| 07 January 2004 | Wednesday | 14 Ziqa'ad 1424 |
Will Chinese example serve here?
The veil controversy
Drug sales without mandatory trials
Auction of industrial plots
Ban on Indian TV channels
Pornographic explosion
Building a new Pakistan
Proposal to celebrate 1857 revolt
Legislators'duty
Car sales
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Iranian and US seismologists measured the earthquake which struck the Iranian town of Bam during the early hours of December 26, 2003, to be 6.6 on the Richter scale. The quake killed about 50,000 and destroyed 90 per cent of the buildings in the city. One shudders at the magnitude of the destruction, and even the hardest of hearts have become malleable.
Now compare the Bam earthquake with a similar quake of 6.5 magnitude hitting Paso Robles, California (population 24,000) on December 22, 2003, with two deaths, 40 injured and only few buildings collapsed. Yet another similar earthquake, 6.6 on the Richter scale, occurred in Taitung (population 117,000) near Taipei, Taiwan, on December 10, 2003, with no deaths and no reported building collapses.
The number of dead in the three quakes is quite revealing, and points out to something compelling. Why is it that in the Bam earthquake 50,000 were killed and why only two in the US and none in Taiwan?
This brings me to my point that much-needed building codes have been lacking in developing countries in the region, more so in areas prone to natural calamities such as earthquakes, floods and hurricanes. Even when building codes are on the books, they are not implemented due to either greed on the part of the contractor, or the owner, or incompetent and corrupt building inspectors.
A saying among some seismologists is that "earthquakes don't kill people, buildings kill People". Therefore, the onus for formulation and stringent implementation of building codes is on local, provincial and central governments.
Granted there are other factors, including population density or degree of isolation, intensity and duration of the earthquake, soil type and economic conditions of the affected region, which determine the magnitude of the loss of life and property damage. However, when comparing these with those in the developed world and even Taiwan, the huge disparity in the scale of death and destruction is worth pondering.
What lessons the governments and people of the region learn from the tragedy, and how they prepare themselves for such an eventuality in future is an open question. If past records are any indication, it may be business as usual until the next one. This approach will be unforgivable.
Before another earthquake strikes, it will be prudent for the governments of Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, Turkey and other countries in the region which may have similar concerns to join hands in connecting their existing earthquake centres by setting up a regional earthquake monitoring research and development centre and a disaster relief centre (for earthquake prediction, prevention or minimization of building damage, and disaster relief).
At this juncture, it may seem to be a huge undertaking or some may consider it to be frivolous, but mind you one earthquake can take us all back to square one.
DR IRFAN S. AHMAD
Urbana, Illinois, USA
Will Chinese example serve here?
I read Dawn's special supplement on China during my recent visit to Pakistan, and want to compliment the newspaper on a very professional job. I particularly enjoyed the article about The People's Daily fining its employees for coming in late, and Mr Muhammad Ali Siddiqi's conjecture about how much Dawn's employees could be fined.
Indeed Pakistan is not a country concerned with time, especially the rapidity with which it tends to pass, unless of course one arrives punctually at a wedding where you might as well help out the staff set up the hall.
Jet-lag one anticipates, but this time I coined the term "meal-time-lag". I am now having some difficulty getting re-used to the 12 noon lunch time and the 6-7pm dinner time here in the United States.
What with 3pm lunches in Pakistan and 10:30pm dinners. What took the cake (or the kabab and haleem if you'd like) was the wonderful qawwali that I went to celebrating a wedding. Food, not snacks sire, a 10-course meal was served at 1:30am! First I thought people having already eaten (albeit at 10:30pm) would just snack, but no, these people were tucking away, going for seconds, chowing down the desserts, and topping it all with Kashmiri chai and paan. It was a weekday and the qawwali was well attended.
Were all these people unemployed or lords and ladies of leisure? No, I get it now: the working ones would land up at the office at 11am at the earliest, for The People's Daily fine could never survive in Pakistan. The company would have no employees, for how can an entire nation's bio-rhythm be topsy-turvied? For after all what is time? Akin to money, it comes and it goes....
DR MAHJABEEN ISLAM
Toledo, Ohio, USA
The veil controversy
Even if one may be unjustifiably charitable towards Al Azhar's Grand Mufti for his defence of the right of non-Muslim countries to have laws of their own - in the current context of France banning hijab for French Muslim women attending state facilities - one cannot overlook the fact that France is not a religious state and its laws are based on a secular constitution.
That difference is fully pertinent and relevant to permit Muslim citizens to protest and agitate against the French government's railroading its majoritarian decision on the minorities, without attempting to find a solution based on consensus.
Furthermore, France is not an isolated country and its internal administrative decisions impact on developments not only in Europe but also throughout its area of influence in Africa and beyond.
