| August 7, 2003 | Thursday | Jumadi-us-Sani 8, 1424 |
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Special dollar bonds
No law, no order
New City Housing Scheme
‘Greater’ Israel
Why ban entertainment?
Employment policy of Sindh govt
Schools’ closure
New hope for libraries
PTV licence fees
Fazl-i-Hussain
THIS has a reference to the letter by Mr A. R. Akhtar (July 14).
Indeed the Traffic Engineering Bureau (TEB) was established many years ago with a mandate to bring about improvement in urban road network falling within the jurisdiction of the Karachi city. However, it has now been proved that either the decision-makers were wrong or the people running the Bureau were, and still are, out of sync with the realities and are having difficulty in understanding and implementing modern theory and practices in urban traffic planning and management.
Traffic is just like a stream of water (vehicles) flowing through the pipe system (road network). For any reason (and rest assured that there may be hundreds of reasons) a given segment (intersection) of the system loses its capacity to facilitate the flow of water, the pressure in the segment increases leading to a built-up over the entire system. Such a situation, if allowed to persist, can only culminate in either of the two logical scenarios, i.e. either the pipe bursts (chaos, traffic jams, delays), or someone improves or restores the capacity of the pipe, failing which gradually the entire pipe network gets under acute pressure.
Generally speaking, a facility is functionally as efficient and effective as the brain behind its evolution process. If we apply this principle on the urban transportation network in Karachi and its evolution ever since the inception of the TEB, one would have to agree that not much of a thinking process has gone into the fragmented, erratic and, most of the time, sub- standard quality of work, which is a pathetic reflection on the leadership at the helm of affairs at the TEB. If one solicits reasons from any of the TEB official(s), they would present their usual argument of “financial constraints”, which has been a cornerstone of their policy to hide the facts from the public.
The TEB has been spending millions over the past several years in the so-called, intersection improvement programme. However, these ‘improved intersections’ present pictures of pre- historic era when the construction techniques were primitive, functionality was secondary and aesthetics were non-existent.
One can observe poor construction standards, lack of geometric design elements, inadequate lane-markings and insufficient pedestrian facilities as integral part of our “improved intersections”. Just to cite an example, it is very common to observe two traffic lanes across an intersection not in alignment with each other. Even if someone wants to follow a traffic pattern, conflicts are bound to incur due to poor engineering designs.
While we do spent money, we do it in style to waste it. Not everything requires financial allocations. Several objectives can be achieved while remaining within the constraints and achieving the desired objectives. For example, who does impede TEB from ensuring that the traffic lanes are in sync with each other across the two ends of the intersection? Who has stopped TEB from ensuring that the construction contractor uses proper material that does not deteriorate within few months of its construction? Who does force the TEB not to incorporate standard geometric elements in the design of intersection?
All these require no additional funding, but devotion to duty, commitment to the mandate and an upbeat desire to excel in taking pride-of-performance. If these elements remain absent from the leadership and organization of TEB, rest assured that the state-of-affairs shall remain the same, rather these will continue to deteriorate creating more problems for Karachiites. Hence, there is an urgent need to review this situation.
Over the past decade, TEB has proved its efficiency and competence. It is high time to seriously consider an overhaul. There are several Pakistanis who have worked abroad and participated in running, operation and maintenance of urban transportation networks. I suggest that the city government may consider putting some qualified, competent and experienced professionals responsible for our urban transport network and let them prove that improvements can be brought about within the “financial constraints” that may give respite to the sufferings of this beleaguered city and its habitants.
This small, and to some quarters insignificant, step may lead to a giant leap in pushing Karachi into twenty-first century!
M. S. KHAN
Karachi
THE previous government had taken an imprudent action in May 1998 by freezing foreign exchange accounts in Pakistan.
Subsequently, Special US Dollar Bonds Rules, 1998, were promulgated in late July 1998 whereby these foreign exchange accounts holders were permitted to be issued special US dollar bonds of five and seven years’ maturity.
According to the Rule 3 of the Rules, the bonds were to be issued within 60 days of promulgation of the 1998 rules. These bonds were printed by the Security Printing Press in November 1998 and were issued, which have matured now in May 2003.
On approaching the State Bank of Pakistan (debt management department ), the account holders are being informed that the encashment and the accrual of profit would be due not from the date of freezing of accounts but from the date of issue, which was delayed due to reasons of late printing of the bonds and the rules. In fact, the government took advantage of these foreign exchange accounts from the date of freezing, i.e. May 1998 and, therefore, depriving the benefit of profit of six months would cause loss of millions of dollars to these unfortunate foreign exchange holders who are being punished twice, ie by freezing their accounts arbitrarily and also decreasing their profit of six months.
I appeal to the federal minister of finance and the State Bank governor to issue instructions to the State Bank’s department dealing with these bonds to provide the profit to the bond-holders from the date of the freezing of accounts and not from the date of issue, which was delayed not on account of the bond-holders.
