| May 28, 2003 | Wednesday | Rabi-ul-Awwal 25,1424 |
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Graduate parliament & budget
Condition of National Highway
‘Quarantined’ routes
Prisoners at Guantanamo Bay
Madar-i-Millat awards
New approach to education
Standard of English
Poppy growers
‘Devolution or centralization’
Dialogue yet again
US representative Edward J. Markey has said, “The Bush administration’s double standard on non-proliferation becomes more apparent every day. If you don’t have nuclear weapons yet, like Iraq, we’ll threaten to attack you. But if you do have such weapons, and if you help another country get them, we’ll just stand by and let you go about your business.”
Indian prime minister Vajpayee “accused the United States of using selective sanctions to crack the whip against countries suspected of having nuclear weapons” (Dawn, March 12). On the other hand, the late Eqbal Ahmed pointed out that Washington aided and abetted Israel, notwithstanding Israel has stockpiled weapons of mass murder, including nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. Yet, not a word from Washington!
Cuba is punished with sanctions, when the US trade with ‘non- democratic‘ China totals $7 billion. When Washington has normal relations with Vietnam where 58,000 Americans died, and when the US offered oil to North Korea that is building a threatening nuclear reactor, the Cuban president Castro asked, “Why this double standard?”
Henry Porter remarked that the famous UNSC resolution 242 underlines that Israel must return the territory acquired in war but Israel ignores it. “Compliance in Israel is just as much a requirement as it is in Iraq. The US has consistently employed a double standard when it comes to the UN resolutions and international laws.”
US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld wanted the coalition prisoners of the war taken by Iraq to be treated under the Geneva Conventions which prohibits the showing of the POW‘s pictures, conveniently forgetting that the pictures of the Al Qaeda POWs at Guantanamo were splashed over international media day in and day out.
Brazilian writer Paulo Coelho brilliantly exposed the contradictions of the Bush administration in the article, “Thank you, President Bush,” in which he cites an ancient European king who said to invaders, “May your morning be a beautiful one, may the sun
shine on your soldiers’ armour, for in the afternoon, I will defeat you.”
PROF (DR) P. NASIR
Gujrat
THIS is with reference to the articles, “What is happening to the US?” by Edward W. Said, and “A torrent of lies” by Eric S. Margolis (April 28).
I admire their courage, foresight and determination in putting the straight-forward facts across.
The world, specially, the Muslim world, is a prisoner in the hands of their rulers who are obsessed with amassing power and wealth for themselves. I and many others are convinced that had the US not been given the support in Afghanistan, it would not have dared enter Iraq.
NASEER ANWAR
Islamabad
SINCE ‘graduate parliament’ is due to meet soon for the budget session for the first time in the constitutional history of the country, the following ‘submissions’ are made for its consideration.
Of late, the pay/allowances of the president/prime minister, the provincial governors/chief ministers, of the federal/provincial parliamentarians and of the ‘justices’ of the Supreme Court and high courts were doubled.
In the meanwhile, the postal charges of the domestic and foreign mails were doubled. The ever-increasing utility bills have broken the backbone of the family budget. The ceaseless purchase of comparatively expensive cars for official use at the expense of the national exchequer, which is already under the burden of foreign loans, still goes on.
The misuse of government conveyance/telephone facility, overuse of office airconditioners, lavish serving of mineral water at official meetings, and chronic late beginning of morning and afternoon sessions in most offices further eat into the vitals of the national prospects.
Likewise, the stronger but insane miscreants in society professionally adapted themselves to hoarding and blackmarketing and to damaging the national assets for the selfish motives of their own. Plundering in banks and on the roads has increased besides the street dacoities and house looting. Above all, Minar-i-Pakistan has recently become a suicide spot for the jobless have-nots.
Instead of crusading against these evils, the pensioners were mercilessly targeted as they were the ‘weakest cell’ in the social set-up. The rate of interest on their provident fund was most exceedingly decreased. The restoration of their commuted pension was withdrawn; year-wise increase in the determination of their pension after 30 years was undone; the privilege of granting encashment for six months’ leave in lump sum of their unavailed earned leave to be given on the eve of their retirement was dropped; the rate of interest on their post-retirement savings was alarmingly cut down. After hammering them hard, the financial relief of seven per cent to the new pensioners and 17 per cent to the old pensioners was given as a charity against the 100 per cent increase in the relief to their rulers.
MIRZA GHULAM HAIDER
Multan
THE National Highway Authority is headed by an army general, yet its working is not satisfactory. This poor state of affairs persists despite the claims of the government with regard to enunciating the policy of good governance.
A process of patch-work here and there is going on merely indicative of an effort to improve, construct or at the best upgrade G.T. Road between Peshawar and Islamabad for the last many years. Travelling between Peshawar and Islamabad is a hazardous and tortuous experience.
This road is hardly a highway which was built by our ancestors many centuries ago to facilitate safer and comfortable journeys. But now the NHA has taken it over setting up numerous barriers, deploying armed macho men with the sole purpose of extorting money from helpless travellers without any justification. This is neither a new project nor is it in any better condition than what it was many decades ago.
