Visit To Soan Sakesar Valley

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Islamabad Dated: 16^th of March, 2010

OUR TRAVEL TO BEAUTIFUL VALLEY OF SOON SKESAR

By Bashir Ahmad Khadim

INTRODUCTION:

We had an Arabic teacher named Maulana Mohammad Ismail of Mardwal town located in the famous beautiful valley of Soon Sakesar which is situated in the southern direction of Talagang and in the north western direction of Khoshab. He died in 1988 and we, his devoted students wanted to pay tributes to his soul while praying for his eternal life with highest place in the paradise. It took us about forty long years to trace his tomb and finally with the kind help of Malik Liaqat we got the telephone number of Mr. Abdur Rehman who is the real brother of our teacher’s second wife. Mr. Abdur Rehman served Pakistan Air Force for eighteen years as an Airman and after his retirement he is running a grocery shop adjoining to the General Bus Stand of Mardwal Town of Soon Skesar valley. I contacted him on phone about a month ago and expressed our desire to visit him at our earliest so that we could pray for the deceased and revive our old good memories of our very kind teacher. Mr. Abdur Rehman was very kind to invite us and promised that he would take us to the tomb of our beloved teacher to whom we owe a great deal relating to the achievements of our lives. I requested my respected friend, Hafiz Fateh Shah to accompany me during my travel to Mardwal Town. He was kind enough to agree to my request as he himself was a devoted student of our honorable teacher. He further informed me that professor Malik Muhammad Nawaz of Mardwal shall also accompany us to facilitate our travel. Professor Nawaz had been a sincere friend and junior colleague of Hafiz Fateh Shah who served for seventeen years as the Principal of Government College Talagang. It was good news to me as we could avail ourselves of the expert local knowledge of Professor Malik Nawaz and it could multiply the benefits of our travel to the famous valley of Soon Skeasar where the reputed writers like Ahmad Naseen Qasmi and Abdul Qadir Hasan were born.

START OF JOURNEY:

On 12^th of March 2010, after offering my Juma prayers I took my lunch and then went to the General Bus Stand at Karachi Company/G-9 Markaz Islamabad and boarded a bus going to Talagang. The bus went to various places at Rawalpindi city and finally it stopped at Ghausia General Bus Stand where it remained stopped for more than half an hour to fill the bus with as many passengers as it could accommodate. Finally it started and moved very slowly getting more and more passengers till it had no space at all. The seats of bus were very dirty and too narrow to stretch the feet. The total time of travel from Islamabad to Talagang should not normally take more than one hour but our grand Tamman Coach took more than two hours. I reached Talangang at the residence of my friend, Hafiz Fateh Shah a few minutes before the sunset. My friend and family members had been trying to contact me through my mobile phone which had been inadvertently in the off position throughout my travel. They were all worried till I had met my friend at Talagang who was kind enough to inform my family that at last I reached him safe and sound. After the sunset prayers we took our dinner and tea and relaxed for a few minutes exchanging our views on numerous topics. In the meantime there was a call for the night (Isha) prayers and we went to pray collectively in the Madani Mosque which is very close to the residence of my friend. After the night prayers Dr. Rizwan and one of his friends came to learn the holy Quraan and the Persian famous book of poetry compiled by the reputed poet, Sh. Saadi of Sheeraz. I also joined them. It would be worthwhile to mention here that Hafiz Fateh Shah has been my first teacher of Arabic and Persian languages as well as my class-fellow.

I had informed my old class-fellow and friend, Hafiz Fateh Shah that I shall reach Talagang city by the evening of 12^th March 2010 (Friday) and next morning we shall leave for Soon Sakesar Valley. So we contacted Professor Nawaz to confirm our program of next morning. He confirmed the program telling us that he would come to us at half past eight in the morning and then we would leave for Mardwal town of Soon Skesar valley. Next morning when we reached the General Bus Stand of Talagang it came to our knowledge that the scheduled bus for the valley had already left and we were late. After sometime we boarded in another bus which was going in the same direction but not to our destination. However, after about thirty kilometers we caught the actual bus which we had missed being late. We transferred ourselves into the bus going to Mardwal. After Jhatla and Chinjee towns we reached Jaba town from where two main routes separate, one going to Khoshab and the other going to Mardwal. The road was very good up to Jaba town but after that it was totally broken and full of ditches. Our bus moved very slowly at a speed of about five kilometers per hour with terrible jolts. First we came to a large village called Ahmad Abad and then to another village called Khabbekee. At the end of Khabbekee village we saw a very beautiful large lake called Khabbeykee Lake. All around the lake and throughout the valley were wheat and potato fields being watered through tube-wells being driven by Peter engines. There were some apple and citrus gardens in full blossom. The sweet smell of the fruit trees was filling our nostrils.

