| May 9, 2002 | Thursday | Safar 25, 1423 |
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To be long remembered
SBP’s strange directive
No headway in rape cases
Pirzada and the federation
Selling off prime land
Plots in Roomi
MBAs but no interview calls
Role of ‘liberals’
The house divided
Power sector’s status
Overnight changes
The degree condition for MNAs
MASOOD HASAN
PRESIDENT Pervez Musharraf has talked of constitutional amendments and the need for a National Security Council, though he has also made it clear that the new prime minister and the cabinet would run the country. According to the president, Pakistan needs a system of checks and balances to give the country a sustained democracy.
The constitution will be amended before the changeover to prevent any clash between the president and the prime minister — as has happened in the past. The Law Ministry is discussing various proposed amendments. In Pakistan, three presidents have dismissed five elected governments since 1988. President Musharraf wants the coming government to complete its term.
If we view the country’s political, social, and economic problems and challenges, the dominant reality is that Pakistan does not need confrontation. At every level Pakistan needs moderate and responsible behaviour.
The political parties opposing the Musharraf government should show restraint and political responsibility to bring stabilization in the country. They have been given every chance and forum to record their protests, something unprecedented in Pakistan’s history.
At present, Pakistan does not need unnecessary protest, law and order situation, and uncertainty. The major reason is the economy. The economy is coming out of the stress it has been facing for the last three years.
We also have to keep in mind that the international economy is going through recession. Pakistan’s economy is picking up and what it needs most is peace and harmony for a long period. This is not for the good of this government, but it is inevitable for a country that was on the verge of bankruptcy a year ago.
With the October general elections approaching, Pakistan is on a tight rope. On the one hand, the country needs to continue to excel on the economic front, and on the other hand, it needs a peaceful and smooth transition of power by returning to democracy at the national level.
The president’s repeated assurance that the prime minister will have all the powers to run the country’s affairs is most welcome. People are willing to allow President Musharraf to experiment the substantive rather than cosmetic kind of democratic order to block the way for any derailment of democratic process in future.
President Musharraf has offered an olive branch to the political parties for cooperation in the national struggle for the ultimate achievement of the objective to implement socio-economic policies initiated by his government.
Reforms must continue as an ongoing activity attuning the administrative structure and personnel to an ever-changing environment. There are no shortcuts to success, so let perseverance and commitment to excellence be the guide.
NYLA MASOOD
Karachi
GOVERNORS may come and go but their achievements are remembered for ever. Mohammadmian Soomro has six months to go. If he gets done the undermentioned or at the least gets the groundwork started, he would be long remembered by Karachiites:
1. Installation of silencers on rickshaws.
2. Aerial spray of chemicals on Lyari River for mosquito control.
3. Setting up of a water treatment plant for recycling the city’s 200 million gallons of municipal and industrial waste water which is dumped daily into the sea. This water can be used for making Karachi greener.
I am sure the President would back him up, if the governor takes a start. If official funds are not available for the treatment plant, it can be raised from the public through raffles or lottery schemes.
NABA FATIMA KIZILBASH
Karachi
THIS has reference to your editorial (May 5) under the caption ‘SBP’s strange directive’. The editorial gives a totally wrong impression that the State Bank has issued a fresh directive to banks with regard to the non-acceptance of defaced or damaged currency notes as legal tender. The State Bank has not issued any fresh directive to banks in this regard.
It may be pointed out that currency/ bank notes of any denomination which contain any inscription in any form, including slogans or message of political, religious or commercial nature have ceased to be legal tender from June 2, 1977, in pursuance of the Legal Tender (Inscribed Notes) Ordinance, 1977 (XXII of 1977).
In this connection, the government and the State Bank of Pakistan have time and again informed the general public that acceptance of such
notes will be at their own risk as these notes will not be accepted by the State Bank and other banks as legal tender.
The worn out and soiled currency notes are always being and will continue to be exchanged with new currency notes by banks and the State Bank of Pakistan whenever presented by the members of the general public at the counters of banks/SBP.
It may further be pointed out that the State Bank is not shying away from its responsibility of replacing worn-out and soiled bank notes. The government and the State Bank will always continue to honour their commitment in respect of all those bank notes which are legal tender.
SYED WASIMUDDIN
Chief Spokesman, State Bank of Pakistan
THE report on this subject (May 5) was an eye-opener. The most appalling part was the fact that those involved in the offence were mostly members of the law-enforcement agencies.
Starting with the latest case, I must ask the City Nazim, who had visited the victims’ family and had declared the two innocent sisters as his own daughters, as to what has he done to get the culprits punished?
Other victims mentioned in the story also need our full sympathy and a continued effort must be made to get the offenders punished. I would suggest that the various NGOs working for the protection of women should come forward and pursue these cases.
