The politicisation of the Thar coal project

A strong lobby in the country seems bent upon creating hurdles in the setting-up of plants to generate electricity from Thar coal reserves in Sindh.
The Sindh government, according to official sources, is well aware of the challenges facing the mega project, and the provincial political leadership fears the issue might be politicised, like in the case of the Kalabagh dam (KBD) project.
Despite a severe power shortage in the country and ever-increasing electricity rates, it seems really strange that the Centre is showing no eagerness to generate cheap electricity from the coal reserves, and no mentionable funds have been allocated in the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) of the federal budget 2010-11, for the project. It is another disturbing fact that the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) is doing almost nothing to initiate the mega project, though its main leadership belongs to the Sindh province, and the party is at the helm of affairs in the Centre as well as in Sindh.
The dream of generating electricity from Thar coal reserves will take a long time to come true, even if the government begins work on the project today. To attract foreign or local investment, Thar would need basic infrastructure, including highways, link roads, electricity and water etc. No heavy machinery could be transported to the proposed sites in the absence of a road network. The most important in infrastructure is the setting-up of a high tension transmission line for distributing power in different parts of the country. At the moment, the infrastructure is non-existent. The Sindh government has, for the first time, suggested allocation of Rs. 10 billion for the high voltage transmission line in the upcoming budget of financial year 2011-12. Sindh Chief Minister, Syed Qaim Ali Shah, had expressed the hope in his budget speech that the federal government would also share its responsibility and contribute to the funding for developing infrastructure in Thar.
Earlier, the government had planned a Rs. 5512 million project in collaboration with China, to install a 500-KV power transmission line from Thar. Besides, in April 2002, a state-run Chinese company, Shenhua Group Corporation, was assigned to develop block-two of the Thar coalfields, accepting its proposal to establish a 600-MW power plant at the mine-mouth with associated captive coalmines. The Shenhua Group carried out studies related to coal-geological and hydro-geological possibilities in the area, and a project feasibility report was finalised.
Unfortunately, the project ran into various snags. Since then, a number of foreign investors have shown interest to develop these resources, but without any breakthrough. In April 2005, AES-Oasis Ltd. of the USA showed interest in developing an integrated mining-cum-power project of 1,000-MW capacity, utilising block-one Thar resources. The sponsor, after a year, finally backed out.
According to an estimate, at least Rs. 100 billion would immediately be required for setting up a high voltage transmission line and other infrastructure in Thar to start work on the actual coal power production plants. Keeping in view this huge funding, allocation of only Rs. 20 million in the PSDP in 2010-11 budget is negligible.
Another important factor that should be mentioned here is non-inclusion of the Thar coal power project in the priority list of the Planning Commission of Pakistan. As mentioned on its official website, the commission authorities have put emphasis on generating electricity through hydel and thermal power projects only. However, a Planning Commission document has mentioned, in its feasibility study, the use of Thar coal for the cement manufacturing industry. The document says 90 per cent of the cement manufacturing plants have abandoned furnace oil and opted for coal energy during the past decade. It has helped save a huge amount of precious foreign exchange which was earlier spent on import of furnace oil. With this major change in the cement industry's energy needs, coal consumption has gone up to five million tonnes per annum.
The Sindh Thar Coal and Energy Board is trying to lure investors into investing in Thar coal fields and projects. The board was set up by the Sindh chief minister, who is also the head of the board, to establish the ownership rights of Sindh over the coal reserves. However, the lobby creating hurdles in the Thar coal project seems very strong. The lobby might be opposing the plan to deprive Sindh of a mega energy project, say the sources. The lobby consists of oil importers, rental power brokers and other vested interests, according to the Sindh Thar Coal Board officials.
International energy politics might also have a hand in the delay of the project. The World Bank had organised an energy conference in Washington in 2009, to convince the world financing groups to invest in Thar coal in Sindh. However, in the same year, an environment conference was held in Copenhagen, which strongly stressed the need for minimising the use of coal for generating energy, to save the environment from hazardous effects of coal burning.
During the Copenhagen summit, the US advocated development of no, or low, carbon energy sources in the developing countries. That the US opposes coal-fired power is something difficult to believe because it has 600 coal-fired plants within the country which provide more than half of its energy supply. Another 60 coal-fired plants are at various stages of planning. The US refuses to accept limits to its domestic greenhouse gas emissions, though it did agree, for the first time, to modest cuts in Copenhagen.
The World Bank wrote a letter to the Government of Pakistan, seeking assurance that the Thar coal power generation projects would not affect the environment adversely. A Sindh government official, privy to the developments, alleged that the federal government was sitting on the letter and no reply was sent to the WB in this regard. The Sindh government, say the sources, is upset over the situation. The newly-appointed Federal Finance Minister, Dr. Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, who hails from Sindh, has reportedly talked to the WB authorities and tried to convince them that the use of new technology would help minimise the hazardous effects of coal use for power generation. However, Sindh Chief Minister, Syed Qaim Ali Shah, has alleged that a lobby in the federal government bureaucracy does not want power generation through the Thar coal reserves and it is creating hurdles in this regard.
The World Bank, perhaps, has become cautious after facing worldwide condemnation for extending a $3.75 billion loan to South Africa in April 2009, to build one of the world's largest coal plants. The decision drew sharp criticism, even from the Obama Administration. An international coalition of grassroots, church and environmental activists launched a massive protest against the controversial loan, saying that it would hurt the environment by putting out 25 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year.
In Pakistan, the World Bank's decision not to finance the Thar coal project apparently for environmental reasons is not convincing enough, because the country's industry does not contribute much to carbon emissions and its carbon footprint is one of the lowest. So, not much harm to the ecology could be expected from the Thar coal project on completion.
Engro Energy, which has leased a block at Thar, wants the government to convince the WB in this respect because Pakistan happens to be one of the least polluters.
Meanwhile, Dr. Samar Mubarakmand, a nuclear scientist, who earned fame for his instrumental role in the 1998 nuclear tests, is working on a project for generating electricity through gasification of the Thar coal reserves. It will be ready by next year, and if implemented successfully, it will eliminate the problem of pollution by converting Thar coal into clean energy. According to Dr. Samar, the Thar coal reserves of 175.5 billion tonnes, discovered in 1992, have potential to generate 5,000 MW for at least 800 years.

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Why Most People Never Get Rich

Most people will never become rich no matter how high their IQ or how hard they work, or how much money they earn. Most people will spend their lives having the problem of not enough money and they will fail to ever live the life that they dreamed. By understanding why most people never get rich you can learn how to become rich.
Before I start telling you why most people never get rich I first want to debunk a few wealth myths that may be holding you back from becoming rich. Firstly the myth that you need to earn a lot of money to become rich is false, many people who earn millions become poor. You also don't need to be smart to be rich. Some of the richest people in the world dropped out of high school and college. You don't need money to make money, money can be made from nothing, or you can leverage other people's money to become rich. So now let me explain why most people never get rich.
Most People Save Money
Most people subscribe to the idea that you need to live frugally and save money in order to become rich. But there are a few problems with saving money that explain why this method keeps millions of people from becoming rich.
Firstly, money goes down in value over time. When my mum was a kid she could buy a bag of lollies for a penny, now I can't even get a bag of lollies for $1. Money loses its value as more money is printed and cost of living goes up, so by saving money you are actually losing money.
Also interest earned on money is heavily taxed, so although you are earning 4% on your money it is likely you are paying 30-50% in tax. That is an effective 2% return on investment. Seeing as inflation is around 3-5% you are going backwards.
Also just saving money is bad because you are not using any leverage. You are only getting money from working (and you can only work so hard) and you are only using your own money to invest. Your return is therefore very limited.
Most People Live Below Their Means
Most people live their entire lives trying to live below their means. They live frugally and try to spend less than they earn. But rich people don't try to live below their means they try to increase their means. Rich people are constantly seeking new investments that will earn them money without them having to do anything. By constantly seeking to increase their means rich people become richer and richer, and by constantly trying to live below their means poor people remain poor.
Most People Invest Not To Lose
This is probably the number one reason most people fail to become rich. It is not how much money you earn from your job that determines whether or not you can become rich. Generally it is your investing that will make you rich or keep you rich. Most people invest not to lose, but they don't invest to win. Thus they never get a good return on investment because they are too busy trying to play it safe.
Most People Buy Liabilities Not Assets
Even though most people are afraid of losing money they ultimately lose a lot of money because they buy liabilities instead of assets. Most people will buy nice cars, a big house and other expensive liabilities that take money out of their pocket every week. Rich people use their money to buy assets that put money in their pocket on a regular basis. So their income is constantly going up instead of their debt constantly going up.
Most People Are Financially Illiterate
Most people are so afraid of losing money because they are not financially educated. They don't know much about money and thus they cannot make solid investment decisions. They are constantly looking for the latest 'hot tip' about he stock market or property market and they are constantly buying into 'get rich quick' schemes. Or they spend their money on the lotto and blame their finances on the government. Most people never become rich because they go to school and college to learn but they never learn how to become rich.
Join the thousands of people already learning how to become rich WITHOUT making any more money. You can learn how to become rich without any costs for training. Go to http://www.richacademy.com and sign up to start your free training today.

