| July 30, 2002 | Tuesday | Jamadi-ul-Awwal 19,1423 |
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Real target: Iraq or Muslims?
Teachers & good governance
Lining water courses
UK student visa
Godhra killings
Wargames and musical gala
A man larger than life
The prospects for ARD
Status of Northern Areas
Musharraf’s visit to BD
Analysis
Benazir and IPPs
Future of bartered girls
IN his recent address to the nation, President Musharraf covered three subjects: the state of the economy, war against international terrorism, and the new political structure he wants to build on the foundations laid by the Constitution of 1973.
Although the president did not link the three subjects, but his decision to focus on them suggests he recognizes that only a fully representative political system can produce a vibrant economy. A functioning economy, supported by a political structure having the people’s confidence, is one of the several necessary conditions for bringing domestic terrorism under control.
The proposed reform package envisages power for political parties. Once the party leadership can swallow the bitter pill of democracy in party structure, they will start seeing the benefits of the proposed reform. While the proposed amendment to Article 63A seeks to ensure that defection remains barred, it also ensures that party leaders may only initiate proceedings for disqualification of a member culpable of defection.
Equally radical are the provisions of the new Political Parties Order-2002. The chief election commissioner did well to announce that parties failing to comply with its provisions would be denied part in the October polls.
The law requires parties to file with the EC a copy of their constitution and a statement of their accounts audited by a chartered accountant. Also compulsory is holding party elections and filing results of the elections.
The idea to replace the existing indirect election for Senate with a direct election through proportional representation based on open party lists will help enhance the institutional esteem of the Senate and empower the upper house of the parliament.
RUBINA KHAN
Karachi
THE United States had started attacks on Iraq on the pretext of Baghdad’s refusal to let the UN experts visit the sites where Iraq had allegedly resumed work on weapons of mass destruction.
The attacks seem to be an act of protecting Israel as the US Defence Secretary had uttered that the strikes against Iraq or any other country, indulged in developing nuclear, chemical or biological weapons, would essentially be in ‘self-defence’. Washington does not mention its own stockpiles of such weapons. Iraq is facing renewed threats of US onslaught while it seems that Iran, Syria and Lebanon are also on its hit-list.
Neither did terrorism start with the 9/11 tragedy nor has there been any evidence of Iraq’s involvement in the attack.
The US policy has rendered the Americans insecure and they live under constant fear everywhere in the world.
The war against terrorism is, in fact, a war against Islam and a ploy to extend US imperialism to the Muslim World. The gravity of the situation demands that an emergency meeting of the OIC should be convened to respond to the US designs and prevent further deterioration.
It is high time for the US to make a thorough assessment of its policies and actions.
S.A. KHOKHAR
Lahore
GREAT men think alike, it is said. And the great rulers of different hues our country has been blessed with have acted alike. This has been tellingly brought home by the recent police brutality perpetrated on the male and female college teachers in Lahore the other day.
This is not for the first time that the authorities have acted unwisely. In the past, too, there have been examples of such behaviour. In 1972, the protesting teachers’ ring leaders were arrested and a theft case registered against them, presented before a magistrate in Lahore and a remand obtained. After a few days they were released and taken to the Governor’s House. Is Maulana Ghaffari still around? While his supreme leader had the background of Berkley, Oxford, and Ayub Khan’s martial law, the then strongman of the Punjab had learnt all his arts of governance from Kot Adu.
Gen Ziaul Haq went still further. He threw over a dozen college and university teachers in jail following a plane hijacking. Some of them were kept in the Lahore Fort as if the hijacking had been masterminded by the teachers! Ironically enough, Gen Zia perished in a plane crash. Things have not changed in the days of ‘good governance’. Now the teachers are lathi-charged, insulted and disgraced. What a shame! Mere expression of regret is not enough. The governor should meet the representatives of teachers to sort matters out. Only then shall good governance be acknowledged.
M. NAWAZ QASMI
Multan
LINING of water courses and irrigation minors can go a long way in overcoming water shortages and boosting agricultural production. However, this is not being given the importance it deserves.
Farmers are required to pay 30 per cent of the cost plus labour charges which small farmers find it hard to pay. Therefore, there is very little lining activity. Out of the Rs6 billion meant for new projects in the districts, the Punjab government must earmark at least 40 per cent for lining water courses and minors. The farmers’ share should be kept limited to no more than 10 per cent.
LT-COL MUHAMMAD ASLAM WARRIACH
Sargodha
THIS refers to the ambiguous British policy towards the Pakistani applicants of student visa. The British High Commission, Islamabad, is currently extending a limited service due to which it doesn’t handle student visa.
The Pakistani applicants have been advised to contact the UK visa office in a third country for the purpose.
