Designing Multilingual Classrooms: The Case of Tharparkar
Minha Khan
Stanford University


Urdu: National Language. Perhaps the most interesting finding was the strong presence of Urdu as an aspired language. Research suggests that native Sindhi speakers have a negative attitude towards Urdu because of the political history of the two languages (Siddiqui 2011, Akbar Zaidi 1991). However, not only did Urdu rank as the second language respondents most wanted to improve or learn, they also expressed a fondness towards the language. In a focus group conducted with Thar school teachers, they explained that Urdu was the national language and they were proud of it.
There are two possible explanations for the lack of tension between Sindhi and Urdu found in our research. Firstly, the works which claim that there is a tension between the two languages have used the method of historical and political analysis to define the relationship between the languages (Rahman, 1995; Akbar Zaidi 1991). The studies which claim tension between Urdu and Sindhi have been purely political and theoretical. My research adds a more personal angle to this debate but surveying individuals in the current era about their feelings towards both languages. It is possible that the historical and political stresses are now slowly dissolving as individuals are developing a sense of nationalism, or have the hopes of working with communities that do not speak only Sindhi. Articles published about the topic in the early/mid-90s may no longer hold true.
Secondly, it is also possible that the positionality of the researchers impacted the answers received (Appendix B). Some of the surveys were administered as an oral sociolinguistic survey for individuals who were not able to read the printed surveys. This means that the respondents were directly reporting to the researchers who were all from Karachi: a predominantly Urdu-speaking, urban city in Pakistan. The researcher effect may have led them to provide answers that the researchers “expected”. However, given the overwhelming favorable responses towards Urdu, and the comfort levels of the respondents during the oral surveys, we would argue that this is not the sole reason for Urdu being a highly aspired language.
Future Language Trends: Preferences of Parents and Employers. In order to understand the future language trajectory of the Thari people, we asked parents and employers how they envisioned the “languages of Thar in the future”. More specifically, we asked them what languages they would want their children to know and/or employees to be trained in. Figure 3 notes that the language of dominance remains English. However, there is also a strong presence of Urdu and Sindhi, along with some mention of Dhatki and Parkari, two tribal languages of Thar. This suggests that respondents want to hold on to their mother

بلوچستان: دیہی خواتین کا اسلام آباد سے آن لائن علاج

https://www.independenturdu.com/node/124601?utm_medium=Social&u...

ایک غیر سرکاری ادارے نے بلوچستان کے 14 شہروں میں ٹیلی ہیلتھ سینٹرز قائم کیے ہیں، جہاں دوردراز علاقوں سے آنے والی خواتین کا علاج اسلام آباد میں بیٹھے ڈاکٹر کرتے ہیں۔

بلوچستان کے ضلع موسیٰ خیل کے پہاڑی گاؤں لوغی سے تعلق رکھنے والی عمر رسیدہ خاتون بی بی سارہ اپنی حاملہ بہو کو شہر لائی ہیں، جہاں کے طبی مرکز میں اسلام آباد سے ایک گائناکالوجسٹ ان کا آن لائن معائنہ کرتی ہیں۔

روایتی بشتون لباس میں ملبوس 50 سالہ بی بی سارہ نے انڈپینڈنٹ اردو کو بتایا کہ ان کے گاؤں کے کلینک میں ڈاکٹر نہیں ہوتے بلکہ غیر تربیت یافتہ دائیاں علاج کرتی ہیں، جو ان سے پیسے بھی لیتی ہیں۔

انہوں نے مزید بتایا کہ ’یہاں ڈاکٹر بھی بڑی ہے اور پیسے بھی نہیں لیتے، علاج بھی بہت اچھا ہوتا ہے۔‘

بی بی سارہ ان ہزاروں خواتین میں سے ایک ہیں، جو علاج کے اخراجات برداشت نہیں کرسکتیں اور نہ ہی علاج کروانے کے لیے کسی متصل بڑے شہر کا سفر کر سکتی ہیں۔


بلوچستان میں دو ہزار کی آبادی کے لیے صرف ایک ڈاکٹر موجود ہے۔ اس خلا کو پورا کرنے کے لیے نیم سرکاری ادارے پیپلز پرائمری ہیلتھ کیئر انیشی ایٹو (پی پی ایچ آئی) کی جانب سے ٹیلی ہیلتھ سینٹر کا قیام عمل میں لایا گیا ہے، جہاں بچوں اور خواتین مریضوں کا وفاقی دارالحکومت اسلام آباد کے ماہر ڈاکٹروں سے ویڈیو لنک کے ذریعے معائنہ اور علاج کرایا جاتا ہے۔

مرکز میں کام کرنے والی ایل ایچ وی زرمینہ کا کہنا تھا کہ یہاں ان کے پاس گائنی، سکن اور دیگر امراض کے مریض آتے ہیں۔

