The New Nation - Internet Edition

CNG cylinder explosions

COMPRESSED natural gas (CNG) cylinder explosion has emerged as a new danger to members of the travelling public. The basement of a 22-storey building at Banani in the city caught fire from the explosion of a CNG cylinder the other day. The explosion occurred in the parking lot and the fire spread to some other areas of the building. A similar explosion at Mohakhali in the city on Saturday burned a microbus to ashes. According to reports, 18 incidents of cylinder explosion were recorded in 2007, more than one per month. At least one person died in each case.

Use of faulty and sub-standard CNG cylinder in motor vehicles is the main cause of repeated explosions. Many vehicles are fitted with low quality cylinders not meant for storing high-pressure CNG. Sometimes even oxygen cylinders or those having capacity to store lower pressure substances are used. Such cylinders cannot withstand the high pressure of CNG. According to the Society for Urban Environmental Protection, 87 percent of the cylinders that exploded at different times were either of low quality or had faulty design or were fitted improperly. Most of the vehicles damaged by explosion were taxicabs or CNG-fuelled three-wheelers. A significant percentage of explosions took place during refuelling.

Each cylinder blast reportedly releases the power of a 500-pound bomb with potential to cause serious damage of life and property. The incident at Banani should be an eye-opener as to how devastating a cylinder explosion could be. To avert such threats to life the authorities must ensure regular monitoring of all CNG automobiles. The use of faulty cylinders or unauthorised conversions of vehicles should be stopped. A drive against use of sub-standard CNG cylinders has been initiated. It should succeed in stopping the use of sub-standard CNG cylinders.

Nutrition for mothers and children

THE health conditions of mothers and children in Bangladesh have been presented at a seminar on nutrition of mothers and children in the city. Data on death of about sixty-five children out of every thousand per year have been raised by speakers. Malnutrition of children has also been noted with over twenty-six percent suffering from moderate malnutrition and about seventeen percent others suffering from severe malnutrition. At the time of birth, twenty-two percent of children remain below the desirable weight and around thirty-seven percent turn weak due to inadequate breast feeding of sick mothers.

One major problem in the care for mothers and children is the inadequacy of services of doctors and nurses. The healthcare centres set up in rural and urban areas fail to meet the demand of the people at large. It is mainly due to the insufficiency of inputs like medicine and inadequacy of doctors and nurses at such centres. Some private organisations like the Save the Children of UK are working for extending proper healthcare facilities and services to mothers and children in Bangladesh. Local NGOs and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare have also started creating newer facilities and providing services to them.

Providing nutrition for mothers and children depends upon the proper use of resources and facilities. The onus falls upon the professionals in the field, on the one hand, and upon the members of the family, mainly the male members including fathers, brothers and husbands on the other. The rights of women and children, enshrined in religious precepts and legal provisions of the country, have to be honoured and followed. The prevailing parochial treatment of women and children has to be changed for improving the situation of mothers and children in the country.

Challenges before the Zardari administration

Dr. M. S. Haq

President Asif Ali Zardari is expected to confront a host of challenges both existing and evolving soon after he assumes - God willing - the present day powerful office of president of Pakistan in the near future. He will be required to harness opportunities - both existing and potential - in pursuits of overcoming those challenges to for example, the satisfaction of people of Pakistan, friends of Pakistan (including inter alia the US, Saudi Arabia, China, Turkey and the UK), neighbors of Pakistan (including inter alia India and Afghanistan) and others (including inter alia the World Bank, the United Nations, the EU and the NATO).

Factors such as and as appropriate - presented below not in the order of priority and importance - could be instrumental in making inter alia challenges of Pakistan more formidable, more difficult and more complicated than that at present (as of today - 1st September 2008) for Zardari administration to cope with them (I mean the challenges) in pursuits of say delivering Pakistan from its present day crisis and instabilities in a timely, cost effective and satisfactory fashion:

failures to re-stabilize Pakistan to a position that would enable the country to re-start for example normal developmental activities at local, national and other levels in a quicker, satisfactory and sustainable fashion. The re-stabilization failures could involve inter alia (a) failures associated with protecting at least innocent life (including inter alia that of children) and property (including inter alia nuclear weapons) on a continuous basis, (b) failures associated with the re-establishment (as required) of rule of law, justice and fairness in Pakistan in a visible, forceful, purposeful, equal, equitable, impact-oriented and sustainable manner, (c) failures associated with crafting appropriate policies and strategies aiming at giving an emergency relief and a continually progressive relief (as applicable) to the people especially the poor in areas of basic needs and amenities - per se, (d) failures associated with initiating and implementing above policies and strategies with the help of say crash programs and reliable controls, and (e) failures associated with capturing, sustaining and promoting political will initially for re-stabilization;

