| March 10, 2003 | Monday | Muharram 6, 1424 |
The India card
Problems of teachers Community
The State and the Individual
10,000 children thrown on the ‘thorns of life’
Is there something to hide?
PAKISTANIS are being told that their national airline has miraculously turned from a Rs5 billion loss-making corporation in the year 2000 to a Rs2.5 billion profit-making venture in 2002. This profit is projected to increase to Rs4.5 billion in 2003.
But Pakistanis are wondering if this radical transformation in revenue is being achieved at the expense of two things: service and the national carrier’s reputation.
Last Tuesday, Hasan was supposed to take the 7.30 p.m. flight from Islamabad to Lahore. He had an appointment with a VVIP in Lahore the next day at 10.30 a.m. sharp.
When he went to Islamabad International Airport at 6.30 p.m., he was told that there was a “technical problem” on the plane that was to fly to Lahore. A smaller plane had to be arranged and therefore some passengers had to be turned away, amongst whom was Hasan, who was supposed to collect his ticket at the airport.
No problem, he was told. The next flight to Lahore would be at 8.30 a.m. arriving in Lahore about 9.00 a.m. He would easily make it for his 10.30 a.m. appointment.
He got his ticket for the morning flight. But little did he realize, he would be let down again.
When he arrived at 7.30 a.m. at the airport, he was told - to his disbelief - that the flight to Lahore had been delayed until 12.00 noon. No reason was given.
Also booked on the 8.30 a.m. flight to Lahore was a newly elected Member of the Senate whom Hasan was acquainted with. He also had to be in Lahore that morning for an urgent business.
Both Hasan and the Senator decided that it was useless to go by road because they would not be able to reach Lahore in time for their respective appointments.
Hasan cursed himself for trusting in his national carrier and for not going by road instead the night before.
The same morning before 12.00 noon, Hasan went to get a refund on his ticket. On proding, he was told that the plane for the 8.30 a.m. Islamabad-Lahore flight, which was supposed to come from Quetta, had suddenly been diverted to Saudi Arabia to bring back some Hajj pilgrims.
The clearly frustrated official went on about how the national airlines’ flight schedules had gone all haywire because of frequent ad hoc orders “from the top level”. There was no planning at all, he lamented to Hasan, and schedules were being decided on a day-to-day basis.
The planes, he added, were up in the air for much longer time than they were supposed to be. They were not being properly serviced and maintained after every flight, as they were required to be.
That unscheduled changes in the flight schedules have become a common feature of the national carrier is evident from the frequent complaints by affected passengers appearing in the press.
In the last week of January, there was a report about the last-minute cancellation of a Karachi-Lahore flight scheduled to take off at 11.30 a.m. Passengers were told when they arrived at Jinnah International Airport for check-in that the flight was cancelled due to “operational reasons”. They were adjusted on the next flight to Lahore at 2.00 p.m.
In November last year, a report said that flights on the Karachi-Sukkur-Islamabad route, which a year earlier had been cut down from daily flights to flights on alternate days, were being frequently delayed or cancelled. Passengers were only told when they arrived at the airport for check-in that the flight had been cancelled or delayed, in one case for four and a half hours.
In May 2002, a letter-to-the-editor complained about a direct Multan-Karachi flight that had to make an unscheduled stop-over at Lahore because the Fokker plane for the Multan-Lahore flight had a “problem” and so the Multan-Karachi plane had first to drop the Fokker passengers at Lahore and then fly to Karachi. The Karachi-bound passengers arrived at their destination three-and-a-half hours later than scheduled.
Passengers on domestic flights are not the only victims of the national carrier’s erratic flight schedules.
In September 2002, a letter-to-the-editor related the incident of an Islamabad-New York flight via Manchester which was re-routed via Karachi also. The affected passenger was informed about the change two days before departure by his travel agent.
The flight was one-third full when it left Islamabad and became two-thirds full at Karachi. But the re-routing via Karachi resulted in the plane arriving in New York six hours later than originally scheduled, as a result of which some 30 families on that flight missed their connecting flights out of New York.
