| December 4, 2003 | Thursday | Shawwal 9, 1424 |
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Anti-corporal punishment law
One-window operation of KBCA
Living off the future
Protecting women
Tomato prices
Judicial system & land grabbers
CPLC in Quetta, Lahore & Peshawar
Complaint to PIA
‘Cut’
Liberators?
Iraqi Communist Party’s role
THINGS seem to be moving in the right direction after Pakistan and India took some positive steps for normalization of their relations. And with the start of overflights and the train service soon, things will get even better, creating an atmosphere of trust and confidence to start a process of dialogue that would hopefully lead to the resolution of all outstanding issues between the two countries.
Mr Vajpayee’s visit to Pakistan in January to attend the Saarc summit has raised hopes for a lasting peace between the two nations. Hopes are high for Mr Vajpayee to initiate dialogue on all issues, including Kashmir, and work towards their resolution by taking a step-by-step approach.
On his part, Gen Musharraf has been making positive statements for the initiation of a dialogue between the two countries. In a recent BBC interview, he went to the extent of saying that Pakistan would withdraw from Azad Kashmir if India withdraws from occupied Kashmir to reach an agreement on the Kashmir issue.
We have always considered Kashmir to be an insolvable issue. But if France and Germany could live peacefully after the Second World War, why can’t we? All that is needed is sincerity on both sides and the courage to show flexibility on stated positions. We should just stop passing declarations (all three declarations on Kashmir have proved to be ineffective) and work on a roadmap acceptable to all.
The civil society also has a major role to play to pave the way for a sustainable dialogue. The scheduled conference of Pakistan-India Peoples Forum this month, which would be attended by people from India and other South Asian states, is the need of the hour and should be given due projection in order to impress upon the leaders of the two countries that the people want peace at all costs. They should be made to realize that the fate of more than 1.5 billion people rests in their hands, a majority of them living in abject poverty. We can hear them cry for peace.
KHURRAM MUSTIKHAN
Karachi
(2) PAKISTAN insists that Kashmir is its jugular vein. India asserts that Kashmir is its inseverable limb, which means it is not like a hand or a leg, eye or ear, or even like liver or kidney.
It is so vital that severing it might be fatal. So, if it is not the jugular vein, it is the heart, which is the same thing. Where, then, is the casus belli? And yet, instead of uniting to ensure the security and integrity of what is equally vital to both, they have been fighting with each other? Would some pundit build on this foundation.
S. G. JILANEE
Karachi
I AM surprised to read Justice (retired) Salahuddin Mirza’s comments appearing in these columns under the above headline. The learned gentleman has voiced opposition to abolishing corporal punishment.
Each child born is better than Einstein. The atmosphere he gets determines his life. Some grow up to be Thomas Edison and some become Nero. Punishment robs a child of his childhood. It kills his ingenuity and curiosity.
I am sure the writer must have run into children who take ill, for no reason at all, only when going to school. Such children perform poorly at examinations and slowly they lose all interest in studies. Have you ever wondered why is it so? Have you ever asked a child why he has lost interest in studies?
The child, for some reason, has associated school and education with torment/punishment, physical and/or mental. For him it is a “chamber of horrors” instead of the “cradle of enlightenment”; it means beatings by his mentors, hence this response. Try respecting the child, making learning an interesting activity for him; loving him instead of punishing him, thus appealing to his self-respect.
The child is not a burden. He is the future. Treat him like a criminal and you will get a hardened one, treat him with respect and you will have a thoroughly refined gentleman.
A few spoilt children of waderas is what makes the writer decide to punish the rest of the children. Can he quote one example where the child of a wadera was ever punished? He talks of the fear of “danda”, but has he ever thought of appealing to one’s pride and self-respect? What does he think will give better results? Give it a thought. Think about what has brought our society to this point.
We have thousands of “dandawalas” and each day we have hundreds of thefts, murders, tortures, dacoities. Our society is uncontrollable. It does not have much more to lose, and it is simply because people have little self-respect. They never got respect, they never learned it. They were treated as criminals and they are behaving like ones.
A person has to earn respect; it will never be offered on a platter, teachers being no different. They are the first ones to face disrespect only because they lacked the patience to teach respect and to earn it. Remember reciprocation is a magic word. You shall reap what you sow.
ZAKI
Karachi
THIS refers to a news item in your paper (Nov 19) which informs us of the Karachi Building Control Authority’s intent to start a one-window operation very shortly.
It is unfortunate that the KBCA has blamed some NGOs, specially Shehri, for causing damage to its image. But the issue has never been the image. It is always the bottom line. One word can best describe the quality of the built environment in Karachi — mess, and none of us can absolve ourselves of the responsibility.
Like many other NGOs that are doing highly creditable work, Shehri continues to struggle to stop further degradation of our cityscape, and many residents of the city are grateful to them for this effort.
