| April 8, 2002 | Monday | Muharram 24, 1423 |
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Referendum blues
A complaint cell that works
Some action, please
Nadra going down
Atrocities in Gujarat
An illogical ban
Delayed mail
No third term, please
No result
Assistance from Zakat funds
More loyal than the king
How could they?
Bogus claim
CSS exam age limit
Israeli atrocities
Creating myths
Take out the irrelevant and personal references, there is nothing in the letter from the PRO,the Pakistan Steel, (EBR, 1.4.02) which invites comment. The letter has, in fact, reconfirmed the inadequacy of the Chairman of the PS in coping with the issues in-hand. This is demonstrated by the Public Accounts Committee. ( Please see press reports published on 23 March).
I would have responded with pleasure to one of the questions had it made any sense. The question was: “How can the secondaries help in the high quality production of steel products in the country in making them competitive in the international market?”
Please rephrase the question so that it makes any sense. However, the presumption that the PS is producing high quality material becomes suspect, specially when the PS officially admits that use of below the grade raw materials which is a normal practice at the works. Garbage in, garbage out.
M. ZAFAR,
Karachi.
WILL we ever change? In my whole life up to now, I have watched the same sorry PTV News and current affairs programmes. PTV is like a puppy, wagging its tail for its master, which has always been the head of state. The other day I watched the PTV programme News Night in which we are supposed to witness an intelligent review of the current affairs. But is that the case? What do we get in the name of a free media? A channel in which it is the forbidden to utter any thing against the government.
The topic under discussion was the upcoming referendum. The participants shamelessly went on and on raving and rooting for the president. Even the host, who is supposed to stay impartial, was in total agreement.
My dear fellow country men, there are a lot of people, and I mean a lot, who don’t agree with this decision of the president. It would give a lot more credibility to the government, if it would allow some one to speak against it too.
Or are they afraid that allowing people to express their opinions freely would seriously hamper the president’s lust for a longer term in office. I mean, come on. He is going to stay in office anyway, no matter what the outcome of the referendum is, unless someone up there decides otherwise. At least let the people speak out. Go on ruling mister president, but let us at least say what we want.
RAJA SOHAIL ABBAS
Bowie, MD, US
THIS refers to the letter under the above caption by Masud Mufti in the Dawn of April 3 wherein he has referred to Mr S J Burki’s articles on the shape of future structure of Pakistan. Mr Mufti should have known by now that it’s the green cards that devise our policies and dictate terms. One of them even became a prime minister.
General Musharraf, in spite of his best intentions, is hiking the same path that General Zia laid out. Both believe in the support of the silent majority. For once in my lifetime, I wish that a general had the honesty and gumption to say: `I am backed by the armed minority’. Please note that in a recent meeting with intellectuals, one reporter asked General Musharraf what if a province’s majority voted against him. The general said that he looked upon the country as a whole.
So did the other two generals, Ayub and Yahya. Alas, that country we knew, no longer exists. Ours is a dream gone sour. We, the 140 millions have been turned into helpless spectators watching the unfolding of a Greek tragedy. We can only clap or cry.
ASLAM MINHAS
Karachi
IT feels real nice for once to highlight the good work being done by people in government who sit all the way in Islamabad and address our grievances simply upon receiving an email.
One such example is the complaint cell established by the Chairman of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority operating in Islamabad and I would like to share my experience with readers.
I happened to come across an advertisement in your paper from the PTA’s complaint cell in Islamabad which invited complaints related to the working of telephones, mobile phones, card pay phones, Internet services and cable TV. So I sent them an email giving details of my problem which basically was that my phone had not been working for almost a year, and this despite several visits to the exchange, the DE and all officials concerned.
Frankly speaking, I expected not much to happen but to my utter surprise, the very next day I received an acknowledgment via email from Islamabad. Within days I received the copy of a letter written by Lt. Col S. Hassan Ahmed of the complaint cell and addressed to the director complaints at the regional PTA office in Karachi followed by another copy of a letter written by the regional director of the PTA to the general manager STR-II, PTCL, Karachi. The following day people from the telephone exchange were at my house and when they left my phone was working. To me it was a miracle.
I don’t want to go into the details as to why my complaints at the telephone exchange in Karachi bore no results. But, the fact is that the follow-up from Islamabad was so efficient that hats off to the PTA complaint cell for a job so well done.
So dear readers, if you have grievances against any telecom service provider, send your complaints to complaint@pta.gov.pk. I am sure you will end up being a happy person.
A GRATEFUL SUBSCRIBER
Karachi
THE recent chaotic developments in the Middle East shows the unworthiness of all the Muslim organizations. We do not understand why they always keep repeating the same thing over and over again, call special meetings in palatial hotels, have a photo session, denounce Israeli aggression, and then go back to the comforts of their homes? Why can’t they do what they are supposed to?
Muslims are being butchered all around the world but these organizations can’t even move a muscle. What’s the reason? Is it that all these so-called leaders of Muslim countries are so scared of `Big Bully’, or that they are not unified in their actions, or that they just love their luxurious lives?
