What should belong to a province?: DATELINE QUETTA

THE government has announced a package proposing constitutional amendments giving greater powers to the provinces to maintain inter-provincial harmony. The president himself briefed the editors of newspapers and others in Islamabad last week. In response to a question, he spelled out his government’s plans to hand over education, health, local government and rural development subjects to the provinces to increase their participation in state affairs. He said that in the past the provinces had not been treated in a fair manner, and promised to make amends by granting greater them autonomy.

There is a general debate on the subject at different levels. Although political parties and leaders of public opinion have rejected the government ideas embodied in the package, political activists, pro-establishment politicians, intellectuals and others are engaged in discussing the pros and cons of the proposals.

The pro-establishment politicians are deadly opposed to the concept of autonomy and still believe that only a strong Centre would guarantee national integrity and solidarity. This circle is known as the followers of Khan Abdul Qayyum Khan who favoured a strong Centre for keeping Pakistan strong.

The other circle — liberal and progressive with a broad national outlook — is supporting the idea of political stability and greater autonomy for the provinces, mainly the smaller ones, to compensate for the injustices and mistakes done in the past. It cites as example the measures taken by the president to revive the Saindak copper and gold project, construction of deep-water port at Gwadar, the coastal highway and the Mirani dam project, saying that the president has realized the fact that Balochistan was not treated fairly in the last 50 years.

It was nothing but an order from the president to implement the mega projects in Balochistan that changed the scenario. No one else had a role in it. It is on record that a very powerful lobby in Islamabad, mainly within the establishment, had opposed these projects tooth and nail. Since it was an order from the top, all subordinates had to accept it.

Thus attempts were made to bring Balochistan into the economic mainstream of Pakistan by launching these mega projects. They thought that the issue was, in fact, the inalienable rights of the historic province, which happens to be a federating unit, voluntarily voting in favour of Pakistan as a separate state for the Muslims of the undivided India at the time of Partition.

The fact is that in the past the provincial government had been reduced to a municipal government with special coercive powers to resort to lathi-charge, to disperse an unruly mob, to arrest and torture the political opponents and to jail them. In economic or financial terms, this province had been reduced to an agency distributing salaries to over 100,000 employees. It overlooked the genuine problems of the people.

The province had no powers to impose taxes and collect revenue. It would rather wait for charity from the federal government at the end of the fiscal year. Sales tax, which remained a provincial tax at the time of One Unit, was made a federal tax with the dissolution of One Unit.

At least during the last 11 years, Balochistan did not receive its legitimate share from the federal revenue, barring the single year of 1991 when the National Finance Commission had announced its award conceding gas development surcharge for the provinces.

There is, however, an improvement in financial matters since the army took over power in October 1999, and the government has not so far misused Balochistan’s funds, mainly federally- collected revenue on natural gas.

The present level of autonomy for the provinces is considered insufficient by a large number of people, mainly by the more liberal and democrats. Since the political parties are not contesting the claims of the federal government, the role of provincial administration becomes more important in defending the legitimate constitutional rights of the province.

Some people think that the provincial government should assert itself more aggressively for seeking greater autonomy for the province. More so in view of the fact that hopes were dashed when the promise to transfer the subjects on the Concurrent List to the Provinces after the lapse of 10 years of enforcing the 1973 Constitution was not fulfilled.

In the last three decades the powers of the provincial government were curtailed drastically and infrequently. Some people think that the governor as a former chief justice is competent enough to present the case of Balochistan for greater autonomy, but some others doubt he will ever assert himself in the proper forum. These elements are demanding that the Concurrent List of the Constitution be transferred to the provinces so that the federating units should also get maximum provincial autonomy.

The federal government should retain a minimum number of subjects, with necessary taxation powers to run these subjects. This should include meeting the necessary defence needs. These subjects include foreign affairs, defence, finance, foreign trade and commerce, international shipping excluding ports, inter- provincial coordination, postal services, telecommunications, railways, PIA and Wapda for ensuring power and water supply to all the four provinces and Azad Kashmir.

The subject of economic planning or the economic affairs division be dismantled and the task handed over to the provinces. There is no sense in keeping the fisheries, food, agriculture, information and media development, industries or ministry of production and some other subjects. These subjects be transferred to the provinces making the provinces and Pakistan stronger.

