| February 9, 2002 | Saturday | Ziqa’ad 25, 1422 |
To send a letter to the Editor
Click here
Appointments in police force
Domestic violence: culprit jailed
Eye donations
Drought relief programme
No website at KU
Banana republic
Political party reforms
Vacant city courts
Tooth-filling process
Withdrawal of subsidy
Electricity bills
Credit cards
War against terrorism
PRESIDENT Pervez Musharraf must have lost the count of talk offers he has made to India in the last two years. In the wake of September 11 and the Pak-India unprecedented border tension, the offer of dialogue gains more importance.
Pakistan wants talks and international mediation on the Kashmir issue, while India, feeling cornered, has come out with the demand that the talks agenda should be the Azad Jammu and Kashmir, though no one has taken seriously this new volley of Indian rhetoric.
The President again repeated his offer for talks and international mediation in the message on the Solidarity Day (Feb 5) and in the speech on that day.
Since October 12, 1999, two attitudes have become very clear: Pakistan under General Pervez Musharraf wants to start a talks process on the Kashmir issue to settle it for good; India, on the other hand, is using every pretext under the sun to avoid the dialogue. Pakistan has offered talks on withdrawal, offered secret talks, but India has refused every rational offer of reducing tension in the region.
In which way this story ends is anybody’s guess with the armies of Pakistan and India facing each other at the borders.
Though India tried to put pressure on Pakistan against the backdrop of the attack on the Indian parliament, now it is itself under world pressure to start the dialogue process with Pakistan. In fact the government of Atal Behari Vajpayee is sitting uneasily as it has one eye on domestic politics and the other on the rhetoric of war it used to hush up every other domestic issue. Now the question is how to retreat without losing face.
India thinks that it is on the high moral ground to dictate terms to Pakistan, something unrealistic and extremely dangerous for regional peace.
President Musharraf has crossed a number of barriers for peace in the region, but India has spurned his efforts, which is sad for the region and the world. But nothing has been lost. India can still shrug off the obduracy and give a positive reply to Pakistan’s peace efforts. War brings lifelong destruction, and peace lifelong opportunities for progress.
SARWAR HAIDERI
Islamabad
I JUST wonder when the Interior Minister laid stress on merit at a seminar on “Discussion on police reforms” held in Karachi (Feb 5), was he meaning merit among the youths of Sindh, including Karachi, or the merit throughout Pakistan? He should be more specific because recruitment in the police force is not only a sensitive issue but also concerns a common Karachiite.
Besides, this police recruitment is legitimately for Sindh province including Karachi. If he meant a candidate of powerful physique, then I bet a few Karachi youths would be selected. If the senior officers are adopting the same old recruiting policies then it is an exercise in futility.
Also there is no need for consulting police officials who had served abroad, because our culture, environment and traditions are different from those countries. However, there is no harm in learning about the metro police system of South Asia’s Kolkata, Mumbai, Dhaka and Colombo, where this system is working for a long time in a good way.
I agree with the minister that there is no dearth of talent in the country but if 1500 ASIs are selected from outside the province of Sindh, even on merit, then it would be a wrong because the province has suffered all along in police appointments, partly due to certain technical formalities and partly due to the methodology in the selection process.
Asking a Karachi youth to run one mile in a few minutes and do other strenuous exercise will not be right because very few schools in Karachi have large playgrounds, or sports facilities.
The average height in Sindh is 5 feet and 4 or 5 inches. The mandatory height of 5 ft 7 in for the police in Sindh would benefit only those coming from the northern and central areas. However, it may be pointed that now in investigation an urban background officer with a better I.Q would be needed rather than a simple six-footer.
Unless the police selection criteria are evolved correctly, it is doubtful that even the brightest Karachi boy would ever be selected.
KUNWAR KHALID YUNUS
Karachi
THE Supreme Court has ordered Qari Mohammad Sharif to be re-arrested and jailed for 20 years (Feb 1).
