INDIA

As Tourism Juggernaut Moves From Maldives to Lakshadweep, Who Pays the Price?

Anaha Jaishankar | 08 Oct 2024

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A public diplomatic furore between India and the Maldives earlier this year led to calls for a boycott of the island nation by Indian tourists and the promotion of Lakshadweep as the hot new tourist destination by no less than the Prime Minister of India, but how are the coral islands faring?

Trouble in Paradise? Or just some good old-fashioned commerce mixed with a little bigotry against the politically weak? Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent endeavour regarding transforming the Lakshadweep archipelago into a new ‘hot’ tourist destination is clearly coming at the cost of a hale and hearty ecosystem.

After the election of Mohammed Muizzu to the presidency of the Maldives in 2023, bilateral ties between the two countries have been experiencing unprecedented strain. Modi’s promotion of the Lakshadweep Islands as the next tourist hotspot replacing the Maldives for Indians has led to a troubling state of affairs in the Indian Ocean.

Modi’s visit to the Lakshadweep Islands was followed by derogatory comments by a certain Maldivian minister on India’s desire to promote the archipelago as the next tourist destination.

Modi’s visit to the Lakshadweep Islands was followed by derogatory comments by a certain Maldivian minister on India’s desire to promote the archipelago as the next tourist destination.

He said, “The move is great. However, the idea of competing with us is delusional. How can they provide the service we offer? How can they be so clean? The permanent smell in the rooms will be the biggest downfall.”

This evoked a strong reaction from the Indian side and there was a significant drop in Indians visiting the Maldives and an upswing in the number of tourists visiting Lakshadweep.

As the diplomatic row continued, even industry giants from the Indian tourism sector joined in. For example, the CEO of EasyMyTrip, an Indian multinational online travel company, decided to temporarily suspend booking on flights to the Maldives to display solidarity with the Indian government, stating on X (formerly Twitter), “Our company is entirely homegrown and made in India. We have decided that we will not accept any bookings for Maldives.”

Maldives’ loss, Lakshadweep’s gain, one would think, but only if one were naïve to the ways in which modern industrial-scale tourism functions take over entire ecosystems within countries.

Rising disaffection

In the last few years, disaffection against voracious, uncontrolled tourism has been growing all over the world. City, provincial and country governments have responded with measures to make tourism ‘sustainable’, both in terms of its ecological costs as well as ensuring that the everyday lives of locals are not disturbed.

For example, in New Zealand, the country’s Indigenous Maoris take you on wilderness walks through the Urewera rainforests, which interestingly is one the first forests to be granted legal personhood. This allows travellers to experience authentic meals with the locals, learn about rare flora and fauna and experience what life would be like being one with your surroundings.

In their conservation efforts, they have also implemented plans to substantially increase visa prices and implement the International Visitor Levy (IVL), a fee paid by tourists towards the protection and conservation of their environment.

Similarly, earlier this year Venice became the first city in the world to charge a payment for visitors to the city. This fee, which comes after years of sporadic clashes and growing disaffection, is meant to discourage mass tourism in the city and make it more liveable for its residents.

Local residents have long complained that overtourism drives prices up and has been transforming the city into “a souvenir-laden theme park”. The estimated number of local residents (50,000) is far outnumbered by the number of visitors, which stood at 5.7 million in 2019.

As the diplomatic row continued, even industry giants from the Indian tourism sector joined in.

In Barcelona, Spain, the month of June saw a spike in clashes between tourists and locals. Resident protestors threw items and sprayed travellers with water guns and canned drinks, shouting ‘tourists go home’ and ‘tourists are not welcome’ slogans.

The surge in tourist numbers in the city has put pressure on the ecological and municipal resources of the city, besides dramatically increasing the cost of living, making it unsustainable for locals.

Last year, Amsterdam in the Netherlands ran a digital discouragement campaign to keep British male tourists between the ages of 18 and 35 out of the city, in an attempt to clean the city of its sleaze reputation and improve the daily life of residents.

The campaign showed males in the age group being handcuffed and taken away by the police in order to discourage others like them from visiting the city. For many years, locals have complained that drunken and doped Brits urinate in public, throw up in canals, strip off and engage in drunken brawls.

In Japan too, city governments have been struggling with post-pandemic over-tourism and its impact on the environment and public services like transport and garbage disposal.

Sometimes these clashes can have cultural and religious ramifications as well, a good example of which is the clash between tourists and officials over a new ‘dog-catcher’ policy. While Turkish authorities are trying to contain what they see as the problem of stray dogs, dog-lover foreign tourists are finding the way authorities handle the dogs inhumane, giving rise to conflict and ethical questions.

Closer home, some of the more media-visible recent clashes between tourists and visitors took place between Punjabis and Himachalis in Manikaran town of the Kullu district earlier this year. At the centre of the clashes was access to the Gurudwara at Manikaran.

The bottom line of this new area of conflict is clear from a banner used during anti-tourist protests in the Canary Islands in April this year: ‘Tourist: respect my land!’

Lakshadweep under the Modi administration

Ever since the Modi-led Union government appointed former Gujarat minister of state for home, Praful Khoda Patel as the administrator of the Union territory, the locals have been facing a maelstrom of fire, battling draconian laws, administrative practices and aggressive development plans for tourism.

Khoda has also banned beef in the mid-day meal scheme in schools, a move that showed a blatant disregard for local cultural and dietary norms.

During his time as the administrator, Khoda has instituted a variety of changes that have suffocated Lakshadweep’s local economy to make way for a robust tourist hub.

Cutting down on the frequency of ferries between Lakshadweep and the mainland from seven a day to just two, the daily lives of all the inhabitants of the archipelago who travel to Kerala for work, education or daily essentials have been heavily impacted.

This move has triggered unrest among the people, especially students, but rather than addressing these issues, the government created a completely new ferry route between Lakshadweep and Mangaluru.

