| July 9, 2002 | Tuesday | Rabi-us-Sani 27,1423 |
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Fuelling brain drain
What should be priority?
KU’s unreasonable rule
Another gang-rape
Transporters and the inner city
Book lovers’ plight
Police delay
TV licence
Hill Park lake is drying up
Frozen forex accounts
US consulate
Our treatment of Pakistani scientists
THE National Reconstruction Bureau has proposed a constitutional package and invited alternative proposals. The constitutional package is based on the assumption that the post-1985 system has broken down time and again, and the constitutional package will rectify those deficiencies.
The aim is to produce a system that will stand the shocks of political upheavals observed in 1985-99, as well as during the 1947-58 and 1972-77 periods.
The government’s decision to hold the October elections on the basis of joint electorate is to be welcomed in the interest of national cohesion, and, more importantly, by way of upholding the equality of rights of all communities living in this country. One proposal envisages for the Senate a legislative role that is to be equal to that of the National Assembly except in the case of money bills. The Senate may return the money bills to the NA with its own recommendations for reconsideration. This should help address the genuine grievances of the smaller provinces, in line with federal structure of the state.
The fact that the package is a set of proposals for public debate should not be ignored. In the past, constitutional amendments have been made without any discussion by the elected as well as non-elected governments. The non-elected governments simply announced constitutional amendments. The elected governments bulldozed the amendments through the parliament without debate. The parliamentary parties were not allowed to discuss or read the draft amendments.
The first substantive act taken under the 1973 Constitution was the suspension of fundamental rights of the people of Pakistan. It came within hours of the near-unanimous approval by the House.
The Objectives Resolution was introduced and passed without discussion. It was hurriedly introduced at a time when the elected House was holding its annual budget session. So it is important that the opportunity offered by the constitutional package should not be lost in acrimonious attitudes. President Pervez Musharraf plans to meet politicians, experts and intelligentsia for consultation on the package. This step should be welcomed, and those opposed to the package should meet the President and explain their viewpoint.
If there is any lesson to be learnt from unsavoury past is that the country’s constitution must seek to strengthen democratic institutions and ensure long-term political stability.
RUBINA KHAN
Karachi
THIS is with reference to the letter by Mr Haroon Saif, entitled ‘The worth of a BBA from US’( July 5). I just want to say that what happened to him was sad and shameful. One would expect that Pakistan would welcome young people with a degree from abroad, with open arms.
How many Pakistanis who study abroad finally come back to settle down here? I can assure you that the percentage is very low. There is so much that such persons have to offer in terms of new ideas and plans that can help Pakistan rise to higher standards in this millennium. If we lose them to developed nations, how can we expect to prosper? These are the people who come armed with motivation and fresh perceptions and kindle a hope for Pakistan. Yet, all we do is to hush them away to other countries!
I would like to emphasize the fact that a Bachelor’s from the US or Canada is a rigorous and comprehensive programme. Several of these programmes have mandatory theses, which have to be presented and defended in much the same style as a Masters degree. In addition, students acquire the invaluable skills of oral and written presentations, research, analysis and team work. After the undergraduate programme, students are well equipped to take on any challenges in and out of their field.
We have already lost so many well-educated individuals to the West. I hope we don’t lose any more. It is time we begin to recognize them as important assets for Pakistan.
ANEELA PASHA
Karachi
This is with reference to the letter by Mr Haroon Saif under the heading, ‘The worth of a BBA from US’ (July 5). The answer to his question is ‘No’. Under the circumstances through which he had to pass in Pakistan, he cannot be blamed if he has applied for migration to Canada.
Unfortunately, the long and futile exercise through which Mr Haroon was made to pass, is a normal practice in our country and happens to be one of the reasons behind the brain drain that it has to suffer.
To give IBA authorities the other side of the picture, I would like to narrate my story. When I went to the US to do my MBA, I had on my credit an MS degree from the University of Karachi. I was also asked to get my MS evaluated in terms of its US equivalent, and it took only a couple of weeks after I had submitted my educational documents to the concerned authority in New York.
They sent me a detailed letter specifying as to what courses of mine were equivalent to which courses in the US. After that, I never had any problem in getting admission in any required MBA programme in the US. I was a foreigner in that country but they made my life easy. Mr Haroon Saif is a Pakistani and yet his life has been made miserable here. Why do we then complain about brain drain?
It has been quite a few years now that after having obtained my MBA from the US, I am in the corporate life of Pakistan. I can now understand why the IBA as an institution, and the graduates from there as a community, have a biased behaviour towards graduates from the US. It is so because we, the degree-holders from the US, opted for a much better educational system than what the IBA has today.
JAWAID SIDDIQUI
Karachi
THIS is with reference to a news report about Meerawala village incident in which four culprits gangraped a woman as a punishment under the decision of a jirga.