The national carrier might have earned more revenue by picking up the passengers at Karachi. But was this earning not neutralized by it having to pick up the tab for providing night accommodation and food at New York for the 30 families who missed their connections, as the strict US liability law had obliged it to do?
It is normal for airlines to change their flight schedules as part of cost-cutting measures or to improve revenue, says an experienced travel agent. This, however, is usually done with careful operational planning, and the flight schedules could be revised yearly, six-monthly or even quarterly as the need may be.
While Pakistanis can understand their national carrier’s need to maximize resources to rake in revenue, comments Hasan, they do expect it to keep a balance between the latter and providing a decent service.
In the short run, says the travel agent, the national carrier may be able to profit by juggling flight schedules around the way it is doing. But ultimately, it is the reputation of the airline that brings in sustained profits.
The next time Hasan has to make a trip to Lahore, he is going by the Motorway - in the comfort of his own car. It is more reliable and faster!
DIPLOMATIC circles here, specially those belonging to South Asia, do not rule out the possibility of resumption of bilateral talks between India and Pakistan in the last quarter of the current year, albeit at a very low level and away from the glare of publicity.
However, in order for this to happen, these circles believe a conducive environment would need to be built by both sides. India on its part will have to begin easing its diplomatic pressure on Pakistan and moderating its language while airing its views on Islamabad’s India policy. On the other hand, Pakistan will have to ensure that after the snows melt, there is no sudden jump in what the world has now come to regard as ‘cross-LoC’ infiltration.
At the same time, they said, there must not be any major ‘terrorist’ incident inside Indian-held Kashmir (IHK) between June and, say, October-November. And if in the meanwhile, Pakistan were to make positive reciprocal gestures on the issue of trade with India within the purview of Saarc, it would create the atmosphere for substantive talks.
These diplomatic circles appeared rather excited about President Musharraf’s recent offer to join hands with India to fight extremism. He had made this offer in an interview early last week to an Indian TV channel. They were not very clear about what he had actually in mind when he talked of joining hands to fight extremism.
But they would not dismiss this remark as a rhetorical answer to a question. Of course, they would not go as far as to interpret it to mean his acceptance of India’s earlier offer for joint patrolling of the LoC. But they insisted that the Indians should try to probe this remark of President Musharraf rather closely. One diplomat, however, said that since this offer was made by the Pakistani president soon after the Indo-Pakistan clash at the Non-aligned summit in Kuala Lumpur, it did not excite the Indians as much as it would have under normal circumstances.
In the opinion of these diplomats, the Kuala Lumpur incident did cause a setback to the chances (if they were there at all) of resumption of a process of reconciliation between India and Pakistan. Until about Kargil, raising the Kashmir issue at international forums did win Pakistan some points vis-a-vis India as on the sidelines of such summits friends would express their support to the Kashmir cause. However, since Kargil such exercises have only given a stick to India to beat Pakistan with.
It has also been observed now that on such occasions even friends have started exploiting our eagerness to score points against India to extract something for themselves out of Pakistan. During a recent visit to Iran, a group of Pakistani journalists were told by one very senior Iranian editor (Shirzad Bozorgmehr, chief editor of Iran News) that whenever the Iranian government needed to get something out of Pakistan, it would use the India card. He did not elaborate the point, though, but the meaning was very clear. We seem to have printed the India card in hundreds and distributed them among our friends and foes. And all of them seem to have started using it whenever they need to get something out of Pakistan.
It is the same India card that the US seems to be using to get Pakistan to vote in favour of its proposed second resolution in the United Nations Security Council. While Turkey has been able to extract billions of dollars from the US in return for permitting US troops to land on its soil, Pakistan appears to have been satisfied with a simple promise of the US to keep itself engaged in the Kashmir crisis.
Even for the services we are rendering to the US in its war against terrorism, all that we have got so far is a billion dollar worth of debt write-off and a grant of another billion dollars. But this has already been neutralized by a new two billion dollar loan burden that we have acquired from the Eximp bank of the US for purchasing about eight aircraft from the Boeing company in order to contribute our share of effort to help revive the US economy.
