Azad Qalamdar (left) and Ali Mozzafar Jafry (right) of POKF working on their website. – Photo by Ali Umair

In a time where the adage ‘there are no free dinners’ is a social norm and not an academic concept, anything that comes for free is a welcome change.

So when Ali Mozaffar Jafry and Azad Qalamdar, two ambitious entrepreneurs, decided to introduce the first online/offline downloadable English-to-Urdu dictionary, the concept not only seemed novel but was particularly refreshing since it was being offered not only for free but was also for a language that has millions of speakers and was still awaiting a breakthrough online.

The initiative might just be the first step but certainly the one in the right direction.

Jafry and Qalamdar partnered up for Pakistan Open Knowledge Foundation (POKF), a non-profit organization, in collaboration with the Lingoes project to introduce the downloadable dictionary keeping in mind the growing needs of Pakistani computer users, both in private and public sectors.

Lingoes, an easy dictionary and text translation software, offers lookup dictionaries, full text translation, captures words on screen and translate selected text and pronunciation of words in 80 different languages.

Qalamdar discovered the Lingoes translator online and after further study of search trends discovered that more than six million annual dictionary related searches for Urdu translation were just on Google alone. He realized that Lingoes was a valuable software that should be shared with Pakistani users.

In order to reach into an untapped market, Qalamdar created a website and promoted it on search engines and social networks to the Pakistani internet market. He then approached Ali Mozzaffar Jafry for financial support to cover site expenses and promotional costs.

“If it were not for Mr. Jafry, the project would never have materialized,” said Qalamdar.

The duo then planned to broaden the scope to language tools development and promotion which gave birth to Pakistan Open Knowledge Foundation.

POKF’s main objective is to develop and promote free educational resources and applications to Pakistani users, starting with the Lingoes Translator.

The website www.lingoes.pk was launched in 2009 and got an outstanding response from all over the world. According to Lingoes, the website has received and served more than 30,000 plus unique visitors from over 80 different countries, 90,000 plus page views and an estimated 12,000 downloads.

“Our inspiration is Wikipedia and that all POKF’s software will always be 100 percent free and open-source,” said Qalamdar.

However, Qalamdar and Jafry’s determination to keep the website free for users did come across some obstacles. While seeking corporate sponsorships – they received a negative response.

Jafry said that “most of them thought that we were frauds as there are lots of people roaming with such ideas.” “We are not doing all this for financial gain, it is the self satisfaction and the appreciation of the people which makes us happy and motivates us.”

So far, the only corporate sponsor has been Nokia Pakistan for which they are very obliged and appeal to the corporate sector to support such initiatives.

Their argument is that the Pakistani corporate sector is already benefiting from all kinds of free office productivity tools and therefore it should support the sustaining of open-source development culture in Pakistan.

Currently, the POKF is working on an Urdu-English dictionary for use with Lingoes. They are also working on a widget for websites catering to Pakistanis, which will enable point-click-lookup functionality to each webpage of the site i.e. users reading an article at www.Dawn.com will be able to get instant English-to-English and English-to-Urdu meanings and listen to human voice pronunciation of any word, any where on the page.

Another project that they are in the middle of is an Urdu plug-in for the Google Translate Engine, which will offer full page machine translation of pages in English to Urdu.

Currently, Jafry and Qalamdar are working on an ambitious plan to develop dictionaries for regional languages such as Punjabi, Sindhi, Pashto and Balochi for the website.

This demand was made in a resolution adopted by the APC, presided over by Karachi JI chief Mohammad Hussain Mehnati and attended by leaders of over half-a-dozen parties, including the PML-N, JUP, PML, ST and JUI-S.

The resolution warned the rulers against the implementation of the RGST, saying that it would trigger a fresh surge of price hike.

The APC called for increasing direct taxes on the rich and reducing indirect taxes. They urged the government to stop taking loans from foreign as well as local banks so that inflation could come down.

The prices of basic commodities be reduced by 20 per cent and frozen for three years, the resolution said, and called upon the coalition parties in the government to vote in the National Assembly against the “anti-people RGST bill”.

The resolution maintained that the soaring prices and the burden of taxes during the three-year PPP rule had broken the back of the people. Corruption, incompetence, injustice, tax evasion, mismanagement, and nepotism had resulted in an annual loss of some Rs1,800 billion to the exchequer and the US-appeasing policy had dealt a severe blow to national solidarity and sovereignty. The entire country is in the grip of poverty, price hike, unemployment and inflation. In this situation, it said, the imposition of a new tax would add to the miseries of the people because the enforcement of the RGST would increase by 15pc the cost of over 550 commodities, including milk, bread, butter, poultry products, medicines, electronic equipments, etc.

Regretting the attitude of the parties in the government, the resolution observed that the parties which had made promises of solving the people`s problems in their manifestos had ignored the sentiments of the people.

Although officials confirmed to Dawn that the proposal was under consideration, they said the fresh move was meant to impose a ban on pillion-riding only for the first 10 days of the mourning month. The high-ups were very much convinced with the idea but nothing had been finalised yet, they said, adding that a decision was expected within a couple of days.