None of the leaders of the various religious parties has so far condemned this incident. They are vocal about the sufferings of Palestinian or Kashmiri women but they keep mum when a woman is dishonoured in their own country.
I would like to ask all religious party leaders and the ulema, as to what has a priority, the Jihad-e-Akbar against social evils within the Muslim society or the Jihad-e-Asghar, militancy against non-Muslim governments?
BABAR RASHID
Lahore
Due to some mistake, my father’s name had been incorrectly mentioned in my academic record. When I enrolled as a student of the faculty of law, in the Karachi University, the same incorrect name was entered there too. After a lot of effort, I got corrected my father’s name in all the documents pertaining to my academic record from Matric, to B.A., which I have passed from the Shah Abdul Latif University, Khairpur.
I took this entire record to the Karachi University for correction in my LL.B. documents. There was a blank refusal. I was told by the KU authorities that their rules do not allow any corrections in the documents after the student has passed the examination. No one was ready even to look at the proofs of the genuineness of my case.
What should I do now? My father’s name in my NIC, domicile certificate, Matric and Inter certificates and B.A. degree, is different from the one entered in the LL.B. degree. Will my precious three years of studying law would go waste just because an error has crept into my record with the Karachi University, which they refuse to correct despite the proofs?
I appeal to the Vice Chancellor of the Karachi University to kindly look into the matter.
MUNAWARALI MEMON
Naushahro Feroze
This is with reference to your editorial, ‘Another gang- rape’ (July 6). Neither the girl who was allegedly raped, nor anyone on her behalf, ever stated before any police officer, including the undersigned, nor mentioned in the FIR that she could recognize each one of the culprits. In fact, the only person she was able to identify, was the local councillor.
The police has registered a case against five persons including the local councillor, who has been described in the FIR as the main identified accused. This fact negates the assertion made in your editorial that the police, in connivance with the accused party, have registered a case against five ‘unknown men’.
The case is still under investigation and three suspects have already been arrested by the police which again shows their impartiality.
MUJAHID AKBER KHAN ASP/TPO
Hyderabad Taluka
YOUR newspaper has been reporting on attempts by the Karachi Towns to ban goods transport and inter-city buses from the inner city. It is desirable to do this but it is not reasonable to expect that this can be done without the development of infrastructure to support these moves.
This is because the city’s wholesale markets; metal and garment manufacturing; garbage sorting and recycling activities, and warehousing related to all of them are located in eastern Saddar, Lyari, Sher Shah, Chakiwara, Jail Quarters, Napier Quarters and their peripheries. As long as these activities and their godowns exist in these locations, transporters are bound to come into these areas and use the narrow roads of
the inner city as terminals and workshops for their vehicles.
Since there is no other alternative space for these wholesale, manufacturing and storage activities, the inner city is becoming increasingly congested and environmentally degraded. The absence of space has forced much of these activities to spill over into the Lyari river bed and godowns have started coming up in many katchi abadis.
The building of the Lyari Expressway will remove many of these storage and manufacturing activities. They will simply relocate elsewhere within the inner city (they have already started doing this) creating further congestion or in katchi abadis creating new environmental and social problems which will be a nightmare for future planners.
Regarding inter-city buses, it must be understood that commuters want them to come into the city. It will be extremely inconvenient for them to get off in the middle of nowhere outside the city and then try and get a bus ride to their destination. They and the transporters will resist this.
If the city government is serious about solving these problems, it must start planning now for the shifting of the dhan mandi, metal market and chemical market to the under-construction Northern Bypass along with godowns and warehouses related to these sectors. It must also plan to shift the garbage sorting and recycling industry near to planned landfill sites. Areas vacated by the shifting can be used as open spaces and amenities which are desperately required for the inner city. And this is what the residents of the inner city have been asking for.
Regarding inter-city buses, it is necessary to build proper inter-city bus terminals on the three main exits from Karachi and to develop a shuttle service from there to key locations within the city. Only then will it be reasonable to ban the entry of inter-city buses into the city.
The above proposals have been discussed for many years and land for them has been identified on many occasions. However, these proposals have failed to materialize although they can be self-financing projects (as opposed to mega-projects that are constantly being promoted) and would bring enormous relief to the citizens of Karachi and make a number of area improvement projects possible.
Unfortunately, city problems cannot be solved by directives or laws alone or by building projects that have little to do with physical, social and economic ground realities of the city and its inhabitants.
ARIF HASAN
Karachi
THIS is in response to Xari Jalil’s letter (July 4). I have an advice for Xari and other bookworms. While looking for books in Pakistan, you should never go to a posh bookstore. At such stores you can never end up buying books, as your pocket won’t allow that.
Instead, you should go to the roadside book stalls selling second hand books. They are more affordable and you can buy a dozen books for the price of one bought from an expensive bookshop. So, next time you go to Khori Garden instead of Clifton.
