| December 19, 2002 | Thursday | Shawwal 14, 1423 |
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Carter: a voice of sanity
Banks’ non-performing loans
Death of a patient in prison
Sindh Assembly resolution
The truth hurts
Offshore outsourcing
Cabinets and women lawmakers
Rethinking foreign policy
Revision of pension
A teacher robbed, beaten
‘Savage beyond belief’
Markhor hunting
Democratization process
DOCTORS graduating from private medical colleges have to suffer from negligence on the part of their college administrations and the indifference with which the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council treats them.
About a year back, the PMDC suspended most of the private medical colleges across the country, stating that they were short of proper facilities and staff. The careers of the students studying in those colleges were, thus, put at stake.
The question arises, if arrangements at those colleges were not up to the mark, who allowed them to exist? This seems strange that the PMDC became aware of the shortcomings of those institutions after at least five years of their existence, when several batches of students were about to graduate and a huge money had already spent by the students. The Hamdard College of Medicine is one of the suspended institutions.
Because of hectic efforts by students, the colleges were allowed to hold examinations six months after the scheduled time, thus wasting precious time of the students. After results were announced, the graduating class wanted to register for the USMLE examination but found that their batch had not been updated in the WHO list.
The college staff, despite several reminders by students, are paying no heed to this issue. They have been saying that a few more weeks are needed to get this work done, although a month has already passed. Even the PMDC is not giving the students any response on this issue.
Most of the students did not go for house jobs, as they wanted to prepare for the USMLE examination. They are the ones suffering the most, as now they cannot get house jobs anywhere, not even in their own college hospitals.
I request the authorities concerned to look into this matter so that the students are able to take the USMLE examination and get themselves registered before the end of this year.
If the PMDC thinks of suspending private medical colleges again, it should consider the state of affairs prevailing in government medical colleges as well. These colleges, too, lack as many facilities as private colleges do.
A CONCERNED PARENT
Karachi
GRADUALLY and reluctantly I gave up on the world we had known before 9/11 as, for all practical purposes, it had gone to the dogs. That was my feeling until I watched Jimmy Carter speak on television last week while he received the Nobel peace prize for 2002.
Notwithstanding the debate about the policies of his administration, there is in this global village a glimmer of hope for billions of people who found some sanity in the voice of a person who stands out as a good private citizen since he left the Oval Office more than two decades ago.
This is the kind of voice our world so desperately needs to hear. I pray for more such voices to join him in diverting this planet’s course away from lurking doom.
The large audience present in the auditorium applauded Mr Carter’s balanced and rational comments on international affairs and global issues, including the Middle East, North Korea and terrorism.
He disapproved of the approach of the Bush administration and quoted examples of successful peace efforts of which he was a part during and after his presidency.
He suggested policies for averting wars and bringing peace to the world. The policies Mr Carter suggested were entirely different from those being followed by the Bush administration.
It is surprising that adequate coverage has not been given to Carter’s speech in our press. Perhaps, it is still not too late.
IMTIAZ PIRACHA
Karachi
THIS refers to the letter, ‘Banks’ non-performing loans’ (Nov 13). I endorse the writer’s views that present laws tend to totally tilt in favour of banks. Instead of taking pains in studying and resolving entrepreneurs’ genuine problem, most of them refer the matter to litigation and keep their record and file straight.
In our country, unfortunately, wilful defaulters do exist and, for them, conventional, normal, standard and judicial processes do not work well to bring them to justice. To address this problem, the presence of NAB, and FIA is understandable. However, this resort has to be very discreet and only be tried after all possible and practical solutions have failed.
The duty of bank officials is to help the clients. What we need are investment development bankers and not mere money lenders. Many bankers do not even bother to read any letter having more than one page from their clients, let alone study their problems in depth.
This act of theirs not only affects the business of clients but, in fact, multiplies problems for banks as well. If the attitude towards the industrial and business activity does not change, how could the economy be ever revived?
Should we presume that the best course for bankers is to restrict their business relations and activity to blue chip companies, as they are almost risk-free and safe business propositions, and let the majority of national small and medium enterprises collapse? Let the bankers, borrowers and State Bank start a debate how to avoid the collapse of small and medium industry in order to save the country’s economy from severe damage.
KHALID MUSTAFA
Karachi
THIS refers to Hafeez Akhtar’s letter, ‘Death of a patient in prison’ (Dec 12). The following facts are stated to put the record straight.
An inquiry has been conducted into the death of Muhammad Iqbal, son of Shah Nawaz, on Nov 26. As per record of the Lahore district jail, the prisoner was lodged in the jail on July 19 as an undertrial prisoner in a case registered against him under the Arms Ordinance.
