| March 9, 2003 | Sunday | Muharram 5, 1424 |
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Frontline state or colony?
Renaming the NWFP
What ails the economy
Complaint of PIA passenger
Late-night weddings
Politics on campus
Industrial pollution
Pensioners’ benefit account
‘Diplomatic stomach-ache’
Drought
‘Cruelty and silence’
IT is not possible to keep politics out of sports but we must ensure that religious biases do not affect sports or analysis of sports. While at this time matters of far greater importance than losses or victories in cricket matches deserve first priority, one aspect of reporting about our loss requires immediate attention.
This is with reference to the report titled “Heads must roll from the top” by your special correspondent, Mr Rehan Siddiqui, published in Dawn on March 6 and the editorial titled “Down and out” published on March 7. Both items concern the performance of the Pakistan cricket team in the ongoing World Cup.
The editorial presents a balanced appraisal of our cricket team’s performance. However, the report by your special correspondent includes the following sentence: “To appoint a Jew, Richard Pybus, of dubious credentials to coach highly strung individuals did not help the team’s cause”.
The publication of a reference to a person’s religion and the direct implication that his religion had something to do with the poor performance of the team is shocking, the more so because it has appeared in your esteemed newspaper.
Apart from the fact that such a reference violates the norms of civilized discourse and journalism, and specially the values of respect for plurality as enshrined in the holy Quran and as practised by the Prophet of Islam (peace be upon him), the reference also has an absurd and comical facet to it. For, are we to ascribe the reasons for some of the victories achieved by Pakistan during the same coach’s tenure to his being of a particular faith, rather than to the performance of the team?
Your correspondent otherwise writes with both skill and sentiment but more than perhaps other countries, we in Pakistan need to show, by word and by deed, that the overwhelming majority of Muslims in Pakistan respect the faiths of all non-Muslims.
JAVED JABBAR Karachi
MR Rehan Siddiqui’s assessment of Richard Pybus as a poor cricket coach might very well be accurate, but the manner in which he attempts to convey this dissatisfaction is not right. To identify him by his religious faith/origin was entirely uncalled-for and is blatantly bigoted and anti-Semitic.
Mr Pybus’s religion has nothing to do with his coaching skills, nor did it need mention in the article. The fact that Dawn did not edit this sentence out of the report represents the sad state of society in Pakistan in which religious intolerance has become acceptable and goes unchallenged.
I find it difficult to understand how Muslims can expect western society to treat them fairly when we clearly and readily attach negative stereotypes to people of other faiths. I am disappointed that Dawn,, being one of the few voices of reason left in Pakistan, decided to carry the piece unedited.
DR MONEEB EHTESHAM
Los Angeles, USA
THE report titled ‘Heads must roll from the top’ (March 6) as well as Mr Khalid H. Khan’s March 5 article which used the term “white-skinned foreigners” were both in poor taste.
Of course, Pakistan’s appalling performance in South Africa was upsetting and your writers have exhibited passion and skill in covering the tournament. However, to stoop to bigotry is inexcusable.
An international paper that is easily accessed around the world on the web allowed such sentiments based on race and religion to be expressed.
JAVED QURESHI
London, UK
JUST as America approaches Pakistan for support over Iraq and intervention over Kashmir, the government has made a rather miserable and quite fraudulent attempt to persuade Pakistan to cling to America and its war.
On Feb 28, Prime Minister Jamali’s adviser on finance, Shaukat Aziz, addressed the National Assembly about the country’s gains from joining America’s war. Although his actual presence came under heavy fire on the grounds that an adviser is not a minister, his rather desperate intrusion into the lower house gave far more substantial ammunition for those concerned by the government’s cling to America.
Mr Aziz spoke of $891 million of benefits through debt rescheduling, etc., even though all this really means is that, by delaying debt repayments, the burden of debt has been increased for successive governments. He also claimed that America had written off one-billion-dollar debt, even though America has done no such thing yet; Gen Pervez Musharraf’s government had been claiming for two years that American debt relief was just around the corner.
Mr Aziz did not mention that America still has to pay hundreds of millions of dollars for costs incurred through using Pakistan’s bases, including
the Jacobabad airbase about which the late PAF chief had raised concern shortly before his demise. And, of course, there is the matter of two billion dollars in Pakistan’s economic losses that Shaukat Aziz himself has admitted, as a result of regional effects of the American invasion of Afghanistan.
Furthermore, the government is silent about a matter which is priceless and should never be sold off, i.e. Pakistan’s security. Through embracing America and its war, Pakistan now has American troops on its doorstep in Afghanistan with American military and intelligence swarming within Pakistan till this day.
The world is not America, and America is not the world. It is high time the Muslims demanded that the government look for support outside of those who have repeatedly and consistently harmed the affairs of the Muslim world.
DR ABDUL WAJID
Lahore
THIS refers to the letter, ‘Renaming the NWFP’ (Feb 27) by G. M. Hasan. I, my family and many of my friends agree that the name of the NWFP province should be changed.
