| October 24, 2002 | Thursday | Sha’aban 17,1423 |
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PIA’s performance
KESC billing: fixed load charges
Bring in a professional
Privatizing education institutions
Shutting voice chat channels
Democracy or hypocrisy?
Let democracy walk on its own feet
Not quite former
A highly outrageous act
Newscasters’ dress code
Iraqi children
Time for talks on Kashmir
Karachi
THE Islamic Republic of Pakistan was founded about 55 years ago to enable the Muslims of this region to practise Islam freely. And now when a group of people who want to implement Islam appear to have come into a position where they might be able to exercise some influence in the running of the affairs of this country, people are opposing them. How ironic!
Those belonging to this group say that they would do their best to enforce the Shariah in this land. Unfortunately, those who are not that familiar with the Shariah tend to think that this means a Taliban-style government. But let me tell them that all that the Taliban practised was not the real Islamic Shariah.
Women have never been directed by Allah to stay confined to their homes, neither have they been denied the right to education. If one studies the Holy Qur’an, one would find numerous injunctions wherein Allah has equated men and women.
I do not understand why some people are so allergic to religion. Just take a chill pill and see what these new leaders do.
AYESHA TARIQ
Karachi
I am an educational psychologist and have analyzed the facial expressions, body language and the personality traits of several MMA leaders on a slow-motion video. They are the same as those of the Taliban.
Shortly after their partial victory in the recent elections, the MMA leaders had told the press that the Taliban were their brothers and that they had great respect for Osama Ben Laden. It is estimated that around two million Afghan Taliban have been able to get Pakistani ID cards due to the inexcusable inefficiency of our National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) and they have cast votes in the recent elections. They have thus influenced the outcome of these elections.
The mullahs have no knowledge of economics, nor have they any respect for human or women’s rights. I have seen some horrible documentary films of the Taliban rule in Afghanistan on the German TV, in which highly educated Afghan women were shown living like beggars.
I request the liberal-minded elements in Pakistan not to accept the MMA as a part of the government. For me it is clear: I would prefer a military regime over a democratic government run by the mullahs.
TANWEER VEER JI
Frankfurt Germany
Till recently, I used to wake up every morning knowing fully well that I too enjoy the same kind of freedom as the women in the West do. It is no more so now. I am scared.
Now I fear that very soon the pattern of our lives would be drawn by people who resemble the Taliban and who might try to impose upon us the same brand of Islam as the Taliban did in Afghanistan. But I want to live without the fear of being rebuked, slapped and forced to do something not liked by me.
There is still time and we can do something. Let us act before it is too late.
AMINA RASOOL
Karachi
HAVING lived all my life abroad, I thought that perhaps my future resided here for I really believed that this place had a lot to offer and more so with the liberality that was slowly gaining ground over the last few years — at least that’s the way things appeared to me. Like 9/11 changed so much in America for so many, in a similar manner 10/10 with the advent of the MMA would alter a lot for a sizable number of us here.
In all honesty, the global ramifications of Pakistan becoming a Talibanized state are really very far from my mind. The immediate concern is what to do. Where can we go for some freedom and liberality for as Muslims we are unwelcome in most civilized countries around the world and living under the fundamentalists is not something that is very high on the to-do list. At the moment even Timbuktu seems promising.
Interestingly, a large proportion of our political elite, including those of extremist persuasion, have their families in America and other hotbeds of so-called “decadence” and “anti-Islamic fervour”. This hypocrisy is totally unfathomable just like those born-again Muslims who live in the West, enjoy its economic, social and cultural bounty and
still have the audacity to condemn the life there and preach intolerance and chauvinism here.
The ones who are stuck are people like me who are not economic migrants. Nonetheless the only recourse left for us to save ourselves from this barrage of fundamentalism would definitely be to seek out some other borders in Europe, preferably the Scandinavian countries, which are indeed very liberal in all aspects and the exact opposite of what is going to be the likely dispensation here.
HASSAN KAMAL
Karachi
WE are frequently reminded on the TV and in the press by the PIAC management that as PIA is the national airline we must fly and support it. However, it would not be too much to ask in what way we would be helping our country, treasury and the people by doing so. Has PIA benefited the country?
We have been travelling by our airline since 1958 on international flights regularly and have encountered more negative aspects than positive ones. The food may be somewhat to our taste but the general atmosphere and disorderliness could be very painful. The seats seldom respond to the commands given by the buttons on the arms. The toilets are generally filthy, sometimes unusable.
In the business class in which we mostly travel the footrest and the panels seldom work without calling on the staff to help.
The most important and worrying part is the handling of baggage at Islamabad airport. Generally there is delay of one to two hours before the last baggage arrives on arrival from London by PK 786 on Aug 11, we saw the baggage coming in batches of 2 and 3’s and it took 90 minutes for the last bag to arrive on the belt.
