Danish spy agencies on trial over undercover agent claims


By AFP
August 23, 2023


Ahmed Samsam was jailed after a Madrid trial which convicted him of fighting for Islamic State - Copyright POOL/AFP Luca Piergiovanni

Camille BAS-WOHLERT

Denmark’s spy agencies go on trial on Thursday in a unique case brought by a Dane who claims he spied for Denmark in Syria but wound up in prison over alleged IS group ties.

In a case that has proven embarrassing for Danish intelligence services and politicians, Ahmed Samsam, 34, a Danish national of Syrian origin, claims he was working for the secret service PET and military intelligence service FE in Syria in 2013 and 2014, spying on foreign jihadist fighters.

But in 2018 Spanish courts found him guilty of fighting for the Islamic State (IS).

Several investigations by Danish media since then have backed Samsam up, concluding he never joined IS, but the two intelligence agencies — inherently tightlipped — have refused to say whether he was working for them.

“My client wants the court to recognise that he has been an agent for the intelligence services in Denmark,” his lawyer Erbil Kaya told AFP ahead of the trial in Copenhagen’s district court.

He insists Samsam only went to Syria to inform on foreign jihadists.

“This is a tough case for us, to be up against the intelligence services and the state,” Kaya said.

“This is the first (such) case in Denmark. We don’t know… what is enough to prove that you have been an agent in Denmark.”

“The trial is completely unique,” Aarhus University law professor Lasse Lund Madsen told AFP.

– Court of public opinion –

Samsam, who has a long criminal record, travelled to Syria in 2012 of his own accord to fight the regime.

Danish authorities investigated him after his return but did not press any charges.

He claims he was then sent to the war zone on several occasions with money and equipment provided by PET and later FE, according to Danish media outlets DR and Berlingske citing anonymous witnesses and money transfers to Samsam.

Despite its sensitive nature, the case will be heard in open court and not behind closed doors.

“Samsam is pleading his case in newspapers, on television, everywhere,” said the spy agencies’ defence lawyer Peter Biering.

“It would be of no use to us to have closed doors,” Biering told AFP.

So far, Samsam appears to have won over public opinion.

“Most people in Denmark who have followed the case are probably now of the belief that Samsam was sent to Syria in agreement with the Danish intelligence services,” law professor Lund Madsen said.

“I personally had it confirmed by sources in the intelligence world.”

Parliament decided in February to have its investigative committee probe Samsam’s claims, though the left-wing government is opposed to an inquiry.

Kaya says there is more to the case that will come out during the trial.

“He has been limited in telling his story. But now in court he will be able to tell everything.”

– ‘No miscarriage of justice’ –

In 2017, threatened by Copenhagen thugs in a settling of scores unrelated to his trips to Syria, Samsam headed to Spain.

There, he was arrested by Spanish police, who were surprised to find pictures of him on Facebook posing with the IS flag.

Samsam was sentenced the following year to eight years in prison for having joined IS.

He has since 2020 been serving his sentence — reduced to six years — in Denmark. He is due to be released in two or three months, according to Kaya.

For Denmark’s spy services, “our basic position is there has never been a miscarriage of justice. He is convicted rightly”, defence lawyer Biering insisted.

“He received eight years from the Spanish Supreme Court that quite explicitly said that even if he actually worked for the Danish intelligence services in 2013 or 2014, they had enough evidence disregarding that point to convict him.”

For Samsam, an admission from the intelligence agencies that he was working for them would make it possible for him to seek to have his Spanish conviction overturned.

“We are not seeking any damages or compensation right now,” Kaya said.

But they face a tough legal battle.

“It is not certain that Samsam will win the case, as the intelligence services are not obliged by law to confirm classified information,” the law professor said.

The trial is scheduled to wrap up on September 8

Women in STEM: Overcoming adversity in the tech sector


ByDr. Tim Sandle
August 23, 2023

Swiss voters have adopted a new 'opt-out' system of organ donations: people who do not wish to become an organ donor after death must explicitly say so 

- Copyright AFP INA FASSBENDER

Melissa Bischoping is no stranger to overcoming adversity. From becoming a mother at 18 to breaking into the IT security industry with a non-technical degree and no experience, she has navigated the still male-dominated industry and is now Director of Endpoint Security Research at cyber firm Tanium.

Bischoping is keen to promote Women’s Equality Day, which takes place on Saturday, August 26 in the U.S.

Along with analysing emerging threats, zero-days, CVEs, exploits, and attack behaviour to advise both internal and external customers at Tanium, Bischoping also is an active member of the cyber community.

Bischoping is the first woman to captain a varsity SANS team in the National Cyber League “Capture The Flag” competition and recently convened with members of the Dutch Ministries at the Tanium Federal Conference in Washington, DC to offer insights on cyber resilience.

Through such activities, Bischoping is a role model for aspirant young women keen on taking up a place in a STEM career.

