| June 16, 2003 | Monday | Rabi-us-Sani 15, 1424 |
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Securitisation of NPLs
Basket of currencies
Islam or naked vandalism?
Resolving Kashmir dispute
Literature and vulgarity
Muslims and science
Keenjhar lake tragedy
CIRC affairs
Islam and the veil
No Tobacco Day and afterwards
Bus routes in Karachi
Moral value judgment
THIS is in continuation of the letter that appeared in EBR (May 12). It is an irony that the salaried class is subjected to very high rates of income tax. Specially, the people in the higher income bracket (having more than Rs600,000 per annum as salary income) have to pay income tax on all their allowances and perquisites (excluding only utility allowance).
As the utility allowance is exempted from income tax, in the same context the house rent allowance and conveyance allowance are also daily life expenditure incurred by an individual. Hence these should also be exempted from income tax, irrespective of the salary bracket.
Also, since these allowances are tax-exempt for the individuals having income less than Rs600,000 per annum, this should also be extended to the higher income group, to have equality and uniformity in the tax regime. After all, higher income group individuals are also part of the same society and are living in the same economic environment. By paying income tax at higher rates, on higher income slabs, these individuals are giving their due share to the government.
Apart from paying income tax, the salaried class has to additionally pay sales tax on a number of goods and services, including goods of daily use. This is like taxing the already taxed income.
In the light of the above, the authorities are requested to exempt allowances and give relief to the higher salary income group.
Sadiq Hashim
Karachi
I wish to offer a few comments on the article published in Dawn EBR ( May 12-18,2003) under the above caption.
The figures of the non-performing loans (NPLs) put at Rs157.7 billion seem to be understated. Although no reliable data about the NPLs are available and even the figures issued by the State Bank (SBP) from time to time differ.
In the SBP Governor’s article published in Dawn on the 21st October,2002 this figure was put at Rs259 billion while in the SBP’s report for the first quarter of the current fiscal 2002-03, NPLs have been put at nearly Rs250 billion and the defaulted loans at Rs190 billion (table 6.7/ page 60 of the report). It may be stated that the NPLs include the defaulted loans. True, the time gap also changes the figures but the time lag of 3 to 6 months (October 02-March, 03) cannot be held responsible for the wide difference.
Under the scheme proposed in the article, banks will sell the NPLs at the reduced price (say Rs70 billion) to the ‘special purpose vehicle” (SPV). The SPV will raise funds through issuance of term finance certificates (TFCs) for payment to banks. The question is: Is there any SPV in the private sector in the market at the moment who may be prepared to undertake this responsibility?
If at all, any SPV comes into being and is able to collect the required resources through costly campaigns in the print/electronic media, it will give rise to other fundamental question i.e.: what the SPV will do with the assets acquired from the banks? Will it revive the relative units or will it auction them?
The Corporate Industrial Restructuring Corporation (CIRC) was too established for carrying out the similar agenda but what is the progress? Obviously, very unsatisfactory. Then how can we raise hopes in the proposed SPV or SPVs? Apart from the above, in case the cash flow of the SPV(s) did not permit them to liquidate their liabilities towards the TFCs holders- which is very likely- what will be the fate of the TFCs holders.
Pakistani public has been bitten many times in the past at the hands of unscrupulous elements. The residents of Karachi were looted at least twice by the finance companies while the public in Punjab were looted by the cooperatives operated by the influentials including the politicians. Will that history again be allowed to be repeated by the government now through the SPVs? In my view, therefore, the proposal contained in the said article is solely of the academic interest and cannot be implemented practically.
A.M. Talha
Karachi
This is with reference to the news item, “State Bank cautious about Euro reserve” on the business page of Dawn (30.5.03).
It appears that the State Bank is reluctant to move its reserves away from the US dollar. This despite the advice being given to it from various sources. The under-signed wrote an article on this issue, titled, “Euro-dollar diplomacy and Pakistan” printed in the Dawn economic and business review, 9, March.
