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Roaming around anywhere in rural Pakistan where floodwater has receded reveals the effects of flood 2010 on human as well as animals. The bloated corpses of buffalos, cows, donkeys and goats can be seen at many places in flood hit areas. Many of the surviving animals are seen suffering from lameness, fever, muscle contractions or swelling of shoulder, chest, back, neck or throat, foot rot and more.

One wonders where the animals would stand on the scale of importance when so many human lives are at stake. The fact is that the survival of the livestock is crucial to the survival of human beings, particularly so in agrarian society like ours.

Livestock is vital for the Pakistan’s agricultural economy and fabric of rural society. Livestock makes up 52.2 percent of the agriculture value and 11.3 percent of the national Gross Domestic Product. The value of livestock is 6.1 percent more than the combined value of major and minor crops, according to the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock. In addition to providing mutton and dairy products, Livestock is one of the major sources of raw material for different industrial sectors of the country including hides to leather sector, animal bones for preparation of crockery and animal blood for preparation of chicken feed to name just a few. Animals are also extensively used for transportation and cultivation.

As a consequence of the large scale extinction of livestock by the devastating floods this year (as per one estimate some 5 million animals were either killed or swept away by the rising tides in Sindh alone whereas another 5 million in other parts of the country), the industrial activities in the country are likely to suffer a major setback and they would have to rely on import of raw material.

Similarly, many who live in the flood prone rural areas rely on animal farming, large and small as per the capacity of the holdings, to make a living and support their families. Depletion of the livestock during the current floods in the country has deprived millions of people from their sources of revenue.

“My betal specie goat was all that I had. Goat was expected to deliver two lambs next month. I was planning to sell one of the lambs to raise money to repair the roof of my house that is leaking since last year and keep another for selling on the eve of Eid ul Azha next year. Selling milk would have been enough for me to live a comfortable life,” narrated Fateh Shahi, an old lady living in a mud and straw hut on the outskirts of village Mirkhan on the bank of Chenab. “I have lost my goat in the flood,” she added with tears in her eyes. Water had entered in Mirkhan during the month long floods that have destroyed homes and marooned people and animals.

Gulzar is a village shepherd. Personally, he does not own any animal. People of village Karyanwala give their goats to Gulzar everyday for grazing. Gulzar takes the herd out early morning and brings them back by sun set when owners collect their animals and keep them at home for night till Gulzar takes them out again next morning. This is a wonderful model of small scale animal farming common in rural areas. Gulzar gets the compensation for his work and people can keep their animals. This system allows everyone in the village to keep animals (mostly goats, cows and buffalos) for fresh milk and as a source of additional income.

“These animals are very important for us,” said, Gulzar Ahmed, while standing in the middle of his herd of goats that he had shifted from village Karyanwala on the Bank of Chenab to the safety on the bank of Rasul-Qadarabad Link Canal. Problem with goats is that they fall sick on wet ground what to talk of grazing. There are no veterinary doctors in our area and I have nowhere to graze and feed them. I am waiting when I will be able to go back to village and normal life.

Hundreds of thousands of cattle have drowned in the floods and the surviving animals are starving. Deaths due to drowning during the floods, deaths after the floods due to disease and hunger caused by loss of animal feeds has exacerbated the livestock related problems which are quite serious even under normal conditions. This loss of animals is expected to be higher after the ground data comes in. It is also feared that animal feed will not be easily accessible for at least six months, which could result in widespread starvation.

Why would anyone want to live in a place that is visibly exposed to floods every year?

UN's International Strategy for Disaster Reduction remarks, “Communities should have been kept away from flood-exposed river banks in Pakistan. If people had not settled on the river banks, definitely the disaster would have been less, because that is the main cause of the disaster.”

Some analysts have also attributed the current flood disaster to unregulated construction and development on river banks. They think that widespread build up and construction along the river banks and even on dried up riverbeds across the country had blocked the natural course of the rivers. Some others point out that fragility of natural environment in upstream areas of Indus river basin has exacerbated conditions of vulnerability. Pakistan has been left with only 4 percent forest and vegetative cover, in contrast to the required 25 percent, thereby experiencing an intense and uninterrupted discharge of water, especially during monsoon seasons. This coupled with increasing snowmelt in the Himalayan glaciers has intensified flood risks.

Given the local context, “it may never be possible to displace indigenous people from where they are living since generations, says Dr. Hamid Ghani Anjum. “What seems wise is that these areas may be made safer for them to live on,” he adds.

For ages, the Indus River has been a lifeline for the land we call home. The Indus has its source in Tibet. From there, it skirts China, heads into India then enters Pakistan south of the Karakoram Range before starting its long journey — some 1,976 miles — through the heart of the country into the Arabian Sea near Karachi. People and their animals have been happily living all along the banks of Indus and its tributaries since the Bronze Age, when the region was home to the thriving Indus Valley Civilization. Even now Indus Basin is called the breadbasket of Pakistan.

“There should be permanent protective embankments to check and regulate water in flood seasons,” says Dr. Anjum. Sadly, the empirical observations show that embankments, where they were present, did not stand in the face of current floods. “After the flood warning, the villagers had brought their animals on the protective band and at night the flood washed away the whole band along with the animals, thanks to the quality of construction,” tells Qasim Ali a volunteer who had visited flooded areas in Sindh during August.

This social segment living in the flood risk areas cannot be expected to make safe arrangements for themselves and their animals on priority. Need is to release the pressures upon them by providing sustainable rehabilitation and safer environment for future.


Related: Flood 2010

A phrase written on sand by a small boy who lost his parents in flood,"Dear River, I will never forgive you, I will never forgive you, even if your waves touch my feet million times."

This is outside my office at Lahore School!

Weeks after water from the devastating floods in Pakistan began to recede, photographer Russell Watkins traveled to the Sindh province to document humanitarian relief work funded by the UK’s Department for International Development. As he photographed the return home of the 10,000 people who had been displaced across an area the size of Lousiana, Watkins heard about an amazing phenomenon. In the absence of people, spiders had taken up residence in the trees to escape the floodwaters, creating a bizarre and dramatic scene. On visiting the area Watkins found that every single piece vegetation was covered with arachnids. “No one,” says Watkins who has traveled the world photographing relief work, “had ever witnessed anything like this before.” The rainy season dispatched most of the webs, but not before many of the trees, suffocated by the cocoons, had been killed. But there was one benefit. The risk of malaria was much reduced. Presumably most of the disease-carrying mosquitoes had been by caught amongst the spiders’ webs.

