| August 19, 2002 | Monday | Jamadi-us-Saani 9, 1423 |
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Politicians’ behaviour
Power rates: false impression
The woes of Karachi
Cholesterol control
Where is DHA?
Disregard of laws
A remedy is available
Steps for peace in Palestine
Camel kids
Finger printing of Muslims
When justice is denied
Women’s rights
A forest of dead trees
HAFIZUR Rahman was at his best while expressing his thoughts on the Independence Day. It was a moving article and touched me very much, as I too vividly remember that fateful day as a 10-year-old, the age when your memory is very strong.
We have been going downhill ever since the Quaid left us. The leaders that followed him, in most cases did quite the opposite of what the Quaid stood for, but proclaimed them in his name.
This includes Ziaul Haq, whose so-called Islamic system was attributed to the vision of the founder of Pakistan! In doing so, Zia made sure that the Quaid’s historic Constituent Assembly speech that “...we are all Pakistanis...” was struck off the records. Gen Zia was expert at this.
During a visit to the Pakistan mission to the UN in 1980, he ordered the removal of all records that included Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s name. The mission complied and the nation lost valuable records.
I hope we would wake up even now and follow the path set by the Quaid that is so clearly explained by Hafizur Rahman.
IFTIKHAR ALI
Kosovo
IN his letter ‘Date of Independence’ (Aug 14) Zahid F. Ebrahim has raised a very important question. It is said that the most important date in the life of the nation is still subject to controversy after 55 years of its existence.
I quote below the wordings of Section-I of the Indian Independence Act, 1947 enacted on July 18, 1947 in the Parliament of London.
“Be it enacted by the King’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
“I. The New Dominions: As from the fifteenth day of August, nineteen hundred and forty-seven, two independent Dominions shall be set up in India, to be known respectively as India and Pakistan.”
The said Dominions are hereafter in this Act referred to as ‘the new Dominions’, and the said fifteenth day of August hereafter in this Act referred to as ‘the appointed day’.
Even if the viceroy, Lord Mountbatten, had come to Karachi a day earlier to initiate the formalities of independence, the Independence of Pakistan itself had to come in accordance with the Indian Independence Act on ‘the appointed date’, i.e. August 15, 1947.
It is suggested that the Government of Pakistan issue a clarification as to how August 14 is treated as the real date in contravention of the Act that granted independence.
SYED OSMAN SHER
Toronto, Canada
IN the early 1980s, when a Pakistani journalist had asked the visiting leader of opposition in the British parliament, Mr Callaghan, to comment on the rough hand that was given by the then British prime minister to the opposition, he had snubbed the mediaman by saying that Britain’s internal affairs could not be discussed on a foreign soil.
In contrast to this, Pakistani political leaders are not only prepared to discuss our internal affairs abroad but also ready to paint a horrible picture thereof when foreign dignitaries visit Pakistan.
The Amir of Jamat-i-Islami, Qazi Hussain Ahmad, who portrays western countries as enemies of Islam and Pakistan in all his public addresses, was the most enthusiastic with the European Union observers team. The PML (N) and the Pakistan Peoples Party leaders also went to great lengths discussing with the observers their misconstrued fears about rigging in the October elections.
Why did our political leaders bend so low before these men from the West, describing to them their unfounded fears and putting the honour of the country so low in the eyes of these foreigners? Do they think that a favourable stance from the EU observers would earn them a place in the assemblies?
I would also like to ask the government, where else have in the election history of different countries, as many as 150 foreign observers been allowed to oversee the exercise?
This unwarranted exposure of the nation’s weaknesses and an unfortunate display of national disunity and distrust by our political leaders, emboldened the EU team’s chief, Mr John Cushnaham, to give a warning to Pakistan that if the October elections were found ‘flawed’ by the EU forums, it might create trade problems for Pakistan. Besides being an intervention in our internal matters, such comments are also a reflection on the Pakistan Election Commission.
In the elections held in any South Asian country, it is customary that the losing parties accuse the winners of indulging in rigging. It is for the CEC, and not for the members of the European Union team, to play referee in such cases.
COL (R) S. G.B. SHAH BOKHARI
Peshawar
THE power tariff for commercial, industrial and bulk users has been increased by 12 to 20 paisas per unit whereas it has been ‘reduced’ from 47 to 27 paisas per unit for domestic users. By this decision the government has tried to create a false impression that the common man has been given a relief.
In fact, it is the common man who will have to suffer as a result of increase in the prices of consumer goods manufactured by industrial units and sold out at commercial outlets. Just like sales tax, the entire burden of exorbitantly high power rates would simply be passed on to the consumers who would already be paying a higher domestic tariff.
The rationale behind this increase is to ‘save’ WAPDA and to reduce its revenue deficit. It is an open secret that the losses in the revenue of WAPDA are due to corruption, inefficiency, overstaffing, internal politics, etc. It is against the rules of justice to punish the users/consumers for all the bad things for which WAPDA, or for that matter any other public sector organisation, is exclusively responsible.
