| March 27, 2003 | Thursday | Muharram 23, 1424 |
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LFO: advice to MMA
Unaffordable fee structure of NED
Maisoon could have lived
Terrorism on the campus
Who is Wapda’s boss?
World Cup failure
Pakistan consulate staff’s concern
American aggression against Iraq
PTCL praised
Attacking Baghdad
Education reforms in NWFP
KCR revival — circular tramway
This is with reference to the letter “US: friend or enemy?” by Mr Siddique Malik from Louisville, KT, US (March 25).
If there is a lesson we must draw from whatever has happened in Afghanistan and Iraq is that Pakistan must not commit suicide. Friendship with the United States and China must be the cornerstone of Pakistan’s foreign policy.
India is waiting only for that day when we will be completely isolated from these two traditional friends of Pakistan. These two countries constitute Pakistan’s life line. Only an enemy of Pakistan would want this country to become America’s enemy.
Emotions have never helped a nation. What matters is that one should keep Pakistan’s interests in view before taking decisions on such sensitive matters as foreign policy and war and peace.
Remember, the greatest service to the Muslim world is to make Pakistan peaceful, prosperous and strong! A Pakistan weak militarily or economically or a victim of domestic divisiveness will be of no help to the Muslim world.
Pakistan is the world’s only Muslim nuclear power. Let us make it stronger. Let us not do foolish things where — to India’s delight — America would do an Iraq to Pakistan.
Lip service to Iraq, OK, fine. The whole world is condemning the Anglo-American attack on Iraq. This is not a religious issue. Anti-war rallies in London, Melbourne, Washington and Rome have been larger than those staged in Pakistan. So condemning the US attack and expressing solidarity with the Iraqi people does not really hurt Pakistan’s interests.
What we should avoid is adopting a position and doing things that alienate Pakistan from the US and single it out as another ”rogue” country.
Nobody justifies America’s classification of Iraq, Iran and North Korea as partners in the “axis of evil.” But let us not behave so stupidly as to force America to make Pakistan the fourth member of this axis.
Does it occur to our “religious” leaders that they are helping India’s cause by trying to effect a breach between Pakistan and America?
I repeat that friendship with the United States and China must be the cornerstone of Pakistan’s foreign policy. India is extremely jealous of, and disappointed, over the relationship which US and Pakistan have developed after the 9/11 attacks. Let us continue in that fashion. I say this with full responsibility as a Muslim and a Pakistani.
HAMEED RIZWAN
Karachi
ONE of the most positive developments of the last election held under the Legal Framework Order (LFO) is the emergence of a unified religious political party under the name of MMA. This party has exhibited transformation in their outlook and political maturity.
It may be recalled that not long ago there were many religious parties, with different names and ideologies, such as the Jamaat-i-Islami, the Deobandis, the Brelvis, the Ahle Hadis and the Ahrar. Now, all well-wishers of democracy expect that the pace of democratic progress should continue without any hindrance and, therefore, want all the parties to remain united in their common goal of completing their full term.
On the face of it, the MMA is not wholly unjustified in its demand for lifting the LFO but, at the same time, it is not wise to ignore the realities that President Gen Pervez Musharraf has lived up to his words and held a fair election as committed by him to the Supreme Court.
On the other hand, most religious parties in the past had extended full support to Gen Ziaul Haq, who cancelled the election, despite his clear commitment to the nation and the world, and ruled the country as a military dictator for the longest period of Pakistan’s history.
Now when the MMA has joined the main stream of politics and has broadened its vision, it is time their leaders concentrated their efforts on initiating projects for the people’s welfare and on addressing the common man’s problems.
I can assure the members of the MMA that when they will be able to distinguish themselves from other parties on their achievements, the prospect for winning more people over to their side would brighten greatly.
K. MURAD BEY
Karachi
THE NED University is a prestigious institution which, besides imparting studies in different technical discipline, has also started a faculty of computer education offering a four-year course leading to a BCIT.
However, the fee structure of the course has been kept so exorbitant and unaffordable that it is out of the reach of the general public. This is despite the fact that the Dr Ataur Rehman, chairman, committee of higher education and former minister for science and technology had promised to bring the cost of quality education to an affordable level.
Fees for other engineering disciplines are kept as low as Rs12,000 per annum whereas for a BCIT degree it has been fixed at Rs58,000, which is nearly five times the fees charged for other disciplines. How come, a public university is providing computer education only for the higher income groups?
I request the authorities concerned to look into the matter and either make the fee structure of BCIT affordable or increase the limit on the fee-waiver scheme from twenty percent to forty percent of the students.
FARAZ
Karachi
I KNEW Maisoon Hussein as a gentle being and remained in touch with her for a decade by means of phone till her death. She was suffering from a cancer that I believe could have been cured by chemotherapy.
