| May 15, 2002 | Wednesday | Rabi-ul-Awwal 2, 1423 |
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Moenjodaro and water
Lesson for PTV
An American in Karachi
Delay in allotment of plots
God save us
Callous attitude
Coal-based power stations
Ban on Indian channels
Taxing the people
Shifting of Sindh’s antiques
Security of US consulate
Dr Khan
Wapda’s corporatization
OUR siding with the Americans after Sept 11, 2001, was in the greater national interest. Not many in Pakistan understand the kind of fate we would have met had we not participated in the US war against terrorism.
On May 9 evening after the English news bulletin was over, three political analysts of PTV insisted that the time had come to draw the line. What they meant was that we should tell the Americans that we are doing a favour to them, but it has limits. Whether we are doing a favour to America or America is doing a favour to us is a question that should not be raised, because the answer would not please us.
There are two sides to our change in policy on Afghanistan — moral and material. The moral side has two angles of its own. One is that violence and terrorism are against humanity. By participating in the efforts to end these evils we are fulfilling a moral obligation. We are favouring none but the entire humanity to whom we also belong. The other aspect of the moral side is that the attack on the Americans had its origin in a country that was friendly to Pakistan.
The material side of our siding with the Americans was even more compelling. We are for all practical purposes a dependent nation. Our day-to-day survival has an undeniable link with external assistance, which mostly comes through or from America.
So the question is not whether what we did was wrong or right, the question is what else could we have done? We had no other option.
The killings in the church, the murder of Daniel Pearl and now of 11 Frenchmen have tarnished our image. Whosoever is responsible must be identified and punished.
MOHAMMAD AHSAN YATU
Islamabad
THE editorial of May 10, ‘Saving Moenjodaro’, raises a timely alarm for saving this jewel of our civilization, which can be rightly termed as World Heritage. Water has always played a crucial role: Moenjodaro has lived by the water and has died by the water. Unless the world community and Unesco come to its rescue quickly, it is feared that the relics will also be devoured by water.
While descending on Sindh, the Aryans, who were primitive and nomadic, were able to defeat the civilized people of the Indus valley. It is believed that the inhabitants of Moenjodaro had built a big dam across the Indus for flood control and irrigation. It also served to protect them from the invaders.
However, the Aryans succeeded in destroying the dam, and then ascribed their success to their reigning god Indra. About a quarter of the hymns of the Rig Veda are addressed to their god Indra not only as the provider of rains but also as the releaser of waters and destroyer of Vritra (Sanskrit for demon or barrier). This battle between Indra and Vritra denotes both historical and cosmogonist facts.
It is also attested from the finds of Moenjodaro that it was inundated. Its ruins are covered with silt, caches of hastily hoarded jewellry, messy houses, and at one place the huddle of skeletons of about 30 persons who were perhaps unable to escape in time. All this indicate that a deluge of very great magnitude was the cause of its destruction.
Flood seems to be a recurring feature. Merely the destruction of a dam is unlikely to obliterate a civilization.
In this way, the Aryans may not be deemed as the only terminator of this great civilization.
Moenjodaro provides evidence of trouble and decay over several centuries before the first Aryan immigration through the Hindukush. But to quote Mortimer Wheeler: “On circumstantial evidence Indra stands accused.”
SYED OSMAN SHER
Toronto Canada
WE are often shown recordings of parts of the news films of the Indian electronic media, including the state-run Doordarshan, on our very own PTV. In these visual reports, Indian atrocities in held Kashmir, desecration of holy places of Muslims and outbursts of Indian opposition and sections of the public against Prime Minister Vajpayee and his government are displayed. Every Pakistani condemns all the brutalities and bigotry of the present Indian government.
But these excerpts have a lesson for the high-ups of our information ministry and PTV. Have they ever compared those news and current affairs programmes, the excerpts of which are proudly reproduced in the Khabarnama, with similar programmes on the PTV? The degree of the freedom of expression and the extent of coverage that the Indian opposition gets on its electronic media is simply unthinkable here.
Press conferences and Lok Sabha speeches of Sonia Gandhi are broadcast live, while here there is a complete blackout of the ex-prime ministers on PTV. Opposition leaders are always vilified and portrayed negatively on our official media.
It is high time that PTV should get rid of its boot-licking policies and stop presenting one-sided pictures. If it doesn’t do so, it would soon be beaten by the private Pakistani channels.
SYED IRFAN
Karachi
I AM an American woman who visited Pakistan for the first time in March, for personal reasons. I stayed in the Pearl Continental Hotel, Karachi, which is right across the street from the Sheraton Hotel where the bombing of a bus with 11 French nationals aboard, took place recently. I do have to say that it did hit a little close to home for me.
