QUETTA: Ten coal miners were rescued on Friday after being trapped for 16 hours in a coal mine filled up with rainwater in the Duki area of Harnai.
Officials said miners were digging at a depth of 2,000 feet when rainfall flooded the mine, leaving them trapped.
Subsequently, a PDMA team of rescuers along with other miners launched an operation to and after night-long efforts they succeeded to rescue all the 10 miners.
Meanwhile, the inquiry committee assigned to probe the methane gas explosion in a Harnai coal mine in which 12 miners were killed, held mine owner and contractor responsible for the incident.
In its initial report, the committee recommended filing of a criminal case against them for their negligence. It also called
Probe committee recommends FIR against mine owner, contractor for Harnai tragedy
On March 19, an explosion of methane gas resulted in the death of 12 miners who were stuck deep inside the mine owned by a local coal company in the Zardalo area of Harnai.
According to the report submitted to the mines secretary, mining had resumed five to six months ago after a prolonged closure of the mine. For the mine’s examination and gas detection, the company hired a manager and overseer. However, both individuals were not present in the mine at the time of the incident.
Former Senate chairman Raza Rabbani on Friday said the Special Investment Facilitation Council was “infringing on provincial autonomy” by taking up education-related matters.
The statement comes a day after the SIFC convened a meeting to review a new education policy and deliberate on an “education emergency” proposal.
The SIFC was established in June last year under an “economic revival plan” devised by civilian and military leaders to capitalise on “untapped potential in key sectors” and attract foreign direct investment (FDI).
The then-cabinet had approved a number of initiatives, including proposed legislation for amendments to the Investment Board Ordinance to empower the SIFC to facilitate FDI.
In November, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had raised questions on the SIFC’s creation, advising Pakistan against creating a group of preferred investors or distortions in the country and to ensure transparency and accountability in its business deals.
Last week, newly appointed Education Minister Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui called for imposing an “education emergency” to address the issue of an alarming number of out-of-school children (OOSC) across the country. He had said that a national conference would be organised in collaboration with the SIFC.
On Thursday, the SIFC expressed concerns over the alarming number of OOSC in the country and called for urgent steps to formulate a comprehensive framework and strategy to address the challenge.
The meeting also discussed the proposed new education policy. Currently, the education policy from 2009, which is considered outdated, is in place. On the direction of SIFC, the education ministry has been working to prepare a new education policy.
Today, Rabbani condemned the SIFC taking up the question of OOSC and the education policy.
In a statement, he noted that the council had been created through a notification that did not “allow it to take up education or matters ancillary thereto”.
“Education is a devolved subject from the Government of India Act, 1935 but usurped by the federal government,” the former senator said. “The 18th Amendment, with the deletion of the Concurrent List, from the Fourth Schedule [of] Constitution, 1973, removed any doubts, if any existed,” he added.
“The SIFC is infringing on provincial autonomy,” the PPP leader said, asserting that if any coordination was required on the matter of OOSC, then the appropriate “constitutional forum” was the Council of Common Interests (CCI).
“The federal government can only take up the education policy to the extent of the federal territory and not the provinces,” Rabbani emphasised. “If any coordination in policy is required, the CCI is the constitutional forum and not the SIFC,” he reiterated.
The senior politician further stated, “The federal government must realise that Pakistan is a participatory federation under the Constitution and not a one (single) unit.”
New education policy
Education experts, who are involved in the drafting of the new education policy, had toldDawn that the new policy would focus on education participation, out-of-school children, dropouts, excellence, quality and relevance, and technology deficit.
They also said that new policy should also cover efficient education financing, national standards and strengthening of federal and provincial coordination, skills gaps and employability, and higher education. Sources said that the SIFC in a previous meeting suggested some valuable priority areas to be covered in the new policy.
This includes enrolling out-of-school kids, mainstreaming technical education, a focus on creativity and concept-based learning, uniform education, retaining dropout and out-of-school children into technical streams, inclusive education with special needs and requirements of gifted children, auditing of performance of teachers and schools, and introducing national curriculum into seminaries.
As per the officials, the new national document will focus on power learning and skills through technology, prepare youth for national and international markets, connect schooling and skilling, equip students with a “futuristic mindset” to tackle the problems of the future (climate change, food scarcity), and exams reforms.
