SIKSA, Pakistan: When a pipeline was installed last year to bring spring water and snowmelt to this village of 500 households in northern Pakistan, it brought something else as well: peace.
Previously, neighbors argued over the limited water that coursed through channels to the town. The community strictly regulated water use, with each household allowed half an hour of supply a week to irrigate their fields. Cheating brought arguments.
To wash their clothes or to bathe, villagers had to clamber down to the river at the bottom of the valley. Fetching drinking water meant climbing up the steep mountainside to a spring.
But not any more.
“I would say 90 percent of our issues have now been resolved,” said Shereen Akhtar, a resident and the locally elected representative to the Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly. “Now there is peace in Siksa.”
The pipeline, sunk three feet into the ground, uses gravity to carry water six kilometers (3.7 miles) from the heights of the Karakoram Mountains in Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan’s northern-most region.
It feeds into a 30,000-liter (8,000-gallon) storage tank, which directs the water through irrigation channels that supply 4,000 people, said Aisha Khan, who heads the Mountain and Glacier Protection Organization (MGPO), a non-profit that works in the region.
She estimates the system now channels over 5 billion liters of water a year — and ensures a water supply year-round.
The project was constructed in response to the effects of climate change, she said, which has led to more erratic water supplies in mountain areas, putting lives and incomes at risk.
“Winters are becoming milder and shorter with less snowfall, and summers are getting longer and warmer,” she said.
And with changes in rainfall patterns affecting farming, she said, ensuring food security is seen as the first step in building resilience and reducing vulnerability to climate change impacts.
“That can only be achieved by providing mountain communities with a reliable source of water in the right quantity and at the right time,” Khan said.
A TIME OF PLENTY
World Health Organization figures show just 36 percent of Pakistan’s population has access to safe drinking water.
Siksa’s water supply project took a year to put in place, and cost about 15.5 million Pakistani rupees ($126,000). The community provided the labor and about one-fifth of the money, with most of the rest coming from the Coca-Cola Foundation.
Sakina, who like most villagers uses just one name, said that until a few years ago water was abundant, with heavy winter snow meaning plenty of water flowed even in summer.
“But for several years now the winters are not so cold anymore and there is less snowfall. That meant less water for irrigation and less crops and income,” she said.
But since the water storage tank was installed, “all these fields have become green again,” she said, pointing to terraced fields where tomatoes, aubergine, okra and pumpkin grow against a backdrop of towering, bare-sloped mountains.
“We can now cook vegetables like okra and aubergines which was unheard of before. Earlier our vegetables would just dry up after we planted them,” the mother-of-three said.
The steady supply of water even means Siksa’s homes are decorated with pots and baskets of flowers.
“Our homes are now scrupulously clean, and we can plant flowers too as we now have plenty of water,” said Husniat, a teacher at one of the village’s two schools.
In recent years, Husniat said, the lack of water meant it was hard to ensure children stayed clean.
“We would have to go fetch water in plastic containers from springs higher up in the mountains, which would take hours, then use it sparingly to wash clothes and for cooking and drinking. It was exhausting,” she said.
WATER SURPLUS
A reliable supply of water also has allowed villagers for the first time in year to sell a surplus of vegetables grown in the nearby market towns of Khaplu and Skardu, Khan said.
They are predicting an even bigger harvest next year, after discovering the water supply is sufficient to irrigate additional farmland, she said.
Villagers also have planted fruit trees — meaning better nutrition and higher incomes, Khan said.
In an effort to help combat global warming, they have planted 10,000 poplar trees as well in the past two years, on formerly barren ground.
“We took the rocks out of the barren ground with our bare hands and planted each tree and watered it. The plantation area has become so green now we all go there in the summers for picnics,” Sakina said.
Khan said the previous government had pushed for more tree planting and provided villagers with free popular saplings, which will also become a new source of income as they grow.
Residents can cut them down and replant “as they grow quite fast,” Khan said, adding that the timber from a mature poplar would fetch about $325.