It is my earnest appeal to the President of Pakistan to check this trend of artificiallly reducing revenue deficits by increasing the prices of utility items. Practically, it means condoning the malpractices in these government organisations.
IBTESAM RAHIM KHAN
Islamabad
T.S. ELIOT has the following lines in his poem, The Waste Land, about the London of his days: Unreal City/Under the brown fog/Of a winter dawn/A crowd flowed over/The London bridge so many/ I had not thought Death had undone so many.
Karachi does not have ‘a brown fog’, neither does it have a ‘winter’. Nevertheless, Karachiites may yet be ‘undone’ not by ‘fog’ but hazards of another kind — the smoke-belching, diesel -gurgling antediluvian vehicles which ply on its dilapidated and bumpy roads, the broken footpaths which have had their tiles or cement slabs removed, the parking places (if you can call them as such) littered with refuse and rubble of every kind and description, the open sewers which emit the foulest of smells as you pass by, and the all too-open sewers which spill their contents of filth and muck on the road surfaces. Then there is this phenomenon, which is perhaps unique to Karachi only — the perpetual digging that goes on and on along and across the roads. I am told that this is being done to lay down water pipes, or drainage pipes, or telephone cables, etc. etc. Fine. But what I fail to understand is that why all this is not planned before- hand.
Some of the buildings of Karachi are beautiful and magnificent structures and appear to be well looked after. But a large number of them have a shabby, run-down look about them. It appears that their exteriors have never been white-washed or painted since their construction 30 or 40 years ago. Is it too much to ask the owners of these buildings to do the needful?
Then there are buildings which have been left unfinished. These huge, ugly structures of concrete and cement look like gigantic monsters from some pre-historic age. I cannot understand why these have been left incomplete. If there are any legal impediments, the concerned authorities should expedite the necessary formalities, and get the job finished once and for all.
I am not a resident of Karachi, but keep visiting it frequently. Every visit, I am sad to say, is a more painful experience than the previous one. I would request the conscientious men and women of Karachi to raise their voice against this sorry state of affairs, because what is happening to Karachi is not benign neglect but utter disaster.
SALAHUDDIN K. LEGHARI
Karachi
RESEARCHERS from Pennsylvania University (USA) say that peanut butter taken regularly in breakfast, applied on two brown bread toasts, causes a drop in total cholesterol level and also lowers blood fats called triglycerides and increase the HDL-good cholesterol.
I have personally tried home-made peanut butter and have found that in three months, it decreased my total cholesterol level from 220 to 150 and increased my HDL (good cholesterol) from 40 to 55 while decreasing my LDL (bad cholesterol) from 114 to 91 and triglycerides to 75.
Peanut butter should not be purchased ready-made from stores as it contains sugar. Instead, it should be prepared at home.
Buy 250 grams of roasted peanut from a good dry-fruit store, shake off all the salts from it, then put it in a food processor and add four tea spoons of soybean refined oil and pulverise it until it turns into a nice smooth paste. Put it into a clean empty jam bottle and eat it every day on two toasts and check the result after a month.
You would be amazed at the drop of all cholesterol levels.
Researchers say that the fat content is mono-unsaturate. That is the key element for its effect on cholesterol.
RAZA ALI DOSSA
Karachi
MOST of us think that Defence Housing Authority is a better managed locality in Karachi. Unfortunately, this is not true.
If you visit the Khayaban-i-Badar commercial area in Phase V, especially on the Saba Avenue side, then you will see roads full of potholes, stray dogs and garbage heaps.
And if you come on a Sunday afternoon around 4pm., then a flock of horses can also be seen there.
Residents of the area are truly justified to ask: where is DHA?
MUHAMMAD ARSHAD
Karachi
THIS refers to Ms Ahmareen Jauhar’s letter ‘Timings of wedding functions’ (Aug 12). I would like to point out that there is already a law in place that no marriage function or any other ceremony will continue beyond 11pm. Our functions normally culminate by 2am or 3am.
There is another law still in place pertaining to the restriction on food items being served at such functions. Some people question justification of doing away with the religious obligation of serving food in a Valima.
Some people manage to serve three or more dishes at marriage functions on the pretext of Aqiqa.
By finding such ways out, we actually manage to break laws and violate discipline. Dereliction of duty has become our national characteristic. What is the purpose of legislation and the implementation of laws?
S.M. KAZIM NAQVI
Karachi
THE authorities are trying to find ways to get rid of the dead whale lying on the beach and threatening the entire atmosphere.
I would like to recall that a giant shark had landed at the sea shore a few years back and the authorities had sold it to local fishermen.
There was no problem for the fishermen to retrieve every useful thing from the carcass.
Is there any problem in repeating the experiment?
Another option is to sell the dead whale to poultry feed traders who may make arrangements to lift the giant mammal after cutting it in pieces.