Be kind to thy city fathers: KARACHI FILE

WE should take it as indicative of the low level of our political literacy that we consistently fail to give the City Council its due status and, due recognition of that status. It is the parliament of this city. Not a jot short of it. For the moment, it is the only elected institution that we have. Do we give it the respect that is undeniably its right to receive from the citizens?

It would take some hardihood to return an affirmative by way of an answer to that question. Obviously, we have that hardihood and in plenty. Few, if any, of us think of the City Council as this city’s lawmaker, guardian, patron and indeed also the servant. For most of us it is the servant, if anything at all. Goodness knows, we are not the ideal masters, when it comes to treating servants.

One should try to feel a little proud to see the City Council gradually, if a little slowly, finding its feet as well as its voice. Let us learn to listen to it. Doesn’t matter if most of the time it is a lament on this, that or the other aspect of our life. For being constant and repetitive, its lament does not lose its value and weight. Mind you, it is our voice. Who would respect our voice, if we do not?

Among its latest lamentations, there are two distinct refrains. The first, all too familiar, is addressed to the KESC, beseeching for some attention, some pity. This, as we know, is a cry in the wilderness. The KESC has switched off its head-phones. It is not listening. We are free to cry hoarse to your own broken heart’s content. That’s our privilege, like it or not.

One City Councillor, Shahnaz Akhtar, from Faisal Town, is reported to have reminded the KESC that electricity in Karachi “is costlier than anywhere in the country.” She is being modest. It is twice as costly as in New York. If one carefully analyzed the factors that go into the KESC’s cost production, the heaviest is to be put under the head ‘corruption.’

This is the umbrella beneath which there is a whole world of shady goings-on. The ‘Kunda’ is no doubt one negative factor. But it must be much lower down in terms of loss to the KESC. The real power-guzzlers are protected by the KESC itself. It is always easier for the big thief to get away with his booty. The poacher always has enough to please the jailor and keep him at bay.

No less worthy of our attention is the City Council’s concern for the people being displaced to make way for the Lyari Expressway. To a certain extent, discomfort for some is the price# society should pay without much murmur for development. There is no way Karachi can avoid being unkind to the people who happen to live where the Expressway has to be.

Granted it is inevitable that those who live along the Expressway route have to be moved. But the process need not be unduly harsh, which apparently it is becoming. We have witnessed much that has been regrettable and quite unnecessarily so. There has been some loss of life, igniting wholly natural and may be also justified angry protests.

With us the trouble has always been that we think of development as something that simply has to be at some exorbitant human cost. This puts development efforts in conflict with human rights. If planning is proper, development has to be people- friendly. Development is a negation of itself if it should demand too high a price in terms of comfort of the people in whose name it is undertaken.

As things stand, one is led to believe that rehabilitation of the displaced persons has not been given the priority that it called for. Why it is so difficult to see that the shanties along the Lyari are all that their residents have in this world? It is too late, and perversely irrelevant, to question whether the huts and hovels in Lyari bed are encroachments or not.

These little dwelling must be respected. If these are a case of trespass, then the people to be hauled up are not the shanty dwellers, but the officials who slept when the encroachment or trespass was committed in the first place. Now these encroachment are houses where people have lived for so long. For thousands of innocent children these are their birthplaces. Nobody has any right to throw them out without providing, in advance, a decent substitute — with full ownership rights.

This is what the City Councillors are demanding. Nothing could be more reasonable. No less sensible is their decision to set up a committee to monitor the process of rehabilitation of the humble families displaced to clear the path of the majestic Expressway. It should be understood that, by and large, the people are amenable to reason. They are also always willing to make sacrifice, if they are approached decently.

The trouble arises only when the bureaucrat is unable to see that he is dealing with human beings and not with some debris or garbage. That is how one suspects the residents of the lowly habitations like Lyari are all too often taken to be — as disposable miasma, not as human beings with some basic rights.

One should like to hope that the Committee set by the City Council will be up and about without any further loss of time — and goodness forbid, further loss of life. Why should everything we do must extinguish some innocent lives? The Lyari Expressway has already taken its toll. To be correct, not the Expressway, but the blundering baboos around.

The KCR imbroglio

IT HAS BEEN well over two years since the Karachi Circular Railway was suspended. The Pakistan Railways, which used to operate it, suspended its operation because it was running at a loss and was not worth its while. The argument that a metro rail system should be run by the city itself and not the national railways, as is the case in most countries, was advanced by the PR to wriggle out of the KCR.

