| January 20, 2003 | Monday | Ziqa'ad 16, 1423 |
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Kashmir: parties to the dispute
Libraries in decline
Honesty flows from top
Idealism versus realism
Mobile or immobile?
Eye camps
Political justice
More equal than others
Two different entities?
Quaid’s birthplace
Hypocrisy galore
Perfecting the art of calligraphy
The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) came into existence under a legislation by the then National Assembly in 1998 and its main aim was to protect the interests of consumers and advise the ministry of water and power in formulating policies and keep a check over the wrong-doings in power-generating and distribution companies.
In September, 2002, NEPRA authorised an increase of fix charges for 400 volts consumers of the KESC but not of Wapda, from Rs200 to Rs300. This increase of Rs100 per kw is unjust, unlawful and a great discrimination against the KESC consumers in violation of constitutional provision of Article 25, not to mention the purported attempt to give another blow to the Karachi industry which is almost crippled under the weight of utility charges.
Electrical power behaves like water which flows from high to low level.Electricity too flows from high to low voltage. Rational governing sale of electricity is that consumers relieving the utility company in respect of investment and energy losses are given respect and offered less rates. Consumers purchasing power in bulk quantity at high voltage viz 132000 volts or medium voltage 11000 volts are highly beneficial for Wapda and the KESC because they share the heavy expenditure in billions of rupees needed against transformation and control equipment for high voltage, medium voltage and low voltage. Over and above the inherent energy losses associated with transformation and distribution process are passed on to consumers saving the utility from recurring energy loss, which constitute millions of kilowatt hours per year. Utility managers prior to NEPRA had true comprehension and in-depth knowledge of electricity sale.The rates prior to August 1999 were:
Tariff B-2 power supply at 400 volts Rs151 per kw; Tariff B-3 power supply at 11000 volts Rs145 per kw; (Decrease of Rs5 per kw—justified); Tariff B-4 power supply at 132000 volts Rs140 per kw; (Decrease of Rs11 per kw —justified)
NEPRA under compulsion and misguidance from high-ups in Wapda and the KESC willfully revised the rates in August 1999 as noted below:
Tariff B-2 400 volts Rs200 per kw
Tariff B-3 11000 volts Rs250 per kw
(Increase of Rs90 per kw—unjustified) Tariff B-4 132000 volts Rs280 per kw
(Increase of Rs80 per kw—unjustified)
The ridiculous revision was at one end was totally against the norms of electric power sale, deprived the high voltage consumer of genuine compensation against heavy investment and cost of energy losses, they absorbed in their system. Energy losses at the KESC and Wapda have increased phenomenally because these were not transferred from utility to consumers. I protested against this high increase but NEPRA officials didn’t pay any heed to my protests. Having left with no option I lodged a formal intervention in August 2002 with necessary fee and the Registrar, NEPRA, replied and I quote:
“This is to inform you that your intervention request does not fulfil the requirements laid down by the NEPRA Tariff Standard Procedure Rules, 1998. The proceedings in the case have been finalised and no intervention request can be received at this stage. The cheque attached with your request is, therefore, returned herewith”.
This statement is a bundle of lies. Never any proceedings for revision in the subject-matter ever took place. If there is such an evidence, it should be made public.The Registrar, NEPRA, holds a responsible position and such lies are least expected from a person of his stature.
NEPRA high-ups, however, had realized that a blunder has been committed and I was perfectly right in challenging the revised rates. NEPRA without inviting public objections and participation in proceeding, which is obligatory under the rules, criminally increased the rates from Rs200 to Rs 300. The increase of Rs 100 per kilowat is totally unlawful which violates the basic principle of justice that ‘no one shall be condemned without being heard’. The increase is unilateral and must be withdrawn.
Instead of increase in the rates of Tariff B-2, there should have been substantial decrease in the rates of tariff B-3 and B-4 and the rates should have been:
Tariff B-2 400 volts Rs200 per kw
Tariff B-3 11000 volts Rs175 per kw
Tariff B-4 132000 volts Rs150 per kw
The above proposed rates are justified and shall attract consumers to convert their 40 volts system to 11000 volts and to 132000 volts making the utility take a sigh of relief when consumers will be happy to share the bulk of financial and energy loss of the burden.
