| December 24, 2002 | Tuesday | Shawwal 19, 1423 |
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Cricket team’s performance
Is it ‘real’ democracy?
Recruitment in Sindh police
Educational revolution?
Quality of news bulletin
Cut in savings schemes’ profit
Pakistan’s role in Kashmir dispute
Students’ suffering
Phone fault
Pakistanis in US
Patrolling or burglary?
Development funds for lawmakers
IN his article, ‘US strategy to redraw the Mideast map’ (Dec 13), Eric Margolis discussed parts of an interview given by Iraq’s Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz and the prospects of reshaping the Middle East.
Mr Aziz warned clearly that an invasion of Iraq would not be a ‘cake walk’, let alone control of Baghdad and administration of Iraqi institutions in the fashion of Japan’s surrender after World War II, with Gen Douglas MacArthur (Tommy Franks in the current situation) assuming the governance of the country.
Tariq Aziz and Saddam Hussain also know that time is on their side. As long as the Iraqis can forestall any invasion by the US, Iraqis will in due course end up building at least a rudimentary nuclear devise.
The fact is that since the end of the Vietnam war, America, despite its technological and economic resources and military superiority, is more comfortable taking on weaklings such as Panama, Grenada and Afghanistan.
When it comes to formidable adversaries such as North Korea, the US backs down quickly and even appeases the opponent lest it is left with another Vietnam-like bruise. The 1991 Gulf War was a worldwide effort, simply because US public has no stomach for American soldiers’ coming home in body bags.
Similarly, tackling Iran has its own complexities — a country four times the size of Iraq and militarily better equipped. It will be far more difficult to neutralize Iran, with supporters of the Shiite regime in Iraq and elsewhere, not to mention Lebanon which have been fighting Iran’s proxy war since the 80s. It will take different sets of dynamics to handle it but will not be easy. US planners surely have not forgotten the hostage crisis, nor the debacle of the rescue mission which failed miserably in the Iranian desert in 1979.
And then there is Fidel Castro’s Cuba. Just 90 miles from the US shores, frozen in time, it seems since the l950s, with crumbling infrastructure and dismal economy, to speak nothing of nominal military capability. Yet the successive American governments have done everything to try to overthrow him since the fiasco of Bay of Pigs, but Mr Castro has shown remarkable resilience in survival and even manages to poke a finger in America’s eye from time to time — with no meaningful response from Washington.
There have been other ‘villains’ who managed to outlive US presidents whose ire was directed at them. Khomeni survived Reagan and George Bush Sr. Kaddafi has outlived all presidents since Reagan bombed Tripoli. North Korea’s communist regime has been humiliating the US since the 1950s and continues to defy the only superpower today. But where’s the US response?
Mr Aziz and Mr Hussain seem rather relaxed and unfazed for a reason, and they know it: if history is any indication, they may yet surprise everyone with a few new tricks of survival — just like the man targeted in the mountains of Tora Bora.
M. IFTIKHAR MALIK
California
PAKISTAN cricket team’s capitulation to South Africa in four out of five one-day internationals is, in fact, a repeat of the team’s poor performance witnessed in Morocco, Kenya, Sri Lanka and Sharjah.
A good show during its visit to Zimbabwe was no answer to the defeats it suffered at the hands of Australia, South Africa and Sri Lanka in both one-day international and Test series.
In the series against South Africa, the team was totally outclassed in one-day internationals, for the four matches proved one-sided. Pakistan’s solitary win with a big margin against South Africa is not enough to judge its capability to come up to the expectations in the forthcoming World Cup contest.
The team’s weaknesses, both in batting and in bowling, against top class sides are fully exposed. Pakistan’s middle-order batting line has again failed to achieve the required target. Appointment of a coach on a long-term basis is yet another serious problem. No coach has been allowed to complete his term.
In spite of all these bitter facts, cricket bosses are making highly wishful claim about Pakistan’s chances of winning the World Cup. They have promised cash reward of five million rupees to each player if the team wins the title. A team does not win a major title through a cash incentive, rather it needs planning, training and preparation to be a balanced side to face the top teams of the world.
The successive defeats of our team are enough to tell us that there is something wrong which is causing deterioration in the standard of the game. Would it not be fair to appoint a person who has the necessary knowledge, experience and vision to take charge of PCB affairs? Let us try Imran Khan, who is fully qualified for this important job.
M ILTEMAS KHAN
Karachi
Cricket fans are disappointed after the poor show of our cricket team in South Africa, and now there is news of changing the captain. I think this move will not be good at this time. Waqar is performing his job well.
To improve the performance of the team we should make changes in the batting line-up and not the captaincy. We cannot afford to change the captain at this time. Changing the captain just two months before the World Cup will be fatal.
MIR ZAIN KHAWAR
Rawalpindi
BESIDES other reasons, the ruling party is in the majority in parliament because of women legislators. The strength of this party and other political parties rests with them but, unfortunately, the women legislators have been taken for granted. Under-representation of women lawmakers in the federal and the provincial cabinets proves this point.
