| January 21, 2002 | Monday | Ziqa’ad 6, 1422 |
Wrong epithet for the wrong man
Lend him your ears, Mr President
Is India serious about repatriating Dawood from wherever?
The Koreans
RECENTLY there was a serious shortage of water in this provincial capital that it attracted the attention of the highest authorities both at federal and provincial levels. The residents of Quetta faced great difficulties as many areas had been without water for weeks together. As the situation deteriorated, water riots loomed large. But then the government intervened and announced a number of urgent measures to tide over the problem.
The situation was so severe that the government had to bypass the normal bureaucratic channels and procedures and formed a committee, headed by Governor Amirul Mulk Mengal, to find an early solution to the perennial water famine. Both the corps commander and the governor took keen interest to explain the severity of the situation to President Gen Pervez Musharraf directly, bypassing the federal functionaries who as usual and at all levels always show contempt towards any genuine problem of this province, so much so that these functionaries try their best to block even emergency measures aimed at providing relief to the Quetta people.
It may be recalled that the ADB has already carried out a feasibility study, costing over Rs44 million, about the available subsoil water resources and its sustainability. The German consultants who carried out the study reported to the government in March 2000. The report showed that the Quetta Valley has no subsoil water reserve and there was no scope for striking new sources of water within the valley. From the old sources of subsoil water, the local authorities were drawing more water than from the minimum annual recharge. Whatever water resources were available in the city were used for drinking as well as for farming with a fifty/fifty per cent share.
Naturally, the government and experts tried to find water resources in the periphery in the Zarghoon Hills and the Murdar Hills overlooking Quetta. The studies did confirm the availability of water. The study also confirmed the sustainability of water reservoir. Later on the federal government was approached to finance the project and make available necessary funds to save Quetta from a man-made disaster.
About 90 test-holes were carried out. The PC II of the project, costing about Rs145.8 million, was presented to the federal government last year. Since there was no appreciation from the federal government, the provincial government provided the emergency funds for drilling of the test-holes around the Quetta Valley.
The test-bores started in April 2000 by the army corps of engineers under Brig Tahir Beg, with the technical support of the provincial irrigation and power department. So far, 39 test-wells were made, 15 of them were declared unsuccessful. Twenty-four wells have sufficient water. Six of them were handed over to the MES and 18 wells were handed over to B-Wasa.
The B-Wasa energized six of the wells and finally linked them up with the water distribution system of the Quetta Valley. When asked about the quantity of water supplied to the local residents from the six energized wells, Col Hafeez Awan, the managing director of B-Wasa, said that about 3.2 million gallon water per day was being provided to the Quetta city.
The provincial government provided Rs24 million, as a bridge financing, when it had lost all hope of any funds coming from the federal source. Once the project and its PC-I is approved and is ultimately financed by the federal government, the money will be returned to the provincial government, official sources explained.
The B-Wasa, the executing agency of the project, has invited bids for selecting experts to assess the sustainability of subsoil water resources. The bids will be opened on Jan 26. Both local and foreign firms are participating in the bids for studies that should be complete within the stipulated period of 18 months.
The main task will be to assess the capability of sub- soil water resources providing drinking water supply to the people. Is it fit for human consumption? what’s its impact on the ecology and overall environment and the level of recharge the water resources?
The main project is estimated to cost about Rs6 billion. It will be financed under the Public Sector Development Programme of the federal government. The PC-I of the project is near completion. It is expected to be finalized and submitted to the government in a couple of weeks.
The main component of the project is to energize the newly-drilled and installed tubewells, link it up with the Quetta water supply distribution system.
The newly-installed tubewells will provide about 20 MGD to the residents of Quetta till 2006. The capacity will be increased by 36 MGD by that time. According to the projected estimates, the water reservoir will be enough for year 2025.
The project also includes rehabilitation and replacement of existing water pipeline in the Quetta city. According to one estimate, about 370km-long pipeline will be replaced as it is old and irreparably damaged. About 340km-long new pipeline will be laid. The tubewells will be rehabilitated. Overhead and surface water-tanks will be built, ensuring a smooth supply of water covering the target areas.
