| January 11, 2003 | Saturday | Ziqa'ad 7, 1423 |
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Booking agents and PR
Politics of slogans
Future of APP
Downplaying Karo-kari issue
Property suit
Jinnah as parliamentarian
Soomro versus Soomro
Cowasjee’s remarks
Why this tree cutting?
IT sector in Pakistan
I WOULD like to comment on the piece “Dr Qadeer suspected of links with ‘axis of evil’ states’’ (Dawn Jan 8).
In the first instance, vacuum technology is used extensively in steel manufacture especially when you need special and high quality steel that for instance is used in the manufacture of ball bearings. Vacuum technology is also used in some three types of manufacturing processes such as Vacuum Moulding, Vacuum Permanent Mould Casting and Vacuum Thermoforming.
Vacuum Technology is a sophisticated manufacturing method. The fact we have it and can offer it to others is an achievement and credit must be given to the engineers and metallurgists who have been able to apply it and have acquired their expertise in this field.
Here I would like to indicate the difference between technology and system as they are two different things.
Were you to refer to page 29 of the “Exhibitors Catalogue” for “Ideas 2002 Pakistan”, you will note that we have offered products related to this technology also.
But the persons who have indicated that vacuum technology is used as nuclear technology are familiar with the many methods by which uranium is enriched and are deliberately trying to bad-mouth Pakistan. One such method of enrichment is gaseous diffusion that consists of 11 different technologies and vacuum systems is one such technology that is used. In gaseous diffusion, large vacuum manifolds, vacuum headers, vacuum suction pumps of a specified size that are resistant to Uranium Hexa Fluoride corrosion are used.
By hinting as has been done in the additional flyers attached to the brochure, this aspect of uranium enrichment technology has been implied but without realizing that Pakistan uses gas centrifuges for uranium enrichment and this technology does not require vacuum systems. It seems this is a deliberate attempt and the persons concerned know the subject and are wilfully creating confusion between vacuum technology and vacuum systems.
Time will show the hollowness of the claims about Pakistan being involved with North Korean nuclear programme. I do not see any reason why Pakistan must suffer for America’s inability or unwillingness to supply North Korea the two 1,000mw light water nuclear reactors as per its agreement of October 1994 because this is the crux of the matter. We are America’s allies but we are not there to bear the brunt for their failures.
Dr Qadeer Khan’s contribution is of great value and merit. It is time we respected our heroes instead of permitting anything to detract from their achievements for which we are and shall remain in their debt.
FAZAL HABIB CURMALLY
Karachi
THIS is with reference to S. H. A. Naqvi’s letter, ‘Dr A. Q. Khan and IBS’ (Jan 6).
I do not wish to dispute the writer’s view that had Dr A. Q. Khan not been retired under external pressure, Pakistan could have developed an anti-missile shield. Neither do I wish to take sides on the dispute regarding the Institute of Behavioural Sciences.
I also grant that but for his priceless contributions, we would have been in the dumps. But how do these great achievements of the good doctor give him the licence to build palatial houses (note the plural), apparently built from beyond his known sources of income?
It is noteworthy that Mr Naqvi made no effort to prove that the houses were built from his legitimate sources. All he did was to quote a high-ranking general (without naming him), who was generous enough to be willing to grant him more than the national budget, presumably for his personal indulgences.
The implication is quite clear. Pakistani generals have been known for their proclivity for building palatial houses for themselves. From the statement of Mr Naqvi, it appears that they also have acquired the authority to condone similar weaknesses in others as well.
SHAMIM AHMAD
Islamabad
THROUGH these columns I want to draw the attention of the authorities concerned to the hardship being faced by train passengers for no fault of theirs. Instead of taking care of its passengers, the Pakistan Railways is treating them shabbily and creating unnecessary problems for them.
On Dec 28, 2002 I purchased three lower AC tickets for the Karachi Express (Karachi-Lahore) from a PR booking agent at National Complex, Rashid Minhas Road, Karachi, in the names of Mrs Nisar Aziz (a heart patient), Dr Fatima Zahra and Saima, who were to travel on Jan 1.
As per programme the three passengers reached Cantt Station well in time from where the train starts for Lahore. They occupied their seats (43, 44 and 45) in bogie 7. After they had settled down comfortably and kept their luggage, a woman passenger accompanied by a man came and claimed the seats which had already been occupied by the three women passengers.
The woman claimed that the three seats in the same bogie had been allotted to her. The matter was brought to the notice of the Railways authorities who asked the three passengers to move to bogie No. 6 where they were allotted seats bearing the same numbers. You can imagine the plight of the lady passengers who were travelling without any male members in shifting to another bogie with their luggage when everybody is in a hurry and movement in the train or on the platform is extremely difficult.
Earlier, on Dec 30 my son Salahuddin who, too, had purchased a ticket from the same booking agent for the Lahore-bound Karachi Express faced the same situation at the station, when the authorities made announcements on the microphone instructing travellers who had purchased tickets from booking agencies to shift from bogie No. 6 to 7.