Something, therefore, has to be done rather quickly to devalue this India card so that we start operating on international forums and bilaterally with our friends and foes in a normal way. How we do this is something which needs to be studied and debated rather thoroughly by the foreign office and a policy formulated by the government on the basis of these studies.
Meanwhile, interested diplomats in Islamabad appeared pleasantly intrigued by the advise given to the foreign office officials last week by Qazi Hussain Ahmed, the chief of Jamaat-i- Islami, part of whose political philosophy is anchored in the ridiculous slogan of ‘Crush India’. He told the foreign office officials that Pakistan should resume peace talks with India rather than succumb to the pressures of the US.
They are also equally pleasantly intrigued by the disclosure of Information Minister Sheikh Rashid that a Kashmir settlement would be achieved in a matter of three years but that it would not be in accordance with the aspirations of the people of either Pakistan or India. One recalls that it was Mr Rashid who had many times in the past proudly claimed that he was involved in running the Kashmir Jihadi camps.
These diplomats have advised India to probe these three utterances, one by the president, the second by Qazi Hussain Ahmed and the third by Sheikh Rashid, rather closely. Maybe there is a message in these three remarks for India, they said. —ONLOOKER
ABDUL Rashid Nagra, central secretary for information of the Punjab Teachers Union, in a charter of demands to the government, has said the teachers community has been urging the higher authorities for the last several years to minimize the disparity between the rates of salary and fringe benefits for teachers of the federal and provincial educational institutions. After lessening the contradictions between the salaries and annual increments, such a balanced sketch should be adopted which can secure their economic and social status of the day.
The government, instead of solving the problems of the teachers, has worsened the state of affairs by usurping their rights. As a result, the teachers community is passing through great mental agony and restlessness.
The federal government is giving Scale 9 to primary schoolteachers and scale 14 to middle schoolteachers. But in the Punjab and other provinces, primary schoolteachers are getting scale 7 and middle schoolteachers scale 9. There is no moral or lawful justification to give a lower scale to the teachers performing similar duties in the province. It is a pity that more than 500,000 teachers have no opportunity of development. Their salaries are not at par with those who earn their livelihood by lifting bricks and mud nowadays.
In 1982, after a tiresome struggle of teachers, the then military government had accepted some demands of the teachers such as selection grade, move-over and increments on additional qualification. The previous government after the lapse of 19 years snatched the same. The teachers over this injustice are
furious, and they are not ready to give up their rights at any cost.
Abdul Rashid Nagra said steps were being taken by the government to enhance the knowledge/know-how of the people. “To pay attention, the improvement of the economic position of teachers is, therefore, essential. Teachers are already hard pressed economically with millions being deducted from their salaries every month in the name of Behbood Fund and group insurance. Teachers are least benefiting from them. In various departments, employees are being paid bonus whereas in the case of teachers, recreational allowance and Eid allowance has been withdrawn,” he said.
He said due to political interference, very negative effects were emerging on the education system. “Every department keeps a special quota for the recruitment of their employee’s children. But in the case of teachers, the quota already available to them has been finished. House rent still stands on the scale of 1991. Scales were revised in 1994 and December, 2001, but the house rent remained standstill. This is sheer injustice and cruelty to the teachers community. Due to unjust and ruthless amendments to the budget 2002, retired and old-age employees/teachers suffered an irreparable loss. After the amendment to the commutation table, retired persons/employees were paid less commutation to the tune of 36 per cent. For example, those who were to be paid a gratuity to the tune of Rs100,000 were paid only Rs64,000,” he said.