He came to the medical officer of the jail on Oct 14 with the complaint of fever/chest pain/cough. The medical officer examined him and placed him on the list of patients required to be examined by a specialist on his next visit which was due a few days later.
The medical officer admitted the prisoner to the jail hospital on Oct 14 as a case of pulmonary TB and started treatment. He was examined by the specialist on Nov 20 and was subjected to necessary investigations. TB treatment was continued.
On Nov 23, the medical officer, Dr Muhammad Aslam, accompanied him to the Services Hospital, Lahore, where he was admitted to the relevant ward. He breathed his last at the hospital on Nov 26.
It is evident that the prisoner was a chronic TB patient who was not only diagnozed in the jail but was also given the required treatment and kept at the jail hospital as indoor patient for over a month. He expired at the Services Hospital, Lahore, and not inside the prison.
DR MUHAMMAD AKRAM RANA
Inspectorate of Prisons, Punjab,
Lahore
THIS is with reference to Anwer Mooraj’s article, ‘The fellowship of the chamber’, in which he said, “It was in the Sindh Assembly in 1938 that a resolution demanding a separate homeland for the Muslims was moved by GM Syed and was passed by the Assembly.”
The fact is that in the election of 1937, the Muslim League did not capture a single seat in both Sindh and the NWFP. It was Sir Ghulam Hussain Hidayatullah who was called upon to form a ministry in Sindh. He became the first chief minister of Sindh. How could the Muslim League pass the resolution in favour of Pakistan when it was completely routed?
In 1938 the Quaid-i-Azam formally inaugurated the Sindh Muslim League, nominating Sir Haji Abdullah Haroon as provincial president, Shaikh Abdul Majid Sindhi as secretary and M. Ayub Khuhro as vice-president.
The same year, the Sindh Provincial Muslim League Conference was held at Karachi during which Sir Abdullah Haroon demanded a separate homeland for the Muslims of India. He said: “It will be impossible for anybody to save India from being divided into Hindu India and Muslim India. India must be divided.”
In 1943, the League ministry was formed and G. M. Syed was made president of the Sindh Muslim League. On the platform of the Muslim League, he moved a resolution and the Sindh assembly passed it with majority. This way Sindh became the first province which supported Lahore Resolution and demanded a separate homeland for the Muslims of India.
MANSOOR ALI SHAHANI
Karachi
THE following appeared in a section of the American press. I want to share it with Dawn’s readers:
Can you imagine working for a company that has a little more than 500 employees and has the following statistics:
1. 29 have been accused of espousal abuse.
2. Seven have been arrested for fraud.
3. 19 have been accused of writing bad checks.
4. 117 have directly or indirectly bankrupted at least two businesses.
5. Three have done time for assault.
6. 71 cannot get a credit card due to bad credit.
7. 14 have been arrested on drug-related charges.
8. Eight have been arrested for shoplifting.
9. 21 are currently defendants in lawsuits.
10. 84 have been arrested for last year’s drunk driving.
Can you guess which organization this is? Give up yet? It’s the 535 members of the US Congress — the same group of idiots that crank out hundreds of new laws each year designed to keep the rest of us in line.
A PAKISTANI
New York, USA
THIS refers to the letter, ‘Offshore outsourcing’ (Dec 15). Pakistan is a land of talented people and we could be a choice for handling offshore projects for countries like the US.
This can be foremost accomplished with the help of Pakistani expatriates working in the IT sector or running their own business in the US. They should take the initiative to help out Pakistani companies to gain confidence in the US IT sector.
SHIRAZ AHMED SHAIKH
Karachi
WHILE the presence of women in parliament has been increased substantially, they remain underrepresented in the federal and provincial cabinets.
Political organizations do not hesitate to bring women out on the streets to agitate for their demands, get beaten up and thrown into police lock-ups and jails, but the distribution of high government offices remains heavily skewed in favour of the male members of such organizations.
Women should demand their just share in the government after political victory, specially if they have faced hardships similar to those faced by men during political struggles.
If women have been second to none in times of trial, they will most surely be no less capable in governance either. It is with this mindset that women politicians should be asserting themselves effectively to claim their share from not just political rivals but, ironically, from their own side of the divide too.
DR MAHNAZ FATIMA
Karachi
THIS refers to the letter, ‘Rethinking foreign policy’ (Dec 12), by Azhar Hasan Siddiqi. He has tried to rationalize his endorsement of the editorial (Dec 1) through objective evaluation of our conduct of foreign policy in recent and not-so-recent past by following the dictates of controlling agencies (IMF and World Bank) and getting closer to the US.
However, I do not agree with him that the European Union’s monitoring team bullied us and issued statements against our national interests, particularly about the manner in which the general election was conducted in Pakistan.
Unfortunately, since the coming into existence of Pakistan, all our political leaders, with the exception of the country’s founder, termed any negative comments on their conduct of governance as anti-Pakistan and against our national interest.
