| December 1, 2002 | Sunday | Ramazan 25,1423 |
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Plight of Umra pilgrims
MMA’s obsession with women
‘The final partition’
Detention of suspects
Why paisas in bank accounts?
Crime against students
‘Rocking the CPLC boat’
Muslim states’ security
Uproar over headscarf
MQM’s one-point agenda
HOW right the editorial, ‘Truth about Gujarat’ (Nov 23), was in saying: “However, by means of complicity in Modi’s crimes, the BJP-led government at the centre and its hard-line allies may score a few electoral victories here and there, but they are unlikely to win back the lost trust of the Indian electorate.”
The government of India and its hard-liners are acting against the grand tradition of tolerance in the subcontinent. From time immemorial, this country has, like a magic land, fired the imagination of all sorts of people: Greeks, Scythians, Parthians, Kushans, Huns, including Hindu Aryans and Arab/Turkish Muslims, bringing with them new cultures, customs, religions and languages.
History stands witness to the fact that in all ages, under Hindu, Buddhist and Muslim rules, religion has not been used either by the state or by the populace as a tool of persecution. On the contrary, it has acted as an instrument of tolerance. The rulers in the past endowed the religious establishments other than their own and gave grants to the divines. The populace patronized each other’s festivals and saints. Undoubtedly, the Hindus and the Muslims had their religious differences but for centuries they coexisted with little frictions.
However, the fabric of society of a thousand years was torn into shreds during the British rule. It was this monster of religion that, when aroused and invoked by them, tore the country into pieces, and also the hearts and minds of its people, in the 20th century,
It is a historical fact that the imperial British have been very faithful to their colonial policy of ‘divide and rule’ and then divide forever. The “serious mistakes”, as a part of their country’s colonial past and as recently admitted by British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, were not mistakes but deliberate policies towards this end.
The most prominent victims of their policy are India and Pakistan (including Kashmir), Palestine and Israel, Greece and Turkey (Cyprus) and the skeleton in their own cupboard, Ireland and Northern Ireland.
Immediately after the War of Independence of 1857, jointly fought by Hindus and Muslims, when a commission of inquiry on the uprising was formed, Lord Elphinstone, the then governor of Bombay, sent to the commission a note that said: “Divide et impera was the old Roman motto, and it should be ours.”
The secretary of state, Sir Charles Wood, in a letter of March 3, 1862, to Viceroy Lord Elgin, said: “We have maintained our power by playing off one part against the other, and we must continue to do so. Do what you can, therefore, to prevent all having a common feeling.”
I believe that the sensible majority of the Indians would soon prove that the religious fanaticism, as being practised by the BJP government, has been sown here by the alien rulers, and that it will be only a temporary phase. The Indians would not keep the golden tradition of tolerance of the subcontinent slipped from their hands for long.
SYED OSMAN SHER
Toronto, CANADA
UMRA was not a new experience for me, but this year my wife accompanied me. I was aware of everything except the problem created by the Muallim/agent.
We paid charges to the Muallim through our Pakistani agent for transportation from Jeddah to Makkah, hotel stay of three days and return transport to Jeddah airport. But the way we were treated by the Muallim was horrible.
Firstly, the agents were young boys who knew nothing but Arabic, were behaving rudely and snatched our tickets and promised they would themselves get the tickets confirmed. One of them showed us our pre-arranged bus, in which we had to wait for six hours till the bus was jampacked.
Later, I came to know that transport was not free and had to pay charges accordingly. Due to prolonged sitting in the bus I suffered from osteomyelitis and underwent strict bedrest for a week.
Every day I was worried for our tickets and their confirmation. Whenever I called my agent, the only reply I used to get was “Makkah, Makkah”. My hotel manager after talking to the agent told me to go to their Makkah office.
I went to their Makkah office (it is very difficult to find such offices there), where no one knew English, but a Bengali gentleman could speak a little Urdu. He asked us to revisit the office after 2200 hours as, due to Ramazan, the office closes from 1500 hours to 2200 hours.
I must mention the pitiable state of some Pakistanis from Rahimyar Khan I saw in that office. They were crying that they wanted to return home but more than a week had passed and the Muallim had not arranged their tickets yet.
Two other Pakistanis said their visas had expired, two others were saying that they had come there for a month but then they were sick and wanted to return immediately. A woman was crying that she had no money for food.
On my second visit to the office, the employees had nothing new to tell me but asked me to rush to the Jeddah office the next day (which was supposed to be our departure day) or our tickets would be invalid if not availed of in time. The employees also informed me that the Jeddah office is open round-the-clock.
Next morning I proceeded to the Jeddah office and found it closed. A Pakistani guard in an adjacent house told me that the employees are sleeping inside. He went through the window and later the door was opened. We got our tickets but without confirmation. Luckily, we got our boarding cards.
Throughout my engineering career, I have travelled to dozens of countries but have never faced such a horrible situation. The Saudi authorities should look into the matter.
