| August 3, 2003 | Sunday | Jumadi-us-Sani 4, 1424 |
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Good governance?
Trading with Sudan
PTCL staff’s illegal calls
New hope for the libraries
Sialkot jail tragedy
Death of Fatima Jinnah
Sectarian violence
KCR: some suggestions
‘Bushing’
Discrimination against Pakistani students
TAHIR YAHYA India
I APPLAUD your recent news reports which carry the sentiments for peace, earnestly craved for by the ordinary people of the subcontinent, which found a spontaneous outlet following the successful heart surgery performed on the Pakistani child, Noor Fatima, by the highly skilled surgeons of Bangalore, India
Doctors, whether of Indian or Pakistani origin, have no borders (medicine sans frontiers, as the French say). They are governed by the ethical framework of the Hippocratic oath they take before entering their profession.
Unfortunately, politicians and extremists are not governed by any such oath concerning the sanctity of human life or the inviolability of human rights and they can carry on merrily, therefore, with their belligerence.
We should remember, however, that doctors can only save lives in retail. A nuclear holocaust can take away lives wholesale. It is entirely obligatory on our part to ensure the safety and well- being of all our children and grandchildren and that they grow in an atmosphere of peace and harmony.
Let not the peace process initiated by both the countries recently be derailed by the mindless acts of a few.
KANGAYAM R.
RANGASWAMY
Madison, WI, USA
I WOULD like to thank and congratulate Dr Rajesh Sharma and the staff of the Narayana Hrudayalaya Hospital on behalf of the citizens of Pakistan on the successful heart surgery of baby Noor Fatima who travelled all the way by bus to the neighbouring country for the treatment.
I would also like to thank President Gen Pervez Musharraf for resuming the bus service between Lahore and New Delhi. I hope this service will be beneficial and helpful for other patients, both children and adults, on both sides of the borders where treatment of such kind and other is not available.
I hope this service will be the beginning of a bright and a peaceful future for both Pakistan and India.
SARAH KHARAL
Karachi
THROUGH these columns I would like to give my heartiest congratulations to Mr and Mrs Nadeem Sajjad for the successful operation of their daughter Noor Fatima.
May she lead a happy and a successful life. And being a Pakistani, I would like to appreciate the Indian people for their great support and love for this blooming little flower. We all really appreciate this gesture.
Karachi
ONE Pakistani kid, Noor Fatima, was operated upon in India and a few more will follow. This is great news and I hear that lots of Indians are coming forward to help children from Pakistan to be operated upon in India.
Don’t you think that this shows that Indians and Pakistanis are like brothers? This kind of support should always exist between the two countries even at the political level.
SRINI Bangalore,
THE president and all the governors at various levels have been talking of good governance in the country since October 1999. The public has become sick and tired of this rhetoric as it does not find good governance anywhere.
The common man gets ill treatment instead of justice in police stations. The youth does not get a job and falls prey to drugs or joins a dacoits’ gang or commits suicide. One does not feel safe at home or outside as dacoits, robbers and terrorists roam freely and operate at will.
A retired brigadier was recently waylaid in broad daylight in Defence Society, Lahore, and was deprived of his cash which he had just drawn from a bank. He called the mobile police squad which was standing nearby, but as usual they let the dacoits escape after a little chase.
Numerous such cases occur every day. The corruption level is the same as before in all the government departments and one has to grease the palms of officials to get the job done. At higher level, the common man feels that looters and plunderers (who have joined the government party) have become ministers. One such person has become the top man of a province. Some of them were in the custody of NAB and now are free helping the good governors.
More knowledgeable people say that loans worth about Rs30 billion have been written off by the present regime as these people towed the lines of powers that be.
The law and order situation is also not under control. The recent three Quetta massacres and the Sialkot tragedy speak volumes of good governance. We keep on constituting inquiry commissions without any results. No top gun is dismissed. The hammer ultimately falls on the lower ranks only where a constable or a clerk or a patwari is punished or dismissed. Those suspended are reinstated after some time with full benefits and the general public does not come to know about it.
A famous Chinese saying is: “The fish starts rotting from the head.” If the head is all right, the rest of the body would be all right. The effect of ‘good governance’ should be seen at the lowest level. The common man finds the prices of the daily commodities rocketing skyhigh. He does not get justice at his doorsteps, nor does he find a job without strong references or paying fat money at ‘right quarters’. He is asking the ‘good governors’, where is good governance?”
MOHAMMAD AZHAR KHWAJA
Lahore
PRESIDENT Pervez Musharraf’s recently-concluded visit to Maghreb can at best be termed an exercise in eliciting consensus over sending troops to Iraq and recognition of Israel by the moderate Muslim countries — under the influence of the US.
This is the impression one gets when analysing a cross-section of the media. Otherwise, what fruitful objectives could be achieved by visiting the countries with whom we have the minimal of commercial relations? If such was the motive, a delegation headed by our commerce minister would have been appropriate.
