| December 14, 2002 | Saturday | Shawwal 9, 1423 |
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Improving PTV news
Advani’s jingoistic statements
World Human Rights Day
Students’ creativity
KBCA: Cowasjee factor
Walton housing project
Prisons and prisoners
Judges’ remuneration
Consensus on Kalabagh dam
Ibex hunting
Is this democracy?
Jobless IT certificate holders
THIS refers to the report, ‘Bush explains Islamic practices to Americans’ (Dec 9).
During my private visit to the USA last month, I became aware of the overt or covert discrimination and harassment to which many Muslims, specially those from Arab countries, Pakistan, Iran, Bangladesh, Indonesia, India and Malaysia, have been subjected since the Sept 11 attacks in New York and Washington DC.
According to the New York-based Human Rights Watch group, there has been a surge in hate crimes by 1,700 per cent against Muslims in the USA.
My inquiries show that most of the trigger for the current Islamophobia virus has been provided by the Israeli lobby in cahoots with the Indian lobby and a hardline racist caucus in a Christian evangelical movement. Their operatives deftly use their contacts in the US administration to harass Muslims by feeding them false information, often due to personal enmities or business rivalry.
While those victims who had immigration problems in the past are gradually leaving the USA for their mother country, many courageous Muslims are facing this vicious onslaught resolutely, using the American legal system, some active indigenous Muslim organizations and fair-minded supporters in the Christian community and the US administration.
Six million American Muslims are a force to be reckoned with in American society and government. Their population is hugely bigger than the interned American Japanese during World War II or the American communists in the 1950s when anti-communist Senator McCarthy’s “anti-Commie” virus was on the rampage in the USA (so much so that some American restaurants stopped serving Russian salad dressing because of the hawkish senator’s junketing gumshoes).
The American Muslim community feels encouraged by the public assurances of support it gets from time to time from President Bush, Secretary of State Colin Powell and many other influential Americans in White House Iftar dinners and in their visits to the Islamic Centres in Washington DC, New York and elsewhere. During the Eid celebrations, Muslims asserted their Islamic identity.
For the Pakistanis in the USA, it is important that our embassy in Washington DC should have a special cell to monitor cases of discrimination or harassment reported to it and bring them to the notice of the relevant authorities in the US administration.
The Pakistan government should launch a large-scale publicity drive and intensify its lobby effort on Capitol Hill to counter the propaganda war waged by hostile lobbies. A number of Muslim embassies in Washington may join hands with Pakistan in countering the Islamophobia virus in the USA.
QUTUBUDDIN AZIZ
Karachi
In Kuwait, we watch PTV World and PTV News regularly. The latter seems to have progressed a lot in certain areas. For example, PTV has now started using ‘correspondents’ instead of ‘reporters’. Also, now we have ‘breaking news’ as against ‘special bulletin’ or ‘Khas Khabrein’ in the past.
PTV correspondents are reporting live or on the phone. We also have at the bottom of the screen a moving footage displaying news. With all these gimmicks, presentation of news by PTV has become quite comparable to foreign networks such as the CNN. Still there is something big which is missing in PTV News — the quality of news itself.
The contents of news and its pattern are still very much the same as they have always been. The bulletin usually begins with a coverage of the president’s engagements, followed by that of the prime minister and others in the official hierarchy, comprising governors and ministers. It is only after this ritual that domestic and international news are allocated some time in the daily bulletin.
PTV bosses should realize that they not only need to make improvements in how news is presented but also they should uplift the quality of news itself.
If the president or the prime minister says something or goes to a dinner or elsewhere, it is not always news. Viewers expect PTV to select news items only on the basis of its newsworhtiness. They also expect them to expose corruption, mismanagement, lawlessness and other evils in society.
WAQAS WARRAICH
Mangaf, Kuwait
LAL Krishna ADVANI has once again hurled the threat of war at Pakistan. He wants to engage Pakistan and India in another war and put at stake millions of lives just to win an election.
Through communal riots, the BJP has sown the seeds of hatred in Gujarat and now is the time to reap its dividends. May I ask Mr Advani what he would do without us? In times of distress, he always turns towards Pakistan.
That the BJP came to power by igniting the flames of hatred against the Muslims, in general, and Pakistan, in particular, is stating the obvious. The party remained in power by killing innocent Muslims in the state of Gujarat. Its leaders have exploited the Gujarat tragedy to win the election in the state.
This time they have stooped to the lowest level. This explains why Indian premier Atal Behari Vajpayee is reluctant to attend the Saarc summit. He wants economic cooperation with Pakistan but keeping the innocent people of both the countries at bay by closing all people-to-people contacts. He wants to eat his cake and have it too.
Even the infamous CM of Gujarat, Narain Modi, is exploiting the name of Gen Musharraf. Never in the history of India a Pakistani has become a part of an election campaign except for Gen Musharraf. The question on Gen Musharraf’s posters affixed at various places in Gujarat is: “Modi or Musharraf?”