I have been accepted to the 2002/3 M.Sc. course at the London School of Economics and Political Science. I have also been given the graduate merit award and financial assistance by this school. I, therefore, need to be in London by the end of September, 2002, to enrol myself. I have visited UK thrice as a visitor and never refused a visa/entry.
My last visit was in October, 2000. There are many others like me who have got admission to the UK universities and have arranged funds with great difficulty for their study in the UK.
The British High Commission in Islamabad is requested to announce a clear policy and guideline to facilitate Pakistani student visa seekers. If possible, the British Council or some other embassy in Pakistan should provide services to process the applications. If not, the services should be made available at a country closer to Pakistan and the applicants may be provided necessary and complete information about the requirements in this regard.
FAHR AHMED
Lahore
I AM an avid reader of Dawn and appreciate its editorials and the reporting in the newspaper. But here I have to refer to the July 25 editorial which said the forensic evidence “ruled out any Muslim hand in the burning of the train full of Hindu activists at Godhra station in Gujarat.”
The forensic report only proved that the inflammable material was inside when it caught fire. The train happened to be surrounded by a huge mob pelting stones which left marks on the carriage and it was also found that the carriage doors were open rather than closed. Doesn’t a detached viewpoint say that some unscrupulous people from the angry mob forcibly boarded the train with inflammable material taken from the poor colony nearby and set it on fire?
The editorial refers to the people in the carriage as ‘Hindu activists’. I’m sure you are aware that the majority of those who got burnt alive were women and children. To write them off as ‘Hindu activists’ cannot be right in any sense. It sounds a lot like when Donald Rumsfeld describes Afghan bomb casualties as ‘collateral damage’.
When this kind of logic is put forward it undercuts secular Hindus who want communal amity. What happened after the train burning was a crime against humanity. It should be investigated by Amnesty and the BJP certainly has skeletons in its Gujarat cupboard.
RAHUL MALHOTRA
Austin, Texas, USA
THIS refers to a news item ‘War games conclude’ (Dawn, July 26). One is fascinated by the opening line: “War games Sabit Qadam II on Thursday culminated at a big musical evening at the National Defence College with President Pervez Musharraf as the chief guest, defence sources said.”
It is really big stuff; apparently the organizers as well as Pakistan’s top brass seem to have recalled Allama Iqbal’s dictum shamshir-o-sina awwal, taoos-o-rabab aakhir.
That such a musical grand gala might, besides giving rise to other ills, should cause public inconvenience is indeed deplorable. By indulging in such fun and frolic, as reported, twice in a single week, we are offering to the people at large a spectacle the like of which we had only witnessed in the time of Gen Yahya Khan.
Such events hurt me to the core. I am now 83-years old and besides eating the salt of the army, I have drawn pension for 35 long years, leave alone pay or allowance during my 28 years of service. As an old soldier I want to see our armed forces holding military tattoos, assaults and arms or other shows of a military nature.
LT-COL NAJMUDDIN MIRZA
Lahore
I WRITE in memory of the prince of our hearts. With my two little children standing next to me who are fortunate enough to have experienced his affection and immense fondness, love and respect for children, I wonder how one puts into words and describe a man who was larger than life itself, a legend, and a master in the art of governance.
Volumes of books will not do justice to the rich life he lived. He was a tower of strength and support for Pakistanis abroad.
With all the excitements and distractions of Washington, there was nothing more thrilling than walking up those stairs leading to the room where he would be sitting. Every minute spent in his company was a journey through the classic moments of history. Every word uttered by him reflected a man possessing unusual wisdom and judgment, which is not found in living souls these days.
He practised what economists today are peddling as a new concept which is that cultural and human development precedes economic development, always appreciating, respecting, and bringing out the creative spirit present in us all. In Washington, his home and family life was an epitome of Mughal and Pakistani culture.
He was a pioneer in giving Pakistani women professional exposure and direction. He would say that for Pakistan to pull out of poverty, Pakistani women needed to be financially independent and professionally able.
I feel that professionally and personally what I learned from him is far more valuable than anything ever taught in any
Ivy League school or any institute under the sun. With ease, peculiar only to him, in a few minutes, he would come up with simple solutions for problems.
He spent his life serving humanity. From his juniors he demanded nothing less than perfection.
One early morning on the breakfast table, God blessed me with an opportunity to tell Mian Sahib when he was in good health: “I can spend my life thanking you and yet will not be able to thank you enough for what you taught me and what you gave me.” From him we learned to enjoy the little wonders of life.
Such a man was M.M. Ahmad.
N.M.
Lahore
THE ARD claims to be a bastion of democracy. The grouping can only be as good as its main protagonists. Let’s take stock: Nawabzada Nasrullah has consistently been rejected by his constituency, though he is their feudal lord.
