| June 10, 2003 | Tuesday | Rabi-us-Sani 9, 1424 |
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Ptolemy’s geocentric theory
Cross-border terrorism
Doing away with rote learning
Keenjhar lake tragedy
Islamization drive in NWFP
Muslim world and media
Grace marks for students
Faulty industrial policies
M. F., not F. M. Hussain
Falling profit on NSS
Karachi
THE LFO is highly contestable, if not outright illegal. Having said that, the question arises: do we have a truly independent institution where this issue can be contested and a unanimously acceptable decision obtained? The answer is no.
Mr Raza Rabbani (June 5) sites various legal clauses in trying to make a case about curtailing the powers of the army and the army chief, so that the civilian government can work more freely. My question is: when Mr Rabbani’s party was in a position of strength while in power (so also that of Nawaz Sharif), it could not manage to curtail the power of the army, how can it expect to do it now when it is in the opposition, that too as a junior partner?
It is common knowledge that left on its own, the army rule harmed the country as badly as did the civilian’s. Ultimately the democratic civilian rule must prevail. However, apparently the road to that goal has to pass through a workable power sharing between the civil and the military rulers. The balance of power in the country, which Mr Rabbani talks about, can only come about through a well-rooted parliament and an independent judiciary. The ground reality which we, the people of Pakistan, need to understand and somehow convey to our elected representatives, is this: we are living under a martial law. Now, which martial law is better, the one in which all policies are formulated and the country is run by a CMLA, uniformed MLAs, their respective ‘selected’ cabinets, the corps commanders and a ‘selected’ majlis-i-shoora, or a CMLA, an elected prime minister, ‘selected’ governors, an elected parliament, an elected senate and an elected cabinet.
The choice for us today is only between these two forms of martial law. Do we go for upholding the ideals like the Constitution and the textbook version of democracy at the cost of further civic and social deterioration? Or, do we compromise to accept a transitional phase, in the hope of facilitating a governance that can reduce our miseries, and eventually evolve into an economically and politically better system for Pakistan?
Pursuing a confrontational course (including that being indulged in by the NWFP government) and exercising nuisance value through agitational politics may look good, but it is self-defeating if not irresponsible in the present circumstances. It certainly does not look like helping in improving the life of those caught in the cross-fire — the people of Pakistan. Our politicians need to rise to the level of statesmen in order to rescue the country.
This is a crisis situation where pragmatism should have the upper hand until the fragile institutions like the parliament are strengthened and other truly independent institutions are built where the common people, as well as the public representatives, can go to seek their constitutional rights.
For the time being, a martial law with a significant component of elected representatives is better than a martial law without it. Call it adopting the course of strategic retreat in the long-term interest of the nation.
IMTIAZ PIRACHA
Karachi
THIS is with reference to the inquiry (May 4) whether the Ptolemy’s theory was accepted or rejected by the Muslim scientists/astronomers. Ptolemy’s work was discovered by the Muslim scientists, translated into Arabic as Almagest and studied thoroughly.
The question that transcended Ptolemy’s work, viz. whether the earth was stationary or moving, was for the first time studied seriously by the Muslim scientists. Treatises specifically dealing with this subject have not survived.
As scientific and other works written by the Muslims were largely destroyed during the Mongol holocaust and thereafter, queries regarding the achievements of the Muslim scientists can be answered only partially to the extent of the works that have survived. Besides, all the scientific discoveries referred to in them have not been fully studied or explained.
Whether the earth is stationary or moving was seriously debated by Beruni (973-1051 CE) and his contemporaries. Beruni himself thought that the earth was stationary but he was highly impressed by the advanced view of his friend Abu Sa’id Ahmad b. Muhammad b. Abdul Jalil Al-Sijzi (of Seistan) whom he recognized as a ‘perfect master’ of science and who believed in the rotation of the earth on its axis.
Accordingly, he had also constructed an astrolobe on this basis. Beruni makes a special mention of this in his Kitab Isti’ab... etc. (Mss. Ayasufiya Kutphana, Istanbul, and Mss. Kitab Khana-i-Milli Malik, Tehran). In his great work Al-Canon (Part-I, Chapter-II) Beruni, has fully stated Al-Sijzi view as follows:
“I have seen a certain astronomer, who is one of the perfect masters of science, supporting the theory (of the earth’s rotation) by suggesting that a heavy weight does not fall on the earth in a perpendicular line, but always diverting from it in different angles which have not yet been determined or recorded.
This gentleman is of the view that the matter outside the earth has two movements, one circular on account of the part naturally being attracted to the whole, and the other straight on account of its being attracted to its own original source.”
It is obvious that beyond the earth’s movement, Al-Sijzi had also his theory about the movements of the terrestrial/ celestial bodies outside the earth.
N.A. BALOCH
Hyderabad
Prime Minister Vajpayee, President Bush and Prime Minister Blair know that the militants in Kashmir or Palestine are freedom fighters.