Just to remain in power the BJP government has squandered the poor Indians’ hard-earned money in the military build-up on the country’s borders with Pakistan; hence the countless deaths of starvation in the different states of India.
The BJP leaders are feeding people with words of war. One thing I can say for sure is that you can either hate us or love us but you cannot ignore us.
HUMA AFTAB NASIR
Karachi
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan emphasized in his speech on the World Human Rights Day that the world should adhere to “the universally-accepted principles of human rights”.
I wonder which principles he was referring to. Was he referring to the principle that safeguards the rights of prisoners of war but that the US is flouting while dealing with the captives at Guantanamo Bay?
Or was the UN chief sulking over the principles of sovereignty and national security which the US very conveniently ignored while bombing innocent citizens in Afghanistan and threatening Iraq? And what about the principle disallowing arbitrary detention, assault and torture? In the case of the Kashmiris and the Palestinians this principle has ceased to matter.
What is apparent is that Western countries accept these principles only when they suit their own interests. There is nothing universal about them as Muslims and even other societies do not receive any protection under these principles in case they are in conflict with the Western agenda.
On the contrary, Islam has had a tested history of providing human rights to all people, irrespective of their caste or religion.
Isn’t it time we offered an alternative to the double standard of the West?
DR AMJAD MAHMUD
Lahore
THIS refers to the letters by Dr Surrayya Khatoon (Nov 13) and Nabil Hoodbhoy (Nov 29).
I agree with the latter that our education system does not allow students to use their minds, and seems to be producing dummies only. Cramming of the prescribed text is promoted, whereas creative work is seldom encouraged. At my school and even at the college, cramming was the only way I knew to get through an examination.
This is largely because of our examination system. Three hours of examination have nothing to do with the students’ performance throughout a year or two. Such a system discourages students to follow “their own intellect in their quest for knowledge”, as desired by Dr Surrayya Khatoon, and encourages cramming of the ‘important questions’ for success in examinations.
I was myself discouraged during my MA programme to read library books by fellow students and acquaintances. The reason put forward was that it would not be as helpful as prepared notes in securing good marks.
What I want to say is that we can never get students to use their own capabilities and potential unless they are supported by both teachers and a system that encourages originality. A semester system might have been a good alternative. But lacking in learned and dedicated teachers as we are, it would further deteriorate and corrupt the system.
Teachers, educationists and policymakers need to join hands in order to save good brains from decaying.
SAMIA KHAN
Faisalabad
THIS refers to Cowasjee’s column which appeared on Dec 9. I am amused to read the quotes from the letter by Brig Nasir of the Karachi Building Control Authority to Brig Zamin, principal secretary to the Sindh governor.
The quotes say: “It is not understood in what capacity he (Ardeshir Cowasjee) is challenging the Ordinance in point,” and “I have personally forbidden Mr Cowasjee to stop dictating what KBCA should do.”
It is obvious that a former brigade commander, now at the helm of affairs of the KBCA, is not aware of the history of the Cowasjee factor vis-a-vis the KBCA approval process. Once a builder has obtained approval from the board of revenue, the KBCA, the KDA, and the KMC as required, it is advisable that he also obtain a final NOC from the self-appointed but the most-welcomed ‘institution’ called Ardeshir Cowasjee.
I know from personal experience that this ‘institution’ has remained firm, upright and uncorrupted despite his advancing age. He may have sometimes his unique cynicism at play but he is indeed an unflinching crusader for civic decency, conformity and compliance.
MUSLEHUDDIN REZVI
Karachi
THE Pakistan Housing Authority (PHA) announced a housing programme in January 2001. I am an overseas Pakistani living in the USA and, putting faith in the government-backed initiative, booked an apartment in the Walton Housing Scheme and paid the full amount on time.
Recently, the PHA sent out letters to the allottees of the housing scheme informing them that their allotment has been cancelled. At the time when the allottees were hoping to get possession letters they are given cancellation letters without any moral or legal justification.
If the PHA is unable to sell all the apartments in this particular location, it is not the fault of the people who put faith in this government scheme. Anyone who is aware of the real estate market can confirm that if the PHA does a proper professional marketing job, all of these apartments can be sold in matter of weeks. Why should the people who paid all their dues and waited for almost two years suffer?
It is requested that the allottees should be given possession of their apartments without any further delay.
MRS SHAZIA OBAID
Houston, USA
I WANT to draw the attention of the people involved in prisoners’ welfare, officials of the prison department, courts and the police towards the plight of prisoners and the conditions of jails in our country.
Offenders are locked in for mainly two reasons: to punish and then reform them. There is, however, a need to study as to how far keeping people confined to jails helps in meeting these objectives. Confining criminals in prisons is futile if their confinment fails to reform them.
