- India/Pakistan

Pakistan Flood Disaster Worst He's Seen: UN Chief

nospam@example.com (Angelo) — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 13:03:14 -0600

Source: CBC

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Sunday the flooding in Pakistan is the worst disaster he has ever seen, and he urged the world to do more for the flood-ravaged country.

"This has been a heart-wrenching day for me," he said after flying over some of the worst-hit areas.

"I will never forget the destruction and suffering I have witnessed today. In the past, I have witnessed many natural disasters around the world, but nothing like this."

The UN chief also pleaded for countries to speed up their assistance to the Pakistani people.

The UN has issued a global appeal for $460 million US in immediate help.

Canada announced Saturday it would give $33 million in humanitarian aid.

New flooding

The UN chief's visit came as new flooding in southern Sindh province threatened to worsen an already critical situation.

The Indus River and other waterways were registering more flood surges. Authorities said water levels weren't expected to peak until later Sunday.

The CBC's Adrienne Arsenault, reporting from Pakistan's Swat Valley, said the power of the flood waters is much in evidence.

"We saw places where there used to be cornfields and schools and roads and now it's just a river bed," she said.

"We spoke to mathematicians and engineers and principals who said, 'We were successful business people and we literally have nothing.'"

Arsenault reported that the Canadian Red Cross has been busy handing out mosquito nets, buckets and tarps to people who, in some instances, have walked six or seven hours from their villages to collect the supplies and must now walk six or seven hours back to their ruined towns.

Up to 20 million homeless

Floods, triggered by heavier than normal monsoon rains, have killed more than 1,500 people in the last couple of weeks and left 20 million homeless, according to government estimates.

Many people have diarrhea. Cholera and malaria are growing concerns, said Matt Capobianco, an emergency planning manager for the Canadian charity GlobalMedic.

His organization has set up aid stations in northwest Pakistan that are providing clean drinking water for 15,000 people a day.

But Capobianco said aid agencies are still struggling to get to many victims.

"The scope [of the disaster] is absolutely enormous," he told CBC News on Sunday. "With the amount of people that are affected here, there are definitely many falling though the cracks."

Food Rots as Poor Starve Across India

nospam@example.com (Angelo) — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 23:44:28 -0600

61 Trucks Loaded with 300 Tons of Explosives Go Missing in Central India

nospam@example.com (Angelo) — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 14:40:01 -0600

Related Post - Train Carrying 260 Metric Tonnes of Rice Disappears In India

Source: Xinhuanet

Some 61 trucks loaded with over 300 tons of explosives have gone missing in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, a senior police official said Friday.

"The trucks were sent from a state-owned factory, Rajasthan Explosives and Chemicals Limited, in Dholpur to a private company called Ganesh Explosives in the state's Sagar district. But it never reached there," the official said.

A massive search is on to track down the trucks as fear is mounting that if the explosives, including detonators and gelatin sticks, reach the wrong hands it could be devastating, he added.

Meanwhile, Rajasthan Explosives and Chemicals Limited has claimed that it can't be blamed for this disappearance as it sent explosives only in trucks authorized by the company.

"We hand over the explosives to those who have the license. And they then dispatch it on their truck. Now, whatever happens to that explosive thereafter, we are not responsible for that," Y.C. Upadhyay of the company said.

India: Train Carrying 260 Metric Tonnes of Rice Disappears

nospam@example.com (Angelo) — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 11:07:16 -0600

Source: Ground Reality Blog

The train was carrying 26,000 quintals (or 260 metric tonnes) of rice, stacked in 40 coaches. The rice stocks belonged to the Food Corporation of India (FCI), which had loaded the grain on May 23, 2010 at Dhamora (Rampur), and the food stock was to be delivered at Jorhat in Assam. Over two months have passed, and the FCI is unable to locate the goods train.

...

I am sure you must be equally baffled at such disappearance acts. Only a month back, nearly 500,000 tonnes of iron ore valued at Rs 200-crore, and seized by the Karnataka forest department and Lok Ayukta, had disappeared from Bellikeri Port in Karnataka. I sometimes wonder how can such a huge quantity of metal simply disappear? It certainly would require a massive operation, involving hundreds of people and officials, and it shouldn't be difficult to pin down the culprits.

But such is the indifference that we have become accustomed to that we don't even raise an eyebrow. We no longer question, and make any effort to force the authorities to bring the crooks to book. We have simply accepted such frauds (and this one probably defies any visible logic) as nothing unusual. As a nation we have become immune to frauds, the size and scale does not matter any more.