Under these circumstances, isn’t it naive or wishful thinking to talk of “rethinking foreign policy?”
M. SALEEM CHAUDHRY
Karachi
THE Federal Shariat Court declared in its verdict of Oct 14, 1992, that Islamic justice demanded that the pensions of those who had retired before July 1, 1986, be brought on a par with the pension of those who had retired on or after that date.
Subsequently, the then prime minister ordered on Oct 1, 1999, that the pensions of those who had retired before July 1, 1986, be adjusted according to the verdict of the Federal Shariat Court with immediate effect. But, because of red tape, the orders were not implemented.
Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali is requested to ask the ministry concerned to implement the decision of the Federal Shariat Court without further loss of time.
A SENIOR PENSIONER
Karachi
FOR the last 13 years, I have been teaching as a lecturer at Government Arts and Commerce College, Larkana. I had commuted daily to Larkana from my residence in the village of Pathan, Dokri taluka, 13km from the city, until Sept 11 when I was deprived of my motorcycle by three gunmen.
On Sept 11, I was on my to college early in the morning when I was intercepted by the gunmen near Bakrani Bridge. The gunmen not only took away my motorcycle but also beat me in the presence of a number of people.
With my nose and mouth bleeding profusely, I immediately rushed to the nearby Bakrani police station for lodging an FIR, but the officer on duty did not register my case, nor did he give me any assistance.
When I went to the college, my colleagues took me to the DPO (Law and Order) who, after listening to my story, asked the SHO to lodge an FIR. Thus, I was able to get an FIR lodged at 3pm in which I mentioned the names of the culprits whom I could recognize as they were from a neighbouring village.
However, the police have taken no action yet against the culprits who are using my motorcycle, perhaps, also for criminal activities.
In this connection, I also met the DPO (Investigation), Larkana, but in vain. The culprits have warned me of dire consequences if I do not withdraw the FIR. I am a poor teacher and do not know how and from whom to seek justice.
NISAR AHMED SIYAL
Larkana
THE editorial, ‘Savage beyond belief’ (Dec 14), condemning “the barbarism leading to such gruesome acts” while referring to the chopping off of a girl’s hands and then stoning her to death, would be more credible if this newspaper were to take an outright editorial stance condemning the existence of equally barbaric Hudood Ordinances for both theft and adultery, still on the statute books.
These punishments can still be applied any day by a court and create embarrassment for the country, as they did in the recent past.
In this age, such punishments are simply an anachronism and incompatible with human rights’ modern notions which prohibit cruel and unusual punishments such as these. They must be repudiated by moderate Muslims.
SHAMIM MIRZA
New York, USA
Dawn has editorially called for the repeal of the Hudood Ordinances.— Ed.D
THIS refers to the news item, ‘Markhor hunting quota enhanced’ (Dec 3). I cannot figure out as to why such rare species are being killed.
Will the authorities concerned let us know as to why they are increasing quotas to hunt rare species like Markhor?
HASEEB KHALID
Lahore
THE article, ‘The faltering new system’ (Dec 15), by Kunwar Idris seriously considers the status of democratization in Pakistan.
There seems to be a widening consensus around the suitability of a presidential system of government. Past and present efforts to assert presidential authority have been stymied by its combination of non-executive and abrogative functions. Presidential authority is synonymous with and limited to the conditions of “emergency” — the right to dissolve parliament but not to govern.
Mr Idris is correct in asserting that the separation of executive and legislative functions contained in the presidential form can allow for the expression of full popular sovereignty. He is also right in stating that it is indeed a question of decision between a presidential or parliamentary form. No amount of LFO alchemy can change this fact.
But the ultimate dangler in this equation is the army, and how it would negotiate its non-representative authority and interests under a presidential system and whether its identity would change as a result.
The idea of presidential government is still being read problematically, as a compromise between military and parliamentary rule. It needs to be stressed that even under a fully presidential system, the army would still face the same threat of political and corporate marginalization as it would under an effective parliament. Of course, the opposite could also be the case.
In a presidential system, however, the army would eventually have to rely on the initiative of legislative and executive hawks to promote itself. Ideally, however, it would no longer see itself as an entity with interests, since these would be designated by the executive and legislature. Either way, the army loses as much political and security writ under a presidential system. This may explain Musharraf’s inability to “muster the will” to seek a mandate for such a system. Democratization is a two-sided coin.
Indeed, it is the army which has benefited from the parliamentary morass through the anomalous figure of the president. The point here is whether any move towards full popular sovereignty in Pakistan — presidential or otherwise — will be tolerated by the army. This is the one ‘check’ on parliamentary and military power that has not seen the light of day.
TAHIR NAQVI
Berkeley, California, USA
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