Ancient Sites Encroached Upon Tomb Of Shah Baharo

Over 20 families have constructed houses at the site after demolishing graves, sources in the department said.

The intrusion that began in 1980-81 still continues amidst ineffective and insufficient measures to discourage the practice.

Mohammed Bakhsh Magsi, a primary teacher in collusion with land grabbers, has not only constructed his house but is also selling land after bulldozing graves, the department confirmed.

The department kept raising the matter with the revenue department for ‘demarcation' of the land which encompasses the tomb of Shah Baharo and the graveyard around it. The District Coordination Officer of Larkana has referred the matter to Mukhtiarkar for urgent measurement.

A cursory eye on the existing condition of the tomb unveils the volume of negligence of the department. The outer bricks of the tomb are crumbling while the platform to the entrance is damaged.

The inscriptions on the glazed tiles have also faded with no replacement in sight.

People, unconcerned with the vanishing beauty and historical background of the tomb of a general of Kalhora period, have ruthlessly trampled over the history.

When this correspondent visited the site, no attendant of the department was seen there. The old wooden gate itself speaks of the degree of negligence by the concerned authorities.

The Persian inscriptions, quite readable on the main gate are fast vanishing and if the situation remains unchanged, the inscriptions depicting the history would disappear.

A visit to the shrine reveals how the broken tiles are collected and kept in the windows of the tomb for further decay.

The repair and maintenance work carried out in past is invisible now and the tomb badly needs repair and restoration coupled with the immediate removal of the encroachments from the site.

TAJJAR BUILDING: Tajjar building is another famous old structure, situated in the heart of the city, is similarly ignored by the departments concerned.

Tajjar building was built in 1833 in Larkana as the temporary resting place for Nawab Wali Mohammad Leghari, a prime minister of the Khairpur state. He was buried temporarily during Kalhora period in this building and then his grave was relocated to Hyderabad.

Prior to his death, Nawab Leghari and later British officials used this building as public meeting place, anthropologist Manzoor Kohyar said.

In Z.A. Bhutto's days restoration and renovation work began on this building, which was declared as protected monument on May 20, 1980.

Shafqat Hussain Unnar, former assistant resident director of Pakistan National Centre had handed over the possession of Tajjar building to Ms Salma Sultana, custodian archaeology museum of Mohenjodaro on October 7, 1981 along with a two-room quarter.

Gulab Khan Metlo, the caretaker of Tajjar building, in an open kutchari on June 3, 2008 brought to the notice of the then DCO Larkana that Rasool Bakhsh Solangi, a peon of Larkana Municipal Committee, had encroached upon the two-room quarter. The matter is still pending.

JHUKAR-JO-DARO: Just eight kilometers away from Larkana on Larkana-Karachi road is Jhukar-jo-daro which, with the ravages of time, vanishes bit by bit.

Just in a visit you would see a rice mill, a brick kiln, rice fields and many houses constructed around this protected site where you seldom find any attendant to stop visitors and locals from inflicting damages to this historical site.

Paddy cultivation becomes a common practice around it which harms both the ruins and the history while frequent encroachments have disfigured this protected site.

In the recent past deputy director Mazhar Ali Mirani of the department of archaeology, following a visit to the site, had in a report maintained that unchecked encroachment was damaging the ruins.

The site, spreading over 40 acres of land, was being used as firing range for the recruits of police training school Larkana.

The curator of archaeological museum, Mohenjodaro, in a letter to the Larkana DCO on August 13, 2008 had indicated towards this practice. This site falls under the administrative control of the curator of Mohenjodaro.

The site is protected under the Antiquity Act 1975, the curator said.

Bullet empties are commonly found on the site while unauthorised digging of the site at different portions by the locals has further damaged the site, sources in the department said.

The adjoining villagers more often find artefacts particularly during the rainy season and sometimes they sell them out at good prices. This demands urgent measures to protect the sites.

Sindhi wedding rituals

ndian culture and heritage upholds the sanctity of the institution of marriage with the richness of its traditions. Through innumerable generations, the nuptial knot has defined the very concept of ‘family' in Indian culture and social communities. Marriages in India not only depicts the mere union of the bride and the groom, but also communion of their souls. Matrimony stands for the virtues of faith, trust and loyalty.
The occasion is thus celebrated and jubilated by the close and distant relatives of the concerned families. It is an event of great gaiety and frolic.

Originally hailing from the Sapt Sindhu, the area of the Sindhu River, Sindhi people are basically Sanatani Hindus and do not follow Hindu rites strictly. Sindhi weddingsare
mostly based on Vedic rites. Sindhi wedding rituals reflect the glimpses of Hinduism and Sufism. Their marriages are usually a lavish affair, characterized by great pomp and show. In the community, there are special priests known as Mehraj, who specialize in matchmaking and a Guryanni, who is entitled with the task of carrying the horoscopes of eligible boys and girls within the community.

Sindhi weddings are usually conducted on an auspicious day like the Satyanarayan Chandsi or the New Moon day. The gaiety and frolic begins within the family immediately after the families of the prospective bride and groom agree to their union. Sindhi weddings exemplify extreme grandeur and magnificence.

Sindhi wedding rituals comprise of interesting pre wedding, wedding and post wedding customs. The pre-wedding rituals of Janya, Kachchi Misri, Pakki Misri, Berana satsang, Mehendi, Santh, Saagri tradition and Ghari Puja set an atmosphere of merriment and celebrations.
These customs are succeeded by the Thread Ceremony, wherein turmeric powder and oil is applied to the Sindhi bride and groom in their respective houses. From then onwards, they are not allowed to step out of the house. This is followed by the traditional Swagatam custom, wherein the groom is led to the bride's place. At the house entrance, the bridegroom places his right foot on the top of the bride's foot. This gesture signifies his dominating strength. Thereafter, he enters the bride's house. The bride's brother washes the bride and the groom's feet with milk and water, considering the groom to be a form of Lord Vishnu.
Hathialo tradition then follows wherein the groom's scarf is tied to the bride's sari after which the wedding ceremony follows. The bride and the groom take four rounds around the sacred fire while the priest recites verses from Holy Scriptures.
The groom takes the bride's hand to his forehead. This gesture indicates that he accepts her as the better half of his life. The heads of the bride and groom are then held together. It represents that from now on, they are one in body, mind and spirit.

The Sindhi wedding is culminated by observing the ritual of Kanya Daan, wherein the bride's parents hand her over to the groom.

Post wedding customs of Vidai, Datar, Chanar/Dev Uthana, Sataurah further magnify the resplendence and flamboyance of the marriage ceremony.

Marriage thus is ritualistically carried out in the Sindhi community as one of the most sacred and solemn customs of their sect.

