put their heads together and give to the young the enduring positive platforms they need. The idealism, the enthusiasm, and the dreams of the young, (and Pakistani young men and women have them too, like their counterparts elsewhere in the world) need avenues for expression; their boundless energies have to be exploited and tapped for a reconstruction of society. This writing is on the wall.

It will be a sad reflection if this tendency of indiscipline on our national days is allowed to assume a permanence in our sociological profile. Karachi shows the way urban Pakistan goes, and this trend needs to be checked firmly.

The folly of worshipping a voracious monster

RISING early, Siddique saw a scene right out of some horror movie. Some maniac on the loose had left a bloody trail. Only it was no movie. The bodies he discovered in two rooms of the once familiar house were those of his sister Razia, two nephews and two nieces.

Recovering from the shock, he rushed upstairs and woke up Sadiq, his host and brother-in-law. That was when he had another shock. “Sadiq asked me to be silent. And keep silent!” He said he had a plan to dispose of the bodies and threatened Siddique with consequences unless he cooperated.

Siddique, to his credit, kept his cool until the confessed killer was convinced of his complicity. Seeing his chance then, he sneaked out of the house and raised alarm. In no time neighbours had surrounded the house. One of them called the police. When the police arrived Sadiq did not put up resistance.

Asked what had possessed him, the middle-aged bicycle repair man claimed it was a matter of ghairat. He said he had found his wife of fifteen years and mother of six with another man whom she had helped escape. But he also said he had found her out several years ago and had planned the murders. Why did he kill the children? He suspected them to have been born illegitimate. The two children he had spared were the ones he was satisfied about. He said his actions were deliberate and he had “no regrets.” That he could go back to sleep after the butchery appears to bear him out.

This lack of remorse, indeed, is the most frightening part. While death is as irreversible in an accident and violence as ugly in case of an outburst, there is something terribly sinister about these no-regrets murders. Much as one hates the absurd deaths, there is always the realization that a bolt from the blue is a random thing. An act of God, so to say. If there is a convenient precaution people can take against it, they will. The more sensitive will go great lengths. And while it my be too late for the victim, remorse in a killer is a heartening thing. It serves not only to punish and cleanse him but also others. The no-regret killings, however, appear to reject the first fundamental of civilization — the right to life. No regrets? So what do you think you did? Uproot a weed? Swat a fly?

No. This is not to deny that there is a thing called justifiable homicide. But can a society allow every callous individual to decide what is justifiable? And Sadiq clearly expects to be “understood” for he uses a cliche. Allowing him and his likes to get away with the kind of explanations can only encourage irrational behaviour. It can only cause more tragedy and trigger a social catastrophe.

It is time finally we faced ghairat, this monster preying on the weak and the helpless, irrespective of their guilt or innocence. The word probably never meant honour, at least Ataul Haq Qasmi does not believe it did. The closest he came to defining it in his Aik Ghairmulki Sayyah ka Safarnama Lahore (A foreign tourist’s travelogue of Lahore) was describe it as akin to jealousy — a negative sentiment by all accounts. Using it as a synonym for honour — a sentiment leading to sublime and stoic behaviour — may have helped some clever rogues get away with some fiendish crimes by confusing the issue but why should we make the usage standard? Why should we continue unless we believe that unbridled, explosive and violent jealousy is good for society? Do we really believe it is honourable to kill children if you suspect their parents of immorality? How honourable is such honour?

INDEPENDENCE Day in Lahore was festive and noisy as usual. It did not rain after the brief midnight showers and this allowed hordes of motorcyclists to stay on the roads and dictate terms to other drivers. Witnesses said a larger percentage had removed the muffles this year. They also complained of poor manners, bordering in extreme cases, on harassment and obscenity. There were also cases of vandalism against private property.

Participation by the common man, measured in terms of flags, banners, badges and posters purchased and displayed by individuals and families was much less than the previous years. Some political workers took out micro-rallies but considering that the elections are only weeks away their strength must have been disappointing for the organizers. Corporate participation, too, seemed to have declined.

Rumours had it that security concerns had spoiled more elaborate plans for celebration. Much was made of President Gen Pervez Musharraf’s failure earlier in the week to proceed to Karachi. To top it, the president was also unable to inaugurate the Karakoram Express, Pakistan Railway’s new all-airconditioned train, that will run between Lahore and Karachi. It was all the more disappointing since the train had been specially taken to Rawalpindi for the purpose. It was said the track had be to moved at certain places and platforms redone at others for the one-off trip because the bogies, imported from China, are slightly wider. The official explanation — the president came down with a flu — did not impress many. The government’s failure to take the people into confidence about the earlier incident has not helped.

Remember the affront we felt at President Clinton’s reluctance to visit Pakistan on account of security concerns and the annoyance with the cancellation of the Australian cricket team’s visit? The idea of a head of state barred from public appearance is discomforting, to say the least.

Can Freedom from Fear be the theme for Independence Day 2003?

DENYING that the president had advised the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal leaders to cooperate with a pro-government alliance, an official spokesman said the government was committed to holding fair, free and transparent elections in October. The spokesman implied — justifiably — such advice amounted to partiality and rejected the suggestion. But has not the Punjab governor gone on record saying the government would help the pro-reform parties? The spokesman also said the president’s meeting last week with Jamaat-i-Islami’s Qazi Husain Ahmad was a part of his consultation with political leaders. He said the president regularly met leaders of parties opposed to him.

Interestingly, the spokesman also denied Maulana Shah Ahmad Noorani’s allegation that some non-government organisations had received funds from foreign donors to influence the outcome of the elections.

GULBERG’S main boulevard is suffering apparently from erosion of its base. Completed at a high cost by a subsidiary of the armed forces known for its road construction and maintenance expertise, it has been a terrible disappointment.

THE Lahore High Court stayed the business at the first cobblestone food street on The Mall, opposite the LHC building, until it can rule on claims of threat to privacy and easement rights of the residents and offices in the area. It seems strange that the authorities should have failed to consult those directly affected by it. —- ONLOOKER