Bischoping tells Digital Journal about strides that have been taken in the technology sector to promote the role of women at work: “It’s no secret that tech has diversity, equity, and inclusion challenges. We’ve seen some progress over the years, but we still have a lot of work to do today. Women and nonbinary professionals make up less than half of the workforce, with women making up a third of the tech workforce. Even fewer make up executive and leadership roles.”

However, there remains more work to do. Here Bischoping puts forward: “To improve these statistics, we need to start at the ground level in the classrooms of local schools by creating a pipeline and fostering educational programs early on in life for students. At the workforce level, we must also be vigilant in eliminating sexism, harassment and toxic behaviour and comments that can lead to burnout and isolation among women. Research has shown time and again that diverse teams are needed for flourishing, innovative organizations that yield better results.”

In outlining a strategy, Bischoping proposes: “Mentorship, in particular, has been vital to my own career as a woman in cybersecurity. There have been key women leaders in my career that had a direct impact on my professional and personal growth. The training programs are needed, but professional networking opportunities and 1-1 mentorship is where confidence is built and action plans are put into place.”

In terms of other activities, Bischoping observes: “I also think it’s extremely vital to create paths for nontraditional degrees or experiences. Cybersecurity requires creativity, thinking outside the box and collaboration across various areas within a business. There is so much untapped potential if we are only opening the door to those with formal IT or security training. Creating these pathways will help us close the millions of open cybersecurity seats we see today.”

PATRIARCHY IS MISOGYNY

Israeli women protest gender segregation on public transport

By AFP
August 24, 2023

The issue of gender segregation is not new in Israel

 - Copyright TELEGRAM/ @grey_zone/AFP Handout

Hundreds of women holding Israeli flags protested on Thursday in an ultra-Orthodox Jewish suburb of Tel Aviv against what they said was rising gender-based segregation, especially on public transport.

The protest in Bnei Brak came after media reports that several bus drivers in recent weeks had forced women to either sit in the back or simply refused to take them on board.

One report earlier this month said the driver of a public bus told a group of teenage girls to sit in the back and cover up after they boarded dressed in tank tops and jeans.

“There is no such thing called democracy without equality,” the protesters chanted on Thursday, many holding placards that read: “We are equal.”

“We can sit wherever we want, we can wear whatever we want… we are free and we are equal to every (other) citizen in Israel,” said Kalanite Kain, 63, a writer who took part in the rally.

Many ultra-Orthodox Jewish residents of Bnei Brak looked on as the demonstrators passed by. Ultra-Orthodox Jews account for more than 10 percent of Israel’s population.

The issue of gender segregation is not new in Israel where many observe religious practices that restrict mingling of the sexes.

But activists say that the discrimination against women has only been rising in recent years.

“Just because some religious groups, ultra-Orthodox religious groups think that women are the source of all evil … doesn’t mean that we should accept it,” Hila Mor-Zenhavi, a lawyer, told AFP before the rally.

“My motivation for going (to the protest) is mainly my 10-year-old daughter. I want her to grow up in a world where she will have every opportunity, where she won’t be excluded for being a woman.”

Tel Aviv, the country’s commercial hub, has also been the epicentre of protests against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s controversial plans to overhaul Israel’s judiciary.

Since his government unveiled the reform package in January, tens of thousands of Israelis have joined mass demonstrations in what has turned out to be the biggest protest movement in the country’s history — one that has split the nation.

Opponents of the ambitious legislation see the overhaul as a threat to Israel’s democracy.

Last month, the Israeli parliament voted on a key plank of the package that limits the so-called “reasonableness” law.

The new legislation curbs judicial review by Israel’s top court of some government decisions, and critics fear it could pave the way to more authoritarian government.

The amendment of the clause is the first major component of the reform package to become law.

Other proposed changes include allowing the government a greater say in the appointment of judges.

Netanyahu’s coalition government, which includes far-right and ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties, argues that the reforms are necessary to rebalance the relationship between elected officials and the judiciary.

Fear for women’s rights in Israel segregation

Israel’s laws have not been amended to reflect the concessions, but some fear that the changes are already coming, at the expense of women

Rony Caryn Rabin Tel Aviv Published 14.08.23,

Israel PM Benjamin NetanyahuFile image

The trains from Tel Aviv were packed one evening last month when Inbal Boxerman, a 40-year-old mother of two, was blocked by a wall of men as she tried to board. One of them told her that women were not allowed on — the car was for men only.

Boxerman was stunned. It was a public train operated by Israel Railways, and segregated seating is illegal in the country. The men stopping her appeared to be protesters going home from a rally supporting the governing coalition, which includes extremist religious and far-Right parties pushing for more sex segregation and a return to more traditional gender roles.

“I said, ‘For real?’” said Boxerman, who works in marketing. “And my friend came up and she also said, ‘Are you for real?’ But they just laughed and said, ‘Wait for the next train — you can sit in the way back.’ And then the doors slammed shut.”

Public transportation is the latest front of a culture war in Israel over the status of women in a society that is sharply divided between a secular majority and a politically powerful minority of ultra-Orthodox Jews, who frown on the mixing of women and men in public.

