| February 15, 2003 | Saturday | Zul Hijjah 13, 1423 |
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When protectors turn hunters
Safety of human lives
Salute to Mahesh Bhatt
‘Crossing the bar’
The future of OIC
New medical colleges
Call to ban Basant
What are banks for?
Improving economy
Turkey faced with a dilemma
I READ with great interest the letter titled ‘Impression makes the difference’ (Feb 5) by Khalid Mohammed.
I have 17 years of work experience in different capacities such as software engineer, project manager, manager, database administrator in companies such as IBM and Verizon Corporation (former Bell Atlantic Corporation) in the US, and can say with full confidence that we the Pakistanis are as good or better than any other engineers, including engineers from India.
Some well-trained engineers from the Indian Institute of Technology, Gorakhpur, have worked for me and they could not impress me at all. I have had experience of work with some Pakistani engineers from the NED and the Punjab Engineering University, and I found them smart, very competent and hard working.
Here I want to make the following suggestions which I think will help better our technical competence:
1. Introduce Chinese and Russian languages in our syllabi. China is going to be a superpower and Pakistan will benefit immensely from the induction of the Chinese language. Similarly, with the introduction of the Russian language, we will get a cheaper and better source to educate our students.
2. Pakistan should affiliate its universities and institutions with well-known foreign universities. Indians did this and were very well benefited.
3. Increase funding for education, particularly technical education.
4. Increase funding for research and development.
5. Produce jobs and opportunities for every technical person. No technical person should be jobless.
6. Just do not allocate all resources for and put emphasis on IT, but it is important to note that education of physical sciences and other related fields are as much important as education in IT.
7. Improve the safety and security of the common man. Every day cars are hijacked, but no one cares. It looks that waderas, the police, and gangs are involved and carjacking has become a business entity. This cycle should be broken immediately.
8. Make sure that those who go for foreign training on deputation should come back and serve the country.
9. Involve the private sector in education. Incentives should be given to the private sector to invest in education, research and technical training for the mutual benefit of industry and education.
This list is not complete. I think that our educators, industrialists and technocrats should come forward for their recommendations and our government should take the necessary steps immediately to work out a plan in order to achieve excellence in education and technical skills.
AMEER PAUL
Manassas, VA
YOUR editorial, ‘When protectors turn hunters’ (Fe 6) aroused a deep interest in me, although pondering over it brought out some fundamental differences which could be, I presume, due to a lack of understanding, intimate involvement, love for the nature, management of game and related issues.
I have been personally involved with great zeal and enthusiasm in wildlife conservation during and after my service in the army, as this is a subject closest to my heart.
First, the application for a shooting license by high-ups in the game department should be viewed as a very positive indication of awareness and willingness to follow rules of conservation. Those of us who keep close contacts with the wildlife and game officials know from experience that violation of rules by officials of the department is rampant. So, when they are trying to follow the legal procedure, it shows their commitment to conservation.
Have we not heard the idiom, ‘Put a thief to catch a thief’? This is very relevant to the Game and Conservation Department. A hunter can be a true conservationist if he understands the limitations, constraints and principles of the management of a game. Pursuit of a game teaches him to identify all species that he comes across, learns their habits, understands their place in the ecosystem, cares for their welfare and tries to preserve.
I agree that a large number of so-called hunters are only opportunists and no amount of teaching, motivation, threats and punishment can force them to change and abide by the rules. But it is usually among genuine hunters that the real spirit for conservation is to be found. Jim Corbett is an ideal example.
An official who is only concerned with his job without a passion for nature and wildlife may not have the insight which is gained by experience in pursuit of a game. Game management is a process which ensures that only the surplus is harvested.
It would be unjust to bar the officials of the game department from enjoying those shooting rights which are granted to the public. While I appreciate the attitude of the staff in following the correct procedure, I hope that they will keep within limits, the privileges that the permit offers.
COL (RETD) SHEIKH MOHAMMAD WASIM SI (M)
Lahore
WHILE the legislators were debating on how to improve the law and order situation in Sindh, a terrorist exploded another bomb on Feb 2 in the parking lot behind Pakistan State Oil’s office in Clifton, Karachi. An employee of a contractor of the city government, Karim Dad, died on the spot while three others were wounded.
Hundreds of people in the city are deputed by the city government to collect parking fees on main roads and at reserved parking lots. But unfortunately the city government has not made any arrangements to face such incidents, nor have the people deputed by its contractors been given any training in detecting such criminals like the one who parked the motorcycle with a bomb-device and left it in the parking lot.
The cameras installed by the PSO to monitor movements outside the building captured the blast, but such a facility is not available in other parking lots. The city government and the police should make joint efforts to install cameras in all parking areas of Karachi in order to keep track on the movement of the people with a dubious character. At the same time, the employees deputed to collect the parking fee should be advised to maintain records of all such people who park their motorcycles or cars in parking lots.
