| December 11, 2002 | Wednesday | Shawwal 6, 1423 |
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‘Rocking the CPLC boat’
Renunciation of citizenship
Poverty and extremism
India’s economy
CSS exam and computer science
PTCL’s daily wage earners
Plight of Umra pilgrims
US visa for doctors
Disillusioned
Erroneous report
Jamali’s govt and MQM
Sindh CM: heading back to square one
IN his article, ‘Split verdict and after’ (Dec 4), Roedad Khan asks, “Will Pakistan ever recover its elan vital (sic) and regain its lost dignity, its past glory?”
He has not explained how something that was not there, has never been there except as a delusion, can be ‘recovered’. A more appropriate lament by Mr Khan would have been: will Pakistan ever achieve dignity and glory, even minimally to the extent a few of the other countries in the same league as Pakistan have?
One could start from Adam and Eve and dwell on how and why the first constituent assembly of the country failed in its main task and obligation to produce a constitution and hold elections. Why did the bureaucracy become manifestly more arrogant and infinitely less proficient and upright than its British forerunners? Why did the Supreme Court (Federal Court) act as it did on Maulvi Tamizuddin’s petition? Who fabricated, and why, the ‘doctrine of necessity’?
However, these are issues the people of Pakistan are well aware of and they have to be spared the agony of rehash.
If the present elected lot (and this now includes the local government worthies) performs as appallingly as its earlier elected forebears, the Benazirs and the Sharifs, then, as surely as night follows day, army intervention will follow and the people will welcome such an intervention.
On the other hand, if the present elected leadership determines to make a strong showing under the democratic dispensation, though flawed it may be, and combines for the purpose, making all the needed personal and party sacrifices in the interest of paving the road to democracy, and the cumulative performance of parliament and of the elected federal and local governments is productive and visibly causative of betterment of the people’s and country’s lot, then this leadership would pave the road to sustainable democracy and, thereby, also the road back to the barracks for the army.
The ball is squarely in the court of the elected leadership. No amount of whining and cringing by this leadership on the LFO, or the national security council, or a president in uniform or out of it will rescue it from the momentous responsibility on its shoulders for leading the country away from its grisly political past and into a promising democratic future.
If by shedding personal and party indulgence, the current elected leadership is able to demolish the past political traditions and begin to build a structure for people’s welfare all the LFOs, all the security councils and army presidents would become redundant.
S. KHALID HUSAIN
Karachi
WE, at the CPLC, highly appreciate your timely editorial, ‘Rocking the CPLC Boat’ (Nov on 26), in support of the survival of good institutions.
We wish to record our sincere appreciation for the innumerous calls of support, prayers and words of encouragement, including those from the civil bureaucracy and senior police officials across the country. It has infused us with greater dedication, commitment and zeal to serve and aid the victims of crime, irrespective of their caste, creed, status or wealth.
We will continue to strive towards making the CPLC a proud achievement of civil society — to be emulated nationally and internationally.
It is also our compassionate appeal that no aspersions be cast on those colleagues who had earlier been a part of the CPLC and has now became a party, not by design but owing to sheer ignorance. We must overlook such acts with nobility, the symbol of the Citizen Police Liaison Committee.
It is also extremely unfair to expect this small group of 30 individuals to resolve all issues pertaining to law and order, which is the primary duty of the state. Its 13 years of unblemished record of honorary service, as well as being instrumental in proposing macro policies, to enhance the quality of rule of law and governance, including a fully-computerized criminal record management system to effectively combat crime, are significant achievements of the CPLC.
Although the success of the CPLC is due to its dedicated team, we cannot ignore the support and guidance we have received over the decade from governors, donors, civil administration, the police and other institutions of governance, as well as the press. They all equally share the laurels.
JAMEEL YUSUF
S.ST. Chief, CPLC, CRC,
Karachi
This correspondence is now closed.—Ed.D.
AFTER a 32-year stay in Germany, I applied for German citizenship. Having satisfied themselves through comprehensive inquiries about me through secret agencies, the German authorities have issued a ‘Letter of Naturalization Promise’. German citizenship would now be granted to me after I renounce my Pakistani citizenship.
I have, therefore, applied for the renunciation of Pakistani citizenship through the Pakistani consulate -general in Frankfurt. The consulate-general has forwarded my documents with my original national identity card to the concerned authorities in Pakistan.
I have learnt that the directorate-general of immigration and passports, Islamabad, which issues the certificate of renunciation, takes around nine months for this purpose.
However, conditions for Muslim minorities and immigrants are deteriorating in Europe day by day. Due to suspicions against Muslims, immigration laws are being made more difficult for them by all European countries.
I would, therefore, request the authorities in Pakistan to quickly deal with such cases. Otherwise a new legislation might come up, making it almost impossible for a Pakistani to acquire German citizenship or the citizenship of any other European country.
I want to point out an omission in the certificates of renunciation issued so far from Islamabad.
