| October 9, 2001 | Tuesday | Rajab 21, 1422 |
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The burden of refugees
What are the police for?
Law of the jungle
An American’s tribute
Medical college admissions
Global terrorism
Plea by staff declared surplus
IUCN strategy in NWFP
Foreign Office briefings
Gulf visas
Reckless competition
Changing face of terrorism
A little kindness will go a long way
Shaming the shameless
Moderate Muslims
THE majority of Pakistanis want peace in the region and don’t want to have religious extremists ruling over their heads.
Trying to live in peace and harmony is not easy. It’s much more difficult than a lot of people think. It’s not easy to look at the differences and then welcome them. It’s not easy to be broadminded enough to see that there exist different races, ethnicities, religions in this world and we are to live in harmony. It’s not easy to listen to criticism and not raise one’s voice in reply and respect the criticism. The problem with the extremist elements is that they think they are right. And if someone tries to raise voice against them, then these people react very harshly.
Some of my friends here think that the Taliban are right in their ideology and acts. Personally, I don’t have any problem with what the Taliban think as they have the equal right of having some ideology as I or any other human being does. The problem is when they try to impose this ideology.
Nobody is denying the fact that men should cover their heads or have beard; or that women should wear hijab and observe purda. The conflict arises in the implementation and the implication, when a state starts to penalize its subjects regarding these personal acts.
The Taliban or all other extreme elements have the right to preach what they like but they don’t have the right to force their views with the power or law, or punish people who are not doing things according to their ideology. This is what a lot of Pakistani fear.
I see a lot of people criticizing the west in general, and the USA in particular; being enemies of Islam. I would not try to get into the argument about western foreign policy, which I think is wrong and needs to be changed. But if one looks at the society at large, it’s an open society. Those of us who live in the USA or Canada know that nobody would stop you from going to your mosques for prayers or from even preaching Islam or any other religion to your community. Whereas, in a society like Afghanistan, one can get a death penalty for preaching Christianity.
There is no doubt that religion in some form or the other plays an important role in a government but the issue is in terms of tolerance to differences. We know that there are quite a few sects in Islam and the disagreements have led to violence in the past. The main reason is the intolerance among people.
I may not agree with the ideology of Taliban but they have the right to have this ideology and they have the right to implement it — but without violence and with tolerance.
M.A. SHAHZAD
Oshkosh, USA
PAKISTAN has been hosting the Afghan refugees with open arms since the beginning of the Afghan crisis more than two decades ago. The refugees from Afghanistan have spread all over the country and these illegal immigrants have taken up various professions, particularly in the field of public transport.
So far Pakistan has taken in more than 2.5 million Afghan refugees and, on an average, 800 Afghan nationals are entering this country every day since the beginning of the current crisis despite a ban imposed by the government of Pakistan. Around 100 Afghan families entered Pakistan on Oct 3 from a point close to a heavily guarded Pakistani checkpost at Ghakhay in Bajaur Agency.
What have the Afghans given to Pakistan, when the late General Zia-ul-Haq embraced them with open arms? Heroin and kalashnikovs. And what have they brought for us now? Snatching of cars and dispossessing of cash under threats of murder.
The government of Pakistan should completely seal its entire border all along Afghanistan, as Iran has done. As soon as the fate of Osama is settled, our government should send all Afghan nationals back to Afghanistan without delay.
SYED A. MATEEN
Karachi
THERE are many instances when a person turns to a police station for help but his complaints are ignored. Recently, at midnight there was a lot of noise in my lane. My neighbour had caught an armed thief while three of his accomplices had managed to escape. All of them had knives.
When my neighbour phoned the police and requested them to come to his house, they replied they had no conveyance at the time. They asked him to bring the thief to the police station.
With the help of a representative of the local Nazim, he took the thief to the police station and got an FIR registered. But when it was known that the thieves were relatives of an influential person, the case did not move further.
The other three nominated accomplices were not arrested for many days. In the meantime the aggrieved party was asked to make a deal. At first, they did not accept the offer but the case was prolonged. The victims found the police station quite a bargaining centre and were disappointed. They had no way out but to accept the offer.
TASADDUQ SHIAR
Darya Khan, Bhakkar
THE last four years of the motorway have not been able to encourage traffic to increase despite a decrease in taxes. I wish this was the only reason.
Apart from other reasons, the shops and restaurants along the motorway selling drinks, snacks, etc, are making 50 to 70 and even 100 per cent profit on items required by passengers. An ice-cream stick that costs Rs10 is being sold for Rs15, a cold drink worth Rs45 for Rs60 and a plate of four seekh kebabs for Rs40 with a naan for Rs5.
