Defending the Nawab

THIS is in reference to Mr Amad Khan’s letter (Aug 1) captioned ‘Just to save four lives’. I have full sympathy with him for being disturbed by a number of letters written against his father, Malik Asad Khan, Nawab of Kalabagh.

Amad Khan defends his father’s act by saying: “Two men from one party were to be married to two women just as a tradition. They were to divorce them voluntarily before Rukhsati.”

The point is that the tradition calls for marriage of man with woman and not man with minors.

According to Mr Amad the administration, not knowing the ground reality, took action and almost spoilt all efforts towards peace.

It had been reported that the administration had intervened only on under the Supreme Court orders.

He says that people involved in the issue are respectable Pathan families.

No respectable person on this planet will ever think of marrying a child and that also, as claimed, just to divorce her a few minutes later.

I would only say that traditions may be respected and followed but senseless traditions should be abolished.

We have developed a sense of women’s rights not only now and not even in the past 100 years. The sense had been developed 1,400 years ago by our Holy Prophet, Mohammad (PBUH) when he taught the Arabs who used to bury their girls alive.

NAJAM ABBAS NAQVI

Sharjah, UAE

I WAS both amused and dismayed to read Capt (R) Amad Khan’s letter (Aug 1) in support of his father’s role in Abbakhel village deal.

Amused, because the writing smacked complete rejection of the fact that respect is earned through willingness to accept responsibility and openness to accountability.

Dismayed, because the ex-soldier made a futile attempt to invoke patriotism by doubting this quality in Pakistani expatriates. His personal example of preferring the homeland over ‘a cushy job abroad’, is debatable considering the obviously cushy lifestyle many others must have been enjoying at home.

Amad Khan should not be furious over the critics of his father’s role in the deal. Instead, he should thank Allah who gave his father the influence and high respect that he enjoys in his area, ponder over the deep-rooted causes of Abbakhel incident, and ensure that in future his family tackles such matters in a better and respectable manner.

ALPHA ROMEO

Rawalpindi

Of quacks and ‘pirs’

RECENTLY, the government has come down on faith healers — Aamil, Najoomi, Pir etc — who have been fleecing innocent people, especially the womenfolk.

Faith healers are found all over the world and I wonder if other countries have any special laws to restrict their practice. Surprisingly, educated people also consult them for the solution of their problems.

Even some politicians have been visiting pirs, either to get their blessings or to seek advice on intricate problems.

I knew a person in Rawalpindi who was on the payroll of the Prime Minister’s House. He used to guide a premier in scheduling his tours abroad and also advise in other matters. He was considered to be a master of black magic.

Among such professionals, the most dangerous are quacks. The poor who cannot afford doctors, go to pahelwan or a sanyas for the treatment of their physical ills. These quacks have killed many people by mishandling cases.

I talked to some orthopaedic surgeons who had come across numerous cases of fractured bones. They said that the cases were spoiled by pahelwans.

Similar is the case of Da’aees who handle, rather mishandle, maternity cases. Countless women have died because most of these Da’ees are absolutely unable to handle complicated cases.

The government is requested to check such people and take stern action against those responsible for fatalities.

MOHAMMAD AZHAR KHWAJA

Lahore

To mark ‘9/11 Day’

THE other day, it was reported by the press that a group of leading Muslim organizations in the US have called for all Americans to mark the anniversary of September 11 with activities that foster religious tolerance.

Let us take a cue from this announcement and come together in a big way as a nation. Let us not forget that we are the believers in a religion that teaches us tolerance and moderation in all our acts.

As a nation we lost many innocent lives of young and brilliant Pakistani brethren in the attacks on September 11.

For once, let us not be influenced by the sheer ignorance of the so-called messiahs of Islam. Let us not side with nations who were never there to lend us a helping hand in our hour of need. Let us, for a change, help ourselves and our own nation. Let us try to give our children a future which has religious tolerance, human rights awareness and a minimum of undue repression and suppression.

I suggest to all sane and thinking Pakistani Muslims to organize any kind of forum that they can observe September 11.

MRS NAVIN ANWAR ALI

Lahore

Menace of passive smoking

PEOPLE have a right to sit on a bus or in a cinema and not be the victims of passive smoking. According to a report, passive smoking (breathing in other people’s smoke) can increase a non- smoker’s chance of getting cancer by 10-32 per cent. Passive smoking can also cause chest complaints and general ill health.

Restaurants have smoking tables but this does not prevent the smoke or the smell from reaching other tables. Government policy has to be expanded to cover every aspect of smoking in public. Young children are easily influenced and the sight of a teenager smoking could be the trigger to turn that child into a smoker.

Children, by nature, are attracted to many things that the cigarette has to offer them: defiance of authority, a sense of individualism, emulation of an admired image, social acceptance by peers, a perception of masculinity, and many other false notions that help settle various insecurities of the adolescent.

