National savings schemes

The main purpose of introducing the national savings schemes in Pakistan was two-fold: first, to inculcate a savings habit in the people and, secondly, to provide individuals, pensioners, retired persons, widows, senior citizens and small savers with a savings scheme wherein they invest their savings and earn reasonable profit to ensure a respectable living for themselves and their families. It was publicized as a welfare scheme for the people of Pakistan.

Now, the concept of the scheme has been entirely changed and the State Bank of Pakistan calls it "expensive domestic borrowing".

Even if it is expensive borrowing, the welfare aspect should not altogether be ignored as a large segment of society solely dependent on these schemes should not be denied a respectable living which they rightly deserve.

Moreover, who bears the burden of expensive borrowing? Ultimately it's the people of Pakistan.

It is sad to note that the SBP has been treating this issue as if it were dealing with somebody other than Pakistanis. The national outlook is shockingly missing.

Investors in the NSS are still at a loss to understand as to why they alone have been made the target for this policy which has reduced their income by more than 100 per cent during the last four years.

They still do not understand why this scheme has been made to change its character from being a welfare-oriented scheme to a market-oriented one.

They do not quite understand the linkage of the scheme to PIBs, treasury bills, investment bonds, short-term and long-term finance, market liquidity, etc.

In fact, this high-sounding terminology is for the consumption of the SBP itself and the consumption of the banking sector. The general public does not know anything about these instruments and their operations.

In all fairness, the NSS should remain outside the ambit of the various SBP instruments, having altogether different monetary characteristics. The people are mainly concerned with the high cost of living, rising unemployment, increasing poverty, declining literacy rate and high mortality rate in the country.

The authorities concerned are requested to realize the fact that whatever they do they should do it first for the people of Pakistan and then for anyone else. Investors in the NSS expect a fair and honest deal from the privileged class.

The sale and encashment of national savings certificates by scheduled banks should also be restored forthwith as the offenders of the scheme have been identified and remedial measures are now in place to check recurrence. All investors should not be penalized for the misdeed of a few.

KHAWAR MEHMOOD

Karachi

Pakistani liberals and extremists

This is with reference to Alex Callinicos's article published in Dawn on December 27, which unfolds the true nature of capitalism and political ideals which the liberal think tanks in Pakistan have readily borrowed as the remedy for their social and political ills.

In Pakistan liberals have lined up with the state to persecute religious extremists because, in their viewpoint, religious extremism is the root cause of all evils.

This philosophy of extermination of extremists for the sake of capitalist notions of democracy, human rights, feminism, economic liberalism, secularism and many other catchwords prevalent in the corporate media culture of the West has devastated the real intellectual horizon of societies like Pakistan.

This pseudo-intellectual culture is a safe haven for all those who do not like to stress their democratically-framed fragile minds with the dialectics of change, dynamics of political and economic privations and rise of radical, undemocratic groups from beneath the surface of their own ranks.

These well-mannered "projected gentlemen", the liberals, are driven by the logic of market-based choices in capitalism and cosmetics of consumer's freedom but they will not trouble their minds by looking beyond the nitty-gritty mechanics of choices as the real face of capitalism is in its economic centrality and the nature of ownership of factors of production.

These liberals have built an "upside down" world and believe that since there is religious extremism, there is no democracy, but they fail to appreciate the fact that it is the so-called capitalist democracy and its cronies of Islamic states (the monarchs and dictators) which are partly responsible for the rise of extremism. The very values these liberals seem to defend have detrimental effects in Pakistan that perpetuate economic deprivation and thus political marginalization.

It is capitalism that promotes fundamentalism, and it is the democratic ideals of the West which are being realized through occupation and by killing thousands for a democracy that does not exist anywhere, including the West.

Liberals would not argue on the fact that political ideals cannot be separated from economic interests and politics germinate in the womb of an economic system, whether capitalism or socialism.

Pakistani intellectual culture is being dominated by such liberals and the ground is fertile for them to manipulate the commonly-held cliche in liberal sections of their society. These fashionable liberals seem to have no theoretical agenda.

AAMIR HUSSAIN

London, UK

Appeal to US ambassador

I would like to inform US Ambassador to Pakistan Nancy Powell that I have personally informed Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali of my ordeal during his visit to Washington, DC. The ambassador should help me get my life back together that has been destroyed beyond belief by the US agencies for no fault of my own.

We put our faith in the US Constitution, though a "mockery" of our lives has been made by US agencies and their agents. I did not consent to be a human guinea-pig for the National Security Agency's (NSA's) psychological and mental torture programme called "human behaviour control/modification".

The United States should have brought me before a court of law or deported me from the US instead of torturing me and my family for many years every single day to achieve its desirable outcomes. The ambassador should ask the US government what my crime is and why I was tortured.