The certificates do not indicate the place of issue and this often leads to some trouble in its use. This information may kindly be included in the certificates to be issued now.
TANWEER HUSSAIN
Bickenbach, Germany
IT is interesting to note the observation made by Pakistan’s foreign minister in Berlin that poverty lies at the root of extremism in Muslim countries. But why stop this analytical thinking at that stage? Why not take it a step further? Is it not a fact that illiteracy and lack of job-oriented secular education lie at the root of poverty in Muslim countries?
Who, but the leadership of Muslim nations, can be blamed for keeping their masses uneducated so that they could be exploited by their corrupt politicians and Waderas? Why did we keep the people of Pakistan uneducated in the last 54 years?
May we ask who (if not their leaders) is responsible for plundering the wealth of these countries?
They spend hundreds of millions of dollars on purchasing tanks, fighter aircraft and submarines every year, yet only a meagre and token amount is spent on education and job opportunities.
Illiterate and unskilled Pakistanis abroad have become a nation of menial job seekers and manual workers. Since our country came into being, we have produced more religious fanatics than engineers, economists, industrialists and highly-skilled physicians.
The only way out of this misery is mass education and industrialization. Let us spend 20 per cent of our annual budget on education and 30 per cent on development of cottage industries. Give the starving people education and jobs and emancipate them from the clutches of hunger.
In a decade, we can change the destiny of the nation, but then this may be a cry in the wilderness and an agenda against the interests of Waderas and the corrupt, inept and selfish politicians and rulers.
So, why ask foreign countries to invest in Pakistan when its leadership is not interested in investing in the future of the country?
SALEEM A. TAHIR
Michigan, USA
THIS is with reference to a letter by Aamir A. Salaria (Dec 2). He has tried to refute Dr Debkant Jena’s claim that India is a fast-growing economy. He has also compared poverty in India with that of Pakistan.
No one needs to prove that India is a fast-growing economy. With a GDP that is three times the combined GDP of all its neighbours (Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Nepal), the figures speak for themselves.
Why are Indians migrating to foreign countries? It is because, from time immemorial, talented people have always migrated to various lands in search of better opportunities. But it should be remembered that these Indians have given back to their motherland in terms of hospitals, educational institutes, software companies, etc.
Are people living on the sidewalks? Yes, the Indians far outnumber the Pakistanis in this category because, as everyone knows, they have a mammoth population. So naturally, there are 300 million living below the poverty line in India. Pakistan’s population is 140 million, much less than that of India.
As to the per-capita income, the letter writer should correct his figures right. The current per-capita income of India is higher than it is in Pakistan. Per-capita income gets reduced when the national income is divided by a huge population and is not a true indicator of the economic progress of a country.
Anyway, the Indians do not want to compare their incomes with Pakistanis’. We would like to get to where China is in, maybe, the next decade.
SACHIN RATH
Peoria, US
I AM appearing in the CSS examinations 2002. I am surprised to learn that the marks allotted for computer science are the lowest among the optional subjects of CSS examinations.
All the optional science subjects, including chemistry, physics, botany, zoology, geology, forestry, applied mathematics and economics, carry 200 marks each, but computer science has been allocated 100 marks only.
This discriminatory attitude towards an important subject like computer science is very strange. I hope that the Federal Public Service Commission will look into the matter.
M. RAFIQUE DANISH
Hyderabad
WE, the workers of the Telecom Foundation, formed in 1996, have been serving the Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) as daily wage earners for many years. Although the PTCL announces bonus for its regular employees on the occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr every year, we are ignored.
This year, the chief engineer, RR&R, Headquarters, announced (vide his letter PA&P, Dec 3) a grant of Rs5,000 for the employees each of both the PTCL and the Telecom Foundation. This bonus was to be paid before the Eid holidays, but for unknown reasons, its distribution among the employees of the Telecom Foundation was held up. Most probably, this sanction was cancelled at some other stage.
The salaries and other benefits for the employees of the Telecom Foundation at Karachi are much lower than those paid to foundation’s employees in other cities.
We call upon the prime minister and the communications minister to look into the matter and instruct the PTCL management to pay the bonus already sanctioned by the chief engineer. It is hoped that the authorities concerned will revise upwards our remunerations so as to bring it at par with those of the others.
GENERAL SECRETARY TFEU,
Pak Capital Telephone Exchange,
Karachi
A LARGE number of letters have appeared about the problems being faced by Umra pilgrims from Pakistan. They have complained that they had to face very difficult times at the hands of Saudi travel agents in Makkah and Madina.
They have further said that Saudi agents neither provide suitable lodging and transport facilities nor do they behave properly. These pilgrims have earnestly appealed to the government to take up the matter with the Saudi authorities.
It is surprising that all the complaints of Umra pilgrims have fallen on deaf ears. If it is not possible to re-introduce the previous system, the authorities should, in all fairness, make necessary arrangements to ensure that reasonable lodging, transport and other facilities as committed by travel agents are provided to Umra pilgrims.