The concerned department of the State Bank is misconstruing the aforesaid rules which do not prohibit the payment of profits from the date of freezing. The federal ministry of finance should hold an inquiry into the misuse of bureaucratic power by the concerned State Bank department of debt management which would prove disincentive to foreign exchange earnings.
ABDUL SAEED KHAN GHORI
Karachi
ON July 25 my three grandchildren, namely M. Waqas Jan, 16, Zarmina, 13, and M. Ovais Jan, 12, arrived by the PIA flight 0730 at 3:30am from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. After clearance at Karachi airport, they set for Hyderabad in my car, KIA classic 1300cc (BAA-057), white colour, model 2001. This car was being driven by my son-in-law.
When they reached Sohrab Goth about a kilometre from Gulzar-e-Hijri Police Station, they were overtaken by a white Daewoo car indicating them to stop. As soon as they stopped, a person in full police uniform, carrying SMG, alighted from the front seat. Two other persons also came out and the fourth one was in the driving seat. They asked my children to come out of the car. On their reluctance they were dragged out of the car and were frisked.
The three men took away their wallets, a cell phone and other valuables and then drove away with my car having all their baggage, leaving behind their Daewoo which they had stolen a day before. My grandchildren went to lodge an FIR at the police station. There they faced great hardship in lodging the report as lodging it took them about four hours.
Their car was snatched at 4:45am and they first contacted me at 6:30am. I tried to telephone police emergency and ACLC numbers and with great persuasion the message was relayed some three hours later, giving the robbers ample time to escape. I tried to contact
the higher officials but to no avail, getting a stereotype reply that they were busy in a meeting.
My grandchildren are terrified; they lost their passports and other valuables. They have vowed never to return again to their motherland.
Will the authorities concerned order the police to ensure recovery of my car and the belongings of grandchildren?
DR ABDULLAH JAN PATHAN
Hyderabad
I AM one of the victims of the Islamabad New City Housing Scheme. Along with my brother I paid two installments for two plots in 1995/96. We have been waiting for refund for the past seven years after the collapse of the scheme.
We were living in England at the time and invested in the scheme only because the NHA advertised it as a government project. In the newspapers, the then CDA chairman and director- general of NHA also called it a government project.
In 2001 the ECC gave approval for refund to all the people affected by the scheme but the only people who got a refund were the ones who had paid directly to the CDA. As we had been given receipts by the NHA, we got nothing in return.
For the last two years I have been told that the National Accountability Bureau is investigating the matter and the culprits will soon be brought to justice. Recently I was informed that as the people involved are very rich and powerful, NAB cannot do much about it. So, nothing is really happening. Does this mean that people like Sherpao, Haji Nawaz Khokhar and Iqbal Ahmed Khan are above the law?
Seven years is a long period to wait for justice. As this scheme was advertised as a government project, the government should take the responsibility for refunding our hard-earned money and also pay interest for the period involved. Otherwise, the Pakistanis like us who are living and working abroad will never be able to trust the Pakistan government again.
SEEMA GUL
Islamabad
MR Wajid Naeemuddin’s letter ( July 27) offers no concrete evidence in support of his contentions.
No Arab leader (or for that matter any other visitor) to the Israeli parliament has seen any inscription claiming frontiers from the Nile to the Euphrates. And in modern Israel, only a lunatic fringe believes in Greater Israel — those were the Zionist dreams of the last century, dreams that now hang in tatters in the face of reality.
I wish we would look at real challenges instead of aging international conspiracies of questionable parentage.
Let us be cool and logical about Israel and look at the issues on the ground, like 15 per cent of the population controls 80 per cent of the water resources, that the occupied territories must be vacated. And if recognition is a card that must be played to ensure Palestinian sovereignty and human justice in this troubled part of the world, so be it.
Whether or not we recognize the state, Israel today knows that were it to try to expand any further on the basis of its considerable nuclear capabilities, there is at least one nuclear state among the Muslim nations that is prepared to go down with it.
DR ADAM NAYYAR
Islamabad
THE Emperors of Rome are a byword for highhandedness, tyranny, cruelty and so on but they knew that they could get away with all of this if they made sure that the populace had two things — bread and circus.
In our land of the pure we have less and less bread for the people, thanks to uncontrolled inflation due to inexplicable government policies — but now the blow has fallen from on high on the cheap circuses that make the hard life of your average Pakistani slightly bearable. Once again it has been decreed that Indian entertainment channels are not to be shown by the cable operators.
While taking this harmless entertainment away from the people, there are some considerations that the authorities of Islamabad should take into account.