It is very encouraging, however, to note that the chief controller and senior officials of the KBCA are taking serious steps to improve the functioning of their organization.
Attitudes on both sides — between the public sector and private sector organizations — need to be made more positive, because the declared end objective is the same, i.e. to have a better future for our children.
ARSHAD ABDULLA
Karachi
SOME not-so-wise ones have decided to put the citizens of Pakistan in hock. Perhaps they have been inspired by the fact that the nation is under a huge debt burden — 36 billion dollars on last count — but it is still surviving, though just.
Poverty is trapping more and more people. Who are we emulating? The US, of course, the largest debtor nation in the world, with debts of over six trillion dollars. Americans are also individually under a nerve-wracking debt burden via easy bank loans, mortgages which get tax credits, and credit card loans. Now this disease has come to roost in our very own backyard.
Leasing companies, modaraba and banks are more than willing to market loans. Virtually anything can be purchased with a very small amount as down payment is no longer demanded in most cases. Payment is spread over many years. Cars are being black-marketed because people who are not financially ready to buy a car are doing so — payments to be made later, in easy instalments, if you please. What looks like easy today could make many most uneasy in the future.
Banks and other financial institutions are aggressively pushing the buy-now-pay-later idea and creating a fictitious demand for goods. Where is the sense of responsibility? Where are the regulatory authorities who are putting our citizens in financial straits? Has the example of Pakistan spending the largest amount of its budget on debt servicing not been an abject lesson?
Pakistanis are not known for having savings habits. Now the tables are turned and what could have gone into savings is being committed to a plethora of products. This will not let us get out of our debt burden as future savings are being spent now.
Will the president or the prime minister review this very serious matter and save the citizens from enormous future difficulties? And of many more resorting to corruption when now-smiling bankers put on their dreaded scowls and work on foreclosures. When will the media take up this most serious issue where today’s car on easy instalments will result in not enough to put a child through school or college tomorrow?
Finally, is purchase on high interest rates Islamic? Will the religious leaders speak up please?
MUZAFFAR A. GHAFFAR
Lahore
I WAS glad to read letters in these columns wherein the learned readers have proposed measures to enable women to protect themselves in a threatening situation.
In this enlightened age of ours, crimes against women are on the rise the world over, including Pakistan where heinous crimes are reported by the press off and on. No doubt, some time criminals use weapons to intimidate women, yet it is wrong to assume that martial training at schools and colleges will be of no use.
I believe, if trained in martial arts, women will have much confidence and skill to thwart any wrong attempt at them.
I, therefore, urge the education authorities to seriously consider the proposal of giving
martial arts’ training to girls.
NARGIS WAHAB
Karachi
THE blunt remark by our president on tomatoes takes one back to the French revolution, when Marie Antoinette’s response to the people’s revolt against no bread to eat was, why can’t they eat cakes?
It was odd to hear our president speak with such insensitivity in response to the hiked prices of tomatoes. The president is known for his witty and concrete justifications and reasoning and it made me feel less Pakistani to hear him behave like an irritated aristocrat which he is not.
KHALIL JIBRAN
Lahore
MR Saifuddin E. Contractor (Nov 6) has very rightly explained the judicial process of our country. It is correct that most of the times the litigant/ respondents do not have in their lifetime the court’s decision and maybe their children get to know the outcome.
A study in Karachi reveals that land grabbers have an easy system to harass genuine land owners. This has become a menace of great magnitude, which wastes much of courts’ precious time.
Land grabbers file a suit for declaration and permanent injunction, with false, fabricated documents in lower courts. They influence the notice-serving branch for manipulation in the notice servicing and delivery, Subsequently, notices are published in a very low-circulated, non-costly newspaper to hoodwink court functionaries.
Once this is done, they get hold of a decree for ex-parte proceedings and apply for execution. Once this is over, they approach the rightful owner for bargaining.
The single decree they obtain is used in very many cases. There is no end to it as their means of sustenance are this ill-gotten money. They have now ganged up with lawyers and thus this modus operandi goes on successfully.
The chief justice is requested to take note of the following and implement them if he considers them suitable:
(a) Where notified newspapers must have a public notice, special designated column for such so-called ex-parte court notices.
(b) The litigant be bound to produce documents of title.
(c) The title documents be verified by court itself at the cost of litigant/respondent or the real owner.
(d) Payment of proper court fee be ensured.
(e) Judges be instructed to ensure that no fraudulent, repeat usage of previous decrees, already used if similar cases, are attached. In fact, an affidavit be drawn accordingly.
Learned readers could come up with better suggestions because it is vital to curb this menace and cleanse society of cheaters, as well as to save our courts’ time.
D. QAMBAR ALI SHAH
Karachi
THIS refers to the news items “Governor accepts CPLC post” (Nov 12), and “CPLC to be set up in two cities” (Nov 13).
