| March 19, 2002 | Tuesday | Muharram 4, 1423 |
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Violation of rules
Terrorism in the name of religion
Jinnah’s vision
Acts of terrorism
A matter of shame
Changing the Constitution
Undisciplined flow of traffic
Change in time
Vandalizing historical monuments
Converting schools
Correction
International Year of Mountains
THIS refers to the editorial ‘Stop these pleas’ (March 10). You have rightly advised President Pervez Musharraf to stop making pleas to India for ending the military stand-off by pulling back its troops along the borders.
Right from October 1999, President Musharraf has been taking bold steps for normalization of relations between India and Pakistan but there has been no response from the BJP government in India.
Taking the case of the terrorist attack on the Indian Parliament (Dec 13, 2001) — without joint or impartial investigations of the most condemnable episode — India unilaterally withdrew its High Commissioner from Islamabad, closed the air and land routes between the two neighbours, stopped PIA overflights, and mobilized nearly 70 per cent of its troops along the India-Pakistan border and the line of control in the disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
Now India is insisting that Pakistan hand over 20 persons whom they claim to be leaders of various terrorist gangs without giving documentary evidence of their being involved in particular cases of terrorist attacks.
I fully support your view that we should not beg for peace.
Mr Vajpayee and his Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh have been openly saying that if Pakistan takes one step forward for peace, India will go ten steps for the purpose. After the historic speech of President Musharraf on Jan 12 in the wake of which definite major steps have been taken by our government to curb extremism in all its manifestations, we have not observed a single step forward from India in the matter of normalization of relations. This is now well known to the world community and the major powers of the world.
The pleadings of the world community have so far not been able to bring India to the negotiating table to promote peace, harmony and good-neighbourly relations by resolving the core issue pending since 1947.
It is quite relevant to refer to Article 1 of the United Nations Charter:
“To maintain international peace and security, and to that end: to take effective collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace, and for the suppression of acts of aggression or other breaches of the peace, and to bring about by peaceful means, and in conformity with the principles of justice and international law, adjustment or settlement of international disputes or situations which might lead to a breach of the peace”.
In pursuance of this Article, the government of Pakistan is best requested to approach the United Nations and its Security Council to give an undertaking to the government of Pakistan and its people that in case of Pakistani forces’ unilateral withdrawal from the international border and the line of control in Jammu and Kashmir and in case of Indian forces trespassing on Pakistani territory, the world organization would take all necessary measures, including application of force, to vacate such encroachment on Pakistan territory.
Having got this undertaking from the world body and its Security Council, Pakistan should unilaterally withdraw its forces from Indo-Pak border and the LoC in Kashmir.
ENGR S.M. ZAKERYA KAZMI
Karachi
I HAVE recently learnt of a decision by the ad hoc Public Accounts Committee (PAC) which violates all canons of justice and fair play and indicates how the weak and the poor are exploited and victimized while the bureaucracy is protected even in violation of rules.
On Nov 2, 1995, an official vehicle No. IDE-2789 provided to the Deputy Speaker of National Assembly met with an accident. An FIR was lodged with the police the following day. The driver of the vehicle, a poor and defenceless man, under force of circumstances entered into an agreement with the other party according to which that party was to bear half the expenditure on repairs. The National Assembly Secretariat got the vehicle repaired at an expenditure of Rs182,340 with the approval of the secretary.
It was pointed out by the audit that the secretary was not competent to sanction expenditure beyond Rs25,000 on repairs. His act was, therefore, illegal and against the rules. The matter came to the Public Accounts Committee. Instead of penalizing the secretary for allegedly violating the rules and directing recovery, the PAC ordered that disciplinary action may be taken against the driver and the unauthorized expenditure made by the secretary be written off.
The Finance Ministry vide letter dated 24.2.1981 and 6.2.1962 has issued instructions to all secretaries of the government that in their capacity as Principal Accounting Officers it is their duty to ensure that the funds allotted are spent for the purposes for which they are intended. He is to make certain that the requirements of the relevant rules and regulations are fully met. He has been made personally answerable for any laxity in matters of control over expenditure. The principle of personal answerability will not apply only if he has been overruled by the minister concerned. In the present case, the violation of rules, if any, was by the secretary. Nevertheless a poor and weak person, namely the driver, was made a scapegoat and the expenditure unauthorizedly made by the secretary was written off.
In earlier cases reported in the press, the PAC held politicians responsible even where the responsibility was that of the secretary concerned. Here is another example how rules have been violated and bypassed to exonerate a bureaucrat and humiliate a driver.
This is a fit case for inquiry by the chief executive of Pakistan.
MUHAMMAD ASIF
Islamabad
OF LATE, I have been going through the reports published in various newspapers (including Dawn) around the world, concerning terrorism and extremism. Be it 9/11 or the Gujarat carnage or the Palestine-Israel problem, the ultimate victims of all sorts of terrorism are the innocent people, who have nothing to do with these terrorists.
