| October 25, 2003 | Saturday | Sha’aban 28, 1424 |
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Farewell to agrarian society
Pensioners’ plight
Late payment of phone bill
Auto industry’s problems
Property tax exemption
Hayden & Lara
Ignorance of history
National Aids Control Programme
Dissenter’s comments
Doctors for Canada
A strange system
‘Keeping out Pakistan?’
WITH reference to your editorial “Getting even with Fowler” (Oct 19), I agree that moderation is moderation and enlightened moderation is like having a belt in addition to braces. In any case, I found the following discourse between Socrates and one of his pupils very appropriate on the subject of ‘moderation’ which is being talked about so much nowadays:
“Socrates:...a poor, virtuous wise old man wakes up in the morning with not a worry in the world. He doesn’t have to worry about being accepted, or being rich; now he is living a good life.
Thrasymachus: Well, what about if he runs out of money; what does he do then? How does he eat? Where does he sleep? He’ll starve and die in the gutter, that’s where. That doesn’t sound too just to me.
Socrates: You bring up a good point. Now I do agree, you need money to live. That’s when moderation is to be used. Using moderation, he will be able to buy just enough food to get by, and make just enough money to care for a house. He won’t need too much money to survive. Too little money is a bad thing, yes, but too much money is just as bad. But that goes for every desire people might have, from money, to sex, to eating, and yes, even to sleeping. Too much sleep can make one lazy, but too little sleep will make one inefficient. If we control our desires with a virtue such as moderation, there will be neither a surplus nor a shortage, both of which are bad.
T: Well Socrates, I must say, you have a very good point. But then again, while you (with all your moderation) are being executed, I will still be alive and well.
S: Maybe so, but a few more years of life for your physical body isn’t important. Your soul never dies, so it’s having a good soul that really matters. And you, you might be living on the outside, but on the inside you have so corrupted your soul that, in a way, you are already dead. Although a life of injustice might seem to have many benefits, such as wealth and power, a life of justice reaps one benefit that is much more important: a virtuous soul.”
If we really mean what we say about moderation, let us first start applying it at home, just as charity begins at home. Let there be the LFO but with moderation. Let there be use of power but with moderation, for instance, in the recent case of a poor constable who was just trying to do his duty in Lahore.
ENGR. A. RAHIM
Lahore
THE proclamations that we are an agrarian society and agriculture makes up a sizable portion of our GDP should not make us any proud. They actually demonstrate the failure and the inability of the state and the free enterprise to develop and create other more viable, more efficient and forward-looking means of production in the country. It is time our leadership in the fields of politics, business, trade and industry made serious efforts to come up with a workable plan to leave behind the legacy of the so-called agrarian society which is responsible for leaving a large section of our society at the mercy of ‘agri-chieftains’ such as waderas, chaudhrys, khans, sardars, tribal warlords, pirs and the likes.
One would also like to point out that our agrarian society is also guilty of overexploiting, misusing and wasting water, the nature’s most precious gift to us. The canals, watercourses and the flood irrigation system which is in vogue in Pakistan are the major culprits. There definitely are other irrigation systems tested and used in the world which, if put to use in Pakistan, may increase the agriculture production many times over from the same amount of water. Wapda and other related agencies are committing an unforgivable crime by not exploring alternative, more efficient irrigation/water management systems.
It is imperative to look for newer methods to get the most out of this highly valuable source of life rather than focusing on the most divisive and politically- motivated plans to build large dams that we don’t really need and which will be a drain on the national exchequer and harm the human life, the economy and the ecology in the southern part of the country.
We should spend those billions of dollars on developing alternative means of production, industrialization and building infrastructure for the future of our country. We should have been ready to enter the environment- friendly and more prosperous post-agrarian era by now instead of still lingering under the dark ages.
AZIZ NAREJO
Corpus Christi, TX, USA
APROPOS of the letter by Lt-Col (retd) Rafi Naseem (June 2) and the subsequent letter by Mr Sirajul Islam (Aug 29) I would like to clarify that the pending appeal against the judgment of the full bench of the Federal Shariat Court announced on 10/1992 was heard by the appellate bench of the Supreme Court in May 1999. According to the news (Dawn) on 20-05-1999, the judgment was reserved and since then nothing has been heard in this regard.
The discrimination in pension was declared as unconstitutional by various distinguished ombudsmen, a full bench of the Federal Shariat Court and the Supreme Court, and it still stays.
I on behalf of the Association request the press to convey to the Registrar of the Supreme Court the need to expedite the judgment of the pending appeal. In the past this Association had repeatedly made representations to the Registrar but failed to get any reply. The affected pensioners are those who had retired up to 30-6-86 and their number has already diminished. They are in the age group of 80. Their case may be expedited on humanitarian grounds.