After about one hour we reached the General Bus Stand of Mardwal where our honorable hosts, Abdure Rehman and Fateh Khan were waiting for us to receive and then take us to the tomb of our beloved teacher, Maulana Mohammad Ismail. First of all, Professor Nawaz wanted us to meet his old kind mother waiting for us at the nearby house. She met us with great love and passion expressing her utmost joy through her continuous tears.

We left our travelling bags at the shop of Mr, Abdur Rehman and went to the concerned graveyard by the car which had already been arranged by our hosts. The graveyard was at the north western end of Mardwal town. Our hosts took us to the tomb of our respected teacher who had been like a real father to all of us. It was a moment of great passion and commotion when we stood at the tomb praying and remembering our beloved great teacher. We were lost in the midst of our old sweet memories. The time stopped and it was after an appreciable interval that we opened our eyes. Our hosts took us to numerous other tombs of their relations where we prayed.

After finishing our prayers at the graveyard we were taken to the top of a high rock of the hilly area. There were vast jungles of wild olive and thorny trees and on the hillocks there were settlements of a few dozen houses right in the middle of the jungles. Our car traveled to a distance of about ten kilometers and we reached the bottom of the highest peak of the valley called “MAYEE KI DHEREE” which means the tomb of the old mother. An old lady of great piety had been buried on top of the peak as per her bequeath while she was alive that she must be buried on top of the highest peak. The name of the old lady is PEEZO BIBI and she belonged to some saintly family of village Danda Bilawal Shah which is located on the Talagang-Mianwali road at a distance of about fifty kilometers from Talagang.

WE CLIMB UP THE HIGHEST PEAK AND PRAY AT THE TOMB:

Our hosts wanted us to climb up to the peak and pray there at the tomb of the old saint lady who had been buried there a long time ago. We had no idea at all as to how difficult it was to climb up to reach the tomb at the top. We started our adventure and after a few feet of climbing up we realized that it was a very strenuous task. We climbed up further a dozen of feet and I felt that it was almost impossible for me to climb up further. However, we continued climbing up taking rest at frequent intervals of time. After about half an hour we reached the top of the hill and on the peak was a grand tomb of the old saint lady named Peezo Bibi of Danda Shah Bilawal. We took some rest to normalize our breathing and then prayed for the forgiveness of us all including the dead lady saint buried in the tomb. I suffered from an attack of severe palpitations. I needed a glass of drinking water to subside my palpitations but unluckily we had forgotten to take any drinking water with us. Our hosts noted my serious condition resulting from severe palpitations. They loudly called one of their young relations to bring water at the top. In about ten minutes the drinking water was brought up and I took two glasses of it at a stretch and my severe palpitations immediately vanished, Alhamdo lillah. We took more rest before starting our climbing down to the bottom of the hill where we had parked our car. After about half an hour we were in the car and drove backwards till we reached the village called Choora where we were shown the old worn out houses of Professor Malik Mohammad Nawaz. He wanted us to show his old ancestral houses and also to meet some of his relations living there. We stopped there and were taken to the spacious drawing room of his relations. We took some rest and then we were served with tea and refreshments. We again started our journey back towards Mardwal town driving through wild forest of olive and thorny trees. It took us about half an hour to reach Mardwal. We first went straight to Qazi Deen Mohammad who is a religious authority of the area. He is an old student of Hafiz Fateh Shah. We reached his residence where we found Qazi Sahib preparing for the midday prayers. We were in a great hurry and hence we begged his permission after meeting him for two minutes. He insisted on taking lunch with him but we apologized due to lack of time at our disposal. So reluctantly he permitted us to leave him. We were dissatisfied with our short meeting with Qazi sahib.

We went straight to the house of Mr. Abdur Rehan where his real sister lived. She is the second wife of our kind teacher, Maulana Mohammad Ismail who died in 1988. We met her with great respect and full of deep sentiments. In her presence we were all dead silent and we closed our eyes remembering our old sweet teacher who revolutionized tour lives. Old good memories of the past revived and we were extremely excited at this historic moment of our life. We all prayed for the old departed soul of our kind teacher.

