| July 5, 2002 | Friday | Rabi-us-Sani 23,1423 |
To send a letter to the Editor
Click here
Making life more miserable
Hopeless telephone enquiry
Budget for the poor needed
The worth of a BBA from US
Wishful thinking
PTV’s trash can
Defaming our benefactors
Nehru’s ‘pledge’ to Kashmiris
IESCO’s ground realities
Under the nose of NAB
NO flood or tears will ever wash off the indignity of Pakistan and the Muslims for having a panchayat that ordered the gang-rape of an innocent young woman on June 22 just because her Gujjar brother was allegedly having an affair with a woman of a “higher” tribe in a village 600km south east of Islamabad.
In Islam all humans are equal. Higher and lower castes are a Hindu concept. No religion, no country or constitution punishes a sister for a crime committed by a brother except in Pakistan. In Islam each one is responsible for one’s own actions, here and hereafter.
The brother should have been given 80 strips if proved guilty. Sexually exploiting a weak and poor girl is unbecoming of any man, especially a Muslim man. This poor young woman has been irreversibly traumatized, physically, socially and psychologically, for no fault of hers. Only in Pakistan can a sister of the nation be made to walk home naked before 1,000 on-lookers after being ordered to be gang-raped by four men by a local court. So much for the chaddar and chardiwari impressed on the Muslim womenfolk. Where in the Holy Quran and the Hadees is this demonization permissible? Who will be responsible for the ‘official’ pregnancy? What will we tell the child who the father is?
We are a nation with no morals, no principles and no shame. “A nation without a conscience is a nation without a soul. A nation without a soul is a nation which cannot live.” — Churchill.
DR ZARINA KHAN
Islamabad
THE village of Meerwala in District Muzaffargarh, ruled by its self-appointed jirga, is a state within a state. Even the shroud will not conceal the shame of the perpetrators of the horrible crime. In Ghalib’s verse: “Main warna har libas main nang-i-wajood tha”.
S. ABRAR HUSSAIN
Lahore
THE gang-rape story has brought to shame not only the people of Pakistan but the entire human race. The laws of the land are only good if they are applied without any regard to upper or lower class.
It is good to know that the Supreme Court has initiated an inquiry into this case. Shame on the Mastoi tribe and the arrogant panchayat that decided the case and the culprits who executed the orders.
TAZMIN NAWAZ
Salisbury, USA
THIS refers to the July 3 news item, ‘Members of jirga among 8 held for gang-rape’. I find this unbelievable. It’s as if we are still living in the stone age. We complain about the superpowers but our own people are worse than animals.
Before we look outside, we should clean up our own society. A tribal body advocating gang-rape as punishment is completely barbaric. It is very nice that all these people are being arrested but is anything being done to humanize these people so that such a thing is not repeated?
From what I hear from human rights organizations, child sexual abuse is rampant in Pakistan. I ask President Musharraf to disengage himself from all the high profile causes that he is involved in and attend to the basic rights of those in our society who are at the highest risk of victimization, namely, women, children and the powerless.
TARIQ ALVI Chicago, Illinois,
USA
THE government, which has been constantly reducing the rates of return on national savings schemes for the last five years, has dealt a major blow by introducing another cut of around 2.5 per cent w.e.f.
July 1.
In a country where savings rate is a mere 12 per cent, such a step seems to be highly undesirable. And for those who depend on the income from their savings, this further slash would make things harder in view of the rising prices of essential items resulting from regular increase in the prices of POL, enhancement of the rates of utilities and imposition of GST on daily usage items and medicines.
Instead of providing relief to the common man, this decision made on the eve of the commencement of the new fiscal year, has added to his miseries.
The government should reconsider its decision and reverse it to mitigate the sufferings of those affected, which include mostly pensioners and widows.
A.M. NAFAR
Karachi
THERE has been no increase in the salaries of serving hands nor in the pensions of the retired. They are already leading a very hard life due to the current price hike in basic necessities of life.
GST has been imposed on all medicines except a few life-saving drugs, but the pharmacists are charging GST even on the exempted drugs as there is no check. The price of petrol has again registered a rise, which is going to push upwards the fares of the public transport and the prices of many essential commodities that are transported from long distances.
On the other hand, profit on savings schemes has been cut by 2.5 per cent. How are the senior citizens, the majority of who live on the earnings from their savings, going to survive?
If the prices of various necessities continue to rise because of the imposition of taxes and surcharges, and the income of the common man continues to go down due to reductions and deductions, it is certain that the popularity of the present government would also go down.
Life for an ordinary citizen is already miserable, the government should not add to it by such coercive measures.
M. SHAFIQUE AHMED
Karachi
ON June 27, at 11:45 am, I contacted the telephone enquiry on 17 to find out the telephone number of Radio Pakistan. The operator on the line gave me a number which belonged to some surmaywala.
I again dialled 17 and this time my call was received by another operator who gave me a number which was also not the correct one. I contacted 17 for the third time and the number given me was still not that of Radio Pakistan.