Sakina said Siksa residents know they should not fell trees for fuel but the government’s supply of electricity to the village is erratic, leaving them little choice.
“Without a proper supply of electricity to run our heaters, what can we do?” she asked.
She said the community now wants to build a small hydropower plant if they can find the needed $80,000 in funding.
In Pakistan, a high mountain water pipe brings a bonus: peace
In Pakistan, a high mountain water pipe brings a bonus: peace
Army chief vows action after deadly week of militant attacks in Pakistan
- Twelve soldiers were killed on Tuesday as militants attacked a checkpost in the northwestern Bannu district
- Gunmen opened fire on vehicles carrying minority Shiite community members in KP province on Thursday, killing 41
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Army Chief General Asim Munir vowed action against militants on Friday, following a week of deadly attacks in which dozens of civilians and security officials have been killed in the country’s northwest.
In the latest attack, gunmen opened fire on vehicles carrying members of the minority Shiite community in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Thursday, killing at least 41 people in one of the region’s deadliest such attacks in recent years. The assault took place in Kurram, a district where sectarian clashes have killed dozens of people in recent months. No group has claimed responsibility.
On Tuesday, ten Pakistan army soldiers and two from the paramilitary Frontier Constabulary were killed on Tuesday as militants attacked a checkpost in the northwestern Bannu district.
Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province in the northwest and the remote southwestern province of Balochistan have both seen an increase in strikes by militants this year.
“He [Munir] reiterated the army’s firm resolve to dismantle hostile terrorist networks and eradicate the illegal spectrum undermining national security,” the army’s media wing said in a statement, quoting Munir as saying after he attended a security meeting in Peshawar, the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
“He assured that through synchronized and robust operations, Pakistan Army in collaboration with Law Enforcement Agencies will relentlessly hunt down the enemies of peace to ensure lasting stability and security.”
In a separate statement, the army said it had carried out three operations in Balochistan on Nov. 20-22, in which four militants had been killed.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif chaired a meeting of civil and military leaders who gave the go-ahead for a "comprehensive operation" against separatist insurgents in Balochistan.
Pushed by Beijing, Pakistan plans military operation against Baloch separatists — analysts
- Government has announced operation but not shared details of scale, scope, whether it will be joint effort with China
- Analysts say military solutions will not work in Balochistan, plagued by low-level separatist insurgency since decades
QUETTA: Pakistan is working out the operational details, scope and scale of a planned military operation in the insurgency-plagued southwestern Balochistan province, officials said this week, with analysts saying pressure from Beijing had convinced Islamabad it was time to take on separatist militants in a region that is home to key Chinese Belt and Road projects.
Following a string of deadly attacks that have targeted its citizens in recent months, China has pushed to join security efforts to protect them and unveiled a plan on Tuesday for joint counter-terrorism exercises in Pakistan. On the same day, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif chaired a meeting of civil and military leaders who gave the go-ahead for a “comprehensive operation” against separatist insurgents in Balochistan.
The statement from the prime minister’s office did not give any details of the operation, including whether it was limited to ground operations or could involve the air force, when it would be launched and in which parts of the vast, remote Balochistan province. It also did not mention if the plan would be a joint effort with Beijing and which Pakistani security agencies would take part.
“Nothing has been finalized yet because the meeting was held on Tuesday and further progress regarding the military operation will take time,” Wasim Akram, an information officer at the Ministry of Interior, told Arab News, adding that the scale of the operation and which forces would participate were details that were still being worked out.
Balochistan Government Spokesperson Shahid Rind and Special Secretary Home Department Abdul Nasir Dotani also did not share any specific details on the operation’s scope and scale.
“It was decided in the federal apex committee and it is clear it will be a comprehensive military operation,” Rind told Arab News.
Balochistan Home Secretary Shahab Ali Shah, Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfaraz Bugti, Defense Minister Khawaja Asif and Information Minister Attaullah Tarar could not be reached for comment despite several attempts.
