SOMALIAN PIRACY - A GLOBAL SCOURGE

Violent acts of piracy off the coast of Somalia and the Gulf of Aden have spiraled out of control into the Arabian Sea and the entire Indian Ocean. Never in history has such a vast sea area been ceded to armed criminality. Urgent multi-lateral action is required by all governments to take necessary steps to stamp out this unlawful scourge. 

The threat to the flow of world trade is unprecedented, throttling the Suez Canal routes as well as oil flows out of the Middle-East Gulf  ( 40 percent of ship borne oil passes through this area). Ship owners are continuously reassessing their options. Recent reports indicate that piracy is already costing the global economy a astounding    $7-12 billion annually.

Presently, more than 35 ships are being held captive for ransom with a shocking total of almost 800 seafarers held hostage. The human cost to the captive seafarers held in appallingly stressful conditions - including physical torture and psychological harm - cannot be adequately calculated. The stark figures do not include the much greater number of seafarers facing gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades as they skillfully evade capture in the face of increasingly determined and aggressive attacks. Loss of life has already occurred and more is inevitable. 

A significant number of warships and other military assets have been deployed to the region. These efforts are deeply appreciated but, in the face of the current escalation of piratical activity, and particularly with the escalating use of captured merchant vessels as mother ships to extend the pirates’ reach and capability, these naval forces are simply insufficient in the vast expanse of the Indian Ocean. There is an urgent need to return law and order to one of the most vital intersections of trading routes in the world. The world economy is threatened and human lives are at risk.

I am reaching out to the global governments to take necessary steps for elimination of piracy at sea and shore by:

o    Reducing the effectiveness of the easily-identifiable mother ships

o    Authorizing naval forces to hold pirates and deliver them for prosecution and punishment

o    Fully criminalizing all acts of piracy and intent to commit piracy under national laws, in accordance with their mandatory duty to co-operate to suppress piracy under international conventions

o    Authorizing naval forces to take action against pirates and their equipment ashore

o    Increasing naval assets available in the Indian Ocean

o    Providing greater protection and support for seafarers

o    Tracing and criminalizing the organizers and financiers behind the criminal networks

Let us hope for the brightest of outcomes.

Tehsin Shah

LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT - A TRIBUTE TO A MOTHER

A tepid daybreak heard the ear-piercing cries of a new-born. The most auspicious and heart-warming aurora for a mother had finally dawned, following the excruciating birth process and the prenatal period which only and only a MOTHER can bear. The unbreakable bond between a mother and a child was established the moment my infantile eyelids flipped open and acknowledged those beautiful and unforgettable eyes gazing upon me with love and fervor beyond anyone’s comprehension. Yessssssssssss ! That is precisely what love at first sight is. Don’t you agree ? I know you all do. Apart from God Almighty, she is the only entity whom we would turn to, whether it be a time of high spirits or a feeling of thoughtful sadness.

From the day I gained consciousness (and even before that) I have found my mother occupied with our rearing and continuously engaged in household chores, working like a trojan, incessantly. I cannot recall a period when she took a break for herself and watched some television at a stretch. Nor can I remember of a time when she expressed her feeling of going out with us for recreation and entertainment. Her unrelenting attitude in bringing up her family is strikingly noteworthy (I know, I know, the appropriate word should be praiseworthy but mere praising definitely does not suffice the unlimited perseverance which a mother exhibits in raising her children and making sure that everything in her house is maintained in a ‘prim and proper’ manner). In other words, a mother’s dutiful nature towards her family is a profound one and cannot be simply put into words.

I would totally concur with the following famous quotation by Mildred B. Vermont;

“Being a full-time mother is one of the highest salaried jobs in my field, since the payment is pure love.” 

She made sure that we were bred with the finest of education with the ultimate never-dying hope of seeing our well-settled lives (though I have never lived up to her sincere expectations which is a lack on my part only). She has undoubtedly delivered the best of the best mother in her. The balance that she has maintained between her children, her loving husband and the in-laws is laudable, beyond any doubt.  I have over-grown her height and crossed the 30-year mark now, but the amount of love and affection she carries for me never depletes. While I am at work, over-occupied with the job, seldom do I call her and inquire about her health. But she never sleeps nor does she forget to make calls at regular intervals during the day, anxious to know how her son is doing.

