| May 10, 2003 | Saturday | Rabi-ul-Awwal 7, 1424 |
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University of Health Sciences
Water shortage
Ethnic population of NWFP
Village without electricity
Internet users’ woes
Multan’s Garden Town
Reining them in
Iraq rebuilding: the US view
Uniform
Company secretary’s qualifications
BEING an engineering cadre officer in the Pakistan Railways, I want to draw the attention of the government to the core but hitherto the least pondered anomaly responsible for pathetic performance of this mammoth state organization. Ground realities, despite the present regime’s serious efforts to resurrect this dead organization, are gruesome.
Operational management, general administration and revenue collection are basically the responsibilities of the railways group (commercial and transportation) officers, who are selected through the prestigious CSS examinations. After that, they undergo rigorous administrative training at the Civil Services Academy.
On the other hand, the engineering branches are supposed to serve as technical-support arms just like their role in the army. But the downfall of this vibrant organization began on the very day when the engineers were appointed on its general administration posts. Because of the quite different nature of their education and training, the engineers not only find themselves incapable of coping with the commercial and administration challenges but also lose their own trade’s required skills.
Being an engineer I regretfully admit that the decay of railways is mainly caused by the poor performance of engineering branches. Erosion of engineering skills owing to unnecessary indulgence in the non-technical management is the last nail in the coffin. As a result, the maintenance and improvement of tracks, locomotives and coaches are no more the top priority of engineer-cum-administrators.
Any further continuance of the engineers on non-technical appointments will offset the present regime’s efforts to improve the railways. It is time the general administration like the division superintendent and general manager (operations) were reserved only for CSS cadre officers of the railways group. This step will not only increase efficiency, but also enable us (engineers) to streamline our technical skills to reduce the losses and pilferage. Without doing this, no permanent improvement in the Pakistan Railways can be expected.
AN INSIDER
Lahore
WE got the University of Health Sciences at Lahore after a long struggle. The original idea was that, since the Punjab University has grown too big to manage all the subjects, a new university should be established to take over the affairs of the medical education and allied subjects like other specialized technical universities such as the universities of agriculture, engineering and veterinary.
As a rule, all the medical colleges affiliated to the Punjab University should have gone under the umbrella of the UHS. Originally, it was supposed to start at the KEMC, Lahore, but for some reason the venue has been changed to Sheikh Zayed Hospital, Lahore.
Unfortunately, one of the former health ministers overplayed this matter and gathered much opposition to this medical university. Now he leads this university and continues adding problems to this newly-established institution.
This is an excellent new institution which should not be destroyed for the sake of one person. Let all the medical colleges of Punjab be affiliated to this university in order to achieve a better and uniform standard of medical education and qualifications.
PROF ALTAF HUSSAIN
RATHORE
Faisalabad
THE residents of Sector 48-B, UC-4, Korangi No. 2, always suffer shortage of water as the supply is very irregular and water comes in the odd hours of the night. Many a request before and after the inception of new system of governance was made, but of no avail.
What is more disturbing is that, for the last two months, even the irregular water supply has been stopped. The area people are relying on donkey-carts for the supply of water which is very unhygienic.
On the other hand, an area resident, for quite some time now, has been selling water which is meant for the locality. He was warned not to do so but he remains undeterred and is still selling water, this time during the night. The people dare not do anything against him as it is learnt that a party is supporting him.
We the affected residents appeal to the governor and the city nazim to look into this matter and ensure regular water supply to us.
AN AFFECTED RESIDENT
Karachi
THIS refers to a letter captioned “A new name for NWFP” by Mr Mohammad Azam Khan (April 25).
The 1998 provincial census report of the NWFP, published by the population census organization, government of NWFP, is not accurate as far as the exact number of the different nationalities is concerned. It has no proper information on Hindko-speaking population.