We offered our blood to the American people but received tremendous terror, torture and abuse of our rights. The ambassador should find out what role US government agents Syed Nadeem Akhtar, Abdinasir Guled, Syed Tariq Jamil, Shazia Tabassum, Agent Ranney, Kevin C. Huang, Jomi Sebastian, Chandan Sarkar, Allison Wood, Rusty Wood, Matt Browning, Christine Browning, Jim Jeamason, Rebecca Jeamason and countless other state agents played in our pre-meditated, pre-planned, and extra judicial persecution.

The ambassador should also ask as to why the US law, the Constitution and the international human rights do not apply to Hidden Pond Place in Ashburn, VA. The ambassador should uphold the principles of "justice for all" under the US Constitution and help us get justice under US and international law.

MUHAMMAD ALI BALOCH

Ashburn, VA, USA

Victory in Wellington

I am glad that our national cricket team has ended the current year on a winning note, and I sincerely hope that it brings more glory for Pakistan in the coming years.

The Pakistan team has always enjoyed the status of being an exciting unit, with great fighting abilities, and I am sure that it will regain its lost status provided the new chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board does a proper cleansing job.

The victory at Wellington is though a good sign, one has to admit that it was a single-handed effort of Shoaib Akhter that made it possible and the overall contribution of the team was not satisfactory: our batting did not click, the bowlers except for Shoaib and Shabbir did not do well.

The openers, particularly Imran Farhat, fared very badly and seemed to be lacking the technique needed to cope with the swing bowling. They also lacked the determination and will to stay at the wicket.

Danish Kaneria did not meet the expectations. He was selected ahead of Mushtaq and was expected to spearhead our spin attack, a decision which has been proved wrong. It is now clear that it was a mistake to have dropped Saqlain and Mushtaq for this tour.

The PCB is requested to review the selection of the team and bring in necessary changes in the composition of our team. I believe that inclusion of Saqlain Mushtaque and Mushtaq Ahmed in the team is necessary. The opening pair also needs reconsideration.

AYESHA GUL

Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Learning from China

In his article "China's economic miracle" in the China Special Report 2003 (Dawn, December 30), Mr Muhammad Ali Siddiqi writes: "Family incomes have gone up, and prices are low because the supply of food items, consumer goods and electronic gadgets exceeds demand. Western multinationals estimate personal savings in China at over one trillion dollars."

There is no doubt that relations between Pakistan and China are stronger today, but it is really unfortunate that our economic managers during the last 56 years of friendship with China have not learnt any lesson from the economic growth of China.

Instead, they have always tried to please the West, the IMF and the World Bank, due to which Pakistan is heavily indebted to these international financial institutions.

Are Pakistan's economic managers willing to learn any lessons and review their policies by taking China's example as a case study? We need to implement such policies in our country so that individual family income goes up and the prices of food items go down.

SYED A. MATEEN

Karachi

MNA's resignation

In the overall climate of depressing news all around, occasionally there also appears a refreshing and unbelievable report and it takes time to accept that it is true.

Such a report is carried in Dawn's edition dated December 28. The news says that an MNA of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal from the NWFP, Akhunzada Muhammad Siddique, has handed in his resignation to his party chief as he believes: "If I am not able to solve the problems of the people even when I am an MNA, then I have no right to remain a legislator."

This reminded me of a similar incident where a young and new entrant to the then East Pakistan Assembly, Salim Khan Panni, decided to quit the assembly saying that he could not stand the lies and deception prevalent in that august body.

But the problem is that Salim was a loner and perhaps Akhunzada will also be a loner and will soon be forgotten as a "cynic" and unfit for the political arena of Pakistan as serving the people is perhaps not there in the dictionary of Pakistani politics.

SYED FAIYAZUDDIN

AHMAD, Karachi

Kashmir: relevance of UN resolutions

It has been amusing to read the foreign minister and later the prime minister's statements (December 19, 22) interpreting what the president said in his interview with British journalists, screened on the domestic TV and heard nationally and internationally.

Some of the bloomers from the two highest -ranking democratic stalwarts in the government are worth repeating to jog Dawn readers' memory. What the president said, as stated by the foreign minister, is: "We have left 'that' aside" - 'that' means UN resolutions.

The FM interprets:

- The president's statement did not imply unilateral abandonment of Pakistan's principled position on the UN resolutions.

- When the president said 'we have left that aside' what he meant was that the Security Council resolutions on Kashmir had not been implemented (Hope we are talking in the same language).

The resolutions were a documentary evidence of the Kashmir dispute, as after fighting three indecisive wars we still needed evidence.

The PM's interpretation is hilarious:

When President Musharraf said 'set aside', he probably meant - yes, they have to follow.