The second part of the project is to improve sanitation and the sewerage system. Waste treatment plants will be established. Waste water will be recycled and used for farming within the Quetta Valley. A good system of waste management system will be evolved and commissioned. About Rs3.4 billions will be spent on the drinking water supply project and Rs2.4 billion on the sewerage system and Rs200 million on improving drainage facilities, including open drain lines.
The United Arab Emirates has reportedly agreed to finance the project by providing $25 million as soft loan. At the same time, Wapda has prepared a bigger project of $265 million and the ADB will provide the funds. It will be a soft loan of mere 1.5 per cent interest rate. Once the project is approved by the Ecnec, the government will appoint the consultants. The project will be completed by 2006.
There are many words and terms in our political litany like ‘kafir’ (infidel), ‘traitor’, ‘American stooge’, ‘unpatriotic’ and ‘security risk’ etc, which have lost their real meanings because of misuse and overuse. They no more carry the evil connotations that make these terms so hateful. Even Quaid-i-Azam was declared a ‘kafir’ by those mullahs who were opposing the creation of Pakistan. After independence any body who would challenge the authority of the government of the day used to be declared a ‘traitor’ of the State. At one point in time all those opposing the government’s policy of unabashedly toeing the US line were also used to be maligned with the same epithet. And during the period when we were following the policy of ‘strategic defiance’ those who would be seen to be trying to have normal relations with the US would be called ‘American stooges’. It is not clear whether or not this epithet fits Gen Musharraf after his September 17 and January 12 speeches, but Imran Khan is still using it for Benazir Bhutto for what he alleges her attempts (what attempts?) to seek the US help to get her back in power in Pakistan. And during the ten years of democratic experiment (1988-99), the term ‘security risk’ was liberally used by the political opponents vying for the votes of ‘patriotic’ Pakistanis against each other. Both the elected prime ministers — Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif — have been alternately called ‘security risk’. So, in effect this term too has lost all its meaning.
Every citizen has a right to criticise his government including the head of the government. Even elected heads of governments cannot seek immunity from such criticism what to talk of those who take over governments through military coupes. Though some people may not agree but it is unethical to scandalize the personal life of a public figure. But he or she cannot escape accountability for what he/she does in his/her public capacity. Even President Musharraf being the head of the government cannot escape such accountability. And he has by his action shown that he takes such criticism in his strides. At times such criticism may even sound exaggerated, even totally misplaced like the use of the term ‘kafir’,’traitor, ‘unpatriotic’, ‘American stooge’ and ‘security risk’. But then if elected prime ministers have suffered these charges without losing their popularity, why should the present head of the government be so sensitive to Qazi Hussain Ahmad’s alleged use of the epithet ‘security risk’ against Gen Musharraf? However, there are some charges which one cannot level against a sitting chief of the Army staff (COAS) no matter what the provocation.
One such charge is that of his being a security risk, no matter how meaningless this term has become in the political litany. But does not a COAS lose this immunity when he assumes the charge of the government itself? Perhaps yes, perhaps not. One could debate the issue till kingdom comes. But then why should the nation be asked to waste its time in debating such a non-issue? Why cannot the Pakistani COASs’ confine themselves to the job they had been selected for and do not put the nation in such dilemmas that it becomes impossible for it to make a distinction between the government and an instrument of the state.