NOOR BAKHT NIZAMANI
Hyderabad
THIS refers to the news item, ‘Members of jirga among 8 held for gang-rape’ (July 3). The President has repeatedly emphasized that the writ of the law must be respected. Apparently that message has not filtered down enough for the police to enforce the law proactively.
In this case, they sprang into action several days after the occurrence of this terrible incident, and that too only when the story had been broken in the media.
ZAHID ABBASI
Englewood, USA
PTV has authorized private agencies to collect TV licence fee and issue the licence. Unfortunately, taking advantage of this, unauthorized persons have also started collecting the fees and issuing licences which are, of course, fake. In a survey conducted recently, many such licences have been discovered.
Since a large number of our housewives are illiterate, they cannot differentiate between an authorized television fee collector and an impostor. Thus the present system is likely to increase the cases of fraud in this field.
It is, therefore, suggested that the TV licence should be issued by the authorized banks or by the concerned PTV Centre only, having a validity of 5 years, to avoid an unnecessary exercise every year.
MUMTAZ
Karachi
I would like to draw the attention of the authorities concerned with the management of the Hill Park, and all those visitors who come to spend their time at the park, towards the fact that its lake is drying up fast. It has now become a puddle, stinking and full of garbage. Soon there will be no water at all and the birds, ducks, swans and the only pelican— something rare in Karachi, may become history.
In my last few years of early morning walk, I have never before seen the lake in such a pitiable condition. In the past, the water level was always maintained.
Perhaps our city fathers now have some other pressing matters to look after. They are bothered neither about the lives of these birds nor about the disappointment of the park visitors on not finding those nice creatures over there.
WEQUAR ALI KHAN
Karachi
THE last prime minister of Pakistan had frozen all foreign currency accounts. Now that Pakistan has amassed billions of dollars and finds it difficult to store them, can’t the frozen money be returned to the account holders in dollars ?
Apparently, it is very reasonable at this time of the year and at this stage when there is no pressure for dollars because of a breathing space in debt servicing due to re-scheduling.
S.M. BUKHARI
Karachi
IT seems that the US consulate’s location at Abdullah Haroon Road is not only a problem for the Americans working there but also for the commuters of Karachi. May be, it’s about time that the US consulate be moved elsewhere so that the traffic arteries of Karachi do not get clogged time and again.
SUMAIRA DADA
Karachi
REFERENCE Kunwar Idris’ article (June 23) comparing the status given to internationally-known scientists by the governments in India and Pakistan. I could not agree with him more, when he points out at the negative feelings many Pakistanis have towards Dr Abdus Salam. Although, he was the scientific adviser to Mr Bhutto in the 1970s, it was indeed regretful that Gen Zia’s government denied him the status due him as the sole Pakistani to have received the Nobel Prize.
I am surprised that Mr Idris did not mention the discriminations against religious minorities in India—scholars as well as others— specially since the BJP has been in power. The main reason for Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam’s nomination as India’s President by the BJP is not because of his being a scientist - there are many more in India - but his modified religious belief. According to his life-sketch (Dawn Magazine, 23rd June), “though born in a Muslim family, he does not describe himself as a Muslim”.
I am quite surprised that while comparing Dr Kalam’s simple living standard with that of our own Dr A.Q. Khan, Mr Idris is extremely critical of the latter for his lavish living and ownership of a few houses. Indeed, Mr Idris has degraded Dr A.Q. Khan (for his so-called lavish living) to the extent that he is happy to forget about his scientific achievements and would rather consider him an ordinary metallurgist, thus doing exactly the same thing what Gen Zia’s government did to Dr Salam for his faith.
Although many of us may not agree with the nuclear path which both India and Pakistan have adopted, if Dr A.Q. Khan wanted he could have made ten times more money by leaving the country for greener pastures. In that case, Pakistan would not have acquired nuclear capability and perhaps by now India would have dominated Pakistan by virtue of being the sole nuclear power in South Asia. In a recent editorial, Newsweek has rightly argued that Pakistan’s nuclear capability was the main reason for India not starting the conventional war.
We should also look at the simple way Indian President, Prime Minister, federal and provincial ministers, bureaucrats, scientists, doctors, lawyers and even businessmen live, and compare them with much higher living standards of their counterparts in Pakistan. Indeed, during a visit to India a few years ago several of us from Pakistan were much impressed by the way a serving federal additional secretary lived in a 2-bedroom flat in Delhi. Mr Idris is well aware of how his counterparts live in Islamabad.
If Dr A.Q. Khan would not have migrated to Pakistan, perhaps he would still be a famous scientist, leading a simple life in his native Bhopal or Delhi. But one is not sure if he would have achieved what he did being in Pakistan. But who knows, he could have been a candidate for the President of India. Which political party in Pakistan would agree to give him, or for that matter any scholar, that status?
DR MEHTAB S. KARIM
Karachi
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