The Sindh government, which then assumed charge of the project, vowed to revive it but said it lacked the necessary funds required to put it back on track. Last but not least, when the city government was sworn in some months ago, it was brought on board the plans to revive the KCR. President Musharraf himself directed the authorities concerned to present a revival plan so that the metro train could be revived.

There have since been at least three feasibility studies but so far nothing has happened. The latest feasibility plan prepared by an engineering consultant proposed that the KCR be revived in two phases, with a possibility of further development in a third and final phase later on. The total cost came to just under Rs20 billion for the initial two phases of the revival plan, and there was hope that the ball could start rolling, until the railway minister chose to butt in at the last minute challenging the estimated cost of the project.

This is extremely unfair, to say the least. The PR, by virtue of its categorical refusal to operate the KCR, has no moral grounds now to have any say in the matter. But apparently that is not the case. Having washed its hands clean of the project over two years ago, the PR now seems to be interested again in the KCR as the minister said the railways could revive the project in half the amount being proposed by those who put together the current feasibility report.

What is it if not another bureaucratic hurdle in the way of the KCR’s revival? Is it not time someone in Islamabad sorted out the controversy as to who in the final analysis is responsible for the project? The president is already wearing too many hats to focus his attention on this apparently small issue — it only affects the lives of a few million helpless Karachi commuters — in the scheme of the larger issues he has to deal with in the course of a given day.

Perhaps it would be fitting for the president to appoint someone responsible with full executive authority to bring the various stake-holders and interested parties together on one platform to finally sort out the KCR revival project. Also, it should be decided how and when the funding for the project will be made available so that work can begin on this much needed mode of public transportation, the likes of which many big cities around the world rely on to cater to urban needs for a reliable mass transit.

                                                          Crossing the bridge

With the elite no longer dependent on Saddar and the old city for its shopping and entertainment needs, large parts of the city centre have steadily declined. After the shops shut down, the area becomes a virtual bus depot and no longer buzzes with activity as it did when it was the cultural and entertainment hub of the city. Increasingly, the residential suburbs have become self-contained units and people from those areas have little need to visit Saddar or Bunder Road unless they work there or have to change a bus.

As a result, many of the traditional shops and eateries that existed in the city centre have made an exodus across ‘the bridge’. This has further reduced the traffic of shoppers and entertainment seekers from the affluent areas to the city centre. However, while people from Clifton and Defence are less prone to come to the old city areas to shop or eat, there is a growing traffic of people from the old city to the sea and the Boating Basin.

Clifton is now home to all kinds of establishments that were part of old Karachi life. The list of such places is growing by the day. Today, you can buy an old-fashioned Hanifia burger in Clifton rather than travel to Jamshed Road or Nursery. There has also been a trickle of mithaiwalas crossing the bridge in recent years. Anjarwala, S. Abdul Khaliq and Ahmed are just three such establishments.

There is also a branch of Kheer House, which has recently crossed the bridge from Bunder Road. Among eateries, the two Khans, Cafe de and Bundoo, now have branches in Clifton. There are also shops at the Boating Basin that serve nihari, haleem and bihari kebabs and advertise themselves as alternatives to Karachi’s traditional food street, the Burnes Road.

The claustrophobic Gulfway Mall has everything that once made Tariq Road or Bohri Bazar a favourite haunt of women shoppers. Who needs Jamia Cloth Market or Liaqatabad when there are kaarigars based in Clifton doing exquisite karhaai work, albeit at twice the price. A branch of the famous Hilal Silk House has opened in Zamzama; there is a dyers and tailors galore at Schoen circle, khaddarwalas in Gizri and an alternative to Rabi Centre at Aashiana.

Fortunately, most of these relative newcomers to Clifton have not abandoned their old outlets. Many, like Jafferjee’s, have simply branched out to where the demand and money are without abandoning their old Saddar outlets.

However, what is good for Clifton is not necessarily good for the city as a whole. A great city needs a thriving centre, a place where people from all parts of town and every social class mingle and congregate. The decline of the cinema culture, the shifting of theatrical and musical performances from Saddar to foreign cultural centres and the general dilapidation caused by the endless traffic have deprived the city centre of its vibrancy.

And that is never a healthy sign for any city.

