Palestinians’ unending miseries

ISRAELIS stoke hunger as Gaza farms are uprooted. Water and food supplies are running out in the West Bank, specially for the 250,000 residents of Ramallah and El-Bireh towns and nearby villages. With the region declared a closed military zone by the Israeli army, Palestinian ambulances were also being prevented from reaching casualties.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and his supporters are obliged to eating one potato for meals. According to Jean Ziegler, UN Human Rights Commission’s rapporteur on the right to food, most Palestinians living in the Israeli-occupied territories of Gaza and the West Bank are eating only one meal a day, leading to malnutrition at levels found in sub-Saharan Africa.

Israeli forces had allowed supplies to be replenished for the besieged citizens of Gaza and the West Bank through a water pipe, but the Palestinian officials fear “the Israeli army could poison it. There is no food, no medicine, and the situation is only getting worse.”

In the Gaza Strip, the grapevines were severed and plants uprooted when Israeli army bulldozers rolled in. Palestinian environment authority head Youssef Abu Safiyah said one million olive trees and 200,000 date trees have been uprooted. He accused Israel of stealing date trees and replanting them inside the Jewish state.

Agriculture represented 30 per cent of Palestinian national income but is now reduced to less than 7 per cent. World Bank figures show more than 50 per cent of Palestinians survive on less than $2 a day. More than 30 per cent of the children are suffering from anaemia. According to Unicef, child malnutrition is comparable to Congo and Zimbabwe.

When the intifida began two years ago about 70,000 Gazans went to work in Israel... Now only 15,000 day permits to enter Israel are issued. Aqil Abu Shammala, head of the UN’ social services programme in Gaza, says the result is a rapid decline into poverty: “Ninety per cent of labourers lost their jobs. Poverty is so pervasive that it has ceased to be a stigma.” The effect of this economic collapse was felt first in the erosion of family savings, followed by increased indebtedness then the forced sale of household possessions.

“The original founders of the Jewish sate could surely not imagine the irony facing Israel today: in escaping the ashes of the Holocaust, they have incarcerated another people in a hell similar in its nature — though not in extent — to the Warsaw ghetto. The residents are sealed off and live under curfew; the authorities view torture as acceptable and use collective punishment as a means of control; soldiers drive families from their homes, confiscate property and demolish neighbourhood; unemployment runs in places at 80 per cent, and utilities such as water are withheld; the economy has “client” status and is subservient to the occupiers in every way” (British Labour MPs, a Jewish lady, Oona King, and Jerry Tonge, who recently visited Gaza with the charity Christian Aid).

PROF (DR) P. NASIR

Gujrat

Obituary

THIS refers to the letter by Mr M. Nawaz Khan (Nov 29) on the incidence of taxes and Sindh’s share in the NFC award.

It is erroneous to refer to the incidence of taxes which in no way justifies that Sindh should not claim the taxes earned by it and collected by the centre.

The question is: if the federal government is not empowered to collect these taxes, where will this income go? Is it logical that if the federal government may collect taxes from one province, they do not belong to that province?

The Sindh Assembly’s resolutions are clear on this point which allow the centre to collect these taxes only for a period of five years when the provinces establish their own authorities to collect them.

Secondly, it is useless for the centre to collect taxes from Punjab, the NWFP and Balochistan when the centre gives back 94 per cent, 100 per cent and 150 per cent, respectively, to them. When all the taxes to these provinces are returned, what is the logic to collect them in the first instance?

The provinces should be allowed to collect revenues themselves to save the costs because they already have such a machinery. The centre should also declare politely that all its expenses are paid solely by Sindh when the province has a meagre representation in federal jobs.

The contention that the brunt of taxes is borne by the consumers of the whole country is ludicrous. Does it mean that Sindh should also give share from its income to Afghanistan because the burden of taxes levied on the goods imported by Afghanistan finally falls on the consumers of Afghanistan?

If the importers and exporters of Punjab or other provinces pay taxes to banks, customs authorities and other financial institutions in Karachi, they also earn benefits from their trade. Where does the bulk of Rs10 billion export earnings go? Will the people of Punjab or other provinces share that profit with Sindh which runs into billions of dollars?

Sindh only levies taxes by virtue of its ports and financial institutions which it has natural right to claim. This is very meagre amount compared to the benefits derived by the traders and industrialists of other provinces or consumers.

If the NWFP claims royalty on Tarbela, which Sindh does not oppose, why Sindh should not claim the income derived from its ports and financial institutions. We do not ask Punjab to share income with Sindh derived from the industries of Lahore, Gujrat or other towns because the consumers of those items manufactured in those cities also include the people of Sindh. Do we contest the benefits of Lahore? Then, why does Punjab contest the benefits of Karachi?

