Human Rights in Pakistan

From the Associated Press of Pakistan

647 women killed in the name of ‘honour’ last year

ISLAMABAD: The 2009 report of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) released on Monday revealed that there was a sharp surge in violence against women and 1,401 women were murdered during 2009. Out of these, 647 were murdered in the name of “honour”, while 757 were killed for other reasons.
According to the report, 928 rape cases were reported last year and 563 women committed suicide, while 253 attempted it. It also said 135 women fell victim to burning, while cases of domestic violence, including torture, beating, murder attempts, increased from 137 in 2008 to 205 in 2009.

The report further revealed that in 2009, 3,021 people were killed and 7,334 injured across Pakistan. Addressing the ceremony, HRCP Secretary General IA Rehman said according to unofficial estimates, around 164 incidents of target killings took place in Balochistan in which 118 citizens and 158 security officials were killed, while 83 citizens and seven security officials were injured.

HRCP Chairwoman Asma Jahangir chaired the ceremony.

According to the report, more than 209 people – mostly from political parties – were killed in Karachi in 2009.

Moreover, seven journalists were killed across the country while performing their duties, while four died in crime-related incidents, the report said. In 2009, 163 attacks were aimed directly at the media, including murders, kidnapping, threats, assaults and attacks on media establishments.

Also, 224 cases of kidnapping for ransom took place in Punjab as compared to 248 in 2008, whereas 163 people were abducted in Sindh, 241 in Balochistan and 592 in the NWFP.

Suicide cases: The report said 1,668 suicide cases were reported across the country in 2009, whereas 747 people were killed in Karachi.

It said around 20,000 children die of diarrhoea every year and nearly 20 percent of children suffer from asthma, adding 39 percent were moderately or severely malnourished.

The report also said Pakistan ranked 117 among 134 countries in terms of quality of primary education in the World Economics Forum’s Global Competitiveness index of 2009. app

Human Rights in Pakistan

From the Associated Press of Pakistan

647 women killed in the name of ‘honour’ last year

ISLAMABAD: The 2009 report of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) released on Monday revealed that there was a sharp surge in violence against women and 1,401 women were murdered during 2009. Out of these, 647 were murdered in the name of “honour”, while 757 were killed for other reasons.
According to the report, 928 rape cases were reported last year and 563 women committed suicide, while 253 attempted it. It also said 135 women fell victim to burning, while cases of domestic violence, including torture, beating, murder attempts, increased from 137 in 2008 to 205 in 2009.

The report further revealed that in 2009, 3,021 people were killed and 7,334 injured across Pakistan. Addressing the ceremony, HRCP Secretary General IA Rehman said according to unofficial estimates, around 164 incidents of target killings took place in Balochistan in which 118 citizens and 158 security officials were killed, while 83 citizens and seven security officials were injured.

HRCP Chairwoman Asma Jahangir chaired the ceremony.

According to the report, more than 209 people – mostly from political parties – were killed in Karachi in 2009.

Moreover, seven journalists were killed across the country while performing their duties, while four died in crime-related incidents, the report said. In 2009, 163 attacks were aimed directly at the media, including murders, kidnapping, threats, assaults and attacks on media establishments.

Also, 224 cases of kidnapping for ransom took place in Punjab as compared to 248 in 2008, whereas 163 people were abducted in Sindh, 241 in Balochistan and 592 in the NWFP.

Suicide cases: The report said 1,668 suicide cases were reported across the country in 2009, whereas 747 people were killed in Karachi.

It said around 20,000 children die of diarrhoea every year and nearly 20 percent of children suffer from asthma, adding 39 percent were moderately or severely malnourished.

The report also said Pakistan ranked 117 among 134 countries in terms of quality of primary education in the World Economics Forum’s Global Competitiveness index of 2009. app

Pakistan Army: the struggle within

by Praveen Swami

Later this year, President Asif Ali Zardari will appoint a new army chief. Faultlines within the state could be forced open.