The ferry line, christened the ‘Parali’, was launched by the Lakshadweep Islands Tourism Development Authority (LITDA), cutting down travel time between the archipelago and the Indian mainland significantly from thirteen hours to just five.

It sounds great for tourists to reach their holiday destination in record-breaking time, but not much heed has been paid to the route frequented by the locals.

Khoda has also banned beef in the mid-day meal scheme in schools, a move that showed a blatant disregard for the cultural and dietary norms of an archipelago where beef is a staple and Muslims constitute 96.5 percent of the population.

Most importantly though, he has brought in the Draft Lakshadweep Development Authority Regulation, 2021 (LDAR) that gives him, as administrator, special powers to remove or relocate islanders from their property, ostensibly for development projects— in simpler words, he has institutionalised land grabbing. This would imply that if tourism were to be considered ‘development’, the government has unbridled powers to exploit the archipelago as it wishes.

The draft, which has been described as ‘anti-people’, defines ‘development’ in an extremely narrow and restrictive sense, as carrying out building activities, engineering, mining, quarrying or causing any material change to land (or a hill).

Pertinently, the draft was published only in English and not in Malayalam, giving residents only a few days to comment during a time when the Covid pandemic was rampant.

There have been protests against these moves, including in the Kerala legislative assembly, where demands for the protection of people’s livelihoods and the removal of Khoda have been made.

Another controversial act introduced by the administration was the Prevention of Anti-Social Activities Act, which gives the administrator the power to detain a person without legal representation for up to a year if he thinks they are committing acts prejudiced to the maintenance of public order.

The government recently began cutting down coconut trees on Pandaram lands, but were temporarily stopped by a stay Order from the Kerala High Court.

Under the Act, the administrator also has the power to withhold the reasons for arrest, citing ‘public interest’.

A history

To understand the complex issues surrounding these islands it is important to first take a look at their history and relevance.

The Pandaram lands were originally passed from Tipu Sultan to the Arakkal Beevi, a royal family from Kerala, and eventually the British. During the reign of the Arakkal Beevi, the land was given to the local population to cultivate on as per a lessee–lessor agreement.

These collective rights over the island were given to the entire community through their village heads, and rules were created to ensure that the environment continued to be preserved.

Even though they are commonly called the ‘uninhabited islands’, their vital role in the livelihoods of the people should not be underplayed. These islands are used for agriculture, cultivating coconuts and fishing, providing the people with a rotation of seasonal employment derived from the islands.

Fast forward to 1965, the Lakshadweep Revenue and Tenancy Regulation was framed to clarify Pandaram land ownership. Tenants who had been living and residing on Pandaram lands were allotted them under the 1965 Regulations. Though they were legally not the owners, as occupants their rights were respected and the government seldom interfered in the islands’ affairs.

Considering the ‘Scheduled Tribe’ status of this Muslim population, the transfer of land rights to non-inhabitants was restricted under the 1965 Regulations. Consequently, the locals frequently gave out the Pandaram lands under their control to the government for fair compensation for various purposes, but with the 2021 Regulation, even the requirement of fair compensation or voluntary transfer of property by the local Muslims to the government has been done away with.

One of the most recent projects in conversation is the military and civil airport to be constructed in the southern part of the Minicoy islands.

The government, through these various drafts and regulations, has been laying the foundation for tourism to become the pulse of the island, and the falling out with the Maldives after their negative comments by ministers and withdrawal of the Indian army has laid the perfect path leading to it.

Dealing with the fragile ecology of the islands

The government recently began cutting down coconut trees on Pandaram lands but were temporarily stopped by a stay Order from the Kerala High Court. The Order restrained the respondents from taking any coercive action or eviction of the islanders in possession of Pandaram lands, till September 15, 2024, pending final disposal of the writ petition, but the government has allegedly continued marking trees presumably for the purpose of felling.

One of the most recent projects in conversation is the military and civil airport to be constructed in the southern part of the Minicoy islands. Initially, the airport was proposed to be built in the barren northern part, but now the plan has been shifted to the south. Shockingly, one of the few parts of the island on which the residents are able to do some cultivation.

The archipelago consists of a complex web of islands, coral reefs, lagoons and mangroves supported by a variety of flora and fauna. Its ecology is resilient to the natural changes around it but bulldozing through the islands in the name of development could prove catastrophic.

It is imperative that the government strike a balance between preserving the environment and protecting the rights of the locals and pursuing development with a sustainable approach. To analyse whether there is a need for wider roads and more buildings, and most importantly ask the question, who are they doing it for? And is this the right time and place for bulldozer politics or the use of a gentle hand?

A sustainable model for tourism in the islands should focus on indigenous-led tourism similar to New Zealand.

It is most important in the era of climate change to promote sustainable models of development that balance the environment and tourism with the purpose of employment. Advocating policies where the local people are fairly compensated for others’ enjoyment of their land should be instituted.

A sustainable model for tourism in the islands should focus on indigenous-led tourism similar to New Zealand. Charging a special fee to tourists that goes directly into the conservation and protection of the environment could go a long way in terms of protecting the Islands. Having the locals heavily involved in preserving the biodiversity of the area and promoting tourism for nature instead of tourism for pure pleasure’s sake.

On the global stage, this could set a precedent for other nations to implement indigenous-led tourism models, protecting the planet in the destructive times of climate change, and protecting people’s peace in a profit-driven world.

Anaaha Jaishankar is a student at NMIMS School of Law, Mumbai. 

Courtesy: The Leaflet

INDIA

A Year After NewsClick Raids, Journalists Call for United Fight Against Assaults on Independent Media

Peoples Dispatch | 04 Oct 2024

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Many former NewsClick employees are struggling to find an alternative job even after months of unemployment due to the vilification and fear mongering campaign launched by the ultra-right government in India.

The attack on NewsClick by Indian authorities was based on accusations that cited a New York Times article targeting the news outlet along with other similar progressive platforms.