Moreover, people should be verified before they are allowed to park their vehicles in the parking areas by checking their photographs on national identity cards. A person who does not possess his national identity card should not be allowed to park his vehicle in public parking areas.
The city government should not restrict its responsibility just to collecting the parking fees. It is also one of its responsibilities to devise a fool-proof system for the safety and security of the people and their properties.
I hope these suggestions will be given consideration by the city government as well as by the law enforcement agencies to curb the menace of terrorism in the city.
The government should compensate the legal heirs of Karim Dad, and should make arrangements for his sister to continue her studies.
SYED A. MATEEN
Karachi
ACCORDING to newspaper reports (Feb 6), renowned Indian film director Mahesh Bhatt has declined an invitation to attend the 51st National Prayer Breakfast meeting with President Bush. America’s bullying ways must come to an end, says Mr Bhatt, noting that the US has entered one of its worst periods of insanity.
These are the views expressed by a film director of India, whereas in Pakistan our leaders are eagerly waiting for such invitations. The same day, newspapers carried another news item which said Pakistan had joined a war advisory group with the US, and our army officers had joined 20 other countries to advise the US Central Command if it went to war against Iraq.
The data presented by Colin Powell in the UN Security Council on Feb 5 against Iraq is such that if 50 per cent of it is correct, then Iraq should be a world power having such a huge stock of biological and WMD. Iraq’s capability of having unmanned aircraft (500 kms), its missiles and its capability of using aircraft to spray deadly biological agents must have been displayed in the previous Gulf war.
The US provided Iraq with biological agents to be used against Iran, and now a hunt for unaccounted biological agents is on the way, as happened with the stinger missiles in Afghanistan. Although Saddam is not a desirable person, at present there is no alternative leadership available in that country. If the Security Council resolutions have to be implemented, where are the UN resolutions on Kashmir and Palestine? Why have they not been implemented yet?
Our leaders should learn a lesson from Mr Bhatt’s statement and his actions. We should listen to the voice of our conscience. As far as our friendship with the US is concerned, I may be allowed to quote a Chinese proverb: “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.”
MUHAMMAD HAFEEZ BUTT
Lahore
IT is always interesting to read Kuldip Nayar. He is a leading advocate of people-to-people contacts and his approach for peace in South Asia seems to be based on the theory that once people from both sides of the border start interacting, they will influence their respective governments to resolve the burning, bilateral issues.
Well, it seems to be a reasonable approach. And I think columnists like Kuldip Nayar could have a great role to play by not only advocating the cause but also providing people on both sides with honest education about why there is so much animosity between the two countries.
But I think that unfortunately even Mr Nayar seems to have a biased view against Pakistan. In his column, ‘Crossing the bar’, he takes up the issue with the Indian government for not issuing visas to people who are more South Asians than Pakistanis. But, as in most of his columns, he accuses Pakistan of cross-border terrorism in Kashmir in the next breath.
If he were any sincere to peace in South Asia, he probably would have at least mentioned the fact Kashmir is an issue that needs to be resolved by a UN-mandated plebiscite, as was agreed by both Pakistan and India, and it is only dragging on because the Indian government would not allow a plebiscite in Indian-occupied Kashmir.
For a change, maybe once, he should advise his own government to stop the Muslim genocide in the occupied Kashmir, where 700,000 Indian troops have killed over 70,000 people in a decade.
KALEEM ABDULLAH
Massachusetts, US
THIS is with reference to Rahim Panjwani’s letter, ‘The future of OIC’ (Jan 27), in which he has made some thought-provoking suggestions to Muslim countries which have failed to play an effective role in time of crisis.
The question is: what more can be done to improve cooperation among the Muslim countries? The answer is a little complicated one but not impossible. The task to better the role of the Organization of Islamic Conference demands of its members to take some effective measures immediately. What they all need to do is to act on the following suggestions:
(1) Introduction of a single currency system in all Muslim countries, (2) formation of a common Muslim trade union, (3) opening the borders for all Muslim states, (4) setting up ‘United States of Islam’, (5) formation of a Muslim parliament, a Muslim oil organization and a common Muslim army, (6) a common world media network, (7) creation of common Islamic and Arabic universities, (8) formation of an Islamic peace-keeping force and (9) finally, formation of a common intelligence agency.
In the first phase, Pakistan should invite Iran, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and Kuwait to join this block, followed by other Muslim countries.
QAZI KAHSIF NAEEM
Hyderabad
WELL, the chief minister of Punjab has announced that two new medical colleges will be inaugurated in the province. This is, indeed, a good step, but it would have been much better if he had announced jobs for doctors.
It is very disappointing that the Punjab Public Service Commission has not advertized permanent posts of doctors since 1995, and every year hundreds of doctors are added to an army of unemployed medical professionals.