Is there anything more beguiling than a true tale of high adventure well told? Stories about places like Pakistan and China sides of Muztagh Pass, braving difficult odds under overwhelming conditions in far flung locales, relating to people of Pakistan and Chinese Turkistan who had been in the area centuries ago, can keep anyone glued to The Apricot Road to Yarkand by Salman Rashid.

The Apricot Road to Yarkand is a spellbinding tale of journey from Shigar Valley to Yarkand in the North, over the glaciated Mustagh Pass by Salman Rashid. The author is master of conveying what seems to be going on in his heads in gripping prose that is never clichéd.

First, a word about the author. Salman Salman is Pakistan's foremost travel writer. His passion for writing is matched by his passion for photography. His research, range of visual subjects and narratives make a remarkable combination. In addition to eight travel books, his work appears in leading English language journals. In The Apricot Road to Yarkand, Salman Rashid has also told how he switched his career in the army to become a full time researcher and a writer. (I keep thinking how Salman Rashid would have been in appreciating tactical situation on battle grounds if he was still in army?)

Salman Rashid is a historian in the truest sense. He writes from a knowledge standpoint as opposed to a position biased toward the dominant paradigm and its conquests. A moving writer, Salman reminds the heart of its search for power in a world which has forgotten its purpose for existence. As usual, Salman Rashid, 54 when he undertook the journey, delivers a ton of current information all based on historical research. No one else seems to have half the energy of this man.What is more, Salman Rashid is currently translating the book into Urdu language.

In The Apricot Road to Yarkand, Salman Rashid recounts his journey from Shigar Valley to Yarkand and he does so in frank and honest terms. Result of sixteen years of dreaming about everything that sits on the historic route from Baltistan to Yarkand, The Apricot Road to Yarkand is an epic to the essence of exploring mountains, but it is also about of the cultural, geological, and biological make up of mountains, people of that area, human behavior in difficult situations, and history and about joy of about watching purple-gray clouds spreading out like an atmospheric ocean in all directions as far as the eye can see.

Alan Hovaness once wrote, "Mountains are symbols of mankind's search for God," and Allen Ginsberg told us, "Things are symbols for themselves." In The Apricot Road to Yarkand, Salman Rashid allows the mountains to be symbols of the seeking soul and at the same time symbols of themselves - they are encountered as we internalize them in our quest, and they are encountered as they really are: cold, hard, lonely, mighty and sometime hazardous.

The Apricot Road to Yarkand inspires its readers to explore the less explored areas and experience for themselves what only a few had the fortune to discover. Well-written and wonderfully presented, the book is a must read for anyone remotely interested in mountains, adventures or for those who want to find out why a chunk of land was handed over to our best friends. I highly recommend it.

Fellow of Royal Geographical Society, Salman Rashid is author of eight books including jhelum: City of the Vitasta

Prof Dr Norbert Pintsch has been working tirelessly on Appropriate Technology in Cameroon, Pakistan and elsewhere.

I have the fortune to be familiar with Prof Dr Norbert Pintsch’s work in Technical Transfer and Training Center (TTTC) for Men in remoe Pakistani Village Thatta Ghulamka Dheroka, Mud Housing Project at Lahore and also what he has been doing to promote African energy through the use of solar energy with the meaningful and active cooperation with Senior Expect Service (SES) Bonn-Germany and Society for the Advancement of Culture (DGFK) Berlin Germany as solutions to Climate Change and adaptation.

Prof Dr Norbert Pintsch has experience with no less than 133 projects since 1976 and each one of them has made a visible difference in more than one ways.

To recognize the work of Prof Dr Norbert Pintsch, the Senate of the Bamenda University of Science & Technology (BUST) on the Nomination of Board of Governors of Industrial and Educational Development Company (INDECO) Ltd have conferred upon Prof Dr Norbert Pintsch the Honorary Title of Doctor of Science with all the Rights and Previleges Thereto Pertaining in Recognation of his tangible Services to the Cause of Appropriate Technology on Feb 19, 2011.

Big congratulations Prof Dr Norbert Pintsch.

Also at Light Within

“Education has broadened the vision. Democracy has advanced equality. Human rights have increased the human value. Most of all, the world has become a global village. Western liberties are finding their way in the east. And all these developments suggest that I will be able to reach the zenith on the basis of sheer hard work.”

I kept looking at him while hearing his arguments and before I could say something, train arrived; my friend boarded it and went off.

We happened to meet after many years and the amazement I had turned into belief that he was right what he said years ago.

“You move with time. You have achieved what you wanted,” I said.

“No. No. Whatever I had thought was totally wrong,” my friend replied with a sigh.

“What you mean,” I ask surprisingly.

“Basis of success is still money,” he told me sheepishly.

“But where you got the money from,” I asked.

“Through crimes,” he added to my surprise.

And before I could ask his the details entourage of his protocol staff arrived and took him off  in a hurry.

I am still surprised.

Remember Allah

When you remember Allah Karim?

When I am happy! I consider being happy is his blessing and I am filled with passions of thanksgiving.

People think they remember Allah most during difficult times.

I don’t think so. I believe Allah is to remember me during difficult times.

At war with myself

You seem to be doing odd thing all the time – sitting in sun and avoiding cold water during summers, sitting in shad and having chilled water in winters, keeping awake during nights, eating less and walking the streets despite having the facility of transport. Everyone else goes to gardens whereas you go for wilderness.

I am all right. Only I am at war with myself.

What for?

To conquer myself!

What will you achieve by this?

I will be able to get what I want done by myself – creation of a new world.

Translated from Sitaroon Ki Bastiyan by Abbas Khan

Calculated love

I saw a matrimonial add online. It was given by a girl herself.

Her profile read, “22 year beautiful girl, MBBS, hight five feet eight inches, color white, a clinic in America and big piece of agri land back home.”

She had also added a semi nude display picture to catch the attention.

We asked our friend Ikram Athar to heave a look, “you were looking exactly for similar girl. Go ahead.”

“How can I marry her,” he replied sadly?

“Like anyone else can do,” we all replied unanimously.

But she lacks one major quality I need.

Which one? We asked.

She doesn’t love me. And I don’t know here, he offered his excuse.

Shoaib Ahmed, another of our friends came up and married the girl in a jiffy.

He was a businessman.

Relevance

Have you started cultivating that girl?

Yes!

Remember how many people are after her?

