Invasion of the Aliens
16 May 2017
Pakistanis have the greatest knack for making the worst possible choices insofar as the natural environment is concerned. In 2016, motoring north on M-2, I was very pleased to see large scale destruction of the non-native, water-guzzling eucalyptus underway. On another trip shortly afterwards I was aghast to notice that the stumps, about a metre in height, were left standing. Today, one year on, every cut eucalyptus has transmogrified into 10 that stand about four metres tall and they are still growing. If the earlier trees were each consuming massive amounts of water per day, these new hydra growths are several times thirstier.
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| Each eucalyptus trunk left in the ground next to the M-2 is sprouting with over a dozen new trees |
The eucalyptus is not invasive and it does not cause allergic reactions among humans. However, in the early 1990s, research by Nuclear Institute for Agriculture and Biology (NIAB), Faisalabad, showed that a three-year-old eucalyptus can process upwards of 100 litres of ground water in a 24-hour cycle. In a water-scarce country such as Pakistan, threatened with a dreadful water shortage within the next half decade, eucalyptus should not be seen. Yet the provincial forest departments continue to encourage its plantation.
Read more »Labels: Climate Change, Ecology, Karachi, Lahore
posted by Salman Rashid @ 00:00,
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Why are we so stupid?
09 February 2017
In a Special Report on horticulture in The News on Sunday a couple of years ago, the Head of the Botany Department of Punjab University said something very clever and apt. She said the national infatuation with imported species of flora was an indication of our deep seated inferiority complex that leads to a desire for all that is foreign.
Unsurprisingly, over the past four decades this good land has been blighted with all sorts of imported rubbish. From the eucalyptus invasion of the 1960s abetted by incompetent and corrupt officers of the forest departments to PIA cabin and flight crews who introduced araucaria in the 1980s, we have done everything wrong.
Read more »Labels: Ecology, Islamabad, Karachi
posted by Salman Rashid @ 00:00,
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Lighthouse
15 April 2016
Stairwell of the Manora Lighthouse (looking up from the ground floor).
Labels: Karachi, Travel Photography
posted by Salman Rashid @ 00:00,
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As Abdullah Shah Ghazi looks on
10 November 2014
Perched atop a hill, rearing almost 100 metres above the sea, at Clifton is the much-revered tomb of Abdullah Shah Ghazi, the patron saint of Karachi. His powers, even in death, are immense for he saves the city from cyclones. That is what I heard in the 1980s from those who believed in the sainthood of the man.
Before Muhammad bin Qasim took Sindh in 711 CE, the Arabs mounted five unsuccessful attacks, all routed by Dahir’s army. The fifth attack, led by Buzail, was the one instigated by the loss of gifts en route from Serendeb (Sri Lanka) to the Omayyad caliph. This was the only sea-borne assault on Sindh — the rest all having come by way of Kech and Lasbela.
Read more »Labels: Historic Myths, Karachi, People, Sindh
posted by Salman Rashid @ 00:00,
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State of Grace, No. 4, Chaudhry Khaliquzaman Road, Karachi
28 February 2013
Walking westward along the railway line from the cantonment railway station, past the Clifton Bridge, lie a row of mostly decrepit residential bungalows. Built from the 1880s onward they seem to have come off a common template. All the houses are constructed of pale yellow sandstone with red tiled roofs, elegant porches terraced on top with stone balustrades and strongly accentuated arches. Their tall arched windows are shaded by wooden blinds that open or close as needed and the verandas are shielded behind timber fretwork.
About a century before these houses were built in Karachi, far away in Kolkata, the engineers of East India Company in Kolkata were either raising the most grandiose edifices to showcase their wealth and power or building homes for staff. Though in no way modest, the design of the residences did not warrant much concern for individuality. Or so it seems. Indeed, a complete template appears to have been used for all and sundry.
Labels: Book of Days 2013, Karachi, Sindh, Stones of Empire
posted by Salman Rashid @ 08:31,
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Hallowed Corridors, Sindh Madrassatul Islam University, Karachi
24 February 2013
Long ago, secular studies were as much a part of the madrassa curriculum. But things changed with the decline of Muslim power in the subcontinent. The decay gave rise to feelings of uncertainty and the notion that the downfall was due to the abandonment of faith by the Muslims. As a result, new stringency took over madrassa curricula and by the early 18th century most institutions provided grounding only in religious matters.
Hassanally Akhund, born in 1830 in Hyderabad, went to such a school to learn the Quran and Persian and Arabic languages. But this man, who was later accorded the title of Effendi by Sultan Abdul Hameed, the last Ottoman ruler, possessed exceptional talent. He taught himself English and rose quickly through a number of government jobs to become a lawyer and Public Prosecutor of the Sindh High Court.
Hassanally Akhund, born in 1830 in Hyderabad, went to such a school to learn the Quran and Persian and Arabic languages. But this man, who was later accorded the title of Effendi by Sultan Abdul Hameed, the last Ottoman ruler, possessed exceptional talent. He taught himself English and rose quickly through a number of government jobs to become a lawyer and Public Prosecutor of the Sindh High Court.
Labels: Book of Days 2013, Karachi, Sindh, Stones of Empire
posted by Salman Rashid @ 15:17,
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