Amri Cultural Complex in Lower Sindh

Amri was the type site of an important prehistoric, pre-Indus Civilization cultural complex. The complex was located in the open terrain bordered in the northwest by the Sulaiman Range, in the southwest by the Kirthar Range and in the east by the Indus River. Sindh Kohistan and Manchar Lake form the heart of this complex.
On the basis of pottery design and other artifacts, 29 sites have so far been identified, which belonged to the Amri Cultural Complex in the late fourth and early third millennium BC. All but two of these sites are located west of the Indus River, most of them in the Dadu District of modern Sindh.
The sites are spread in the Lake Manchar area, in and around the hills of Johi, and in Sindh Kohistan. At least two sites, Othmanjo Buthi and Arabjo Thana are located in the Karachi District, and two sites, Gharo Bhirro and Kot Kori, are located east of the Indus River. Among the sites, which have produced substantial Amrian material are Pir Lohri near the Manchar Lake, Ghazi Shah, Pandi Wahi and Gorandi around the hill tracts of Johi and Damb Buthi, Chauro and Bandhni in the hills of Sehwan and Sindh Kohistan.
Along with Amri, 18 of the sites belonging to the Amri Cultural Complex later became a part of the Indus Civilization, as is revealed from the Indus pottery found from the upper layers. The other 11 sites belonging to the Amri Complex were abandoned in the Indus Civilization period, as the people from these sites moved to larger towns, which began to emerge in the Indus State.
Settlement characteristics
By far most of the settlements belonging to the Amri Cultural Complex were located in the Sindh Kohistan Region, where a large number of perennial springs are located. Water from these perennial springs was often enough for irrigation throughout the year. As such two harvests were possible, in Rabi and Kharif seasons. Also, although the area does not receive a lot of rainfall, the rains are enough to give rise to substantial grazing fields. The economy of the region was therefore sustained by substantial agricultural produce, both in the shape of crops as well as animal breeding.
Another feature of the settlements located in the Sindh Kohistan Region was their construction on conically shaped artificial hills, locally referred to as buthis. It may well be that these artificial hills were constructed over existing settlements in the Indus Civilization Period, because the material belonging to the Amri Culture has mostly been found near the base of the mounds.
Amrian pottery
A large number of pottery pieces have been recovered from the lower levels at Amri. This pottery belongs to a distinct class, quite different in design from the pottery produced at other cultural centers and at Amri itself during the Indus period. The similarities of this pottery with the pottery produced at Nal and other sites in South-Central Baluchistan, such as Mehi and Kulli, indicate that the artisans originally came from Baluchistan.  The Amrians produced bichrome pottery. The color was applied after firing as per traditions of the polychrome Nal pottery. The pale colored pottery was decorated with geometric motifs such as lozenges, chevron, rectangles and wavy lines.
Indigenous and external sources of raw materials
Stone, flint modules and clay used in the construction of buildings and manufacture of artifacts at Amri cultural sites were available from the lower slopes of the Kirthar mountain Range.
Semi-precious stones like agate, carnelian and chalcedony, used in ornaments, were available in the Sindh Kohistan Region, where a large number of Cambrian sites were located.
Eastern Iran and western Baluchistan were resource areas for some minerals used in the Amrian Phase.
Interactions of Amri with Kot Diji, South-Central Baluchistan and South-western Iran
Field research indicates substantial interaction between the Kot Diji and Amri Cultural Complexes. Some scholars believe that the interaction between the two cultural complexes socio-religious exchanges (marriages, festivals and ceremonies), but by and large the two Complexes retained their Cultural identities throughout the 1000 or odd years before the two complexes were merged in the Indus Civilization.
Another area, which interacted closely with the Amri Cultural Complex, was South-Central Baluchistan. This was but natural because the people settled in Amri originally came from the Nal Region of South-Central Baluchistan. Because of close similarities between the potteries produced in the Nal Region of Baluchistan and the Amri Cultural Complex, this pottery design is generally categorized as Amri-Nal. In the Kulli Region, southwest of Nal, there was a certain period in which the pottery produced was very similar to the Amri-Nal pottery.
Similar designs of pottery found in the Tepe Yahya Region of South-western Iran indicate that, in the peak period, the Amri Cultural Complex maintained cultural contacts with the south-western region of Iran.

Kot Diji Fort

The Kot Diji Fort, formally known as Fort Ahmadabad, dominates the town of Kot Diji in Khairpur, Pakistan about 25 miles east of the Indus River at the edge of the Nara-Rajisthan Desert. The fort was built between 1785 to 1795 by Mir Sohrab Khan Talpur, founder of the Kingdom of Upper Sindh in 1783. In addition to the fort, a 5 kilometer, 12 feet wide mud wall was built around the city. This defensive wall had bastions throughout its length and a huge iron gate served as the city's only entrance.
Fort Kot Diji
Mir Sohrab Khan Talpur, King
of Upper Sindh.1783-1830
Map of Sindh. Confederacy of Talpur KingdomsThe fort was considered invincible and served as the residence of the Ameers of Khairpur in times of peace. It is, therefore, the ancestral home of royal house. During war time the zenana (female members of the royal family), would be shifted to Shahgarh Fort, formerly within the realm but since 1843, after the conquest of the rest of Sindh, it is in the Jaisalmer desert, now in India. When the Zenana moved into the comfort of palaces, it stood mainly as a decorated reminder of more violent times. Throughout its whole history, however, Fort Kot Diji was never attacked.
Construction
Kot Diji is a very practical fort constructed on a limestone hill with kiln-baked bricks. Bricks were used because the locally available limestone rock was very brittle and would have shattered easily on impact with a cannonball. The hill is about 110 feet high, above which the walls of the fort rise another 30 feet. It has three strategically placed towers about 50 feet tall.
The fort is over half a kilometer long. Its walls are segmented by about 50 bastions, and its 1.8 km outer perimeter wall identically follows the double crescent-shaped contours of the hill it stands on. This allows the fort to surround the attacking enemy on three sides on the west front. On the east, where the entrance lies, the fort is divided by three elephant-proof gates into three overlapping levels, so that the first two levels can be attacked by the next level above them in the event of the lower level being overrun by the enemy. The first gate is not a prominent portal but rather an indirect entry so that the gate cannot be rammed on a charge. The walls and bastions have arrow slits in them, allowing defenders to attack their enemy from two levels: from the battlement on top and from within the wall.
The fort was built at a time when cannons had become common and its design and position reveals that. It includes a multitude of stations for cannons and, because it is positioned high on a narrow ridge, enemy cannons would have had to fire at a great distance, permitting little accuracy. Cannonballs could either hit the hill or perimeter or would simply fly over the fort and fall on the enemies' own forces on the other side.
Location
Kot Diji was located at the edge of the desert; this provided an advantage over enemies marching from the east, because an exhausted army could be met before it could take supplies and water from the irrigated lands. In fact, the Mirwah canal was built in 1790 specifically to irrigate the lands west of the fort and bring water to the military base.
Role under the British Empire
The Kingdom of Upper Sindh later was recognized by the British as the princely state of Khayrpur, after the East India Company had reduced its area to less than a third of its original size of over 50,000 km². The Fort was allocated the role of central military base for the Kingdom, especially to resist Afghan invasion. It was the strongest of the 20 or so Talpur forts and was named after the Persian architect Ahmed, who designed it. According to folklore it took 30 years to build; in reality, a much shorter, tactically feasible period may have been possible by mobilizing peasants and soldiers on a massive scale.
Recent history
After the merger of the State with Pakistan in 1955, the fort could have been included with the personal property of the Mir of Khairpur (as is the case with other ex-sovereign rulers who still possess their forts). However, Mir Ali Murad II thought it appropriate to hand it over to the government of Pakistan, expecting better maintenance. Since then, the fort has fallen into serious disrepair and is presently in a derelict condition. Most of the lime mortar plaster has fallen of the walls, leaving the bricks exposed. During the dictatorship of Ayub Khan, 192 cannons and mortars based at and collected in the fort were stolen or destroyed by being thrown from the bastions; other decorative fixtures and fittings were stolen as well. Apart from many indigenously made cannons, the collection included those built for Nadir Shah, the Kachar emperors, and the Kalhora, Mughal and Safavid dynasties, along with antique European cannons.