Journalists unions and civil society groups came together to commemorate the first anniversary of the Indian government’s crackdown on independent media outlet NewsClick and arrest of its founding editor Prabir Purkayastha, on Thursday, October 3 at the Press Club of India (PCI) in New Delhi.

The press conference and public meeting was organized by Delhi Union of Journalists (DUJ), Press Association (PA), Indian Women’s Press Corps (AWPC), and Kerala Union of Working Journalists, in collaboration with PCI.

Along with Prabir, several other senior journalists including P Sainath, founding editor of People’s Archive of Rural India (PARI) and N Ram, former editor of India’s leading English daily The Hindu along with the office bearers of the unions addressed the gathering. All speakers expressed concern about the shrinking spaces for free press in India under the government under the leadership of Narendra Modi of the Hindu supremacist and ultra right Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and called for a concerted and organized resistance to save the freedom of media.

Speakers condemned the fabricated charges against Prabir and NewsClick underlining that the attacks on the organization and its founding editor was the lowest point of media freedom in the history of the country since 1975 when the emergency was declared.

In the early morning of October 3, 2023, nearly 100 homes and offices of over 70 journalists, ex-employees, and other staff members, were raided in a massive operation by the Delhi police. Those individuals and in many cases, their family members, were interrogated for hours and their electronic equipment such as laptops and mobile phones were confiscated. Prabir and Amit Chakraborty, the then head of human resources, were arrested.

After spending over six months in jail, Prabir was released on May 15, 2024, when a Supreme Court ruling found his arrest illegal. A charge sheet was filed against him and NewsClick weeks prior, which accused them of receiving illegitimate funding and using it to fund terror and anti-state activities. NewsClick had maintained that those charges are completely concocted and false.

Addressing the gathering, Prabir underlined that both print and electronic media in India today are compromised and do not represent the diversity of voices and opinions the country has. He claimed that the rise of alternative media through digital platforms in India was an assertion of that diversity which was lost due to state pressure.

Prabir maintained that because the BJP-led government feels threatened by diverse opinions and voices, it has sought to control digital space as well through the use of oppressive state agencies as well as threats of regressive legislation such as the proposed broadcasting bill.

Prabir stated that he had hoped that due to, “sheer number of people empowered by technology and digital revolution, shutting them all down completely would be a difficult task for any government.”

“India is the one of the worst places to be a journalist today”

Highlighting that the BJP government in India has tried every maneuver to suppress the voices of dissent including threatening them by using the central law enforcement agencies and using draconian laws such as Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), N Ram cited a report of Reporters without Borders (RSF) which had called India to be one of the most dangerous places to be a journalist.

Speakers affirmed that in India, the pressure on journalists is such that those who fail to surrender to the state’s political line are either killed, jailed, or forced into unemployment. Different campaigns have also been launched on social media to vilify some of these voices, which has made finding work next to impossible.

NewsClick was forced to let most of its employees go in February this year because it was unable to pay salaries after the tax authorities effectively shut down its bank accounts in December 2023. It has been forced to rely on largely unpaid volunteer contributions by reporters to keep its site running.

Seven months later, many former employees are still searching for jobs and now face dire economic situations. Most of those who spoke to Peoples Dispatch claimed that they are unable to get new jobs primarily due to the stigma attached to the name of the organization after a concerted misinformation campaign launched by the government aligned media groups.

The crackdown was sparked by a hit piece published by the New York Times (NYT) in August 2023 which claimed that NewsClick was part of an international propaganda network run from China.

NewsClick and its funders denied the charges claiming the article in the NYT was based on false and baseless accusations in order to vilify and attack alternative and critical voices in media and civil society, and curb the freedom of speech. However, BJP politicians and major media outlets in India magnified those false claims to delegitimize it.

Former employees told Peoples Dispatch that the spectacle of the government crackdown and the media vilification campaign created fear among potential employers. They fear that hiring former NewsClick staff may invite unnecessary state scrutiny to their own organizations.

A year after the raid and seizure of their work equipment, including dozens of computers, hard drives, cellphones, and other devices, none of the NewsClick employees have got them back, further hampering their chances of employment. A resolution adopted at the end of the meeting on Thursday reads that “seizure of professional equipment like laptops, phones and computers without following due process and for an indefinite period of time amounts to an attack on livelihood and the right to work without intimidation.”

“Right to work and to profess one’s occupation and profession is a constitutional right” under Indian constitution, “journalists and all those associated with the profession have to be given” this right, the resolution adopted at the meeting demands.

Courtesy: Peoples Dispatch

 

Why BJP’s Loss in J&K is More Problematic Than its Haryana Win

S N Sahu | 09 Oct 20

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It is likely that BJP’s electoral success in Haryana will drive its leadership to accentuate its communal agenda to seek votes in the upcoming state polls.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has won Haryana Assembly elections for the third time consecutively. The most striking fact is that the party’s campaign in the state never centered around Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his much trumpeted ‘Modi Ki Guarantee’. Therefore, to say that BJP would once again rely on Modi as a vote-catcher in the elections to be held in Maharashtra and Jharkhand this year, and Bihar and Delhi next year, does not sound convincing.

Of course, one gets an impression from Modi’s speech delivered on Tuesday following the victory of BJP in Haryana by defeating Congress, that the party’s triumph is on account of his leadership and that it is he who would take the party forward in registering many more successes in the forthcoming elections.

But, more than the election victory in Haryana, BJP’s defeat in Jammu and Kashmir at the hands of the National Conference (NC) and Congress alliance is more scathing, because people in the Valley have rejected BJP in toto. Its success in winning 29 of 43 seats in the Jammu region looks only a face-saving mechanism.

The much vaunted and unstated objective of the Modi-Shah (Home Minister Amit Shah) duo to usher in the first Hindu Chief Minister of J&K, after they abrogated the state’s special status and reduced it to a Union Territory, without factoring in the wishes of the people of the region, has met with utter failure. The implications of BJP’s defeat in J&K for the party, therefore, are much huger than those of it winning Haryana for the third time.

