| February 17, 2002 | Sunday | Zilhaj 4, 1422 |
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A woman Major General
Debate on secularism
Banning of Indian channels
Burglaries in DHA, Lahore
Trade team to Libya
Wind and solar energy
Carjacking
Lahore GPO performance
Plea to base commander
Dangerous road
Injustice to pensioners
CAN the religious reforms brought about by General Pervez Musharraf really put an end to the religious extremism in our society? No definite answer can be given. The reason is that still his campaign, in this regard, is in its beginning. But one thing is certain that if the government thinks that closing the offices of some extremist organizations will eradicate the menace, it is only an underestimation of the matter.
The extremism nourished by the state during the Zia era, and strengthened by our poor social milieu, is far more deep-rooted than what is imagined by the government. It requires still a large campaign to eradicate the plague from Pakistani society.
Firstly, it should be ensured that no party participates in any election of Pakistan in the name of religion. This step would save our nation from further division on sectarian basis.
Secondly, the government should have the power to dismiss a prayer leader, if he is found involved in any activity which is harmful for national cohesion and promotes sectarianism.
Thirdly, the prayer leaders of all sects should be obliged to attend refresher courses organized by the government. These courses would provide a platform where the prayer leaders, belonging to different sects, will meet one another and exchange views in a peaceful environment.
Fourthly, the religious institutions should be provided with respectable funds by the government. The government should audit any extra fund, collected by them. Foreign aid given to them under any title should also be channelled through the government.
MOHAMMAD AWAB
Islamabad
FEMALE medical officers commissioned in the Pakistan Army Medical Corps were governed by the same rules as the male medical officers, and were given similar ranks and most of the facilities.
But the promotion structure for the women lagged far behind their male counterparts. The highest rank given to a female medical officer was that of Major, that too after 10 years of service, and this was the limit in the cases. There were no facilities for higher administrative or professional achievements in their career and no chances of attending courses abroad, as were available for the male officers.
This point was often brought to the knowledge of the seniors by the lady officers, and some sort of explanation would be given which was always unconvincing. In the year 1974-75 this point was raised in one of the high level conferences presided over by the then deputy chief of the army staff at Abbottabad by a lady medical officer. Subsequently, a committee was formed to look into the matter. As a result, the career planning and promotion policy for all medical officers was declared universal.
However, there still remained a disparity. Whereas every year a few deserving male officers were promoted to the rank of Major General no woman was ever approved for this promotion. The ceiling for women remained a Brigadier.
The historical decision taken by the present administrative leadership in the last promotion board speaks of a progressive attitude on the part of those concerned.
For the first time in the history of Pakistan, a lady medical officer has been approved to be promoted to the rank of Major General. This will not only encourage the women of Pakistan to come forward to participate in the national affairs but will also project the country as a progressive and forward looking Muslim country.
PRO JAHAN ARA PAL
Karachi
THERE is an interesting debate going on in our country these days about the direction our nation should take, whether we should have a secular or a non-secular Pakistan.
A few years ago when I was still a student at the NED University we used to have regular field trips to various power plants. One such visit was planned for the nuclear power plant in Karachi. On the morning of that trip I was informed by my professor that I would not be allowed to visit the power plant as I was a non-Muslim and needed special clearance even though I was a citizen of Pakistan. Apparently a law was passed whereby non-Muslims cannot visit strategic installations in Pakistan without special clearance.
My representative in the National Assembly elected on the separate electorate seat slept while this law was being passed. Or maybe he was too busy getting his loans approved. In a secular state, laws like this do not get passed.
Since 1979 onwards, for more than two decades, the obscurantists have had their way in almost every sphere of life. The majority of people in this country want a secure life, with basic health care and civic amenities and an environment where their children can also prosper.
We are far away as a nation from achieving this but to head in that direction should be our goal. A step in the right direction would be to separate state and religion and re-name the country as the Republic of Pakistan. We need to make a fresh start.
FARHANG MEHER
Dallas, USA
I endorse the views of Anwer Abbas on the ban Indian channels by the government (Feb 14). We have often heard the arguments about cultural invasion by foreign channels in the past. The fact is that the channels now allowed by the government are the ones that are doing more damage to our culture and affecting the moral fibre of our society.
These channels, showing foreign (English) movies, serials, and music videos are mostly guilty of causing embarrassment to the parents who allow TV viewing to their kids.
As far as news coverage and talk shows are concerned, BBC or CNN are no angels. They do not give stories favouring Pakistan either. To quote an example, a New Delhi-based programme ‘Question Time India’ is shown on the BBC which is available for Pakistani viewers. This programme reflects the general feelings of an average Indian literate citizen. Sometimes it gives an impression as if only that section of the public opinion is being represented which is highly nationalist and against any friendly relations with Pakistan, but on the whole the discussion by the panel is interesting and some voices of reason are also heard. It is time the viewers in Pakistan were trusted by the authorities for sifting truth from garbage that is propagated by some hostile channels.