Although the Supreme Court has ruled that it is against the law to force women to sit in separate sections on buses and trains, ultra-Orthodox women customarily board buses in their neighbourhoods through the rear door and sit in the back. Now, the practice seems to be spreading to other parts of Israel.

Incidents like the one described by Boxerman have received widespread media attention since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu included extremist Right-wing and ultra-Orthodox parties in his governing coalition late last year.

As part of an agreement with ultra-Orthodox allies that underpinned the formation of the coalition, Netanyahu made several concessions that have unsettled secular Israelis. Among them are proposals to segregate audiences by sex at some public events, to create new religious residential communities, to allow businesses to refuse to provide services based on religious beliefs, and to expand the powers of all-male rabbinical courts.

Supporters of expanding the rabbinical courts’ jurisdiction — such as Matan Kahana, a former religious affairs minister who remains in Parliament but is not in the governing coalition — argue that as a pluralistic society, Israel should tolerate sex segregation in some arenas to accommodate the ultra-Orthodox, for whom it is a way of life.

“I’m all for the rabbinical courts — they are a symbol of Israeli sovereignty in our own land and our eternal connection to Hebrew law,” he said on Twitter earlier this year.

Although some women within the Likud-led coalition are loyal to carrying out its agenda, much of the push to strengthen the rabbinical courts is by the two ultra-Orthodox parties, which don’t allow women to run for office.

Israel’s laws have not been amended to reflect the concessions, but some fear that the changes are already coming, at the expense of women. The Israeli news media has been full of reports in recent months about incidents seen as discriminatory.

Bus drivers in central Tel Aviv and southern Eilat have refused to pick up young women, because they were wearing crop tops or workout clothes. Last month, ultra-Orthodox men in the religious town of Bnei Brak stopped a public bus and blocked the road because a woman was driving.

And Israel’s national emergency medical and disaster service is for the first time segregating men and women during the academic part of paramedic training undertaken to fulfill a national service requirement, the Israeli news media reported last week. A spokesperson, Nadav Matzner, said that many of the students were religious, and emphasised that all of the clinical training will be in mixed-sex settings and that paramedics must provide care for everyone.

Over the past decade, sex segregation has seeped into many areas. Small public colleges that enroll ultra-Orthodox students seeking undergraduate degrees segregate classes by sex. Some drivers’ education and government job training courses have run sex-segregated sessions, and some public libraries post separate hours for girls and boys.

Now, the demands of the coalition’s ultra-Orthodox and far-Right parties could radically transform the face of a country where equal rights for women are guaranteed in the 1948 declaration of independence and reinforced in several key Supreme Court decisions.

“What is going on here is not an issue of Left and Right — they are changing the rules of the game, and it will have a dramatic effect on women,” said Moran Zer Katzenstein, who heads Bonot Alternativa, a pro-democracy group, as well as a nonpartisan umbrella group of women’s organisations. “Our rights will be harmed first.”

Members of Bonot Alternativa show up at weekly anti-government protests dressed in scarlet robes and white wimples that mimic those of the disenfranchised women forced to bear children in the dystopian television show based on Margaret Atwood’s novel The Handmaid’s Tale.

In a global gender gap report issued by the World Economic Forum in June that ranks 146 countries, Israel dropped to the 83rd place, from 60th place last year. Although the report ranked Israel first in terms of women’s education, the country’s ranking for women’s political empowerment slipped to 96th, just below Pakistan, from 61st last year.

New York Times News Service

Greek wildfires spur anti-migrant sentiment


By AFP
August 25, 2023

Deadly wildfires have been burning across Greece -

 Copyright AFP ILYAS AKENGIN

Petros KONSTANTINIDIS and Vassilis KYRIAKOULIS in Alexandroupoli

As Greece was hit by wave after wave of wildfires this week, unfounded claims that asylum-seekers are behind some of them whipped up anti-migrant frenzy online.

The speculation intensified after a group of 13 Pakistani and Syrian men were accused by locals of being caught red-handed trying to light a fire outside the city of Alexandroupoli, in the Evros region bordering Turkey.

One of the locals on Tuesday posted a live Facebook video showing the migrants stacked in a trailer, boasting that he had caught them for trying to “burn us.”

“Don’t show them… burn them,” another user commented on the feed.

The man was arrested alongside two alleged accomplices, with authorities insisting that “vigilantism” will not be tolerated.

The three detainees have been charged with inciting racist violence. The migrants were charged with illegal entry and attempted arson.

But a government source told Kathimerini daily that the evidence against them appeared to be the makings of a campfire.

The rhetoric has gone hand in hand with media misinformation.

An Evros news portal on Tuesday said that 20 migrants had been arrested outside Alexandroupoli after exchanging gunfire with police.

Authorities later denied this.

Similarly, national TV station Open on Wednesday issued a correction after erroneously reporting that two migrants had been caught lighting a fire in the neighbouring region of Rodopi.