The Jamaat-i-Islami and the institution of the Army have collaborated very closely during the Afghan war against the Soviet Union. And the Jamaat had been pursuing the pre-September 11 Afghan policy of the government as a cause and not as a strategic requirement which had shaped the official policy. Causes are very difficult to give up but strategic requirements could be changed quickly in response to changing environment. So, Gen Musharraf should understand the trauma that the Jamaat and Qazi Hussain Ahmad (himself a Pakhtoon) have been undergoing since his September 17 speech. Qazi’s anger and disillusionment must have made him very bitter. Some of the newspaper articles he has written recently reflect this bitterness of his. It was perhaps his bitterness which caused him to make such irresponsible allegations against the President, if at all he has made them. He will take some time to overcome this bitterness. A leader, who has taken upon himself to lead the nation without being asked to do so, should have depth of understanding and accommodation to take along with him every one, specially those who have demonstrated leadership qualities at the national level in the interest of fundamental democratic principles. One may not agree with the political philosophy of a political leader and his party but it is totally wrong to take this disagreement to a point where that leader is pushed to the extreme corner. Same is true for all political leaders in this country and their parties. Let them all contest the forthcoming elections. Let the people of Pakistan decide who should lead them and who should not. Please do not try to choose their leaders for them. Gen Zia tried this and failed miserably. Also please do not try to win legitimacy for your power through means other than free and fair elections. If Gen Musharraf thinks that he is best suited to lead the country, he should retire from his military post and contest the elections. Gen Ayub Khan hijacked a party, used it as his political arm and legitimized his power through the most undemocratic means. What happened at the end of his tenure was monumental disaster. Next, Gen Yahya Khan dismembered the country itself in his attempts to acquire legitimacy for his power after having held the fairest and the freest elections to date in this country. Gen Zia tried to legitimize his power by a fraudulent referendum but when he died in the air crash, his house of cards simply crumbled and because of the horrible political legacy he had left behind the democratic process that had begun in 1988 failed miserably to take roots even after four elections in a matter of ten years.—Onlooker
SHAHID NADEEM, the television and stage director, playwright and human rights activist, has made the following points in a letter he wrote to President Pervez Musharraf on January 16.
The establishments controlling the electronic media and the performing arts are mostly ill-equipped and are not committed to the projection of an enlightened, modernist and tolerant image of Islam and Pakistan. The professionals in these organizations need to be educated and sensitized.
Enlightenment and progress cannot take place in a culturally barren society, where freedom of expression is neither assured nor encouraged. The culture of extremism and hatred can only be countered by a culture of love, peace and tolerance.
Television is a vital instrument for the promotion and projection of this new image of Pakistan at home and abroad. However, it is controlled by people who are indifferent, if not hostile to the President’s policies. At a time when the international and Indian channels have invaded our space and are capturing vast audiences in Pakistan, our national TV networks are behaving in a schizophrenic manner by either totally insulating themselves from the revolutionary changes taking place in the media worldwide or aping rival channels immaturely and clumsily. In short, they scoff at Gen Musharraf’s policies openly in their offices just opposite to the President’s House. They may be averse to change but they are experts at making their immediate bosses happy. No wonder then, that in the past two years, everything has changed except the top TV management.
Citing his own case, Shahid Nadeem makes the following additional points:
He is one of the founders of the country’s leading non-commercial and socially committed theatre group, Ajoka. He has worked for Amnesty International as their communications officer. He has only recently completed a fellowship in Los Angeles where several of his plays have been produced by leading American Arts organizations, which has been a breakthrough for Pakistan.
He is a Sopore-born Kashmiri and was the first producer to come up with trend-setting serials on Kashmir in the early nineties.
He has been associated with PTV as a producer and as a playwright since 1979. He was the general manager of the Lahore centre of PTV in 1997, when the newly elected prime minister, Mr Nawaz Sharif, visited the station and publicly threatened him with drastic action for writing and producing a PTV serial, Zard Dopeher, which he (Mr Nawaz Sharif) regarded as an attack on his person and politics. Soon afterwards, he was sent on leave, demoted and transferred to Quetta. Eventually, he was dismissed in August, 1998, for a press interview in which he had criticized the misuse of PTV by the government then in power.
Since then, Shahid Nadeem has been banished by PTV as a writer and as a producer. If he visits PTV offices to meet old friends, explanations are sought from the latter. If someone interviewing someone so much as mentions his name, it is expunged.
Shahid Nadeem’s TV serial on honour killings, Beghairat (2001), was not allowed to go on air in spite of the government policy on educating the people on the issue. His TV serials are not allowed to be retelecast. His name on the list of general managers has been removed in Lahore, the only instance since the PTV’s inception in 1964. Even his press conference welcoming Mr Nawaz Sharif’s removal from office has been held against him. When the ministry of information ordered his reinstatement, the order was not complied with on one pretext or the other.
Since October, 1999, he has moved all authorities concerned but in vain. It appears that a public snub by Mr Nawaz Sharif has been enough to excommunicate him for
more than two years after the former prime minister’s ouster from office.