We decided to first say our midday prayers before taking our lunch. After the delicious lunch we chatted for sometime reiterating the old events and remembering our old teachers who were so different from the present-day teachers who have no affinity for their students. The present-day students are too callous to properly respect their teachers. There seems no harmony and mutual respect among the teachers and their students of today and it is a great tragedy. Let us pray for some betterment in this regard.

After saying our prayers we took our delicious lunch. There were so many tasty dishes that we enjoyed them all. The extreme good taste was perhaps due to their expertise in cooking or perhaps due to their sincerity or perhaps due to both of them. The quantity of food was sufficient for more than one dozen of eaters whereas we were about half a dozen. This shows their generosity. After our tasty lunch we chatted for sometime while the tea was being prepared. It was about four O’ Clock in the afternoon and we had already missed the scheduled bus flying back to Talagang. We hurriedly went to the General Bus Stand of Mardwal where we came to know that no bus would leave Mardwal for Talagang. So we were in a fix to decide what to do next. Our hosts offered their services to drop us to Jaba town from where we could perhaps get another bus going to Talagang. We traced back our old route till we reached Jaba. Our hosts decided to drop us at Talagang since no bus was expected at Jaba town which would take us to Talagang. It was an extreme kindness on their part. When we reached Chinjee town it was the time of saying Asar prayers. We stopped at a very beautiful mosque right on the road at an attractive hillside. The owners of this mosque were well-known to Hafiz Fateh Shah. The Bhatti family owns this mosque. After the Asar prayers we were taken to the nearby beautiful bungalow of Bhatti family where we were served with good hot tea and refreshments. After some general gossip we left Chinjee town and started our journey towards Talaang going via Jatla town. We reached Talagang just at the time of sunset prayers. Our hosts took our permission to go back. We tried our best to offer them some money to compensate for their expenses which they had incurred on our excursions around Mardwal and taking us back in their car. They totally refused to take any compensation. It was again an extreme generosity on their part for which we have no suitable words to thank them. We wanted them to stay with us at night but they did not accept our request. We said our sunset prayers and then relaxed for sometime as we were very tired. In the meantime it was the Isha prayers time. After the prayers we took our dinner and Hafiz sahib narrated very interesting stories of corruption in the field of education particularly incredible corruption caused directly and indirectly by the Allama Iqbal Open University. He narrated numerous incidents of corruption committed by some notorious dignitaries of Chakwal and Talagang. He also mentioned some very queer incidents of medical profession having no legal medical degrees. I was shocked to hear all about it. We then retired to sleep for the night and got up next morning for our Fajar prayers. We again went to sleep before taking our breakfast till Mr. Abdul Mannan, the second son of Hafiz Fateh Shah, awoke us for the breakfast. At breakfast I was made to meet Omera and Rizwan Shah who are the youngest daughter and the eldest son of Hafiz Fateh Shah respectively. Mr. Rizwan Shah is an expert of computer technology. He is shortly going to appear in his M.A. (English) examination. I pray for his brilliant success.

I RETURN TO ISLAMABAD:

After the breakfast, Hafiz Fateh Shah dropped me at the Talagang General Bus Stop from where I boarded a wagon going to Rawalpindi/Islamabad. After a few kilometers the wagon stopped at a petroleum station where we waited for about fifteen minutes. It was then announced by the driver of the wagon that his wagon had been sold to someone else and therefore we all must get down. We reluctantly got down and in the meantime another empty wagon came to take us to Islamabad. During transfer from one wagon to the second one I lost a precious packing of famous mint along with roots of Soon Skesar valley. The sauce of this mint which I enjoyed at Mardwal would ever remain in my memories. I wish to fetch the roots of the mint again and plant them in my vegetable garden at Islamabad. This is the end of our historic journey to the most attractive valley of Soon Skesar. Long live this beautiful valley. May God Almighty grant our beloved teacher, Maulana Mohammad Ismail in the best of his paradise.

SPECIAL OBSERVATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS:

(1) SOON SKESAR is a beautiful valley but it has been neglected with respect to its proper development in various sectors such as educational Institutions, road networks, tourism, water dams, agricultural projects and vocational institutions.

