| October 11, 2001 | Thursday | Rajab 23, 1422 |
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Democracy should be the goal
Fall of the dollar
Opening doors to tax evasion
The Muslim global village
Waiting for what?
The infiniteness of justice
Presenting the right picture
CBR clarification
If the bombs don’t get you, the biscuits will
Censor board
THE human tragedy caused by the abominable terrorists’ attacks in the US is enormous and the desire of the Americans for revenge is legitimate. However, what is difficult to comprehend is that the Americans do not allow the same emotions to other nations. They have bombed the Iraqi civil population, I repeat population and not Saddam Husain, for a decade. Should not they be permitted this same sentiment of revenge?
Sympathy for any form of human tragedy, if limited to a certain class of society, betrays adherence to an exclusive club and does not show universal sympathy. Throughout Europe a three-minute silence was observed, and rightly so, in bereavement for, and in memory of, the victims. I have no recollections of any such show of sympathy when earlier about 30,000 Indians were killed in the earthquake of Gujrat. True, it was not a terrorist attack, but it still was a monumental human tragedy. In this regard, I may also mention the genocide in Rwanda and the terrorist attack in Kenya.
The Americans have asked for cooperation from the government of Pakistan as proof of its friendship. Let us go back 30 years ago when Pakistan was being dismembered in the civil war in its eastern wing, openly helped by the Indian army. Pakistan asked for assistance from the Americans. There was none although there was a signed mutual treaty CENTO — something akin to NATO. At that time why was not the equivalent of Article 5 of the Atlantic Charter invoked — all members of the Alliance go to war to help the aggrieved member? Moreover, every now and then the American government imposed military and economic sanctions on Pakistan. They stopped the delivery of purchased F-16 planes and even blocked for years the repayment of this sum — millions of dollars, which were finally adjusted against wheat shipment at bloated cargo prices. What friends? What proof of friendship.
As regards the situation in Afghanistan, everybody agrees that the present problem started with the Russian (Soviet) invasion in 1979. The Mujahideen were formed, arms were pumped in and the production of drug was acquiesced in all by the Americans to beat back the Russians. And they were beaten back in 1989, leaving behind a large numbers of Mujahideen, and arms and drug for Afghanistan and Pakistan to cope with. But the Russians should not be allowed to wash their hands of a crisis of their own making. Should not the instigator of the actual situation in Afghanistan be taken to task and asked for reparations? After all, Germany is still making payments to Israel!
MUSTAYEEN AHMED KHAN
Angers, France
UNDER the present circumstances, I am willing to go along with the acceptance of a non-representative government led by President General Musharraf. I understand and agree with his policy of siding with the US in this internationally explosive situation. I appreciate the fact that President Musharraf had the foresight to gauge the seriousness of the situation and act responsibly, keeping the national interest in mind.
However, General Musharraf must realize that he did not receive his presidency through an election and therefore cannot hold legitimacy beyond the current crisis. Pakistan needs an elected government as it is in the best interest of the country.
Most democracies did not start with the most honest and serving people in them. Even today, many politicians in democracies are self-serving and prone to corruption. As time goes by a better educated electorate and the media flush out the bad apples.
Pakistanis must be given a chance to sort through their own crop of politicians and be allowed to choose better candidates as time goes along. Perhaps the military can play a positive role of a watchdog and arbitrator for a few years, say 20 or so, until the system is mature enough to sustain itself.
If General Musharraf wants to be the president or the prime minister of Pakistan, he should do so by retiring from the army. He has shown that he has the managerial capabilities of a good state leader and God knows we need good people to lead our country. I and many Pakistanis will support him in reaching that office. I urge him to continue to lead the country down the path of democracy and tolerance until a representative government is placed in Islamabad.
SALIM AKBANI
Illinois, USA
A NEWS item on Oct 4 said: “Exporters’ SOS to SBP over rupee value hike”.
The exporters maintain that a fall in the value of the dollar would affect unfavourably their export proceeds on previous sales contracts. The question is how much has the official rate fallen? The answer: less than a rupee.
The truth is that these people were pinning their hopes on the continuous devaluation of the rupee and, therefore, had asked their buyers to hold the payments for some time. Now that the dollar is falling, these people have been deprived of the windfall profits that they were expecting.
The rupee had fallen to 67.8 for a dollar, in the kerb, due to speculative buying of dollars which created a shortage of that currency in the market. Now that the dollar is available in abundance, it is getting closer to where it should be, about Rs 55 per dollar.
Why should the Pakistan rupee be of less value than other currencies in South Asia? Even Bangladesh takka has a higher value against the dollar. Our rupee has suffered because of the greed of certain people. It is time that we woke up and realized what our priorities should be as a nation.
MUHAMMAD ABID
Lahore
GENERALLY, people do not mind paying taxes as long as they are reasonable and judicious. Consider the case of someone who settled outside the city three decades ago when no civic amenities were available there. With the passage of time, the city expanded due to the population explosion and the deputy commissioner increased the value of the property for tax assessment.
How would the residents whose properties have now become part of the city pay exorbitant taxes? The value of such properties should be assessed at the original cost and not on the basis of their enhanced value.