That is not really relevant. Important is who she is after and loves.

Love me alone, no one else

Does she love you?

Not sure! But I am sure of one thing that she doesn’t want me to love anyone else.

Secret

I have not been able to figure out.

What?

A secret!

Which one?

I have a sense to get impressed by beauty but not every beautiful girl appeals to that sense. One the other hand she is one and only beauty but doesn’t have an impact on everyone. Me sense has only accepted her. So much so that I can’t live without her!

What matters the most, my sense or her beauty?

For the love of Allah

I can see sinking people getting onto the bank.

What are you saying? How can sinking people get to the bank?

Yes, sure!

How?

Those who are drowning in the love of Allah Almighty!

Common problems

Both husband and wife loved each other till the end.

How come?

Both were married second time, both had siblings from earlier marriages, friends and relatives of both always mocked their marriage and they also had earlier experiences as a common elements. So many commons cemented their marriage.

Critics

Look a lot of people are gathered there. Is there any marriage reception going on?

No.

Is someone is getting engaged/

No.

Have someone been blessed with a child?

Wrong.

Then it must be a charity?

You are again wrong.

Then why is this festivity, and a feast?

A critic has favorably mentioned a poet in his book. Poet is celebrating the occasion.

From club where Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was performing!

How was the performance?

I have no idea!

Why?

I was so absorbed in looking at Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan that I never realized how he was singing.

Battle within

There are no chances of this horrible battle coming to an end.

United Nations will sure manage to end this.

No, no. I am not talking of war that has been imposed upon our country.

Which battle are you talking about?

The one which waging within!

On the basis of doubt

Why can’t a police officer serve as a judge?

And why can a judge work as police?

Because they both have their own different points of view!

How come?

Police bases the case on doubt and judge always gives the benefit of doubt to accused.

Change has come

He has changed.

Yes, change has come after he spent a moonlit night alone in the wilderness for observation.

How you live

As sun warms and shadow cools, all the artifacts in the world have their distinct features by which they are characterized. How are human characterized?

By the ways they live.

Lust

You are the most beautiful. I can go to any amount for you.

What did you say?

Nothing. I didn’t say anything.

You were just saying something to that girl.

No. That wasn’t me.

Who was that?

My lust!

In search of

Who are you searching for?

To myself!

What a search? You know yourself in and out.

That is not me. That is nature – came in this world, grew up, started earning, got married, got children, and now looking for their careers and marriages.

Where is me?

Love

Which is the baggiest force in the world?

Love!

And which is the weakest force in the world.

Again love!

Oratory

What an orator he is?

But I don’t find anything special in him.

You haven’t observed. He doesn’t give importance to what he is to say. He weighs more to what he doesn’t have to say.

High stature

He is a very honest civil servant.

Which is why he has not been able to build himself a house?

Right, but he has built so much more.

What?

High stature!

Those under privileged

He is a practicing symbol of wisdom. It is a daunting task to change sadness into happiness. He has done that.

How?

He used to remain unhappy seeing helpless, sick and the poor people. A time came when he reached the verge of suicide. And then he decided to stay aloof. But over time I saw him happy.

How has this change come?

I have dedicated my life to serve the under privileged (helpless, sick and the poor) and now I don’t suffer.

But how have you changed?

Changed came to me by serving him.

Bliss

One of the biggest pleasures has been bestowed upon me, he revealed beaming.

Your physical conditions do not reveal that you have any bliss in life. You keep crying in the middle of nights. You seem to be one of the most deprived human beings instead. How come you say that you have been blessed with the greatest delight in life? What is that by the way?

Crying in the middle of night is precisely my greatest rapture.

Treat your soul

“Get the treatment for injuries to your soul,” a vender was shouting in the street.

I was reminded of the craftsmen of Lakhnow who used to sell ‘companions for loneliness’ in the streets. They used to sell pillows. I came out thinking that this vendor is offering something similar.

I asked for treatment for my soul injuries. He opened his bag and that contained poetry books music CDs.

This is about you

He brought jubilation when at birth. But the joyousness kept changing into sadness over time; demands, mischief and worry for his future. What is more, his demand kept growing as he grew and it was not possible to meet them all. He started stealing and the canceling by telling lies as a habit.

Not only that, he developed friendship with likeminded including girls and also started going for films and theaters. 

Thanks to the persuasion of his parents that he could complete his education. They also tried to bring religion but in vein. He got married. After some time he had a second married rich girl, mainly for wealth. Second wife brought a lot in dowry. This was beginning of bigger troubles.

He joined civil service. He was very tough on his subordinates and would go to any extent to please his superiors. He used to take bribe and misuse all official privileges but no work until absolutely essential. His life was filled with luxuries to say the least.

In youth he developed diabetes and blog pressure. Bickering wives, growing kids, departmental problems resulted into sudden cardiac arrest and he passed away.

What are you talking about?

This may be about anyone living on earth today. 

Translated from Sitaroon Ki Bastiyan by Abbas Khan.  

This article appeared in monthly Techno Biz Magazine Sep-Oct 2010 issue

Underwater laboratories and Space Stations

Challenge for Planners and Scientists

Affects on materialistic thinking and the architecture

Changes in the technical centralized Infrastructure

Influences on social life

not:Either-Or, rather:Both-And....

It is probably due to upcoming jubilees, that the interest of the media is most visible on certain days of the year. The 50th anniversary of the manned space flight will be celebrated soon. Russian as well as US-american companies offer, at appropriate price, hotel stays in the space. The fantasy appears to move again in the direction of the moon occupancy. Also the research project Mars 500 in Moscow suggests a somewhat longer tour, and then again everything would be as usual, like Pool, Sun, Feasts, etc.

Events in the research project On the Earth take place outside of the earth. But this is of course theory, but the fact is, that future movements away from earth will nonetheless influence life on earth.

Our previous articles about housing were based upon a Cultural-Model, which would have seemed strange to engineers and technicians, but at the same time it must have made clear, how important it is to think and work in entirety (holistically), in order to achieve positive results in the long run. as cultural differences therefore play an important role in this regard in the form of philosophical and religious differences. The differences are quite open in the macro-area, in the micro-area they are obvious through disturbances in relationships, e.g. toilet usage, eating habits, work culture, food preferences etc.

The construction of Off-Shore Platforms has been an important development on earth. The relevant teams are required here to work and live effectively and optimally.

Sanitary problems had to be solved in military operations in the air, from which the Civil Aviation ultimately profited.

