T.Edit 04 APR 2021

SUNDAY April 4, 2021

ECONOMY & BUSINESS Page 3

The bulging supply of young low-skilled workers is likely to exceed demand — Sabina Dewan

Story by: Zeeshan Ahmad

97 % of sentences were either commuted to life imprisonment or decided otherwise in 2018

ENVIRONMENT

EDUCATION

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We are forcing the sea to boil over and surge out onto us —Tofiq Pasha Mooraj

In our patriarchal society girls’ education has never been a priority — Shad Begum

Design by: Umar Waqas

I

n the words of one researcher, science is not meant to cure us of mystery. Instead, he argues, it is supposed to reinvent and reinvigorate. For us lay people, science remains a mystery sans reinvention. For reasons mundane and existential, most of us shy away from asking the fundamental questions. Perhaps its due to our own shyness, even fear, that many of us hold such awe for those who dare go intellectually where the rest of us are unwilling or incapable of going.

Speaking of awe and mysteries, there are a handful of places around the world that evoke both while capturing our collective imagination. If I mention the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, it may or may not mean anything to most of us. But, if I use the acronym CERN, many may find their thoughts transported to the world of Dan Brown, of scientific intrigue and where the impossible becomes possible.

Speaking still of mysteries, and of CERN, there is the question of antimatter, a material many of us lay people may confuse with the similar sounding yet wildly different concepts of dark matter and dark energy. Beyond our own mysterious understanding of it, lie the antimatter mysteries that the scientists who study it continue to reinvent and reinvigorate in their attempts to understand it.

As luck, or perhaps fate, would have it, one of them is Pakistani. Who better to demystify both what we know at the moment about antimatter and what working at CERN entails.

Demystifying antimatter For Muhammad Sameed, a life’s yearning for understanding has led to a dream come true. The 32-year-old Islamabad native is among a mere handful of Pakistanis who would think themselves lucky for a chance to work at CERN. What is more in Sameed’s case, he is physicist involved in studying antimatter particles at one of the world’s premier physics research organisations.

At CERN, Sameed is part of the ALPHA experiment, an acronym that stands for the Antihydrogen Laser Physics Apparatus. Just recently, the ALPHA collaboration effort succeeded in cooling down antihydrogen particles – the simplest form of atomic antimatter – with laser light.

Speaking with The Express Tribune, the young scientist began by admitting that the wider scientific com-

munity had perhaps contributed to some of the public misunderstandings about antimatter. “I think it is us physicists’ fault for giving such similar names to such different concepts,” he said when asked about the difference between antimatter, dark matter and dark energy.

Taking his own crack at remedying that, he explained: “Before we explain antimatter, it is important remember what matter is, at the subatomic level.”

Most of us learn about atoms and how they are made of electrons, protons and neutrons in school. “But that is where the general awareness ends,” said Sameed. “If you look deeper, while electrons are fundamental particles – they belong to a family of particles called leptons – protons and neutrons are not. Those two are made up of two more kinds of fundamental particles: the quarks and the gluons, which bind them.” He added that all matter that surrounds us and that we can interact with is made of particles from two families, namely quarks and leptons. Both families consist of six kinds of particles each.

Since the discovery of the antielectron in the US almost 90 years ago scientists have discovered an antimatter counterpart to each regular matter particle we know of According to Sameed, we have known all of this since the early part of the previous century, when quantum mechanics was developed. “Where does antimatter come in? It was first articulated in a theoretical study by physicist Paul Dirac,” he shared.

Dirac, while solving a quantum mechanics equation, arrived at two solutions, one positive and the other negative. “The positive one corresponded to the electron. Dirac initially disregarded the negative solution, but later used it to hypothesise the existence of ‘antielectrons’,” Sameed explained. “He

made that prediction in 1928, and just four years later, an American experiment actually discovered it.”

How was the discovery made, you wonder? “We have all these particles from outer space that pass through our planet,” said Sameed. “If we apply a magnetic field to them, we can determine which direction these particles turn in. If electrons turn to one side, particles with the opposite charge would turn in the other direction.”

The physicist shared that since the discovery of the antielectron almost 90 years ago scientists have discovered an antimatter counterpart to each regular matter particle we know of. “The story we physicists should be telling people is that not only is antimatter real, but that these are particles are found in nature,” he said. “The real question is this: we know from equations and experiments that when matter is produced – in a lab or after the Big Bang – an equal amount of antimatter is produced. So how is it that ‘regular’ matter became so dominant in our universe and why is there so little antimatter occurring in nature?”

According to Sameed, all research into antimatter at CERN and other organisations is focused on this question: “What happened? Where did all the antimatter go?” One proposed explanation, he shared, is that antimatter has some as yet unknown property that converts it into regular matter in unequal amounts. “So by producing and trapping antimatter in a lab, we test it for various properties and whether those can explain what happened to most antimatter in nature. This has been the focus of research for the last 30 to 40 years.”

Cooling with lasers Explaining the recent ALPHA experiment with laser cooling, Sameed began by explaining the choice of antihydrogen. “Hydrogen is the simplest atom we know of, with just one proton and one electron. Antihydrogen, similarly, is the simplest antiatom,” he said.

“You take an antiproton, get an antielectron to orbit it, and you should have an antihydrogen atom. But this is easier said than done,” he explained. “The main challenge with producing antihydrogen or any other antimatter particle is that if an anti-matter particle comes in contact with a regular matter particle, both are annihilated. So in order to capture anti-matter particles, you need to create perfect vacuum to ensure

We know when matter is produced an equal amount of antimatter is produced. So how is it that ‘regular’ matter became so dominant in our universe?

CERN physicist Muhammad Sameed they don’t come in contact with matter particles.”

Sameed added that the challenge isn’t just limited to creating vacuum either. “You need to make sure that the container being used is designed in a way to ensure antimatter particles don’t come in contact with its walls. This is done using electromagnetic fields.”

Explaining how scientists study antimatter, Sameed began by explaining how regular matter particles would be studied. “Take a regular hydrogen atom which is in what we call a ‘ground state’ or normal state. If we shine a laser with a specific energy level onto that simple atom, its electron can jump into an ‘excited’ state.” He said that scientists have known about the effects of lasers on hydrogen atoms for a long time. “We know what frequencies can excite it. For our experiment, we thought to test the same on anti-hydrogen atoms. We wondered if it would react differently to regular hydrogen due to differences in energy levels or other properties. Perhaps our findings could help unravel some of the mystery around why there is so little antimatter in the universe?”

CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

COVER STORY

The side effects of research for research’s sake are undeniable. The countries that invested in it over the last few hundred years are the ones that wield the most power or political influence today, said the physicist According to Sameed, the effects of lasers on antihydrogen were first tested in 2017. “We shined a laser with the same frequency as the one that excites electrons in a regular hydrogen atom on to an antihydrogen atom. The results suggest the effect on antihydrogen was more or less the same,” he said. “But one side effect that we uncovered at the time – and this had been predicted before the experiment – was that laser light can ‘cool’ particles.”

“Normally we use lasers to heat things, but if you shine a laser beam on an atom that is coming towards it, it has an effect of ‘slowing down’ the atom,” he added. “So our current experiment was the first time we tested this laser cooling principle on antimatter.”

Sameed further revealed that the next antimatter experiment being developed aims to study how it behaves under the influence of gravity from regular matter.

“We know how gravitational forces work between regular matter. Our equations suggest the same interaction would be true between two objects made of antimatter. But, we want to find out what happens in terms of gravity when there is an interaction between matter and antimatter. At the moment, we don’t even have any strong theories to predict what will happen.”

Easier said than done When Sameed explains the experiment, one may get the false impression that it is as easy as pointing a laser towards antimatter. But nothing could be further from the truth.

“For starters the laser we use is not the one used in laser pointers that most people know of. Ours is an ultraviolet laser, which is invisible to the naked eye and has a much higher energy level. It is not available commercially and is very difficult to manufacture, so we have to develop it in-house at CERN,” he said. The laser in question is also absorbed by air particles, Sameed added. “Not only must the beam travel through vacuum, it must be produced and aimed in vacuum as well.”

According to Sameed, firing a laser at antihydrogen is a very different challenge that firing it at regular hydrogen. “For normal hydrogen, we can shine the laser from any angle. But for antihydrogen, because the en-

One example of antimatter applications beyond pure research is in the realm of medical imaging: the PET or Positron Emission Tomography scanner

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APRIL 4, 2021

tire container is surrounded by special magnets to keep it from touching the walls, there is a very small access point for the laser itself.”

Commercial possibilities Any innovative technology can open up opportunities beyond what those who developed it are sometimes able to appreciate. Speaking on this aspect, Sameed said: “We scientists develop such innovative solutions to satisfy pure curiosity and answer the fundamental questions about physics. But all research produces technological byproducts and sooner or later, they trickle down to R&D companies and eventually to wider society.”

