پختونخواہ میں میجر سمیت کرونا سے 250 افراد جاں بحق

تمام تر حکومتی اور سماجی اقدامات اور اپیلوں کے باوجود کرونا وائرس سے متاثرہ افراد کی تعداد دن بدن بڑھتی جارہی ہے جبکہ حالیہ دنوں کے دوران اموات کی شرح میں بھی اضافہ ہوا ہے۔ بدقسمتی کہیے یا بد احتیاطی کہ اموات کی تعداد میں خیبرپختونخوا سرفہرست ہے جبکہ خیبرپختونخواہ میں پشاور ڈیویژن کی اموات اور کیسز سب سے زیادہ ہیں۔ پشاور ڈویژن میں دس مئی کی ایک رپورٹ کے مطابق 152 اموات ہوئی تھیں جبکہ مریضوں کی تعداد اسی روز 1970 رہی۔ سوات دوسرےنمبر پر رہا جہاں کیسز کی تعداد ہفتہ رفتہ کے دوران بھی بڑھتی دکھائی دی اور ہر نیا دن پہلے سے بدتر ثابت ہو رہا ہے۔

گیارہ مئی کی جاری کردہ اعدادوشمار کے مطابق دس مئی کو صرف پشاور میں دس مریض کو رونا سے لقمہ اجل بن گئے تھے جس کے بعد خیبرپختونخواہ میں مجموعی اموات کی تعداد 248 ریکارڈ کی گئی جس پر گیارہ مئی کے روز ورلڈ ہیلتھ آرگنائزیشن  میں بھی تشویش کا اظہار کیا اس عالمی ادارے کی رپورٹ کے مطابق 10 مئی تک پاکستان میں 30950کرونا کیسز ریکارڈ ہوئے تھے کیسزکی صوبہ وار تعداد اس طرح رہی کہ خیبر پختونخوا میں 4670، بلوچستان میں 2018 ، سندھ میں 11480، پنجاب میں 11570، کشمیر میں 86 جبکہ گلگت بلتستان میں 450 کیسز سامنے آئے تھے تاہم اموات کی شرح یا تعداد کے لحاظ سے حسب سابق کم آبادی والا خیبرپختونخوا سرفہرست رہاجہاں 248افراد کرونا وائرس کے باعث زندگی سے ہاتھ دھو بیٹھے ۔ دوسرے نمبر پر اموات کی زیادہ تعداد پنجاب اور تیسرے نمبر پر سندھ میں رہی۔

ڈبلیو ایچ او کے مطابق 10 اپریل کے بعد پاکستان میں کیسز کی تعداد تیزی سے بڑھتی ر ہی اور روزانہ متاثرین یا مریضوں کی تعداد میں تقریبا ً 1700افراد کا اضافہ ریکارڈ ہوا۔ اسی عالمی ادارے نے کہا کہ دس اور گیارہ مئی پر مشتمل 24 گھنٹے کے دوران پاکستان میں 48 اموات سامنے آئے اور خدشہ ظاہر کیا گیا کہ اگر یہ اضافہ اسی رفتار سے جاری رہا تو یہ خطرناک شکل اختیار کر سکتی ہے۔ بدقسمتی یا لاعلمی سے اب بھی بہت لوگ اس مسئلے کو سنجیدہ نہیں لے رہے اس مرض یا وباءسے عام لوگوں کے علاوہ میڈیکل سٹاف، پولیس، فورسز، میڈیا ورکرز اور حکومتی عہدیداران کی بڑھتی تعداد کے علاوہ کئی نامور سائنسدان بھی متاثر ہوئے بغیر نہیں رہ سکے۔ نوجوان صحافی زاہد عثمان کے مطابق اب تک صوبے میں کرونا وائرس سے میڈیکل سٹاف کے 200 سے زائد افراد متاثر ہوئے ہیں جن میں سینئر ڈاکٹرز نرسز اور پیرا میڈیکس کے دوسرے افراد شامل ہیں جبکہ یہ تعداد دن بدن بڑھتی جارہی ہے ان کے مطابق دو درجن سے زائد بیوروکریٹس اور سائنسدان بھی متاثرین میں شامل ہے جبکہ امدادی اداروں کے فیلڈ ورکرز کو بھی خطرات اور چیلنجز کا سامنا ہے تعداد میں اضافے کی وجہ وہ عوام کی بد احتیاطی، بعض اداروں کی غیر سنجیدگی اور منفی پروپیگنڈے پر مشتمل رویہ قرار دے رہے ہیں۔

