Contestations and Transformations: the Shared Religious Space of Jhule Lal in Sindh, Pakistan

Syncretic and shared religious spaces have long been perceived as reflections of tolerance. This does not imply that tolerance is completely liberated from multiple clashing components and the coexistence of interfaith practices do not suggest that hostility is entirely missing. In recent times, a transformation is taking place at the shared space of the Jhule Lal by the dominant religious group. However, there remains an appearance of tolerance at the shared space of the Jhule Lal among believers of both Islam and Hinduism, which blinds the observer of the deep internal contestation and process of transformation between both Sindhi Hindus and Sindhi Muslims who revere the same saint of the Jhule Lal. A syncretic space does not simply absorb different religious groups, and by studying the practices, rituals and interactions of the custodians, visitors and devotees at the shrine, this paper aims to unearth the processes through which shrine is contested in multiple identities, discourse (written, textual, verbal) authority, and belief systems.

The Role of Some Brachyuran Crabs in Bioassessment and Biosorption of Heavy Metals

Heavy metals contamination is one of the serious problems along the coastline of most urbanized and industrialized cities. There are several reasons of the increment in metal contamination during the past decades, mainly due to the various anthropogenic activities such as mining, atmospheric deposition, consumption of fossil fuel, untreated urban, agricultural and industrial effluents, extensive constructions campaigns, high consumption of various metal products and their unsafe discarding into the environment through the atmospheric, terrestrial and aquatic interactions. These sources are responsible for increase the metal contamination that causes the detrimental effect on marine organism as well as biogeochemistry of the marine environment. This is first inclusive study on heavy metals contamination in sediments and its influence on the density and diversity of benthic crab species during the last decade along the coast of Pakistan. Moreover, the bioaccumulation of heavy metals in benthic crab species with special reference to sediment contamination was also evaluated. In addition, the biosorption potential of crab chitin as low coast biosorbent was also investigated for removal of toxic metals (Cd and Pb) from aqueous solution through experimentation. The intensity of metal contamination during the last decade in marine sediments were evaluated by comparing the data set of two monitoring years (MY-I = 2001-03 and MY-II = 2011- 13) from the seven (Dhabeji, Bhambore, Phitti Creek, Korangi Creek, Sandspit, Sonari and Sonmiani Bay) coastal areas of Pakistan. The physicochemical properties of sediments such as percent moisture and porosity levels, percent total organic matter, particle size composition and eight heavy metals concentrations (Fe, Cu, Zn, Cr, Ni, Co, Pb and Cd) were evaluated during both monitoring years. The most of the physicochemical variables showed significant variations among the sites as well as between the monitoring years, indicates the significant changes in the geochemistry of the marine sediments along the coast of Pakistan. The significant changes in percent moisture and porosity of the sediments of the particular study site largely depend on the diurnal tidal cycling, intertidal area and distance from the shoreline. The percent organic matter observed highest in the sediments of Dhabeji during the both monitoring years. The grain size composition of sediments showed considerable variations in percent occurrence of very coarse sand and mud, earlier one decreasing, whereas later one increasing during the last decade along the Pakistan coast. The variations in heavy metals concentrations in sediments mainly stimulated by spatial changes and sources of metal contamination which ultimately effect on the levels of particular metals during the time interval (almost a decade). The concentrations of Fe, Ni, Cr and Cd were increased in marine sediments during the last decade. The correlation analysis of geochemical variables indicates the strong interactions between the physical properties of sediments and the heavy metals concentrations in sediments. The organic matter and grain size controlled the metal levels in sediments, but this relationship was highly specific as well as variable among the sites and during the monitoring years. The intensity of heavy metal contamination in sediments was further investigated for both monitoring years through multiple pollution indices. According to the sediment quality guidelines, geo-accumulation index, enrichment factor, contamination factor and ecological risk factor identified Cu, Zn, Cr, Pb and Cd as most dangerous metals in marine sediments during the last decade. The combined metal pollution indices represent the overall pollution condition for heavy metals that includes sediment quality guidelines, contamination degree and potential ecological risk index indicated that the highest metal loaded site designated as Sandspit, whereas Sonari detected as lowest contaminated sites during the both monitoring years along the coastal areas of Pakistan. The impact of sediment contamination on the benthic fauna (crabs) was assessed during the both monitoring years along the coast. The biotic indices (density, diversity, equitability and species richness) were evaluated and data compared for both monitoring years. The density of crab showed significant changes among the sites as well as with the time. The overall diversity of crabs showed no variations, however the species richness and equitability showed the significant variations with respect to study sites and during the time, respectively. The metal pollution stresses on biotic properties of crab indicated that the density, diversity and species richness decreased with increasing Cu concentration in sediments. The high Cr levels in sediments lead low diversity and species richness, however Zn increment in sediments also possess negative effect