2.5m People Affected by Pakistan Floods

nospam@example.com (Angelo) — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 20:46:33 -0600

Source: BBC

Up to 2.5 million people have been affected by devastating floods in north-west Pakistan, the International Red Cross has said.

Rescuers are struggling to reach 27,000 people still cut off by the floods, which are the worst in 80 years.

At least 1,100 people have died and thousands have lost everything.

"In the worst-affected areas, entire villages were washed away without warning by walls of flood water," the Red Cross said in a statement.

There are fears diarrhoea and cholera will spread among the homeless. Food is scarce and water supplies have been contaminated by the floods.

From the air we've had a clear view of the destructive force of the monsoon rains.

Muddy brown waters have submerged fields, bridges and roads, destroying crops and devastating communities.

In some areas we've seen people wading, chest-deep, through the floods. In others, only the tops of trees have been visible.

We went to the city of Nowshera, one of the worst affected areas, where we saw several lakes - including one which covered the polo ground. Mud and rubble lined the streets.

We met people at a temporary camp who said they were being helped by the army, but they were worried about the future.

Mian Iftikhar Hussain, the Information Minister of Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa (formerly North West Frontier Province), one of the worst-hit regions, said rescue teams were trying to reach 27,000 stranded people...

Large Scale RO Water Plant Opens in Madras India

nospam@example.com (Angelo) — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 20:19:40 -0600

Source: BBC

A desalination plant which begins operating in Madras on Saturday will provide some of the cheapest drinking water in India, backers say.

They say that the plant will supply 1,000 litres of drinking water for just over $1 and could well be a "template" for other coastal Indian cities.

The company behind the plant says that it is the biggest in South Asia.

It will provide 100 million litres of water a day to the city by filtering sea water under high pressure.

In comparison, the government-run water board supplies about 650 million litres of water to the city's seven million residents.
Competitively priced

"We are using the advanced reverse osmosis technology. We are purifying the water by filtering it under high pressure. Unlike other desalination plants we are not boiling the water and as a result we are saving a lot of energy," Natarajan Ganesan, Joint General Manager of the Chennai Water Desalination company told the BBC.
Flooded street in Calcutta India's monsoon is notoriously erratic

Mr Ganesan said that because the plant used "energy recovering technology", electricity consumption was reduced - making water produced there arguably the most competitively priced in India.

"It can be competitive even when compared to supplying water from natural sources like lakes. One has to spend lot of money on transport water from lakes," he said.

The plant will process 237 million litres of sea water per day.

An initial treatment will remove solids present in the water, before it is passed through a membrane under high pressure.

The plant - which cost $140m - is the joint venture between an Indian company IVRCL and Befessa of Spain. It is built under the "deboot" system - design, build, own, operate and transfer.

The government-run Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB) will buy the purified water for the next 25 years.

"We have agreed to buy the water from them at 48.66 rupees for 1,000 litres - meaning that it costs us just over one dollar for 1,000 litres," CMWSSB Managing Director Shiv Das Meena said.

"The water is purified and demineralised. This takes away salt, lime and other particles. The purified water meets the government standards. It tastes just like ordinary water and above all it is cheap," he said.

Chennai has been suffering from a chronic water shortage for decades. Its water needs are primarily met by lakes situated around the city. But these lakes depend on the erratic north-east monsoon.

On an average year, the monsoon brings about 100cm (39in) of rainfall, but most of this arrives over a short period - resulting in a massive run-off into the sea.

Pakistani Christians Fear for Their Lives

nospam@example.com (Angelo) — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 10:47:53 -0600

It's very sad to see that religious intolerance is still such a powerful force in the world.

Source: The Cutting Edge

Recently, more Christians are facing charges under the controversial Muslim Sharia blasphemy laws in Pakistan. Christian families in Lahore were forced to flee for their safety as thousands of Muslim protesters demanded death for Christians in Faisalabad who are alleged to have defamed Islam and its holy book.

Muslim mobs marched July 10–11 in Faisalabad City, in the province of Punjab, demanding the death penalty for two Christians: brothers Rashid Emmanuel, 32, an Evangelical pastor, and Sajid Emmanuel, a graduate business student of Daud Nagar, Faisalabad. They were arrested on July 2 on the charges of writing a pamphlet with blasphemous remarks about Mohammad. They were detained at the Civil Lines Police Station Faisalabad.

According to a report by Minorities Concern of Pakistan, Christian social worker Atif Jamil Pagaan said, “The protests were held in Waris Pura locality where more than 100,000 Christians are living. They wanted to attack and burn the area where Emmanuel brothers’ house was located. The protesters chanted slogans, raised weapons and announced to teach the lesson to the Christian community.”