Please will someone do something?
ADNAN MOHSIN KHAN
Peshawar
PEOPLE were initially delighted with the facilities in the beginning. The work was smooth, people were cordial. Within two weeks the entire scenario changed. The staff became rude and slow. Any senior officer of Nadra can see this for himself by visiting the Awami Markaz office.
People applying for urgent delivery of cards pay Rs 180, three times the normal charge. I did exactly this, depositing my form on February 2. I was supposed to get my identity card March 4.
I am writing this on the third of April and I still haven’t got my card. In fact, I feel that I’m entitled to a refund of Rs 120 since the card hasn’t been delivered to me by the so-called ‘urgent’ date. Somebody should tell me where to go and whom to contact.
My old identity card number is 501-35-036466 and token number was 403.
SYED ABUL HASSAN RIZVI
Karachi
THIS is with reference to Mr Khalid Hasan’s column, “Gujarat, as seen by one Indian” (Dawn, April 1). Finally, someone belonging to the elite English press has mustered enough courage to raise his voice against the atrocities committed in Gujarat. India has a thousand faces and yet none of them is real. The queen of deceit married the king of cruelty and India was born.
Before this gruesome event, I was pro-Indian, for I was born after independence and did not witness the carnage that followed the division of the sub-continent. This heinous event of mass killing is simply atrocious, to say the least. The meaningless silence of the world over this issue is understandable, for India may have silenced it with its vast market but what about the Pakistani custodians of human rights and those talk of peace with India? Their silence is meaningful because it makes their credibility dubious.
Would Ms Asma Jehangir have maintained the same queer silence had it been the Hindu or Christian minority in Pakistan? We have heard much babble about this and that reason for peace with India and this and that mistake of the government of Pakistan. Why not unmask the real face of India for a change? But does India have any real face at all?
The Quaid did a great job in creating Pakistan and this should serve as an eye-opener for the younger generation which misses no opportunity to malign this country.
No doubt, we have made mistakes, but thank God, we are living separately and not even in our worst nightmares can we imagine to live as India’s proteges.
FAREEHA KHAN SHERWANI
Multan
THIS is with reference to the ban on doctor’s private practice in the NWFP. It is clear that the government’s action was illogical and ill-conceived, and maybe even illegal.
It was taken in great haste as if the future of Pakistan depended on it. A government which had eradicated the menace of quackery, had controlled the mushrooming growth of illegal or unregistered health centres, and had stamped out the presence of unqualified practitioners might have had a right to regulate the practice of these highly qualified doctors. Having not done that, the government really has no moral ground to impose this ban.
Remember, these are the best doctors our province has. Like always, the government has its priorities wrong.
M H KHAN
Peshawar
I APPLIED for the post of Assistant Engineer in the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission. I was asked by the commission to appear in a written test on March 5, at Karachi. But I received my admit card sent by the PAEC by post, on March 6. Obviously I could not appear in the test.
The postal department took full seven days to deliver the letter from Islamabad to Hyderabad. And this is not the first time that such a thing has happened to me. I have suffered on account of the inefficiency of the postal department on several earlier occasions also.
And this is the reason why people no longer trust the postal department and rely on the courier services even though the same are costlier.
QAZI ASIM NAEEM
Hyderabad
THROUGH her words, as quoted in her column ‘General Musharraf in Japan’ (Dawn, March 19), Benazir Bhutto seems to be pleading for privileged treatment, “... and the more the general fights the opposition, especially the ladies (read herself), the less heroic he looks to his own men (read the armed forces)”.
One can only say, “do not enter the kitchen, if you cannot take the heat”. Her begging seems to be misplaced, since not gender, but policies are the bone of contention here.
Again, elsewhere in the article, Ms Bhutto says: “And the laws that parliament ratifies depend on whether the elections are engineered or fair”. Here, she is reminded of her full support to the Nawaz Sharif-sponsored Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which was passed in the National Assembly within minutes.
Finally, I feel that, like in the US, no one should be considered indispensable, and allowed to consider the highest electoral office to be his or her personal monopoly.
No one should be allowed to contest a third term for office. Perhaps there should be a public debate in the media on this subject.
AMIR ALI ESMAIL
Karachi
ME and many of my colleagues took the part one exam for a diploma in business administration in July 2001. Eight months have passed but there is still no news of the result. Every day students make calls to the controller and to other senior board officials and every day they were told that it will be ‘out next week’.
This diploma was started in the private sector by colleges affiliated with the Sindh Board of Technical Education. The students have paid hefty fees from between 9,000 and 20,000 per year.
What should we do?
M. SALEEM
Karachi
LAST year, the Zakat department of the government of Pakistan announced a special package of Zakat for the rehabilitation of poor and needy persons in the province of Sindh. A financial assistance of Rs5,000 to 50,000 was declared to be advanced in individual cases to enable the needy people to establish some small business to earn a livelihood.