The punching of keys could go on uninterruptedly as there is unlimited stuff to put down in black and white about this angel blessed upon us and whenever I ponder over the toiling life that she has led, the ocular senses start brimming with tears. I cannot be thankful enough to Almighty God for bestowing us with such a wonderful gift called MOTHER, the replica of which could never ever be found in the distant and ever-expanding universe. She is always there to listen to our heart, always there to make us happy, always there to rectify and hide our mistakes, always present to share and cut-down our depression and most importantly always there to change our diapers. A perfect one-window solution to all the problems we face.   

It has been so beautifully put by the last messenger of God, the Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H) as under;

“Heaven lies beneath the feet of mother.”   

Kudos to all the mothers out there.

Loads and tons of love and affection.

Tehsin Shah

Karachi – Pakistan

Dec, 2011 

BREAKING THE NORMS

Iphone, iphone, iphone. The word continuously echoed through my auditory faculty as I stepped out of the electronic ‘fish’ market where the only device that the visiting customers craved for was the attention-grabbing machine called the “I-phone”. Certainly, the multimedia smartphone produced and developed by Apple Inc, has bewitched the masses with a spellbinding effect. This marvelous piece of creation, or innovation I must admit, has definitely captured the cell phone market at large (consumers and re-sellers alike). Although, devices by other known giants of the industry such as Nokia and Samsung do have their own distinct class and continue to have a deep impact on our grey matter in terms of usage and user-friendliness, the monopoly enjoyed by them has evidently experienced a steep decline in recent years, since the Iphone meteor entered the global  atmosphere of cellular gadgets and commenced grabbing its share of the market, instantaneously. Since the release of the first generation iphone on June 29, 2007 in the US of A, the development that followed was by leaps and bounds, as the latest generation of this awe-inspiring device (i5) is imminent. Beware ! The i5-tsunami is expected to hit the cellular shores any day. 

Enough of this inspirational talk praising a dumb servant merely following cutaneous and vocal instructions (although indubitably an extremely intelligent software). Let me throw some light over the commendable works of an individual pioneering the i-technology, who really deserves the credit and laid the foundation not only for the future mouth-watering i-products but also the astounding era of next-generation graphical animation. Yes ! you are already aware of the notable name of Steven Paul Jobs, the co-founder of Apple, Inc who recently passed away, depriving Apple Inc of such a valuable treasure and leaving the i-fraternity in a melancholy state. Perusing the biography of this unique individual, I was taken by surprise when my ocular senses came across the fact that Steve Jobs dropped out after the first semester of his graduation and travelled to India to study eastern religions.  After about seven months harsh and hectic journey through the roughshod  Indian plateau, a spiritually cleansed and soul-hardened Jobs returned to the USA. Upon his return, Jobs rekindled his friendship with high school mate Steve Wozniak who was working at Hewlett-Packard then. Together, the two Steves launched a startup called Apple Computer from Jobs' garage in Palo Alto, California, which was to later become Apple, Inc and conquer the world of graphical animation and cellular technology.

But lets not digress from our topic, as a plethora of his biographies are available on the internet with easy access. The crux of this composition is to honor the achievements that Jobs attained starting from a very young age. It would be very pertinent to mention one of his famous quotes here;

“I was worth over $1,000,000 when I was 23, and over $10,000,000 when I was 24, and over $100,000,000 when I was 25, and it wasn’t that important because I never did it for the money.”

Another quote which definitely serves as a source of inspiration is as under;   

“Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me … Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful… that’s what matters to me.” as quoted in The Wall Street Journal (Summer 1993)

Despite a chronic ailment which lasted for several years, Jobs led Apple with a perseverant determination and continued to inspire the world with his innovative ideas. The life achievements  of a person of this magnitude has indubitably left an indelible mark on the present generation of cellular and graphical technology and would continue to do so for the next several hundred centuries.