’ہم مریضوں کی ہسٹری لے کر ڈاکٹر کو بھیجتے ہیں، وہ ادویات تجویز کرتی ہیں، جس کے بعد فارمیسی سے مریضوں کو مفت ادویات فراہم کی جاتی ہیں۔‘

ڈسٹرکٹ سپورٹ مینیجر پی پی ایچ آئی سید امان شاہ نے انڈپینڈنٹ اردو کو بتایا کہ ٹیلی ہیلتھ سینٹر کا قیام گذشتہ سال جون میں عمل میں لایا گیا، جس کا بنیادی مقصد صوبے کے دور دراز علاقوں میں لوگوں کو ان کی دہلیز پر طبی سہولیات فراہم کرنا ہے۔

انہوں نے بتایا کہ ’صوبے میں قائم 14 ٹیلی ہیلتھ سینٹرز میں گائناکالوجسٹ، ماہرامراض جلد، جنرل فزیشن اور دیگر ڈاکٹرز موجود ہیں۔‘

جنوبی پنجاب سے متصل ضلع موسیٰ خیل کا شمار بلوچستان کے ان پسماندہ و دور دراز اضلاع میں ہوتا ہے، جہاں کے لوگ صحت، تعلیم اور پینے کے صاف پانی سمیت تمام بنیادی ضروریات زندگی سے محروم ہیں۔

اس ضلع میں سڑک اور ٹرانسپورٹ کی سہولت کی عدم موجودگی کے باعث زچگی کے دوران اکثر خواتین دم توڑ جاتی ہیں، جبکہ نوزائیدہ بچوں میں غذائی قلت کی شرح بھی دیگر اضلاع سے کئی گنا زیادہ ہے، جس کی بنیادی وجہ غربت اور کم شرح خواندگی بتائی جاتی ہیں۔

Thar is solution to Pakistan's energy crisis, says Murad Ali Shah

https://arynews.tv/thar-solution-pakistans-energy-crisis-murad-ali-...

“Chinese cooperation has proved a landmark in power generation from coal deposits in Thar,” chief minister said. “Chinese companies are increasing power generation from coal in Thar,” he further said.

Pakistan facing a formidable energy crisis that has badly affected economy of the country. The government sees energy generation from massive coal deposits in Sindh’s desert district of Thar could address the country’s energy problems.

Sindh’s Energy Minister Imtiaz Ahmed Shaikh recently announced an additional 1320 Megawatt of electricity from the Thar coal power plant included in the national grid.

He said the trial run to generate 1320 megawatts of electricity from the Shanghai Electric power plant was started today. Meanwhile, 660 MW of electricity has been added from Engro and Hubco power plants.

Sindh energy minister, while talking about the full potential of the coal power project said that a total of 2640 MW of electricity will be supplied to the National Grid from Thar coal soon.

330MW from Thar coal added to national grid

https://tribune.com.pk/story/2393593/330mw-from-thar-coal-added-to-...

HYDERABAD:
Hub Power Company Limited (HUBCO)’s 330-megawatt (MW) power plant, fired by Tharparkar’s coal, formally started supplying electricity to the national grid on Friday in Islamkot. Inaugurated by the Minister of State, Mahesh Malani, this fresh addition of 330MW will take Thar’s coal contribution to power generation up to 3,000MW.

Mismanagement complicates Pakistan’s long recovery from deadly floods

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/mismanagement-complicates-pakista...


Fred de Sam Lazaro:

For decades, Karachi has been a magnet for migrants from conflict and climate disasters. Decades ago, it ran out of room. Dotting the city's outskirts are clusters of ramshackle dwellings. These have stood since the 2010 floods.

Less than a mile away, crammed under high-voltage power lines, a 2022 wave of settlers.

Sikhandar Chandio, Flood Victim (through translator):

When the water came, it came all of a sudden at night. We just managed to get out with whatever we could and had to abandon our animals.

Fred de Sam Lazaro:

Sikhandar Chandio and his wife, Sughra, were sharecropper farmers. They escaped with their four children, and were able to save one cow. They journeyed here on foot, which took a week.

Sughra Chandio, Flood Victim (through translator):

Everything was underwater. There were no facilities. There was no help, no food.

Fred de Sam Lazaro:

Today, they rely on a patchwork of charities, everyone overwhelmed by what U.N. officials describe as one of the worst climate disasters on record, slamming a country that contributes less than 1 percent of the world's greenhouse gases.

Shehbaz Sharif, Pakistani Prime Minister (through translator):

We have mobilized every available resource towards the national relief effort, and repurposed all budget priorities.

Fred de Sam Lazaro:

Pakistan took the lead at this year's COP 27 climate conference, helping to secure agreement on a loss and damage fund to help developing nations cope.

Just how those funds, if they appear, will be used is a concern.

Kaiser Bengali, Former Adviser, Pakistan Ministry of Planning and Development: But there is a fair amount of manmade responsibility for these floods, and politics plays a big part.