On the contrary, such potential markets as South Africa and the adjoining areas are neglected and thrown at the mercy of the manipulators who operate via Dubai by doctoring the documents to the detriment of both countries.
Yet again, a vibrant and prospective market of Sudan — a country with seven borders — which can easily absorb our light and heavy machinery, cotton and man-made textiles, rice, surgical and sports goods, plastic products, oil expellers, fans, desert coolers, washing machines and domestic appliances, leather shoes, chappals and sandles, and detergents and dundries — to say the least, is almost discarded.
At present, the Sudanese imports are open and against freely available foreign currencies from the market. One finds huge quantities of lots of articles of Pakistani origin but imported via Dubai and Jeddah. A meaningful trade protocol envisaging mutual exchange of goods — Sudan has long staple cotton, gum Arabic, oil seeds, raw and processed hides and skin, etc., which could be very productive for both parties. Sudan is an attractive bet. Habib Bank has a branch in Khartoum which could be effectively used for the purpose.
MOHAMMED AMIN
Karachi
THERE is a lot of high-sounding talk by the high-ups of the PTCL suggesting that they are preparing for competition with private companies after the recent telecom de-regulation policy.
Please note, even now, the PTCL has not been able to forget its old habits. In June it used (stealthily, of course) my phone 4852851 to make a couple of calls to Rawalpindi, where we do not have any friend or relative.
I would request the concerned PTCL authorities to take necessary action against the culprits.
The PTCL refrains from providing the record of local calls made, and it is suspected that multimetering is resorted. In view of the ensuing competition with other private companies the PTCL must review its not-so-transparent customer services policy.
1. Date 09-06-2003; time 12.29; phone No. called at Rawalpindi 2278843; duration 02 min-58 sec. Amount billed Rs54.39.
2. Date 09-06-2003; time 12.38; phone No. called 2278843; duration 02 min-11 sec. Amount billed 40.02.
I hope necessary action will be taken immediately and not bureaucratically, and like a good private company, the PTCL would also offer an apology for the hassle.
AMIR ALI ESMAIL
Karachi
IT was in November last year that Ms Zubeida Mustafa had lamented “Where are our libraries?” (Nov 27, 2002). As many as 10 to 12 library-minded people from inside and outside the country responded to her call and you had published their heart-searching letters.
It is now heartening to learn through her another article titled “New hope for the libraries” (July 23) that Mr Tasneem Siddiqui, director-general, Sindh Kutchi Abadis Authority, had already blazed the trail with no accompanying beat of the drum.
It is revealed further that 816 books, which were presented to five front-running schools in the kutchi abadis on July 10, were donated by a cross-section of concerned citizens. It is indeed creditable that all this was done from within our own resources.
I too have a few books, with which I wish to part. Kindly advise where I could have these delivered so that this ballgame gains momentum in the larger interest of the marginalized section our society.
S. A. NAQVI
Karachi
THE killing of three judges in a Sialkot jail by the outlaws is a blow to the credibility of the Punjab government, and speaks of the inefficiency of the police.
The police are not trained in handling such situations. Instead of conducting an assault on the prison, they should have requested the GHQ for sending men of anti-terrorism outfit maintained by special services group at a very high cost to the nation. They had the capability of reaching Sialkot within two hours.
The said anti-terrorism troops were successfully used in the Afghan embassy hostage drama when a bus of schoolchildren was hijacked. There are numerous other such examples.
I fail to understand the reason for using the elite police force. I was their training instructor for over five years. Their syllabus and training were designed by me. I don’t remember having imparted training to the elite police force to handle such situations.
An inquiry should be held and those responsible be given exemplary punishment.
CAPT (RETD) ASIF AZAM KHALIL
Karachi
IT was incredible. A tragedy occurred on July 25 within the Sialkot town jail resulting in the death of four judges and five prisoners. It was not so easy for the prisoners to get arms and ammunitions without the connivance of the jail staff. This was a preplanned attack.
A lenient action taken by the high-ups is incomprehensible since the event is purely of a criminal nature. It is to be dealt with only as per the criminal procedural code. If not, it would encourage other staff members to plan similar dreadful murders.
It would be appropriate for the high-ups to concentrate on the incident and show no mercy to the sacked officials under the law.
SULTAN ALI
Karachi
THIS is with reference to your report on Mr Sharifuddin Pirzada’s statement about Ms Jinnah and the Opposition’s uproar thereupon which appeared in Dawn of July 23.
It is an open secret that Ms Jinnah was murdered by an unknown assailant. For obvious reasons the story was suppressed by her close friends such as M. H. Ipahani who thought that it would be disrespectful to the memory of the Quaid if his sister’s death were to create a rumpus. It suited the government of the time also because it could ill-afford to be scorched by its ominous political ramifications, specially in view of the lingering bitterness of the last presidential election. But somehow the story was leaked to the press which resulted in short-lived street protests against the Ayub government.
