| June 1, 2003 | Sunday | Rabi-ul-Awwal 29, 1424 |
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SCBA’s stance over LFO
Secretary’s qualifications
Delhi-Lahore bus service
Curriculum objectives under fire
Role of doctors and policemen
‘The first uniform’
Rejoining C’wealth
‘String cuts throat of a boy’
Terror in Okara
Capital gains
Health care in Pakistan
THE core issue between India and Pakistan is that the people of Kashmir should be given the right to self-determination that was promised to them by the UN Security Council.
The Kashmiris are caught between the devil and the deep sea. On the one hand, they have a choice to live within the domain of India and face the prospect of persecution by the Hindu fundamentalists and oppression by the occupying Indian army as long as they continue to wage their struggle for the right to self-determination. The only silver lining is that India is a democratic country.
The other option that they have is that Kashmir becomes part of Pakistan where they would have freedom to practise their faith without fear of state persecution. However, they shall continue to be denied the right to have a democratically-elected government of their choice since Pakistan has been under direct or indirect military rule since 1954. There is absolutely no chance in the near future that the people of Pakistan would be allowed to have a constitutional democratically-elected government, answerable and accountable only to the people.
Such a system of government was the basis on which the founding fathers of Pakistan had waged a struggle for independence from the yoke of the British colonial rule. This was made abundantly clear by Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah. Unfortunately, Pakistan has been under military rule and its Constitution mutilated at will by every military ruler since 1958. Elections in Pakistan have always been engineered by the uniformed bureaucracy and agencies. The British colonial army at least was answerable to British parliament and its prime minister and hence it was restrained from having an agenda of its own.
The only viable option under which the people of Kashmir can live as free democratic citizens is to have an independent state of their own. Pakistan cannot give them such a choice since its own citizens have been denied this for over 30 years. President Musharraf’s views on democracy and the sanctity of the Constitution have been made more than abundantly clear by his acts and deeds and, therefore, there is no possibility that the people of Kashmir can have a free democratically-elected government of their choice if they were part of Pakistan. India has failed to protect the Kashmiris in the last 50 years and as such it cannot be expected to protect them in future.
JAWAID MIR
Mississauga, Ontario Canada
TRADITION has surfaced again, though after a long slumber. The Bar has picked up the cause of democracy by questioning the LFO. This time it is the Supreme Court Bar which has started the agitation. An unelected president cannot be given unfettered powers. Whatever was done earlier was because of a legal void. The ruler had to be provided with an umbrella for a tinge of constitutional authority to lend legitimacy to the management of state affairs. This was done through the LFO. It was a remedy for a short period. It cannot claim to replace the fundamental law of the land.
The Supreme Court Bar Association’s stand has the support of all with the exception of a few opportunists. A fair and effective judiciary has a vital role to play in a democracy.
In order to improve the system and to provide relief to litigants and lawyers and to remove the grievances of senior members of the Bar, it is suggested that:
1. The benefits given to Supreme Court judges recently like increasing the age of superannuation may be taken back.
2. Those members of the Bench who had started benefiting from the revised age of retirement or will benefit from it may be retained as ad hoc judges and even benches may be established in Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi by re-employing the retired SC judges and eminent lawyers on an ad hoc basis to dispose of old cases and provide relief to the litigants.
3. Similar ad hoc appointments should be made for the high court benches in Lahore, Islamabad, Karachi and Peshawar.
4. A commission comprising retired judges, eminent lawyers and civil servants of repute and competence should be appointed to review the working of courts at every level to ensure prompt disposal of cases and also checking the output.
5. Another commission consisting of retired judicial officers, lawyers of repute and those well versed with and experienced in the working of our court system should be appointed to find out why so many cases are sub judice. Is the working of the courts inefficient or are government departments forcing the common man to run the courts because of an attitudinal problem?
HADI IQBAL HUSSAIN
Lahore
THE SECP has invited comments and suggestions on the proposed amendments to Companies (General Provisions and Forms) Rules 1985, wherein, inter alia, the qualifications of a company secretary has been laid down.
In fact, the SECP has already laid down the qualification of a company secretary in the “Code of Corporate Governance”, issued during the tenure of Mr Khalid Mirza, the previous SECP chairman, who was indeed an intelligent and capable person.
The proposed amendment includes such prescribed qualifications as a chartered accountant, cost and management accountant and a law graduate who are not related to the “secretarial profession”. These have been engaged in the past by employers, at first because of non-availability of chartered secretaries in Pakistan and, secondly, because of lack of knowledge of the employers, generally, about the “company secretarial profession” and, thirdly, because in the employer’s impression a chartered accountant was the jack of all trades.
