Muhammad Khan, a resident of Machar Colony — a coastal town tied to the shipbuilding industry for a long time — was only 15 when he joined the boatyard, where new seafaring vessels are built from keel to the mast and old ones, including modern-day launches, are brought in for all kinds of repairs.
“Shipbuilding is a craft as old as Hazrat Noah (AS),” he tells Geo.tv, “Our elders chose this profession many decades ago and we are following in their footsteps.”
A variety of seafaring vessels are constructed at this boatyard. These include ships, boats, launches, and even fishing trawlers. However, almost everything involved in getting these ships up from the ground and into the sea is done by hand.
“We are deeply disappointed in the government for not providing the requisite facilities to shipbuilders, even the injured workers. Because of this, many skilled workers have given up on their craft and taken up new lines of work,” laments Khan.
According to him, this business is not even registered due to which the workers have to face problems.
However, Karachi’s boatbuilders take all these challenges in stride and do not let themselves be daunted by the vagaries of the times.
Boatmakers working on seafaring vessels in Karachi. — Facebook screengrab/Geo Digital
The unmatched skill of these artisans is reflected in the fact that while shipbuilding across the world is done with the help of boat-building plans (blueprints), Karachi’s boatbuilders do not rely on them.
Aoun Ali, another shipwright in the colony, says he was merely 14 when he joined his father in this profession. Despite having a BSc in Mathematics, Aoun chose to follow in his forefathers’ footsteps to make a career out of boat building.
At first, he would make regular boat-building plans. “However, now the skill has improved beyond architecture and engineering. Shipbuilding is second nature to us now and we no longer need blueprints to do it,” he says proudly.
The picture shows boats standing at a boatyard in Karachi. — Facebook screengrab/Geo Digital
That is not to say the shipbuilders have entirely discarded the use of blueprints. Aoun says that if any official organisation commissions any work, the builders use plans. “For instance,” he adds, “we prepared boats for Karachi Port, which we worked on using boat-building plans given to us by the institution. It’s just that our shipbuilders are not dependent on maps and can do their work skillfully without having to use too.”
Speaking on the matter of the types of wood used in the process, Aoun informs Geo.tv that initially Burma teak wood from Burma was used in shipbuilding.
“However, after it became expensive, we began to use pine wood from Malaysia. When that too became too costly, we began to import wood from Congo for the hull of the ship, and local wood for its structure.”
For all their skills, the shipbuilders do not shy away from admitting that the real challenge in the whole process is wood cutting, which is the most crucial and dangerous part of the profession.
Manzoor Ahmed, another worker in the Colony, has spent a large part of his youth chopping wood in the yard. He says that the first time he saw the cutting of wood, he was stunned and wondered how he would handle the wood’s weight. “But when a person sets his mind to a task,” he chuckles, “Allah gives him the courage.”
He says that when the wood breaks, like a bare sword it can hit any part of the body. “But after years of experience, we are not afraid anymore.”
However, Manzoor highlights how the rising inflation has affected the livelihood of these builders. “In my early days, I worked as a helper for Rs600 a week … now the labourers are paid Rs6,000 a week in the boatyard,” he reflects.
However, shipbuilding is merely one aspect of their job. At the end of the day, the sea is everything to these shipbuilders: friend, comrade, and enemy. As soon as the water level rises, these shipbuilders push their creations into the ocean, hoping that God will protect them and their handiwork.
The picture shows boats being built at a boatyard in Karachi. — Facebook screengrab/Geo Digital
After the launches are ready, they are brought to the shore with the help of cranes. From here, Javed Hashmi and his team take over. A crew of 20 to 25 people works to launch the ships into the ocean.
Hashmi too has been associated with this work since his childhood. His lifelong experience as a seaman allows him to deeply understand the immensity as well as the profundity of the ocean.
“The seawater rises on the first and fifteenth days of the moon,” he informs Geo.tv.
“As soon as the water rises,” Hashmi continues, “crew members lower the ship into the sea with the help of a crane and greased planks, which are slid under the vessel while it is still on the shore. Then it is handed over to the sea with the help of two boats.”