Islamabad’s financial wizards are now finding it hard to keep on pouring billions in the sieve of the KESC and Wapda for all days to come. NEPRA high-ups must show the moral courage and accept their wrong decision and refrain from speaking lies. They are paid from the pockets of tax payers and officials should not act as rubber stamps of their superiors.
H. FEROZ SHAMSHI
Karachi
MR Kabdwal (Jan 3) has given an argument to end all arguments — ‘Pakistan is not a party to the Kashmir dispute’. Pandit Nehru obviously thought otherwise and sent to our prime minister a copy of his letter to the UN, asking for a referendum after India and Pakistan had both pulled out their forces. To ask for a referendum in the presence of the Indian military would have been a joke, and Pandit Nehru was not given to making jokes on such matters.
Kashmir is the unfinished business of the partition of the subcontinent on communal lines and cannot be wished away. A Muslim majority area, contiguous to Pakistan and strategically vital to Pakistan, as all its rivers flow through it, had to be a part of Pakistan but for the perfidy of Mountbatten, who altered the Radcliffe Award to give Gurdaspur to India for ready access to Srinagar. Why Mountbatten did this is another story, in fact many stories.
India can afford to take a superior position of not putting Kashmir on the top of the contentious issues between the two countries, only because it has the possession, which is nine-tenths of the law. Just as no Indian leader would like Pakistan to get any closer to India (how much closer can you get with an existing 1,000-mile common border), so can no leader of Pakistan withdraw his support to the Kashmiris’ right to self-determination. It is, then, for the Kashmiris themselves to decide one way or the other through a referendum under the auspices of the UN. Just like the NWFP decided to opt for Pakistan through a neutral referendum.
Mr Kabdwal says that India is only interested in the reconstruction work in Afghanistan. Sir, this is the thin end of the wedge; shades of East India Company! Pakistan has forever been at the receiving end in the India-Afghan collusion in the past, except for the friendly Taliban period, and is not crying wolf without a cause. India will show that it is a big country only when it assumes a friendly posture towards its neighbours.
Mr Kabdwal has perhaps a point that the Muslims show too much concern for the Muslims in other parts of the world. But religious, ethnic, lingual and regional affinities are common to all peoples, more or less. Otherwise, why would an attack on a church in Pakistan elicit such strong remarks from even the president of the USA?
We all know that Kofi Annan has been awarded the Noble Prize for peace for his efforts in East Timor. How else can this award be given to an organization whose Resolutions regarding the worst two threats to world peace, i.e. Kashmir and Palestine, are lying dormant? India’s main argument for invading East Pakistan was the alleged maltreatment of the Hindu community there. And, if the horrendous maltreatment and the interminable occupation had been of a Hindu community, would India be cosying up to Israel as it is doing today?
We must give due consideration to each other’s positions, and agree to disagree.
KHURSHID ANWER
Lahore
THIS refers to your editorial, ‘Libraries in decline’ (Jan 11), wherein you have highlighted the importance of libraries for the development of a society, and stressed: “The absence of libraries, coupled with the dependence on conformism and rote learning, has hastened the decline.”
It is a fact that our flawed system of education has played a major role in the fast decline of libraries because in this system, right from elementary to college level, stress is laid upon securing more and more marks in examinations — least worrying about the acquisition of knowledge.
This goal of getting maximum marks is achieved by role learning, blindly following teachers and whatever is written in half-backed and hurriedly-written textbooks under official patronage. This deprives the students of the spirit of inquiry, innovation, creativity and independent and analytical thinking. As result, they confine themselves strictly to the notes provided by teachers and textbooks and do not feel the need for supplementary reading materiel to broaden their outlook.
If we make our students realize the importance of knowledge and scholarship, only then will they feel the importance of books that will develop a library culture.