Fred de Sam Lazaro:

Kaiser Bengali was a government adviser during the 2010 floods, Pakistan's worst until 2022.

Kaiser Bengali:

I think it is also important to see how this fund will be utilized and how it will be implemented and whether the sociopolitical structures and the planning structures that need to be changed, made more effective happens.

Fred de Sam Lazaro:

The 1,800-mile-long Indus River, lifeblood of Pakistan's agriculture sector, has been extensively engineered with dams and canals, beginning during British colonial times and ramping up in the 1960s with loans and advisers from international lending agencies.

Has it been, in terms of food production, a reasonably good investment?

Kaiser Bengali:

Certainly. Lands where not even a blade of grass grew now produce two crops a year. It's just that one has to manage this better.

Ahmed Kamal, Chairman, Pakistan Federal Flood Commission:

Governance structure is not good.

Flooding triggers fresh migrations in Sindh
Thousands leave Dadu district as floodwaters surround Dadu city

https://tribune.com.pk/story/2376125/flooding-triggers-fresh-migrat...


KARACHI:
Thousands of panicked citizens have left a densely-populated district in Pakistan, following a fresh spell of floods, adding to the growing number of displaced people, officials and local media reported on Sunday.

The Dadu district of Sindh province has been surrounded by floodwaters, leaving only one passage for the residents to leave the city as the water level in Manchar Lake, the country's largest freshwater body, is continuously rising.

Gushing floodwaters have washed away the first defence line of the city – home to over one million people – forcing the administration backed by the army troops to strengthen the remaining embankments, local media reported.

Footage aired on local TV channels showed thousands of stranded people lodged in tents or under open skies along the main highway that leads to Hyderabad, the second largest district of Sindh after Karachi.

Either side of the highway could be seen inundated in floodwaters for miles.

Another footage showed hundreds of flapped citizens, on mini trucks, wagons, and auto rickshaws, leaving the city. Many others along with their livestock were also spotted trudging along the road under the baking sun.

The huge flooding also forced the administration to shift nearly 400 prisoners from Dadu district jail to the Hyderabad prison.

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah told reporters on Sunday that the rescue agencies are trying their best to save the city.

The recent downpours – 500% higher than average – and massive floods have left 125 million people homeless in Sindh alone, aside from causing a colossal loss of Rs350 billion ($1.5 billion) to agriculture and another Rs50 billion ($221 million) to the livestock.

The severity of the situation also prompted Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa to air dash to the literally besieged Dadu city on Saturday evening, directing the troops to accelerate the relief and rescue operations.

Library thrives in Pakistan’s ‘wild west’ gun market town
‘Men look beautiful with jewel of knowledge, beauty lies not in arms but in education’

https://gulfnews.com/world/asia/pakistan/library-thrives-in-pakista...

DARRA ADAMKHEL, Pakistan: When the din of Pakistan’s most notorious weapons market becomes overwhelming, arms dealer Mohammad Jahanzeb slinks away from his stall, past colleagues test-firing machine guns, to read in the hush of the local library.

“It’s my hobby, my favourite hobby, so sometimes I sneak off,” the 28-year-old told AFP after showing off his inventory of vintage rifles, forged assault weapons and a menacing array of burnished flick-knives.

“I’ve always wished that we would have a library here, and my wish has come true.”

The town of Darra Adamkhel is part of the deeply conservative tribal belt where decades of militancy and drug-running in the surrounding mountains earned it a reputation as a “wild west” waypoint between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

It has long been known for its black market bazaars stocked with forged American rifles, replica revolvers and rip-off AK-47s.


But a short walk away a town library is thriving by offering titles including Virginia Woolf’s classic “Mrs Dalloway”, instalments in the teenage vampire romance series “Twilight”, and “Life, Speeches and Letters” by Abraham Lincoln.

“Initially we were discouraged. People asked, ‘What is the use of books in a place like Darra Adamkhel? Who would ever read here?’” recalled 36-year-old founder Raj Mohammad.

“We now have more than 500 members.”

Tribal transformation
Literacy rates in the tribal areas, which were semi-autonomous until 2018 when they merged with the neighbouring province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, are among the lowest in Pakistan as a result of poverty, patriarchal values, inter-clan conflicts and a lack of schools.


But attitudes are slowing changing, believes soft-spoken 33-year-old volunteer librarian Shafiullah Afridi: “Especially among the younger generation who are now interested in education instead of weapons.”

“When people see young people in their neighbourhood becoming doctors and engineers, others also start sending their children to school,” said Afridi, who has curated a ledger of 4,000 titles in three languages - English, Urdu and Pashto.

Despite the background noise of gunsmiths testing weapons and hammering bullets into dusty patches of earth nearby, the atmosphere is genteel as readers sip endless rounds of green tea while they muse over texts.

However, Afridi struggles to strictly enforce a “no weapons allowed” policy during his shift.