Although I felt reasonably safe while I was visiting Karachi, I think that something has to be done to prevent terrorism in Karachi and elsewhere in Pakistan. Musharraf needs to wake up, smell the coffee, and do something before tourism becomes non-existent in Pakistan. And this would affect the economy as well. How can anyone expect people from other countries to come to Pakistan to do business if they are not safe there?
I hope to go to Pakistan again in the near future but I am not going to stay there for long, nor do I plan to go out for shopping. The problem of foreigners’ security in Karachi and other big cities of Pakistan should be taken up seriously. To eliminate terrorism, necessary measures, including an increased military presence, should be considered.
Pakistan is a truly beautiful country to visit and do business. I can only hope that terrorism does not get widened, nor does tourism come to a complete halt.
MICHELLE BASIT
Michigan, USA
THE draws for allotment of plots in Sectors D-12 and E-12 were held by the CDA in 1989 after collecting one-fourth of the plot’s price which was sent along with the application forms in 1988. This was followed by two more instalments, resulting in the payment of three-fourths of the total price.
With this huge amount in hand, the immediate task of the CDA should have been to start development of these two sectors, so as to make the plots available for construction. Instead, the CDA put it in banks to earn more money. Fourteen years have elapsed and yet there is no sign of development in the two sectors. The NAB should look into the matter so that those responsible for this state of affairs be punished.
The CDA should be asked to develop these sectors by Sept 30 and give them to the allottees.
If this is not possible for the CDA, then it should reimburse the allottees money with 15 per cent compulsory acquisition charges and 40 per cent compound interest from the date of the applications to the final date of payment, which should not be later than Sept 30 this year.
SARDAR KHAN
Peshawar
THIS refers to the letter by Mr Riaz H. Akbar (May 6) in response to my letter ‘God save us’ (April 30).
I did not question the intentions nor the ability of the singer to preach. My point was that preaching religion is a very serious matter. It is not the same as teaching Urdu where if a teacher makes a wrong interpretation of a verse, no major harm is done. But a slight mis-interpretation of an ‘aayat’ can lead to devastating results for the entire society.
Most mullahs are motivated not by religious zeal but by purely economic objectives. They build mosques on grabbed or encroached upon land. What the mullah gets out of this is a free residence and a steady source of income for life.
That is why there are more mosques in Pakistan percentage-wise than anywhere else in the world. Afghanistan, even under the Taliban, never had mosques at almost every street corner, like we have here.
The assertion made by Mr Akbar that the rate of crime and corruption would decrease in our society if we have more mullahs is quite naive. A mosque in our area has a ‘kunda’ connection and the mullah’s residence has an air conditioner running on this stolen electricity.
Many of these mullahs have armed bodyguards. It is so because they have been fuelling the feelings of hatred and dissension through their sermons and now one mullah is afraid of the other.
So, what we need is ‘aalims’ (scholars) and it takes a person decades and decades to get to that stage where he is capable to provide true religious guidance to the faithful.
MOHAMMAD ALI
Karachi
WE were extremely disappointed at the gross negligence of the education department. A student secures five As and three Bs in his O-level examination whereas another boy secures four As and three Cs. The results of both the boys were sent to the IBCC (Interboard Committee of Chairmen), Government of Pakistan, Ministry of Education.
The O-level result was sent to create an equivalence certificate of matric. But the marks awarded to both were identical. This certificate is required for admission in Pakistani universities. This is not the first time this has happened. Many others are affected due to the callous attitude of the education department.
The boy feels disheartened and wants to go abroad to avoid God knows how much more injustice in the future.
Is the government aware of what is happening? If it does not take any action now I am sure many more students would suffer at the hands of the poor educational system prevalent in our country.
A MOTHER
Lahore
THE impression that Wapda is against the development of coal- based power stations in the country is not true, as a task force has already been established under the chairmanship of the President for developing the Thar coal power station.
The feasibility studies on coal-based power stations have been carried out by various entrepreneurs for the last many years, but for the first time the government has made serious efforts to go for thermal power stations based on indigenous coal.
In this regard, MoUs have already been signed with a Chinese company to prepare the feasibility on mining the Thar coal and establishing a power station based on coal in Sindh. The project envisages thermal power station in different phases starting from 1,000 MW up to 6,000 MW during the next 10 years.
PRO, WAPDA
Lahore
THIS is with regards the May 13 front page headline in Dawn that celebrated the resumption of air travel route with Afghanistan. On P-18 was an article entitled ‘Video shops back in business’, according to which the videowalas in Peshawar are doing a roaring business because of the ban on Indian channels, coupled with the smuggling of pirated Indian movies and programmes.
That is precisely what our economy seems to be about. Away with the legitimate sources so that the black marketers can flourish.
Great going guys. With you for ‘friends’ of the state, who needs enemies?