“The request to ban pillion-riding from the 1st to 10th of Muharram was not only from the city police, as there is also a strong recommendation from the officials concerned of the home department,” said a source privy to the recent correspondence and the discussions.

The Sindh government had lifted the pillion-riding ban in a surprise move on Nov 23 without citing reasons behind relaxing the curb. The decision came at a time when the police authorities had already restricted traffic movement in the `high-security zone` in the wake of increased level of threat following the deadly attack on CID Civil Lines building.

A notification by the Sindh home department on the lifting of ban and the statement from Sindh Home Minister Dr Zulfiqar Mirza were unable to explain the reasons behind the decision that was seen as an attempt to avoid any directives from the Sindh High Court (SHC) that had reserved its judgment on a petition challenging the ban.

Almost the same situation emerged in the wake of a recent proposal to place the ban again. The city police chief avoided commenting on proposing the pillion-riding ban when it was removed only a week ago. He said a meeting of security officials with the provincial administration was expected in a couple of days to design the security strategy for Muharram and they would also discuss “pros and cons of the ban on pillion-riding”.

“A meeting is due to finalise security arrangements for Muharram,” said Capital City Police Officer Fayyaz Leghari. “Every possible strategy will be discussed. Things will be much clear in a day or two after the meeting finally decides the measures.”

The last week decision of the government to lift the pillion-riding ban was largely welcomed but it also remained a mystery and source of concern for the rights activists, who saw it as a preemptive move by the authorities to avert any full and final directives from the court of law against the ban.

While a senior home department official defended the expected move to ban pillion-riding, he could not justify the effectiveness of the curb during recent bomb attacks and repeated episodes of the targeted-killing that claimed dozens of lives each time. However, it provides an opportunity to the rights` activists criticising the provincial administration for their mindset.

“We strongly believe that the ban on pillion-riding is a violation of basic human rights, defined in the constitution,” said Intikhab Soori of the Human Rights Network, which once challenged the ban in the Sindh High Court, on the same grounds. “An estimate suggests that at least three million Karachiites – mostly belonging to poor and low-income group – are inconvenienced daily by the restriction.”

A walk was organised by the Sindh Aids Control Programme in the morning from the Arts Council roundabout to the Karachi Press Club.

Representatives of different non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working on the counselling and education of injection drug users (IDUs) and sex workers — who are considered highly vulnerable groups — and rehabilitation of IDUs and street children, along with officials of the Sindh health department and other social workers marched holding banners and placards to the press club.

Addressing the participants of the rally at the press club, the secretary of the provincial health department, Syed Hashim Raza Zaidi, said that efforts should be made by all concerned to let the vulnerable groups know the consequences of contracting HIV (human immunodeficiency virus — the virus that can cause Aids).

If a man or a woman knew about the damage done by HIV/Aids, they would avoid the things that caused the disease, he said.

He was of the opinion that society on the whole was still required to come forward and welcome the people living with Aids.

“Once the people living with Aids are accepted by us, they would help us to reach other people living with Aids who have been hiding their condition and becoming a source of the spread of HIV to others in their state of ignorance.”

Although the therapy and medicines needed by the people infected with HIV cost significantly, the Sindh government was taking all initiatives to identify and register the people infected with HIV for the purpose of a free-of-cost treatment and help them in other ways as well, he said.

The volunteers, lady health workers and others who helped the government health functionaries to identify and counsel the people living with Aids or infected with HIV were doing nothing less than a `jihad` against the medical condition, he added.

Later, talking to newsmen, the health secretary reiterated that there was no dearth of funds for the ongoing HIV/Aids initiatives, including the provision of free treatment to the people living with Aids.

Dr Abdul Majid, Dr Jamaluddin Shaikh, Dr Nafis Sohail, Dr Qamar Abbas, Dr Arshad Mahmood, Dr Salman Safdar, Dr M. Suleman Otho and Dr Rafiq Khanani were also present in the rally.

Later at a seminar on “social dialogue as a cure to HIV/Aids” organised by the Employers` Federation of Pakistan (EFP), speakers representing industries and trade unions upheld the right of safe occupational practices and high values for workers at their workplaces and a workplace HIV/Aids policy and called for a change in attitude among stakeholders.

Trade union leaders mentioned that ILO had very specific recommendations on HIV/Aids and considered it a threat to the supply of labour to the industries.

They expressed the view that discrimination at workplace and absence of basic health facilities, particularly in the informal sector, should also be addressed appropriately.

A representative of ILO Islamabad, Margaret Ready Rounds, said that the social dialogue strategy, as recommended by the ILO could be adopted for productive and progressive economic activities and development of an environment free of discrimination and injustice.

“Social dialogue is necessary to ensure justice, zero discrimination and zero HIV and related deaths among the community of labourers,” she added.

