| March 5, 2003 | Wednesday | Muharram 1, 1424 |
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PTCL: greater care needed
Emergency service at Mardan
More funds for development
Curbing teachers’ rights
Renaming the NWFP
Baab-i-Pakistan project
Democracy & public opinion
Inflated power bills
A job well done
Correction
What went wrong with our cricket
THE decision by the Turkish parliament turning down the US request for using its soil against Iraq and the stunning speeches by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad of Malaysia at the 13th NAM summit and the OIC conference should serve as eye-openers for all Muslims. The failure of the Arab world to respond to the US threat and the unexpected silence of rest of the Muslim world are heartbreaking.
People gathered on the streets to protest against war in the early ‘90s; they do it today also; but will they succeed in preventing their respective governments from supporting the US? The answer is no. It must be understood by all of us that whenever the US feels it necessary to attack any Muslim country, it will not spare any time and effort in pursuing its perceived national interests.
The hard fact is that only a nation that relies on its own resources, and whose people live happily on their own earnings, can dictate its terms to its adversary. Countries like Pakistan, which need foreign loans and aid to meet their basic expenditures, can never make their voices heard at the international forums.
The lesson is that we must learn to live on our own resources rather than living on charity. Pakistan is a land filled with numerous natural resources all of which must be judiciously utilized to run the country’s affairs without seeking foreign help. But it seems impossible to do so because the entire wealth of the country is in the hands of a select group of people, and the feudal lords in the rural areas.
Achieving economic stability and improving our national character are two essential aspects that can lead us to a life of dignity. Making education available to all, and invoking in us the spirit of sacrifice, which was originally taught to us by the Holy Quran and Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), can guide us to leading an austere and simple life.
We must look after the needy and feel the sufferings of our Muslim brethren if we want to form a true Muslim society. None of the movements, reforms, and monetary aid can change a nation that is unwilling to change its ways. Although we do not enjoy a good record over the past 50 years, it is never too late to start anew. We can bring about change in our national life if we are determined to meet the challenges before us.
SYED SHAMEEL SANI
Islamabad
AS in the case of Pakistan, Turkey is being asked to provide bases and all logistics supports to the US for its war against Iraq. Turkish economy is weak. Turkey is aspiring to become a member of the EU, and the Turks, just like the whole world, are dead against it.
It is exactly the same situation we went through. It is rather more difficult for the Turkish government to decide, but the difference is Turkey is not relenting until the US signs a quid pro quo in writing for a $26 billion economic aid package. They do not believe in verbal promises.
Bravo! Well done, Turkey. There is in what Turkey has done a lesson for us to learn.
NIZAM A. KHAN
Karachi
RECENTLY, my four business telephone lines were disconnected and a recording was put on that “your telephone has been disconnected due to non-payment”.
Photocopies of paid bills in time were sent to the department concerned to restore our lines which took a day and a half for restoration.
In business, reputation is everything with customers and suppliers and when they called to our business place, they heard this recording, both locally and internationally. To put our business in such a position by some revenue officer’s authority is very damaging for the country, as well as for business.
Such recording should be put with great care and only on the instruction of a higher authority like the general manager or someone higher in rank. Just try to understand if my counterpart in a foreign country calls and listens to this recording, how damaging will that be for my years of hard work.
I hope the telecommunications minister would care to look into the problem and do something to rectify the situation.
RIAZ A. KHAN
Karachi
I WOULD like to bring to the attention of the authorities concerned the very irresponsible conduct of a doctor on duty in the emergency ward of the District Headquarters Hospital, Mardan, on the night of Feb 21.
An unfortunate man, shot in the lower abdomen, was brought to the emergency ward at around 8:15pm. The doctor on duty and the police personnel examined him and after necessary paperwork referred him to the surgeon on duty, who was in the operation theatre at that time.
After waiting for another 20 minutes in the hospital corridor, the surgeon finally came out, just looked at the wounded man and summarily dismissed him saying he should be taken to the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH), Peshawar. The poor man, father of seven children, reached Peshawar only to be pronounced dead.
I would like the authorities concerned to look into the matter and assign responsibility as to why the wounded man was referred to the LRH without being treated. He died because of excessive bleeding, which the doctor at Mardan did nothing to stop until the patient could reach Peshawar.
Were an injection and a drip of glucose all the DHQ hospital had to treat such cases? It would also be in order to probe why it took the relatives of the patient requiring immediate treatment another 30 precious minutes to complete the formality of renting a hospital ambulance.
If a DHQ hospital does not have enough resources to cope with emergencies like these, why do they have emergency wards in the first place? Had the relatives of the unfortunate man known this, they would have headed straight to Peshawar without wasting the precious time they did at Mardan.
I would like to request the provincial government, particularly the health minister, to look into the matter and address such instances of criminal neglect that result in loss of life.