“PRESSURE FROM CHINA”
Pakistan’s military already has a huge presence in Balochistan, which borders Afghanistan and Iran and is home to a decades-long separatist insurgency by militants fighting for a separate homeland to win a larger share of benefits from the resource-rich province. The government and military deny they are exploiting the province’s mineral wealth or ignoring its economic development.
The military has long run intelligence-based operations against insurgent groups, the most prominent being the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), which has escalated attacks in recent months on the military and nationals from longtime ally China.
The region is home to the Gwadar Port, built by China as part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a $65 billion investment in President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road infrastructure initiative to expand China’s global reach.
In addition to the recent attacks, the BLA also claimed a suicide bombing last month outside the international airport in the southern port city of Karachi that killed two Chinese engineers.
“There shouldn’t be any ambiguity that Pakistan is facing internal and external pressure, mainly from China, to launch this new offensive against Baloch separatist militants,” Dr. Ayesha Siddiqa, a senior fellow at King’s College in London and a military affairs expert, told Arab News.
“There is increasing pressure from the Chinese government and they are not willing to financially assist Pakistan anymore until the security situation gets better … Pakistan has to demonstrate to the Chinese that we are doing something in Balochistan against Baloch militant groups.”
Shahzad Zulfiqar, a senior journalist who has been covering militancy in Balochistan for over two decades, concurred with Dr. Siddiqa, also pointing to reports that China was pushing Pakistan to allow its own security staff to protect thousands of Chinese citizens working in the South Asian nation.
“Though Pakistan has been taking action against militant groups involved in attacking Chinese nationals, now there is pressure from China which is asking Pakistan to work on a joint security mechanism because Chinese citizens are being targeted and are under threat,” he said.
The foreign office in Islamabad this month denied international media reports Beijing wanted its own security forces on the ground in Pakistan.
Pakistan had raised a security force to protect Chinese nationals and projects, particularly those operating under the CPEC umbrella, and “this security apparatus continues to provide security to Chinese CPEC projects inside Pakistan,” Foreign Office Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch told reporters on Nov. 14:
“Pakistan and China have a robust dialogue and cooperation on a range of issues including counterterrorism and security of Chinese nationals in Pakistan … We will continue to work with our Chinese brothers for the safety and security of Chinese nationals, projects and institutions in Pakistan.”
“NO MILITARY SOLUTIONS”
Ethnic Baloch separatists have launched several insurgencies in Balochistan since the birth of Pakistan in 1947, including from 1948-50, 1958–60, 1962–63 and 1973–1977. An ongoing low-level insurgency began in 2003. The army has launched several military campaigns in response, including as early as 1948 in the state of Kalat and a five-year-long operation in the 70s under Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.
“Many political governments have come and gone in Balochistan but the operation has continued,” Sardar Akhter Jan Mengal, head of the Balochistan National Party (BNP) and a prominent Baloch nationalist leader in the province, told Arab News.
“No one can resolve Balochistan’s political issue with military operations.”
Indeed, political leaders and independent analysts have for years urged the government to take a holistic approach to resolving Balochistan’s problems, which they say stems from decades of economic deprivation and political disenfranchisement. The province, which comprises 44 percent of Pakistan’s total land mass, is its most backward by almost all economic and social indicators.
Rich in land and mineral wealth, most parts of the region often lack even the rudiments of modern life. For instance, though home to Reko Diq, one of the world’s largest undeveloped copper and gold deposits, and the site of major Chinese investment projects, the province lacks employment opportunities and basic facilities like Internet, health and education.
Balochistan is also the least represented in Pakistan’s parliament, where legislative seats are allocated to provinces according to their population. Balochistan has a population of only 14.89 million people in a country of over 240 million and is hence allocated only 16 National Assembly seats. Punjab, with a much smaller land area but a population of 127.68 million, gets 141 seats.
Zulfiqar, the journalist, said military operations needed to be combined with social and economic development as well as “good governance” efforts to be successful.
“This will be the fifth military operation in Balochistan since 1947,” he said. “Military operations are not the only solution to bring peace and stability in Balochistan, there should be more options involved with the military operation, including dialogue and good governance.”