Moreover, the half-hearted effort to carry out some improvement over many years has been an agonizing experience. It is not understood how and why the authorities do not realize this fact.
Since the Peshawar-Islamabad motorway appears to be abandoned (its completion was due in the year 2003), those funds could have been easily diverted to complete G.T. Road in a much shorter period of time.
Every other day there are more speed-breakers added particularly at the site of the previously-proposed Peshawar motorway. These speed-breakers are not only damaging the vehicles but are also a source of real headache. I wonder whether all this will ever come to an end during our life time.
MOHAMMAD SALMAN KHAN
Peshawar
EVERY time the prime minister visits Karachi its people experience wholly avoidable hardships. On the morning of May 20, it was virtually impossible to reach the National Savings Centre located in Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Block 13-D, because Mr Jamali lives in that block.
Later, he visited the SBP to meet bank presidents. Although the meeting was scheduled for 3pm, for security reasons all entrances to the SBP were closed to outsiders at 1.30pm, creating unnecessary problems for banks and brokerage houses who needed to visit the SBP to settle inter-bank payments. Bank treasuries remained open much longer than usual, and hundreds of bank workers spent extra hours in their offices.
Later in the evening, the prime minister was scheduled to attend the prize-distribution ceremony organized by the KSE to honour the “top-performing” companies. Although the ceremony was scheduled for 7.30pm, almost every route leading to Gulshan-i- Iqbal (lower end of Shahrea Faisal, Jail Road, Stadium Road and all streets leading to Karsaz Road and Stadium Road from within PECHS) remained clogged till well after 9pm, causing immense problems for commuters returning home after a hard day’s work. Interestingly enough, in spite of this chaos, Karsaz Road remained off limits for the ordinary. Perhaps the prime minister was visiting the Bahria Museum and, therefore, Karsaz Road had to be quarantined.
Waiting in my car for over an hour on Stadium Road, I recalled poet Waheeda Rehman’s lines very succinctly describing this tragedy that Karachiites regularly live through. She said Rahnuma aaye huway hain raastey sub band hain.
Is it not an interesting coincidence that democratically-elected leaders everywhere now seem mighty scared of their electorate? When they are canvassing for votes, they bend backwards when meeting the people. Once elected, they cut themselves off from the people. It does not occur to them that security arrangements for their movements cause unbearable discomfort to the people.
It is amazing why these “dignitaries” cannot use helicopters if they (or their “keepers”) are so scared of the people.
A. B. SHAHID
Karachi
RECENTLY the US has set free a number of Pakistanis arrested in Afghanistan as no evidence was found against them for helping the Taliban government and the Al Qaeda network. But some are still languishing in jails with no charges against them.
The government has been silent on the issue of the treatment meted out to these prisoners. They were shackled and kept in iron cages during their captivity. They were beaten, under-fed and mentally tortured. Some claim that they were picked up by the Northern Alliance forces and sold to the US.
The government should take up the matter of paying compensation to these innocent people by the US for keeping them in unlawful confinement. Where is the Amnesty International? Something must be done to safeguard the interests of these unfortunate people who suffered for no reason.
MUHAMMAD AFZAL
Attock
AS the year 2003 is being observed as the year of Madar-i-Millat, the ministry of women development, social welfare and special education has taken a commendable decision to confer Madar-i-Millat awards on outstanding women in 14 different fields.
However, the only flaw in this otherwise excellent decision is that the awards have been confined exclusive to women. The title which a thankful nation had lovingly bestowed on Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah was Madar-i-Millat and not “Madar-i-Khwateen-i-Millat”.
Keeping this fact in view it would be in the fitness of things if the grant of awards is extended to include men who have contributed something worthwhile to various walks of life. If the earlier decision is thus amended, it will be highly lauded by the people.
MUHAMMAD TAUSEEF KHAN
Lahore
RECENTLY I had occasion to read Mr Anwar Abbas’s essay, “New Education”, which he had circulated privately among a few friends. In a well-worded article, Mr Abbas has made a plea for new approach to education in Pakistan.
According to the writer, prophets who appealed to the inner nature of man and used the power of love rather than force for conversion were all new educationists. So was Socrates who made people think fearlessly. The mother who discovers the spark in her child and the teacher who tries to liberate the spirit of the pupils are all protagonists of the new approach to education.
To Mr Abbas, every child needs reverence and has his or her own distinctive personality and this appeals to me greatly as an educationist with over 30 years in the profession as teacher, administrator and principal, and closely concerned with the handling of the young in my tasks.
Mr Abbas has been forthright and candid when he states that the school management should give teachers complete freedom from restrictions and interference if they are to play an effective role in the grooming of the child.
I am an admirer of Mr Abbas’s writings, particularly on the subject of education and an avid reader of his articles in the newspapers. This essay needs to be published in your newspaper so that the parent and the teacher, the scholar and the trainer may be acquainted with the issues raised by Mr Abbas.