One young arms dealer saunters up to the pristinely painted salmon-coloured library, leaving his AK-47 at the door but keeping his sidearm strapped on his waist, and joins a gaggle of bookworms browsing the shelves.

Alongside tattered Tom Clancy, Stephen King and Michael Crichton paperbacks, there are more weighty tomes detailing the history of Pakistan and India and guides for civil service entrance exams, as well as a wide selection of Islamic teachings.

‘Education not arms’
Libraries are rare in Pakistan’s rural areas, and the few that exist in urban centres are often poorly stocked and infrequently used.

In Darra Adamkhel, it began as a solitary reading room in 2018 stocked with Mohammad’s personal collection, above one of the hundreds of gun shops in the central bazaar.

“You could say we planted the library on a pile of weapons,” said Mohammad - a prominent local academic, poet and teacher hailing from a long line of gunsmiths.

Library thrives in Pakistan’s ‘wild west’ gun market town
‘Men look beautiful with jewel of knowledge, beauty lies not in arms but in education’

https://gulfnews.com/world/asia/pakistan/library-thrives-in-pakista...


Mohammad paid 2,500 rupees ($11) for the monthly rent, but bibliophiles struggled to concentrate amidst the whirring of lathes and hammering of metal as bootleg armourers plied their trade downstairs.

The project swiftly outgrew the confines of a single room and was shifted a year later to a purpose-built single-storey building funded by the local community on donated land.

“There was once a time when our young men adorned themselves with weapons like a kind of jewellery,” said Irfanullah Khan, 65, patriarch of the family who gifted the plot.

“But men look beautiful with the jewel of knowledge, beauty lies not in arms but in education,” said Khan, who also donates his time alongside his son Afridi.

For the general public a library card costs Rs150 rupees ($0.66) a year, while students enjoy a discount rate of 100 rupees ($0.44), and youngsters flit in and out of the library even during school breaks.

One in 10 members are female - a figure remarkably high for the tribal areas - though once they reach their teenage years and are sequestered in the home male family members collect books on their behalf.

Nevertheless, on their mid-morning break schoolgirls Manahil Jahangir, nine, and Hareem Saeed, five, join the men towering over them as they pore over books.

“My mother’s dream is for me to become a doctor,” Saeed says shyly. “If I study here I can make her dream come true.”

Bearing gifts: the camels bringing books to Pakistan’s poorest children
The mobile library services are an education lifeline for students in Balochistan, where schools have closed during the pandemic

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/apr/26/bearing-...


Sharatoon had wanted to continue her studies, but she had to leave school and her beloved books when she got married aged 15.

Now 27, Sharatoon is happy reading again, as every Friday a camel visits her small town, his saddle panniers full of books.

She has four children, the eldest is 11, the youngest 18 months, and she reads to them all, as well as to other children in the town.

Every week, when Roshan the camel comes to her home in Mand, about 12 miles from the border with Iran, in Pakistan’s Balochistan province, Sharatoon exchanges the books she borrowed for new ones.

“When the camel came to our area for the first time, the kids were very happy and excited. Schools have long been closed in our area due to Covid and we do not have any libraries, so this was welcomed by all the kids,” says Sharatoon, who uses only one name.

Balochistan is Pakistan’s most impoverished province, blighted by a separatist insurgency for the past two decades. With a 24% female literacy rate, one of the lowest in the world, compared with a male literacy rate of 56%, it also has the highest percentage of children out of school in the country.


Roshan visits four villages, staying in each at the home of a “mobiliser” such as Sharatoon, where all the district children aged four to 16 can come to read, borrow and exchange books with one another.

“Parents and kids are excited. It is giving hope to many that they can read, and the staff members also work on mobilisation so more outreach can be done,” says Fazul Bashir, a coordinator for the library.

When Covid closed the schools across Balochistan, two women in Mand – Zubaida Jalal, a federal minister in the Pakistan government, and her sister Rahima Jalal, headteacher of a local high school – came up with the idea of a camel.

“Actually, the idea of using camels comes from Mongolia and Ethiopia,” says Rahima. “It suits our desolate, distant and rough terrains. We have received an enormous response that we were not expecting.”

The trial of the camel library has gone well and it is about to begin its next three months of rounds.

Sharatoon says: “Kids are eagerly waiting; they want to read books and keep asking me [about it]. There should be more science-related books so our kids can learn by experimentation.”


The Jalal sisters say there has been a lot of interest in the scheme from other areas, and they have just started a library in the city district of Gwadar, Balochistan, with a camel called Chirag.

Anas Syed Mohammad is a 10-year-old 4th-grade student in the town of Abdul Rahim Bazar, about 30 miles from the city of Gwadar.

Since the camel library started visiting three weeks ago, Mohammad has read a different book each time. “I loved reading Khazane Ki Talaash (In Search of Treasure). I discuss these books with my friends,” he says.

Bearing gifts: the camels bringing books to Pakistan’s poorest children
The mobile library services are an education lifeline for students in Balochistan, where schools have closed during the pandemic

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/apr/26/bearing-...