In fact, many fear another military operation in the province will further alienate its citizens, rights activists and political leaders, who have long accused security agencies of arbitrary arrests, extrajudicial killings and other types of rights abuses in the name of cracking down on separatists. The state denies it is involved in such activities.
“This military operation will put more fuel in the fire of hate in Balochistan rather than extinguish it,” BNP’s Mengal said.
Nawab Aslam Raisani, a provincial lawmaker and a senior political and tribal leader in the province, also warned against a military operation.
“We haven’t seen any result of the use of military force,” he said. “This new decision of the apex committee to launch a military operation in Balochistan will push the federation toward more destruction.”
Over 200 investors, entrepreneurs from Pakistan, UAE attend joint business forum in Sharjah
- Sharjah-Pakistan Business Roundtable hosted on Thursday by Sharjah FDI Office, Pakistan Business Council
- UAE is one of Pakistan’s largest trading partners and source of foreign investment, valued at over $10 billion in last 20 years
ISLAMABAD: Over 200 investors and entrepreneurs from Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) attended a joint business forum in Sharjah this week to explore bilateral investment opportunities in sectors such as manufacturing, IT, trade and green-tech, state media reported.
The UAE is one of Pakistan’s largest trading partners and a major source of foreign investment, valued at over $10 billion in the last 20 years, according to the UAE ministry of foreign affairs. The UAE-Pakistan trade volume rose to $7.9 billion in 2023, up 12 percent from 2022. In May this year, Prime Minister Shehbaz said the Emirates had committed $10 billion to invest in promising economic sectors in Pakistan. The Pakistan Business Council (PBC), set up this September at the Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, also aims to increase Pakistan’s bilateral trade volume with the UAE to $40 billion in three years.
The UAE is home to more than a million Pakistani expatriates and the second-largest source of remittances to Pakistan after Saudi Arabia.
“The Sharjah FDI Office (Invest in Sharjah) and the Pakistan Business Council in Sharjah hosted the Sharjah-Pakistan Business Roundtable here on Thursday,” Pakistani state news agency APP reported on Friday.
“The event brought together over 200 investors and entrepreneurs to explore opportunities for strengthening economic ties and fostering bilateral investments between Sharjah and Pakistan.”
Speaking at the event, Consul General Hussain Muhammad, said Pakistan’s economy, workforce, and abundant natural resources offered “immense potential for collaboration” with the Emirates.
“Pakistan’s economy is diverse, with opportunities in agriculture, textiles, information technology, and renewable energy,” the diplomat said. “Sharjah’s investors and businesses could greatly benefit from exploring partnerships in these sectors.”
The consul general said the recent establishment of the Pakistan Business Council in Sharjah was a “testament to the growing collaboration” between the two countries and expressed confidence that the Council would play a “crucial role” in supporting Pakistani investors, facilitating partnerships, and advancing mutual economic interests.
Over 11,500 Pakistani companies are currently registered within Sharjah’s mainland and dedicated Free Zones.
Haider tank, Shahpar fighter drone in spotlight as Pakistan’s top defense expo concludes
- Exhibition hosted over 550 exhibitors and 350 civil and military officials from 55 countries
- IDEAS has been held biennially since 2000 and grown into a key event for defense sector
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s top defense exhibition IDEAS 2024 will conclude today, Friday, with the locally manufactured third-generation Haider tank and Shahpar fighter drone among the South Asian nation’s main showpieces.
IDEAS has been held biennially since 2000 and has since grown into a key event for the Pakistani defense sector. This year’s show, running from Nov.19-Nov. 22 in Karachi, hosted over 550 exhibitors, including 340 international defense companies, and more than 350 civil and military officials from 55 countries.
On the first day of the expo, Pakistan launched the Haider tank, locally produced at the Heavy Industry Taxila in collaboration with local and international technology partners. The tank has auto-tracking, a remote-control weapons system and a 470-kilometer cruising range.