RUKHSANA KHAN
Karachi
MR Shaukat Aziz, how about making your government machinery less wasteful and its tax collection more efficient, instead of taxing the financially-crunched man on the street even further.
Alternatively you can tax the dead in the graveyards. Although the latter may not be a very popular move, does it really matter now that the government has such a heavy mandate.
NADEEM ZAFAR
San Francisco, USA
IT was shocking to learn that the department of archaeology, government of Pakistan, has decided to shift the archaeological heritage of Sindh to the Lahore Fort. According to the news report, all historical books, manuscripts and material, along with 150,000 ancient artifacts are being moved to Punjab.
It must not be forgotten that the treasures of Talpur Mirs, located in the Hyderabad Fort Museum, were also allowed to be stolen and looted systematically in order to erase the marks of Sindhi heritage, some years back.
The archaeology department made no attempt to recover any piece of the precious treasure. Now the same department is contemplating to remove the entire Sindhi treasure out of Sindh. The artifacts being moved also include priceless pieces collected from the world renowned archaeological site of Moenjodaro.
I strongly protest this theft of Sindhi heritage and urge all conscientious people to join me.
MOHAMMED AMEEN KEERIO
Nawabshah
AFTER the recent act of terrorism involving the suicide bombing attack on French naval technicians, security has been suddenly reinforced around the US Consulate building on Abdullah Haroon Road. But the manner in which this additional security has been imposed is only an inconvenience to the people of this city.
There cannot possibly be any preventive measure against suicide-terrorism. This is the hazard of modern day living and one has to bear with it. This happens in other parts of the world without any success in preventing it. Such attacks might be forestalled by improving the country’s intelligence system so that it could be possible to nip the mischief in the bud.
In any case, the traffic police should evolve a system of security measures which does not cause inconvenience to the public.
A.M. SAYIED
Karachi
I WENT through the letter of Mr Chaghtai Mirza Eijazuddin (May 2) regarding Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of nuclear programme in Pakistan, and I fully endorse the views of the writer.
In fact, he has done a great service to the nation by introducing nuclear and missile capabilities. He has established for himself an eminent place in the history of Pakistan. It would be in the fitness of things if he is honoured with a prestigious national award.
I had an opportunity to watch his interview on TV and was glad to know that he had started social and welfare work for the needy. I was further delighted to know that he was a self-made person.
WAHEED A. SIDDIQUI
Barrington, USA
YOUR editorial (April 27) on Wapda’s corporatization suggests that Dawn editorial staff is unaware of the factual position on the corporatization, and commercialization programme of Wapda’s power wing.
First and foremost, the programme was entrusted to Pepco and was setup as a Government of Pakistan management company under the private-sector experts from 2000-2002. Significant progress on most items as agreed with the World Bank and ADB was achieved in the last two years. The factual position on some of the items is clarified below:
As regards the allocation of Wapda’s debt burden in proportion to assets to the 12 companies (eight Discos, three Gencos, and NTDC), the debt had been allocated and balance sheets were prepared and audited by independent auditors under Pepco management in 2001. The issue was that the total debt on Wapda’s balance sheets was considerably lower, as Rs34 billion of debt service liability to the government had been converted to equity in May 2001, but Wapda has to date not agreed to remove the debt from the 12 companies’ balance sheets. This is to be achieved by converting the debt in government equity.
As for the functioning of the companies as independent organizations under Pepco, the requirements of corporate structuring had been completed as per companies’ ordinance. The companies have not been able to operate independent of Wapda, nor will they be able to, until their control is relinquished by Wapda. Also, Pepco has not been allowed to exercise the requisite management control for effective corporatization. The position that with the allocation of debt burden to the companies, they would be able to function independently in due course is incorrect.
The reform and restructuring was agreed to under an overall power sector strategy in 1993, which was not implemented until October 1998, when Pepco was setup. However, Pepco was not fully operational until February 2000, when a private-sector chief executive was inducted to implement the government policy.
It is stated that the subsidies are expected to be “identified and qualified”. This has already been done and the companies’ audit reports, balance sheets, P&L statements of 1998-99, 1999-2000 and 2000-2001, reflect the cost of service, revenues by company, areas of shortfall, etc. Comprehensive financial models and 10-year financial projections were completed in December 2001. The issue that remains is whether the federal or provincial government will cover the revenue gap of Hesco (Sindh), Qesco (Balochistan) and Pesco (NWFP, FATA), and to what extent differential tariffs will be allowed.
Since the government now owns the 12 companies, the dividends from the profit-making companies to be paid to the government could be paid back to the loss-making companies through the provincial governments. This proposal is under review by the government.
ENGR MUNAWAR B. AHMAD
Former Chief Executive, Pepco
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