President Jacques Chirac has to take all such repercussions into account before opening a Pandora's box under pressure from the anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant section of the country.
The ban in practice will impose the majority culture on a very discriminated against and impoverished minority which will feel more alienated from the mainstream. In fact, the ill-considered move will give a convenient handle to the racist elements to further create unrest and division in the pluralist multi-cultural society that France and Europe are promoting for the future of their region and the world at large.
The worldwide condemnation of the French move should occasion a review of such a harsh, discriminative and disruptive decision that may derail the focus on major concerns of European unity and the much sought-after Muslim participation in the building of a new Europe.
GHULAM MUHAMMED
Mumbai, India
Drug sales without mandatory trials
"Drugs being sold without mandatory trial" (Dawn, January 6) is a serious matter. Having been associated with the Research Ethics Committee of the National Health Service in an English county, I am fully aware of the importance of clinical trials and their efficacy in the pursuit of finding better ways of healing the patients.
As a lay member of the research ethics committee of the Leicestershire Strategic Health Authority, I have to sit with senior medical and legal experts whose main duty is to safeguard the interest of the patients and their relations and the public at large.
Now after April 4 the EU directives in this respect will be enforced throughout the EU region and a very strong and vigilant research ethics committee will ensure that the patients' interests are fully taken care of to ensure that no procedure, medicinal or otherwise, is introduced, which may adversely affect society as a whole.
With the growing population of ethnic and faith minorities in the United Kingdom, it is the responsibility of this committee to safeguard the cultural and religious sensitivities of this community which is now part of the larger civil society.
The absence of any clinical trial of prior to the registration of medicines in Pakistan is highly dangerous for the patients who are the main sufferers of such an irresponsible attitude.
SYED FAIYAZUDDIN AHMAD
Karachi
Auction of industrial plots
This is with reference to an advertisement appearing in Dawn's edition of January 5 by the Sindh Small Industries Corporation (SSIC) inviting offers through an open auction to sell out eight industrial plots each of approximately 500sq yards, located at Industrial Park of SSIC at F-53, Hub River Road, SITE, Karachi.
The conditions laid down in the advertisement smack of manipulation through connivance and corruption. One of the conditions, viz (d), states: "Preference will be given to the bidders with pre-qualification from the representative bodies of Trade and Small Industries." Who are these?
Another interesting condition at (b) states that "in case the open auction could not be held on the above-mentioned date due to unavoidable reasons, the same will be held on next working day". Why such a precaution? Is this a pre-determined move to manipulate the auction?
Since the plot in question is worth crores of rupees, I would like to request the governor of Sindh, the chief secretary, NAB and the ACE to take notice of this advertisement and ensure transparency and accountability.
On a positive note, I would like to advise the MD of the SSIC that instead of selling out plot F/53, he should consider putting up a multi-storeyed industrial estate for the establishment of small industries. The SSIC can provide cubicles of various sizes to entrepreneurs who wish to establish small industrial projects through SMEDA.
NAZIM F. HAJI
Karachi
Ban on Indian TV channels
Now that Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee of India is here and talks are going on for better and more cordial relations between Pakistan and India, would it not be wise to lift the ban on Indian channels as a gesture of goodwill?
Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha has obliquely hinted that such a move will not only be welcomed in India but also open up new vistas for Pakistani viewers who have in any case a longstanding demand for lifting of the ban. Mr Sinha has held out an assurance that no anti-Pakistan propaganda will be dished out from Indian channels.
Incidentally, lifting of the ban will do good to our channels also by infusing spirit of a healthy competition in them. Do not let PTV and private TV channels go the way of our cinema which hardly anyone likes to see.
SALAR MASUD AHMAD
Islamabad
Pornographic explosion
This is with reference to the letter "Pornographic explosion" (January 5).
I am surprised at the suggestions made by Dr Tanauli for preventing pornography from destroying the 'moral fabric' of our society. His suggestions (I don't doubt the nobility of aims behind these) may work well in a theocracy but not in a moderate democracy.
It is true that pornography is unacceptable to many and may have many evils associated with it, but certainly not more than those associated with smoking (cancers, loss of revenue in health care and other evils of addiction), drinking (cirrhosis, drunk driving fatalities, domestic violence), corruption (general breakdown of society), karo-kari (deaths) and gun culture, etc.
I would rather have a 'reporting cell' made for drunk drivers and illegal gun owners and 'state censorship' of cigarette advertisements than for pornography. It is important to remember that modernization does not mean westernization (towards which many harbour negative feelings) and uncensored media is part of a modern world and not only of the West.
It is right to protect one's children and underage adults from exposure to pornography but taking action across the board is wrong for this day and age.
The following are some suggestions for preventing the evils of pornography: - Encouraging parents to educate their children about pornography. This can be done through newspaper articles, advertisements and community programmes.