Prince Mehdi Raza exposes government corruption showing the use of sand instead of cement as mortar.Jan, 2006In 1994 the provincial government of Sindh leased out the limestone hill on which the fort stood for demolition and quarrying for limestone extraction, in order to construct buildings and form foundations for government-built roads. However, public outrage – focusing partly on the abundance of limestone throughout the region – caused the surprised government to back down.
Today the town wall is barely visible. The massive historic iron gate was sold for scrap soon after the takeover of Khairpur by Pakistan. Here, as with other places, Khairpur's heritage and history are being erased; some claim that this part of a deliberate effort by the federal government to erase the Khairpur identity. In 1995 a check of 500 rupees (approximately US$8) was provided for the repair of Kot Diji. Repeated requests by citizens for permission to repair it privately have apparently been ignored. In 2005, about 25 million rupees were handed over to a repair scheme which has apparently left it even more damaged. Sand was used as mortar to replace the original mortar and, as a result, the walls are highly susceptible to rainfall.
Recently, the federal government handed over the fort to the government of Sindh. Since Sindh, which nominally has a provincial status, is widely considered to have a corrupt government, it is perhaps unlikely that the fort will benefit. However, Prince Mir Mehdi Raza Khan Talpur (younger of the two sons of the ex-ruler) is giving personal attention to the fort and has stated his commitment to its repair if sufficient funds can be acquired

Karachi's Heritage

The preservation of lists of buildings identified as significant is a prerequisite to the conservation of historic urban architecture. During the 1960s, Karachi Development Authority(KDA), under the guidance of its Chief Town Planner, Mr. Ahmed Ali, prepared a list of such buildings; however, the KDA list was limited (42 structures) and confined itself to prominent buildings which are largely owned/occupied by government agencies. The vast reservoir of historic buildings of Karachi thus remained un-documented and un-protected. Since KDA was unable to enlarge upon that list, Heritage Foundation initiated the Heritage Documentation Programme and published the first document on Karachi in 1986.

In December 1993, the Chief Minister, Government of Sindh agreed to a Heritage Foundation proposal to bring about legislation for the preservation of historic architecture.

The Cultural Heritage Advisory Committee, formed under the Sindh Cultural Heritage (Preservation) Act, 1994, met in August 1995, and provided protection to all the buildings identified by the Heritage Foundation and published as Karachi Document 2 and 3 of the National Register. The Committee assigned Heritage Foundation the task of identification and publication of all other significant buildings in Karachi, so that they could also be protected.

Heritage Foundation with its limited resources  is proceeding with the immediate finalization and publication of inventories of the remaining buildings of cultural, historic and architectural significance in Karachi.

Through the efforts of Heritage Foundation several important buildings have been preserved, including the Quaid-e-Azam House Museum, Karachi and the G.P.O Building, Lahore, which are the first British-period buildings to be restored. Several buildings such as the Hindu Gymkhana and Jaffer Faddoo Dispensary, Karachi have also been saved from demolition.

Heritage Foundation has completed a systematic inventory of approximately ninety percent of significant buildings built prior to 1947 in Karachi. Several Documents on Karachi's Quarters have already been published. Further, based on the data that has been collected, detailed proposals for conservation zones are being developed, such as the Saddar Pedestrian Precinct, Karachi's Cultural Precinct and Frere Hall Cultural District.

India's Water War against Pakistan

On March 22 every year, World Water Day is being celebrated on global level, focusing attention on the world's water crisis as well as the solutions to address it. In this context, with reference to India and Pakistan, the issue of water needs special notice.
Notably, since the 9/11 tragedy, international community has been taking war against terrorism seriously, while there are also other forms of bloodless wars, being waged in the world and the same are like terrorism. In these terms, India has been waging water war against PakistIn the recent past, while addressing Islamabad's concerns by speaking in diplomatic language, Indus Water Commissioner of India G. Ranganathan  stated, "India had been affected as much as Pakistan due to water shortage in the Indus." He denied, saying: "Indian decision to build dams on rivers has led to water shortage in Pakistan", while rejecting Islamabad's concerns regarding water-theft by New Delhi including violation of the Indus Water Treaty, assuring his counterpart, Indus Water Commissioner of Pakistan, Syed Jamaat Ali Shah that all issues, relating to water between Pakistan and India would be resolved through dialogue.
In international politics of today, these are deeds, not words which matter, so ground realties are quite different as to what G. Ranganathan indicated in his statement. In fact, India is acting upon water war against Pakistan.
Besides other permanent issues including the thorny dispute of Kashmir which has always been used by India to malign and pressurise Pakistan, water of rivers has become a matter of life and death for every Pakistani as New Delhi has continuously been employing it as a tool of terrorism to blackmail Pakistan.
In the recent past, Indian decision to construct two hydro-electric projects on River Neelam which is called Krishanganga in Indian dialect is a new violation of the Indus Basin Water Treaty of 1960. The World Bank, itself, is the mediator and signatory for the treaty. After the partition, owing to war-like situation, New Delhi deliberately stopped the flow of Pakistan's rivers which originate from the Indian-held Kashmir Even at that time, Indian rulers had used water as a tool of war against Pakistan. However, due to Indian illogical stand, Islamabad sought the help of international arbitration. The Indus Basin Treaty allocateswaters of three western rivers of Indus, Jhelum and Chenab to Pakistan, while India has rights over eastern rivers ofRavi, Sutlej and Beas.
Since the settlement of the dispute, India has always violated the treaty intermittently to create economic crisis in Pakistan. In 1984 a controversy arose between the two neighbouring states after India began construction of the Wullar Barrage on river Jhelum in the occupied Kashmir in violation of the Indus Basin Water Treaty.
In the past, the issue of Wullar Barrage has also been discussed in various rounds of talks, being held under composite dialogue process between the two rivals, but Indian intransigence has continued.          