Advance bookings are made to avoid trouble and confusion in the train on the day of journey. I am sure the PR authorities are aware of the foul game the agents are playing with the innocent passengers.
The unscrupulous agents should be severely penalized and their licence cancelled forthwith. Their accomplices in the PR also deserve similar treatment.
ABDUL HAKIM
Karachi
ALL dictators, civilian or military, have always introduced some slogan in Pakistan to justify their regimes wanting in legitimacy. Ayub Khan introduced ‘Ideology of Pakistan’, Bhutto ‘Islamic Socialism’, Zia ‘Pakistaniat’ and finally Gen Musharraf ‘Pakistan First’, which apparently has also been dutifully adopted by the new prime minister.
While all previous slogans had a ring of idealism about them, though quite misplaced and meaningless, the last one, i.e. ‘Pakistan First’, has a touch of irony about it when it connotes avoiding of unnecessary involvement in issues that are of no concern or benefit to Pakistan.
When one wants to place Pakistan, where in fact two nations reside instead of one, before everything else, the question arises, whose Pakistan?
One nation, consisting of the elite, the privileged and the higher civil and military bureaucracy, will surely support this new slogan of ‘Pakistan First’ for their vested interest. But what incentive will a slum dweller, or a peasant from backwaters of Sindh or Punjab whose life has not changed for half a century, or a woman who is gangraped or traded of for settling some dispute by the decision of a punchayat of local thugs, all constituting the other nation, have in placing Pakistan above everything else?
Indeed, for this other nation, will it make any difference if Pakistan were to give up its grandiose ideas about pan-Islamism or the talk about human rights in Palestine or Chechnya? To them and indeed to most sensible Pakistanis, the slogan ‘Pakistan First’ will only make sense if our rulers, to the exclusion of everything else, take such action on the political and diplomatic plane that would benefit the people of Pakistan at large.
This can only be done by improving the lot of the common man through reduction in government expenditure, the major part of which consists of defence expenditure. Since defence expenditure cannot be reduced without settling matters with India, the main decision that the government has to make pursuant to the policy of “Pakistan First” is to resolve the issues with India either bilaterally, if possible, or unilaterally.
JUSTICE (R) M. SHAIQ USMANI
Karachi
THE military government has, through a Presidential Ordinance, ended the undefined position of the Associated Press of Pakistan. A government-controlled corporation will be set up to administer and manage the national news agency.
In effect it will continue to function as an adjunct of the ministry of information. Ayub Khan’s policy of managing the flow of news and information in the directions pre-determined by the government survives and persists.
APP was founded at the birth of Pakistan to fulfil vital needs of a sovereign independent state. It served the nation and the state with unblemished independence and fairness until its takeover by the government in 1961.
It may be recalled that the federal government set up a commission in 1972 to examine the affairs of the APP and to recommend its future ownership and management. The commission after thoughtful consideration recommended that APP should be managed by a national trust in order to ensure its independent character.
The commission further recommended that the trust should be headed by an eminent person of distinction in national affairs and should not be a serving government functionary. The commission’s recommendations were approved by the cabinet but remained unimplemented.
It would redound to the credit of the present government, should it entrust the management of the national news agency to a truly independent trust representing the federal and provincial governments, the opposition, media, the press and other vital interests of the state.
SYED AFZAL HUSAIN ZAIDI
Former PIO, Islamabad
IT was astonishing to watch a woman MNA from the MMA playing down the issue of Karo-kari during a PTV’s programme, ‘News Night’, in December.
She dubbed the issue of Karo-kari a “foreign agenda” touted by our NGOs. She further tried to make light of it by asserting that, since about only one per cent of the female population was affected by it, it was not a national issue.
The worthy MNA ought to explain as to why capital punishment is given to those guilty of murder if, according to her “logic”, an infinitesimally small percentage of the population is actually murdered during a year.
Before the MMA tries to sell its aforementioned view against the issue of Karo-kari, they need to explain their correlation between the severity of a crime and the percentage of population affected. For, crime’s severity is not gauged by the percentage of population affected but by the severity of the crime itself even if just one person is affected.
Karo-kari is a heinous crime against humanity for which each one of us is responsible as it is committed on a land which we claim to be our own.
DR MAHNAZ FATIMA
Karachi
WE want to inform you that the news item, ‘Rs10m property suit rejected’ (Dec 22), about the rejection of the suit filed by Usman Billoo and Muhammad Jamil against UBL has not been correctly reported.
Firstly, the learned judge who gave the decision was not Justice Zahid Qurban Alvi but was Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali.
The decision was given in the absence of the counsel for Usman Billoo and Muhammad Jamil, the plaintiffs, as their counsel, Abdul Latif A. Shakoor, was granted general adjournment by the chief justice of the Sindh High Court from Nov 21, 2002 to Dec 7, 2002 as he proceeded to perform Umra.
The roaster of the SHC wrongly put up the suit on Nov 29 for hearing and Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali dismissed the suit. The plaintiffs have, therefore, applied for setting aside the judgment delivered on Nov 29.
