| April 12, 2002 | Friday | Muharram 28, 1423 |
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The cost of referendum
The primary target
We don’t need more sun
CSS exam age limit
Charged parking
A ‘minor’ slip
Appeals falling on deaf ears
Appreciating PTV
Badin Gymkhana
Facade of secularism
Translating columns
The hanging of Bhutto
THIS is with reference to Mr Ahmad Sadik’s article (April 8), in which he pleaded the case for the revival of the post of district magistrate in view of the deteriorating law and order situation in the country. The arguments presented by him sound preposterous.
It’s a wailing over the demise of a colonial legacy that should have withered away much earlier. But a mafia-like unity of this group kept it firmly in control for quite a long time. It not only survived but thrived, usually at the cost of other institutions. The writer failed to give convincing reasons for the restoration of the position, which DMG officers miss so badly.
In pleading the case of the DMG group he referred to the recent incident of Islamabad church bomb blast and argued that had there been a DC in Islamabad this would not have happened. Well then, what has he to say about the many similar incidents of bomb blast that killed innocent people and which occurred during the many decades when the DMG, the deputy commissioners and the district magistrates had flourished?
He asserted that DCs were the paragon of virtue and pillars of moral edifice in the state apparatus, acting as eyes and ears to the government and providing a balancing mechanism against police excesses. Sorry sir, you are sadly mistaken. There may be such officers in the British Raj. But the DCs we know of were individuals of doubtful abilities, highly conceited, cold, myopic, devoid of any vision, highly arrogant and inaccessible to the people. There may have been a few exceptions, but the large majority of the officers belonged to this category.
If we go by Mr Sadik’s logic then everything should have been ideal during the hey days of these babus. But it was not. That is why the need for a change was felt and everybody welcomed this change. No tears were shed on the demise of this class.
Now the alternative is still in a half-baked condition and a lot more is needed to be done to make it people-friendly. One thing to which I agree is that the police should never be given unchecked powers. In our country, where there is a complete lack of respect for human rights and, at the same time, the police are notorious in misusing their power, there has to be an ironclad system of checks and balance.
If it is not there, then the police will play havoc with the lives of the people. The architects of police reforms must keep these facts in mind.
SAOOD AZIZ
Lahore
REFERENDUM is the talk of the town these days, especially after the April 5 address of President Pervez Musharraf to the nation. He asked the people to accept him as their President for the next five years to ensure continuity of the reforms. He also said that he did not want to hand over the country while the process of reconstruction of the institutions was incomplete.
The TV shows like News Morning and News Night have all the speakers outrightly supporting the President in the referendum and not a single person is shown speaking against it. So the result of the referendum is already out and I strongly feel that there is no need to waste so much of time, money and effort in holding the referendum.
The wastage of money has already started by holding huge conventions in 20 major cities of the country, the first was at Minar-i-Pakistan, Lahore, on April 9. Almost the entire business had come to a standstill in the city for two days (April 8 and 9) as the commuters could not go to their places of work. The entire transport had been hauled up (impounded) to convey the people to Minar-i-Pakistan. Someone in the NAB should account for it and work out the total national loss after 20 such addresses. I wish there could be some sincere advisers to the President who could tell him that by resorting to such actions his popularity graph would go down.
In case this is his personal decision, then first he should resign as army chief and also as president and hand over the government to the chief justice. Thereafter, he should go round the country at his own expense to seek the vote of confidence through a referendum, if required. Let the NSC look after the work in his absence.
MOHAMMAD AZHAR KHWAJA
Lahore
THE ARD and many political parties have found in the referendum a topic and a platform to attack the President.
It has become an unwritten law for most of the political parties to form an alliance against those in the government, irrespective of the issues being in the national interest or not. They are there just to oppose any move of the government. This is why the referendum is being opposed by them.
The only logical and sane decision has been