| June 6, 2002 | Thursday | Rabi-ul-Awwal 24,1423 |
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An American with a view
Land grabbing
Mazdak’s simplistic ideas
Unnecessary monuments
Response from HBFC
Absurd fees
Arrest of journalist in Quetta
Not Wapda’s problem
Special phone for net users?
Bravo Maleeha
Injustice against the Berbers
I WOULD like to write on something that has been bothering me for quite some time. Stories about South Asia, initially reported in the Western media, with headlines like “12 million may be killed in nuclear exchange” and “US makes plans to evacuate its citizens in India” make for scary reading.
The exodus is beginning. Ironically, though, the only people that seemed to be concerned about a nuclear war are the ones who won’t even be affected. The ones living in the cauldron go about their lives normally.
This is not to say that there is no danger of confrontation. Or that cross-border terrorism isn’t an issue. Thousands of innocent lives have been lost in Kashmir over the past decade. A million soldiers standing eye-ball to eye-ball across the border is not a joke. When revenge becomes the primary motive for fighting, reason and rationality take a backseat. India and Pakistan have little to gain from a war except that the politicians and generals will consolidate power.
Take a look at daily life in India. There is no panic. There is plenty of discussion, yes. Life is as normal as it has been. No one’s stockpiling rations, no one’s packing bags to quit India not even the ones who have the choice of living anywhere in the world. Life, business, entertainment, the daily struggles — they all go on. By living in India or Pakistan, we all accept certain risks. The risk of extinction through nuclear war is certainly not any more at this point than it has been in the past.
Amidst all this, what has gone off the boil is the hysteria that is being created outside the region. South Asia is not a war zone. Every country has the right to fear for the safety of its citizens and protect them but asking their citizens to leave is going too far. India and Pakistan did not ask their citizens to quit America after September 11.
However, for a world that anyway watches the subcontinent through blinkered eyes, this sensationalizing of the situation should have been expected. The reporting in the media, which makes Indian and Pakistani leaders out to be mad men with their fingers ready on the nuclear trigger, is part of this. Let’s not forget that the only nation in history to have used nuclear weapons is the US. It is the vogue in the western media to exaggerate matters beyond what the ground realities are, especially in emerging markets far away from their lands.
The departure of a few thousand foreigners may not make much of a difference. But over time, the loss of business confidence will do much harm to the region. This is what Mr Vajpayee and Gen Musharraf need to realize. What is important for governments in today’s world is not to fight wars but to improve the quality of life of people and their living standards.
I am not a journalist, I am an entrepreneur. I believe that emerging markets like India have a great opportunity in the coming years to use new technologies to make their countries great, like they once were. India’s and Pakistan’s future lies in using the skills of their people to use technology for peaceful purposes, not to fight battles.
We should wage a war not against each other but against poverty and corruption. We should fight not to gain land but to increase our exports. Tomorrow will have plenty of opportunities for both Indians and Pakistanis, that is only if their governments realize this.
ABDUL KHADAR
Bhopal, India
ONLY now is America’s news media beginning to report on the true logistical problems regarding the control of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border as well as the conflict in Kashmir. With this I hope that Americans can finally see through the smoke-screen of the nuclear war hyperbole that New Delhi is spewing forth, as well as the unreasonable demands being issued to Pakistani leader Musharraf from some in Washington.
Observers on all sides who have followed this drama closely can only conclude that Pervez Musharraf is a rational man who has fallen into a political conundrum so full of twists that even Hollywood’s best writers could not conceive something like it.
Almost as if he were a conjured matinee hero, he has met all challenges and come up the victor. Therefore, it would be horrible for the US to buy into the venomous words of Mr Vajpayee — smarting jealously from the lack of attention from the White House — and abandon supporting Mr. Musharraf.
Americans must ask themselves, can Pakistan’s leaders truly control small bodies of rebel factions on a far-flung border any better than we can control American militias that blew up federal buildings in Oklahoma?
India is using these same types of people, branded Muslim extremists in this case, as an excuse to vilify and destabilize the entire Pakistani government. It is no surprise that the Pakistani people support Mr. Musharraf. What are their choices? In the political wings are two corrupt dissemblers who would love to get their hands on their country’s purse strings again.
Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto are an added stress to Pakistan as they sit back from exiles in Saudi Arabia and London respectively and lob unconstructive criticism. Americans must write to their Congressmen to inform them that they support Musharraf and his vision of reform in Pakistan, that they recognize that he is the voice of reason in the region and that his leadership will benefit his people and, ironically enough, the process of a true stable democracy in the region.
SCOTT DENNIS
Long Beach, CA
US
THIS refers to the item in your newspaper about the encroachment of National Stadium land by Pakistan Steel and the KDA Officers Housing Society. Now the army has joined the fray. This is indeed tragic. Land meant for sports, already a scarce commodity, should be protected.
We are thankful to Dr Arif Alvi of the PTI for bringing this skeleton out of the PCB’s closet. For a city of over 10 million, National Stadium should have a seating capacity for one hundred thousand spectators. And, a correspondingly larger parking area.