Northern Greece has been engulfed in a mega fire that originally broke out Saturday and required over 14,000 evacuations, including at a local hospital. Lightning sparked the fire, according to Alexandroupoli’s mayor Giannis Zamboukis.

By Thursday, the various fronts had merged into a line stretching over 15 kilometres (nine miles), burning over 60,000 hectares (148,000 acres) of agricultural land and forest.

The area is just a few kilometres from the Turkish border. Migrant crossings aided by smugglers occur on a regular basis.

In 2020, tens of thousands of migrants tried to break through this remote northeastern area, clashing for days with Greek security forces.

Work on extending a a 37.5-kilometre (23-mile) steel barrier to block the path is to be completed by the end of the year.

After the first fires broke out Saturday near Alexandroupoli, pictures and videos have been posted on social media claiming to show makeshift arson devices created by migrants crossing the border with Turkey.

– ‘They want to destroy us’ –

Anti-migrant sentiment is strong in Greek border areas, where locals accuse asylum seekers of stealing and say reckless driving by smugglers poses a serious traffic risk.

“I am absolutely convinced that the fires were caused by migrants,” Evros resident Christos Paschalakis told AFP.

“They burn us, they steal from us, they kill us in road accidents,” he said.

“I have no doubt that the forest fire was started by migrants,” said Vangelis Rallis, a 70-year-old retired logger from Dadia, a village near a key national park that also burned last year.

“They burned it last year, and this year they returned to finish the job. They may have even been paid to do it. They want to destroy us,” he said.

The issue also sparked political controversy this week after Kyriakos Velopoulos, the leader of nationalist party Greek Solution, joined the attacks on migrants and praised the man arrested for illegally detaining them.

An MP for Velopoulos, Paris Papadakis, also called on locals to “take measures” as migrants were allegedly “obstructing” fire-fighting plane pilots.

“We are at war,” Papadakis said in a Facebook post.

In national elections in June, Velopoulos’ party and two other far-right groups posted their highest ratings in northern Greece.

In the Evros region, Greek Solution scored nearly nine percent of the vote.

– Wildfire victims –

Of the 20 people killed in this week’s fires, it is believed 19 were migrants.

One group of 18, including two children, was found Tuesday near a village 38 kilometres (24 miles) from the Turkish border.

Another migrant was found dead in the area of Lefkimmi near the Turkish border a day earlier.

The head of Evros’ border guards, Valandis Gialamas, told AFP he expects more bodies of migrants to be found, as crossings from Turkey have increased in recent days.

A total of 140 people have been arrested for arson since the fires started on Saturday, of whom 73 are facing charges.

Sixty-two cases concern accidental arson, with the remaining 11 relating to purposeful acts.

Amnesty International on Wednesday called on Greece to “urgently evacuate all those stranded in the Evros region and who are unable to move safely due to fires, and to ensure that refugees and migrants who have entered into Greece irregularly can seek asylum and are not illegally forcibly returned at the border.”

TOXIC

Trash fire ’emergency’ chokes locals on Indonesia’s Java

By AFP
Published August 25, 2023

Firefighters on the outskirts of Indonesia's Bandung try to extinguish a fire that has been burning for five days - Copyright AFP ILYAS AKENGIN

A days-long fire at a landfill in Indonesia’s most populous province has been declared an emergency by local authorities as thick and putrid smoke from the blaze chokes nearby residents, officials said Friday.

The fire at the Sarimukti landfill in Indonesia’s West Java province — which serves the city of Bandung, home to 2.5 million people — has been burning since Tuesday.

At least 67 people who live near the landfill have been diagnosed with mild respiratory infections and two were hospitalised due to the effects of the toxic fire, according to a local health clinic.

The headmaster of an Islamic middle school six kilometres from the fire said students were told to stay at home because of the fumes.

“The smoke was rather thick and disrupted the study activity as well as threatened the students’ safety and health,” Amin Bunyamin told AFP.

“We are worried for their health because the fumes from the burning trash are different. The smoke is choking.”

At least 30 fire trucks have battled to contain the fire at the 25-hectare site with no success, with authorities blaming high temperatures and strong winds for keeping it ablaze.

It forced the local government to declare a 21-day state of emergency in the area, West Java regent Hengky Kurniawan said Thursday.

Sprawling Indonesian cities on its most populated island Java lack modern waste management infrastructure to process hoards of solid trash produced each day.

Kurniawan on Thursday blamed the fire on discarded cigarette butts and called on residents not to throw them away, “especially in this drought season”.

He added that authorities were not well-equipped to douse the fire, so water bombs would be dropped from helicopters sent by the country’s national disaster management agency on Friday.

The local official announced a temporary location for garbage collection would be set up but called on residents to manage their waste independently.

West Java governor Ridwan Kamil said Thursday that the country’s geophysics agency was attempting weather modification in the area, “so hopefully we will have rain” to douse the inferno.