New Delhi has a very short memory. It has forgotten the enormous cross-border terrorism it practised in 1971 when it trained and armed the Mukti Bahini and proceeded to invade East Pakistan. Compared to Kashmir which is a disputed territory, East Pakistan was part of Pakistan. New Delhi has no right to speak of cross-border terrorism when the line being crossed is no more than the Line of Control — a purely temporary one. As for the state of Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan and India have equal rights on it. If anybody risks his life to cross it, it is his business. Nobody has a legal right to question the crossing.
What the Kashmiris have done so far served its purpose. Their leaders, including those of the Jihadis from access the LoC, fear that if they stop now, all their sacrifices would go to waste.
It is best to leave the Kashmir issue in the hands of President Musharraf and stop the intefada in all forms, including the activities on the Pakistani side.
The situation being similar in Palestine, the Palestinians would do well to stop their intefada, leave the matter in the hands of Prime Minister Abbas and hope for the best.
JALAL AHMED
Karachi
PROF Roedar Ahmad Khan has made a very reasonable suggestion for the evaluation of teachers of all categories, primary to university level, by their respective students for the purposes of teachers’ retention in the profession, promotion and confirmation (May 25).
The problem is that such yardsticks can be applied in a society where most people have attained social, cultural and political maturity. But such measures would be counterproductive in a society, like ours, where bribery, nepotism, cronyism and corruption are rampant and people feel proud in ethnicity, regionalism and sectarianism and have no qualms about gender bias and exploitation of others.
We had a bitter experience of such matters in the past. For example, the semester system, which involves assessment of students’ performance by teachers concerned, is the best form of students’ evaluation, but unfortunately it totally flopped in our country owing to obvious reasons. Ultimately, we reverted to the old annual system unwillingly despite its demerits.
PROF (R) A. H. SUBHANI
Faisalabad
My father Ahmed Mian Ansari, a chartered engineer, was appointed specialist engineer by Sir Thomas Foy who headed the administration in 1950s.
Work in the Sindh irrigation department and the Keenjhar Lake system project was among his major responsibilities which he fulfilled.
During 15 years of service he achieved targets with high quality. As an innovative man he set up clinics, a cinema, a boating facility, etc. He also organized the construction, supply and launching of a very large cabin cruiser into Keenjhar — ‘Noori’— which I believe is still afloat but inactive. It was built at the KSEW and he monitored it. A boating system suitable for the needs of the time emerged under his monitoring. It included a high speed boat and an emergency system. Keenjhar was a mini-sea to the local population, but he was a man of the oceans. A disaster killing 26 people during his time would be unthinkable.
I am here on a short visit from London (where I now belong) to attend my father’s funeral. I was shocked to learn that 26 people died as a little boat capsized in Kalri (Keenjhar). This was not the first time. Can we make it the last?
On a visit to the lake in the past I had expressed my fears in this respect to friends suggesting an old car inflated tube for each person in a boat should be made available as an immediate stop-gap measure. This could go a long way in saving the lives of the people.
The 26 innocent people who died at Keenjhar had no recourse to my father’s ideas. This tragedy could not have been caused by the fault of any one person, department or section. My father always praised his co-workers. Both he and I have, however, been sceptical of the changing social attitudes which need rectification with love, care, dedication and hard work.
As my plane heads back home to London, over the Arabian Sea, I shall not be able to overcome the grief of my father’s death and the loss of life in Keenjhar disaster.
DR M.ASLAM ANSARI
Karachi
A distinct characteristic of our society is that we make no effort to learn any lesson from the happenings within our country and in our surroundings.
The anxiety of the NWFP government to enforce Shariat laws is one such example. The province has unwittingly gone into the hands of the clergy who is apparently in a great hurry to embark upon one hallowed enterprise after another, ignorant of the consequences. A similar exercise is on the anvil for Balochistan.
Giving a sane advice to the enforcers of Shariat, a respected writer of Dawn states: “They should use their power of persuasion and punishment to stop the legendary money lenders of their province from lending to the poor at three to four times the bank rate.” Equally forceful is his advice to Maulana Fazlur Rahman to first introduce Shariat in D. I. Khan — his forte — and demonstrate to the rest of the country and the world the way he intends to “Islamize” the Pakistani society.
DOST MUHAMMAD BALOCH
Jamshoro
THE article by your correspondent, titled; ‘Americans see Islam as global threat’ (May 28) paints a very repugnant picture. It cites the fears of Christian “evangelists” in particular and the American public in general who consider the Muslims as nothing but a fatuous bunch of mediaeval barbarians. This is a perverted image, far from reality.
What brings these people to such a conclusion? I am afraid if one looks carefully, the answer to this question lies in the media. In the past 15 or so years, the media has played a very critical role in shaping the minds of the masses of the world in general and those of Americans in particular.
It is an axiom that the Muslims failed to capitalize on this advantage of the media in yesteryear and continue to do so today. Most Americans carry the image of “big bearded” men carrying klashnikovs with nothing in their minds except “Holy War,” at the same time suppressing women to the utmost, women who can wear nothing but charcoal black dresses. This is their illustration pertaining to Islam.