(2) In the absence of good roads for easy access to the valley, the tourism industry has not properly developed although there is a lot of potential. A large number of excursion spots, hotels/motels, boating facilities and parks are essential to encourage the national and international tourists to visit various attractive spots of the valley. It would generate more income for the inhabitants of the area thereby raising their standard of living.

(3) There are very few good educational and vocational institutions in the valley and this has deprived the native residents from educating their sons and daughters particularly those who belong to the poor masses or even mediocre families. It is strange to note that there is no university in the entire area spread over thousands of kilometers.

(4) There is sheer dearth of safe drinking water in the villages and towns of the area. I was shocked to see women of Mardwal town washing their clothes in the dirty pond adjoining to the main mosque and very close to and opposing the main graveyard from where rain water flows into this pond. Women were seen by me taking water of this dirty pond to their houses possibly for drinking and dish washing resulting into spread of epidemics and numerous water-born diseases.

(5) The valley is rich in fertile agricultural land suitable for growing various fruits and out-of-season vegetables but there is no guidance or proper training being imparted to the farmers of the area to facilitate more productive growth.

(6) There are no standard schools and this has resulted into high illiteracy. The non-standard private schools charge the children very heavily. Some cunning persons of the area are fleecing the parents through illegal recruitments, sale of false certificates/degrees. Most of the educational corruption is being committed through connivance of Allama Iqbal Open University which awards degrees/certificates through postal assignments which are being prepared by the parents, elder brothers or sisters or mostly through mercenary professionals who are notorious and well-known to everyone. These mercenaries are being patronized by the university/educational Authorities without any check at all. The Open University must change its system. No certificates or degrees should be awarded to the students merely on the basis of assignments. A fair and transparent system of testing /examination through a tally independent reliable organization should be immediately introduced. There have been a large number sad instances of educational corruption where so called many qualified students of the Open University were recruited in various institutions but they knew nothing as their assignments had been prepared by the mercenaries or fathers/brothers/sisters/neighbors of the corrupt students having false degrees/certificates but without any competence or ability.

(7) It was very strange indeed to note that there were no NGOs placed in the area for the general guidance and aid of the native people.

Bashir Ahmad Khadim,

® Chief Engineer T&T/PTCL,

H. No. 226 Street 18 Sector F-10/2, Islamabad.

Phone: (051) 2212476 Cell: 0345-5096929

Dated at ISLAMABAD: 16^th of March 2010

Water Sanitation and Hygiene, WASH – Course out Line Post Graduate Diploma in WASH

Water Sanitation and Hygiene, WASH – Course out Line

 Post Graduate Diploma in WASH

Proposed Centre of Excellence in WASH studies

Concept Note

Introduction.

The largest single factor contributing to most of the millennium development goals (MDGs) is Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH).

Poor access to clean drinking water, sanitation and hygiene causes’ pain of disease and death, reduces available financial resources to the family by expenses on disease and lost working hours. Children miss school due to illness and girls leave school due to non availably of separate bath rooms. Worms in the intestine are a strong competitor for already scarce food available to the family. In some areas collection of water takes the mother and /or elder sister away for 2-4 hours, thus leaving younger folk unattended and exposing them and the elders to so many hazards.

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Many local and international conferences, 5^th WWF (world water forum) highlighted the lack of capacity to address this issue, even those at the helm of affairs. There is a gap between on ground issues, top designers and the service providers, implementers, NGOs, UN organizations, Though academia interested in improving upon this cross cutting issue to many social , economic development indicators the need for a concerted effort is at the peak..

We seriously need is to unpack the issue, educate youngsters to lead the solutions for improving this situation and take seats in the implementing and planning authorities.

  

Vision

Multiple impact of inattention to Water, Sanitation and Hygiene on Human development factors like health, education, poverty and a strong family system has enhanced the attention to this aspect of human life, especially in south Asia and Africa.

At times we feel that this is the largest single factor contributing to our backwardness. Luckily much is also being done to address this issue, though not in a scientific way. The field work is being led by many NGO’s and public sector organizations, based on experience and insufficient knowledge base.

Capacity building in the field has been marked as a real need in this direction in World Water Forum, and follow up meetings at the national and local level.

The objective of this program is to provide youngsters with appropriate knowledge base and field exposure to work in this upcoming profession at all levels and gain an opportunity to rub their shoulders with  WASH specialists at the UN organizations, INGOS , NGO”S and public sector organizations.