Moreover, it should be remembered, as pointed out in the editorial, that “money spent on libraries is an investment in the future.” It is pity that even at the individual level we waste millions of rupees on unnecessary palatial houses, costly decoration pieces, sumptuous meals at weddings, in addition to costlier clothes and ornaments. But only a few people even among the educated class maintain their personal libraries.
At the national level billions of rupees are spent on “prestigious” projects like officials residences, motorways, monuments, etc., but there is hardly any planning for the upkeep of libraries and opening of new ones.
We have to change our priorities to develop a library culture, which can guarantee our moral, technological and economic development, otherwise, I am constrained to repeat the editorial warning: “A society that does not recognize the importance of libraries is destined to be a poorer society — in every sense of the word.”
PROF A. H. SUBHANI
Faisalabad
IN THE last couple of years we have heard a lot about corruption having been rooted out from the top echelon of the government and its various departments. However, the storm of corruption is still ravaging the middle and the lower echelons of government departments as was recently, and surprisingly, aired by PTV to some extent in its Khabarnama.
The truth is amply revealed by the litigant public or those who visit various federal or provincial departments for their rightful needs. Eradication of corruption from government offices at all levels will automatically result in achieving other priorities like law and order, education and social sector development programmes.
So, I suggest to journalists that, during a question-answer session at press briefings, they should invariably preface their questions to the extremely high office holders among the public representatives: “Sir, after the eradication of corruption from public offices, what is your next priority?” When this statement is prefaced to every question, this may help to generate the fear of God in clean top echelon to ensure their subordinates do not indulge in corruption.
How come a clean top order cannot reign in the middle and lower order functionaries indulging in the evil of corruption under their very nose? Honesty, if genuine and absolute, should flow down also as water flows down from a high level to a lower level and wind from a high pressure to a low pressure area.
Maybe, the clean need to strictly follow this law of nature to eradicate corruption in Pakistan. The prime minister himself at his very first press briefing said that he would like to seek guidance from the national press. So, here it comes from an ordinary citizen.
ISHTIAQ HAMD KHAN
Mandi Bahauddin
WITH reference to Qutubuddin Aziz’s letter regarding Pakistan’s rights as a sovereign nation, I must say I was struck by his theoretical idealistic views about the world.
In an ideal world, all nations are equal and respect one another’s borders and international law, but in the real world, only those policies which are guided by power politics yield positive or desired results. For example, why did Pakistan’s response to a bomb dropped by the US in its territory evoke such a mild response? How can the FBI arrest Pakistanis in their homes and in their own country? Why did Pakistan agree to buy soybean oil instead of F-16 fighter planes for which it had made payment in the 80s?
Answers to these questions are simple: Pakistan and specially President Pervez Musharraf desperately need US economic and military aid and political support to not only keep a check on India but also save his own skin from extremist elements within the country. Besides, it is foolish to challenge the sole superpower.
This explanation should also disillusion Mr Aziz and many others’ view that Pakistan is a partner in this so-called fight against terrorism. No, Pakistan is not a US partner as partnerships generally require at least a semblance of equality. Pakistan is in fact a consultant or a service provider being paid by a wealthy and powerful client, which has no obligation whatsoever other than to make payments for services. Musharraf knows this fact very well. Once this concept becomes clear, it will no longer confuse anyone as to why the US left Pakistan high and dry after the Afghan-Soviet war, or why it will leave again once the Afghan/Taliban threat retreats.
RASHID MALIK
USA
A COUPLE of days ago, my uncle was taken into police custody at his office. The charge against him was the possession of a stolen mobile phone. He told the officials that he had bought the second-hand mobile through his cousin.
The person concerned could not be traced because he went into hiding fearing a tough interrogation.
However, my uncle said he was ready to hand over the mobile phone as he was innocent and had not dealt directly with the owner.
The police officials put him under interrogation the whole day. At the end of the session, the owner who had registered an FIR earlier was called to retrieve the mobile and confirm the theft. When he saw the phone, he said that neither the mobile nor the mobile number was his. The incorrect reading of the mobile number led to this episode.