The Shahpar-III drone capable of flying at 35,000 feet and carrying heavy weapons such as bombs, cruise missiles and torpedoes, was also launched at the exhibition.
“I had no prior knowledge about these products, but upon visiting, I was astonished to discover such a top-class range of items being exported abroad,” Muhammad Mohsin, a visitor, told media.
“These products, manufactured in Sialkot, Gujranwala, and Karachi, truly showcase exceptional craftsmanship. It is imperative that these remarkable offerings gain greater recognition in international markets.”
Mohsin said he was unaware that Pakistan was exporting a “top-class range of items” in the defense sector until he attended this year’s IDEAS.
The Shahpar-III is a successor to the Shahpar-II drone, which could fly up to 20 hours at a maximum altitude of 23,000 feet, according to Global Industrial Defense Solutions (GIDS), a state-owned Pakistani defense conglomerate that has developed the drones. The Shahpar-III can fly up to 35,000 feet for 24 hours and carry a payload of up to 500 kilograms.
GIDS, which exports its products to 14 countries including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, introduced Shahpar-II in 2021.
“This [Shahpar-III] has a more strategic value to an armed force in comparison to Shahpar-II,” Asad Kamal, Chief Executive Officer of GIDS, told Arab News, adding that the drone would soon be inducted into the Pakistan Air Force.
“Shahpar-III is a natural step up when you’re making UAVs drones.”
Kamal said the drone could see targets at night and “take out on the enemy” with heavy weapons.
“That means that from your own borders, you can launch a cruise missile from an unpiloted plane,” he added. “That cruise missile has a range of 250 kilometers. So, it can give any force a lot of firepower value by having this sort of a weapon in its arsenal.”
With inputs from AFP
Fear, grief grip Pakistan’s Kurram district as 41 killed in sectarian attacks
- Gunmen opened fire on vehicles carrying members of minority Shiite community in KP province on Thursday
- Clashes in July and September killed dozens of people and ended only after a jirga called a ceasefire
PESHAWAR: Fear gripped Pakistan’s northwestern Kurram district on Friday as the death toll from two sectarian attacks rose to 41, with authorities imposing a curfew and suspending mobile phone services in the remote mountainous region.
Gunmen opened fire on vehicles carrying members of the minority Shiite community in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Thursday in one of the region’s deadliest such attacks in recent years. The assault took place in Kurram, a district where sectarian clashes have killed dozens of people in recent months.
“Total 41 people have been killed and 19 others are injured in the attack,” Deputy Commissioner Kurram, Javaid Ullah Mehsud, told Arab News on Friday, saying police were yet to file a police report on the incident.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the latest attack, which came a week after authorities reopened a key highway in the region that had been closed for weeks following deadly clashes.
Mehsud told reporters a local jirga, or tribal council, had been convened to help restore peace and order.
Previous clashes in July and September killed dozens of people and ended only after a jirga called a ceasefire.
A senior administration official told the AFP news agency mobile signals across the district had been shut down, describing the situation as “extremely tense” with locals staging a sit-in in Parachinar, the district’s main town.
“A curfew has been imposed on the main road connecting Upper and Lower Kurram, and the bazaar remains completely closed, with all traffic suspended,“ the official said.
Shop owners in Parachinar had announced a strike on Friday to protest the attack.
Locals described an atmosphere of fear across the district.
“The night was spent in tension,” Irfan ullah Khan, a local youth representative, told Arab News. “People in different villages were guarding their homes … The region is in grief as the situation is tense. Anything can happen.”
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi called the shootings a “terrorist attack.” Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and President Asif Ali Zardari condemned the attack, and Sharif said those behind the killing of innocent civilians will not go unpunished.
Baqir Haideri, a local Shiite leader, denounced the assault and accused local authorities of not providing adequate security for the convoy of more than 100 vehicles despite fears of possible attacks by militants.
Shiite Muslims make up about 15 percent of the 240 million population of Sunni-majority Pakistan.
With inputs from AFP
