| August 17, 2002 | Saturday | Jamadi-us-Saani 7, 1423 |
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Unfair visa restrictions
Madaris registration
WITH the filling of the Mangla reservoir completed and that of the Tarbela soon to be done, the outflow of irrigation water to the provinces from the Indus river system now stands restored to its required level. The recent rains in the catchment areas of the river system and the melting of snow in the mountains have made it possible for the authorities to release the needed quantities of water to fulfil the water needs of the on-going cotton season in Punjab and Sindh. Had nature not come to the rescue of the farmer in good time, it was feared that this year’s cotton crop in Punjab would suffer serious damage. The excess water now being released downstream all the way to the Indus delta region in lower Sindh is also seen as a blessing in view of the coastal region’s existing problems, including the rise in salt levels in the subsoil water, depletion of the fisheries, damage to the mangroves and the encroachment of seawater onto the Indus ducts destroying cultivable land.
This is the first time in three years that the Mangla and Tarbela dams would be filled to their capacities, and there would be enough water to support a healthy kharif crop. One has to be thankful to nature for bailing us out this year. But knowing the changing climatic patterns worldwide, nature alone cannot be counted on for the country’s growing water needs, especially during the dry months, of which there have been far too many in recent years. Notwithstanding the politics of water sharing formulas arrived at and manipulated from time to time by the bureaucrats managing the affairs of the Indus River System Authority, there is a clear need to enhance the country’s water storage capacity. Universal experience with the building and managing of large earth-filled or concrete dams suggests that irrigation engineers’ attention should now be focused on building smaller dams along the river system with an adequate capacity for storage of water which can come in handy in times of need. Also, the seismic mapping of Pakistan does not favour the building of large dams, particularly along the catchment areas of the Indus river, which are largely earthquake-prone.
The key challenge for the irrigation experts and planners, however, will be to strike a balance between building the required storage capacity for the country’s irrigation needs and the amount of water that must be allowed to flow downstream through the Indus delta into the sea. The latter is as important for saving Sindh’s eroding coastal economy and environment — as a direct result of drying up of the Indus delta in recent years — as the former is to sustain the country’s agricultural production and the key cash crops. While planning ahead to manage and optimize the existing water resources, it is important to keep these basic realities in mind so that an overall long-term resource development and environment-friendly plan can be put in place. The country’s water needs are rising at a challenging three per cent, while its available water resources have shown a decline of one per cent per annum. This calls for judicious planning based on pure technical know-how and irrigation and environmental expertise as opposed to rattling brains over the division of the existing resources.
EVERY year, towards the end of August, hundreds if not thousands of Pakistani students leave for America to pursue their dream of a quality higher education. However, it seems this year this dream will have to wait, and for how long nobody knows. According to reports, including a letter in this newspaper from over a hundred affected students, the US embassy has told all visa seekers — including those whose applications were approved — that they will have to wait indefinitely. The applicants have been told that the one month period for the background check that the FBI now makes, post-Sept 11, of all male applicants from selected Muslim countries has been extended indefinitely. All the students can now do is wait till their visa comes. Unfortunately, given the existing situation and the fact that the first anniversary of the September 11 attacks is around the corner, it seems unlikely that any progress will be there on this score until then.
What is particularly distressing is the fact that this indefinite extension has not been publicly announced by the American embassy, with news of it coming via the students who now seem to be caught in a bind. Most of them are required by their institutions to report for orientation and classes by the end of August but the chances of them reaching America by then seem remote. If that happens, then these students will have to defer entrance till at least January if not next August. Clearly, this is not a comfortable situation for the students and their parents. However, this seems a fit case as any for Islamabad to at least take up with the American authorities here and in Washington. While security is understandably of paramount importance to America after September 11, surely there must be a way of establishing the bona fides of applicants within a reasonable period of time so that they do not miss out on the forthcoming academic year.
A RECENTLY released report prepared by an international non-governmental organization says that Pakistanis contribute some Rs 70 billion annually to madaris and mosques in the country. The huge sum is 94 per cent of the total public donations made to charitable institutions and causes by individuals and the corporate sector. The report goes on to say that over 10,000 madaris, with an enrolment of 1.5 million students, offer an affordable parallel education to Pakistani children, one-third of whom opt for religious education because of inadequacy of the public education system and poverty. Sadly, the huge amount spent on madressah education also fails to prepare the students for any vocation in life, as a majority of them can only serve as preachers and pesh imams.
The government had done well to announce the setting up of a madressah regulatory authority under the Madaris Registration Ordinance 2002 in June, but the move came up against strong resistance from those running the madaris. Following this, there was talk of making the proposed compulsory registration of madaris a voluntary option under the said ordinance, which, if carried out, will make it a decorative rather than substantive piece of law. Institutions that receive huge amounts in public donations must be held accountable for how they spend the money thus collected. Moreover, a madressah should be able to provide at least a well-rounded basic education by preparing its students to be able to join the mainstream higher education or find a foothold in the employment market. This requires the channelling of public donations in such a way that a standardized curriculum is developed to be taught at the madaris for which teachers also need to be trained. Unless our madaris begin to play such a role in society, they will remain entities geared, at their best, to producing pious individuals who cannot even support themselves, let alone make a positive contribution to society at large.