Shahid Nadeem ends his letter on a personal note to the president. He says:
“I do hope that this letter reaches you and that you find time to glance through it. ... I will continue to support your jihad against extremism and obscurantism, which is crucial for the survival of our country.”
Well, I hope so, too. May Shahid Nadeem’s travails come to an end soon. But Gen Musharraf has so much on his plate that I don’t think he has the time or the inclination to attend to problems like Shahid Nadeem is facing. It’s like hoping against hope.
IN a letter written to the editor of an Indian newspaper, a correspondent, N Kunju, says:
“... India cannot go to war against Pakistan as the international community will not remain a silent onlooker when the two nuclear weapon States are fighting. The UN would order a stop to the hostilities. Also, Pakistan has no reason to initiate a war when India is the aggrieved party. Therefore, all the sabre-rattling and movement of troops to the ... front is for the political mobilization for the coming state assembly elections.
“Those who attacked (the Indian) parliament would have been happy if there was a war, for then they could have harmed India and got rid of Musharraf. As for the decline of ‘Islamic Pakistan,’ suicide bombers do not count their losses, they think of the harm they can inflict on enemies.”
In another letter, Mohan Punjabi writes:
“It is wise to accept the Pakistani president’s words at face value, whatever the caveats. Pervez Musharraf has no choice. People will back him for the progress of a dialogue.”
Yet another correspondent, Chandan Prashar wrote:
“Pervez Musharraf has stolen the show once again with the media, politicians and the international community praising his speech which was an example of double standards.
“Musharraf said on January 12 that he would not allow terrorists to use Pakistani territory to spread terrorism, nor allow any Pakistani to spread terrorism in any part of the world. It is ridiculous that we relate his speech to Kashmir because the general never said there was terrorism in Kashmir or that it was sponsored by Pakistan. Instead, he attacked India by saying that we should stop State terrorism in Kashmir.”
In an article, written for The Indian Express on January 17, PV Indiresan wrote:
“It is important for us to do some introspection and consider why we have quarrels with all our neighbours, why we have so few friends and why we annoy as many as we do. ...
“Therefore, it does not surprise us that the US President ... would thunder that he will pursue terrorists wherever they are, that he will treat anyone who shelters terrorists as terrorists themselves, and, in the same breath, advise us to compromise with Pakistan.
“If a poll were taken, it is likely that most countries would advise us the same. If India were to move a resolution to declare Pakistan a terrorist state, how many would side with us? Let us be clear, when it comes to the crunch, we have few friends. That is so because we are poor and dirty, too — dirty the way we run our politics and dirty the way we run our diplomatic relations, dirty even the way we keep our streets. ...
Mr Indiresan concluded:
“The Prime Minister is right in his plea that poverty and illiteracy are common enemies of both India and Pakistan. Unfortunately, almost all of our political parties view the same poverty and the same illiteracy as vote banks — and their criminal associates as bank tellers. One wonders, therefore, who poses the greater threat — Pakistan or our own political parties.”
ITEM: “Only educated persons, with the minimum qualification of graduation would be able to contest the general elections.”
FORECAST: The price of bogus degrees will increase a hundred-fold.
CONTRARY to a myth perpetuated by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad about some deep patriotism of overseas Indians, most non-resident Indians (NRI) that I have known were never lovers of India because most of them were always waiting to see the American dollar pummel the Indian rupee before they would send money home, rarely through bank drafts, usually through the more lucrative hawala route. That way my NRI friends would get more rupees for the dollar, and who was there to worry about how with each fall of the rupee by even a few paise, India’s massive foreign debt climbed up by one or two million dollars.
When I first met Dawood Ibrahim at the Sharjah cricket stadium in the company of Indian diplomats and Bombay movie stars, he looked every inch an NRI of the jingoist flag-waving variety. As a reporter for a Dubai-based newspaper, I was allowed to do all the research on him, as long as I did not harbour any ambition of writing even a word of it. In the company of some of the dazzling heroes and heroines who are still worshipped by Indian cinegoers, Dawood looked like a bumpkin who had somehow wangled a fancy seat close to Abdul Rahman Bukhatir.