“India,” Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari famously said in an October 2008 interview, “has never been a threat to Pakistan.” In his first major interview, given just a month after taking office, he described jihadists in Jammu and Kashmir as “terrorists.” He imagined “Pakistani cement factories being constructed to provide for India's huge infrastructure needs, Pakistani textile mills meeting Indian demand for blue jeans, Pakistani ports being used to relieve the congestion at Indian ones.”

Early last month, Pakistan's army chief, General Pervez Ashfaq Kayani, outlined a rather different vision. In a presentation to the media, he asserted that the Pakistan army was an “India-centric institution,” adding this “reality will not change in any significant way until the Kashmir issue and water disputes are resolved.” His words were not dissimilar in substance from the language used by jihadists such as Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed in recent speeches.

Later this year, President Zardari will make a decision that could force open the faultlines between the military-led establishment and the Pakistan People's Party. Gen. Kayani is scheduled to retire in November 2010. Mr. Zardari, as the commander-in-chief, holds the power to appoint his successor.

Ever since Gen. Kayani — a former Inter-Services Intelligence chief — took office, the Pakistani state has set out on escalating tensions along its eastern frontier. Fighting along the Line of Control has increased, and jihadist infiltration escalated reversing an eight-year trend. Last week, Jammu and Kashmir secessionists were told by Pakistan's Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir that his country had reverted to its traditional policies on the state — policies that included unconcealed support for jihadists. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's secret envoy Satinder Lambah, who has been holding secret meetings with his Pakistani counterpart Riaz Mohammad Khan, has discovered that Islamabad no longer appears interested in pursuing a five-principles path to peace advocated by the former President, Pervez Musharraf.

The army, it has long been evident, loathes its commander-in-chief: Mr. Zardari, for example, is never invited to address the staff at military installations.

Last year, Mr. Zardari was forced to hand over control of the National Command Authority, which controls Pakistan's nuclear assets, to Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani. The military also appears to have been working hard to strip Mr. Zardari of his sole source of authority over the army. In January, Parliament's constitutions reforms committee unanimously agreed that Article 243 be amended to give the Prime Minister—rather than the President — effective power to appoint the services chiefs. Even as things stand, Mr. Zardari could face resistance if he picks a chief of his choice. Defence Secretary Syed Athar Ali is a former Lieutenant-General; his predecessor in office, retired Lieutenant-General Iftikhar Ali Khan, refused to sign on the former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's orders sacking the then army chief, Gen. Pervez Musharraf.

But come November, Mr. Zardari will likely hold the ace in his hand — and a bitter struggle could break out if he chooses to play it.

Gen. Kayani's three years in office have enabled him to build a substantial constituency within the army. For a variety of reasons, the army chief was able to promote a record number of top officers, and give others coveted positions. In 2008, Gen. Kayani promoted six officers to the rank of Lieutenant-General, and assigned several other Lieutenants-General and Major-Generals to prestigious offices. Last year, four more officers were promoted Lieutenants-General. From March onwards, eight Lieutenants-General will retire — including ISI Director-General Ahmad Shuja Pasha, Chief of General Staff Muhammad Mustafa Khan, Quartermaster General Zahid Hussain, and commander of the Karachi-based V Corps Shahid Iqbal. New opportunities will thus arise for Gen. Kayani to dispense patronage.

Islamabad military gossip has it that Gen. Kayani may use his goodwill within the army to lobby for a further year in office, as part of a deal which would also secure Mr. Zardari's position. Gen. Kayani may also attempt to have himself selected chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee. General Tariq Majeed, head of the JCSC, is due to retire just days before Gen. Kayani — a coincidence that could ease the move. If that indeed is Gen. Kayani's intention, though, he will unlikely be satisfied with the largely ceremonial position of JCSC chief. He could lobby for supervisory powers over top appointments — a move that would likely have President Zardari's support, since it would create tensions between the JCSC and the new army chief.