We, being Pakhtoons, feel disgusted that we belong to one of the four largest ethnic groups concentrated in one geographical area of Pakistan, but are the only ones without a province named after us. Instead, we have been given this pathetic name, i.e. the NWFP by the British. Had the name of the province been changed in 1947 when our country came into being, the issue would have been solved then.
It is very unfortunate that successive governments have been indifferent to the demand of the majority of this province. It is true that there are places such as Hazara and Chitral where Pushto speakers are a minority. Similarly, less than 20 per cent non-Pakhtoons live in Peshawar and Kohat.
Similarly, none of the other three provinces is exclusively a home to any heavily dominant ethnic group. Punjab is a lingually diverse province. Pushto is spoken in many areas of Attock and Mianwali. Seraiki, which is not a dialect of Punjabi as it is claimed to be, is spoken in Multan, Bahawalpur, Dera Ghazi Khan, Mianwali, MuzzafarGarh. Pothowari, which may be a dialcect of Punjabi with a distinct name, is spoken around Rawalpindi, Chakwal, Jhelum. Hindko, which is also considerably different from Punjabi, is spoken in Attock and Rawalpindi.
Likewise, in major cities of Sindh such as Karachi and Hyderabad, Urdu is spoken more commonly. In Balochistan, large numbers of Pakhtoons live in cities like Loralai, Ziarat, Quetta and Pishin.
It is suggested that the NWFP be renamed after the majority of the people of the province.
SARFRAZ HAYAT
England
I READ Ahsan Iqbal’s article, ‘What ails our economy’, and I was thinking it sounded like the state of the Indian economy in 1970s. India, till 1991, was a closed economy where import-substitution was the goal. We produced shoddy products because our businessman were not allowed to rise to their full potential by a series of laws.
The intent of these laws was to equally distribute wealth. What the lawmakers forgot was that creating wealth was far more important. Once wealth is created, both rich and poor can get its benefits.
What Pakistan needs today is to concentrate on a few basic fields such as agriculture, where it can be globally competitive. It should allow import of raw materials and machinery for these fields with zero duty.
Ideally, it should abolish customs duty on all raw materials and machinery because one does not know how market behaves and how a country can gain a competitive edge in a field. Since Pakistan is a poor country, it should focus on commodity items such as agriculture and basic industry.
Concentrating on high-tech fields will not generate the millions of needed jobs. Pakistan should make sure that productivity is increased and quality is enhanced. That is the key to creating wealth and jobs. Removing government control over the economy is the only step required. The intelligent Pakistani businessmen will do the rest.
SHYAMAL PAIN
Kolkata, India
I HAVE been travelling by PIA to Pakistan from New York, or London, at least once a year for 20 years. Since 1996 I have been travelling in the Business Plus class.
Although I always get a seat on my outward journey, I have yet to make a confirmed reservation for the return, which is after 20 or so days. I have always been told that seats are not available. So, I invariably beg my old friends and relatives to ask their contacts in high places for help.
The most recent was my return flight on Feb 6, when I was told at the PIA counter that there was no seat till the end of March. Needless to say, somebody came to my rescue and I owe a favour, another uncalled-for obligation.
The observed reality is that since 1996 I have not seen a full or even crowded Business Class section in the plane. It is always more than a third empty. And many passengers, mostly Americans or Europeans, tell you that they have been upgraded from the economy class. If there is a method in this madness, it certainly escapes this former PIA customer.
NAEEM AHMAD
New York, USA
THOSE familiar with the public school set-up must be aware of ‘lights off’, after which cadets are supposed to retire to their beds to get up fresh for the next morning. It was a part of their training to go to their beds, but that naughty teenagers would keep themselves all awake and alive for the pre-sleep activities of gossiping and discussing the happenings of the day.
The people of our country should be dealt with in the same manner as these cadets when it comes to late-night weddings, by compulsorily switching off the lights of wedding halls and lawns.
Meals in the very first place should be banned at weddings. Even if this is inevitable,
the local government can at least enforce the law of switching off the lights latest by 11pm, so that the guests are through with their dinner latest by 10:15pm or 10:30pm,getting enough time for socializing.
This time constraint would compel them to wind up the evenings as early as possible. This was successfully implemented in Karachi a few years back, but then weddings again started stretching till late at night, causing immense inconvenience, irritation and botheration to guests, specially those coming from far-away localities.
It is, therefore, requested of the authorities concerned to put an end to the miseries of those who want to follow the time discipline.
NEHAL ALVI
Karachi
I DISAGREE with the thesis presented by Anwar Syed that political activity should be allowed in the universities (‘Campus without politics’, March 2). He has laid down such parameters for political activity that are not only difficult but also impossible to follow in practice — a mere utopia.
He suggests that political activity should take place outside the campuses and not inside and that one should “limit the concerns of student unions to education-related issues and... persuade the leaders of political parties to forbid highhandedness, violence on the part of their affiliates on the campuses. Is this asking for the moon?”
Yes, that it is asking for the moon. Politics has done the maximum damage to the cause of education in Pakistan. Once the student unions acquire authority, there is no power that can curtail their activities. The union leaders interfere with the admission policy and teachers’ promotions ignoring the merit system.
