| November 16, 2003 | Sunday | Ramazan 20, 1424 |
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Farewell to agrarian society
Car buyers’ ordeal
Unemployed engineers
Bugging of Pakistan high commission
Profits on NSS
Housing finance facility
Deadline for old NICs
Mukhtaran Mai’s school
Bahawalnagar killings
Protecting women
Measures to alleviate poverty
IN his second interview to The Financial Times, London, on the eve of the forthcoming India-European Union summit in New Delhi on Nov 29, Prime Minister Vajpayee has claimed that the Gujarat massacres of 2001 were an aberration. As confirmed by Dawn’s Delhi-based columnist (Nov 10), the BJP’s spin doctors are hard at work to remove the warts from India’s image before the summit with the EU, which criticized the Gujrat genocide.
The Gujarat of 2001 was, tragically enough, not an aberration, but a continuation of the norm in the intermittent brutalization of the Muslim minority in India. The record has to be put right if there is to be any hope that the influence of the world community (the EU, the US, etc) would play any role in safeguarding the Muslims, Christians and other minorities.
Permit me to quote from the work on Indian Muslims by reputed Indian author, K. L. Gauba, titled “Passive Voices”. He has stated that “from time to time events demonstrate to the Indian Muslims that they are hostages whose life and property are at the whim and caprice of the majority community”. He also quotes reports by Reuters and AP claiming that about 20,000 Muslims were killed in Kolkata and its adjoining areas during anti-Muslim riots in 1964.
“Wholesale massacres”, in the words of Jayaprakash Narayan, also took place in Rourkela and Jamshedpur of which J. R. D. Tata, head of the steel complex, painted a horrifying picture. Professor S. Ray, adviser to prime minister Indira Gandhi, reported that about 5,000 Muslims were killed in Ahmedabad and Gujarat in 1969.
In the ‘80s, Bhiwandi, Meerut, Aligarh and Muradabad and during the ‘90s Kerala, Bihar and Meghalaya suffered a similar fate. A most gruesome massacre took place in 1983 in Nellie, Assam, where, in the words of distinguished Indian liberal, Salman Khurshid, “Indian secularism dug its permanent grave” (At home in India).
More than one Indian judicial tribunal has held the Indian police guilty, including the findings of Justice Saxena about the murder of many Muslims at the hands of the local police during the Meerut killings in 1982. Occasionally, Indian NGOs and leading Indians have condemned these killings and atrocities, without being able, however, to halt the pogroms.
The Indian People’s Union of Civil Liberties has now warned of Rajasthan going Gujarat’s way as a consequence of Narendra Modi having been let loose by the BJP government in the ongoing election campaign in neighbouring Rajasthan.
Indian Muslims have long realized that their problems can only be solved in cooperation and harmony with the majority community. Mr Vajpayee’s assurance will be credible only if his government is prepared to safeguard the elementary human rights of the minorities, even at the risk of antagonizing the extremists in the saffron brigade, and if his government masters the will to take effectively deterrent action against known killers, responsible politicians and guilty elements in the law-enforcement agencies in Gujarat and elsewhere.
MAHDI MASUD
Karachi
AGREEING with Mr Aziz Narejo’s views which he expressed in his letter “Farewell to agrarian society” (Oct 25), I would like to add that a conservative society like ours which is created by agrarian culture is not likely to bring about an overall change in its thinking. A conventional agrarian society would have to transform itself from top to bottom and recreate its entire social, economic, educational, religious, spiritual, political and intellectual structures.
It took the West almost 300 years to achieve this development. From the scientific revolution of the 16th century till the industrial revolution of 19th century, there were new inventions in medicine, agriculture, communication and industry.
Modernization of society involves social and intellectual changes. Its watchword is efficiency. The ideal of democracy, pluralism, tolerance and human rights is dictated by the needs of the modern state.
Where modern ideas had time to filter down gradually to all classes of society in Europe, in the agrarian society only a small number of privileged upper class could receive modern western education. The vast majority is left to rot in the old agrarian ethos. Society is divided and neither side can understand the other. Those left outside the modernizing process have the disturbing experience — sinking loss of identity.
The western states in various ways colonize the agrarian countries to draw them in their commercial network. The colonized country provides raw material for export, which is fed into European industries. In return, it receives manufactured goods, which means that the local industries would be ruined.
Globalization has further aggravated the situation for the developing countries. Forcing a developing country to open itself up to imported products that would compete with those produced by local industries, that are already dangerously vulnerable to competition from much stronger counterpart industries from other countries, can have disastrous consequences, both socially and economically.
FAQIR AHMED PARACHA
Peshawar
THIS is to highlight major problems that car buyers have been facing in the country for the last couple of years.
What happens if you save enough money or get finances to buy a brand new car in Pakistan? The answer is: make the payment and wait for months for the delivery of your car.