The new policy will also focus on school structure, teachers’ career paths, certification, accountability, language, curriculum, assessment, and disaster risk reduction etc.
The National Education Policy 2009 is outdated and also has some anomalies, among them being the budget, which was set at 7pc of the GDP, whereas the country spends less than 2pc of the GDP on education.
During the tenure of the PML-N government from 2013-18, efforts were made to frame a new policy and its draft had also been prepared in 2016, under which nine new chapters were to be added. However, the government could not introduce the policy.
Later, when the PTI came to power, it also announced that a new policy would be introduced but it too failed to do so. However, it managed to introduce an education framework in 2018, which suggested feedback from the public before finalising the education policy 2021, which could not be introduced.
In August 2022, then-education minister Rana Tanveer Hussain told the National Assembly that the National Education Policy 2009 was still intact and work on developing a new policy had been initiated.
His soldier son toured Afghanistan with insurgents in his crosshairs, but American traveller Oscar Wells has a different objective — sightseeing promoted by the interim Taliban government’s fledgling tourism sector.
“It is a unique place, it touches my heart,” the 65-year-old Indiana farmer told AFP, praising “its magnificent mountains” with “people living in the old way”.
Marvelling at the 15th century Blue Mosque in northern Mazar-i-Sharif, Wells is among a small but rising number of travellers coming to Afghanistan since the war’s end.
Decades of conflict made tourism extremely rare, and while most violence has now abated, visitors are confronted with extreme poverty, dilapidated cultural sites and scant hospitality infrastructure.
They holiday under the austere control of Taliban authorities, without consular support after most embassies were evacuated following the fall of the Western-backed government in 2021.
They must register with officials on arrival in each province, comply with a strict dress code and submit to searches at checkpoints manned by men armed with Kalashnikovs.
Attacks by the militant Islamic State also still pose a potential threat within the country.
“The first thing your loved ones say is: ‘You’re crazy to go there!’” said French tourist Didier Goudant, a 57-year-old lawyer, of a country that Western governments warn against visiting.
Security concerns worried Nayuree Chainton, the 45-year-old Thai owner of a travel agency in Bangkok, who recently took a six-day trip with a group to test the waters.
“I feel safe despite the checkpoints in the cities,” she said during a visit to a shrine in the capital Kabul.
‘Sharing a good image’
The number of foreign tourists visiting Afghanistan rose 120 per cent year-on-year in 2023, reaching nearly 5,200, according to official figures.
The Taliban government has yet to be officially recognised by any country — in part because of its heavy restrictions on women — but it has welcomed foreign tourism.
“Afghanistan’s enemies don’t present the country in a good light,” said Information and Culture Minister Khairullah Khairkhwa.
“But if these people come and see what it’s really like… they will definitely share a good image of it,” he said.
But Wells and Goudant — on a trip with firm Untamed Borders, which also offers tours of Syria and Somalia — describe their visit as a way to connect with Afghanistan’s people.
Tourists “like us are curious and want to be in contact with the population, to try to help them a little” said Goudant, on his second trip, which included skiing in central Bamiyan province.
He said part of his visits is making donations to local groups, something he describes as “small-scale humanitarian work” in a country that has seen foreign aid drastically shrink since the Taliban takeover.
For Wells, there is a “sense of guilt for the departure” of US troops.
“I really felt we had a horrible exit, it created such a vacuum and disaster,” he said. “It’s good to help these people and keep relations.”
‘Bittersweet’
Untamed Borders brought around 100 tourists to Afghanistan last year, with a nine-day package starting in neighbouring Pakistan costing $2,850.
The end of the fighting means tourists “can do more things”, said founder James Willcox. “But on the other hand it is disruptive,” he added, noting a female tour guide with the company fled to Italy after the Taliban return.
While the Taliban government has shut girls and women out of education and much of public life, foreign women are granted greater freedoms.
For solo traveller Stefanie Meier, a 53-year-old American who spent a month travelling from Kabul to Kandahar via Bamiyan and Herat in the west, it was a “bittersweet experience”.
“I have been able to meet people I never thought I would meet, who told me about their life,” she said, adding that she didn’t face any issues as a woman on her own.