After the jetlag when we opened the cases some articles were found missing from a small box. We sent a registered letter to Karachi. The Karachi office told us that as we did not report this on arrival, there was no case to consider. Can theft be discovered at airport?
Does PIA want us to open our cases at the airport on arrival?
Would switching to other airline be against the national interest in such a case?
FREQUENT TRAVELLER
Islamabad
WE are shocked to receive the KESC bill for October (due date 28-10-2002), revealing to us that the fixed load charges have been increased from Rs200 per kilowatt to Rs300 per kilowatt on the billing demand of 293KW, resulting in an arbitrary increase of Rs29,300, with the corresponding increase in the general sales tax.
This increase of 50 per cent in the fixed load charges without any prior notice has greatly surprised us. In the bill for September, the charges were Rs200 per kilowatt.
There is no one at the KESC to give a satisfactory explanation and we have no option but to express our concern through this newspaper.
DR ZUBAIR S. VOHRA
International Fisheries (Pvt)Ltd.
I cannot understand as to why games like cricket, hockey and squash are managed by the men in khaki? The result of this can be seen now.
Pakistan hockey team failed even to reach the victory stand in Asian games. Pakistan squash is also at its lowest now and so is cricket.
I think all games need to be run by professionals like Javaid Miandad, Jahangir Khan, Jansher Khan, Hassan Sardar, Manzoor Junior and so many others that we have. Give the top slot of the Pakistan Cricket Board, Pakistan Hockey Federation, Pakistan Squash Federation to these people with full authority and I am confident that the results would be positive.
We must have at the helm of affairs of these sports boards people who know every aspect of the game.
M. AMER RIZWAN
Lahore
TEACHERS are suffering from a host of social and economic problems. Instead of solving these problems, the government is trying to multiply them. Its efforts to privatize the country’s educational institutions is a case in point.
Earlier, the government issued a notification about privatization and denationalization of educational institutions. The teachers protested against it. The government realized its folly and withdrew the notification, but it now plans to constitute boards of governors for educational institutions. This would be nothing but privatization under another name.
After privatization, as it is rightly feared, educational institutions will increase tuition fees significantly, making it unaffordable for the poor students.
The future of the teachers, too, will be in jeopardy. They will feel insecure. Their meagre salaries will be reduced and they will be deprived of the amenities of gratuity and pension. Their workload will also increase.
Moreover, traders will become members of the boards of governors and will make things difficult for the teaching community. The teachers will eventually become unable to impart good education with dedication to students.
I believe the government is following the policies of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund and wants to keep the nation illiterate and ignorant. It should not act upon every policy of these international financial institutions and, instead, use its own wisdom.
Without education, the survival of the country would be endangered. The government should, therefore, refrain from constituting the boards of governors.
JAM MUKHTAR HUSSAIN
Multan
BLOCKING use of MSN voice chatting and thereby forcing the people to pay to the Pakistan Telecommunication Company Rs39 per minute as international call charges is totally unjustified. It also denies them the benefits of modern technology. Can we compete with the rest of the world with such backward looking policies?
Good governance demands that the head of an institution concerned with public services should be given a target for improving the efficiency of the institution without overcharging the customers.
PTCL during the last three years has increased its charges many times. Now it has decided to deny to the people the advantages of MSN facility, which is being encouraged in other countries.
LAIQ ALI
Karachi
THE letter written by ‘A worker of Pakistan movement’ (Oct 22) is an eye opener. The MMA leaders have been issuing statements every day to the effect that co-education would be discontinued, purdah would be observed on the PTV and cable TV would be banned, since they emerged as a major political force through the general election.
I know that the student wing of one of the components of the MMA had created a lot of trouble for female students during the Ziaul Haq regime and there had been gun battles in medical colleges. I do not expect anything better from the same student leaders who will now sit in the parliament and might even rule us in the future.
May Allah save us all from their brand of Islam. Amen.
DR JAMAL NASIR MEMON
Karachi
HAVING participated in the general election, political parties must now accept its result. They must also allow the next government to complete its tenure, thus enabling the electorate of Pakistan to judge its performance and reject it in the next election if it does not perform well.
If the first PPP government had been allowed its full run of five years and if the people had voted it out, they would not have voted it again into power so soon. Instead, president Ghulam Ishaque had to barged in for reasons known only to him to disrupt the natural sequence of events. The
same would probably have happened to the first PML-N government.
Between 1988 and 1999, four elected governments could not complete their tenures because of the intervention of either the then presidents, Ghulam Ishaque Khan and Farooq Ahmad Khan Leghari, and/or the army chief. Their intervention has been disastrous for the smooth flow of the democratic and electoral process in the country.