“They also stoned the Catholic Church in Waris Pura and burnt tires on the roads to show their anger. Despite the presence of the police the protesters did not disperse but announced to continue their protest. The Christian community in Faisalabad city, especially in Waris Pura, the second biggest slum in the city, was scared and many of them fled to their relatives in other towns and villages.”

The mob threatened that if there brothers are not executed according to Muslim law, the mob will exact revenge not only on them, but the entire Christian community, according to Pagaan, who works for the Harmony Foundation.

No evidence to support the charges against them has emerged. The handwritten photo-copied pamphlet, which has so enraged area Muslims, was distributed by unknown persons, yet the names and telephone numbers of the two Christians, Rashid and Sajid, are listed on them, according to Pagaan.

The Christians of the area fear an escalation of violence, just as was the case in Gojra one year ago where nine Christians were burnt alive and more than 120 Christian homes destroyed by Muslim incendiaries who were incensed about allegations that area Christians had defamed Islam.

In another recent case, a Christian family from Model Town Lahore in Punjab province, fled their home July 5, fearing for their lives. Yousaf Masih, a Christian, his wife, Bashrian Bibi, and their son-in-law, Zahid Masih, were accused of blasphemy according to Muslim law. About 2,000 angry Muslims protested against them and tried to burn down their home. The police have filed a case against them under blasphemy laws, having conceded to the Muslim mob. According to local sources, the allegations against the Christians stem from a personal dispute.

Christian human rights activist Saleem Sylvester and his family also fled their home and were forced to live at an unknown location having also fallen afoul of Muslim religious law. According to Sylvester, unknown persons threw some torn pages of Koran on his roof between June 21- 25. Fortunately, they discovered these pages and fled before Muslims could take action. “To save my family I shifted them to a rented house on July 27,” he said via email. “The family is still under threat because after couple of days they received a threatening call on their mobile phone. An application for their safety was submitted to the Superintendent of Police Model Town Circle, Lahore,” wrote Sylvester in a July 9 email.

Although the situation for Christians is quite tense because of the blasphemy laws, two Christians Boota Maish and Riaz Maish, were granted bail under Pakistani blasphemy laws on July 2. They both were arrested by the police on Oct. 30, 2009 and were sent to jail in Lahore.

Religious minorities, including Christians, Hindis, Sikhs, Ahmadi and Shiite Muslims, say that the blasphemy laws, which were introduced by a Pakistani military dictator, are widely misused against them. According to Minorities Concern, “it is evident that in majority of cases the charges are mala fides, such as personal enmity, religious rivalry, property disputes, etc.”

India’s Castes

nospam@example.com (Angelo) — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 12:25:00 -0600

Record Temperature of 53.7C (129F) in Pakistan

nospam@example.com (Angelo) — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 13:05:14 -0600

Source: The Guardian

Mohenjo-daro, a ruined city in what is now Pakistan that contains the last traces of a 4,000-year-old civilisation that flourished on the banks of the river Indus, today entered the modern history books after government meteorologists recorded a temperature of 53.7C (129F). Only Al 'Aziziyah, in Libya (57.8C in 1922), Death valley in California (56.7 in 1913) and Tirat Zvi in Israel (53.9 in 1942) are thought to have been hotter.

Temperatures in the nearest town, Larkana, have been only slightly lower in the last week, with 53C recorded last Wednesday. As the temperatures peaked, four people died, including a prisoner serving a life sentence for murder and an elderly woman. Dozens are said to have fainted.

The extreme heat was exacerbated by chronic power cuts which have prevented people from using air-conditioning. The electricity has cut out for eight hours each day as part of a severe load-shedding regime that has caused riots in other parts of Pakistan where cities are experiencing a severe heatwave with temperatures of between 43C and 47C.

"It's very tough," said M B Kalhoro, a local correspondent for Dawn.com, an online newspaper. "When the power is out, people just stay indoors all the time."

The blistering heat now engulfing Pakistan stretches to India where more than 1,000 people have reportedly died of heatstroke or heart attacks in the last two months. Although Europe and China have experienced cooler than average winters, record or well-above average temperatures have been recorded in Tibet and Burma this year.

Southern Europe was yesterday rapidly warming after a particularly cool winter. Thirteen provinces in southern Spain, including Andalucia, Murcia and the Canary islands, were put on "yellow alert" after meteorologists forecast temperatures rising to 38C (99F) in Cadiz, Córdoba, Jaén, Malaga and Seville.

...