ُادھر 10 مئی کے روز طورخم بارڈر پر تعینات پاک فوج کے ایک نوجوان اور خوبرو آفیسر میجر اصغر بھی فرائض کی بہترین بجا آوری کے دوران کرونا وائرس کا شکار ہو گئے 37 سالہ میجر اصغر ایف سی کے 143 سی ایس ونگ میں تعینات تھے۔ ان کے لواحقین میں ایک اہلیہ دو بیٹیاں اور ایک بیٹا شامل ہیں۔ ان کو گزشتہ روز سانس اور کھانسی کی تکلیف ہوئی جس کے بعد سی ایم ایچ میں ان میں کرونا کی تصدیق ہوگئی اور دوران علاج ان کا ہسپتال ہی میں انتقال ہوگیا۔

تحقیقی رپورٹس پر کام کرنے والے پشاور کے باصلاحیت صحافی اظہار اللہ کے مطابق میجر اصغر نہ صرف بہت خوش اخلاق اور ہمدرد آفیسر تھے بلکہ وہ پاکستانی متعلقہ اہلکاروں کے علاوہ بارڈر کے اُس پار تعینات افغان اہلکاروں اور افسران میں بھی اپنے دوستانہ اور ہمدردانہ رویہ کے باعث بہت مقبول تھے۔ ان کے مطابق وہ چند روز قبل اپنی سٹوری فائل کرنے طورخم گئے تو میجر اصغر عام اہلکاروں کی طرح فیلڈ میں خود کام کرتے دکھائی دیے بلکہ دوران گفتگو افغان اہلکاروں نے ان کو بتایا کہ ہم میجر اصغر کو ان کے رویے اور مسلسل تعاون کے باعث اپنا آفیسر سمجھ رہے ہیں۔ اس قسم کے ا ہم لوگوں کی اموات اور قربانی کا سلسلہ جاری ہے مگر عوام۔۔۔؟

دوسری طرف عوام اور تاجر اتنی اموات اور کیسز کی بڑھتی تعداد کے باوجود حکومت سے وہ تعاون کرتے دکھائی نہیں دے رہے جس کی ضرورت ہے حکومت نے بڑا رسک لے کر جزوی لاک ڈاؤن کوسوفٹ لاک ڈاؤن میں تبدیل کردیا ۔ تاہم اتوار اور پیر کے روز پشاور شہر سمیت تمام بڑے شہروں میں اس رعایت سے ناجائز فائدہ اٹھاتے ہوئے عوام کے علاوہ تعلیم یافتہ حلقے اور خواص بھی اپنی فیملیز کے ساتھ شاپنگ سنٹرز پر ٹوٹ پڑے۔ افسوسناک امر یہ ہے کہ ان میں اکثریت سرکاری افسران اور اہلکاروں کی تھی جو کہ بہت افسوس ناک بلکہ شرمناک اور غیر ذمہ دارانہ طرز عمل ہے ضرورت اس بات کی ہے کہ حکومت کی نرمی اور رعایت سے ناجائز فائدہ اٹھانے سے گریز کیا جائے اور حکومت کو سختی پر مجبور نہ کیا جائے۔

in Pakistan, the political parties tend to become family hereditary once they come into governments

Political parties or business enterprises!

Democracy in its true essence is a governing system in which people use the right of their votes to elect a government for a specified tenure; during this period, the voters keep an eye on the performances of the elected governments and re-elect or reject it in next round of elections.

There are two forms of Representative democracy: parliamentary system and presidential system. In parliamentary democracy, the power rests with the Prime Minister of a country while in presidential democracy people elect a president to head the government.

In Parliamentary democracy, a political party is very important organization, which is governed by a constitution and collective wisdom, it is a public property, a voluntary association where every citizen can openly express opinion on public affairs without any fear of repression and can contest as a candidate in elections. In this way, democracy is the government of the people, by the people, for the people.

Pakistan came into being on August 14, 1947 as a result of democratic struggle of the Muslims of Indian subcontinent, since then, there have been dozens of elections leading to democratically elected governments but still the democracy in Pakistan is referred to as incipient, fragile and inconclusive. Why is it so? The proponents of democracy blame military interventions and proclamation of martial laws on regular intervals; they claim that the back-to-back martial laws disrupted the progress of democratic process and did not let the democratic system succeed. While this notion may not be out-rightly wrong, it is however not the main reason for failure of democratic system in Pakistan.