I had urged the State Bank to move half of its reserves into the euro. This for reasons of diplomacy as well as prudence.
The Euro\Dollar parity then was 1.08, while today is 1.19. It was previously considered prudent to use a basket of currencies for linkage of the rupee. The rupee was delinked from a fixed parity with the US dollar quite some time ago.
So why are so reluctant to keep our reserves in a basket of currencies as well? No reasonable explanation is forthcoming.
Perhaps we are so mesmerized by the American might that we are not willing to do anything which might even remotely offend them. This seems to be the only explanation.
Tahir Jahagir,
Lahore
EVERYONE must have read the news item that in Gujranwala hundreds of ‘Danda Bardar‘ (carrying stout cudgels) workers of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA), under the leadership of a member of the National Assembly, attacked a circus where hundreds of citizens (mostly poor people) had gathered to witness the show. They not only beat the people but also set fire to the tents causing loss of several lakhs of rupees. There was a stampede and the people saved their lives with great difficulty.
The plea for the attack was that the circus had become a den of gambling, and the Majlis-i-Amal, being a self-appointed custodian of morality, was justified in doing it.
First of all, let me explain that Gujranwala is an industrial city where thousands of labourers work in factories hardly earning enough to keep their body and soul together. They come home in the evening tired and worn out and need some sort of entertainment to sooth their tense nerves. Since they are too poor to buy a TV set, going to a cinema or a circus is the only cheap source of entertainment which they can afford.
Everyone knows that since time immemorial, circus has held a great fascination for all sorts of people, young and old. The coming of a circus company in a city or town is an event of great excitement for the people. They are thrilled to see acrobats jumping from one swing to another at great heights. For children, the antics and tricks of the clown are a source of great amusement and laughter. So people flock to the circus in large numbers for entertainment and relaxation.
The question arises: who are these people who take upon themselves the right of cleansing the society of these so-called social evils? Who has given them the right or the authority to order the people to lead their lives according to their dictates? Why do they take law and order in their own hands and do whatever they like?
The fact is that these self-appointed arbiters of morality are the most narrow-minded bigots who cannot see beyond their nose. Their minds are hermetically sealed and no fresh and creative idea can ever enter their minds. They are the greatest enemies of creative arts and destroyers of all sources of entertainment. The very words, music and dance, are anathema to them.
Their concept of a clean society consists of confining women to their homes, banning co-education, having separate doctors for women and men, attacking hoardings with pictures of women, burning cinemas, looting wine shops, banning music in buses and declaring wearing of pants as un-Islamic.
They are totally blind to the real social evils prevailing in society. They are oblivious to the fact that education and medical aid are beyond the reach of the common man. They are not concerned with rampant corruption prevailing in government departments and police stations. They do not think of the people committing suicide because of lack of jobs and high cost of living.
ONE CONCERNED
Gujranwala
NOW when India-Pakistan talks are once again expected to resume, are we ready to give maximum and take the minimum? What maximum we should expect to take from India? Maybe an independent status for Kashmir, or even a dominion state of India for initial 5-8 years. This is the maximum we should expect from India. In exchange, we shall have to offer the maximum.
We should be ready to give the MFN status to India. We should be willing to let our part of Kashmir join the larger part now held by India. We should be prepared to give our land for the petroleum and gas pipelines coming from our west and north and going to east in India.
We should offer safe and trouble-free air and land trade passage to India for Afghanistan and Central Asia. We should be ready to support Indian efforts to have a permanent seat in the Security Council. We should be ready to go even farther and roll back our nuclear programme without asking India to do the same. We should also offer veto power to India in Saarc bodies.
Are we ready to concede all these? If yes, we may then get the maximum from India, i.e. a sort of independent status for Kashmir. If we are ready to give all these concessions, then hawks in India would be satisfied to some extent. They will start looking at Saarc as Akhund Bharat. They will also be satisfied that in South Asia they would be the sole nuclear power; Pakistan would no more be a challenge or threat for India. They will start thinking to have larger markets for their trade and industry. They will find themselves as superpower of South Asia, as a balancing force against China.