The manner in which J&K has been harshly treated by the BJP regime led by Modi and the punitive measures adopted by it against media and dissenters there, negates the PM’s claim that India is the ‘mother of democracy’. Modi, Shah and other BJP leaders asked people in the rest of India to vote for BJP on the ground that special status provided in Article 370 to J&K had been repealed. They also claimed that what they did to J&K had ushered in “unprecedented peace and progress” for the people. Yet, BJP did not field candidates in 28 seats in the Valley.

Such an electoral abandonment of the Valley and its people by BJP clearly shows its lingering fear that the party would be rejected by the people. The defeat of BJP in J&K, therefore, is a clear signal that it is not acceptable to people, who, with the power of vote clearly indicted the party and its measures to humiliate them by downgrading the state to a Union Territory and not conducting elections for several years.

It was only on the orders of the Supreme Court that elections were conducted in J&K. Possibly, without explicit directions from the apex court, the elections might not have been organised for a longer period.

 

By rejecting BJP, the people of J&K have sent a signal to the entire nation and the world at large, conveying the crucial point that they suffered immensely by the harsh policies adopted to deal with them, without in any way containing terrorism and addressing their livelihood issues. In addition, more military and police measures were taken, compromising their rights and dignity as citizens.

In an article in The Wire, ‘A Local Victory for BJP in Haryana Can't Compensate Modi for His National-Level Setback in Kashmir,’ columnist Harish Khare observed, “It should be obvious that the outcome in J&K is of much greater consequence than the Haryana vote. In Haryana, the election results are reflective of the dynamics of social cleavages, while the post-‘370 abrogation’ vote in Jammu and Kashmir saw a contestation over continuing national arguments. The Haryana electoral victory for the BJP is mostly a local affair, the re-organized state of Jammu and Kashmir was clearly the electoral theatre for a national and global audience. No one in the BJP or in the larger Sangh parivar is entitled to any kind of satisfaction over the Kashmir vote”.

So, the manner in which BJP’s victory in Haryana is being projected as a “booster dose” for the party after it lost majority in the Lok Sabha elections held in May this year, need to be tempered by the party’s rejection in the Union Territory of J&K.

There is no doubt that the success of the party in Haryana will be used by its top leadership to promote its electoral prospects in Maharashtra and other states going to polls soon. But it is unlikely that voters of those states will be influenced by BJP forming the government for the third time in Haryana.

It is quite likely that BJP’s electoral success in Haryana will drive its leadership to accentuate its communal agenda to seek votes. It is feared that there could be accelerated polarisation on religious lines to consolidate votes. Prime Minister Modi, who spewed venom against Muslims while campaigning for his party during the 18th Lok Sabha elections, is likely to step up the tone and tenor of that toxic campaign following the party’s victory in Haryana. Divisive narratives were integral to the poll strategy and speeches by Modi while appealing for votes.

The Haryana elections was devoid of a Modi-centric campaign. With the BJP’s victory in the state, Modi would like to throw himself into centre of campaign strategy in the forthcoming Assembly elections. It would be instructive to see if such an approach would help BJP in doing well in Maharashtra, where the party and its alliance partners performed poorly in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections.  

 

S N Sahu served as Officer on Special Duty to President of India K R Narayanan. The views are personal.

PAKISTAN

Living with the scars of calamity

Amid promises of reconstruction that came to naught, survivors of the 2005 earthquake struggle with their personal traumas.

Tariq Naqash 

Published October 8, 2024

DAWN

In October, the northern districts of Azad Jammu and Kashmir and neighbouring areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa — struck by one of the worst natural disasters nearly two decades ago — are once again filled with an air of despondency as survivors relive their bitter memories.

Though life on the surface appears to have returned to normal, the psychological scars left by the disaster remain deeply ingrained in the hearts of many. Survivors continue to struggle with the emotional toll of their losses, trying to overcome memories that still haunt them.

Muhammad Shafique Mir, now nearly 70, is a member of Muzaffarabad’s community of traditional bakers who have been making famous Kashmiri goodies — Kulcha and Shirmaal — in firewood ovens for generations.

On the morning of October 8 2005, Shafique was at his shop when the earthquake struck at 8:52am, catching everyone off guard. No one had ever imagined such a catastrophic tremor could hit the region.

Despite the alley being no more than five feet wide, only two lives were lost in that narrow lane. However, Shafique had no idea of the horror awaiting him just 600 yards away, at home.

“Through the collapsed structures and the cries of pain, I somehow made my way to our house,” Shafique recalls, his voice dripping with emotion. When he arrived, he was met by a mountain of rubble where his three-storey home once stood, burying everyone inside.

Nine family members were pulled out alive, but five others — his daughter, three paternal cousins and their mother — remained trapped beneath the debris. Five bodies were recovered within the next ten days, with the final remains being found 23 days later.

Heartbreakingly, two more cousins and an infant niece were killed at different locations. One cousin, a university lecturer, died while on his way to work. His infant daughter, carried by a maid to her grandmother’s nearby house, went missing.

Both bodies were recovered six months later when official agencies cleared the streets of rubble. Another cousin perished in his shop at Upper Adda, along with a customer. In a nearby alley, eight more family members lost their lives in the home of a distant cousin.

“October brings it all back,” Shafique says quietly. “The pain we endure is impossible to put into words.”

Shafique’s story is not an isolated one. Almost every household in Muzaffarabad, hit hard by their proximity to the epicentre, has a story of loss and survival.
Living with trauma

Shafaq Nadeem, now 51 and an officer in the AJK Health Department, says that day changed his life, forever.

The earthquake took her parents and brother when their family home collapsed in the Plate neighbourhood. A paternal uncle and cousin died separately in their own home in Madina Market.

“The quake didn’t just destroy our homes; it shattered our dreams, our hopes, and our futures. Even after all these years, the scars remain, and the memories of that day still haunt me.”