                                                            The tea song

The launch of a new song produced and directed by none other than Shoaib Mansoor could have taken place anywhere in the country as, according to some people, Karachi is still suffering from the aftermath of the terrorist attacks. Foreign missions based in the city, for instance, are still unsure and vary. Is it then not laudable that the Karachiites are unwilling to lose faith in their city of lights?

This past Friday saw the launch of the said song in one of the city’s five-star hotels, which, not very long ago, was also the target of a terrorist attack. Yet, none of the things one expected to happen, like the hotel hiring security guards to frisk visitors, etc., happened. Just goes to show how excessive security mechanisms do not mix well with good hospitality.

The song titled Ishq was launched by a leading tea brand, which commissioned and appropriated it. One didn’t know what to make of the invitation card — it had a picture of Maulana Roomi’s dervishes — and thought that it was probably going to be a new jingle which the organizers had somehow associated with divine love and the supposedly ‘divine’ taste of the tea in question. Luckily, that was not the case.

The song is inspired by sufi music, with Bulleh Shah’s soul searching poetry sung by Riaz Ali Qadri, a new discovery from Pakpattan. Shoaib Mansoor’s brilliant graphics and choreography have added value to the whole venture. The tea company just happens to be its sponsor.

The song has a characteristic of slowly growing on one’s senses and mind. Perhaps that was why the organizers played it twice on the two big projection screens set up in the hall. It fulfils the essential sufi purpose of taking one softly by the hand and putting one on to the path of true love for the Creator.

The video does full justice to the purpose even if one cannot understand the poetry, which is largely in Punjabi. Watching the video one could feel nothing could come between a man and his true love for God — not even a steaming cup of tea!— By Karachian

Breaking the vicious cycle: VIEW FROM MARGALLA

THE PROBLEM with the Pakistani generals is their mindset. It never changes, specially when the general in question is the head of a military junta. I have heard them all. They all speak the same language whenever they address the nation and the thrust of all such addresses is also the same. They all blame the politicians for their coups. And in order to stop the politicians from inviting the Army back after they had restored democracy and gone back to the barracks (which they never did willingly), all these generals in the national interest (mind you, none of them according to his own confession was personally power hungry) have come up with the only solution which such a wrong assumption would dictate: a permanent political role for the Army in the constitution. Ayub, Yahya, Zia all of them tried to attain this preposterous ambition through various camouflages, but failed miserably costing the nation immensely. The Field Marshal, as long as he was in the saddle, never transferred power in its true sense of the meaning despite his highly exotic election gimmickries. And Zia remained the COAS as well as an un-elected president even after the 1985 elections. He had conducted his own referendum and had managed like Musharraf to win it by ‘massive margin’, but like Musharraf he also knew that he would still need to offer himself for election to the office after the general polls. This he could not do because he had no intention of giving up his COAS cap and the Constitution barred those holding government offices from offering themselves for elective positions. So he went about it by having his name mentioned in the Constitution which said: “I, President General Ziaul Haq, would remain the President of Pakistan for the next five years.” Musharraf also faces the same dilemma and is likely to cross the bridge when he would come to it by conjuring up a Zia-like extra-constitutional trick and getting a pliable Supreme Court to uphold the act.

Why does such a selfless man having no selfish ambitions want to play such a nasty trick on this hapless nation for the fourth time in 55 years? Well, like his predecessors General Musharraf too seems to be driven by his sincere desire to stop the politicians for all times to come from inviting the Army back after he had restored democracy and ‘transferred executive powers’ to the PM following the October elections. Under the proposed constitutional amendments this PM with all his so-called ‘executive powers’ cannot even appoint provincial governors because the Pakistani COAS believes that an elected Pakistani Prime Minister cannot be trusted even with such ordinary responsibilities. And let us now bring under the microscope these much-maligned civilian politicians of Pakistan who cannot even be trusted with the job of managing the economy without being threatened with salary suspension. Who are they? The batch of civilian politicians that lasted until the advent of Zia was hand made by our first military dictator, Field Marshal Ayub Khan. And the one that lasted until the advent of General Musharraf was the one manufactured by General Zia. And now Musharraf is engaged in producing a new batch of politicians through the King’s Party and the National Alliance. But like the ones who learnt their politics at the martial law schools of Ayub and Zia, the new batch too would be no different. They would be as dictatorial as ZA Bhutto (the blue-eyed boy of Ayub) and Nawaz (the blue-eyed boy of Zia) were. As soon as Musharraf would fade away from the scene, these democratic dictators produced by the Pakistani military would take over and repeat what their political predecessors had done in the past. The solution, General Musharraf, therefore, does not lie in giving the Army a permanent constitutional role and creating brand new batches of politicians by waving the magic wand of the GHQ. This has already been done in the past and it has failed to deliver. What is needed, General Sb, is to make it impossible for the future COASs to start planning to take over at the very first call for help from politicians trained at martial law schools of politics.