But would our hawks be ready for all these? Obviously not. A part of MMA would not agree to this Canada-like status for Pakistan and US-like status for India. Some voices from Punjab would also be raised. A group in establishment would find this as accepting the hegemony of India.
But if our politicians and generals are ready to act as real statesmen, they should go for such a settlement and must seek the support of all political leaders to secure acceptance in the masses. Our people know they are poor because the country does not have good relations with India and after huge defence spending very little is left for development.
It is felt that if we are ready to accept Canada-like status for ourselves and are also ready to give US-like status to India, all our social and political problems would be solved within five years. We may also become an Asian tiger, having grateful independent Kashmir in the northeast, comfortable India in the east, friendly Iran in the west and brotherly Afghanistan in the north.
SOULAT PASHA
Hyderabad
THIS refers to the write-up ‘Literature and vulgarity’ in the campus roundup of May 29.
I take strong exception to the statements of a lecturer of the Punjab University’s English Department. As an ordinary student of English literature, I could not understand the linguistic gimmickry behind the terms ‘vulgar’ and ‘obscene’ he seems so obsessed with. The excerpts of his interview raised some pertinent questions in my mind which I hope the knowing would answer.
First of all, why is , of all the people, a teacher from the linguistics asked to identify ‘the vulgar and obscene contents in the curricula of literature? Can obscene words make a text vulgar or their deletion stop it from becoming vulgar, that is, if at all it is so? How can things be categorized into morally oversimplified good or bad? Can Shakespeare or Chaucer promote vulgarity just because a reader finds the obscene elements in either a threat to his morality? Being a linguist, can the learned teacher purge language, any language, and for that matter life itself, of vulgarity? Is our ‘imaan’ so frail as to stagger at the mere mention of words like vodka, cock or breasts?
Pope’s ‘Rape of the Lock’, for heaven’s sake, is a comic epic and the rape in it is a mock-heroic expression for cutting of a belle’s lock (of hair) by a bean. I wish the university teacher had gone through the poem just once to realize that it is the best account of the psycho-sexual (vulgar?) complexes of the elite of Pope’s England.
And even if a text contains a real rape or adultery, can’t an educated, mature person have moral courage enough to discuss real life issues to spread socio-moral awareness among the youths under one’s custody? As for the English departments’ converting ‘good’ people into ‘bad’, I salute the department to allow me such an extensive exposure to the English literatures of the world at the M.Phil level. Believe it or not, the more explicit or ‘vulgar’ a text, the stronger my belief in the sanctity of our own values grew.
The teacher’s statement that ‘only the Ravians and KCites can speak good English’ is also provocative. By ‘good’, does he mean the above students can speak a non-vulgar language while the rest use a morally ‘bad’ expression? Moreover, is speech the only criterion for judging a learner’s ability to understand and appreciate a subject?
In the end, a word about words. Words, my dear colleague, are not always to be taken literally. They are only signposts which have multiple functions to perform in a given context. In literature, they form images and symbols which contribute to the metaphorical meaning of a text. In real life, once thoughtlessly used, they can hardly heal wounds, even if cowardly denials are issued afterwards.
FARIDA CHISHTI
Lahore
A DISTINGUISHED oriental scholar, Dr N. A. Baluch, has given credible support to the Muslim world about the works of the Muslims in astronomy, in his letter (June 10).
A great deal of research done by the Muslim Arabs leaves no doubt about the openness of the Muslim minds to the exploration of the universal matters. Had the teachings of the holy Quran been rigid on a particular opinion, the Muslims might have never entered into the field of research.
The Arabs had picked and preserved the Ptolemy work (even after 1,000 years and so has done the Western world in preserving the works of the Muslims in astronomy, mathematics, medicines) a base for their study. The very concept of the obliquity of the ecliptic shape of the earth with compass is proof that the Arab astronomers had established that the Earth is neither spherical nor static.
