| November 25, 2003 | Tuesday | Ramazan 29, 1424 |
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Undeclared school holidays
Railways ministers
Penalty on KBCA
Churchill-Fleming fiction
Appointments on short notice
Poor mobile phone service
‘Unenlightened immoderation’
Increase in govt employees’ salaries
The bloodbath in Turkey
IMF and NSS
Pakistani movies and Indian plays
School syllabi
Traffic chaos
Sighting of the moon
BUSH afterthought of “democratizing” the Middle East post-Iraq, through a single speech, during his visit to the UK, is a new attempt by his Jewish-American cabal to camouflage their Zionist agenda to use American power to rule over weaker nations of the world and throw the agitating world off its track.
If Bush is so sold on democracy, why is he insisting that elected Palestinian leader is not acceptable to the US and its handler, Israel’s Sharon. Why not start accepting democracy in Palestine first? In the second part of this democratizing process, if all such democratizing countries will have to compulsorily elect leadership, cleared and chosen by the US and Israel, Bush should have the courage to come out publicly with that bottom line. Why let his Jewish advisers go around and flex their muscle all over the world, taking credit for that bottom line, which sends out shivers not only around smaller countries of the Middle East and the Third World, but worries Europeans too, where the rise of the new anti-Semitism is a sure sign of protest against the power equation in the US?
It will appear that the freedom that Bush promises to the world is not available to his own administration, as long as Jewish cabal is in business. Muslims will be doing a favour to the Americans by focusing on the Jew stranglehold on America and by helping free the US itself.
UK observers who met Bush in person and who heard his speeches were surprised at the difference between the person and his say. This is because he is reading what the Jewish cabal is scripting for him to read.
In the BBC’s Dateline programme, Yasmin Alibhai, a panelist, mentioned how when President Bush was sounding conciliatory, his original handler, the irascible Jewish adviser, Richard Perle, who was in the forefront of hawks that set Bush to go on rampage, was addressing another gathering in the UK and insisted that if Iraqi invasion was illegal, so be it. America can do it.
So the two faces of the US administration in the stranglehold of Jewish strategists, military planners, speechwriters, media manipulators and moneybags are nothing that the world has not yet woken up to and taken note of. It is only the US public that is unaware of the cancerous disease that it eating into the vitals of its democracy.
GHULAM MUHAMMED
Mumbai, India
I WOULD like to draw the attention of the authority controlling the management of schools in Karachi to the apathy prevailing in private schools.
It appears there are no set rules and procedure for declaring holidays in private schools which declare holidays without informing the public in general and the students in particular.
On Nov 17 (Ramazan 21) some private schools observed undeclared holiday on account of the martyrdom of Hazrat Ali (RA). Schoolchildren were picked up by private van drivers and dropped at their schools. When the van drivers left, it was found out that the schools were closed for the day. In some cases the drivers were re-called to take back the children but still many children were stranded because the school managements had to wait for quite some time to make arrangements for the return of the children.
Most of the kids had to face great hardship for no fault of theirs and the parents suffered mentally. Some of the guardians had to run to school to collect their children when they came to know of the school closure.
One can visualize how awful situation it must have been for both the guardians and students because of lack of proper management/administration. What were the high-ups in the education department/education director/head of the private school managements doing on Nov 15?
It also surprised us that some of the schools were opened in the same vicinity while some others were closed. This attitude of the schools shows that the government authority has no control over private schools.
We hope there will be no recurrence of such a bad situation, and the government machinery will take care of such mismanagement on the part of the schools.
GUARDIAN
Karachi
THIS is with reference to Mr Hafizur Rahman’s column “Railways ministers” (Oct 22).
I was information officer in the ministry of railways when a serious railway accident, referred to by Mr Rahman in his column, took place near Sahiwal in 1956. Mian Jafar Shah, minister for railways, rushed to the scene of the accident to supervise relief measures.
Anticipating adverse public reaction, particularly in the political situation then obtaining, Mian Jafar Shah called on president Iskander Mirza and tendered his resignation. The president read it, tore the letter and asked him: “Do you want to protect the people responsible for the accident by this cheap political gimmick? What is the constitutional office of the government inspector of railways for? Your job is to bring the guilty to book and not to take blame on yourself and let them go scot-free.”
Mian Jafar Shah read a statement, prepared by the ministry of railways, in the National Assembly. What Mr Rahman has attributed to Mian Sahib seems to be a figment of his imagination.
SYED AFZAL HUSAIN ZAIDI
Islamabad
RECENTLY a news report said a Sindh High Court bench had fined an NGO, Karachi Watch & Care Society, Rs20,000 for filing a frivolous petition and wasting the court’s time.
At the same time, should not the court penalize the KBCA (Karachi Building Control Authority) for wasting its time on innumerable (literally thousands of) occasions by allowing so many illegal buildings to be built, with the resultant frivolous and vexatious litigations by the builders’ mafia.
