| July 27, 2003 | Sunday | Jumadi-ul-Awwal 26, 1424 |
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India’s defence spending
Woman’s status in Islam
Beware of Internet chats
Anti-tobacco law’s violation
Assessing IT affairs
Rains in Karachi
‘Greater Israel’
Forex policy confusion
Toy guns
‘The bedrock of goodwill’
(MD) Memphis, TN, USA Islamabad
PAKISTANI physicians have been proceeding to the US for many years now to get state-of-the-art residency training in various fields of medicine. Many of these have returned to Pakistan to pick up the threads from where they left them. Some have not returned and settled in the US to serve humanity there. These physicians are dispersed in academic and private medicine, as well as serving the US veterans in the VA medical system. Wherever they are, they have consistently been applauded for their dedication. And needless to say, not even a single physician has been charged with acts of terrorism or undermining the integrity of the US.
More recently, the US embassy in Pakistan has started refusing training (J1) visas to those physicians who have been offered training slots in the US and have been cleared by the FBI to come to the US. The general grounds of refusal include lack of significant ties back in Pakistan, no evidence of prior training in Pakistan, and the likelihood of some of them not returning to Pakistan after training in the US.
Let me respond to these assertions. Most of these physicians have lived in Pakistan for all their lives, visited the embassy with paperwork to support bank balance and properties in their names. Those who cannot afford such properties would hope to be in a position to do that some day and have already proved themselves academically by scoring well in qualifying exams and having received offers of training in the US. With reference to prior training in Pakistan, the embassy is well aware that US institutions do not accept Pakistani training at par and anyone who starts here in the US has to start at the bottom of the ladder. So, why should someone try to get a year or more of training in Pakistan, when he would have to do it all over again in the US?
And with reference to some of these physicians not returning to Pakistan, they would only stay here in the US if they are critically needed here by the people and institutions. They would be sponsored by state or federal authorities and would be cleared by the Pakistan government before they can settle in the US. So even those who stay back serve the country (US), its people and economy, but never illegally.
So, it is my suggestion to the US embassy to treat Pakistani physicians as allies and friends as President Bush has repeatedly indicated about Pakistan. Treating Pakistanis well would only facilitate the US interests in that part of the world. Pakistani physicians should not be blamed for policies set up by US legislators. Pakistani physicians would continue to serve both Pakistani and American peoples.
NADEEM ZAFAR
INDIA, among the world’s largest buyer of armaments, plans to spend Rs9,000 crore more over its already burgeoning defence budget of Rs65,000 crore to meet its security needs. Enlightened public opinion must outrightly reject this move. Because, India’s real war is from within.
In India, defence spending increased by 59 per cent in the last decade, at the cost of desperately needed allocations on poverty alleviation and education. The UN Human Development Index for 2002 reveals that every third hungry human being and the largest number of children who do not go to school at all anywhere in the world exist in India. China or even prolonged civil war-ravaged Sri Lanka have achieved dramatic improvements. India’s ranking in a basket of 174 countries has actually deteriorated from 124 to 127 in the latest report.
India’s own latest census, analysed by India Today, reveals more ugly facts. As many as 400 million Indians live in one-room pigeon holes, every second family lives in temporary shelters, 77 per cent rural families have no bathroom facilities in their “houses”, 62 per cent have no water supply, 161 million households have no cement flooring, 107 million houses have no electric supply and every second Indian family depends on firewood for cooking, 56 years after independence!
Barring Chattisgarh, no state in India earns a revenue surplus, worsening the grim fiscal deficit situation. Prof B. Govind Rao, the director of Institute of Public Finance, has repeatedly warned that India’s fiscal situation now is worse than what it was in 1991, when India faced its worst economic crisis. The World Bank’s latest warning is a repetition of the same warning. Since 1991, India’s population has swelled by about half the entire EEC population.
Let’s improve our defence against these internal threats rather than squander another Rs9,000 crore on buying more military hardware. In fact, the economic indicators for Pakistan, are improving in contrast. We must wake up now.
N. NARASIMHAN
Bangalore, India
TO determine what role Islam assigns to woman in society and what value it attaches to her existence, we have to seek guidance and enlightenment from the holy Quran.
The Quran has promulgated the doctrine of human equality, including gender. It negates all inequalities in respect of sex, race, caste, creed, colour or tribe. It asserts the dignity of woman by declaring: “They are an apparel for you and you are an apparel for them (II-188).
The Quran has made it widely clear that with regard to moral and spiritual development, man and woman are equal. Both man and woman shall reap the benefit of what they achieve and acquire (IV-32). And again: “Whoever does good deeds, whether male or female, and he or she is a believer, they shall enter the paradise and they shall not be dealt with unjustly.” (IV-124).
The Quran recognizes no distinction between believing men and women in regard to religious duties. Their obligations towards Allah are similar, thus their status is equal in the eyes of “Allah Who is Mighty and Wise”.