Chirag visits five towns each week accompanied by his handler and Ismail Yaqoob, a volunteer and teacher. One day, when Yaqoob went to work in his school instead of the village, he got a call on his mobile from one of the children.

“He asked me why I had not come along with the camel. They were waiting for books,” says Yaqoob. “Children are so interested in reading and in their studies, but sadly the state does not invest in education.”

Jawad Ali, 10, who has ambitions to be a teacher, has also started borrowing books from the camel library. He says: “I am learning new things from these books and reading stories, understanding photo stories. But I want to read more books. The books are written in my native language – Balochi – but in English and Urdu as well. We want more books – and libraries and schools, too.”

69% Pakistanis feel that their children will have a better life than them in a global Gallup International survey in 64 countries

Figure in India is 43%

https://twitter.com/bilalgilani/status/1619768586276569088?s=20&...



https://www.gallup-international.bg/en/46667/fsdfdsfs/


The most positive country among those surveyed is Nigeria (90% minus 6%) and the most negative is Slovenia a (14% minus 53%). Among the prominent countries where GIA could poll, expectations for their children’s future are highest in Nigeria is followed by Russia (52% minus 10%), Mexico (48% minus 30%), the USA (43% minus 31%) and India (43% minus 33%).

When combining the two questions, another perspective is added. For instance, Moldova shows a total of 86 (45% saying that their live is worse life than the one of their parents plus 41% expecting a worse life of today’s children), followed in this negative ranking by North Macedonia (82: 35% negative assessments plus 47% negative predictions), Afghanistan (81), Syria and Italy (78), etc.

Most of the countries are still positive on both questions, but if one looks for instance for countries with both above 50% positive answers, Nigeria stands out with 171 (81% positive for today plus 90% positive for tomorrow), followed by Kosovo (162), the United Arab Emirates (150), Ghana (141), Pakistan (134), etc.

Findings are proved, confirming that developing parts of the world share more hope. National and political peculiarities leave their footprint but in general is seems that the closer the war and troubles are, the worse are the answers on both issues – as expected.

---------

Every second citizen (51%) of the world believes that their life is better than that of their parents. The other half of the people asked is equally divided between those who assess a worse life (23%) and those who find it the same (23%). 3% could not answer. Satisfaction with the living standard is a key factor for people to believe that they have a better life than their parents. But in some rich regions like Europe this is not so valid.

Expectations for the life of today’s children are predominantly good as well but lower than the comparison of own life to the life of the previous generation – 44% are expecting a better life for today’s children in comparison to our lives, 28% expecting a worse life, 20% expecting about the same and 8% not responding. Aged people are less sure about the better future of the next generation. More money unsurprisingly seems to result in more confidence in the future on a personal level, but on a national level countries that experience or used to experience difficulties are the ones to believe stronger in better future for the next generation. Unsurprisingly again.

A mobile library reaching children in remote villages of Pakistan
The camel library is a unique project to improve access to literacy

https://www.independent.co.uk/asia/south-asia/pakistan-library-came...

There is something special about the library in Tharparkar, one of the most deprived areas of the southeastern province of Sindh in Pakistan.

This mobile library was started almost two years ago in the village of Dhano Dodandal in the district of Tharparkar. It involves loading books onto a camel, which is then taken from village to village. Recently, the project has expanded to the another village, Sokliyo.


Mehdi Raza, who supervises this project in the area of Nagarparkar, says that Dr Asghar Naqvi of Karachi put him in touch with the educational NGO Alif Laila – who provided the team with books for children.

The camel library facilitates learning for children from village to village, without the need for hefty investment. Children not only read the books themselves but also take them to the adults in their homes, which furthers spreads awareness.

Children in the small village school look forward to the two days of the week when books are brought to them by the camel library.

Teacher Badal tells Independent Urdu he is happy that his students can access books in this novel way – and that the library is a helpful resource in their learning.

Pana Bhai, who is fond of reading, says she comes with the children of her village as soon as the camel library arrives.

Mehdi Raza explains that this service was started with just a single camel, but in the future it is hoped the project will be able expand further using more camels.

Pakistani PM inaugurates coal power plant under CPEC

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202303/1287903.shtml


Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif here on Wednesday formally inaugurated the Thar Coal Block-I Coal Electricity Integration project, an energy cooperation project under the framework of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

The plant, which was officially put into commercial operation in early February, has two 660-megawatt high-parameter coal-fired generating units, supported by an annual output of 7.8 million tons of lignite open-pit coal mine. It is capable of meeting the electricity demand of 4 million households in Pakistan.

Addressing the inauguration ceremony, Sharif said that it is a moment of great delight for the whole of Pakistan.

This was a desert region with the sand dunes only, the prime minister said, adding, "Now it has been transformed and industrialized."

It is producing electricity which is being transmitted all across Pakistan, bringing prosperity into the entire country, he said.

