THE Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) chairperson Mr Afrasiab Khan Khattak and secretary Ms Hina Jilani were in town the other day as part of a tour of southern Punjab during which they also went to Bahawalpur, Muzaffargarh and Rajanpur.

In Multan, the HRCP office-bearers first spoke at a seminar at a hotel near Kumharanwala chowk. Later, they addressed the district bar association and in the evening attended a reception organized by Mr Allah Nawaz Durrani in their honour. Apart from district Nazim Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Husain Qureshi, political leaders, intellectuals, writers, traders and civil activists were present on the occasion.

Welcoming the guests, the zila Nazim threw light on the advantages and disadvantages of the new system of district governments. He said the people were really fed up with the police excesses and added that this department should be more answerable to the people’s representatives to check its highhandedness. He said the government had tried to create a balance between the people and the bureaucracy through the system.

He said that Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was the first politician who tried to bridle the bureaucracy through people’s power. Comparing the military regimes of Zia and Musharraf, the Nazim thought that society was not going through the intellectual suffocation which was the mark of the Zia period.

Ms Jilani said her experience showed that the cause of human rights had furthered more during even the worst of civilian rules than during the best of military dictatorships. She blamed the politicians for military rules in the country, saying “whenever the military roars, the politicians rush in their burrows within no time”.

The HRCP chairperson expressed concern over the depoliticization of the Pakistani society, saying the establishment had imputed all the negative attributes to politics. “Politics is the most important part of the civil society,” he added.

Recalling the MRD struggle during the Zia era, he lamented that there was no such political movement and awareness in society at present. He said the commission was organizing seminars in various parts of the country to build a political consensus on minimum points to lead the country back to civilian rule. “We are using the term civilian rule because in our point of view there has never been a democratic government in Pakistan, he added.”

THE statement that “Karachi has been multiplying at a mind- boggling pace” has no news value anymore. Apart from people, shopping centres as well as traffic has grown at a pace no one could have imagined 40 or 50 years ago. The streets that used to have horse-drawn carriages and Mohammed Ali Tramway are bustling with motors polluting the city environment with lead and sulphur- rich fuels. What has happened during the last five decades should be enough to open our eyes and get us to make a plan for the next 10-20 years.

During the day, Karachi’s once wide boulevards of business and commercial districts are clogged with bumper-to-bumper traffic and haphazardly parked vehicles. To compound matters, one finds the streets and footpaths of these areas thoroughly encroached upon by parked cars and motorcycles, vendors, push- carts, patharas, beggars and eunuchs.

In these modern times every metropolis boasts facilities like public parking plazas and a decent public transport system. While the federal government, local authorities and the so-called civil society have been squabbling over the type and mechanics of a public transport system for more than ten years, Karachi must find a solution to fast diminishing parking space for a rapidly increasing number of vehicles.

When we cannot have the luxury of finding the parking spaces on ground we must go up. A public parking plaza with ground plus four storeys over an acre of land (4050 square meters) can hold up to five hundred vehicles at a given time. Rationally planned parking plazas near Mereweather Tower, Aram Bagh mosque or Light House Cinema and one somewhere in or around Saddar could easily open up the streets in our business centres.

There may be a pressing need for similar amenities in Clifton, Tariq Road, Nazimabad Chowrangi, Haidery Market and near Super Market in Liaqatabad. Many Karachiites may not believe it, yet we may still have many convenient sites for their construction, however, some may not be owned by this poor city.

The city government’s education department has a very convenient yet most under-utilized piece of property near Tower that could cater to a large number of vehicles in that area. An acre out of six of Pakistan Postal Services’ property on I.I. Chundrigar Road or the abandoned two and a half acres of Pakistan Sports’ Board opposite Kandawala Building on M.A. Jinnah Road, or an acre out of more than 11 piece of property housing the barracks of the Pakistan Works Department (PWD) in Saddar or the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board’s redundant ejector plot near Empress Market may be a few sites that have as yet not been consumed by the insatiable appetite of the builders and vested interests.

