This photo is courtesy of Mr. Raja Islam. The place is Gadani’s Ship Breaking area some 40 km west of Karachi. Ships of all sizes and shapes are broken down into small pieces of scrap here using mostly the hand tools. It is a work of sheer labor. When I first saw this picture in Raja Islam’s collection it was titled as ‘Egyptian slaves at work’. Breaking a ship into small pieces by using simpe hand tools is probably very close in effort to building a Egyptian pyramid.
Dear Readers,
While All Things Pakistan has remained alive and online, it has been dormant since June 11, 2011 - when, on the blog's 5th anniversary, we decided that it was time to move on. We have been heartened by your messages and the fact that a steady traffic has continued to enjoy the archived content on ATP. While the blog itself will remain dormant, we are now beginning to add occasional (but infrequent) new material by the original authors of the blog, mostly to archive what they may now publish elsewhere. We will also be updating older posts to make sure that new readers who stumble onto this site still find it useful.
We hope you will continue to find ATP a useful venue to reflect upon and express your Pakistaniat. - Editors
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Stereotype “rona pitna ” instead of getting the culprit
somebody was paid for stranding ship for scrap, why are u
guys so classique old style bavardeur, delateur, don’t u
have courage to denounce MQM’s Ghori, denoucing mullah
is very easy, worry for the day when they will react.!!!
Viqar, perfect choice of ‘sher’. very appropriate
taQdIr ke QAzi ka yeh fatwA hae azal sE
hae jurm’e za’Ifi ki sazA marg’e mafAjAt
Big health and safety concerns with the dismantling of thse ships as well:
http://www.greenpeaceweb.org/shipbreak/
“Shipbreaking takes place in poor countries, where once pretty beaches in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Turkey are turned into ship graveyards.
At the end of their sailing life, ships are sold for their valuable steel. However, old ships contain hazardous substances such as asbestos, lead paint and PCBs. During scrapping these poisons are released into the environment and the workers’ bodies. Greenpeace urges the shipping community to take immediate action and develop international legislation on ships-for-scrap”
Tu Qaadir-o-Adil hay magar tere jahaN maiN
HaiN talkh bahut banda-i-mazdoor kay auqaat