I request the Saudi ambassador in Pakistan to use his good offices to redress the grievances of Umra pilgrims.
Dr NISHAT AFZA
Lahore
I WOULD like to bring to the notice of the US ambassador to Pakistan the fact that although US visas have been issued regularly to applicants since Sept 16, 2002, there are a handful of doctors whose visas have not been issued even after the passage of more than five months.
I and these doctors have residency contracts with various university and community hospitals in the United States, but we have been waiting for our J-1 and H-1 visas since July, 2002.
The year is coming to an end and it is very unfortunate that we do not have the slightest idea of the status of our applications. Furthermore, we cannot re-apply for a visa until we receive a specific response to the earlier application.
I request the US ambassador to look into this matter urgently. If nothing positive is expected to come out from this, we may be allowed to re-apply because new applicants are getting their visas within eight weeks.
UMAIR SHARIH
Karachi
I have been a supporter of President Musharraf, but the horse-trading and political manipulations to help Zafarullah Khan Jamali get 172 seats have left me quite disillusioned.
That the real power would always be with the president was something that most Pakistanis had willingly accepted and which has been proved by the retention of Sharifuddin Pirzada and Shaukat Aziz as advisers to the PM. But the price that has been paid, with the ministries of defence, interior and petroleum going to the PPP turncoats, makes a mockery of Mr Jamali’s statement that those who voted for him have acted according to their conscience.
NAELA HASAN
Ontario, Canada
THIS refers to the news item, ‘Subscribers find it hard to have phones reconnected’ (Dec 3).
This is stated to clarify that the auto-disconnection and restoration system has been working in Karachi since 1999 and, with the introduction of this system, PTCL customers’ grievances, related to delay in the restoration of connections and excess billing owing to improper disconnections, are redressed promptly.
The Pakistan Telecommunication Limited adopted automation in the disconnection and restoration system eight months back in STR-II on experimental basis and, after positive results, introduced a similar system in STR-III three months ago. The second system is still under trial.
There is no problem with the system, nor is there any lack of coordination between the computer and revenue departments.
On the applications received on Nov 30, as many as 710 telephones were restored on Dec 2.
ATHER JAVED SUFI
Media Coordinator, PTCL,
Karachi
THIS refers to the recent statement of Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali on the Muttahida’s complaint that even after a clear-cut directive of President Musharraf that a large number of families forcefully ejected from Landhi and Korangi by a certain group should be brought back to their homes, the concerned authorities have failed to comply with the president’s directive.
I was glued to live PTV transmission from the assembly from the day of swearing-in of members (Nov 16) to the election of the leader of the house. Jamali, in his maiden speech after being elected prime minister, said he would take along all parties with him.
But when the Muttahida withdrew its support because of the new government’s lukewarm approach towards the rehabilitation of the evicted families, Jamali publicly stated that the he was not worried at all.
I was dismayed over his statement that came only about a week after his pronouncement in parliament that he would take along all parties for the sake of national interest. It should not be forgotten that the Muttahida Qaumi Movement represents over 15 per cent population of the country.
I remember well that prime minister Mohammad Khan Junejo warned president Ziaul Haq that democracy and martial law could not go together.
It is equally true that democracy and “Waderacracy” cannot get along if Pakistan is to join the ranks of developed states.
S. M. ZAKERYA KAZMI
Karachi
THEY say the next couple of days are crucial for the Sindh Assembly, meeting in session on Dec 12. The majority needs to agree on a leader of the house as chief minister. They say, what is in a name?
In Sindh or for that matter anywhere else in Pakistan, as our history shows, a man is more important than the party or group he represents. This is specially true in our political context where groups and alliances are made for elections, as it is the case with the incumbent provincial assembly.
This hapless province is seeing another spell of disastrous consequences of the new democratic dispensation spawned by the October general election.
The entire government machinery has come to a standstill, awaiting a new elected government.
As if the selection of a chief minister was an end in itself rather than the means to an end, the aspirants’ list makes one wonder how the leader of a group or an alliance is going to be different from another in solving the longstanding problems faced by the province.
Apart from the PPP, the largest party in Sindh, and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement representing the urban areas, rest of the parties have put more emphasis on names rather than parties.
Thus, we find that totally new names are floating around. As far as their previous credentials are concerned, these names have given the common man the creeps. We have names of novices in the political field. They include the progeny of an old hand in political manoeuvrings and highly controversial figures like an SDA/GNA candidate.
The only thing one can imagine happening in the province, with such a set of people at the helm of affairs, is that there is bound to be a resurgence of political witch-hunting, making an adverse impact on the administration and good governance and leading to another spell of uncertainty. The province, thus, seems to be heading back to square one once again.
SYED ZAFAR ALI SHAH
MNA
Noshahro Feroze
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