Tag Archives: barrage

Pakistan, Sindh

Alternative barrages must for Sindh agriculture

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By DR ABDUL QADEER MEMON, Naushahro Feroze

THE Sindh government should seriously explore the possibility of building alternative barrages to save the agricultural sector of the province.

Sindh had the best irrigation system with three barrages, but due to inattention of the authorities concerned it had fallen prey to degradation.

The Irsa team had warned that a delta had been created in the Sukkur barrage’s water storage area which was threatening its structure.

The Sukkur barrage is 85 years old and used to feed eight million acres through its seven major canals. But it is in bad shape now for the past many years. The condition of Kotri and Guddu barrages is even worse.

The British used to determine the flow of water with tail gauges. However, today there is no concept for such gauges in the irrigation department.

The Sukkur barrage often faces different technical issues. The barrage would outlive its utility, so the government should start planning accordingly to protect agriculture.

During floods, its water discharges downstream Sukkur couldn’t flow under the Larkana-Khairpur and Dadu-Moro bridges. Alternative barrages have already been built in Punjab.

It seems as if the Sindh governement is waiting for the destruction of our agricultural sector. The government should explore the option of building an alternative to the Sukkur barrage.

Such barrages are necessary to save Sindh’s agriculture. Honest and hard-working engineers of the federal, Sindh and Punjab governments should be hired for the process.

Courtesy: DAWN
http://dawn.com/news/1034404

News, Pakistan, Politics

Nawaz Sharif refuses to attend Army briefing

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ISLAMABAD: PML-N Chief Nawaz Sharif refused to attend Friday’s in-camera joint session of the parliament in protest against the increasing role of the ISI and army in politics.

During Friday’s in-house session,the army chief is due to brief the legislators on the U.S. strike in the Garrison city of Abbottabad and answer their questions.

The military command is said to be taking this parliamentary briefing a lot more seriously than the one it had given about the Swat operation two years ago.

Although Sharif is not a legislator, he was especially invited by the Prime Minister to attend Friday’s briefing. However, the PML-N chief said he declined the invitation, adding that Pakistan will not be able to progress unless the role of the ISI and Army is restricted.

As mentioned in a previous report published in The Express Tribune, the military command is expecting a barrage of sharp questions from the political leadership, most notably the opposition led by PML-N’s Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, during the course of the briefing.

Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan gave a fiery speech this Tuesday, accusing both the military and civilian leaders of incompetence and deceiving the Pakistani people, demanding an independent national commission to investigate the events of May 2, when a US special forces unit killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in a ‘black’ operation in Abbottabad.

The PML-N chief, who demanded a judicial inquiry into the Abbottabad security failure, said he is ready to extend his three-day deadline if the government agrees to consider his demand.

Nawaz Sharif, who came under attack after his brother Shahbaz Sharif secretly, met the army chief, assured that there will no more be such secret meetings in the future.

Courtesy: The Express Tribune

Balochistan, India, Kashmir, Pakistan, Politics

Hoisting flags, foisting identities.

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By Urooj Zia

The Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) seems intent on hoisting the tricolour at Lal Chowk in Srinagar. While patriotism might be the pretext for this ‘tiranga yatra’, the underlying narrative is vile nose-thumbing at a people who have been oppressed under distorted interpretations of patriotism and related politics. As such, it wouldn’t be surprising if the BJP bigwigs either hoist the tiranga under heavy paramilitary protection and curfew, or are forced to make a run for it amidst a barrage of stone-pelting.

This entire circus of faux-nationalism, meanwhile, finds a parallel in Balochistan, Pakistan’s restive south-western province, where sighting the chand-tara means that one is either close to a Frontier Corps (FC) check-post or near the entrance of the Balochistan University campus in Quetta. The latter is guarded by FC personnel in APCs, because students have made a sport of replacing the Pakistani flag with the colours of Azad Balochistan.

Early last year, I had the chance to witness firsthand the brutalities meted out to the people of Balochistan by the same people tasked with protecting the citizens of Pakistan. Perhaps the forces in question don’t consider the Baloch citizens of this country, in which case, it is ironic how we insist on holding on to an area and a people whom we otherise as traitors. Over a kilometre on Sariab Road in Quetta, I spotted no less than 10 FC check-posts, where vehicles were arbitrarily stopped and passengers were ordered to disembark. A thorough body search was then conducted, and further treatment depended on the whim of the officer in question. Those stopped were either ordered to recite the national anthem of Pakistan, or told to chant ‘Pakistan Zindabad’. If the sloganeering was not deemed ‘patriotic’ enough, a repeat performance was ordered for as long as the officer wished. …

Read more : uroojzia

News, Pakistan, Sindh

Flood threatens Sindh

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Pakistan floods threaten key barrage in southern Sindh

Waters have exceeded the danger level at a key flood barrier in Pakistan’s southern province of Sindh.

The Sukkur Barrage flooding means Sindh faces as much devastation as that seen further north in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab provinces, say experts.

Enraged survivors have been physically attacking government officials in flood-hit areas, amid widespread anger at the pace of the relief effort.

At least 1,600 people have died in the region’s worst deluge in 80 years.

With more than 14 million people already affected, the monsoon rains show little sign of abating.

On Monday, a new international radio initiative called “info-as-aid” made its first broadcasts in Urdu and Pashto in an effort to spread information about accessing aid and also about countering disease.

Read more >> BBC