S. SHAHNAWAZ N. SHAH
Karachi
HARDLY a day passes when misery fails to descend on the Middle East. I propose the following steps that Palestinians and the Israelis and the international community at large must take:
There is an immediate need to bridge the communication gap between these two communities. Interaction is necessary at all the levels of their community members.
Youths have greater responsibility to change the current status quo. After all, it’s they who have to survive in the days yet to dawn. They form the majority in these two societies.
The US must make sincere efforts to bring about peace in the area.
ALI JAWAD KHALID
Lahore
A LOT has been said and written about the horrible fate of the so-called camel kids, many of whom die when crushed under the feet of fleeing camels. But this cruel game still continues.
There are reports according to which even before being taken for the races, the boys are kept starving for days so as to keep their body weight within the limit required for ‘enjoyable’ racing.
While appreciating the recent order issued by His Highness Sheikh Al-Nahyan, the ruler of Abu-Dhabi, imposing a ban on such activities and a fine for its contravention, I urge upon all the rulers, princes and sheikhs of the Gulf states to come forward and put a curb on this inhuman and entirely un-Islamic traditional game.
I would further request them to arrange the repatriation of all Pakistani, Indian and Sri Lankan kids to their homelands.
RAHIM CHUNDRIGAR
Karachi
IT was sad and very disturbing to read in your news columns about mandatory finger printing of all Muslims arriving in any port of entry in the USA as of September 11, 2002.
Since the Muslims are now considered to be the enemy number one of the USA, wouldn’t it be better for the US government to cut off completely all its links with the Arab and other Muslim countries? As for the American Muslims, they can make them wear a ‘Crescent & Star’ insignia on their coats, which would identify and distinguish them from the rest of the American people. Hitler had done this to the Jews.
These steps would, at least, save the US establishment from spending the American taxpayers money on the security of Americans and American interests in Muslim countries.
FARAKH MALIK
Karachi
THIS is with reference to Dr Zeba Hasan Hafeez’s letter (Aug 13). If justice had prevailed in this country the provinces and ethnic groups would have first felt to be Pakistani than anything else.
When police fails to protect people, they will definitely invoke the self-security system. If people are not getting justice, they will take the law into their own hands. They will divide on caste or communal basis. Jirgas will replace the conventional law of the land. It is not the fault of the people but of the establishment that could not manage the delicate balance of justice.
It was the repeated pause we gave to the democratic system that things have come to such a pass. I am a Sindhi and quite good at this language, yet I write the poems in Urdu. My children also speak Urdu and English. My wife is from UP. But she says she is Sindhi equally as she is a Pakistani.
The people here are poor because justice is denied to them and they have been forced to live under the feudal system. Democracy was the only means to protect their rights, but it didn’t prevail, in true spirit, ever since this country came into being.
JAVED QAZI
Karachi
THIS is with reference to the letter ‘Women’s rights’ (Aug 8), in which the writer has proposed a new subject to be taught regarding women’s rights. We have been studying Islamiat and Pakistan Studies for decades but this has failed to increase our reverence to our country and to our religion. Instead, it has produced plunderers and persons with intolerance and violence. I fear that the study of a new subject on women’s rights would produce misogynists.
TAHIR MAQBUL ZUBERI
Karachi
WHEN in March this year I visited the Indus delta, all the trees of Acacia nilotica in the riverine forest visible from Sujawal bridge were dry. On July 25, I again visited the said area and to my great dismay, all the trees were leafless and dry and some had even fallen.
The major part of the Indus riverbed was dry, occupied either by mesquite bushes or sand dunes. I wondered where is that much talked about 35 MAF water ‘going waste’ into the Arabian Sea.
The riverine forest, mainly comprising Acacia nilotica trees, was an inundation forest in the flood plain of the Indus river. Till 1980s, it had a fairly complete 40-50 feet high canopy.
In the days when the Indus river was not constrained by dams and barrages, its breadth used to spread several miles across during monsoon. The seasonal flood was the lifeline of this riverine forest.
I had first visited this forest in 1981 as a research student. The forest floor was somewhat wet at that time with a little standing water here and there. And there was a quite rich forest-floor vegetation.
I saw it again in 1998. Signs of deterioration were quite apparent. The forest-floor was dry and totally devoid of any surface-vegetation. The alien species prosopis juliflora (mesquite) had invaded and occupied considerable area, replacing the native Acacia. Since then I have visited this forest every year.
The forest has deteriorated steadily and now it is completely dead, at least that part of it which is visible from the Sujawal bridge.
The reasons may be more than one, including the lack of seasonal inundation, salinization, soil-erosion, pollution, etc.
The flood plain virtually does not exist now since there have not been any floods for the past several years. The forest department does not seem to have done much to save this forest. Sometime later, it would move in with an auction plan for the ‘dead wood’ and most probably the place would be replanted with trees of some alien species.
Someone would have to write an obituary for the mangrove forests and the Indus delta.
DR SURAYYA KHATOON
Karachi
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