| August 30, 2003 | Saturday | Rajab 1, 1424 |
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Biological impact of the oil spill
Gang-rape of minor girl
Ban on Indian channels
First things first
Mumbai blasts
Economic aspects of Shariat
PTV’s interest
JF-17/Super-7’s first test flight
MR Shahid Amin’s article (Aug 14) gives a one-sided view of events. The partition of India is one of the mostly hotly debated subjects. Thus, some facts are deliberately ignored while others are played up.
For many years it has been fashionable to criticize the Unionists in Punjab or the uncertain as well as erratic politics of pre-partition Punjab and Bengal provinces, while dismissing with a near zero politics of Muslim majority provinces of today’s Pakistan as a drama dominated by non-serious politicians. If one is driven by preconceived ideas and foregone conclusions, the result is the partial truth.
In most articles dealing with the formation of Pakistan writers lay great stress on Sir Syed Ahmad Khan’s educational efforts and on the role of Muslim minority provinces of pre-1947 India. While doing so, sometimes these writers disregard certain important facts of Indo-Pakistan history.
Sir Syed Ahmad Khan was a great pioneer of Muslim political revival, but it would not be correct to say that without him the Muslims would have remained an uneducated and politically naive lot. While Aligarh Movement played an important role in Muslim education, it would be unfair to give the whole credit to Aligarh.
After 1857 Muslim renaissance was a complicated process. It was headed by various great personalities from Punjab, Bengal, Sindh, the present NWFP, etc. If MAO College Aligarh produced Liaquat Ali Khan, Jauhar Brothers and more unfortunately destroyers of democracy like Ghulam Mohammad and Ayub Khan, Sindh Madressah produced Jinnah, Government College of Lahore produced Allama Iqbal, FC College produced Sir Mohammad Shafi and so and so forth. Bengal produced Syed Amir Ali and Balochistan produced Khan Abdul Samad Khan Achakzai.
The argument that had there been no Sir Syed, the Muslims have remained an illiterate lot is wrong. Statistics do not prove this assertion. In a survey conducted between 1882 and 1902, it was found that MAO College had contributed 220 out of a total of 1,184 Muslim graduates from all five universities of India or about 18.5 per cent. This means that even if Sir Syed had died fighting for the Muslim cause at Bijnor in 1857, the Muslims would still have been an educated lot.
But here in Pakistan we give all credit to Aligarh. Iqbal never went to Aligarh, Jinnah was a product of Sindh Madressah. However, one may say Aligarh played a major role in the education of the Muslims.
Another most distorted event is the Lucknow Pact of 1916. The pact, negotiated by Mr Jinnah, has been described by some as a possible solution to Hindu-Muslim differences. Closer scrutiny, however, shows that the pact was not as ideal a solution as it is made out to be.
When the Muslim League and Congress met at their joint session at Lucknow in 1916, the Muslim League delegation did not represent all Muslims of India. A very respectable authority, Francis Robinson, says that out of 433 Muslims, who represented the League, 400 were from Lucknow.
It was as a result of Lucknow Pact that the Muslim majority in Muslim majority provinces of Bengal and Punjab was reduced from 52 per cent in Bengal to 40 per cent and from 54 per cent in Punjab to 50 per cent. While Muslim minority provinces like UP got an increase from 14 per cent to 30 per cent.
Also, the terms on behalf of the Muslim League were drafted by a committee which did not represent the Muslim majority provinces. All the draftees were from the Muslim minority province of UP, which meant that reduction of Muslim majority in Bengal and Punjab was of no consequence for these men.
Thus, if some analysts claim that Muslims of Muslim minority provinces played a greater role in the creation of Pakistan, they must not forget how the Muslim majority provinces of the present Pakistan were betrayed by Muslim delegates from the Muslim minority provinces at Lucknow. These are indisputable facts.
This was not a time in which Mr Jinnah’s ideas were accepted without being questioned. Thus, many veteran Muslim politicians like Sir Mohammad Shafi opposed this pact and disassociated the Punjab Muslim League from the central body. Another veteran Muslim League leader, Sir Fazal-i-Hussain, also opposed this pact while Chaudhry Nawab Din, a founder member of the Muslim League from Bengal, also opposed this arrangement.
