Herald Exclusive: Nuclear hazards

Abandoned uranium sites lie beaneath a lake in Baghalchur, home to over 5,000 residents 40 kilometres north-west of Dera Ghazi Khan town. — Photo by Moosa Kaleem

by Moosa Kaleem

From a distance, the place looks like a plantation. Up close, it is a rectangular plot of land, spread over rolling hillocks as far as the eye can see, dotted with low-slung acacia trees and bound by a fence of barbed wire. Beneath its clay surface are hidden hundreds of kilogrammes of what local residents say is nuclear waste. Right behind this ‘nuclear landfill’ is a sprawling compound, consisting of many abandoned military-style residential barracks, a functioning primary school for boys and a mosque. The barracks, all locked and sealed, contain hundreds of barrels of nuclear waste, claim residents of the area. Less than one kilometre to the south of these two sites are a few abandoned uranium mines, now submerged under rainwater. The barracks and the compound once served as residences for officials – and their families – who supervised uranium mining. According to claims by the locals, more nuclear waste is buried deep in the abandoned mines.

VBMP Long march reaches DG Khan, Baloch and human rights org welcomed the marchers

DERA GHAZI KHAN: Mama Qadeer Baloch, who is leading the Voice of Baloch Missing Persons long march for the recovery of Baloch missing persons, said on Sunday that 18,284 persons from Balochistan were missing and the figure included 170 women and 169 children. He further said that over 1,500 mutilated bodies of the missing persons had been received which was an open violation of the human rights.