| December 23, 2001 | Sunday | Shawwal 7, 1422 |
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The other view
A noble gesture
Afghan policy
Development hinges on trade
Car prices
Appeal to the NAB chairman
Bin Laden tape
KESC’s new logic
Umra pilgrims’ problems
THE terrorist attack on the Indian Parliament building on Dec 13 is a condemnable act. The Indian intelligence agencies and their police claim that they have conclusive evidence that it was planned and executed by Jaish-i-Mohammad and Lashkar-i-Tayyaba organizations both of which are backed by the ISI of Pakistan. Hence they have demanded of Pakistan to arrest their leadership and impose a ban on both these so called terrorist groups.
The President of Pakistan has also condemned this attack and wishes to know (very rightly) how Pakistan is involved and if both these organizations are really involved in this attack, he would definitely take stern action against them.
But the Indians are not willing to coopt Pakistan for joint investigations at any cost as suggested by Gen Pervez Musharraf — this being their internal matter. The Indian refusal for a joint enquiry as suggested by the Secretary General of the UNO and even the US Secretary of State is very intriguing; in fact the whole episode is very intriguing. It is like not allowing neutral observers in held Kashmir to see what is going on there.
Like the fake hijacking of an Indian plane a few months back, this attack also appears to be a phoney one for the following reasons:
1. How could a solitary car enter the well guarded parliament building with five armed men without anyone seeing them at the gate? Every car entering a gate in any case is checked or at least their occupants are scrutinized who were all uniformed and armed with weapons.
2. The terrorists after getting out of the car did not know where to go. They were running helter and skelter. In a well planned attack like that of 11 Sep everything is worked out in minute detail. They could have parked the car in front of the main entrance and rushed inside the hall through the main gate after blowing it off. Everything is done with speed and accuracy.
3. Why did the security forces kill all five of them? They could always get hold of one or two by shooting at their legs to find out the master mind behind the attack.
4. In such attacks proof of any kind like ID cards or mobile phones are never carried. Even if carried, they are there to mislead the investigators. Producing grenades of POF origin is not difficult that too after one week of the incident.
5. Pakistan at this point in time would never do such a thing when it is fighting a war against terrorism as a member of the coalition forces. For that matter, even Jaish-e-Mohammad or Lashkar-i-Tayyab a would not carry out such a silly attack without getting any results. They would rather go for a softer targets than going for a well guarded parliament building with only five men.
MOHAMMAD AZHAR KHWAJA
Lahore
SOME of the Pakistani intelligence cadres have reported that India has taken around 100 Pakistani fighters from Northern Alliance custody to India. This in fact is a very serious development. India can use these poor fighters to implicate Pakistan in the so called terrorism in Kashmir. This matter should be taken seriously and brought to the notice of the world leaders before India plays any disastrous game against Pakistan.
After the attack on the Indian parliament, the Indian media poorly imitated the American media. The Indian politicians raised inflammatory questions and tried to make the best out of this attack. India is not accepting Pakistan’s and FBI’s particiaption in an impartial inquiry. The reason could be that if a joint probe takes place then much of India’s propaganda against Pakistan will fall flat.
People have not forgotten when a supposedly hijacked plane drama occurred in India a month ago. Their minister announced that the hijackers want to go to Karachi or Lahore. While the fact was that the plane was not even hijacked but the accusations against Pakistan started being issued from political sections. This is what India is. Any incident, which happens against India, is considered to be the handiwork of ISI without even any impartial inquiry.
A storm broke out when it was revealed that the Indian defence ministry was making money from the coffin deals during the Kargil war while the Indian soldiers were dying in Kashmir for Bharat Dharti Ma. The leaders of this Dharti Ma did not even bother about the dead soldiers. They were filling their bank accounts. To cover this up an incident was likely to take place to divert the attention of the masses. That’s exactly what has happened in the Delhi parliament.