Though my uncle was freed after that painful process, the point to ponder is: why are our police so efficient in carrying out investigation against respectable citizens but never so quick in catching notorious criminals, who are at large? Now what can we say about the police who cannot even read a mobile number?
NOSHEEN ISLAM
Karachi
TWO doctors were sent recently by the Mayo Hospital eye department to hold an eight-day eye-camp at a semi-private hospital along Jhang Road, Muzaffargarh. In view of the hit-and-run nature of the camp routine and the resultant shoddy work done, WHO has recommended discontinuation of such camps.
Muzaffargarh already has a big DHQ hospital with a eye department enough to cater the needs of the city and its surrounding areas. The camp served only to promote the semi-private hospital and Mayo Hospital.
ZAHID IKRAM
Muzaffargarh
IN a democratic state, political justice entitles citizens, not aliens, to elect and to be elected for legislatures and to participate in and regulate the affairs of the state, thus enabling them to protect their rights and interests, otherwise it is impossible.
It is a fact that a religion-oriented political culture prevails in our country and to cast vote in favour of a non-Muslim is considered undesirable.
We had a bitter experience recently when about 51 non-Muslims contested the general election on the basis of the joint electorate, but not even a single non-Muslim could be elected from an overpopulated Muslim constituency on a merit basis. Only one non-Muslim was elected in a thickly Hindu-population constituency, out of 849 seats in the country, where the population of the religious minorities is about 10 million.
It is worth mentioning that there is no quota for the non-Muslims in the Senate. As already mentioned, neither a graduate nor an illiterate voter likes to cast vote for a non-Muslim under the influence of a specific political culture. Consequently, our next Senate will be religious minority-free Senate as it has been, unfortunately, happening for the last 25 years in our democratic state.
One has to, with a heavy heart, say that it is not a good omen for national harmony, as it is an open secret that a sense of deprivation and insecurity breeds unrest and uncertainty among the deprived.
Will our president uphold the founding father of Pakistan’s sacred trust — the minorities?
YOUSAF MASIH (Advocate)
Lahore
ANWAR Abbas, the president of the Karachi chapter of the Pakistan-India Peoples Forum, in his letter, ‘More equal than others’ (Jan 13), echoes the feelings and perceptions of millions of Indians, who consider themselves friends of Pakistan and its people.
I find it very difficult to believe that Pakistani friends of India — Asma Jahangir, Mubashir Hasan and I. A. Rehman — are denied visas to visit India. We Indians must feel privileged and honoured that such great advocates of peace between our two countries would even want to visit us.
India would honour itself in honouring such warriors for peace by inviting them to visit India. But such a churlish action by the Indian government makes me wonder if even Prime Minister Vajpayee wants peace and friendship between our two countries.
By keeping Indians and Pakistanis away from each other, the two governments simply prolong the agony and the extreme poverty suffered by millions on both sides.
PREMKUMAR HARIMOHAN
New York, USA
THE recent INS law in the United States asking Pakistanis to register and provide their fingerprints clearly highlights the failure of the Pakistan government in convincing the Bush administration that the Pakistanis are a peace-loving people, with no streaks of terrorism.
Although the embassy of Pakistan has been very active and has made efforts to communicate with the Pakistani expatriates, the fact remains that the Pakistanis, including those who are staying legally in the US, will have to go through the humiliation of fingerprinting and, more importantly, of proving that they are not terrorists.
The INS law has clearly spelled out that the leading ally in the war against terrorism is the Pakistan government and not the Pakistanis. President Musharraf’s silence in this matter has confirmed his preference for a healthy relationship with the White House. The well-being of his countrymen does not seem to be his preference.
A PAKISTANI
New Jersey, USA
THIS refers to Mohammad Umer Chand’s letter entitled ‘Quaid’s birthplace’ (Jan 3).