In-fact the main reason for the failure of democracy in Pakistan is the political party system itself, as in Pakistan the political parties instead of a public property have become family enterprises or private limited companies heritable from parents to children and then to grandchildren. From 1947, there are several big and small political parties operating in Pakistan, apart from few, the majority of political parties are practicing hereditary politics, where heir to the party throne is strictly ensured to be a blood relation. It means political parties are not allowing democratic process of free will or choice within the parties when it comes to choosing party’s heads. Our democrats often quote United Kingdom, United States and other European countries when they glorify democracy, however, they are either unable to comprehend or they choose to close their eyes to identify basic differences between Pakistani and Western democracies. In reality, both are completely different systems.

For example, in United States, UK and other European democracies, anybody (member) within the party can come forward and present himself/herself as a candidate for President or Prime Minister elections, we have various examples where the likes of Barak Obama, an ordinary black African-American, contested presidential elections and became the President of the United States. Barak Obama after completing his two tenures as president did not resist leaving his office or recommended his relatives for the next elections; he left the position for other aspirants to the post. Barak Obama had no push in terms of family connections, extravagant wealth or other accessories but was brought to the top by system; the system which is not dependent on personalities but on strong principles. Similarly, in Europe and Australia there are political parties but those parties are not personal properties of certain political families. Elections are held on regular basis where deserving people are chosen while less talented are push to the background.

However, our democratic system primarily serves the interests of elites instead of public; the parliament has in past introduced laws in order to benefit certain personalities. For instance, the parliament under former President Pervez Musharraf passed a law barring a person to become premier of the country for third tenure. However, in 2010 the same parliament under 18th Amendment cancelled the two terms rule just to benefit Muhammad Nawaz Sharif. He became premier for the third time after his party won majority seats during general elections of 2013. When the Supreme Court of Pakistan deposed Nawaz Sharif in 2017 as premier and barred him to head his faction of Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N), National Assembly and Senate hurriedly passed a law enabling him to head his party.

Unfortunately, in Pakistan, the political parties tend to become family hereditary once they come into governments, slowly and gradually supporters and workers accept the family members of their leaders as their destined rulers. For instance, Late Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto formed Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and after his death, his daughter late Benazir Bhutto became chairperson of the party. Following the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, now her son Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is heading the party.

Similarly, Nawaz Sharif formed his own faction of Muslim League, the PML-N. After his disqualification by Supreme Court in corruption cases, his brother Shehbaz Sharif was made president of the party, however, there are reports of differences between Shehbaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz on party’s leadership. Similarly, the rein of Pashtun nationalist Awami National Party (ANP) came into the hands of Asfandiyar Wali Khan and his son Aimal Wali Khan from Khan Abdul Wali Khan and Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan.

Jamiat Ulema Islam (JUI-F) although a religious party was taken over by Maulana Fazlur Rehman after the death of his father Mufti Mahmood, same is the case with PMLQ, QWP etc. It seems there is nobody else eligible or qualified for the leadership of these parties. Similarly, no party worker or office bearer, how strong he may be, cannot give his/her point of view to oppose certain policies or object to the orders of party head. Opposition to party policies by ordinary workers usually results in their expulsions from the party. The leader run the party like a personal business enterprise or a hereditary property instead of a collective wisdom or free will of the party members. Party head is considered final authority and he makes decisions unitarily and unchallenged.

In our democratic system another flaw which causes failure is that the wealthy elites, industrialists, landlords-feudal, often referred to as electable invest their ill-gotten black money on various political parties and get key important positions in those political parties. After the parties come into power, such opportunist exploits their investment by accruing various legal and illegal benefits. These investors-politicians usually resort to cronyism, nepotism and large-scale corruption which harms the economy and system. Elected governments are reluctant to take action against these corrupt politicians due to fear of losing party funds and number game in parliament.

In such situations when country affairs get out of control and people start street agitation against ‘elected’ governments, the establishment has to act under obligation of national security. Therefore, until and unless political parties are made public property under truly democratic principles instead of family business enterprises and our political leaders consider people the real source of power, democracy cannot deliver or prosper in Pakistan.

WHY THE FATALITY RATE IS HIGH IN KP?

Pakistan is ranked 29th in the world in terms of death from corona pandemic, where total deaths stands at 673. Moreover, in Asia, Pakistan has been ranked eighth in terms of number of deaths from the virus. The fatality rate from novel coronavirus in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is higher than the rest of the country as the province has reported 245 deaths out of total deaths in Pakistan. The nationwide Covid-19 fatality rate is only 2.3pc but in KP, it is about 6 percent. The provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa became the country’s second district after Karachi to surpass 100 deaths from novel coronavirus (Covid-19).

Situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa especially in Peshawar has become quite alarming as 10 patients died of coronavirus in a day, the largest number of people who died in a single day from the disease in the country since outbreak of the COVID-19.

According to the experts, there can be various reasons for the province’s high fatality rate from COVID-19. One of the reason might be, that currently KP is conducting very limited number of tests and there is a possibility that a large number of corona patients goes unnoticed. Moreover, according to physicians, recorded coronavirus death rate is elevated due to not following proper protocols for case identification. The asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic cases aren’t tested in the province. KP has a population of 35million, but only 20,625 tests have been conducted so far. Suspected cases were sent home after doctors took samples and until results were received, the patients got serious and reached critical condition.

Officials at the health department, however, said it was due to the best practices that the province had conducted lesser tests according to the WHO’s guidelines. The deaths are mostly attributed to old age and travel history to endemic countries. There is no laxity on part of the government and medical department.

According to Minister of Health and Finance, Mr. Jhagra, there has been a lot of conjecture about higher fatality rates in KP versus the rest of the country. However, “Given different reporting methods for deaths and limited levels of testing, fatality rates computed for any province in Pakistan are flawed statistics,”.

Another major reason for COVID-19 deaths in KP may be false reporting for securing monitory benefits announced by government for COVID-19 deceased families. As per various reports hospitals staff and deceased families are faking normal deaths as COVID-19 deaths in order to secure rupees 0.5million grant announced by government.

The government needs to seriously investigate the reasons of high fatality rate and address any gaps in response measures in order to bring down the death rate at least at par with other regions in Pakistan. Though, the government has scaled up the province’s testing capacity for coronavirus to around 1,500 per day during the last 45 days and efforts are afoot to double it in the next few days. There is a need to take a wholesome approach towards the issue to arrest this alarming trend of high death ratio.

Effects of Climate change over the land of KP

“Climate change is a phenomenon that arises due to emissions of greenhouse gases from fuel combustion, deforestation, urbanization and industrialization, resulting in variation of solar energy, temperature and precipitation”.

Pakistan is one of the top countries facing the impact of climate change. The average temperature of Pakistan as projected by various environmentalists has increased in range of 1-3 degree centigrade in various regions of the country. This has led to abnormal melting of glaciers which in longer run may deprive Pakistan of its major water resource. The climate change impacts are seen in the form of floods, dry winters, storms, and extremely high or low temperature.

World health organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) has recorded that the damages done in Pakistan due to global warming includes droughts and extreme weather which are prevalent since 1980’s. As per WHO, July 2010 floods were due to global warming, which inflicted 9.5 million dollars loss to economy and effected 20 million people all across Pakistan.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was the most affected province which faced the major brunt of 2010 floods causing wide range damages and significant causalities. Above 90% of deaths due to 2010 floods were from the province of KP. The environmental analyses results show that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as a whole experienced the climate change impact in terms of rise in mean temperature from 0.3 degree centigrade to 1.2 degree centigrade and average rainfall from 11mm to 15mm over thirty years span.

KP is divided into four agro-ecological zones based on climate, rainfall, agriculture, altitude and topography in the Environmental profile of KP.

Extreme climate conditions range throughout the different areas of the province. For example- the northern region of KP experiences enormously cold and snowy winters, with heavy rainfall and pleasant summers, whereas the northern parts of KP experiences less harsh winters and hotter summers. Chitral, the highest districts of KP experiences the lowest temperatures in winters. DI-Khan, the southern most district of KP, experiences milder winters and therefore is dominated by agriculture and rangelands due to optimum climate conditions for agriculture.

Climate change has greatly impact the agriculture sector of KP. Wheat has been most affected by the climate change as few areas in central valley and most parts of southern districts have completely stopped growing wheat due to less or no rain. It has been observed that the change in the pattern of rainfall has reduced the normal yield of various crops in different districts of KP.

Due to longer summers and higher temperatures, glaciers are melting at a higher rate. Spring seasons are favorable for freezing process of glaciers which protect them from rapid melting. However, due to higher temperatures and less duration of spring seasons, glaciers are not getting enough time to freeze and therefore, are melting at a higher rate in summers. There are more than 5000 glaciers in Gilgit Baltistan (GB) and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) in which 33 Glacier’s lakes are melting rapidly due to rise in temperature. This can cause perilous Glacial Lake Outburst Flooding (GLOF) in the area. KP has faced catastrophic floods and drought in the recent years that have killed and displaced thousands of people and damaged wide spread infrastructure.