The facts of Ms Jinnah’s murder were related to me by Syed Darbar Ali Shah, the then commissioner/administrator of Karachi, whom I interviewed some years ago in connection with my forthcoming book The Last Day of Quaid-i-Azam Jinnah, 1947-1948. Syed Sahib was an “insider” and privy to the preliminary inquiry. The murder was linked to a servant who disappeared after the crime and was never found.
Syed Sahib was unable to tell me whether the investigation was pursued to its logical conclusion or was allowed to fade out as in the case of Liaquat Ali Khan’s murder.
M. N. QURESHI
Islamabad
WE are all aware that the international media are running a systemic campaign to defame Islam. By killing their innocent Muslim brethren, the trigger-happy diehard religious extremists are playing in the hands of the Jewish lobby and making our beloved country a soft target for their nefarious designs. This also sends signals to discourage investment and plunge the country into recession.
The killing of a particular sect is going on unabated. Before the tragic incident of June 8 and July 4 in which scores of innocent and peace-loving Hazara people were massacred, a number of non-Hazara people had also become the victims of sectarian violence in Quetta.
But, Mr Ikram-ul-Haq, in his letter published (July 13), misconstrued the fact that because of their tribal distinction, the Hazara people were killed during the Friday prayers in a Quetta imambargah. On the one hand, he thinks that no differentiation should be tolerated among the followers of Allah’s religion but, on the other, he mentions that Hazaras are imports from Afghanistan, almost completely ignoring the fact that the Hazaras were serving in the subcontinent in Hazara Pioneer long before partition in British time.
Hazara tribes are rendering invaluable services to this country. The Hazara graveyard (Quetta) is adorned with the Hazara military officers and jawans, who embraced martyrdom during the wars of 1965, ’71 and Kargil.
TAJ FAIZ
Quetta
WE have been hearing about the re-activation of the Karachi Circular Railway for the last couple of years but with no result. Maybe the Pakistan Railways is not ready for this as yet. Perhaps it does not have spare engines and the bogies and the tracks are not in a condition to take the load of the train.
Why don’t we consider running lighter machines on the existing tracks, say a battery of LPG- or CNG-operated buses or lighter trains operating in tandem with rubber tyres? In Paris, lighter trains run on tyres reducing the noise considerably. A contraption can be designed to ensure that the tyres remain on the train tracks and can manoeuvre interchanging of train lines when required.
In Wuhan, China, two interconnected buses are electrically driven by an overhead electrical connection on normal roads and they can manoeuvre about 10 feet on either side. This feature will help the bus-train while they come to the existing circular railway stations, so that the bus-train coming from the other side may use the existing single track. Train engines are not made in Pakistan, but buses are.
The other option could be metalization of the existing tracks and use it as a circular road instead of a circular rail. The whole exercise from the repairs, upgradation of the infrastructure, development of the rolling stock and its operation and maintenance can be contracted out without taxing the Pakistan Railways.
S. NAYYAR IQBAL RAZA
Karachi
AMERICANS are fond of coining new words like underdog, yellow dog, Gerrymandering, etc.
Mr Bush started the war on Iraq in violation of all norms of international law, justice and morality.
This war and in future such acts deserve to be called as “Bushing”.
S. M. YAQOOB
Karachi
THIS is with reference to the racist point of view of Professor Mike Reedy of America’s Duke University that appeared as a letter under the caption “Misplaced suspicion” in Dawn of July 6. He has tried to explain his adversarial stance towards the applications for admission from a few Pakistani students by linking it to their religion, age and nationality.
The Duke University has a murky past. It used to be a hotbed of discrimination and up until just a few years ago. It disallowed inter-racial socializing among its students. It has, however, made concerted efforts to divorce itself from its past but the xenophobic comments of Mr Reedy portray the need for these efforts to be reinforced.
The arguments advanced by Mr Reedy smack of a discriminatory mentality and suggest that he is using the tragedy of September 11 to justify and advance his hatred of fellow human beings.
The job of a university professor is to help admit qualified applicants to a programme of studies and then teach them. He/she is not qualified to act as a law-enforcement officer and decide whether or not an applicant is a potential criminal. America has pretty sophisticated agencies to monitor the law and order situations. I am sure that the city in which the Duke University is located has its share of day to day crime, robberies, burglaries, etc. Does Professor Reedy make sure that every application that reaches his desk is not from a potential bank robber or a burglar? If the answer to this question is positive, then he is not concentrating on the job for which he was hired and ought to be fired.
Just like everyone else, Mr Reedy has the right of freedom of speech. As a matter of fact, the great institution of freedom of speech helps expose fanatics like Professor Reedy. However, by allowing his personal beliefs and thoughts to prejudice his work- related decisions when these decisions are crucial to the lives of others, he, in my opinion, has committed an act of discrimination, which is forbidden by the US Constitution. My sincere advice to those affected by his decisions is to move a US court of law and I have a feeling they (the affected individuals) will prevail, there.
In a civilized and sophisticated society, human dignity reigns supreme and a university professor must not get away with the dereliction of duty prompted by his discriminatory predisposition.
SIDDIQUE MALIK
Louisville, KY, USA
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