- Laws requiring legal action against those who provide pornographic material to underage children and adults.
- Advertising parental control software programmes which parents and educational institutions can install on their computers to protect children from accessing pornographic sites. (Let's not just wipe the whole internet off; let's allow adults to make some decisions on their own as well).
One thing we must remember is that as adults and as a free people we must be allowed to choose between right and wrong as long as it does not harm anotherperson. Dr Tanauli's suggestions, if implemented, will take that right away from us.
DR MUBASHIR KHAN
Indianapolis, IN., USA
(2)
This is apropos of the letter "Pornographic explosion" by Dr Tariq Sultan Tanauli.
In today's society, along with modern achievements, come modern flaws. Indeed, there is no such thing as a perfect society, no matter how hard we strive for it. The best method of dealing with issues such as the pornographic explosion is to handle them at home. How do parents raise a child?
If a young man wants to see pornographic material, no matter how hard the technology stops him, he will always find a loophole. These days there is technology available that can pass through adult blocks. Even with the blocks feature, nothing is guaranteed to be fully blocked.
The best method of a society not becoming intoxicated by pornographic material is by the society educating its youth about the rights and wrongs, not using technology to shun them away, which keeps the youth wanting more.
We can't ignore the realities of the modern world. The only way to overcome a problem is to confront the realities concerning it. Whatever a person chooses to do is their own business.
MUNZIR NAQVI
Atlanta, GA, USA
Building a new Pakistan
Mr Omer Kiani in his letter on January 2 calls for rebuilding Pakistan after 56 years of "balancing equation", and has given a list of things which he thinks should be done to achieve this task.
However, no country can progress on its own, with a closed society like Pakistan. The fact is that the US, Canada, Australia and the UK all have developed, prospered and achieved scientific and industrial marvels because they accepted qualified people from all over the world, irrespective of religion, who helped these countries progress.
An advanced industrial structure cannot be built unless a country supports the progress with its own brain supply or with immigrants.
In Pakistan education is in a very bad state. The political and social structure is based on religiosity and thus foreign investments are at a low ebb. Besides, budgetary allocation to defence is very high.
A secular approach to society and an emphasis on education can help Pakistan to get out of this mess.
SAM BADIA
Toronto, Canada
Proposal to celebrate 1857 revolt
The proposal put forward by Indian Prime Minister Vajpayee to celebrate the uprising of 1857 is highly commendable. The Muslims and the Hindus jointly fought this war. This suggestion should have come from the Pakistan leadership right after Pakistan came into being.
Britain took over India from Muslim rulers who reigned united India, including Burma, for many centuries. The Britishers systematically brought the economic and political clout of the Indian Muslims to an end.
The war of independence (1857) was declared as a mutiny and rebellion by the occupation power, and force was used to suppress the revolt. Makeshift gallows were set up in the streets of big cities, particularly in Delhi. These gallows were used for wholesale lynching of Muslims.
Descendants of the freedom-fighters killed by the Britishers have held important public offices in this country. But nobody took time to leap into the past and bring to light the excesses committed by the British forces in the subcontinent.
Celebration of the 1857 war of independence will be a political milestone and a symbol of unity between Pakistan and India in the years to come.
S. BUKHARI
Karachi
Legislators'duty
It was shocking and frustrating to note that "flag carriers" of democracy did not follow the rules of democracy while voting for General Pervez Musharraf. Out of 1,170 votes of the national and provincial assemblies, 658 were cast in favour of General Musharraf, and only one vote was cast against him. This means that 511 members either abstained or were absent.
In Election 2002, all parties, the president, the chief election commissioner and all those involved in the election called upon the electorate to cast their votes as it was, they said, their national responsibility. They claimed that participation in the election in good numbers by the electorate would help elect good members to the assemblies, who would help ensure a better future for Pakistan.
However, during the voting for president, 511 members didn't say yes or no. What does this mean?
We elected the members of the assemblies to correctly decide the fate of Pakistan. If these so-called legislators cannot do so, they should resign immediately.
KAHLID AMRAY
Karachi
Car sales
This is with reference to the report "Cars' sale boosts by 61 per cent in July-November" (December 28).
The article fails to highlight the boost in sales of products belonging to the Hyundai brand. While the article mentions improvement in the production of Suzuki Mehran, it fails to cover the same for our brand, Santro.
Our total production in November equalled 1,101 units as compared to 632 units in October. The production of Hyundai Santro was 682 units as compared to 235 units in October.
As for as our Kia products are concerned, the following may be noted:- Kia Spectra is currently not in production as there has been a model change of the car in Korea.
- Kia Classic has low volumes as there was a problem in the supply of kits from Korea.
IBAD JAMAL
Dy General Manager (Marketing), Dewan Farooque Motors Ltd., Karachi
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