| July 28, 2002 | Sunday | Jamadi-ul-Awwal 17,1423 |
To send a letter to the Editor
Click here
Teachers and police
Legal support to smokers
Judging morality of women
Suicide attacks and martyrs
Payment of MVT
Legal status of the Expressway
Advertising by doctors
India and Mukti Bahini
Forgotten heroes
Democracy or autocracy?
Silence over the Mianwali trade-off
THE September 11 attacks were breathtaking in the sheer destruction they wrought. Yet, the badly mauled US satiated its anger by pulverizing a country and capturing most of the supposed perpetrators. In doing so, it also re-asserted its position as the world’s foremost power. Indeed, the ongoing Afghanistan campaign demonstrates how much the technological chasm between the US and its distant competitors — Russia, China, Europe — has widened. The arsenal of the American armed forces has become even more fearsome since the Gulf War.
The ongoing American economic supremacy also continues unabated. Witness the devastation of the attacks; but also witness how easily the American economy absorbed the damage and how effortlessly engaged in reconstruction. Any other state’s economy would have collapsed in the rubble.
However, September 11 has also exposed America’s Achilles’ heel of being generally defenceless against attacks where its enemies do not respect the rules of traditional warfare.
It is manifestly obvious that the Americans will pound any state that dares challenge them in a conventional war. But the US simply cannot cope with a non-state aggressor that decides to target its population. In such a scenario, all its arsenal — the nuclear bombs, aircraft-carriers, Tomahawk cruise missiles, F-16s, Apache attack helicopters — is virtually useless.
Terrorists as those involved in September 11 do not need a state to harbour and nourish them. Money can come from other sources. Therefore, flattening Afghanistan or Iraq is completely useless. It will not halt further attacks.
The Americans have before them two options. On the one hand, they can continue on their present path, clinging on to a cold war mentality, by conjuring up illusions of axis of evil, by implicating petty rogue states, and obliterating them. This path will not deter acts of terrorism on America’s shores. Moreover, no matter how much the US attempts to turn itself into a fortress, there is virtually no way to block out the increasingly innovative (and frighteningly simple) attacks by terrorists bent on taking down as many people with them as possible.
The second option is for the United States to reform its foreign policy. No one can deny that American heavy-handedness is hurting many nations and their peoples. A unipolar world does not give a superpower the licence to be arrogant and oblivious to the effects of its policies. America can only vanquish the many-headed hydra it confronts by denying the evil from which it springs forth.
This evil, America needs to realize, is partly of its own making.
TARIQ ZAFAR RASHEED
London, UK
IT is shocking that the teachers who were protesting against denationalization of educational institutions should have been subjected to severe humiliation and beating by the law-enforcing agencies. This inhuman act of our police whose personnel must have been pupils of one or the other teacher, is highly reprehensible.
Teachers are nation-builders and are held in high esteem by every civilized society. In advanced countries whose culture and civilization are very much criticized by us, they enjoy so much respect that even if a member of the teaching community is tried in a court of law for some minor or major offence, he is given proper respect by the court. The best course for the authorities would have been to arrange a meeting of teachers’ representatives with the Punjab governor which the former were demanding in order to apprise the highest authority in the province of the implications of denationalization.
The demand of the teachers for the withdrawal of the denationalization notification is based on some reasons. If one goes back to the time when educational institutions were nationalized, one would be horrified to know that the teachers of privately-managed institutions had neither a service structure nor any job security. Most of the teachers were underpaid.
The governing bodies of these institutions treated teachers like factory-workers.
Many experienced and highly capable teachers were laid off before the summer vacation every year to save money. Prof Hameed Ahmed Khan’s report on the condition of these educational institutions and the teachers engaged by them speaks volumes of how the sword of Damocles always hung over the teachers’ heads. The teachers now rightly fear that the same conditions would be revived in the event of denationalization.
The merchants of education would again play havoc with education. They will increase the fees to prohibitive levels. They will dispense with the services of teachers who are drawing five-figure salaries. They will engage and employ fresh staff at meagre salaries. The standard of education will further go down, because imparting quality education would be unthinkable if the teachers work in unsatisfactory conditions.
It would, therefore, be in the fitness of things if the denationalization notification is immediately withdrawn. I think that the minister and the secretary of education, Punjab, have done no service to the cause of education by opening the Pandora’s box of denationalization.
PROF BAQAR RAZA ZAIDI
Lahore
AN American citizen living in Miami, who developed mouth and bladder cancer as a result of smoking, has been awarded US$37.5 million in damages recently by a court in Florida. The jury ordered the tobacco companies to pay this amount to the patient and his family.
The same tobacco company, along with its Pakistani subsidiary, continues to operate in Pakistan, aggressively promoting its products in this country. As a chest physician working in a major teaching hospital of Karachi, I see patients with lung cancer everyday. Smoking is the main cause of this type of cancer.
