liveforpakistan: Can life be more miserable?

liveforpakistan: Can life be more miserable?

liveforpakistan: Locked to guard against mixing of memory and desire!

liveforpakistan: Locked to guard against mixing of memory and desire!

Load-shedding culminates into ‘sleep-shedding’ for Bhara Kaho residents

Load-shedding culminates into ‘sleep-shedding’ for Bhara Kaho residents

By: Aftab Alam

ISLAMABAD July 19, 2010: Although the dreadful genie of load-shedding is making lives miserable for people throughout the country, yet the poor and helpless residents of Bhara Kaho are the worst affected by it so much so that it has turned into ‘sleep-shedding’ for them. A few miles away from the Capital itself, the residents have to bear one hour load-shedding after every one hour of supply of electricity in the day time. But the night is no less than a nightmare for them as load-shedding is observed from 7 to 8pm, then 11 to12 midnight and finally from 2 to 4am -- making sleep a mad man’s dream.

“For the whole night you can hear dogs barking ( as it is a suburban area) along with the children yelling and shrieking for want of some cool air to breathe and save them from sweltering heat”, described Mrs. Khan, a resident of Kot Hathial on Col. Aman-ullah road. 

Another resident of the same area, Saima Shaheen who recently had to go through an operation described her plight saying, “The doctor advised me to avoid heat and sweating as it can infect my stitches, but I can neither avoid sweating in the day nor at night as after every one hour the supply of electricity is cut off and I have to wake up for the whole night in order to keep the wounds dry using a hand-fan in the absence of electricity at night. I request the officials to have mercy on us during the night at least and let us have a peaceful sleep – the only luxury left for us that too seems to go beyond our reach now.” 

Muhammad Abdullah Shehzad, a resident of Seri Chowk on Simly Dam Road said, “There is un-announced load-shedding throughout the day as well as night and the complaint numbers of X-EN as well as the S.D.O of IESCO are never attended by anyone if we try to make a phone call to lodge a complaint. At least they should let us sleep. I do not know who makes this stupid and inhuman schedule of load-shedding making sure that we cannot have more than two hours of sleep throughout the night. I am sure the high officials of IESCO would surely have Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS) or standby generators at their homes otherwise they must have never made such cruel schedule for us.”

Azhar Mehmood, a resident of Shahpur told his account saying, “We are so much disturbed and mentally tortured by the repeated load-shedding at night that we are forced to sleep inside our car, turning its Air Conditioner on, to save ourselves from the roasting heat, suffocation and mosquitoes bites.”

A mother of two infants, Faiza Aziz, residing at Spring Valley told this news agency, “I am almost maddened by this load-shedding. For the whole night my children cannot sleep forcing me to keep awake with them. Children cry due to hot weather that gets hotter in the absence of electricity and mosquitoes add fuel to the fire by biting my children and me so generously. My husband has gone to Sindh for some business enterprise and I have to pass the nights scared, tense and if I try to lodge a complaint on the numbers written on electricity bill, these are never attended” “IESCO claims on its website that, ‘Our mission is to bring the assurance of energy to our customers, with world class quality and commitment for satisfaction as we continue in our quest for excellence.’ But it is strange that no one cares to attend the telephone numbers given as a complaint numbers to the costumers,” she concluded. 

Even after the repeated attempts, the given numbers of S.D.O, X-EN were never attended. When this news agency succeeded in contacting the grid station, Muhammad Rahim, Assistant Manager (as claimed by him) of the grid station gave the statement, “We receive 3 to 4 different schedules during the week for load-shedding that we have to observe, and besides it, we have automatic switches that interrupt the power supply if the load exceeds a certain limit.” But he could not justify that why these automatic switches do not resume the supply for hours once they cut it off. He refused to explain why his bosses are unavailable to the media as well the consumers on the phone to clarify the horrifying state of affairs.

Rise in mercury

Rise in mercury: twin city residents swarm water-resorts

By: Aftab Alam
 

ISLAMABAD July 16, 2010: After infrequent showers of monsoon, the Sun seems to grow in anger as it has been bucketing fire on the residents of Rawalpindi and Islamabad for the last few days. With mercury crossing 42 Celsius mark here on Friday, the residents rushed bubbling to the places where water is in excess in order to use it as a shield against the baking heat. 