Gen. Kayani's own favoured choice for his successor, should he not secure an extension for himself, is the current ISI chief, Gen. Pasha, who is due to retire on March 18, 2010. However, Gen. Pasha has had a relatively brief tenure as Pakistan's spymaster — a fact which, read along with the critical state of affairs in the country, could justify an extension. Lieutenant-General Masood Alam, who heads the critical Peshawar-based XI Corps, was recently given an extension on just these grounds. However, Gen. Pasha has never commanded a Corps — normally a prerequisite for the top job.

Lieutenant-General Nadeem Taj will likely be the second in line for the army's top job, if Gen. Pasha's extension does not come through early in March. Now serving as commander of the Gujranwala-based XXX Corps, Gen. Taj is scheduled to retire only in April 2011 — and thus has time on his side. Long a key Musharraf aide, Gen. Taj was appointed Director-General of Military Intelligence, a position he held until February 2005. Later, he commanded the Lahore-based 11 Infantry Division, and served as commandant of the Pakistan Military Academy.

But any move to appoint Gen. Taj is likely to encounter intense resistance from the United States — and with some reason. Gen. Taj was made ISI Director-General in September 2007, just before Gen. Kayani replaced Gen. Musharraf as army chief. By late that year — as Gen. Kayani brought about changes in policy that the army saw as more consonant with its interests than the pro-western position of President Musharraf — Gen. Taj found himself in trouble with the U.S. In August 2008, President George W. Bush was reported to have complained that it had become “impossible to share intelligence on the al-Qaeda and the Taliban with Pakistan because it goes straight back to the militants.” Eventually, in October 2008, Gen. Taj was moved out of the ISI — but rewarded with charge of a prestigious Corps.

Khalid Shameem Wynne, Lieutenant-General who leads the Quetta-based XII corps and the army's southern command, appears the third in line for the top job — and least contentious among those in the race. From a family with a long military tradition — his father, Colonel Arshad Wynne, served during the India-Pakistan war of 1971— Gen. Wynne started his career in the 20 Punjab Regiment. He held several important posts, notably serving as Deputy Chief of General Staff, and commanding the prestigious Siachen-focussed 323 Infantry Brigade. Little is known about Gen. Wynne's political affiliations, perhaps because he has none. Notably, Gen. Wynne has had no tenure at the ISI, unlike both his rivals for the top job — and, of course, Gen. Kayani himself.

Wars of succession in the Pakistan army have often had significant political outcomes. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's October 1999 appointment of Lieutenant-General Ziauddin Butt — an engineering officer — precipitated the coup which led to Gen. Musharraf taking charge as President. President and Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto picked the junior-most — and supposedly most subservient — candidate for the army chief's job. Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, who Bhutto described as “my monkey,” returned the compliment first by naming the Prime Minister Colonel-in-Chief of the Armoured Corps — and then sending him to the gallows. General Abdul Waheed Kakkar, appointed army chief by President Ghulam Ishaq Khan in the course of a bitter power struggle with Mr. Sharif, forced both politicians to resign.

Popular consensus has it that the Pakistan army is a battleground between Islamists and pro-western professionals. In fact, as scholars like Ayesha Siddiqa have shown us, the military is an independent political actor, representing a set of concrete interests: the military is, after all, Pakistan's largest owner of land and custodian of an industrial empire that runs everything from breakfast-cereal plants to banks. The army, thus, is not just the custodian of the ideological and territorial boundaries of the state; it is, in key senses, the state itself.

Gen. Musharraf was reviled by the army for having allowed Pakistan to be drawn into a war that threatens its primacy. Gen. Kayani has responded by seeking to repair the army's relationship with its long-standing Islamist allies —and by seeking to find a way out of the war in Pakistan's northwest by escalating tensions along its eastern border. It is no coincidence that jihadist operations like the November 2008 attack on Mumbai took place soon after Gen. Kayani took office. His successor will have to decide if the army's interests lie in this direction, or in charting a new course.

India has enormous equities in the looming struggle for control of the Pakistan army — and must watch its course with great care.

