A Tribute to Shamim ur Rahman (1941 - 2012)

August 2012: Senior journalist Shamim-ur-Rahman passes away - He was like an Elder brother to me. A thorough gentleman. What a loss. He was Lovingly Called "Pappu". I met him during the second tenure of Mr. Nawaz Sharif in an State Function when Prince Philip of Great Britain on a Official Tour and I was on duty and out of no where Shamim Bhai approached me and asked "what is happening" I was amazed that a Senior Journalist would approach an Intelligence Officer and that too in a Public Function. I said to him, Sir, it wouldn't be advisable for any journalist to approach Spies and he laughingly replied "what's the harm in it" , you are doing your duty and I am mine and then he gave me his visiting card which is now a souvenir for me. We used to cover Sindh Assembly proceedings together from 1997 till the imposition of Governor Rule in Sindh and not even once he crossed his boundaries to appease me nor I crossed my boundaries to do him some favour (which is a norm in a Third World country i.e. links between Intelligence Agencies and Journalists for ulterior motives). I resigned from Intelligence Bureau in 2001 and he was bold and upright enough to honour me by inviting me in a function held in Karachi Press Club in memory of Late. Yasser Arafat (with whom Shamim Sahab was very close http://tribune.com.pk/story/424887/transitions-shamimur-rahman-journalist-who-once-interviewed-yasser-arafat-by-the-headlight-of-cars-passes-away-at-71/  . Another honour he bestowed upon a non entity like me, were his occasional posts for my humble blog.   (links are given below) Another interesting thing which I am still amazed at, was his signatures, once I was sitting with him he signed on some papers and his signatures were in a very artistic Urdu, I laughingly said, isn't it strange that you work in an English newspaper but your signatures are in Urdu. I don't know what happened to his book on Afghanistan on which he was working from early 2000. He was like an elder brother to me. May Allah Bless You Eternally Shamim Bhai - Rest in Peace. 

Peace be on you, O’ inmates of graves. May Allah forgive us and you, you have preceded us, and we are following. {Tirmidhi}.

“Peace be on you, O’ abode of the believing people. What you have been promised with has come to you. You are tarried till tomorrow and certainly we shall reach you if Allah wills. O’ Allah, forgive the inmates of the Baqi ‘ il – Gharqad. {Muslim}

KARACHI, Aug 22: Shamim-ur-Rahman, a veteran journalist and special correspondent of Dawn, died on Tuesday morning after a long illness. He was 71. Shamim-ur-Rahman was laid to rest in a cantonment graveyard in Block 17 of Gulistan-i-Jauhar. The Namaz-i-Janaza was attended by a large number of journalists and politicians, including PPP Senators Raza Rabbani and Saeed Ghani, JI chief Syed Munawwar Hassan, adviser to the Sindh chief minister Rashid Rabbani and Special Assistant Syed Waqar Mehdi. Mr Shamim is survived by his wife, two daughters and a son. Mr Shamim was born in Patna, India, on July 4, 1941. His father Shah Anees-ur-Rehman, who was a graduate from the Calcutta University, had died in India in 1947. Mr Shamim did his graduation from Karachi’s S.M. College and masters in international relations from the University of Karachi. Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah, a former chief minister of Sindh, and Javed Jabbar, a former federal minister, studied at the university at the same time. Mr Shamim started his career as journalist with the economic service of Pakistan Press Association. Before that he had also served for a short stint as a lecturer at Islamia College, Karachi. He also worked for Daily Sun, Karachi. But it was Pakistan Television where he was able to demonstrate his grasp over international affairs, covering the foreign office and later working as diplomatic correspondent. REFERENCE: Veteran journalist Shamim dies at 71 http://dawn.com/2012/08/23/veteran-journalist-shamim-dies-at-71/

Among his notable assignments was the 1988 Geneva conference on Afghanistan. Shamim-ur-Rahman also reported on some high-profile trials like those of Asif Ali Zardari and Nawaz Sharif. Since he was a cricket lover, the PTV sometimes assigned him to international events. In that capacity he reported on some major contests, for example a triangular series between Pakistan, South Africa and West Indies in South Africa during the early 1990s. After quitting PTV he joined the AFP news agency as its bureau chief in Karachi. He also worked for the UAE’s Gulf News before switching over to Dawn as its special correspondent in 1993. Mr Shamim was with this newspaper till his death. President Asif Zardari, Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, Jamaat-i-Islami chief Munawwar Hassan, Tehrik-i-Insaaf head Imran Khan, a number of other political leaders, and Zaffar Abbas, the Editor of Dawn, condoled his death. G.M. Jamali, president of Karachi Union of Journalists, appealed to Shamim-ur-Rahman’s family and to the management of Daily Dawn to submit his stories to his organisation so that these could be published in book form. REFERENCE: Veteran journalist Shamim dies at 71 http://dawn.com/2012/08/23/veteran-journalist-shamim-dies-at-71/