It has been observed that prisoners become hardened criminals while serving jail sentence. This is evident from the fact that many criminals have been jailed several times. While offenders are hardly reformed by imprisonment, the system is costing the taxpayers a lot of money.
There is a worldwide drive to minimize the number of offences for which offenders may be locked up. Juvenile and women offenders, specially women with minor children, are not being awarded prison sentence as much as possible.
Experience has showed that jails breed hardened criminals, the first-timers are turned into habitual and the inside of a prison is notorious for sex and drugs-related crimes.
TARIQ MAHMOOD
Peshawar
IN Singapore, judges are highly paid and the government takes good care to provide them with a reasonably good standard of life and status in society. Therefore, the judges are honest and independent, ensuring a fair and effective judicial system.
In Pakistan, the most painful aspect of the judicial system is its awfully slow pace. Cases have been pending for years. Perhaps this is owing to the shortage of judges in various courts. As a result of this, many accused have to spend several years behind bars during the pendency of their cases, some of which are ironically decided ultimately in their favour.
In the lower courts, corruption prevails unchecked. Judicial officers in grades from 17 to 20 take bribes frequently and openly. Their decisions are often influenced by inducements. To eliminate corruption, judges at all levels must be given handsome salaries.
QAZI NAZIM NAEEM
Hyderabad
THE minister for water and power, Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao, has said again that the Kalabagh dam would be built by consensus after assessing the net profit for the NWFP. The question arises, how many decades are required for building a consensus on this project for which there is no alternative at present?
Only half-hearted attempts have been made for achieving a consensus on this project which has, in fact, been made a victim of political expediency to the detriment of national interest.
The NWFP, as well as the other three provinces, would gain from such a dam at Kalabagh where water inflow is twice as much as at Bhasha, the latter is a highly questionable site owing to its location in a seismic zone. Moreover, the question of net profit for the NWFP in case of the Kalabagh dam would not arise as this dam with its power house will be located in Punjab.
This is regrettable that the minister has shown bias about such an important issue. It is time the minister used his energy and position to achieve the much-needed consensus on this project, specially in Sindh and the NWFP.
DR M. YAQOOB BHATTI
Lahore
THIS refers to the letter by Mr Haseeb Khalid on the above subject. I agree with him that hunting of wild animals must not be allowed.
Hunting is a part of the colonial and bourgeois cultures. On the one hand, the wildlife department says that wildlife in Sindh, particularly Ibex goats, is under severe threat while on the other, its hunting licences are being sold.
It is true that hunters never respect the limits given under the licence, but being human beings and Muslims we should not show cruelty to animals. Killing an animal for eating can be justified but how can we justify killing an animal just for pleasure or money?
I appeal to the Sindh wildlife department to refrain from earning this blood money by selling hunting licences.
TANVEER ARIF
Karachi
ON Dec 11, Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali passed through Shara-i-Faisal on his way to the State Life Building. The road was blocked before 12:30pm while the prime minister passed through the road at 4pm.
During these three-and-a-half hours, Shara-i-Faisal was crammed with screaming, insolent policemen trying to perform their duties and creating havoc on the road. May I ask Mr Jamali if this was a better way to make Pakistan a really democratic country?
SARAH SHEIKH-ALLAWALA
Karachi
I REFER to the letter by Shahab Afroz Khan (Dec 9) about jobs for IT professionals. The arguments in the letter were not based on facts.
The previous government placed emphasis on improving the quality of education in information technology. This could not have been achieved fully without having a PhD-level faculty in our universities and institutes.
Prof Ata-ur-Rahman addressed this problem squarely by aggressively advertising for PhD-level faculty members in international newspapers and journals. He was thus able to hire highly competent persons from the USA and Europe and inducted them into our various IT institutions. Over 50 such expatriate professionals have already returned to Pakistan and others are on their way.
Prof Rahman also set up a number of new universities, including the Virtual University, which would produce over 50,000 highly-qualified graduates who would be able to complete their education at these institutions by 2007.
The difficulties that some “graduates” emerging from IT institutes are facing are the result of their poor education at the low-quality institutes established in the 1990s. The laws to eliminate such institutes were moved at the cabinet about three months ago and are likely to be approved in a few months.
It needs to be understood that India started its IT drive in the 1960s by setting up several world-class institutes and it is reaping the fruits of that effort now. In Pakistan, we must persist on the initiative taken by the previous government.
This initiative has yielded remarkable results in Pakistan. Our country has already overtaken India in a number of critical areas, including IT infrastructure.
In the last two years, the use of Internet has spread from 29 cities to over 1,025 villages, towns and cities. The bandwidth has gone up from only 32MB/second to over 600 MB/second, and fibre has spread from 52 to over 240 cities. Moreover, bandwidth prices have come down from $87,000 a month to $3,800 a month on the E-I line. In all these areas we have moved far ahead of India.
MAHMOOD ALAM
Karachi
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