"This great project would provide a lot of boost to Pakistan's economy in the years to come," Sharif added.

On the occasion, Pang Chunxue, charge d'affaires of the Chinese embassy in Pakistan, said that Thar Coal Block-I would help Pakistan in reducing fuel imports, saving foreign exchange reserves, optimizing power supply structure and enhancing energy security.

"It has provided more than 18,000 direct employment opportunities for the locals, with a cumulative tax payment of 120 million U.S. dollars and corporate social responsibility expenditure of over 1.3 million dollars," said Pang.

Solar grids bring relief to Sindh
19-kilowatt mini-grids powered by solar energy installed in Ishaq Jokoi


https://tribune.com.pk/story/2411592/solar-grids-bring-relief-to-sindh


Indus Earth Trust (IET), an organisation promoting green energy, has provided a life-changing solution for residents of Ishaq Jokio, a small settlement in the Sindh province of Pakistan.

The 19-kilowatt mini-grids powered by solar energy have transformed the lives of people, who have been accustomed to enduring long hours of power cuts during peak consumption in summer.

“Villages were selected according to a needs assessment survey, while the villagers provided the land where the 19-kilowatt mini-grids were installed. In this hamlet caressed by the sea breeze from the Arabian Sea, panels bred prosperity,” reported the China Economic Net.

According to the State of Industry reports from the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA), homes consume 50% of the total electricity delivered, and this demand is largely driven by cooling and lighting. The demand is estimated to increase from 106 terawatt-hour (TWh) in 2020 to 234 TWh in 2030, representing a 121% increase due to the rise in temperatures from climate change.

Pakistan’s energy problems have been exacerbated manifold by the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the global supply crisis. Pakistan’s fuel import bill surged to $23 billion in FY2021-22, a 105% increase from the previous financial year. The country’s per capita annual electricity consumption of 644 kilowatt-hour (kWh) is among the lowest in the world, which is only 18% of the world average, 7% of the developed countries’ average.

However, Pakistan’s efforts to embrace photovoltaics at all levels have started to pay off. Pakistan imported about $1.2 billion in photovoltaic modules in the last fiscal year, and in 2022, China’s photovoltaic module exports to Pakistan reached approximately $870 million, with a total installed capacity of 3.2GW, a year-on-year increase of 54% and 37%, respectively, said Liu Yiyang, Deputy Secretary-General and Press Spokesperson of China Photovoltaic Industry Association (CPIA). The Pakistan Solar Association (PSA) forecasted that the country’s import demand for photovoltaic products this year will be around $1.8 billion.

“Pakistan’s Solar Energy Market is expected to record a CAGR of 2.5% during the period from 2022 to 2027, with Net Metering-Based Solar Installations and Power Generation growing by 102% and 108% respectively,” said a KTrade Securities analyst.

A World Bank study in 2020 urged Pakistan to urgently expand solar and wind “to at least 30% of electricity generation capacity by 2030, equivalent to around 24,000 MW.” This provides huge opportunities for growth as currently, as of December 2022, Pakistan’s total domestic installed power capacity is 43,775 MW, of which photovoltaic installed capacity is 630 MW, accounting for about 1.4% only.

China’s efforts are also reaching millions of households in remote areas in the form of micro-power plants. Out of the $144 million foreign investment in PV plants in Pakistan, $125 million is from China, accounting for nearly 87% of the total.

“Pakistan and China are a perfect match for collaboration on renewable energy (solar PV) as China is a globally known giant when it comes to renewable energy technology, while Pakistan needs to move away from thermal to renewable for power generation,” stated a KTrade Securities solar PV industry report.

Recently, the Pakistan Solar Association (PSA) sent an official letter adjuring the federal government to ask SBP and other commercial banks to help in the solar imports through an annual limit of USD 800 million at a time when Pakistan is facing a renewable energy sector that is growing rapidly. The letter also urged the government to take steps to promote local manufacturing of solar panels to reduce reliance on imports and create job opportunities for the local population.

Ambitious solar project to join string of coal plants in Pakistan’s Thar district

https://www.thethirdpole.net/en/energy/ambitious-solar-project-to-j...

UK-based Oracle Power tells The Third Pole about a new solar project in the Thar desert, where the company is already exploring coal, as locals express scepticism about tall promises

Millions of solar panels are set to be mounted upon swathes of soil in Block VI of Tharparkar district’s coalfields in Pakistan – news that is making waves locally. Located 380 kilometres east of Karachi in Sindh province, these coalfields are divided into 14 blocks, but so far work has only begun in blocks I and II.

“It will be the largest [single solar plant in Pakistan] by a single entity,” says Naheed Memon, chief executive officer of the UK-based Oracle Power, the mining company behind this much-touted one gigawatt (GW) project.

If completed, the project could significantly help Pakistan to achieve its goal of deriving 60% of its energy from renewable sources by 2030. However, this particular solar project is being built in the shadow of ongoing coal projects in the Thar desert. In fact, Oracle Power is developing both solar and coal in the province.

