| December 11, 2001 | Tuesday | Ramazan 25, 1422 |
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Promotion of quackery
Physician, heal thyself
Local bodies councils
Reconstruction of Afghanistan
My Lai: a response
Majaz’s poetry
Stamp duty on documents
SSGC consumers
What mothers should teach children
Cooking oil
Fox Channel
Shortage of currency notes
Drug prices
The American who joined the Taliban
REFERENCE Ashfak Bokhari’s article “America’s ‘killing hour’?” (Dec 6). The writer is quite justified in feeling enraged and disgusted with the way the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan has been dealing with the prisoners of war. But I think he is not entirely justified in accusing the Americans.
Civil war in Afghanistan has been going on for over 20 years. During this long period, thousands of Afghans have been killed by the two warring parties. Dostum alone is accused of killing 50,000 fellow country men. Similarly the Taliban also are not angels. They too have been committing atrocities upon their opponents.
We all feel concerned and justifiably so, about the Qala-i-Jangi massacre because Pakistanis were also at the receiving end in this tragedy. This is most unfortunate, but I have two observations to make. Those who went there were prepared to die because they were going to become Shaheed. Also they were exhorted by our holy men like Qazi Sahib and Sufi Sahib to go and fight the infidels.
Now that the obvious has happened or is about to happen our leaders like Qazi Sahib are silent. They have no comments to offer. I think the time has come when these holy men should be asked about the treatment which our misguided Jihadis should receive. Qazi Sahib told these boys that if they return victorious they will be Ghazis and if they die they will be Shaheed. Qazi Sahib did not consider the possibility of the third option. Perhaps that is why he is silent. In fact, Ashfak Bokhari should take Qazi Sahib to task rather than curse the Americans.
R.H. USMANI
Karachi
THIS is with reference to a letter from Dr S.A. Yousuf (Dec 4) on the subject.
FM 100 deserves to be complimented for bringing the listeners back to the radio. It also deserves full credit for reserving one hour per week for‘ FM 100 clinic’, which is aired with the professional assistance of a reputable medical university and conducted by a professor with good standing and credentials. The guest speakers also belong mostly to the medical academia of both public and private medical colleges. Credit should also be given to FM 100 for initiating a live call-in medical programme.
Having said that I, as a responsible citizen, advise the management and the programme director of FM 100 not to undo its remarkable services in the health sector by allowing the airing of the so-called medical programmes that give unscientific, wrong and harmful and often life-threatening information. The credibility and the respectability of the station is severely damaged by such irresponsible programmes.
A. RAFAI
Karachi
THE US used our bases, airspace and intelligence for its attacks on Afghanistan.
Now the US wishes to ‘safeguard’ and offer knowhow for our nuclear assets. A nation which spends $30 billion on its CIA and still cannot have enough knowhow to safeguard, control, contain and detect a leak of its own locally-manufactured biological weapon grade Anthrax on its own soil, now wants to teach us how to guard our 25 warheads!
The US wants to jointly patrol Pakistani borders and conduct search operations in the tribal area to nab Osama and Al-Qaeda men. This is a direct insult to the most disciplined, huge and well-maintained army of Asia. Which self-respecting nation wants foreigners to guard its borders?
The US wants to train Pakistani security apparatus to root out extremism. At the moment a shocked world is watching in despair the extremism of a superpower causing death and destruction in Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine, Cambodia, Bosnia, Kosovo etc and now wanting to teach us how to eradicate extremism! The US is the only country that has bombed 56 countries in 20 years.
It threw atom bombs, napalm bombs, cluster bombs, smart bombs, and daisy cutters, and still considers itself to be a human rights champion.
It wants to eradicate extremism by still bigger extremism!
DR ZARINA KHAN
Islamabad
NEARLY every day one gets to read very interesting news concerning the newly elected members of the local bodies councils, who have yet to complete one year. Some of them have already started to think that they are above the law.
For example, one UC Nazim from Shikarpur was arrested for gambling. This was reported in the Dawn (Dec 5). Another U.C Nazim was arrested in Sanghar for hitting a Magistrate that too in a police station. This was also reported in Dawn (Dec 6).
By pointing out these two cases I do not want to criticize the other members of the local bodies who are trying their level best to bring about a change in the local system machinery that has been corrupted by dishonest politicians and bureaucrats alike. But I want to ask the authorities is there any agency or department that can keep a watch and take appropriate action against Nazims who commit excesses?
AYAZ ZAIN NOORANI
Karachi
AFTER 20 odd years of fighting in Afghanistan, Afghans and the international community are talking about peace and prosperity in that country.
Looking at the extent of damage there, rebuilding the country will be a monumental task. The measures being proposed — including a multinational peace keeping force, a coalition government of Afghan tribes and truck loads of rice and clothing— are not going to make the Afghans lay down their weapons and stop fighting among themselves. Neither can these measures bring them into the flow of modern civilization and development.
The only way to achieve that would be to provide books for the young and industrialization for the grown-ups.
