World's Longest Train Tunnel

After being under the process of drilling for fifteen years the World’s longest tunnel has been completed in Switzerland, making way for a high-speed railway connection between northern and south-eastern Europe in the heart of Swiss Alps. The tunnel is 57 km in length (35.7 miles) and the distance between the two ends of the tunnel is 30 km (20 miles) and 9.5 m in diameter.

Around 200 dignitaries were present at the inauguration which was broadcast live on Swiss televisions. 9.8 Billion Swiss Franc have been spent on the construction of this tunnel which once completed will allow 300 trains to travel everyday at a speed of 250km/h.

It was a strenuous task for the laborers who had to bore and cut thorough 13 million cubic meters. Eight lives were lost in the process and the 2000 workers were in the limelight especially after Chilean miners were rescued.

The truck traffic through Gotthard base was causing great environmental damage and concerns were raised by the local people who demanded this traffic to be banned. They also persuaded the government to take action and find an alternate transport system in the region. Hence in response to this the idea of constructing a tunnel was taken into consideration.Thus, this tunnel once running will not only prove to be economically beneficial but will also save the beauty of the Swiss Alps which are of great significance to the country’s tourism sector.

The rail line is expected to be complete and operational in 2017 as it will then connect Italy’s Milan to Zurich in less than three hours and to Germany in the north in less than an hour. Much work remains to be done on the link, but the Tunnel has secured the title of the World’s longest railroad tunnel from Japan’s 53.8 km Seikan Tunnel, constructed in 1988.

By Midhat Meraj

Labour Party Election

On the 25th of September Ed Miliband very narrowly beat his brother, David, for the leadership of the Labor party. David had been the favorite to win and last second backing from trade unions enabled him to get the top spot. Ed has been portrayed to be more left leaning than David, who is more central and has been branded “Red Ed”. After Ed’s nervy acceptance speech and David’s brilliant valedictorian one two days later, the people present at the party conference in Manchester, even the ones who had backed Ed, were probably wondering if they had made the right choice.
David was seen as the heir to the Labor party throne, and now the MPs and activists are probably cursing the trade unions for the results. David certainly was the one who most deserved to win, having the experience as foreign secretary and being Tony Blair’s protégé. He had also been waiting for this moment for a long time, and it was his dream to become Prime Minister.
Sadly, that dream has been snatched away from him by his brother, and some see this as unfaithfulness. Now that David Miliband has announced that he is leaving frontline politics, Britain will lose an experienced and extremely able politician. It is understandable that he would not want to work under his younger brother, who has followed him everywhere, from school to the same Oxford college, into the Labor party, into Parliament and finally into the race for party leadership and there ended up being one Miliband too many.
The Tories of course, will be delighted that they get to face the younger Miliband as opposition leader, because David would have made life quite difficult for them. They will aim to exploit the Red Ed tag to the fullest, but they cannot get too complacent. In the elections, they were denied a majority because of Labor, and had to form a coalition with the Liberal Democrats.
Labor are also currently neck and neck with the conservatives in the opinion polls, and that is with Red Ed and before the budget cuts have been unveiled.
Ed’s policies will be shaped by the decisions he takes during the first few weeks of his leadership. I think that he will be more towards the left, even though this is something Labor must avoid, because when the time for general elections comes, it will make people think about whether Labor are electable or not. He will also be supporting what the trade unions say and do. He will also recommend an increase on income tax and other taxes on the upper class and make benefits easier to get. The economy will be expanded to create more jobs. He will also be advocating the plan his brother came up with, to cut the deficit by half in four years.
Let’s hope that Ed’s “new generation” actually learns from New Labor’s mistakes. If he manages to shake the Red Ed tag and centralize the party a bit, Mr. Head of Labor may just turn into Mr. Prime Minister.

Ayesha Nishtar

Is Pakistan on the verge of collapsing?

I recently heard that a country could be said to be on the brink of collapse when three scenarios are taking place simultaneously. 1) there is a financial crisis 2) the social welfare of the people is declining and 3) when there is a law and order situation. When one reads this state of affairs he is immediately reminded of Pakistan’s political and economic condition. Many are of the opinion that what this country needs yet again is another dictator and through this article I would like to address the present situation.

When a democratic government fails to establish good governance in the country, this gives rise to public unrest. Bad governance can be seen in many aspects of pakistans socio economic condition. There is hyper inflation in the market due to the devaluation of the rupee, scarcity of food which has resulted in most of the general public having to forgo several basic necessities and above all there is a lack of security in virtually all areas. So dire is the state of affairs that the government may not have money to pay salaries in a few months. The alarm about the economy was first sounded when Mr. Shaikh, a former World Bank officer informed a meeting of political and military leaders that the government had enough money to pay only two months’ salaries. Mr Shaikh was quoted as saying that the economy was “teetering on the brink” before the floods but was now heading for the “abyss.” These present conditions meet the requirements of the military to initiate a coup which at this point, seems inevitable. However, the military, preoccupied by a war against militants and reluctant to assume direct responsibility for the economic crisis, has made clear it is not eager to take over the government.

Another important factor to keep in mind are the corruption charges being faced by the present government which are being constantly delayed on the slightest of excuses. The Supreme Court is also pushing the government on the issue of corruption by threatening to remove the president’s immunity from prosecution, a move that would expose him to charges of corruption in an old money-laundering case in Switzerland.The president has been subject to such charges even before his term began. However, corruption in Pakistan can not only be seen in financial matters but in violation of merit, as well as biased and unjust decisions in favour of self or ruling party.
Zadari’s indifferent behaviour towards his nation could be seen when he decided tovisit his familys Normandy chateau while the 2010’s flood victims were being rehabilitated. Hence the government’s performance since the floods which have left about 20 million homeless and the nation dependent on handouts from foreign donors, has lead to a rising disdain for the government due to the perception among the media and the public of the callous and inept handling of the floods by the nation’s wealthy ruling class. Consequently, this has left the Pakistani nation disillusioned with its leaders resulting in an increased demand for change.