M. MAZHARUL HAQ
Secretary, Pakistan Pensioners
Welfare Association, Karachi
Branch, Karachi
TWO amounts are shown in the monthly utility bills, i.e. the one showing payment within due date and the other after that. If, for any reason, a gas or power bill is not paid on time, the gross amount will be included in the next bill. But for the payment of a telephone bill this practice is not followed, i.e. if a phone bill is paid one week after its due date, the phone line is immediately disconnected. A subscriber then has to submit a photocopy of the paid bill to the accounts officer for its verification.
The accounts officer takes three to four days — at his leisure — to ask the department concerned to restore the line. The subscriber, in the meantime, has no option but to suffer.
There is, therefore, no logic in retaining the column showing the amount payable after due date. If the T&T department also adopts the system as practised by the gas and power companies, the subscribers will be spared the uncalled-for hassles.
RIZWAN SULTAN
Karachi
WITH reference to the letters that appeared in these columns (Oct 8 and Oct 10) criticizing the high car prices and putting the blame on the car assemblers for fleecing the public, I feel that both the letter-writers have little understanding of the realities of Pakistan’s auto industry.
To start with, much of the reason for the current high prices of locally-manufactured vehicles can be attributed to high government levies. Secondly, the problems that would be caused if the auto industry were to import reconditioned or second-hand cars are countless.
I feel a serious lack of realization on the part of a few citizens who are persistent in favouring the import of so-called cheaper cars from abroad.
Mr Mumtaz A. Piracha in his letter spoke of households that are deprived of cars and compared the production of our cars to that of Japan. I wonder whether he has taken the time to find out as to how many people will lose their jobs if the government agrees to the import of used cars. Our auto industry supports over a million people and has also shown a great increase in its contribution to the economy.
This is proof enough of the fact that the auto industry is flourishing and, if given some time, will be able to achieve the economies of scale that will help make cars more affordable. Why should we then insist on importing cars and allowing foreign countries to benefit on our behalf, when we are quite capable of producing the fruit and reaping it as well?
OMAR KHALIL
Karachi
I WAS very happy to read in your paper (April 2) that the Sindh government has allowed property tax exemption to all retired government employees and widows, but to my surprise when I contacted the Excise and Taxation Department’s staff, they said that the benefit was for the government employees only and not for their wives.
Throughout the service, the government takes the assets’ declaration of its employee, his wife and dependent children every year. The wife is treated as part of the family and declaration of her movable and immovable property is compulsory.
The burden of payment is always on the government employee (husband) irrespective of the property being in the name of his wife. It is only a precautionary measure to transfer the property in the name of the wife in case the husband dies first. There are several examples where mother is badly treated if she has nothing to give to her children.
The Sindh government should reconsider the case and allow exemption of property tax to the wives of its retired employees also.
J. HAMID
Karachi
MATTHEW Hayden rewrote the record books on Oct 10 after smashing a record 380 to break Brian Lara’s nine-year-old record of 375 runs. There is no denying the fact that Hayden played one of the most scintillating innings in Test cricket.
There is so much cricket going on these days and specially with weaker oppositions like Zimbabwe and Bangladesh being granted Test status, there had always been a possibility of Lara’s record being broken. Sooner or later, one can expect that Saeed Anwer’s record score of 194 in a One-Day International will be broken as well.
Hayden’s innings was a prime effort, but if the situation and circumstances in which the runs were scored is taken into consideration, I think Lara’s innings was a supreme effort and arguably better than Hayden’s.
UMAIR BROHI
Sharjah, UAE
THE other day I met a Bangladeshi citizen who has come to Pakistan to acquire higher education. We discussed the factors that led to the disaster of 1971. To my surprise he had knowledge of all events that had taken place before and during the fall of Dhaka.
In contrast, I had very little knowledge. He claimed that the number of civilian Bangladeshis “killed” by the army was between 2.5 million or three million (government statistics). I was stunned at this but I had no authentic figures of my own to prove his figures fictitious and bogus.
The reason behind this is that as a student and as a Pakistani we have never been told the truth about the tragedy. Today, almost no one from my generation is bothered with the estranged part of Pakistan. My friends are better informed of new Indian movies and upcoming actors than the role played by Mujibur Rahman and Gen Yahya Khan in the breakup of Pakistan.
It was the responsibility of the government of that time to shed light on the factors that led to the catastrophe, and to bring to book those who had a hand in it. Was the revelation of Hamood-ur-Rehman Commission report 25 years after the tragedy when all the main characters had been punished by nature sufficient?
Similarly, our textbooks do not contain enough information about this national tragedy. One can find pages filled with the accomplishments of the heroes of 1947 and 1965 but nothing about the breakup of Pakistan.
SABEEN JAMIL
Karachi
A RECENT supplement in your newspaper highlighted the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Pakistan, as well as the government’s efforts to fight the deadly disease. The number of patients dying of AIDS was reported as 2,020, and HIV cases 74,000.