Tobacco executives realize that if they introduce their products as being capable of relieving numerous social pressures that teenagers undergo, their products will be perceived this way (to an extent) by a large percentage of children; these children will let the industry affect their actions and, ultimately, their lives. It is for these two reasons that the industry must focus its attention on persuading young people to start smoking.

Cigarette companies view their advertising approach as an investment. Young people, who are only a small percentage of the market, slowly accumulate in numbers, year by year, and increase their habit as they grow older.

Eventually, this small group of consumers develops into the majority of the tobacco market.

Tobacco is causing deaths to about four million people a year worldwide and its addiction is also a sheer waste of money which is strictly prohibited by Islam. Ulema have already declared smoking a sin.

AINEY IDREES MEMON

Hyderabad

Eliminating poverty

THIS letter refers to the news item (Aug 1) that petrol prices have been raised and another one which stated that the decision on the increase of gas prices would be taken after three days.

May we ask what happened to the programme of the President to eliminate poverty? Having raised petrol prices, the government not doubt will take the decision to raise the gas price whether fair or unfair.

I wonder how such decisions are going to help the government eliminate poverty.

Three years ago, we decided to move back to Pakistan after having lived abroad for about a decade. Now I feel that it was a blunder on our part. We never had to encounter such frequent price-hikes there. In fact, we never heard of prices of such essential items being raised.

FATIMA SANA

Lahore

Infiltration bogey

The Indian government has been harping only on one tune: “Pakistan must stop infiltration of terrorists before any talks could take place.” First of all, there is no border in Kashmir as far as the UN is concerned. There is either a Ceasefire Line or a Line of Control in the disputed territory of Kashmir.

Secondly, India has deployed over 700,000 troops in their part of Kashmir, erected fences, laid down mines all along the LoC and installed the most sophisticated observation and scanning equipment to detect any infiltration. It is, therefore, unbelievable that they cannot stop the infiltrators, if there really are any.

It has been reported that India has air lifted some Al Qaeda and Taliban prisoners from Afghanistan in collaboration with the Afghan government. There have been at least two air lifts.

Immediately after the first air lift, there was an attack on the Indian parliament building. The operation was filmed by a TV channel which had installed cameras at good angles and aired its report claiming that the so-called ‘Pakistani terrorists’ were killed after running about without knowing where to go.

We would like to know why the Indian government had shifted the Al-Qaeda or Taliban prisoners from Afghanistan to their country. Perhaps, these prisoners are of Pakistan origin and India wants to produce them as an evidence of ‘Pakistan-sponsored infiltrators’.

MOHAMMAD AZHAR KHWAJA

Lahore

Immigration counters

RECENTLY, I made an exit from Karachi through the Quaid-i-Azam International Airport and found arrangements there by the immigration authority very unsatisfactory.

There were two immigration officers on each of the five counters open to deal with a large number of passengers. One of the officers was entering data on computer while the other was stamping the passports.

They could have processed the passports more quickly by using the second computer, placed on all the five counters in ‘off’ position.

ABDULRAHMAN A.K. RAFIQ

Karachi

Educational institutions

ACCORDING to a Punjab government notification the nationalized educational institutions are being handed back to their original owners.

Since 1972, the government has spent billions of rupees on the these institutions but with one stroke of the pen, they are being returned to their owners. This go-back policy is going to affect common man very seriously.

It is not a new experiment. Certain institutions have been denationalized in the past but only at a reasonable price.

These educational institutions are at present providing education to the children of the poor people who have very little amount to spend on education.

After denationalization, the poor would not be able to spend as much money on education as required if their children are forced to go to private schools. Thousands of teachers will also be sent to the surplus pool.

It may be mentioned here that the total expenses of education being borne by the government are less than three per cent of the total national budget.

The government should resist the international donor agencies’ demands in this regard.

NASIR ALI SYED

Toba Tek Singh

VC required

IN the July 29 issue, Dawn carried two separate advertisements for the post of vice chancellors, one for the Government College University and the other for the University of Education. The qualification desired was Ph.D.

One may ask that when the internationally recognized University of the Punjab and the University of Engineering and Technology can have graduate generals of the army as VCs, then why have these posts been advertised?

MUHAMMAD HAFEEZ BUTT

Lahore

A pleasant change

I AND my family had a pleasant surprise when we visited NADRA Swift Centre, located in Satellite Town, Rawalpindi, for our computerized national ID cards. The system had been streamlined and, therefore, the process of data entry was completed quickly.

The digitized photograph saved us from the trouble of a visit to the photographer while the digitized fingerprinting did not mess up the thumbs with ink. The staff at the centre was professional and worked efficiently.

Frankly speaking, I was hesitant to go there because I thought that I would have to make several rounds of the Nadra office but the experience was unexpectedly very pleasant.