Sindh The new epicenter of global instability

Sindh has always been a fertile and rich country. For thousands of years, it had maintained trade links with other countries, some of them in far-flung regions of the world. Historians have found evidence that ships carrying merchandise from Sindh regularly called at the ports of Egypt, Java, China and Sri Lanka. From these countries, goods such as gold and silver ornaments and precious stones found their way to the royal Sindhi courts and temples. Sindh's government treasuries had always been replete with gems and all types of treasure. In spite of their affluence, Sindhis always avoided to maintain large armies and to conquer the neighboring lands. On the contrary, invaders from outside gravitated to the riches of Sindh attacked the country a number of times and acquired so much wealth by loot and plunder that they dreamed of using that wealth to conquer other countries and extend their sway over the world. This is why all the intruders that have ruled India at times attempted to extend their jurisdiction over Sindh too.
Although we have no coherent accounts of the history of Sindh from the periods prior to the Arab rule, it is an established fact that everyone, from Persian invaders to Alexander the Great, who attempted to conquer India, acquired Sindh too and had a free  plunge in the country's riches. The Arabs wanted Sindh for its wealth to finance their expeditions further deep into India. Al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf[1] had dispatched his general, Muhammad bin Qasim, with express directions to seize the treasures of Aror and Multan (North Sindh) and occupy all regions of India up to the frontiers of China. Mahmud of Ghazna, the inveterate plunderer, also wanted the treasures of Somnath to finance his Indian expeditions. The principality of Somnath at that time had acquired the status of a regional hub of trade for Sindh and Gujrat. After the conquest of Sindh by the Arabs,  Sindhi traders chose to make Somnath their commercial and financial capital, as they considered their wealth more secure in Somnath away from the reach of the Arab marauders who controlled much of the western parts of Sindh. Such was the glitter and allure of the gems and treasure accumulated in Somnath that it tempted Mahmud to descend several times from cold northern valleys beyond the Karakorams thousands of miles down south into the hot tropics of India to quench his lust for pillage and plunder. After a number of attempts and several years Mahmud was finally able to take over Somnath but fortunately by then he was too wearied and too old to further carry on with his nefarious designs and soon after he died.
Zahiruddin Babar too eyed the treasures of Sindh to finance his Indian expeditions. Although Babar did not himself attack Sindh, he extended his reign to Kandhar whose ruler Shah Beg Arghun took refuge in the plains of Sindh and eventually conquered it. It is one of the poignant episodes of the history of Sindh that its enemies at various junctures have put aside their differences and partnered in the exploitation of the country. Shah Beg Arghun after conquering Sindh had Babar's name chanted in the weekly Juma prayer sermons as the current Muslim Caliph. Although this move legally put Sindh under the suzerainty of Kandhar and effectively made Arghun the deputy or viceroy of Babar, the strategy earned Arghun time to consolidate his hold on Sindh. The Arghun army, after taking possession of the treasures of Sindh, ransacked and despoiled the culturally rich and affluent city of Thatta, and reduced the internationally famed metropolis to a virtual graveyard. When there was nothing left to rob, the army began tearing apart houses to extract timber and other building material. A sizable portion of the wealth thus looted made its way to Kandhar and enabled Babar to raise a large army to attack India and establish the Mughal Empire. There is no denying the fact that Britain could only firm up their control on all of India after they were able to have Sindh. In 1843, when they annexed Sindh, Bahadur Shah Zafar ruled India and just within fourteen years the British forces were able to put a seal on the Mughal rule in India. The economy of Sindh was very important to the British rulers and they at several occasions rejected the demand of the Punjab for more share in the water from the river Indus—although the Punjab was asking for the favor to irrigate the lands that the British government in India had allotted to army men from the province as reward for the latter's services to the Crown. The British did not choose to disappoint their loyal Punjabi subjects, who had served them through thick and thin and helped them quell every insurgency and revolt, just because they were driven by the values of justice and natural rights. But definitely they were fascinated by Sindh and could not afford to adversely affect Sindh's revenues and economic output which constituted a sizable portion of the colonial government's income.
In the present times, the military establishment of Pakistan is dependent on the economic potential of Sindh, which contributes about 70 percent of Pakistan's GDP. In addition, the country has been exploiting the vast coal, oil and natural gas resources of Sindh for decades. Sindh thus bears the costs of maintaining the 700,000-plus defense establishment of Pakistan and its nuclear arsenal. If Sindh stops injecting funds in the national income of Pakistan, the country would not be able to maintain its military and the Pakistan government would collapse under its own burden. At this stage, it would not be appropriate to segue into a discussion of the raison d'être of maintaining a large military for protecting the borders of any country. It would be just appropriate to  note that presently Pakistan army has been made to fight the Taliban and Islamic extremists and embark upon an effort to contain Islamic militancy in the country. In this situation, both the Pakistan army and the Islamic militants need financial resources to be able to keep fighting. The Taliban had seized Swat and adjoining areas not just to have a sanctuary in the tribal belt for themselves but also to take control of the emerald mines and other precious stones quarries in the region. They not only sold emerald extracted from the Swat valley, but they also raised funds by auctioning off the assets of the government and multinational companies in the areas under their control. Before the army launched its operation in the area a few weeks ago, the Taliban held weekly auctions in Swat to sell off the government and multinational assets and traders from all parts of Pakistan, especially the Punjab, participated in those auctions.
Wars, whether fought against insurgents like the Taliban or for conquering the world, incur tremendous costs. To continue waging their so-called Jihad, the Taliban need more than the funds raised by selling the gemstones and war booty. While it can be argued that the primitive and crude Taliban may not be tuned in to the intricacies of economics, but
Pakistan's establishment is well grounded in the economic realities and are unambiguously aware that how the country earns its income and which part of the country is economically most important. Western countries, particularly the United
States, have time and again voiced their concern that the Taliban enjoy an active and wholesome support of the army and military agencies of Pakistan. These concerns cannot be shrugged off in the face of the fact that Pakistan Army first actively supported and nurtured Afghan Mujahedeen against the Soviet Union and later made those Mujahedeen into the Taliban and kept patronizing them. Like their traditional friends in Pakistan army, the Taliban also know that it is Sindh which keeps infusing blood in the anemic economy of Pakistan. In this backdrop, one can justifiably claim that resettlement in Sindh of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) from Swat is part of a strategic plan to further entrench the colonial-style vested interests in Sindh which have recently been apprehensive of losing out to the new dynamics of globalization in the area. In the light of the symbiotic relation between the army and the Taliban, it would be unrealistic to ignore the thrust of these protagonists to consolidate their hold on Sindh and its resources before the realities of globalization make it difficult for them to unabashedly keep skimming off the surplus Sindh produces. Resettlement of IDPs in Sindh thus emerges as a very clever move: 1. to sustain the Pakistani establishment's control on the resources of Sindh, 2. to permanently mutilate the Sufi and secular traditions of Sindh and thus extinguish the well-corroborated Sindhi pride that Sindhi youth has always been loath to participate in any type of terrorism. Both the Taliban and Pakistani agencies are adroitly making their moves and this time Sindh happens to be the chess board. According to the leader of Pashtuns in Sindh, Shahi Syed, there are four million Pashtuns in Karachi and nobody is able to make an accurate estimate of the number of the Taliban or members of Al-Qaeda among them. According to estimates, there is a combined population of between seven and eight million Pashtuns in Sindh, which include Afghanis, people from tribal areas, and ordinary Pathans. Although a vast majority of them is settled in Karachi, at least a quarter of this Pashtun population is dispersed in other parts of the province.
Never in history has Sindh suffered so great an influx of outsiders as it has after the creation of Pakistan. First it was the Indian refugees immediately after the Partition in 1947—a vast majority of which was cleverly guided into Sindh and these refugees, who call themselves Mohajirs, kept trickling in for many decades to come. Then it was the notorious One Unit[2] which enabled the Pakistani establishment (the Punjab-dominated civil and military bureaucracy) to settle millions of Punjabis in Sindh. Following the teachings of Machiavelli, the rulers[3] planted pockets of non-native population in various parts of Sindh—in addition to Karachi, there are whole villages and small towns populated by the Punjabi settlers in the interior of Sindh. During the Afghan war in the 1980s, hundreds of thousands of Afghan immigrants made Sindh their permanent home. Now it is the turn of displaced Swatis to head toward the universal sanctuary for the destitute, the displaced and refugees—called Sindh. According to media reports so far about 1.8 million people have been displaced and the town of Swat has been completely abandoned. The problem is not only Swat, the military operation is set to expand to Mingora and the adjoining areas up to Peshawar and the stream of refugees is not going to abate. If most of these IDPs get settled in Sindh, the precarious ethnic balance in Sindh will tilt in favor of the migrants and the Sindhis will be permanently reduced to a minority in their own homeland.
History bears out that whenever Sindhis have been able to self-rule, they have disseminated love and peace and busied themselves in the creation of arts and literature, in cultural activities, in trade and commerce, and, in the process, established and nurtured high civilizations. But whenever Sindh has slipped into the control of outsiders, its wealth has been utilized for regional disruption, war and egotistical pursuits. Because Sindh is the land of Sufis and Sindhis are eternally peace-loving, religious extremism has never endured in Sindh except for intermittent bouts in the times of foreign rule and within the settlements the foreigners established. Sindhis can continue to follow the teachings of the Sufi saints, and conduct themselves as liberal, tolerant, and peace-loving people, only if they will remain in majority in their homeland.
History is full of accounts of migrations and re-settlements, but there has always been a limit to influx of immigrants in a country. One finds no precedence that outside rulers have attempted to resettle their whole towns and cities into their dominions or colonies. The six-decade long state-sponsored resettlement process in Sindh is unique with no parallel anywhere in the world and any time in the history of mankind. The total desertion of Swat in the wake of military operation gives rise to many pertinent questions. Is it sheer failure of Pakistan army or is it part of a well-planned strategy? There are only a few thousand refugees in the camps established by the government and international agencies, while those rendered homeless are estimated at about two million and hundreds of thousands are heading to Sindh! Hordes of them have settled in the districts of Tando Muhammd Khan, Hyderabad, Jamshoro, Dadu, and Karachi and the local Pashtuns in Sindh are receiving the refugees and establishing camps for them. If the Pakistan government is once again up to its old strategy of raking in charity money and stirring the conscience of the world into pumping in more funds in the name of IDPs, the civilized world should not allow themselves to be duped into sacrificing Sindh, Sindhis, and their
5000-year old culture of peace and nonviolence at the altar of this game of strategic compassion contrived by Pakistani agencies. The United States must revisit its current policy and evaluate the causes of past failures in the region. Every time the US took on the Taliban or Islamic militants, the latter slipped out with the help of their inveterate allies in Pakistan army. From Afghanistan the militants infiltrated into Iraq and then into Pakistani tribal areas, and now they are all set to make Sindh their new battleground. In this situation, the United States, instead of wasting time with Pakistan army in the desolate mountains of Swat and tribal areas, ought to concentrate on preventing the influx  of IDPs and thus, the Taliban into Sindh, because if Islamic militants get into Sindh, this land of Sufis will turn into an epicenter of talibanization. Sindh can keep its traditions of peace and religious liberalism only if it is able to keep intact the shrines of Sufi saints—both the Hindus and Muslims among Sindhis revere these saints and pay homage to them. The Taliban are notorious for their intolerance toward Sufi saints and they indulged in the shameful acts of destroying Sufi shrines and other symbols of religious tolerance and diversity in Afghanistan. In the absence of these emblems of Sufism in Sindh, there will be mushrooming of madrasahs – churning out multitudes of young talibs ever ready to blow off themselves and everyone else. Pakistan shares borders with India and India has sustained all invasions from the northwest. After the Taliban are able to entrench themselves in Sindh, they will be knocking at the doors of India and their militancy will conveniently spill into India. It may be intentional on the part of those-who-matter in Pakistan, to let India experience the real lightning of Islamic extremism after having them encounter its faint sparks during the Mumbai terror last year. Will it be prudent for the world's sole super power to let Islamic terrorists broaden the reach of their activities to Sindh and India? The Taliban phenomenon will shatter Indian economy and weaken the country both internally and externally.
Pakistan army which has thrived on enmity with India has contrived this game to circumvent the international pressure that it should focus on its north-western tribal region rather than on its eastern border with India. It appears a calculated move to blur the difference between the army's new, but unwelcome, enemy and its traditionally favorite foe. The Taliban operating in Sindh will acquire way more strategic importance than their present situation and can nudge China to come open in their support as China considers India its military and economic rival. In that situation, the United States will permanently lose its war against terror. It is in the geostrategic interests of both India and the United States to prevent the influx of the Taliban into Sindh.