Hashmi says that he and his entire crew wait for the water to rise and pray that the ship does not hit the seabed. If the water level is low, the ships get stuck in the seabed and it takes many months to get them out.
The story of these beach-dwelling boatbuilders, carving their living out of the finest of the seaworthy woods, while keeping their ears to the breezy whispers of the whimsical as well as the dreadful ocean, reads like a romance, but in this tale, Adam’s son is not waiting for the descent of a fairy, but for the ascent of the sea.
KARACHI: The Sindh government on Thursday announced the winter vacation schedule for public and private educational institutions across the province.
According to a notification issued by the Sindh School, Education, and Literacy Department, the educational institutions in the province will observe winter vacation from December 22 to 31.
“In pursuance of decisions taken in the steering committee meeting, all public and private educational institutions under the administrative control of School Education and Literacy Department Government of Sindh shall remain closed w.e.f 22-12,023 to 31-12,023 for Winter Vacation.”
After the winter break, the educational institutions will reopen on Friday (January 1, 2024).
Meanwhile, the new academic year in the public and private schools across Sindh will commence on April 15, 2024, and August 1, 2024, in the colleges.
The matriculation and intermediate exams will be started from the last week of May 2024, while the results will be announced on July 31 and the second week of August, respectively.
PM Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar to meet Kuwaiti crown prince today.
Both army chief and PM are in Kuwait on official visit.
PM Office says multiple MoUs expected to be signed during visit.
Army chief General Asim Munir on Tuesday met Kuwait’s Crown Prince Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah as part of his official visit to the gulf country, reported Kuwait News Agency (KUNA).
The meeting was also attended by Caretaker Law Minister Ahmed Irfan Aslam, Pakistan Ambassador to Kuwait Malik Mohammad Farooq and other members of the delegation.
Meanwhile, PM Kakar has also arrived in Kuwait City after concluding the UAE visit and is expected to meet the crown prince today, the PM Office said on Wednesday.
The premier will also meet his Kuwaiti counterpart Sheikh Ahmed Al-Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah.
The PM office said that a number of memorandum of understanding (MoUs) will be signed for mutual cooperation in various sectors including manpower, information technology, minerals and mining, food security, energy and defence.
In UAE, Pakistan signed several MoUs worth multi-billion dollars in a range of areas on Monday to boost economic and strategic cooperation between the two countries, PM Kakar said.
The prime minister said with the signing of the MoUs, the bilateral economic and strategic relations had entered into a new era of bilateral cooperation.
Congratulating the people of Pakistan and the UAE, he said the foundation of friendship with Pakistan which was laid by Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan in the 1970s, had been taken forward by his son Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan to a new era.
PM Kakar expressed the hope that the MoUs that were signed by the two countries would turn into tangible projects very soon.
Caretaker Minister for Religious Affairs and Inter-faith Harmony Aneeq Ahmed said Tuesday that the government would provide free-of-cost mobile SIMs with roaming internet packages to Pakistanis performing Haj in 2024.
In conversation with a private news channel, the caretaker minister said abayas would also be given to female pilgrims, having a Pakistani flag on the backside, and 13kg suitcases would be given to all.
The minister called the reduction of around Rs100,000 in the Haj cost a “historic step” taken by the caretaker government, noting that a further Rs50,000 would be slashed and the amount would be refunded to the people in their accounts.
He said a new mobile application has been designed to assist pilgrims, which will provide navigation support and enable constant communication between pilgrims and relevant officials.
Initially available in English and Urdu, the application will later incorporate various regional languages, he said, adding, that the app would also provide digital training programmes to every pilgrim.
The minister also disclosed a project that Haj ministry, with the collaboration of the education ministry, has planned to convert city mosques into schools to enroll out-of-school children where the mosques’ imams would play a leading role.
The minister said that mosques will play their role as community centers in every city areas, adding that imams will resolve community issues as well after offering prayers.
He said that haj ministry is taking all four provinces on board and enhancing the connectivity of mosques.
While describing another project, the minister said that his ministry with the collaboration of the health ministry has another project in the works, in which medical clinics will also be part of mosques.