| June 20, 2003 | Friday | Rabi-us-Sani 19, 1424 |
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Need for a flyover
The budget and the poor
Our educational standard
Let people’s writ prevail
Grace marks for students
Mixing religion with politics
Meraj Khalid’s legacy
Maoist movement in Nepal
RECENTLY, lawyers staged a protest rally on the premises of the Supreme Court against the authority of President Pervez Musharraf. I am surprised at their lack of knowledge of the constitutional history of the subcontinent.
The powers of the governor-general at the time of partition were derived from the Government of India Act 1935. When Mr Jinnah became the governor-general of Pakistan, he set a unique example by also becoming the president of the Constituent Assembly, a day after the Assembly had elected Jogendar Nath Mandal, the law minister in the first cabinet, as the interim chairman. Such was the pliability of the politicians of those days.
Ghulam Muhammad used the power bestowed on him by the Independence Act of 1947 in dismissing Khwaja Nazimuddin as prime minister, under a section similar to 58(2)(b) of the present amended Constitution. This section is not explicit in stating that the dismissal should not happen when the prime minister enjoys the confidence of the Assembly. Going back to the events of 1953, one has to recall the inability to control anti-Ahmediya riots in Lahore and the threat of the Jugto Front in East Pakistan to form a confederation. Both these threats were beyond the capacity of Khwaja Nazimuddin to handle.
In India, the section 85(2)(b) giving powers to dismiss the prime minister has existed right from the time of Mountbatten, Raja Gopalachari and, subsequently, when Rajendra Parsad became the first president of India. Strong differences existed between Pandit Nehru and President Radhakrishnan, Indira Gandhi and her presidents and between Rajiv Gandhi and President Zail Singh, but the section quoted above was never used due to prudence.
In Pakistan especially, at the time of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the members of the National Assembly were made to agree to the 1973 Constitution under threats and because of the break-up of Pakistan in 1971. What President Gen Zia-ul-Haq did by introducing section 58(2)(b) was to restore the relevant section of the first Constitution of Pakistan. It was nothing new; this empowers President Musharraf to continue with the amendment and those who oppose him are only groping in the dark.
Although the National Assembly is the supreme body in the country, the president can plead with it to maintain balance and equilibrium, and vice versa.
AHMAD ZAFAR FAROOQI
Karachi
I WAS amazed to hear Gen Pervez Musharraf’s interview on television on June 16. The most surprising statement emanating from him was that the opposition were making much ado about the LFO. He went on to say that the opposition members were not right in opposing the LFO as they were in the minority whereas the majority parties in the parliament had no problem in accepting the LFO in toto.
How can the general make such a statement when Article 239 of the Constitution categorically states that any amendment to the Constitution must be passed by the parliament by a two-thirds majority? All political parties, including the PML-Q and the MQM, rejected the LFO in their respective manifestos. The Zafar Ali Shah case is irrelevant here as it does not give sweeping powers to wreak havoc with the Constitution.
Going back to the majority in the parliament supporting the LFO, the general should remind himself of the ground realities of the October elections wherein the party with the largest number of votes in the country — the PPP — was deliberately sidelined and tempted into changing loyalties. All this was done by the famous “hidden hand” in total disregard for the oft-repeated promise of free and fair elections and a clean parliament.
M. ZIA ISPAHANI
Karachi
TRAFFIC has been improved at Karachi’s Old Exhibition, Banaras Chowk, Guru Mandir and Nagin Chowrangi roundabouts, for which substantial funds were provided by the federal government. However, a major traffic irritant is yet to be removed.
Smooth traffic flows from Old Exhibition to the starting point of Business Recorder Road and from the direction of North Nazimabad to Nazimabad No. 1 (near Sir Syed Girls College) on the way to Lasbella bridge and then entering Business Recorder Road (Patel Para). But a major irritant of approximately three-kilometre stretch causes a delay of minimum 15-20 minutes in crossing from either direction and a 30-minute delay during driving in the peak traffic hours. Comparatively commuting on two-kilometre the Liaquatabad bridge by a four-wheeler is not more than two to three minutes’ drive, to two or three-wheeler rickshaws and motorcycles is three to four minutes distance.