It is strange that the mother tongue column in annexure-C of the fifth population census form mentioned even Darri, a language spoken by the refugees from Afghanistan, but not Hindko which is one of the two main languages of the NWFP.
It is important to state here that when the government had unveiled the plan for holding the fifth population census, the Hindkowans of the NWFP were shocked to know that their mother tongue, Hindko, had not been included in the census form prepared for the purpose. Resenting it, they moved the Peshawar High Court to get the wrong rectified. The apex court summoned the authorities, but they expressed their inability to include Hindko in the form on the plea that all forms had already been printed and they had neither the time nor the resources to print fresh ones.
Thus the census conducted in the country from March 2 to 18, 1998, had no column for the Hindko language; hence there is no information about the exact number of the speakers of this language who live in Peshawar, Kohat and Hazara regions of the NWFP. What can be the credibility of a count conducted by ignoring millions of people of the NWFP?
Actually not only Hindko, but also Kohistani, Goujri and Kohwar languages were omitted from the census perhaps to show that the NWFP was a unilinguistic province. The myth of the Pushtoon majority would stand shattered once there is a fair linguistic survey of the NWFP inhabitants who, apart from Pushtoons, also include Hindkowans, Seraikis, Kohistanis, Goujris and Chitralis.
ANEEQ AHMAD
Peshawar
MY complaint is that the village of Pail Bina Khan, Sohawa Tehsil in the Jhelum district, has not been electrified yet, though the surrounding villages less than one kilometre away have been enjoying the benefit of electricity for 20 years.
These villages are expanding and are being hooked to the electric supply system and yet the poor villagers of Pail Bina Khan are suffering in the intense summer heat because of the absence of electricity.
I have been sending emails to the chairman of Wapda about this matter since July 2002, but in vain. Once again, I request the Wapda chairman or anybody else in authority to look into the matter urgently.
KHURSHID PERVEZ
Banner Lane, Coventry, UK
WE the Internet users in Muzaffargarh want to draw the attention of the minister for science and technology to the injustice being done to us either by the PTCL or by Paknet, because even if we use Internet not more than twice a day, we get a PTCL bill for 160 or more local calls every month.
The reason is that several attempts have to be made before we actually get connected to the ISP but all the unsuccessful attempts count as local calls. Moreover, many times disruption occurs every a few minutes of use and when we approach the authorities at Paknet or the PTCL, they do not admit their fault.
The minister is requested to order formation of a coordination centre for Internet, which should fix the responsibility in the case of a user complaint and save us from going bankrupt as a result of the Internet use.
MUHAMMAD HASSAN
Muzaffargarh
GARDEN Town, Multan Cantt, like Lahore, is reputed to be a very posh locality of the city and is situated on Shershah Road just next to the Askria Colony.
Despite being a posh locality of the cantonment, the area suffers from negligence and bureaucratic apathy. It is deprived of basic facilities like the sewerage, clean drinking water, roads, hospitals, schools, playgrounds and a graveyard. In the absence of a proper sewerage system, the area has been turned into ponds and lakes. As a result the subsoil water has been badly contaminated. A recent laboratory test found the water unfit for human consumption and unfortunately the residents have no alternative but to drink it.
Dirty ponds of stagnant water, besides being a perpetual source of foul and unbearable smell, are breeding spots for mosquitoes. The incidence of malaria, hepatitis and gastro-enteritis have almost risen to an alarming proportion.
The most tragic aspect of the problem is the indifferent attitude of the concerned authorities. The painful fact is the realization that the colony just across the road enjoys all amenities but the locality on the southern side of the road has none. The residents also approached two elected prime ministers and the present president. All three of them promised help.
Some practical steps were also initiated but they all fizzled out before they could reach the area. The civil / political authorities are unable to help because it falls in the cantonment area and the cantt authorities are unable to help because they don’t have the funds or the much needed will to do so.
As a last resort, they have been requested to de-affiliate the area from the cantonment to enable the residents to seek help from civil / political authorities. But even that has been denied because of legal implications.
