پروفیسر نثار احمد فاروقی
دارالمصنفین، شبلی اکیڈمی میں ۲۹؍ نومبر ۲۰۰۴ء کو علامہ شبلیؒ سمینار کا چوتھا اجلاس ہورہا تھا کہ یہ افسوس ناک خبر ملی کہ جید عالم اور اردو کے محقق، نقاد اور ادیب جناب نثار احمد فاروقی ۲۷ و ۲۸ نومبر کی درمیانی شب میں انتقال کرگئے، اناﷲ وانا الیہ راجعون، ان کی لاش دہلی سے امروہہ لائی گئی اور ۲۸؍ نومبر کو اپنے آبائی قبرستان میں سپرد خاک کردیے گئے۔
وہ بڑے صحت مند تھے مگر پچھلے کئی برس سے طبیعت خراب رہنے لگی تھی، گزشتہ سال جنوری کے آخر میں ان کے گھر ملاقات کے لیے گیا تو مجھے بہت مضمحل معلوم ہوئے، دریافت کرنے پر بتایا کہ رات ہی بمبئی سے آیا ہوں، وسط مارچ میں رام پور رضا لائبریری کے سمینار میں ملے تب بھی کچھ سست اور بجھے بجھے دکھائی دیے تاہم ان کی تقریر اب بھی کانوں میں گونج رہی ہے، دلی سے ان کا جاننے والا کوئی آتا تو وہ بھی ان کی علالت کا ذکر کرتا، دارالمصنفین کے سمینار میں اسی لئے شروع میں ان کو زحمت دینے میں تامل ہورہا تھا مگر ان کو مجھ سے اور دارالمصنفین سے جو لگاؤ تھا، اس کی وجہ سے طبیعت نہ مانی اور دعوت نامہ بھیج دیا، اسی دوران اخباروں میں پڑھا کہ وہ پروفیسر گوپی چند نارنگ کے ہم راہ دوحہ (قطر) ایوارڈ لینے گئے ہیں، اس لیے ایک عزیز کو دستی خط دے کر اصرار کیا کہ آپ تشریف لاکر مفتخر فرمائیں، خطوط کا جواب وہ فوراً دیتے تھے مگر اس دفعہ کسی خط کا جواب نہیں آیا، جب سمینار میں دہلی اور دوسری جگہوں سے لوگ آنے لگے تو جناب شعیب اعظمی نے جو بٹلہ ہاؤس میں ان کے قریب ہی میں رہتے ہیں بتایا کہ وہ سخت بیمار ہیں، آنے کے لائق نہیں...
Being a desert, Cholistan has nomadic and semi-nomadic culture with life threatening climatic and geographic conditions. In fact, life in Cholistan revolves around search for water, food and fodder. Health problems are also acute among these desert dwellers. The area is deprived of healthcare services. The existing literature on Cholistan desert contains no scholarship on the ways of dealing with health problems particularly of women. This article is the first of its kind to explore this aspect. Using ethno-methodology, primary data were collected from 50 elderly women through protracted qualitative interviews and participants observation. Thematic analysis technique was used for analyzing the data. The findings of the study reveal that several intertwined factors such as lack of road and transportation facilities, lack of healthcare infrastructure and qualified medical staff, adverse weather conditions, mass illiteracy, ignorance and existence of massive poverty are main factors responsible for poor health of women in the Cholistan. Also, women’s health problems are given little importance because of male dominance and male support and approval is sought by women before getting medical treatment. In addition to this, lack of access and poor awareness about modern healthcare services, make women in Cholistan rely mainly on self-medication and local remedies such as ethnomedication and spiritual healing.
MoisttemperateandsubtropicalforestsofKashmirareveryimportantecological zones of western Himalayas. Local forest reserves are the most important natural resource of the area being the only source of fuelwood, timber, medicinal plants and livestock forage for the mountain communities. The forest cover of area has experienced about 75% decline duetomultidimensionalsocio‐economicandenvironmentalfactors.Areadeserves immediate and special attention for conservation and sustainable use of forest ecosystem. Present study was conducted in forest and alpines of Bagh district, Azad Jammu & Kashmir to investigate species distribution patterns, community structure, diversity, ethnomedicinal practices and anthropogenic pressure. 18 villages in upper and lower valleys of study area weresurveyedtoinvestigatethecommunitydependenceaswellasutilizationofforest ecosystem including herd size, grazing area, fuel wood consumption, timber extraction and ethnomedicinal practices. 13 moist temperate, 3 subtropical and 4 alpine sites were studied indetailbyusingstratifiedsystematicsamplingtocollecttheprimaryspeciesdata, geographical characteristics and anthropogenic interactions. A total of 171 species belonging to 56 plant families were recorded from the area. TreelayerwasdominatedbymembersofPinaceae(Abiespindrow(12%IVI),Pinus Wallichiana (6%), Quercus dilatata (2%), Quercus incana (1.7%) & P. roxburghii (3%)); shrub layerbyViburnumgrandiflorum(5%)&Sarcoccocasaligna(3%);whereasherblayerwas dominatedbyPoaceaegrasses(Poaalpina(6%),P.pratensis(4%)&Arthraxonprinioides (2%)) and herbslike Sibbaldia cunneata (2%), Fragaria nubicola (3%) and Trifolium repens (2%). Population showed a uniform monotonic response about the use of medicinal plants. Atotalof94plantspecieswerereportedofhavingethnomedicinalutilizationinlocal communities. Area population showed an average family size of 9; herd size, 3; land holding 2.2acres;andgrazingareaof0.41acres/cattle.Annualfuelwoodconsumptionof10.2 metric tons/household; 2.97 kg/capita/day was recorded in the area. Timber consumption of 288.4 cft/house hold was recorded in post 2005 earthquake reconstruction activities with a further demand of 139.5 cft per household. Forest stands showed an average basal area of 69.01m2andtreedensityof190/ha.Animmensetreefellingactivitywasindicatedbyan average stem/stump ratio of just 1.62. Retarded forest regeneration patterns was indicated by a seedling count of 124/ha. Species richness for the whole area averaged 36; Simpson’s diversity,0.91;Shannon‐Wiener’sdiversity,1.82;Menhinick’sdiversity,1.34;Species evenness, 0.51; and Degree of community maturity, 45. A persistent grazing pressure along with significant erosion activity was observed at all the sites. Theimpactofenvironmentalfactors(altitude,aspect,slope)alongwith anthropogenicdisturbancestimuli(Treefelling,erosion,fuelwoodextraction,overgrazing) on vegetation dynamics was investigated and correlated by multivariate analyses (CCA). CCA showed a total inertia of 3.308 accounting for 88.7% of species‐environmental correlation. Altitudeanddistancefromthedisturbancestimuliappearedtobethemainfactors controlling species distribution patterns. Thequantitativephytosociologicalattributesandregenerationpatternoflocal forestsandalpineswerefoundtobefarlessthantheotherHimalayanregionsinIndia, Kashmir, China and Nepal, indicating high anthropogenic pressure and disturbed community structure. The favourite fuelwood speciesandrare medicinalherbs are facinga persistent exploitation which can lead to their local extinction from the area. Governmental authorities donothaveanyconservationpolicyforthenativefloraandforestreserveswhichis resulting in continuous depletion of already under pressure forest. It is the need of hour to develop and implement a practical conservation management policy for the sustainable use of local forest reserves, so that they can be protected, rehabilitated and preserved for the future generations.