When someone condemns the Unionists in Punjab, he forgets that the compromises made at Lucknow, in which Muslim majority was reduced to parity, left the Punjabi Muslims with no choice but to form the Unionist parties and ally with the non-Muslims. Similarly, with no choice left, the Bengali Muslims had to form coalitions with Hindu parties like the Hindu Mahasabha and Congress. The fault lay with men who surrendered Muslim majority at Lucknow in 1916.
Some analysts say partition would mean leaving traditional centres of Muslims. This is fallacious. Delhi, the Muslim capital, had already been under Hindu Maratha occupation since 1780s when the Bengal army of East India Company liberated the Muslims of Delhi from Maratha occupation in 1803. Further, the 1937 election proved that Muslim political centre had shifted from Muslim minority to Muslim majority provinces of India. Thus, while it is true that Muslims of Muslim minority provinces played a major role in the Muslim League politics, there would have been no Pakistan if the Muslims of the Muslim majority provinces of Sindh, Bengal, Punjab, Frontier and Balochistan had not voted for the Muslim League in 1946 election, referendum or Shahi Jirga.
Lastly, there is no doubt that Mr Jinnah had secular ideas. Evidence proves that religious slogans were used to galvanize the Muslim masses in the 1946 election. Similarly, the partition killings increased religious hatred. The 1947-48 War, 1965 War, 1971 War and the Afghan Jihad repeatedly saw use of religion to galvanize the masses with Jihad as Pakistan armed forces motto. Thus, religious parties emerged as a serious factor in 1977 and by 2003, as the MMA proves, they are a force to be reckoned with.
While it may be academically good to state that Mr Jinnah wanted a secular Pakistan, there is no doubt that religion today is an important factor in Pakistan politics.
A. H. AMIN Lahore
THE Sindh chief minister’s claim that the beach in Karachi will be cleaned and opened to the public in 12 days sounds beyond reason. I wonder if it is sheer ignorance or an attempt to camouflage the facts.
The authorities have no idea as to what happens to the oil spilled from an offshore tanker. The fact remains that about 25 per cent of chemicals, making up the crude oil, are volatile and they evaporate within three months, but not before causing air pollution and destroying marine life.
Relatively non-volatile compounds that are lighter than water float on the surface, where they are broken down by petroleum digesting bacteria. This is how 60 per cent of the chemicals come to an end.
The remaining 15 per cent that consist of heavier compounds stick together and turn into thick resin which settles down at the bottom of the sea. A point to remember is that it is not just the fish that is killed by oil but also the algae in the sea, that helps sustain life. That too is destroyed. The seagulls that feed on fish suffer from anaemia, immune system suppression, tissue damage, insulation defects and hormonal imbalance. It will take anything between two to 10 years for the sea to come back to normal.
For the moment the meanwhile preventive, legislative and remedial measures ought to be taken by the government and port authorities and the Environment Protection Agency. The Law of 3Ps (polluter pay the price) should be implemented, as it has been done in other countries. According to this law the fine that is imposed can be to the tune of $350 million. The giant oil company Exxon had to pay $3.5 billion for clean-up, and an additional $1.5 billion for criminal fee and recovery fee on account of history’s greatest oil spill of 11 million tons from the tanker Exxon Valdez in 1989 in Alaska. Bioremediation technique was adopted for cleaning up operation. Certain organisms were employed to serve as ‘anti-polluters’. Oil-digesting micro-organisms modified by genetic engineering and recombinant DNA technology were used to eliminate oil spills and reducing subsequent environmental damage.
Environmentalists and microbiologists from the Pakistan Institute of Molecular Genetics should come forward and give practical demonstration of their knowledge to use the technique of bioremediation in our polluted sea.
DR TARIQ GAZDAR
Karachi
I WAS shocked by the news the other day that a 10-year old girl was kidnapped and gang-raped by unknown persons in Karachi.
It seems that no law exists in the country, as rapists are freely allowed to rape daughters of Pakistan, whether it is in the vicinity of Aladin Park or Model Colony of Karachi.