In life under water, for example in submarines, the crew sometimes spent months under water and daily life routines (sleeping, eating, cleaning etc.) were organized in a manner, that everything went smoothly. One was supposed to be autonomous.

This is also valid for Aircraft Carriers, where the crews are provided recreation possibilities along with their military tasks. The autonomy was only a lesser problem, as one could and can rely on regular supplies.

According to brochures of hotels in space (better said in space nearer to earth), it should definitely be more comfortable as compared to research stations established under water or in space (Spacelab).

This is an analogue to the above mentioned military solutions, which have comparable solutions in civil domain: Cruise ship cabins, Camping mobiles, Rolling Hotels, Capsule hotels in Tokyo, etc. Recalling these examples, on can probably realize, that there exist a number of permanent solutions in stark contrast to the wasteful solutions of city villas.

The possibilities discussed by NASA in the time of the boom, illustrated by the scientist, engineer and artist EHRICKE, further established visions of a biosphere near to the earth. This as a basic vision led to experiments in simulations on the earth, which however did not run successfully. In 1991 Biosphere 2 (1991-1993) was established with 8 participants on an area of over 10000 square metres and 200000 cubic metres in Arizona, in order to win experiences of a closed economic system. The steel concrete used in construction was not successful at all because it absorbed oxygen unexpectedly. In a second attempt, the six participants managed successfully to live autonomously, i.e. without the supply of help from outside.

In the area of research, we collected experiences on the south pole, -though with regular supplies from outside, but still one lived autonomously most of the time (e.g Research Laboratory Neumeier2).

The Mars500-Project ignores the eco-system and puts the emphasis on the social aspect (Work with the same colleagues on limited space, dealing with delayed news, which can be up to 20 minutes late due to the distance of 400 million km). This means in the practice, that in case of danger, one has to live and survive without outside help. A special problem of communication and information here is the time delay in the receipt of signals.

Problems arise in the general cultural area and are visible in the daily routine of city life, where people cannot get along with each other automatically (e.g. vegetarians and meat eaters, pork eaters and beef eaters, religious-cultural rites, which even on earth are sometimes difficult to manage, e.g fasting period in june or December in the higher north or south.

We have pointed out the problem area of construction materials, which hinder an exchange between the inner and the outer spheres. On earth, mud is more energy efficient and therefore healthier and cheaper from macro-economic point of view, because it is usable without any additional energy source. Unluckily steel concrete construction and burned bricks construction has taken place and is still taking place on a massive scale. In other words construction ruins of the time to come. The energy consumption in introduction of new construction materials may look large in the beginning, but is justified in efforts aimed at achieving Zero-energy-Houses.

It is a century-long task for planners and scientists to arrive at a value, which -based upon the population per square kilometer- relates to a degree value of extent of burden possible in connection with climate, vegetation and general cultural factors. If this hypthetical value is crossed, the urban picture of today becomes obsolete and without future.

The real productivity of the individual work place in the tax system must also be taken into consideration here. Services, including education and health services although income generating measures for the relevant group, are but unproductive and serve only the spreading of the taxation network.

The survival rate of a system is best shown in extreme situations. The economic system successful in limited sphere and taken over from the west has helped to promote globalization, which automatically also means its end as well as its unrepairability. That this fact is still not recognized does not change anything. The Europeans obtained stretches of land in Africa during the colonization period. The local rulers must have been pleased at the development. Appropriate drawings of the obtained land were not made by the foreigners because they did not understand the local way of thinking. They purchased, what was not salable in the traditional sense. In spite of that, the same principle is still applied worldwide, which shows -also here- an outdated concept is in use, which has long lost its limit of usefulness.

As a transition, the good old industrial production of goods, well based upon a piece of land, will take place more and more in integrated factories. This functions through the exchange of unusable products of one producer to value addition on the same product through another producer.

The architecture, let us call it for simplicity sake Dubai-Design, has not shown any real innovation up till now., whereas innovation does not mean that a building boasts of a helicopter landing place or a seawater-swimming pool or a luxurious entrance hall as big as a football-field or a heap of childish gold and marble items, an express transport system or a mega-skyscraper. These are all mixtures of technically possible and a need for admiration. They are based upon so called successful economic system, which had already reached its climax at the end of the 20th century.

If we consider supply systems developed for buildings and cities in the light technology development, we are bound to realize, that these systems are based upon economic considerations. The main purpose appears to be to earn: from lighting , from water supply, from waste disposal etc.Earning here is possible only if the number of customers is large. For this reason large units are created.This leads to two recognizable tendencies. The one is the enormous dependency, coupled with susceptibility. The other is the trend towards autonomous enterprise. Relevant to our topic of Housing, we already mentioned solutions in the High-Tech, as well as in the Low-Tech area. Autonomous systems already exist in the HighTech area, which make the need for a central technical infra-structure pointless. In the Low-Tech area, we may point out the experiences of the Sulabh-Academy in Delhi, which has delivered an interesting example waste disposal methods.

Six billion people on earth need space. Space, which is only usable with considerable input of energy., should be used carefully and cleverly. The expansion of the cities into the soft picture of the surrounding areas is an erroneous development, which creates new problems or only defers existing problems. Long distances and travel times, from home to the work place, point to the unsolvable problems in urban areas. The urban region is an organism, which needs time to develop. The factor time has long been forgotten. The different national technical solutions are just short-term concepts. Although sea water desalination plants make possible irrigation and provide water to households, but truly said, they belong to the general public at large. Indication of the problem between national interest and international considerations. Time is still not ripe, it appears, to point out the absurdity of intensive colonization of arid regions !

Utopia is dedicated to the far away and unreachable. Should it suddenly be there, the supposed utopia, a society can sbe overwhelmed. The foot taken away from the brake, thanks to the power of Information Technology, the information is quickly distributed over the whole surface and it is absorbed without asking any questions. The danger of the global world lies actually in quick and extensive acceptance of Information and its spreading. An Either-Or situation is directed against the evolution process. The model of multiplicity has proved itself to be most efficient in the nature. Manipulations in available systems due to misunderstood scientific knowledge and not looking at things in totality is bound to have extreme and incomprehensible long -term consequences.