Unfortunately, there is nobody to help these unfortunate patients in getting some compensation from the tobacco companies. Could a lawyer in Pakistan look into this and try to help the victims in getting some compensation from the tobacco companies that are busy making huge profits at the cost of human lives?
DR JAVAID A KHAN
Karachi
A LETTER published in Dawn on June 30 had certain questions on the laws of Hudood. As I was away from the country I was unable to respond to Dr Rahman. Let me attempt to do so now.
The gist of his questions is that whether the state ought to sit on judgment on the morality of people or not. I believe the state has no business to do so. Their interference gives a handle to self-styled custodians of people’s morality to dominate the lives of women. This cannot be allowed and the experience of the Hudood Ordinance shows that such ‘custodians’ have twisted minds and relish in persecuting those they perceive to be weaker than them.
The problem in Pakistan is not the immorality of women but the hypocrisy of confused men.
ASMA JAHANGIR
Lahore
THIS is with reference to a letter on this theme by Capt Abdussalam Khan (July 23). What was considered so far a golden chapter in the history of the Pakistani nation in stopping the advance of the Indian tank regiment in Chowinda in the Sialkot sector in September 1965 war by our soldiers going under the Indian tanks with mines tied to their bodies, has been reduced to nothingness on the evidence of his Colonel brother.
I request well-informed soldiers and army officers who fought in that war to come forward and give accurate information or eye-witness accounts of the war fought in Chowinda, clarifying if the general belief regarding our soldiers sacrificing their lives in this manner is true.
M.M. KHAN
Karachi
I WONDER if Mr Mohammad Shahzad Shaikh who wrote the letter, ‘Suicide bombings and martyrdom’ (July 18) would be using the same logic in justifying suicide bombings if he were to be at the receiving end of the same?
If suicide bombings were only targeted at Israeli forces, then his arguments could carry some weight. But avenging the death of a dear child does not mean killing someone else’s dear child who has nothing to do with the killing. Please don’t forget that the targets of these bombings are ordinary Israelis who, too, happen to be very dear to someone in this world. Killing innocent women and children is, in any case, a cowardly and despicable act.
Brainwashing youngsters to blow themselves up in the name of religion not only undermines the Palestinian cause but also brings a bad name to Islam which, on the contrary, teaches love and peace.
FARANAZ NADIR SHAH
Karachi
THE finance minister of Sindh had, in his budget speech for the fiscal year 2002-2003, made it very clear that the motor vehicle tax had been abolished. But recently large queues of people (both ladies and gents) have been seen at different branches of the National Bank of Pakistan for paying motor vehicle tax.
I request the finance and the excise and taxation departments of the government of Sindh to clarify the situation immediately. In case the tax is still payable the last date, July 31, may be extended to enable those to make payments who have not been able to do so as yet because of the confusion.
S.H. ZAIDI
Karachi
THIS is with reference to the letter by Aijaz Ali ‘The Expressway megalomania’ (July 21). He is a planner and has looked at the issue from a planner’s point of view. However, the real issue is legal and moral. Land can only be acquired from leased settlements and notified katchi abadis through the Land Acquisition Act.
The act has a number of provisions such as a Gazette Notification that has to be published and made available to the settlements that are to be acquired. The market value of the land and property has to be settled with the residents and payment has to be made before acquisition. If acquisition means the loss of livelihood and home then additional payment has to be made to compensate for it. Resettlement has to be in an area which has similar facilities to the one which is being acquired.
None of these provisions and procedures, which have been spelt out in the act, are being followed in the case of Lyari Expressway.
Section 12 of the Pakistan Environmental Protection Act 1997 requires that an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) should be prepared for a project such as the Lyari Expressway before construction is undertaken. Procedures for initiating and preparing such an EIA have been laid out. No such EIA has been prepared and as such the initiation of the construction of the project is illegal.
Apart from legal considerations, the government is also violating the international covenants that it has signed such as the Istanbul Declaration and the Habitat Agenda. It is also violating the policy decisions announced by the Chief Executive on Jan 15, 2001, for the regularization and upgradation of katchi abadis. If the government violates its own laws, why should citizens not violate them also? If the government violates its commitments then why should citizens trust it?
I visited the Expressway site with journalists and concerned citizens at the invitation of the Lyari societies. What moved me more than the tears and misery of the people was what an old Makrani woman said: “This house has been built incrementally over 100 years. While living here I saw Gandhi and Nehru and I went to the burial of Jinnah. He now wants to destroy this house. Does he not feel ashamed of himself?”
Do the planners and the promoters of the Expressway understand the importance of what she has said?
RIZWAN UL HAQ
Karachi
I WOULD like to draw the attention of the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council to the fact that of late several doctors have started advertising in newspapers and television about themselves. This is not allowed under the PMDC regulations.