Tehsin Shah, Karachi - Pakistan

E-COMMUNICATION : MIND-BOGGLING EVOLUTION

“Yes Sir, the email to all the queries put forward by the client has been delivered. I am expecting the response any SECOND.” I said to my General Manager as he inquired about the progress on one of the projects under my jurisdiction. That’s just a speck of the awesome revolutionary era of mind-boggling and light-speed e-communication that has rendered the earlier modes of communication archaic.

Gone are the days when protracted intervals used to be an element of communication between two ends. The rapidly evolving world has come a long way from the earliest forms of human interaction to the first mechanical computing machine by Sir Charles Babbage to today’s mesmerizing laptops, iphones, blackberrys and tablets. It would be quite pertinent to state here that today’s implausible gizmos and gadgets of communication seen ubiquitously and utilized by the masses have truly transformed our cosmic planet into a global village. We barely have time to pause and observe these days on how far communications technology has progressed. Within a blink of an eye, we have transitioned from email to chat to blogs to social networks and more recently to Twitter. The ever changing era of electronic communication has become an integral part of almost everyone'.

Yes ! Almost everyone. Cellular communication, say, has recently become so easy-on-the-pocket that even a hawker has a mobile at his disposal. Believe me that the Teen dabbay wala bhoosi tukday wala who once used to (and still though) roam the streets under the sweltering heat has his cell number published on the web. Easy accessibility and connectivity. Is it Not? Holographic projection and gesture detection (as shown in the sci-fi movies nowadays) are some of the soft tools of communication that would be in use in early 2030s as stated by the Consumer Xperience Design (CXD) team with members from around the globe, including China, Korea, North America, Latin America and the UK who have sketched their visions of how we would ‘get in touch’ and make the communications experience more interactive, in the not-so-distant future. Cell phones and PCs are increasingly being woven into a global grid of computers wirelessly connected to the Internet.  I would definitely agree with the predictions made by Raymond “Ray” Kurzweil, an American futurist. In that he has envisioned a $1,000 personal computer carrying as much raw power as the human brain. Wow ! Now that’s some noteworthy evolution of technology. Imagine the evolution which we would experience in e-communication, accordingly.

With the recent explosion of mobile devices, the communication game has again seen a dynamic change. While with traditional computers instant reach-ability was not always possible, mobile devices eliminate this gap. There has been an explosion of chatting and twittering on cell phones, proving that real-time communication is what people crave.  And these are only some of the changes we are seeing now. There will be unanticipated and ripple effects we can't imagine. For example, will electronic mail become a bulwark to avoid communications or confrontations that might be better resolved in person? Will managers find themselves traveling more in order to gain the personal touch with members of distributed workgroups? How will organizations prepare themselves for this increased level of participatory constituent interaction? We are witnessing a breathtaking evolution of new forms of digital communication. More than witnessing, we are facilitating it. All of this is unfolding so quickly that we do not have time to pause and reflect on what is happening. What really different and new forms of communication are we going to see next? I am leaving this as an open question and invite readers to comment.

Tehsin Shah - Karachi  

PAKISTAN FLOODS 2010 - A CATACLYSM FOR THE FRAGILE ECONOMY

Floods are undoubtedly nature’s scathing catastrophe whose devastating impact on a country’s economy is long-lasting. They trim down the national income and economic opportunities in any nation whether developed or passing through the developing phase. Floods cause many disasters to land, property and people. The destruction they cause upon the crops and livestock limits or completely eliminates their contributions to the economy. They also destroy road and railway networks in the affected area which consequently affects the transportation of goods and people in an adverse manner. This causes the economy to suffer. They obliterate buildings, factories, warehouses etc which often results in closing down of work in these places due to which not only the common workers suffer but also the industries endure. Also, the government has to invest huge amount of funds and manpower in rehabilitation of people and industries, which also causes the economy to suffer at the national level.

Following simple example would illustrate an off-putting impact of floods on the economy. 

"Destruction brought upon the rice crops results in shortage of rice supply in the market. Consequently, an exorbitant increase in the subject crop’s prices would be experienced."     

Although the above mentioned example does not portray the large-scale damage caused by floods to the economy, it does provide a basic notion of how this natural cataclysmic event could possibly have far reaching grave consequences in the short run as well as the long run.       