Asked if he could foresee any antimatter applications used beyond research, Sameed said there was one example already in medical imaging, even if it was difficult to predict wider uses. “The PET or Positron Emission Tomography scanner. The positron is an antimatter particle. It is essentially an anti-electron.”

Beyond that, CERN in general is responsible for developing a wide-range of technologies. “For instance, to trap anti-matter particles, we need strong magnetic fields. To produce those, we have to develop superconducting magnets which have various commercial uses as well. For instance, such magnets are used in hospitals in MRI scanners. A lot of technologies used in modern medicine were first developed in research centres like CERN,” Sameed revealed.

“Even on the software side, applications developed to track near-instant physical phenomenon have been co-opted by some financing trading companies which want to leverage the ability to process information in microseconds.”

Sameed added that all CERN research is open-source and accessible to anyone in the world. “You can contact our knowledge transfer centre and gain our research to use in reasonable ways.”

The value of research According to Sameed, the side effects of research for research’s sake are undeniable. “We can see it over the last few centuries. The countries and regions that invested in fundamental research and technology, are the ones that are now global powers,” he said. “But we don’t even need to look at it philosophically. Just look at the Internet.”

Sameed pointed out that the World Wide Web was originally developed by CERN in the 1980s as a means to share information between physicists instantaneously.

“The intention at the time was only to aid research. But it was made open source, and the effect of that simple choice in reshaping life can be seen today.”

Back to the future How does one get to work at CERN? For Sameed, the yearning to become a scientist was sparked by one movie

most of us watch and loved growing up. “I was five or six when I watched Back to the Future. I don’t think I understood much about the movie at the time, but I remember finding the character of Doc Brown fascinating,” he said. “I decided then that I would at least try to be a scientist when I grew up.”

In terms of background, Sameed admits he had an ordinary middle-class upbringing. “But I am lucky that my parents tried to provide me the best education possible,” he said. Still, CERN was beyond his dreams till the time he graduated A-Levels. For Sameed, the path to a career in science opened with his elder brother’s academic pursuits. “He went to the US on scholarship to study chemical and biological engineer-

When not busy participating in research, Sameed tries to do his part to raise awareness about opportunities for other Pakistanis at CERN. “Pakistan is now an associate member at CERN and what that means is that any Pakistani can apply for any job here. This is not limited to just positions for scientists and engineers, and involves things like administration and legal affairs, etc.”

Pakistan and CERN According to Sameed, at the youth level, there is more awareness about CERN in Pakistan now. “In fact, Pakistan has one of the highest number of applicants to CERN,” he said. “But most of these are just student positions at the moment and for higher level positions, we are still lagging behind. In terms of Pakistanis who are at CERN for the long term, there may be four or five.”

Even so, Pakistanis appear to be highly valued at CERN, Sameed revealed. “Pakistani engineers have made a huge contribution to CERN and they are a very well respected community here. They always trust Pakistanis who make it to CERN to do a good job,” he said. “There is also immense pride for Pakistanis at CERN due to Dr Abdus Salam’s contributions, both to physics as a whole and to CERN during the time he spent here. One of the streets is even named after him,” he added.

Asked what advice he had for other young Pakistanis who choose a similar path, the physicist pointed out that there are many opportunities available, not just in CERN, but other high quality institutes. “Not only are Pakistanis eligible to apply, but they are looking for people from diverse backgrounds with talent,” he said.

Even if you don’t have the confidence, I would say apply.

Because you might think you’re not good enough, but the people who are recruiting may believe otherwise.”

Sameed reiterated that when he joined CERN, he realised he was as good as anyone else. “My hope for the future is that in addition to engineers, more Pakistani physicists will join as well.”

Pakistani engineers have made a huge contribution to CERN and they are very well respected here Muhammad Sameed ing. That made me realise that I too could get in-depth education in physics abroad. Like him, I applied for a scholarship and was able to study physics at Cornell University. That really set the stage for me.”

The next chapter began when Sameed came across the example of another Pakistani who went on a summer internship to CERN. “He made me aware that there was a programme international students could apply for. I applied, with no hope of getting in, and originally I was rejected. But, some time later, they contacted me again and told me that I was a better fit for another department, and here I am.”

According to Sameed, he initially believed his recruiters at CERN had made an error. “But once I got here, I realised that I was no different from other students, from Europe or US or elsewhere. We Pakistanis are in no way inferior to other countries in terms of talent. All that is missing is awareness.”

Photos: Muhammad Sameed/CERN/Agencies

ECONOMY & BUSINESS

THE GIG IS UP!

Story by: Omar Qureshi

Design by: Mohsin Alam

Lay-offs prompted by the pandemic have created a huge pool of freelancers around the world. As global employers try to ensure a steady supply of work to go around, in Pakistan the gig economy presents its own set of opportunities and challenges Covid-19 has dramatically transformed the employment ecosystem all over the world. Large-scale layoffs by bigwig global firms have given a significant push to the gig economy.

Last year, World Bank Lead Economist for Social Protection and Jobs Federica Saliola said “gig” jobs will continue to grow but digital infrastructure is scarce or of low quality in many developing countries. Therefore, she called for investment in digital capacity and appropriate regulations for platform firms should be a global priority.

Echoing similar views, JustJobs Network President and Executive Director Sabina Dewan and International Labour Organisation Ekkehard Ernst said that the pandemic was fueling the platform economy.

“The danger is that the bulging supply of young and low-skilled workers drawn to platforms is likely to exceed the demand for their services as data processors, customer service representatives, and ride-hailing service drivers,” the two officials said.

They stressed that not only will these workers frequently find themselves “gigless”—that is, underemployed—but they will likely face downward pressure on working conditions.

The gig economy in Pakistan Since Covid-19 surfaced in Pakistan, many companies were forced to layoff employees to sustain smooth functioning amid the challenging posed by the virus. In absence of large-scale hirings, many sacked workers as well as job seekers and graduates turned towards the gig economy.

Rabeel Sundardas, Co-Founder and CEO of branding agency Appstract, detailed that the ecosystem in Pakistan, especially for services which are also being offered on freelance basis, is a bit

Until the government figures out how to create jobs for the younger generation, people will keep looking to enter the gig economy in a bid to practise their field of expertise Freelancer Rabiya Imran

different compared to services which are not offered by freelancers.

“However, when one enters the market and offers a certain service at a price, there is always a peer who bids a lower price for the same service which incentivises the client to get work done in a smaller amount of money,” she said.

Sundardas, whose agency had formerly been a part of gig market, added that when the lockdown was imposed in Pakistan in March 2020, there was not much problem finding clients however getting a competitive price for the product became a challenge.

“In terms of clients, we did not get affected to a large extent,” she said. “However, we got hit in terms of payments because clients were planning to pay from the money that they were expecting to make by selling their products.” At that time, everyone was relying on others for payments to meet expenses, she said.

According to her, the primary trouble was finding clients who would commit to the project right away rather than postponing work until they had clarity on their expected inflows.

“There were times when clients were short on money and we had to seal the deal at a much lesser price than what we could have in usual days and this was a major drawback,” she said.

She appreciated that with Covid-19, the need of online presence for all business soared which was a giant leap forward for Pakistan in terms of digitalisation.

Echoing similar views, Lahore based freelancer Hamza Faiq Khan considers freelancing more comfortable than a full time job. “At times, freelance work helps me make more money than a permanent job,” he said. “In addition, I gain more experience working with different clients on diverse schemes and it helps me grow in different fields of work.”

Karachi based freelance worker Rabiya Imran projects expansion in local gig economy in the years to come.Imran, who works as a freelance social media manager, added that in the pandemic, jobs are unstable or not available for a certain amount of people hence they were turning to the gig economy.

“Until the government figures out how to create jobs for the younger generation, people will keep looking to enter the gig economy in a bid to practise their field of expertise,” she said.

Supporting her views, a source in the freelance industry, on the condition of anonymity, said that a lot of people were entering the gig economy to earn extra money in addition to their permanent jobs. Some people even made freelance work their primary sources of income.

“It is particularly helpful in this country for women because a lot of women struggle to work outside of their homes,” she said.

“Moreover, considering the saturated job market, individuals are taking whatever opportunities are available to them.”

Balance and flexibility Elaborating on the opportunities present in the gig economy, Sundardas was of the view that the good thing about contractual work is that a person could work on their own hours and terms while being paid for what they can produce. “Another advantage of contractual work is that you are your own boss and can work on your own terms and conditions,” she said. “You can draft a particular deal and adjust it for the client indicating clearly how long you would be working each day and how much extra will client have to pay for the extra work that you undertook” She said that an added constraint is when the freelancer/ agency has to take care of the cost that are incurred while working on the project for eg, equipments, rent, internet and other overheads. According to her, Pakistanis could earn more in contractual work than permanent work. She added that salary in a permanent jobs remains capped at a certain level but in the gig economy, it can rise way above that point if the person is able to negotiate a better deal or work prolonged hours.