The chartered secretary, whose is the only related qualification for a company secretary’s job, has been excluded from the list of prescribed qualifications. This is a deliberate attempt of omission which must be corrected. One fails to understand the reasons for this omission because it has caused extensive disappointment and resentment among professional circles and has ridiculed the company secretaries profession in the country.
The government’s attention is drawn to the professional mischief-mongering which has become rampant in the country. I hope the SECP chairman will reconsider the decision of the commission in this respect.
SALMAN H. KHAIRANI
Karachi
IT was heartening to read in newspapers on May 27 that the Indian government had approved resumption of the Delhi-Lahore bus service. It is a silver lining in the otherwise dark clouds hovering over the subcontinent.
We all, who belong to the divided families and consider peace and amity between the two countries far more precious than anything else, hail and welcome this step of the Indian government, which no doubt has been taken with the consent of the Government of Pakistan.
However, we were dismayed to learn that this time it would only be a bi-weekly service. Prior to its closure on Jan 1, 2002, the service had probably been running for six days a week and it had become so popular that it was considered necessary that two buses run together instead of one. Such a proposal was actually under consideration of the two government.
This twice-a-week service will only be a token revival of the old service, thus falling too short of the requirements. I pray that the two governments reconsider the matter and, even if they do not for the present consider it feasible to run two buses together, they may at least run the bus service on a daily basis.
The Lahore-Amritsar rail link through the Samjhota Express should also be a daily feature, as was in the past. I do not understand why in the near past the daily service was reduced to a twice- or three-time-a-week service.
JUSTICE (R) SALAHUDDIN MIRZA
Karachi
NO one can deny that a living nation adopts educational measures to develop self-consciousness. The main purpose of an educational system is to provide mental, physical, ideological and moral training to the future citizens of a country so that they are in a position to realize the importance of their mission in life.
The persons having liberal and secular obsessions are unaware of the objectives of the creation of Pakistan as elucidated by the founder of Pakistan. Undoubtedly, Pakistan was created to put in practice the Islamic values.
The objectives of the curriculum which the ministry of education have framed are a sincere endeavour to enable the young generation to exhibit a distinction between human beings and animals. They stand for the unity of spiritual and material worlds, unity of the body and the soul and the unity of the worldly life and the world hereafter.
It is obviously in the fitness of things that the ministry of education declare in unequivocal terms that the sole aim of education in Pakistan is to formulate a curriculum which is a reflection of the educational philosophy of the nation based on its ideology, which united the Muslims of the subcontinent for their struggle for independence.
The objective designers in the curriculum wing appear to have a faith that a philosophy which does not sustain the glory of Allah Almighty cannot provide a curriculum which may ensure the consolidation of eternal values and permanent standards of morality.
MUHAMMAD RAFIQUE WARRAICH
Lahore
WE have entered the new millennium but our habits have not changed. Most countries are providing more and more facilities to their people, but here in Pakistan the government is not paying any attention to them. Here people are treated as animals.
In the West, if an animal happens to be injured or falls sick, it is immediately attended to by veterinary surgeons and physicians. But the legal procedure in our country is very complex, so much so that private hospitals and clinics do not admit any injured person because the medical staff of these institutions cannot face police inquiries.
The medico-legal laws authorize only government and semi-government hospitals to admit critically wounded persons. Owing to the fear of police crackdown, neither doctors nor the common people try to provide medical and moral help to the victim/victims of an accident.
As a result, injured persons are left unattended. Moreover, the police conduct an inquiry at the site of the accident. They waste precious time in the so-called inquiry. The role of the police should be friendly and cooperative.
We should bring about necessary changes to our medico-legal laws so that the lives of those thus injured may be saved. We should have joint “flying units” of doctors and the police to help the injured on the spot. We should provide helicopters to such flying units.
These steps are necessary for the members of a civilized society. By adopting these measures, the dream of human dignity will be converted into reality.
ZAINAB FATIMA
Karachi
THIS refers to Mr Ali Yayha Khan’s letter headlined “The first uniform” (May 29). Unfortunately, the author does not realize that the opinions of individuals regarding Gen Yayha Khan have little relevance since the release of the abridged version of the Hamoodur Rahman Commission Report.
The report was serialized in most newspapers and has been printed by Vanguard Publishers in a book form. At page 289 the judges state: “The most damaging allegation against the former President and C-in-C is that he was leading an extremely licentious life devoting most of his time to wine and women.”
The report goes on to give, in para 3 of the same page, a list of women who were constant companion. On pages 296-312 details of the visits to the President House of these women are given.
The judges go on to say on page 537 para 2(i) “that Gen Yayha Khan and 5 other generals should be publicly tried”. Mr Ali Yayha Khan should give up his efforts to rehabilitate Yayha Khan, for the world knows too much about his life and his peccadilloes.