A RELATIVE OF THE DECEASED
Mardan
THE International Monetary Fund has just approved $118 million for Pakistan for a three-year programme aimed at fighting poverty and boosting growth. The World Bank also announced an increased grant of $200 million for development programmes, and also $50 million in aid for the promotion of education and democracy.
It is a fact that Pakistan always relies only on foreign aid from the international financial institutions in critical times such as these. Why the government does not have a consistent policy for creating resources through promoting agriculture and bolstering the industrial sector for economic development of the country is anyone’s guess. Instead, the government always fills the budget gap through borrowing on a temporary basis.
It is simply outrageous that most of our the budget should go to defence and towards repayment of international loans. The education and health sectors have been consistently ignored.
Pakistan remains an agricultural country, as most of the population depends on the agriculture sector. More than 40 per cent of our people live under impoverished conditions. Therefore, it is necessary that the financial resources be used properly, i.e. on programmes aimed at alleviating poverty.
Proper plans and policies have to be made for any real development of the country and not only to fulfil the requirements and the documentation required for getting more loans and aid from the donors. It is also important that concrete steps should be taken for reforming key state institutions such as the judiciary and the police, so that development patterns can show some trickling down to the public.
GHULAM SHABIR BABAR
Karachi
THIS refers to the article entitled ‘Campuses without politics’ by Anwar Syed, which appeared in Dawn some days ago. The Model University Ordinance 2002 is undemocratic and speaks of the mistrust our rulers have in the citizens of this country.
University teachers and students are considered to be among the most educated people in any country. If they are not trusted, what can one say about the enfranchisement of the public at large? The reluctance of the government to allow the faculty members of a university to elect and send their representatives to a board of governors betrays the undemocratic bent of mind our rulers have.
For overcoming the fear of losing authority, do we need more time than the British did to allow our people to take their own decisions? Unfortunately, for us Muslims, after our freedom from the British rule, we came to be governed by an elite whose thinking about delegation of power to the people was as negative as that of the colonial rulers.
We have a long way to go before the people of Pakistan get their democratic rights in the real sense of the word. You cannot expect people to think judiciously unless you first let them think for themselves. They learn to make wise decisions only when they are allowed to go through the formative phase of making not so wise decisions.
Not allowing a people this very necessary exercise will doom them forever.
H.A. BASIT
Quetta
THE issue of renaming the NWFP has once again started agitating the minds of some people. I do not understand why it has remained a thorny issue ever since the creation of Pakistan. Names of many countries such as Burkina Faso, Zambia and Zimbabwe have been changed over the years. Also, names of many cities like Dhaka, Jakarta, Harare, Mumbai and Kolkata have been changed.
So, what’s wrong with changing the NWFP’s name? G.M. Hasan (Feb 27) considers it a waste of time and energy. He says the Sarhad people had better devote their time and energy to education. Ali Awan and Sajjad Khan favour referendum (Feb 26 & 28).
Most places are known by the names of rivers and valleys. Even civilizations are identified by rivers and valleys like Indus, Nile, Euphrates and Tigris and Huang Ho. Abbassin, a river in this province, could just as well be the name of the province as Sindh (River Indus) is the name of the province of Sindh.
But as a last resort, and supporting Ali Awan and Sajjad Khan, I think a referendum could be the only way out if all other ways failed. Let there be a referendum to find out which of the five currently afloat names — Abbassin, Khyber, Pakhtunkhwa, Pakhtunistan or Pashtunistan — is democratically chosen by the majority of the people. In 1947, the NWFP took a historic decision to join Pakistan through an equally historic referendum.
S.M. KAZIM NAQVI
Karachi
THIS refers to the news item ‘Work on Baab-i-Pakistan may start soon’ (Feb 28) giving its estimated cost of Rs316.9 million.
It is strange that in a country where 40 per cent of the population live below the poverty line and are deprived of basic necessities of life, we are thinking of such prestigious projects. We should keep in mind that the nation is under $38 billion foreign debt and a huge amount of internal debt.
Many of our primary schools in rural areas do not have sufficient rooms for classes which are held in the open, and facilities like potable water do not exist. Even some schools do not have boundary walls. Government hospitals cannot provide medicines to the poor. Public transport is not available in cities and if it is available, it is substandard and hopeless.
Once the Baab-i-Pakistan project is completed, huge recurring expenses would be needed for its upkeep. So, this amount should be used for the welfare of the poor, such as opening some primary schools. Or, the amount in question should be put in fixed accounts and the profit so earned should be spent on giving monetary help to poor students and providing medicines to the needy patients.
PROF (R) A. H. SUBHANI
Faisalabad
A. B. Shahid (Feb 23) is right in saying that Western leaders are not paying heed to popular opinion and appeals against the looming war. But it does not mean that democracy has lost its fundamental meaning.