The terrorist organizations, like Al-Qaeda and VHP, play havoc with the lives of innocent people in the name of religion. These organizations play the religious card to arouse passion in the common man. Here I want to put one question to such organizations: who has authorized them to play with the religious sentiments of the people?
These terrorist organizations kill innocent people in the name of religion. On March 14, I went through a report published in The Hindu in which the VHP said it was the only true representative of Hindus. I being a Hindu want to ask these guys who made them the representative of Hindus? Did I? The answer is no.
These extremists are like tumour, a bad mark not only on society but also on the whole mankind. No religion teaches hatred and violence. Every religion emphasizes love, peace and compassion.
Here I refer to Brenda Well (letter, March 14) that we all have the same blood and colour, and breathe the same air but still cannot live in peace and harmony. This is because of our ignorance that we easily get brainwashed by the evil people with vested interests.
Let the people of the whole world live in peace and spread the message of brotherhood.
AJAY TRIPATHI
USA
AFTER reading Mr Ali H. Shirazi’s article on this subject (March 14), one pertinent question to be asked is: ‘How many visions did Jinnah have?’ Since the 9/11 tragedy and Pakistan’s full support to the global anti-terrorist move, people here have been frequently interpreting ‘Jinnah’s vision’ in their own wisdom and fashion, without taking into consideration the facts that led to the creation of Pakistan.
During the time of Liaquat Ali Khan, the vision of Jinnah was well-reflected and established in the Objectives Resolution, which has not been changed by a single word, even though the constitution of which it forms the preamble was abrogated and re-written three times.
The other zealot of ‘Jinnah’s vision’ was Ziaul Haq who, during his presidency, was so moved by the efficacy of the Objectives Resolution that he made it part of the constitution itself for its total execution in every sphere.
And now we have, fortunately or unfortunately, a third vision of Jinnah which is ‘a forward looking and secular Islamic state’ as propounded by President Musharraf, well calibrated as ‘Musharraf’s vision of Jinnah’. One wonders, how secularism can co-exist with Islam?
I remember a line from our celebrated poet Iqbal which I would like to quote:
Juda ho din sayasat se to reh jati hai changezi.
This small but meaningful line reflects my vision of Jinnah and I believe that it is the vision of 85 per cent of the people of Pakistan.
M. SHAMIM RAZA
Karachi
MR Jameel Yusuf, head of the CPLC, has given several instances of terrorism in the city (March 15) and has said that “the present state of affairs of our society should shame our law enforcement and intelligence agencies for their failure to break the terrorist network.”
While endorsing this statement I must also add that most of the cases submitted for judicial adjudication are purposely tainted by these very agencies for very obvious reasons. This not only causes delays but also, invariably, lets the culprit get away.
I recall the fanfare with which the arrest of the murderers of Hakim Muhammad Saeed was splashed. No less a person than the then prime minister appeared on the TV to announce this arrest. The results are known. I would propose strong, strict and effective measures to be taken against the officials who taint such cases. Such strong actions would serve as a deterrent to others.
I have a friend whose son was kidnapped. The kidnappers were caught and the trial was on when this friend was asked to identify the culprits. The night before, he received such threatening and daring calls that his entire family were shaken. Who leaked this information and for what reason?
The Islamic jurisprudence has the cure for this and if we follow it, we’ll find the solution to terrorism.
MAHER H. ALAVI
Karachi
WE, the North American Association of Pakistani Doctors, protest against the unchecked killings of doctors in Karachi and appeal to the authorities to look into the matter.
It is extremely sad, and a matter of shame, that so many doctors have been killed, and the authorities concerned have still not been able to stop these barbaric acts. It appears that these killings are part of a well-drawn out plan. They kill defenceless individuals, one by one, as it is easier to do so and escape.
The question is, do the Sindh Governor and the authorities really care?
KHAMIS DANISH
Bloomingdales,
USA
THERE’S a lot of talk these days about the proposed changes in the Constitution. As we all know, successive governments had used cabinet posts to buy MNAs and MPAs in an effort to remain in power.
At one stage, during Benazir’s period, there were 72 ministers in the Punjab government, and those who were not given cabinet posts were appointed parliamentary secretaries, advisers and special assistants. Almost every member of the treasury bench held one post or the other.
In Balochistan in a house of 44, more than half were always ministers. Finding the number of cabinet posts insufficient to meet her requirements, Benazir Bhutto had once divided one ministry into four, to accommodate some of the turncoats.
Taking this into consideration, the present government should make necessary amendments to the Constitution, limiting the number of ministers at the centre and in the provinces. The post of parliamentary secretaries should be abolished.
JAMALUDDIN HASAN
Toronto,
Canada
BEING a businessman and industrialist, I would like to highlight and draw the attention of the concerned authorities towards the undisciplined flow of traffic at the Mauripur Road near Gulbai Chowk, Karachi.