The enduring emotional impact of the earthquake has been felt across generations.

Dr Khawaja Hamid Rashid, a leading psychiatrist in Muzaffarabad, has counselled thousands of survivors suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).






“With time, many survivors have moved past the acute symptoms, but around one-third remain deeply affected by trauma,” Dr Rashid explains. “The difference now is that they keep it to themselves.”

Some survivors have isolated themselves, while others have left the towns and neighbourhoods where they lost loved ones. “I know people who left Muzaffarabad after losing children in the quake and have refused to return, despite still owning property here,” he says.

Interestingly, Dr Rashid has observed another phenomenon in recent years. “While many parents who lost children sought counselling, I’m now seeing more grown-up children seeking help. These young people, on the verge of entering college or beginning their professional lives, struggle with the absence of parents they lost to the quake.

“It would be wrong to say the psychological impact of the earthquake has ended. PTSD and other emotional issues continue to linger, manifesting in different ways,” he adds.
Promises made and broken

Aid had poured in from across the globe to help Pakistan rebuild the shattered cities, towns, and villages as the devastating disaster had claimed over 46,000 lives and injured another 33,100 in AJK alone, in addition to destroying or damaging 314,474 homes and reducing nearly all essential facilities and infrastructure to rubble.

The federal government established the Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (Erra) to spearhead rebuilding efforts.

In AJK and KP, the State Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (Serra) and Provincial Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (Perra) were created to ensure the smooth execution of reconstruction-related projects.

In the initial years, Erra’s primary focus was providing compensation, housing grants and livelihood recovery. Later, it shifted to reconstruction-related work, during which the Erra Board approved the reconstruction of 7,608 projects in AJK from time to time.

These projects were divided into three funding modes: sponsor-funded (1,632 projects), donor-funded (777 projects) and funded by the federal government (5,199 projects).






Simultaneously, a separate urban development programme was also conceived, to be executed directly under Erra’s administrative control.

The Muzaffarabad City Development Project (MCDP) had a proposed allocation of $361 million — $300m through Chinese preferential buyer’s credit and the rest from federal government funding.

The volume of the Bagh City Development Project (BCDP) was Rs7.35 billion, to be arranged from the government funding, and that of the Rawalakot City Development Project (RCDP) was Rs8.20bn, including a Saudi loan of $70m.

All three urban development programmes were approved by the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) in 2007.

However, implementation of the MCDP was delayed due to disagreements over overhead costs with Chinese construction firms, forcing Erra at one point in time to consider reconstruction of the ravaged AJK capital from internal resources, though at a reduced scale.

Over time, the Chinese companies lowered their overhead charges, allowing reconstruction to proceed. Unfortunately, resources were stretched thin, and resultantly, $353.27m, including the $300m loan, were apportioned among three cities — Muzaffarabad ($191.18m), Bagh ($123.48m) and Rawalakot ($38.72m).






Unlike Serra, where the AJK government had appointed an efficient team of officials from various departments to oversee reconstruction across all three modes of execution, the selection of staff for the project management units (PMUs) of urban development programmes remained solely under Erra’s control, effectively side-lining the AJK government from the process.

“Erra was supposed to approve and monitor projects, not execute them directly,” said a retired AJK government official who held a key position in the post-earthquake period, explaining that Erra’s 2007 ordinance assigned responsibility for project execution to the local governments of AJK and KP.

Nevertheless, Erra handpicked officers for the city development projects, which led many people to blame the alleged “oversight and collusion” between the client, contractors and consultants for both the selection of projects and the overall quality of work, particularly in Muzaffarabad and Bagh.

Projects such as two mega shopping complexes in Muzaffarabad were built without fully considering the city’s needs and remained underused for years. More troublingly, substantial sums were spent on constructing palatial residences for AJK’s president and prime minister — buildings far bigger than the actual needs of both offices.

The prime ministers never moved to their newly built accommodation. After years of disuse, the sitting AJK premier recently allotted it to Tevta, an official institution imparting technical education and vocational training.

People in Muzaffarabad still sarcastically refer to a non-operational water supply network of black plastic pipes and mostly choked sewerage lines whenever they question the transparency in expending MCDP funds.


A view of a higher secondary school in Kai Manja village, located around 40 kilometres from Muzaffarabad. Students take classes in the building or adjacent shelters. — Photo by author



Similar complaints have come from Bagh, the second hardest hit town, where people say funds were wasted on constructing flawed sewerage lines and water distribution network.

Faisal Jameel Kashmiri, a renowned civil society activist from Muzaffarabad, blames the AJK government departments for acting as “silent spectators” over visible mismanagement and poor quality of work or, in some cases, non-utility of projects built under the urban development programmes.

“Whatever the reason, they failed to take ownership of urban development schemes or else the wastage of the borrowed money could have been prevented.

“Perhaps they followed the adage: Don’t interrupt your enemy when he is making mistakes,” he adds wryly.

Meanwhile, although all 2,409 projects funded by sponsors and donors were completed on time, as many as 1,730 of the projects financed by Islamabad remain in limbo, stalled due to a lack of funds since 2021, according to Serra officials. These projects include 1,112 schools and 41 health facilities.

To complete the 919 projects already underway, Rs20.11bn is needed. The remaining 811 yet-to-be-started projects will require Rs24.01bn. The Erra Act of 2011, passed to provide legislative cover for reconstruction efforts, mandates the completion of these projects.

However, despite a decision taken at the 14th Erra Council meeting in 2021 to allocate one-time funds, Islamabad has yet to release the required resources. Repeated requests from AJK officials, including the state premier, have yet to gain any headway.
Transformation and ongoing concerns

In 2018, the National Disaster Management Commission (NDMC) proposed merging Erra into the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to streamline disaster management efforts. However, this merger has yet to be finalised, requiring the consent of the provincial assemblies of Punjab and Sindh and legislation from parliament to revoke the Erra Act of 2011.

