| November 4, 2001 | Sunday | Shaba’an 17, 1422 |
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Plea to the US government
Problems of Muzaffargarh
SBP’s report
Massacre in Bahawalpur
Indian journalists
A question
Power breakdowns
Love of people?
Inhumanity
Pakistan’s problems
Public toilets
UN special representative
IT IS a strange war. It is a war of high-tech state-of-the-art against low-tech of the first world war vintage. It is a war of electronically guided heavy bombs and missiles and ultrasonic planes against mud huts. It is a war in which all except the enemy gets killed. It is a war which targets a country for hitting a few thousand men of bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda.
Never has a war against terrorism been fought like this. Terrorists have been tracked, trapped and apprehended by policemen and mostly the secret police at all times in all countries.
No army has struck against a whole country to avenge a terrorist attack.
Granted that no terrorist attack has been gruesome as bin Laden men’s on the WTC and Pentagon by ramming them with planeloads of civilian passengers. Not have deaths in a single terrorist strike been so large scale, nor the scare that this unsuspected attack caused been so widespread.
But the war ostensibly to catch or kill the suspected culprits and in self-defence is turning out to be a war of blind vengeance. A revenge of angry Americans against non-comprehending but proud Afghans. But a war of revenge cannot be sanctioned by the international community nor by the UN. It is going beyond the UN mandated self-defence. It does not fit the modern day canon of international behaviour.
That is, what is causing unease among the coalition that supports America’s war against terrorism. As the war progresses there are no signs of the enemy being anywhere near shooting, but innocent civilians are dying or fleeing to safety in their hundreds.
To the ordinary American, it has become an ethnic war against people who grow beards and wear turbans and are a few shades darker than white. The ordinary American soldiers’ attitude cannot be much different. Slowly this war, unless it is stopped, will rekindle old and buried prejudices of the whites against the coloured. Mr Collin Powell should watch out. He could be the next victim of the white racial swell that is about to hit America and the white world.
There is yet another cause for anxiety. If the Americans were to succeed in Afghanistan, what will they stop at the rest of the world? They have their own vital interests to protect round the world; will they not try to back it up with their military or their covert CIA? Will bin Laden be the last man condemned to death by the CIA? Will not the memories of a ravaged Afghanistan itself succeed in softening the weaker countries towards the US? Will not rudiments of international democracy being achieved through the UN face a rude threat? Will not imperialism or neo-colonialism be reborn in a new, subtler but more fearsome form?
This war must stop. It does not guarantee freedom. It does not address the enemy who will before being bombed out, move out and find a new home. The Americans will then have to move to that new home and so on and so forth. No amount of brute force can substitute for sharper intelligence and quicker action.
This war will brutalize Americans as the colonial war brutalized the colonials or the Vietnam war did to the American soldiers.
It will further brutalize the disgruntled Asians and Africans and make terrorism a way of life for many more, like oppression and deprivation did to the Palestinians.
America should end the war by a political settlement with countries involved and take other measures to apprehend terrorists or bin Laden by better intelligence, better control of their funding and covert but effective action. It should stop the war before Asia gets realigned against America with its much higher level of technical and military competence than in the 19th century. It should stop the war because none would regret it more than the liberal Americans and Europeans for re-erecting walls that had been so painstakingly demolished in the last century in Asia and Africa.
SHREE SHANKAR SHARAN
President, Awami Eka Manch,
New Delhi, India
UNKNOWN to the world, some 12,000 people are stranded — hungry and shelterless — on two islands in the river Pyandzh on the no-man’s land between Tajikistan and Afghanistan.
They have nothing to eat but grass, and they do not have even tents to live in. As a story in The Daily Telegraph points out: “There are no trees on the islands, not even plastic sheets for shelter, just a few bushes. The refugees have to dig holes in the ground and build roofs over them with reeds to shelter them from the winds. Cane leaves are used for cooking, but even the cane has almost run out. Soon, there will be no fuel for fires.
“To survive, they dig wells only three ft deep and share a few plastic mugs to draw water. Sand immediately seeps into the holds; the residue is salty and muddy.”
There is no sanitation, and children are dying. As for weather, in summer the temperature reaches 40 degrees centigrade, while in the winter it goes to minus twenty degrees. They cannot move forwards or back, because, says the paper, “on one side, less than two miles away, are the Taliban and the sound of gunfire, on the other side are armed border guards from Tajikistan, wire fences, a minefield and tanks.”
The refugees are there because they have fled fighting among their cruel and heartless warlords — some calling themselves the Northern Alliance, some Taliban.
The United States is dropping food packets in Afghanistan for the people. Why not drop food packets on these islands, too? Their conditions is worse than that of the people of Afghanis-tan or those living in refugees camps in Pakistan and Iran.
I hope the US Embassy in Islamabad or the consulate in Karachi takes notice of this letter, and contacts their air force to ensure that these people stranded on the islands too get food supplies from the air.
