| April 24, 2003 | Thursday | Safar 21, 1424 |
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KU: violence & Rangers’ role
Talks offer: what is BJP up to?
A case for pre-emptive strike
Address to joint session
Caution against SARS
Police and boy’s death
Gas pipeline
Jinnah Award
Civic problems in Rawalpindi
‘Advice to new CPLC chief’
THE current confrontation between the opposition and the government reminds me of the confrontation between the government of Nawaz Sharif and the then Chief Justice, Sajjad Ali Shah, towards the end of 1997, which culminated in the ouster of the president and the Chief Justice.
If the current opposition thinks that it, through its stance over the LFO, can cause a repetition of the conclusion of the 1997 episode, it is sadly mistaken. In that episode, President Leghari had to step down because the then COAS, Karamat Jehangir, had refused to support his intention to dismiss Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif under Article 58(2)(B), which earlier in the day, had been restored by Chief Justice Shah.
The current president doesn’t have to go far to obtain the approval of the COAS, if he chose to neutralize the current opposition, as he himself holds both the offices. Therefore, my advice to the opposition is to be pragmatic and focus on the their duties and the business of the state. It will be wise of them to emerge from the illusion that they, under the current circumstances, could cause Pervez Musharraf to suddenly exit the stage as Farooq Legahri did in 1997.
Theoretically, the opposition’s stance against the LFO is based upon principle. If the government accepts it, it will bring Pakistan much closer to true democracy. However, there are many other and more crucial elements of a true
democratic order. Political parties themselves have to cultivate and sustain principles of true democracy. They should function like political parties rather than family properties and should not receive huge contributions from a single source. Every Rupee contributed to them should be able to be traced back to its legal
origin.
The system of granting party tickets should be a foolproof system based upon open competition and not the whims and personal interests of the party leaders. Parties should use their standing in the legislatures to help conduct the business of the people and not seek illegal concessions for their absconding leaders. Party leaders should be elected for a certain period of time and not imposed for life, like the dictators of the world.
A party should be open to all citizens regardless of race, gender and religion. Parties should enforce strong standards of honesty and accountability. If a member has a bad reputation even though he/she cannot be nabbed by a court of law due to the stringent requirements of laws of evidence, he/she should be shunned.
The day opposition parties, under the principle of the equality of all citizens, will have the decency and the fairness to invite non-Muslim Pakistanis to be members and party leaders (in deserving cases), they will have the moral justification to seek the repeal of the LFO. If this requires having discriminatory laws removed from the books of statue, then the opposition should demand a repeal of these laws before going after the LFO. These laws, by the way, are not the creation of Pervez Musharraf but were instituted with the help of those who now are among the opposition, the self-declared custodian of democracy.
Until this can happen the opposition should stop shirking its responsibilities under the excuse of the LFO.
SIDDIQUE MALIK
Louisville, KY, USA
IT has been a tradition of your esteemed newspaper to give due space in your letters’ columns to issues of public importance and provide the readers with a forum for healthy debates. I write these lines against the presence of the Rangers’ personnel on the Karachi University campus. A clash occurred between two rival student groups on Saturday at the Arts Lobby where, interestingly, the office of a Rangers’ high-up is located.
The clash resulted in injuries to some students and damage to university apparatus, but all that the Rangers could do was to disperse the students, that too after the damage had been done. That clash was followed by another one on April 22 which led to the suspension of academic activities for two days. The Rangers were unable to prevent the clash in spite of being cognizant of the prevailing tension. They acted as mere spectators while the students fought it out with rods, sticks, stones, etc.
Innumerable students of the university were witnesses to these scenes. Myself and a few classmates stood aghast at the terrible scenes. At that very moment we felt very insecure in spite of our ‘guardians’ being present there. The Rangers have been on the campus for more than a decade now, but they have failed to check violence.
Tension prevailed on the campus some days back as a group was mourning the death of their affiliate, who was killed by a rival group some years back. The Rangers, too, were there, but did nothing. More recently, a university engineer was beaten up by some students at his office. Those who did this got away with it and ordinary students were ‘detained’ inside the university by the Rangers.
Some time back, another student organization took out a rally condemning the firing at an imambargah. Once on University Road, the students turned violent and pelted the vehicles with stones. The Rangers, who accompanied them, watched this all, but did nothing to stop that hooliganism.
In fact, the presence of the Rangers does not make the place look like a centre of study and an environment conducive to scholarship.
All the above-mentioned facts and events raise serious questions about the presence of the Rangers on the KU campus. How will the authorities concerned justify their presence?
A CONCERNED STUDENT
Karachi
SUDDENLY the Indian prime minister has taken a U-turn on Kashmir talks and the tone of his hawks has suddenly changed. They now want to initiate a dialogue on Kashmir. It would be interesting to guess what is going on behind the curtains.
We have already seen strange bedfellows in Khomeini- Vajpayee recent defence pact, as reported by US inner circles. Now comes the news of a joint commando force of Delhi and Tel Aviv to operate across the Line of Control from occupied Kashmir into Azad Kashmir to stop the alleged infiltration.