The reason for the delay is a two-lane (sometimes one lane) traffic on Nazimabad No. 1 to the beginning of the Lasbela bridge, because of sanitary ware shops; and literally one lane stretch from the Lasbela traffic signal to Guru Mandir (via Patel Para) because of the garages, repairing of auto-rickshaws and taxis, cafes with benches and chairs on the road, and the long route buses; now devoured more than 50 per cent of the actual width of the road on both sides.
It seems that either this problem is beyond the reach of the city government or the latter has some political motives behind it. Major traffic passes through this section, including automobiles, trucks, buses, water and oil tankers, motorcycles, even animal-driven carts. No answers to traffic jams were ever presented to the people. One solution was given in the mid-nineties when the Lasbela bridge was half-heartedly expanded. But it was not broadened completely because some religious institutions unlawfully occupied the land on both sides of the road.
I fail to understand why in Karachi religious institutions make a political issue during the widening of the road and bridges. At Lahore, dozens of roads and bridges were widened after removing the structures of religious institutions.
There is a desperate for the improvement on the flyover issue. The city, provincial and federal government may tackle this major snag and in my opinion, a three-kilometre, six lane flyover with the ramps (like the Liaquatabad bridge) crossing Gulbahar, Lasbela and Business Recorder Road and terminating at Guru Mandir is the only viable solution.
The president and the prime minister should take serious notice of it as the federal, provincial and city governments combined role covering financial aspects is the final solution. The same may be announced as one of the major projects for the Karachiites.
If this flyover is completed, a traveller from Saddar to North Nazimabad or vice versa would reach either destination in less than 15 minutes, as compared to the present 40-45 minutes. Whosoever would do it would definitely win over the heart of the city.
KUNWAR KHALID YUNUS
Islamabad
ACCORDING to official figures, the level of poverty has increased from 26.6 per cent in 1998-99 to 32.1 per cent in 2003. So the actual number of the people living in poverty has increased by over 11 millions, from 36 million to 47 million during the four years.
In order to reduce poverty, a sustained rise of six per cent in the GDP for many years is required. This is not currently in sight because of the low level of investment in the country. Thus it is obvious that the claims of “economic recovery” and “take-off” made in the budget are based on very fragile foundations. The data on poverty for 1998-99 on page 49 of the survey has been inflated from 26.6 to 30.6 per cent and that for 2003 decreased from 32.1 to 31.8 per cent on the basis of a specially managed small survey of only 726 households, just to show that the level of poverty is going down.
This is also a fact that the government policy framework has been anti-farmer throughout the past four years, which is directly responsible for an increase in rural poverty. Instead of protecting the farmers from the effect of the subsidies, the government under pressure from the IMF and the World Bank has started taxing the agriculture sector by imposing 15 per cent GST on fertilizers and pesticides and raising the prices of electricity and diesel.
The level of unemployment in the country has gone up in the last three years from 5.9 per cent in 1999 to 7.9 per cent in 2003. In order to solve the problem of unemployment, our leaders are often found in television programmes maintaining that education would eradicate all evils. This is a naive thinking because Sri Lanka with 100 per cent literacy has not been able to solve this problems.
We must initiate a genuine and durable nation-building process by devising new participatory development strategies, which directly aim at the betterment of under-privileged Pakistan.
S. A. KHOKHAR
Lahore
THE educational standard of our country is very low as compared to the international standards, even after half a century of independence. The same books which were studied by our forefathers, more than three decades ago, are being taught to the present generation. Almost every year the books of the matriculation and intermediate boards are revised, yet there are no meaningful changes.
It may also be noted that the level of studies and the curriculum of matriculation in our country is too low for our students. The students who go to college, after having passed the matriculation examination, have to face lots of difficulties in their intermediate studies as the level abruptly rises.