The soaps being telecast by Zee, Star Plus or Sony are definitely more cultured and decent than the ones being shown by Movie Channel, Movie Magic, M TV, V Channel, HBO, Star World or Star Movies, etc. It appears the gentlemen who issue the orders only act on the advice of a few bureaucrats and do not bother to watch the foreign channels themselves before passing judgment. I humbly advise these people to either spend some time watching these programme or if they are already watching, to get their vision re-tested.
The unjustified patronage being provided by the government to the local channels or the so-called Pakistan-friendly channels is not doing any good to the overall standard of local TV programmes. Without any competition no improvement in the production of local programmes can be effected. Substandard music programmes and some ordinary stage shows (where the ‘singers’ only lip-sync on stage and deceive the audience) have now become our fate.
To add insult to injury, we have to pay TV licence fee to the government and a monthly subscription to the cable operator for watching programmes that are not of our own choosing. Is there no TV Viewers Association in our country that could convey our grievance to the authorities concerned?
HASSAN MUNIR
Karachi
THE Defence Housing Authority, Lahore, is in the grip of a spate of burglaries, mostly comprising stealthy breaks-ins. A few armed dacoities have also taken place. I must admit I was not aware of the alarming situation and realization came the hard way when my own house was burgled in the near past and the thieves took away a substantial amount of my life savings.
The facts are that 2-3 houses are being broken into on daily basis and the methodology in most cases is identical, which points towards the operation of a group. The police is so good at investigations that almost all the victims upon reporting are told that this is the work of a known thief namely ‘Hameeda Karorpati’. The most obvious connotation is that if that were so why can’t this man be apprehended. Obviously the police must know his whereabouts and also have informers to keep track of such known criminals. When this does not happen and the criminals are allowed to operate brazenly, the public is but justified thinking in terms of connivance of the police.
In my case an FIR was registered without difficulty but after that little else was done. So much so that the police did not even try to preserve the evidence available at the crime scene i.e. foot prints, fingerprints etc. Ever since, I have not been able to see the SHO despite several visits to the police station. The investigating officer, however, was kind enough to call me once as a result of all my visits. I was told once again that I had to wait for the apprehension of the named suspected culprit.
The Lahore city police have reorganized itself, I hope for the better. It now has a special investigation set-up operating directly under an SSP, a very senior police officer indeed. I am sure there must be many pressing matters at hand, but may I request that thefts/burglaries/dacoities in the Defence area be paid special attention because it concerns a large segment of people living in the locality.
AIR CDRE (Retd) A. WAJID SALIM
Lahore
I AM a regular visitor to Dawn’s website and I feel your paper reflects the true state of world affairs, be they political, social, military or economic.
Being an overseas Pakistani I feel it is my duty to bring to your knowledge the state of affairs which affect our national interests in Libya.
Recently, a trade delegation headed by the chairman of the Export Promotion Bureau visited Libya. I had the opportunity to meet the delegation members but was severely disappointed to discover that no homework had been done by the delegates. Many of the delegation members were searching whom to meet and how to meet. All this should have been planned in advance and the arrangements made prior to their arrival in Libya.
This visit must have cost the nation a hefty sum of money, all gone to waste now. I would strongly suggest that the relevant authorities should plan well in advance and there must be a liaison office set up by the EPB here in Libya to explore and encash possible trade opportunities.
Furthermore, the delegation members seemed to be very much unaware of the trade laws and regulations in Libya. A detailed overview of the same should be provided by the EPB to traders so that they can evaluate the decisions.
TANWEER A. BUKHARI
Tripoli, Libya
THIS is with reference to the letters by Shahid Anwar and Shahzad Kazi on alternative sources of energy. In 1995, we worked on generating electricity from wind and solar energy and were successful in designing a hybrid system for our final year project at the NED University. The purpose of this project was to be able to illuminate a small household in a village. It was done in collaboration with the Pakistan Council for Appropriate Technologies.
The wind generator along with the solar panel were supposed to have been installed at a small farm in Jaro Hingorjo near Gujjo but due to reasons still not known to us this was never accomplished. That village even today does not have electricity or a school or even a hospital.
There has been a lot of work done on generating power through alternate sources of energy in Pakistan but sadly the efforts of the few concerned individuals have gone to waste. Whose loss is this?
FARANGMEHER GHADIALI AND UMAR FAROOQ SHAH
Dallas, USA
IN his televised speech recently President Musharraf expressed his determination to re-establish the government’s writ on law and order.
Carjacking in Karachi has been rampant for a long time. I would request the President to pass orders to the concerned agencies to eliminate this criminal activity forthwith and to establish the writ of the government in this respect also.