It, therefore, follows that in practising good and forbidding the evil in social, economic and political avenues, it is necessary that they should have equal educational and academic opportunities. Only women of high intellectual calibre could enjoin good in society, politics, economics and social life and ensure justice and protect the rights of fellow citizens. The holy Prophet (pbup) always encouraged women in the spirit of inquiry and understanding.
Unfortunately, the modern educated woman in Pakistan is in a dilemma and to protect her from this predicament, she should be provided with a proper environment where her character and personality may grow and develop in the rigid ethical and cultural discipline of Islam.
CHAGHTAI MIRZA EIJAZUDDIN
Karachi
THE world is moving so fast that it has become imperative for us, as a nation, to move with an equal speed so as to keep pace with others, otherwise we will lag behind.
Notwithstanding technological and scientific advancements that bring comfort and ease to our lives, they have a negative aspect too which we must try to keep a watch on.
A 12-year-old Manchester girl developed relationship with a 31-year-old ex-US marine over internet chats lasting five to 11 hours every day for a year. Then they planned elopement. He flew over to Manchester from Michigan, first to Paris and then to Frankfurt where on the fourth day of their elopement and after an international police hunt, he was apprehended and put behind bars. This is a story that has caused widespread concern among the parents.
Computers have already become a way of life and a time will come when we will not be able to do without them. The introduction of this electronic device has caused our children to be glued on to them for hours. The time could easily have been spent on healthy physical exercises and games.
If you must have a computer in your home, make sure that it is placed at a place accessible to every family member who may keep an eye on the child who is using the computer. Please also advise the children not to divulge his/her name and address to any stranger whom he/she comes across over an internet chat.
PROF (DR) ASLAM PIRACHA
AT a seminar, held in Islamabad recently, the health minister announced that the Prohibition of Smoking and Protection of Non-smokers’ Health Ordinance 2002 will be implemented from June 30, 2003.
Later, an advertisement released by the ministry appeared in some national newspapers. The ad clearly stated: “No person or company shall advertise tobacco product on any media or place.” At the bottom of the ad was written, “Violation of ordinance will lead to penalties.”
Pakistan TV is violating this ordinance by showing tobacco advertisement every day, so does Radio Pakistan which broadcasts a sports programme daily, sponsored by a tobacco company.
The question is, if the government cannot get its own departments to implement this ordinance, how does it expect the public to follow this new law? This ordinance has become a farce, and anti-tobacco advocates all over the world are laughing at us.
A friend of mine working for tobacco control in the UK wrote to me: “I told you that your government is not serious about tobacco control in the country.”
PROF JAVAID KHAN
Karachi
EVER since the wave of IT revolution first engulfed Pakistan, there has been tremendous excitement and interest all over the country over this newfound discipline. The private sector took this to be yet another area to make money and the government was also not too far behind with its dreams of exporting software worth millions of dollars, making money by selling low-costing medical transcription services to the US market and creating several IT universities (virtual and conventional), so that manpower could be developed to work on software exports projects etc.
The much-publicized IT policy, featuring catchy themes such as e-government and e-commerce are not sufficient for the country’s economic and social development, particularly considering the fact that we are heavily dependent on agriculture. There is definitely the need to concentrate on agriculture and health-care areas.
The federal minister of information technology and his advisers have been sent several proposals and reminders on this issue, but the sad reality is that they did not find time even to acknowledge it.
There is, therefore, immediate need for an independent and professional evaluation by a high-powered commission, headed by a retired judge and IT professionals drawn from the private sector — local and international — on the state of our IT affairs over the past five or so years, particularly since there has been so much investment in the projects undertaken by the government.
SHAHAB AFROZ KHAN
Karachi
WE have had heavy rains in Karachi after a break of many years, and as usual all the roads, even the most important arteries of the city, are in a shambles. And this is the city that pays the highest taxes to the government.
First, I fail to understand why our roads are not built according to international standards where roads are built with a camber, and there is ample drainage on both sides of the road. Unfortunately, there is no drainage facility in this city, because it is built on a level probably lower than the sea, therefore drainage can be arranged only by large extraction pumps. This is done in Holland because most of that country is built below the sea level.
The British, when they ruled, did not bother to explore the possibilities of alternative drainage methods; for instance storing and using rain water for agriculture or such other purposes. But then it hardly ever rained in these parts, so it would be unfair to put the blame on them. Our countrymen have been at the helm for over 50 years, but no one has ever thought of doing anything about it. Soon rains will be over, the roads will be repaired using slipshod methods, and all will be forgotten as usual.
I wonder if the officials of the roads and highways department ever survey the roads during rains to see and mark where the depressions exist in the roads, and where deep pools of water accumulate, so that something may be done about it after rains have ended. The owners of motor vehicles pay a heavy price owing to corrosion of their vehicles, resulting from this mess.
Speaking to a contractor who often gets contracts for road construction, I asked him to explain why our roads disintegrate with the first shower of the season, when nothing like this ever happens, for instance in England and other European countries, where it rains for several months every year. He explained that every contractor has to pay 35 per cent bribe to the executive engineer of the department, even before he starts the construction.