The worst of these has been the commando action on the last occasion, when a government, despite very heavy odds against it, was trying valiantly to make a go of it.
Its surmounting of these odds to remain viable and functional is unfairly equated with amassing personal power even when we have the prime example of the same stet of power being done today and for the
same reasons. It is time those at the helm of affairs allowed democracy to walk on its own feet.
KHURSHID ANWER
Lahore
HAFIZUR Rahman (‘Mice and Men’, Oct 16), while acknowledging that it was I who blew the whistle on Chaudhry Rehmat Ali, refers to me as a “former columnist”.
Obviously, he does not look at as many newspapers now as he did while he was a member of the state information hierarchy, otherwise he might have noticed that I write two columns every week, one each for two English papers of Lahore.
I do concede though that I am far less versatile than he is. Neither love nor money will induce me to write six columns a week.
Khalid Hassan
Washington DC
THIS refers to the report (Oct 19) according to which a landlord in Mailsi (southern Punjab) shaved the head and eyebrows of a mother of eight, after the decision taken by the local panchayat.
They then dragged the unfortunate woman half-naked across the streets after severely beating her up. This brutal action was carried after the complaint of her husband but she was not allowed to give her version.
This incident has happened when Muslims have been accused of being extremists and not treating the women well.
Let’s see what reaction comes from the MMA leaders. The MMA has promised to bring reforms in the country and wants to bring things in conformity with the injunctions of Islam. If they show silence on this inhuman incident, then the people of Pakistan should realize what kind of leaders they have elected to rule them.
AKIF
Karachi
THIS refers to the report that a woman was paraded half-naked on Oct 18 in Mailsi (southern Punjab).
Being a citizen and a believer in human rights, I feel ashamed and astonished that such incidents still happen in our country. It is utter disgrace.
I ask the rulers of this Islamic republic if there is any law in this land that will protect poor unfortunate women of our rural areas from the jirga which simply gives decisions against a poor woman without even giving her a chance to put her side of the story.
What keeps me wondering if this is still happening under the rule of the all-powerful military establishment, then God
save poor women of our rural areas under the so-called democratic system where the rulers mostly belong to the feudal class.
SYED REZZA ALI SHAH
Islamabad
THIS is with reference to Mr Amir Ikram’s letter, ‘Newscasters’ dress code’, (Oct 22). What I fail to comprehend is that why he is concerned about the female outfits only and has completely ignored the suits and ties worn by the male newscasters. Why shouldn’t the males, too, have the honour of reflecting our culture? They should also be switched over to shalwar kameez.
I feel that if we spend some of our time and also our brains on constructive and productive matters instead of wasting it on these minor ‘issues’, we might be able to get somewhere.
SAMAN MALIK
Karachi
IRAQ observed Children’s Day on Sunday, Oct 20.
According to the Iraqi labour minister, Munther Muhammad Nekshabandi, 50,000 children were killed in the 1991 war and 1.7 million children, women and the elderly have died because of the non-availability of
medicines resulting from sanctions imposed by the United Nations.
The United Nations and the United States must stop this criminal behaviour against the innocent Iraqi citizens.
MUBEEN RASHEED
Lahore
IN his article “Winds of change in Kashmir” (Oct 19), Kuldip Nayar agrees that all parties (Pakistan, India and Kashmiris) should move to the next stage: talks. He stresses that “it is obvious that no dialogue can take place when the guns are booming”. Pakistan has been saying the same thing: start talking by silencing the guns.
The Indian leaders seem to have realized that too. The decision to withdraw forces from Pakistan’s international border is a step in this direction. Apart from what Mr G. Parthasarthi, a former Indian high commissioner to Pakistan, terms this move, it is a wise step. He has criticized New Delhi’s decision to withdraw forces as it would send a wrong signal of weakness to the international community and vindicate Islamabad’s position, which inevitably would boost Pakistan’s prestige.
Indeed it is time for all of us to sit down across the table and talk. Mr Nayar cites an occasion when Nehru told Z. A. Bhutto 40 years ago: “I know that we must find a solution for Kashmir” and in between the lines he indicated that to find the solution is difficult as “we have got caught in a situation which we cannot get out of without causing damage to the system and structures of our respective societies”. Later, just after three years of that date — and just one year after his death — India invaded Pakistan in 1965 which caused damage to the system and structures of both societies. Nehru was in favour of talks and no solution, to avoid costly active hostilities and International pressure.
Now a word of caution. Pakistan should not withdraw all its forces from India’s border. As the military experts and analysts say that India is withdrawing only its ‘first strike force’, a mere small contingent of total deployment. Pakistan should follow suit as it did when Indian forces were amassed at its border ten months ago.
S.M. KAZIM NAQVI
Karachi
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