JAMIL AHMAD QURESHI
Karachi
LT Gen (Retd) Mohammad Safdar has relinquished charge as the governor of Punjab. I want to bring to the notice of the new governor some pressing problems facing the people of Punjab in general and Muzaffargarh in particular.
The menace of corruption in revenue and tax collecting and spending departments, ADBP and district accounts offices continues unabated. The governor should strive to go after these unscrupulous elements. Remote places like Muzaffargarh are a haven for corrupt government officers.
Muzaffargarh’s economy continues to be drained by the neighbouring giant—Multan. If its proposed circular bypass road is constructed immediately, businesses activity can pick up in this deprived town.
Sectarianism was promoted by the secret agencies in the past to destabilize the civilian governments. Now it seems that the same tactic is being used to keep a tight rein on the military rulers as well. My counsel to the governor is to try to improve the people’s economic conditions to keep them from becoming tools of terror in the hands of these agencies.
The previous governor waffled when it came to changing rules in the public interest.
The new governor is requested to correct extravagant policies such as duplication of posts.
AQEEL AHMAD
Muzaffargarh
RELEASED a few days ago, the latest review of the economy by the State Bank provides insights into the mind-set of the nation’s caretakers.
The overview chapter of the report suggests a narrow social vision, if not an ideology, that privileges capital and markets over labour and communities.
I made a simple scan to count the number of times that some key words occurred. Employment is mentioned once. And so is poverty, but only in the context of the IMF. There has been no comment whatsoever on labour and wages. Environment is no exception either. One would be pleasantly surprised if the full report is less socially and politically biased.
It is time that citizens began to ask if and how ordinary people figure in the making of monetary and fiscal policy. Extended service in Washington is not an appropriate credential for the managers needed by the country (as opposed to the compulsions of the state).
A. ERCELAWN
Karachi
THIS refers to the editorial (Oct 30). The blame put on foreign agencies for the massacre is an old chorus which has lost credibility. But this chorus is being repeated since the assassination of Liaquat Ali Khan.
Non-Muslim citizens in this Republic are being referred to as “sacred trust” rather than equal citizens with equal rights. In any country pursuing an agenda of majority and minority (which is enshrined in our constitution) the first causality will always be equality before the law and equal treatment under the constitution.
Non-Muslim citizens should be treated as natural persons and living beings. Trust inter alia means non-living legal entity created by a guarantor for the benefit of a designated beneficiary under the law of the state and the valid trust instrument.
These elements are lacking in relation to non-Muslim citizens. Give them an identity as equal citizens of this country and refer to them as such rather than treating them as a trust. Afford them protection under the law. God created all human beings equally and through the same process.
The massacre could have been prevented if the government would have heeded the international hue and cry for the protection of non-Muslims particularly Christians. As on October 29, the President of the International Christian Congress in an interview shown by BBC Television referred to the edict of Talibans that against one Afghan, two Christians in Pakistan would be executed.
M.L. SHAHANI
Karachi
PAKISTAN has not been allowing Indian journalists and media persons to report from Pakistan. This is also true for journalists of Indian descent but holding other citizenships.
Even the committee to protect journalists has expressed its concern about this. Pakistan does not want Indians to get first hand reports from their own media persons.
DR PARAS DEO
Neustadt, Germany
IN a recent interview on PTV, Dr Hamida Khuro asked a very relevant question. Why is Osama bin Laden hiding out in his holes in the hills?
Before commencing their assault, the US had said that the ensuing bombings and war on Afghanistan would cease as soon as Osama and his Al-Qaida outfit either surrendered or left Afghan territory. Had he been a brave and true hero of Islam he would have sacrificed personal safety and emerged from hiding.
This may have put a stop to the brutal death and destruction now raining upon Osama’s host country. This is the very least one would expect of Osama bin Laden.
S. ASIF MAJEED
Karachi
THE price of electricity is being continuously enhanced every now and then on one pretext or another. The tariffs are already highest in the world. All the input costs incurred by WAPDA/KESC are passed on to the consumers along with surcharges, duties, taxes, etc and of course profits. The pity is that there is no guarantee that tariffs would not increase. These are likely to go up and the public should be prepared for it, to avoid shock and taken by surprise.
The situation is likely to worsen with the ongoing restructuring and privatization process being pursued by the non-technical and incompetent gurus in the government and WAPDA/KESC. It is high time to realize that such a process failed and caused misery to millions of electricity consumers in the United States and elsewhere.
When utilities like WADPA and KESC charge so heavily by exhorting every penny from the consumers (including losses and thefts and cost of keeping a large work force) in order to avoid going in the red, they need to fulfil their obligations to the paying customers and tax payers to whom these elephants owe their existence. They are morally and otherwise bound to guarantee the continuity and quality of power service to their customers. People observe that scheduled and unscheduled power interruptions have increased, causing financial human and social problems.