Although Erra and NDMA continue to operate as separate entities, NDMA’s chairman has also been assigned the role of Erra’s deputy chairman/chairman.

While NDMA has absorbed Erra’s budget, assets, and responsibilities, it has not retained the experienced human resources from the reconstruction-related bodies — professionals with over 18 years of expertise in disaster management.

As Erra’s operational responsibilities have effectively shifted to NDMA, concerns persist about the fate of the incomplete projects.

On May 17, the AJK Legislative Assembly passed a unanimous resolution, urging the federal government to ensure the completion of Erra’s remaining projects through NDMA while maintaining legislative cover for post-earthquake reconstruction in AJK.
Forgotten future

As these bureaucratic shifts unfold, the most vulnerable continue to suffer: nearly 200,000 children in AJK’s quake-affected areas remain deprived of proper schooling and forced to study outdoors in harsh weather because educational infrastructure projects remain incomplete.

Every October, the non-completion of schools becomes a focal issue, but only for a few days, before it is forgotten again, left at the mercy of fate.


A view of students taking classes under the open sky along the flimsy shelters of their high school in Bani Langrial village of Jhelum valley. — Photo by author



Irshada Bibi, a teacher at a girls’ primary school in Jiskool village in Jhelum Valley District, laments her students’ dire conditions. “It’s difficult to teach students, particularly in winter. When it rains, we have to send them home. We are in dire need of a building,” she says.

Similar stories emerge from other schools, where either construction was left unfinished or never began.

Ali Abbasi, a 10th-grade student at Boys High School Duchore Mira’n, a mountain village just 38 kilometres from Muzaffarabad, shares his frustration: “We’ve grown up seeing this unfinished building as our school. People in cities can’t imagine the conditions in which we try to fulfil our parents’ dreams.”


The unfinished Dcchore Mira’n Village school. — Photo by author



“What’s our fault? Why are we forced to study in such conditions?” he adds, echoing the sentiments of countless students who desperately await completion of their respective school buildings.
Building codes: a grey area

While the infrastructure that emerged after the earthquake, including educational institutions, health facilities, and government offices, has undeniably transformed the outlook of previously devastated cities, the reality remains mixed.

Public sector buildings have been constructed in strict compliance with building codes, ensuring they are now earthquake-resistant. However, adherence to building codes in the private sector tells a different story.

In the worst-affected areas, streets that many hoped would be widened during reconstruction have instead fallen prey to encroachments.

In Muzaffarabad’s Khawaja Mohalla, one of the hardest-hit areas where hundreds lost their lives in an instant and rescue efforts were delayed for weeks, new concrete buildings have sprung up. Yet, the narrow streets, once considered a priority for widening, remain unchanged.

“This happened because of indecision by government departments,” laments Shafique Mir, who is still living in a tin-roofed structure nearly two decades after the disaster.

“Had they bulldozed through those narrow streets after the earthquake and converted them into wide, safe roads, no one would have objected. But when they failed to act, people just rebuilt on the same old boundaries.”

In 2019, a shelter in one of Khawaja Mohalla’s narrow alleys caught fire and was reduced to ashes because fire trucks couldn’t reach the site.

“That incident should have been a wake-up call,” says Kashmiri. “The government had a master plan, prepared by a Japanese organisation, which included widening streets and relocating families from hazardous areas. But it was never implemented,” he laments.

Unplanned construction, with little regard for building codes, has since spread across Muzaffarabad, adding to the city’s vulnerability.

“The recommendations and guidelines were blatantly ignored,” says Raja Omar Ahsan, an activist with years of experience in relief and rehabilitation activities.

“While most public sector buildings follow the codes, unchecked urbanisation and construction in red zones — areas at high risk — are another disaster waiting to happen.

“Muzaffarabad sits on two fault lines, and yet we act as if that danger doesn’t exist.”

The situation in other quake-affected areas is no better. According to Tahir Hussain Gardaizi, an activist in Bagh, around 174 buildings in his city were declared dangerous by international experts after the quake.

“But instead of demolishing them, they’ve been superficially repaired and turned into residential or commercial spaces.”


A view of a primary school in Jiskool village in Jhelum Valley District. — Photo by author



Muzaffarabad’s satellite town project, initially intended to provide safe housing for survivors, has also become a symbol of corruption and mismanagement.

“The land was supposed to go to the most affected people,” says Khawaja Nauman Zaroo, a trader in Muzaffarabad’s main bazaar. “Ironically, plots were handed out to people from across the state who were hardly affected by the earthquake. The real survivors were left with no choice but to stay in the same narrow streets where they had once seen their loved ones buried alive.”

According to local residents, much of the blame lies with the Muzaffarabad Development Authority. “In 19 years, they haven’t been able to develop a single housing society,” says Raja Shakil Ahmed, a frustrated resident.

“Instead, its officers have lined their pockets, grabbing plots in the satellite towns and turning a blind eye to illegal construction in red zones and watercourses. This is corruption at its worst, and the prime minister must intervene before it’s too late.”

Across the world, calamities — whether man-made or natural — often serve as wake-up calls, teaching communities valuable lessons to help mitigate future disasters.

Unfortunately, in AJK, that lesson has been lost on many. In such cases, it falls upon institutions to enforce laws, regulations, and building codes for the greater good of society.

However, even more troubling is that in AJK, these institutions have often become complicit, allowing hazardous, unplanned construction on slopes, floodplains and other vulnerable areas, with a blatant disregard for safety standards. The result is a landscape littered with reminders of past failures and the fear of future ones.

Therefore, it’s not only the bitter memories of lives lost in the catastrophic quake that return each October, but also the reopening of wounds caused by government institutions—whether through their own violations or their failure to stop the violations of others. For many survivors, the devastation wasn’t just physical; it was a profound test of trust, and nearly two decades later, that trust remains broken.