USA and other world leaders have to distinguish between terrorism and genuine freedom movements. Kashmir is burning. The Kashmiris want justice. They want to exercise their right of self-determination, according to the UN charter, which has not been granted by India.
The world leaders should press India to hold a joint inquiry of this attack on the Delhi parliament building. The evidence gathered by the joint probe committee should then be presented to the UN Security Council. Let the world see how serious India is in eradicating terrorism.
SHAH AFFAN
Ontario, Canada
WAR clouds are gathering and becoming darker over the Indo-Pakistan sub-continent. The rhetoric is becoming shriller after the dastardly terrorist attack on the Indian parliament. Sane counsel must prevail now to avoid at all costs a direct confrontation between the two nuclear-armed states who have hardly a two or three-minute distance for a missile to traverse across the border.
Dawn’s cautionary rebuke is worth repeating: “With a war raging in Afghanistan and the Middle East in flames once again, the last thing the world needs now is a renewed confrontation between the two nuclear powers in South Asia” (Dec 15).
It is worth recounting the fact that the US and the erstwhile USSR, the two heavily armed nuclear powers did know when to stand down and avoid a direct confrontation, as the Cuban crisis demonstrated, which is not the case with India and Pakistan.
The media (your esteemed newspaper is indeed an example) in both India and Pakistan must discharge their responsibility of bringing to fore the views of the intelligentsia and the average man who abhors war and ardently wishes for a climate of peace which only can ensure a modicum of well-being and prosperity for the masses in both the nations.
It is time that both the countries started a war with jehadic fervour on poverty, environmental degradation, falling health standards and a host of other ills which are without borders and lines of control.
KANGAYAM R.
RANGASWAMY
Durham, NC, USA
INDIA has for long been trying to get Pakistan declared as a terrorist state and the freedom fighters in Kashmir as terrorists. In the recent past the killings of innocent Sikhs during Clinton’s visit to India, the stage-managed assault on the Kashmir Assembly and the hijacking drama of an Indian aeroplane were acts in this direction. Having failed to win over the world opinion India, in sheer desperation, has now staged another drama of an attack on the Indian parliament with a dual aim i.e. to get the freedom fighters in Kashmir branded as terrorists and to push through an anti-terrorist decree (POTO) which is facing stiff opposition.
We sincerely hope that the Indian opposition parties would pressurize their government to probe the present and the earlier incidents through an independent commission before forming any opinion. Pakistan has very rightly been demanding the same after every incident.
BRIG ZAHIR SUHRWARDY (R)
Karachi
I happened to read Dawn’s online edition on the net and found the reports quite fair and just, without too much of a blind pro-Pakistan stance. I was naturally interested in checking the people’s response to the tension building up after the terrorist attack on the parliament house at New Delhi.
From a neutral viewpoint I cannot see why Pakistan cannot be blamed. It is no secret that most pro-Kashmir terrorist organizations have been funded and their members trained in Pakistan. When these terrorists attack the innocent people in Kashmir and elsewhere, their deeds are treated as par to those of “freedom” fighters. Analysis would show that these so-called “freedom fighters” have taken more lives in Kashmir and caused more sufferings to the Kashmiris than India has done by its so-called “forced occupation”.
If Pakistan thinks that by backing terrorists they will be able to disintegrate India then it is clearly mistaken. India is a multi-religious, multi-cultural society which promotes friendship and love. If anyone is in doubt probably the names of Abul Kalam, Shah Rukh Khan, Dilip Kumar, Azharuddin, A. R. Rehman, Gulzar and lots more would remind them of some famous Indian personalities who are Muslims too. I as an Indian, am proud of their contributions. It is in Pakistan’s interest that it frames its policies not just to counter India. It has a lot of internal conflicts to settle. What’s needed for Pakistan is true democracy, stability and economic prosperity. They don’t need a Kashmir for that.
Indo-Pak relations have a lot to gain. India has exercised restraint all these 50 years but for how long? Pakistan can take the next appropriate step — stop fuelling anti-Indian activities from its soil. They could arrest the leaders of the organizations India has named and freeze their assets.