I was recently watching a programme on Brazilian football. On one main artery of Rio de Janeiro, there are six lush green soccer fields, all well-looked after. People use those grounds, playing football, twenty four hours a day. This is what healthy nations do.
This government has been hounding a former chief minister of Sindh, now in the US, for allotting plots illegally, but now some of its own members seem to be involved in such misdeeds. What the PCB has done is outrageous and should be condemned by all citizens. Couldn’t the army find land along the Super highway and use that for a housing scheme? That way the highway would also become safer.
ASLAM MINHAS
Karachi
THE contents of Mazdak’s column on June 1 are for the most part based on flawed analysis of the current tension in South Asia and a faulty assessment of the policy of India towards Pakistan. He has chosen to put all the blame on Pakistan for the present situation and has also taken exception to the actions Pakistan has been constrained to take for its defence.
One can easily infer that the columnist wants Pakistan to accept the hegemony of India. To his mind we have attained enough maturity to accept India as the bigger power. There is no one in Pakistan, or elsewhere, who does not recognize that in terms of area, resources and population India is far larger. But its size does not entitle it to a regional bully. India does not face any danger from any of its neighbours so its arms build-up cannot be for defensive reasons.
Mazdak’s idea that the nuclear bomb has not made us safe is also not correct. India did not make an atomic bomb to put it in a museum. It was made so that one day it could be used. But now it won’t be because Pakistan made its own nuclear deterrent.
Mazdak seems to be certain that India does not want to break up Pakistan. History proves otherwise. Whatever the grievances of the province and whatever the mistakes of the rulers of the time, the fact is that it was Indian invasion that broke up the country. Mazdak seems out of touch with reality and his opinion of our neighbour is based on simplistic reasoning.
PROF. MUKHTAR ALI NAQVI
Orlando, FL US
This is in response to Mr Javed Sarfraz Malik’s letter, “Clarification”, in your newspaper of June 3. His response has raised more questions than it has clarified.
In Pakistan a trainee medical officer, required to work 15 hours a day, is paid the paltry sum of Rs. 4000 a month as a stipend. Similarly, a graduate from the Ghulam Ishaque Khan Institute of Science & Technology, after spending a fortune on his studies, is paid just Rs. 5000 monthly as a stipend for study in a Ph.D programme.
Clearly, the amount of resources we devote to higher education and research are next to nothing. Despite that the government thinks it okay to spend millions building a monument. Can we really afford spending millions of rupees on the construction of a cenotaph at Shakarparian and a monument at Fatima Jinnah Park in F-9?
Will the government let us know the estimated cost of construction of these two monuments?
PROF. DR. ASLAM PIRACHA
Islamabad
This refers to a letter from Mr. Naseem Ahmed Soofi published in Dawn on June 4 where he has complained that an estate agent offered to process his application within 15 days if paid him 10 per cent extra. He has also complained about the lengthy procedure and mentioned shortcomings on our website with regard to the calculation of instalments to be paid by those seeking loans.
I would ask Mr. Naseem Ahmed Soofi to either write to me directly or e-mail at info@bbfc.com.pk or better still visit me and let me know of the specific office in Karachi that he has complained about.
We are trying to do our best to improve our efficiency and this can only be done when the public lets us know of the specific instances of inefficiency or corruption in our offices so that necessary corrective measures can be taken.
SOHAIL OSMAN ALI
MD, HBFC
Karachi
I WOULD like to bring the attention of the education department to the affairs of private schools in the city. Besides charging exorbitant fees, they force parents to pay fees for the summer vacation period by making this a pre-requisite for taking the class nine and ten exam. Besides this, even transporters who take the children to school ask parents to pay for these two months, despite the fact that there is no school.
Will the Sindh education department do something about this?
MUHAMMAD ZAFAR-US-SUBOOR
Karachi
Reporters without Borders has protested to the Balochistan governor, Amirul Mulk Mengal, about the arrest of journalist Rashid Butt.
“By arresting a journalist for reporting on their failure to act, the security forces have not chosen the best means of demonstrating their competence”, says Robert Menard, Secretary General of Reporters without Borders. We call for the journalist to be released without delay and for the First Information Report filed against him to be withdrawn.
According to information obtained by Reporters Without Borders, Rashid Butt, a reporter for the local daily papers Bakhabar and Lashkar, was arrested at his office in Quetta on June 1. According to a colleague, he was taken into custody under articles 500, 501 and 502 of the criminal code and article 16 of the Maintenance of Public Order Act (MPO). A First Information Report has been filed against him. Quetta’s chief of police, Abid Ali, stated in the local press that the journalist had been arrested for “writing an article against law-enforcing agencies”, which he criticised for their incompetence in dealing with the problems experienced by the province in maintaining public order.
“He has tried to create panic by publishing a baseless article”, the chief of police added. The arrest has been strongly condemned by journalists in Quetta, in particular the Balochistan Union of Journalists.
Reporters Without Borders wishes to draw attention to the fact that the British journalist of Indian origin, Amardeep Bassey, and his two guides who were arrested on May 10, are still being detained in a cell in Khyber House, the seat of the representative of the Federal government responsible for the Khyber tribal area, in Peshawar.