But how does one accomplish this miracle without subjecting the nation to an Iranian kind of revolution or before, God forbid, such a revolution becomes impossible to avert? Pakistan, mind you, will not be able to survive such a revolution. We must, therefore, try our best to avert coming to such a pass. So, what do we do? Well, for one let us break the vicious cycle that was set in motion by the 1958 military coup by going back to the barracks willingly after holding the elections in October under the 1973 Constitution as it was on October 12, 1999.

Of course, the proposal to expand the size of the national and the provincial assemblies and the senate, the inclusion of women and technocrats seats and their mode of elections as well as that of the senate, the joint electorate system and voting age going down to 18 years could be adopted before elections because all of them have been found to be largely non-controversial. And mind you, going back to the barracks willingly does not mean capitulation at the hands of the people of Pakistan. The Army is as much a part of this nation as the non-uniformed population of the country. If the Army went back to the barracks willingly after transferring power to the elected representatives of the people, it would be a victory as much of the Army as that of the nation. But in order to ensure fair and free elections the military government should in consultation with all the major political parties appoint, before the election schedule is announced, an independent chief election commissioner (CEC) having administrative rather than judicial experience. The reason why you need a CEC with administrative experience is that only he can because of his experience preempt and detect irregularities at the polling stations and control them. Judges can judge if a crime has been committed after the fact but they cannot, however, preempt a crime from being committed or detect it after it has been committed. And for obvious reasons on the polling day the polling stations and booths should be placed under the control of the Army and the police should be barred from entering the polling areas. — ONLOOKER

Look into my heart, can you?

IN the postscript to her letter from Karachi, one of my correspondents says:

“I would prefer to remain anonymous but, if necessary, you can publish my name.”

Well, I do find it necessary to publish her name which is Ms Safia Karim. In a brief letter, she writes:

“I keep reading your columns, which I find very different and interesting. One of the things which makes them quite unique is the inclusion of comments sent in by your readers that, in turn, shows you are sensitive to their feelings, rather than being self-absorbed, like some writers tend to be.

“A subject that you frequently touch upon and which is very important to many Pakistanis, including me, is the problem of Kashmir. I greatly appreciate your bold and forthright approach to the issue and your concern for the suffering of the Kashmiri people. I am of Kashmiri origin myself, though I take pride in being a Pakistani as well. The endless atrocities committed by the Indians upon our brothers and sisters in occupied Kashmir are a source of perpetual heartache. To add insult to injury, they try to hoodwink the world by depicting the heroic Kashmiri freedom struggle as nothing more than ‘cross-border terrorism’ being fomented by Pakistan!

“I have written the enclosed poem, which endeavours to put this struggle in its true perspective. As you can see, I am no Robert Frost — whose beautiful poem you quoted recently — yet I sincerely feel including it in one of your columns would help the Kashmiris’ cause...”

The poem she has sent is titled Freedom Fighter. It runs like this:

In this land, this ‘heaven on Earth’,

That was filled with beauty and mirth,

The enemy came, brought in strife,

Separated me from my wife,

Killed our son, disgraced our daughter,

Gave us pain, stole our laughter.

Gun in hand, I stepped into the night,

Face grim, ready for a fight.

Unswayed by fear, with an iron will,

I moved swiftly from hill to hill:

A gunshot here, a grenade there,

And I mastered guerrilla warfare.

Soon the enemy was on the run,

Life for him was no more fun;

Losing his nerve and his dream He began accusing me of terrorism —

Look into my heart, can you?

A child’s tears break it in two!

One day time ran out for me

For I had a date with destiny:

Don’t stand at my grave, don’t cry,

I’m not here, I didn’t die.

Once a freedom fighter, I’m now a martyr,

My spirit lives on in Kashmir.

I HAVE been reading an old novel, The spymaster by E Phillips Oppenheim, first published in 1938. Some quotes:

“He returned her gaze coldly, with just that slight touch of polite interest which a woman recognizes as an insult.”