Tariq Iqbal Puri, chief executive officer of the Trade Development Authority Pakistan, said that social dialogue would ensure awareness of HIV/Aids and help reduce suffering of the people. Haji Mohammad Javed, president of the EFP, Habibuddin Junedi, Shoukat Ahmed, Shaifiq Ghori and others also spoke.

In the meantime, a group of people living with Aids staged a demonstration against the reported halt of funding, particularly by donors, for various Aids outreach and awareness projects at the Karachi Press Club on Wednesday afternoon.

The NICL chairman, Ayaz Khan Niazi, who surrendered himself on Nov 23, along with others has been formally arrested for allegedly violating the rules in the procurement of land on exorbitant rates, which caused a huge financial loss to the exchequer.The suspect, who had been remanded in the custody of the Federal Investigation Agency since Nov 23, was produced before a judicial magistrate (east) on Wednesday and the FIA sought an extension in his remand.

The court remanded the suspect in the FIA custody for another five days and directed the investigation officer to produce him in court on the next date.

According to the prosecution, the FIA received a written complaint from Zafar Mehmood, the commerce secretary, on Nov 16, 2010 in which he requested to carry out a probe in connection with all purchases of land at various places and on different times by the NICL and further requested to register a separate case regarding the prima facie embezzlement of the NICL funds in the transaction of 10-acre land purchased in Aug 2009 in the Korangi area against the amount of Rs90 million per acre, which allegedly caused huge losses to the exchequer.

The chairman, the board of directors, the investment committee of the NICL, the sellers, the valuators and others in connivance with each other committed offences of criminal breach of trust, misconduct, forgery and cheating, it added.

A case (FIR 21/10) was registered under Sections 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant, or by banker merchant or agent), 420 (cheating and dishonesty inducing delivery of property), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document) and 109 (punishment of abetment if the act abetted is committed in consequences and where no express provision is made for its punishment) of the Pakistan Penal Code read with Section 5 (2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act-II, 1947 at the FIA Commercial Bank Circle, Karachi.

Suspected militants remanded

A judicial magistrate (Malir) on Wednesday remanded four suspected militants in the custody of the CID police till Dec 4 in cases relating to the possession of explosives and illicit weapons.

The CID police produced the four suspects — Muhammad Umar alias Sohrab, Barkatullah alias Zanjeer, Amanuddin alias Munnu and Ahsanullah — in court and sought their police remand.

The CID claimed to have arrested the suspects in Sohrab Goth and seized arms, explosives and suicide vests from them. It also claimed that the suspects were associated with the banned Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan.

The suspects were booked under Sec-tion 13-D of the Pakistan Arms Ordinance, 1965 and Section 4/5 of the Explosive Substance Act.

The film starts with a few slides giving facts about the ship-breaking industry, one of which suggests it`s the lowest paid job in Gadani. Some long shots of the Gadani beach and the yard are shown and then a series of interviews begin, aided by narration through voiceover. The interviews, intercut with voiceover and occasional shots of the labourers working on the beach, show a young boy (Shah Alam), a man who has spent four decades lifting, scraping and breaking iron (Allah Bachayo), a young kid Qaiser, a man from Azad Kashmir, one from southern Punjab and a few others telling about the lives that they lead as ship-breakers.Some of the stories told by Allah Bachayo and Shah Alam are heart-wrenching.

Through these interviews it becomes known that the labourers live in subhuman conditions with no medical or recreational facilities. The entire area has only one medical dispensary run not by a doctor but by a compounder-type person Liaquat, who basically provides first-aid to those who come to him either after receiving an injury or feeling sick. The seriously injured or sick are taken to hospitals in cities for which transportation is hard to find. Ambulances are unavailable. There`s no water to take a bath, leave alone to drink. Sometimes the labourers use seawater to clean them up.

Another sad point that was unanimously discussed by the poor workers was that they haven`t had their salaries for six months.

Allah Bachayo`s tales are particularly poignant. He knows the names of the deserted vessels for scrap — Canberra, Lady Diana ka jahaz, etc. He once injured himself and was taken to the Jinnah hospital and had 10 stitches to cover up the injury. He didn`t even have time to visit the hospital again and get the stitches removed. Shah Alam, however, appears to be the focus of the director`s attention, for he begins and ends the film with his story. He is an impulsive lad who wants his due. At the end he leaves the yard (or beach) for Karachi without getting his pay.

While the intent behind Iron Slaves was praiseworthy, the documentary noticeably lacked research work that must go into such ventures.

Information on the ship-breaking industry, all over the world, on how the one at Gadani took root, on how the labourers are hired and on who the people responsible for their plight are would have made it strong content-wise. It hinged only on the interviews with the labourers that in a manner of speaking gave a lopsided view. Those who have deprived them of facilities at least should have been shown to have been approached even if they denied talking about it.

Then it also did not pictorially explore the yard or the area. There were a couple of interesting shots in the film when some workers are seen pushing a heavy piece of iron. Expanding on such scenes would have enhanced it aesthetically.

During the question and answer session after the screening, director Khalid Hasan told the audience that his team constituted of volunteers and they went to the site to shoot at least 10 times in a span of two months during which they even received threats from some people.