Thar’s coalfields cover an area of 9,100 square kilometres and contain over 175 billion tonnes of lignite – a poor-quality and commonly more polluting type of coal. These lignite reserves are among the largest in the world.


‘Greening’ the coalfields
The solar project’s pre-feasibility study was completed by PowerChina, a Fortune 500-listed construction group. According to an agreement signed between Oracle and PowerChina in April 2023, the companies will work together in conducting the project’s necessary surveys; it also allows PowerChina to help arrange project finance. Elsewhere, the agreement includes references to a green hydrogen production facility being jointly pursued, 250 km away from Block VI.

The agreement details Oracle’s initial technical plan for the 1GW solar project, which proposes that it be developed on the “peripheral land of the mining area, occupying less than 25 percent of the Thar Block VI, and generating power from the Thar desert from a completely renewable source”. It also says the solar plant will be “deployed outside the potential built up and impact area of any coal-related project in the future”.

“Solar in Thar is an important initiative,” says Cheng Qiang, a spokesperson for PowerChina. The company has completed one solar and 23 wind projects in Pakistan.

“We want to generate renewable power in the desert for other mining operations as well as the railway line that is in the pipeline; our solar project will offset carbon emissions from the coal that is being mined and used to fire the two power plants [in Block 2],” Cheng added.

We asked Azhar Lashari, research and advocacy coordinator at the Policy Research Institute for Equitable Development, to put PowerChina’s carbon offsetting claims into perspective: “The narrative of ‘offsetting carbon emissions’ is controversial. It is nothing but continuing ‘business as usual’ and ‘greenwashing’ on the part of banks, companies and corporations like Oracle and PowerChina. How can a solar project neutralise the carbon emissions?”

Ambitious solar project to join string of coal plants in Pakistan’s Thar district

https://www.thethirdpole.net/en/energy/ambitious-solar-project-to-j...

With a 30-year mining lease of Block VI, Oracle Power has wanted to set up a 1,320 MW coal plant since 2016, when this was included in a list of energy projects under the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). But this particular project has so far stalled due to financial hurdles.

Oracle’s Memon is adamant that the company is not turning its back on coal: “We are not abandoning hydrocarbons and our coal project is under development. We will complete it and are working with private investors.” Memon does concede, however, that financing continues to be a stumbling block.

The CEO also says that “dirty fuel cannot be eliminated completely” and that it “will be a gradual transition over the next few decades”. In the interim, she says, Pakistan is in “critical need of cheap, local, indigenous fuel-based power as base load, be it coal, oil or gas”.

Doing solar right in Pakistan’s Thar
“[Thar solar] will be an excellent opportunity for Oracle to diversify from its fossil-based portfolio,” says Haneea Isaad, an energy finance analyst at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis. She also says that solar will be valued by local communities and could increase the productive use of energy in the region.


But the 1GW solar project also brings with it the risk of negatively impacting local communities. The project will use a large area of land (around a quarter of Block VI’s leased 66.1 sq km) to put up around 1.52 million solar photo-voltaic panels. Despite Oracle’s agreement with PowerChina, stating that the project will be developed on “unutilized land”, Memon concedes that the solar project may mean relocating some villages. “Resettlement will be done in line with the government’s directions,” she says, with provision of “all the necessities of life, like drinking water, shelter for animals and fodder”. In some cases, Memon says low-cost housing will be considered.

Memon claims she does not know which villages could be relocated; Lashari finds this hard to believe: “Memon must know the number of villages and the population that will be displaced, because displacement and relocation is inevitable since this involves massive land acquisition.”

Lashari adds that displacement involves both physical dislocation and livelihood disruptions: “When [the communities’] land is taken away, some lose their only means of livelihood and some the only occupation they know. They also lose the nearby grazing ground for their livestock. Often the pittance some get in the form of compensation is unwisely invested and so they are poorer off than they were before.”

According to Akram Ali Lanjo, a shopkeeper in the Thar village of Kharo Jani, the local community’s most pressing need is drinking water for households and livestock. These desert families rely on groundwater, which has turned ‘very salty’. Lanjo told us: “If anyone can turn our salty water to sweet, our woes will be addressed to a large degree.”

Lanjo also says that, while the villagers have nothing against the development itself, they would never part with their ancestral lands: “We can lease it out, but never sell it. And we do not want to be displaced.”

Lanjo cites the example of the Sehri Dars village, which was “decimated”. Its residents were relocated to a new village with the same name, built by the Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company. Both Lanjo and Lashari claim that the displaced villagers are unhappy in their new location.

As for concerns around water scarcity, Memon had this to say of the project: “There will be zero consumption of water for the cleaning of solar panels, as we will bring in state-of-the-art automatic cleaning robotic technology, which will keep the solar panels clean and in optimum form for maximum power generation.”