We need not go very far. Our own neighbours have an educational system much better than ours. The prospectus of a foreign university says that the pre-requisite for admission for a person who has studied under a Pakistani board was at least graduation, whereas anyone who has studied under an Indian board of education was eligible after intermediate.
The ministry of education ought to ponder over this problem. The following steps should be taken by the government to overcome such difficulties:
1) Privatization of schools be stopped.
2) Highly qualified and experienced staff, devoted to teaching, be appointed for the schools and colleges and be paid fairly.
3) If needed, the medium of instruction should be Urdu so that the students can understand better what they are being taught.
I think there is no harm in changing the medium of instruction to Urdu. Most advanced countries of the world today have an educational system in which the medium of instruction is their own native language, even at the university level.
SAFWAN A. KHAN
Karachi
MS Iffat Idris appears to be advocating a regime change in the NWFP primarily because of the introduction of Shariat by the MMA government (In the name of Islamization, June 12).
However, this was always the MMA’s aim and their election manifestos and pre-election campaign expressed this intention unambiguously and unapologetically. Therefore, the people who voted them to power in the NWFP last October were fully aware of what lay in store if the alliance of six Islamic parties came to power. And it is to the credit of the MMA that they are living up to their election promises, a rare occurrence in Pakistan, or for that matter, in most parts of the world.
Now it is another matter that the obscurantist and reactionary components of the MMA, who appear to be in the ascendancy, are threatening to take this country to the mediaeval ages. But they only appear to be institutionalizing what was common practice in the NWFP anyway. Women do veil themselves, men do prefer shalwar-qameez and sport beards and everyone seems to want to keep women out of sight, even the ones on billboards, posters and public broadcasts on satellite TV.
Democracy means giving the people what the majority votes for. If the people get fed up with the repressive policies of the MMA, as Ms Idris believes, they will vote them out of office in the next general election. Wait until then. Any other action would be undemocratic.
ASAD SIDDIQI
Lahore
I WAS surprised to read the letter by Syed A. Mateen (June 10) advocating that the governor of Sindh award grace marks to students. I would like to make the following comments:
* If grace marks are awarded to students to declare them successful, where do we stop?
* The purpose of educating a person is not to pass an examination.
* I feel that there should be no limit to the number of attempts a student should be allowed to make, nor should there be a limit on the age at which the students can appear in examinations. As long as a student can pay for an examination, he or she should be allowed to sit in the exam.
* There should be alternative routes for the students unable to pass the normal secondary exams, such as vocational training, so that they are not distressed.
MASOOD SHARIF
Eden, Auckland,
New Zealand
THIS is with reference to Mr Hamid A. Khan’s letter (June 4) under the above caption.
With Islam as Deen, a complete self-contained code of mundane and spiritual ways of life, the question is one of separating the two inextricable dimensions uniquely intertwined, rather than of mixing them as though the two dimensions exist in watertight compartments. Allama Iqbal rightly spelt out the dangers inherent in the separation of the two inseparable dimensions woven together by divine decree.
In Islam, political doctrine and practice are directly from God and the Deen (Islam) insists on its own definition of reality.
The idea that the colonial period fostered systematically was that the Deen was responsible for the backwardness of societies in the Muslim world and that, to be civilized, they would have to be secular, rationalistic, nationalistic and democratic in the same manner as the progressive Western world. Islam as Deen and Christianity as a religion are two different worlds, the former disallowing recognition of sanctity of Muslims as priests, and the latter founded on the basis of the Church with a hierarchy of priests. Although both are semitic in origin, one cannot exemplify the other in respect of separation of religion from politics.
With the ideas borrowed from totally different cultures, the Muslims are losing much of their own identity. We tend to look through borrowed and tainted glasses and misjudge our own values.