Are these people living in a jungle? Is there no one to even ask them the reason for such exploitation? The ice-cream vendor delivers the stuff at doorsteps with no extra expenses, so what is the reason for robbing children on the motorway?
OMER I. KHAN
Lahore
I HAD the opportunity to serve at the old American Embassy in Karachi during the mid-1960s. All Pakistanis I came in contact with were friendly and courteous.
It was my pleasure to always stand up in public movie houses when Pakistan’s national anthem was played. Pakistan’s sense of nationalism is a role model for other nations across the globe.
While Pakistan is an Islamic State, I saw tolerance toward other faiths. In Karachi, I saw Christian churches and the places of worship of the Jews and the Parsis. The Muslims, the Christians and the Jews are all people of the Book and the children of Abraham.
I like Pakistan and am glad that it is our ally.
Pakistan Zindabad!
GEORGE SINGLETON
Birmingham, Alabama, US
IT HAS been reported in the press that the date of submission of forms for admission to government medical colleges has been fixed as Oct 15. But it is too early for A-level students as they do not receive their certificates from Cambridge before Oct 27.
This mistake by the board of education will cause a lot of problems for A-level students as it is clearly stated in the prospectus of government medical colleges that provisional certificates will not be entertained. Thus A-level students would be barred from appearing in medical college entry tests in the year of their passing.
HUSNAIN ALI
Karachi
TERRORISTS destroy the human spirit and the very fabric of a society. They destroy resources, cultural values and beliefs of the targeted societies.
There are so many methods that terrorists employ. The choice of the approach or the form of terrorism depends on the objectives sought to be achieved.
Gobalization is one of the new forms of terrorism. It is aimed at the establishment of economic hegemony of the developing countries over the rest of the world and the destruction of the social and economic norms of the Third World countries.
S.G.H. TAQVI
Karachi
ABOUT 800 employees of various government departments, including those in BPS 19, were declared surplus with effect from July 1, 2000 under the pretext of rightsizing and downsizing. However, the actual reason for declaring them surplus was entirely different because no uniform policy was followed at all. It would not be wrong to say that no policy was ever followed and people were declared surplus purely on personal likes and dislikes.
However, for some, being declared surplus was more of a blessing in disguise as these people were absorbed on choice posts, irrespective of their educational qualifications, job requirement, experience, and job qualifications.
Now the greatest fear for the remaining surplus employees is that they may be asked to pack their bags without being absorbed for one or other reason. The other fear is that if at all they are absorbed then they may be given a lower grade. This will be gross injustice.
No doubt, they are being paid their monthly basic salaries, but this is not all that they want. They feel embarrassed being paid a salary and doing no work. This is gross misuse and waste of government funds.
Fifteen months have already passed and they do not know how many more months will pass. The concerned authorities are requested to immediately order absorption and postings of all the staff declared surplus since July 1, 2000, in the grades they were in and in the cities of their domicile.
SIKANDAR AYAH
Karachi
A COUPLE of days ago I happened to go through an IUCN publication, Sarhad Provincial Conservation Strategy. I was extremely disappointed to learn about the future strategies of the IUCN regarding the conservation of biodiversity in the NWFP.
The main emphasis of the strategy is concentrated on community-based programmes. Such approaches do not serve the purpose unless included in a complicated series of steps required for effective conservation of species. The conservation procedure for biodiversity as concluded by the world conservationists is based on the following six steps:
1. Immediate protection of species from human and environmental changes (only one of the approaches to achieve this objective is community-based).
2. Educating the community to create awareness.
3. Life history studies of the species.
4. Captive breeding of the species.
5. Dispersion of the captive-bred species so that the complete stock may not be destroyed accidentally.
6. Habitat restoration before re-introduction of species.
Except for steps 1 and 2, the rest are not accounted for in the strategy which makes it absolutely ineffective and worthless.
This incomplete biodiversity strategy would cost Rs1 billion-plus out of which Rs205 million are to be paid by the federal government and Rs851 million by the donors (most of the donated money in such projects is in the form of loans and has to be paid back by the government).
In addition, the publication is full of very serious errors. On pages 226/227, there is an error of Rs4 million in the total of finances allotted for conservation of wildlife. The same has been carried forward to the grand total of accounts at page 202, thus making the complete accounting faulty. It is hard to understand how a publication compiled by thousands of men and women could have such serious errors.
I suggest the IUCN Sarhad to keep its biodiversity strategy flexible, and incorporate basic principles of conservation so that the desired results can be achieved. I shall also ask the authorities to keep a check on the expenditure of Rs1,052 million, which our poor nation has to spend on preserving wildlife in the NWFP.