Was it necessary to interpret what the president said? People heard clearly and distinctly. It sounded polite chastisement of a student by a teacher. In the context, an extract from December 21 editorial (Dawn) is worth repeating:

"There was nothing that was ambiguous, or indeed new, in the interview. The president was being realistic and straightforward in saying that while Pakistan believed in the UN Resolutions ("we are for the resolutions") negotiations on Kashmir and bilateral relation could proceed by putting them aside. This is not abandonment of policy, but of seeing how policy can be made to work within the given limitations."

The president while talking to Kashmir leaders on December 22, reiterating the primacy and centrality of the Kashmir dispute and his unwavering commitment to the cause, refrained from commenting on the 'interpretations' gratuitously provided by very responsible personnel, which, apart from being slighting a little, served no useful purpose. The president said what he had said before and meant what he said - to the acclaim from overseas.

MUHAMMAD A. B.

Karachi

Essentials of effective teaching

Mr Shahid Sheikh, in his article "Essentials of effective teaching" (December 23), counts a number of "qualifications" for a teacher to be effective.

The most striking in the words of the writer is: "He (the teacher) focuses on cultivating useful skills as remembering, organizing, appraising, classifying, synthesizing, planning, criticizing and communicating."

Further, "He (the teacher) trains his students to use systematic, scientific reasoning skills to be good problem solvers and to be reflective learners."

Applying the above qualities, let us analyze teachers in our educational system. Apparently it seems (evidence also supports) that our teachers are lacking in these qualities.

Keeping aside a few exceptional cases, the whole system has failed to inculcate the value of scientific reasoning among students. As a result, our graduates remain largely unproductive for society. Also they cannot compete in international job market.

Keeping in view this gloomy picture of our educational system, policy planners are advised to concentrate on imparting effective skills of teaching to our teachers.

HAIDER ALI

Lahore

Delivery of water bills

Every year the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) disconnects the supply of water to apartments/flats whose owners fail to clear water dues on time.

Some time this situation takes a very ugly turn. The KWSB fails to deliver bills in a proper manner to consumers; the bills are thrown at the gates instead of being delivered properly at the doorsteps of consumers. At least 50 per cent of the bills never reach their destinations. This results into 50 per cent less recovery of water dues by the KWSB every year.

The KWSB managing director is, therefore, requested to ensure proper delivery of the bills (signature of the receiving person at their doorsteps should be recorded).

I am sure this way the KWSB will have at least 50 per cent more recovery every year and at the same time consumers will be spared the botheration of paying the fines on accumulated bills.

ENGR SHAMIM ALAM

Karachi

PR parking fee

It is regrettable that following in the footsteps of the Karachi city government the Pakistan Railways has started a charged parking system in many cities.

Nawabshah is a very small city, having one car in one street. Occasionally, one visits the railway station where a parking fee of Rs10 is charged by the contractor, who has employed some 'goons' for the purpose.

I request the authorities concerned to reduce the parking fee, and mark parking lanes.

ALI AHMED

Nawabshah

Complaint to Nadra

I and other members of my family applied for computerized national identity cards (CNICs) some two years back. Three of us out of six got our cards some six months back, delivered at our home address.

But one was reported lying ready for delivery at the Nadra centre at Awami Markaz while the fate of the remaining two is not known to even Nadra officials, who sometimes say that these are under printing or misplaced at Islamabad during printing. The particulars of these two are as under:

Shamsuzzaman Khan, receipt No. KCI. 144102, CNIC No. 4230 180571747; and Mrs Seema Hassan, receipt No. KCI 144202, CNIC No. 4230 16456548. Their address being 5/II, Street No 21, Phase V, Kayaban-i-Tauheed, DHA, Karachi.

The details of complaints made over helpline telephone numbers are as under:

On October 13: the complaint (No. 862) attended to by Nadra official Nazish; on October 30 it was attended to by Mr Rehan; on November 4 Mr Shakeel attended to the complaint; on November 12 Ms Shaheen; on November 18 Mr Irfan; on December 8 Mr Zaman who reported that the cards had been located and were under clearance. On December 15 Mr Shakeel attended to the complaint and reported that the cards had again been misplaced at Islamabad.

Under these circumstances, how it is possible to meet the Nadra deadline when the old cards will stand cancelled on January 31, 2004? Could anyone at Nadra clarify the position for the benefit of thousands of its victims as are my family members?

DR SHAMSUZZAMAN KHAN

Karachi

Mutilation of Constitution

It is interesting to note that the Pakistan Muslim League-N is crying foul over the passage of amendments to the Constitution and refers to the process as mutilation of the Constitution.

If memory serves me right, the same party was all set to amend the Constitution to give Mr Sharif dictatorial powers. Hypocrisy is the mother of politics.

ZAFAR HUSAAIN

London, Ontario, Canada