Finally I asked the operator to give me the number of their supervisor as I wanted to make a complaint to him. I was given the number 482-0944 on which nobody responded, as if there was nobody on the seat.
I just don’t know what this facility is meant for when the people concerned cannot correctly give the number of even a well-known government organization.
SULTAN SHAH RASHDI
Karachi
MR Abdul Hafeez (June 29) is appreciative of the government for going to great lengths to come up with a budget that the President and his cabinet have approved as ‘people-friendly’.
The writer has called upon the finance minister to use his wizardry and produce a monthly budget for a family of six whose income is Rs3,000 a month. I am certain that the President’s imported whiz-kid will fail miserably as others have failed in the past.
The high-ups in government who live in luxury at the expense of the taxpayers could hardly be expected to gauge the tribulations of the people who fall in the lower income group. I wish I had the authority to lock the finance minister up in a room till such time as he produced the monthly budget for a family whose income is Rs3,000 a month which equals $50 only.
KA WAHID BUTT
Lahore
I RECEIVED my bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from a reputed university in the state of Alabama, USA, in 1993. The bachelors in US is not like that in Pakistan. It is a comprehensive programme of four to five years and if someone wants to pursue for master’s, all he/she needs is two semesters plus a thesis, which come to about three semesters in all.
As my father was sick, I came back as soon as I finished my course. My family wanted me to do MBA, so I went to the Institute of Business Administration in Karachi. They told me that my US BBA degree needed to be evaluated by the University Grants Commission, which would accord its equivalence in Pakistan to me.
I went to the University of Karachi’s equivalence section, and it was simply a hell to go through fulfilling their requirements.
They asked me to produce 10 copies of the detailed syllabi of all that I had been taught by Alabama University for them to see if it was worth their standards here. It took me eight months of running from pillar to post and then my BBA was equated by them to a simple BCom.
Armed with my BCom degree from the UGC, I went to LUMS and the IBA, but found their doors shut for me as, according to their evaluation, I was not eligible for admission there. I went to the library of the IBA and went through the core courses of the BBA for IBA and found that their courses and mine were 88 per cent the same. But no responsible person would even talk to me on this subject.
Now I have filed my immigration for Canada. Could I be blamed for it?
HAROON SAIF
Karachi
THIS refers to Mr Shams-Kassim Lakha’s article, ‘The Steering Committee does know what it is doing,’ (Of Education, June 30). One has no quarrel with Mr Lakha’s defence of the various higher education committee proposals, but one must take strong exception to his comment that some of the comments published or sent to the committee were ‘misinformed or malicious’.
Admittedly, the university headed by Mr Lakha has vision as well as inspiring leadership and its faculty is committed to the pursuit of excellence. By the grace of Allah, the university is also blessed with sufficient resources to meet all its requirements and commitments. One assumes that there is enough accountability in AKU with transparent and reliable financial management.
Having often locked horns with the officials who grant subsidy to poor patients I know how difficult it is to get the sanction because of the official’s accountability towards the Foundation’s funds, which is quite understandable. Except, of course, when someone influential speaks directly to Mr Lakha on such matters.
But to what avail? Considering the high cost of medical education, AKU prepares medical graduates for the foreign market. Some graduates wing off to USA even without doing their internship in Pakistan, which perhaps inspired a doctor to describe AKU, LUMS, GIK and other high priced institutions in the country as ‘export promotion zone’ of manpower in our country.
The only difference is that Pakistan receives nothing in return in preparing these youngsters with skills and knowledge of a high calibre. Recently all the resources at AKU’s disposal could not prevent a brilliant young specialist in Pediatric Oncology from migrating to Canada and thus denying the children of Pakistan of a much needed specialty.
What about other centres of higher learning including those given a clean bill of health by Mr Lakha. The Public Accounts Committee has recently expressed concern over the decay and loss of scientific apparatus worth Rs32 crores provided for research by Japan, and that 80 per cent of the scholars sponsored by the government of Pakistan for study overseas do not return to the country and prefer to serve abroad.
If Mr Lakha thinks that his committee can bring about qualitative change in higher (or for that matter any) education without a radical change in values and attitudes of the people, it is plain wishful thinking. Living in fool’s paradise would be a harsh, but more appropriate phrase in this regard.
ANWAR ABBAS
Karachi
IT has been my predicament to be exposed to PTV programmes recently which are junkyards of trash at the very best. No television network anywhere in the world would put programmes on air that are frivolous and totally purposeless.
Some such masterpieces were Fangama, Bat ka Raja, Khala Kulsum ka Kunba, etc. At the very best these could be rated as muck by international standards. Some of them were simply revolting for sane viewers.
However, presentations like Zavia and more recently, What is Time (Urdu) should elevate PTV to the international standards.
EAS BOKHARI
Lalamusa
THIS is with reference to the article by Kunwar Idrees ‘Kalam, Salam and Dr A.Q. Khan’ (Dawn, June 23) and the subsequent letter, ‘An injustice’, by Asif Ali Shah (June 28).