2. failures associated with the identification, prioritization and implementation of country's competing priorities (both immediate and otherwise) such as pluralism, security, economy, poverty and environment - in, as appropriate, proper, result-oriented and sustainable fashions. Further, failures associated with harnessing, creating and sustaining comparative, competitive and other advantages in favor of progress and prosperity of Pakistan, the people of Pakistan and others on a continuous basis and to the satisfaction of all concerned - I mean as far as humanly possible;

3. failures associated with the achievement of required amount of success in the war on terror through the near future;

4. failures associated with winning the war within the shortest possible time and cost (time means cost, though) for the benefit of Pakistan and the world at large - at local, national, global and other levels. An estimated time line for at least finishing the substantive part of war is needed at this point in time for say, giving a sense of direction, in terms of time dimensions, to people of Pakistan in particular, and the people of world at large;

5. failures associated with a further mobilization of people's opinion in favor of the war and in favor of working towards good for all at any time - without any fear and favor;

6. failures of concerned political parties, civil society and others in taking seriously consequences and ramifications of terrorism and extremism when it comes to building futures of Pakistan. Further, failures of all concerned in delivering results and outcomes to Pakistanis and others when it comes to liberating and protecting the country from those consequences and ramifications, in a more responsible, outcome-oriented (used in a positive sense) and sustainable manner than that at present;

7. failures of media (print, electronic and others) in for example, presenting and highlighting before Pakistanis and others problems and prospects associated with the progress and prosperity of Pakistan between now and the foreseeable future - in a more objective, result-oriented, helpful (to the people, to the country, per se) and neutral (to mention a few) fashion than that at present;

8. failures of media (print, electronic and others) in for example, identifying and projecting successes, lessons and failures at governmental and other levels with a view to attracting, harnessing and promoting - as appropriate - people's appreciation, people's constructive criticism, people's support, people's suggestion, people's assistance, people's help and people's cooperation - on a continuous basis - for building upon those lessons and successes, for dealing with above failures, and for following through remedial measures in pertinent areas, to mention a few;

9. failures associated with bringing about improvements, in a significant way and within the shortest possible time, in the health of country's economy and investments with the help of for example financial and non-financial incentives - as applicable and as appropriate, more effective but less costly people-intermediary (for example market intermediaries) transactions and intermediary-people transactions than those at present, more effective and efficient regulatory regimes in pertinent areas than the existing ones, more investment friendly law, order, and labor situations than the existing situations, and more productive resources allocation and utilization in relevant areas than that at present, to mention a few;

10. failures in initiating, implementing, maintaining and promoting solid and workable diplomacy-trade compacts and trade-diplomacy compacts for - facilitating minimization if not elimination of problems of unemployment and under employment - repositioning bilateral relations more in areas of strength than in areas of weakness, as required - and liberating bilateral and multilateral diplomacies from domains of say tunnel visions, naïve realism, emotional immaturities and more than required subjectivities, to mention a few;

11. failures in reviving the agriculture sector and in stimulating further the service sector including inter alia health sides and financial service sides;

12. failures in maximizing the return on investment in areas for example, education including inter alia female education, ICT, RDE (research, development and engineering), citizenship development, tooling or re-tooling youth for local innovations and inventions, cooperative ventures, cultivation of result-proving and pro-people political culture, anti-corruption, human rights and institutional development;

13. failures in war against wastage at local, national and other dimensions and in making recycling engineering and technology viable and affordable to all concerned as soon as possible;

14. failures in resolving - within an optimistic time frame - internal and external disputes including inter alia those relating to the country's tribal areas and Kashmir - either in part or in full - to the satisfaction of all concerned as far as practicable;

15. failures in realization of commitments made by Pakistan at the UN and other forums;

16. failures in ensuring a quick and sustainable recovery of Pakistan from say, the present day isolation, and loss of reputational costs - used in a negative sense;

17. failures in accelerating and sustaining intra and inter-generational transfers of fruits of present day civilization;

18. failures in establishing and in making the best use of way forward in pursuits of overcoming uncertainties, de-commercialization of religions, promoting provincial autonomy including inter alia that relating to Pakhtunistan (I mean NWFP) in the overall interest of Pakistan, and removing barriers to liberty, freedom and democracy, to mention a few; and

19. failures in using for example truth, honesty and commitment as powerful lines of defense at political, non-political and other dimensions.

