| May 20, 2003 | Tuesday | Rabi-ul-Awwal 17, 1424 |
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Cleanliness campaign
Exploitation of remitters
‘The burden of old age’
A tragedy on the campus
Expensive education
Old Ayatullah in new Iraq
Death in hospital
Factories in inner city
Qualifications for company secretary
PRIME MINISTER Vajpayee has extended the hand of friendship to Pakistan and followed it up by deciding to restore full diplomatic relations and the air links. Prime Minister Jamali has responded promptly and followed his phone call by issuing a formal invitation.
Although statements about ending the cross-border terrorism as a pre-condition for resumption of talks are still coming from India, it is expected that more goodwill measures will follow leading to a dialogue on all issues.
However, the question is whether the next round will be as futile as all the previous ones, spanning a period of 53 years. After all, the road to peace between India and Pakistan is littered with the corpses of failed summits and spectres of 1965, 1971, Siachen, Kargil and many eyeball-to-eyeball confrontations of millions of troops across the length and breadth of their common borders. The two sides will have to keep the following ground realities in mind for a sustainable progress towards rapprochement.
There can be no military solution of the Kashmir issue. Now that the two have also become nuclear powers, the possibility of a military solution is out of the question. War is not an option. There is no such thing as a limited war between two nuclear powers. Kashmir is not Afghanistan.
India’s attempt to bankrupt Pakistan through an arms race, on the pattern of the Cold War rivals, has equally failed. Pakistan’s economy has recovered in all areas and is expected to grow at a faster rate than India’s in the years ahead. Pressures and pre-conditions do not work in the subcontinent.
India insists that Kashmir is its integral part but Pakistan, the Kashmiris and the world regard it as a dispute. Pakistan keeps saying that Kashmir is the “core” issue and unless it is settled, there cannot be full normalization of relations. There is no doubt that Kashmir is the core issue but let us recognize that it is also the most complex and complicated one.
We should learn a lesson from our good friends, the Chinese, and leave the territorial issue aside till such time as emotions and apprehensions have calmed down. Alsace-Lorraine was a cause of three wars between France and Germany for a period of over 70 years. Today’s French and Germans hardly know where it is located.
The Kashmiris are the real issue. While Kashmir can await a solution, the plight of the Kashmiris must be ended immediately. They are the ones who are suffering death, destruction and depravity on a daily basis.
There are extremists within and outside the establishment in both countries. They are convinced of the justness of their cause and believe in violence to achieve it. The two sides, particularly India, must not let them derail the process by acts of violence they are bound to commit. The jihadis are not like light bulbs that can be switched off by the touch of a button.
Good luck, the prime ministers and the peoples of India and Pakistan.
MANSOOR ALAM
Islamabad
IT was very interesting to read (May 11) that a 14-day campaign was being launched to clean this city. There are some basic facts to which I would like to draw the attention of the governor and the Nazim-i-Ala of the city.
We live in Block 4, Clifton. Recently, when the properties in Karachi were revalued, our valuation was steeply revised with the result that the taxes we pay on our property were raised by more than 50 per cent. When I went to the then KDA office to inquire about the reasons for this steep revision, I was told that Block 4, Clifton, was considered to be a “posh area” and, accordingly, properties there were valued higher.
Let me tell the governor and the Nazim-i-Ala what is the state of affairs in this so-called “posh area”.
The gutters are always overflowing with sewage. Recently a drainage line was laid but the contractor, evidently to save costs, did not lay the pipes deep enough and now they are at the same level as houses, and in some cases even higher. The result is that sewage never flows through the newly-laid lines, remains accumulated and has to be drained every few months — a source of regular income for some contractor. The result is that streets are always overflowing with sewage.
Except for some selected streets where some influential VIPs live), the roads are in a deplorable state with open manholes and road left unfilled after having been dug up by utility companies. Raised manholes in the middle of roads are a great hazard to motorists, particularly at night.
Sweepers hardly ever come to clean the streets, and when they do come, all they do is to sweep the road and throw all the sweepings to the green belts on both sides of the street instead of carting it away. I hope some attention will be paid to Block 4, Clifton, by the authorities concerned.
A RESIDENT
Karachi
SINCE the incidents of 9/11, the home remittances through the normal banking channel have been strengthening our foreign exchange reserves and thus improving the economy. It is an opportunity for Pakistan’s banks to create confidence among the remitters and its beneficiaries and get their loyalty to continue using the banking channel for their remittances.
But I would like to draw the attention of the State Bank governor towards the attitude of some bankers in dealing with the remittance amount. The process is lengthy and cumbersome and the beneficiaries are forced to wait for hours to get their money. Besides this, the payment is not made according to the existing exchange rates. Generally, it is between Re1 and Rs2 less per US dollar, which is a clear violation of the State Bank directive.
