Chemical poisoning
Monday, 13 Jul, 2009
SO rapid is the rate of degradation that slow poisoning may no longer be an accurate description. As speakers at a workshop pointed out last week, irrational use of chemicals in both rural and urban settings is killing the environment as well as the people of Pakistan. Agriculture is a major culprit, with run-off from farms that rely heavily on chemical fertilisers and pesticides polluting waterways and contaminating groundwater aquifers. Polluted water not only harms human health and biodiversity but also affects agricultural productivity — which, ironically, is what pesticides and other chemicals are meant to boost. Pesticides comprise an overwhelming majority of deadly toxins classified as ‘persistent organic pollutants’, which accumulate in body tissue over time. Despite international restrictions, some of these pesticides are still used in Pakistan and have entered the food chain.
Studies have also shown that fruit and vegetables grown with polluted water can contain alarming levels of heavy metals. At times this ‘water’ is obtained by directly tapping into the effluent discharged by factories located on city outskirts. Improper storage of expired pesticides is another cause for serious concern, as is the release of untreated waste into the sea. Industrial air pollution and vehicle emissions are also hurting human, animal and plant life in a country where relevant environmental laws exist on paper but are routinely flouted. Serious physical and psychological ailments are on the rise in large cities with unacceptable levels of air and noise pollution.
Irrespective of where it occurs, the poor are always the biggest victims of environmental degradation. Farmers, herders and fisherfolk lose their livelihoods as land and water resources shrink. The urban poor tend to cluster in the most polluted parts of cities and towns, and as a result are exposed to serious health risks on a daily basis. The state healthcare system cannot cater to their needs and poor health in turn affects productivity and life expectancy. Children are deprived of adequate schooling as well as the nourishment they need for future development. Among other socioeconomic measures, environmental laws must be rigorously implemented if this vicious circle of poverty is to be broken.
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Need for dialogue
Monday, 13 Jul, 2009
HOPING for the best can do no harm but the signs aren’t promising. There is considerable anticipation surrounding what could happen on the sidelines of this week’s Non-Aligned Movement summit, where top-level talks are expected between Pakistan and India. It is being hoped, at least in Pakistan, that this interaction in Egypt may help kick-start the composite dialogue process that came to a halt following the Mumbai massacre last year. The Pakistani and Indian foreign secretaries are expected to confer on Tuesday, setting ‘the tone’ for talks the following day between PMs Yousuf Raza Gilani and Manmohan Singh. It could be argued that ‘the tone’ ought to have been set much earlier, not 24 hours before the prime ministers’ tête-à-tête. Things have been left a bit late, it seems, for any breakthrough.
India’s position was understandable in the heat of the moment. The Mumbai attacks traumatised the country and it was soon clear that Pakistani militants had orchestrated the massacre. But what has happened since then is a different story. New Delhi exploited global sympathy in a calculated manner to drive Pakistan to the brink of international isolation. Forgotten in all this was the distinction between state- and non-state actors. India’s strategy began unravelling in May this year when the Pakistan military launched a telling operation against the Taliban. Global and local opinion vis-à-vis Pakistan’s hitherto questionable commitment to the fight against militancy began to change.
Yet India kept up the offensive. It demanded that the alleged masterminds of the Mumbai assault be brought to book, ignoring the argument that taking a shaky case to court would serve little purpose. The release in early June of Jamaatud Dawa chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed added more fuel to the fire. Again India overlooked the fact that under the law as it stands the court had no option but to order Mr Saeed’s release. Most recently, an Indian defence ministry report openly accused organs of the Pakistani state, not individuals or organisations, of aiding and abetting terrorism in India. Pakistan, for its part, has admitted that non-state actors operating from its soil were behind the terror unleashed in Mumbai. To overcome the trust deficit, Islamabad also needs to demonstrate that its decision to take on militants is not limited to ‘jihadists’ operating within the country or on the western front — those who seek to destabilise our neighbour to the east must also be neutralised. Sincere cooperation in the battle against militancy and dialogue on outstanding issues can point us to a new and healthier direction. The need to talk has never been greater.
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A sad goodbye
Monday, 13 Jul, 2009
MIXING food with politics is sure to leave a bad taste in the mouth. The way that ‘food street’ in Lahore’s Gwalmandi area has succumbed to politicking confirms that. A food court overlooked by tastefully painted and well-lit balconies of traditional Lahori houses, the place was the delight of gourmets and a favourite haunt of tourists and other visitors to the city. Now the curtain has fallen on all that. With vehicular traffic allowed through the street during all times of the day, shopkeepers have lost the open space for seating and serving their customers. The lights are out for good it seems. It all started last month with city authorities telling the shopkeepers in the area to pull down their shutters for a few days to facilitate the laying of a sewerage line. Next the officials said the street could no longer remain a restricted area. They said those living in the vicinity were dismayed that their access to nearby roads had been blocked. In fact, a couple of banners hung over the gates of the now desolate street praise local and senior leaders of the PML-N for restoring the people’s right to free passage.
Given that the street is part of a thickly populated neighbourhood, this would sound reasonable — if it were true. First, the street is not the only route available to local residents to make their way out of the side lanes. Second, it is surprising that the residents who haven’t complained for nearly a decade should do so now. Perhaps the real reason for the closure lies in how the management of ‘food street’ has lost the political support it enjoyed before the 2008 polls. It seems that Punjab’s new rulers cannot stomach anything that started during Gen Musharraf’s regime — how could they allow the street to flourish in the heart of their political stronghold knowing that it enjoyed the former president’s patronage? Certainly, in doing away with this popular haunt they might have rid the country of yet another remnant of the Musharraf era but not without depriving Lahore of one of its star attractions.
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OTHER VOICES - North American Press Global warming: the heat is on US
Monday, 13 Jul, 2009
THIS week’s Group of 8 summit has pretty much lived down to the low expectations it generated from the outset, yet it did produce a long-overdue agreement to fight climate change. The club of industrialised nations agreed to cut greenhouse gas emissions 80 per cent by 2050. It was less than President Obama had hoped for — he had aimed to get developing countries such as China and India to sign on as well — but it represents the first time the US has taken the international lead on climate change since the 1990s, and demonstrates to recalcitrant nations that the industrialised world is willing to take responsibility for its outsized contribution to the problem.
Such international pacts are usually meaningless without the backing of Congress…. The clamour from global-warming deniers has heated up as the nation gets closer to taking action, yet their comprehension of climate science hasn’t improved. A particularly common obfuscation from rightwing pundits is the “revelation” that global temperatures have been declining since 1998, even as carbon emissions during the intervening 11 years have risen. — (July 10)