If not, Pakistan will find itself increasingly isolated in this war against terrorism.
JYOTIRMOY SHARMA
Sydney, Australia
THIS is with reference to Mr A.H. Suharwardy’s letter “Another Indian drama” (Dec 20). His ridiculous hypothesis is laughable if not downright foolish. If it were a stage-managed drama as he claims, it would be easy to fool the general public, not the US, French, German and UK officials with whom India has shared proof of Pakistan’s complicity. In fact, the UK has publicly confirmed that it is sufficiently convinced that the evidence is indeed genuine.
The fact that the terrorists were in commando uniforms and their car bore an entry sticker could have fooled the securitymen into complaiscance. That does not in anyway prove that it was stage-managed. And my question to Mr Suharwardy is that if he were a security guard at the Indian Parliament would he have ventured to catch the terrorists alive when they were merrily shooting at everyone in sight?
And finally, this is not Muslim or Kashmiri terrorism. This is Pakistani terrorism.
HARISH IYER
Hyderabad
THE Pope called upon all Christians to observe a fast on Friday last to express solidarity with the Muslims. This inspiring thought is worthy of the leadership position held by the Pope. The Pope has shown the way to get out of the cycle of despondency, mutual distrust, violence and pain.
As a Muslim I am moved by this expression of human brotherhood and would like to reciprocate to all the people of the world — Muslims, Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Parsis and Bahais. There is much in our beings, our condition and our faiths that is common. We need to find ways to build a community of common interest and trust.
Especially in Pakistan, we need to ensure that the noble message of the Quran is fully conveyed to the Muslims. In this closely connected world, the Muslims also need to study what are the actual teachings of the other great religions rather than focus on polemics.
DANISHMAND
Karachi
IT would be wrong to suggest as mentioned in many quarters of the media around the world that Pakistan is the looser in the current Afghan conflict. Living in London and dealing with many Afghan asylum seekers, I have yet to come across an Afghan who would praise Pakistan’s role at any stage. They openly blame Pakistan for meddling in their internal affairs.
As Ayaz Amir said we Pakistanis should thank Colin Powell to have broken our obsession with Afghanistan. What have they given us, but drugs, guns and trouble? Good luck to them with their internal and external policies, but this should give us time to rethink our own internal problems as a nation.
ASLAM MUGHAL Middx,
UK
PLANNING for development in Pakistan, virtually from day one, has been based on aid and loans. But trade and not aid is the fountainhead of development, according to all economists.
Since loans have remained the cornerstone of economic planning in Pakistan, the result is the piling up of loans to $40 billion with the result that more loans are sought to meet debt servicing obligations each year, to avoid the country from becoming a defaulter.
Instead of repeating the mistake year after year for almost 53 years, I suggest opting for trade for economic development. To begin with, I propose we should take up the textile items, including garments, for this purpose. It may be pointed out that Bangladesh, producing, so to say, not a single ounce of cotton, is exporting garments worth over $5 billion, and the export is increasing every year. Against this, Pakistan exports much less than $2 billion.
The main causes of retarded trading and exports are the ever-changing bureaucratic policies, complicated procedures and grassroots level corruption. And not one department (one window) but almost 37 of them are supervising the manufacturing sector and exports. Actually, only one authority should undertake the job.
Next comes the number of taxes, the cumbersome procedures to collect them, in addition to the procedures of refund, rebate and export refinance scheme.
To begin with, discretionary powers of the tax collector should be done away with and replaced by a system like fixed / withholding taxing. Similarly, practically workable simple schemes should be introduced by involving businessmen and industrialists with good reputation.
I believe simplifying the procedures and systems may result in tax collection to the extent of Rs 800 billion and exports in excess of $20 billion.
GHULAM KIBRIA
Karachi
DURING the last three to four years, car manufacturers have increased the prices of new cars in Pakistan by nearly 100 per cent. On occasions, the prices were increased four to five times a year on the pretext of devaluation of the rupee and a rising yen.