1. International Space Lab
2. Astronaut-suit
3. View from Space-Hotel
4. BiosphaereII, Arizona
5. Research-Lab NeumeierIII, Antartica
6. Sample for Integrated Production, Hanover, Shanghai
7. Mobile Homes, England
8. Zero-Energy-Plus-House, Germany
9. WC-set from aircraft
10. Pantry from cruiser
11. Area 51, sample for subterranean settlement, Nevada
12. Off-Shore-Platform, Mexico-Gulf
13. Kapusem Hoteru, Japan
14. Cruiser, Karibic Sea
15. Sea-Lab, North Sea
16. Diver-suit
17. View from Underwater-Hotel, Florida

The support for the implementation of environment-friendly techniques in the rural areas was carried out through on-site lectures, in the NGO’s and educational institutions, through experimental workshops and product manufacturing and local sales. The idea, to operate independent of the central technical infra-structure (electricity), was demonstrated in practice and shown, that not only lighting, but also other usages, like charging a cell-phone battery etc. are possible. By activating volunteers outside of the project and generating interest of foreigners in the project countries, a sort of “soft” tourism was created. The PHP provided valuable help in the realization of such ideas.

The closure of Pakistan House Potsdam, the existence of which could only be successful through volunteers, does not mean an end to the work, but a further development, because the basis has been created, the people in the NGO’s have been trained and they are operating more or less rather independently since quite a long time.

The DGFK, which initiated and supported cultural-development projects is functioning as the organizational basis since 1973. As a further step, a gallery was opened as a place for events, followed by a publishing house, Audio and Video studio, whereas the scientific technical work was carried out by a small institute. Due to technological developments in communication and information, we were able to make presentations not only in Berlin, but also outside the West-Germany of that time. The DGFK opened to foreign project work practically in 1990, which reached a new level with the Pakistan project and led to the establishment of the Pakistan House Potsdam - without the initiators acting in the usual strategic form.

In 1997, Bonn was still the federal capital, an idea formed under the auspices of the German-Pakistan Forum and the Embassy of Pakistan for establishing an Honorary Consulate for the new (eastern) provinces. Potsdam, the provincial capital of the province of Brandenburg, appeared to be good location, also due to its nearness to Berlin, which was to become the federal capital.

The preparations for transfer began in 1999.The work in the “Project House“ was taken up in 2000 and, since no reaction was forthcoming from the Pakistan side, the Pakistan House Potsdam was inaugurated in 2001 by Pakistani ambassador at that time.

Through the EXPO2000 exposition, the centre received a 250 years old wooden door from the Punjab, which is installed in the yard of the Pakistan House Potsdam and serves since inauguration as an attractive backdrop for visitors and guests of all types while at the same time creating a special atmosphere.

As the idea of the Pakistani village development project expanded, other projects were also processed from here for Cameroun, Columbia, Iceland etc. The work consisted of preparing honorary workers and volunteers for deployment in the projects, as well as supplementary discussions about improvement in the work and information for the interested public. Lectures were delivered here but also at other places. The nearness to the embassy made a good co-operation possible, - a large number of Pakistani visitors to Potsdam found hospitality here at a cup of tea: Ministers, Ambassadors, Officers of various foundations, members of the military academy, journalists, students, etc. found it to be a comfortable place not only on the annual Pakistan-Day. Whenever the Pakistan Embassy arranged a cultural presentation, the PHP was always its partner (for example House of Cultures of the World, Import-Shop, Q-Damm Mile, Festival of Nations).

Due to very different time zones in the project countries (Pakistan 3-4 hours till Columbia 6-7 hours) the office timings extended from 6-o-clock in the morning to mid-night, which were attended by volunteers. This led soon to limiting the visitors traffic to agreed timings but intensive dealing. Guests from Australia and New-Zeeland, from Japan, India, of-course from Pakistan, Israel, from Europe (including Iceland), various African and American countries found a home here in the beautiful old city of Potsdam, near to the Brandenburger Tor and the Castle Park of Sansouci.

A documentary film festival was initiated in the old Stadthaus in 2005 with the help of a volunteer Globians. The Future is in the Rural Areas, was the main theme, which indicated that the projects were and are carried out in the rural areas. The work which had originally begun in the “Developing Countries” now expanded in a curve to places like Israel’s Negev-Desert and to Iceland’s Westfjorden and into Brandenburg, so that from 2007 training also for selected locals was offered Tuesdays till Fridays from 8 till 12-o-clock.

Since 1999 the Pakistan House Potsdam has also been a basis for events for a certain segment of population. Although the Pakistani village project was projected strongly in the EXPO2000 exposition in Hannover due its selection among the world-wide projects, but gradually other projects with their handicrafts found their way to museums: Ethnological Museum Dahlem, Rautenstrauch-Jost-Museum in Cologne, Voelkerkundemuseum in Hamburg, Linden-Museum in Stuttgart, Grassi-Museum in Leipzig, Voelkerkundemuseum in Vienna.

An important aspect in the project work was the development of income generating measures for the participants in the project countries. Connected to the activities from the art promotion period of the 80’s was a large and successful exhibition of an artist from the Negev.

Over the years, members of the project NGO’s were offered training in special training sessions, the availability of boarding and lodging facilities made it possible to react quickly, -all this was possible only with the selfless support of one helper as well as the consistent efforts of the head-volunteer Dr Senta Siller.

Over 35 years of cultural work is not important, but the fact that it was carried out with private resources. Once young volunteers have become older over the years and it is often asked in e-mails, whether the long, partly very tiresome efforts can be properly documented at-least in an archive. Since such work can also be done only on an honorary basis, the prospects are not gloomy but it can only be done step by step. The beginning here has already been made and it was relatively easy because the DGFK has already been using the Internet facility since 1995. DGFK-News, Indus, Sanagar. Rio Magdalena, Hekla - these periodicals appear quarterly and they are bound into the archive. Similarly and as far as available, the descriptions in the Berliner Kunstblatt and other publications, so that one can gather that the basis for a certain form of cultural work has been accomplished.

Goodbye to Pakistan House Potsdam – it is another step in the life of a project and not its end.

Related: Volunteers who have been at the door of Pakistan House in Potsdam

See how I got PageRank increase on May 3, 2012

Saleem Shahab

Lahore once called “the Paris of the east” still stays at the summit of excellence owing to reasons more than one. In retrospect, its lavish culture, salubrious climes, fertile lands and to crown it all, its open-minded inhabitants made it an apple of all eyes across the board. From John Milton to Krishan Chander one can find the aficionados of Lahore all over the world. John Milton (1608-74) bracketed Lahore with the finest cities of the world in his renowned book titled Paradise Lost. He says in book 10:

The present day Lahore is a three-in-one city. That is why, when one visits Lahore; to tell the truth, one finds three different cities - each distinguished from other in one way or other. The old city -existed for at least a thousand years- developed in and around circular road. Similarly, the British built Lahore covers the area from Mayo Hospital to the Canal Bank on the east. Unquestionably, third Lahore which includes various posh localities such as Bahria Town, Defence Housing Authorities along with several others developed after the partition.

