| May 12, 2002 | Sunday | Safar 28, 1423 |
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Crime and punishment
Spoiled currency notes
Grossly misleading figures
Karachi bomb blast
A tradition of convenience
Lack of books in market
Thal Canal
Traffic laws for cyclists
The Constant Lover
It’s time to re-visit Benjamin Franklin
IT appears that some protagonists of more provinces in Pakistan (Dawn, March 15) have espoused this cause for the wrong reasons. In the 21st century, ideological concerns and second-guessing the intent of the Lahore Resolution of March 23, 1940, cannot be used to justify changes in the status quo.
The main problem with the current demarcation of the provinces in Pakistan is that it legitimizes ethnic divisions in the country, and hinders the forging of a national identity. One of the biggest impediments to progress and development in Pakistan has been its conversion into a multi-national state, with its major components at loggerheads.
During the 1960s, Ibn-i-Insha had lamented that in Pakistan there was a Sindhi nation, a Punjabi nation, a Bengali nation (alas!), all kinds of nations except a Pakistani nation. The poet must be turning in his grave to learn that there is a talk of even a Mohajir nation. (At best, each of these so-called nations is only half a nation, because the other half is either in India or Afghanistan!).
The concept of multiple nationalities is a negation of the two-nation theory on the basis of which Pakistan was founded. Its logical conclusion is civil war or disintegration, as we have seen in the Balkans and the former Soviet Union, and as we learnt to our own sorrow in the case of Bangladesh.
The best way to get rid of the evil of multiple nationalities in Pakistan is to remove the ethnic connotation from the administrative divisions of the country.
The re-demarcation of provincial boundaries should be based on administrative divisions small enough so that democracy can be felt at the grassroots. Such a delineation already exists in the form of the 12 former divisions of West Pakistan under One Unit.
Restoring the former divisions of West Pakistan as provinces or states would avoid controversy and hassle, and provide all the benefits of One Unit without the disadvantage of the fear of domination by the Punjab. There is no need to get carried away and propose 26 provinces. That would impose an unnecessary burden on the financial resources of the country, because each province would require its own governor, provincial assembly and administrative set-up.
Each of the former 12 divisions have enough resources to develop and prosper. For example, the two divisions of Balochistan, considered to be the most disadvantaged, have Sui gas, over which they should be given full control, and a long coastline, which can be developed with port cities and tourist resorts. The new demarcation would not detract from the heritage of any ethno-linguistic group, which did not suffer any cultural shock when the Hindu component was withdrawn in 1947, nor when the groups lived under One Unit for 15 years.
The new provinces should have the right to impose and collect their own taxes and spend the revenues within their own boundaries. As in the USA, government and taxation should be at three levels: municipal or district, state and federal. This will avoid squabbles which invariably occur over the allocation and release of funds by the federal government under the NFC awards.
From contemporary history, we have two examples of administrative divisions within a federal set-up: the former Soviet Union, where the divisions were based on ‘nationalities’, and the United States, where the states are based on common-sense administrative grounds, with boundaries generally made up of straight lines. The Soviet Union disintegrated, while the USA is one of the most united and stable countries in the world. If Pakistan is to prosper, all talk of nations and nationalities must stop, and all provisions which lead to the perpetuation of such ideas must be abolished.
I. KAMAL
California, USA
THE crime situation has reached alarming proportions. Hardly a day passes by without the news of ruthless murders; armed dacoities; highway robberies; discovery of dead bodies mercilessly cut to pieces, packed in sacks and thrown in the fields or rubbish bins; gang rapes of women; kidnappings for ransom and other inhuman acts. The incidence of terrorism taking a heavy toll of life is also on the increase.
Among many factors responsible for such an unprecedented wave of crime, the casual attitude of the government, the inefficiency of police in apprehending the culprits and the lenient punishments awarded by the courts are the most pertinent. It is generally said that crime and punishment must go together, but unfortunately, in Pakistan, while crime flourishes, deterrent punishments are rare.
The law appears to be more sympathetic to criminals than the aggrieved families. The latest example is the concession that the Supreme Court has granted to the convicts of the Mominpura massacre in Lahore. The remission granted to the culprits of such a ghastly crime indicates that the judiciary is in no mood to help the government in eliminating crime and terrorism from the country.
On January 11, 1998, when around 200 mourners were present at the Mominpura graveyard to observe the death anniversary of a prominent person, six terrorists equipped with kalashnikovs came and fired at the gathering, killing 24 people and wounding another 34. The case was entrusted to a special judge of an anti-terrorism court (ATC), which very rightly awarded the culprits death sentence on ten counts.
The convicts appealed to the Supreme Court which, giving little credence to the intensity of the crime, altered the punishment to ‘10 counts life imprisonment’. While granting such a remission, the honourable bench observed: (1) it was uncertain as to who had fired the fatal shots, (2) the lesser sentence would be sufficient to meet the ends of justice.