Even during the pendency of such cases, the KBCA leaves no stone unturned in wasting the court’s time by asking for unnecessary adjournments, deliberately not filing written statements/counter-affidavits on time, and by resorting to other shenanigans meant to buy time for the KBCA-builders’ nexus.
At the rate of Rs20,000 per frivolous case, the KBCA should be fined at the least Rs80 million for being basically responsible for the filing of at least 4,000 (a conservative estimate) frivolous litigations in the courts of Sindh.
SHEHRI
Karachi
I AM sure many people were touched by the anecdote included in a letter (Nov 23) by Mr Aley Bilgrami about how Sir Alexander Fleming’s father saved Sir Winston Churchill’s life when he was a boy, and how fortune engineered events so that later on in life Fleming’s penicillin saved Churchill’s life from pneumonia.
Touching as the story was, it is known to be untrue. Please refer to an excerpt from the following press release by the Winston Churchill Centre (in Washington DC):
“The Churchill-Fleming Non-Connection: The story that Sir Alexander Fleming or his father (the renditions vary) saved Churchill’s life has been roaring around the Internet lately. We must have had fifty emails about it. Charming as it is, it is certainly fiction. The story apparently originated in Worship Programs for Juniors, by Alice A. Bays and Elizabeth Jones Oakbery, published about 1950 by an American religious house, in a chapter entitled ‘The Power of Kindness.’”
Mr Bilgrami mentioned that he found this story in an email forwarded to him by his friend, and this just serves to remind us all that some verification of anecdotes represented as fact is always warranted.
Be that as it may, the fictional story was a good read, but just incorrect.
TAQI JAFFRI
Stanford, California, USA
THIS refers to Mr Aley Bilgrami’s letter. The information in the letter is not correct.
According to Colliers Encyclopaedia, Fleming was born on a farm in Lockfield, Scotland, on Aug 6, 1881. At the age of 13, he went to live with a brother who practised medicine in London, and found employment with a shipping company. He did not like his job, and when an uncle left him a small legacy, he decided to use it to go to medical school. As he had no university diploma, he passed a special examination and entered the medical school of St. Mary’s Hospital.
NOREEN MIRZA
Karachi
THIS is apropos of an advertisement, released by the Sindh Auqaf department a few days ago, seeking applications for vacant posts for assistant executive engineer and sweeper.
The department publicized these posts in two newspapers only — one Sindhi and one Urdu — asking aspirants to submit their applications and documents within 48 hours with the chief administrator of the Auqaf department at Dargah Mehmood Shah Bokhari, Hyderabad. The applicants were advised to come for interviews within two days after due date on Saturday (Nov 22) at 11am.
I would like to ask the officials concerned as to how it is possible for those who hail from far-flung districts such as Sukkur and Shikarpur to submit their documents in such a short time.
MASOOD AHMED ABBASI
Hyderabad
I HAVE been a regular customer of the Mobilink phone company since 2001, and till recently I had a good opinion of it. This company has caused me a loss of Rs10,000 to 15,000 in various ways. I had to buy a phone set, with a year’s warranty, through a Mobilink representative. But the warranty was not honoured when just after three days the phone set became unworkable. There were other small problems which the company did not attend to.
Recently I bought two cards worth Rs1,625 and fed the phone on them. After I had made only one call, the phone stopped working. On checking with the Mobilink centre in Multan, it was found out that it was a mischief of SIM which I had to change at a cost of Rs1,000. It was then told that the balance amount of Rs1,550 from the old SIM would automatically be shifted to the new one. However, after activation of the new SIM the balance shown as zero.
I contacted the customer service of the company many times in this regard but every time I was told that my complaint had been registered, and the balance amount would be transferred within 48 hours. It is about two months but the balance has not yet been transferred.
These experiences have changed my impression of the company from a good one to a bad one.
NAVEED AHMED KHAN
Sadiqabad
THIS refers to the article ‘Unenlightened immoderation’ (Oct 30) by Shahid Anwar.
It was stated in the article that “religion should empower, not enslave. It should enlighten, not make beasts out of humans”. That is all what religion tells us.
But unfortunately two schools of thought have emerged in confrontation to each other. One thinks that enlightenment could only be attained by bringing religion ‘forcefully’ into our daily life and, while thinking so, they forget that practising religion in daily life is only one side of the teachings of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).
Religion is not only a collection of beliefs but it covers all aspects of the individual, as well as of society. In other words, they have restricted the true meanings of Islam. The other side of thinkers take religion wholly as a purely personal affair, which, too, is not in accordance with the teachings of the Prophet.
It is time we rationalized religious concepts. After all, there must be sensible scholars on both the sides.