Ecuador says vote to halt Amazon oil drilling a ‘terrible precedent’

DEMOCRACY DOES NOT TRUMP CAPITALI$M

By AFP
Published August 24, 2023

Yasuni is home to three of the world's last uncontacted Indigenous populations and a bounty of plant and animal species - Copyright AFP Tomas CUESTA

Ecuador’s energy minister said Wednesday that a vote to halt drilling in an Amazon oil block set a “terrible precedent” and it would be a long and complex task to dismantle the installation.

Ecuadorans voted in a referendum on Sunday to halt the exploitation of an oil block in Yasuni National Park, one of the most diverse biospheres in the world, a decision hailed as a triumph for climate democracy.

Yasuni is home to three of the world’s last uncontacted Indigenous populations and a bounty of plant and animal species.

However, Energy Minister Fernando Santos described the decision to halt drilling as “a very serious blow to Ecuador’s dollarized economy, which depends on crude oil, its main export.”

“This creates a terrible precedent. There are signed contracts, long-term commitments, the legal security of the country is in question.”

The government of outgoing President Guillermo Lasso estimates a loss of $16 billion over the next 20 years.

When the Constitutional Court in May gave the green light for the referendum, it established that state oil company Petroecuador would have a year to shutter operations if the “Yes” vote won.

Santos said this would be “physically impossible.”

“It is a very complex process, never in the world’s oil history, has such an important field, which produces 60,000 barrels a day, suddenly stopped,” said Santos.

He said dismantling the field implies “removing the installations, which are thousands of tons of steel, cables, installations of all kinds.”

Block 43 occupies 80 of the million hectares that make up the Yasuni reserve, and is considered the jewel in Petroecuador’s crown.

Drilling in Yasuni began in 2016 after years of fraught debate and failed efforts by then-president Rafael Correa to persuade the international community to pay cash-strapped Ecuador $3.6 billion not to drill there.

Oil exploitation has been one of the pillars of Ecuador’s economy since the 1970s.

Crude oil generated revenues of $10 billion in 2022, around 10 percent of gross domestic product.

Nearly 500,000 barrels are produced daily in the northeastern Amazon, in the shadow of the Andes, blighting the environment with wells, pipelines, and flames shooting into the air.

The industry has been a boon to state coffers and development, but environmentalists decry terrible pollution.

Apple unexpectedly supports Right to Repair Act

By AFP
Published August 24, 2023

NYC Apple store: — © Digital Journal.

Apple on Thursday confirmed it is endorsing passage of a California law requiring major gadget makers to enable people to fix their devices without taking them back to companies.

Supporters of a Right to Repair Act in California say Apple had been a ‘Goliath’ standing in the way of such legislation prior to its recent support for the bill in its home state – Copyright AFP Sam Yeh

A Right to Repair Act that mandates manufacturers provide customers and outside repair shops with tools, parts, and information needed to fix broken electronics is making its way through the state legislature.

“Apple supports California’s Right to Repair Act so all Californians have even greater access to repairs while also protecting their safety, security, and privacy,” the iPhone maker said in response to an AFP inquiry.

Advocacy organization Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) called Apple’s move “an unexpected about-face,” describing the tech giant as having been a high-profile opponent of such laws.

A Right-to-Repair movement, of which PIRG is a part, has led to laws in a handful of other US states, the advocacy organization noted.

“It’s not just about providing parts and tools for repairs; it’s about empowering consumers to make environmentally responsible choices,” said Liz Chamberlain of repair tips website iFixit.

“Right to Repair has been building momentum in Big Tech’s backyard, it’s about time Apple opens the front door.”

PAKISTAN
A year on, Sindh’s flood victims remain stranded and forgotten

Exactly a year has passed since the day Sindh was declared a calamity-hit region. As the government promises to rebuild, the affectees continue to suffer.

Hawwa Fazal Published August 25, 2023 

Fatima welcomes visitors warmly into the dwelling she now calls home — a small compound with a kitchen set up in one corner and two charpoys in the other. The charpoys are each occupied by the men and women of the family.

Fatima and her family in their house at budhni goth — Photo by author

An open gutter is but two steps from her door in one of the several narrow alleys that make up Budhni Goth, a slum area located near the coastal belt of Karachi. Her family of 20 members is squeezed into a tiny 80-square-foot house. “Our home back in the village was huge, we had rooms for everyone. The children played in the large compound,” said Fatima.

The 50-year-old belongs to Kandiaro, a small town in Naushaharo Feroz district located in Sindh. She moved to Karachi after last year’s devastating floods swept away her home, her harvest and her livestock.

The majority of Pakistan’s second-most populous and agriculture-dependent province of Sindh was declared “calamity-hit” on August 23, 2022. It affected one in seven people in Pakistan and displaced nearly eight million people.

A year on, many of them are still homeless. Some languish in Karachi’s slums, while others live under the open sky awaiting the fulfilment of the government’s promises.