The newly constructed Mauripur Road which is supposed to cater to the traffic flowing from Hawkesbay Trucking Stand, PAF Masroor and the SITE area, is losing its charm and efficacy.
During the day as well as in the early evening hours, traffic usually remains at halt for two to three hours. This creates a nuisance for those coming from the SITE area to the Mauripur Road via Gulbai Chowk, to enter the city centre.
However, the situation can be managed by deploying more traffic policemen. This would be a great help, not only for the general public but also for the business community which uses the Mauripur Road for forwarding consignments.
I appeal to the local government to take immediate measures.
ABDUL SAMI KHAN
Karachi
THE present plan to effect a seasonal time change is quite a positive one but it will cause major problems for everyone. With the masses illiterate, how is one going to explain the change in time every six months?
The time-change will cause immense problems with domestic servants and lower office staff who would be simply confused. A major percentage of them don’t even know the months of the year. Is Pakistan really ready for this kind of change?
FRAYAN MAMA
Karachi
IT was with shock and despair that the members of the Vintage and Classic Car Club of Pakistan (VCCCP) read about the vandalizing of the historic monuments by the car rally organizers in Lahore.
First of all, the classic car fraternity is very conscious of preservation and restoration of our heritage. Our members have saved a large number of historically and aesthetically significant vehicles from ruin. The VCCCP was never asked to participate in the rally nor was it part of the organizers.
We are sure that vintage and classic car owners of Lahore and the participants of the rally, whether members of VCCCP or not, would never indulge in and indeed never allow such a sacrilege to happen. The VCCCP, being the premier classic car club of the country, is happy to see a vintage car rally having been run and supports all classic car owners in their endeavours.
We agree with the Dawn report that the damage to monuments is unpardonable and that to clean the area afterwards was a duty conveniently overlooked by the organizers. It is hoped that future rallies would be simple, clean affairs giving maximum enjoyment to the onlookers, without being a nuisance to the environment.
JIM AGHA
President VCCCP
Karachi
THIS is with reference to a news item (March 14) under the heading ‘Schools to be converted into English medium’.
The news says that Barrister Javed Abbasi, Naib Nazim of District Abbottabad, has converted 46 government schools into English medium schools and that the rest of them would also be converted before June 2002. The reason for this has been stated to be a desire to eliminate the sense of deprivation suffered by Urdu medium students.
In a way, this action was logical and inevitable. Now that our secondary and professional education is in English, all paperwork in the secretariats is done in English and even our Parliament projects are in this language, it seems wise that all the Urdu medium schools be baptized. How will the district government of Abbotabad be able to do it overnight and manage to get teachers who know and can teach English is something different though.
SOBIA MAZHAR
Lahore
In my article titled ‘Daily killing of doctors’ published on March 17, the figure of expenditure on Sindh police in 1977 should have been Rs170 million and not 17 million and for 1982 it is Rs210 million and not 21 million. The current expenditure of Rs6,000 million, thus, is 30 times increase over that period and not 300 times. The mistake is regretted.
KUNWAR IDRIS
Karachi
YOUR editorial (Jan 31) on the ‘Year of Mountains’ has got the ball rolling. It meant business and bore fruit. It seems the government and the people have been sensitized to the natural surroundings right at the start of the year when year-long ‘global attention will be focused on the increasingly degraded state of world’s mountain ecosystems’ to make the admirable aim of the year a reality. In the past it used to be at the end of a particular designated year coinciding often with the UN Day in October that such reminders appeared in the national press and the administration or some concerned NGOs were left to put together some face-saving programmes to join international forums and be counted.
Many people have questioned the capacity of the UN’s years to tackle such monumental problems. It may spell a wish list of beliefs and hopes without specifying any actual action except creating awareness. The UN is largely paying only lip-service.
You did well to alert the nation right in the beginning for a head start with a bit of planning to achieve an objective. Caution is necessary, because some UN years have flopped.
The aim of the ‘Year of Mountains’ is not to establish a new programme, but to draw attention to an issue and to encourage governments to take action. The national coordination committee on the International Year of Mountains 2002 has been set up to plan events for the year. The Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation is all set to supervise and coordinate programmes to celebrate IYM 2002.
Earlier, 1998 was named ‘International Year of the Ocean’, when UN warnings that the sustainable management of natural resources including the seas was an urgent matter and environmental degradation would lead to conflicts that could draw neighbours into regional turmoil. While the sea was a symbol of vastness and freedom, competition for scarce resources limited this freedom.
At the international level, two organs of the UN in particular are dealing with the IYM 2002 programmes across the world viz Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). These agencies are disbursing funds to various countries to strengthen their national plans to conserve mountain heritage. Furthermore, the central aim of the IYM is to ensure the well-being of mountain and lowland communities, who face harsh living conditions, by promoting the conservation and sustainable development of mountain regions. World attention will be drawn to people and their way of living at mountainous heights having precarious toeholds on hill slopes in rocky and desolate regions under a trying environment.
MOINUDDIN KHAN
Karachi
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