| June 21, 2002 | Friday | Rabi-us-Sani 9, 1423 |
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Painting hazards
Bridges over Peshawar Road
Budget: no relief
The neglected child
Pakistani consulates
Duty reduction on cars
The gaping manhole
Necessity, not waste
Laws for birds
Grilling by Karachi police
WHENEVER the people of India and Pakistan meet and interact, even at the height of a crisis, they show understanding and are willing to tolerate each other. But the remote controls of leaders/ institutions have never allowed them to live in peace and harmony. The intelligentsia, opinion builders and the so-called scholars are also to blame.
Confusions are created in the minds of people about the form of government in Pakistan. Well, the armed forces of Pakistan come from the masses and whatever they do is for the sake of the country. Therefore, the writers in India should not confuse the Indian public on this issue.
Furthermore, people should be told about the Indian motives behind the invasion of Hyderabad state.
Why did the Indian army invade Junagarh and Munavadar?
If the rulers of (Hyderabad and Junagarh) had no authority to decide against the wishes of their religious majority, then did the maharaja of Kashmir have it? So the Indian people must be told that the hamhandedness of their government provoked the Kashmiris; in fact they never wanted to live with India.
Why are the people of India not told that those who were not even tolerant of their own ‘Bapu’ Mahatama Gandhi — and assassinated him, hindered the process of division of state assets (finances, military and others)? So the seed of hatred was sown right from the beginning.
Mohammad Ali Jinnah has been presented to the Indian people as a very different person from what he actually was. History tells that he was the ambassador of Hindu-Muslim unity.
People should be told who invaded the Siachin glaciers and why? General Zia used cricket diplomacy to ease tensions, then so what’s the big deal in Vajpayee’s bus diplomacy?
The masses of both countries must realize that it is time for them to come closer and utilize the enormous resources of the subcontinent for their common benefit.
Let us give the people of Kashmir the choice to decide about their future, like the people of East Timor.
If the masses of the subcontinent could now decide to just learn from history and move forward we will definitely prosper.
KHURRAM ALTAF ANSARI
Rawalpindi
RIGHT behind my house on 3/22 Temple Road, which is a residential area of Lahore, operates a large factory involved in the construction and painting of hoardings and banners. Almost throughout the day, noxious fumes emitted by it pollute my house and those of my neighbours, terribly befouling the air and sometimes even making breathing difficult. On a soggy and humid day, the air is heavily laden with fine particles of paint and dust emanating from this concern.
Huge metal structures for posting advertisements are burned to erase old ads and paint new ones on them. This particular operation gives out a most pungent smell that reeks of burning wires and badly pollutes the environment all day long. Capping it all is the noise pollution of the carpentry in this workshop, that has made life miserable.
I myself have been badly affected, but my old and infirm parents have been particularly hard hit by this nuisance which has taken a heavy toll on their poor health.
Will the environment protection authorities or the redoubtable City Nazim do something to check this grave health hazard?
JAVED BASHIR
Lahore
I HAVE been travelling daily from Westridge, Rawalpindi, to Islamabad for a good many years now. Over this period, Peshawar Road from Qasim Market to Turnol has been transformed from a two-lane single carriageway to a six-lane dual carriageway. There has been a considerable increase in the traffic also, with the result that it is now impossible to cross from one side to the other unless one takes considerable risks.
The traffic is usually very fast due to the superior surface of the road and less number of u-turns or off-takes. The ordeal is especially severe on children who intend to cross the road to go to their educational institutions.
It is necessary that Peshawar Road should have quite a few overhead crossings for pedestrians. And these should be located at Golra Exit, Kohinoor Mills Main Gate, Pir Widhai Exit, Chuhr Harpal Crossing, Charring Cross and Race Course Road Exit.
This is an ideal opportunity for many organizations like the tobacco, oil and pharmaceutical companies and commercial banks to contribute constructively for the welfare of the people and the children of Rawalpindi, as State Life has done at the GPO crossing.
ARIF MUMTAZ
Rawalpindi
IN the budget for financial year 2002-03 the prices of cold drinks and cars have been brought down while those of ghee, bread, edible oil, flour, pulses, diesel, cement, gas, soap, detergent and agricultural commodities are likely to shoot up. So, it is friendly to the rich and a death knell to the poor.
The salaried and the middle classes have become the main victims of the taxation measures according to which a heavy GST has been imposed on essential items. Due to the adoption of wrong policies, the poor are becoming poorer and the rich are getting richer. The middle class is being crushed between the two. In this budget, too, no relief has been given to the common man.
The farming sector, which supports 70 per cent of the country’s population, has been given a low allocation. The agricultural sector will not get any government subsidy in 2002-03 although we have been facing natural disasters and acute shortage of water.
At the same time, the imposition of taxes on gas, electricity and cement, would badly affect the local industry, causing unemployment and economic hardships.