Come to think of it, this is a very inhuman picture indeed. Few in the world know that these facts are far from reality. In fact, fanatic sects lie in the Jewish cult as well.
Unbelievable yet true, the Zionist media would never mention such things. So who would? I hope that someday we would have a media strong enough to highlight such facts.
TAIMUR T. MALIK
Multan
AS Sindh governor during the Nawaz government, Lt-Gen (Retd) Moinuddin Haider took a decision of not awarding 13 grace marks to those students who needed these marks to pass their intermediate examinations.
Awarding 13 grace marks had earlier been a regular practice of the Board of Intermediate & Secondary Education, Karachi, and one of the reasons of awarding the marks was to provide a chance to such students to continue their studies for graduation.
The after-effects of Moinuddin Haider’s decision has left uncounted students in a pool of distress who feel that their future is ruined. The present law is that a student is supposed to clear his or her intermediate examination in four attempts by appearing in two annual and two supplementary examinations. If a student fails in all the four attempts, he or she has to repeat all the papers of Class XI and XII. This decision has spoiled the future of countless students.
Interestingly, no such law applies to Karachi University students, who are provided with more chances to appear in their examinations. Moreover, Karachi University also awards grace marks to failing students, so that they should be able to do graduation.
The governor of Sindh, Ishratul Ibad, should review all cases of such students who could not succeed in the intermediate examinations owing to the non-availability of 13 grace marks. If the decision is not reviewed by the governor, these students may feel dejected and there is a possibility that they may get involved in un-ethical activities.
It is high time the governor took steps to correct the “mistake” in order to make these students useful students of our society. By doing this, Mr Ishratul Ibad will save the future of thousands of youths who still want to continue their studies but are unable to do so.
SYED A. MATEEN
Karachi
I APPEAL to the prime minister to direct the ministries concerned to clarify the following for the information of the general public.
a. About 5,000 industrial units, including those located in Hattar and Gadoon Amazai, have closed down owing to faulty industrial policies, with a possibility of permanent loss of investment in terms of billions of rupees, besides loss of millions of jobs, both direct and indirect. Should the revival of these units or new investments with a similar fate be given preference at the national level?
b. What measures are being taken to obviate import-based investments involving perpetual forex burden on this forex- starved nation?
c. What is the justification for the exorbitant increase in iron and steel products during the last one year to make import-based Pakistan Steel profitable at the cost of 140 million people of Pakistan?
d. Some exports like defence items heavily depend on imports, whereas only the export earnings are made public. It represents a false picture of the actual forex-earnings, particularly by the defence industries because their imports are classified as secret.
The forex earned may, in fact, be less than the forex input, just to win the foreign orders. Is there any government department monitoring this aspect of the exports in the overall national interest?
SHAKEEL AKHTAR
Rawalpindi
THIS refers to ‘Dateline Dubai’ (June 5) about an Indian artist, F. M. Hussain, considering legendary filmmaker Raj Kapoor a “third-rate director”. The name of the Indian artist has been reported as F. M. Hussain (Fida Maqbool Hussain) by your correspondent. His correct name is M. F. Hussain (Maqbool Fida Hussain).
M. RAFIQUE ZAKARIA
Karachi
I REFER to the editorial headlined “Small savers’ plight” in your June 4 issue. Your arguments in favour of giving the small saver a better return on his NSS deposits are cogent and helpful to his cause. Amongst those who are most hit by the rapid decline in the NSS profits are the senior citizens.
Despite the claims drummed by the government and its spokesmen that poverty alleviation is one of its socio-economic pursuits, the ground realities are dim. If the government, enriched by the bonanza of having more than 10 billion dollars in foreign currency reserves, is sincere in its commitment to poverty alleviation, it can at least scrap the withholding tax on NSS profits for senior citizens.
The banks in Pakistan are giving a raw deal to the small investors. Their PLS deposits yield around three per cent profit per annum. But if the small PLS depositor, having no political or bureaucratic clout, seeks a loan of Rs100,000 from his bank, the yearly interest and other levies soar to about 11 per cent a year. Will the governor of the State Bank of Pakistan name the bank which gives small loans at six per cent a year? Many banks are making profits in billions of rupees.
Does the State Bank ask them what tangible benefits they give to their depositors, especially the small saver? As a statutory body, the reports of the SBP on its periodic inspection of banks should be submitted to the federal legislature and made public. The frauds committed in some banks deserve public exposure and open inquiries by the SBP.
The small investors in the government’s savings schemes in Sri Lanka, Malaysia, India and Thailand (to name a few countries) get a better return than in Pakistan. They also receive some perks and fringe benefits in these countries. Has the NSS management ever bothered to elicit from its depositors their views and advice about the working of the NSS, as is done by the savings directorates of the governments in many developing and developed countries? As a depositor in the NSS, I would demand that the NSS management should publish an annual report on its performance and the audited statement of accounts.
Senior citizens in Pakistan continue to demand that the government’s announcement of October 1, 1999 of a number of benefits for senior citizens be implemented without delay.
QUTUBUDDIN AZIZ
Vice-President,
Pakistan Senior Citizens’ Association,
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