HUSAIN MALIK
Kalar Kahar
THIS refers to the Commonwealth decision to deny Pakistan’s re-entry into this organization.
I would request Gen Musharraf and Prime Minister Jamali not to bow down before the Commonwealth which only holds the Commonwealth games every four years. In my view, Pakistan should not even urge the Commonwealth in future to restore its membership as it has already degraded us enough.
To save our pride, we should wait; let them come to us and offer the membership.
Safdar Akbari
Waterloo, Canada
This refers to a news item published in your paper captioned ‘String cuts the throat of a boy‘. Different sections of our society make comments about celebrating Basant every year. People who oppose it generally discuss its hazards. Some of us also consider it against our religion but the most important issue seems to escape our attention.
The sharp string commonly used to fly kites is very dangerous to human life and the events like the one mentioned in the news item are not new to the readers. Unfortunately we do make rules to save our property from the menace of kite flying but we do not make any effort to save the lives of our citizens. Perhaps our lives are not as precious as Wapda’s property or perhaps the authorities do not consider themselves answerable to anyone for the loss of the lives of these nameless motor-cyclists and their families.
The sharp string should be banned immediately. Instead the type of string used in western societies or the one used in China and Japan should be introduced so that the lives of the innocent people are saved.
OMAR SADIQ
Gujranwala
PLEASE refer to the letter headlined “Terror in Okara” (May 24) by Mr Nazim F. Haji.
While the chief justice of Pakistan may take a long time to take suo motu action, I propose that The Reformers organize a walk in Karachi at the earliest to raise funds for the poor tenants of Okara.
We owe it to the downtrodden to build public opinion about the suffering and plight of those being subjected to atrocities which have resulted in the killing of 18 tenants so far.
AZMAT KHAN
Karachi
Prime Minister Jamali announced capital gains exemption when he visited the KSE recently.
The government is making the rich richer whereas pensioners, widows and others who have made investments in the NSS are getting poorer owing to the government’s policy of reducing the profit rate.
An investment of Rs500,000 in the NSS will now fetch a yearly profit of 50,000 on which 10 per cent WHT, i.e. Rs5,000 will have to be paid. This is an anomaly under the income-tax laws as the minimum taxable income is above Rs80,000.
Will the finance minister examine this aspect before announcing further cut in the profit in the NSS instruments in his budget speech which he has already indicated?
ABID ALI
Karachi
FROM what one reads in the print media, our health system is on the verge of collapse and it would seem that both the government and the medical profession are responsible for this sorry state of affairs. There are reports almost everyday about patients dying as a result of mishandling by the doctors and lack of proper medical treatment. Yet no disciplinary action has been taken by the government or the PMA against such doctors, hospitals and clinics.
At a recent seminar on ‘Patients’ Rights’, Dr Shershah, secretary-general of the PMA, criticized the PMDC’s performance and said this body had badly failed to provide any checks and balances in the working of government and private medical colleges in the country.
According to a survey carried out by the PMA, there are 40,000 quacks operating in Karachi alone and 80 per cent deliveries are being performed at homes through midwives. Out of 43 maternity homes, only three are operating in Karachi, and 40 homes have been closed. The survey also points out that the medical curriculum is not up to the mark, and looting, money-making and other malpractice have become part of our culture.
The medical profession has become a commercialized, lucrative business, for which this noble profession is getting a bad name. There are rules and regulations to register teashops, restaurants and hotels but there were no guidelines and regulations to register hospitals and clinics which charge patients at will.
Another survey shows that spurious and substandard medicines are being manufactured and marked unchecked, while dangerous drugs like cortisone are freely available and there is no enforcement of the existing drug law. Gullible citizens are being hoodwinked by misleading advertisements from quacks and ‘wonder medicines‘, promising to cure all sorts of sexual and health problems. Such healers have sprung up in all cities and villages of Pakistan and are carrying on their business without fear of punishment.
Highly sensitive medicines like corticosteroids are being misused and are freely available without medical prescription. The pharmaceutical manufacturers are importing corticosteroid derivatives in large quantities and their sale and use are not being properly monitored and they are freely available in the various medical wholesale markets throughout Pakistan.
Cortisone is a drug, which has immediate positive results, but also has very dangerous side-effects and should only be prescribed by doctors. In other countries, the sale of cortisone is allowed only by physicians through prescriptions.
Some unscrupulous Unani medicine manufacturers and various ‘healers’ are also freely using Corticosteroid derivatives in their medicines, thereby endangering the lives of the citizen of this country.
Because of the absence of patients’ rights laws and the lack of proper checks and balances, the patients are being exposed to poor health services.
THE HELPLINE TRUST
Karachi
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