We welcome the establishment of this organization in the provincial capitals of Balochistan, Punjab and the NWFP. The CPLC Karachi, headed by the governor of Sindh, is already a role model for such institutions. Since its inception it has provided immense relief to the citizens of Karachi, besides helping the law-enforcement agencies, and doing numerous other functions.
We have been successful in compiling database of FIRs (crime), criminal record (jails) and computerized motor vehicle data to help detect crimes.
The CPLC Karachi is already in the process of establishing CPLC in different cities in Sindh as per its charter. It offers to assist establishment of CPLC in all metropolises. The role model of the CPLC Karachi should be replicated in these cities to help form such institutions. The Asian Development Bank in its report has conditioned the grant of $350 million “Access to Justice Loan Programme” with the establishment of CPLCs in all parts of the country.
The CPLC Karachi would also be much pleased to depute its members in such cities to assist them initially. It may also be pointed out that establishment of CPLC in other cities is in line with the conditions of Section 168 of Police Order 2002.
SHARFUDDIN MEMON
Chief, CPLC-CRC,
Karachi
I WAS travelling from Karachi to Islamabad on flight PK 308 on Dec 2 in the big jumbo with monitors on every seat when a very interesting thing happened: the distance to the destination (Islamabad) was shown as some 4,370 kilometres. When I pointed this out to the flight attendant, I was told that the distance is in kilometres. How ignorant of me!
When I persisted that this be brought to the notice of the captain, I was informed that the system was not working properly.
My questions are: does anybody check these things? If the answer is yes, how did this slip past the inspection team? If the answer is no, which in this case is obvious, who is responsible for this lapse? Will somebody from PIA respond?
Moreover, there was a small (growing up) cockroach in the sandwich that was provided to me. Now who is responsible for the food check?
Do not ask me if I have preserved that small insect to prove myself.
ENGR. KHALID R. QURAISHI
Karachi
THANKS to a small piece under the headline ‘Cut’ in Karachi Notebook (Nov 17, 2003), the deep cut near the Police Club in Clifton referred to in the note has been repaired to the satisfaction of motorists, and, hopefully, any Lahori grandmother will have nothing to complain now.
Thank you once again Karachi Notebook.
AHMED ALI
Karachi
RECENTLY the president of the sole superpower and an exponent, rather the biggest promoter of democracy, surreptitiously visited Britain and Iraq. At both these places, he was hiding behind tight security. The press termed him invisible visitor.
Do ‘liberators’ and ‘advocates’ of democracy visit people like this?
INSPECTOR QABACHA
Lahore
THE resistance in Iraq against US imperialism is growing day by day. However, it is odd to note that the one party which had historically roused the Iraqi people against colonial occupation, then against the corrupt Hashemite monarch, and much later on against Baathist fascism is now sadly ‘missing in action’ against another foreign invasion. It is the Iraqi Communist Party which has now chosen to support the US-appointed Governing Council.
Founded in 1934, it was the only mass party of its kind that attracted many students, peasants, industrial workers, women and intellectuals. It campaigned for land reforms, nationalization of oil and a secular polity. It was drawing in people of all ethnicities and religious convictions.
The 1958 nationalist revolution, under its influence, began to realize many of the dreams that freedom-loving Iraqis and Arabs in general had always cherished — it ended its participation in the infamous Baghdad Pact, forced out British military bases, instituted land reforms and enraged the Iraq Petroleum Company by seizing its assets and nationalizing them.
However, the nationalist clique soon began to feel the influence of ICP cadres when the latter threatened their power base and sought to assert themselves independently.
Hindsight has established that the ICP actually made some serious mistakes in seizing their moment in Iraqi history, which is why they were decimated to the point of extinction in the 1980s, and why they jumped up on the imperialist bandwagon at the first opportunity in the ‘new’ Iraq of 2003.
First, the ICP trusted the nationalist military regime too much and expected them to carry out a communist revolution, though the former was most popular then and had more of an independent base than the military officers, who had none. When Saddam came to power, they made the same mistake by refusing to launch a mass struggle against him. In fact, they concluded a series of treaties with the Baathists and joined their government.
The Baathists dumped the ICP when it suited them and, as a result, they again resorted to persecuting the latter in the late 70s. The lesson for communists from this is that they must never trust a bourgeois government which shows its reactionary class character every now and then. Saddam’s brutalization has left the ICP in ruins and its credibility among the Iraqi people tattered by its numerous compromises and opportunist party line, not least of which is the decision to join the occupation regime.
The result of the ICP betrayal is that the void they left has been filled by former Baathists and fundamentalist clerics, who are mounting an unprincipled resistance against the US occupation. The need is to reorganize a new mass party on the lines of Marxism-Leninism for principled resistance to the imperialist occupation, which will not depend on faulty analysis and collaborationist-opportunistic politics like the ICP.
RAZA NAEEM
Lahore
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