From Karbala to Karachi

Scores of Shiites have become victims of the Sunni extremism in the past few days.  The Shiites once again became victims of the Sunni extremism.  At least 33 had been killed in two bomb attacks on Shiites in Karachi.  While in Karbala, Iraq, two suicide bombers killed 40 Shiites while injuring another 140.

The General speaks

Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaque Pervez Kiyani revealed that 2,273 soldiers had died fighting terrorism in Pakistan while another 6,512 soldiers have been injured while fighting the insurgents.  He further revealed that the deceased soldiers included 73 intelligence officers who died in Pakistan and another 11 intelligence officers died in Afghanistan.

General Kiyani compared the losses suffered by the Pakistan’s Armed with those of NATO’s in Afghanistan that claimed 1,582 lives in the past 8 years. He also revealed senior military officers including a 3-star general, two 2-star generals, and five brigadier generals.

The sectarian war in Iraq continues

While claiming to fight against Americans, the Iraqi Sunni extremists have been busy slaughtering the Shiite civilians. In another attack on Shiites, a female suicide bomber killed 41 pilgrims in East Baghdad on their way to Karbala.

Conservatives in the Sunni Arab states and the rest of the Muslim countries have been arguing in favour of the Sunni militant resistance to the presence of foreign armed forces in Iraq. However, mainstream Sunnis are uncomfortably silent at the sustained pace of murderous attacks against the Shiites in Iraq. This has to change fast.

Without the resistance from the mainstream Sunnis, the sectarian violence perpetrated by the Sunni extremists, who have now become indistinguishable from the Al-Qaeda brand, will continue unabated, wrecking havoc in Muslim societies.

Three Shiites killed near Quetta en route to Iran

Sunni militants shot and killed three Shiites en route to Iran near Quetta. The sectarianly motivated attack is likely to have been perpetrated by Iranian Sunni extremist group, Jundallah (which is hitherto not listed as a terrorist group by the US), in collaboration with Pakistani based Pushtun militants.

Source: Dawn.com

AFP reported the following:

Four people riding two motorbikes sprayed bullets on the pilgrims when their bus stopped near a restaurant on the outskirts of Quetta, the main city in the insurgency-hit province of Baluchistan, local police chief Asif Sheikh said.

“Three people including a woman were killed and six others wounded,” he told AFP. The assailants managed to escape.

The pilgrims from the minority Shia community had left the southern port city of Karachi and were heading through Baluchistan to Iran to visit holy sites, senior police officer Zaman Tareen said. “It was a sectarian attack. The victims were Shia Muslims,” he added.

Train kills a family of four in Pakistan

From The Frontier Post
http://www.thefrontierpost.com/News.aspx?ncat=ts&nid=3839

Four, including two kids, crushed by train

F.P. Report LAHORE: Four of a family including two children were crushed by 13 Up Awam Express near Balloki railway crossing, in Kahna Kacha area. According to Pakistan Railways sources,the family was attempting to cross the railway track when they were hit and run over by the train coming from Karachi. All four died on the spot. According to police, the couple along with their two children, after getting off a train was crossing the railway line when another approaching train crushed them all to death. Police shifted the dead bodies to nearby hospital. Meanwhile, citizens held a protest demonstration against the killing of the four persons. They chanted slogans against Railways authorities over loss of four precious lives and demanded to build overhead bridge to cross railway line to save precious lives. They said that there was no alternate to cross railway line and citizens were forced to cross line and dozens of precious lives have been lost while crossing it. Railway authorities when approached said that the incident occurred due to the mistake of the deceased who were crossing railway line carelessly. Police after registering a case into the incident have initiated the investigations.

Osama’s children vacationing in Iran?

For years the Americans have been accusing Iran of supporting the Taliban.  Iran, on the other hand, has denied all such allegations on the pretext that Iranians are Shiites, and that the Taliban are Sunnis who consider Shiites as heretics.

It was therefore nothing but a huge surprise when Saudi Arabia requested Iran to allow Osama bin Ladin’s (OBL) 19-year old daughter, Imaan, to leave Iran for Saudi Arabia.  It turned out that since the attack on Afghanistan after 9/11, Osama bin Ladin's family members have taken refuge in a suburb of Tehran, Iran, where they have been hosted in a compound with ”trees and a swimming pool” and with access to computers and laptops, but not the Internet.