A good site for a parking plaza in the commercial district of Clifton could be the KMC flats and the sprawling bungalows bang at Teen Talwar. The employees of the defunct KMC’s living on these properties could be relocated to some other sites.

Sadly successive administrations have shown little mercy for amenities like parking spaces. Even in this day and age, the parking-lot at Haidery Market was allowed for patharas (cabins) last year. A suitable one-acre site in this neighbourhood could be the Pakistan Boys Scout property adjoining PSO Petrol Pump. But that property too has been allegedly changing powerful hands. Last year the defunct KMC tried to commercialize a portion of Jheel Park. Many eyebrows were raised at the interest shown by multinational food chains and people in the provincial administration for that commercialization. However painful it may be, a portion of Jheel Park adjoining Tariq Road could be used for construction of a public parking plaza. A suitable location could be found in Liaquatabad or Traffic Engineering Bureau could plan utilization of spaces under Liaqatabad Flyover for parking on the two sides of the track.

For construction of parking plazas the availability of land may not be the only problem, the high cost of construction and possibly low financial returns may also be major impediments. The construction of a typical ground-plus-four parking plaza over an acre of land may cost up to sixty million rupees. At Rs20 parking fee and 1.5 times utilization the project may only promise a partial return over the financial cost. But in terms of cost that the people of this city are paying as penalties for wrongful parking of their motor-bikes and cars, theft and damage to their vehicles at insecure locations may add up to several times the financial cost of these parking plazas.

We all know that the cash-strapped city government, unable to pay its employees, cannot even imagine about such amenity projects. To believe that some private party would come up and do it all for the city may also be wishful thinking. With price of land exceeding 100,000 per square metre in most of the above districts, without a subsidy in the form of land and for construction by the government parking plazas may never become a reality in the city.

But in the present environment of witch-hunt and summary trials, the prospect of public-private partnership for projects like parking plazas does not look very promising either. Who would in the city government, provincial administration or in the private would like to become part of an urban uplift scheme promising social benefits yet exposing them to future manhandling by investigating agencies?

Perhaps the so-called “Program for Economic Revival of Karachi” or Karachi Uplift Programme may like to consider this consider. The city’s population promises to cross the twenty million mark by the year 2015. The question remains: how long a city where the number of registered vehicles has literally doubled to 1.32 million during the last ten years can survive without such basic amenities?

THE scene was horrible. A patient was bleeding profusely and a worried young medical officer was frantically calling out for blood.  He knew the patient will expire if blood not given to him. A paramedic, standing close by, was equally helpless. We have sent out a man to fetch the blood and he is on way, the paramedic said. This was not a government hospital, otherwise notorious for such happenings but a privately owned ‘hospital’ in Peshawar established on the fourth floor of a plaza. The doctor on call refused to come back for it was late for him to return in the evening. There was no blood bank, no blood transfusion facility, no x-ray and no life saving drugs (LSD) — minimum requirement for any hospital — and the lift operator had already left.

The scene was indeed an eye opener.  Subsequent visits to other nearby privately-owned hospitals were pathetically equally revealing. This is the state of affairs in the country, where doctors, the supposed messiahs of humanity, have unfortunately joined the mad race of making money at the expense of people’s lives.

It is in this background that the people heaved a sigh of relief over government’s recent decision to bar its employed doctors from carrying out private practice outside the precinct of government hospitals. The notification issued early this month, setting a deadline of 15 days for doctors to close down their clinics and hospitals, has caused the obvious stir among those who have been practising at their private clinics for years.  This, no doubt, has also triggered a debate of sorts on the pros and cons, the plus and minuses of the government’s decision. The doctors have a major stake here and therefore, are angry for the right reason. But the biggest stakeholders in this case, whose lives are more precious than the petty gains of a few, are the people. It is a bold decision and needs to be supported by all those who have the fear of God in their hearts.