LATIF & LATIF ADVOCATES
Karachi
S. M. Zafar forcefully suggest in his article, ‘Jinnah as parliamentarian’ (Dec 25), that a great leader by dint of his superior qualities can advance the values of democracy and liberty even through an inferior organization like the Legislative Council of 1909.
But shall we not give some credit to the British rulers, who after having made the rules of the game adhered to them and did not change them to suite their cronies?
I wonder if the rules of the game had been changed then as frequently as they are being done today, Mr Jinnah (or Gandhi and others) would have been able to establish their skill as parliamentarians.
Would Mr Zafar like to comment on this aspect?
ISMAIL SHEIKH
Karachi
IN this country, shocks and surprises are always lurking in the wings to surreptitiously appear on the stage. The adventurers rule with newly-branded and high-sounding slogans, and eventually fade out in ignominy.
Sindh, in particular, has seen its governors and chief ministers coming from the oblivion and occupying British -built palatial houses as their successor-rulers. No other province provides that convenience of misruling as the urban-rural divide in this province does.
A banker was picked up for Sindh. Little did he know about the technical art of administering the problem-ridden province, yet he managed to rule relying on the official wisdom of his secretaries and section officers.
Now the junior has fallen against his senior and is opposing his party ticket for the Senate. The senior lost the National Assembly election in his own constituency, and is now clamouring to be compensated by the ruling party with his elevation to Senate chairman. The junior is not lagging behind for reward for loyal and faithful services having been rendered to the regime.
Nature has its own ways of doing things. The governors in Pakistan, being glorified like British India rulers, still live in pomp and luxury. But now a middle-class zealot is in the Governor House, who must pull down the edifice of the British empire and open its doors to the natives, all and sundry.
PROF MASOOD AHMED ABASI
Karachi
SYED Mohiuddin in his letter, ‘Cowasjee’s remarks’ (Dec 28), reflects the mindless rhetoric that we South Asians often slip into and wallow in.
Cowasjee’s frank and bold columns surely serve to shake the stupor that afflicts politicians and high-riding bureaucrats. The press is not even half as active and aggressive as its Indian counterparts in moulding public opinion. It could surely use more Cowasjees.
A bold press is an essential ingredient of a functioning democracy. Mr Mohiuddin might well note that holy cows, no matter what their contributions to society or security, are not above norms that govern civilized conduct.
ARUN PONNUSWAMY
San Diego, USA
THANKS for the good editorial, ‘Why this tree cutting?’ (Jan 8). The CDA’s lame excuse that the trees were cut on the complaint of the residents of Sector F-8, Islamabad, cannot be true of the dozens of trees that lined the playground on Park Road and in front of OPF College.
Moreover, the Capital Development Authority waited for about 20 years to redress the “request of the residents”. How lame can an excuse be!
Incidentally, a recently-elected MNA resides in the area where trees have been chopped down. Did he notice this destruction?
H. U. HASNAIN
Islamabad
OVER the last few weeks, many beautiful trees have been cut in Islamabad. Does this “war on trees” have anything to do with the “war on terrorism”? Or are these trees being cut to help foreign agencies search and destroy hideouts of Al Qaeda members?
Will the authorities concerned let us know why trees in the capital are being cut?
SAMIA RAHAT
Islamabad
WE have been confused far too long by myths in information technology. We often quote and try to immaculate India as a role model for our own IT development. Until around 1981 it used to be said that India is a society unprepared to cope with information technology. That position has totally changed now.
The previous government did a wonderful job by creating a hype about IT all over the country and by harping on the tune that millions of dollars could be made in a short time. But that’s all it accomplished despite the tall claims made by its functionaries.
As a result of unplanned training of thousands of individuals in IT courses, a divide has been created between the rural and urban communities. Despite much evangelism, physical activity and spending, we are still left wondering at the end of the day if the stated objectives were met or why we are still not able to make much headway in meeting them.
We have no roadmap against which to gauge progress, or identify reasons for failing to meet its milestones. Despite the best of intentions, we have failed to achieve, for instance, our software export goals (vaguely defined as they are) just as we cannot seem to be able to reach the elusive $10 billion overall national target.
We will continue to be severely disadvantaged as compared to other countries (including India) until we produce a much larger pool of IT professionals fluent in the use of communication skills, including spoken and written English, marketing, packaging, designing and graphics, to name a few of the essentials.
There has to be a sustained effort to attract more students from disciplines other than computer science and engineering into the IT profession by integrating IT-related skill development in these schools, opening new facilities and courses offering high quality training in business English, interface design, product packaging, documentation, software management and e-business applications for even humanities majors.
There is an urgent need for undertaking some systematic long-term planning. This should entail, for instance, some quantitative evaluation of current industry parameters, economic cost-benefit analysis of government IT-related spending, prioritizing actions, scheduling infrastructure development and rigorous target setting.
If we are to treat this sector along corporate management lines (which we should), a more professional ‘business plan’ approach is essential.
AFTAB MOHAMMAD KHAN
Karachi
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