The second time I saw him in Sharjah, Dawood had acquired the demeanour of someone who owned the entire wretched stadium. His waving of the Indian flag was as “patriotic” as his reported hawala operations that undermined the country he only publicly represented. Dawood Bhai or just Bhai, as he was known, was much admired among his countrymen for his Indian zeal, including the bets he was believed to encourage in support of the players of the day. Will Gavaskar make a ton today, will Srikanth get out before 50? Dawood would most likely have said yes to the first, no to the second. Or so I was told by a commodities broker who worked for him, who hedged gold futures for Dawood’s and some Pakistani Haji Sahib’s smuggling operations.
But who could have thought that this ordinary-looking fugitive from Mumbai would in a matter of a decade and a half become the bone of contention between India and Pakistan, that too in a menacing nuclear standoff? That from President Bush to Prime Minister Vajpayee and President Musharraf, they would be discussing serious issues of war and peace whose resolution could hinge on this one man’s whereabouts and, if found in Karachi or Murree, as claimed by India, his extradition could hold the key to the way the standoff goes from here?
A serious doubt, however, crept into this scenario at a briefing by Indian Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh and US Secretary of State Colin Powell. If India is serious about Dawood’s extradition, then why did Jaswant Singh weaken his case by citing some Pakistani news reports to buttress his claim about his presence in Karachi? Now the Indian foreign minister surely knows that news reports, no matter how credible, are frequently dismissed by his own officials when it suits them as just that, news reports, unsubstantiated reports, unofficial reports.
Forget ordinary news reports, when it suits the government they can ignore documentary evidence of their own culpability in a scandal, like the Tehelka case in which the government has set up a committee to examine goodness knows what facts when its own party chief is clearly seen accepting money from disguised reporters. There are double standards here. You cannot rely on a Pakistani journal as gospel truth and look the other way when it comes to Tehelka. I am saying Mr Singh has weakened his case before the media as far as the extradition of Dawood Ibrahim is concerned by citing news reports and not something more concrete. Of course, the Indian government has the prerogative not to share any hard evidence on this sensitive issue of the media. But then please also don’t give us half-baked notions for hard facts.
Could the answer to this apparent obfuscation of hard facts lie in the barely-if-ever discussed Vohra Committee Report of 1993 that points a pointed finger at the nexus that thrives between the Indian underworld and Indian politicians “across the political spectrum”. I can sadly report that the media has also been mentioned fairly high up in the Vohra report as culpable in the nexus. Could it be possible that Dawood’s return to India would prove to be a costly affair for the political future of senior luminaries in the government and the opposition and perhaps their political parties too? What if he sings like a canary? Or he wouldn’t be allowed to go that far? Who knows!
A cursory survey of the published accounts pertaining to the Dawood Ibrahim saga reveal a strange mix of plain underworld terror, brutalized Indian polity, farcical journalists and rabble-rousing communalists fishing for big or small advantage in the already troubled waters of growing intolerance. At least one report by The Frontline magazine’s Praveen Swami discusses with chilling detail a Dawood Ibrahim plot to assassinate Indian Home Minister Advani. If true, Dawood Ibrahim seems to consider it acceptable to pursue his own dangerous agenda, even if it means a communal holocaust would almost certainly be the end-result. Fortunately, says Swami, suddenly, the group was told to abort the mission. “Something went wrong for the gang in Lucknow,” said an official connected with the case. “But none of those we have arrested know why they were ordered to call off the operation.”
On the other hand, Dawood’s name seems to have been unnecessarily dragged in to justify the large-scale rioting in Mumbai in January 1993. The Justice BN Srikrishna Commission Report on the anti- Muslim riots refers to Dawood in the following context: “The Shiv Sena referred to and strongly relied on the information contained in C.R. No.5 of 1993, DCB- CID (initially C.R. No.122 of 1993 registered by Azad Maidan Police Station) to contend that there was a widespread conspiracy amongst various criminals funded by the notorious Dubai-based criminal, Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar, to smuggle arms and ammunition into India and to distribute them to the Muslim criminal elements in the Muslim-dominated areas in order to bring about communal riots. But, careful reading of the case papers in light of evidence of the then Additional Commissioner of Police in charge of SB-I, CID, V.S.Deshmukh, negatives this contention.”
