t t a C h u l a c r i s i s

The solutions are not hard to find

SNGPL) Pakistan now had the privilege of using the cleanest ‘ Fossil Fuel ‘ Natural Gas is the final product of the carbon cycle organic matter first decays into coal followed by oil and then gas Nature had been kind to the republic the huge gas deposit was a gift Unfortunately the resource was mismanaged, instead of lasting for a century it fell short after 50 years of misuse (1952 to 2002)

In 2004, as Chairman Pakistan Science Foundation, I started looking at coal as an alternate fuel A Coal Conference was organized wheels of the world

The steam engine brought the much needed motion In the year 2016, I was invited as a keynote speaker at the International Coal Conference at Pittsburgh (IPCC 2016) to talk about the Future of Coal’ For fuel-starved nations like Pakistan, ‘ coal has a future but with the application of environment-friendly 21st century technologies

Gasification of this black gold is the way forward once gasified it can be converted into clean fuel which can then be used in place of natural gas The country has a huge state-of-the-art gas distribution network spread over several thousand kilometres which is now dependent upon expensive imported gas that is unaffordable with the current worldwide energy crises

So m e people might be misguided by the thought that the menace of terrorism in Pakistan was successfully crushed to the roots a few years back and after the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan things have become quite normal but actually the situation is not that way Terrorists and terrorism both are still alive; it seems they had hibernated themselves for a very short period of time once again they are out of their short sleep and ready to ‘do more’

The recent bomb attack on a mosque in Peshawar on January 30 seems the beginning of a fresh wave of terrorist activities in Pakistan The terrorists have chosen a time when Pakistan is passing through the toughest period of its history with a lot of political and economic instability Different experts on security affairs were already apprehending occurrence of such incidents It is also being feared that more episodes of the same type could take place in near future Certainly the law-enforcement agencies will have to be more active and more vigilant against the peace-destroyers even the last year hasd not been very peaceful regarding terrorist activities in Pakistan According to a think-tank

PA K I S TA N faces a serious Atta Chula crisis

Due to shortage of fuel the chula (stove ) is thanda (cold) while there is no atta (flour) to cook roti’ (bread) In the 1970s, Bhutto launched his party on the promise of ‘Roti Kapra Makan which still remains a pipe dream even the roti (bread) is out of reach of the common man Natural gas is short and expensive It is back to the basics from where the journey had started The

12 Trillion Cubic Feet of natural gas deposit at Sui is now depleted together with acute shortage of wheat

Both items are now being imported While the fuel import bill is highest followed by food items which poses serious sustainability challenges

There is a huge trade deficit as the republic does not earn enough dollars to pay for its basic needs LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) is being imported from Qatar at an unaffordable price also recently a shipment of wheat arrived from Russia resulting in depletion of the much needed foreign exchange reserves every day I receive SmS messages saying We buy ACs”, indicating that there is a huge market for this product While the nation struggles for Atta and Chula (AC), the Air Conditioners (AC) remain in demand for the few As a nation we cannot sustain this luxury on borrowed money The import bill has to be drastically slashed Food and fuel are the basic needs of the nation Unfortunately there has been a consistent decline in these two vital areas in the Land of the Pure

I remember the days when wood and coal were used to cook food Kitchens were dirty and usually isolated from living quarters in posh dwellings every locality had a Taal (a place where timber was stored and sold) mostly manned by Pathans There were several coal merchants in the city who sold both local and imported fuel In the 1960s came the kerosene stoves which were a big relief for the housewives Cooking meals was made a bit easier

Then there was a big break with the discovery of natural gas at Sui in the Dera Bugti district of Balochistan There was no looking back Gas transmission and distribution network was developed by the two public sector Gas Companies (SSGC

All players in the field were invited for inputs A clear roadmap to move forward was developed with consensus With no experience of large scale commercial mining in the country, it was decided to focus in this area at the largest deposit at ‘ Thar Thus started a long, painful journey that has been ongoing since then Finally in the year 2018, I had the satisfaction of touching the coal seams at the bottom of the first mine jointly developed by the Sindh Government and eNGRo (Sindh engio Coal mining Company) Power production has now started at the mine, which is now connected to the national grid At Rs 4 per unit it is the cheapest source of the much needed electricity Now work has started on the production of Synthetic Natural Gas (SNG) from the huge deposit (175 Billion Tons) With soaring LNG prices in the range of $30 per mmBTU SNG production at $8 per mmBTU makes sense

Despite all the available indig enous resources, there is no justification to deprive the masses from the attainment of the basic human needs like Fuel and Food. This Atta Chula crisis is uncalled for and can easily be overcome through astute planning with utilization of appropriate technologies.