Battlefield City - Part - 1 (PTV 30 Jan 2011)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kn12VkussNc

Pakistan: A Republic without Attributes of Democracy by Shamim ur Rehman http://chagataikhan.blogspot.com/2010/03/pakistan-republic-without-attributes-of.html

Battlefield City by Shamim-ur-Rahman. http://chagataikhan.blogspot.com/2010/03/battlefield-city-by-shamim-ur-rahman.html

Battlefield City - Part - 2 (PTV 30 Jan 2011)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teTBPETb6nA

Imploding Pakistan! by Shamim-ur-Rahman http://chagataikhan.blogspot.com/2009/03/imploding-pakistan-by-shamim-ur-rahman.html

Balochistan: Nothing but provincial autonomy By Shamim-ur-Rahman http://chagataikhan.blogspot.com/2009/04/balochistan-nothing-but-provincial.html

Battlefield City - Part - 3 (PTV 30 Jan 2011)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDdEi3DExYE

DAM GOOD: Indus changing its course By Shamim-ur-Rahman http://chagataikhan.blogspot.com/2010/08/dam-good-indus-changing-its-course-by.html

Is it the point of no return? by Shamim-ur-Rahman http://chagataikhan.blogspot.com/2010/08/is-it-point-of-no-return-by-shamim-ur.html

Battlefield City - Part - 4 (PTV 30 Jan 2011)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AEndKNvces

Indus Saga: Modern Indus civilization devastated by floods By Shamim-ur-Rahman. http://chagataikhan.blogspot.com/2010/08/indus-saga-modern-indus-civilization.html

Thar Coal: Salvation Paradigm Edited by Shamim-ur-Rahman http://chagataikhan.blogspot.com/2011/05/thar-coal-salvation-paradigm-edited-by.html

Thar Coal: Salvation Paradigm Edited by Shamim-ur-Rahman

Long hours of load-shedding across the country tell all about our economy and management of the energy sector. If we take a holistic view of Pakistan’s energy crisis circular debt and the power crisis are interlinked issues that cannot be resolved unless all the stakeholders — consumers, power generation and distribution companies and the government — decide to firmly resolve them in a comprehensive manner. The problem of inter-corporate circular debt has turned out to be a chronic one. Pakistan is mainly relying on hydel, gas, furnace oil and nuclear sources for generating electricity. Despite plenty of sunshine and wind corridors the solar energy option is still being debated and the wind power turbines set up by a Turkish company are churning out only 7MW, though the potential in the Gharo corridor alone is said to be several thousand megawatts.

Pakistan, being an agricultural country, has also failed in harnessing bio-gas for power generation. The Alternative Energy Board seems to have been reduced to a mere debating society. Desperately looking for alternatives, Pakistan has negotiated deals with Iran for import of gas and has also signed an MoU for importing gas from Turkmenistan via Afghanistan. India is also part of the TAPI project.

But these projects have suffered due to lack of peace in Afghanistan and the polemics of the new Great Game in the region. In order to overcome this situation planners are also looking at options for importing LNG in the public and private sector. But will this be sustainable and affordable is the big question.

Frankly speaking, these projects may serve the country’s needs if completed, but they will increase the burden of foreign debt and turn the country into an energy corridor for international investors, whereas Pakistan needs projects that are based on indigenous resources to transform the region into a hub of pulsating energy and serve as a bridgehead for overseas investors to produce and export their products to the Middle East and other countries.

The country has remained deficient in supply to meet electricity demand and load-shedding has become a routine, which is seen as the only measure of the performance of the electricity sector. The current situation is certainly the worst of all times.

Due to long hours of supply cuts, the effect has been devastating on all sectors of the economy.

Since electricity availability is a major driver of overall economic growth, it is no surprise that economic indicators also reflect dismal performance.

Pakistan’s major problem has been the reliability of the energy source owing to which uninterrupted power supply to consumers has remained a big issue. Except for making statements the decision makers have not taken timely corrective measures, owing to which seasonal outages have badly hurt the country’s economy.

Suffering from enormous problems due to pressure on hydro sources and inability of the government and other stakeholders to pay for imported fuel and depleting sources of gas is mind boggling, Pakistan has lagged far behind in developing hydroelectric sources due to politicisation of the issue and lack of will, which apparently got subverted by a strong oil lobby in the country.

