Summers bring
‘water jobs’

Pakistan’s summers are fairly long and they bring in a lot of self-styled jobs — not only for the unemployed adults, but for the child labourers too.
When a van approaches public transport stops, particularly the busy ones to offload or carry passengers in Islamabad and other major cities, kids aged 9 to 12 are seen having a sprint towards it, carrying a jug of water and a glass.
It is surprising to see these kids sell water throughout the day in the scorching heat. They are not here by their own choice. Of course, they are forced to run this day-long business. They are trained to go to the driver first, offer water and earn a coin worth Rs 2 or Rs 5, in return.
This rate very much depends upon the will and generosity of the driver. He pays as he likes. Then they come to the cleaner of the van and offer him a glass of cold water and, in return, get a coin again. This done, they go round the van looking through its glass panes in search of potential customers from amongst the commuters.
Noor Khan is one such child, who sells water at a bus stop in Islamabad. He is hardly 11, lives in a slum area located along Islamabad Expressway. He says that he is doing this work for more than one year.
“Me and my elder brother Zahir Khan are forced by our parents to get up early in the morning; bring water from the tubewell in three water coolers, purchase ice from the market and then both of us have to sit there under the shade. My brother pours water into jugs and I come here near the vehicles to sell it,” Noor Khan said.
Asked how much he earns through this exercise, he said that he manages to make Rs 150 to Rs 200 daily and gives the whole amount to his father who plays cards the whole day with his friends.
Saifullah is another young boy practising the same profession. His story is equally tragic. He is beaten everyday by his parents for earning less than they expect.
Saifullah also deals in the coins in the off season i.e. during the winter when there is no demand for water.
He is given coins and he makes small packets of those containing Rs 18 and exchanges it with cleaners of vans with a note of Rs 20, as drivers and cleaners always remain in need of change to deal with the commuters.

Websites blocked not the ‘flow of
information’

In the recent weeks, the Pakistani authorities banned scores of websites for containing blasphemous contents. The Facebook and YouTube were the most popular sites to have been blocked as they contained blasphemous caricatures of Prophet Muhammad.
As if it was not enough, the Pakistan government also put on halt the Blackberry services in June to stop the flow of blasphemous content.
The authorities have now decided to permanently block links to blasphemous content on all websites but not to stop “the flow of information”.

Pak politicians’ assets will be available online

The Election Commission of Pakistan may soon place on its website all the assets declarations submitted by senators and members of the National and the Provincial assemblies.
Legislators’ declarations ahead of election are made for the information of general public but the current procedure devised by the ECP to obtain a copy of these declarations is so complex and time-consuming that the basic purpose of the declarations is not clear in the process.
It observed that the current state of information technology provides an easy and inexpensive way to make the declarations by the politicians public by placing them on the ECP website, a government official said.
Most of the Pakistani politicians, though billionaires, show their assets which can be compared to a normal salaries person to escape tax.

Musharraf prepares for a comeback

Former Pakistan military ruler Pervez Musharraf is doing homework for a comeback to politics — just two years after he quit power in 2008.
Mr Musharraf has been holding meetings with his supporters in the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom recently to finalise his return and to take active part in politics. He has also formed a new party — the All Pakistan Muslim League — to contest the next general elections.
Mr Musharraf says that the challenges being faced by the country forced him to come into politics, adding there is need to prefer country’s interests over personal interests.

Fake public representatives

Pakistan has one of the lowest literacy rates in the world but the “degree factories” have always remained active to increase the “literacy ratio”.
The “degree factories” (and so many politicians) however, find themselves in hot waters these days as several parliamentarians are found carrying fake educational documents.
The courts have disqualified several members of the assemblies for holding fake degrees and the election authorities suspect some 200 parliamentarians possess forged or fake degrees.
The opposition parties have highlighted the issue, forcing the election authorities to take action against the fake degree holders — who are otherwise expected to legislate for the nation.
The Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) — worst hit by the fake degree drama — wants the educational certificates of the parliamentarians to be verified “to see the back of” the crook lawmakers.
The PML-N also fears mid-term elections if bulk of the lawmakers are found having fake degrees.
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani’s degree was also among the 1,095 degrees of members of national and provincial assemblies sent for verification, but it was authenticated by the Punjab University.
Gilani’s “book issue”

While there are enough things on Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani’s mind to remain worried, some political opponents have raised a new issue — his book being written by somebody else than him.
Mr Gilani claims he wrote his memoirs Chah-e-Yousuf Se Sada while in prison during Nawaz Sharif and Pervez Musharraf’s tenures but some leaders of the rival Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid-e-Azam) suggest the book was authored by a local journalist.
The Prime Minister said, “Rauf Klasra (the journalist in question) is my friend. He is from Saraiki belt. He is my personal friend and had been meeting me in jail. Rauf Klasra writes in English language, but this book is in Urdu and I have written it.”

Swat ready for tourists after
bloodshed

Pakistan’s picturesque Swat valley — that became a battlefield for two years — is now again ready to welcome the tourists.
The scenic valley was subject to unrest for a couple of years that smashed tourism, besides damaging both human lives and properties.
The valley has been a hotspot of Pakistan’s tourism and has unmatched serene valleys, green mountains, gushing rivers and pleasant weather.
The Taliban openly started activities in Swat in 2008 and slowly forced the implementation of the strict Sharia (Islamic) laws.
The government waited for months — engaging in talks — but the militants refused to budge leading to a full-fledged military operation in May 2009.
Swat used to be called Pakistan’s Switzerland and would draw a large number of tourists, especially from within the country.
There are now more than 400 Buddhist sites spreading over an area of 160 kilometre in Swat valley alone. Among the important Buddhist excavation in Swat, an important one is Butkarha-I, containing the original relics of Buddha.

Hindus get fanatics’ treatment

Months after member of the Sikh community were forced out of their homes in Pakistan’s lawless tribal areas, extremist in more settled Karachi suburbs also did the same with the Hindu families.
The Muslim extremists forced dozens of Hindu families to abandon their homes near Pakistan’s commercial capital Karachi for only a small “crime” — daring to drink water from a cooler placed outside a mosque.
The extremists accused the Hindus of making the water impure and of “crossing the limits”.
The police said as many as 60 Hindu men, women and children were forced into abandoning their homes and compelled to take refuge in a cattle pen.
These hapless people fled away from the wrath of some of the influential tribesmen of the area who got so enraged by the incident that they beat them up and forced them into evicting their houses.
Earlier this year, Pakistani tribesmen forced several Sikh families to leave the tribal area or pay jizya (Islamic tax).