A huge rush was observed at Shahdara, Chattar, Saalgran, and Korang as families kept pouring in there throughout the day. Nisar Ali, a resident of Sector G-6, sitting with his legs dip in water at Shahdara along with two of his kids said, “This tour was not planned at all, but the blazing heat forced us to look for some cool place to safely see through the day. I love to go to Pir Suhawa and Damn-e-Koh with my family but in this heat it is almost unimaginable to go there.”

Mrs. Nisar also seconded his husband saying, “My children love to visit the Zoo but in the present roasting temperature, this water-resort is no less than an ‘earthly-heaven’ for us. The water is quite cold and it is really making life less miserable.” 

 

Dr. Lodhi, a resident of Guwal Mandi, who, along with his family also preferred to come to Shahdara, explained the reason for coming there, “It is heat everywhere, for the last few days heat seemed to emit from my hands and feet. So I had no other option than coming here and sit in water which is really absorbing all of it. Summer is a period of enjoyment and fun for the children but the current heat wave has made it hellish for the poor little souls who can neither play outdoors nor can sit at home due to frequent load-shedding.”

 

On being asked about the selection of a water-resort for picnic, Aziz Ahmad, a resident of Satellite Town told, “I preferred to come to Saalgran with my family as besides being a picnic spot, it has an added advantage of water, that is in excessive amount over here, to have a soothing effect for the dry-lipped children who are throwing water on each other and having a lot of fun.”

 

The weather forecast too tells a burning story. So, with no ray of hope visible on weather’s horizon in the next couple of days, more families are expected to take shelter in these water-resorts in order to beat the heat.

Can life be more miserable?

Living on the edge: whose fault is it after all?

Aftab Alam

ISLAMABAD July 12, 2010: Living on the edge out of their own choice, these ‘sons of the soil’ cut a sorry figure for themselves, their families and friends, and indeed the entire nation as they ‘unwind’ under the influence of intoxication, totally oblivious of their shabby surroundings. 

These men do not have the courage to face the realities of life. Like pigeons, they have opted to shut their eyes on seeing the cat, little realising that man is the best of God’s creations and that he can be destroyed but not defeated.

Drug addiction is as old as human history; it may have emerged in different forms during different eras, but has been there all the while. Drugs are used under different pretexts; some use them for enjoyment while others do so to find an easy route to escapism. 

In Asia, and particularly in Pakistan, the menace of drug addiction is increasing with every passing day. More than 14 million Pakistanis are wasting billions of rupees annually to inhale poisonous drugs.

The scenario gets more horrific on the discovery that most of these addicts are adolescents and ensnared by drug traffickers at an early age. No one can deny the fact that youth is the most valuable asset of a nation, and that it is on the basis of their abilities and potential that a country’s progress depends. As such, the injection of poison in the veins of these young adults is synonymous to limiting the likelihood of our country’s development. These young people will grow up to become an ugly scar on the face of the nation. 

The accompanying photograph portrays an appalling manifestation of the aforementioned logic. All of them are dozing, with their eyes down. Their posture does have a symbolic significance: they are either ashamed of what they have made out of their lives or are angry with society, which has failed to fulfil its social responsibility of saving them from the brutal clutches of the drug agents who grabbed them when they were too young to understand what venom they were inhaling. 

These men showcase a perfect picture of typical Waste Landers, who are no more than heaps of bones and broken images. And instead of becoming a valuable human resource, they have been turned into an undying liability for the nation. Although the entire nation is responsible for their deplorable plight, yet no one cares. We do not even cast a passing glance as we walk past them.

Security pickets in capital

Security pickets in capital
Policemen facing danger of being caught off-guardAzhar Mehmood & Aftab Alam