We need to operate our system through proper planning and should strike a balance between the demand and the supply if all what is happening is not deliberate.
It’s about time the government stopped politicizing cricket and the medical profession.
DR WASEEM IMRAN SHEIKH
Rawalpindi
I SEE no reason for celebrating Basant. Is Basant one of our religious festivals or is it part of our culture?
Basant is a festival of a non-Muslim community and celebrating it in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan will be nothing but an indication that our Islamic values are weakening.
The question is, are we as a nation in a position to waste a huge amount of money such an occasion?
SAMIR AMIN SHIWANI
Karachi
DESPITE the government’s effort to protect the interest of banks by reducing profit rates on government securities and by privatizing state-owned financial institutions to spruce up their working, and in spite of allowing a large number of private banks, both local and foreign, to open an unlimited number of branches in the country, there is very little banking awareness among the people.
A few years ago when a school asked the parents to pay the fees by cheque, a large number of parents and guardians came up with the excuse that they did not maintain a bank account! “We live from hand to mouth and do not have enough to put away in a bank every month,” was the statement of many a parent.
Was that the real reason, or the fact that a thriving black money system operates in the country which threatens to overshadow the legal system? Is it because we believe in the here and now existence, rather than in savings and investment for the future, which is the main reason for the insufficient industrial and business growth and massive unemployment in the country?
The other day when con men, posing as concert organizers, visited singing sensation Mehdi Hasan’s house, they coolly walked away with cash and jewellery amounting to two million rupees. While one has no complaint about the life-long earnings of one of the best exponents of ‘ghazal’, one may ask as to why should one keep such huge wealth in his house, instead of in a bank account or in a bank’s locker?
ANWAR ABBAS
Karachi
ON Feb 8 Dr Ishrat Hussein, governor of the State Bank of Pakistan, claimed that Pakistan was using the IMF, and not the other way around, citing a few economic indicators as proof. This is wholly unconvincing as the history of every nation that has succumbed to the ‘loan trap’ points out otherwise.
Devaluation, privatization campaigns, control of local infrastructure and influx of predatory multinationals have been the hallmarks of the IMF and the World Bank’s interference. The case is the same in Pakistan, and main economic indicators bear this point out.
If we were to use Dr Ishrat’s deceptive principles, then, in fact, the British Empire was under the control of the people of South Asia, the ‘American Empire’ is under the control of the Muslim countries, the UN Security Council is not run by its five permanent Security Council members, and the IMF and the World Bank are weak institutions having to face the Third World countries which borrow their money.
Despite the insistence by the government to the contrary, Pakistan is in the middle of many crises; economic, constitutional and ideological. We must address these problems comprehensively, and reject all governmental delusions.
We should discover Islam’s solutions to these crises.
DR AMJAD MAHMUD
Lahore
IN recent weeks a lot has been written about Turkey in your newspaper because of its importance with reference to Iraq. This country has sprung into limelight in the political arena for two reasons.
First, an Islamic-minded government under Aga Gul was finally allowed to function by the former military junta with the blessings of the Bush administration.
Secondly, in spite of a long history of suppressing Kurdish aspirations, something which it has in common with Saddam Hussein and the Ayatollah’s of Iran, it has lined up with the US against Iraq; Aga Gul has been allowed by the Turkish parliament to give the green light to the US forces for using its bases, should Bush decide to attack a dictator like himself.
When Ataturk was an attache in Sofia, Bulgaria, he got ideas about modernizing his country along with less radical Young Turks. Later, he was able to defeat Greece which had the support of the then arch enemy of proactive Islam, i.e. Britain. Today Greece has a per capita income of over $8,000, Bulgaria’s per capita income stands at $1,500 and Turkey’s is almost the same. Pakistan’s per capita income is $400 and that of India is almost the same.
Per capita defence spending is $90 in Turkey, $125 in Bulgaria, Greece’s is $400, Pakistan spends $25 and India, with its huge population of over one billion, spends $10 per capita on defence. Had its population been like that of Pakistan, this would mean a figure of $80 per capita, three times more than that of Pakistan with its armed forces being twice as large as that of Pakistan.
Israel spends $1,500, Iraq $200 and Iran $50 per capita on its defence forces. The US being the sole superpower and among the three richest countries in the world spends $1,500 per capita on defence like its most trusted ally in trade, various professions, the media and obviously defence.
Turkey should not forget that Saddam Hussein was a trusted ally of the Reagan and Bush administrations during 1981-90, and America has a history of ditching its allies in both war and peace. Muslim countries, instead of toeing the US line, should try to strengthen their technical base, using whatever capital comes their way, even from America, to raise the literacy rate and thus bring a well-defined level of prosperity for the masses.
Pakistan, in spite of its rather helpless and hapless geo-political situation, should show a more self-respecting and somewhat independent approach to international issues.
WG-CDR (R) AHMAD ZAFAR FAROOQI
Karachi
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