on density and species richness. The bioaccumulation of heavy metals in benthic crab species in reference with sediment contamination were evaluated to determine the influence of extrinsic and intrinsic factors on metal accumulation in crab species from nine study sites during two biomonitoring years (BMY-I = 2011 and BMY-II = 2016). In BMY-I, seven Brachyurans crab species (Macropthalmus depsressus, Austruca iranica, A. sindensis, Eurycarcinus orientalis, Ilyoplax frater, Opusia indica and Scopimera crabricauda) collected from different coastal areas and each crab species showed a variable pattern of heavy metal accumulation. For instance, the highest accumulation of Fe and Cr observed in M. depressus, highest accumulation of Cu and Zn evaluated in I. frater, highest accumulation of Co apparent in E. orientalis, however the highest accumulations of Ni, Pb and Cd exhibited in S. crabricauda. The bioaccumulation factor (BAF) was also estimated for each species and revealed that two fiddler crab species presented the highest BAF values for six metals, which designates their potential as an accumulation indicator for heavy metals in marine environment. The Indus fiddler crab, A. sindensis showed highest BAF values for non-essential and toxic metals, Cr, Ni, Pb and Cd, whereas A. iranica showed highest BAF values for two essential metals, Cu and Zn. However, the highest BAF values of remaining two metals, Fe and Co, presented in M. depressus and E. orientalis, respectively. The extrinsic or environmental factors such as percent moisture, organic matter, grain size composition and metals concentration of sediments revealed influential factors on heavy metal bioaccumulation in these crab species. The water contents in sediments showed significant linear correlation with Fe, Ni and Pb accumulation in crabs, however percent organic matter in sediments observed significant linear correlation with the accumulation of Fe and Zn in crabs. The accumulation of Fe, Zn, Ni and Pb in crabs significant correlated with % granules and the accumulation of Cu, Co, Ni and Cr significantly associated with sand composition, however the Fe and Zn accumulation in crab related to mud contents. The current study revealed that the Cu, Co, Pb and Cd concentrations in sediments significantly correlated with the corresponding metal accumulation in crabs. Based on the results of BMY-I, the study further extended in the second biomonitoring year (BMY-II). In BMY-II, the role of two crab species, M. depressus and A. iranica, as bioindicator of heavy metals (Cu, Zn, Co, Cd and Pb) were evaluated because these two species found widely distributed and abundant along the coastal areas, moreover the effects of intrinsic factors (genders and size) in metal accumulation in tissues further investigated in both species. The significant (p <0.05) intersexual variations detected in Cu, Co and Cd accumulation in tissues of A. iranica, whereas Zn and Co accumulation showed variations in tissues of M. depressus. This indicates the both genders can be considered independently for both crab species in heavy metals biomonitoring programs. The significant relationship presented between Co, Pb and Cd accumulation in tissues and size of M. depressus, an increasing trend observed in Co accumulation with the size, however a reducing affinity evaluated in Pb and Cd accumulation with the increase in the size of M. depressus. The significant association exhibited between Cu, Zn and Cd accumulation in tissues and size of A. iranica, a reducing affinity observed for Cu and Zn accumulation with the increase in the size of the crab, whereas an increasing affinity evaluated for Cd accumulation with the increase in size of A. iranica. The crab shell widely considered as promising biosorbent for heavy metals removal from aqueous solution because the shell contains chitin, which is the second most abundant biomaterial. In this study, the potential of crab (Charybdis feriata) shell were investigated as biosorbent for removal of Pb(II) and Cd(II) ions from aqueous solution. The biosorption process depends on various factors (such as contact time, metal ions strength and pH) that effect on the adsorption capacity of biosorbent. The optimum time 320 min was evaluated with 92% removal efficiency for Cd from aqueous solution, however the optimum time to remove the 52% Pb ions from aqueous solution was observed 160 min. The ionic strength of Cd(II) and Pb(II) ions increased as the biosorption of metals ions decrease, the maximum uptake was evaluated at 20.2 mg/g Cd(II) in an hour with the 80% removal efficiency from 100 mg/g Cd(II) solution. However, the Pb(II) presented highest uptake (11.9 mg/g) in an hour with the 97% removal rate from 50 mg/g Pb(II) solution. The experiments with variable pH revealed that biosorption capacity of crab chitin increases with increase in pH. The highest Cd(II) adsorption (2.49 mg/g) was found at pH 9.0, which give 99% removal efficiency. Whereas, the optimum pH for Pb(II) was also found at pH 9, which give 98% removal efficiency with the Pb(II) uptake of 4.9 mg/g, respectively from the aqueous solution. The data for adsorption process reasonably fitted to Langmuir isotherm model and the calculated maximum monolayer adsorption ability of chitin for Pb(II) and Cd(II) found 1.82 and 1.38 mg g−1, respectively. The adsorbent characterization techniques such as scanning electron microscope with energy-dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) were employed to characterize the changes in surface morphology and identify the main functional groups that responsible the adsorption of metals ions on the biosorbent. The SEM analysis revealed the variations in surface morphology after adsorption of metal ions. The presence of Cd(II) and Pb(II) adsorption on the surface of chitin were also confirmed by EDS analysis. The FTIR analysis showed the significant changes in functional groups (C-O, -NH and O-H bends) before and after the adsorption of metals ions that indicated the associations of these functional groups in adsorption process of Cd(II) and Pb(II) through the surface of Crab chitin." xml:lang="en_US