It is unfortunate that our history is full of people who denigrate our benefactors. Take the case of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan to whom we owe our present-day enlightenment through education. But during his lifetime there were people among us who did not miss any opportunity to vilify him.
The same happened with our greatest benefactors, Allama Iqbal and the Quaid-i-Azam whose unprecedented efforts enabled us to break the shackles of slavery and get a separate homeland. All I have to say is that if we cannot thank our benefactors, we should not cast aspersions on them.
PROF ATAUL HAQ SUBHANI
Faisalabad
PRESIDENT Musharraf is reported to have told the Newsweek that his commitment (to Deputy Secretary Armitage and Secretary Rumsfeld) to stop “cross-border” activity is not “an assurance that, for years, nothing will happen.” The Indian spokesperson’s statement at a press briefing was: “Pledges are pledges. Nations have to abide by them... These are commitments on which Pakistan must deliver if we are to see lasting peace and stability in the region and... reduction in tensions.”
Pertinent it will be to remind New Delhi that Prime Minister Pandit Nehru, after he sent his troops to Kashmir on Oct 26, 1947, had pledged to his counterpart, Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan, through a telegram, and also to the Kashmiris and the world community that Kashmiris would be allowed to decide through a referendum whether they would like join to India or Pakistan. He gave this pledge of his own free will.
Fifty-five years including 17 years of his rule have gone by. The pledge is yet to be implemented. He took the dispute to the UN Security Council which acknowledged the right of self-determination of Kashmiris and declared that they would decide through a plebiscite under UN supervision to join India or Pakistan. If Nehru had fulfilled his pledge by the time he died in 1964, lasting peace and stability in the region would have arrived nearly four decades ago.
But Nehru never intended to fulfil the pledge because his ancestors were Kashmiris. This is borne out by his admission to Gen Sir Frank Messervy, after the latter convinced him in early 1948 that Kashmir’s real place was in Pakistan, that Kashmir was written on his (Nehru’s) heart as Calais was written on Queen Mary’s heart.
JALAL AHMED
Karachi
THIS refers to ‘Dateline Islamabad’ by Mr Aileem Qaiser captioned ‘The twin cities’ twin woes: water and power” (Dawn, June 18).
As a matter of fact, power breakdowns, particularly during the summer season, are due to the increased load on distribution lines beyond sanctioned load of consumers or due to unforeseen circumstances such as traffic accidents and thunderstorm etc.
However, Wapda tries its best to avoid and reduce the same as far as possible. The annual maintenance of lines is being carried out for stability of supply. As far as pre-announced, scheduled power shutdown for maintenance and construction works are concerned, the same are being availed to keep the supply smooth and to avoid any major breakdown.
So far as suspension of power supply to DHQ Hospital Rawalpindi during surgery/operations is concerned, the matter has already been clarified in the concerned newspapers. The supply from one feeder, out of two, through which power supply was being supplied to the hospital, was suspended with prior intimation, for repair and maintenance on that date. Unfortunately, the other feeder also tripped due to overloading and alternate arrangements were made to restore the supply. The hospital management failed to switch on emergency generators in time. Hence, there was no carelessness on part of IESCO.
IESCO, it may be appreciated, was justified in disconnecting power supply of Tehsil Municipal Administration (TMA) Rawalpindi due to non-payment of Rs40 million outstanding dues. The matter was resolved on the intervention of the District Nazim as well as on provisional payment of Rs20 million. Similar position is in the cases of other departments, RCB and CDA etc. IESCO had no alternative but to disconnect the power supply to recover outstanding dues.
The scribe of the column has also presumed that IESCO is responsible for shortage of water supply in the twin cities, which is a misconception and contrary to the ground realities as water supply relates to CDA and is not IESCO’s domain.
IESCO (Wapda) is coordinating and will continue to coordinate in future with all the concerned departments to facilitate the peoples more and more.
AMIR HUSSAIN CHAMAN Director (PR) IESCO-WAPDA,
Islamabad
LAST year an accountability court in Quetta sentenced and fined an ex-minister, Kheteran, for the misuse of official vehicles. An ex-chief minister, Zulfiqar Magsi, was also convicted for the same offence. This example of across the board accountability by NAB was largely appreciated.
But on my recent trip to Islamabad, I discovered official cars being openly used for private purposes. Official vehicles could be seen at schools transporting bureaucrats’ children, at Juma bazaars and supermarkets for the begums’ shopping and at recreational places. If you drive to Murree on a weekend, you would cross a large number of official cars on your way.
Even ladies and teenagers are seen driving official cars. I was amazed to see ladies taking driving lessons on official cars. All this is happening under the watchful eyes of the NAB and the intelligence agencies. But perhaps officials living in Islamabad are above all accountability.
MUNAWAR ALAM
Quetta
You can also send letters to the Editor
Just send your message to the following address:
Make sure you include your full name, postal address, e-mail address, and in the case of Pakistan your day-time telephone number.