The political parties show no qualms about manipulating the student leaders to gain undeserved advantage for themselves. Thus, they bypass the honourable and principled among them. Mr Syed should ask the parents of the students whether they wish their sons and daughters to take part in politics in the campuses. I am sure none of the parents will support the view Mr Syed espouses.
After all, why do the private institutions not allow political activity? Let us not allow the genie to get out of the bottle.
Dr A.P. SANGDIL
Oslo, Norway
A TOWN Nazim of the Peshawar city recently asked the industries located in the residential areas to shift to other areas, otherwise these units would be closed. The residents suffer badly due to the presence of industries, particularly of steel or chemicals.
These industries pollute the atmosphere and even otherwise are a nuisance for the residents. These are common problems of the residents of most of the towns and cities in the country. Transparent procedures and guidelines need to be developed for properly managing/financing the shifting of the industrial/technical/commercial units to make the communities peaceful and clean.
MUHAMMAD BASHIR CHAUDHRY
Karachi
I AM an old Sindh-government pensioner and welcome the relief the government has granted to the senior citizens regarding the increase of profit on the PBAs at the rate of 11.04 per cent per annum. I regret to state there is no national savings centre within my easy reach, and commuting is beyond me.
May I suggest that we, the senior citizens, be given the option to open a PBA at the National Bank of Pakistan from where many of us draw our monthly pensions. There are far more NBP branches than national savings centres.
A PENSIONER
Karachi
KULDIP Nayar’s letter from New Delhi (March 1) states the reason for accession of the Muslim-majority Jammu and Kashmir to the Hindu-majority India after independence to the pluralism which attracted the then popular Muslim leader, Sheikh Abdulla, which is controversial.
Extracts of historical records, as published in the Freedom at Midnight by Larry Collins and Dominique Laprerre are reproduced as follows:
“No,” replied the Maharaja, “I don’t want to join India either. I wish to be independent.”
Those were the words the viceroy did not want to hear. “I am sorry,” he exploded, “you can’t be independent.”
For the next two days, Mountbatten repeated the process. The following morning, the ADC came to Mountbatten’s suit. His highness was sorry, he declared, but he was suffering from an upset stomach and his doctor would not allow him to attend their meeting. Invoking doctor’s orders, however, Hari Singh refused even to see his old friend (Mountbatten) before he left. A problem which would embitter India-Pakistan relations and imperil world peace had found its genesis in that diplomatic stomach-ache.
HAJI ESSA KATCHI
Karachi
THE prolonged drought in Balochistan is getting worse day by day. Many areas such as Khuzdar, Chaghai and Kharan have been facing extreme misery in the face of government apathy towards their problems.
Will the government wake up to the situation and fulfil its duties towards the people? EJAZ ZEHRI Khuzdar
THIS is about Irfan Hussain’s article, ‘Cruelty and silence’ (March 1). Mr Hussain has also hitched on the bandwagon of those calling for ‘regime change’. To display his affection for the Iraqi people and his repugnance for Saddam Hussein, he brings forth the writings of Kanan Makiya. It is an unfortunate choice.
Makiya does not believe in an Iraq which gets rid of its dictator at the hands of its own people. This revolution, for him, must be foisted from outside by the world’s leading imperialist power — an assault which would predictably leave the Baathist apparatus untouched and which would replace a bungling ‘anti-American’ dictator with an American one.
Also, Makiya claims to be speaking for the Iraqi people, but the truth is that his only mandate for doing so happens to be in the form of two books, one of them written to assuage the western market’s demand for more stuff on how one of the Middle East’s most bloodthirsty oriental despots keeps his population in abject misery. That is why Makiya is a hit with the pro-war imperialist establishment.
I don’t think Mr Hussain in reality can claim to be in touch with the aspirations and dreams of the Arab people. Granted they want to get rid of their pro-American, anti-people albeit secular despots, but inviting imperialist assault is definitely not one of the means of doing so. The history of the Iraqi people shows that they have always stood up against dictators and colonizers alike. So the case for a benign imperialism to replace Saddam does not hold water.
The case of the interventions against Pol Pot and Idi Amin were qualitatively different from the one being contemplated against Saddam. Against Pol Pot, it was Vietnam’s communist regime — a greatly admired revolutionary regime — which rid Cambodia of Pol Pot. Against Idi Amin, it was again another great socialist regime — Tanzania’s Julius Nyerere — which rid Uganda of that murderous tyrant.
We cannot compare the case for war in Iraq with that of those small wars against Amin and Pol Pot which lasted a few months and the invading armies withdrew as soon as the objective was achieved.
I am sure if tomorrow Pakistan or Iran face a similar threat of a possible US invasion, Mr Hussain will again take up his pen to defend regime change by forcible imperialist occupation. Or will he? The lessons of Vietnam are still with us where a small group of poorly equipped but extremely courageous Vietnamese led by the Vietnam Workers’ Party defeated the might of US imperialism.
Needless to say there are such determined groups in Iraq who are still in the background but who want to rid their country of not only Saddam Hussein, but also want an independent future for Iraq, a democratic secular polity giving rights to Muslims (Shia and Sunni), Kurds and Armenian Christians. It is these groups we should be supporting.
RAZA NAEEM
Lahore
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