Changing weather patterns such as higher temperature and more rainfall can have serious impacts on flora, fauna. Higher temperature provides favorable environment to various bacteria species which cause various health issues. Recently in the year 2019, the dengue virus disease appeared and was amplified with increase in temperature. Moreover, flooding and droughts can cause shortage of portable drinking water.

Realizing the adverse impact, the government of KP launched an ambitious initiative of billion tree tsunami to reverse effect of global warming. Recently the project has been replicated by the center where country wide ten billion tree tsunami project has been initiated. Though, Pakistan is not among the major contributor to greenhouse gases emission, however, it is one of most effected country by global warming.

The government of KP has also decided the Formulation of Provincial Climate Change Policy to give recommendation and way forward on the issue of Climate Change and challenges to KP province. For this purpose, the project was launched titled “Establishment of Climate Change and Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) Cell” under the provision Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Despite these initiatives KP still needs to take concrete steps to mitigate the impact of climate change. There is also a requirement of national policy on climate change in order to ensure requisite steps in time to meet its challenges.

Billion Tree Tsunami Project – Killing two birds with one stone

The ‘Billion Tree Tsunami’ a project started by the PTI government has received appreciation from the national, international community and media organizations. As it has provided jobs to thousands of labourers and daily wage workers amid the Covid-19 lockdown.

Millions of daily wagers in Pakistan lost their jobs and were greatly affected after Pakistan imposed lockdown in the country on March 23 to curb the spread of COVID-19 but the PTI government in an effort to avoid large scale unemployment among daily wagers started Billion Tree Tsunami and thousands of labourers have been given new jobs as “jungle workers”, planting saplings as part of the country’s 10 Billion Tree Tsunami programme.

According to the available data, about 66,291 workers are employed in Billion Tree Tsunami project. KPK Forest Department alone has provided approximately 22,000 jobs to unemployed workers in forest nurseries, enclosures and Afforestation programme. The labourers are receiving PKR 15,000 monthly which might not be a large amount but is still sufficient to support a poor family.

Besides, helping the poor class of the country amid covid-19 lockdown, the Billion Tree Tsunami is also playing an effective role in fighting the climate change war.
The Global Climate Risk Index 2020, issued by think tank Germanwatch, ranked Pakistan fifth on a list of countries most affected by planetary heating over the last two decades – even though the South Asian nation contributes only a fraction of global greenhouse gases.

According to Germanwatch, Pakistan reported more than 150 extreme weather events between 1999 and 2018 – from floods to heat waves with total losses of $3.8 billion to the economy.

The World Economic Forum (WEF) has also praised Pakistan for tackling the global pandemic with positivity and has appreciated the initiative which is not only helping in controlling emission of carbon but also providing much needed jobs to the poor during lockdown.

While talking to us on phone, a labourer Muhammad Ibrar working on Tsunami Project in Malakand division said that he had lost job due to Covid-19 and had nothing to do but beg; adding that the Billion Tree Project saved his dignity as it has provided him with an easy and reasonable job of planting trees while earning much needed money to support his family.

Pakistan is a “forest poor” country where trees cover less than 6% of the total area. This project will help Pakistan in many ways including reducing unemployment, minimizing the threats of climate change and heat waves.

The aim of the project launched in 2018 by Imran Khan, was to counter the rising temperatures, flooding, droughts and other extreme weather in the country that scientists link to climate change; but after the Covid19 outbreak the government intelligently utilized the project as a way to reduce unemployment amid outbreak of coronavirus and provided jobs to thousands of masses.

Prime Minister Imran Khan had earlier approved ‘Green Stimulus’ package as part of the government’s efforts to extend green cover in the county and to create job opportunities for the youth, particularly in the wake of coronavirus crisis.

The Green Stimulus package, as part of 10 Billion Tree Tsunami project, aims to promote plantation, setting up nurseries, natural forests and promotion of honey, fruit and olive plantation in the country.

Under the package, a ‘Green Nigehabaan’ initiative would also be launched to provide job opportunities to 65,000 youth/daily-wage earners in the first phase, making them a part of the plantation campaign.

Addressing the issues related to climate change, the prime minister had said enhancing green cover of the country is among the foremost priorities of the government.
Prime Minister Imran Khan in his latest tweet referring to this project stated as “Killing two birds with one stone”.