N.H. QURESHI
Michigan, USA
I WAS depressed to read a news item captioned ‘Hafeez says he is not getting Rs1m fee’ (Dawn, April 25). This news pertains to a clarification made by Mr Abdul Hafeez Pirzada regarding the receipt of Rs0.7 million sanctioned for his team for representing the federation in the referendum case.
It reminds me of Nov 1968 when Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, chairman PPP, was arrested. A petition by Begum Nusrat Bhutto was moved by the same Mr Abdul Hafeez Pirzada in the Lahore High Court.
The people of Lahore were so emotionally charged that they would not allow the driver to switch on the car carrying Begum Bhutto and Mr Pirzada from the High Court to the Regal Chowk. Rather, they would push the car.
This happened throughout the hearing of the petition in the Lahore High Court. I am sure Mr Pirzada has not forgotten this gesture of the Lahorites, which is far more valuable than any fee he would have got from the state, if he had chosen to represent the federation then. After Mr Bhutto’s release Mr Pirzada’s political career peaked. He was elected MNA and became Law Minister and had the distinction of presenting the 1973 Constitution in the national assembly.
I wish Mr Pirzada had not accepted this case for a paltry sum of Rs0.7 million at the cost of his image as a champion of democracy.
HAFEEZ AKHTAR
Lahore
THE prime land belonging to the Pakistan Railways, including its clubs and residential colonies, are being sold out by the ministry concerned and its contracted advisers. Reports reveal that such deals are also not transparent and are not allowed to be audited. Every deal is being finalized in a hurry.
The justification given for this is that by making money through the sale of real estate, the burden on railway revenue will be reduced. There is no room for the welfare of railway employees, who are being made homeless and deprived of their recreational facilities.
If this justification holds, then it may also be applied to prime land, including golf clubs and other such facilities provided to the armed forces personnel. This will also reduce the burden on the national exchequer.
Will our military rulers apply this formula to themselves?
SYED NASIR ZAIDI
Lahore
I AM a 67-year-old retired Grade 20 government officer with a clean record. Also, I have all along paid my taxes religiously.
I purchased a plot of land measuring 120 sq-yds in Humair Associate Scheme, Gulshan-i-Roomi, approved by the Malir Cantonment Board. I made the full payment inclusive of development charges amounting to Rs16,560 by Jan, 1983.
Thereafter, whenever I enquired about the status of the project, I was told that as there is no water, there is no progress on the site.
Recently, when I wanted to get the plot leased, I was told that the cost of the lease was Rs50,000 and another Rs50,000 would have to be paid for getting the possession. I do not know under what rules these demands are being made.
What I feel is that, with the passage of time, the market value of land in that area has gone up. And, though the deal had been finalized long back, the company wants to extract from me the difference of the cost paid by me and the cost of the plot at the current rate. This is not justified.
I appeal to the concerned authorities to look into the matter.
MOHAMMAD ALTAF
Karachi
THIS is with reference to the letter ‘MBAs but no interview calls’ (May 4). I agree with the writer that private MBA institutes are producing a large number of degree holders, both boys and girls, who are unable to get jobs.
It is a serious problem because the younger generation, attracted by intensive advertising, is getting enrolled with these institutes in large numbers without making any enquiries as to whether or not the degrees awarded by them are of any worth in the employment market.
The reality is that the multinationals and many national organizations do not recognize these degrees. To quote some examples, an international petroleum company of repute does not have the Preston Institute of Management Sciences on its approved list. Even local organizations, like the Dr Ziauddin Medical University Hospital, do not recognize the degrees of this Institute. Thus, all the energy, effort, time and money spent by students at these institutes is lost.
The responsibility for this unfortunate situation lies with the private institutions. They spend huge amounts of money on advertising to attract students but make no effort to convince the employers of the usefulness of their degrees. Some of them have qualified teachers in their faculties and provide proper facilities for practicals, but the employers are largely unaware of all this.
They should, therefore, launch a campaign to make the prospective employers in the corporate sector and in the industries aware of the quality of education that they are imparting to their students. This would not only help their students in getting jobs but would also be beneficial to the institutes themselves in the long run in terms of increased inflow of students.
TAZEEN JAFRI
Karachi
SO the great drama of referendum is over and the country now is in safe hands for another five years at least.
This is not new for Pakistanis who are accustomed to martial law, referendums and controlled democracy in the name of ‘real’ democracy. But what is surprising this time is the blatant support of our so-called ‘liberal’ sections of the population to the Musharraf regime. How can these liberals now criticise Zia, his referendum and his dictatorship?
What I can conclude from this is that on the whole we, conservatives and liberals, are all the same. We all want our kind of man at the top, regardless of the nature of his government and the manner in which he comes to power.