“As the worker gains experience in contractual work, they start finishing tasks quickly, achieving more in less time and making more money which can be encouraging for youngsters,” she said. “In addition, the US dollar is quite strong against the rupee (at around 155) and keeping that in mind, people are moving into freelance work as they earn more from taking gigs from foreign clients than they can earn locally.”

She stressed that this factor in particular, posed a win win situation for clients as they were able to get work done in a lesser amount than what they would have paid to businesses in their own countries.

Giving example of her own business, she said that it was set up without any investment and whatever expenditure ture was done on the firm was through earnings that the initiaitiative brought in. “We paid all expenses from earnings that our projects generated,” she said. On the other hand, Imran highighlighted that freelancing helps her work from the comfort off her house. “Furthermore, I get to be as creative as possible,” she said. “Brands do add their input however their involvement nt in my strategy remains very low.”

PRIMARY FIELD OF FREELANCING

A question of trust Appstract CEO said that there were a handful of challenges hindering the growth of gig economy in Pakistan. “In freelance or contractual work, until and unless one has a word of mouth to vouch for them, they cannot get much business,” she said. “If you are a young business, people prefer not to hire you and go for bigger names instead.”

Secondly, establishing a business in itself is a challenge. She added that she and her business partner had a hard time knowing the potential costs, fulfilling the banking formalities, registering the company, paying rent and doing taxes.

Perhaps the biggest setback for Pakistan is that there are no dedicated business coaches out there. She added there were a handful of coaches but they were far from having complete knowledge of freelance environment given that it has widened drastically in the past one year.

Lack of information and knowledge among Pakistanis is affecting growth of these businesses “India and US have excellent coaches who specialise in guiding freelancers and they are doing a great service teaching their fellow countrymen,” she said.

According to her, lack of dedicated platforms was another problem because people look to land contractual work on platforms such as Facebook and LinkedIn. Lack of payment facilities is another problem while opening bank accounts for freelancers is a troublesome in Pakistan, she said. At present, freelancers cannot apply for bank accounts until they can prove steady flow of income.

“Finally, we have experienced problems in receiving money from Australia because Australian dollar cannot directly be added to Pakistani bank accounts,” she said. “It has to be converted to another currency such as euro or US dollar and then added to Pakistani bank accounts.”

She lamented that for one project for an Australian client, her firm lost 20% of the amount due to multiple conversions. This is hindering growth of freelance ecosystem and gig economy, the official said.

Khan highlighted that other than reaching out to clients, there were substantial exposure and payment issues, which acted as challenges for new freelancers. “Another hurdle that I faced was that fresh freelancers would devalue the price of projects by charging less than the competitive prices which would in turn decrease the market rates of projects and dent earnings,” he said.

The government has recently shared plans to introduce a tax on freelancers, which is discouraging in itself, he lamented.

The source in the gig economy remarked that lack of formal platforms in Pakistan were a huge barrier hindering the growth of freelance ecosystem because in absence of dedicated platforms, people could get away without making payments.

Improving the ecosystem Sundardas emphasised that the government could enhance the financial infrastructure of Pakistan to give a push to the gig economy.

“In particular, the government should work on improving money transfer and payment methods,” she said. “One big barrier in the ecosystem is that the time taken between client making the payment and the firm receiving it is massive.” She stressed that the waiting time sometimes was over one week.She was of the view that introducing Paypal in particular and creating a banking infrastructure for freelancers such as allowing them to open bank accounts easily would help Pakistan as a whole.

WEB & GRAPHIC DESIGN PROGRAMMING IT MULTIMEDIA PRODUCTION CONTENT WRITING TRANSLATION MARKETING ADMINISTRATIVE CUSTOMER SUPPORT PROJECT MANAGEMENT SALE Q|A FINANCE

30% 19% 10% 8% 8% 7% 6% 3% 2% 2% 2% 2% 1%

PAKISTANI FREELANCER EARNINGS BY AGE

2.3% 3.7%

55+ 45 - 54 35 - 44

19.7%

25 - 34

57.6%

Rapid growth

47 per cent is the growth in Pakistan’s freelance work market in terms of earnings She emphasised improvement on banking front would ease the doing business ecosystem of Pakistan drastically and it would steer the gig economy. Apart from the demand to introduce Paypal, Khan called upon the leadership to work towards providing inexpensive high speed internet services which would be a huge benefit for the gig economy. Imran also demanded introduction of international payment systems such as PayPal or Amazon Pay. “This will help people land international gigs easily and without getting into the huge process of transferring money to the local bank account,” she said.

The source in the gig economy said government could create an official platform for gig work in Pakistan because the country is currently lacking a formal space where rules and regulations could be followed strictly.

Moreover, the government can offer courses or training to individuals as freelancing can help a lot of people earn additional income, she suggested.

On an upward swing Sundardas projects steady growth in the gig economy of Pakistan.

“In the past few day, we have seen so many prominent freelancers emerge and make modest profits and at the same time, countless freelancing platforms have gained traction such as Fiverr and Upwork,” she said. “These platforms make it easier for gig economy workers to connect with clients all over the world.”

She detailed that South Asia possessed immense talent at all fronts and that was why clients from the first world were always on a lookout for people from Pakistan, India Bangladesh and other regional nations. “Cost is no doubt a factor but the quality of work that people do on projects is also excellent,” she said.

She termed it encouraging that a massive chunk of population was now entering the gig economy. According to her, if conducive environment was provided, more people would enter the freelance ecosystem. Freelancing even helps create more job opportunities, she concluded.

18 - 24 SOURCE: PAYONEER

16.6% 47% MONTHLY GROWTH IN PAKISTANI FREELANCE REVENUE

36%

Hungry for work

21%

33%

16%

was the rise in global gig economy income in 2020

2% JAN FEB

MAR

APR

MAY

JUN

-5% APRIL 4, 2021

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ECOLOGY & ENVIRONMENT

degree Design by: Mohsin Alam

is all it takes Last year’s calamitous rains in Karachi demonstrated the effects of a mere one degree Celsius shift in the Arabian Sea. Climate experts warn worse disasters are in store if the right changes are not made right away A YUSRA SALIM KARACHI

It is hard to imagine anyone who lived through Karachi’s harrowing rains of August 27, 2020 would be able to forget them easily. The unfortunate incident led to the death of 40 people and cost hundreds of peoples their homes. People were left with as much as 15 feet of water inside their houses and lost millions in items that were destroyed in the rains. It would be even harder to image that all this destruction and distress was caused by a mere one degree rise in the temperatures of the Arabian Sea? While knowing how just a degree can change the dimension of the city what is alarming is that temperatures are not going back to normal and we can face worst rains this year than we have seen in last few years. All this is, however, a small episode of the bigger picture of global warming, climate change and environmental emergency.

While talking to The Express Tribune, Pakistan Meteorological Department’s Director in Karachi Sardar Sarfaraz said that climate change is not something which has evolved out of the blue it has longterm consequences and generally people don’t consider how small changes which they have adapted with time in their lives are causing this change. “It is humans who have helped the climate set weather patterns, which are causing destructions,” he said.

When we say that the sea temperature just rose by one degree it sounds harmless but it is a drastic increase. It takes hundreds of years to make sea temperatures rise and humans are doing it flawlessly Environmentalist Tofiq Pasha Mooraj “Last year we saw excessive rains in Karachi and the south side of the country. One of the main reasons was an increase in temperature. To say, it is just a degree, but it was a lot if we consider in weather conditions and if the temperature keeps the same average then the intensity of rains in in the future will be more disturbing,” explained Sarfaraz adding that, in the meteorological departments they calculate long term average which is 30 years in their records from 1981-2021 and this has been the most that the temperature has risen.

Furthermore, elaborating the temperature rise and its significances, he said that the temperature of the world has increased upto 0.86 degrees since the pre industrial era what was common in the 1750s. How-

ever, even 0.86 degrees is alarming and have caused destruction around the world until now but what is more worrisome is experts are predicting that it will rise upto two degrees in the next three decades and the kinds of destruction it will wreak can only be imagined.

Sharing how the change in temperature has been a reason for recordbreaking cyclones formed in the oceans and have changed weather patterns. The years 2016-2017 were the warmest years globally. “The change in temperatures has not only caused rains but are also a big reason for different weather conditions just like this year. Pakistan had 75 percent less rains in winter and the reason was that Pacific Ocean temperature was below average, which is also because of weather pattern changes,” said the Met office director, adding that there are two conditions in ocean water: Lanina and Elnino. The situation where the sea temperature is below average is called Lanina and it has its own pros and cons, and similarly, when the sea temperature is above average, it is called Elnino.