IQBAL AHMED
Karachi
THE standard of English fell in the subcontinent after the departure of the British. The decline was not only the cause of the inability of the member-states of the UN Security Council to communicate with each other but also to comprehend the Council’s resolutions.
Hardly has their first misadventure ended, there has arisen the difficulty of their use of an adjective for the role of the UN to come to their rescue from the global loathing. The words such as vital, major, important, effective, leading, dominant, overall, general, meaningful, principal, significant, key and central have been used. The UN must have the sole role to clear the global chaos created by the two rogue elephant states.
A gift of a copy of “English Grammar for the Beginners” to President Bush might ensure that the next time he will not repeat: “We must ensure that our children is educated.” Prime Minister Blair’s limited vocabulary can be corrected with a copy of Penguin’s Roget’s Thesaurus. His numerous statements and replies in parliament and at press conferences have been replays
of the same tapes of half-truths, imaginations, exaggeration, lame excuses, etc.
H.A. HAJI
Karachi
IT is good that the government is taking action against poppy growers in the traditional and non-traditional areas. Today the citizens of Pakistan, specially the poor and the unemployed, are extremely vulnerable to this menace. The growers of today are the consumers of tomorrow.
I was amazed to hear that the residents of the Killa Abdulla district had also grown poppy. Once those people were famous for educational pursuits and traditional hospitality.
Is it unemployment or negligence on the part of the government that has driven them to this state? It is a matter of serious concern and the government must look into it.
JOHAR ALI
Quetta
APROPOS of a news item (May 11) regarding the 14-day cleanliness drive in Karachi, it seems that the head of the Sindh province has nothing better to do than indulging in the work of municipal administration and is bent on reversing the devolution process.
I would like to suggest to the governor and his minions to stay away from these jobs as the city has witnessed tremendous improvement before they took the oath of office. The president and the NRB chief may take notice of this derailment of the devolution process.
AHMED BAGIA
Karachi
Dialogues before independence from the colonial Britain resulted in the partition of a geographical entity. Why? The majority was not prepared to subscribe to the concepts of ‘Adl’ and ‘Ihsan’, besides ‘Aman’, the pillars of a conflict-free society.
The sizable minority was grudgingly handed over a moth-eaten Pakistan with a secret hope that the edifice will crumble and fall at the feet of the brute majority. Is the majority again playing the same game and will the hapless minority again accept a moth-eaten Kashmir?
The fundamentalists in India piously believe that Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India because the then Maharaja acceded to India, conveniently forgetting the machinations of Mountbatten and Radcliffe at the behest of the majority in getting the ‘partition line’ changed and having a referendum held in the NWFP. Just imagine if the result of the referendum had been otherwise!
I would like to know:
a) When did Nawab of Junagadh accede to India?
b) When did Nizam of Hyderabad accede to India?
c) When did Portugal accede Goa to India?
d) When did the ruler of Sikkim accede to India?
I am afraid, a diehard spirit of alienation rules the ‘majority’s’ psyche in the subcontinent. What did they do to Buddhism? What do they practise in their caste system? Did they not actually alienate the then Indian Muslims and forced Pakistan on them? Did they not alienate the Gujrati Muslims so recently? Have they not alienated the Kashmiris and the Nagalanders? Has Hinduism ever appealed to non-Hindus and has Hinduism a system of accommodation/inclusion/acceptance?
Their expertise in expulsion is par excellence. No wonder the empire that once stretched from the Philippines to Afghanistan has continually been shrinking — not because of conquests by others but by successful ‘expulsions’ by the majority.
Will the majority continue the trend to end up in Ayodhya in a few more centuries? Or reverse/revolutionize its psyche to accommodate/embrace/accept differences and differentiations. I suggest to Mr Vajpayee to be magnanimous in announcing that India and Pakistan will hold talks to fix a date for a plebiscite/referendum in Jammu and Kashmir allowing them to choose independence, to amalgamate with India and/or to amalgamate with Pakistan.
But, for God’s sake, do not divide Jammu and Kashmir. Haven’t you seen the result of the division of the subcontinent despite the attainment of a much better life for the Pakistanis and the Bangladeshis?
I appeal to the majority of the people of the subcontinent not to hold a dialogue like that of Swaran Singh-Bhutto. Do not talk about the territory of Jammu and Kashmir. Talk, for a change, about the Kashmiris, may they belong to the majority or to the minority or to any ethnicity. Above all, they are human beings who have been suffering for ages. Have pity on them! Like all of us, they belong to the same humanity.
If the majority and the entire minority couldn’t live together in the subcontinent, let them live together in peace, in an atmosphere of mutual respect, the majority (this time the Muslims) accommodating the minority (this time the Hindus). Muslims are liberal, large-hearted and accommodative. We accept, we absorb, we embrace. Let us experiment the pluralistic society in Jammu and Kashmir and hopefully the subcontinent’s majority will take a cue from Jammu and Kashmir’s majority to come out of its myopic psyche. Maybe then we can move towards the creation of a “United States of South Asia”!
SIRAJ ANSARY
Karachi
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