LT-COL (R) SIKANDAR KHAN BALOCH
Multan Cantt
THE National Accountability Bureau is empowered to do as it pleases. A recent case in point is that of a raid on the house of a deceased journalist in the late hours of the night.
We may mention a recent trend which does require a check. Some judges in lower courts have been accused of flouting laws. They keep on giving dates on various pretexts, thus rendering the judicial process almost meaningless.
Sometimes some of them seem to favour the known landgrabbers and habitual offenders. This happens because there is no check on them by the seniors and they remain far longer than the required period in the same courts.
PRO BONO PUBLICO
Karachi
THIS is with reference to Ms Nancy Powell’s article, “Iraq rebuilding: the US view”, (April 24).
Ms Powell has written at length about the American commitment to rebuild Iraq after its ‘liberation’. Let me remind her that the prime purpose of this so-called liberation was to dismantle Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction.
It was with this justification that the US and Britain launched the attack on Iraq. Since no WMDs have been discovered, a deliberate effort is being made to shift the focus from their discovery to talk of liberation and rebuilding.
She also quite conveniently ignored the Iraqi reaction to American victory. Whereas the Iraqi people are delighted to be rid of Saddam, they are not overjoyed at watching the American forces controlling their country. To be sure, they are vehemently against foreign occupation. The proof is the frequent demonstrations being organized against the US forces — the latest one at Karbala, which was mainly a religious occasion but clearly asserted the Iraqi dislike of foreign control.
When efforts are being made to distract the world’s attention from the main question whether or not Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, I think equal efforts should be made to remind everyone that this is after all the central question.
FAISAL NAZIR
Karachi
IF President Gen Pervez Musharraf is sure that uniform is essential for him, will he go to see Mr Bush next month in his uniform?
DR KHALID BUTT
Karachi
THIS has reference to the news (March 18) regarding the qualifications for a company secretary. Public opinion has been sought by the SECP that Companies Ordinance 1984 is being amended through Companies Rules 1985 to prescribe the qualifications for a company secretary.
It has been proposed that the prescribed qualifications for a company secretary should be that he should be a chartered accountant, or a cost and management accountant or a corporate secretary. The chartered secretary has been omitted from this list, though he is the most qualified person for the job.
In fact, this matter has been decided by the previous SECP chairman, Mr Khalid Mirza, who had taken a very rational view by including the chartered secretary as one of the prescribed qualifications in the Code of Corporate Governance. But then, after his departure, the SECP decision has been reversed.
The post of a company secretary in the UK is filled by a “chartered secretary”, who is a member of the “Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators”. Chartered accountants and management accountants or degree-holders are not appointed on the post of a company secretary. This is because the “company secretary’s work” is quite different from the mere accounting work.
Others also do not qualify for “company secretaryship” which is a specialized field and should be only filled by a professional chartered secretary who meets all the merit conditions of professional education, which includes the serving of two to four years articleship with a firm of chartered secretaries.
“Secretarial practice” as a subject is an essential element of company secretaries education. This subject is not prescribed in any degree examinations of Pakistan. As far as chartered and management accountants are concerned, their examination syllabus includes only 50 marks paper which is very low and could hardly disseminate adequate knowledge and expertise of the subject. Law graduates do not even pass through this exercise.
The chartered secretary is required to pass two papers of 200 marks of the secretarial practice and two papers of company law of 200 marks in addition to the serving of articleship. Moreover the standard of papers is much superior to those of CA and ICMA. Therefore, the SECP chairman is requested to inquire into the question of this omission of chartered secretary from the prescribed qualifications for the company secretary and review the decision as this does not seem viable at all, besides being biased because the most relevant and important qualification has been omitted.
Without any doubt, it is only the “chartered secretary” who qualifies for the post of a company secretary.
MANSOOR AHMED SOOMRO
Karachi
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