This treatment was very much in Maisoon’s reach. But convinced by a story about a Japanese lady, who was cured of the same cancer using homeopathic drugs (which I am told are banned in most of Europe), Maisoon resorted to it and passed away within a year.
It is high time the witchdoctors, quacks, fake hakims and do-it-yourself manual-reading and so-called doctors are barred from practising. The media can at least ban the cheap advertisements by ‘gold-medalist doctors’, who claim to possess potions that can cure AIDS, Hepatitis A,B,C, and cancers, besides improving conjugal life, increase height, etc.
If an intelligent journalist like Maisoon was ensnared, what about a commoner?
M. M. ALAM
Karachi
This is with reference to the letter “Terrorism on the campus” (March 18) by Ms Rhona. This terrorism is not something new in a society where agitation and violence are considered the sole key to success.
I have been there in the Department of Engineering of the Panjab University, Lahore, and even during the military regime, these so-called educated militants attempted to harass a number of students. We, who were falsely supposed to be downright “angraiz”, were on their hit list.
The stories of there violence have often been published by Dawn. But, no measurable steps were taken to check their activity.
The Vice-Chancellor, Lt. Gen. Arshad Mahmood, did take some steps to restrict their hard-line policies, but, since the democratic government has been at the helm, these students have stepped up their activities.
There are rumours that the vice-chancellor is deliberately ignoring their bullying for reasons unknown. Student activists of the religious parties do raise their voice for the rights of students, but they spoil the peaceful atmosphere of the campus. This is too heavy a price.
The university is a prestigious institution for research and studies; it is not a nursery for budding militants. The families of these students are unaware of their activities; they do not want them to be politically notorious. The situation grows worse when some teachers also help them, though clandestinely, in order to receive their help for blackmailing the administration.
The concerned authorities must deal with them with a firm hand so that the future of students who are serious in their studies is not destroyed.
QAMAR ABBAS KHOKHER
Burewala
IT was shocking to read Mr Khaleeq Kiani’s report (March 22) in the Business section titled “IMF asks government to stop meddling”.
What cheek! The report discloses that Wapda has complained to its peers, the IMF, that the federal government is using the tariff mechanism for its political purposes and it did not implement Nepra’s decisions on quarterly revisions. This called for a reprimand; so the government was told off.
While shouting at Islamabad, the IMF warned that if fuel adjustment formula was not allowed, the fiscal gap of utility would continue to grow. The Islamabad crowd must have cringed at this outburst. And why does Wapda owe Rs33 billion to the IMF, if one may ask?
The impossibility of such a huge debt’s repayment would continue to suck the public blood quarter after quarter with increased fuel adjustment charges. We were tricked into accepting the IMF loan to put the ailing Wapda on life support.
Wapda is still on its death bed and the doctors of the IMF keep ordering overdoses.
S.M. KAZIM NAQVI
Karachi
SEVEN senior players of our cricket team have been sacked, so have been the captain, the coach and the selector. By my reckoning, this process should ascend to the top.
All the authorities concerned, including the PCB chairman, must share the blame for the team’s poor performance in the World Cup 2003, since all of them collect the accolade whenever our cricketers perform well. So, why should PCB Chief Gen Tauqir Zia not share the blame?
President Musharraf in his infinite mercy, and I hope not out of nepotism, has confirmed Gen Tauqir Zia’s incumbency and that too indefinitely. The army knows its profession and business but not cricket, and it will do no good to it to profess it does. If I were Gen Tauqir Zia, I would irrevocably resign and get on with my profession as a top soldier.
I propose the names of Omer Qureshi, Noor Khan and Imran Khan for the slot of PCB chairman.
ABDULLAH H. HUSSAIN
Karachi
LIKE all other non-immigrant Muslim/Arab males aged 16 and above residing in the US, I, too, had to go for the INS special registration. It was unquestionably a demeaning and an intrusive procedure.
The process lasted a little over 12 hours, of which eleven-and-a-half were spent waiting for my turn inside the INS office in downtown New York. There were about 400 people in all (94 per cent Pakistani, 3 per cent each Bangladeshi and Saudi nationals).
The most astonishing and admirable aspect of the time I spent waiting for my turn was to see the handful of highly proactive officials from the Pakistan consulate going out of their way to help people in distress. They were answering questions, offering their cellular phones for making emergency calls, providing attorneys and for those who had to endure longer wait times, and even providing complimentary food (biryani, neatly packed in containers); all inside a United States Federal Building!
At one point, I even witnessed one of the officials confront the security guards on behalf of the people to allow them access to the lavatories located on the other floors. I was told that only representatives of the Pakistan consulate were given “inside” access to these INS Special Registration centres to help out their fellow citizens, and surely they were carrying out their duties with outmost professionalism.