The suffering teachers have made the following demands: — An increase should be made in the salaries of all types of teachers according to the increased rate of inflation. — Selection grade, move-over, additional increments and commutation table should be revived. — Primary and middle schoolteachers of all provinces should be awarded pay scales according to the scales enforced in the federation. — House rent at the rate of 60 per cent without prejudice setting aside scale and place, medical allowance Rs500 and Rs1,000 conveyance allowance should be paid. Headmasters of primary, middle and secondary schools should be given a charge allowance of Rs100, Rs200 and Rs300, respectively. — Recreational allowance and Eid allowance should be revived. — 25 per cent quota be fixed for the children of teachers in all recruitments. — Contract recruitment should be abandoned, and the teachers kept on contract be regularized. — Ban should be lifted on recruitments, and the recruitments should be made on regular basis. — Families of the teachers who die during service should be paid gratuity and pension in full. — Behbood and group insurance funds should be transferred to the Teachers Foundation. — A notification be issued to stop the intervention of Nazims and MNAs/MPAs in the offices and educational institutions. — Science and mathematics teachers should be regularized. For graduate English teachers posted in primary schools, a service structure should be framed. — Conveyance allowance/conveyance facilities should be paid to learning coordinators. — Salaries should be paid as before at tehsil level instead of district level. — Representatives of teachers union should be consulted while making educational policies. — Representation should be given to the representatives of the teachers union in Teachers Foundation, and teachers should be kept aware of the latest position of the foundation. — After the establishment of the district government system, all powers have been conferred on only one person i.e. executive district officer (Education) which should be returned to DEOs and Deputy DEOs.
The policy modified in the year 2000 about the appointments/transfers of teachers has now become impracticable and merit, right and justice have been set aside. Therefore, a new policy about transfers/appointments should be made.
LAST week, I wrote a little on James Bovard’s Freedom in Chains. The point I wanted to make was that it was one of the most op cit and qv books I had read in recent months. Let me explain: in chapter 2, Bovard begins by quoting from Bertrand Jouvenal: “Government power expands under cover of beliefs entertained about it.” We then have William Graham Sumner: “The State is only an obscure clerk hidden in some corner of a government bureau.”
And then look at the quotes that flow from Bovard’s pen:George Washington: “Government is not reason, it is not eloquence — it is force.”
John Adams wrote in 1772: “There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty.”
Thomas Jefferson in 1799: “Free government is founded in Jealousy, not confidence. It is Jealousy and not confidence which prescribes limited constitutions, to bind those we are obliged to trust with power... In question of power, then, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the constitutions.”
James Madison warned: “The nation which reposes on the pillow of political confidence will sooner or later end its political existence in a deadly lethargy.”
Madison (of Rhode Island): “Nothing can exceed the wickedness and folly which continue to reign there. All sense of character as well as of Right is obliterated.”
Carl Friedrich observed in 1939: “In a slow process that lasted several generations, the modern concept of the State was... forged by political theorists as a tool of propaganda for absolute monarchs. They wished to give the king’s government a corporate halo roughly equivalent to that of the church.”
Jean Jacques Rousseau, with his 1762 book, The Social Contract, effectively made self-delusion about the nature of government into the highest political virtue.
British political philosopher Harold Laski later noted: “Rousseau’s theory of the general will made him... the modern founder of the idealistic school of politics.
“Let us begin by laying facts aside, as they do not affect the question.”
Rousseau propagated faith in absolute power at the same time he appeared to be preaching democracy: “The sovereign, being formed wholly of the individuals who compose it, neither has nor can have any interest contrary to theirs; and consequently sovereign power need give no guarantee to its subjects, because it is impossible for the body to wish to hurt all its members... The Sovereign merely by virtue of what it is, is always what it should be.”
Rousseau recommended that a law-giver “ought to feel himself capable... of changing human nature, of transforming each individual... into part of a greater whole from which he in a manner receives his life and being.”
Rousseau declared: “Give man entirely to the State or leave him entirely to himself.
“In a word, I want the property of the State to be as great and powerful, and that of the citizens as small and weak, as possible... With private property being so weak and so dependent, the government will need to use very little force, and will lead the people, so to speak, with a movement of the finger.”