I fully support the view expressed by Syed Sardar Ahmed, the finance minister of Sindh, that Sindh should be given back its income unfairly retained by the centre only by virtue of its collection.

Furthermore, the CBR should be abolished within the coming five years and the control of tax collection should be handed over to the provinces to save double expenses. The expenses of the centre should be contributed to by the provinces on the basis of population or on the basis of the percentage of jobs each province has in the centre.

ABDUL HAMID SOLANGI

Hyderabad MIRPUR, Dec 2: A renowned worker of Pakistan and Kashmir freedom movements and a leader of the Jaraal Rajput tribe of Kashmir, Mirza Muhammad Fazil, died after a prolonged illness. He was 77.—APP

Zawar Husain — a true mystic

MULTAN, Dec 2: Painter, calligraphist, poet, philosopher and art critic Zawar Husain died here on Tuesday after a protracted illness. He was 73.

Zawar Husain had been bed-ridden for the last four months owing to an infection in lungs. Therefore, he was not able to work at his humble workshop where he prepared artifacts in Plaster of Paris to meet his expenses. He died at the house of his younger brother who deals in antiques.

The ageing maestro earned his livelihood by preparing small decorative pieces and toys in Plaster of Paris. A true mystic, Zawar Husain sums up his philosophy of life in his poem Sood-o-Ziyan Se Mawara (transcendent of profit and loss):

Neeli sham se pehley

Jo kutch bechney ke laiq ho

Usey bech dalo aur phir is ke ivaz

jo kutch kharidna chaho

Kharid lo

Lakin yad rakho!

Zindgi ke azeem samraat asey bhi hain

Jo sood-o-ziyan ke in tokroon main nahi sama saktey

Jin ke tum malik ho

(Before the evening, sell whatever is saleable and buy whatever you want to have in return, but remember, some of the great fruits of the life are those that can not be contained in the baskets of profit and loss, which you have in possession)

Born in a large family in 1930 in Multan, Zawar Husain had a natural inclination for the aesthetic aspects of life. He used to draw images of the world around him, and this passion first took him to a government institute of textile in Shahdara to learn the techniques of textile designing and dyeing. Then he got admission at the then Mayo School of Arts (now the National College of Arts) in Lahore to do a course in paintings in early 1950s.

Ahmed Sheikh was then the principal of the Mayo College, and his wife Anna Molka Ahmed was head of the fine arts department of Punjab University. Ustad Allah Bukhsh was a frequent visitor to the college and discussions with him influenced the initial work of young Zawar as he also selected village life as his subject in that period of his artistic grooming. Later on, Zawar’s passion for poetry compelled him to illustrate Iqbal’s poetry.

He placed some 14 illustrations based on Iqbal’s poetry at an exhibition organized by Prof Molka at her department. Young Zawar’s work was well received by critics at the exhibition and he often claimed with authority that Abdur Rehman Chughtai started doing illustrations on Iqbal’s poetry after seeing his work. He however gave up lending illustrations to what he said poetry of others, and opted to illustrate his own poetry.

Owing to some unavoidable circumstances, he could not continue his studies at the Mayo School and had to settle in Multan along with his family. However, his lust for knowledge kept him in the company of books even though he had to do odd jobs to make both ends meet. His subjects later assumed the form of an eloquent metaphor in his paintings and poetry in which he depicted the interaction of man and nature in different forms.

Renowned writer and poet Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi once wrote: “We had painters who were also writers and writers who were also painters, but their exalted virtue had given minor status to their other quality. However, in Zawar Hussain, both the qualities can be found side by side. Zawar has founded an illustrated mysticism by conjoining metaphysics and physics in his paintings and poetry.”

He has left behind two books of his illustrated poetry Akeli Hava and Shakh-i-Viranah-Dil, while a collection of some his works in prose has also been published in the form of two books Tehzeeb and Jadeed Fun-i-Mussawari. His critical essays on art and literature were often published in literary periodicals like Mah-i-Nau and Adabiat. In the later years of his life, Zawar Hussain started taking interest in political philosophy and his book on secularism was in the press when he breathed his last.

Zawar could not leave Multan and thus slipped into anonymity in the world of art despite the fact that his seclusion brought maturity of contents both in his paintings and writings. He often expressed the bitterness of his anonymity by saying that Multan is the city of feudal lords.

Zawar Hussain was one of the founding members of the Multan Arts Council. But, the council did not bother to organize an exhibition of his works at its splendid building constructed a few years ago. He often blamed what he termed the anti-art attitude of the council for his obscurity.

Condoling with the bereaved family, Zila Nazim Riaz Hussain Qureshi announced that the district government would name the art gallery of the arts council after Zawar Hussain.