To bring the electric utilities in the accountability net, it is fair to demand that they should give refunds to customers for power interruptions. This step will also help in the overall attitude and working of the concerned organizations by improving their efficiency.
It is hoped that the government would consider the suggestion of the proposed compensation (refunds) to consumers in the larger interest of public welfare.
ENGR RIAZ AHMED BHUTTA
Lahore
SOME time ago, Mr Vajpayee stated that Kashmir may be a piece of land for Pakistan but is was a part of India’s heart.
May I ask the prime minister of India, whether he meant the piece of land known as Kashmir or the people of Kashmiris were dear to his heart? Given that the Indian occupation forces have killed 70,000 Kashmiris, it is obvious that the land of Kashmir is dear and not the people.
DR M.R. MIRZA
Islamabad
IN the Time magazine (Oct 29) are two pictures: one pertains to a lonely child sitting with fingers in his mouth, a telltale sign of hunger, midst the desolate background in Afghanistan.
The other is that of an old Palestinian lady begging the Israeli soldiers to enter the occupied Jenin. The representation thereof is a pathetic sight to jolt the conscience of man. In the words of Immanuel Kant “Out of the crooked timber of humanity no straight thing can ever be made.”
PROF DR P. NASIR
Gujarat
WHILE one would agree with most of what Ayaz Amir writes in “Helpless in the eye of the storm” (Dawn, October 26, 2001) one is not inclined to agree with what he says about selling the country “cheap”.
What choice did the general have? With a virtually empty treasury and $35 billion debt, the national exchequer having been bled white by successive generations of political leaders and bureaucrats, both in and out of uniform.
With a social sector (health, education and civic services) paralysed on account of shortage of funds, imports far outstripping exports making for an appalling balance of trade, which is responsible for the slow growth rate in the industry, what could be the right price for a bad product?
With continued feudalism and tribalism controlling the agrarian sector and keeping it depressed, what price could our products demand?
With the enormous expenditure on conventional and nuclear weapons and a huge and spoilt standing army eating into our meagre resources, what else but foreign aid could come to our rescue.
With rampant corruption, downward slide of moral values and non-tax-paying majority, an illegal parallel economy is being created which has made funds unavailable for socio-economic development. Water, electricity, communications are all under threat of extinction. With the country’s fundamentalists opposing all progressive measures of growth as being “unIslamic”, there appears to be no light at the end of the tunnel.
Does the pragmatic Mr Amir have an answer to Pakistan’s maladies, except to corner whatever goodies come our way?
ANWAR ABBAS
Karachi
I WOULD like to draw the attention of the authorities towards the very limited number of public toilets. We usually observe that people offer use public places.
The government should pay some attention to the construction of at least an adequate number of public toilets.
USMAN SARWAR
Lahore
MR LAKHDAR Barahimi, UN Secretary General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, has not been playing his role effectively. Had that not been the case, things would not have reached the present stage.
He failed to bring the Taliban and the Northern Alliance closer to form a government of national unity, or at least initiate a dialogue between them that could bear fruit in due course. If exiled King Zahir Shah can be agreeable to many among the Taliban and the Northern Alliance now, surely it was possible earlier as well when hatred between the two sides was not as strong as it is today. But he did not give it a try. Nor did he forewarn the world body about the consequences of Al-Qaeda’s continued presence in Afghanistan becoming a threat to world peace.
Most observers believe that all Afghan warring factions will be more amenable to listening to a third party that does not have a direct interest in the Afghan problem, which surely is not the US, nor its Western allies. Only a force consisting of personnel from moderate Muslim countries acting under the UN authority can bring about peace in Afghanistan because the warring factions will not fight it and prolong the agony of the Afghan people. Such a force is most likely to raise (and supervise for the time being) a credible and disciplined Afghan Army under a unified command, as well as a civil defence force to establish law and order.
Mr Barahimi’s persistent refusal to recommend takeover of Afghanistan by a UN peace-keeping force suggests that he cannot read the fast unfolding consequences of the continued presence of US-led coalition forces in Afghanistan. By implication, he is advocating continuation of the Western coalition’s strikes against Afghanistan. These strikes, often pathetically misdirected, will alienate the US and its allies even further. Observers would not be wrong in associating nefarious designs with Mr Barahimi’s stand because it may eventually crystalize what some have been calling “the clash of the civilizations” — a horrifying prospect.
If he is doing it at the instance of the US and its allies, he is not neutral, which is the first condition for his holding the office. If it is due to lack of vision, he would better engage in something less serious. UN Secretary General must take note of Mr Barahimi’s misguiding stand. It is putting the UN’s reputation at stake. Mr Kofi Annan has been a remarkable Secretary General. His unquestionable integrity, and forthright stands on security-related issues, have been admired everywhere. Lieutenants like Mr Barahimi could harm this record.
A.B. SHAHID
Karachi
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