He has also consistently developed oppositions which have tried to get into power through the backdoor, via so-called national governments, because he is democratically rejected, this seems to be something to work on.
Mr Javed Hashmi was routed in his own constituency and was gifted a safe seat in Lahore by Mr Nawaz Sharif. Qasim Zia has repeatedly been rejected by his constituency. He could not even win an election for president of the Lahore Gymkhana Club.
Mr Nawaz Sharif and Ms Benazir Bhutto, both are convicted people. Both were twice thrown out of office for corruption and incompetence.
These are the major ARD leaders. The minor ones are mostly of the same ilk.
How can such a grouping show a democratic face to the nation?
MUHAMMAD SADIQ
Lahore
IT is shame that the government has failed to implement the Supreme Court verdict of May 28, 1999, calling for according all the fundamental and legal rights to the people of Northern Areas as enshrined under the 1973 Constitution.
President Musharraf is bringing in all kinds of constitutional amendments in the supreme national interest. But it is astonishing to note that the status of the Northern Areas has been left undefined. The government’s failure to implement the relevant SC ruling would only result in strengthening the nationalist movement there which is the least desirable in present situation.
AASIF INAM
Islamabad
WE, the Bangladeshis, warmly welcome President Musharraf to our country and hope that with his pragmatic approach, he would be able to establish new directions in the bilateral relationship.
We strongly feel that there should be wider areas for cooperation, especially in duty-free exports and imports of various items. We also believe that Pakistan’s investment in Bangladesh would be beneficial to both the states.
For closer and intimate socio-economic contacts, we propose subsidized package tour system on a regular basis.
A.B.M. SHAMSUD DOULAH
Dhaka, Bangladesh
THE report on middle class (July 21) on Dawn’s business pages was a critical analysis — a pleasant change from the typical reporting. Over the last few months, I have gone through several such analytical reports on these pages, including this one, Reconstruction of Afghanistan.
I feel that such analysis on different interesting and burning issues, once in a month or so.
MOHAMMAD SOHAIL
Karachi
BENAZIR Bhutto told BBC on July 24 that she would eliminate terrorism in three months. My question is: what would the poor dear do for the rest of her tenure? I wrestled with this question and would like to share the answer with other readers.
She would work at reinstating all the 30-plus independent power producers, most of whom, mercifully, had not got ironclad contracts with the government when she was sent packing. If all the IPPs were producing, the entire national budget would be insufficient to pay them.
We would be perennially bankrupt with huge amounts of electricity which we could not use, but which were contracted by Benazir & Co. Given another opportunity it may take Ms Bhutto a little longer to ‘fix’ Pakistan in this, or similar manner.
M. SHABBIR ISHAQ
Lahore
AFTER the agony that Mukhtaran Bibi and her hapless family suffered, there was a hope that sanity would prevail and we would see restoration of true Islamic values and rule of law in our country. But it seems that all of the hue and cry that both the local and the international media raised went to dogs.
The news item in Dawn’s issue of July 24 headlined ‘Girls and gold save four from gallows’ adds another ring in this shameless chain of brutal tribal custom bypassing all the norms of a civilized society.
As far as the religious aspects of this case are concerned, this is debatable whether a father can offer the hand of her minor daughter, who is unable to distinguish between the right and the wrong, in the matter of Qisas. Islam has categorically asserted that children are not the personal property (like slaves) of father that they could be exchanged like a commodity as happened in this case. Marriage is not the selling out of a girl to a male but a religious bond that ensures the existence and the continuity of human race.
Now, not all the various schools of thought of Islam confirm the role of a wali till the extent that he can broker a deal that involves a marriage of minor girls without their consent especially when these minor girls can not attest, before any legal or ecclesiastical authority, that which school of thought they adhere to. In the famous ‘Saima case’, taken to the Lahore High Court, Saima, a mature lady, refused to adhere to the school of thought of her father and the court decided the case in her favour. Thus, this is incumbent upon the authorities that these minor girls must be given into the custody of some reliable third party until they reach an age of maturity.
This case, surfacing soon after the notorious Meerwala case can cause an irreparable damage to us as a civilized people among the nations of the world. I appeal to those who matter to act before it is too late.
GHAZANFAR ABBAS SARGANA
Multan
THIS is with reference to the news item headlined: ‘Girls and gold save four from gallows’ (July 24).
The news was shocking, to say the least and more shocking was the fact that the Nawab of Kalabagh, some other notables and Ulema had helped broker the deal. The shameful deal makes it clear that the lives of four murderers are more important than those of the eight young and innocent girls whose sin is that they were born to those families.
After the Meerwala case, this is another example of exploitation of women folk. I think the only way to stop the exploitation once and for all is to award capital punishment to those who have brokered this deal, may they be Nawabs or Ulema.
FARIDA BADAR
Lahore
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