Transcendent of any feelings of profit and loss, Zawar Hussain either sold his masterpieces cheap to the art collectors or gifted them to friends and admirers. His brother told this reporter that Zawar Sahib had with him about 50 pieces of his work at the time of death. Four of his paintings are in possession of the famous Lahore Museum while several are with the Punjab Arts Council.

He was laid to rest in a graveyard adjacent to the Nishter Medical College after the Isha prayers on Tuesday. His admirers from all walks of life attended his last rites. He is survived by a son.

PCB should have done its homework

OBVIOUSLY words do not fail me otherwise I wouldn’t be writing this column but that’s the spirit of my reaction to the television row. It can be best described as a cock-up. There is nothing more that I can add to what has already been written and said.

Somewhere along the line a technical hitch developed. Not the sort that we were told as television viewers waited, at first patiently, then anxiously for the telecast to start. But of a different kind. The PCB should have done its homework. The private channel should have ensured that all legal requirements had been fulfilled and PTV should have made known its objections much earlier.

This is what emerges in hindsight but a little bit of foresight could have avoided the unpleasantness. As usually happens it was the millions of cricket fans who were made to suffer and President of Pakistan had to intervene on behalf of the cricket lovers of Pakistan. The sad part is that it was wholly avoidable.

To the appeal made to the President of Pakistan by the senior members of the team including the coach not to accept the resignation of the PCB chairman, I would like to add my voice. I respect his sentiments but the timing is disastrous. The Indians will be touring Pakistan in a few months time. It is a critical tour.

Without any prejudice to the man who may succeed him, Tauqir Zia’s departure at this juncture will disturb the harmony of the team. There are already fissures in the team management and we will have to start all over again. We need to have not only a settled team but a settled board. If a change has to be made, let it be after the Indian tour. Now is not the time and I hope that President Musharraf will heed this view.

Pakistan has gone two-up and I see no reason why it cannot make it a whitewash. New Zealand could have won the first of the games had a little luck gone their way but they ran into Abdul Razzaq at his blistering best and nor the first time has he played in this fashion.

But New Zealand did post 291 which means that even a second string can make runs against an attack that is one bowler short and which was out of sorts.

In the second game, Pakistan played as if it had a wake-up call and Mohammad Sami bowled one of those dream spells. shock and awe. This is after Abdul Razzaq, once again, had, more or less, batted New Zealand out of the game.

Shoaib Akhtar will be back and hopefully Inzamam-ul-Haq. That’s not good news for New Zealand.

New Zealand’s team selection has baffled me. Leaving out Daryl Tuffey for the first and Chris Harris for both the matches could make sense if there were injury problems. New Zealand is already an under-strength team. Why weaken it further? Unless New Zealand is using this tour to blood their young players. One does this against weak opposition not against a stronger team.

Pakistan’s batsmen are getting starts and then throwing it away. We cannot keep explaining it away by saying that these batsmen are still learning. Putting a high price on your wicket is the first lesson of batting. And then there seems to be no let-up in the number of wides and no-balls being given away. Doesn’t anyone care and most of all the bowler himself?

These are elementary mistakes and they can be corrected. Perhaps, the team can devise a code of conduct of its own and fine batsmen who play irresponsible shots and bowlers who bowl without discipline.

I don’t see any new talent being unearthed in the present series and even if it was we wouldn’t want to put too much value against a team that at its present strength is not even as good as Bangladesh.

I watched the Zimbabwe-West Indies one-day series with fascination, closely fought, played in the best of spirits and in beautiful surroundings. The crowds were good, not too many, but enough to be heard. The cricket itself was of the highest order from both teams.

Both are in the process of re-building and there are some exciting prospects and none more than Fidel Edwards who may turn out to be one of those legendary West Indian fast bowlers of yesteryear, in the tradition of Holding, Roberts, Marshall etc.

For Zimbabwe, Tatenda Taibu, though remaining of the same height has grown in stature and must be rated as one of the best all-rounders in the world. A good wicket-keeper and a batsman who makes runs and doesn’t give away his wicket cheaply. He is an inspiration to all young cricketers. Already, vice-captain, he is certain to lead Zimbabwe when Heath Streak calls it a day.

Steve Waugh will finally give up the captaincy of the Australian Test team and Ricky Ponting will replace him. It struck me that the change has been made, not only smoothly but with great dignity. It will cause no ripples in the team.

After Don Bradman, Steve Waugh has been Australia’s most illustrious captain. Tough as boots, he was ruthless, he did not take his foot off the pedal even against Bangladesh but what a marvellous career he’s had.

Ponting is more exuberant as a captain and shows his feeling. Steve Waugh was cool. Not for nothing was he known as the Ice Man. But Australian cricket is well organized and Ponting will simply take over from where Steve Waugh left off, no crisis, no dramas. That may well explain why Australia is the world’s best team in both versions of the game.