| December 31, 2001 | Monday | Shawwal 15, 1422 |
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Why talk about war?
Indus Basin Treaty: India’s threat
Death sentence
Kids on the streets
Solution of Kashmir issue
Miseries of prisoners
Denial of annual increment
The Chailianwala monument
Bus service
Child abuse
Questions about Osama’s videotape
Strong versus the weak
THE US set a bad precedent by attacking Afghanistan without first producing any concrete evidence against Osama bin Laden (tapes came much later). This has encouraged India to take similar action against Pakistan on the pretext of the latter harbouring the terrorists.
What India is forgetting is that Pakistan is no Afghanistan, nor is India a superpower like the USA. Such adventurism on the part of India could result in nuclear holocaust. Pakistan has shown considerable constraint so far but there is always a limit to such a tolerance, especially when one’s sovereignty is at stake. A question arises as to why India is reluctant to come forward with the evidence requested by Pakistan against the terrorists who attacked the Indian parliament on Dec 13, or agree to hold a joint inquiry with Pakistan, or for that matter allow an inquiry by any international impartial body to establish the real identity of the attackers. Instead, the Indian government very ably assisted by the Indian media - both print and electronic - is whipping up a war frenzy day in and day out. Troops buildup on the borders is unprecedented to the extent that it called for the cancellation of the army Day parade in New Delhi on Jan 15 - probably due to the lack of the availability of troops in their peace locations.
Why all this war-mongering and hate-Pakistan hysteria? Is it because the BJP government has some cover designs and itself stagemanaged the attack on the Indian parliament? Is it because this will help the BJP meet its political expediencies both at the domestic and the international fronts?
Domestically, such a belligerent attitude will help it in (a) strengthening its coalition government at the centre (b) mustering the support of the Opposition parties (c) distracting the nation from the coffin scandal and thus coming to the rescue of Defence Minister Fernandes and (d) most important of all, ensuring its victory in the ensuing Uttar Pradesh state elections.
On the international front, it could (a) affect adversely Pakistan’s well appreciated stand against international terrorism, (b) by raising the bogey of war which could go nuclear, force the major powers of the world to prevail upon Pakistan to give up its moral and political support to the Kashmiri freedom fighters, (c) regain some of the political attention lost by India to Pakistan from the comity of nations in the recent war against terrorism, where all major powers of the world without any exception lauded Pakistan’s role as a front line state against terrorism.
One only hopes that the Indian people and the world leaders are not that naive not to see through New Delhi’s game. Both must restrain the Indian government before it becomes too late.
COL (R) RIAZ JAFRI
Rawalpindi
INDIAN politicians have been making very inflammatory speeches against Pakistan, which is creating a very bad impression on Pakistanis. A ruling party of a country does not over react. The BJP leaders think that war is the only solution. They are taking “war” very lightly. As if during war, armies use fire crackers.
If these politicians think that war is the only solution to end disputes, then they should be sent to the border to fight.
Pakistan has been reacting to India’s childish behaviour in a sober and mature way. Just by raising war cries Indian politicians will bring South Asia to the brink of a nuclear war. They have been working hard so that the world forget, the real issue, which is Kashmir. If one look dispassionately at the situation one realizes that all this jingoism is because of Kashmir.
Why are Indian politicians inching away from a final solution of Kashmir in spite of repeated offers by the Pakistani President to resolve the dispute? Why does India want to go on the war path? Every war brings destruction.
India will ruin Pakistan and Pakistan will destroy India. All these warmongers will be dead in the war but their callousness will surely bring misery in this region. This war will definitely make the people of this world forget Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We,
Pakistanis, urge the Indians to rein in their self-styled Rambo politicians, otherwise history will not forgive them for bringing the warlords to power.
Our Indian counterparts can force their leaders to sit on the table and finish the unfinished Kashmir dispute once for all. If war breaks out then there will be no winners or losers. Both sides will plunge into poverty and destruction.
SHAH AFFAN
Ontario, Canada
THE recent political and military activities, and statements by India in connection with the attack on the Indian Parliament reflects extreme immaturity on its part.
Furthermore, for India to blatantly accuse Pakistan-based groups for the attack without furbishing any concrete proof is tantamount to political arrogance.
However, what is most irresponsible of New Delhi is its statement that it would rescind on the Indus Basin Treaty. The treaty, as it stands today, is essential in providing and maintaining an equitable division of a shared resource.
It is perhaps the only area where both the countries need to cooperate with each other. This treaty concerns the livelihood of farmers and industrialists on both sides.
REZA YAHYA
Karachi
ON behalf of Amnesty International (AI) Pakistan I welcome Government of Pakistan’s decision to commute the death sentence of young offenders.
During recent meeting with General Pervez Musharraf, AI delegation led by Irene Khan Secretary General Al raised the death sentences of young offenders. Al Pakistan appreciates prompt decision of President and hope that it will reinforce AI’s worldwide movement to abolish the death penalty.