Rousseau again: “The citizen is no longer the judge of the dangers to which the law desires him to expose himself; and when the prince says to him: ‘It is expedient for the State that you should die’, he ought to die, because it is only on that condition that he has been living in security up to the present, and because his life is no longer a mere bounty of nature, but a gift made conditionally by the State.”
Rousseau: “The State, in relations to its members, is master of all their goods by the social contract, which, within the state, is the basis of all rights.”
Johann Gottlieb Fichte in his Addresses to the German Nation: “The state is the superior power, ultimate and beyond appeal, absolutely independent.”
Fichte again: “The end of the State is none other than that of the human species itself: namely that all its (humanity’s) relation should be ordered according to the laws of Reason.
“It is a necessary tendency of every civilized State to expand in every direction... Always, without exception, the most civilized State is the most aggressive.”
G.W.F. Hegel, renowned as the “Royal Prussian Court Philosopher” at the University of Berlin, matched Fichte. According to Hegel, “The State is the Divine Idea as it exists on earth.” Hegel praised the state as the “realization of the ethical idea” and asserted that “all the worth which the human being possess — all spiritual reality, he possesses only through the State.” Hegel revealed that the State is “the shape which the perfect embodiment of spirit assumes.”
Hegel opposed any limits on government power: “The State is a self-certain absolute mind which recognizes no authority but its own, which acknowledges no abstract rules of good and bad, shameful and mean, cunning and deceit.” Hegel also declared that “the State is... the ultimate end which has the highest right against the individual, whose highest duty is to be a member of a State.”
Hegel was also an early advocate of positive thinking: “In considering the idea of the State, one must not think of particular States, nor of particular institutions, but one must contemplate the Idea, this actual God, by itself.” More next week.
SENSITIVE citizens in Karachi must have missed some heartbeats, reading in the newspapers that in their city there are 10,000 ‘street-children.’ This expression itself sounds like a casual sort of notice, if not a cold-blooded euphemism. Given a bit of thought and what we have in our midst is something a great deal more than a mere arithmetical number or statistic.
In the first place, this means that we have ten thousand children, that is, innocent Pakistanis in their infancy, living in the street. And the horror of it is that nobody among the 14 million people in this reasonably well-to-do city is willing and able to take care of them. What a heart-rending thought! It would seem that in this context ‘heart’ just does not figure.
For each child so thrown on the ‘thorns of life’ there would be two parents, and quite possibly some other kith and kin, in supreme anguish. Let us assume that there are in this city some for whom the very thought of children in such surpassing neglect would be a heartache. This sorrow is only aggravated when the caring citizens cannot see what they can do to rescue these children from their wretchedness.
Let us count those who do feel for these 10,000 ‘street-children,’ and you will have a tale of deep and widespread woe and distress. One should imagine that many ordinary citizens do feel absolutely squalid when they see these ‘street-children’ loitering aimlessly, or begging, or just gazing with their vacant, lacklustre eyes at nothing in particular. They have little to look forward to.
Our good City Nazim Naimatullah is sometimes moved to talk feelingly about the beggars that are such an eyesore at busy street intersections all over Karachi. We must not confuse the ‘street-children’ with the beggars. The two are entirely different phenomena. More than ninety per cent of these men and women are professionals. They make quite a packet after a normal day’s stint.
Among the unescorted ‘street-children’ all but a few are abandoned or are runaways. It is hard to say who is in greater distress. Indeed it is a heartless exercise to delve into recesses of pain to see which one is deeper. Every ‘street-child’ represents stark failure of the heart of the community as a whole. And that realization should be enough to wake us up. These children are our responsibility, mine no less than that of anyone else. Their pathetic lot is a standing stricture on a culture that has no time, no thought, no feeling, no pity, no compassion for children wading in a veritable hell. We should indeed be grateful for the social workers that have focused attention to this shame.
However, when thanks are rendered for a good turn done to us all, it has to be noted that here is some good accomplished but evidently the job has been left half done. It is too much to ask the lay citizen to do anything systematic that may be concomitant with the magnitude of this challenging horror. It calls for much more than an individual, or many individuals separately, can possibly manage.