M.H. QURESHI
Karachi
THE other day I went to the General Post Office at 4:30 pm to post ‘inside country’ letters. Upon entering the main hall I found a number of counters but without any signboards, except for one fixed for ISP service.
I asked the person at the information desk (person 1) where I should go to post the letters. He pointed towards one of the counters. The person 2 there told me that it was an urgent delivery counter and that I should go to the other counter.
After waiting in the queue, person 3 told me that he dealt with registered mail only, and directed me to another person.
The person 4 then moved me on to person 5 for weighing of letters. That man asked me to meet person 6 for stamps, but he sent me to person 7. That person further moved me on to person 8 where I was finally able to hand over my letters.
After about 30 minutes and meeting 8 people I finally decided to visit person 9 at the complaint room (outside the main hall) but it was closed. I was not the only one looking hither and thither to get to the right counter; every other person was struggling likewise.
I suggest that if the GPO is short of funds (in spite of doubling the postal charges) they should invite sponsors to place placards in the main hall of the GPO to avoid wastage of time and mental agony.
YASER MAQSUD
Lahore
HABIB Ibrahim Rahimtoola Road, popularly known as Karsaz Road, is one of the most dangerous roads in Karachi. Traffic runs faster than possibly on any other road, and — as is typical of Karachi drivers — nobody obeys traffic rules. Minibus drivers drive recklessly and rashly, and do not worry who gets hurt.
The road does not have a median strip that could divide it into two. Thus, when a vehicle overtakes, there is a danger that it may collided with an on-coming one from the opposite site. Most dangerous is the entry into Tipu Sultan Road. For traffic coming from the National Stadium, a right-turn is very hazardous. No one has thought of giving this place traffic lights.
The traffic police and the Nazim are not interested. Maybe, they will say it is out of their jurisdiction. Will the Base Commander concerned earn the gratitude of the people by (1) building a dividing strip and (2) by placing traffic lights so that traffic coming from the National Stadium could make a safe right turn?
A CITIZEN
Karachi
BEING a regular traveller between Sohrab Goth and Baqai Medical University on the superhighway, I experience a phenomenon that is getting progressively.
Most probably, in an attempt to convert this road into a motorway or expressway, concrete cement barriers enclosed in barbed wire fence, were raised to divide the incoming and outgoing roads. This has given rise to a very dangerous situation.
Since very few U-turns are available, the drivers just bulldoze through these barriers and fencing. The only two U-turns provided, one at the 24th km-stone and the other just short of the toll gate, are extremely inadequate for the quantum of traffic on this road.
The dangerous criss-crossing of pedestrians, animals, and of vehicles can be regulated if the barriers and fencing are removed or a large number of properly designed U-turns are provided at suitable points.
DR M. S. JAFFERY
Karachi
THE plight of pensioners, especially those in their mid-seventies, is hard to imagine. Walking heavily with stooped shoulders on their fragile frames, they possibly suffer from some chronic disease or the other.
In most cases their only source of subsistence is their meagre pension, a good part of which goes to meeting medical expenses. In theory these expenses are reimbursable.
But how many actually claim and get reimbursed is a moot point. Doctors are hesitant to prescribe expensive drugs obtainable only from the market for fear they might exceed the budgetary grant, even though no other drug would be quite as efficacious.
Medicines apart, the aged also need to eat nutritious food and keep themselves warm during winters. Can an old man with no other source of income except his pension afford to burn gas or an electric heater all night long to give him warmth? Not possible in these days of ever-increasing costs of gas and electricity.
Some lucky pensioners who survived fifteen long years of loneliness after retirement had pinned their hopes on restoration of surrendered value of their pensions which would have afforded them some relief in their fading years. But the government withdrew this facility from December 1, 2001.
At first sight it appeared that the government’s intention was that those retiring after that date would not be entitled to this facility. But inquiries made from AGPR revealed that the facility had been withdrawn from all retirees irrespective of their date of retirement. Shocking, is it not? After all, this was an essential part of the retirement terms which the government was committed to honour.
The government can of course revise the terms and withdraw this facility or suspend pension all together if it so likes but only from the date the new orders are issued. To give retrospective effect to such orders would be irrational and palpably unjust.
Then again the question arises: how many civilian pensioners actually live to be 75 and for how long after that? No doubt average life expectancy is increasing in the prosperous nations of the world but, unfortunately, not in Pakistan. Over here life expectancy is substantially below retirement age. Somebody in the finance ministry should work that out for the benefit of the higher authorities.
Assuming for the sake of argument that the saving would be substantial, does it stand to reason that a whole community of aged pensioners should be made to suffer in violation of their terms of service just to enrich government coffers? Surely with all the powers in its hands, the government can think of other ways of raising funds.
Retrospective applicability of these orders is legally and morally untenable. May we expect the government to reconsider and, in all justice and fair play, make the orders applicable from the date of issue.
SALAR MASUD AHMAD
Islamabad
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