DR. MIRZA ALI AZHAR
President AI Pakistan
Karachi
AROUND 12:30 am, at Boat Basin in Karachi, I came across a child of mere three years of age selling flowers in the cold, with barely a few items of clothing. His sad eyes spoke for themselves, of how tired he was. He stood outside the car door, his head just reaching the window, and was yawning. This was one of the cutest kids I have ever seen, and the fact that he was standing outside in the cold, selling flowers at midnight, was very disturbing.
There were three more children like this, around the age of 3-4, selling flowers. I couldn’t understand why these children were not in bed, like they were supposed to be. There are people who claim that this child labour should be put to an end, yet they don’t do anything about it. The children were delivering the money to a man who was fully capable of getting work. This is a plea to everyone, to help put an end to child labour, in every and any way possible, so that these children do not have to suffer at the hands of slothful parents.
AMMARA KHALID
Karachi
EVERY time there is a terrorist attack on mainland India, the terrorists are ‘linked’ to having ties with Pakistan.
The fact of the matter is that there is no justification for bombing the Indian parliament and killing innocent people. This is certainly not the way to get results. It is beside the point that the people involved were Kashmiris / freedom, fighters / or even Indian security forces. In the end, it is Pakistan which gets blamed (wrongly) in the eyes of the world. India has such an undeniable advantage over Pakistan in terms of PR that all it has to do is to blame Pakistan without actually providing any proof.
We have to learn that to fight for the rights of people of Kashmir, the efforts should not only be concentrated locally but, just as importantly, globally. Diplomacy and a huge PR campaign to make the world aware of Kashmir are the key to resolution of this problem. Another thing is to calm down and stop shouting that we are a nuclear power. Don’t we realize that ‘nuclear’ is a word that is frowned upon these days?
We as a nation must realize that there are also other important issues to tackle. They include literacy, women’s rights, rights of prisoners, justice system, corruption, bribery, Jihadi groups, police reforms and the health system. Surely, a stronger Pakistan will be in a better position for a favourable resolution of the Kashmir dispute.
KASHIF NAQVI
Lincoln, England
A concerted effort is being made at different points in the Karachi Central Jail to extort as much money as possible from the prisoners (Dec 20). The prisoners are reportedly humiliated and are subjected to hardships.
The miseries might be exaggerated in some cases but more or less represent the conditions in other jails as well in the country.
Further, many injustices or insults might not get reported as the prisoners resign to their fate. In Pakistani jails, many
of the inmates generally neither get the facilities nor the treatment as per the Jail Manual.
The conditions in the prisons call for concerted efforts for betterment of the prison management, the higher authorities and the society at large. The suffering of the prisoners can be reduced through steps such as larger allocation of financial resources by the government, rationalizing the overcrowding by compassionate releases and by controlling the inflow, building new and modern jails, better monitoring by the higher authorities as well as the public, and by improving the service conditions and pay package of the jail staff.
The society is obliged to offer to the prisoners in the jails, the conditions that are conducive for reformation.
MUHAMMAD BASHIR CHAUDHRY
Karachi
GROSS injustice has been done to the senior government servants reaching the maximum in the newly implemented pay scales. Annual increment has been denied to the federal government employees on 1st December, 2001, besides a 7-year delay since 1994 and moving them back to lower grades.
The ministry of finance has issued a clarification on November 3, 2001. According to its interpretation, the revised pay slips do not include the annual increment for people like me who were on the maximum of BPS-17. This is against all norms of law and justice. It is an unfair and discriminatory move against a selected group of government employees because others would be eligible to their annual increment on 1st December, 2001.
The clarification by the finance ministry has caused disadvantage to all the senior employees who were at the ceiling. The annual increment is a basic right of any government employee which cannot be denied on the pretext that increment will be given on Nov 3 this year instead of Dec 1, as was done always.
Downgrading an officer from Gr-18 to the scale of initial appointment after putting in 14 years of service is against the spirit of new pay scales. A facility once provided must not be withdrawn as we will have to retire now in the same grade on which we were appointed 14 years ago. This anomaly has created a strange situation for the government servants as those getting annual increments are again entitled for new increments but those whose increments were stopped for many years are deprived of their annual increments.
I appeal to all concerned in the finance ministry to remove this anomaly and grant annual increment to the senior government servants from December 1, 2001. I also appeal to the government to kindly look into this grave matter which has caused frustration among government servants all over the country.
ASIF N. RANA
Quetta
THE pillar-monument at Chailianwala (not Chillian), the photograph of which appeared in Dawn on Dec 22, is not an ordinary war memorial as was described in the footnote.
The Battle of Chailianwala, like Plassey, was the most significant of battles in the British history of the subcontinent. Whereas Plassey was the first one fought by the troops of the East India Company under Clive, this one was the last and final battle fought by them under General Hugh Gough (and not Lord Couch) against the Sikhs who were headed by Jathedar (General) Sher Singh and not Prince Sher Singh.