Answering whether this year the rain will be more than last year or not he said that, they are not certain yet that this year the rains will be more than last year or not because they cannot predict temperatures but it very much possible that it will be, as the temperatures have started rising already.

ately or wait for five days? It’s the same situation: if we wait until 2030, we will be in severe trouble and then we won’t be able to handle what’s coming towards the world, especially the areas which are closer to oceans,” he said. “It is the survival of human race, which is at stake,” he concluded.

More than temperature Discussing what’s causing these drastic outcomes in the environment, Ecologist Rafi ul Haq said that it is not just temperature that has impacted the rains but that there are several factors. “The normal pattern is that for nine months a year, Karachi faces south westly winds. It was far-fetched for a long time to believe that the ice melting in the north pole is connected to the winds Karachi have but global warming and climate change is connected throughout the world to one another.”

The winds we have for nine months of the year has vegetation cover and provides oxygen to the city but because consumption is more while the production is very less, whenever there is low pressure in Arabian sea, the oxygen pressure is also is 20 per cent lesser in the city, which is why people died in 2015 heatwave of suffocation. “As soon as you get out in the city you will feel headaches, difficulty in breathing, compare to when you are by the seashore and in open space where the consumers are fewer,” he explained.

But how have people rendered the city into its worst condition? The creation and evergrowing concrete jungle is the is one of the main reasons. “When the city was getting populated the building authority had a clause to leave 33% of the area of your house land open for ventilation but due to corruption and no checks and balance set in place, now in new constructions, we hardly see open spaces but just small balconies that too with air-conditioned outers or water containers hanging,” he said.

Environment and industries Talking about how the world has to keep a balance of environment and industries, environmentalist Tofiq Pasha Mooraj told The Express Tribune that the balance of the environment of planet is very delicate and it should be handled the same way. “When we say that the sea temperature just rose by one degree it sounds harmless but it is a drastic increase in sea temperature as it takes hundreds of years to make sea temperatures rise and humans are doing it flawlessly” he said adding how intense the situation is by explaining, “It is not a cup of water that it can rise to boiling temperature in five minutes. It is the vast sea and just imagine what disaster we are doing with the ocean and how big the stove we have put under the ocean is to raise its temperature. We are forcing it to boil over and surge out onto us”.

How the predicted temperature which is to be two degrees by next few decades and what precautions the world is already doing, Mooraj explained that international forums are talking about ending fossil fuels by 2030 by its still nine years to that and by then half of the world will be in serious problems caused by global warming. “We are sitting on a bomb right now; each passing second is bringing us closer to consequences [of our own behaviour]. We need to start ending what is causing the damage before it is too late and things get beyond our control,” he said.

“What if a building is on fire? Would we call the fire fighter immedi-

Record-breaking omens Sharing how the Arabian sea has been acting in the last few years and what drastic changes it is bringing to the land, Meteorological expert Jawad Jawaid who runs a page on Facebook called ‘weather updates,’ talked about how the Arabian sea has been hyperactive for the past two years and the sea surface temperature has gone up by one-two degree since 2018 and the year 2019 was a record-breaking season for cyclones all over the sea. “Kyarr in 2019 was the strongest and most powerful cyclone the Indian Ocean has formed in history,” he said adding that 2020 has seen similar changes in localised low pressure systems forming on the sea surface which were the main reason why the coastline of Pakistan affected and specially Karachi witnessed devastating rains which broke all records of 90 years (it also is to be considered that the system in Pakistan does not contain any rain records of rains before 90 years).

The rain systems were used to come from Bay of Bengal but last year it was directly forming in the Arabian Sea and were moving towards Gujrat and Karachi. Jawaid also added that so far in 2021, the sea surface temperature has already risen to 0.6 and 0.8 degrees while the summer hasn’t started and it can increase upto 2.5 degrees

Region-Wide increase in Mean Temperatures from 1960 to 2007 Punjab 0.97

1.2

0.9 0.6

0.54 0.22

0.3 0.0 -0.3 -0.6

Winter

Summer

Annual

Change in mean Temperature (Celsius)

Change in mean Temperature (Celsius)

1.2

KPK

-0.9 -1.2

0.9 0.6

0.52

0.3 0.0 -0.3 -0.6

Winter

0.44

0.3

0.02 Winter

Summer

Annual

Change in mean Temperature (Celsius)

Change in mean Temperature (Celsius)

1.2

0.0

-0.9 -1.2

Summer

Annual

Balochistan

0.91

0.9 0.6

-0.3 -0.6

0.12

-0.9 -1.2

Sindh 1.2

-0.26

1.15

1.12 0.69

0.9 0.6 0.3 0.0 -0.3 -0.6

Winter

Summer

-0.9 -1.2

Q.Z. Chaudhry et.al 2009. Climate Change Indications of Pakistan.

4

APRIL 4, 2021

Annual

ECOLOGY & ENVIRONMENT Changes in forest areas of different types of plants in Northern Pakistan under the Changed Climate vs 1961 - 1990 average, in % change Biome Type

-P

2020 OP

Alpine tundra

-16.7

-16.7

-16.7

-31.5

-31.5

-31.5 -38.9 -38.9 -38.9

Cold conifer/Mixed woodland

-22.2

-22.2

-11.1

5.6

44.4

22.2

44.4

33.3

11.1

Cold conifer/Mixed forest

10.3

10.3

13.8

13.8

20.7

24.1

6.9

10.3

13.8

Temperature conifer/Mixed forest

5.6

5.6

5.6

2.8

5.6

5.6

16.7

19.4

19.4

Warm conifer/Mixed forest

22.0

22.0

34.1

43.9

56.1

63.4

51.2

68.3

85.4

Xerophytic wood/Scrub

0.0

0.0

0.0

-1.8

-3.6

-1.8

0.0

0.0

0.0

Grassland/Arid shrubland

-42.9 -28.6 -28.6

-57.1

-57.1

-57.1 -57.1

-57.1

-57.1

Steppe/Arid shrubland

5.2

8.1

10.7

9.1

13.0

17.6 10.1

16.9

20.5

Desert

-7.6

-7.6

-16.3

-26.1 -14.4 -25.4

-33.0

+P

-P

2050 OP

+P

-12.9 -19.3

2080 OP

-P

+P

SOURCE: K.M. SIDDIQUI ET AL. 1999. FOREST ECOSYSTEM CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACT ASSESSMENT AND ADAPTATION STRATEGIES FOR PAKISTAN

due to which precipitation will be more and wind patterns will also change overall, which will impact things on a larger scale and cause more rains. “When sea temperature rises, and hit low pressures and change wind patterns, those are the most favorable conditions for storms to form, which then turn into cyclones which then lead to hurricanes.”

Talking about how Lanina season is going on and how it is impacting the system in current situation, Jawaid said

that if the Lanina comes in summers its good in Pakistan and the rest of the Asian region as it causes the frequency of monsoon. If Lanina forms in winters, then it has opposite and adverse effects.

“This year, western disturbance was limited to Pakistan region so it was just northern areas and Punjab, and not in Sindh and Balochistan which was the reason that snow and rain was lesser this year all over the country,” Jawaid elaborated complaining that meteorological departments should have taken this into consideration and should consider this an important issue and inform other departments to be cautious.

“Monthly reports should also be released as we are an agriculture country and due to lesser rains, a lot of agriculture was affected and went to waste. Departments should engage people in this and guide them on how we can fight this bigger challenge,” he said.

Other than just Lanina, this year Polar vortex, which was disturbed this year, was the second biggest issue. “We have seen what happened in Canada, Texas, Europe, and Russia,” he said sharing that Western disturbance dipped into down which is why Pakistan faced severe to moderate drought situation in winters.

Sharing what he does to inform people about winds and such weather patterns he said that on social media they do quarterly or monthly updates just like they do of rains but then again, their word is not what an official report can do.

How can we prevent this?

Pakistan (1-Jul to 30-Sep 2020) Monsoon Rainfall 2020

2019

250

140.9mm (+41%) 198.9mm

mm

200

Pakistan annual rainfall (1961 - 2020) 500 450 400 350 300 250 200 150 1961 1966 1971 1976 1981 1986 1991 1996 2001 2006 2011 2016 7 Year moving average National annual long-term average

So what can we do to prevent upcoming disasters? All experts say the solution is to stop burning of fossil fuels. According to Sarfaraz, the international organisations have come up with an agreement to reduce the release of carbon dioxide in air by 2030 but it still seems a far-fetched reality that the world will understand this. “To change the world and prevent ourselves from bigger disasters we need to use fuel efficient cars, industries should start opting methods which requires less fuel consumption, power generating should shift from coal to solar, wind and even sea tides,” he said, stating that the world is in an emergency situa-

normal

tion and it will be too late if we don’t realise this very soon and start making changes as the Atlantic ocean has formed record breaking cyclones last year with the number exceeding 30, while Arabian sea itself has formed seven cyclones - the highest in history.

What small changes can we incorporate into our lifestyle to make the world a better place? Mooraj says that that each one of us can play a part: “We need to stop burning fossil fuels. Why do each of us use separate cars and send our drivers to buy grocery things three to four times a day for minor things?