M. LAKHANO BHATTI
Hyderabad
SOME of the MMA leaders have made it a point to routinely talk about the role and status of women in society, and religiously prescribe the same for women.
The clergy talk as though the women had either requested them to do so or are unclear about what women’s role and status ought to be. They believe that women lack wisdom and discretion to chalk out their own path.
None of this is true. Pakistani women have come a long way in this direction. They not only know their rightful place in society but also keep paving the path for those who are as yet not clear about a choice, which is to be made primarily individually.
The clergy appear to be obsessed with the non-issues of gender-based segregation, isolation, and exclusion of women from an active participation in whichever sphere of life women may wish to engage themselves.
They and their mindless followers tend to invoke some rigid views of religion on which there is no consensus amongst the various schools of thought, as was the case with the issues of Zakat and the law of evidence.
Instead of drumming up such retrogressive non-issues as would contribute more to the nation’s collective backwardness than its advancement, it would be good if the focus remains solely on addressing the issue of poverty of resources, intellect, wisdom, character, and morality that plagues both men and women alike in the country.
It is indeed unfortunate that, instead of bringing the nation to a turning-point in our sordid socio-economic history, election 2002 will be remembered more for an about-turn to the decade of the 1970s when the social issues were debated, settled and buried only to be resurrected after the turn of the century mainly due to the politico-economic leaps taken in reverse.
There is a strong need to disengage from the reverse gear on all fronts and move sure-footedly forward.
DR MAHNAZ FATIMA
Karachi
THIS is with reference to Irfan Husain’s article “The final partition” (Nov 23). May I ask him that, if the majority community in India was so nice, generous and broad minded, why the Muslims chose to carve out a separate homeland?
Mr Husain writes that “an entire generation of Pakistanis and Indians grew up with no personal knowledge of each other, their minds poisoned by jingoistic textbooks and official propaganda”.
This implies that before the partition, when there was so much interaction between the two communities, there was no hatred. He forgets the horrendous communal riots which erupted from time to time right even during the 1940s, the most infamous being the Calcutta and Bihar carnage.
Mr Husain further writes that there are cultural ties between Hindus and Muslims. To dispel the wrong notion of the writer, I will quote from Dr Ishtiaq Hussain’s book, “The struggle For Pakistan”.
The historian writes: “Islam and Hinduism build two entirely different kinds of society. How could two people with such divergence in their outlook, beliefs, mores, taste and inclination could be moulded into one or the other, or both to sacrifice something that had entered the innermost recesses of their very souls. People so entirely different may live together for centuries without even understanding each other.”
Mr Husain avoided mentioning the issue of Kashmir plebiscite which is the crux of the problem between the two countries. To sum up, the present stand-off is the making of India.
SAFIR A. SIDDIQUI
Karachi
THE latest in the shaft of ordinances is one that pertains to the amendment to the Anti-Terrorism Act enacted by the Nawaz government in 1997.
The ordinance gives the law-enforcement agencies powers to keep any suspect under arrest for one year without furnishing any reasons. The original Anti-Terrorism Act provided for the detention of a person for three months.
Thus a clear violation of constitutional rights of citizens has been committed. One may ask the powers that be as to what importance they attach to the constitution and democracy.
AMANAT ALI CHAUDHRY
Okara
THE Anti-Terrorism Act has recently been amended and according to the amended law a suspect can be detained for a year. Previously, a person could be detained for three months.
This amendment is in violation of the fundamental rights as enshrined in Article 10 of the constitution which states that any person if arrested shall be produced before a magistrate within 24 hours.
One can easily predict how this law will be misused by the law-enforcement agencies. It is hoped the government will reconsider its decision.
AAYAT ULLAH KHOWAJA
Hyderabad
ONE-rupee and two-rupee currency notes have been replaced by coins. It is being said that the five-rupee note is all set to say goodbye. But I cannot understand why paisas still survive in bank account statements, trade receipts and utility bills.
It is an eyesore, specially in bank accounts statements where it takes much nerve-racking to balance. This practice should now be discarded. Paisas above 50 may be rounded off to a rupee and in cases where it is 50 or less, it should be washed off.
SULTAN AHMED CHOWDHRY
Lahore
IN Khairpur Mirs, crime against teenaged students is on the rise and goes unpunished. Recently, acid was thrown on two girl students by some eve-teasers. A schoolboy was thrown down from the rooftop of a bus by the conductor and, more recently, a boy was kept hostage in a classroom of a school for ransom.
A sense of insecurity has gripped educational institutions in the town because of these horrifying incidents. As a result, attendance in schools is falling day by day.
It is time the district administration woke up and took preventive steps so that students may attend schools without any fear.
MIANDAD RAHOOJO
Karachi
THE editorial, ‘Rocking the CPLC boat’ (Nov 26), comes in as a shock.
The story seems familiar; any institution (or any person), which is doing its job efficiently and in the interest of the people, has to be capsized by people who have ulterior motives. I have known people who got justice done when they approached the Citizen Police Liaison Committee.