The New York Times quoted OBL’s older son, Omar and his British wife Zaina, that “at least six of Osama bin Laden’s children [including Osman, Mohammed, Fatima, Hazma and Bakr] and one of his wives live in a comfortable compound in Tehran with other relatives, for a total of about 30 family members there.”

Meanwhile, Asharq Alawsat reported that OBL’s young son Bakr suddenly surfaced in Damascus to reunite with his birthmother on Christmas Day last year. Bakr told the family that he had been in Iran since 2001.

These developments certainly raise a whole host of questions about the relationship between Iranian government and OBL’s family.  First, if the family of Osama bin Ladin had taken refuge in Iran after the attacks on Afghanistan in 2001, was the family being held in Iran against its will or was it a case of habeas corpus.  Saudi newspapers are suggesting that Osama's family was indeed under detention and that 19-year old Imaan escaped from captivity and reached the Saudi Arabian embassy in Tehran.  In 2001, Imaan would hardly be 10 years old, and thus a minor alongwith other siblings.

Second, if this were not a case of habeus corpus, why would the Shiite government in Tehran be interested in providing refuge to Osama's family, which has not shown any respect or consideration for the Shiites in general, and have supported the murderous Taliban regime in Afghanistan that was directly responsible for the slaughter of thousands of Shiite Hazras. Put simply, why Iran did not extradite OBL’s family to Saudi Arabia, Syria, or UAE.

The Iranian government has observed that it would permit OBL's daughter to leave Iran once her identity has been established.

Bin Laden Son, Bakr, Arrives In Damascus from Iran
06/01/2010

By Mohammed Al Shafey

London, Asharq Al-Awsat- Bakr Bin Laden, the youngest son of Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, arrived in the Syrian capital Damascus on Christmas night following an absence of more than eight years in Iran. However the case of Osama Bin Laden's daughter Iman, who sought refuge in the Saudi embassy in Tehran, remains suspended, and Omar Bin Laden informed Asharq Al-Awsat that the Iranian authorities want to [first] confirm his sister's identity.

Omar Bin Laden, Al Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden's fourth son, said that the single source of happiness or joy felt by the Bin Laden family was in the return of his youngest brother, Bakr, aged 16, from Tehran. Omar Bin Laden said that Bakr was reunited with his mother in Damascus suddenly and without pre-arrangements.

Omar Bin Laden told Asharq Al-Awsat "My youngest brother, Bakr, arrived from Tehran on Christmas Day, the family was overjoyed, and my mother wiped away many tears [of joy], and this increased our trust in God Almighty, for what is closed, by God's will, becomes open, and we thank God for this. However this joy will not be complete until the safe return of the rest of my siblings, God willing, from the Iranian capital."

Omar Bin Laden thanked the Iranian authorities for their good intentions towards his sister Iman who sought refuge in the Saudi embassy in Tehran more than one month ago. He also revealed to Asharq Al-Awsat that ten days ago he, along with his wife Zaina, and his mother, Osama Bin Laden's first wife Najwa al-Ghanem, applied for visas to visit Iran, and that they are still waiting for a response [to this request].

Omar Bin Laden confirmed that the Iranian authorities wish to first confirm his sister Iman's identity, along with the identities of his other 5 siblings who are present in Iran, and his father's wife, Umm-Hamzah.

Omar Bin Laden, aged 29, told Asharq Al-Awsat "we are ready to prove to the Iranians that these are the children of Bin Laden. For our part, we also want to prove our good intentions, and we will take my siblings to any place that they want to go outside Iran."

He said "the goal is to reunite the family after more than eight and a half years of sad separation."

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast confirmed in an e-mail correspondence with Asharq Al-Awsat that his countries government will deal with the case of Iman Bin Laden seeking to leave the country on humanitarian grounds.