The government has been projecting the rise in foreign exchange reserves as a sign of recovery of the economy. However, there has neither been any appreciable increase in exports, nor in foreign investment. In fact, the increase in foreign exchange reserves is mainly due to a crackdown on the business of hundi by the FBI, which has resulted in foreign remittances from overseas Pakistanis being diverted to the banking channel, and thus becoming visible.
The worker class has also been ignored in the new budget as no relief has been given to them, although a promise was made for this by the finance minister in his budget for the FY 2001-02. The deregulation of high-speed diesel might result in an increase in the fares of buses, trucks and railways etc., the brunt of which will have to be borne by the consumers.
The imposition of General Sales Tax (GST) will raise the cost of almost all items despite government promises of keeping the prices of essentials down.
Furthermore, there was no need to further increase the defence budget when the tension between the two countries is de-escalating.
HUMERA ALWANI
Mirpur Sakro,
Thatta District
I read with interest your editorial, ‘Before it gets any worse’ (June 13). You have rightly pointed out the changing public attitude to the worsening problem of air and environmental contamination in the country and the lack of official action to tackle it.
Though the relevant laws exist, there is lack of will on the part of the state to implement them. The PPP government had given it so much importance that Mr Zardari was made minister in charge of the federal environmental protection department. It was on his initiative that work on the Kasur Tannery Waste Management Project was started, the biggest of its kind in Asia.
Then came the Nawaz Sharif government, which was not at all interested in environmental protection. Mr Nawaz Sharif was somehow convinced that such measures were against the process of industrialization. We had a lot of hope in the present government, but so far the results have been disappointing.
The recent incident in Gujranwala cries of an explanation from the environmental protection department, Punjab. It is regrettable that none of the EPD officials visited the area to get first-hand information of the incident. Why and how did it happen, and how can we avoid such incidents in future?
HAFEEZ AKHTAR
Lahore
I FELT impelled to write this letter after I read the two letters from Nadia Nadeem and Fawaz Shaikh (June 13 and 18).
I think that we, Pakistani-Americans, are somehow quick to point out the failings of Pakistan and Pakistani embassies or consulates. Most Pakistani-Americans profess, through their articles and letters, to be somewhat more enlightened than Pakistani-Pakistanis. In some respects they perhaps are. Then, why is it that I have never read an article or a letter praising some Pakistani institution. Surely, there must be some instances where a Pakistani consulate or a government employee was helpful to some one. As enlightened as we think we are, we must also know that when a good is praised, it breeds more good.
I, for one, can say that during my 17 years in the US, I have had numerous occasions to get an application form, passport renewal or a visa from the consulates of Pakistan, both in New York and in Los Angeles. I have never encountered any problems whatsoever. I would like to congratulate the respective consulates for that.
I would like to ask Ms Nadia Nadeem and Mr Fawaz Shaikh if they have ever had to stand in a queue at, or tried calling the Immigration and Naturalization Service of the US? I suggest they should, just to compare. As to the consulate of Pakistan not possessing a fax machine or their inability to send you your forms postage-free, one can be upset with the government of Pakistan for not buying a fax machine for its consulates. But, who has ever heard of anything coming from any government postage-free?
I have had my US passport renewed at least three times, and I have always had to pay return postage. I have requested visa application forms from at least a dozen different countries’ consulates in the US, and I have always been asked to send in a self-addressed stamped envelope. Why should Pakistani consulates be expected to use their funds to mail a letter with a 34 cent stamp?
Of course, Pakistani consulates should endeavour to address the needs of expatriates such as providing downloadable application forms and so on.
Of course, also, everyone has a right to criticize public services if they are inadequate and/or discourteous.
However, if there is an acceptable practice, say, that of requiring visa/ passport applicants to provide return postage, then we should accept that policy as we accept similar policies from most, if not all, US government institutions.
SYED M. KAMAL
Houston, US
IN the current budget, the government has reduced the customs duties on imported cars on the pretext of making cars more affordable for the public. The finance minister said in his budget speech that this step had been taken to create competition for the local manufacturers and to keep prices within the customers’ reach.
Ironically, the largest reduction has been made in the case of cars above 1,800 cc engine capacity, a category that comprises mainly luxury cars. The import duty on such cars has been reduced from 250 per cent to 200 per cent. At present, no car of this category, except a couple of diesel engine variants, is being assembled locally. So, obviously, this step could not have been taken to create competition. It has been taken only to please the elite of the society, who import expensive luxury cars and waste precious foreign exchange.
The duty reduction on the cars of smaller engine capacity is too small to cause any concern to the cartel of local car manufacturers who continue to fleece the customers. They are still providing deliveries in periods ranging from three to six months for popular models and are taking advance payments for the bookings.