This is not absolving the general run of people in the city. For the average citizen, the obligation remains to support any organized effort to do the needful — by word of mouth, by donation, by voluntary work. This is only to suggest a few possibilities. In this context, there is a whole world of things that need to be done, and done without delay. Let us begin by deciding that we admit we have a huge social problem on our hands. It involves children, that is absolutely innocent, unspoiled children — our children. While we see them as ours today, the hope remains that one day we may be able to render these children unto their parents. Until then, they are ours.
To begin with, we might perhaps need some sort of a legal framework to commence a systematic process of surveying the problem, assessing its nature deep down and its extent. Those introduced into the field to collect these ‘street-children’ and induct them into the rehabilitation process. This is going to test our humanity and our commitment to a cause of surpassing sanctity.
These past few days have been virtually, and also quite appropriately, submerged in the enthusiasm about the ‘World Women’s Day.’ That was done well. It would be poetic justice now to move on to the task of caring for children. Goodness knows, these ‘street-children’ need care on a red-hot emergency basis. If left to themselves in the street today, they may today confront the whole society as its own self-spawned curse. Today they are innocent. If we cannot feel their pain and now fail to provide what they need — loving care — tomorrow they will return, who knows with gun in hand and demand what we are denying them today.
Saying this much is not fine-tuning some profound philosophy or ethereal wisdom. This is plain common sense. Feeling for the fellow being is nature’s first lesson. Of all beings in creation, somehow it is Man who is so insensitive to his own kind. No dog bites a dog. Listen to Ghalib:
Darta houn aaeenay se kay mardum gazida houn
(I am afraid of the mirror because I am bitten by man).
The Lyari Expressway has been in the news on and off for quite some time now. The government, especially the National Highway Authority (NHA), seems to think that it’s positively the best thing that could happen to Karachi, while its critics believe that it could spell disaster for an already environmentally-ravaged metropolis. The detractors also say that the demolition of thousands of homes (the Sindh Assembly was told recently that around 14,800 houses will be demolished to make way for the project) will mean the displacement of possibly a hundred thousand people.
This obviously has all the potential of causing a massive socio-economic disturbance in the city when one takes account the fact that the area straddling the Lyari river is home to a vast informal sector. Contrary to what many people from more affluent backgrounds might think, the people affected by the expressway’s construction are not good-for-nothing land-grabbers or opportunists but mostly hard working people who have managed to make a living despite the fact that they live in basically what are nothing more than hovels. And even that the government wants to demolish. In fact, of late, the city government has gone out of its way to say that the project is a federally-funded one and the brainchild of the NHA, perhaps to distance itself from the controversy.
Recently, representatives of the Asian Coalition for Housing Rights were here in an effort to gauge the situation for themselves. They met the various stakeholders in the project and government officials after which they disclosed their findings at a press conference. Surprisingly, coverage of their findings was scant in the local media.
Among the many important points they mentioned were: (1) There was a discrepancy between the number of families the government says will be evicted and the number quoted by the NGOs. The government figure is 16,000 while NGOs say up to 25,000 families could be displaced. (2) The mission was shown no official list of those who had been or will be evicted. (3) People who had leases to their homes were also evicted. They were living in homes with water, gas and electricity, which they had managed to acquire through their own efforts. The lease from the government was in recognition of that but despite that their homes were demolished. (4) The compensation offered by the government does not take into account the investment the people made into their houses. (6) The mission was not shown a number of official documents including detailed plans of the project, the resettlement action plan, and the environmental impact assessment (required under law). (7) The place of resettlement, in Hawke’s Bay, is five kilometres from the nearest market. (8) Those evicted receive only plots on which they have to build their houses all over again. This can take several months during which time they have to rent a place in the city, at their own cost.
A reader from Hyderabad sent in a letter to the Notebook. Dr Abdullah Jan Pathan is quite worried by the growing number of people who have taken to supari. He wrote that companies selling popular brands had recently spent a lot of money on a massive ad campaign.