Pakistan is probably the only country in the world where you have to make 100 per cent payment in advance against booking a new car and then wait for an unlimited time period to get the delivery. All three giants of the auto industry in the country are making bookings and the delivery period ranges from six months to 18 months.
Obviously, this is not for all; those who have enough resources can get delivery within a month or two. Even then, isn’t it mind-boggling to deposit around a million rupees and then wait for a month or two?
Car manufacturers keep the buyer’s money with them, earn interest for six to nine months and then manufacture the car using the consumer’s money. It is just not that, the prices of these cars are well-nigh double of the same cars in other countries. It is obvious that the industry is making money with both hands and the government is part of it.
This being the case, any automaker in the world would be interested in bringing its plant in Pakistan. Why is the government not lifting the ban on the import of reconditioned cars? If the government is sincere about reducing car prices, one simple solution is to allow competition in the industry.
ADNAN A. SIDDIQUI
Karachi
THIS is with reference to the letter “Unemployed engineers” (Nov 7) by Mr Sajjad Khan.
I can imagine the frustration among unemployed engineers and fully sympathize with them. As an experienced engineer, I suggest to them the following:
(1) Engineers who can afford higher education should go abroad to acquire it. The demand for highly qualified engineers is greater within and outside the country and there are, hence, many job opportunities for them. Moreover, doing doctorate has its own charm. You try to reach the frontiers of knowledge, and feel the excitement of it and then come to hold a prestige status in life, by being called ‘Doctor Sahib’.
Those who cannot afford can approach the Higher Education Commission for scholarships and guidance. Banks also provide loans for education. What is needed is an objective, self-motivation and dogged determination and you will get what you want.
(ii) Engineers who are not inclined towards higher education, or who need to earn to support their families should start work in their own fields, with or without money, near or far from home, and in any position, big or small. By doing this they will definitely earn, if not money, one thing, i.e. an invaluable practical experience. Also, the CV will not show a period of unemployment. Working, for instance, with any contractor or in any mechanical or electrical workshop will be good for career building.
I do understand that the above-mentioned steps are easier said than done. One feels awful being jobless. But this is life and these are the realities of life. The positive point is that every cloud has a silver lining and there is always a delightful spring after a dreary winter. Faith, courage and hope could get one through hard times.
ENGR. A. RAHIM
Karachi
THIS is with reference to the letter “Bugging of Pakistan mission” (Nov 14) by Syed A. Mateen regarding The Sunday Times news article about the bugging of the Pakistan high commission in London.
What was astonishing about The Sunday Times report was the fact that security at the Pakistan high commission was almost non-existent. This was demonstrated by the fact that visa applications were filed in open cabinets in the basement of the high commission, and even papers marked ‘secret’ were also filed in open cabinets in the offices of the military attache. Worst of all, the encryption codes to the messaging device were written on a post-it note on the wall of the room that housed the machine.
The Pakistan government is justified in askings why its high commission was bugged, though it is a close ally of the United Kingdom in the war against terror. However, the real question the government has to ask itself is whether its staff at the high commission or at the foreign ministry have the required level of professionalism to run the high commission.
MASOOD SHARIF
London, UK
WHEN I have to pay 10 per cent of the profit on my deposit in the savings scheme for the pensioners, it reminds me of Shylock demanding his pound of flesh.
It is cruelty to deduct this tax from the profit of pensioners, who have been hard hit by the drastic reductions in the profit rate on the national savings schemes.
I also feel a twang in my conscience about the injustice to several non-pensioners awaiting their turn, as they will receive less than I am paid on my savings. It seems the balance of justice in the financial department of the government is highly rusted and out of focus.
A PENSIONER
Karachi
A NEWS item in Dawn (Nov 13) draws attention to the fact that some banks are not providing housing finance to the so-called negative areas in Karachi.
I am also a victim of such a rule. When my son applied for housing finance for construction on a piece of land near Suparco Mor in Gulzar-i-Hijri Scheme from a private bank that provides Islamic banking services, he was told that his plot was in this negative list and he could not be given a loan.
As my son works as a manager in a large multinational organization and gets a handsome salary, there’s no possibility of non-payment or delayed repayment on his part.
I request the State Bank of Pakistan and the finance ministry to look into this matter and make sure that people in every part of Karachi have access to housing finance facility.
DR SYED HASEEB HAIDER
Karachi
ACCORDING to a report (Nov 10), Nadra has delivered 32 million computerized national identity cards since October 2001 and has warned once again that the validity of the old NICs will expire on Dec 31.
The population of our country is about 140 million, but only 32 million CNICs have been issued during the past two years. The question arises, how can the remaining people get their CNICs within the next few weeks? It seems unrealistic despite some improvements shown by Nadra offices all over the country.
Nadra should either ensure delivery of CNICs to the applicants well before the deadline or extend the validity of the old NICs until such time as all the applicants will have received their cards.