If the finance minister’s real intention was to bring down the prices of locally assembled cars, then it would have been more appropriate for him to allow the import of reconditioned cars rather than reducing duties, especially on costly luxury cars.
AAMIR MALIK
Karachi
THIS is with reference to the letter ‘Surviving a fall into a manhole’ (June 5).
The problem of manhole covers has not been solved by any government. But there is a solution, which is that these covers be made of an iron frame, squarer shape, wherein a lid made of thick iron sheet be fitted with hinges on one side. This may be expensive but will be everlasting.
The present system of making the covers of cement with sarya jali is not workable. I am sure that if this is done many lives can be saved. The City Nazim recently visited China and Iran. Perhaps he did not see the manhole covers there; he is advised to inspect them carefully when he visits any other civilized country in future.
Now I give the example of the apathy towards a gruesome problem of my area. A stormwater drain runs across Khayaban-i-Roomi in Clifton Block-5, falling into Nahr-i-Khayyam. This drain was covered with a roof for many years. One fine morning in 1999 some KMC dredgers dug open the roof, and the result was stinking smell and mosquitoes which gave sleepless nights to the residents.
The KMC administrator was approached in October 2000 and shown the photographs, as all requests to him to visit the site through letters proved futile for he had no time from meetings.
He was also requested to institute an inquiry into the extraction of tons of sarya, which he promised but never did (which I request the City Nazim to do).
All that he did was to instruct the health staff to spray over the drain which was done for a few weeks and later discontinued. Even the minister for local government, Sindh, was approached, but he did not have the courtesy to acknowledge the letter.
I wrote to the Nazim Union Council No.10 (Clifton) on Jan 10, followed by a visit regarding insanitation, street lights, stray dogs, footpaths, broken roads, encroachments and newly constructed speed breakers by a person just along the same drain. The Naib was kind enough to respond quickly and visit the location, but later he became busy with the referendum.
I understand that the Nazim/ Naib cannot visit every street. But they can depute staff to visit the area under them and file reports in a register to be monitored by the Nazim/ Naib, at least once a week. And above all one of the two must be available in the office to attend to the problems of the people. After all they are being paid from the national exchequer.
ZAFARUL HAQ MEMON
Karachi
THIS is with reference to Mr Mohammad Ali Bangash’s letter, ‘Emulating Singapore’ (June 17). I agree with him in that providing good education to every citizen is essential for development and also with his contention that education has been an eminent factor in Singapore’s success. However, I must ask how Pakistan can be compared with Singapore, the two countries being in such different situations.
Unlike Singapore, Pakistan has been facing problems with its eastern neighbour ever since its independence. The Kashmir dispute which often results in high degree of tension between the two countries, has led Pakistan to reserve huge sums of money for its defence.
To spend on tanks and missiles is not a waste, it is a necessity for us.
A. JAWED
Lahore
THE government is doing a great deal for poverty alleviation. But there are other poor creatures’ birds and animals that need official attention.
I feel that there is not enough protection granted to wild animals and birds by law. The animals that are used for transportation are underfed and overworked.
Moreover, a large number of small birds are kept in cages and sold openly. A comprehensive legislation to protect the rights of these poor creatures is called for.
HAKEEM PIR S.A. SHAH WALI
Lahore
THE bomb blast near the American Consulate in Karachi has again caused the law enforcement agencies in Karachi to display lack of intelligence, imagination and investigation capabilities.
The only process of investigation, which the Pakistani police know, is the use of thirddegree methods on innocent suspects.
The relatives of the people killed in the bomb blast are being grilled now. It requires little imagination to realize that if any of the dead were involved in planning such a gruesome incident, they would not have shared it with their relatives.
In the present day of information technology, crimes are no longer a local affair and demand much sophisticated ways of investigation. The Pakistan police should rise above their mental level of thanedari and prove their worth.
My appeal to the Karachi law enforcement agencies is that they must not add insult to injury by grilling innocent people.
ALI ASHRAF KHAN
Karachi
I WAS shocked to read in Dawn (June 16) that the families of the victims of the US Consulate bombing are being tortured and grilled.
Instead of using inhuman tactics against innocent citizens, the police should concentrate on their own failure. Has their intelligence not crumbled totally?
Reportedly, the car had gone to the office of the Traffic Police’s driving licensing authority just before the incident. Had the police used vehicle inspection mirrors at their own office, this tragedy could have been averted.
The attack on the French guests should have been warning enough to ensure that
no such incident took place again.
But appropriate measures were not taken which paved the way for the second incident. The irony is that no heads will roll, except those of the poor and the innocent.
It is felt that it would be in the fitness of things if President Musharraf announces a genuine relief package for the bereaved families.
If possible, he should call on them personally.
They need solace and kind words, not subjection to humiliation.
SAFIR A. SIDDIQUI
Karachi
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