However, the amount actually allocated to each Local Zakat Committee was too meagre to be used for an assistance of that level. Anyhow, the Local Zakat Committees of district Nawabshah forwarded the applications along with the requisite documents to the Provincial Zakat Council in July, 2001. The payment is still awaited.
It is not understood why such announcements and promises are made if the funds cannot be made available within a reasonable time.
MIR MOHAMMAD SOLANGI
Nawabshah
EVER since the escalation in Israeli violence in Palestine, our Foreign Office has constantly been condemning Israel every other day.
Irrespective of the fact that this violence is condemnable, I don’t recall Mr Yasser Arafat or any other Arab country condemning Indian aggression in Kashmir. In fact he seems to be more inclined towards India than Pakistan.
The question arises that do we have to be more loyal than the king? We do need to play a pivotal role in the Islamic world but can we afford it at the cost of our national interests?
Can we afford to have more enmities when already we have our neighbour’s army lined up at the border ready to fight?
Isn’t it time to realize that the prime priority of our foreign policy should be to safeguard Pakistan’s interest, and that everything and everyone else comes after that?
Already, we have suffered enough because of our Afghan policy. It’s high time to do some re-thinking.
ALTAMASH JAVED LONE
Karachi
ON April 1 the Nazimabad Edhi Centre branch was robbed of cash following two similar cases in the Stargate and Clifton branches last month.
Snatching riches from the rich is quite comprehensible, but looting money meant for the poor is hard for the mind to digest. This was not just another crime, but an indication of the growing insensitivity resulting from greed in our society.
SABEIN FATIMA
Karachi
PTCL’S claim that you get your new telephone line in just four or five days is bogus. I submitted a demand note more than 20 days ago, but there is still no response.
They first deal with people who show them money or a good reference, and then deal with all other applications. Here are the detail of my demand note:
Demand notice no. 0947, reg no. T/S 26246, date of registration March 5, 2002, date of submission of demand notice: March 13, amount paid: Rs. 3013.
SALMAN HAMID
Lahore
I appreciate all the proposed reforms in the civil services examination. I hope these measures will help to establish good governance in Pakistan. At the same time, I disagree with the maximum age limit of 28 years for the CSS examination on the following grounds:
One, this reform is discriminatory and will only benefit affluent candidates. Students like me cannot compete within this age limit because I did my MSc in mathematics at a later age.
Two, it takes a person two years to familiarize themselves with the CSS examination syllabus. In other words, it is a labour of years, not days or months.
A candidate for the CSS has to spend a lot of precious time and money. So any change in the age limit should not be introduced all of a sudden.
Three, good governance does not mean that we take away all opportunities from poor people. It does not mean playing around with the dreams of unemployed young people.
Hence, the age limit must not be introduced with immediate effect. Three or four years should be granted as a grace period to all CSS candidates.
SHAJAR HUSSAIN
Lahore
MILITARY escalation in the Middle East by Israel has deprived the Palestinians of their basic rights. People are being tortured and killed. The house of the President of Palestine is under siege.
But Israeli PM Ariel Sharon shamelessly calls his military excursion ‘a move towards peace’.
The Israeli aggression has been condemned worldwide. But it is time for action. The international community should force Israel to stop its military offensive against the Palestinian people in the interest of world peace.
AHMED BUX GHOTO
Islamabad
DR Safdar Mahmood has `refreshed’ certain myths about the Quaid-i-Azam in his article, `Quaid wanted Islamic, democratic, progressive state’ (Dawn, March 23).
The Jinnah and Dina relationship is one of these myths. I would like to disagree with his assertion that Jinnah disowned his daughter and maintained only `social’ contacts. Here are some extracts from the article particularly addressing this general misconception.
As Dr Zawwar Husain Zaidi, the editor of Jinnah Papers puts it: “One of these myths concern Jinnah’s sour relations with his daughter and only child Dina over her marriage, without his consent, to a Christian and of his having disowned her on that account. Nothing could be further from the truth. In the Quaid-i-Azam Papers are available a number of greeting cards from Dina and Neville Wadia sent to Jinnah as well as some of Dina’s own letters. These documents reflect a warm and affectionate relationship between the father and daughter”. (Dr Zawwar Husain Zaidi, ‘Jinnah-Dina relations’, Dawn, August 1997).
Dr Zaidi has pasted and reproduced some copies of these cards and letters in the same article. One of Dina’s letters, dated June 1947, is in response to Jinnah’s letter. She addressed Jinnah as “Papa darling” and closed with “Lots of love and kisses and [a] big hug”. The contents of her letter are also worth reading.
One should not cast one’s own prejudice into the life of the Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, who in his own right was a great leader and a lovable man with ‘lovely code of private honour and public integrity’.
Our efforts to ‘make’ him ‘more pure and pious’ to fit in our own ‘ideological’ frames has made him a ‘stranger’ for his own people. It is a sorry commentary on our text books and mainstream literature on Jinnah that I came to feel attachment with Jinnah only after reading Stanley Wolpert’s Jinnah of Pakistan and Hector Bolitho’s Jinnah: Creator of Pakistan.
SHAHID ANWAR
Toba Tek Singh
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