We should car pool as much as we can and stop consuming and using cars as much as we can, how we sit in the car and the very moment turn on the air conditioner, why can’t we bear a little nature, we need to save electricity as much as we can so that govt has to make less electricity which eventually lessen the burning of fossil fuels, we should save water as much as we can for our own selves, we should stop burning our garbage, use reusable things and stop using plastic,” he mentioned the few changes common people can adapt. All such things are small but can make a big difference in the world these things can make significant changes from the steps which people are taking towards destructive changes.

“To make changes in this system we need to make our carbon footprint as small as we can and go back to being as close to nature as we possibly can,” said Haq, adding that people think that walking for an hour in a park is coming close to nature but that isn’t true if people keep their air-conditioners are on for the entire day at home and even in their cars. “We need to adjust ourselves around nature and not fight against nature. We should try to only wear cotton fabric and try to avoid causing as much pollution making things as much as we can,” he shared.

To prevent further destruction, Jawaid was of the view that, we have to work on it as we can’t get lucky every year. “There will come a time when we have to face these storms and cyclones, and given the current scenario, the day isn’t far away when the storms and cyclones actually hit the city”. Sharing his concerns, he said that the city isn’t ready for such disasters as Karachi cannot even manage 250 millimeters of rain and its paralysed for 15 to 20 days after one day of rain. “Last year, when it rained, there was an electricity breakdown for five days with no water, gas or other facilities. Even the posh areas of the city collapse when we get even a small tropical storm of 400 to 500 millimeters,” he said.

Answering what can be done to stop the damage, the met expert said, “We have to action on emergency basis as we don’t have any defense mechanism to face this. The government needs to think about this immediately or else the situation this year can be worse than what it was last year.”

Talking about how men themselves have made the climate change worse for cities he shared that men have cut down mangroves and now they are diminishing very fast. Mangroves are a natural way to maintain surface temperature and stop cyclones and even tsunamis. They also used to stop any unwanted changes in water surfaces but unfortunately mangroves are being cut on a larger scale and those lands are being captured.

The large scale of dumping of garbage and untreated chemicals into the sea is also damaging marine life and mangroves. The city has seen the effects of temperature rises, when in 2015 heat wave came and wreaked havoc. “Intensity is increasing and frequency of the heatwave trap in our region has affected the Arabian sea and regions which are nearer to our side,” he explained.

Drastic and immediate actions should be taken as the whole globe is on high alert. “We have seen what has happened in the arctic. Complete ice shells the size of cities have melted and still people are turning a blind eye to climate change,” the met expert said, adding that it is simple to understand that, if the equator temperatures increase by one degree than north pole or south pole can get impacted upto eight to 12 degrees.

Planation, secure planation, higher punishments to people and industries which are damaging plantations, plastic ban, waste should be manage are the few things which are to be done immediately. “Plastic was banned but then again it was reverted as there was no check and balance also carbon emission should end as soon as we can, coal should be replaced by wind, solar and hybrid energy as soon as we can,” he added.

Stating that small changes can make a big difference, Jawaid said that even small changes can take at least three decades to improve things overall. “It won’t happen that making these changes will bring changes in the next two years but consistency can make it better and more balanced for upcoming generations. The mess was created over the span of 125 years, since the industrial revolution took off and things will not improve overnight. But small changes can start to affect and better things in 25 to 30 years,” he concluded.

150 100

140.9mm (0%) 140.4mm

50

1-Jul 3-Jul 5-Jul 7-Jul 9-Jul 11-Jul 13-Jul 15-Jul 17-Jul 19-Jul 21-Jul 23-Jul 25-Jul 27-Jul 29-Jul 31-Jul 2-Aug 4-Aug 6-Aug 8-Aug 10-Aug 12-Aug 14-Aug 16-Aug 18-Aug 20-Aug 22-Aug 24-Aug 26-Aug 28-Aug 30-Aug 1-Sep 3-Sep 5-Sep 7-Sep 9-Sep 11-Sep 13-Sep 15-Sep 17-Sep 19-Sep 21-Sep 23-Sep 25-Sep 27-Sep 29-Sep

0

August, 2020 Rainfall 400

60 40

350 300

20

x

0 20 40 60 80

Departure %

Departure %

July, 2020 Rainfall 100 80

-31

x

x

Azad J&K Balochistan Gilgit-B

Khyber-PK

x Pakistan

x Punjab

x

x

250 200 150 130 50 0

Sindh

x

x x

x Pakistan

Azad J&K Balochistan Gilgit-B

x Khyber-PK

x Punjab

Sindh

Monsoon (1-Jul to 30-Sep) 2020 Rainfall September, 2020 Rainfall x

Departure %

150 100

x

x

x

x x

50 0 -50

-100 -150

x Pakistan

Azad J&K Balochistan Gilgit-B

Khyber-PK

Punjab

Sindh

x

x

140 120

Departure %

200

160

100 80 60

x

x

40

x

20 0 -20 -10

x

x Pakistan

Azad J&K Balochistan Gilgit-B

Khyber-PK

Punjab

Sindh

APRIL 4, 2021

5

EDUCATION

Between the 2005 earthquake and the 2010 floods, hundreds of schools in Kohistan were destroyed. A decade and a half on, 80% of girls’ schools in the region remain non-functional HAMID HUSSAIN PESHAWAR

Education, especially girls’ education, does not receive much media attention in Pakistan’s turbulent political and security conditions. Just few hours away from Mingora, the hometown of Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai, 80 per cent of girls’ schools are non-functional in the three districts of Kohistan region.

Locals under the auspices of a non-profit organisation, Kohistan Valley, in January 2018 conducted a survey according to which the three districts of Kohistan, Upper Kohistan, Lower Kohistan and Kolai Palas, Kohistan have 927 schools for boys and girls. Out of these schools, only 273 are for girls. Of those, at least 80 per cent are nonfunctional.

The survey report reveals that the buildings of 354 schools were either washed away by the 2010 floods or levelled to the ground by the 2005 earthquake. It further adds that while teacher attendance in schools improved when the previous provincial government initiated a monitoring system, at least 40 per cent teachers still remain absent.

Before the last general elections, local civil society leaders, parents and concerned citizens held a session with politicians.

The locals who hosted the session shared that the shortage of schools beyond the primary level for girls and boys, shortage of subject specialist teachers, lack of schools, unavailability of basic school infrastructure and facilities are the most important factors contributing to failing education standards in Kohistan.

According to Hafeezur Rehman, who has been campaigning for promotion of education in the region for the past several years, the problem of gender disparity worsens when it comes to middle, high and higher secondary education. There are only two high schools for girls and no higher secondary school for girls in the entire district of Kohistan.

Rehman further says ignorance is so deeply entrenched into our society that closure of schools is not even considered a problem and no one asks the authorities to take measures for opening of closed schools or reconstruction of destroyed ones. More than half of children especially girls in the region never complete primary school education, he added.

permanently in 2017. At least 145 boys and 17 girls’ primary schools have no shelters. As per the Annual Status of Education Report 2019, at least 90 per cent of class five students in the Kohistan region cannot read an Urdu story and an English sentence meant for class two, while 93 per cent cannot perform a two-digit sum meant for class two.

Alif Ailaan, a campaign that has worked for five years to put education at the front and centre of public discourse in Pakistan, in its District Education Ranking 2017 report, listed Kohistan at the bottom of its of list of 141 districts in the country with two per cent female education and 16 per cent male education ratio.

Ignorance is so deeply entrenched into our society that closure of schools is not even considered a problem Activist Hafeezur Rehman

“In Pakistan’s patriarchal society,” she adds, “girls’ education has never been a priority. Local people need to understand that education will help their future generations. They must vote for those who they think can reopen the closed schools and reconstruct the destroyed ones.”

Mardan-based educationist, sociologist, and Department of Sociology Chairperson at Abdul Wali Khan University, Professor Syed Rashid Ali says investment in girls and women enables them to be able to lift their families, their communities, their economies and countries along with them. “Mainstream media is equally responsible because it remains busy in reporting on politics and urban centers of the country and ignores rural areas where state of education and other government departments depict a dismal picture,” he added. Professor Rashid says lack of schools, cultural bearers, religious extremism, insecurity, patriarchy and social taboos keep girls away from education.

Educationist and former district education officer who had served in Mardan, Mohmand, Orkazai, Khyber and Swat districts, Tamin Khan thinks differently. He says people can be sensitised to send their children especially girls to schools if destroyed schools were reconstructed and the closed ones were reopened. He said social or cultural restrictions may limit access to education but the prime reason is lack of facilities that has worsened the problem.

