| November 9, 2003 | Sunday | Ramazan 13, 1424 |
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Old NED Engineering College
Mahathir and historical facts
Water holiday system
American terrorism in Iraq
Cinema industry
Street vendors
Meat crisis in Karachi
‘Honour’ killings
Savings
PIA’s fleet plan controversy
Even after the restoration of the water supply from the Hub source, there is acute water scarcity in all the blocks of KDA Scheme 5, Kahkashan. For the last several days, no water has been supplied to some of the blocks, adding to the miseries of the citizens, without any consideration for the month of Ramazan.
HOW many software companies enter the domestic market every month? The number itself may reflect tremendous growth of the national IT industry, but the direction these companies are headed for makes a 178-degree angle to the one pursued by rapidly emerging technology companies from India and China to countries in North America and Europe.
The basically-flawed vision of software firms in Pakistan is to acquire as many projects as possible with a total lack of focus on the quality itself. Merely promoting acquiring projects from North America and Europe is itself a major flaw in our national IT promotional campaigns, devised at the ministry of science and technology.
I am not saying it is a wrong policy, but it needs correction. We have never been told that to gain an edge in any market, particularly the IT sector, we need to innovate and improve the technologies, to explore new sectors such as wireless, to use critical resources such as the Internet, etc.
For technology startups in North America, the first step to formulating an effective business plan is to put in a unique product or a service idea that will challenge the existing market to a limit where companies have to either re-innovate or exit. To get a clearer picture, let us take an oversimplified example. There was never as much competition in the search engine industry as it is now involving ever increasingly popular Google. Google built a search engine technology that is more robust and scalable than any other, implementing patented PageRank technology, using much more optimized indexing model and aggressively targeting the entire Internet world.
It is Google’s technology innovation, a unique approach to the market and a highly revamped strategy that has got it to an estimated worth of $15 billion, triggering a fierce competition for evergreen leaders such as Yahoo! and MSN Search that are gobbling other search engines such as Overture to live up to the competition.
Now consider for a moment that Google, which had to start from scratch, was a Pakistani innovation. Certainly, $15 billion would have been a fortune for the economy as a whole. We desperately need a few innovations like these to strongly position our IT industry in a highly competitive global technology market.
For this, our IT policymakers will have to create and finance technology research facilities instead of promoting and providing funds for project-based software houses. Project-based market might return pure economic profits in the short run, but that certainly is detrimental to our national IT cause in the long run.
ARIF AYUB
Philadelphia, PA,
USA
I REFER to the letter by Mr S. M. H. Rizvi (Nov 5) urging the government to order restoration of the building which once housed the NED Engineering College.
Historically, the building belongs to the D. J. College which owes its existence to the efforts of Bulchand Dayaram and Daulatram Jethamal, the foundationstone of which was laid by Lord Dufferin, Viceroy of India, on Nov 14, 1887, on a map prepared by architect J. Stratchan, the then secretary of Karachi Municipality.
That the founders evidently had in mind the development of higher education on the science side may be gauged from the fact that the very first two principals of this institution were science-men. Both Dr R. M. Walmsley and Dr M. J. Jackson were among the first 12 DScs of London University, and cherished the hope that they would be able to help in its development, particularly on the science side, not only in pure but also in applied science.
The engineering branch of D. J. College, started by principal Dr M. L. Jackson in its early years and housed in the D. J. compound, was transferred into a full-fledged engineering college by the efforts of principal S. C Shahani in 1922 and generous donations of a few philanthropists in obtaining its recognition from Bombay University. This suggests that the NED Engineering College was a part of the D. J. College.
The D. J. Sindh College had engineering classes, which matured into the NED Civil Engineering College in 1922. The NED Engineering College was housed in the same compound and governed by the same board of governors.
The NED College has no separate building. It was housed in the rear portion of the D. J. College. No separate plot was bought for it. The two colleges were in fact the part of the one unit.
The NED Engineering College has long been shifted to its new campus on Sept 30, 1975, and has become a university. The principal of D. J. College lodged the claim for the return of NED College building.
On the initiative of D. J. alumni, renowned scientist Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan, an alumnus of D. J. College, has already taken the task of restoration and preservation of the D. J. College building. It is now the right time to return the NED-occupied portion to the D. J. College and the rest will be done by Dr Khan.
CHAGHTAI MIRZA
EIJAZUDDIN
Chairman, D. J. College Alumni Foundation,
Karachi
DR Mahathir Mohamad has only spoken historical truths which others do not have the courage to utter. It is a fact that the Jews have suffered:
(1) During the Crusades not only when the Christian zealots were transiting through Eastern Europe to reach the Holy Land but also when Jerusalem fell to the Crusaders who went on an unprecedented orgy of bloodbath, killing both Muslims and Jews.
(2) Both during the catholic rule in Spain and after the Muslims were expelled from Spain, so much so that a delegation of the Jews requested the Turks to intervene.
(3) And during the pogroms throughout European history until the end of World War II.