If they have to pay on the enhanced value, they will have to sell part of their property to meet the higher tax liability.
The same is the case with property tax. There is no logical reason for slapping high taxes that ultimately becomes the main reason for tax evasion.
High taxes not only make the taxpayers dishonest but also open the door for tax collectors to grease their palms. The government can blame the taxpayers only when they do not pay just taxes.
Harassment of taxpayers will never achieve the desired results. In fact, this is one reason why people have shown extreme resentment against documentation.
They think once they are on government files, they will be perpetually hounded by the taxmen.
DR FARHAT HASAN
Lahore
THIS is with reference to the article ‘Missing: Muslim Global Media’ (Oct 8) by Mr Javed Jabbar.
He is absolutely right in saying that Muslim countries have nobody to blame but themselves for the absence of a Muslim global media.
The reams of explanations of Islam and Muslims that have followed the Sept 11 attacks wouldn’t have been required had there been a Muslim global channel to convey a fair, balanced and accurate version of events and history to the non-Muslim audiences of North America and Europe.
Some two months back I had floated an idea somewhat similar to the idea of a Muslim global media in the form of a website by the name of Muslim global village, the basic rundown of which is available on the internet as www.quicksitebuilder.net/saminaque/muslimglobalvillage.
The basic concept of the website is to centralize all material related to Islamic countries in one place and that the Muslim perspective on any subject/argument that graces the CNN/BBC/Times/Post can be clarified.
After launching the website I e-mailed the website rundown to the OIC sectt and to nearly all permanent Muslim missions of all major Muslim countries in the United Nations. It was no surprise that there was not a single response. I am sure that the Muslim world has not one but at least half a dozen Ted Turners who could afford such a channel and website very easily.
Mr Javed Jabbar rightly says that if only a small part of the enormous wealth earned from the 1973 oil price hike had been invested in creating a global media it would have been much easier in terms of explanations and hostilities of hatred and violence.
Even now it is not too late because the sudden upsurge of hatred against Islam and Muslims will not go away with appeals by Bush or Blair because such feelings cannot be switched off instantly.
Although the parameters of the debate on Islam and the Muslim world are very difficult to transgress within the mainstreams of American or western media but the channel supported by like-minded interest groups can make a beginning.
SAMINA QURESHI
Karachi
AMPLE spaces have become available under the newly constructed overhead bridges all over the town. These valuable spaces can be put to use by the town planners if they care to do so. As no culture of taxing our imagination and taking pre-emptive action exists, the authorities are waiting for these spaces to be encroached upon. The bulldozers of the local or provincial government are probably waiting for these spaces to be occupied by the land mafia and provided with utility services like electricity and gas, etc, as happens in cases of encroachments, before they are demolished.
Isn’t it a fact that huge sky scrapers are first allowed to be raised and inhabited by tenants, when suddenly it dawns upon our Building Control Authority that the structure was built illegally and needs to be demolished. Since, however, it is impossible to take such an action, the benign government has quite magnanimously decided to legalize such illegal acts done in the past or will be done in future. Who will not avail of this license!
NAZIR AHMAD KHAN
Karachi
ON Oct 8 I watched the press conference of President Musharraf and later of the White House spokesperson, which raised a number of issues that remained unanswered:
The US-Afghan war started with the US demand of handing over Osama bin Laden. Pakistan tried all diplomatic channels to make it happen but couldn’t succeed and finally the war was imposed.
At his press conference, when the White House spokesperson was asked whether getting Osama bin Laden would be end of the operation, his reply was that the operation is not only against bin Laden but also against terrorists and their training camps wherever they are.
President Musharraf seems too optimistic to conceive that the operation is “short” despite its name “Infinite” — it is not infinite justice, rather infinite in time to get completed. Moreover, with the new dimension that the operation will be extended to countries where the US has suspicion about the existence of terrorists’ training camps there seems a possibility that some allies will be the next targets. One needs to be very careful about this new definition.
As a matter of fact, the American people are by nature very fair but always get carried away by the media. They also need to know that when the attack on WTC is a cowardly and brutal terrorist act then, how come, imposing war on the whole of Afghanistan, which is already a poor war-torn country, can be called justice. What military edge Afghanistan has that is being targeted? President Musharraf himself said in his press conference that there is no military comparison between Afghanistan and the allied forces. So, are the strikes doing any justice?
Another question that went unanswered was the anomaly that, on the one hand the US is bombing Afghanistan’s cities and on the other dropping food items. The White House spokesperson called it uniqueness of this war and tried to justify it. Do the US and the allied forces want to tell the people that they can drop bombs and food at the same time?
When the spokesperson was asked to chalk out the post-war phase of rehabilitation, unfortunately there wasn’t any answer. Again, this is something President Musharraf repeatedly mentioned in his press conference, and hence he should ask the allied forces to come up with a concrete Afghanistan re-build plan. He should tell them that Pakistan with an immense load of IMF loans, cannot afford to take up this job alone.
ZBK
Karachi
THIS is with reference to a news report on angioplasty (Oct 6).