The inspector-general of police must ensure arrest of the culprits as soon as possible in order to provide justice to the victims.
The rapists should be tried in a special court and awarded exemplary punishment.
SYED A. MATEEN
Karachi
THIS is with reference to the editorial published on Aug 23. The plain fact is that the ban on Indian channels is a policy issue which PEMRA is implementing. It is untrue that PTV has made its profits owing to the ban on Indian channels, because Pakistan advertising is shared at best by Pakistan channels in the private sector. This will promote healthy competition within and raise their standards. Competition has to be among equal opportunities and resources. Indian culture is inherently more permissive and liberal as compared to accepted Pakistan social norms, and their market base also is much larger.
On these two counts, there can be no fair competition and, therefore, not relevant. It indeed is a matter of opinion as to what constitutes vulgarity, and precisely for this reason, the authority, charged with the responsibility, has to devise regulation, which must be complied with in a civilized society. Policies are devised keeping in view several factors which include genuine interests of various stake-holders, software content and its sources.
PEMRA supports the view that we must raise our programming standards for cultural and intellectual enrichment, which is why its (PEMRA’s) content-related policies place emphasis on the point. Having said this, we ought to recognize that in view of the country’s literacy levels and tens of millions being in an impressionable age, they require guidance rather than blind- folded free choice, at this point of time. With improvement in literacy and the educational environment, a time will indeed come when the viewer would attain enough maturity to exercise correct judgment.
PEMRA has devised rules, regulations and code of ethics, which most CTV operators are violating by showing uncensored and unauthorized foreign channels. As for the foreign channels, they must first obtain licence for distribution in Pakistan from PEMRA, for which they must comply with certain conditions and requirements. It is then that only those channels can be accessed by cable TV operators who have a valid licence from PEMRA for authorized distribution. On the pretext of providing entertainment, no one can be allowed to violate the code.
MUHAMMAD SALEEM
Dy. General Manager (PR), PEMRA,
Islamabad
PRESIDENT Gen Pervez Musharraf has stated at the inauguration of Ghazi Brotha power project that both Kalabagh and Bhasha dams would have to be built in national interest, and feasibility of the latter would be completed next June when it would be time to decide which dam to build first.
Feasibility of the Kalabagh dam is already completed as one of the best sites available to us. As such there ought to be priority one for the Kalabagh dam while there are many ifs and buts in the case of the Bhasha dam being located in a disputed area, which is also seismic.
Moreover, water at Bhasha is one half in volume to that at the Kalabagh site where the post-Tarbela monsoon rains and the Kabul river provide additional water. There could be no two opinions about the higher priority of the Kalabagh dam, of which the feasibility study was paid for by UNDP funds at a cost of $15 million.
Nationalists of Sindh and the NWFP could raise an objection to the Kalabagh dam but the president should not bow to the demand of a minority in Pakistan and walk in the footsteps of Ayub Khan who dismissed the objections of M. A. Khuhro to the the Tarbela dam. If Ayub had not built Tarbela and Mangla, we would have been reduced to begging our daily bread from all over the world.
The general must gather courage and start building the Kalabagh dam on priority, without dilly-dallying till June next to decide which dam to build first.
DR MUHAMMAD YAQOOB BHATTI
Lahore
THE intrinsically secular fabric of India has received a resounding endorsement in the American press following the serial killings by terrorist bombings in Mumbai: “At JJ Hospital about 200 people, Hindu and Muslim alike, lined up to donate blood” — for those injured (The New York Times, Aug 26).
If terrorists imagine they can succeed in targeting any particular community in the highly cosmopolitan cities of India like Mumbai, they are mistaken; 30 per-cent of the injured happen to be Muslims. The concept of ‘brotherhood’ so elegantly postulated in Islam and so sacred to it has been given the go-by in such mindless and totally irreligious acts of terrorism.
KANGAYAM R.
RANGASWAMY
Madison, WI, USA
THIS refers to the article by Mr Anwar Syed, “Economic aspect of Shariat”, published recently.