MUDASSAR SALIM
Peshawar
THE Pakistan Medical Association, Hyderabad, is dead. It was the only representative body of the doctors of Hyderabad, which used to be in the forefront for every just cause of the medical profession. It has been sacrificed at the altar of vested interests of different groups of doctors, who are fighting it out in the courts by filing suits and countersuits.
The recent spate of killings, and the kidnapping of Professor Mohammed Hussein Laghari a couple of days ago, should be an eye-opener for the people of the medical profession in Hyderabad. It must be remembered that unless we unite, nobody is going to pay any heed to our grievances.
I appeal to all the doctors of Hyderabad to please come forward and rescue the PMA, Hyderabad, from the clutches of medical waderas and medical politicians.
DR ABDULLAH JAN PATHAN
Hyderabad
IT was revealing to read Munawar Baseer Ahmed (Dawn, May 6) on our power sector’s current status. If all that has been written is correct then it is wholesale condemnation of Wapda’s modus operandi.
The government’s policy appears to be trashed. What takes the cake is that the World Bank provided a loan (for our next generation to pay!) for the setting up of the Gencos, Discos, Ntdc, Nepra, etc.
I am sure that this will provide the basis for not investing or reducing it in the country.
Lahore
IT would be wrong to place General Musharraf in the same barracks as his predecessors. However people, many of them claiming to be well-informed and learned, are doing exactly that. They are deliberately ignoring the glaring differences.
Take the circumstance of his coming to power. He did not manoeuvre it. He did not stage a coup like Ayub Khan or Ziaul Haq. He did not seize power, it was the power that ‘seized’ him. In every respect he did not do what others before him had done.
For instance, when Ayub was freed (read ‘forced’) to go, he accepted and slid away into oblivion. When Yahya was freed (read ‘forced’) to go, he submissively stepped aside. In Zia’s case, fate flew him out of the sky. Even Karamat was an embodiment of acquiescence.
But Musharraf proved different. When he was forced to go, he resisted. He fought back, because that is what he, as a commando, has been trained for. While others were shipped out when they did not shape up, he on the other hand, has not followed the policy of appeasement, just like a true warrior.
Whether he has been wrong or right thus far, only history would prove. But what he has achieved thus far does augur well for the future.
We as a nation have a tendency for looking at success in the present. We do not understand that the road to success is replete with hard work and struggle. We expect that when we go to sleep in the night and wake up the next morning, the country would have transformed into a Singapore or Malaysia.
We do not appreciate the fact that the development of a country takes time. In our case, the past has been of one step forward and many backwards, the framework of a better future is being put in place. The result of these measures will take time to manifest themselves. The bottom line is, as John Major would say: “Put up or shut up.”
SYED JAWAID IQBAL
Karachi
THE recently announced condition of a university degree for being a candidate to the National Assembly has been a great surprise to the people. It is difficult to understand the rationale behind it as nowhere in the world does such a condition exists.
It is most unfair to impose such a condition in a country like Pakistan where university graduates constitute hardly two per cent of the population. It amounts to denying 98 per cent of the population the opportunity to contest the parliamentary election. Even in western countries where university graduates are found in abundance no such condition is prescribed.
What should be required of a candidate for parliamentary election are political acumen, robust common-sense and closeness to the electorate, and not the university degree. It is a fallacy to think that a graduate is more honest and less corrupt as compared to a non-graduate. It is a fact that most of the persons being charged currently before the accountability courts are graduates and some of them even have post-graduate qualifications.
It is relevant to mention here that former British Prime Minister John Major was not a university graduate. None can say that he was incompetent and incapable. One of his eminent predecessor, Clement Attlle, was not a degree-holder. The British national hero and twice prime minister of UK, Winston Churchill, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature, did not have a university degree.
Now coming home, the late Sir Sikandar Hayat Khan, the best prime minister the Punjab ever had, was a non-graduate. So was his immediate successor Sir Khizar Hayat Khan Tiwana, considered to be a very capable administrator. After partition, central ministers Nawab Mushtaq Ahmed Gurmani and Khwaja Shahabuddin were non-graduates.
Former Prime Minister Junejo, too, was not a university graduate. Prominent politicians such as Syeda Abida Hussain, Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi, Abdul Wali Khan, Ataullah Mengal, Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan and Sardar Sher Baz Mazari do not hold any university degree. The last named has produced an excellent book of over 500 pages. None can say that they were in any way inferior to a university graduate.
Even in our neighbouring country, outstanding politicians/ parliamentarians like Mrs Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and Giani Zail Singh, who were the occupants of the exalted office of prime minister and president respectively, did not have any university degree. So it establishes beyond doubt that a university degree is not a necessary qualification to become a successful politician or parliamentarian.
It is hoped that the military regime would reconsider its decision.
R.R. ALVI
Lahore
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