She experienced “disbelief that people have to live like this”, she added. “The poverty, there are no jobs, women not being able to go to school, no future for them”.
With little by way of official information, tourists band together on social media and messaging apps to trade tips.
While two airlines serve Afghanistan’s major cities, backpackers prefer buses and don’t shy away from the 20-hour journey from Kabul to Herat.
An active WhatsApp group named Afghanistan Travel Experience brings together over 600 people from places as far-flung as Mexico, India and Italy, who are already in the country or on their way out.
They pepper the group with questions, such as one from user Alberto asking if it is “haram” (forbidden) to travel with a dog, or if it’s a problem to have visible tattoos. Another named Soo, asked: “Is there a co-working space in Mazar “?
Header image: In this picture taken on March 25, Thai tourists pose for a group picture during their visit to the Kart-e-Sakhi Shrine in Kabul. — AFP
Pakistan and Afghanistan reached certain agreements during trade talks in Kabul, including beginning negotiations on a revised transit trade agreement and implementing a temporary admission document (TAD) for trade vehicle drivers, officials said on Friday.
Talks were held amid tensions following Pakistan’s March 18 airstrikes in Afghanistan’s Patika and Khost provinces in “intelligence-based anti-terrorist operations”, which Afghan authorities said killed eight people.
The Foreign Office had confirmed the strikes, saying they were aimed at the Hafiz Gul Bahadur group, which was responsible for multiple terrorist attacks inside Pakistan, including one on security forces in North Waziristan that martyred seven soldiers.
On Thursday, Foreign Office (FO) spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said in a weekly press briefing that Commerce Secretary Mohammad Khurrum Agha visited Afghanistan from March 24-27 to discuss bilateral trade and transit with his Afghan counterpart Nooruddin Azizi.
The two sides discussed a bilateral Preferential Trade Agreement, implementing a TAD for trade vehicle drivers, multimodal air transit and issues related to transit trade.
“We are encouraged by the progress made on these issues and remain committed to promoting trade and people-to-people ties with Afghanistan,” the FO had said.
Pakistan embassy officials in Kabul said today that progress was achieved on multiple issues — including a bilateral preferential trade agreement, air transit, the operation of border crossings 24/7 for trade purposes, addressing the issues in transit trade through Afghanistan and Afghan Transit Trade that passes through Pakistan.
Afghan charge d’affaires Sardar Shakib Ahmad rushed to Kabul to brief officials about his meetings in Islamabad. He met acting Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi and briefed him regarding recent developments in the relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan, deputy foreign ministry spokesman Hafiz Zia Ahmad Takkal said.
Pakistan’s head of mission in Kabul Ubaidur Rehman Nizamani said the visit of the commerce ministry delegation was part of Pakistan’s efforts to build strong ties with Afghanistan in transit, trade and all other mutually beneficial areas.
“I am happy to report that this was a successful visit and both sides have agreed to work together for mutual benefit in a number of areas,” Nizamani said in a video statement.
He said Pakistan and Afghanistan will facilitate transit and bilateral trade and take all possible measures to create an environment conducive to continuous and productive trade and economic relations between the two countries.
Secretary Commerce Mohammad Khurram Agha led the Pakistani delegation in the two-day talks with Acting Minister of Industry and Commerce Azizi.
Afghan government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said both sides agreed to discuss the Afghan-Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement (APTTA) and decided that a revised agreement should be finalised within two months.
The revised 2010 APTTA expired before the Taliban took control of Kabul in August 2021. Both sides had failed to agree on a new draft during the tenure of former President Ashraf Ghani.
Mujahid said it was also agreed that Pakistan would facilitate the transfer of goods from international containers to regional containers (cross-stuffing) in the ports of Karachi in the next six months.
An agreement was also reached regarding preferential trade, where both sides will give tariff preferences to 10 items of export goods, eight of which are agricultural and two industrial.
Furthermore, an agreement was reached on providing temporary free licenses for truck traffic over a one-year trial period, which will be implemented from May 2024 onwards.
Both sides also reached a consensus on the transfer of goods through both countries’ airports in the form of multi-modal air transit, which will start in the next two months.
As part of Pakistan’s recent measures regarding Afghanistan’s transit goods, it was agreed that within a week, the mandatory bank guarantee should be removed and insurance should be used as before. Necessary measures will be taken to remove other obstacles in consultation with the parties.