There is a difference of 27 miles in the polar diameter to the equator’s length. Amazing to note is the identification of this very negligible difference in those days with primitive tools, whereas Ptolemy had erred by underestimating the size of the Earth, which led to the failure of Christopher Columbus in estimating distances to India and Cathay.
The Europeans and the Americans have very much compensated the world for the damage caused by the Christian era. But what answer can the Muslims give to the present generation and to the posterity of their works in science and technology? Is the present state satisfactory? Or are we on great slide? If it is so, is there any hope of reversing the trend?
In one of his columns in Dawn, Mr Ardeshir Cowasjee has raised a valid question, why is every good work done by the Muslims about 400 to 500 years old?
ABDULLAH MAHESAR
Islamabad
I AM deeply saddened by the tragic loss of lives at the Keenjhar lake. This should not have happened and could have been prevented by the use of life-vests.
Here in the US, the use of life-vest is mandatory for the people lacking ability to swim. This is true particularly for women and children. Life-vests these days are quite inexpensive. I am sure talented workers of Pakistan industries can make them locally.
I would like your newspaper and other media outlets to call upon the people and the authorities concerned in the provincial government to take concrete measures to provide this inexpensive life-saving device, wherever needed.
The authorities in Islamabad should also ensure safety of picnickers.
F. P. SYED
Webster, Mass, USA
WE are writing this letter to you, with the hope that you will save many businessmen who are already facing a hard time.
A circular was issued by the State Bank of Pakistan on Oct 15, 2002, as a guideline to the banks and the Development and Financial Institutions to settle the non-performing assets of the borrowers acquired by the aforesaid financial institutions.
A corporation that was established by the government to restructure the corporate and the industries as CIRC (Corporate and Industrial Restructuring Corporation), with a heavy top, has only sold the properties and factories of the non-wilful defaulters of the banks and the DFIs in a so-called transparent manner at throwaway prices. They have not restructured any industry in Sindh, except in some specific areas.
The abovementioned SBP circular was issued on October 15, 2002, but the CIRC never gave a thought to applying the same on them. After the FPCCI and other businessmen approached the media, the CIRC was forced to follow the circular and on May 23, 2003, the CIRC published a public notice informing the borrowers of the non-performing assets to come forward to settle the matter within 37 days, i.e. by June 30, 2003.
A notice was also sent by post to each borrower of Sindh to meet the CIRC authorities at their FTC office in Karachi, on different dates and time. Just one and two days before the meeting date, another notice was sent by the CIRC to all borrowers of Sindh who desperately wanted to settle their issue.
The notice asked the borrowers to reach the CIRC, Lahore office, on different dates and the Karachi meeting was cancelled. You can understand the “bureaucratic cruelty” by calling the entire borrowers to Lahore from Karachi. Only a few members of the CIRC could have come to Karachi instead of hundreds of people going to Lahore, facing physical, mental and financial hardship.
We, the borrowers, appeal to the CIRC to consider the hardship of the Karachiites and Sindh and save them from the implications of such a harsh decision.
IMRAN AMANAT ALI
Karachi
I HAVE read with interest the articles and letters published in Dawn regarding the limits of purdah by Muslim women. The writers have interpreted the verses of the holy Quran — some arguing that covering of the head and the face is not obligatory in Shariat while others stressing its necessity.
If Muslim women copy the Muslim women of Arab and African countries, who cover their bodies with proper clothes and their heads with babushka (scarf), it can serve the purpose. Surely, those women are the model of the early Muslim civilization and there is no harm in following them.
ABDUL SALAM DADABHOY
Karachi
IT is good that the ‘No Tobacco Day’ was observed on May 31, though it will not heal the wounds perpetrated by smoking which is on the rise even in the younger generation.
Do we smoke as a fashion or as a means to activate us to ponder and act over an issue? For sure it has become more of a fashion than creating moods to think and work. China has the world’s 20 per cent population and 30 per cent of its people smoke. China is also the largest cigarette-producing country (CNN flash August 19, 2001). Other countries do not lag behind and are promoting smoking by fishy ads.