As a matter of fact it is now beginning to emerge that even if Dawood Ibrahim and his associates are brought to heel, it would still not satisfy the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party much less solve the country’s problems with crime and an uncontrollable black economy.
“Indian citizens are sick to death of being held to ransom by assorted hoodlums — militants, dons, smugglers, or mealy-mouthed strikers,” thundered a self-proclaimed BJP journalist not too long ago. Notice how “mealy-mouthed strikers,” a reference to telecom employees who were on strike against the government’s privatization policies, have been bracketed with hoodlums and smugglers. This is not an aberration. A leading newspaper recently carried a government minister’s bilious piece against terrorism in which Che Guevara was equated with Osama bin Laden.
The BJP journalist also alludes to the Congress party as a virtual patron of Dawood Ibrahim. “Sadly, this is not confined to striking public sector employees and a jungle hoodlum. Has anyone noticed how Dawood Ibrahim has regained almost all his old clout in Mumbai? This was always true to an extent, but his clout has grown at a truly frightening pace since the Congress (I)- Nationalist Congress Party alliance took over the reins in Mantralaya. I hope and pray that this is just a coincidence.”
In another incident the police commissioner of Mumbai in 1997 had filed an affidavit against Samajwadi Party’s Maharashtra state president Abu Asim Azmi, saying he was “in close association with Dawood Ibrahim.” If that is true, it would then be far easier to figure out the present hullabaloo about Dawood’s repatriation. As it happens, the Samajawadi Party is racing ahead of all its rivals in the arriving polls in Uttar Pradesh (with no small help from Amitabh Bachchan). It makes perfect sense to target someone who could be helping out the BJP’s bete noire in Uttar Pradesh, that is Dawood.
Imagine who all would be shuddering at the thought of Dawood’s repatriation to India.
Let’s take it from the NN Vohra Committee report itself, no less. Writes chairman Vohra at the outset: “In the first meeting of the Committee (held on l5th July ‘93), I had explained to the Members that Government had established the Committee after seeing the reports of our Intelligence and Investigation agencies on the activities/linkages of the Dawood Ibrahim gang, consequent to the bomb blasts in Bombay in March 1993. From these various reports, it was apparent that the activities of Memon Brothers and Dawood Ibrahim had progressed over the years, leading to the establishment of a powerful network.
“This could not have happened without these elements having been protected by the functionaries of the concerned Government departments, specially Customs, Income Tax, Police and others. It was, therefore, necessary to identify the linkages and to also determine how such information could be timely collected and acted upon in the future.
“In the course of the discussions, I perceived that some of the Members appeared to have some hesitation in openly expressing their views and also seemed unconvinced that Government actually intended to pursue such matters. Accordingly, I addressed separate personal letters to each of the Members of the Committee seeking their well considered suggestions and recommendations.”
The other day I happened to make an acquaintance with a Korean living in Karachi. Originally from Seoul, the man said he had moved to Pakistan around five years ago to set up a business. Now, he told me, he divides his time between Pakistan and Korea. Apparently, Karachi has an expatriate Korean community over 100 strong and they are quite a tightly-knit group.
The man told me that he had managed to make friends who were Pakistani but that language and some other considerations made him generally stick with people from his own community. Though a country where non-Semitic religions like Taoism and Confucianism are quite common, Christianity has increasingly taken root in Korea, especially various strands of Protestantism. Most of the Koreans living in Karachi, my acquaintance told me, were Christian and even had their own church — he said it was somewhere opposite the Avari, so I presume it must be the Holy Trinity Church.
Most of them have managed to do quite well, which is probably why they are doing business here in the first place. The man I met told me that children of most Korean families living in the city were studying in some of the city’s best schools, especially the International School of Karachi (formerly the Karachi American School) and Karachi Grammar School.
The only place where one can get good Korean food, in fact any Korean food, is of course Cafi Grand, right opposite the Metropole Hotel. Though I have yet to go there, friends say it is probably one of Karachi’s best kept secrets.
The conversation eventually veered to what it was like for a foreigner to live in a place like Pakistan, especially after September 11. The man said that nothing really had changed and that if he had any unpleasant experiences — which he did — they really had nothing to do with the attacks on America. So what exactly were they, I asked.