I don’t need to point out that the Quaid-i-Azam himself on many occasions referred to Karachi as his birthplace. In fact, his sisters, Fatima Jinnah and Shirin Jinnah, gave several radio and TV interviews about their brother, but never said he was born in Jhirk.
We also have among us Sharifuddin Pirzada, who was closely associated with the Father of the Nation, but he, too, has never said that Mr Jinnah was not born in Karachi.
So, how did Jhirk come to be associated with Quaid-i-Azam? It seems that, during the early years of Pakistan’s existence, some vested interests got this piece of disinformation inserted in textbooks being used in rural Sindh to make Jhirk a place of pilgrimage.
It is time we settled this issue once and for all. Dawn should print all speeches of the Quaid in which he referred to Karachi as his city of birth.
SHAKIR LAKHANI
Karachi
THERE are advertisements of cigarettes to boost sales in Pakistan but, at the same time, there is a warning that smoking causes lung cancer, heart disease and may complicate pregnancy. Is it not hypocrisy?
Why advertize at all if the commodity is so dangerous? Is there no norm of morality left on this planet? Promotion of smoking this brand or that has already caused much damage to human health. Tobacco companies should stop advertising their products if they have the mildest respect for humans.
SULTAN AHMED CHOWDHRY
Lahore
THIS refers to the news item, ‘Perfecting the art of calligraphy’ (Jan 3). The Pakistan Calligraphy-artists Guild is grateful to Shehar Bano Khan for highlighting the work of one of the founder-members of the PCG.
Your readers will be pleased to know that the Pakistan Calligraphy-artists Guild was founded in the golden Jubilee year of Pakistan, 1997. It is the only registered non-government welfare organization dedicated to the time-honoured heritage of penmanship in Pakistan. With headquarters in Lahore, it has active branches in Quetta, D. G. Khan and Jhang.
The PCG held three international exhibitions in 1998, 1999 and 2000. About 170 calligraphers, including masters of the art from China, Egypt, France, Iran, Jordan, the United Kingdom and Uzbekistan, participated. Two were inaugurated by the president of Pakistan. It is planning for the fourth international in 2003.
It executed all the calligraphy work on the tomb of Qadir Yar, 19th century Punjabi Sufi-poet, at Machhike, Hafizabad, for the government of Punjab, free of cost. The PCG developed five bestselling calligraphy workbooks for the Punjab Textbook Board 2000-2001, published the bilingual book, Bestower’s Court/Daata Darbar, (2000) on calligraphy and Calligraph-art work rendered at Daata Sahib Mosque Complex, Lahore, co-published with Unesco the book titled, Calligraphy & Calligraph-art, to be launched soon, and published the bilingual, quarterly newsletter Calligraph-art/Khat Art through sponsorship.
From time to time the PCG has cooperated with several government and non-government organizations such as the Lahore Arts Council and the Punjab Textbook Board to conduct calligraphy and art competitions.
For the sake of accuracy the PCG would like to place the following facts on record: — Several members of the PCG collectively executed all the traditional calligraphy work in the final phase of the Datta Darbar Mosque Complex. Mr Gohar Qalam was a prominent participant in the undertaking. — A calligraph-art mural measuring 1.57m x7m in the Sama Hall of the complex was also the work of another member of the PCG. — The calligraphy and calligraph-art work rendered in the entire complex far exceeded the initial estimate of Rs2.4 million and was closer to four million rupees.
The PCG as a group was commissioned to execute the entire work, but it did it free of cost for the government of Punjab as a gift to the people of Lahore.
The Surah Rehman mentioned in the news item does not encircle “the frieze of the shrine”. It graces the facade of the mosque-complex facing the Ravi Road/Bhatti Gate. The shrine is a smaller green-domed structure, now almost in the centre of the mosque to courtyard.
Dawn’s readers will be pleased to know that the PCG conducts, free of charge, regular calligraphy and naqqashi classes at the Cultural Complex, Gadhafi Stadium, Lahore. Till date it has trained 200 calligraphers of all ages, some of them have gone on to win prestigious awards.
IRFAN AHMAD KHAN
Lahore
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