Both sides also agreed to abandon barter and establish and develop banking relationships. The export of coal from Afghanistan to Pakistan was discussed and the Pakistani side expressed its readiness to buy it at the international price.
Abdul Salam Jawad, spokesman for the Afghan commerce ministry, said: “We will take up the issue of a ban on several transit items. Pakistan has banned the import of certain items under the transit agreement.”
Pak-Afghan traders welcome agreements
Pakistani and Afghan delegates offer a prayer after agreements were reached on trade during talks in Kabul. — Pakistani embassy in Kabul
Pakistani and Afghan business leaders welcomed the agreements and said it would help normalise transit and trade relations.
Khan Jan Alokozai, co-chairman of the Pakistan-Afghanistan Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PAJCCI), noted that both countries reached certain useful agreements after a long time.
“There was a determination by both sides to bring transit and bilateral relations to normal. A review of the APTTA is an achievement. All problems have not been resolved but the agreements have paved the way for solutions to problems,” Alkozai told Dawn.com.
Highlighting that agreements were signed but sometimes were not implemented. “We will see if they are implemented, but I can say we are moving in the right direction.”
Ziaul Haq Sarhadi, coordinator of PAJCCI for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, was confident that the agreements would bring back nearly 70 per cent of transit trade to Pakistani ports, which had been shifted from Karachi ports to Iranian ports.
“Ending the condition of 100pc bank guarantee for Afghan importers, reviewing the negative list and imposing a 10pc duty on Afghan imports are key decisions to end hurdles in trade relations,” Peshawar-based Sarhadi told Dawn.com.
He also welcomed an end to the conditions of visas and passports for Afghan drivers and cleaners.
Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb on Friday expressed hope for reaching a Staff-Level Agreement (SLA) with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) by the end of the fiscal year (June 30), adding that there haven’t been any final discussions with the Fund yet.
The $3 billion standby arrangement with the global lender expires on April 11, and the two sides reached a staff-level agreement regarding the disbursal of the final tranche of $1.1bn last week. The minister has previously voiced the government’s intention to seek “larger and longer” bailout package from the IMF.
During the gong ceremony at the Pakistan Stock Exchange, the finance minister elaborated that the details of the deal would be discussed during the spring meetings in Washington where the delegation led by him would go around “14th to 15th April”.
The finance minister elaborated that they had requested to “enter a larger and longer programme” during the SLA discussions to which the IMF was receptive, adding that the size of programme hasn’t been decided yet.
“We need the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) to execute the structural reform agenda,” he said, “The operative word here is execution, not getting into debating clubs or policy prescriptions. We have known the what and the why for decades.”
Aurangzeb added that the request to enter the EFF will be further formalised in spring.
“But there hasn’t been any final discussion or agreement with them but it is our wish that by the time we wrap up this fiscal year, the SLA is reached,” he stated, adding that the previous SLA was important to ensure continuity of macroeconomic stability.
Over implementing the reforms, Aurangzeb elaborated, “And we have gone into the implementation stage in the last few weeks with a two-pronged strategy.”
“There is one short-term to medium-term [phase], which is closing the gaps, stemming the leakages and the losses,” he said, adding “And the second one is phasing in the structural reforms in the medium to longer-term.”
He gave the example of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR)’s challenge of stemming leakages: “We have the Track and Trace system — we have the functionality. [However], the implementation has been lax therefore the operational effectiveness is just not there.”
Regarding other leakages, he mentioned that roughly Rs1.7 trillion of litigation were languishing in tribunals, adding that in conjunction with the law minister and the attorney general for Pakistan (AGP), they have asked the tribunals to make decisions in the next three months for timely execution.
“Concurrently, we start bringing the undertaxed and untaxed sectors into the fold along with the digitalisation effort which has been done in some vertical,” he said that the end-to-end digitalisation was necessary to bring transparency and a “superior client experience”.
He said that would restore trust and confidence in this institution and also “deal with some aspects of the social contract”.
Trade with India not yet brought to the table
While talking to a group of reporters, the finance minister, when asked about decision regarding trade relations with India, stated: “I cannot comment on that, this is ultimately the prime minister, cabinet and parliament’s decision, but no such thing has come to my table yet.”