Prince Sher Singh, son of Ranjit Singh, had been murdered along with his son by Ajit Singh in 1848. The Chailianwala Battle was fought on Jan 15, 1849. The tombstones on the mass and few individual graves in the necropolis reveal that the British troops comprised all nationalities of the UK like Irish, Welsh, English and Scottish.
This famous battle was fought in two phases, the first one at Chailianwala close to the place where the monument stands today, and the second one, 18 hours later a few miles from the first one and close to the present day Rasul Head Works on the left bank of River Jhelum.
Here the British who were in hot pursuit of the Sikhs did not find them in the form of a Jatha or a formation. They were found sleeping, not proverbially but actually, having tied their horses to the nearby trees. They were hence easily defeated and could never form up again. The Sikhs formally surrendered three weeks later thus closing the chapter of Organized Sikh Sway and Sikhashahi in the Land of the Five Rivers, the Punjab.
They have done well to renovate/rebuild the monument.
LT COL (R) SAMIULLAH BUTT
Karachi
ONE reason for the environmental degradation in Lahore is traffic congestion. Wagons are a nuisance creating havoc on the roads with their errant driving and battered vehicles billowing dark clouds of carbon laden smoke. The result: a dark cloud enveloping the city of Lahore.
Amidst this extreme environmental crisis comes the Daewoo Bus Service, a boon to urban commuters who want a safe, comfortable ride without blackening the atmosphere with clouds of unburnt carbon.
Daewoo maintains a fleet of clean, pollution free buses managed at an international standard comparable. It’s a very encouraging change in Lahore’s cityscape after the demise of the decadent Urban Transport Service decades ago.
To improve the quality of traffic in Lahore, we need to cut down the thousands of private transporters, wagons and mini-buses, which render the atmosphere unlivable, and replace them with capable and responsible companies. It’s high time that other routes be added to the Daewoo Bus Service and private transporters slowly weeded out of the local transport system.
JAWAD N. KHAN
Lahore
ON Dec 23, at 9:30pm I stopped at a red signal at Kalima Chowk, Ferozpur Road, Lahore. I was shocked to see children (average age 6 years) begging barefooted and wearing only shalwar qameez with no woollen clothing as protection against the severe, chill weather. They were shivering with cold.
I believe they were being forced to beg there. This is a kind of child abuse which can also be life threatening. Where are the law enforcement agencies?
For God’s sake stop this crime. How many times do they have to be reminded of their duties?
Our print and electronic media must strongly condemn this practice in order to eliminate this brutality.
AHSAN MAHMOOD
Gujranwala
IT is heartening to see the war in Afghanistan coming to an end. How fast the country will progress under the UN-sponsored government, time alone will tell. One thing is, however, sure: the common man will see peace prevailing and life coming to normal after a long span of 22 years.
The campaign had two contrasting dimensions. (1) The US and its allies had no right to attack Afghanistan for the simple reason that wars are not fought to kill or to capture a suspect. (2) The attack came as a blessing in disguise for the Afghans who had lived in an atmosphere of fear and insecurity all these years. The generation that grew up under the sound of guns and lived in caves, bunkers and underground shelters will at least have a taste of freedom.
Despite the end of hostilities, the proxy of Osama bin Laden’s involvement in the September 11 episode will, however, remain shrouded in mystery for sometime or perhaps forever. The US did not make public any concrete evidence against him. Now they boast of having found a video tape from a private house in Jalalabad as a key element of proof against bin Laden’s direct complicity in the terrorist attacks in question.
According to the American interpretation of the tape, bin Laden is shown praising God for greater success than he expected, using language that indicated he was familiar with the planning of the attacks on the World Trade Centre. They are sure that the video tape offers the most conclusive evidence of a connection between bin Laden and the September 11 episode. On the other hand, Muslims all over the world openly question the authenticity of the tape on the ground that the United States had the technology to forge a video tape of this kind. They believe that Hollywood’s special effects’ experts may have had a hand in making it.
The other arguments which strengthen their claim are: (1) If bin Laden was so highly competent to launch terrorism of such a magnitude, he would not be such a big fool to allow the filming of a secret meeting. (2) At the moment of flight, the first instinct is to destroy incriminating evidence. The al Qaeda fighters would have burnt it before abandoning their positions. (3) The thick woollies worn by those attending the meeting indicate that the event was not filmed on September 11, a period of scorching heat but fabricated some time later.
Unless some concrete evidence is produced by the US, scores of Muslims all over the world will remain firm in their belief that Osama bin Laden is being made a scapegoat.
RAFI NASIM
Lahore
OVER 3,000 lives were lost in the Sept 11 attack in the US. “Nothing will ever be the same,” was the instant reaction of the US leaders.
In the undeclared Vietnamese war, the US soldiers killed over 1.7 million Vietnamese, 90 per cent of them innocent. Vietnam never said that nothing would ever be the same again.
Z.A. KAZMI
Karachi
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