According to their number in all the assemblies of the country, women lawmakers should be a part of the cabinets. In the federal cabinet only one woman minister has been included.
Balochistan’s cabinet consists of 14 members, but none of the members is a woman. Frontier’s 12-member cabinet has no woman minister either.
As things stand today, it can safely be said that quite a few women will be included in Punjab and Sindh cabinets. So much for “real” democracy.
BUSHRA AGHA
Karachi
Six months back, recruitment was made in the police department for the post of assistant sub-inspectors through the Sindh Public Service Commission for the first time.
This kindled the hope that recruitments would be made in the police department on merit only and would change the performance of the police significantly. However, the treatment being meted out to this batch of recruits suggests otherwise. It has been six months since we were recruited, but we have not been sent for training yet.
According to rules, a person cannot be asked to perform duty without both formal training and arms. In contravention of these rules, we have been put on duty at police stations on various occasions. We performed duties on Tariq Road during Eid and were called for the election duty in October. But we were kept unarmed even during the duty period.
It seems that some senior people at the headquarters are trying to discredit those recruited through the SPSC for the fear that these ASIs would not cooperate with the rest of the lot in their illegal transactions. We are educated people and happen to be determined to bring a positive change in the department.
We do not want to make any demands except that our training should be commenced now and that we be assigned duties in a regular manner. We appeal to higher authorities in the police department to take redress our grievances.
AFFECTED RECRUITS
Karachi
THE other day Education Minister Zubeida Jalal held detailed talks with Japanese Ambassador to Pakistan Minoru Shibuya. The ambassador was reported to have commended her efforts and that of her team to bring about a revolution in the educational sector. Regretfully I, being a citizen of this literacy-starved country, do not see any signs of such a revolution.
To me, it is a tale of tears. Twenty-five years ago when I was a school-going boy, the school in my hometown in Larkana did not have a building and even today, schoolchildren sit under the shadow of a tree or in a dilapidated building donated by a Wadera of the village.
I can count hundreds of such villages in the Larkana division where there are no buildings, no teachers and, in some cases, no students. In some villages, school buildings which were constructed during the days of Prime Minister Mohammad Khan Junejo are being used as ‘Autaqs’ by influential Waderas because there are no teachers available. Those from cities and towns are unwilling to come to these far-flung villages to teach.
How can I believe that a revolution is coming in education when I am told by children working at a farm owned by a friend that they have to work in the fields because their father is dead?
To many, our country is a graveyard of hopes and aspirations. Most villagers harbour the hope of sending their children to school but cannot do so because of their poverty. Even if there are schools functioning in the vicinity, children of school-going age do not have any choice but to work to live, or they will have to starve. So, what revolution and where?
Only a few of us could afford to get education in engineering and medical colleges, but even after 10 years of graduation, we are still jobless. These jobless engineers and doctors are willing to do anything for a living and a few of them are doing so.
Indeed, a revolution will come because the stage is getting ready for it. It is said that “revolution first eats its own children”. Well, quite a similar thing is happening in our country.
HASHIM ABRO
Islamabad
I SWITCHED on my TV at 6pm for the English news bulletin and felt much dismayed, rather ashamed, on hearing the news. Not only was the quality of the script of the news poor but also its presentation much below the mark.
News readers recently recruited by the PTV management lack clarity of expression. Their pronunciation is flawed and the delivery much poor. Most of news items, thus, remain incomprehensible.
A woman newscaster called one reporter at PTV’s Karachi centre to comment on the elections of speakers and deputy speaker of the Sindh Assembly. What the reporter did in reply to the call was very embarrassing. Most of the time he kept stammering, with his eyes fixed on the script.
As this bulletin is broadcast on PTV World, the entire world is watching it. The PTV management must do the needful to improve the quality of the new bulletin.
LT-COL (R) GHULAM JILANI KHAN
Lahore
THE new government has got off to a good start by reducing electricity rates and, according to reports, it is also considering reducing exorbitant rates of other utilities. However, another important matter that needs urgent attention is the grinding poverty to which senior citizens have been subjected.
In most civilized countries senior citizens are not only given special concessions in travels, medical treatment, etc. but are also given old-age pensions.
In Pakistan, on the contrary, successive governments have neglected them and slashed profit rates of national savings schemes in which many of them have invested their earnings in order to make their last years free from hardship and financial problems.
Besides deposits, returns are also being taxed. This amounts to double taxation. I, therefore, appeal to the government to prepare a package in which profits of those senior citizens who are over 65 years of age are restored to the original rates and are not taxed.
A SENIOR CITIZEN
Karachi
A READER from one of our neighbouring countries has criticized Pakistan for terrorism in Kashmir and for supporting a terrorist regime in Afghanistan.