It was the democratic values and teachings which made the people of the West to demonstrate against their own elected governments.
Look at the state of affairs in the Muslim world where countries have been under despotic governments from the day of their existence. Not a single Muslim country has held any massive demonstration against the US threat of war.
Every system needs modification. But reforms must come through democratic means. One, not being a part of it, cannot reform a system. Democracy with all its odds is the best political system that human beings have evolved so far. It is not democracy which is a failure, but it is the failure of those people who run this system.
FAWAD SALMAN
Islamabad
I HAVE been receiving inflated bills for the last one-and-a-half years for which I have to run from one office of Wapda to another. This has led to personal animosity with SDO Pano Aqil, who came to my area, broke my meter and blamed us for tempering with the meter in winter during which our consumption was only between 200 and 300 units per month.
In the summer, our consumption is from 800 to 1,000 units. The question is, why will I break my meter which I have purchased for Rs2,000?
Since then, I have complained to the Rohri executive engineer, the Sukkur superintending engineer, the Hyderabad chief executive and also to the Wapda chairman, but no one has come to my rescue while I continue to pay all my bills after correction is made by the SDO operations.
DR SIRICHAND KARERA
Pano Aqil
AS a Pakistani-American I want to congratulate the government of Pakistan and the embassy of Pakistan in the United States for doing a superb job in assisting Pakistanis living here with the on-going immigration registration process. The INS requires registration by all undocumented Pakistanis, who have been living illegally in America or are on a temporary visa for a short time.
The registration process has created panic and confusion among such Pakistanis, who are afraid to come forward and register, as they might be subject to arrest and deportation during the process. The embassy mobilized its staff, recruited volunteers and, in some cases, local immigration lawyers many of whom volunteered their services. This was necessary because by not registering many Pakistanis will have jeopardized any chances of future legal residency in America.
The Pakistan ambassador, Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, played a leading role in mobilizing the embassy staff to help the undocumented Pakistanis. He lobbied with the American officials, and was very active in communicating with the Pakistani community through the local Pakistani TV networks, besides holding meetings with the concerned community members.
The recent visit of Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri to the United States also helped. He relentlessly argued the case of the undocumented Pakistanis with the American officials, and was successful in easing the registration requirements for many Pakistanis.
As a Pakistani-American living here for so long, I have never seen better community service being provided by the embassy of Pakistan in Washington. My congratulations to the government of Pakistan on a job well done.
HASSAN MADNI
Falls Church, VA, USA
IN may article, ‘Simplifying taxes’, carried by Dawn in its March 4 issue, a typographical error crept in to change the context of my argument. The sentence proposing the change in import tariff should have read:
“A better alternative would be One — Chapter One — rate’ (and not simply the words ‘one rate’ that were printed) that would address consideration of revenue, the need for giving adequate protection to domestic industry and the need for simplification.”
SHAHID KARDAR
Lahore
SINCE the Cricket World Cup 1999, I have realized that the reason we are so passionate about cricket is not just because we love this sport so much, but because it is the only field in which we were any good. For people like myself, living abroad, the only good news we got from back home was usually related to our cricket team.
Like 140 million Pakistanis, I am quite dejected by the crucial defeat we suffered against India. This also makes almost certain Pakistan’s exit from the contest. The writing had been on the wall all along for the last year or so, with Pakistan suffering crushing defeats against Australia and South Africa.
But how can it be that the same 11 players, except for a couple of changes, performed so brilliantly in 1999 and so poorly in 2003? Time is one factor, with senior players getting beyond their peaks and not performing as effectively. But what else has changed since 1999? The answer should be clear to us: the top brass of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), and though it may be unfair to single out one person, but Lt-Gen Tauqeer Zia’s name is definitely on top of the list.
Pakistan had a world class cricket team until 1999. With the military coup, we figured that the only way to salvage whatever was good was by appointing retired or active military officials to the highest posts in every field. It will be futile to go over the excruciating details of what has been done wrong, but one wonders if this is what has happened to our world class cricket team, then only God knows what awaits the rest of the country in other fields where our performance has already been poor.
But why should this surprise us? This has been the story of our country since its creation. Incompetent, or more correctly, inappropriate people are chosen to run things that they really do not know much about and disaster is the end result.
Would any sane Pakistani say that Wasim Akram should be appointed as a military general? Then why did we have people like Air Marshal Nur Khan in the past and Lt-Gen Tauqeer Zia now running, rather ruining, our national sports? Like most our leaders it is also hard for them to quit even when they know they have made a mess of things.
Sure enough, Tauqeer Zia resigned a few months ago, but how convenient, that President Musharraf should find him to be the only messiah of our ailing cricket team and reinstate him. One wonders if he will have the moral courage to quit now. I would not be surprised if he is reinstated again.
M. OVAIS
Houston, Texas, USA
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