As a citizen of Pakistan living under the fear of being robbed or killed any time, I am frustrated by the judgment. If we cannot have the courage to hang the culprits of such heinous crimes, there is no hope for the nation to live in peace in a crime-free society. As per my knowledge of law, the punishment for committing a murder and abetment to murder is the same — death. The Supreme Court’s view as to ‘whose shots were fatal’ is thus not tenable. All members of the gang who used deadly weapons against innocent people with the intention of killing most of them, are equally guilty of the crime. They deserved nothing less than the death penalty.
LT-COL (R) RAFI NASIM
Lahore
UNDER instructions from the State Bank of Pakistan, the banks are required not to accept any currency note from the public if they find any writing on it or an effacement of the image of the Quaid-i-Azam. The banks, in order to show their loyalty, have reportedly started refusing to accept those currency notes which bear even a single line of pen on the image of the Quaid-i-Azam.
Apparently, these measures have been adopted to express regard for the Father of the Nation.
The fact is that there is hardly anyone among the public who indulges in writing anything on the currency notes. Our currency notes are actually spoiled by the staff of the commercial banks and of the SBP itself, by fixing two or three long staples to make a bundle of currency notes and then writing on the first note of the bundle, the total amount contained in it.
These staples are so tightly affixed that whenever these are removed, most of the notes are either torn or spoiled. I have seen that at least one long staple is always fixed on the image of the Quaid-i-Azam. So, it is the bank staff who is mainly responsible for spoiling the currency notes. But under this instruction from the SBP, it is the public who is being made to suffer financial losses. This is sheer injustice.
If the SBP is so particular about showing respect to the Quaid-i-Azam, they should announce a date by which the public should be advised to get such notes exchanged with clean ones. At the same time, instructions should be issued to the staff of all the banks, including the SBP, not to staple the notes into bundles and not to write anything on them.
Incidentally our postal stamps, bearing the image of the Quaid-i-Azam, are stamped with black ink all the time in our post offices. Is the postal department free to commit this ‘disrespect’ to the Quaid? What have the people at the helm of affairs got to say in this regard?
SHAHID ALI KHAN
Karachi
THIS refers to Mr F.H. Mughal’s article (May 6). It contains serious technical inaccuracies, and paints a grossly distorted picture of our salinity problems.
The main thrust of the article was highlighted in a bold box: “In Iran, Egypt and Pakistan, more than 70 per cent of the farmland is (salt) affected”. Nothing could be more wrong. During a UN assignment in Egypt, I found that its crop yields, comparable with the West, were three to four times higher than ours. Salinity in Pakistan in my assessment may be 15 per cent or so. The productivity of these two countries would be on the brink of collapse if, God forbid, irrigated lands were affected by 70 per cent salinity.
The high salinity figure is also contradicted by a table in the article. Ignoring “slightly” saline lands, it would show 12 per cent or so salinity in Pakistan. Another grossly misleading figure is the quantity of salts brought in by the Indus River and its tributaries. Out of this, about “24 tons are retained in the Indus basin each year, 13 tons per year in Punjab and 10 tons per year in Sindh”. The total quantity of salts brought in by our rivers runs into tens of thousands of tons each year.
Any foreign professional, unaware of the actual salinity situation, could assume that Pakistan’s irrigated agriculture was on the verge of collapse as had happened in Iraq. On the other hand, reading that total quantity of salts brought in by the mighty Indus and its tributaries, as little as 33 tons with an annual inflow of 145 maf (million-acre-feet), he might assume Pakistan as a land of the sweetest water. Or he would be confused to insanity by the two grossly contradictory statistics of 70 per cent saline land with hardly a trace of salt in river waters.
B.A. MALIK
Lahore
I AM a 25-year-old Pakistani citizen. I want to express my sorrow and grief over the death of the French naval technicians and their two Pakistani colleagues in a terrorist attack in Karachi. My sympathy goes out to the families of all the victims.
The attack shows the hatred of terrorists towards all civilized people, be they Muslims or Christians, Pakistanis or French. I also share the anger and pain felt by the people of France over this dastardly act. I want to assure them that the educated youth of Pakistan is with the international community in its fight against terrorism. We are giving all out support to the President of Pakistan, General Musharraf, in his fight against terrorists and extremists.
Islam is a great religion that teaches peace, tolerance and brotherhood. Sadly, some fanatics have brought a bad name to Islam by their misdeeds.
RAZA KHAN
Lahore
THIS is with reference to Syed Abrar Hussaini’s letter with the above caption (May 4). While he hangs his head in shame, as we all should do, he suggests that ‘a detailed audit of the organization be carried out by a team of independent and reputable audit firms.’
Agreed. You cannot have two opinions about it. But how would that team carry out the audit without previous records? There is a long standing tradition in this country of old records catching fire to facilitate matters.
In the early 1980s, the AGPR building had caught fire and all the records were destroyed. In the early 1990s, the Motor Wing of the Excise & Taxation department, Karachi, set on fire all its computerized record together with backups, of all vehicles to cover up its corrupt practices.
A question lurks in the mind: won’t the CBR do the same, if the occasion arises?
S.M. KAZIM NAQVI
Karachi
IN a recent letter no. Pub-I/1227/02 dated 25-04-02 from Sindh Text Book Board (Publication Branch-I) Jamshoro addressed to Paramount Publishing Enterprise, it was revealed that a shortage of Mathematics, English Books I & II exists in the market due to non-supply in time.