The ministry of health has also launched a National AIDS Control Programme with an amount of two billion rupees. The objectives of the programme have been described as “to prevent HIV from becoming established in the vulnerable population and spreading to the general adult population, while avoiding stigmatization of the vulnerable populations”. This unfortunately totally ignores the treatment of the already affected patients. Its claim that there is no treatment available in the country is patently wrong. At present, availability of anti-retro viral drugs has helped prevent the spread of the disease and helped the patients to live almost normal life.
The prices of these drugs have recently fallen dramatically. The latest agreement between the Clinton Foundation and generic producers of these drugs have nearly halved, the lowest price to date being 0.36$ per day. With this reduction in the prices of ARV drugs, the WHO’s objective of reaching three million poor patients by 2005 has become much more feasible.
I request the ministry of health to include treatment of patients suffering from HIV/AIDS as one of the major objectives of the NACP.
PROF TARIQ IQBAL BHUTTA
Lahore
I WAS watching Tory Party leader Ian Duncan Smith speak on Sky News, addressing the party conference the other day. To my utter surprise, he unleashed a volley of the most scathing and scalding remarks against Prime Minister Tony Blair in regard to his policies, both at home and outside.
Mr Smith put down all the prime minister’s explanatory statements as ‘blatant lies’. This he said not in front of many viewers abroad but millions inside the United Kingdom.
British political, educational institutions, etc., are so strong that anyone can criticize the head of government, and that too without the slightest possibility of being made to pay for that on the part of the government.
SALMAN BASHIR
Lahore
I CAME across an article in Dawn’s issue of Sept 28 describing the hardship being faced by over 1,200 unemployed doctors in Balochistan.
Various provinces in Canada have a severe shortage of medical practitioners, particularly general practitioners/family physicians. For the past several years there has been some difficulty in getting foreign degrees, examinations and qualifications approved by various Canadian regulatory agencies. The situation is changing now and the Canadian government is encouraging foreign physicians to move to regions where people do not have access to doctors.
Given the fact that there are such large numbers of unemployed doctors in Pakistan, many should arrive in Canada for career opportunities. It would benefit both Pakistan and Canada.
MOHAMMED ELAHI
Brampton, Ontario, Canada
MINISTERS at both the provincial and federal levels are supposed to make policies while their secretaries are supposed to help formulate those policies and implement them. In our country, unfortunately, both these tiers have no relevant knowledge and experience of the department they head as both are non-technical.
In this era of specialization, I think Pakistan is the only country in the world which is trying to move forward with non-technical people at the helm of affairs. No wonder that we have not progressed.
JAWAD NAZIR
Nottingham, UK
THERE is a perceived view as expressed in the article “Keeping out Pakistan?” (Oct 21) by Mr Shahid Javed Burki and also prevailing in the minds of people of Pakistan that India stops Pakistan from being part of regional alignments like Asean and the Commonwealth. This is like saying that the grapes are sour.
What will expedite Pakistan’s inclusion in the seating of regional groups? One word answer to that is “representation”.
The only notable person from Pakistan on the economic front is Mr Shaukat Aziz. Please give this man a break. He already has his hands full in reviving the economy, dealing with US Senate’s approvals, the IMF and the WB.
What Pakistan needs is a global Pakistani who will fight for economic and social reforms in his country and act as its ambassador in foreign land. The operative word being fight, but I think everyone has given up, as notably seen with Pakistani students studying overseas. They are happy to be part of Indian student federations and make no effort in representing their country; they should form the first tier of representation. The expat community the second tier, the intellectual and reformist the third tier, the general public the fourth tier and if any space is left it should be given to the politicians.
And to do this you need another reform and one word for that is “democracy”. Until and unless steps are taken towards this end, no regional economies will entertain Pakistan. It seems harsh but that’s the reality. Money follows money, success follows success and thriving economies follow booming economies.
ELLORA SHETH MEHTA
Sydney, Australia
THIS refers to the article “Keeping out Pakistan?” I welcome most of the writer’s arguments and wish him and Pakistan all the best.
But I think that being a neighbouring country it will be in India’s own favour if Pakistan becomes prosperous. I also feel that if Pakistan betters its economy, it will be able to check the growing extremism in the country.
I wonder why the writer thinks that India wants to keep Pakistan out of Asean. India is itself a newcomer to this group. Moreover, two major countries of the association — Malaysia and Indonesia — are so-called brother Muslim countries of Pakistan. Why does then Pakistan need China’s help to get into Asean?
I think the writer should not mislead the people of Pakistan by equating political issues with economic issues. It is a well-known fact that Pakistan has very little to offer as far as its economy is concerned. It needs to place more focus on its economy and try to put its own house in order before aspiring to become a member of international economic forums such as Asean.
SANTOSH GAIROLA
Taiwan (via email)
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