Reporters without Borders
Paris
THIS is with reference to a news report regarding alleged irregularities in the salaries of employees working with the water wing, mechanical division, Badin.
The factual position is that it is the job of the Sindh Irrigation and Drainage Authority (SIDA) of the government of Sindh to pay employees’ salaries. The entire system of Spinal Drain including the outfall system was handed over Sindh government January 31, 2002, by clearing all liabilities. Payment was made at that time to the staff and nothing is outstanding against Wapda at this time.
The unrest caused among the labour and staff is because they have not been paid for the period after Jan 31. This period pertains to
SIDA. PRO, Wapda
Lahore
ON May 9 the Internet servers on my computer refused to connect. I went through all the possible solutions — from computer programmers to modem checks — finally calling the PTCL. Since then it has been decided collectively by the computer engineer, the electrician (referred to me by the PTCL lineman who said it was an electrical fault), the Internet service providers and the succession of lineman who have visited my abode that it is the phone line at fault. But, they don’t know how to fix the problem.
I have spoken to everyone in the phone department in the area and we now know each other on a first-name basis. Every time I call I am told to explain my problem to a new person. I am also told that 15 other similar complaints have been made but the solution is not in sight. The SDO has also visited and condoled with me but is no longer available to listen to my complaint. I have also complained to Islamabad on the toll free number (0800-44544).
Finally, yesterday I spoke to the divisional engineer, Javed Shaikh, who told me very rudely that I had been using the Internet “illegally” for 2 years on my digital phone and would now have to apply for a new service. He said the new number would be for the exclusive use of the Internet and I would be billed separately for it. I asked him whether the PTCL had ever advertised such a plan and was told that that was none of my business. I was also told that I should do what I had been told to do, which was to go to the Clifton Exchange and apply for a new phone.
I asked where the exchange was and was told that I should “go to Clifton and find out” for myself. However, apart from the DE no one else, including the area linemen, have any knowledge of such service being offered for Internet users. Is this the way the PTCL promotes IT in our country? Do I need to find a ‘source’ to get my phone fixed? Or should I just forget about the Internet and pretend I am in the Dark Ages?
AYSHA SHEIKH
Karachi
OUR Ambassador to America, Maleeha Lodhi, is doing an excellent job of explaining Pakistan’s position to the American media and public.
She not only explained the reasons behind the Kashmir crisis but also won the hearts of many Americans with her flawless command of English. We Pakistani Americans should put our resources to proper use by helping her in these endeavours.
DR. ZAKA U RAHMAN
Jeffersonville, IN
US
I WANT to draw your attention and that of sensitive readers to what has been going on in Algeria in recent times in the Berber region of Kabylie in Algeria. I believe these observations are quite pertinent in the light of the recent national elections, which were handily won by the ruling clique, albeit with the support of the abstention of more than half of the Algerian population.
To give readers of this newspaper a brief history of the Berbers, I can only say that the Berbers were amongst the first converts to Islam when famous Arab general Uqba ibn Nafi conquered North Africa. They had put up a very strong resistance against Islamic troops, and only after great difficulty did Nafi conquer them.
Berbers, particularly of the Kabylie region, also played heroic roles in the legendary resistance of the National Liberation Front, led by the famed revolutionaries Franz Fanon and Ahmad ben Bella, against French colonialism. This eventually led to the independence of Algeria in 1965 and the setting up of a revolutionary Arab state in Algeria.
However, like all post-colonial societies, Algeria could not recover after the dismantling of the socialist system in Algeria after the fall of Houari Boumediene in the 1980s and the rise of Islamic fundamentalism.
And like all post-colonial societies, in Algeria, too, the Berbers have been the historically discriminated people; their language, and culture is viciously persecuted and they are treated unfairly in the handling of jobs. A similar crisis prevails in our native Pakistan in Sindh, Balochistan and Frontier provinces.
Abdulaziz Bouteflika is running a police state in Algeria right now; and the French and US are supporting him because he recently overturned Algerian law to farm out a greater portion of Algerian oil to the multinationals. It seems that Fanon’s saying is being classically violated here, that the post-colonial state is not born to replace white policemen with black and brown policemen.
I wish to strongly protest the excesses of the Algerian “policemen” against their own people. In such circumstances, where cultural and linguistic apartheid has been enforced on the Berbers of Algeria, it is their legitimate right to organize and mobilize against their predatory establishment. And, I believe, it is the duty of all freedom-loving people, be they anywhere in the world to oppose this unjust and barbarian action against the residents of Kabylie.
I fear that if the Algerian government does not take a determined and level-headed action to rehabilitate the grievances of the Berber population, rather than aiming for it’s own self-preservation, a calamity similar to what happened in Pakistan in 1971 with the creation of Bangladesh would result. Algeria’s uncaring generals would be well-advised to learn from the lessons of Ayub Khan and company before the quest for Berber rights turns into a full-fledged movement for national liberation, like it did in former East Pakistan.
RAZA NAEEM
Leeds, UK
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