Header image: A view of the sprawling Azad Jammu and Kashmir capital caught from its northern side. — Photo by author

Weather worries

Rafia Zakaria

Published October 9, 2024

DAWN

ACCORDING to scientists, for 800,000 years of Earth’s existence the amount of carbon in the atmosphere did not exceed 300 ppm (parts per million).

Then in 1911, the amount of carbon in the atmosphere exceeded that level for the first time. Since then, carbon in the atmosphere has only been increasing. This year, carbon levels in the atmosphere exceeded 425 ppm.

Increased carbon dioxide and the effects of greenhouse gases have led to a host of problems that impact human health. The higher temperatures are especially dangerous for vulnerable populations such as children and pregnant women. Premature births, a leading cause of early childhood deaths, go up during heatwaves.

The temperature in many parts of Pakistan this summer was above 40 degrees Celsius. And going by the pattern over the past few years, the trend is likely to persist. This suggests that climate change produces a distinct and special risk to children, especially those who live in the hot regions of the world.

According to Unicef, one-third of all children globally experience four to five heatwaves in a year. It goes without saying that risks to their health may be exacerbated by poverty. In fact, climate change can adversely affect crop output, resulting in food insecurity and poor nutrition for growing bodies.

Climate change can also impact levels of air pollution and is believed to aggravate smog. Studies suggest that symptoms of asthma and other allergies are increasing in children, especially in poorer countries, leading to non-attendance at school.

And it is not just on account of illness that children face disruptions in their education schedule; every year, millions of children face weeks of school closure due to adverse weather conditions, including intense heat and heavy rain, as we have witnessed. Excessive heat also means that children cannot play outdoors, and are subjected to a crowded environment inside their homes, which are often poorly ventilated.

Children in poverty-stricken and under-resourced areas are the most susceptible to climate change.

Temperatures are more acute in large cities, such as Karachi and Lahore, where the proliferation of concrete and asphalt surfaces has created the urban heat island effect — that is, the temperature in these cities is often several degrees hotter than in the adjoining areas. Summer has thus become a time of dread, with temperatures continuing to soar year after year, with no respite in sight.

There seem to be few choices before parents in the hotter months, especially as children are particularly vulnerable to heatstroke. Of late, there has been some awareness of the matter, but are hospitals and clinics doing enough to treat young victims of heatstroke? Special wards are needed in the summer months that are equipped to treat children and babies who have suffered the effects of intense heat.

Similarly, can medical outlets cope with the rising cases of allergies and respiratory illnesses? Developing the requisite facilities and training staff to operate them efficiently requires advance planning and funding. It is simply not enough to have a climate change ministry. It is necessary to address what the weather means for our children’s everyday health.

Then there is the matter of mental health. A recent qualitative study carried out by Shazia Soomro, Dianen Zhou and Iftikhar Charan focuses on the psychological effects of rising temperatures on Pakistani children, particularly the rise of “climate anxiety”.

According to the authors, children are a vulnerable population because they are still growing physically and intellectually, and the increased tribulation and uncertainty caused by climate-related factors means that they can suffer a more permanent impact. Naturally, children in poverty-stricken and under-resourced areas are the most susceptible, although each child is affected differently, depending on a host of circumstances.

The study, published in the African Journal of Reproductive Health, looks at how extreme weather events affect the educational achievement of Pakistani children. These weather events include heatwaves, droughts, and heavy rainfall. While the jury may be out on the exact parameters of an ‘extreme’ weather event, Pakistan has suffered heavy monsoon rains that have far exceeded expectations for some years now.

The authors of the study found that even accounting for changes in the river flow and patterns of snowmelt, the severity of the new monsoon could only be attributed to climate change. This was true also of the devastating flood of 2022, which affected 33 million people in the country.

The study found that extreme weather events were causing attachment disorders, depression, panic attacks, phobias and anxiety among children. In addition to these mood disorders, a regressive impact on children’s ability to control their emotions was also observed; many of the youngsters experienced cognitive deficits, behaviour issues, learning difficulties, language development problems, adjustment challenges and generally poor academic performance.

There is a high proportion of children whose mental health has been affected by climate change. Children affected by the 2022 floods still report anxiety displacement stress, depression and sleep disorders. While the study focuses on a small cohort, it is likely that the results seen among them can be extrapolated to the at least 670,000 children that the authors say were affected by the floods. Interestingly, many spoke about the trauma of the flash floods that occur in Sindh every year. Many also noted how isolated they feel from the natural environment because they live in such heavily urbanised areas.

Pakistan cannot reverse climate change by itself. However, given that the recurrence of these extreme weather events annually is certain, efforts can be made to prepare for coming disasters by teaching children protocols that can be followed when they occur.

A level of preparedness will help the children, who have been born into a polluted and environmentally hazardous world, and equip them with some tools to handle the situation in the face of a very hot and difficult future.

The writer is an attorney teaching constitutional law and political philosophy.
rafia.zakaria@gmail.com

Published in Dawn, October 9th, 2024

PAKISTAN

X ‘mostly refused’ government’s requests for content takedown

Ishaq Tanoli

Published October 9, 2024 

DAWB

KARACHI: Social media platform X rejected several requests made by Pakistan for content removal as it found the posts not to be violating its terms and conditions, an official told the Sindh High Court (SHC) on Tuesday.

The submission was made before a two-judge bench comprising Chief Justice Mohammad Shafi Siddiqui and Justice Jawad Akbar Sarwana, which resumed the hearing of petitions filed by activits and civil society members over social media restrictions and suspension of mobile internet and broadband services during and before general elections.

According to the documents submitted in the court, the social media platform turned down most requests as its investigation found that the content did not violate its terms of service and rules.

In most cases, the management of X refused to take any action on content removal requests and asked for additional information to review possible violations of its policies.

Federal law officer says in most cases, platform sought more information about policy violations

The report submitted by Additional Attorney General Ziaul Haq Makhdoom — in light of the last court order — didn’t state the number of requests made by the government or how many of them were approved by X.

It only included replies from the social media platform where it refused to comply with the government’s requests and sought additional information.

