| April 19, 2003 | Saturday | Safar 16, 1424 |
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SBP committee on write-off
Doctrine of regime change
Steel pipe industry
Heart patients: Indian offer
Pornographic websites
Discriminatory NSS policy
New secondary school syllabus
Shakespearean tragedy
SARS threat
Blending realpolitik with religion
Tribute to Alys Faiz
UN’s job
Wrangling over LFO
MY letter is with reference to Sam Baidya’s letter of April 14. It seems that some of the Indians, specially those from overseas, not to mention the Hindu extremists now in charge of the Indian government, are living in a world of self-conceived realities.
For instance, Mr Baidya said that “Pakistan does not have the right to use WMDs, and neither does India. Iraq’s Saddam Hussein did not have the courage to use WMDs”.
First of all, as we all know by now that Saddam did not possess WMDs, despite the best efforts of the US to prove it otherwise. If he had nuclear weapons, I am sure the US would have pursued ‘diplomatic means’, just as it wants to resolve the Korean crisis ‘diplomatically’, because apparently the North Koreans have nukes and the means to deliver them all over the region.
Secondly, Pakistan is not Iraq, and I am sure that if Pakistan had been another Iraq, India would have wasted no time in ‘liberating’ Pakistan just as the Americans are now liberating Iraq. India knows that Pakistan is a force to be reckoned with, which was amply demonstrated in the Kargil conflict, and India had to beg the US to intervene.
Thirdly, what to do and what not to do with its WMDs are entirely the decisions of the Pakistani nation and its military leaders, and not a concern of the Indians, who have their own decisions to make about their weapons of mass destructions, even decisions that support dictators such as Gaddafi of Libya in his missile programme.
ATIQ REHMAN AWAN
Sydney, Australia
I HAVE read some reports about Indian rhetoric that is quite disturbing. I am referring to some of Mr Sinha’s remarks on the BBC.
When asked about talks between Pakistan and India, he said if America could not shake hands with Osama or the Taliban, how India could start dialogue with Pakistan. On another occasion, he said the Indian government was thinking about the option of preemptive strikes against Pakistan in the US style. This clearly shows that India is not interested in peace in South Asia.
As far as our foreign affairs people are concerned, they promptly replied to these dangerous Indian predilections but I am afraid that is not enough. We should take up this matter at the international level and tell the world that we are being regularly threatened and if anything unpleasant happens, we are not to be blamed, while at home we should be more than ready to face any aggression, that I believe we are.
By the way, may we know what are our lobbyists in the US doing? I think we are wasting money on them because, being a Muslim country, it is difficult for us to be heard sympathetically in the US or in the western world. We should hope for the best but should be ready for the worst.
DR G. M. AWAN
Karachi
THE NWFP government’s package of incentive for recovering Rs210 million bad loans by waiving the accumulated interest got a poor response (April 12).
This was so because our policymakers view a defaulter as having usurped enough to clear the inflated principal. But the inconvenient truth for the financing banks is that a defaulter is invariably a law-abiding citizen, and can get out of the impasse if his default is assessed according to the genuine game of business.
But so far he has been dealt with in relevance to the maxim that when a bull inadvertently falls into a well, castrate it first instead of rescuing it.
It is this attitude of the banks that has created Rs278 billion non-productive loans (NPLs). Thus, to clean the mess of NPLs, the central bank issued Circular 29, incorporating the line of action for adjustments of NPLs, which have been wrongly classified as write-off.
Nevertheless, the banks taking the circular to be routine rhetoric subjected it to fiscal jugglery for its implementation by giving a hypothetical boost to the outstanding principal — in some cases up to 235 per cent — thus making the so-called defaulter stand between the devil and the deep sea to avail himself of any write-off.
Hence, under duress the central bank constituted the SBP committee for resolving cases under the SBP guidelines on write-off. The decision of the committee shall be binding on the parties concerned, i.e. the borrower and the bank.
It shows the committee has been formed to deliver — unlike a committee for the revival of sick industrial units set up on May 3, 2000 — but proved incapable of implementing the task assigned to it. It even could not take cognizance of where the provision of notification was abused by a bank for inflating the amount of principal of a defaulter by 235 per cent.
A government notification is a piece of law and as such the impugned committee is the chief architect of NPLs. However, it is good that the central bank has taken the right step by constituting a committee competent to cleanse the humbug of NPLs.
SATTAR MUHAMMAD KHAN
Vehari
THIS refers to Mr Ameer Bhutto’s article, “The doctrine of ‘regime change’”( April 14).
The writer has well defined the meaning of the UN Charter and international law. Article 51 of the Charter permits use of force only in self-defence or as authorized by the UN under Article 42. It has also been well argued by the writer that international law in general and the UN Charter in particular bar preemptive military strikes.