On Sunday, scientists reported that Africa's Lake Tanganyika, the second deepest freshwater lake in the world, is now at its warmest in 1,500 years, threatening the fishing industry on which several million lives depend. The lake's surface waters, at 26C (78.8F), have reached temperatures that are "unprecedented since AD500," they reported in the journal Nature Geoscience.

Karachi 'Water Mafia' Leaves Pakistanis Parched and Broke

nospam@example.com (Angelo) — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 10:04:55 -0600

"For those on the city's bottom rung, however, the underworld entity they revile the most is the water tanker mafia, a network of trucking firms that teams up with corrupt bureaucrats to turn water into liquid gold worth tens of millions of dollars each year.

The water tanker mafia's prey can be found in slums like Karachi's Gulshan-Sikanderabad neighborhood, where every morning people buy water from the tankers, lug the plastic jugs back to their homes on wooden carts, then come back three or four more times in the afternoon and evening to buy more.

A family that makes $100 a month can spend as much as a quarter of that on water..." - The LA Times

The ring of fire expands in the exploitation of wealth for the fewer. In its wake the smoldering ruins of economic decapitation.

The system has you when you need to line up for water, when you have 25% of your income garnished just to stay hydrated. Can anyone feel the pulse of the criminal beast in our midst? This might be Pakistan, but this is America, it's just a more refined affair in the U.S of A.

Source: The Los Angeles Times

Name a cash cow in this sprawling city of ragged slums and glass-walled office buildings and it's almost certain there's an organized crime syndicate behind it.

The illegal operations, routinely referred to as mafias, are everywhere. There's a land mafia that commandeers prime real estate, a sugar mafia that conspires to control sugar prices, and even a railway mafia that forges train tickets and pilfers locomotive parts.

For those on the city's bottom rung, however, the underworld entity they revile the most is the water tanker mafia, a network of trucking firms that teams up with corrupt bureaucrats to turn water into liquid gold worth tens of millions of dollars each year.

The water tanker mafia's prey can be found in slums like Karachi's Gulshan-Sikanderabad neighborhood, where every morning people buy water from the tankers, lug the plastic jugs back to their homes on wooden carts, then come back three or four more times in the afternoon and evening to buy more.

A family that makes $100 a month can spend as much as a quarter of that on water, which, elsewhere in Pakistan, costs pennies and flows out of household taps.

Water scarcity isn't the cause. Karachi has a steady water supply, and it has the network of pipes to pump ample water into every neighborhood, rich and poor.

But Karachi is also a city of opportunists forever on the prowl for under-the-table wealth. As municipal officials look the other way, businessmen illegally tap water mains, and use the makeshift hydrants to supply fleets of tankers that then sell water to businesses, factories and neighborhoods at inflated prices. As many as 272 million gallons a day are siphoned off by the trucks.

On a recent sunbaked afternoon, along a dirt lane filled with goats munching on piles of refuse, Momin Khan seethed as he filled another blue jug with water from a cistern replenished every other day by the water tankers.

"We're poor laborers -- we can't spare this much for water," said Khan, 27, a glass factory worker. "The water supply lines come right into this neighborhood, but there's never any water. So I buy the same water that I should be getting through the pipes for free. I've got no choice."

Karachi has nine hydrant locations where water supply companies can legally buy water and fill their tanker trucks. But scattered throughout the city are at least 160 illegal hydrants, said Ashraf Sagar, manager of the Orangi Pilot Project, a private organization that researches water issues in Karachi.

The siphoning takes place around the clock, Sagar said. It's done in the dead of night, but also in broad daylight.

Along Manghopir Road, a bustling Karachi avenue lined with grease-covered car repair stalls and appliance storefronts, it's easy to find a pair of tanker drivers standing on top of their trucks, filling up with a large blue hose from an illegal hydrant inside a red-brick building. Armed guards keep outsiders from meddling.

On average, a tanker fills up six times a day, Sagar said, siphoning as much as 41% of the city's daily water supply, an amount that generates $43 million annually for tanker owners, according to Orangi.

"With this much money involved, it's clear these are very wealthy people," Sagar said. "They're powerful mafias colluding with corrupt people in the government. So there's really nothing ordinary Pakistanis can do to stop it."

Shahnawaz Jadoon, a deputy administrative chief for the Gulshan-Sikanderabad neighborhood, said it was virtually impossible to clamp down on an enterprise that combines the clout of city government and the wealth of Karachi's powerful business circles.

At times, illegal hydrants are shut down by city officials, only to reopen a week later. Activists said they didn't know of anyone involved ever being arrested.

"The big reason why people don't get the water they're supposed to," said Jadoon, "is that if they did, this whole system, the tanker mafia and this corrupt network, would shut down."