However, during the last few months, the rupee has appreciated and the yen depreciated, but consumers have yet to see any corresponding decrease in car prices.
It is about time that the government allows the import of reconditioned cars to break this monopoly.
DR ABDUL HAMEED
Karachi
I want to invite the attention of the Chairman, National Accountability Bureau, to the hardships suffered by the members of Federal Government Employees Housing Foundation for allotment of residential plots on ownership basis in Sector G-13, Islamabad.
In 1996, the Foundation invited applications for the allotment of plots. I applied for the same in phase-III and Category-III. Later, the size of the plot was reduced by one category, that is, from (40x80) to (35x70) by the competent authority.
Although the scheme was announced more than five years ago, the development of this sector has not yet started due to reasons known only to the Foundation. Meanwhile, the Foundation has been earning a huge amount as profit per month on the hefty initial deposit, for the last several years.
The NAB Chairman is requested to look into the matter personally and the Foundation may be directed to issue final allotment letters to its members without any further delay.
K. M. SYED
Rawalpindi
IT is really amazing that the American establishment, from their President down to the ordinary journalists, are taking all the pains to prove from a poor quality tape that Osama Bin Laden was the main culprit behind the Sept 11, 2001 incident.
But they still haven’t been able to tell which American agencies (including the FBI, CIA, NSA), with about $30 billion annual budget, had been doing while the real action was being planned and executed. Any evidence from that timeframe will be more credible than this unconvincing videotape.
YOUSUF MEMON
Karachi
I would like someone from the KESC to explain the logic and rationale of asking consumers to pay for load charges of the appliances which he may possess but has not been using, as evident from the actual consumption of the past several months / years.
Instead, I would suggest that the billing system should monitor the consumption and if a consumer nears or exceeds his authorized power load, the system should ask for the enhancement of the authorized load. Perhaps the KESC can better utilize its resources by checking the unauthorized connections or ‘kundas’, which are frequently reported in the press.
S.M. HASAN
Karachi
A LOT has been said and read about the new Umra policy, but what I along with many other pilgrims from Pakistan and elsewhere had gone through was a very painful experience.
According to the new Umra policy, one has to apply for the visa through one of the visa agents appointed directly by the Saudi Arabian Government. These agents have most unprofessional approach towards the whole affair. They arrange visa for the intending pilgrims and do their best to snatch as much money out of them as possible.
They initially started with a fee of US$75 in the earlier part of Ramazan and then went on to increase the fees. I was asked to pay US$ 2000 for 10 days’ stay but on my refusal it was brought down to 150 dollars and that too on the condition that I will not demand any stay facility in Makkah and Madina.
The pilgrims then receive another shock when the agents at the airport receive them and get hold of their passport and ticket or in many cases the tickets only. These documents then become the property of these agents who without issuing any receipts only return these documents at the departure time. It is difficult to imagine the amount of tension and stress one has to go through without being in possession of these documents.
Since these agents hold the air tickets with them and are supposed to get the flights confirmed and reconfirmed, there have been scores of incidents where they have shown total irresponsibility with the result that there are all sorts of ugly scenes witnessed at their offices.
The pilgrims, instead of spending all their time at the sacred places of Makkah and Madina, have to spend a lot of time at these agents’ offices only to make sure that their seats have been reconfirmed and that these agents would be present at the airport to provide them the return documents. Often there are cases of total mishandling which forces some pilgrims to stay beyond their schedule.
Most of the Umra pilgrims are promised a stay facility at Makkah and Madina but on their arrival, the promises are not met and they have to face various types of problems. It is not easy to find a suitable place for stay at a reasonable amount. A large number of Pakistanis were found living on street footpaths with their luggage hanging around the steel grills and electricity poles.
I urge the authorities in Saudi Arabia to look into the matter.
M. FAIZ KIDWAI
Karachi
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