As for the FBR’s digitalisation agenda, Aurangzeb stated that the Request for Proposal (RFP) for a “world class consultant” would issued on April 8th and that the consultant hired would be someone who has experience in emerging markets such as Pakistan.
“God willing, by the end of April we will be appointing that consultant,” he said.
Previously, the minister had apprised the FBR officials of his top priority plan hovering around two pillars — documentation of the economy and end-to-end digitalisation of the tax system.
The Foreign Office (FO) said on Thursday that there was no doubt that Tuesday’s suicide attack in Bisham — which claimed the lives of six people including five Chinese nationals — was “orchestrated by the enemies of Pak-China friendship”.
The five Chinese engineers — and their Pakistani driver — were killed in the suicide bombing on Tuesday while travelling between Islamabad and a hydroelectric dam construction site in Dasu, in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The bus was attacked in the Bisham city of KP’s Shangla district.
The attack prompted China to demand a thorough probe into the deadly blast and security for its citizens. In response, Islamabad announced a swift probe to hold the “perpetrators and accomplices” accountable.
According to police, the bus was travelling from Islamabad to Kohistan when it came under the attack on Karakoram Highway. “It was a suicide attack on the Chinese convoy and an explosive-laden vehicle approaching from Kohistan hit the bus,” Bisham Sub Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) Juma Rehman told Dawn. SDPO Rehman said that following the attack, the bus caught fire and fell into the ravine.
“A huge amount of explosives were used in the attack, the force of which threw the bus into the ravine,” he said. The officer said that police cordoned off the area to collect evidence. “We have also collected body parts of the suspected suicide bomber from the site,” SDPO Rehman said.
Soon after the bombing, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif along with his cabinet members visited the Chinese embassy to assure Beijing about security for its citizens and promise a comprehensive probe into the suicide bombing.
On Wednesday, government reiterated its resolve to comprehensively combat terrorism by employing all resources available to the state and bring the perpetrators to justice swiftly. In response to the Chinese government’s demand to promptly investigate the incident and act against those involved, the government also decided to form a joint investigation team (JIT) to probe the attack.
Today, FO Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch addressed a weekly press briefing where she said that Pakistan was contact with the Chinese government regarding the “heinous attack”.
She said Pakistan was “fully committed to bringing terrorists, and their facilitators and abettors to justice”.
“Such despicable attacks further strengthen Pakistan’s resolve in combatting terrorism in all of its forms and manifestations,” the FO spokesperson said.
“Pakistan and China are close friends and iron brothers. We have no doubt that the Bisham terror attack was orchestrated by the enemies of Pakistan-China friendship,” she stated.
“Together, we will resolutely act against all such acts and forces and defeat them,” Baloch said.
“Pakistan will continue to work with our Chinese brothers in ensuring the safety and security of Chinese nationals, projects and institutions in Pakistan,” she said.
Deaths of Chinese prompt renewed anti-terror resolve
The commitment to eradicate terrorism was echoed in an emergency meeting chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. The high-level meeting was also attended by Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) Gen Asim Munir, federal ministers, all chief ministers, chief secretaries, inspector generals of the provinces, chief secretaries, and IGs of Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan.
It was decided in the meeting that the government would crush the resurgence of terrorism in the country at any cost.
According to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), PM Shehbaz offered his deepest condolences to the victims’ families and assured them that the perpetrators would be brought to justice.
The premier said the whole nation was saddened by the loss of Chinese lives and also gave instructions for a thorough joint investigation to be conducted, utilising all state resources.
“The acts targeting Pakistan-China friendship are particularly aimed at creating mistrust between the two iron brothers,” the prime minister was quoted as saying in the official statement.
During the meeting, Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Asim Munir reiterated the resolve of armed forces to eliminate the scourge of terrorism afflicting the country. Noting the recent surge in terrorist incidents, Gen Munir underestimated the resilience and grit of the state and the people of Pakistan“.
“We shall not leave any stone unturned to ensure that every foreign citizen, especially Chinese nationals, contributing to the prosperity of Pakistan, is safe and secure in Pakistan. We shall fight terrorism with all our might, to the very end,” he added.
UNSC condemns attack
The UN Security Council (UNSC) also urged all UN member states to actively cooperate with Pakistan and China in apprehending the perpetrators of the Bisham attack.