This initiative provides them a lead position to help the nation out of poverty, illiteracy, disease and death, rampant in south Asia and Africa.

 Objectives

1.     Bringing the stake holders on one table to agree on a consensus course work, for future staff handling wash in Pakistan and south Asia.

2.     Having educated and trained staff available to implement and lead projects with viable solutions to WASH issues.

3.     Play their role in public sector, development sector and UN groups with the knowledge and exposure gained through their course work.

4.     Bridge the current gap of relevant knowledge and experience in improving WASH situation.

5.     This program envisages exposure of these youngsters to on ground issues and working with NGO, INGOs, UN specialists and finally assimilating this knowledge and experience with the help of academia.

6.     Move to phase two of this program which hopes to focus on research work, new policy studies and more refined standards of water, satiation and hygiene.

7.     Phase two will also focus on standards for water sanitation hard ware,  installation and supervising the projects.

 Work Plan.

1.     Having a board of studies from Academia, development sector, and public sector.

2.     Selection of course of study, a basic framework is appended at annex-1.

3.     Teaching work and practical exposure (Research and internship) to be done at University, HRDS and public sector organizations.

4.     Experimental start of online lectures, study martial and assignments will be done, using virtual university model.

5.     The course fee is expected to be enough to meet the expenses without any financial help from out side.

6.     Bringing the stake holders on one table to agree on a consensus course work, for future staff handling wash in Pakistan and south Asia.

7.     Having educated and trained staff available to implement and lead projects with viable solutions to WASH issues.

8.     Play their role in public sector, development sector and UN groups with the knowledge and exposure gained through their course work.

9.     Bridge the current gap of relevant knowledge and experience in improving WASH situation.

10.                        This program envisages exposure of these youngsters to on ground issues and working with NGO, INGOs, UN specialists and finally assimilating this knowledge and experience with the help of academia.

11.                        Move to phase two of this program which hopes to focus on research work, new policy studies and more refined standards of water, satiation and hygiene.

12.                         Phase two will also focus on standards for water sanitation hard ware,  installation and supervising the projects,

13.                        Having a board of studies from Academia, development sector, and public sector.

14.                        Selection of course of study, a basic framework is appended at annex-1.

15.                        Teaching work and practical exposure (Research and internship) to be done at University, HRDS and public sector organizations.

16.                        Experimental start of online lectures, study martial and assignments will be done, using virtual university model.

17.                        The course fee is expected to be enough to meet the expenses without any financial help from out side.

Suggested Reading.

 

1      Wash Definitions

1.1      Water

1.2      Sanitation

1.3      Solid waste

1.4      Liquid waste

1.5      Hospital waste           

1.6    MDG, (millennium development goals)                                          

2      Socio Economic Impact of WASH

2.1      Disease and death

2.2      Poverty

2.3      Education

2.4      Family time and resources increased

2.5      Human Development Index (HDI)

3      Water

3.1      National Water Policy

3.2      National drinking water policy

3.3      National water quality Standards

3.4      Standards PSQCA, WHO and Ministry of Environment

3.5      How much water daily?

3.6      Role of water in human body, Disease relationship

3.7      Water  quality Issues , Microbiology, Chemical, Arsenic, Fluoride Nitrate and its health impact

3.8      National water Quality Monitoring Program (NWQMP) at Ministry of Science and Technology. (PCRWR)

3.9      Clean drinking water for all Program (CDWA)

3.10   Water issues Quantity and Quality

3.11   Mixing of untreated sewerage water in canals, rivers and ground water

3.12   Availability of affordable and timely water testing facility, in accordance with our own standards.

3.13   Control at water treatment plants

3.14   Controlling the wastage of water at car and domestic floor washing, and garden irrigation

3.15   National water Act (DRAFT)

4      Sanitation

4.1      National Sanitation Policy

4.2      Safe disposal of solid waste

4.3      Segregation

4.4      Recycle

4.5      Land fills

4.6      Disposal of night soil from homes

4.7      Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS)