He could either say there is no dispute regarding Kashmir, in which case we can safely ignore his whole diatribe, or if he does admit to a dispute, he must acknowledge Pakistan’s positive role vis-a-vis that dispute.
Pakistan is merely asking for Kashmiris’ right to self-determination promised by no less a person than Pandit Nehru and guaranteed by the United Nations through its resolutions. The argument that Pakistan’s military alliances with Western powers changed the situation in any conceivable way is nonsense. How can anything that Pakistan may or may not have done affect the historical right of self-determination of the people of Kashmir?
A dialogue between India and Pakistan cannot be proposed now for the simple reason that every time the two meet India reiterates that Kashmir is its integral part. It is because of India’s intransigence on this subject that Pakistan has been asking the international community to mediate in the dispute.
Pakistan extends full moral and diplomatic support to Kashmiris in their fight for the right to self- determination. The people of Kashmir have never recognized the Line of Control and there is no such thing as cross-border terrorism.
It is the Kashmiris themselves who are putting up a valiant fight against over 700,000 Indian troops and have sacrificed over 70,000 lives.
India has always schemed with the rulers in Afghanistan to pose a threat to Pakistan on its both borders. Even today the US is warning India to cease troubling Pakistan through its increasing influence in Afghanistan.
Thus, the friendly writer would be well advised to direct his considerable writing skills towards home-grown, saffron-clad terrorists in Gujarat and elsewhere in India.
KHURSHID ANWER
Lahore
IT was quite painful to see hundreds of private students queue up from 5am till the afternoon in front of a small window of the Samanabad branch of the HBL to deposit their fees with forms for board examinations.
I wonder if it is a crime to seek education in our country as this task makes students face a host of difficulties.
Students must be encouraged and facilitated in their attempt to acquire education which has become a rarity in our society. Why cannot the education department authorize more banks or more branches of the HBL to collect forms and fees to facilitate such students and, in turn, encourage them to seek more and more education.
The authorities concerned must redress all grievances of students without any further loss of time.
AFTAB AHMAD
Lahore
MY residential telephones, 4523082 and 4525876, went out of order after rains six months ago.
Apparently, there is some fault in the underground cable and unless the cable is repaired or a new cable is laid, my telephone problem will not be solved on a permanent basis.
Will both the Gulshan Town Nazim and the PTCL authorities do something to put us out of this misery?
MAJOR (Retd) ARSHAD HUSAIN
Karachi
THE decision of the US government to include Pakistanis in the list of people required to be fingerprinted and photographed has put me in the category of suspects. Though I have been living in the US lawfully and paying taxes every year, I feel like I have been kicked in the back.
A spokesman for Pakistan’s embassy in Washington says this was “unnecessary”. What? Is this all that my government has to say? These kinds of situations put governments into a test but the government’s reaction to the treatment being meted out to Pakistani expatriates shows that it does not care about them at all.
In Pakistan, the FBI and others agencies are picking up Pakistani citizens without any legal sanctions. In the US, Pakistanis are being placed on the terrorist list. Do we, the Pakistanis, have any respect anywhere? I understand we are in a difficult situation but I, as a Pakistani, deserve some respect and protection from the government.
ASIF ANWAR
Alexandria, USA
ON the night of Dec 19 my cousin who is a student and usually remains awake till late hours for studies saw a police patrol wagon stop in front of our house. One of the patrolmen got out of the wagon, picked up three big flower pots from our outer lawn and loaded them into his wagon. After this, they silently drove away.
I live in DHA where police patrolling is common at night to make sure that residents feel safe. But what we see is burglary, not patrolling.
It is horrifying to think that if some emergency arises, whom shall I call for help? Those who have already stolen things from my house?
ATIF GHAZI
Lahore
I ENDORSE the views expressed in the letters, ‘Development funds for lawmakers’ (Dec 16).
The Musharraf government introduced the devolution of power plan to solve the problems of the common man on his doorstep through the locally-elected representatives.
Now if MNAs or MPAs are granted huge amounts annually to carry out development projects in their constituencies, this will only result in a clash of responsibilities between elected representatives of the local bodies and the members of the assemblies. The net result of such a clash might be no development at all.
The practice of allocation of funds to MNAs and MPAs was introduced by Mohammad Khan Junejo during Zia’s regime. That practice proved to be a complete failure as it opened the doors of political bribery to win over favours of elected representatives.
We can ill-afford a repetition of that practice at the present critical juncture of our history.
The situation arising out of the nomination of a large number of women mostly closely related to male MNAs and MPAs will also complicate the issue of utilization of the allocation of development funds, as several of them belong to the same constituencies. Senators, too, might demand their share in development funds. This all will result in the frittering away of public funds.
We should not turn a political office into a commercial enterprise. Our legislators should concentrate on the task of lawmaking and monitoring the performance of bureaucrats working under their respective areas of responsibilities. Only this will keep the bogey of democracy on rails in our country.
MUKHTAR AHMED
Karachi
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