ISLAMABAD, July 10, 2010: “We have been provided no arms, at all; not even official pistols. And we cannot have our personal ones without going through an unending and tiring procedure of getting an NOC,” was the response of the unarmed policemen, requesting not to be named, performing duties at a security picket in Islamabad, when this news agency expressed concerns regarding their own security.
“Official guns and pistols are short in supply as well as not trustworthy -- these are as if ‘arms or no arms’ for us!” said one of them.
Security checkposts have been established throughout the country, including Islamabad and Rawalpindi, since terrorism started to unleash itself in big cities.
The police officers deployed at these pickets are facing numerous problems and hurdles in performing their duties as they do not have enough resources to challenge the suspicious vehicles -- neither are they provided with ammunition sufficient to silent the guns of the terrorists nor is the weaponry technologically advanced enough to defend them ‘in the line of fire’.
There is no jamming system installed at any picket in the capital.
“We do not even have fans, what to talk of jammers. I have to sit in this boiling bunker wearing a bulletproof jacket, weighing 8 kilograms, for eight hours,” said one of them.
“As per rules of service, every policeman is to be provided with a new uniform, shoes and raincoat, but I have received them just once during six years of my service,” an ASI told this news agency on condition of anonymity. “There is no laundry facility for us and we have to wash our uniforms every day due to excessive sweating in summer,” he added.
“We keep standing watchful and vigilant throughout the day wearing the same uniform -- be it the scorching heat of the summer or the chilling cold of winter. We neither have any shelter to save us from the extreme weather conditions, nor are we having access to cold water in the burning heat,” said an officer at a checkpost near Faizabad.
“To think of lavatory facility is a mad man’s dream and a luxury we cannot even think of having. We have to ‘answer the call of nature’ going deep inside the jungle or an area at a distance from these pickets”, said an ASI on duty.
Such horrific is the state of affairs of the policemen.
With dry lips and parched tongues, these ‘gladiators’ of the modern era are fighting valiantly against an unseen enemy.
“Knowing that we might be no more any moment, we perform our duty for 12 hours, 7pm-7am, eyeing every vehicle rushing towards us as our death sentence. One of our colleagues was recently killed because of unprovoked firing of motorcyclists when he signalled them to stop at a picket near Taramri, in the jurisdiction of Shehzad Town Police Station,” said a junior officer gloomily at a picket near Rawal Dam Chowk.
But their gallantry is time-tested now. Although, they are a part of the least resourceful force in the world, yet they know the art of fight in which each drop of blood falling in the lap of the motherland is valued more than a thousand blows of sword inflicted upon the enemy. They fight for honour and not for a name; for their generations to come and not for themselves. They prefer dying unnoticed than boasting the fact that they are sacrificing their lives at the altar of the war against terrorism.
“Although we suffer for the safety of the public; we remain awake so that our countrymen can sleep peacefully, we are disliked and sometimes insulted by the people who are asked to stop their vehicles for routine checking. People address us as if we are an unwanted commodity forgetting that had this deterrence not been in place, it would have provided swift and effortless entrance to the miscreants into the city,” said an officer appointed at a picket near Bhara Kahu, complaining about the misbehaviour met by them at the hands of VIPs as well as local people.
 

Recollecting a great hero of 1947

Recollecting a great hero of 1947

Aftab Alam

ISLAMABAD, July 10, 2010: Great nations remember their heroes either in history books or by making their statues, so do we -- as a nation, not far behind in paying tribute to our heroes. Pakistan Railways has done a commendable job by keeping the memories attached to a great hero of the Independence time in a safe custody at the Heritage Museum, Golra Railway Junction, Islamabad.
We all owe a lot to him as he saved the lives of more that 500 refugees, travelling in a Pakistan-bound train, by his great presence of mind and strategy.
Major S M Rafi was given the arduous task of protecting one of the many trains carrying Muslim refugees across India into the newly created nation state of Pakistan.
With ugly fires of sectarian violence raging everywhere, these were the hard times. As the train left Jaipur, Major Rafi locked the passengers inside their compartments to protect them from vindictive mobs and snipers. After a journey of some 1,200 miles, to his unbounded relief, the train reached Karachi safe and sound. In an emotional account of the journey, Major Rafi thanked God and paid a great tribute to his fellow passengers who had recited the Holy Quran throughout the long journey home.
 “Major Rafi declared it as a military train and stood on guard with a gun in his hand”, said Muhammad Ramzan, the station master at Golra Railway Junction who is also the man in charge of the Heritage Museum established here. “Major Rafi was also awarded with ‘Tamgha-e-Juraat’ for his daring and great act of soldier-ship,” he proudly added.
The memories kept safe in the museum include the carriage key accompanied by a suggestive interpretation of history along with a black and white photograph of Major S M Rafi wearing his uniform and a map of the route that he followed in successful completion of this uphill task, all in original.