The firms hired well-known singers to make an elaborate glitzy video basically showcasing their product. Clearly, the doctor from Hyderabad writes, these ads are aimed at young people. Since supari and paan products are known to cause all kinds of disease it is quite perplexing that no one in authority has taken note of these ads. If tobacco companies can be taken to task for targeting young people, why can’t the same happen in the case of those who make supari?
The doctor wrote that various clinical studies had “amply demonstrated that betel nut chewing results in cancer of the mouth, esophagus and throat”. It’s time someone in the health ministry took notice of these things.
In today’s globalization-prone world, conventional wisdom dictates that boycotts are a more effective weapon than bullets when it comes to getting your point across. There’s nothing like a politically charged boycott of a brand or even of an entire nation.
The current socio-political situation considered, with the spectre of war looming large over Iraq, many across the Muslim world, as well as conscientious objectors across Europe and other non-Muslim realms, are choosing to boycott American goods. One has surely read reports coming in from across the Middle East of some soft drinks being taken off supermarket shelves for their manufacturers’ alleged support of Israel. Consumers are demanding local or regional alternatives to make sure their capital stays within the allied camp and doesn’t end up paying for the Zionist war machine’s weapons. Iran has even launched Zam Zam cola, a brand of soda pop with a spiritual name, to woo beverage addicts of the sweet, sugary carbonated kind.
Closer to home, a friend has decided to stop purchasing all American goods, stop patronizing American fast food joints and most importantly, stop buying American beverages. Now this isn’t a widespread movement in Pakistan as yet, and is confined to a few individuals, but if the idea spreads among the educated middle class of this country, that could spell major McTrouble for Uncle Sam’s franchises.
He says: “We have become very complacent and desensitized. Boycotting these brands of soda and other American goods is the least we can do to express solidarity with the people who continue to suffer because of the US government’s belligerency and the political expediency of their own leaders. How do I know that my burger or soft drink doesn’t end up paying for Israeli tanks or for bombs over Baghdad? And it isn’t just a Muslim thing. If we can’t do anything concrete to stop this madness, the least we can do is prevent our capital from flowing into the pockets of oppressors. Besides, it’ll give local industry a much needed boost.”
A welcome addition to the Karachi public transport system is the brand, spanking new green buses. A few have been plying the city’s roads on an experimental basis. And after a few weeks of test runs, it seems they are a certified hit with commuters, miles above the rickety death carts also known as mini-buses, coaches and the regular diesel guzzling, filth-spewing buses, both in terms of safety and comfort.
Critics have been making a great deal of noise, saying that larger buses are not the answer and that they will only add to the transportation debacle, but all things considered, commuters will make do with what they can get, and from the looks of it, the green buses aren’t half that bad.
The drivers and conductors are better educated and more courteous than their not-so-green counterparts. Other than that, one doesn’t have to inhale plumes of diesel every time another bus passes by and green bus drivers don’t drive like drugged-up madmen. Yes, the fares are a little steep on the average pocket (Rs10, 15 and 20 for each zone) but considering one is getting to one’s destination in an air-conditioned environment in a respectable amount of time in one piece, they can be justified.
Also, you are handed a computerized receipt upon payment as soon as you board, so there is no haggling over the fares and you are not disturbed by a bumptious conductor every five minutes asking you to karaya nikalo when you paid the fare eight stops ago. There is a separate ladies compartment and the staff make it very clear that men cannot sit there, even if it is standing room only in the male section, whereas in regular buses, men are often seen seated in the ladies compartment even when there is ample room in the back. In the green bus, you won’t be disturbed by a blaring stereo blasting lame Indian music at 101 decibels, and surprisingly, the drivers will only stop to load and unload at designated stops.
But there are bugs. Drivers do tend to overload the bus at times and the design of the vehicles is a little odd, as there seems to be not enough seats. But as one commuter commented: “At rush hour, you have to stand regardless. I’d rather stand in one of these buses.”
— By Karachian
email: karachi_notebook@hotmail.com