Qari Sharif was convicted in 1994 for torturing his wife, Zainab Noor, in a manner that was despicable and was sentenced to prison for 30 years. However, the Lahore High Court, on an appeal by Sharif, had reduced his sentence to 10 years.
Sharif had found a sympathizer and benefactor in a company that sells a herbal cough syrup. The company paid the Diyat money on his behalf and got him out of jail after only six years. On being released, Sharif joined the Tableeghi Jamaat. His former wife and victim, Zainab Noor disabled for life, appealed to the Supreme Court which has rectified the wrong by awarding the 20-year sentence.
AZIZ A. TANOLI
Islamabad
CORNEAL transplantation surgery has been started in the Fazle Omar Hospital, Rabwah, under the auspices of the Noor Eye Donors Association and Eye Bank.
Eye surgeon Dr Mirza Khalid Tasleem Ahmad performed operations on two patients to restore their eyesight successfully after the death of an eye donor, Mr Abdul Salam of Darul Yaman Sharqi, Rabwah, who had donated his eyes only a few months ago.
This service to humanity is being greatly appreciated by the local people and a large number of people are offering eye denotations.
Eye donation and corneal transplantation are being carried out at only a few places in Pakistan. Most of these donated eyes are being acquired from Sri Lanka, one cornea costing between Rs25,000 and Rs30,000.
The Noor Eye Donors Association is providing this facility purely on humanitarian basis to the needy without any discrimination.
LT COL (RETD) DR M.A. KHALIQ
Administrator, Fazle Omar Hospital
Rabwah
FUNDED by the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank, the Drought Emergency Relief Assistance Programme (or DERA) was recently established to alleviate the human misery caused by the severe scarcity of seasonal rainfall in the arid areas of Pakistan.
In recent years the tribal people of District Rajanpur have suffered greatly due to serious drought conditions. The lack of rainfall forced thousands of inhabitants to migrate to settled areas of the district, along with their herds of cows, sheep and goats, in search of water, food and fodder. Their plight was even acknowledged in a June 2001 United Nations report which listed Rajanpur as one of the most severely drought-affected regions of Punjab.
Now - for some extraordinary reason - it appears that the Planning Commission has opted to exclude Rajanpur district from Pakistan’s foreign-funded emergency drought relief programme. Ironically, the adjoining districts of Dera Bugti (Balochistan), Jacobabad (Sindh) and Dera Ghazi Khan (Punjab) have all been declared to be severely drought-affected areas in need of disaster relief.
It is imperative that the Chairman of the Planning Commission immediately corrects this oversight. At present the long-suffering tribesmen of Rajanpur district are being deprived of their rightful share of foreign assistance because of a bureaucratic slip-up. Clearly, their five-year long misery should not be allowed to be simply wished away by a careless stroke of an official’s pen.
SHEHRYAR MAZARI
Karachi
RECENTLY, just out of curiosity, I happened to be surfing the web to look at the various websites of academic institutions in Karachi. It was very sad to note that Karachi University has no official website.
The city has produced thousands of professionals who now hold considerably important positions around the world and most of them have been educated at the Karachi University or institutions affiliated to it. But surprisingly, it is untraceable in the world map of educational institutions.
Every academic institution now requires a website because in this age, everyone would rather go online for information than anywhere else. By not having a website Karachi University is limiting its chances of being considered as a possible choice for studies by students, local and foreign.
A KARACHIITE
Chicago, USA
MR JAMIL Ahmed in his letter (Feb 6) rightly observes that “everyone has the right to air his views,” but when he suggests that “criticism must show a sense of proportion and common sense,” the subjective colour of his words are exposed miserably.
He must not forget that every reader has his own yardstick to determine the sense of proportion and common sense in a writing. For that matter, Mr Jamil is free to give his analysis. But when he declares a piece of writing as “rot” and “deplores” the decision to publish that “rot”, he himself negates his earlier statement which ironically conforms to the objectives of freedom of expression.