While the Indian army was sitting umpteen miles deep across the Line of Control for the best part of 2002, the gullible West readily bought the infiltration bogey. That must have been a very porous Indian army though which the ill-equipped irregulars allegedly ran to and fro Pakistan into held Kashmir.
And the lies still continue in spite of the recent reports of the US state representatives that the Line of Control was all the time violated by Indian shelling. Beware Pakistan.
DR ZIA HUSAIN
Lahore
THERE is no doubt that Pakistan should launch a pre-emptive strike on Indian forces which are illegally occupying Muslim majority areas in Kashmir.
Under the partition rules, Muslim majority provinces and states would have to join Pakistan and vice versa. In 1947 India occupied Junagarh, Manadur and Hyderabad Deccan on the pretext that the Hindus there were in majority, though the rulers of the three states had decided to join Pakistan. But India attacked and illegally occupied Kashmir, a Muslim majority area, on a mysterious request of the Hindu Dogra raja of Kashmir and still holds most of its parts.
In this context, there are a number of UN resolutions asking India to hold plebiscite in Kashmir under UN supervision, but India later reneged on this and now claims that Kashmir is its integral part. This violation of the UN charter makes India liable to be punished and expelled from the UN.
Moreover, the world knows it for a fact that India is violating human rights in the occupied Valley by killing unarmed people, burning their houses and raping women — a punishment for demanding freedom through UN supervision. Pakistan has, therefore, a legitimate right to launch a first attack on Indian forces in occupied Kashmir.
Moreover, the 250 million Muslims living in India for centuries are also under threat from Hindu extremists in the BJP government and others, who often threaten them with murder and loot. The Gujarat tragedy speaks volumes in this regard. The Hindu extremists have not even spared other minorities like Christians and Sikhs.
Again, the British forces seized India from the Muslims and, hence, it was their moral duty to hand over the country to the Muslims. All these point to one thing, that is Pakistan has a case for launching a pre-emptive strike against India.
PROF AHMAD KAMAL SIDDIQUI
Karachi
FOR the information of your readers, Article 56(3) of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan states as under:
“56.(3) At the commencement of the first session after each general election to the National Assembly and at the commencement of the first session of each year the President shall address both Houses assembled together and inform the Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) of the causes of its summons.”
Please note the word “shall”.
NAZIM F. HAJI
Karachi
THE severe acute respiratory syndrome is a viral pneumonialike illness with a very high fatality (one in four) rate. It is spreading at an alarming speed and more and more countries are coming on the list of affected.
Fortunately, Pakistan has not detected any case of SARS from any part of country so far. The question is, are we prepared to fight this calamity, should it enter Pakistan?
Having education in investigation of epidemics and disease spread and control, I can feel that once virus will be introduced in our country, we will not be able to stop it. We don’t have means to isolate people at our health-care facilities, nor do we have treatment capacities. Virus can rapidly hit a large number of people in highly-populated cities such as Karachi and Lahore and then the whole country.
What can we do? We can do the same as other SARS-negative countries are doing; they are withdrawing the transit facilities to flights from SARS-afflicted areas, and starting compulsory screening at airports, seaports and borders for SARS.
We too can do this by a short questionnaire and by checking temperatures of those coming from affected countries. Those who are coming form the SARS-hit countries should be quarantined and those who are suspected of being in contact with SARS patients should be isolated.
At all the major hospitals, isolation rooms should be prepared and the staff should have a plan to deal with such patients. The staff should have refreshers as well. The government should give policy statement about SARS and create public awareness which is very important at this stage.
DR NAVEED ZAFAR JANJUA
Karachi
THE abuse of 12-year-old Muhammad Owais by policemen recently in Karachi made me very gloomy. The culprits should be tried in an anti-terrorism court and awarded death penalty in public, so that nobody in future dare commit such a barbaric crime.
The question is, who will protect the citizens from criminals if the police themselves may be involved in such crimes?
AYAZ AHMED
Karachi
THIS refers to your editorial titled “Pipeline attacked again” (April 10) wherein you have tacitly underlined the act of sabotage and, while counting the losses, you have taken into account the economic loss and deterring of foreign investment and exploration activities.
What can be a bigger sabotage than this? Will the Iranian pipeline to India still pass through Pakistan? Have we not provided an opportunity to India to convince Iran to re-route the gas pipeline through the sea, no matter whatever the cost, as security comes first?
Maybe it is already done and this happens when your own house is not in order. If the military government could not protect the pipeline, who will? Pakistan can hardly afford to see Iran drifting away, for we must maintain good relations with at least one of our neighbours.
MIRZA ASLAM BEG
Karachi
THE grant of awards and plaques is a common practice in Pakistan. These are granted each year by the government for bravery, military, academic and scientific achievements.
The Jinnah awards are granted by the Jinnah Society only for outstanding services to Pakistan. In this, the proposed candidate is carefully selected by an independent process.
The choice of Dr Ruth Pfau for the Jinnah Award was widely hailed and appreciated. The earlier awards were given to Maulana Abdul Sattar Edhi, Graham Layton and Hakeem Mohammad Saeed — all unsung heroes.