ZULFIQAR AHMAD
Lahore
FOR THE last few weeks, we have been watching the press briefings by the Foreign Office spokesman, Mr Riaz Muhammad Khan, for getting an understanding of the day-to-day developments following the Sept 11 incident.
Mr Riaz Muhammad Khan seems to be quite under pressure while facing the national and international mediapersons. He looks tired and some times even frightened. We have never seen him smiling or relaxed.
He should be at ease with the journalists but at the same time he should be bold and quick with his answers.
We hope the respected spokesman would change his style accordingly.
ATEEUR REHMAN
Karachi
RECENTLY the UAE government has stopped granting visit visas to Pakistanis. The Kuwait government has already banned the entry of Pakistanis. And there is every likelihood that such restrictions will be imposed by other countries in the region as well.
This has caused severe anxiety among the overseas Pakistani community. Apart from those who go for employment or to visit relatives, many Pakistani businessmen also visit these countries frequently for trade negotiations. As such, these measures would not only lead to unemployment among Pakistanis but would also affect our exports adversely. It is, therefore, requested that the Pakistan government should take up this issue with the governments of these countries immediately.
SAQIB KHAN
Bahrain
ON Sept 29, Dawn published a report on a horrendous road accident at the Sheikhupura-Faisalabad Road near Shahkot in which at least seven people died on the spot and scores of others were injured, some of them critically. But a matter of grave concern is that the drivers of the two vehicles not only remained unhurt but also succeeded in escaping from the scene of the accident.
At a busy under-construction road, it has become a habit with bus drivers to keep a finger on pressure horns and go on pressing the accelerator harder and harder in reckless competition only to prove their consummate driving skill. These drivers forget all responsibility to the passengers who are at their mercy.
In between Shahkot and Faisalabad, the Faisalabad administration has imposed specific time restrictions for buses to avoid such mishaps. But in order to save “precious time”, buses are driven at breakneck speed. Something has got to be done to bridle these reckless drivers.
KASHIF AHMED
Sheikhupura
A NEWS item quoted the Palestinians as saying that they did not want to live any longer. Their movement had been stopped in their own territories. They could not make a living.
They were under constant raids by a powerful enemy, made more powerful and armed with modern weapons of destruction by the Americans. What says the free world? Who are the terrorists now?
ANWAR
Lahore
ON A visit to any government hospital, one will see them in large numbers outside all big medical wards. They sleep on ground in the open and face the vagaries of weather.
Mostly they are from towns and villages and are obliged to camp in the hospital compounds in big cities. They are there to care for one or more of their close relatives who suffer from serious illnesses and who have been admitted as patients mostly in general wards.
These attendants cannot afford to pay rent even for the poorly built cheap lodgings. Further, they apparently do not have the means to pay daily transport fare to the hospital. So they decide to stay within hospital compounds and spend days and nights in the open, until the patient recovers or is otherwise discharged.
All these caring attendants deserve our attention and assistance. The government and the philanthropists can help them in many ways.
First of all, protection is needed from the vagaries of weather. Small sheds can be built near each ward. These sheds will provide shade from scorching sun and protection from rain. These sheds are not expected to disturb hospital atmosphere or ecology. A toilet near each shed and a small place for washing will be a big help to these attendants. A common stove for making tea can complete the essential infrastructure.
The hospitals may like to take care that only genuine attendants are allowed to stay in the sheds within hospital compounds. Simple procedure for registration of these attendants and synchronizing their stay with the concerned patients can minimize chances of any possible trouble.
While they are staying in the sheds, simple screening for common diseases of these attendants may educate them about their own health. This may save them from visiting these hospitals after a few years as patients.
Some patients from towns and villages are less fortunate and do not have enough money to purchase medicines prescribed by the city hospitals. The government and God-fearing people can arrange to provide such medicines to the patients for possible recovery and early return to their towns and villages. We should all be thankful to God Almighty for good health. One way for this thankfulness is to use God-given wealth for the welfare and convenience of those who need medical and other health facilities.
M. BASHIR CHAUDHRY
Karachi
‘WASHINGTON favours Palestinian statehood.’ It had to take nine suicide pilots to strike at the heartland of America and loss of thousands of innocent lives to bring the above statement from the US government. It did not take that long to formulate the Balfour Declaration. It is not easy to shame the shameless.
KHURSHID
Lahore
THIS is with reference to the frequent usage of the term ‘Moderate Muslims’ by our president.
May I suggest that the term ‘True Muslims’ may be used instead as it highlights the point that there is no extremism in Islam.
SHAHAB TAHZEEB
Karachi
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