In fact, Punjab had taken the lead in enforcing the ban on government-employed doctors but the option to allow private practice at the doctors’ residences torpedoed the whole concept of regulating private practice. For all practical purposes, the NWFP’s notification appears to be more sound and foolproof. Since the acting secretary health has refused to entertain  any applications for long leaves, the government-employed doctors appear to have been left with only one choice — to resign or follow the decision hook, line and sinker.

There appears to be no justification for the medical Officers to continue receiving non-practising allowance, when in fact 80 per cent of them do private practice. As for the senior doctors, it is not fair that those who draw and get their patients because of their practice at government hospitals despise and oppose the institutional based practice.

The military hospitals are the best example where  the institutional-based practice is working quite successfully. There are however, things, which the government is required to do as well. There is a need for capacity building at the government hospitals to provide for a trouble-free and smooth practice. The hospitals  need to be fully equipped with diagnostic  and laboratory support services. The non-practising allowance for doctors also need to be enhanced from the present Rs 500 and Rs 700 for the Grade-17/18 and 19 & 20 to Rs 4000 and Rs 7000 respectively, as has been done in the military hospitals, to compensate MOs.

Let there be a central registry, where the fee of the doctors are deposited and distributed proportionately among the doctors, the hospitals and the supporting staff, on the basis  of institutional based practice formula. This will not only stop tax evasion but also increase the revenue of government hospitals manifolds. The revenue of the military hospitals, for instance, according to one report had jumped up by 40 per cent since  the introduction of institutional-based practice there. There is no reason for the doctors to be unhappy. Those who charge Rs 200 per patient, as many of them do, would still get the same amount as per the 60 per cent share out of the Rs 300 fee worked out under the formula.

The government also needs to encourage the hospital management cadre to monitor the implementation of the decision.  The magistracy powers of the drug inspectors need to be handed over to  the executive district officers (EDOs) of the  health department under the new devolution plan, in addition to special monitoring teams, to enforce the ban in letter and spirit.

Unfortunately for us, private practice in some cases, has led to the creation of a mafia that controlled everything remotely related to their practice, from laboratories to drug stores to canteens at the privately-owned hospitals. Prescriptions after prescriptions of heavy antibiotics are churned out to return favours from multinational pharmaceutical companies at  the expense of people’s health. Patients have been forced to take antibiotics like popcorns. This practice has to stop somewhere and sometime. Let us think about the hapless people. They also deserve to live.

THE Muslim world celebrates with great fervour and enthusiasm the festival of Eid-ul-Azha to pay tributes to Prophet Ibrahim (peace be upon him) for the great spirit of sacrifice shown by him. The objective of this festival is to recall Hazrat Ibrahim’s great act of courage to answer Allah’s call. The sacrifice of animals on this day is made with a view to attaining communion with Allah.

The sacrifice of animals — sheep, goats and camels — is in commemoration of the readiness of Hazrat Ibrahim Al-Khalil to offer, as a sacrifice to Allah, his own son, Ismail, and his obedience when he said to his father: “O my father! Do that which thou art commended. Allah-willing thou shalt find me of the steadfast”.

“Then, when they have both surrendered (to Allah), and he had flung him down upon his face, We called unto him: O Abraham! Thou hast already fulfilled the vision. Lo! thus we reward the Good”. (37:202:105).

It cannot be denied that since the dawn of humanity there had been sacrifices. During the time of Hazrat Ibrahim and in the land from where he came sacrifices, including the sacrifice of human beings, were prevalent and the idea behind these sacrifices was the warding off of the evils and calamities. The deity was regarded as jealous, adamant and very strict, who felt happy in sending calamities upon human-beings, therefore he must be propitiated by sacrifices.