The list is not exhaustive. But a windfall from the outcome of above failures could take a heavy toll on say, the country's present day potential for growth and prosperity, among other things. It is hoped that will not be the case. It is hoped concerns raised through the list of probable failures will among other things be considered for inter alia defining or setting or both the tone, direction and critical mass of President Zardari's first speech to the nation.

The success of President Zardari's administration would depend on, among other things how best and quickest Pakistan could deal and eliminate those concerns in a sustainable manner - with the help and assistance of ordinary people of Pakistan, political parties of Pakistan, the media (print, electronic and others), civil society, influential Pakistanis - both at home in abroad, friends of Pakistan, neighbors of Pakistan, development partners of Pakistan and others, as appropriate.

The last word: President Asif Ali Zardari - Congratulations in advance! You have played well the game of politics in at least the recent months. It is expected you will be able to set an example in ushering a new and prosperous era for Pakistan through the period of your upcoming presidency. All the best to people of Pakistan, people of world at large and last but not least to you!

They are human too, Mr Bush!

Aijaz Zaka Syed

YOU do not have to be born in the West or be a Westerner to hate the Taleban. Most of us in the Middle East and the larger Muslim world have grown sick and tired of their extremist, truly bizarre ways and their absurd interpretation of Islam.

Look at, for instance, what they have lately been doing in the lawless territory between Afghanistan and Pakistan. From sending suicide bombers targeting completely innocent civilians, who happen to follow the same beliefs as they claim to do, in places like hospitals to burning down schools for girls, they continue to do the very things in the name of our faith that it strictly forbids.

There are reports of at least a hundred girls schools in Swat, one of Pakistan's most backward and impoverished regions, being burnt down by the militants. Anyone with a rudimentary knowledge of Islam knows that these actions strike at the very heart of the great faith and what it stands for.

But this is not a debate about Islamic teachings and how the zealots like Taleban, or whoever these nuts are, are distorting them.

What really intrigues me is the fact that in spite of these patently absurd actions by the insurgents, support for them continues to grow in Afghanistan as well as in the adjoining tribal areas of Pakistan.

The more the Coalition of the Willing pours in billions of dollars in funds, nearly hundred thousand of the world's finest soldiers and the most lethal arms and ammunition in Afghanistan, the more they seem to lose against an enemy that was supposed to have been destroyed in the US Invasion in 2001. An enemy that has no ostensible external support, no funds and with weapons that may as well belong to the Stone Age continues to give the reigning superpower and its equally powerful allies a run for their money.

The more the US and Nato forces kill and destroy Taleban, the more they seem to grow, multiplying like those imperishable armies of zombie soldiers in the Hollywood productions, The Mummy II and III.

Seven years after the Invasion, the coalition is as close to victory against the Taleban as the Russians had been against the mujahideen in 1970s and '80s. Last week, 10 French soldiers were killed in a single attack, perhaps the biggest single day loss for France after its disastrous war in Algeria.

Why? What keeps the Taleban going? The 3,000-year old history of Afghanistan is full of answers to the question. This mountainous land with a moody weather and merciless winters has never come to terms with the invaders, however mighty and however conceited.

True, Afghanistan had been the gateway to the Indian sub-continent and rest of Asia for successive invading armies. But it also proved their last abode -- the graveyard of great armies, from Alexander the Great to the Russian Czars.

Returning to the current occupiers, the Western observers and editorial pundits have been stunned by the recent spectacular successes of the Taleban.

And Western leaders from the speedy Sarko to bored Brown have been paying unannounced visits to their demoralised troops on the front that Barack Obama calls the main front of the US war. Agitated Western publics are increasingly asking their governments: "What went wrong in Afghanistan? We thought we had won this war?"

What really perplexes the West is the hopeless longing of ordinary Afghans for the barbarians called Taleban. Instead of singing paeans to their Western liberators who brought them invaluable gifts like democracy, freedom and human dignity, as Bush puts it, the ungrateful Afghans are helping and cooperating with their tormentors.

But is it really a mystery to be unlocked by Dan Brown why ordinary Afghans still look to the Taleban? The clues are right there, staring you in the face.

This week, on August 22, the coalition air strikes in western Afghanistan killed more than 90 civilians. The UN has now confirmed that more than 60 of the victims were children, rest of them mostly women.

An understandably irate Hamid Karzai vehemently protested to the coalition. But since he cannot do much except protest when it comes to dealing with the coalition, he sacked two of his own generals. The US, however, insists that not more than 15 to 20 people were killed and most of them were insurgents.

Even the tiny bodies of the victims couldn't convince Karzai's friends in high places that those killed in Herat were indeed innocent civilians, going about their daily business.