Many of the STBB books are being printed by the above named publisher in quantities of 50,000 but these books are not being supplied to booksellers for reasons best known to them. Both, the STBB and the publisher are responsible for this criminal negligence due to which thousands of children are without books and their studies are suffering.
GHUFRAN SAYYED
Karachi
SINDH has been sentenced first and the verdict has come afterwards. As simple as that. The work on the Thal Canal Project started in August 2001, and the so-called legal and procedural formalities have been met in May 2002.
One must congratulate Gen Musharraf who fought the referendum in Punjab on this issue, the government of Punjab and Wapda, which left no stone unturned in this regard.
But, sir, allow me to express my views on the canal, which will irrigate two different types of crops in Punjab and Sindh: it will not only irrigate the desert of Cholistan in Punjab, but it will also provide ‘abundant water’ to the crop of hate against Punjab in Sindh. Punjab will have to reap both the harvests.
MUSTAFA MAHESAR
Karachi
THERE are one or more laws for every vehicle prowling on the roads. The only vehicle that enjoys immunity from the grip of the law is a bicycle. Accepted that it is the vehicle of the poor and, therefore, there need not be any kind of taxes on it. But I am concerned about the freedom on the roads which the cyclists enjoy.
A cyclist is the only driver who does not bother to stop at the red signal, and it seems as if he has a right to overtake any vehicle from any side, left or right.
And he is the only rider who has the courage to take a turn, either to the left or to the right, without any indication and without any regard for the vehicles coming behind him.
Perhaps he is under the impression that other drivers would take care of his mistakes. But sometimes this does not happen and we witness accidents mainly due to one of the various types of freedoms enjoyed by the cyclists on the roads.
So there is a dire need of formulating laws to regulate the conduct of the cyclists on the roads.
And if such laws already exist, these need to be strictly applied. But before the application of such laws, there must be a long campaign through the media and the roads itself, to educate the cyclists on the importance of the observance of such laws by them for the safety of their own lives on the roads.
ZIA AHMED
Multan
MR Ayaz Amir reminds me of an essay I read at school called the Constant Lover. The character was constantly in love with some one or the other. Mr Amir is constantly at odds with every successive government. According to him none of them has done anything right. It seems that nothing right has happened in our country.
Take the recent referendum. The mark of the indelible ink is still on my thumb and Mr Amir has already dismissed it as a fraud citing the story of his little friend.
I don’t know if the friend was real or a figment of his fertile imagination.
It he’s a real person then Mr Amir should have taken his little friend and his family to the proper authority for the fraud and proved himself as an upright citizen. If it was a prank and he was put up by someone then the story should not have been used.
Please do not misunderstand me. I enjoy Mr Amir’s columns but I am often tickled by his obsessions. I even like his mild doses of malice. After all to be a little off centre has its own charm.
SHAHID HUSSAIN
Karachi
ISRAEL is the blue-eyed boy of the US. It is blatantly committing the heinous crime of genocide of the innocent Palestinians and the US is turning a completely blind eye to its atrocities. President Bush, the UN and all the big power are bending over backwards to condone Israel’s shenanigans. The US considers Israel as its most dear friend. The Americans seems to have a short memory. It seems, they have forgotten the historical speech of Benjamin Franklin on the Jews that he made in 1789.
Franklin (1706-1790) was an inventor, statesman, and philosopher. He was one of the leading founding fathers of the United States of America. He signed the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States, and served as the new nation’s ablest diplomat.
It is time for the Americans to re-visit the following excerpts of Mr Franklin to enlighten themselves about the Jews’ reality:
“There is greater danger for the United States of America. This great danger is the Jew. Gentlemen, in whichever land the Jews have settled, they have repressed the moral level and lowered the degree of commercial honesty. They have remained apart, unassimilated — oppressed, they attempt to strangle the nation financially, as in the case of Portugal and Spain.
“For more than seventeen hundred years they have lamented their sorrowful fate... namely, that they have been driven out of their motherland: but, gentlemen, if the civilized world of today should give them back Palestine and their property, they would immediately find pressing reasons for not returning there. Why? Because they are vampires, and vampires cannot live among themselves. They must live among Christians and others, who do not belong to their race.
“If they are not excluded from the United States by the Constitution within less than one hundred years, they will stream into this country in such numbers that they will rule and destroy us and change our form of government for which we Americans shed our blood and sacrificed our life, property and personal freedom. If the Jews are not excluded within two hundred years, our children will be working in the fields to feed the Jews, while they remain in the counting house, gleefully rubbing their hands.
“I warn you gentlemen: if you do not exclude the Jews forever, your children and your children’s children will curse you in your grave. Their ideas are not those of Americans even when they have lived among us for ten generations. The leopard cannot change his spots. The Jews are a danger to this land, and if they are allowed to enter, they imperil our institutions.
“They should be excluded by the Constitution.” This speech was made by Mr Franklin at the proceedings of the Constitutional Convention of 1789 regarding Jewish Immigration. The original copy of this statement is in the Franklin Institute, Philadelphia.
MOHAMMAD SHEHZAD
Islamabad
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