Experts believe that a way out of the present crisis for Pakistan is to have a “comprehensive energy policy focussing on affordability and reliability.” They are of the view that Pakistan’s energy plight cannot be overcome unless decision makers act prudently and opt for the least-cost option.

Experts believe that only abundantly available indigenous resources will extricate Pakistan from the energy crisis. Pakistan’s effective power generation capacity is 14,000MW and is expected to increase to 26,000MW by 2020. An additional 12,000MW are required by 2020, 1,000MW are expected from hydro-power (Neelum-Jhelum), 2,000MW from gas/RFO projects (new IPPs), and 500MW from Renewable Energy, 500MW from nuclear power, and 1,000MW from revamping old plants (Guddu etc). For the remaining 7,000MW, there are only two options: imported fossil fuels or Thar coal. (Source: Ahmad Mansoor, Engro Power Gen.)

Diamonds in the rough?

Pakistanis are perhaps all too familiar with the term power crisis. To us, these are not mere words but a stifling, suffocating reality that manifests itself through lengthy electricity breakdowns and hours of all-enveloping darkness. Whether it is the domestic user sweating away without power in the sweltering summer or the industrialist counting his losses due to the closure of his units, all strata of Pakistani society are affected by the power crisis. Hence whenever there is talk of a possible solution to resolve this crisis, people are all ears. Several solutions have been proposed, including building more dams and tapping nature’s inexhaustible fuel source in the form of renewable energy. Another proposed suggestion to help ease Pakistan’s power woes has been to exploit the hitherto untapped treasure lying under the sprawling sands of the Thar desert: coal.

In Thar Coal: Salvation Paradigm, senior journalist Shamim-ur-Rahman has collected and edited a set of essays focusing on the power crisis in general and discussed the potential use of Thar coal for power generation in great detail. Stakeholders as well as experts in the field have contributed to the analysis.

In Pakistan, the problem appears to be with the fuel mix. There is a shortage of local natural gas (which accounts for 32.4 per cent of the fuel mix as per 2008-09 figures) while oil (35.5 per cent) is not only imported, its price fluctuates quite a bit, posing issues of affordability. The hydel source (30.3 per cent) depends on the vagaries of nature while the share of nuclear power is negligible. Renewable energy barely figures. Hence, there is a need for an affordable and reliable indigenous fuel source. The book argues that Thar coal is that source.

It is stated that the Thar coal reserves amount to 175 billion tons. If compared to oil, this staggering figure is supposedly “more than the oil reserves of Saudi Arabia, Iran, UAE and Iraq combined”. This, according to Dr Samar Mubarakmand, who authored the chapter “Pakistan’s Energy Scenario”, can generate 50,000 megawatts for 800 years.

In an energy-starved country like Pakistan, these figures are incredibly tantalising. Even if a significant fraction of the above amount is produced, it can go a long way in ending the crippling stranglehold of power shortages.

The government has already initiated projects to explore the potential of tapping Thar coal. However, traditional bureaucratic lethargy seems to be affecting these projects. The short-sightedness and complacency of successive governments has brought us to the precipice at which we stand today. Therefore, there needs to be a thorough debate at the national level about the potential of Thar coal as a dependable fuel source. Once this debate has reached a conclusion, if it is found feasible than all efforts should be made to exploit Thar coal in the shortest possible time.

While Thar Coal: Salvation Paradigm adds valuable insights to the debate, it could have done with tighter editing in some parts. It would also have benefited from greater focus on the environmental impact of producing power from coal, a topic only briefly touched upon. Overall, the book is a timely effort and those in decision-making capacities might want to consult it in order to help evolve a long-term strategy to extricate Pakistan from the clutches of the power crisis. REFERENCE: non-fiction: Diamonds in the rough? Reviewed by Qasim A. Moini | Inpaper Magzine Yesterday The reviewer is a Dawn staffer http://www.dawn.com/2011/05/29/non-fiction-diamonds-in-the-rough.html

Thar Coal: Salvation Paradigm (DEVELOPMENT)

Edited by Shamim-ur-Rahman

Al Hasan Academy, Karachi

ISBN 978-969-8467-51-7

120pp. Price not listed

Courtesy: Daily Dawn

URL: http://www.dawn.com/2011/05/29/excerpt-3.html

Mr. Shamim-ur-Rahman is a Senior Correspondent with Daily Dawn - Pakistan.

http://shamimurrehman.blogspot.com/