In a statement issued in New York on Wednesday, the Security Council members strongly condemned the “heinous and cowardly terrorist attack”.
The 15-state council, including the five veto powers, reaffirmed that “terrorism in all its forms and manifestations constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security”.
They emphasised the importance of apprehending perpetrators, organisers, financiers and sponsors of such reprehensible acts and ensuring their prosecution.
The council urged all states, in compliance with their obligations and relevant Security Council resolutions, to actively collaborate with the governments of Pakistan and China, as well as other relevant authorities, in this matter.
Brightly coloured pink buses, seldom seen on the roads of Karachi, are like a fragile thread suturing the wounds borne by women after years of transport woes and facing harassment on the city’s streets.
Emblazoned with logos of various brands, and loaded with women belonging to different classes and ethnicities, the dedicated bus service, comprising 18 vehicles only runs on three main routes — Model Colony to Merewether Tower, North Karachi to Korangi and Numaish Chowrangi to Sea View Beach.
The pink bus fleet is part of a public initiative called the Sindh Peoples Intra District Project launched in 2021. The two parties involved in this project are the Government of Sindh (GsS) and the National Radio and Telecommunication Corporation (NRTC).
The latter is the contractor responsible for the maintenance and operations of the buses and their depots. Meanwhile, the GOS provides the subsidies and logistical support to run the project.
A bus for their own
Sitting on a bench at a footpath, parallel to Shahrea Faisal — the major thoroughfare connecting almost all of Karachi — was Wajahat Fatima who has commuted via the pink bus every day since its launch last year.
Putting aside the book she had been reading for the past hour while waiting for the bus, she stood up with great difficulty and stepped closer to the edge of the footpath once the bus was in sight.
The bus driver parked close to the edge of the footpath as the conductor came out to assist Fatima climb the bus. She sat on one of the two seats allocated for disabled persons. “Ever since I got into an accident last year there has been constant joint pain in my leg,” said Fatima, who works at a shipping company.
She took out a small portable stool from inside her bag and set it on the floor to rest her leg on. Although it occupied space, none of the women standing inside the crowded bus seemed to complain; rather they made space for her.
“The bus has been a blessing for women like me who need to sit down, men in the other bus service [red bus] hog up the seats for the disabled and refuse to stand up, even though they are able-bodied,” she lamented.
While Wajahat chooses to wait for the bus, most women board any available.
“All the buses, whether pink, green, red, or white, provide the same comfort. It doesn’t matter which bus you get on, as long as you don’t have to wait on the bus stand for too long — that gets very uncomfortable,” Zareen Khan noted, as she awaited a bus that would take her from II Chundrigarh Road to Model Town.
As per the NRTC operator, Abdul Shakoor, the pink bus is running with a headway time of 30 minutes, which means that one should be able to get a pink bus every 30 minutes on its three routes.
However, it seems to be far from the truth. The author herself was unable to get a bus even after waiting for two hours, from 3:30pm to 5:30pm on the Merewether Clock Tower and II Chundrigar bus stop for four days in a row.
When Dawn.com asked Shakoor about the shortage of buses, there was no response.
Unfulfilled promises
When the bus was launched last year, women and urban planners talking to the author had pointed out how safety at bus stops would be essential in making transport safe for women. At the time, then managing director (MD) of the Sindh Mass Transit Authority (SMTA) Zubair Channa had said that the authority was working on establishing more bus stops and that they “have asked the authorities and are waiting for approvals”.
However, the situation seems to remain the same today.
People waiting for the people bus on the footpath near Karachi Press Club roundabout
The incumbent MD of SMTA, Kamal Dayo, told Dawn.com that the authority and contractors did build some stops but the cameras, benches, and lights installed were stolen by “drug addicts”.
“We asked the Karachi Electric (KE) for light connections at the bus stops, however, the response had been lukewarm. Hence, to solve that issue, we took connections from nearby installations,” Dayo said. This is, however, illegal and when the KE found out, they sent detection bills to the operator worth Rs0.2 million.
“We are trying to address the objections raised by KE. However, it takes months; until then the contractors, who invested money in building the bus stop, can’t stop running the operations; it would cause them huge losses,” Bashir Hussain, the SMTA Director Admin & Finance, pointed out.