KHALID HASAN
Karachi
SPOKESMEN for the government are very vocal in admitting the need for providing relief to the common man but it seems some unspecified forces are keeping them from putting their convictions into practice. Most of the steps taken by the government go against these convictions or desires. It seems as if they (present government) are wilfully playing jokes with the public.
The announcement of a 15 per cent increase in the pays of employees has been converted into a practical joke for the employees of autonomous/semi-autonomous bodies, fully funded and controlled by the government. In the past all such increases were implemented in all such organizations as had adopted national pay scales, but this time organizations such as the PCSIR are being asked to stop these payments and recover the amount already paid.
It is simply hoping against hope that somebody will listen and attend to this genuine grievance of many. We need the help of your esteemed daily to knock at some relevant door. For an ordinary person, there is no door available to knock at; all the doors have been made knock-proof for him by the vested interests.
DR MUHAMMAD YUSAF
Lahore
Kemal Ataturk, the revered founder of modern Turkey, will be turning in his grave with the turn of events in his country which is witnessing a veritable Turkish bloodbath (Dawn news reports and editorial).
As you have correctly pointed out that those killed or maimed are mostly innocent civilians who have nothing to do with British Prime Minister Tony Blair or his Iraq policies. Coming to think of it, militants do not seem to need the western or the Indian ‘infidel’ for their killing spree.
Be it Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kashmir or Turkey, the majority of the people killed or maimed by suicide bombers are Muslims.
Moderate Muslims must ponder this deeply.
KANGAYAM R.
RANGASWAMY
Madison, WI, USA
MR A. Rehman’s letter under the above headline (Dawn, 12 Nov) throws ample light on the plight of middle- and lower-middle class people, affected by the cuts in the NSS profit rates on the advice (rather orders) of the IMF.
On an investment of Rs100,000 in regular income certificates of the NSS, a profit of Rs1,350 per month was payable, which has since been reduced to Rs576.
Not only that the profit rate on the NSS has been cut but electricity charges have also been increased time and again to meet the IMF conditions. This means the IMF first makes us poor and then provides loans to eradicate poverty.
SHAHID ALI KHAN
Karachi
WHO says Pakistan and India are different countries. I have seen Indian TV plays and couldn’t hold the “tears of joy” because they were very similar to Pakistani movies. The similarities which I have noted are:
1. There is no story.
2. The script is written on a scene-by-scene basis; the story of the next scene is decided after the first one is shot.
3. People keep losing their memories quite often.
4. Every now and then, some dead people come to life.
5. The same actors in every movie/play.
6. Frequent songs and mind-boggling background music.
7. People who are 50 years old look 30.
8. Everyone is fighting someone.
9. Women like them.
S. KAREEM ADIL
Karachi
I WOULD like to draw the attention of federal minister for education to the fact that there is no uniformity in the syllabi of private schools, most of whom have designed their own syllabi. So is the case with the medium of instruction; some schools use English, some Urdu and some have a mix of both languages.
The ministry of education, after consultations with the provincial ministries, should standardize the syllabi.
WAHEED FAROOQUI
Rawalpindi
NOVEMBER 17 was yet another horrific day for the people of Karachi as the usual traffic chaos was compounded by the blockade of some vital roads because of some religious processions. Hundreds of thousands of fasting travellers were stuck up for hours in huge traffic jams across the city.
In the wake of existing traffic situation of Karachi, do we really need all this? It is the responsibility of religious and political organizations concerned to devise some alternative methods for the expressions of their sentiments.
M. ZAFAR IQBAL
Karachi
SIGHTING of the Ramazan moon has already become a controversy and its fallout is likely to affect the sighting of the Eid moon. In this world of fast communication this phenomenon is not understandable.
Muslims living in Torkham are not supposed to follow the sighting of the moon on the other side of the border — only 10km away - and are rather asked to follow the sighting of the moon in Karachi — about 1,500km away.
Similarly, Muslims living in Saindak at Pakistan-Iran border are not supposed to follow the sighting of the moon on the other side — only 10/20km away — but are required to follow the sighting of the moon in Gilgit — more than 1,000km away. What would have happened if Iran and Pakistan or Afghanistan and Pakistan had been one country?
Sighting of the moon in West Pakistan was also acceptable for the people living in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) more than 2,000km away.
In this world of fast communication, both ulema and scientists should devise a plan to divide the world into several zones based on time difference of two to 2-1/2 hours.
The sighting of the moon at any place in one zone should be acceptable to all the Muslims living in this zone, irrespective of their countries, and all the festivals should be celebrated on this basis.
All Muslim governments should have a source of contact in order to confirm the sighting of the moon. In the case of Ramazan, the Muslims living in the eastern part of their zones should be asked to wait for Taraveeh till confirmation of the moon’s sighting from the western part of the zone. In case there is a delay in the confirmation, it should not affect the announcement.
ABDUL HALIM
Karachi
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