People can live without many things. No one can live without water. Together with many other problems, Karachi has been facing a water shortage problem for long. The city of 20 million needs 1,000 mgd (million gallons daily) water but it gets hardly 550 mgd. According to the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB), around 42 per cent water supplied to the city is either lost or stolen on the way from the starting pumping point to consumers’ taps. So it is in the fitness of things that the Sindh government has launched a ‘grand operation’ against water theft in the city. The operation is aimed at preventing water theft through illegal hydrants and pipelines. A meeting in this connection was held the other day, which was attended, among high officials of the provincial government, by representatives of the army and Rangers. The Karachi commissioner and the KWSB managing director presented an overview of previous and the present efforts against illegal hydrants. The KWSB MD said since 2015 the water board had demolished 194 illegal hydrants and 300 illegal pipelines in the city. He informed the meeting that cases had been registered against more than 300 people for their involvement in water theft. The water board official told the meeting about the existence of 25 illegal hydrants in district west. The chief secretary assured administrative support to the water board, Rangers and the police for the demolition of these hydrants in a week. The chief secretary suggested that the KWSB install patrols at bulk transmission systems, canals, syphons, conduits, filter plants and pumping stations. He instructed the KWSB chief to conduct a survey to ascertain the estimated quantity of water being lost at all pumping stations in Karachi. He asked the KWSB chief to deal strictly with those involved in tampering with Karachi’s water supply.
We hope these actions will lead to improved water supply in the city. There is, however, an urgent need for chlorination of water in the city.
Kashmir: US concerns
There is no clear condemnation of the Indian action in occupied Kashmir though, the United States (US) has finally expressed concern over the oppressive curbs the Kashmiris have been braving since August 5. Alice Wells, the top State Department official for South Asia, says the US “hopes to see rapid action” by India to undo the restrictions on supplies and communications in the occupied territory; to set the detained civilians and leaders free, and to resume political engagement with local leaders. Wells, at a recent media briefing, has also reiterated President Donald Trump’s willingness to mediate to ease tensions between Pakistan and India over the disputed territory.
Prime Minister Imran Khan has time and again expressed his belief that the “US, being the most powerful country in the world, is the only country that could mediate between Pakistan and India and resolve the Kashmir issue”. President Trump has, on more than an occasion, offered to mediate between the two countries. But his “only if both agree” condition means that practically there are no chances of mediation as India has historically been averse to a third-party mediation on the Kashmir dispute and continues to stick to the stance. What do then the repeated offers of mediation by President Trump mean? And how far will the US concerns on the ongoing Kashmir situation – expressed by Wells – help ease the sufferings of the Kashmiris?
Should President Trump’s soft-soaping Pakistan and his offers of mediation on Kashmir be seen in the context of the peace talks between the US and the Taliban that have now been stalled? Well, a majority of experts and observers at home don’t want to read too much into the Trump’s mediation offer and think of it as a ploy to string along Pakistan till the time the US achieves its objectives in Afghanistan. Frankly speaking, much, if not all, will depend upon how many headaches can the never-say-die Kashmiris give to the Indian occupation forces. And that there is a Burhan Wani in every other house of occupied Kashmir holds out great hopes.