“Well, I live in Defence which is you is a strictly residential area. But there is quite a major problem and that is very often my neighbours or people living nearby hold functions or parties, I think you [Pakistanis] call them dholkis. Well, in December and January quite a few happened in our neighbourhood and they are so noisy and go late into the night. You can’t do these things in Korea because functions or parties can be held only in specially designated locations and these are usually situated away from people’s homes. But when it happens here — and it happens quite a lot — we can’t even complain to anyone.”
Who says living in Defence is fun? The roads are okay, but you can never get water through the pipeline and the place is literally awash with stray dogs. So much for it being a ‘posh’ area.
The Defence Housing Authority is supposed to arrange for regular water tankers but that appears to happen only in theory and usually in some areas (probably where people who have some clout live). These tankers are also available to those who can prove that they are receiving less water than their neighbours. However, how long can you live on this kind of water supply? So what do you do then? This is what happened to a friend who lives in Phase V: You will be visited by an official who will advise you to get your connection checked since it might be blocked by something. He will tell you to go to the SDO (sub-divisional officer) of your area and request him to get your connection cleaned. This will be followed by a visit by two official plumbers who at this time will only ask for a glass of water. After checking and clearing your water connection, they will come up with only one diagnosis. They will tell you that though okay now your connection could easily be blocked again. However, they will say, they can prevent all that from happening by a special repair job, of course in exchange for some ‘mithai’. At this point the naove resident might mention the fact that this is illegal and carries a pretty stiff fine. But the enterprising lot that these people are, the plumbers will promptly reply that since all the evidence will eventually be buried under the ground, no one’s really going to find out. What then follows is that the ferrule, a small brass valve which regulates the supply of water to your house, is removed. The contraption is part of every legal water connection and removing it means that you get a lot more water than usual, and it’s at the expense of your neighbours. Everything is fine after saying goodbye to the ferrule. Or so you think. The friend who agreed to this however was very soon paid another visit by these plumbers who threatened to report him to the authorities if he didn’t cough up some cash, got them new clothes or made sure that their kids were admitted into the school of their choice. The nerve of some people!
I was always under the impression that women had to be like men to succeed in the big bad man’s world — you know, like working harder than them to prove themselves better and all that. A friend, however, found otherwise. She says it was either because of seeing women all fitted out in suits and with minimal or no make-up, or her tom boy upbringing that made her think that one had to appear brusque and businesslike to be taken seriously in the male world.
She is a journalist in case you were wondering and her first visit to a market with an ‘I-mean-business’ attitude led to a fiasco because the traders flatly refused to give her answers or take photographs. Since the story had to be done she tried a different approach. She went to the market again, this time with a photographer who was also a woman, and acted all helpless like a dumb blonde. Most of the shopkeepers this time were more than willing to oblige and gave her whatever information she wanted. In fact, they even let pictures be taken.
So much for acting intelligent.
From time to time, the traffic police try at least to put some order on Karachi’s roads. Many traffic weeks and campaigns have been organized to educate people regarding traffic rules and the benefits that come from following them. Unfortunately, all such attempts have gone in vain. And to say that the manner in which these programmes are conducted is the reason that they have failed will not be an overstatement.
One such drive is in progress these days. You can see banners with traffic rules displayed on major roads. How many drivers read them and how many follow them is another matter. Then there are the traffic police personnel posted at important intersections with megaphones in their hands relaying the rules to all passing drivers. The way they — the constables — go on and on gives the impression as if they are giving a running commentary.
However, an incident that happened a few days back at the Shahrah-i-Faisal and Regent Plaza intersection was enough to reveal the futility of the whole exercise, and sometimes for no fault of the traffic police.
As the signal turned red, the constable on duty was heard telling the drivers to stop behind the zebra crossing line. But, as often happens during rush hour, the vehicles kept on moving and stopped far ahead of the line blocking the intersection partially. It was interesting to see the constable’s behaviour who it must be said at least tried to do his job. First, he pleaded with the motorists, but then find no one listening to him began screaming and shouting at them in frustration. It probably would have been a better idea if some other officials were on hand to challan the offending drivers. — By Karachian