Footnotes

1. The Governor of Hijaz and Iraq during the rule of the Ummayads in the 8th century AD. He was known for his ruthlessness and viciousness.
2. One Unit was the cleverly engineered device to amalgamate the four constituent provinces in the western wing of the country and introduce parity with the eastern wing. The eastern wing of the country was comprised of only one province, East Bengal (later East Pakistan under One Unit), which was the largest single province with population more than the population of the other four provinces in the western wing combined. The main purpose of the One Unit was to suppress the Bengali majority into submission and to stifle the national identities of the smaller provinces.
3. Of Pakistan's 62 years existence, the Punjab-dominated army has ruled the country directly for about 35 years and indirectly for about 20 years.

Legacy of Sindh

Historical controversies surface again and again in different circumstances and old debates and discussions come alive with a new perspective.

Recently a politician, commenting on the question of heroes, referred to Mohammad Bin Qasim as an invader who led the Arab army for the conquest of Sindh in 711 and to Raja Dahar as the ruler and defender of Sindh who resisted the Arab invasion and died in the battlefield fighting against the invaders. He claimed that his hero is Dahar and not Mohammad Bin Qasim.

Actually this interpretation of history was presented for the first time by G. M. Syed in his booklet Sindh jo soorma or Heroes of Sindh. It was the time when One Unit was declared and Sindh, like other small provinces, merged into it. This led to the rise of Sindhi nationalism. G.M. Syed's indirect message was that Sindh was being invaded again, like it had been by the Arabs, and had lost its independence. Therefore, it should be defended on the model of Raja Dahar to retrieve its lost sovereignty.

Since then, Sindh historians are divided into two groups: nationalists and Islamists. The argument of the nationalists is that Mohammad Bin Qasim was the representative of the Umayyad Empire and invaded Sindh like other imperial powers to plunder the resources of the occupied country. The Islamists' point of view is that as a result of Arab invasion, Sindh converted to Islam. Therefore, Arab occupation was a blessing which made Sindh the Babul Islam or door of Islam to the Indian subcontinent.

As far as the definition of an invader is concerned there is no confusion: anybody who invades another country to usurp its resources and occupy its land is an invader. However, nearly all invading powers have given moral justification for their invasion, generally on the grounds that the rulers of invading countries were oppressive and the masses wanted a deliverer to rescue them from the clutches of their rulers. Therefore, their conquest and occupation fulfilled the wishes of the common people. The same argument is presented in case of the Arab invasion and Raja Dahar is painted in black and presented as an immoral despot. With this interpretation Mohammad Bin Qasim became a deliverer to Singh.

The problem is that history is mostly on the side of victors and the vanquished have no voice to present their position. Arab historians admired and glorified the Arab conquest of Sindh and neglected the point of view of the defeated Sindhis.

Sometimes defeated and forgotten individuals are resurrected from historical oblivion and their role is re-examined and an attempt is made to give them a dignified place in history. Sometimes, they remain unnoticed and wait for a time when they may be recognised as heroes. We have many examples in our history. Alexander, who defeated Porus, was eulogised as a great conqueror by Europeans, partly because he was Greek, while the gallantry of those who fought against him is largely ignored. Intellectually we are so inferior that we also call him great rather than recognising Porus as the defender. Recently, we have built a monument at the bank of Jehlum in memory of our defeat and Alexander's victory. What kind of historical sense does that speak of?

In another example, Mahmud of Ghazna is praised as the great conqueror who invaded India 17 times and defeated the rulers of different kingdoms. His first encounter was with Raja Jaipal who fought against him but did not surrender. His son Annandpal continued resistance against Mahmud but was finally defeated by him. Both Jaipal and Annandpal are waiting for some historian to bring to light their resistance and sacrifices and place them on the pedestal of heroes. Similarly, Muhammad Ghori fought against Prithviraj whose role, so far, is not recognised by us.

There are also invaders of a different colour. Nadir Shah Afshar invaded India and swept away the wealth of the Mughals. Unfortunately, as he was not owned by the Iranians he never attained the status of a hero. But his follower, Ahmad Shah Abdali, who invaded India several times, was revered by the Afghans and is their national hero.

The simple reason for this contradiction is that when we relate history with religion and nationalism, we sacrifice the rational point of view and justify all acts of ‘our side.' The correct view to understand and analyse history is to study it by relating it to power. This would create real consciousness and liberate us from the communal version of history. Invaders and conquerors are a curse to those nations who were invaded It is time to condemn them and place them in the dock of history, not as heroes but plunderers and murderers. This interpretation will change our historical understanding.
Source: Dawn

Sukkur Sindh

Sukkur city is in Southeastern Pakistan in Sind Province, on the Indus River. It covers an area of 5,165 square kilometres. Geographically it is spanned from 27°05′ to 28°02′ north latitudes and from 68°47′ to 69°43′ east longitudes. The city of Sukkur is located at an altitude of 220 feet (67 m) from sea level, having terrestrial coordinates 68°52′ east and 27°42′ north. It is also the narrowest point of the lower Indus course.
History
After 1853's invasion of Charles Napier, Sindh was divided into provinces and was assigned a Zamindar's to collect taxes for British, Zamindar's were also known as ‘Wadero'. Wadero of "Shikarpur" was Lord Wadero Bhagwandas Golani (1861 – 1931) a merchant born in the royal family of the Golani's.
After his death in his eldest son Shobraj Bhagwandas Golani (1885 – 1978) took over as the Landlord of Shikarpur, Digri, Jamrao, Kachhelo, Tando Jan Mohammed, Ratnabad, Roshanabad and Khayrpur. Shobraj Bhagwandas Golani was also invited to Great Britain by the King along with all the Nawab's and Rajah's of India in 1901 to discuss the participation of their respective provinces in Expansion of British Empire in Middle East.
Shobraj along with his eldest son Shri Hashmatrai S Golani (1918 – 1979) moved to Bombay in 1948 after Partition of India and Pakistan. Sindh was made part of British Indias Bombay Presidency, and became a separate province in 1935.
Area and Population
Sukkur district shares northern border with Shikarpur and (recently constituted) Kashmore districts. Ghotki is located on the north-eastern side while Khairpur on the south. Sukkur also shares its border with India (Jaisalmir, Rajasthan). Sukkur is also connected by road air with all major cities of Pakistan. Sukkur has a population of about 1 million (2005 approx)
Climate
The climate of the Sukkur is characterized by hot and hazy weather during summer days while dry and cold in winter. During January, temperature ranges from 7 to 22 °C (44 to 71 °F). The summer (month of June before monsoon) temperature averages 35 °C (95 °F) though it often reaches up to 52°C (107 °F). Generally the summer season commences in March – April and ends before October. The average rainfall of the district is 88 mm, (ranges from 0.59 mm to 25.62 mm) per annum.
Industries
Industries include cotton ginning, silk and food processing, rice and flour milling, textile dyeing, metalworking, boatbuilding, tanning, tobacco processing, shad fishing, and the manufacture of chemicals, cement, candy, tiles, hosiery, and playing cards.
Sukkur is the site of a technical school and of the Sukkur Industrial Trading Estate, which supplies local products to factories.
Attractions
To the south is Sukkur Barrage (about 1525 m/5000 ft long), one of the world's largest dams, built from 1923 to 1932. From it radiate seven canals, irrigating a region where wheat, rice, millet, and oilseeds are grown. The city was under British rule from 1842 to 1947.
Some other places of interests include Tomb of Shah khairuddin jillani GEA SHAH, Tomb of the Seven Maidens Sateen Jo Aastan, Tomb of Abdul Baqi Purani, Minaret of Masum Shah, Lansdowne Bridge, Shahi Bazaar, Frere Road, Ayub Gate, Looks Parak/Qasim Park, Purana Sukkur (Old Sukkur), Sheikh Shaheen Road Sukkur.
Agriculture
Sukkur had a large fertile and cultivable land till few decades ago, when the Indus river was not as barren as today. Now its agricultural productivity has much reduced. It could not achieve reasonable yield per unit area over time, on account of continuous shortage of water and ignorance of modern irrigation system.
Despite lack of water, during kharif, rice, bajra, cotton tomatoes and peas are cultivated whereas during rabi main crops are wheat, barley, gram and melons. Sukkur is famous world over, for its delicious dates. Sukkur also holds a large number of Riveraine forest on the course of Indus.
These tropical forests are found within the protective embankments on either side of Indus. During 1997-98 the total area under forests was 510 km² which yielded 55,000 cubic feet (1600 m³) of timber and 27000 cubic feet (760 m³) of firewood besides other miner products.