While rehabilitation and resettlement require years, the outgoing Sindh government had made ambitious plans, which it claimed would come to fruition in the next two years. There are, however, several flaws in the plan which stem from the cultural practices followed in Sindh.
Going back not an ‘option’

“We did go back to the village but the wadera (landowner) told us he doesn’t want a makata (a local land agreement) with us anymore and we should return to the city,” said Badal, Fatima’s husband.

In rural Sindh, as per a custom called ‘makata’, the ‘wadera’ (landowner) gives the farmer land for the season or the year — in some cases, the land is given for a longer time due to loyalty with the owners.

The farmer lives on and cultivates the land. The landowner sometimes gives the farmer a loan to buy pesticides, fertilisers and provide water. The profit from the yield is then shared by both the landowner and the tenant. At the end, the farmer is also required to pay off the loans acquired during the sowing season.

Badal and his sons approached other landowners but they all refused. Eventually, the family returned to the city. “Going back home is not an option for us anymore,” Badal sighs.

Two houses down the lane, in a slightly bigger house with fewer residents, resides Sajjad Ali, a 20-year-old, with his wife and parents. Sajjad limps to the charpoy in the compound while his wife rushes to the kitchen, a small room in the corner of the house with a small window opening up in the wall.

Sajjad and his family in the compound of their house — photo by author

Sajjad came to Karachi last year. Travelling from Naushaharo Feroz was tiresome — it took them three days via road. For the first two months — June and July — the family resided in government schools and later shifted to Budhni Goth.

Sajjad had recently had his appendix removed from the city’s government-run Dr Ruth Pfau Civil Hospital. The operation was free. “Hospitals in Larkana [nearer to my house] were asking for Rs250,000. I couldn’t afford it and had to postpone the surgery several times. I never thought it could be done for free in Karachi,” he exclaimed.

To Sajjad, life in Karachi is full of freedom and possibilities. “We don’t want to go back. We earn a decent amount through our work,” he added. He and his father have been employed by a pharmaceutical factory nearby which gives them Rs800-Rs1,000 per day.

He said that if they returned to the village, they would have to pay the landowners all the money they had borrowed for sowing the fields that they were unable to harvest due to the floods. “He (the landowner) wrote down details of all payments and wants us to pay interest on the loan, which makes it twice the original loan amount. We can’t give him Rs100,000,” said Razia, Sajjad’s mother. For Sajjad’s family, life in Karachi is their chance to break the chains of economic slavery around their hands.

Not everyone has been so lucky though. Though there is no official count, families who stayed back in the metropolis are few and far between. Many who returned to their villages, buoyed by the government’s promises, are living in tents under the open sky. Meanwhile, the outgoing government began its work six months ago. The plans are ambitious but the results are yet to be witnessed, but the executives carrying out the plans are more optimistic.

Ambitious rebuilding plans

For rehabilitation and resettlement of the flood-affectees, the provincial government, in collaboration with the World Bank, created the Sindh Peoples Housing Scheme for Flood Affectees (SPHF). SPHF is a Section 42 company [a not-for-profit association], which comprises a board of directors from the private sector.

As per surveys conducted by the SPHF, 12.36m people were affected and 2.1m houses were damaged or destroyed across the province in last year’s floods, of which 85pc were katcha (mud) houses and 15pc were pakka (concrete). The cost of repairing the houses has been estimated at $5.5bn.

The World Bank has provided $500m for the project while the provincial government is funding it with $227m. The officials are, however, unclear on how they will cover the shortfall, although they have reached out to private companies for assistance.

SPHF CEO Khalid Mehmood Sheikh said that the project is completely transparent. “The project is beneficiary-driven and there is no contractor.”

The process of rebuilding a house for a flood affectee is being supervised by five different non-governmental organisations such as the Sindh Rural Support Organisation, Health and Nutrition Development Society, Sustainable Actions to Access Financial Capital Opportunities, National Rural Support Programme and Thardeep Rural Development Programme. Each organisation has been assigned different districts whose primary role is supervising the construction activity.

Each family that lost their home will be given Rs300,000 in four instalments to make a standard one-room house of 200 square feet. The first payment would be Rs75,000, followed by three more instalments of Rs75,000, Rs100,000 and Rs25,000. The amount will directly be transferred to their bank accounts. For those who don’t have any, their accounts will be created.

The payments would be disbursed only after they show completion certificates at each stage issued by the NGOs operating in their respective district.

According to SPHF spokesperson Sana Khowaja, the houses will be climate resilient. The implementation partners — the NGOs — have been tasked with guiding local residents on how to make climate-resilient structures and ensure they’re complying with the instructions while building the houses.

“We did find a few problems, like the absence of infrastructure in these places, which we intend to fix after the houses are completed. We have been given money to build these amenities,” said Sheikh.

“Another problem is that according to survey data 356,126 people live on encroached land or land owned by other landowners.” On this, the SPHF CEO said that a policy is being developed by the government in which they will decide the fate of the landless displaced flood affectees.

As of now, 525,000 requests have been approved and 100,000 people, who own land or had houses on state land, have been given the first instalments to build their homes.