But is this the first incident of its kind when the brave soldiers of the coalition of the willing mistook women and children for the militants? Last month, on July 6, a whole wedding party was wiped out by the coalition bombing near Jalalabad.

An inquiry by the Afghan government found that at least 47 people in the attack; 39 of them were women and children. The US of course maintained they were all 'insurgents'.

There have been scores of such incidents when civilians were deliberately targeted -- ; a wedding party here, a casual gathering of elders there -- by those who claim to be the saviours and protectors of Afghan people. The country's rights group, Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission reports that more than 900 civilians have been killed this year alone in attacks by the coalition.

According to the UN, at least half of the civilians killed this year were not fell by the Taleban bullets but by the coalition attacks. Last year, nearly 2,000 civilians were killed by the casual or merely friendly fire of the trigger-happy soldiers of the empire. These were the people who even the coalition agrees were civilian.

There are thousands of others who are routinely killed as Taleban, without so much as meriting a passing mention in the Western media; let alone raising questions if they were really militants or innocents caught in the crossfire.

I wonder what crime those children in Herat committed except being born in a country on the wrong side of Uncle Sam. They don't look to me in any way different from my own kids or yours. Look at them, Mr Bush, they are as human as your average American school-going kids. They might have different names and followed a different faith. But in the end, they were human too.

Intimidation will not stop our Gaza mission

Osama Qashoo

THIS morning I am sorry to find myself back on dry land in Cyprus, separated from my fellow sailors who are now completing the final leg of their trip to Gaza.

They are carrying humanitarian and medical aid to a people now suffering both an international boycott and the illegal Israeli occupation. On board the refurbished fishing boats, SS Free Gaza and SS Liberty, are more than 50 activists from 17 nations - Jews, Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, farmers, fishermen, officials, language teachers, piano technicians and one 85-year-old Holocaust survivor - all united in their determination to break the Israeli siege.

After months of preparation, the Free Gaza Movement's perilous relief mission is under way. But I am not with them, despite the fact that I am the only Palestinian-born organiser involved. Last week, my immediate family, who still live in the West Bank, were attacked and terrorised, and I also received numerous anonymous death threats. My family were warned that I must leave the project, and that I must not contact the media. This psychological terrorism now forces me to make a public protest. Though I am no longer on board, I will not leave this mission, even as potential confrontation with the Israeli military looms closer.

The UN has called the situation in Gaza a humanitarian disaster, but the inhumanity goes on. More than 200 civilians have died due to the refusal to let people leave Gaza to seek medical care. On June 19 Israel agreed to halt military invasion and the indiscriminate shelling of Gaza, in return for an end to the launching of homemade rockets towards Israel. Israel has not met its obligations. Gaza's borders, gates that imprison 1.5 million civilians, remain locked, and scant supplies get through. Even medical supplies are being blocked.

I grew up in Palestine and have lived in fear since childhood. The horror of witnessing elders of my family being bullied and humiliated, the daily terror of losing my parents. Watching my family elders being humiliated, the child's voice inside me would cry out silently: "How can I stop this?"

While I was on board the Liberty, I listened to the threatening messages hijacking the ship's emergency channel, illegal for use unless in distress. These voices reawakened a deep, familiar feeling in me: that no matter how civil, kind, non-violent I am, I will always be watched, or far worse, hunted. Now I realise that the biggest friend of psychological terror is silence. The Free Gaza Movement aims to challenge the physical stranglehold on Gaza, but more importantly, this mission seeks to break the silence for millions of voiceless civilians whose daily stories of persecution go so cruelly ignored by the international community. When our boats arrived in Cyprus on August 20 to collect the rest of our 40-plus group, news reached us that Israel's deputy prime minister and minister of foreign affairs, Tzipi Livni, had finally responded to our invitation. The Free Gaza Movement had invited her to join the Cypriot authorities, who were coming aboard to search our boats in order to address their security concerns. Citing the Oslo accords, a document from the legal department of the foreign ministry asserted Israel's right to use force against our boats. It claimed that security forces were permitted to detain the vessels upon entry to Gaza's territorial waters, and that the peaceful, unarmed activists on board could be forcibly arrested, detained and "interrogated" in Israel. Why does a peaceful relief mission bring fury, fear and threat from the Israeli government? Is this the way Israel observes its responsibilities under the Oslo accords? Under the accords and the Gaza-Jericho agreement, the only authority Israel reserved for itself was for "security" purposes. Our boats are no threat. Our David and Goliath mission is a focused, direct action to challenge the inertia of the international community which allows the "humanitarian disaster" suffered by the people of Gaza to continue. The activists carry no arms or threat of violence.