Food is equally important For a long time the republic was self-sufficient in wheat that is now being imported in addition to other items like edible oilseeds and tea All three of them can be grown locally with an effective road map to move forward During my tenure at PSF (2002 to 2005), tea plantation areas were identified in Kashmir and KP together with trial plantation

The Tea Research Institute (NTRI) at Shinkiari has enough know-how to achieve self-sufficiency in this area oilseeds can also be grown on marginal lands to save the much needed foreign exchange Recently olive plantation has started in the Salt Range which holds great future potential Despite all the available indigenous resources, there is no justification to deprive the masses from the attainment of the basic human needs like Fuel and Food, This Atta Chula crisis is uncalled for and can easily be overcome through astute planning with utilization of appropriate technologies In 1952 we had the gift of Natural Gas at Sui today we have Black Gold at Thar to meet our fuel needs The heat is on, Thanda can now be converted into Garam (hot) without spending the much-needed dollars

Coal has been the historic fuel for mankind Romans started using it centuries ago It fuelled the entire Industrial Revolution and also provided movement by the production of steam which started to move the

The writer is ex-Chairman, Pakistan Science Foundation He can be contacted at: fmaliks@hotmail com based in Islamabad The Pak Institute for Peace Studies

Pakistan had to face 254 militant attacks in 2022 more than 400 Pakistanis lost their lives in these attacks The Arab News said referring to the report prepared by the Pak Institute for Peace Studies that ‘The toll is significantly higher than last year 2021, when 335 people were killed by militants in 207 incidents and in 2020 when 146 attacks killed 220 ’ The most affected area had been Balochistan where foreign-patronized terrorists targeted security forces and particularly the Chinese nationals working on China-Pakistan economic Corridor project which is a multibilliondollar project having a lot of possibility of strengthening Pakistan s economy Attacks on the Chinese nationals certainly affected the work on the CPeC project as hovering security threats make things very difficult for the foreigners working on different development projects It seems that the sole target of all terrorist activities was nothing but to create hurdles in the way to completion of the CPeC

Now the beginning of 2023 does not seem very pleasant and hopeful with reference to the terrorist activities in Pakistan, specifically in Baluchistan and KPK on January 18 according to the Voice of America a militant attack from across the Iranian side of the border had killed four Pakistani soldiers The attack took place in the remote Panjgur district in southwestern Baluchistan province

Sources say that the terrorists used Iranian soil to target a convoy of security forces patrolling along the border The government of Pakistan just after the incident asked the Iranian side to hunt down the terrorists on their side

Whatever happened there at the Pak-Iran border was certainly very much unexpected and disappointing even for the Iranian government and the Iranian embassy in Islamabad strongly condemned the terrorist attack on Pakistani troops but this act of condemnation is not the solution to the problem Without looking into the matter in detail, such incidents might reoccur in near and far-future Panjgur district of Pakistan’s southwestern Baluchistan province is an area which borders Iran and Afghanistan The area surrounding Panjgur had always been terrorists’ hot favourite In 2019, both Pakistan and Iran had expressed their desire to form a joint quick reaction force to counter and combat militant activities along the border Unfortunately that desire has yet not been materialized

Though no terrorist group has yet claimed the responsibility of bloodshed in Panjgur 0n 19 December 2022 in another incident of the same type four members of Iran’s security forces were killed in a firefight near the Pakistan border The killed ones were members of The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps These four were killed after a fight with an unnamed terrorist group, said Aljazeera referring to a statement released by the Iranian state media The incident reportedly took place in Saravan, in the southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchistan near the Pakistani border The attackers allegedly fled to Pakistan when IRGC ground forces repelled the assault

The situation in Afghanistan is also deteriorating with reference to the terrorist activities Last year on September 23, several people were killed and dozens more wounded when a car bomb went off at a mosque in Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul The worshippers streaming out of the mosque after the afternoon prayers were targeted According to Aljazeera gunshots rang out several minutes after the explosion in the Wazir Akbar Khan area which is the location of many foreign embassies and NATo more than 15 people were killed and 41 wounded in that incident earlier on 18 August 2022,a huge explosion ripped through the crowded mosque during evening prayers injuring 33 people and killing another 21 Prior to that in April 2022, two boys’ schools were targeted in western Kabul The targeted schools were Abdul Rahim Shahid high school and the nearby mumtaz education Centre, both located in the Dasht-e-Barchi area more than ten students were killed and around 30 seriously wounded

In short Pakistan Iran and Afghanistan are all facing the worst situation regarding terrorist activities In the present scenario, any type of blame game would simply add to the gravity of the situation Be it Afghanistan or Iran or Pakistan; terrorism is in the benefit of no one

We all will have to join our efforts with all possible devotion and dedication to curb this menace The government of Afghanistan will have to play the most active role in resolving the situation as a consistent peaceful atmosphere is the most required and most needed element for the stability and firmness of that war-torn country

The point to remember is that the flames of terrorism never remain limited to some particular area or some specific region; they are like a pandemic which goes on and moves on from one place to another We must never forget the Twin-Towers tragedy which was the most horrible episode in the long series of terrorist activities The USA and all other ‘superpowers’ must step forward and try to Do more against the terrorists and terrorism

The writer is an Associate Professor of English at Govt College of Science Multan