During all the aforementioned events, the Jews found refuge nowhere except in Arab countries in North Africa and Turkey. The Muslims never killed any Jew on a racial basis as European Christians did throughout their interaction with the Jews.
The Europeans Christians are causing the Arabs to pay for the sins they committed against the Jews. In addition, there is today not a single Muslim soldier, let alone an army, in any Christian country either by way of occupation or colony. Today, it is the Muslim countries which are being subjected to aggression and inhuman miseries whether it is Afghanistan, Iraq, Chechnya or Palestine, not forgetting Kashmir and the frequent communal riots in India.
It is American and European countries which are occupying Arab lands and trying to take complete control of the Arab oil.
The Arabs have immense deposits of money and assets in European and American lands. None of them is a net recipient of any cash. On the other hand, the American taxpayer is funding Israel to the tune of six billion dollars per annum plus what Jewish institutions and donors (mostly from Europe and America) contribute to Israel.
The Arab world today offers a vast market to European and American companies which can be expanded if the European and Americans stop their vindictive actions against the Arabs in particular and the Muslims in general. So, what untruth has Dr Mahathir spoken?
F. HASAN
Karachi
The KW&S department, the tanker mafia and the Rangers are controlling the water distribution in city and have joined hands to fleece the people.
I appeal to the provincial ombudsman to take suo motu action against these people and ensure relief to the citizens. It is very essential that timings are fixed for the supply of water to each locality. Such timings should be published in the newspapers.
M. AFZAL
Karachi
THERE are two kinds of terrorism that Americans are known to resort to: one, round-the-clock bombing of the enemy with tens of thousands of pounds of murderous materiel killing thousands of civilians in the blink of an eye and, two, sabotage of the kind the CIA resorted to in Nicaragua to unseat the democratically-elected communist government of the Sandinistas.
However, there is a third kind of terrorism that seems to be a craze with these self-appointed monopolists of democracy and human rights. It is psychological terrorism which involves mass gang-rape of women in the presence of their children and menfolk and the most sickening of sexual orgies by US occupation troops. The other form of psychological terrorism is carrying out house-to-house searches, making women squat down and searching their men at gunpoint. We see it almost daily in the press.
However, there are other kinds of humiliation which are too lewd for the press to carry. I have in my computer email directory pictures mailed to me from London of US GIs gang-raping Iraqi women, the kind that would make even the world’s biggest maniac throw up. There are pictures like those of a screaming Iraqi woman with one GI holding a gun to her temples and others toying about with her nude body. There’s one of a woman stripped totally nude and made to lean against the wall with GIs behaving in the most lewd of manner and deriving sadistic pleasure from her pain and screams. There are about a dozen of such pictures.
Now, the question arises: why do the American soldiers have to go making the most personal parts of their bodies public and baring their genitals for the whole world to see? Simple. It is to warn the world that such fate awaits every nation and its women if they dare oppose the US policies. It is not for nothing that the Americans are beaming such filth over the internet.
That’s the world’s most ‘civilized’ nation, the ‘citadel of human rights’, a country that during the Cold War never spared a breath to dub its communist adversaries savage, brutal and what not. This is their own commitment to human rights.
ZARINA NAQVI
Karachi
REFERENCE to the letter by Mr Moinur Rehman (Nov 2), I could not agree more. The government needs to get its head out of the hole it has buried it in, and realize that the sooner exhibition of Indian films is legalized and regulated the better for all concerned. It is rare to find someone not breaking the law in our country either by renting, buying or exhibiting illegal, smuggled and pirated version of Indian films.
All cable operators broadcast Indian films, along with Indian channels between 6pm and 1am, while Pemra is twiddling its thumbs, not to mention restaurants, clubs, schools and hotels which have special showings at exorbitant charges. When we can request the Indians to play cricket with us, why can’t we allow legal exhibition of their films and help save the cinema industry which is the box-office and the source of all revenue generated by films? The only blockbuster produced by Pakistan in recent years had lyrics, choreography and playback by members of the Indian film industry.
The standard of our movies will improve if they are faced with competition. Some of the most memorable films and music of our cinema were of the 60s when our creativity was challenged by films from across the border. Since the 80s, when VHS took the world by a storm, Pakistanis were exposed to films of better quality and audience stopped coming to the cinemas, as our films just could not match the standard demanded by our patrons.
In 1975 there were 110 cinemas in Karachi — only 38 of which survive, while the population has trebled. Does the government need further proofs?
ZULFIQAR ALI RAMZI
Karachi
I WOULD like to draw the attention of the authority concerned that a number of fruit vendors have cropped up in Karachi. They park their carts wherever they wish, unmindful of how narrow the road becomes because of them.
Such a situation exists in Nazimabad Block III. Just as you turn the corner from the main road at Nazimabad No. 7 to go to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, you will see about half a dozen fruit carts parked on the road. There is heavy traffic on the road involving buses, trucks, etc. Furthermore, just as you enter a lane that is going to a row of houses, more carts are lined to narrow down an already narrow lane. The residents are having an awful time negotiating that lane, either in a vehicle or on foot.