So much for the ‘Land of the Pure‘’, where according to our president, corruption has been brought to an end.
ABDUL MALIK
Karachi
ONE must be grateful to Mr T. Majeed of Lahore (Dawn, July 14 July) for putting things in perspective on this vital subject. Those who think that recognizing Israel will serve us in some mysterious (and hitherto unexplained way) do not realize that Israel’s aims are far more expansionist than we are made to think by international media, most of which is in Jewish control in known and unknown ways.
Mr Majeed’s letter should be an eye-opener for the well-meaning among such people. Mr Majeed might also have mentioned that Israel’s parliament building carries the inscription: “O, Israel thy frontiers extend from the Nile to the Euphrates”. Which other country, we may ask, has brazenly declared its intention to annex lands inhabited by other nations?
The region Israel aims at eventually annexing, as defined above, includes part of Egypt up to the river Nile, whole of Jordan, the whole of Syria, all of Lebanon, a big part of Iraq, the southern part of Turkey and (hear this O, Muslims) the entire upper Hijaz up to Madinah.
I hope the enormity of what he appears ready to commit becomes clear to President Musharraf and others joining the “recognition chorus” with him — a step which will only whet Israel’s despicable lust for more.
WAJID NAEEMUDDIN
Karachi
SOME letters published recently in national dailies show confusion about the legal status of the Protection of Economic Reforms Act 1992, after restoration of the 1973 Constitution.
This Act was amended in December 1999 through an ordinance which is not valid after six months under normal conditions, and only Parliament is legally competent to approve or amend an Act. A letter on the subject complained that the ministry of finance, the CBR and State Bank of Pakistan are not responding to letters and emails.
Consequently, the resident Pakistanis who earned forex or received it from their relatives abroad are in a dilemma whether to get back their forex from the overseas banks which they sent abroad for fear of confiscation.
This Act was given wide publicity to encourage forex inflow, and now even a clarification is not forthcoming. It tends to confirm the general perception that the IMF does not want transfer of money from banks in the West to Pakistan in a big way, and its agents planted in our government ensure implementation of such policies to keep Pakistan forex-starved and financially dependent on the West, particularly the US.
I fail to understand why the Pakistanis are being forced to keep their forex in overseas banks while the IMF has no objection to foreign money, including drug and laundered money, worth trillions of dollars in the US and Europe.
NASRULLAH KHAN SHINWARI
Peshawar
WE have to make some interesting observations about the rising sale of toy guns among young children. We may not realize that the display of weapons and violent stuff on TV and in the movies has negative impact on children, specially among the toddlers. They dream of having toy guns instead of a football or a cricket bat. They prefer guns because of their heavy exposure to violent TV programmes and movies.
I would request all parents to keep their children away from toy guns and do not let them play with fire. The toys made in Pakistan do not normally carry age-bar codes whereas the imported toys properly label the age groups for which they are made. Why is it so?
AFSHAN AZIZ
Karachi
IN his column headlined “The bedrock of goodwill” (July 26), Mr Kuldip Nayar has repeated his accusations against Pakistan about its alleged involvement in violence in Kashmir. In all his columns he has been denying that indigenous freedom struggle is going on in the disputed state. He consistently supports his country’s stand that the cessation of ‘cross-border terrorism’ is a pre-condition to start dialogue to resolve the Kashmir dispute. We do not see any difference between his views and those of the fanatical people in power in his country.
Over six hundred thousand personnel of the occupation army have been on the rampage in the state for the last 14 years, killing, burning, demolishing dwellings and businesses and raping Kashmiri women. If they are attacked by the defenceless, desperate civilians, Mr Nayar calls them innocent. He sees the hand of the ISI in every attack on the state terrorists that have the worst record of violation of human rights.
The Kashmiris have lost about 80,000 men and women and children. Were they all Pakistanis hired and trained by the ISI to intrude into the state? The columnist must be knowing that there are 35,000 widows and 150,000 orphans in the occupied state, whose husbands and fathers were dragged out of the houses and gunned down. The bodies of hundreds were thrown in the suburbs of the towns and villages. If the people dying at the hands of the Indian armed forces were Pakistanis, how is it that the survivors are in the occupied areas? There are thousands of rape victims. Did the ISI send women across the Line of Control to be raped by the military personnel of India? Does Mr Nayar has any explanation?
The politicians of India, both in power and out of power, have been alleging that ‘cross-border terrorism’ began in 1989 and declaring that there shall be no negotiations if this does not stop. Mr Nayar, too, is not tired of saying this. He at the same time says that the Simla accord provides the basis for a negotiated settlement of the core issue. Can he explain as to why successive governments in his country did not initiate a dialogue when there was no ‘cross-border terrorism’ prior to 1989?
We know very well that India has no intention to settle the dispute. To make the offer under pressure of world opinion but to claim at the same time that Kashmir is an integral part of India only proves there exists no desire to engage in meaningful dialogue.
PROF MUKHTAR ALI NAQVI
Orlando, Fl., USA
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