Sindh The new epicenter of global instability

Sindh has always been a fertile and rich country. For thousands of years, it had maintained trade links with other countries, some of them in far-flung regions of the world. Historians have found evidence that ships carrying merchandise from Sindh regularly called at the ports of Egypt, Java, China and Sri Lanka. From these countries, goods such as gold and silver ornaments and precious stones found their way to the royal Sindhi courts and temples. Sindh's government treasuries had always been replete with gems and all types of treasure. In spite of their affluence, Sindhis always avoided to maintain large armies and to conquer the neighboring lands. On the contrary, invaders from outside gravitated to the riches of Sindh attacked the country a number of times and acquired so much wealth by loot and plunder that they dreamed of using that wealth to conquer other countries and extend their sway over the world. This is why all the intruders that have ruled India at times attempted to extend their jurisdiction over Sindh too.
Although we have no coherent accounts of the history of Sindh from the periods prior to the Arab rule, it is an established fact that everyone, from Persian invaders to Alexander the Great, who attempted to conquer India, acquired Sindh too and had a free  plunge in the country's riches. The Arabs wanted Sindh for its wealth to finance their expeditions further deep into India. Al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf[1] had dispatched his general, Muhammad bin Qasim, with express directions to seize the treasures of Aror and Multan (North Sindh) and occupy all regions of India up to the frontiers of China. Mahmud of Ghazna, the inveterate plunderer, also wanted the treasures of Somnath to finance his Indian expeditions. The principality of Somnath at that time had acquired the status of a regional hub of trade for Sindh and Gujrat. After the conquest of Sindh by the Arabs,  Sindhi traders chose to make Somnath their commercial and financial capital, as they considered their wealth more secure in Somnath away from the reach of the Arab marauders who controlled much of the western parts of Sindh. Such was the glitter and allure of the gems and treasure accumulated in Somnath that it tempted Mahmud to descend several times from cold northern valleys beyond the Karakorams thousands of miles down south into the hot tropics of India to quench his lust for pillage and plunder. After a number of attempts and several years Mahmud was finally able to take over Somnath but fortunately by then he was too wearied and too old to further carry on with his nefarious designs and soon after he died.
Zahiruddin Babar too eyed the treasures of Sindh to finance his Indian expeditions. Although Babar did not himself attack Sindh, he extended his reign to Kandhar whose ruler Shah Beg Arghun took refuge in the plains of Sindh and eventually conquered it. It is one of the poignant episodes of the history of Sindh that its enemies at various junctures have put aside their differences and partnered in the exploitation of the country. Shah Beg Arghun after conquering Sindh had Babar's name chanted in the weekly Juma prayer sermons as the current Muslim Caliph. Although this move legally put Sindh under the suzerainty of Kandhar and effectively made Arghun the deputy or viceroy of Babar, the strategy earned Arghun time to consolidate his hold on Sindh. The Arghun army, after taking possession of the treasures of Sindh, ransacked and despoiled the culturally rich and affluent city of Thatta, and reduced the internationally famed metropolis to a virtual graveyard. When there was nothing left to rob, the army began tearing apart houses to extract timber and other building material. A sizable portion of the wealth thus looted made its way to Kandhar and enabled Babar to raise a large army to attack India and establish the Mughal Empire. There is no denying the fact that Britain could only firm up their control on all of India after they were able to have Sindh. In 1843, when they annexed Sindh, Bahadur Shah Zafar ruled India and just within fourteen years the British forces were able to put a seal on the Mughal rule in India. The economy of Sindh was very important to the British rulers and they at several occasions rejected the demand of the Punjab for more share in the water from the river Indus—although the Punjab was asking for the favor to irrigate the lands that the British government in India had allotted to army men from the province as reward for the latter's services to the Crown. The British did not choose to disappoint their loyal Punjabi subjects, who had served them through thick and thin and helped them quell every insurgency and revolt, just because they were driven by the values of justice and natural rights. But definitely they were fascinated by Sindh and could not afford to adversely affect Sindh's revenues and economic output which constituted a sizable portion of the colonial government's income.
In the present times, the military establishment of Pakistan is dependent on the economic potential of Sindh, which contributes about 70 percent of Pakistan's GDP. In addition, the country has been exploiting the vast coal, oil and natural gas resources of Sindh for decades. Sindh thus bears the costs of maintaining the 700,000-plus defense establishment of Pakistan and its nuclear arsenal. If Sindh stops injecting funds in the national income of Pakistan, the country would not be able to maintain its military and the Pakistan government would collapse under its own burden. At this stage, it would not be appropriate to segue into a discussion of the raison d'être of maintaining a large military for protecting the borders of any country. It would be just appropriate to  note that presently Pakistan army has been made to fight the Taliban and Islamic extremists and embark upon an effort to contain Islamic militancy in the country. In this situation, both the Pakistan army and the Islamic militants need financial resources to be able to keep fighting. The Taliban had seized Swat and adjoining areas not just to have a sanctuary in the tribal belt for themselves but also to take control of the emerald mines and other precious stones quarries in the region. They not only sold emerald extracted from the Swat valley, but they also raised funds by auctioning off the assets of the government and multinational companies in the areas under their control. Before the army launched its operation in the area a few weeks ago, the Taliban held weekly auctions in Swat to sell off the government and multinational assets and traders from all parts of Pakistan, especially the Punjab, participated in those auctions.
Wars, whether fought against insurgents like the Taliban or for conquering the world, incur tremendous costs. To continue waging their so-called Jihad, the Taliban need more than the funds raised by selling the gemstones and war booty. While it can be argued that the primitive and crude Taliban may not be tuned in to the intricacies of economics, but
Pakistan's establishment is well grounded in the economic realities and are unambiguously aware that how the country earns its income and which part of the country is economically most important. Western countries, particularly the United
States, have time and again voiced their concern that the Taliban enjoy an active and wholesome support of the army and military agencies of Pakistan. These concerns cannot be shrugged off in the face of the fact that Pakistan Army first actively supported and nurtured Afghan Mujahedeen against the Soviet Union and later made those Mujahedeen into the Taliban and kept patronizing them. Like their traditional friends in Pakistan army, the Taliban also know that it is Sindh which keeps infusing blood in the anemic economy of Pakistan. In this backdrop, one can justifiably claim that resettlement in Sindh of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) from Swat is part of a strategic plan to further entrench the colonial-style vested interests in Sindh which have recently been apprehensive of losing out to the new dynamics of globalization in the area. In the light of the symbiotic relation between the army and the Taliban, it would be unrealistic to ignore the thrust of these protagonists to consolidate their hold on Sindh and its resources before the realities of globalization make it difficult for them to unabashedly keep skimming off the surplus Sindh produces. Resettlement of IDPs in Sindh thus emerges as a very clever move: 1. to sustain the Pakistani establishment's control on the resources of Sindh, 2. to permanently mutilate the Sufi and secular traditions of Sindh and thus extinguish the well-corroborated Sindhi pride that Sindhi youth has always been loath to participate in any type of terrorism. Both the Taliban and Pakistani agencies are adroitly making their moves and this time Sindh happens to be the chess board. According to the leader of Pashtuns in Sindh, Shahi Syed, there are four million Pashtuns in Karachi and nobody is able to make an accurate estimate of the number of the Taliban or members of Al-Qaeda among them. According to estimates, there is a combined population of between seven and eight million Pashtuns in Sindh, which include Afghanis, people from tribal areas, and ordinary Pathans. Although a vast majority of them is settled in Karachi, at least a quarter of this Pashtun population is dispersed in other parts of the province.
Never in history has Sindh suffered so great an influx of outsiders as it has after the creation of Pakistan. First it was the Indian refugees immediately after the Partition in 1947—a vast majority of which was cleverly guided into Sindh and these refugees, who call themselves Mohajirs, kept trickling in for many decades to come. Then it was the notorious One Unit[2] which enabled the Pakistani establishment (the Punjab-dominated civil and military bureaucracy) to settle millions of Punjabis in Sindh. Following the teachings of Machiavelli, the rulers[3] planted pockets of non-native population in various parts of Sindh—in addition to Karachi, there are whole villages and small towns populated by the Punjabi settlers in the interior of Sindh. During the Afghan war in the 1980s, hundreds of thousands of Afghan immigrants made Sindh their permanent home. Now it is the turn of displaced Swatis to head toward the universal sanctuary for the destitute, the displaced and refugees—called Sindh. According to media reports so far about 1.8 million people have been displaced and the town of Swat has been completely abandoned. The problem is not only Swat, the military operation is set to expand to Mingora and the adjoining areas up to Peshawar and the stream of refugees is not going to abate. If most of these IDPs get settled in Sindh, the precarious ethnic balance in Sindh will tilt in favor of the migrants and the Sindhis will be permanently reduced to a minority in their own homeland.
History bears out that whenever Sindhis have been able to self-rule, they have disseminated love and peace and busied themselves in the creation of arts and literature, in cultural activities, in trade and commerce, and, in the process, established and nurtured high civilizations. But whenever Sindh has slipped into the control of outsiders, its wealth has been utilized for regional disruption, war and egotistical pursuits. Because Sindh is the land of Sufis and Sindhis are eternally peace-loving, religious extremism has never endured in Sindh except for intermittent bouts in the times of foreign rule and within the settlements the foreigners established. Sindhis can continue to follow the teachings of the Sufi saints, and conduct themselves as liberal, tolerant, and peace-loving people, only if they will remain in majority in their homeland.
History is full of accounts of migrations and re-settlements, but there has always been a limit to influx of immigrants in a country. One finds no precedence that outside rulers have attempted to resettle their whole towns and cities into their dominions or colonies. The six-decade long state-sponsored resettlement process in Sindh is unique with no parallel anywhere in the world and any time in the history of mankind. The total desertion of Swat in the wake of military operation gives rise to many pertinent questions. Is it sheer failure of Pakistan army or is it part of a well-planned strategy? There are only a few thousand refugees in the camps established by the government and international agencies, while those rendered homeless are estimated at about two million and hundreds of thousands are heading to Sindh! Hordes of them have settled in the districts of Tando Muhammd Khan, Hyderabad, Jamshoro, Dadu, and Karachi and the local Pashtuns in Sindh are receiving the refugees and establishing camps for them. If the Pakistan government is once again up to its old strategy of raking in charity money and stirring the conscience of the world into pumping in more funds in the name of IDPs, the civilized world should not allow themselves to be duped into sacrificing Sindh, Sindhis, and their
5000-year old culture of peace and nonviolence at the altar of this game of strategic compassion contrived by Pakistani agencies. The United States must revisit its current policy and evaluate the causes of past failures in the region. Every time the US took on the Taliban or Islamic militants, the latter slipped out with the help of their inveterate allies in Pakistan army. From Afghanistan the militants infiltrated into Iraq and then into Pakistani tribal areas, and now they are all set to make Sindh their new battleground. In this situation, the United States, instead of wasting time with Pakistan army in the desolate mountains of Swat and tribal areas, ought to concentrate on preventing the influx  of IDPs and thus, the Taliban into Sindh, because if Islamic militants get into Sindh, this land of Sufis will turn into an epicenter of talibanization. Sindh can keep its traditions of peace and religious liberalism only if it is able to keep intact the shrines of Sufi saints—both the Hindus and Muslims among Sindhis revere these saints and pay homage to them. The Taliban are notorious for their intolerance toward Sufi saints and they indulged in the shameful acts of destroying Sufi shrines and other symbols of religious tolerance and diversity in Afghanistan. In the absence of these emblems of Sufism in Sindh, there will be mushrooming of madrasahs – churning out multitudes of young talibs ever ready to blow off themselves and everyone else. Pakistan shares borders with India and India has sustained all invasions from the northwest. After the Taliban are able to entrench themselves in Sindh, they will be knocking at the doors of India and their militancy will conveniently spill into India. It may be intentional on the part of those-who-matter in Pakistan, to let India experience the real lightning of Islamic extremism after having them encounter its faint sparks during the Mumbai terror last year. Will it be prudent for the world's sole super power to let Islamic terrorists broaden the reach of their activities to Sindh and India? The Taliban phenomenon will shatter Indian economy and weaken the country both internally and externally.
Pakistan army which has thrived on enmity with India has contrived this game to circumvent the international pressure that it should focus on its north-western tribal region rather than on its eastern border with India. It appears a calculated move to blur the difference between the army's new, but unwelcome, enemy and its traditionally favorite foe. The Taliban operating in Sindh will acquire way more strategic importance than their present situation and can nudge China to come open in their support as China considers India its military and economic rival. In that situation, the United States will permanently lose its war against terror. It is in the geostrategic interests of both India and the United States to prevent the influx of the Taliban into Sindh.