In every country of the world, governments put a premium on creation of jobs and employment opportunities. In countries like Canada, and until lately the US, one could get citizenship by investing money and creating half a dozen jobs. Alas, this is no consideration in our country. The Islamabad mandarins are concerned with higher things than with jobs and food for the hoi polloi. They don’t care that the young unemployed, with no hope of help from the government, are using their initiative and enterprise to set up these cable operating companies to entertain the public cheaply, and to get some bread into their homes (an alternative to this is an increasing number of the young unemployed committing suicide). In other countries they would be winning national awards for enterprise and for making the burden of the government lighter.
Another gripe of the holier than thou Islamabad types is that Pakistan’s culture is being spoilt by channels from across the border. Most of these channels are broadcasting material that is in a comprehensible language, is family-oriented and acceptable in our ordinary rural and urban setting. At the same time, television is allowed to show ‘western’ programmes that are in a language people cannot understand and, which show violence, nudity, sex and behaviour, which is totally alien to our grassroots culture. The authorities are quite happy to have the public inundated with this ‘permissive’ TV but won’t tolerate harmless middle-brow entertainment from a familiar culture which people love.
These above-mentioned ‘authorities’ don’t give us the news channels, which could give us a point of view other than the CNN and the BBC and would also allow us to see and hear what India is thinking and saying (which should be considered very important for informed thinking and opinion here), but will also deny ‘circuses’ to a hard-pressed public.
I have had representations from the people of Sindh against this step and I have said that it is a matter for the federal government which controls the media but I did say I would put their point of view across.
DR HAMIDA KHUHRO
Karachi
I HAVE been reading with interest letters on the US visa policy for doctors who want to study in America. While I have full sympathy for the doctors who are undergoing enormous mental torture, there is also another aspect of the problem.
About six or so months back, after a tough competition, some doctors were selected for higher courses in medicine by the Liaquat Medical University, Jamshoro. Some of them were from the health department and others from outside.
Those who were not in the service of the government have been admitted to the Liaquat Medical University, Jamshoro, for higher courses, but unfortunately the government servants have been denied this facility. Hardly one doctor, on average, has been selected from among 20 hospitals of the Sindh government. But the Sindh government is of the view that if one doctor from 20 hospitals will join the course, the 20 hospitals will be without doctors.
I would request the governor of Sindh to issue J-1 visa on the pattern of the American government to its own doctors for higher studies in their own province without further loss of time. Will the men in authority do something about it?
ABDUL BASIT CHOHAN
Hyderabad
WE write this in a desperate effort to question the validity of our education minister’s decision to close the schools in aid of the rain refugees. As tragic as the situation may be, is it necessary to make a child’s education a victim of every calamity and emergency in this country? Do we not have sufficient buildings in our province in the public and private sectors to meet the needs of this desperate situation?
Karachi and the province of Sindh have a considerable number of shelters, for example hospitals, dispensaries, mosques, factories, and industries, which could provide relief to the misfortunate persons.
The schools in the public and private sectors which are able to continue with normal schooling should do so, and students should be encouraged to contribute to the aid of these people in terms of relief, food, clothing and medicines. This has been done in the past and with great success.
In a country where we are desperate to increase literacy, we must strive to ensure that our children receive the education they deserve.
DR MARIUM FATEIMA SHAIKH
Karachi
THIS has reference to Ms Zubeida Mustafa’s article of July 23 and S. A. Naqvi’s letter published on Aug 3.
The Library Support Group consists of some like-minded people who have started supporting school and community libraries located in low-income areas. The target is to reach 50 schools in one year. A training programme for teachers/librarians has also been started.
In the next stage, children’s section in the Liaquat Memorial Library, which at present is grossly under-utilized, will be linked with schools located in poor localities. Arrangements are in hand to find a bus for this purpose.
The collection points for books, journals, etc. are: a) the Sindh Kachchi Abadis Authority, near the Arts Council of Pakistan; and b) Saiban’s office, GRE-319 (2-B) off Britto Road, Karachi.
TASNEEM AHMAD SIDDIQUI
Karachi
OF late, the PTV has been asking “responsible citizens” to have their TV licences for the year 2003-4 made immediately.
May I ask the PTV that as a responsible organization operating on commercial basis, why does it need to collect fees from its viewers?
Nowhere in the world, a commercial television or radio channel is allowed to collect licence fees from its viewers. The BBC in the UK imposes licence fees but it is not commercial.
Through this letter, I would like to appeal to Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, federal minister for information, to look into the matter, abolish the TV licence fees and ensure the sustainability of the PTV on its commercial income.
It would also be interesting for the public to know the financial performance of the PTV as a commercial corporate body by publishing its latest annual accounts.
NAZIM F. HAJI
Karachi
THIS refers to Mr Zahid Hussain’s letter captioned “Sir Fazl-i-Hussain” (July 17) in which he has referred to the ‘unfinished and unpublished autobiography’ of his father, the late governor Akhtar Hussain.
I would urge the correspondent to complete the autobiography and get it published as early as possible. He would thereby render great service to the current generation, as well as to the posterity.
R. R. ALVI
Lahore
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