Window to Gilgit-Baltistan

✏  Syed Jamiluddin Originally published on  Pamir Times EXPRESSIVE OF its firm commitment and unshakable determination as attuned to its agenda to give a genuine boost to education in Pakistan, the present government has made consecutive announcement to turn the state-owned magnificent buildings and mansions – all last vestiges of regal style of governance in existence from the colonial days across the country, into prestigious institutions of higher learning – something augurs well insofar as G-B is concerned. Even the PBC and PTV academies are likely to be made part of these institutions. Going by this, it is hoped that the same will mutatis mutandis, to applied in the case of Gilgit-Baltistan where the present governor house in close contiguity to the district headquarters hospital could be an ideal place that suits its immediate conversion into the medical college while the historically palatial residence of governor Ghansara Singh covering a vast area, currentl...

AIR OF NONCHALANCE Opinions AIR OF NONCHALANCE August 24, 2018 Pamir Times Share on FacebookShare on Google+Tweet about this on TwitterShare on LinkedIn By Syed Jamil Uddin QUITE WISTFULLY, it has been divulged by the dwellers of the cluster of houses in the vicinity of Sehhat Foudantion Hospital Danyore that they are made subject to an interminable discrimination by WASA officials of the area for a long time insofar as adequate supply of piped water during the scheduled 2-hour supply each morning is concerned. This bespeaks gross insensitivity and apparent nonchalance demonstrated by the officials in the matter of equitable supply of the available drinking water to the residents of the twin-mohellahs (Shabikeehet and those in the vicinity of Sehhat Foundation) in that it has become their wont to seldom turn fully ‘on’ what they call the regulatory valve even for a single hour let alone the 2-hour scheduled supply time every day. In consequence thereof, the partial flow which lit...

✏  Syed Jamiluddin Originally published on  Pamir Times QUITE PROPITIOUSLY, the massive afforestation program called the ‘tree-tsunami’ already experimented successfully in the adjoining KPK province reportedly yielded unprecedented outcomes and ipso facto, needs be followed in letter and spirit in G-B and extended to this region which facing the worst environmental problems due obviously to the worldwide climate change phenomenon thawing vast frozen snowfields and immeasurable glacial stocks here shrinking alarmingly in an absolutely monotonous barren landscape literally shorn of vegetation that radiates in consequence thereof. There remains only the scant greenery offered in the valley beds whilst the rest of the extensive area offers a mere fraction of it being under forest cover as against the 28000 sq miles that too remained subject to unhealthy practices all along in the past. It then becomes a national responsibility to take care of the pernicious effects of...

✏  Syed Jamiluddin Originally published on  Pamir Times IT CAN NOT be gainsaid that climate change is bringing in incremental transformations in the living standards of humankind today but, nonetheless, there are certain pernicious elements which become ascribable to and are directly the product of human activity – felling of trees or deforestation being the first and foremost of them. Denudation of trees or deforestation not simply affects the particular place but it does harm to the entire ecosystem. The situation in Pakistan is said to be exacerbating day by day while little attention is paid to it vis-a-vis the gravity and enormity of the problem. There is convergence of opinion among experts that the ultimate solution lies in provision of alternate mean of livelihood to the dwellers of the mountainous areas to dissuade them from felling trees. This mechanism is called ‘Red-plus Formula’. The federal cabinet is said to have announced the forest policy the central ...

By  Syed Jamiluddin Originally published on Pamir Times A GEOLOGICAL wonderland it is, Gilgit-Baltistan is home to innumerable glacial deposits and amazing snowfields of varying magnitudes including the Siachin – the longest glacier outside the Poles which, together, redouble and underpin the region’s grandeur and strategic significance whilst these amazing water towers constitute the lifeline of the country as the principal contributors to River Indus, to put it quite unexaggeratedly. Synoptically referring to the process of glaciations, Sherbaz Ali Khan Barcha sums up in his “Aks-e-Gilgit-Baltistan” that the slow-moving ice-deposits are called glaciers which come into existence in the lofty mountainous areas where temperature may perennially remain below the freezing point, and where there is ceaseless snowfall every year. In short, the glacial accumulation – layers by layers results into eventual hardening of the soil below while the upper icy layers keep moving slowly or...

By  Syed Jamiluddin Originally published on Pamir Times THE UNPREDICTABLY mercurial climate change phenomena being witnessed all across Gilgit-Baltistan today as elsewhere, indeed points to grim prospects. At the same time, it leads one to musings on environment and the fragile mountain ecosystem here in juxtaposition to the human activity to take stock of what remains on the anvil to steer clear of the final irony and awful future possibility. A study of environmental or to put it, the climate change phenomena brings it to the fore that vegetation plays a very much significant role in the health of ecosystem. Thus, reducing deforestation and giving a boost to afforestation and reforestation is said to be instrumental in about 30 percent of cost-effective global mitigation potential. Given this, forests and concomitant vegetation make a very vital treasure in economic aspect of any region on which the respective populace largely depends in meeting its needs of fuelwood as wel...

By  Syed Jamiluddin   REGARDLESS of pertinence or relevance to the subject matter, the great inspiration drawn from Abdul Khaliq Taj’s sterling composition with the haunting refrain ‘kachak bosomet’ – an impassioned utterances ejaculating from his seething heart – as true and faithful indices of his furtive and feeling heart – makes something one cannot help referring to. The poem literally enthrals all lovers of peace and those staunchly believing in pluralism, prompts its particular mention. In this composition, he poured out his aching heart on feeling jolted, tossed and unnerved to the very fiber, by the unsavory happenings, cried out thus, a couple of years back. Remarkably marvelous and marvelously vivid, the poem vibrates with the feeling of longing. The poet was seen reciting this at the residence of Ghulam Abbas poetically surnamed Nasim, at Danyore couple of years ago which was instantly aired by local cablenetwork. As abhorrent all poets are of the disruptive an...