The floods that wreaked havoc on the northwest province of Khyber Pukhtunkhawa and displaced more than a million people are testing an administration heavily dependent on foreign aid and which has a poor record in crises management -- whether fighting Taliban insurgents or easing chronic power cuts. National Disaster Management Authority reported the number of people affected so far at 12 million, with 650,000 homes destroyed over some 132,000 square kilometers. The official death toll is 1,600 and rising. Hundreds of thousands of people are still stranded without shelter or supplies of food and clean water.

It is quite apropos to mention here that these floods have caused losses both to the GDP and to the capital stock and has thus hampered the growth potential of our country. Economic hardships are being faced due to for e.g. temporary decline in tourism, rebuilding costs, food shortage leading to price increase etc, especially to the poor. Moreover, these losses would unfortunately also have long-term impacts on the macro-economy which would be two-fold :

o     Capital damages induce a lower GDP in subsequent years to the extent of investment losses; and

o     Output losses (caused during the flood-affected year of 2010) lower incomes and possibly, reduce savings available for financing investments.

According to the Associated Press of Pakistan Corp (APPC) which is our country’s premier news agency, the ravaging floods have inflicted a loss of Rs. 35 billion on agricultural sector of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province as standing crops of maize, rice, sugarcane, fruit orchards and vegetables on 470,000 acres have been washed away. The worst-ever floods in the history of Pakistan, following heavy monsoon rains, which have left more than three million people without food or shelter, have exacerbated the economic situation. The damage to crops, supply disruption of essential food commodities and the impact of reconstruction and rehabilitation costs on government finances have significantly increased inflation risks. Inflation in June 2010 stood at 12.69 percent in Pakistan. Average inflation in the year starting July 1, 2010 may be as high as 12 percent. The rising prices threaten to amplify misery in a country where many residents were already struggling with poverty and food insecurity before the worst flooding in Pakistan's history struck in July, 2010, killing 1,600 people and leaving millions more begging for help. The prices of basic items such as tomatoes, onions and potatoes have in some cases quadrupled in recent days, putting them out of reach for many Pakistanis who have been struggling to make ends meet even before the floods hit.

Determining the overall costs of the floods will not be possible until relevant authorities survey areas where the floods have swallowed up entire villages. But the disaster is likely to have a crippling effect on the economy. At least 1.3 million acres of crops have been destroyed in the Punjab agricultural heartland alone.

Taking into account share prices, stock rates of major companies have fallen at the Karachi Stock Exchange as investors hungrily sought news about the fury of the floods endangering major companies of the fertilizer, cement, oil & gas exploration and refineries. Following heavy rains and flash floods, the mighty waves of the world’s best river network tore through the ancient shrines and city of Kot Addu in Sindh after inflicting incalculable loss to life, property and human misery in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab.

Let us peruse the reception of foreign aid in the form of emergency aid and relief operations from across the globe.  In a statement released by Saudi Arabia, the government announced the establishing of an air bridge to ferry relief supplies to Pakistan. In total Saudi Arabia has allocated US $100 million for the relief operation. The Chinese government announced that it would provide emergency aid worth 10 million Yuan ($ 1.5 M) to help the flood victims. The Australian government announced a A$5 million aid package, including A$2 million of humanitarian assistance and a further A$3 million to assist with recovery and rebuilding. Denmark has contributed 10 million DKr. The Canadian government also announced that it would donate $2 million worth of emergency aid.

United States of America has promised a meagre amount—lifting the initial pledge of $US 10 million to just $US 25 million. By contrast, the US Congress has recently approved an additional $60 billion for military operations in neighboring Afghanistan - A fact to ponder upon.

The latest disaster faced by Pakistan is another tragic demonstration of the incompatibility of the profit system with the basic needs of ordinary working people. The only solution is an internationalist and socialist one—the independent mobilization of workers in Pakistan and throughout South Asia and the globe to eradicate capitalism and replace it with a planned socialist economy that will consciously allocate the resources necessary to minimize the impact of natural events such as floods and earthquakes.

Tehsin Shah
Sept, 2010