Under the existing UN Charter and norms of international law, the US-led attack on Iraq to change the regime may be illegal and without the sanction of law. However, since the creation of the UN and particularly over the past few years, the dynamics of international politics have rapidly changed and technological developments have brought about new vulnerabilities and complications for the member-states of the UN.
The terrorists’ attack on America on Sept 11, 2001, have made every state prone to danger and in such circumstances, no state can wait first to sustain the enemy attack and then retaliate in self-defence. This is why America took the action against Iraq in its self-defence under the preemptive doctrine because America considered Iraq a potential threat to its security as Iraq is alleged, by the US, to be in possession of weapons of mass destruction and its links with terrorist groups which could use these (WMD) against the US in an attack similar to that of 9/11.
Therefore, to face new challenges and combat terrorism, it is now imperative for the UN that it should re-define its charter for the security of every member-state, for their self-defence in order to maintain its credibility in this changed technological development.
IMTIAZ ALI KALHORO
Larkana
THE steel pipe manufacturing industry is facing a crisis these days. One problem of the industry is how to get the raw material from abroad or from the Pakistan Steel where a bureaucratic and monopolistic atmosphere reigns supreme.
The prices of the raw material (H. R. coils) are rising day by day and, thus, the manufacturers are not able to do their business because of the uncertainty of the prices and the availability of the raw material from the Pakistan Steel.
The steel pipe manufacturing industry is a medium-sized industry in the country and cannot survive without the efficient availability of the raw material.
The second major problem is that this industry is running almost 95 per cent in the unorganized sector. The entrepreneurs are either illiterate or not well aware of the various aspects of their own industry, such as technical, production, quality control, sales and marketing, accounts and administration. They are running the industry somehow to achieve the maximum profit, ignoring the quality of the product and service of the management and staff of the industry.
Thus, as a result, the selection of the usage of the locally-manufactured steel pipes in various projects in public and private sectors has become rather a difficult task.
It is necessary that the steel pipe manufacturers adopt a policy to have the latest technology, as well as first class graduate engineers and other experienced staff to run the industry through a better management. Moreover, the sources of the availability of the raw material to this industry must be widened, made easier and cheaper.
FAZAL-UR-REHMAN
Lahore
I WAS much impressed to read the letter, “Heart patients: Indian offer” by Dr Devi Shetty (March 23). The care and attention being provided to the poor and the destitute in Hrudayalaya is worth emulating by well-to-do people and philanthropists back home in our country.
The treatment extended to heart patients free of cost/at nominal rates is not limited to the people of their own country only but they are willing to go out of the way and search for poor patients beyond the boundaries of India, including Pakistan. These efforts deserve to praised and I salute the Hrudayalaya and its devoted staff, including the heart experts, for their selfless and dedicated service for the cause and benefit of humanity, without discrimination as to their nationality, race or religion.
Alas! the picture of the sick and the poor is different, rather lamentable, here. The plight of ailing lower and middle-class people is simply unimaginable. They cannot dare knock at the doors of private clinics and hospitals which only look after the well-being of those who can afford to meet their bills.
Will an institution like Hrudayalaya remain a dream or become a reality in our land?
USMAN HUSEIN PUNJWANI
Karachi
THE PTCL’s move to block 1,800 pornographic sites is welcome, but it still remains a limited defensive measure against this social disease.
It is a painful fact that an alarming 60 per cent of the estimated one million Internet users in Pakistan visit pornographic sites. Merely blocking a few thousand obscene sites is definitely not a effective solution to this social problem.
That prevention is better than cure is undeniable in this case. The only and the best method of prevention is by working towards the revival of and adherence to our morals. Other preemptive measures include placing the computer in a common room.
HUMA IMAM
Dubai, UAE
THE National Savings Scheme (NSS) has arbitrarily excluded the retired employees of PIA and the PTCL from opening their accounts in the Pensioners’ Benefit Account (PBA), on the plea that they are not semi-government or government employees. This is challengeable on the following grounds:
(a) PIA has always been declared an essential service facility. Can the government impose a ban on the CBA in a non- government organization?
(b) Over 80 per cent shares of PIA are owned by the Government of Pakistan.
(c) The airlines’ chairmen/managing directors are always appointed by the government.
(d) PIA works under the Ministry of Defence, as do the Civil Aviation Authority, the chairman for both the organizations being one official only, is generally a secretary of the Ministry of Defence.
It is hoped that the adviser to the prime minister on finance will ensure that the above-mentioned dichotomy is rectified in the coming annual budget in May/June 2003.
AMIR ALI ESMAIL
Karachi
IN an alarming development, the Board of Secondary Education has come out with a strange syllabus. As usual, this syllabus was delivered to schools on March 31, a day before the new session, thus throwing all school education in complete turmoil.