“Education has always been a critical issue for developing countries like Pakistan,” he says. “The government has done nothing concrete to mitigate

None of the three districts of the Kohistan region have ever secured a high score in the District Performance Scorecard Rehman says that the locals had put forward their demands including rebuilding of over 300 schools which are without shelter. The number of girls’ schools should be increased while the closed ones should be reopened.

Another important issue, he adds, is the lack of facilities inside the schools as most of the schools have no science and information technology labs either. “Shortage of teaching staff must be addressed on priority basis,” he asserted.

According to a report of the Independent Monitoring Unit data, 15 schools were closed either temporarily or

6

APRIL 4, 2021

According to Bacha Khan Trust Educational Foundation Peshawar, Managing Director Khadim Hussain , Kohistan is in the midst of an education emergency and as is evident from the current situation in Kohistan, previous government has not been able to tackle the problem. He added the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led provincial government, which had been claiming since 2013 that a network of educational institutions would be setup in the province with allocation of 70 per cent development funds with which schools and colleges for girls would be established but since then nothing has been done.

Prominent women’s rights activist and International Woman of Courage Award winner, Shad Begum who hails from Dir district adjacent to Kohistan region says, “it was very unfortunate that relevant authorities had not paid attention to the state of education in the Kohistan region, especially girls.”

The rural areas are not given as much attention in the media either. Along with lack of other basic facilities of life, all three districts of Kohistan are faced with an education emergency Educationist Tamin Khan the crisis especially for the peripheries where the educational structure is dismal.”

“The rural areas are not given as much attention in the media either. Along with lack of other basic facilities of life, all three districts of Kohistan are faced with an education emergency,” the former official added. “An environmental assessment should be carried out before construction of new schools and repairing the damaged ones the region is prone to floods and earthquakes.”

None of the three districts of Kohistan region have ever secured a high score in the District Performance Scorecard (DPS) either. Since the launching of DPS in 2017, up-

Another important issue is the lack of facilities inside the schools. Most of them have no science and information technology labs either per Kohistan district made it to the 39th position in the monthly ranking this month. Previously, all the three districts of Kohistan remained at the bottom.

Member of the Taleem Action Committee of the two demolished schools in Suo Sub-division of Upper Kohistan Mehmoodul Hassan told The Express Tribune that last year in July, Wapda had demolished two schools¬ – one primary and a high school– in the area for construction of a road to link the 4,320-megawatt Dasu Hydropower Project with the Kamila town. “Since then, the students of both the schools have been receiving education in a miserable condition,” he added.

“Wapda demolished buildings of two schools promising it would reconstruct it but has not even prepared the map for it,” said Hassan. “The students are compelled to attend classes under the open sky,” he informed.

The education activist says they formed the committee to push the authorities for reconstructing the schools but so far nothing has been done in this regard. Wapda had signed an agreement with the provincial Elementary and Secondary Education Department to reconstruct the schools at other suitable piece of land. They, along with other locals of suo sub-division held a meeting with local parliamentarians and Upper Kohistan district administration for reconstruction of the said schools but to no avail. “Over 1,000 schoolchildren are without the facilities and educational environment and they want the relevant authorities to immediately reconstruct both the schools,” he said.

Hassan further informed that the decision to demolish the schools was taken in haste as so far, no road has been constructed rather construction of the road on the old route is underway. “It seems that the schools would be rebuilt on the same piece of land and the public money was wasted due to ill planning,” he added.

Upper Kohistan District Education Officer (DEO) Muhammad Amin told The Express Tribune that the issue of opening the non-funtioning schools and reconstruction of schools which were destroyed or damaged in floods and earthquake was not taken seriously by the previous officials of the education department.

According to the DEO, he has sent eight Project Concept-I (PC-I) to Hazara division commissioner for approval of the reconstruction of the schools destroyed by the floods and earthquake.

The delay in reconstruction was caused by the wrong estimates in PC-Is by the previous officials for the rebuilding of the schools. Initially the grant of Rs20 million would be spent, he informed.

The district education official further informed that they have secured the funds which were previously not spent and their ranking in the DPS for the month of February has rose from six to 39. In 2017-18, all the three districts of Kohistan region were at the bottom in the DPS, he informed.

Regarding the two demolished schools, the education official informed that Wapda has started work on shelter schools so that student could be given a proper place for education while work on the reconstruction of both the schools would also begin soon.

Kolai Palas DEO Muhammad Ashraf and Lower Kohistan DEO Hafiz Nawaz were not available for comments. However, an official of the Kolai Palas district education office, who requested anonymity, said that the state of education in the entire Kohistan region has been worsening with each passing day. “Drastic measures on war-footings need to be taken to address the issue of education in the region,” said the official. “We have put forward demands including reconstruction of schools, provision of basic facilities and appointment of teaching staff so that the students of the region could be provided with education.

Photos: Hamid Hussain

ART, MEDIA & LITERATURE

By Dr Aftab Husain

The Covid-19 pandemic provides us a catalyst to appreciate human helplessness. Let us revisit literature that can help us shape our understanding of our relationship with respiratory illnesses It is almost a year now since a tiny virus that put our lives upside down first ambushed us. As all our hopes to return to a normal life retreat further and farther into the future, in a certain uncertainty we are floating desperately in this troubled air that surrounds us. Some of us have already lost their loving family members and friends, but then there are those who have survived and are trying to cope with the long term effect of this virus we call Covid-19: the so-called post Covid syndrome, along with many other symptoms like shortness of breath. In many ways, this pandemic has provided us a catalyst to understand many aspects of human helplessness and also courage in front of the catastrophe and we visit and revisit literature that has shaped various modes to understand and experience the disease.

This instance has provided us yet another opportunity to talk about the overall human condition vis à vis diseases at general — both in our day-to-day life and in our literature. A formidable number of literary works touching on Covid-19 have been already produced in different parts of the world — poetry, fiction, non-fiction and even critical accounts that discuss and assess this body of literature. Our own literature has been quite alive to this representation. Taking the line of discussion a little further, one would like to muse on a lesser menacing and a not-too-precarious illness that could otherwise — in tandem with Covid-19 — reach to a malignant magnitude, that is, asthma.

This is important also for the fact that the new pandemic revokes some old metaphors into life, for example, breath and breathing, and it reminds us to take a pause and introspect the fragility of life in the seemingly mundane experiences rather than letting them blur into a miasma of disjointed and scattered images.

The moment I was diagnosed with asthma caused by multiple types of allergies — from pollen to dust mite — that create, at times, constant respiratory problems, I recalled Marcel Proust who “was subject from the age of nine to violent attacks of asthma,” as one of his biographers tells us, “and although he did a year of military service as a young man and studied law and political science, his invalidism disqualified him from an active professional life.”

Well, Proust was ‘distinctly asthmatic’, but that is the story of his personal life whereas here we are more interested in the novel he wrote and through which Proust — the man — continues to live even centuries after his death: In Search of Lost Time. Portrayal of the disease, in one section of the book, goes like this: “There are asthma sufferers who can assuage their attacks only by opening the windows, inhaling the high winds, the pure air of mountains, others by taking refuge in the heart of the city, in a smoke-filled room….”

There is another character that even the smell of the sardine fisheries gives him “terrible attacks of asthma.”

But, how to draw a dividing line between the story

Thomas Mann was of the opinion: “All interest in disease and death is only another expression of interest in life.”

of the man and story of the writer, especially when the novel comes out in the first-person narration and it has a lot of autobiographical elements in it?

In any event, we know that Proust’s asthma was repeatedly triggered by allergies — especially to certain plants and scents. He confided in a friend that he would have a fit just by looking at the painting of a rose, and that certain women — because of their strong perfume — were not allowed into his apartment.

Thinking of Proust’s pulmonary pathophysiological problems is not in the vein of a self-flattering megalomania cherished through identifying oneself with the great writer; rather it may be taken as an attempt to seek relief from the high literature — even in the matters of one’s health. It is not even an instance of Schadenfreude, the feeling of gloating over the malady-ridden writer; it could, however, be considered as an act of experiencing an empathy with him and deriving, maybe, some amount of masochism that Proust himself might have gone through while narrating his misery.

Respiratory problems cause excessive phlegm in the lungs that results in chest congestion, my doctor tells me.

Cold air also creates problems as your airways are irritated and swollen by it, he adds.

Our poet Ghalib, however, comes with a panacea to all such ills:

thereby not only a sense of proximity and intimacy but also of a relation vital as breath and breathing itself and so on.

Both words appear frequently in Persian and Urdu poetry in varied contexts and with variegated connotations.

Dama, per say, however, does not occur very often in our poetry. Instead, our poets tended to refer to other verbal coinages that might signify the malady, but their semantic range would be much wider. Indian-Persian poet, Bedil Dehlavi, for example, employs Nafas-Tangi, that literally is: a restriction in breathing.

Asthma might not be as such a lethal disease, but surely, it could be generative to different fatal maladies.