If this trend continues, the line of distinction between a qualified medical doctor and a quack would get blurred and the service would get converted into a business.
ZIA SYED
Karachi
THE issue of Kashmir has been a hanging fire for more than 50 years now. India blames Pakistan for providing military support to the Kashmiri freedom fighters. While Pakistan denies such allegations, India accuses us at every forum and now that it has massed its troops along the international borders, I would like to say a few words on the role India played in the fall of Dhaka in 1971.
The Indian army was the key element in the formation of the Mukti Bahini in 1971. Brig Jagdev Singh, an Indian commander on the eastern front, accepted that the Indian army “put life back into the struggle of the Muktis.”
Six training centres were established in India, each commanded by a brigade. These centres provided all the weapons needed for training and arming the Mukti Bahini. Arms and ammunition came from the Indian ordnance factories (IOF) with no attempt to hide even the IOF markings. The late Mr Moraji Desai, a former Indian premier, did admit that not only did the Indian army train the Mukti Bahini, it also fought the Pakistan army in East Pakistan from April to December, 1971, (Pakistan Times, Aug 14, 1974).
Mrs Indra Gandhi, however, never accepted the fact and kept on insisting that her government was not involved. She never allowed foreign observers to go and study the situation along the Indo-Pakistan border for fear of exposure (Tragedy of Errors by Lt-Gen K. Matinuddin).
All the facts indicate that India was clearly involved in the fall of Dhaka, although the follies of our politicians and military rulers was also a contributing factor.
So what if India is accusing us of training the mujahideen? After all, Kashmir is a disputed area. When India could interfere with the internal affairs of our sovereign state in 1971, don’t we have the right to do the same in a disputed territory claimed by both of us?
DR TAHIR MALIK
Lahore
THIS is with reference to Hameedullah K. Malik’s letter on this subject (July 22). The answer to the question asked by the writer is that the two distinguished soldiers, Lt-Gen Akhtar Hussain Malik and Lt-Gen Abdul Ali Malik and probably their third brother, Col Majeed Malik, are purposely blacked-out because of the same reason that was behind the black-out of another genuine hero: our Nobel prize winner Dr Abdul Salam.
SYED AKIF NAQVI
Karachi
THERE are two observations that I wish to make in connection with Shahid Javed Burki’s ‘Democracy or autocracy’ (July 23).
First, he suggests that the periods during which the military was in charge, 1958-69 and 1977-88, Pakistan experienced high levels of economic growth. Mr Burki neglects to mention the fact that Pakistan received sizable aid packages from the US during these two time blocks that resulted in relatively large economic expansions. It is important to note that during 1977-88, Pakistan had become the third largest recipient of US aid, after Israel and Egypt.
Second, Mr Burki says: “There is now agreement in East Asia that the ravages of 1997-99 could have been avoided had greater amount of participation been allowed in the political system to all segments of the population.” This might be true. What is, however, even more clear and widely agreed upon is the fact that it was the IMF’s policy prescriptions that had made a bad situation horribly worse in East Asia. Professor Joseph Steiglitz, a Nobel prize winner in economics and former chief economist of the World Bank, has detailed a damning indictment of IMF policies in his writings on the East Asian economic crisis. These essays are accessible through the web.
RAO AMJAD ALI
Scarborough, Canada
I HAVE just read that following a judgement in a double murder trial, the aggrieved party struck a deal with the rival group (July 24).
The settlement consists of a payment of Rs8 million and the hands of eight young girls in marriage to men of the aggrieved party. This tradition is called ‘vani’ The deal was struck in the presence of local scholars and elders. One of the girls was to be married to an 80-year-old man.
What is going on in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan? Islam had given around 1,500 years ago laws that gave protection to the innocent, particularly the womenfolk. And now a murder dispute is being settled by trading daughters.
How on earth can this be done? How will these girls be treated in their homes? Won’t they be hated and kicked around for the rest of their lives for crimes they did not commit. Such society is doomed to perish.
There must be some intervention from the judiciary to stop this cruelty to women.
MANSOOR WARRAICH
Frankenthal, Germany
I WAS literally shocked after reading this news (July 24). In this millennium, when nations are exploring Mars and trying to go beyond the galaxy, we in Pakistan are going back to the times when women were bartered as goats and sheep.
This is inhuman. I request the President and the home minister to intervene in this matter and stop these influential tribal figures from implementing this agreement. I also call upon the human rights groups and NGOs to raise their voice and strongly condemn this crime against humanity.
MANSOOR ANSARI
Dubai, UAE
FOUR men get pardon from death sentence by giving Rs8 million and eight girls. Who approves this pardon? Does it get endorsed by the honourable judges?
SHAHBAZ AZMI
UAE
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.