But perhaps time has come for the Jinnah Society to come out of the field of humanitarian services and look at those who deserve the unique and distinct honour of receiving the Jinnah Award. The choice can be from the fields of politics, art, science, law, medicine, sports, international affairs, journalism, history, education, human development and industry.
There are persons who have rendered outstanding services to Pakistan but do not feature in the awards given in March and August each year by the president of Pakistan. With Jinnah Society rising in status and popularity based on its services and declared objectives of nation-building, the Jinnah Award will be looked upon with respect and anticipation as one based entirely on merit to give recognition only when due.
MATEEN AHMED
Karachi
DHOKE Kashmirian is a nearby locality of Sixth Road, Rawalpindi. The Sixth Road area is regarded as an important commercial and educational centre of the city. However, Dhoke Kashmirian faces many civic problems, the most serious of which is increasing pollution.
There are a number of sewerage nullahs that pass through this area, posing a serious threat to the people, specially during rainy days. A service road passing through this area is in a bad condition.
There is no government hospital here. Although private clinics are serving the community, the poor are not able to bear high expenses. The people are also facing telephone problems as there is no PTCL customer service centre here. The authorities concerned would earn the gratitude of the people of this area by carrying out the required development.
SYED MUZAMMIL HUSSAIN
Rawalpindi
THIS refers to Kunwar Khalid Yunus’s letter, “Advice to new CPLC chief” (April 13). I feel proud to have my tenure of services exceed those of Presidents Ayub Khan and Ziaul Haq and to be compared with J. Edgar Hoover.
I humbly worked with nine governors of repute not five or six, as quoted by Mr Yunus, honoured and appreciated by all, but none had denotified any member, leave alone its chief on their own.
Terming Daniel Pearl’s abduction and subsequent killing as a failure of the CPLC shows the ignorance of Mr Yunus, as it was the speediest of detections by the Sindh police and the intelligence agencies, partly assisted by the CPLC and acknowledged by all. His perception that the location of the kidnapped was known and the kidnappers were not apprehended, leading to Mr Pearl’s killing, falsely insinuates the involvement of the state, which is ridiculous and mala fide. The police and the agencies should take cognizance of this accusation.
Developing modern systems to combat crime effectively were relentlessly pursued by me since 1996, and became a reality in January 2003, duly supported by the UNDP. Its sole purpose was to arm the police so as to gain speedy access to information, an essential tool of modern policing, and does not in any way empower an individual, as falsely insinuated, since it does not contain classified information, but is essentially a public document. It is the deeds and not the data that pose a threat to governance.
I am humoured with the advice (warning) being rendered to the new CPLC chief (yet to be notified) to serve the city and province regardless of political, religious and other pressures, eventually to serve him removal orders in the darkness of the night, as was done in my case.
Mr Yunus has merely aired his personal grievances against my honest and committed working on these very principles, merely because such individuals want to uphold the rule of law and principles for others and not for themselves. Neither I, nor any CPLC member, have ever taken on any political party as a specific entity. We have always pursued criminals, and protected the innocent no matter who they are, irrespective of their political, religious or social status.
The CPLC, under my leadership, was to feature proudly in the World Development Report 2003 to be published by the World Bank and is our cherished achievement, not what opinion Mr Yunus has of me or of the working of the CPLC during my tenure, which is well-known nationally, as well as internationally, to all.
JAMEEL YUSUF
Ex-Chief, CPLC,
Karachi
WE appreciate the article on the legacy of the CPLC by Mr Ardeshir Cowasjee (April 20). It requires certain additions earlier left out also by Mr Sharfuddin Memon, acting chief of the CPLC, in his letter of April 15, as it carries the sentiments of most members of the CPLC and our conscience compels us to record the same.
Mr Jameel Yusuf was lovingly addressed as JY and was the beacon and inspiration of the CPLC. It is next to impossible to replace his 13 years of dedication, honesty and visionary services, a role model for anyone striving for excellence.
However, the impression that all shall be well is a misconception. I myself being one of the founder members do not feel ashamed to state that, while we all played our part with honesty, integrity and dedication, all our services put together do not equate with the indefatigable and strong commitment to the CPLC as that of JY. We are ashamed of his unceremonious exit and for not standing up in providing him at least an honourable farewell, as he stood like a rock behind us all these years, enabling us to serve the citizens without any fear or favour, earning the love and respect of the citizens.
The CPLC became a hub of activity by developing latest systems and macro policies, bringing us national and international recognition. The development of the entire computerized crime management system, called centre and spatial crime analysis, being the latest state-of-the-art crime-combating tools, goes to his credit alone. It was only his vision and perseverance which have led the CPLC to be featured in the World Development Report 2003 by the World Bank as an excellent institute of state-citizen partnership, a unique model to be replicated in other countries.
JY advised us to ensure that the charter and advisory board be immediately put in place, so as to maintain the CPLC’s independence and strength essential to prevent it from being systematically destroyed. I sincerely hope that we can save the CPLC from losing its effectiveness.
SAIFUDDIN AKBARALI
Karachi
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