DR. SAL
Australia
THIS is with reference to Ashir Azeem’s letter “My Lai: a response” (Dec 6).
The writer says that there is no independent confirmation that Osama was involved in the Sept 11 attacks. What could be a greater confirmation that Osama and his associates in their videos and statements warned Muslims to stay away from aircraft and tall buildings and threatened more attacks.
Documents found by a NCC team from a Kabul house previously used by the Al Qaeda members showed how to make bombs, how to bomb buildings and bridges, how to hijack planes and most of all how to make an atom bomb.
Do these documents, videos and terrorist training camps still suggest that Osama and his Al Qaeda are innocent?
As for the Qala-i-Jangi events, even if the killing of the foreign fighters was stage-managed and they were not properly searched, the question arises: why did they bring grenades with them and attacked their captors and seized weapons? They changed their status from POWs to armed fighters by taking up weapons and killing NA soldiers. So to be killed was a choice made by themselves.
As for the question that why the fort was bombed with daisy cutters and why no effort was made to capture them alive, the answer is that those POWs were armed and had put up fierce resistance and in battles every fighting force uses all its firepower to crush the enemy. The NA had US jets and its firepower so they used it, and as for the daisy cutters, one should not expect that the jets would have dropped flowers on them.
If one terms the act of pulling out gold teeth and taking away shoes and clothes of the dead as Nazism, then what should one term those barbaric acts like pulling out of eyes, chopping off the nose and cutting the ears of the dead which were committed by the Taliban forces when they got hold of their POWs. Perhaps the term Talibanism would suit these brutal acts.
We should also not underestimate the extreme mercy showed by the NA to the thousands of local Taliban fighters, who are now free because the NA set them free. Were the Nazis or the Taliban this much merciful?
M. ALI YAZDANI
Quetta
THANKS to the writer who paid a touching tribute to Majaz in the Features section (Dec 5). It took me down the memory lane to the city of Aligarh, UP, India where I grew up.
Majaz was a rage among students at Aligarh Muslim University and the girls of Abdullah College, an affiliate of AMU. Almost everyone knew that the girls at Abdullah College hostel used to keep Majaz’s poetry books under their pillows.
One of my favourite poems personifying Majaz’s life is sung by Talat Mehmood in one of the movies of those times. It is: “Shehar ki raat aur main naashado naakara phirun
Jagmagati jaagti sarkon pe aawara phirun
Ghair ki basti hai kab tak darbadar mara phirun
Aei ghame dil kya karoon,
Aei wahshate dil kya karoon.
ASHOK MALIK
Santa Clara, CA, USA
THE Government of Sindh in the year 1986, after making an amendment in the relevant section of Stamp Act 1899, notified a Valuation Table for the assessment of stamp duty on property documents relating to different areas of Karachi.
According to this valuation table, revised from time to time, different rates for constructed and (open) non-constructed residential, commercial and industrial properties have been prescribed.
Any person buying a property has to mention in the Sale Deed as to whether the property is residential, commercial or industrial and whether constructed or open.
The concerned staff at the Chief Inspector of Stamps, sitting in the Urgent Micro Filming Unit of the registration department, has made it a routine to detain the registered documents mostly of non-constructed open plots reaching the urgent micro filming unit, taking the plea that the party has made a wrong declaration. Nothing is given in writing to the affected party. Instead, the party is asked to arrange for conveyance of the inspection staff who, after finding the declaration true, ask for ‘Chai Pani’.
The collection of government revenue is of prime importance but this does not authorize any government functionary to cause the people inconvenience. Miscreants who make a wrong declaration to evade payment of proper stamp duty, deserve penal action. Immediate action should be taken
I request the concerned authorities also to direct their staff to arrange for their own conveyance and visit the sites in respect of which a wrong declaration is suspected.
IQBAL DAWOOD
Karachi
ON Dec 4, I discovered a heavy gas leakage from my gas meter. I notified the Gas Company through its emergency Tel. No 119 immediately and got the complaint registered under No. 9091031. Since then I have been calling the SSGC personnel after every four hours and their answer every time has remained the same, that is, the repair team is on the way.
Natural gas is a national resource and such a heavy wastage for many days is a national loss but the SSGC does not seem to be bothered at all despite its own advice to the consumer printed on the bill which says: ‘Gas is a prestigious gift of God, its conservative use would be highly appreciated.’
Capt. BABAR DURANI
Karachi
SELF-ESTEEM can make or break a personality. I have seen the best of parents degrading their kids by making remarks that lower the child’s self image such as, ‘You are getting fat so ...’ or ‘Look at so and so, he does not do this’. Please judge your children for themselves, not what you see around you, which is probably a mirage anyways. Remember, you do not live with the entities you so casually compare your kids with!
The better path to take would be to enhance your child’s positive energy by touching on the good in your child. If you encourage him, he will turn out to be a sound, confident person with a healthy outlook on life.
On the other hand, if he is humiliated all the time, he will bury his reservations somewhere at the back of his mind only to resurface later in a negative form. An unhappy child will reciprocate negative energy and in turn, grow up to be a complex adult. Eventually, he will release his frustrations on the people around him. This is a vicious cycle but can be broken if detected early.