Iman Bin Laden is currently residing in the Saudi embassy in Tehran, but she wishes to leave the country. The Iranian government wants legal documentation from Saudi Arabia confirming her identity, as well as further clarification on how she came to be in Iran.

Mehmanparast said that once this process is completed, Tehran will deal with this case from a humanitarian perspective, which is interpreted by some observers as a sign that Iman Bin Laden will not face legal action for illegally entering Iran.

Omar Bin Laden revealed to Asharq Al-Awsat that he had applied for a visa to visit Iran after receiving a number of telephone calls from an Iranian woman speaking Arab in an Iraqi accent and claiming to work for the Iranian Foreign Ministry. She asked them to travel to Iran in order to receive Iman Bin Laden from the Saudi embassy, and the rest of the family members from the residential complex, and for this to take place quietly away from the eyes of the media.

Omar Bin Laden's wife, Zaina, told Asharq Al-Awsat that telephone communication between Iman Bin Laden in the Saudi embassy and her mother, Najwa al-Ghanem in Syria has been suspended for almost a week. She said that Najwa al-Ghanem is living in a state of extreme grief and sadness because she is not allowed to speak with her daughter. Zaina said that she thinks that what is happening is against the teachings of Islam, which advocates family unity and cohesion.

Zaina al-Sabah said she does not know "what the mother or daughter did to be denied communicating with one another in this manner." Zaina also called for the Iranian authorities to continue their good deed of looking after her husband's siblings since 2001 by rapidly facilitating their return to their family.

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said on Sunday that the Saudi government is in talks with Iran to secure the release of the Al Qaeda chief's daughter. Prince Saud al-Faisal said "we do not want to get involved in the political issues relating to this case because I do not want to complicate the issues, and possibly delay Iman's departure from Tehran."

The statements made by the Saudi Foreign Minister represent the first official response to this case by the Saudi government. Asharq Al-Awsat first discovered that Iman Bin Laden escaped from the guards assigned to her during a shopping trip in Tehran and sought refuge in the Saudi embassy. This story represented the first conclusive evidence that some of Al Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden's children are present in Iran. This was later confirmed by Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki who confirmed that Iman Bin Laden is present in the Saudi embassy in Tehran, and will be allowed to leave Iran once her identity is confirmed

In an e-mail to Asharq Al-Awsat, Omar Bin Laden said that he almost lost his life on more than one occasion during the years that he lived with his father in Saudi Arabia, Somalia, and Afghanistan. He confirmed that he had visited his father's training camps, and that his father sent him to the frontlines more than once during the Afghanistan war [against the occupying Soviet forces]. He also revealed to Asharq Al-Awsat that he was in the company of his father when he received the news of the bombing of two embassies in Africa, saying "we were quickly transferred to a safe house following the bombing of the two embassies, where we spent more than one month, during which former US President Bill Clinton bombed Afghanistan with cruise missiles."

AFP reported the following:

Saudi says in talks to bring Bin Laden daughter from Iran

(AFP) – Jan 2, 2010

RIYADH — Saudi Arabia said Saturday it is holding talks with Iran to repatriate Osama bin Laden's daughter to the kingdom after she took refuge in the Saudi embassy in Tehran.

"We consider this is a humanitarian issue," Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal told a news conference.

"We are negotiating with the Iranian government on this basis," he said.

Imam bin Laden, 17, recently fled from a family compound near Tehran to the embassy in hopes of leaving Iran, where she, several siblings and one of Osama bin Laden's wives have lived under house arrest for several years.

British newspaper The Times reported 11 of the Al-Qaeda terror network chief's grandchildren were also living in the high-security compound outside Iran's capital.

The group fled Afghanistan just before the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States and walked to the Iranian border, where they were detained and taken to the walled compound by guards, the Times said.

Prince Saud declined to give any details of the talks with Tehran, saying it could complicate the issue.

Iran Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki was quoted on December 25 as saying the teenager would be free to leave Iran once her identity is confirmed.