A legend tells Lahore was named after Lava, son of the Hindu god Rama, who purportedly founded the city. However, the recorded history of Lahore does not cover more than some thousands years. Since its establishment, various nations such as the Greek, the Persian, the Hindu, the Muslim, the Sikh and the British contributed in the splendor as well as spoliation of the city.

Under Muslim rule, stretching from 1021 to 1756, the city became a cultural and academic center, renowned for almost every form of art and culture. By the time, the Khiljis, the Tughlaqs, the Sayyid, the Lodhis, the Suris and the Mugals ruled this pearl of Punjab. Lahore touched the peak of architectural brilliance during the rule of the Mughals, whose buildings and gardens survived the hazards of time. From 1584 to 1598, the city served as capital of Mughal emperor Akbar.

The great Mughals took keen interest in the development and improvement of the city. Lahore Fort was built during the reign of Akbar. Mughal emperor Jahangir, buried in the city, also added a small number of buildings within the fort. Shah Jahan not only extended the Lahore Fort, also he built many other buildings in the city, including the Shalimar Gardens. The city's most famous monuments such as Badshahi Masjid and the Alamgiri gate were built during the reign of Aurangzeb. After the fall of the Mughals the city suffered the rule of the Sikhs for 90 years. In 1849, the British cast out the Sikhs from Lahore and continued their rule for next 98 years. During their reign, they gave Lahore a new face by constructing buildings of the GPO, the YMCA, the High Court, the Government College University, the museums, the National College of Arts, the Montgomery Hall, th4 Tollinton Market, the University of the Punjab (Old Campus) and the Provincial Assembly. One can find a combination of Mughal, Gothic and Victorian styles in their construction. Now Lahore is in the process of rebuilding with the help of United Nations’ assistance.

At present, Lahore is the second largest city of Pakistan and the provincial capital of Pakistan’s largest province. Owing to its geographic location, Lahore has always been a center of all eyes in one way or other. Since 1889, Punjab University is quenching the thirst for knowledge of the students from all over the country. Shady groves and green carpets of Shalamar Gardens, Jehangir's Tomb, the Jinnah Gardens, the Jallo Park, the lqbal Park and Changa Manga Forests provide the pleasure to a visitor beyond imagination.

Lahore has also been called a city of saints. The people from all over the country whenever visit Lahore, like to visit the shrine of Data Ganj Bakhsh, the patron saint of Lahore. A tourist can not help admire the city’s new landscape that has emerged during the past sixty years — modern buildings, five-star hotels, shopping plazas, broad avenues and boulevards in the uptown accommodations of Gulberg and Defense. An ancient Punjabi saying states, “One who has not seen Lahore, hasn’t been born. Bazaars and market places in the Lahore are unmistakably fêted - the Kashmiri, Suha, Chatta, Dabbi, Anarkali of the old city, and Liberty and Gulberg main market in modern Lahore. The present day Lahore is a place where a high-tech society is stemming from the lap of an ancient culture.

Pakistani flood survivors look out from their make-shift tent after fleeing their village in Sajawal, Pakistan. Hundreds of thousands of Pakistanis fled floodwaters after the Indus River smashed through levees. Time photo of the week

Like his father, Muhammad Jamal Muhsin is an accomplished calligrapher, and in addition to creating beautiful calligraphy, is contributing to promote and teach centuries old art of calligraphy including.

Jamal Muhsin’s father, Ibne Kaleem Ahsan Nizami and his brother Hamid Iqbal are all celebrated calligraphers. Ibne Kaleem has the singular distinction in the field of calligraphy. He created a new Khatt (writing style), Khatt-e-Ra'ana in calligraphy after a gap of 700 years. This is the great addition of its own kind and has opened up the new avenues of learning for calligraphy students, in times to come. Jamal Muhsin himself is teaching handwriting for last 25 years.

Jamal Muhsin has penned down two practical exercise books titled My Cursive Writing (Book I and Book II both for English handwriting) for the students of calligraphy and also for those who want to improve their hand writing. Adopting step-by-step approach of explained in My Cursive Writing anyone can learn and improve hand writing.

Jamal Muhsin has made it easy for the students by using pointed techniques with directions in explaining dimensions of the alphabets that not only help students at all levels but assist teachers as well.

I suggest all those interested in fine art of calligraphy must have these books and try them and learn the fading fine art.

Saleem Shahab

Pakistan is a country beset with problems and blessed with solutions at once. It is up to the ruling people to make sense of fitting solution to an embryonic problem. Regretted to say, this is not being done at home; that is why the country is poor in performance despite having rich resources. Much has been discussed about natural resources of the country but little has been said about the prodigious youth of Pakistan which is making progress across the board.

Last month, the Pakistan British Council released a report about industrious Pakistani youth. The report informs that the country is passing through a phase with a positive ratio of productive youth. In other words, we have more fruitful youth than dependants. This phase set in 1990, and would probably set to close sometime in 2045. But unfortunately the ruling people never paid heed to make the most of this opportunity. That is why merely 15 per cent of the Pakistani youth believe that the country is headed in the right direction. The report reveals the country’s youth to be passionately inclined towards nationalism but having very little trust in national or local government.

In Information Technologies alone, Arifa Kareem Randhawa, Babar Iqbal and Ammar Afzal have worked wonder. Former Chairman, Pakistan Science Board Dr. Noor Muhammad Butt informed me a lot about the brilliance of Pakistani youth in the domain of natural sciences. As a matter of fact, we are not successful to give our prodigious youth way to progress at home. Our prodigious youth is compelled to perform on international stage having no opportunities in the country.