Footnotes

1. The Governor of Hijaz and Iraq during the rule of the Ummayads in the 8th century AD. He was known for his ruthlessness and viciousness.
2. One Unit was the cleverly engineered device to amalgamate the four constituent provinces in the western wing of the country and introduce parity with the eastern wing. The eastern wing of the country was comprised of only one province, East Bengal (later East Pakistan under One Unit), which was the largest single province with population more than the population of the other four provinces in the western wing combined. The main purpose of the One Unit was to suppress the Bengali majority into submission and to stifle the national identities of the smaller provinces.
3. Of Pakistan's 62 years existence, the Punjab-dominated army has ruled the country directly for about 35 years and indirectly for about 20 years.

Moenjodaro; City of Dead

The word “Moenjodaro” means “The City of Dead”. This ancient city was discovered in 1922 by a British archaeologist Sir John Marshal. It belonged to the great Indus valley civilization which came into existence about 5000 years ago in the region irrigated by river Indus and it's tributaries, the region is now called Pakistan.
Moenjodaro was a well-built and developed city with almost all the streets 33 feet wide, a proper system of sanitation and well-planned market places. Its script has not been deciphered. It is believed that most of the people of Moenjodaro worshiped idols because numerous idols were found during the excavation. Some of these idols were wearing cotton clothes which proves that the people of dead city were well versed in weaving cotton. They had trade links with far off places and imported Copper, Silver, Bronze and Tin from Central Asia, Afghanistan and Kharasan as the Indus valley itself didn't produce these metals. These metals were then used to prepare weapons, jewelry and other items of daily use. Probably the use of iron was not known to the people of ancient city. Their attitude towards the battle field shows that they were very peace loving. As a result the invaders from Central Asia conquered their land and many of the aborigines fled to other parts of Sub-continent.
Moenjodaro was situated at the bank of river Indus and it is believed that floods caused its destruction about 2500 years ago. Today Moenjodaro is visited by tourists and archaeologists from all over the world. Moen-Jo- Daro is located in District Larkana at a distance of about 28 km from Larakana and 107 km from sukkur. It lies on 27o 19' 30.36" North latitude and 68o 08' 08.77" East longitutide at an elevation of about 164 ft from sea level. The articles from the ancient cities can be seen in all the major museums of Pakistan. The government of Pakistan is striving to preserve this national asset. It seems that in addition to the river Indus there was another large river which parallel and west of the Indus in the third and fourth millennium B.C. This was the ancient Ghaggra-Hakra River or Sarasvati of the Rig Veda. Its lost banks are slowly being laid out by researchers. Along its bed, a whole new set of ancient towns and cities have been discovered.