"The foreign ministry told the embassy that based on international conventions if her identity is confirmed she can leave Iran with passage documents," ISNA quoted Mottaki as saying.

"We were not able to confirm her identity but the embassy says she is" the daughter of bin Laden, he added.

Bus versus rail in South Asia

The knee-jerk reactions to traffic problems in South Asia have been either to build new or widen existing roads, or to build the expensive underground subway systems. Bus-based alternatives, especially bus rapid transit (BRT) have had a tough time winning the approval of the transport policymakers in South Asia. Despite the efforts by dedicated experts, such as Professors Geetam Tiwari and Dinesh Mohan of IIT Delhi, to promote bus transit, which is affordable and effective in the South Asian context, the news media in South Asia has mobilised the opinion against BRT.

The recent recognition of a BRT project in Ahmedabad, India, for implementing Janmarg, India's first full bus rapid transit (BRT) system, for the 2010 Sustainable Transport Award should help spread awareness about the affordable transit alternatives for South Asia.

Kudos to Ahmedabad. Here are the details:

City's Janmarg Bus Rapid Transit System Reduces Carbon Emissions, Dramatically Improves Residents Access

Cities in Developing World Dominate Award

WASHINGTON, Jan. 12 -- The developing world is leapfrogging developed countries when it comes to urban transport, with the city of Ahmedabad, India, today announced as winner of the 2010 Sustainable Transport Award for the successful implementation of Janmarg, India's first full bus rapid transit (BRT) system.

"This year's Sustainable Transport Award nominees demonstrate the relevance of the developing world in the fight against climate change while improving citizen's quality of life and enhancing their international competitiveness," said Walter Hook, Executive Director of the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy. "Cities have the power to significantly reduce carbon emissions by actively seeking ways to improve transport."

The Sustainable Transport Award is given annually to a city that uses transport innovations to increase mobility for all residents, while reducing transportation greenhouse and air pollution emissions and increasing cyclist and pedestrian safety and access.

Ahmedabad's Janmarg BRT system is a sustainable model for the future of transportation in India, where a quarter of the world's population lives. "BRT systems can positively impact air quality if car and motorbike drivers start taking trips by bus," said Sophie Punte, Executive Director of the Clean Air Initiative for Asian Cities (CAI-ASIA). "This is particularly important in Asian cities, where air pollution levels are often far above guidelines of the World Health Organization."

City residents have embraced their new BRT system; 18,000 daily passengers use Janmarg to commute to work, to school and elsewhere. In just a few months of operation, Janmarg has transformed the delivery of transit in South Asia. Janmarg uses innovative central median stations pulled away from the junctions. Bus stations feature passive solar design, an inexpensive way to keep stations naturally cool. The city is making continued efforts to be a leader in sustainable transport, including incorporating high-quality pedestrian facilities in some corridors, as well as bicycle lanes. Ahmedabad has initiated car-free days and recently announced more.

For the first time in the six-year history of the Sustainable Transport Award, all of the nominees are cities in developing nations. The four honorable mentions go to Cali, Colombia, for transforming citywide BRT service with MIO; Curitiba, Brazil, for opening a new BRT line and city park on a former federal highway; Guadalajara, Mexico, for completing a full BRT system in less than two years and at an affordable cost; and Johannesburg, South Africa, for creating Rea Vaya, Africa's first BRT and the first public transit system that connects Soweto to the downtown district.

The cities that received honorable mentions were all recognized for creating new BRT systems that reduce carbon emissions and create an optimal environment for pedestrians and cyclists.

The city of Cali, Colombia, is revolutionizing public transit with a complete overhaul of its transport systems. Cali opened its BRT system, called MIO, introducing a new type of service that allows the buses to work both within and outside its dedicated corridors.

Curitiba, Brazil, continues its sustainable transport heritage to link land use policy to transport interventions, including not only buses but also cycle ways, public space and pedestrian access.  

"Curitiba has laid the foundation for innovative transit," said Kathryn Phillips, a transportation policy expert with Environmental Defense Fund based in Sacramento. "Everyone recognizes it deserves to be an honorable mention recipient for the 2010 Sustainable Transport Award."