It is a life-long ailment, as a proverb suggests it — Dama, Dam Ke Sath and Aadmi Gham Saath (Asthma, when it is started, it accompanies you till your last breath. Similarly, sorrow is inalienably attached to the human being). It is a disease that is not only annoying and irritating, but it is also the one that disturbs the very basic rhythm of your life. Naturally, you have to bear with it and in this process of coming in terms with it you learn, though intuitively, some deeper meanings and latent layers of the disease. While writing these lines I was pleasantly surprised to note that over the period of last few years certain respiratory issues have already sneaked into my own poetry.

Pii, Jis Qadar Mile, Shab-e-Mahtaab Mein Sharaab!

Is Balghami Mizaaj ko Garmii Hii Raas Hay (Drink as much of wine as you come by in the moonlit night!

It’s the heat only that suits your phlegmatic temperament)

Woh Habs — e Jaan Hay Ke Seene Mein Saans Ulajhne Lagi So, AAj Dard e FaraawaaN Bhii Pay-Ba-Pay Naheen Hay (Such life-choking the suffocation is that breaths entangle within the chest So, today even the abundant pain is not so incessant) OR Aisa Safar Ke Seene MeN Urtii Thii Dhool Sii Phir Saans Ko Bahaal Kiaa Aur Chal Pare (What a journey it was that a dust-storm brewed in my chest And I restored my breath and proceeded)

Well, Ghalib was a watery phlegmatic and I of the airy sanguine temperament, so, simple wine can be of little use in my case.

Proust’s allergy to scents inadvertently draws our attention to another Urdu poet, Firaq Gorakhpuri. To relate a story from the horse’s mouth: our poet in his infancy or early childhood was allergic to going into the laps of, let’s put it in milder terms, not so beautiful women; in the hands of fairer ladies, on the other hand, he would be quite comfortable.

So, allergies here, in contradistinction to the ones that afflicted Proust, have got altogether different dimensions — albeit all three types have aesthetic criteria in their reaction and response. Persian poet Sa’eb Tabrizi had, as most of the genuine literary lot would do, an acute allergy to his fellow human beings. But, we are not supposed to go too far — to the metaphoric or symbolic allergies, and better we confine ourselves to the ones that tend to suffocate us in the true sense of the verb.

Having allergies or having no allergies, the vital point is that of the breath; of breathing — the dialectics of breathing in and breathing out that one of our classical poet, Meer Dard, had called Namaaz e Ahhl-e-Hayaat; an obligatory prayer of the living beings, that one must never miss as when it is missed, one misses the train to life.

Asthma, as we all know, is a health problem related to respiration. The Urdu word Dama that derives from Dam (breath) conveys this relationship with the disease more explicitly. Dam is used also as prefix and, in some cases, also a suffix like in Ham-Dam. Here Ham a prefix: ‘Co-’ in English, and Dam stands for breath as well as the current moment. Generally, a Ham-Dam is a close companion, but it may be the one who lives in the same moment and

Need not to say, it is not only an asthmatic who can write about such matters. Theoretically, anybody can write about anything. On having pestered with non-stop speculations about the identity of the female protagonist in his novel Madame Bovary, Gustave Flaubert had famously exclaimed: “Madame Bovary, c’est moi” (I am Madame Bovary). Nevertheless, one must not take Flaubert’s statement too literally as the novelist is doing here nothing but to assert that he has understood the character intimately and has portrayed it truthfully. It matters little that the subject matter you come with has been your Erlebnis — the lived experience, or not; important is the end result, the finished form of your literary artefact.

Having allergies or having no allergies, the vital point is that of the breath; of breathing — the dialectics of breathing in and breathing out that one of our classical poets, Meer Dard, had called Namaaz e Ahhl-e-Hayaat Thomas Mann was of the opinion: “All interest in disease and death is only another expression of interest in life.” A malady, ‘the night-side of life’ — to remember a telling phrase of Susan Sontag — can provide an impulse to think about and put forward some vital issues in your writings.

Interestingly, the word ‘inspiration’ also relates to the semantic cast of the breath as we all know that it comes from Latin verb inspirare: ‘breathe or blow into’. The word was originally used of a divine or supernatural being, in the sense of ‘impart a truth or idea to someone’.

Can some sort of inspiration be of any help in mending the deteriorated condition of respiration as well? I don’t know, but I hope so and believe that one must always be optimistic and be longing for the Muses — till one expires, till one breathes one’s last.

(THE WRITER IS A PAKISTAN-BORN AND AUSTRIA-BASED POET IN

inhales from/shares the same pool of breathing air.

We have another cognate, a compound — Ham-Nafas, wherein Nafas again means a breath. Both Ham-Dam and Ham-Nafas have the same compound construction and almost similar meanings, but whereas the latter has an air of classic about it, the former has been, by and large, relegated to somewhat kitsch category. That said, comrade, colleague, and confidante — name you any word and none of them would come to level of the subtle and profound layers that Ham-Nafas and Ham-Dam offer.

So, a simple paraphrasing of these compound words can hardly convey the deep shades they carry. They both suggest also someone who is close to your breaths — whose breaths intermingle with those of yours — conveying

URDU AND ENGLISH. HE TEACHES SOUTH ASIAN LITERATURE & CULTURE AT VIENNA UNIVERSITY)

Thinking of Proust’s pulmonary pathophysiological problems is not in the vein of a self-flattering megalomania cherished through identifying oneself with the great writer Photos: File/Creative Commons

APRIL 4, 2021

7

LAW & JUSTICE

The burden of death While the death penalty is still used in a wide number of crimes, the number of sentences awarded has been falling steadily A HASNAAT MALIK ISLAMABAD

Although Pakistan’s justice system is facing severe criticism due to its failure to redress people’s grievances, international rights organisations have acknowledged the Supreme Court’s efforts to minimise the scope of death penalty for last one decade.

A study conducted by the Justice Project Pakistan revealed that Supreme Court of Pakistan set aside the death penalty in 78 per cent of cases between 2010 and 2018. On an even more uplifting note, 97 per cent of sentences were either commuted to life imprisonment or decided otherwise in 2018.

By the end of 2020, the death row population decreased from 4,225 in 2019 to 3,831 (including 29 women - a steady decrease, which is consistent with the trend from previous years. It is also important to note that although the number of prisoners increased in all four provinces during the pandemic, the number of condemned prisoners kept decreasing.

Similarly, in the last five years, the country’s apex court has evolved jurisprudence through its various rulings and minimised the scope of death penalty.

On the eve of the 18th World Day Against the Death Penalty last year, Law Minister Dr Farogh Naseem said that in Pakistan, the capital punishment was an exception and was awarded in very rare cases. No one has been executed in the country in 2020, he added.

Steady trend

394

was the decrease in the population of death row prisoners in Pakistan between 2019 and 2020 Naseem gave full credit to the superior judiciary, which according to him, applied different techniques in death penalty cases. Due to these techniques, confirmation of death penalty is not easy, he added.

He said the Supreme Court has evolved a jurisprudence which has decreased the number of death sentences.

However, he said, it is up to the people of Pakistan – not the government – to decide about abolishment of the death penalty.

She said the EU and its member states formally oppose death penalty at all time and under all circumstances as the death penalty is contrary to the right to life. However, she admitted that numbers of execution have drastically reduced in the last couple of years.

“The call for the death penalty might come from an impulse in reaction to a horrific crime,” she said. “But as a society, we need to reflect deeper on what justice really means and what needs to be done for such crimes not to happen again.”

She said the EU holds a principled position against the death penalty in all circumstances and for all cases. It considers capital punishment to be inhuman, degrading and unnecessary.

“As a matter of fact, there is no valid scientific evidence to support that the death penalty deters crime more effectively than other punishments. Instead, it is the certainty of being caught and punished that serves as a deterrent and of course actions to prevent such crimes from happening in the first place.”

She said under its international commitments, including the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), Pakistan needs to limit the use of death penalty to the “most serious crimes; to allow for clemency petitions and to provide adequate protection to juvenile offenders and the mentally ill.

“This is one of the conventions linked to the

Drastic decrease

GSP+ export regime offered to Pakistan,” she added.

There are 27 offences in Pakistan legally punishable by death. These offences go far beyond the threshold of ’most serious crimes’ stipulated by Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and include blasphemy, sexual intercourse outside of marriage ie adultery, kidnapping or abduction, gang rape, assault on the modesty of women (ie forceful stripping of a woman for instance), smuggling of drugs, arms trading and sabotage of the railway system.

In 2008, then Pakistan Peoples Party government decided to adopt a de facto moratorium on civilian hangings despite opposition from various state institutions. Only one person has been executed since then: a soldier convicted by court martial and hanged in November 2012.

In the wake of the both deadly and horrific terrorist attack in December 2014 on the Army Public School in Peshawar, a tragedy which resulted in the loss of nearly 150 lives (most of them children), Pakistan, in an effort to combat terrorism, lifted the six-year moratorium on the death penalty Since then Pakistan has been among the most prolific users of the death penalty with 516 executions and more than 1600 death sentences, mostly for non-terrorism related charges. As of October 2020, Pakistan has the second largest reported death row population in the world.