4.8      Open Defecation Free systems (ODF)

5      Liquid waste

5.1      Safe disposal of domestic waste and industrial waste

5.2      Design of septic tanks

5.3      Connection to sewerage lines

5.4      Treatment of domestic waste water

5.5      Treatment of industrial waste water

5.6      Recycle of treated water

5.7      Check use of untreated water in Perry urban vegetable gardens

5.8      National environment quality standards (NEQS)

5.9      National environment act

6      Hospital waste

6.1      Collection

6.2      Segregation

6.3      Safe disposal sharp and contaminated material

6.4       Training of staff

6.5      Incinerators and

6.6      National hospital waste management practices, Ministry of Environment

7      Hygiene

1.1      Cleaning surroundings

7.1      Body

7.2      Hair cut

7.3      Nails

7.4      Clothes

7.5      Clean hands with soap

7.6      Availability of soap for hand washing in Mosques, Schools and Hospitals

7.7      Female specific Hygiene, use of sun dried clean cotton cloth

7.8      School program for hygiene improvement

  

8      Emergency  WASH

8.1      Pakistan’s experience in Emergency WASH program, in case of

 Earth Quake, Floods and IDPs.

9       Institutions involved with WASH

9.1      Ministry of Science and Technology

9.2      Ministry of Environment

9.3      Ministry of Special Initiatives

9.4      Ministry of Health

9.5      Ministry of Local Governments

9.6      Ministry of Water

9.7      WASA

9.8      PHED

9.9      TMA

9.10   KDA. LDA, CDA, PDA. QDA, FDA, and the like

10   Non Government

10.1   NGOS

10.2   INGOs

10.3   UN outfits

10.4   PCRWR

10.5   PCSIR

10.6   PSQCA

10.7   UN

10.8   UNICEF

10.9   WHO

10.10   World Bank WSP

10.11   ADB

10.12   Plan

10.13   Water Aid

10.14   Global water Partnership

10.15   GSF

10.16   Sanitation and Water for All (SWA)

11   Forum

11.1   World Water Forum

11.2   SACOSAN

11.3   WSSCC

11.4   GSF

11.5   WSP

11.6   PACOSAN.

12   South Asian Studies

Follow up studies on wash programs in the following countries and a comparison with local initiatives

12.1   Africa

12.2   Bangladesh

12.3   India

12.4   Nepal

12.5   Sri Lanka

  

13. Laboratory Work

14. Research Thesis

15. Internship Report

16. Report / proposal writing

17. Monitoring and evaluation

18.  Advocacy and supportive advocacy

Dental Health, a draft proposal for comments

Dental Hygiene

A status study and awareness project.

Dental care is not getting enough attention in Pakistani Society, and hence we have health problems in different stages of life.

This initiative targets a assessment of on ground dental health situation and improving awareness. It kicks off from at educational institutions in Islamabad.

Action.

A primary school, high school, college is expected to be visited by a team of Dental Doctors and students, to act on three fronts, same day.

1. Speaks to classes about dental care, its importance. How to brush teeth.

2. Two teams work on inspection of teeth to register the dental care, habits of students, position of teeth, general disorders found and advise.

3. These teams may advise follow up visits to clinic if needed.

Results.

1. Knowledge of dental health status in different area, age and backgrounds.

2. Improved awareness in the student community

3. Preparing a comprehensive project about dental health, based on this initial information, if need be.

Possible Sponsor.

1. UNICEF

2. WHO

Note .We can also consider having a school day, in the medical college facility.

When some sponsor can transport the students to medical college for screening

and awareness project

Water, Sanitation and Hygiene a Way forward

Water, Sanitation and Hygiene- Way Forward

Pakistan

Back ground. Creating a success story of reaching the poorest of the poor with the benefits of Safe drinking water, improved sanitation and hygiene is closest to reach in Pakistan but not without unique challenges.

Of the developing world in general and south Asia in particular, the government of Pakistan is convinced of the benefits of approaching the problem in an integrated form.

It has to be seen that we are poor due to poor water; sanitation and hygiene facilities or the poor facilities are due to our poverty.

The National Scenario

Currently following steps are being taken to improve the drinking water situation in Pakistan.

1. National Drinking Water Policy (NDWP) is in the process of making for the last 7 years, it (The Draft) has gone through several public feed backs, expert discussions and government review, which has changed the shape of the document and it may be missing the target of helping nay body in the power to take steps one, two three and sort out the issue of drinking water quality and quantity to the poor consumer. The host department for this is the ministry of environment and EPA-Pak for final approval of the draft

2. National drinking water Standards (NDWS). Same fate as the NDWP, but we do have a standard document, issued by the Pakistan Standard and quality control authority (PSQCA) for reference purposes. These standards are not mandatory for the providers like the standards for the bottled drinking water in Pakistan. The problem with this aspect of development is that we cannot test all parameters mentioned in these standards under one roof at an affordable cost any where in the country. This part is with the ministry of science and technology and being contested by ministry of health and ministry of environment for ownership.