In 2005, Arifa Karim Randhawa dazzled the world by successfully becoming Microsoft Certified Professional (MCS) just at the age of 9. The Mir Khalil-ur-Rehman Foundation working with Microsoft, Pakistan awarded Arfa with the Shabash award for her achievements and arranged for her a trip to the Microsoft Redmond Headquarters in the USA. Being impressed with her genius, Microsoft’s Chairman, Mr. Bill Gates awarded him an opportunity for one-on-one meeting. After coming back from the US, Arfa received the Fatima Jinnah Gold Medal 2005, the Salaam Pakistan Youth Award 2005 and the President's Award for Pride of Performance in 2006.To get to such a certificate, one needs to demonstrate technical proficiency in areas such as .Net, Visual Studio 6.0 and Windows Server. Arifa did the same so successfully. Arifa was very much excited when her father got a computer at home for making use of the technology. Since then, she started to work hard and got results. While she wants to study abroad, works and Microsoft, she likes to conduct technology innovations at home. After her success, a large number of people appreciated her brilliance all over the world.

There is no end to Pakistani genius. Arifa set the record at the age of 9 years and 8 months, but se held the record for about four months since it was broken by the Babar Iqbal at the age of 9 years and 27 days. Babar Iqbal from Dera Ismaeel Khan set at least four world record: Youngest Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) at the age 9 years, Youngest Certified Wireless Network Administrator (CWNA) at the age 9 years and Youngest Certified Web Professional Associate (CIWA) at age 10 years and Youngest Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS) at the age 12 in Dubai. Interestingly, all his siblings (two brothers and sisters ) are also Microsoft Certified Professional. By acknowledging his genius, President Asif Ali Zardari invited him at President House, Islamabad and awarded him a cheque of Rs5 million.

Thanks to our current Chief Minister who is showering money to the toppers in Annual Board examinations without improving the standard of our curriculum. It goes without saying our toppers fail to deliver in the society. Every year, students top in the examination but they do not benefit the society as expected. On the other hand, people with humble background in education miraculously dazzle the world off and on. It clearly indicates problems stuck to our education sector. Last month, we published an article about Ammar Afzal, a prodigious youth, who set several world records in different exams and tests.

Now we have learned that Ammar has also topped the exam of window development conducted by Microsoft itself and Mr. Bill Gates himself congratulated him. 49 people from different age groups appeared in the exam and Ammar outclassed all of them. Interestingly, Ammar, the only Pakistani in the examination, is the youngest of all. It is most probable that the coming version of windows will be developed by a team led by Mr. Ammar Afzal. At a time when the world media is portraying negative pictures of Pakistan, Ammar Afzal’s achievement gives a new ray of hope to settle the score.

Belonging to an average Pakistani family, Ammar Afzal got his early education from Okara District (near Sahiwal). He was student of 9th-class at Divisional Public School, Okara when he got wind of an online Organization called Brain Bench which offers online certification up to 600 different skills. Unlike other students of his age who like to visit absurdities on net, he not only visited the Brain Bench, but passed the two different online examinations with average result. However, the online tests encouraged him to do more.

He sought admission in C++ online classes and succeeded to get free admission there. Now he was fully prepared to create history and he did. After appearing in C++ examination, he was not very sure: what is going to happen. He could know only after the result that he had topped the world. The students of different age groups appeared in the test but nobody could attain the level he has secured.

Under the spell of success, he applied for other courses such as Web Developing, Java and set world records there too. At this stage, he wanted to do something exceptional. For this purpose, he selected the most difficult software development course that is none other but Oracle. Keeping in view his successful record, he was awarded free admission. For other students, the fee of the course is not less than 80,000$. Now he was fully aware about the serenity of the matter. He took interest in his studies and wasted no time in absurdities. He started from Oracle 8,8i,9,9i. Again he set the world record in Oracle 9i. Now he was not an unknown person. That is why; Stanford University took interest to avail his services and for this purpose the University offered him 60,000$ which he happily accepted. He had opportunity to learn Oracle 10 from Stanford University. He says, “They treat me like a son”.

Once again he began his studies there wholeheartedly and again he was able to set record in Oracle 10,10g,11,11g. He is second to none in Oracle 11g throughout the globe. Despite setting several world records, his thirst for knowledge led him to apply in GCSE for graduation in Stanford Junior University USA where he will complete his graduation in the days to come. Despite all, he never forgot his love: Divisional Public School, Okara where he spends 2 hours daily. Microsoft also awarded him an admission free of cost against a course whose normal fee is 1,25,000$. In this way he became the first student in these programs out of 49 students.

There is a long list of achievements on Ammar Afzals side. Some of them, we try to mention. An international bank’s customers were very, very much disturbed due to failure of ATM machines on wide scale. Many software engineers were on bank’s payroll. The bank assigned them to repair the problem. The software engineers started their work but they could not give a go ahead. At this the bank management contacted the brilliant brains available in the local market. But the problem remained. It was truly an embarrassing situation for the management. They were ready to go any extent. First they sought the services of the best software engineers available in the country; then they contacted the best softengineers continent to content. But in vain. In the age of plastic money, the non-functioning of ATM machines shook the confidence of bank’s customers. A vice chancellor of University found it appropriate to contact Ammar Afzal. The experts were in efforts for three days to resolve the problem. How much time Ammar Afzal should have taken to find the solution? Phenomenally he provided the “lost key” of solution in less than 2 minutes.

A very interesting event took place when Ammar Afzal was getting internet training from Mr. Simond who had been very much gracious upon girls than boys. Another teacher advised Ammar to pretend to be a girl student online. Ammar did so and succeeded to get his online lectures during a week. However, Mr. Simond checked his personal profile and got infuriated upon this innocent fun. He challenged him in an angry mood to solve some question, and pledged that if he succeeded to solve these questions within prescribed time, Mr Simond would resign from his job. Ammar solved the computer soft ware riddles within an hour. He got 4.99 marks out of 5 in the test which was a world record. Resultantly, Mr Simond had to resign. Ammar has profound regard for Mr Simond as a teacher despite his antagonism since he has learnt a lot from the teacher. Ammar gives full credit for his success to his father who deals in potatoes. His father wanted to see his son a well-groomed person. Now he is able to fulfill the dreams of his father. He says, I am nothing without my parents.”

Now Ammar Afzal, our prodigious youth is all set to join Microsoft after completing his training. One can hope beginning of a new era with Ammar Afzal at Microsoft. Interestingly, Mr. Bill Gates, an American business magnate, philanthropist and Chairman, Microsoft Corp. also appeared on the world scene like a true prodigy. In the early years of Microsoft, he was youngest of all those working in Microsoft. But he left each and everyone far behind due to his performance in the shortest span of time. 1973 is the year when Gates entered Harvard University as a freshman, where Gates developed a version of the programming language BASIC for the first microcomputer - the MITS Altair. In his junior year, Gates left Harvard to devote his energies to Microsoft, a company he had begun in 1975 with his childhood friend Paul Allen. Under Gates' leadership, Microsoft's mission has been to continually advance and improve software technology, and to make it easier, more cost-effective and more enjoyable for people to use computers. Since then, the company is thriving with an accelerated growth.