It was also not clear from the documents how much information/evidence and additional material were provided to X about the reported posts.

The bench made the report a part of the record, along with other statements filed by various parties and said their copies should be supplied to the counsels of both sides.

The bench added that the submitted documents could be critical while deciding and concluding these matters.

The bench fixed the next hearing on Oct 17 since the case has been partially heard and Abdul Moiz Jaferii, counsel for one of the petitioners, has concluded his arguments.

Till then, interim orders passed during earlier hearings will stay, the bench noted.

In its initial interim order, the court directed the authorities to ensure uninterrupted internet services and restore access to X as there was no lawful justification or reasonable grounds for its closure.

However, the interior ministry told the court that X was blocked in February till further orders on the reports of intelligence agencies.

Government officials have also complained about the lack of compliance by the management of X regarding content removal.

Last month, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said access to the social media platform X can be restored if its management is willing to address compliance issues.

“If some compliance issues can be improved, if we can sit down and talk to X, if they come closer to our terms and we move closer to their position, a mechanism can be devi­sed to take things forward and solve the issue in an amicable manner,” he had said.

Published in Dawn, October 9th, 2024

PAKISTAN

Quetta rally condemns Karachi attack

Saleem Shahid 

Published October 9, 2024

 DAWN

QUETTA: Members of civil society held a protest in Quetta on Tuesday to condemn the attack on a Chinese convoy in Karachi near the airport.

Led by Allaudin Khilji and Babar Khajak, the protesters marched along Adalat Road. They chanted slogans in support of Chinese nationals and against the attackers.

The rally culminated in front of the Quetta Press Club, where speakers strongly condemned the attack, attributing it to anti-national elements allegedly backed by India.

They stressed that the people of Balochistan seek peace and development and reaffirmed their support for Pakistan-China relations, which they described as exemplary.

The speakers stressed that no conspiracy could undermine the partnership between Pakistan and China. They expressed confidence that both Pakistan and Balochistan would continue to progress.

Published in Dawn, October 9th, 2024

Omar Abdullah to lead held Kashmir after opposition routs BJP

Our Correspondent 

DAWN

Published October 9, 2024
S

RINAGAR: Supporters of the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference and Indian National Congress celebrate the alliance’s victory in the polls, on Tuesday.—AFP

NEW DELHI: Former chief minister of India-held Jam­mu and Kashmir, Omar Abdul­lah, is expected to take the helm again after his party won almost half of the total seats in recently held state elections.

Mr Abdullah’s National Con­f­e­rence and its ally, the Indian National Congress, scored an emphatic victory in the disputed region’s first state election since 2014.

The National Conference has won 42 out of the 90 seats, with eight of Congress bringing the alliance’s tally to 50 in the union territory, which is awaiting the status of a state assembly as per the promise made by the Modi government.

The 29 seats won by Mr Modi’s BJP in held Kashmir is the party’s best-ever show in the region.

Congress-NC alliance wins 50 out of 90 seats; Modi’s party to form govt in Haryana for third time after ‘shock’ win

For Congress, the taste of victory in Jammu and Kashmir was soured by a shocking defeat at the hands of the BJP in Haryana.

Exit polls had suggested that India’s leading opposition party was set to win elections in both states, but as per Tuesday’s results, BJP took 48 seats in the 90-member Har­yana assembly, leaving the Congress trailing with 36.

Omar Abdullah, Vice President of the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (JKNC) and former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, poses with his party’s flag in the waters of Dal Lake during an election campaign in the lake, in Srinagar on Sept 22, 2024. — Reuters/File



‘Conspiracy’

The shock verdict gave Pri­me Minister Narendra Modi re­a­son to believe he could spr­ing surprises. The Congress, however, alleged that the outcome in Haryana was rigged with the help of tampered electronic voting machines (EVMs) and an election commission “handpicked by the BJP”.

The party’s general secretary Jairam Ramesh called the election result “a victory of manipulations” and “subverting the will of people”.

Mr Ramesh claimed there were “serious issues” with the counting process and the functioning of EVMs in around 14 constituencies and his party would soon take up the matter with the Election Commission.

“Results in Haryana are totally unexpected and surp­rising. They go against ground reality and the sentiment of the people which was for cha­nge,” Mr Ramesh said at a press conference with Cong­ress’ media and publicity dep­a­rtment head Pawan Khera.

“Under these circumstan­ces, it is not possible for us to accept these results [in Har­y­ana] … there are serious issues raised by our candidates which we will raise with the EC.”

He claimed victory had been “snatched” from Cong­ress and the results were “aga­inst the sentiment of people”.

“The Congress has been made to lose in Haryana and the chapter is not closed.”

On the Jammu and Kashmir results, Mr Ramesh said voters defeated BJP’s “mischievous designs” to somehow muster a majority in the region.

“People have given a befitting reply to those who trampled upon J-K’s respect by taking away its statehood,” he said, adding the NC-Congress alliance will make all-out efforts to revive the statehood.

‘Politics of development’

Meanwhile, PM Modi than­ked the voters in Haryana for giving a “clear majority” to his party for the third time in a row.

“I salute the people of Har­yana for giving a clear majority to the Bharatiya Janata Party once again. This is the victory of the politics of development and good governance,” he said in a post on X.



The victory in Haryana coupled with the party’s highest-ever seats tally in Jammu and Kashmir could blunt the claims that BJP was losing the grip on its supporters and brings into sharp focus the party’s organisational efficiency and leadership’s keen ability to redraw strategy in line with the changing ground dynamics, Hindustan Times said.

PM Modi also congratulated BJP workers “who have worked tirelessly and with full dedication for this great victory”. Reports said the RSS had helped the BJP in these polls.

“You have not only served the people of the state to the fullest, but have also taken our agenda of development to them. This is the result of which BJP has got this historic victory in Haryana,” Mr Modi added.

Published in Dawn, October 9th, 2024