Most alarming of all is the removal of computer science as a subject to be offered in the science group. Such is the progressive thinking of the men and women in charge of disbursing education! Only the commerce group students will be able to take a course in computers. I would like to ask, if computers is not a subject for science studies, then what is it for?
The governor and the chief minister must immediately look into this matter and take the people in charge to task. The syllabus should be well-planned, and schools must be informed at least a year in advance of any changes. Computer studies must be restored as a subject in the science group.
AMIN QURESHI
Karachi
THIS is with reference to the letter headlined “Shakespearean tragedy” by Safia Nadeem Siddiqui (April 17).
With due deference to her feelings about the tragedy in Iraq, I believe that, instead of rewriting Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare would have preferably asked Julius Caesar to read in quick succession the following lines for the Muslims of Iraq in particular and for the Muslim Ummah in general:
“Men at some time are masters of their fates: The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings.”
NAZAR AKBAR
Karachi
DECLARED a “worldwide health threat” by the World Health Organization, the mysterious illness dubbed severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is confounding researchers who are trying to identify its cause, control its spread and save lives.
Through your newspaper I want to emphasize the need for the government to screen the people arriving from affected areas at all airports and to start taking the precautionary measures. It should educate people about SARS and its symptoms.
ADIL RIZVI
Karachi
DURING the entire crisis of the war in Iraq, some of our Ťreligio-political leaders displayed a tendency to appeal to the religious sentiments of the people as they tried to draw Ťparallells between the current war in Iraq with some of the Ťholiest battles fought on the same land.
The analogies are misplaced as the current political goals, strategies and internal factors are not comparable with the sublime mission, strategies and the inner strength of Muslims some 14 centuries ago. To attempt to situate current politics within the old framework of real Islam is to actually present an image of our religion that the world is currently having difficulty in comprehending; hence the consequent loss of goodwill.
Let the mundane be, therefore, dealt with at the level to which it belongs instead of factoring in superordinate goals and highly revered names whose purpose of existence has yet to be appreciated by fiends and foes alike.
DR MAHNAZ FATIMA
Karachi
IN the passing of Alys Faiz, Lahore has lost a very concerned citizen, Pakistan a human rights activist, and the world at large a true peace lover.
Although some did comment that a time is fast approaching when “the living will envy the dead,” even then today we are deprived of a critic who with her cryptic and cynical remarks put all of us in place.
Of the many causes that she championed, children were dearest to her heart. She was probably a lone crusader for their welfare who never let them down. It was such strong motivation which prompted her to react to an arbitrary decision of an arbitrary authority when it was decided to convert the newly-acquired premises opposite the Governor House on The Mall, Lahore, into a government office building. She wanted the premises for a children’s complex and led a walk to assert this demand. Because of the protest, the right decision was taken.
It will be in the fitness of things to now name this complex as Alys Faiz Children’s Complex.
ZAFAR OMER
Lahore
LET us admit that it was weakness on the part of China, Russia, France, Germany and other powerful countries that encouraged the US and the UK to pulverize Baghdad. There is, therefore, no room for these nations to have any job in Baghdad. The UN chief too failed to rise to the occasion.
It seems that the only task that remains to be done by the UN is the burying of the dead and feeding of millions of people in Iraq.
A. RAZZAQUE
Karachi
I TOTALLY disagree with your assessment that the LFO does not enjoy the people’s approval. We, the people of Pakistan, are worried that we may descend into the same chaos as we did in the past when changes were made to the Constitution by parliament without any discussions.
The institution of President, in my opinion, is necessary in the present form as our politicians have failed to give the country a clean, transparent and an accountable government. We cannot ignore recent history and stay hostage to a system which can impose a President like Rafique Tarrar on the people of Pakistan.
Yes, personalities do matter as we need to have people who have the strength of character and capability to deliver. The politicians have failed to give stability and ensured that loot and plunder become the order of the day. At least, the present General has arrested corruption at the top and, under extremely difficult global and regional situations, has taken controlled steps towards democracy.
Politicians cannot and should not demand a change in the LFO without making any changes in the way they and the political parties operate. Parties do not hold free and transparent elections, are headed by despots, do not publish audited accounts, take donations from people in cash who have not declared their true income nor have they declared these donations in their tax returns, have not done anything to rid the parties of corruption, their key members have not declared their assets or the source of income to justify the life style they lead. To top it all, we have to give credit to a military ruler for shaking the mould of our press and media. The press and media are lot more free than what was the case in the past under the civilian rule.
I would like to point out the example of Chile where General Pinochet sat at the top for years and allowed parliament to function and kept abuse by the politicians in check. After his departure the system is running without any major problems and the economy and various institutions are perfroming better and are in much better shape. Thank God, our present General is not as ruthless as General Pinochet.
JAMIL ZUBAIRI
London, UK
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