Remember all children are born with a clean slate. That slate gets filled up with the energies of the people around the child. If he is lucky, most of those around him will emit a positive outlook on life but if it is the opposite, then anything can happen.
Of course, balance is the key. If a young mind has seen both the worlds, but more positive than negative, the chances are greater of a normal, balanced child.
Believe me, I speak from the experience of working with children for many years.
Children need encouragement in order to thrive. Even the child with the most difficult behaviour responds more positively to encouragement than punishment. Not only does that child start working but tries to do better.
A teacher or mentor who trusts the learner usually gets a satisfactory response.
SHAZIA UMAR
Lahore
THE benefits of fruits and vegetables for health are universally accepted. Vitamins including antioxidants, minerals and fibre, to name a few valuable ingredients, are present in these food items. But the same is not true of cooking oil, any cooking oil, no matter what the ad on the TV might claim.
A cooking oil manufacturer would have us believe that their brand has the same benefits as those found in fruits and vegetables plus good taste. Repeatedly we are bombarded with this message on the TV and the radio, misleading the housewives into adding unhealthy calories to her family’s diet. The complicity of the media in this deception is highly disturbing.
DR A. AHMED
Karachi
THE more I see Fox News Channel, the more I am convinced that it is the most biased TV channel that I have come across. Its slogan “We report. You decide.” should be changed to “We report what we decide.”
I also feel that much of what it reports has a tinge of anti-Muslim sentiments being expressed by most of its reporters. If not checked this could ultimately create anti-Muslim feelings.
Maj. (Retd) SAEED-UZ-ZAMAN JANJUAH
Karachi
THERE is a shortage of hundred-rupee notes, even in the banks. The staff claim that the State Bank of Pakistan has not supplied these to the banks. With Eid around the corner, it seems that such a situation has been deliberately created because notes are otherwise available in the black market.
Individuals, housewives, factories and business houses are all facing problems. Will the SBP care to address the problem?
SHAFIQ QURESHI
Karachi
THE increase in the prices of drugs by 3 to 4 per cent is surprising. Even with the previous prices, it was difficult for most poor patients to buy the medicines prescribed by the doctors. The price increase will make things all the more difficult for the common man. I request the federal cabinet to review this decision.
DR QAISAR SAJJAD
Karachi
TELEVISION channels in America are giving wide coverage to John Philip Walker Lindh who became Abdul Hamid, the shaggy, wounded, feverish eyed, blackened-face Taliban in the midst of other prisoners.
He was born in Silver Spring, Maryland, to a middle class, white catholic family. He spent an ordinary childhood and adolescence in Fairfax, California, not far from San Francisco. A passionate student of art and poetry, and a gentle boy as described by his lawyer father, is now one of the 82 survivors of the Qala-i-Jangi massacre.
Before being taken away after his capture by the Northern Alliance, John Walker Lindh told a Newsweek journalist that he fought alongside the Taliban during the two-week siege of Kunduz. After their surrender, he was sent along with 500 to 600 prisoners to Qala-i-Jhangi. Then the situation rapidly degenerated.
“The Northern Alliance shut us up in the basement during the night,” he recounted, “In the morning we were taken out one by one with our hands tied. All of us were panic-stricken for we thought that we were going to be murdered. I saw two Americans filming and taking photographs. I don’t know what really happened after we had all been brought out but when I heard a shot I threw myself on the ground. I had been hit in the leg. Then they bombarded us with everything they had. It was horrible.
Everyone was wounded. In order to force out the rebel prisoners, the Northern Alliance spilled fuel inside the basement and put it on fire amid a shower of grenades and shells.
“ After three days the basement was flooded with water. We passed the night in ice-cold water. Only those of us survived who were able to stand up all through the night.”
John Walker Lindh’s life changed completely at the age of 16 after reading the autobiography of Malcolm X. Fascinated by Islam, he decided to convert. His neighbours remember his appearance changing little by little. He let his beard grow and wore a turban. His parents were impressed by his fervour and his will power. A year later, John Walker left for Yemen to learn Arabic. He remained there for a year, came back to the States, then joined a madrassah in Pakistan.
Without informing his family, he went secretly to Afghanistan in April 2001, to participate in the holy war and “ to help the only government today which respects the Islamic law”, he explained to Colin Soloway of Newsweek. Abdul Hameed says that he has met the professors and bosses of the Taliban. He approves the September 11 attacks but says it will take a long time and a lot of explanation to make people understand. He declared to a CNN journalist that his heart is still with the Taliban.
Right now he is in the custody of American Special Forces and will be brought back to his country after being cleaned up. His fate remains uncertain because his case is without any precedent.
Secretary of State Donald Rumsfeld said that he was studying different legal possibilities and no decision has been taken so far.
Abdul Hameed is apparently not the only American to take up arms against his own country. Two other prisoners detained by the United Front have been confirmed to be the citizens of the United States.
ATIF SHAMIM SYED
USA
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