And then,

“We are weary of conversations. We want peace but we are tired of talking about peace. It leads nowhere.” Isn’t this the way the Indians are talking? But the joke is that India is not even talking. It is preparing to take what it wants for itself. They are just now preparing the ground for that. And when the blow falls, the whole world will say India did the right thing to take what it wanted for itself, and that under the circumstances, it was the only thing to do to stop “cross-border infiltration.”

Oppenheim asks:

“Is Britain really going to be bullied into war, does anyone know?” In our circumstances, India is doing its best to bully us into war. Is Gen Musharraf prepared to be thus bullied?

On ordering your servants about:

“You are a wonderful chap, Greyes. Always know when to disobey orders ...” Yes, indeed. The boss is always right. But everyone should, in his discretion, learn to overrule the Sahib once in a while.

On optimism:

“The greatest crime of which a statesman can be guilty is over-optimism.” In our situation, the word ‘statesman’ must be replaced by another, simpler word which is ‘general.’ So Gen Pervez Musharraf is duly warned: don’t be over-optimistic while dealing with India, General. Advani keeps saying Ram, Ram while he has a dagger up his sleeve.

“On the eve of the Second World War:

“Europe has gone crazy. The nations have lost their heads and from the cataclysm of dissension and misrule have belched out these dictators (Hitler and Mussolini) who aspire to govern the world. It seems strange that they cannot produce one man strong enough to be its saviour.”

Well, from the cataclysm of dissension and misrule, the Indians have belched out Advani and Fernandes who aspire to rule all of non-Chinese Asia (to begin with). Is there no one to stop them? Not one, not in Pakistan if you ask me.

THERE was this DPA story in Dawn on July 14:

The Jerry Springer Show has been named the worst TV show of all time in a list of unwatchable shows released on Friday (July 12) by the TV Guide magazine.

The show beat out strong competition from My Mother The Car (1965) to second place, the football show XFL (2001), The Brady Bunch Hour (1977) and Hogan’s Heroes (1965-71).

The announcement came as the Springer Show was sued by the sons of one-time guest Nancy-Campbell Panitz, who was murdered by her ex-husband after they appeared in the show in May, 2000.

Perhaps the TV Guide magazine never even considered PTV or it could have won the most unwatchable network award hands down. I am talking of PTV after Mr Aslam Azhar and not while he was around. Accused of arrogance by many, Aslam Azhar certainly knew his beans. And, at any rate, arrogance comes naturally to him. It has never been a pose with him.

A YOUNG friend rang from Karachi the other day. He is very fond of the various ‘Authorities’ created in recent years, such as the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority, the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority and so on.

And then he asked: “do you know we have OGRA, too?”

“Whatever in the devil’s name does that mean?”

“OGRA is meant for a place where there are too many ogres,” he laughed.

“Come on, be serious,” I said.

“OGRA stands for Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority, stupid,” he said, “and that’s why oil and gas are being constantly ‘regulated’ upward.”

WOLFGANG Bergmann, a German child psychologist, said in an interview recently that children need parental authority and an environment in which they feel safe.

“Parents have the right and the duty to be strict. Authoritarian parenting was a 1950s ideal that has since become unfashionable. Yet many parents are now rethinking their attitudes. Education without punishment is an illusion. Parents have the right to become angry when their children do not keep to the rules,” says Herr Bergmann.

There’s something to be said in favour of authoritarian parenting and there’s something to be said against it. Let me give you my personal example. My father never spared the rod. And yet I did not become what he wanted me to. So, authoritarian parenting did not work in my case. On the contrary, it was wholly counterproductive. My father failed miserably and died an early death.

When it was my turn for parenting, in reaction to my father’s dictatorial ways, I lifted all controls. “My son will be what he wants to be,” I used to tell myself. So my darling son turned out to be a wastrel, a shirker, a malingerer. He disappointed me at every opportunity, sometimes when there was no opportunity.

The thing is that my father never spared the rod and I turned out to be a rotter. I spared the rod. In fact, I threw the rod away. The result? My son, too, has turned out to be a rotter. So what is to be done? The solution lies, I think, somewhere in between total authoritarianism and an abdication of parental privileges. Spare the rod, by all means, but let your child know and fear that it might be used if necessary.

AN American, father of 22, (and no less), has been found to have raped four of his own daughters, one of whom, 14, became pregnant. He must have voted George Bush Jr for president.