ADNAN AHMAD
New York, USA
THE invasion of Iraq with the explicit purpose of removing President Saddam Hussein from power, and to install a compliant government in Baghdad, amounts to naked aggression. This is completely unjustified, unethical and constitutes immoral action on the part of the US and Britain whose leaders don’t tire of giving lectures on world peace.
This invasion has endangered world peace. The United Nation Security Council has failed to stop this aggression. Similar to the casualties in Afghanistan, the Iraqi civilian causalities, too, will now be termed collateral damage by the US.
There is an urgent need for the UNSC to meet and discuss the aggression against Iraq. Permanent and non-permanent members of the SC should vote against the US and threaten to revoke its membership if it does not comply with the world community’s desire to restore peace in Iraq.
The US should be asked to tender an unconditional apology to the Iraqi nation and the rest of the world for its aggression. It should be asked to call its forces back from that country and to pay for the lives and property lost as a result of the bombardment on Iraq.
This war will be seen as a “black period” in world history and will be remembered for a long time by the peaceful nations of the world.
SYED A. MATEEN
Karachi
GETTING an immediate new telephone connection was a dream in the past but now good performance by the PTCL has changed this impression.
My demand note issued on the spot in the “Special Camp” held at the Clifton telephone exchange and the installation of new telephone connection within 24 hours has been a great performance on the part of the PTCL.
I hope the PTCL will keep up the good work.
TARIQ BIN MUBEEN
Karachi
THE last time Baghdad was destroyed like this was way back in 1258AD by the armies of Halagu Khan, the grandson of Genghis Khan, as part of the wave of Tatar invasion. The difference (if any) is that the Tatars were a tribal, pre-modern, uncivilized people from beyond the pale of civilization.
FARID PANJWANI
London, UK
THE MMA government in the NWFP is trying to incorporate changes in the present educational system in the province. Introduction of more Islamic courses in the curricula is not going to raise the standard of education.
All academic institutions in the country are like the legendary Augean stable, requiring the services of quite a few supermen to cleanse them. If the government is really sincere, it should introduce, for a start , the following:
— All new appointments in educational institutions, right from the primary school level to the university, should be made on merit alone.
— Performance of all teachers should be subject to evaluation by students’ performance.
— The sixth absence of a teacher from his scheduled class should be an automatic resignation from the service.
— A student/teacher, if found involved in cheating in an examination, should be rusticated from the programme / dismissed from service straightaway.
— No teachers union should be allowed to interfere in the administrative activities of the institution.
PROF ROEDAR AHMAD KHAN
Peshawar
WITH reference to the report, “Briefing held on KCR revival” (March 19), I would like to submit that Mr Kin Ruiz, chief of China National Machinery Import and Export Corporation, who made the presentation, consider the following views on revival of the KCR:
The main question is: should the KCR be an elevated, a surface or an underground system?
I may mention that when the KCR was established in the 1960s, Karachi was very small and the tracks of the KCR were nearly on the periphery of the city. But now Karachi has expanded so much that the KCR is now just in the middle of the city! Because of this, its revival on the same tracks will result in problems, such as:
Safety: Both sides of the KCR’s track are densely populated. With no barriers to prevent people from crossing the rail tracks, possibilities of accidental deaths on rail tracks are high.
Noise pollution: With trains running frequently, every two minutes, there will be severe noise pollution. This will adversely affect the health of the population in the vicinity of the rail tracks. The national environmental agency should call for an EIA (environmental impact assessment), which can throw more light on the subject of environmental impact.
Ground vibrations: The trains will cause ground vibrations. These will affect the buildings near the tracks and, considering the poor quality of construction of buildings; their safety could be threatened.
Crossings: To allow fast movement of trains, overhead or underground crossings will be needed at several road-track crossings. This will be a very costly affair.
For the reasons cited above, as far as I know, most of the urban mass transit systems are either elevated or underground. Surface systems are provided outside the city limits or where there is low population density. In Detroit, Chicago, Lahore, etc, the mass transit systems are elevated. Otherwise, underground systems are numerous.
The second question is, how immediate relief could be given to commuters by providing a low-cost mass transit system, in minimum time.
To meet the requirement of immediate relief to the public, I propose that the present right-of-way (ROW) of the KCR should be used. This ROW is readily available for use by a suitable transit system. One system could be a tramway, “Karachi Circular Tramway” (KCT), and another could be a ring- road, but only for large buses and bus-trains.
The proposed tramway system will not require special crossings as the speed of trams will be low and they will operate under traffic lights control. For preventing noise pollution and providing comfort to passengers, rubber-tyred tram wheels could be used, as used in underground trains of Paris Metro. Alternatively, if ring-road system is used, bus-trains could be locally made with a local truck as a prime mover and having 3 to 5 trailers having bus seats (with no engines), similar to the bus-train used for promoting the SAF games. I hope my views may prove useful.
ENGR A. RAHIM
Michigan, USA
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