The professor has raked up a very controversial issue of “interest”, which has been analysed and debated during the hearing conducted at the Federal Shariat Court sittings. A cross-section of the community — economists, bankers, experts in Islamic jurisprudence, research scholars, including scholars from the Jamia al Azhar, Cairo, — participated in the debate. Some of the experts on interest-free banking presented comprehensive blueprints on interest-free banking dispensation.
About a year back, after having accepted the rationality and feasibility of the interest-free banking system, the State Bank of Pakistan invited offers from private and public banks and other business entrepreneurs to set up interest-free banks. The response was encouraging. Some private have banks successfully have already switched over to interest-free banking.
The Saudi government’s act of earning interest by depositing huge sums in European banks does not set a precedent and become justification for the rest of the Muslim states. However, Prof Anwar Syed’s plea for legitimizing the collection of “interest” under the “law of necessity” is not tenable. According to him, the justification for applying the “law of necessity” is based on the assumption that:
— God permits the application of the “law of necessity”.
— It is a global practice.
— Interest is an unavoidable “evil”.
The justification offered by the professor is illogical and irrational. This concept of reviewing, amending and modifying is a clear negation and denial of what the holy Quran says: “This day, I have perfected your religion for you, completed My Favour upon you, and have chosen for you Islam as your religion.”
MUNAWER FATIMA
Karachi
THE Pakistan Television Corporation’s annual fee for the domestic licence is Rs300. However, when the licence is not obtained before the end of August, surcharge is required to be paid at Rs30 per month.
Is this high interest rate justified when in other countries there is no licence fee, and even in our country private channels are offering better programmes without any fee?
GHULAM MUHAMMAD
Karachi
I AM a British citizen of Pakistan origin. I read Internet versions of various Pakistan newspapers, and have always been of the opinion that Dawn in particular gives much attention/space to the Pakistan armed forces’ needs and projects. For this reason, I am rather surprised not to have seen anything about joint Pakistan-China fighter JF-17/super-7’s first test flight (took place on Monday, Aug 25) in your paper today.
Although, no official confirmation of the flight has been released by the Chinese government or by the manufacturers (CAC), pictures of the first flight are circulating all over the Internet in Pakistani and Chinese defence forums. Since your paper has written quite a bit about this fighter programme in the past, I was surprised that you did not pick up anything about this monumentous occasion. JF-17 is an extremely important programme for Pakistan for various reasons:
1. India is spending billions of dollars in an attempt to modernize its air force.
2. Indian Air Force (IAF) always had a quantitative edge over Pakistan Air Force (PAF), but now they also enjoy a qualitative edge. Any air force enthusiast who knows a thing or two about fighter aircraft would be able to tell you so despite all the ‘credible deterrence’ statements by the PAF, which are there for morale boosting.
3. With a massive Indian defence budget and arms shopping spree, this difference between the PAF and the IAF is more than likely to increase further.
4. The PAF has been unable to obtain any modern 4th generation fighters from the West for past 15-20 years, either owing to American sanctions, financial constraints or the American tilt towards India. The recent American refusal to supply old F-16s to the PAF in spite of American green light to Israel to supply highly capable Phalcon AWACS system (includes US technology and, therefore, needs their permission) is a clear example of this.
In light of all this, JF-17 remains the only viable option for the PAF. This fighter would not only become the backbone of the PAF’s air fleet for the next 10-20 years but should also hugely reduce the current qualitative gap between the IAF and the PAF. Without going into the technical details, I can say that JF-17 should be able to stand on its own against most fighters currently in the the IAF’s inventory (including future LCA). In addition, the JF-17 programme is a joint venture between Pakistan-China (50:50 investment), and the Pakistan aeronautical complex, therefore, would get a substantial share of manufacturing in future. This would not only boost Pakistan’s indigenous aviation industry but also help Pakistan engineers to take on more bold projects in future.
Finally, this relatively advanced fighter (technologically) has a fairly good chance of becoming a good export model, which would earn Pakistan some hard cash. The JF-17 project is extremely important for Pakistan and its future defence. If this was an Indian project, I am sure that by now the Indian media would be giving it front-page coverage; Indian Light Combat Aircraft’s first flight (in January 2001) is a clear example. Therefore, I hope you would soon run some news story on this, which would be a big morale booster for whole.
VIKAS REHMAN
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