Ammar Afzal topped the Windows development test and no doubt the key product of Microsoft is Windows, a series of software operating systems and graphical user interfaces, without which more than 90 percent computers in the world would not work. The most recent client version of Windows is Windows 7; the most recent server version is Windows Server 2008 R2. For the first time, Windows was introduced in November 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces (GUIs). Since then Microsoft Windows is successful to dominate the world's personal computer market, overtaking Mac OS, which had been introduced previously. As of October 2009, Windows had approximately 91% of the market share of the client operating systems for usage on the Internet.

At this time, we need very sincere efforts to exploit the capabilities of our energetic youth. With the appearance of Ammar Afzal on world horizon, one can expect multifaceted breakthrough on international level from Pakistani youth. For this purpose we need to teach, education and prepare our youth so that they might replace the going stakeholders in a befitting manner.

Being at Khunjerab Pass is a unique experience for those who like the mountains and want to walk on them. On the way up on Kharakorum Highway (KKH), there are innumerable options right from simple sight seeing to hard adventure, or a mix of both. Khunjerab surpasses them all. It is one of the world's highest passes connecting two countries, and mountains on either side.

In summer, a stream of buses from down country, motorcycles and bickers (through China) reach Khunjerab. KKH has become one of the world famous routs for bikers and motorcyclists. At times the pass seems like a place where international cultural diffusion takes place. Travellers are seen clicking the shutters of their cameras standing around milestone situated at the pass for memory sack or exchanging addresses and promises to send the photographs to each other. From this place one is 400 kilometres away from Kashgar and 880 kilometres from Islamabad. Those who are not acclimatized, experience a degree of altitude sickness, headaches, and or drowsiness as well. And in winters, it is lonely out there.

Beyond Pirali, the place on KKH before the snows of Khunjerab make existence difficult, the first impression of Khunjerab Pass at 15072 feet above sea level is a long series of switchbacks around the pass. The immediate sight on home side alone is worth the trip to the pass. On either side, massive angular mountains crowd the horizon – silent guards of some highest peaks on planet -- celestial giants thrusting toward the heavens. Snow-capped pinnacles pierce through white misty clouds amidst kaleidoscopic purple dusks. The sharp jagged peaks of the Karakorums on ours side distinguish a region of former feudal princedoms, valley kingdoms and states some call Little Tibet. The region is home to more tall mountains than Nepal and Tibet combined together. This is "the Roof of the World," where four greatest mountain ranges in the world come together - the Himalaya, Pamirs, Karakorums and Hindu Kush. The landscape on the Chinese side is noticeably smoother. There are mountains -- the snow-clad rounded Pamirs to the east -- but the valley is more open. Yaks, sheep, camels, and people can be seen from the last point, and everything seems different even at a distance.

I have very romantic memories of sitting at lonely places (don’t call me loner), enjoying physical beauty and being taken by my own thoughts and perceptions of the places I happened to be at. One pleasure in travelling alone is that no one is around to remind about others waiting for you to start back! Alone at Khunjerab, climbing up a gorge, I was treated to the rare sight of Markhor sheep (well, I think I saw one). So artfully had nature blended them with the terrain that it becomes hard to tell where the rocks or Markhor stands? With the air thinning I continued climbing, hairpin after hairpin till I began to see the straight road that spans beyond Sost - Pakistan custom and immigration post. This is another matchless experience. Looking up to and walking on mountains, at Khunjerab one see them almost at eye level. I sat at the gorge for a while and saw so much unappreciated beauty.

Caravans as far back as the fourth century have been using this historic pass. Ivory, spices, silk and jade were hauled through Rocky River gorges and grassy valleys. This was where Marco Polo trekked through taking news of a legendary kingdom back to Europe. Along this giant oriental trading autobahn, intrepid explorers bartered goods, exchanged ideas and discovered technologies. A steady trickle of horseback commerce crossed the Khunjerab until the 1950s. Up above the road, remnants of old mule tracks from the old days are still evident, etched along mountainsides. After the completion of KKH, the Khunjerab Pass was opened to traffic and trade in 1982, and to tourists in 1986. Khunjerab in local language means valley of blood, a reference to local bandits who used to take advantage of the difficult terrain to plunder caravans in ancient days. Now it is safe and one can buy much sought after "Do Ghore ki Boski" at many places in the way.

Any travellers can have all this and more using a bus service or better still a four wheel driven topless jeep on KKH. Khunjerab is also a starting point for more adventurous who want to explore the catchments of Sukhtar Abad commonly known as the Blue Sheep Valley -- a little known habitat of Blue sheep, the Himalayan ibex and possibly snow leopards. Due to lack of tracks, Sukhtar Abad is not easily accessible. It can be approached from three different routes, Nazim Abad village through Dikarjerb crossing -- a high altitude pass, Hussain Abad village through Gourdour Pass; and from the Khunjerab River, when it is relatively dry in winters. Those who have visited the valley say it is very rewarding but takes some serious trekking to reach the valley.

The Khunjerab grasslands came under the control of rulers of Hunza in the late 18th century. They used to allocate grazing rights to villagers, and in turn used to receive from them a tax in the form of livestock and livestock products. Hunza rulers controlled hunting in the area as well as any trans-border trade with China. Their own livestock grazed in the Khunjerab pastures, tended by designated shepherds, who sent livestock and the products when ordered to Baltit Palace, Hunza. The situation changed when the princely states were merged into Pakistan in the early 70s. Area in Gilgit district, comprises of 2,269 square kilometres, either side of the KKH from Dih to Khunjerab Pass as Khunjerab National Park.

Khunjerab Pass has become increasingly accessible now. The construction of KKH and air service to Gilgit has resulted in an increase in the number of visitors, both foreign and domestic. With increase in access, the mountain pastures, valleys, and wildlife habitats, previously valued for centuries as grasslands and woodlands, have now become the objects of desire of a number of competing interests -- resort hotels, adventure tourism, big game hunting, mountaineering, and conservation organizations, to name a few. Each group is interested in maximizing its return from usage of the resources in the area. Khunjrab is losing its serenity in the process.

Tags: Travel , Khunjrab Pass