The Amnesty International’s report on executions and death sentences revealed that Pakistani courts awarded 632 death sentences in 2019, showing an alarming increase of 253 per cent compared to 2018.

However, the number of death sentences awarded in 2020 has decreased as compared to 2019. In 2019, 632 death sentences were handed out in Pakistan, mostly by the model courts set up by former Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khosa. The number has decreased to 177 in 2020. However, the Covid-19 Pandamic may have been a factor in decreasing this number sice due to the deadly virus, as the day-to-day working of every court has been adversely affected for the last one year.

A senior prosecutor, who represents the state in murder cases, said on the condition on the anonymity that the superior courts now uphold the death sentence only in heinous crimes like terrorism. Generally, the courts convert the death sentence into life imprisonment in view of various mitigating factors.

Sharing his own experience, he said in the last three years, the apex court upheld the death sentence in only seven cases in which he was representing the prosecution department.

To a query about the high number of death sentences awarded by the model courts in the recent past, the law officer said the trial courts work in a ‘different atmosphere’ and the superior courts consider other factors and convert death sentences into life imprisonment.

He said that the trial courts could not award life imprisonment to a guilty person. “There is a different environment in trial court. Camplainant gets far too much emotional at trial stage,” he said. “If the trial judge doesn’t grant death sentence then the victim’s family will themselves take revenge. When the matter comes before superior courts after a couple of years then by then the family has cooled down and the superior courts convert the death sentences into life imprisonment,” he adds.

How SC minimised scope of death penalty Last five years, the country’s apex court has evolved jurisprudence through its various rulings and minimised the scope of death penalty.

In March 2019, former chief justice of Pakistan Asif Saeed Khosa wrote a 31-page verdict, declaring that the rule “falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus – false in one thing, false in everything” shall be an integral part of jurisprudence in criminal cases. It said the rule shall be given effect to, followed and applied by all the courts in its letter and spirit.

The Latin rule holds that a witness who gives false testimony in one matter is not

credible to testify in any matter because “the presumption that the witness will declare the truth ceases as soon as it manifestly appears that he is capable of perjury”. It says faith in a witness’s testimony cannot be partial or fractional.

In view of this ruling, a large number of death penalty cases were overturned by the superior courts. The trial courts are also following the same principle in murder cases. In 2019, Justice Khosa, while presiding over a seven-judge larger bench, declared that the sentence passed in non-compoundable offences like terrorism must be reduced on the grounds of compromise between the parties in compoundable offence committed in the same case.

“It is declared that in an appropriate case, keeping in mind the peculiar circumstances of the case, compounding of a coordinate compoundable offence may be considered by a court towards reduction of the sentence, within the permissible limits, passed for commission of a noncompoundable offence.” The 27-page judgment authored

by Justice Khosa declared that consideration of this factor vis-à-vis reduction of the sentence passed for commission of the non-compoundable offence lies within the discretion of the court and cannot be treated as automatic or as a matter of course.

The judgment made it clear that there would be no acquittal in non-compoundable offences like terrorism on the basis of compromise between private parties in compoundable offence in the same case. However, it declared that the convict’s sentence could be reduced in a similar situation.

The Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) Executive Committee’s former Chairman Azam Tarar said it was another landmark judgment, which would open up the window to reduce the death sentence in the country.

“Even the court has given opportunity to the convict approaching the president for a second mercy petition on the basis of compromise in similar matters and the president may reduce the conviction in view of the apex court’s verdicts,” said Tarar.

In the last couple of years, the Supreme Court has also limited the scope of terrorism. The apex court urged the parliament to redefine the word ‘terrorism’ by taking into consideration international perspectives and focusing only on violent activities aimed at achieving political, ideological or religious aims.

Justice Khosa also authoring the judgment observed that the definition of ‘terrorism’ contained in Section 6 of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), 1997 as is too wide and includes so many actions, designs and purposes which have no nexus with the generally recognised concept of terrorism.

Legal experts believe that that this ruling has also limited the chances of death sentence. It is reported that since December 2014, almost 86 per cent people sentenced to death under the ATA were accused of offences that had nothing to do with terrorism. The death penalty was introduced for people involved in trade of narcotics in 1994 through amendment to the Dangerous Drugs Act. In the case of Ghulam Murtaza, Justice Khosa set out sentencing guidelines in narcotics cases. He also elaborated other mitigating circumstances for juveniles and women.

The ruling streamlined the sentence awarded by all courts when trying cases for narcotics and reduced the number of death sentences.

Senior lawyers said the application of the death penalty can be progressively restricted through codification of these sentencing guidelines. In July last year , the Supreme Court overturned the death sentence of two brothers – Sikandar Hayat and Jamshed Ali – who had sent 27 years of their lives in jail on account of “the right of expectancy of life”.

By a majority of 2-1, a three-judge bench accepted a review petition filed by the death row prisoners.

Authoring the majority judgment, Justice Yahya Afridi held that the petitioners have the right of expectancy of life as they were incarcerated for more than 25 years, while their pleas challenging their death sentences were pending before the competent legal judicial forums.

The judgment noted that the right of expectancy of life is a right of a convict sentenced to death, who while consciously pursuing his judicial remedies provided under the law, has remained incarcerated for a period equal or more than that prescribed

A senior prosecutor said the superior courts now uphold the death sentence only in heinous crimes like terrorism

632

death sentences were handed out in Pakistan in 2019, mostly by model courts set up by the previous CJP. In 2020, the number fell down to 177 for life sentence.

The court noted that the right of expectancy of life had genuinely accrued to the petitioners having admittedly being incarcerated in the death cell for a period more than twenty-five years, while they were seeking justice from the appropriate judicial courts of our country.

Legal experts said the life expectancy period will reduce death penalty. In February, a five judge larger bench headed

by Justice Manzoor Ahmad Malik held that where a medical board confirms and certifies that the defendant is no longer able to appreciate the rationale behind the crime and their death sentence, he or she cannot be executed.

The judgment also opposed the execution of mentally-ill convicted persons. The apex court has commuted the death sentence of a convict who spent 23 years on death row by applying juvenility law. The judgment will give relief to those prisoners, whose convictions are final but they may again approach the courts, if they were juvenile at the time of commission of offence.

However, after the retirement of ex CJP Asif Saeed Khosa in December 2019, backlog of criminal cases have been increasing in the apex court. Unlike past, no special benches are being constituted to hear criminal matters especially jail petitions. The situation may also get worse after the retirement of criminal law expert Justice Manzoor Ahmad Malik in April.

Legal opinion on abolishment of capital punishment The opinion is also divided over the complete abolishment of capital punishment in Pakistan.

One section of lawyers say that when there is a law regarding capital punishment, then it should be implemented forthwith. They say that the bar is not in favour of a complete abolition of the death penalty in the country as this is contrary to Islamic shariah. However, they are not in favour of awarding death sentence in drug trafficking cases.

They support capital punishment in blasphemy cases but also agree that the government should develop a strategy to stop the misuse of the blasphemy laws.

There is no scientific evidence to support that the death penalty deters crime more effectively than other punishments Law Minister Dr Farogh Naseem Additional Attorney General Tariq Mahmood Khokhar says international research has established that the death penalty does not sufficiently act as a deterrent for crimes.

“In Pakistan, 60 to 70 per cent of litigations or FIRs registered are falsified or fabricated and innocent people are punished in these matters. Therefore, it would be better to abolish capital punishment,” he said.

He says that if the government goes ahead with the death penalty, Pakistan’s trade relations with the European Union (EU) will be severely affected as capital punishment is in violation of the EU’s Charter of Human Rights. “Countries like Saudi Arabia, Iran or the United States of America can afford to carry out death penalties as they do not rely on international trade,” he says. According to Amnesty International, the top four countries in the world meting out the death penalty are China, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and the US. Another senior lawyer believes that only lower income people face the death penalty in the present system. “Rich people are able to hire influential lawyers to contest their cases and have them freed,” he believes. “These people can manage an investigation in their favour by buying out witnesses, investigation officers or the judiciary. There is little chance of the penalty in their case,”he adds.

Opinion is divided as to whether capital punishment should be abolished on terrorism charges. One section believes that the death sentence is necessary to eliminate terrorism. However, some lawyers rule out the nexus between the elimination of terrorism and the abolition of the death penalty. Terrorists are ready to die for their acts and terrorism cannot be eliminated through capital punishment.

Decrease in the number of death row prisoners

8

APRIL 4, 2021

Province

Male Condemned Prisoners

Female Condemned Prisoners

Total

Punjab

2,879

23

2,902

KPK

362

01

363

Sindh

514

05

519

Balochistan

47

0

47

Total

3,802

29

3,831 Photos: Agencies