“According to our survey, 474,257 women lost their homes. Among them are widows, unaccompanied elderly women, women with disabled husbands and women who have been abandoned by their husbands,” said Sheikh, adding that the government is particularly keen on empowering these women by giving them land titles and houses.

The project is expected to be completed within two years.

“People who lived in houses made up of roofs with leaves and branches will now have concrete houses. No matter how small, they will be able to protect themselves from rains and floods,” Sheikh smiled.

But for people like Fatima and her family, who are hundreds of miles away from home, crammed into a tiny house, Sheikh’s optimism bears little weight. She dreams of her large courtyard in Kandiaro and seeing her children run about and frolic in their fields.

“I just want to go back home but for that, we need a house with walls,” she said.

A young man looks through the window inside the home of a flood-affectee in Karachi. — Header image by author

India’s space quest

Editorial

Published August 25, 2023 


INDIA’S successful Chandrayaan-3 mission is indeed historic, as the craft became the first to land near the south pole of the moon. Moreover, with this feat, India joins a select club of nations — including the US, Russia and China — that have achieved controlled landings on the lunar surface.

While there is much wrong with modern India, especially with the Hindu majoritarian government’s repressive tendencies, this particular feat deserves appreciation as our eastern neighbour achieved on a lesser budget what richer nations accomplished by spending larger sums.

Nearly a decade ago, the Indians also successfully launched the Mangalyaan observer mission to Mars, while success was achieved in the latest moon mission after Chandrayaan-2 failed in 2019.

Perhaps the key to the success of India’s space programme, apart from sustained state support, is the quality and dedication of its engineers and scientists who helped make these difficult missions possible.

Comparisons are indeed odious, but there may be plenty for Pakistan to learn from India’s space success. Pakistan’s space programme was launched before India’s and managed modest success, such as launching a rocket in the early 1960s under the watch of luminaries such as Dr Abdus Salam.

In 1990, we managed to put a satellite, Badr-1, into space. These missions were accomplished with American and later Chinese help. However, in the decades since, our national space body, Suparco, has not achieved any stellar success.

There are various reasons for our space programme remaining earth-bound. Among these include the fact that, particularly in the recent past, Pakistan’s space agency has been helmed by retired military men, not experts in the field.

Also, much has been written about our education system, and the fact that it is not producing the required manpower to give Pakistan a qualitative edge in science and technology.

Sadly, we have become consumers of science and technology, and not producers of knowledge. Moreover, we lose our best minds to brain drain as bright youngsters opt for greener pastures due to stifling bureaucracy and lack of merit and opportunities at home.

While Pakistan cannot afford to pursue vanity projects — a former minister had boasted about putting a person in space — a functional space programme is important for defence and civilian needs.

Perhaps we can learn from India in this respect by revamping Suparco and encouraging our brightest to innovate and reach for the stars.

Published in Dawn, August 25th, 2023

Brain drain

Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry 

Published August 20, 2023

POST-dinner conversations in most urban middle-class households start these days with commentaries on the unstable politics and abysmal economic situation of Pakistan and end with the concern about the youth exodus from Pakistan to the seemingly greener pastures of North America, Europe, Australia and the Gulf. However, before drawing any conclusions, it would be important to take a broader look at the issue.

Firstly, Pakistanis going abroad is not a new phenomenon. Since 1971, the Bureau of Emigration and Overseas Employment estimates that over 10 million Pakistanis have gone abroad for employment. Secondly, figures vary from year to year, with no particular trend of a steep rise. In 2022, 800,000 left Pakistan for employment overseas, which is less than the pre-pandemic figure of 946,571 in 2015. Thirdly, accurate numbers of those going abroad are hard to estimate because many avail student visas or permanent residency visas or go abroad through illegal means.

Hence, what is more relevant to the debate are not the numbers but reports that most of those moving abroad these days comprise Pakistan’s youth. PIDE economist Faheem Jahangir Khan says that “67 per cent of Pakistani youngsters want to leave the country”. The trend of brain drain is also being reported by other surveys and analyses.

The youth are Pakistan’s future leaders. At a time when the European and Chinese populations are aging, the youth bulge here is an advantage if they can participate in the development of their own country rather than serving societies abroad. The reality, however, is that students are desperately looking for scholarships to study in the US, Australia, Europe, China and East Asia. Those already in foreign universities are reluctant to return because of joblessness in the country. Talented IT professionals are being lured by West-based companies who offer lucrative terms. Our leadership and intelligentsia, therefore, have a responsibility to identify the reasons for the youth leaving Pakistan, and then make policies that incentivise the youth to work for the country.

Why does the youth want to leave?

A major reason that frustrates our youth is the pervasive unemployment in the country. There are nearly 200 universities in Pakistan many of which award degrees in disciplines for which there are no jobs in the market. Having spent considerable sums on education, not finding a well-paying job is a deeply frustrating experience for a young person. The lucky ones who find jobs are also frustrated because of abysmally low salaries. Sarah Gilani, a start-up professional who worked for many years in Pakistan and now lives and works in Austria, says that the work culture in Pakistan is rigid and leaves little room for a healthy work-life balance, particularly for working women.