But Hazrat Ibrahim stood aloft and totally rejected these superstitious ideas to whom the Almighty Allah has revealed a higher and nobler truth. He, therefore, was inspired to sacrifice his beloved son, not with any motive of propitiating a jealous deity in order to escape from the consequences of misfortunes. It was his sincere devotion to the will of Allah and His Divine Decree that he had to translate into action. His righteous son, in complete faith of Allah’s revelation, accepted His Command and submitted with steadfastness and exemplary patience.

Allah was pleased with their obedience and faith and substituted a fine sheep for sacrifice. This was a great advance in the attitude towards, and concept of, sacrifice. But still there were people in those days, particularly the Israelite tribes, who persisted in their traditional sacrifice.

In Islam, sacrifice stands for higher and nobler ideal. It nourishes and elevates the soul. It develops the personality of man and refines his Nafs (inner-self), the very soul of man which is known only to Allah but its potent to work good or harm in this world according to the state of its development. The cultivation of the soul, its fortification and beautification are matters of supreme importance. We have to strive hard to achieve that end.

How are we to elevate and ennoble our soul? Allah has blessed man with wonderful gifts and talents. To ponder and reflect and observe the vast creation of the Almighty, have firm faith in the Omnipotent and Omniscient and the revelation, He sent down for mankind His Messenger, Muhammad (S.A.W.). He must follow the message and strive strenuously to overcome the glamour and powerful mundane influences which may divert him to reach the goal. And most of these influences are in his own nature.

This spirit desists him from a broader and wider thinking for the service and amelioration of mankind and the welfare of Allah’s creatures — our brothers and sisters. If one realises that right actions come from right thinking and right direction, and control of impulses and emotions, our lives would be completely transformed.

We would acquire a new power, a new vigour, a new sense of responsibility and the desire and urge to serve and help other people. This awakening will make us conscious to sacrifice our animal appetites, some part of our emotional pleasures something of the comforts of life, some of the advantages of our worldly position — to Allah, to the study and practice of religion (Deen).

Qari Mohammad Tayyab, a renowned scholar of the subcontinent has beautifully described the essence of sacrifices in Islam: “The ritual known as Sacrifice, too, has a body and a soul. Its body, or form, is the act of slaughtering the animal. Its soul, or the truth about it, is to generate in one’s heart the supreme feeling of self-sacrifice. It is evident that this spiritual delight cannot be derived without slaughtering the sacrificial animal. There is no doubt that a body is recipient of only such soul as it is capable of holding. Prayer has its soul, charity has its soul, fasting has its soul, pilgrimage has its soul, and sacrifice has its soul, each distinct from the other. In short, to line upto the spirit of a particular ritual or act of worship, it is imperative to adopt the very form that Allah has ordained for it. Thus alone one can reach its soul.”

The spirit of sacrifice is piety and virtue. Then the question arises: if the objective of sacrifice is righteousness, what is the need of slaughtering an animal. It is enough to adopt the spirit of sacrifice, devoid of all external forms. This thinking will give vent to this idea: leave aside all Islamic practices and adopt only the virtue and piety which is their essence. The Divine Book states: “Fasting is prescribed to you as it was prescribed to those before you, that you may learn self-restraint” (2:183).

Similar is the Divine Decree for Prayers: “Prayers restrain from shameful and unjust deeds.” (29:45).

Sacrifice (Qurbani) is just an example for performing the highest sacrifice of life in the way of Allah if there need be and submission to His will to follow the lofty ideals and actions at His Command.

On this day, the Muslims of the world, both of urban and rural areas of different strata of society and climes meet in mosques and Eidgahs donned in new, fine and motley attires and after the prayers will embrace each other with brotherly feelings and return home.

Then, with great zest and interest, sacrifices of animals will be performed in every home and feasts will be given to friends and relations. Young and old, men and women, rich and poor will also move out to enjoy meals and buy sweets fruits and gifts for children. The day wears a cheerful appearance and becomes a blessing for the entire Umma.