Nicotine leads to many body ailments affecting the lungs and the heart. The urge is relentless for show and dignity. Apart from smoking hazards for smokers and passive smoking effects, the smoke let out adds to the intensity of pollution, which ultimately leads to asthma, respiratory troubles. Tough breathing is often noticed in regular smokers.
Remember smoking does not motivate but is a depressant. So smoking ads must be stopped all around and smoking should be prohibited in offices and homes. I have noticed that in many shops there is a notice saying, ‘Thank you for not smoking’ but the owners themselves are puffing and polluting the inside air.
The government, parents, teachers and sundry persons having good of society at heart need to work in unison to stop or at least minimize the habit of smoking. Cigarette companies have so promoted the smoking brands that it would take time to get this evil eliminated. But efforts, howsoever small to begin with, must be taken into hand at once.
SULTAN AHMED CHOWDHRY
Lahore
IF you are a newcomer in Karachi, you are sure to get lost in the city for want of any authentic information on bus/ wagon routes, their destinations, etc.
In almost all civilized cities of the world, you will find at various bus stands the route numbers, details of the routes and where they end, supported by roadmaps.
However, in Karachi you have to rely only on word of mouth and the canvassing slogans of the bus conductor to know where this public vehicle is bound for and ask which road it is passing. This information can well be displayed on the buses and wagons. It is time the road transport people or the bus owner association took notice of this shortcoming and issued details of the bus routes and roads that they ply on and their final destinations.
Notices containing relevant information about this should be available to the public at all bus stands.
NISAR AHMED KHAN
Karachi
OUR intellectuals should consider it their duty to intensify their research and thought-process as an ever continuing commitment. It is earnestly suggested that Kant’s Critique of Judgment should be considered an incentive for us to be guided in our endeavours to achieve the capability to exercise their moral value judgment so that an individual achieves the categorical imperative.
Al-Syed Mamoon-al-Rasheed sent his trusted emissaries to Athens, with a request for the hand-written scrolls and parchments which he personally handled, and had them translated into Arabic. The same emissaries carried these valuable documents back safely and returned them to those from whom they had been borrowed.
It is specially worthy of study as to how it was possible more than 1,000 years ago (982 AD to be exact) that Al-Syed Nahawandi, with encouragement from Al-Syed Mamoon Al-Rasheed, was able to calculate the “Declivity of the Ecliptic’ to be 23 degrees 27 feet. It is part of history that the same was used by Galileo and Copernicus in their many calculations, but without acknowledging Nahawandi’s discovery and calculations as being the basis of their observation.
In the present context, one wonders what instruments were available in 982 AD, that is 1,121 years ago, for the observation of heavenly bodies, and how it was possible to make such detailed and exact calculations that remain valid and meaningful even to this day.
Ibn-i-Khaldoon was an Arab from Yemen. He had migrated from Tunis in the 14th century. He studied grammar, rhetoric, Plato and Aristotle; and he studied all about the Berbers.
In the 14th century, internecine warfare and a life of ease and luxury started to sap the energy and enterprise of the once powerful and energetic Muslim empire and it started to disintegrate. In the western region, Spain and North Africa renowned centres of learning and escalation of knowledge and research flourished in Gharnata. Granada was one of the finest examples of Muslim civilization and culture in the Iberian peninsula.
It was in these days of conflict and turmoil that Al-Syed Abdul Rahman Ibn-i-Khaldoon became the chief justice of Sultan Abu Salem. However, it is sad to write that there followed a period of shifting-loyalties. His actions were such that he could well be termed a pre-Machiavellian Machiavelli par-excellence.
However, Ibn-i-Khaldoon’s contribution to social sciences was, and is, phenomenal. In recent years, Western historians have admitted that Ibn-i-Khaldoon’s thoughts and writings, as indeed the thoughts and writings of Muslim historiographers like Kindi, Farabi and Ibn-i-Sana, contributed towards the great upsurge of arts and sciences in Florence which we now know as ‘The Renaissance’.
M. J. SAYEED
Karachi
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