Young physicians also want to move abroad for better salaries and access to modern medical technologies. Sameera Rabbani, who graduated from a medical school in Lahore and now lives in Australia, observed that doctors are underpaid, overworked and underappreciated in Pakistan as opposed to the West where they are paid adequately, with a contribution to the retirement fund.

Some professionals like Maheen Ahmad, who teaches at a premier institution in Islamabad, wish to go abroad only to improve educational qualifications. She recognises, though, the growing financial difficulties of salaried professionals and limited job growth prospects in Pakistan.

The second source of frustration for the youth is the deep political polarisation that exists and that is exacerbating the economic crisis. Nearly every family has been affected by this bitter political divide, particularly the youth. The third reason for the youth’s growing disaffection is their aspiration for a life of respect, dignity and prosperity. They want equal opportunities and a level playing field. They are disappointed to find that the system does not work for them, but just for a select few, ie, the elite.

So, what can be done to stem the brain drain? First, the country needs stable politics, a charter of economy that binds political governments to ensure continuity of economic policies, and ease of doing business for investors, traders, and industrialists. Secondly, job creation should be a high priority. Since governments can create only so many jobs, it is industry which can absorb educated and semi-skilled youth. The education system should pivot towards technical education and vocational training to feed industry and the IT sector.

Thirdly, we need an efficient judicial system at all levels. Above all, the country needs a climate of justice, equal opportunity and dignity for every citizen. The National Security Policy announced last year provides a good way forward.

The writer is a former foreign secretary and author of Diplomatic Footprints.

Published in Dawn, August 20th, 2023

SPACE RACE 2.0
Japan’s ‘Moon Sniper’ mission looks to match Indian success

AFP 

Published August 25, 2023 

This handout photo taken on June 1 and released by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) shows the “Smart Lander for Investigating Moon” (SLIM) at the satellite fairing assembly building at the Tanegashima Space Center, Kagoshima prefecture.— AFP


Hot on the heels of India’s historic lunar landing, Japan’s space programme is hoping to rebound from a string of setbacks next week with the launch of its own mission: “Moon Sniper”.

The rocket will carry a lander expected to reach the Moon’s surface in four to six months as well as an X-ray imaging satellite designed to investigate the evolution of the universe.

The launch is scheduled to take place on Monday after bad weather pushed it back by a day, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said on Friday.

Japan’s space programme is one of the world’s largest, but its first attempt to put a lander on the Moon failed in November 2022, and a new type of rocket exploded during a test last month.

JAXA’s hopes are now centred on the “Smart Lander for Investigating Moon”.

As its acronym suggests, SLIM is small and light, standing 2.4 metres high, 2.7 metres wide and 1.7 metres long, and weighing around 700 kilogrammes.

Dubbed the “Moon Sniper” for its precision, JAXA is aiming to land it within 100 metres of a specific target on the Moon, far less than the usual range of several kilometres.

Using a palm-sized mini rover that can change shape, the probe — developed with a toy company — aims to investigate how the Moon was formed by examining exposed pieces of the lunar mantle.

“Lunar landing remains a very difficult technology,” Shinichiro Sakai from the SLIM project team told reporters on Thursday while paying homage to India’s success.

“To follow suit, we will do our best in our own operations,” Sakai said.
India’s success

On Wednesday, India landed a craft near the Moon’s south pole, a historic triumph for the world’s most populous nation and its low-cost space programme.

Previously, only the United States, Russia and China had managed to put a spacecraft on the lunar surface, and none on the south pole.

India’s success came days after a Russian probe crashed in the same region and four years after the previous Indian attempt failed at the last moment.

Japan has also tried before, attempting last year to land a lunar probe named Omotenashi, carried on NASA’s Artemis 1, but the mission went wrong and communications were lost.

And in April, Japanese start-up ispace failed in an ambitious attempt to become the first private company to land on the Moon, losing communication after what the firm called a “hard landing”.

Japan has also had problems with launch rockets, with failures after liftoff of the next-generation H3 model in March and the normally reliable solid-fuel Epsilon the previous October.




Last month, the test of an Epsilon S rocket, an improved version of the Epsilon, ended in an explosion 50 seconds after ignition.

Plasma wind

The workhorse H2-A rocket launching from Tanegashima in southern Japan on Monday will also carry the X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM) developed by JAXA, NASA and the European Space Agency.

The satellite’s high-resolution X-ray spectroscopic observations of the hot gas plasma wind that blows through the universe will help study the flows of mass and energy as well as the composition and evolution of celestial objects.

“There is a theory that dark matter is preventing galaxies from expanding,” explained XRISM project manager Hironori Maejima.

“The question of why dark matter does not converge, and what are the forces that spread it, is expected to be clarified by measuring plasma with XRISM. “