3. Filtration plants. While item 1 and 2 were being considered we knew that they are going to take time, and the poor consumer cannot be left at the mercy of unsafe health conditions, To provide immediate relief in form of safe drinking water for hand carrying to drink at home water filtration plants, 6000 in all, through out Pakistan are planned, funded and government is committed to install by Dec 2007. Ministry of industries is the current host of this initiative, after being switched from ministry of environment for being slow with the progress. This shift has further delayed the project. Plants already on ground are having serious issue in operation and maintenance.

4. National Water quality monitoring program (NWQMP). This program of sampling and analyzing drinking water from 21 cities scattered all over started since 2002 is on with the ministry of science and technology and four initial quality reports are issued. This initiative has helped Pakistan in identifying the water quality issue in Pakistan and locating some pollutants. However the reports are being released after year of sample collection and are too late.

5. Installation of new labs, up gradation of existing labs rehabilitation of water supply schemes. Are few of other initiatives with the ministry of science and technology?

Sanitation.

Attention is being diverted to this important component of health though late. Pakistan was host to second SACOSAN conference in Islamabad after participating in the first one at Dacca. This helped in highlighting the issue.

On ground situation is that there is hardly any drop of domestic waste being treated before dumping into fresh water (rivers and canals) or used for irrigating vegetable farms in perri urban area. About same is the fate of industrial waste.

Solid and hospital waste also needs attention.

This sector is in the domain of ministry of environment, Pak-EPA and an act to control these effluents and national standards are in place. National sanitation policy is also in place.

Water treatment technology suitable for the developing world is the need .The standards for treatment in the developed world are very stringent and the technology to treat up to that level is very costly. We in Pakistan may be looking for some viable solutions that we can afford.

Similarly disposal of solid and other wastes needs to be tackled scientifically

Hygiene.

Hygiene is also a neglected component of concern mainly due to illiteracy. Being a Muslim society will be of great help in this respect. Some awareness push will be of great help.

Strategy

As will be clear now some great efforts are on in the drinking water sector in Pakistan, though work on sanitation has a cover by documents and hygiene (both personal and environmental) has to take a start. They need to plan, however some tips are being presented here to start thinking process.

Campaign.

1.An integrated awareness campaign to target the poor and illiterate masses about the WatSan and hygiene issues needs to be designed and implemented. Though policy makers will be addressed through print and TV, yet the masses will be accessed through radio, preferably FM in local languages.

2. Campaign visit your water supply tank. Cleaning water reservoirs by the water providers and household tanks is an issue. This will be done through a national campaign.

3. Treating domestic waste and industrial waste before dumping to fresh and ground water will be campaigned.

Technical support

Almost all initiatives are held up due to lack of technical know how and priority at the decision makers level. They need to be supported which is a tight ropewalk, without damaging their self-respect

Planning and implementing strategy for this unique situation in Pakistan is a challenge but if we think with an open mind, we are very close to creating a success story of improving quality of life of the poor, Illiterate masses by reducing poverty, and disease.

For the national and global partners of water aid will be a great resource for developing this program for now and making use of this experience at the later stage.

Developing a resource center.

For the use of all stakeholders we will need to develop a physical resource center, collecting relevant literature, references and initiatives on water hygiene and sanitation in Pakistan and elsewhere. So that it become a hub of activity on WatSan in Pakistan and south Asia.

Initiative	Activity	Impact	Risk
1.Awareness Campaign	Messages, discussions on FM Radio	Rural and perri urban poor, women students Know the important points on WatSan	My scare the masses
2. South Asia center of excellence on WatSan	a. Building at provincial HQs b. Experts on WatSan from WaterAid c. Syllabus to teach and practice	We get indigenous water treatment technology. Trained supervisors, technicians, engineers and lab staff oratory	WA works with the partners. May not get an effective partner
3.Resource center	Providing a room, and start collecting material	Acts as a hub of activity Shares knowledge and experience Avoids duplication Provides base for the center of excellence. Training of existing staff	May be a problem to organize the material in way so that it is readily available for consultation. Conference room may be too busy at times, to manage.