AKBAR KHAN
Karachi
MALIK Meraj Khalid had a symbolic character in the political history of our country. He was the chief minister of Punjab, the federal minister for food and agriculture and the speaker of the National Assembly during Mr Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s regime.
Then again he remained the speaker of the National Assembly during the first tenure of Ms Benazir Bhutto. He was later appointed rector of the Islamic University in Islamabad. In 1997 he was made caretaker prime minister.
Despite occupying such high positions, he never tried to accumulate wealth for him or his family members. Indeed, he set an example for the successive rulers.
HEDAYATUR RAHMAN
Waterloo, Canada
OUT of the seven South Asian states, the majority are secular states where a strong political current thrives on religious fundamentalism, often bordering on fascism. Pakistan is probably the only state which was found on an explicitly confessional basis, albeit by a greatly secular leadership, but that agenda (secularism) was sadly hijacked by Jinnah’s successors, who were all mediocrities without exception. The other state which is amost exclusively ideological is the Himalayan Hindu kingdom of Nepal.
This land-locked country has been in the news recently because the Communist Party of Nepal (CPN-M) launched a valiant struggle in 1995 to rid the country of the excesses of the Rana dynasty which remains the example of a typical reactionary feudal monarchy.
Despite the propaganda of the imperialist-backed media, the truth is that the Maoist guerrillas are a genuine popular revolutionary force in Nepal, who have succeeded in capturing about one-third of the Nepalese countryside. They could not have achieved this with sole force of arms. In fact, they have achieved this remarkable feat by reversing the oppressed conditions in the areas they have liberated from the Nepalese ruling class. These include the distribution of land amongst landless peasants, the destruction of the feudal system in the countryside, the setting up of people’s justice courts to provide speedy justice to the oppressed, and more importantly, the liberation of women from decades of male oppression. The amazing thing about the Maoists is that more than half of their cadres are women; women formerly oppressed by the reactionary feudal system.
Despite the fact that the Nepalese people won a great victory in 1990 when the monarchy was forced to become constitutional and a legislature was put in place, the parties in the legislature are mere supporters of the status quo and consist of an odd bunch of monarchists, ‘democrats’ and parliamentary ‘socialists’. The real contradictions facing Nepalese society remain unresolved. That is why the CPN-M deserves the support of all freedom-loving people of South Asia, and the world for its efforts to turn a reactionary and feudal society into one where the grievances of the peasants, women and industrial workers will be properly addressed; which will no longer be subject to the expansionist designs of the regional hegemon, India; and where there will be an end to exploitation of man by man.
Moreover, their analysis of Nepalese society and the solution to its problems is not just a careless application of Marxist lipstick and powder, but a creative blend of the Marxist theory and conditions unique to Nepalese society. That is the reason why US imperialism has suddenly started taking an interest in Nepal in the wake of 9/11. To them, a successful Marxist-inspired social revolution in Nepal will set up a ‘bad example’ in the region and will constitute a serious blow to US imperialist interests in South Asia.
A look at other South Asian states confirms the view that if there exists a seed for a profound social revolution anywhere in our subcontinent, it lies in Nepal. Though Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are infinitely richer in terms of human and social capital than Nepal, their state structures have sadly been hijacked by landlords and capitalists (backed by the military), and thus the state has lost its legitimacy. Instead what we find is rising poverty amongst the masses, increasing militarism, an unfortunate turn towards religious fundamentalism and widespread ethnic strife (whether it is the Kashmiris, Nagas, Mizos, Chakmas or the Tamils). The state in these countries has increasingly displayed its military muscle to hold onto its vanishing legitimacy among the people.
A social revolution in Nepal at this stage would lead the way for a radical solution to all these political and social problems in other parts of South Asia. Ironically, corrupt and uncaring monarchies in South Asia (the ones in India and Sri Lanka) were historically put out by British colonialism, not by their peoples. Nepal’s budding revolutionaries have a golden chance to prove history wrong and topple this last remaining vestige of feudal despotism in the subcontinent.
RAZA NAEEM
Lahore
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