Dr Asad Pathan is regarded highly by all cardiology institutes in the country as well as abroad. He is currently the head of NICVD’s Cath Lab, the Cardiac Care Centre at South City Hospital’s Cath Lab and a senior interventionalist cardiologist at AKUH. Surely all these hospitals cannot be wrong about Dr Pathan’s impressive credentials and ability.
Further, the report has not mentioned the thousands of lives Dr Pathan has saved over the years, due to his ability to handle complex heart cases. Rather than focusing on one incident, Dr Pathan’s overall record should have been discussed, which is extremely impressive by world standards.
Several members of my family have had the good fortune to be treated by Dr Pathan at the Cardiac Care Centre (SCH) and I can confirm that during angioplasties, a bypass surgeon is available on the site.
In fact, the report states that a back-up surgeon was present during the surgery performed on Mr Valika, as is normal procedure.
ADNAN AFRIDI
Karachi
WITH reference to an editorial published in Dawn (Sept 28), I would like to clarify the position regarding the total amount in the pending refund by way of duty drawback and sales tax. The editorial note said that this amount is to the tune of Rs52 billion. This figure is highly exaggerated and patently wrong. It has been made out that refunds were needed to boost the revenue collection.
The factual position is that the CBR has paid Rs14 billion under the categories of sales tax refund and customs duty drawback during the period of July-August 2001. The sales tax refund amounting to Rs9 billion was sanctioned and paid to the exporters as against the payment of Rs5.9 billion during the corresponding period last year showing an increase of 53.3 per cent. Similarly, the CBR paid an amount of Rs5 billion in the head of customs duty drawback registering an increase of 16 per cent as against the amount sanctioned during the July-August 2001 period.
As far as the pendency in the sales tax and duty drawback refund cases is concerned, it was for reasons of incomplete documents attached with these refund claims. I am sure that the backlog will be cleared within a few months in addition to the clearance of current claims.
VAKIL AHMAD KHAN
Member (Direct Tax) & Spokesman of CBR
Islamabad
I SAT before the TV listening to well-dressed men and women talking in well-turned phrases. They were talking about the global war on terrorism. The leader of the global alliance and his followers came on from time to time and said that it was not a war against the Afghans or Islam, it was being waged to make the world safe for us and our children.
On the TV screen, the sky over Kabul and Kandahar was dirty green. Thanks to CNN’s videophone, every now and then, we saw the green sky illuminated by a spray of bright white dots, streaking down from above and a few red flares coming up from below. The “white” bombs of the global alliance and the “red” anti-aircraft fire of the Taliban made no sound. There were no cries of the people on whom the bombs rained.
The well-groomed people from inside the TV studios said the global war on terrorism was a precise war. State-of-the-art technology was being used to target only Osama Bin Laden, his terrorist cohorts and the nasty lot of Talibans who were protecting him. The non-terrorist need not be afraid. Thanks to technology, the bombs and the missiles knew whom to get. There would be minimum collateral damage.
What a neutral phrase, “collateral damage”. Someone asked, “What did it mean? Could it be the death of human beings, the burning of their home, hopes and aspirations?” The well-groomed people said, “some of that might take place. But then a price has to be paid for making the world safe for you, me and our children.”
The war against terrorism is a humane war. Along with the bombs, the planes drop bright yellow packets of biscuits and dry rations. Someday an Afghan might be able to tell his grandchildren of a sky that rained “bombs and biscuits,” and about an American President “who cared”. At last, a recognition of people below the dirty green skies of videophone. Those who do not become “collateral damage” may eat the biscuits.
I had fallen asleep before the TV and I was dreaming. I was in the outskirts of Kabul. The sky was dirty green with white dots dancing all over. All round me were the ruins of homes of people and bodies that did not move. There was a little girl moving in slow motion as if she has just awakened from sleep. Suddenly she moved fast. There was a bright yellow pack lying on the mud across the road. At the edge of the road she stopped, hesitating as if she was afraid to cross the road, to put her foot on the ground on the other side. And then, she made a dash for the yellow pack. Had she seen the telly? Or was it her instinct that told her that it contained food. She tripped and fell. There was a bright flash as the landmine exploded. Her frail body was thrown up in bits, blood splattering the yellow packet. My eyes burned. I was awake. There was no sound. The TV was still on showing the silent bombs from a dirty green sky on silent cities and villages. It could not tell who had placed the landmine — the Russians, the Talibans or the Northern Alliance.
“What, then, shall we do?
Stick, so far as possible, to the empirical facts — always remembering that these are modifiable by anyone who chooses to modify the perceiving mechanism.” — Aldous Huxley, Eyeless in Gaza
TAPAN K. BOSE
Kathmandu, Nepal
RECENTLY, I saw an advertisement on PTV which highly perturbed me. The ad showed a woman telling her son about some detergent, which provides 20 per cent extra in its pack. Her son asks her, ‘what is extra?’, and she tells him: ‘Your phophi (aunt) and dadi (grandmother)’. What are the censor board people doing? Aren’t they supposed to check all these things?
AMEER HAMZA
Karachi
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