Dayo said that another problem is that there are 17 land-owning agencies in Karachi, and to make depots on even one route, they have to take permission from several different authorities. “There are bureaucratic hurdles in getting the facilities to the public because each department has its own laws, rules, and regulations. There should be exemptions when you’re running public projects,” said the SMTA MD.
In the inaugural ceremony, there was also talk of women driving these buses.
Following that promise, six months on, a bus driver training programme was launched in which 12 women were trained to drive these buses. To date, however, no woman has been seen in the driver’s seat.
“Two of the 12 women we trained had a Light Traffic Vehicle (LTV) license and after the training, they obtained the Heavy Traffic Vehicle (HTV) license,” said Huma Ashar, the gender specialist at SMTA. To be able to drive a pink bus, women need a permanent HTV license. To obtain this, a person needs three years of experience driving an LTV, followed by three months on a learner’s HTV license.
Most women selected for training had no prior experience, hence, they were only given training on LTV licenses. However, as the women trained belonged to less-privileged backgrounds, they lacked access to driving vehicles in the first place. It therefore made it highly unlikely for them to have enough driving experience to apply for an HTV license.
The two women who have received a learner’s HTV licence are unable to drive the pink buses because the contractors are hesitant to put them on board as drivers.
“We are trying to convince the contractors to put them in the bus as co-drivers so they can observe, learn and practice but they [contractors] are reluctant to do so,” said Ashraf. He added that they will start training new batches of women from May.
Another problem for commuters who want to use pink buses is the lack of information.
While there is an app called the People Bus Service, developed by Kentkart, which gives information about the routes, closest bus stops, and tariffs, it lacks important features, as pointed out by users in the review section of the app on Google store, such as live tracking of the buses as well as specific information about pink buses.
Users also said that the option to buy tickets is unavailable online which they found inconvenient.
Cracks in the system
When the provincial minister for transport and mass transit, Sharjeel Memon added two routes to the pink bus in March last year, after the successful run of the bus on a single route, he said that they would add more in the future.
WOMEN wait for their turn to board a Pink Bus to be the first to use the women-only service in Hyderabad.—PPI
After that, pink buses were launched in Hyderabad, however, their operation quickly ceased due to a “lack of ridership”.
When Dawn.com asked Dayo about the lack of growth, he said that the ridership of the bus is very low — at only 1,800 per day — which makes it unsustainable for the operator.
“It is us who have forcefully told them to run the operations. Otherwise, it would have closed down,” Dayo noted.
Dayo’s statistics are, however, contradictory to those provided by the project director of NRTC, Sohaib Shafique, who said that the ridership of pink buses stands at 2,700 per day on weekdays and 1,000 per day on weekends. He added that for the whole of last year, they have worked on understanding the pattern on which women use the bus and in the future, they will incorporate the lessons learnt to improve the service.
For now, Shafique said that the cost is spread among and absorbed by the whole operation of Peoples Bus Service. Moreover, they have increased the headway from an initial nine minutes to 15-20 minutes.
“We will keep it running for the next 12 years with concessions from the government and in the meantime, figure out a way to run it sustainably without the GoS,” added Shafique.
One of the ways the contractors plan to make the operation sustainable is by introducing inter-feeder routes which means that the buses would go beyond the main arteries on which they are currently running, onboarding people who are far from the main roads.
“The connection will hopefully increase the ridership, making the service sustainable,” said the project director.
“We are also getting some non-fare revenues such as through advertisements on buses and bus stops, but it isn’t much,” he explained.
While the people running the operations are figuring out a way to keep the pink bus operational, daily commuters fear that the closure of the service will cause great problems.
“It would be hell to commute in the red bus; they shouldn’t even think about closing it down, rather they should put more buses in this fleet,” said Fatima.
For now, the service has run smoothly for a year. The speculation that it was a political gimmick seems to have lost merit as buses are still being seen on the roads even after the elections in which the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) won with a majority.
Regardless of whom it benefits and the popularity it has brought to the PPP, the pink bus has become a safe haven for women in Karachi, giving them the much-needed courage to step into the public after years of harassment and unwanted male gaze on the roads.
Header image: Pink bus — photo taken from Wikimedia Commons
