Home > Ethnobotanical and Biodiversity Studies of Common Trees and Shrubs Along With Nexus Between Climate Change and Gene Diversity of Juniperus Excelsa in Zarghoon Ecosystem, Balochistan Pakistan
Ethnobotanical and Biodiversity Studies of Common Trees and Shrubs Along With Nexus Between Climate Change and Gene Diversity of Juniperus Excelsa in Zarghoon Ecosystem, Balochistan Pakistan
The Biodiversity assessment using ethnobotanical and ecological inspection complemented by genetic variation investigation of tree Juniperus excela was undertaken in Zarghoon Juniper Forest during the years 2009-11. In contemporary study the illustrious data assortment procedure entitled Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA)-Type Participatory Assessment of Natural Resources (PANR) was applied. PRA tools social map, transit walk, structured, semi structured interviews and pie diagrams were used. PRA was piloted in five villages as central habitat of five constellations embraced of total 17 villages in Zarghoon Juniper ecosystem.Meetings with local communities both male and female separately were conducted and PRA tool carried out using charts and markers. Ethnobotanical assessment revealed that 60%, 35% and 5% medicines were used orally, topically and boiled to inhale, respectively. Correspondingly, in case of parts of plants usage 57, 26, 10 and 7% leaves, seeds, flower and roots were used, respectively. The socio-economic condition of the area indicated local community was deficient of basic amenities of life. The dependency on natural resources was high and unplanned land fragmentation occurred as the major source of income (90%) was from agriculture and livestock rearing and only 10% income by trade, services and labor. Rate of deforestation assessed by counting cut stumps, ranged from 6.69 to 4.70/acre. Average Diameter at Breast Height (DBH) in inches above ground at 4.5 measured and that ranged from highest 37.13 to lowest as 29.40. Goat made the dominant livestock population of 75%, sheep 23% and donkey 2%. Sex ratio of J. excelsa showed predominance of male with a mean value of 103±23ha-1 (58%), followed by female 64±51 ha-1 (36%) while bisexual were very rare (6%).Anthropogenic pressure like lopping for timber 28%, fuel wood 56%, debarking 11% and fencing 5% of Juniper tree equally treacherous at all populations. Leaf samples of the key species J. excelsa were collected for DNA isolation as no genetic analysis was ever carried out in this area. Owing to the existence of impurities of high magnitude of secondary metabolites, a novel protocol was generated to isolate pure DNA essentially for tree J. excelsa, which exhibited rich genetic resources and diversity. Six microsatellite primers were inspected and four showed considerable polymorphic amplifications. The percentage of polymorphic bands of populations was great with a variation of 8.8% as of maximum (61.8%) at Killi Shaban and minimum (53%) at Gunda. The polymorphism decreased with decrease in cover. The genetic diversity among populations also varied greatly, from 0.1012 - 0.2012 and their order in five villages were as Killi Shaban > Killi Tor Shore > Medadzai > Sarobai> Gunda. Results revealed a positive correlation between genetic diversity and annual mean precipitation, high and low temp and soil pH, and variance in these due to climate change might intimidate the genetic diversity and resources. The traditional healers are dwindling in number and traditional knowledge is threatened and might be exterminated in near future since younger generation is least interested in it. Therefore, it is preordained to preserve the indigenous knowledge. Geographical distance and density might have sound effects on genetic relationships, because genetic diversity improved even at short distance. Existing anthropogenic pressure on ecosystem can be curtailed by regulations implementations and financial assistance for sustainable resourse utilization to the unique Juniper ecosystem of Zarghoon.
اسلامی تاریخ پر نظر دوڑائیں ایسی شخصیات میسر آتیں ہیں جو اپنے اپنے وقت میں اہل ذوق و اہل علم کی سر پرستی کرتے ہوئے نظر آئیں برصغیر اس حوالہ سے خوش نصیب خطہ ہے کہ اس میں نامور شخصیت نے جنم لیا۔ذیل میں مفتی محمد شفیع کا علمی و دینی تعارف پیش کیا جا رہا ہے ۔
Islamic religious militancy is a matter of great concern for the Muslim and the non-Muslim world today. The analysis of the ideology of the militants reveals that they find the legitimacy of their military activities in the ideal of the establishment of an Islamic state to establish the universal rule of Islām, and in the specific interpretations of some Qur’ānic verses, Aḥādīth of the Prophet (r), and also from the establishment of the Islamic state in Madīnah by the Prophet (r), his the military expeditions and those of his companions against their opponents and from the treatment of our historians of the individual military campaigns against the Muslim regimes of their times. The Muslim militants also fight against their Muslim governments on the grounds that they are not the true Islamic governments. The militants do not bother to kill the common Muslim masses, who vote and support such rulers. They take it as collateral damage. The world naturally reacts to this cult, especially the west, being at the helm of the world politics. Not only do the West tries to crush the Islamic militants, across the world, but also, topple the Muslim democratic governments having any ideal of an Islamic Khilāfah. This frustrates the peaceful political activists and strengthens the military activists, further. To end this ongoing and mounting cult of religious militancy, it is necessary to review the specific and traditional interpretations of the academic sources of Islām: Qur’ān, Ḥadīth and Fiqh, regarding the legitimacy of militancy in Islām. Secondly, to remove their misconceptions, it is necessary to engage the militants in dialogue through a counter narrative, which the author tried to present here.
It is widely believed that institutionalizing decentralization is a viable strategy to stimulate a system wherein previously disenfranchised local people participate in decision-making, and the elected officials are accountable to their constituents. In turn it produces conducive environment for inclusive political participation at grass root level. Hence, this thesis endeavors, to study the role of a decentralized local government in evolving representative leadership in Pakistan from institutional perspective. This study is conducted in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a province in Pakistan, characterized by strong patriarchal practices, low literacy, Khanism, religious fundamentalism and strong adherence to cultural norms and values. Introduction of decentralization in the shape of local government in Pakistan was a bold step however; the informal institutional practices as mentioned above hindered the way to deliver promising outcomes. This understanding was carried out by employing qualitative research methodology. The data was collected through in-depth interviews from community members, including men and women and local-government elected officials. In order to understand the stance of respondents on the role of local government, interpretivist approach was used employing unstructured interview schedule in individual interviews as well as in focus group discussions. Moreover, to get relevant information purposive sampling technique was utilized to locate more erudite respondents. This study finds out that some socio-cultural, political and religious factors derailed the operation of local government to develop in linear fashion as prescribed in theory. Among these, local power structure distorted participation, and representation of previously marginalized local people. Local elites were powerful enough and challenged the new positions created by local government. Due to their strong socio-political status, they easily manipulated the novice system and hijacked it away from the reach of the common people. Similarly, patriarchy disenfranchised women from political enterprise, limiting their role to pseudo participation in local government Central and provincial government relations were found as major impediments in the way of local government to produce an egalitarian system of decision making at grass root level. It was highlighted that the central government of General Pervez Musharraf used local government for legitimizing its own government at federal level. Provincial governments too were reluctant to share power with local representatives in district government. Therefore, provincial governments under duress administered fragile structure of local governments within their jurisdictions just to fulfill the constitutional requirements. Moreover, political parties, too, adversely affected the structure of local government to aggrandize in proper way. Local elites affiliated with political parties over shadowed the newly elected/created positions in local government. Consequently, the Hypocratic attitude of political parties added to the dilemma of failed decentralization in evolving representative leadership in Pakistan.