My own experience dates back to 1998 when the woman working in our house came screaming. Her 11-year-old son, who had a congenital hole in his heart, was arrested by the police and so were other small children, who simply happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.
The fact of the matter is that a police mobile was ordered to arrest the owner of a gambling den and his clients. The custodians of law allowed the culprits to run away for obvious reasons, but merely to complete a formality, they arrested and locked up 13 boys, some of them not even in their teens. The children were residents of a kutcha abadi near the Lyari river in Gulshan, and the gambling den was in that locality. The children were on their way to work.
I rushed to the police station and, despite my credentials as a newspaperman, I could not do much, except arranging for food and water for those 13 children, locked up in a small dingy room.
The SHO said that an FIR had been lodged against the children, so only the district magistrate could release them. The district magistrate was untraceable. As a last resort, I phoned Jameel Yusuf, the head of the CPLC, who took an immediate action and got the boys released. The ailing child was dropped home by a couple of policemen. Well done, CPLC.
ASIF NOORANI
Karachi
IN April 1949, 10 European countries, together with the USA and Canada, formed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato) to create a collective security system. According to the treaty, if one of these countries was attacked it would be considered an attack on all of them.
In 1955, the Warsaw Pact was formed by seven communist countries with similar objectives. After the disintegration of the USSR in 1997, the basic reason to form Nato ceased to exist and now the Nato is inviting former Warsaw Pact countries to join the organization.
One does not need to stretch one’s imagination too far in the present global political situation, which is trying to portray Islam and terrorism as one and the same thing. Why cannot the Muslim countries have a similar defence/economic treaty to protect their states and economy with the support of each other instead of depending on the West?
The leadership of the Muslim countries needs to realize this today, otherwise, there will be more and more problems for them with each coming day. Let us act (discuss and put pressure on our leadership) before it is too late.
DR SOHAIL MANZOOR
Karachi
THIS refers to the news item, “Turkish speaker’s wife sparks controversy” (Nov 23).
In this democratic world, when we advocate the principles of human rights and personal freedom so vehemently, it is strange and equally painful that the wearing of headscarf by a woman in an official gathering causes an uproar.
Apart from her religious belief that a woman should cover her head in a gathering, does the Turkish speaker’s wife not enjoy personal freedom for choosing her dress? Does a woman in headscarf, regardless of her racial or religious identity, present a repulsive appearance, and is her presence not acceptable in functions? Is Turkish society equally restrictive about those women who openly wear indecent and objectionable dresses?
My personal observation is that they enjoy full freedom, with no restriction whatsoever. Why this double standard? I am sure the use of headscarf by a woman will not have any effect on the state’s secular outlook.
All human rights organizations should come out and speak with equal force for such kind of discrimination not only in Turkey but also elsewhere. Turkey, being so eager to become a member of the European Union, must be well aware that society in the West essentially upholds the principle that ensures individual’s liberty.
M. ILTEMAS KHAN
Karachi
THE Muttahida Qaumi Movement has 17 members in the National Assembly and not 14 as stated by Ayaz Amir in his column (Nov 22). If he is comparing the MQM with other political parties and groups, alleging that the former has joined the government’s party because of the army and the intelligence community’s persuasive role, then it is unfair.
The MQM’s decision to support the PML(Q) was definitely conditional. It was only a one-point agenda — the resettling of a substantial number of families who were uprooted a decade back from Karachi’s various areas, including Landhi, Malir, Lines Area, Shah Faisal Colony and some parts of Liqautabad and New Karachi.
The MQM neither demanded federal ministries nor the posts of the National Assembly speaker or deputy speaker. Mr Amir would agree with me that demanding a resettlement of those who are the citizens of Pakistan in an honourable and peaceful manner in their own homes is neither a game of politics nor an assertion of a political party’s authority.
In fact, MQM Haqiqi elements were the major stumbling-block in such a resettlement. It was tried in the past but without any success. No section of the population can be held hostage for long.
Pakistan has faced three military regimes in 55 years. The first one started in 1958. It continued when one non-civilian president in uniform was replaced by another. The regime ended up after 13 years. The second non-civilian regime started in 1977 and faded out in 1988 when the then president died wearing his uniform. The third one, which started in 1999 and lasted till Nov 23, 2002, was the shortest and it had not imposed martial law.
Certain religious parties and groups, which were rubbing shoulders with the army in the previous two non-civilian regimes and never opposed the LFOs from them (rather participated in their ministries), have to explain the reason for so much closeness with the first two in the past and the hostile attitude towards the regime which officially lasted till Nov 23, 2002.
A friend of mine, who recently came from Lahore, told me a cynical joke. He said that, while a president was being forced to resign, he cursed the new incumbents, “Today you are throwing out one bearded person from here, but tomorrow you would face 50 likewise.” So they are here, more in the numbers than was predicted. Even liberal parties, ministers and the incumbent prime minister are no exception.
KUNWAR KHALID YUNUS
Karachi
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