My personal experience is with the National Bank. I also brought this fact to the notice of the governor of the State Bank at the agreement signing ceremony between the NBP and the Western Union. The governor was present there as chief guest. During the question-answer session, a gentleman raised this issue by saying that some banks were not paying the amount of remittance as per the existing rates. The chief operating officer and the SEVP of the said bank assured the questioner that his bank would make payment as per the rate of the day and the same was endorsed by the president of the bank.
But the situation remains the same. If this attitude does not change, I am afraid the remitters and the beneficiaries would be forced to switch over to the ‘hundi’ system.
IMRAN GHANCHI
Karachi
THIS has reference to the perceptive article under the caption ‘The burden of old age’ by Zubeida Mustafa (April 30).
As mentioned in the article the senior citizens in Pakistan constitute about five per cent of the population. And it is this segment of society that has been suffering progressively for the last about three years, as the government, under advice and guidance from the western-oriented specialists, has seen it fit to deprive them of all avenues of investment, that may see them through to their twilight years, by drastically reducing the only safe mode of investment for them, that is the National Savings Scheme, by bringing down the return on Rs100,000 to Rs826 from Rs1,350 earlier — and this does not include the deduction of taxes as well as heavy penalty, in case of pre-mature withdrawal.
Since these so-called senior citizens make about five per cent of the population, and their proportion to the investors in the NSS adds up to even less, it is earnestly suggested that for this segment of the population at least, that is those in the age bracket of fifty-eight (the ab-initio age when real retirement starts for them) and over, be allowed by the government in the upcoming budget for 2003-04 to be paid return on their investments to 15 per cent across the board, tax-free, without levying the condition of whether they are private citizens or have been government, semi-government employees, as has been done now in the case of the Pensioners’ Benefit Account (PBA of the NSS) at present.
ANILA ABBAS
Karachi
ACCORDING to a news item (April 30), a student of the Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Ali Rizwan, shot dead her fellow student, Amina Gillani, 28. He also attempted suicide by shooting himself into his head with the same pistol. He was removed to the hospital where his condition was critical.
It appears the tragedy took place because of the parents-forced engagement of the deceased girl, with whom Ali had fallen in love. In this tragedy it is the two families which suffered directly but society as a whole is shocked because the event took place in an enlightened environment, that is on a prestigious national campus, with two urban-educated families making up the background of the tragedy.
There are many aspects of this tragedy. An obvious one is the spread of violent culture among young people in which a gun is a preferred medium to convince instead of either mind or heart. If the ideas and emotions of young people do not get proper ventilation, violence spurs.
Politically speaking, this is a hallmark of dictator-led societies in which bullet is preferred to ballot. The logic is: I do not care for the law or the constitution or society because I have the gun. The attitude of a dictator, or any leader, is never limited to the power-bases of a country. It trickles down to society.
Socially, the role of parents in this case becomes questionable. Their forced decisions have reactions of equal magnitude. In some cases it ends at a frustrated career path and in some other it leads to an unsettled family life. In extreme cases, such as above, it even cost lives of the dear and near ones.
JAWAN PAKISTAN (Think-tank on Youth)
Lahore
THIS is with reference to a letter (April 23) wherein Mr Shahid Saleem has criticized the commercialized education provided by private sector, and described private educational institutions as a “money-making industry”. But he did not mention how to prevent it.
I agree with him on many points. The private sector is charging a huge amount of money as fees which the common man cannot afford. It means these institutions are depriving the children of middle and lower middle class of good education.
But I think the fault lies with the government. All previous governments and also the present government have not taken welfare steps in this regard. Recently, the prime minister has announced that he wants to maintain a uniform standard of education all over the country, but he has not spelled out how he is going to do it.
The actual difference between the private sector and the government sector is because of the courses of O and A levels. If we want to improve the quality of education, we will have to pay greater attention to the teaching of the English language. And, for this, we need good teachers. To ensure this on a sustained basis, the government will have to organize special sessions for the teachers.
ARSALAN KHOKHAR
Hyderabad
THE rousing welcome Ayatullah Baqer-ul-Hakim got in Basra after 23 years of exile in Iran is only comparable to the triumphant return of Imam Khomeini to Tehran a quarter of a century ago.
Iraq is now showing the strength of its populace. After the lifting of 45 years of embargo, this year they had gathered at Karbala in an unprecedented number, between four and five million, to commemorate the Chehlum of Imam Hussain.
To receive the old exiled spiritual leader, over a million people greeted him at the Shamsaleh desert border post, another equal number lines up the 10km route to the Basra stadium where yet another multitude was gathered to listen to the old wise man. The crowd raised slogans: ‘’yes, yes, Islam’ and ‘yes, yes, Hakim’.
As bigger-than-the-man the Ayatullah is, he gave the Iraqis an idea — bigger than Iraq itself. The future of Iraq, he emphasized, belongs to Islam — not Iraqis. Let this be a jolt to the Muslim rulers of 57 countries. It is time they had better started considering themselves as Islamian and not as aloof Muslim geographical units.