Ambitious solar project to join string of coal plants in Pakistan’s Thar district

https://www.thethirdpole.net/en/energy/ambitious-solar-project-to-j...


Sindh government ambitions
Oracle is currently looking to bring in international financiers to invest in its Thar solar project, as the Sindh government does not have a direct incentive for such projects. Nonetheless, it is keen to get the project off the ground.

Imtiaz Ali Shah, director of renewable energy at the Sindh government’s energy department told The Third Pole, “We will facilitate and support this attractive green energy project in every way, but the company needs to come up with a solid purchase agreement, their guarantors, a final study and a firm strategy.”

However, Shah acknowledges that more needs to be done for those areas that are not on the national grid, or those facing power outages: “Tharparkar district is one of the remotest and least-developed. If all the power produced by Oracle’s solar project is used there, I would consider it a big success as it will better the lives of the locals.”

People from different companies come, do surveys, make tall promises, and never return
Akram Ali Lanjo, shopkeeper in the Thar village of Kharo Jani
Shah also hopes that the project will provide livelihood for the locals. Parasram Archand, a 22-year-old teacher in a private primary school in Kharo Jan, doubts this claim, because most of the local villagers are uneducated. “But they can do labour [at the site],” counters Lanjo, who himself remained in formal education until he was 13.

“We would ensure most labour is local,” adds Memon, “especially during the construction when the company would need up to 2,500 people. [This] will be reduced along the way to 700 to 1,000 during operation and maintenance.”

Lanjo admits to feeling hopeful when a team from the city first visited the village some months ago and talked of the potential for a solar plant. On the other hand, he remains sceptical: “People from different companies come, do surveys, make tall promises, and never return.”

Woman From Thar Passes CSS After Studying on YouTube

https://propakistani.pk/2023/06/21/woman-from-thar-passes-css-after...

Kiran Khatri, a resident of Mithi in the Tharparkar district of Sindh, recently achieved a remarkable milestone by joining the inland revenue service after successfully passing the Central Superior Service (CSS) exam.

In her own words, she holds the distinction of being the first woman from Thar to pass the exam and the sole Hindu girl from Tharparkar to accomplish this feat. She is the third Hindu girl from across Sindh to achieve this significant milestone.

Originally, Kiran had aspirations of joining the police, but she was selected for the inland revenue sector instead. Her training will commence in October, and she anticipates the substantial responsibilities that will accompany her new role.

Kiran completed her MBBS from Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences in Jamshoro in 2020. Following that, she pursued her house job at Civil Hospital, Hyderabad in 2021. Subsequently, she worked as a lecturer at Indus Medical College, Tando Mohammad Khan.

It was during her house job that Kiran became acutely aware of the challenges faced by doctors, motivating her to prepare for the CSS exam. Kiran diligently studied at home in Mithi, with the support of her father, who serves as a deputy director in the education department, as well as online classes available on YouTube.

Kiran utilized social media by curating her accounts to focus exclusively on CSS-related content. She is grateful for the support she received from her parents throughout her journey.


Tharparkar, the largest district in Sindh in terms of area, has a population of 1.6 million, with approximately half of the residents being Hindus. Within Sindh’s health department, Hindus represent around 30 percent of the medical staff, including a significant number of female doctors.

CPEC Results According to Wang Wenbin of China

https://twitter.com/bilalgilani/status/1677391745112477696?s=20

Bilal I Gilani
@bilalgilani
CPEC projects are creating 192,000 jobs, generating 6,000MW of power, building 510 km (316 miles) of highways, and expanding the national transmission network by 886 km (550 miles),” Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told reporters in Beijing."


Associated Press of Pakistan: On July 5, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif while addressing a ceremony to mark a decade of signing of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), said that CPEC has been playing a key role in transforming Pakistan’s economic landscape. He also said that the mega project helped Pakistan progress in the region and beyond. What is your response?

Wang Wenbin: The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is a signature project of China-Pakistan cooperation in the new era, and an important project under the Belt and Road Initiative. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the launch of CPEC. After ten years of development, a “1+4” cooperation layout has been formed, with the CPEC at the center and Gwadar Port, transport infrastructure, energy and industrial cooperation being the four key areas. Projects under CPEC are flourishing all across Pakistan, attracting USD 25.4 billion of direct investment, creating 192,000 jobs, producing 6,000 megawatts of electric power, building 510 kilometers of highways and adding 886 kilometers to the core national transmission network. CPEC has made tangible contribution to the national development of Pakistan and connectivity in the region. China and Pakistan have also explored new areas for cooperation under the framework of CPEC, creating new highlights in cooperation on agriculture, science and technology, telecommunication and people’s wellbeing.

China stands ready to work with Pakistan to build on the past achievements and follow the guidance of the important common understandings between the leaders of the two countries on promoting high-quality development of CPEC to boost the development of China and Pakistan and the region and bring more benefits to the people of all countries.

https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/eng/xwfw_665399/s2510_665401/2511_665403/2...