Guadalajara, Mexico, opened a full BRT system in just two years. This rapid implementation shows the city's courage and its political dedication to delivering public transport access to its residents.

"The Guadalajara Macrobus BRT System is an extraordinary example of farsighted leadership, good planning, and effective implementation," said Daio Hidalgo, Senior Transport Engineer, EMBARQ, The World Resources Institute Center for Sustainable Transport. "Macrobus is now fully operational just two years after the idea was embraced by the local authorities, with high quality and extraordinary performance."

"Nominations to three major Latin American cities (Cali, Curitiba and Guadalajara) for this year's Sustainable Transport Award reaffirm the leadership role adopted by this region of the world to develop cleaner and more efficient transport systems," said Sergio Sanchez, Executive Director of the Clean Air Institute. "Examples like these should enlighten other Latin American cities and elsewhere to keep moving to build more competitive cities, while improving air quality and reducing greenhouse gas emissions."

The city of Johannesburg, South Africa, opened the first full BRT in Africa, and completed the first mass transit investments in the city since the fall of apartheid. Rea Vaya is the first public transit system to link the previously disadvantaged Soweto area to the central business district.

"In under three years, Johannesburg opened a state-of-the-art BRT system that uses the cleanest buses on the continent," said Manfred Breithaupt of Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH. "Johannesburg's accomplishment against enormous challenges and the upgrading of the corridor in Soweto with lighting and sidewalks makes it an exceptional honorable mention."

Chosen by a selection committee that includes the most respected experts and organizations working internationally on sustainable transportation, this year's nominated cities have successfully addressed a diverse range of urban transport challenges. The Sustainable Transport Award selection committee includes the most respected experts from organizations working internationally on sustainable transportation. The committee members include:

• Walter Hook, Executive Director, Institute for Transportation and Development Policy
• Kathryn Phillips, transportation policy expert, Environmental Defense Fund
• Ralph Gakenheimer, Chair, Transportation Research Board Committee on Transportation in Developing Countries
• Sophie Punte, Executive Director, Clean Air Initiative for Asia Center
• Sergio Sanchez, Clean Air Institute, Clean Air Initiative for Latin American Cities.
• Dario Hidalgo, Senior Transport Engineer, EMBARQ, The World Resources Institute Center for Sustainable Transport
• Manfred Breithaupt, Senior Transport Advisor, GTZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit)
• Heather Allen, Senior Manager, Sustainable Development, International Association of Public Transport (UITP)
• Choudhury Rudra Charan Mohanty, Environmental Expert, United Nations Centre for Regional Development (UNCRD)

The Sustainable Transport Award is given each year during the annual Transportation Research Board meeting in Washington, D.C. Past winners include:

• 2009 – Mayor Michael Bloomberg, New York, United States, for making bold moves to achieve the ambitious goals of PlaNYC 2030.
• 2008 – Mayor Bertrand Delanoe, Paris, France for implementing a range of innovative mobility solutions with vision, commitment and vigor.  
• Mayor Ken Livingston, London, United Kingdom for expanding London's congestion charge program and developing other low emissions programs that dramatically impacted air quality.
• 2007 – Mayor Jaime Nebot, Guayquil, Ecuador for revitalizing the downtown, creating dynamic public spaces, and instituting a new public transit system.
• 2006 – Mayor Myung-Bak Lee, Seoul, Korea for the revitalization of the Cheongyecheon River and the implementation of its bus rapid transit system.
• 2005 – Former Mayor Enrique Penalosa, Bogota, Colombia for the TransMilenio bus rapid transit system, bicycle integration, and public space reclamation.

For more information, photos, and videos about the award and a list of past winners, visit www.st-award.org.  

For more information please contact: Claudia Gunter, Institute for Transportation and Development Policy, +1 646 839-6479, cgunter@itdp.org This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

SOURCE Institute for Transportation and Development Policy

RELATED LINKS

http://www.st-award.org