ALI ASGHAR MOHD. ALI
Karachi
IN its issue of Nov 13, Dawn reports that the government has failed to live up to its commitment to Mukhtaran Mai (the survivor of a jirga-sanctioned gang-rape in Meerwala, near Multan) to build a school in her village. While Mukhtaran Mai has used the funds given by the government to build the school, it still lacks teachers and other facilities.
I hope The Citizens Foundation, which also has the support of Unilver, will consider stepping in to ‘adopt’ this school in Meerwala.
ZOHRA YUSUF
Karachi
I WAS dismayed and grieved to read your editorial (Nov 15) regarding the killing of three people in an indiscriminate fire by the police in a village of Bahawalnagar the other day.
While our politicians and maulvis talk of Islam and enforcement of Islamic values, do they realize that the prime focus of Islam is on justice? Do they understand that Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) created a society in which accountability to the people and God was the essence?
When the people shriek sensing injustice, when they conclude nothing is being done to prevent crime, when they realize that the police are in cahoots with dacoits, they have no recourse but to protest. Devoid of an able leadership, they resort to violence. However, what happened in Bahawalnagar could have been avoided had the relevant authorities been more responsible than callous.
It is a fact that our country abounds with crimes. The percentage of unreported crimes is 10 times more. Too often there is complicity of involvement at both the political level and the state level.
When will equilibrium be restored? When will this realization dawn that the wealth of the state is the people, that it is their resources and taxes which sustain governments, that the government functions owing to the trust reposed in it by its citizens?
It is high time the police were taken to task. I request all those who fight to govern our country to reform our society at the grassroots level and improve living conditions for the masses.
SHABBIR ABBAS LAKHANI
Chicago, USA
THE measures recently suggested by various readers of Dawn to protect women merit some attention, but the real problem lies in our failure to inculcate “taqwa” in society. The holy month of Ramazan aims at inculcating this basic virtue which creates the inborn attitude of avoiding doing anything wrong in our attitudes and actions which is repugnant to the dictates laid down in the holy Quran and Sunnat.
We should learn from the great congregation of Haj, where millions of men and women throng together in close proximity on all occasions without a single such incidence. Why do they change in those conditions? They remain influenced by “taqwa”, the fear of Allah, the Omnipotent and Omnipresent, being everywhere and watching all actions and attitudes.
All other measures suggested will ultimately fail as they do in the most modern societies of the West.
LT-COL (R) HASAN A.GHAFOOR
Karachi
YOUR editorial “A candid commentary” (Nov 5) commenting on the State Bank of Pakistan’s annual report for 2002-03 has demonstrated the true picture of our economy when it says that during the year gone by the poverty level has increased from 20 per cent to 33 per cent. But the steps it suggests to address the issue are out of place.
Mere budget allocations will not alleviate poverty. The solution lies in the Chinese maxim that says that if you give a fish to a poor man, he will have only one-time meal but if you teach him how to fish, he will have meal for his whole life.
In Pakistan, poverty is rampant and has made many people, specially jobless youths, commit suicide out of sheer agony and helplessness. For decades, we have been trying to reduce poverty through IMF and World Bank grants, only to increase the number of the poor.
Alleviating poverty is predicated on making education accessible to every nook and corner of the country, making it relevant, sound, life-oriented, skill-imparting, activity-based, exploring nature, careful use of resources, preserving every drop of rainwater, re-using all available means which we discard as useless. The schools should teach how to generate economic income and how to re-use used matchbox sticks. We cannot afford to throw junk when we say that millions of our people live below the poverty line.
It behoves us to make the best possible use of resources available to us. Singaporeans have set a remarkable example of recycling sewerage water to its reservoir in a step aimed at weaning itself off dependence on neighbouring Malaysia.
A school is a basic unit where the child should be imparted two-dimensional education. Quality education has two aspects, i.e. tangible and intangible. The tangible dimension of quality education keeps its focus on enhancing the value of a person by imparting relevant techniques and skills in terms of his earning capacity or his acceptability in the job market. The intangible dimension ingrains a person with a sense of ethic, his purpose of life in the whole scheme of Godly universe, thus to motivate him to serve society.
AMIN VALLIANI
Karachi
THIS refers to the news report “Fund managers to invest $3.2bn in forex reserve” (Nov 5) wherein SBP Governor Dr Ishrat Hussain has rightly said that poverty in Pakistan is a serious problem and cannot be eliminated in one or two years. He is also right when he says that they can make only a dent in poverty.
The crux of the matter is that the key to poverty alleviation is trickling down of the income to the common man. But unfortunately this is not happening in our country. In a country where the minimum wage is still about Rs2,500 per month, the poverty will not be reduced, irrespective of what amount of money is put in forex investment overseas and the income utilized in the budget for development projects. It will indeed fetch some jobs, but will not alleviate poverty.
Some policy measures will have to be taken by the government and supported by local businesses to ensure that the overall share for the labour and the working class in the income of these businesses is increased.
NOOR ALI
Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
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