K.M. WAJAHATULLAH

Islamabad

PTV Prime in US

FOR Pakistani citizens in the US, the only entertainment they have is to watch PTV Prime in their leisure. While watching Pakistani dramas, comedy shows, talk shows and music programmes on TV, we feel being at home.

However, I am surprised to find that mostly aged artists are playing young characters which does not make much sense to any one. Is there a lack of new and young artists who might be capable of giving good performances?

In the past, PTV was quite good at introducing new faces in their shows and dramas. What has happened to it now?

I feel that if PTV Prime wants to gain popularity with viewers in Europe and the US, it must take necessary steps to improve its programmes and to let some new young people come and show their potential.

ZAHIR B. YOUSAFZAI

Highland Park, USA

Phone faults

WE, residents of Al-Mustafa Homes, Frere Town, Clifton are facing frequent disruption in phone lines in the area. For the last six months, our phones remain closed for several days every fortnight. Our complaints on ‘18’ are registered but no action is taken until we pay personal visit to the exchange.

I request the authority concerned to investigate the matter.

S. HUSSAIN

Karachi

Shoot to kill

I WAS shocked to read about the police brutality in villages Sri Saral and Pind Sangrial Golra (July 30). This tragedy could have easily been averted if the Islamabad administration had shown a little prudence in handling the situation.

How could anyone bulldoze his way without having paid the compensation for the land to the villagers? Development work could have been kept pending until a compromise was reached. All the more unfortunate was the fact that in the ensuing action the police, instead of firing in the air to scare away the villagers, shot straight at them and killed four unarmed civilians.

In the UK, the police are not given arms until they are chasing a serial killer or a hardened criminal, with explicit instruction to use minimum of force.

Conversely, in Pakistan, every policeman is given a rifle and live ammunition. With his IQ low, he shoots on the slightest provocation. In Karachi, we hear that no sooner the police suspect that they have been confronted with a bandit, they shoot him dead. This is inhuman and cold blooded murder.

We have heard of plastic bullets which incapacitate the victim but do not kill him.

Should our police not use this type of ammunition? Had they used this type of pellets in Golra, precious lives would have been saved.

When the CDA staff and the police knew that the villagers might react, they should have borrowed a jet hose from the neighbouring fire-fighting station.

That device could have helped disperse the crowd. But the police seemed determined to sort out the villagers once and for all. Is it good governance?

Can our interior minister still claim that his police force has been reformed under his dynamic leadership?

SAFIR A. SIDDIQUI

Karachi

Those beautiful banyan trees

AS a child, my parents would take me to Murree for the summer. We would drive along the old Grand Trunk Road which is now part of our history. As the eldest son, I had the privilege of a window seat. As we drove along, I would look out for sites of interest.

My greatest fascination was for the ancient banyan trees growing all along the road from Lahore to Rawalpindi. I would plead with mother to stop under a banyan for a break for refreshments. We would spend a good 15 to 20 minutes under the giant tree. I would go round and observe the gnarled root formations around the main girth of the tree and I would look at the long roots dangling down.

These historic trees on both sides of the Grand Trunk Road in my opinion must be two to five hundred years old, especially between Gujjar Khan and Rewat. It seems they were planted in earlier centuries to give travellers a resting place when most travel must have been on foot or on horseback. Along each gigantic tree I found a kutcha man-made reservoir large enough to hold rain water to overcome the summer heat and drought enabling such trees to survive for long years.

I would like readers to throw light on these magnificent trees in the region, especially as to their age and the best way to preserve them. Everyone is aware that such trees are of great significance. They are revered by the Buddhists. They are to be found in almost all the villages of the Punjab near the well, a place of worship, shamlat for community gatherings, etc. There are many old banyan trees in Lahore itself. In my view, they need to be catalogued and preserved under an appropriate law.

My purpose is to make readers, concerned organizations and NGOs aware of the need to take immediate measures to stop the destruction of these banyan trees which are a part of our heritage. The large-scale destruction of these trees and the disappearance of the water reservoirs will wipe out this centuries-old species.

The rest of the world is seriously trying to preserve and improve the environment of our planet. Why should Pakistan not take remedial measures in this direction?

The expansion of the double lane of the Grand Trunk Road has played havoc with the graceful old banyan trees. The trees in the middle of two roads could easily be saved by providing a small pool of water and giving them better soil conditions to prevent them from dying of the immense heat of the concrete road.

It is a matter of a few thousand rupees which the National Highway Authority or the Parks and Horticultural Authority could easily spend to preserve these old trees. Many similar trees have been destroyed in widening the Grand Trunk Road.

The WWF and the Forest department should take immediate measures to save such ancient trees not only on the Grand Trunk Road but all over the country.

The banyan is a sacred tree; it is environment-friendly and has provided shelter to many generations through the centuries. We should not allow this valuable part of our heritage to die.

SAEED AHMED CHAUDHRY

Lahore