S. M. KAZIM NAQVI
Karachi
THIS is with reference to the news item (May 6) about the death of a patient in a surgical ward of the Civil Hospital, Karachi. Every doctor is grieved at the loss of a life in this way, but the point to remember is that the tragedy under discussion was an accident. However, I do not want to defend anybody but want to draw your attention to certain facts.
Complications are part of surgery. Any surgeon who claims that there is no complication means one of the two things; either he is telling a lie or he is not doing enough work. Complications like forgetting swabs or instruments in the abdominal cavity occur during moments of rare panic about which only surgeons know well — nobody else.
Although, there are laid-out rules to avoid such complications, they do occur in every part of the world. I request you to consider the demoralizing and discouraging effect on all surgeons of over-blowing such incidents. It can make them shaky and less confident.
I would also appeal to the politicians not to exploit this tragedy and let the hospital administration go through the routine inquiry procedure for such cases without any encumbrance.
Please do not judge our doctors on the parameters of the West when you are not providing them the working conditions their counterparts in the West enjoy.
TARIQ MAHMOOD KHAN
Professor of Surgery,
Secretary of Society of Surgeons, Pakistan,
Karachi
YOUR editorial under the caption ‘Factories in inner city’ (April 21) should be an eye-opener for the departments concerned. Almost similar conditions prevail beyond the inner-city in the area of Alamgir Road where several residential plots on both sides of the road have been commercialized and the process continues in the garb of regularization.
Even multi-story mosques with shops have come up in a very close proximity to the dwellings. The residents are facing multiple problems relating to the lack of privacy and essential utilities, overflowing gutters, traffic and health hazards.
Will the city government and the KBCA be guided by their conscience, and will they abide by the regulations with a view to mitigating the suffering of the residents of the area?
SULEMAN A. MEMON
Karachi
THIS refers to the news (March 18) regarding the amendment to Companies (General Provision and Forms) Rules 1985 concerning the qualifications for a company secretary.
I would like to draw the attention of the authorities concerned to the following facts:
1. The history of evolution of the company secretarial profession is as old as the company form of organization which has emerged as a result of industrial revolution in the UK and elsewhere in the European countries in 17th and 18th centuries. Thereafter, it gave rise to the regulation of emerging companies.
This resulted in the enactment of Companies Act in Britain and its colonies. Consequently, regulatory provisions as to compliance necessitated the appointment of a company secretary well-versed in company law and practice. As the statutory obligation had grown over the past few decades, the multifarious requirement of compliance had also increased like-wise. This resulted in specialized training and education of company secretaries.
Realizing this consequence of legislation, the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators was established in the UK in 1891 and, consequently, the royal charter was granted to this institute in 1902. This was followed by the colonial countries, such as India and Pakistan, which had established these institutes in their respective countries.
2. Following the international practice, the two institutes were granted licence by the CLA (now SECP): (a) Institute of Corporate Secretaries of Pakistan (ICSP), licensed in 1972; and (b) Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Managers (ICSM), licensed in 1990.
Perhaps the CLA issued the second licence on realizing that the ICSP had been dormant for many years and also because their scheme of education failed to meet the requisite standards of professional education and hardly attracted the students generally.
3. One fails to understand as to why the SECP on the one hand included the chartered secretary as the prescribed qualification in the Code of Corporate Governance in 2002 and, on the other hand, omitted this provision while framing the proposed amendments to the Companies (General Provision of Forms) Rules 1985.
There seems some kind of deliberate omission to favour the ICSP which should be checked. This is evident from the fact that the ICSP had at the outset approached the ICSM for a merger which was refused by them for obvious reasons. After having failed to achieve their object of merger, the ICSP approached the SECP which also expressed their desire for merger but it was pleaded by the ICSM that this was not possible for the reason that the two institutes had different professional culture, and the ICSM had a better scheme of education.
Disgruntled by the situation, they approached the SECP for grant of statutory autonomy through the ordinance/bill a draft of which was submitted to the government which rejected the proposal perhaps on the ground that it is not needed. This was another disappointment for the ICSP which has only one alternative left to exploit the situation by getting unilateral favour through amendment to the “Companies (General Provisions & Forms) Rules 1985.
Surprisingly, the SECP supported the idea and took the decision to insert the name of “corporate secretary” along with the chartered and management accountants “in the list of aspirants who are deemed to qualify to be a company secretary regardless of the norms of professional education and legal implications.
4. The important matter to be considered is the impartial and indiscriminatory decision by competent authority to grant recognition to both the institutes because both have been licensed by the CLA/SECP.
5. Both the institutes have registered hundreds of students and members who have passed the examinations and are engaged in secretarial profession for years. While these institutes owe them educational and legal obligation to protect their interest and future prospect, the licensing authority also share this obligation. Any reckless and biased decision would eventually result in legal complications.
Therefore, the SECP chairman is requested to consider the proposal for including the chartered secretary in the prescribed qualifications in the interest of the profession and also to avoid any possible legal problems.
RAIS UDDIN SHEIKH
Karachi
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