Unlike Mr Jamil, readers like myself hate to read articles that reflect hypocrisy imbued with far-fetched and shallow arguments inclined to promote pro-establishment views. Mr Jamil could not find “intellectual depth” in Ayaz Amir’s column, but in my view Ayaz Amir is praiseworthy because, instead of swimming on the surface, he seeks to deal with the core issues courageously and truthfully.
AHFAZ UR RAHMAN
Karachi
ACCORDING to the latest press reports, the government is going to embark upon a programme of reforms for political parties in the country. I suggest that the following points be given due consideration by the authorities.
1. No political party should ever be allowed to exploit the religious sentiments of our people.
2. The condition of being a graduate for candidates for the national assembly and FA for any candidates for the provincial assemblies should be essential. No reduction in it should ever be contemplated. It is an incentive for acquiring higher education and at the same time an affective device to save our people from the evils of the wadera culture.
3. No political party which does not hold internal elections in its own organization should ever be allowed to contest in any national election be it a local election or that of a provincial or the national assembly. Let all political parties first show democracy in their own organizations before they contest the national elections.
4. No politician who is a defaulter of any bank or has been convicted for embezzling government funds, should ever be allowed to contest any election.
5. No candidate for any election for provincial or national assemblies should be allowed to buy votes. Anyone found guilty of such a heinous crime must be disqualified from contesting the elections. The process of elections, therefore, must be monitored very strictly.
6. In view of the prevalent moral turpitude among the politicians, the institution of national accountability (NAB) must be made a permanent feature of our national and political life. It should be made so effective that it should prove a solid deterrent for all those who occupy any position in our social or political life.
MOHAMMAD ISHAQUE SOOFI
Rabwah
IN March 2001, I had filed a rent case in the court of the 4th Rent Controller of District South Karachi. On July 14, 2001, Mr S. Sayeed Hasan, the then Rent Controller passed an order in the matter, after which he proceeded on leave.
Since then the 4th Court (South) has been lying vacant and the litigants are running from pillar to post for redressal of their problems, as even the link-judges are over-burdened with their own respective cases.
ABDUL SALAM DADABHOY
Karachi
THIS is with reference to a letter alleging mercury dental filling done by a Pakistani dentist, discovered by a dentist in Sweden (Feb 3).
Nothing can be further from the truth. Mercury is a liquid metal and, of course, cannot retain itself in a tooth cavity for even a few minutes.
Some dentists all over the world are in the habit of misguiding their patients about their previous dental fillings, so as to re-fill them and then charge a hefty fee.
The fact of the matter is that mercury is mixed with a silver alloy to form an amalgam-alloy which is used for dental filling. Amalgam-alloy fillings are the most widely used dental fillings throughout the world for many decades now and millions of people around the world have it in their teeth. Mercury when mixed with silver alloy to form amalgam-alloy, loses its individual physical characteristics and is thus rendered harmless.
Amalgam-alloy fillings are still the standard by which other new material for fillings are judged. However, with the advent of many new synthetic-based fillings, the patient has a variety of fillings to choose from, and the choice should, of course, be presented to the patient before a dental filling is done.
The above clarification is meant firstly to allay any fears of people already having amalgam-alloy fillings commonly known as “silver fillings” as well as to categorically state that a “mercury dental filling” is yet to be invented, more so by any Pakistani dentist who, barring a few exceptions, are as ethical and conscientious as dentist anywhere in the world.
DR MAHMOOD SHAH
President, Pakistan Dental Association,
Karachi
AS usual, Wapda has increased its tariff — this time under the garb of withdrawing some subsidy. Dawn in its editorial on February 2 eulogizes it and recommends the discontinuation of subsidy for other brackets of domestic consumers, too.
The consumers, however, are not informed about the category which had been subsidizing the over-1,000 unit domestic user and what reduction would take place for those users now and from which date.
Or is it a simple increase as usual with Wapda’s corruption and inefficiency as the winner?
MASUD IQBAL
Lahore