edUCATION I 9
I Friday, September 01, 2017
Researchers reveal presence of violence in low-income areas By Our Correspondent KARACHI: Unfolding some of the findings of their three-year long research work Gender and Violence in Urban Pakistan, a group of educationists linked the scarcity of civic amenities in cities of Pakistan to breeding of violence. dr Nausheen H Anwar of the Institute of Business Administration (IBA) Karachi, dr daanish Mustafa of Kings College London and dr Amiera Sawas of the Imperial College London made a presentation on their research in question at a forum at IBA, recently. They conducted the research with the support of the International development Research Centre (Canada) and the department for International development (UK). dean and director of IBA Karachi, dr Farrukh Iqbal, who chaired the proceedings, said that his institute would continue to support such research studies in collaboration with foreign universities in future as well for overall social uplift and improvement of dwellers of the Pakistani society. “The fact that vulnerability and lack of access to infrastructure like water supply and sanitation including solid waste management are associated with higher violence levels proves there are material drivers to violence. This means if addressed, violence could be mitigated,” the research report suggested. There was a consensus among the various speakers of the forum that people living in settlements of lower income groups in the city continue to face violence within and outside their households owing to virtual collapse of essential civic services related to water supply, sanitation, municipal waste disposal, transport, mobility and health services. “This violence affects all genders, including men, women and transgenders, and generally cuts across social classes in different ways.” About 2,445 households in 12 low-income working class neighbourhoods in Karachi, Islamabad-Rawalpindi were surveyed to explore the themes of the research in the light of the
KARACHI: A researcher from IBA presenting details from her research work on Gender and Violence in Urban Pakistan at a forum arranged by IBA Karachi.— ST photo
various forms and effects of violence that exists in the urban centres. The study showed that Karachi outweighs Rawalpindi-Islamabad in terms of petty and political violence. As many as 12 areas were selected for the survey, out of which seven were in Karachi –Ghaziabad, Ali Akbar Shah Goth, Christian Colony, Gulshan-i-Bihar, Raees Amrohvi Society, Mansoor Nagar and Lines area. Over 88 per cent respondents of the surveys in Karachi reported being a victim of violence either outside their homes by strangers or within their households or residential localities by their family members or acquaintances. In Rawalpindi and Islamabad, about 35 per cent respondents reported being subjected to violence by strangers. “A higher incidence of psychological violence is reported for Rawalpindi and Islamabad.” Highlighting the findings, one of the survey-report co-au-
thors, dr daanish Mustafa said that urbanisation and development of Karachi didn’t take into account all the vulnerabilities and socio-economic hardships of its people living in impoverished neighbourhoods. He said that rapid expansion and urbanization of cities like Karachi, Rawalpindi, and Islamabad had been done in such a manner that people belonging to poor economic background had been left with no option other than to establish their residential settlements near or in plains of intra-city channels like Malir, Lyari River, or Lai Nullah where they face serious health and social hazards throughout the year and especially during monsoon season. dr Amiera Sawas said that major gaps in demand and supply of essential civic services like water, health, and electricity had been making residents of low-income residential settlements vulnerable to violence within and outside their households. dr Nausheen Anwar said that her team has also tried to find solutions that are pragmatic. Later, taking part in the panel discussion, Ms Anwar said that urban planning and development was being carried out in Karachi in a haphazard and ill-planned way resulting in a greater carbon footprint causing serious environmental degradation as well. dr Noman Ahmed of Ned University of engineering & Technology said that major social issues in Karachi had emerged owing to controversies related to control and ownership of lucrative swathes of land in the city as rival quarters having vested interests in real estate affairs had fought with each other to control them. Former senator Javed Jabbar, Sheema Kirmani, dr Huma Baqai, journalist and social commentators Muqtida Mansoor and Afia Salam and Farhat Parveen of National Organisation for Working (Now) Communities also participated in the discussion.
The resilient spirit of Pakistanis By Our Correspondent KARACHI: dow Medical College (dMC) organised a seminar titled Pakistan’s 70 Years Journey; ‘Success and failure’, last week at its Arag Auditorium. A noted history teacher dr Syed Jaffar Ahmed was the guest speaker of the seminar, which was, among others, attended by dMC Principal Prof Kartar dawani, editor of monthly Herald, Badar Alam, senior faculty members and students. In his speech, dr Ahmed referred to the founder of Pakistan, Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s speech of August 11,1947. "Mr Jinnah at that time had said that every citizen of Pakistan will have equal rights and there will be no discrimination of any kind on the basis of religion, sect, color or cast." The historian also commented that there are vast gaps between the rich and the poor people of the country. "80 per cent resources
are being used by the 10 per cent rich people of Pakistan and the rest of the people have access to only 20 per cent resources." Sharing his views, he further said that Pakistani nation has a tendency to survive hardships. “Pakistan has been facing floods almost every year but as a nation, we have a resilient power among us which lets us rebuild our homes and lifestyles after every flood.” He also discussed about the heavy earthquake of Abbottabad in 2005. “Whole Pakistani nation had come together to reconstruct the affected areas.” He noted that people from middle-income groups were very keen to invest in their children’s education, instead of building their homes. He further said that female students were in majority in Pakistani universities, which indicated the positive behaviour of parents towards education of their daughters. Prof Amjad Siraj also spoke on the occasion.
KARACHI: Senior journalist, Badar Alam presenting books on behalf of DMC to guest speaker, Dr Syed Jaffar Ahmed. — ST photo
ICCBS signs MoU to benefit tech startups By Our Correspondent KARACHI: International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences (ICCBS), University of Karachi, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Momentum Tech Conference (MTC) with an idea of strengthening startup eco-system in Pakistan. The aim of the agreement is to connect Pakistani entrepreneurs with people from around the world working on innovative disruptive technologies to create the knowledge economy that can drive Pakistan’s growth in long term. Momentum Tech Conference is a leading startup technology conference and exhibition, said a KU press release. According to the agreement, the momentum will give space to ICCBS Startups in
KARACHI: Prof Dr Iqbal Choudhary of ICCBS and Syed Amir Jafar of Momentum exchanging documents. — ST photo
Momentum’s 2018 conference & exhibition. ICCBS based startups will have access to
momentum’s network of mentors, which will include prominent CeOs, industry ex-
perts and startup founders. ICCBS director Prof dr M Iqbal Choudhary and Chief executive Officer Momentum Syed Amir Jafari signed the MoU on behalf of their institutions. Representatives of MTC, Hamza Awan, Head of Marketing, Anum Shakeel, Muhammad Faizan Shoaib, and officials from ICCBS including dr Hina Siddiqui and Syed Azfar Hussain Manager Technology Incubator & Industrial Park were also present on the occasion. Speaking on the occasion, Prof Choudhary stressed the need for building academia-industry linkages. He also emphasised the need for technology entrepreneurship in Pakistan and its vital role in the uplift of economy.