The councillor of the area is aware of the problem as he frequents that particular portion of the road and the lane, but he has taken no step to have these vendors removed.
The town nazim is requested to remedy the situation. Please remember that it is a taxpayer’s request. The vendors are paying no taxes.
JAVAID ALI
Karachi
IT was a welcome piece of news that the city district government of Karachi has put its foot down on the issue. The more ground you yield to unfair demands, the more they feel encouraged to bully and dictate. But then, once the bold step has been taken to call their bluff, the government should go the whole hog for it until their backbone is broken. Beef at Rs100, mutton at Rs200 a kilo! It is patently preposterous.
Another step the government should take is to ban export of all meat. In 1973, when the wholesalers bought all the onion crop and hoarded it, pushing up the price, Sheikh Rashid, the then minister for agriculture, banned onion export and bingo! Retail price crashed from one rupee to just four annas a seer (there was no metric measure then).
Besides, a government’s primary responsibility is the welfare of its people and the primary condition of welfare is that food should be cheap. Would you believe it that in Makkah, Madinah, Jeddah the price of a full meal of meat (mutton) curry and tandoori nan (as many as you need) has been just four rials for the last over 10 years.
S.G. JILANEE
Karachi
‘HONOUR’ killings have assumed a more sinister look, a politico-legal one: it signifies that both law and moral restraints have become ineffective as they are no more being publicly recognized, and so justice is a subjective and private affair.
It was the so-called Islamization of the country by Gen Ziaul Haq, which opened the door to personal and fanciful interpretations of Islam. The Hudood ordinances particularly aggravated the situation.
But the core damage was caused by the repeated overthrow of law by those who did so in the name of maintaining ‘law and order’. And yet they never really showed any true governance, for they inherently were incapable of that.
Helpless they might have been, but deep down the people never accepted these concoctions. Thus, they became disaffected about the legal order of the country. Honour killings are the result of this disordered state.
KHALID AHMAD
RANDHAWA
Lahore
MR Wajid Usmani’s letter (Nov 2) urging President Gen Pervez Musharraf to restore the original 16 per cent return on NSS certificates for old-age pensioners is the anguished cry of thousands of senior citizens whose only means of survival has been the profit from NSS certificates, which is now down to a miserable 6 per cent.
Those carrying out the IMF policies are either foreign-based themselves or else planning their retirement on distant shores. The president will not raise a finger.
S. ASIF MAJEED
Karachi
THIS is with reference to the letters on this subject published in your newspaper on Nov 1 and 6. I would like to place on record the facts regarding PIA’s DC-10 deal, done by AVM Waqar Azeem in 1985, while this country was under the martial law regime of Gen Ziaul Haq. This deal which was projected as a swap deal by Zia was, in fact, through a broker named Page Avjet of Orlando Florida. The details of this deal were printed in Flight International magazine in its issue of Nov 9, 1985.
Page Avjet bought four Boeing 747s and a simulator from CP Air. It also acquired four DC-10s from PIA, which were sold by Page Avjet to CP Air. PIA purchased four Boeing 747s from Page Avjet. CP Air president Don Carty is on record as having stated that his airline “expects to net about $20 million from the deal”. CP Air already had a fleet of 8 DC-10s and “with a 12- strong fleet of DC-10s it will facilitate the restructuring of overseas routes. We will achieve better operating and marketing flexibility with a known, constant and dependable product line”. PIA ended up with four old Boeing 747s, whilst Page Avjet retained the simulator and spares. The fact is that PIA never recovered from this highly controversial and grossly irregular deal. It ended up with four old Boeing 747s and lost more reliable, much better and comparatively new DC-10s
Zia’s regime projected this as a direct swap between PIA and CP Air, which it was not. There was a lot of hue and cry but Waqar Azeem and Gen Rahim were adamant to proceed.
The allegation that PIA has leased from Air Jamaica six old A-310s at $200,000 per aircraft for 10 years is a serious charge. These aircraft will be maintained by Air Jamaica at the rate of $400 per flying hour. This makes it more expensive since PIA will be paying around $201,000 per week for maintenance alone, based on a daily utilization of 12 hours. This deal has been finalized by another retired AVM, serving in PIA. If we are to presume that nobody else is involved and the deal is clean, there should be no hesitation in putting it on hold pending investigation.
PIA’s debt liabilities are already high with acquisition of 6 Boeing 747-300s and brand new 8 Boeing 777s. It needs to first raise its revenues and pay part of the debts acquired, otherwise it will go into liquidity and the fleet will be owned by the banks. The government recently injected billions of rupees, and the taxpayers have the right to know what is going on.
The PIA chairman and its board of directors need to review their decision to lease these old A-310s that have a range less than those owned by PIA. The deal must go through only if it is found feasible and is clean and transparent. There should be no repetition of DC-10 controversial deal, which was responsible for downgrading PIA from a profitable and reliable airline to an airline which was on the verge of bankruptcy and was saved only by huge injection of cash by the government.
SYED I. AHMED
Palm Beach, Florida,
USA
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