| 20 January 2004 | Tuesday | 27 Ziqa'ad 1424 |
Saarc summit and beyond
SU teachers' promotion issue
Interpreting Ghalib
Revision of electoral rolls
Killing of a student
Pluralism of knowledge
Racist slur on PTV World
Senior citizens
Religious intolerance
Bhakkar tragedy
Cricket team
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The recent announcement by France to ban girls wearing hijab from schools and several German states' decision to ban Muslim women from wearing hijab in public offices have deeply offended Muslims worldwide. But this is not the first time western governments have demonstrated intolerance towards Muslims and their right to practice Islam.
Since September 11, under the pretext of the war on terror, the West has undertaken a host of measures specifically aimed at Muslims living in the West. These measures include arbitrary arrests, physical torture, imprisonment without trial, surveillance of mosques, muzzling of Imams, and deaths in police custody.
Muslims have been forced to become spies and we have witnessed the endless vilification of Islam by the western media. All this has left an indelible impression on Muslim minds that secular democracies in the West are incapable of guaranteeing Muslims the peace and security to practice their religion.
The plight of Muslims living under secular dictatorships supported by the West is much worse. In countries like Uzbekistan, Muslim males are routinely arrested for having a beard or visiting the Mosques too often.
In Turkey, Muslim women who opt for university education are forced to abandon their hijab. But the fiercest punishment is reserved for those who seek to criticize these tyrannical regimes; imprisonment, torture and extra-judicial killings can routinely be found in such countries. So we also find Muslims living in the Muslim world convinced that secularism is flawed and unfit to govern them.
Even non-Muslims living under secularism feel that their religion is vulnerable. Many Christians in the West view gay bishops, women priests, illegitimate children, the commercialization of Christmas, etc. by the media as consequences of secular fundamentalism destroying Christian values and replacing them with secular values.
Likewise, secularism has failed to protect the Christian sects in Northern Ireland and safeguard the lives of Jewish, Christian and Muslim people living in Palestine. India, the largest secular state in the world, is prone to religious violence where Hindus, Christians, Muslims and Sikhs are all victims of secularism. So, just like Muslims, non-Muslims are also looking for an alternative system that can provide them with an opportunity to practise their religion in peace.
Islam is the sole ideology in the world where people of different faiths can worship and perform their religious duties without experiencing reprisals or insecurity. In practice this is secured by the Khilafat state. In the past the caliph safeguarded the rights of non-Muslims and Muslims alike, without discriminating between them. Take the case of Palestine: under the shade of the Khilafat, Muslims, Jews and Christians lived in harmony, a feat unrivalled in the history of mankind.
By pressing ahead with the forced secularization of Muslims, Christian and Jews, western governments run the risk of alienating them. Instead, the West should re-evaluate its policy of coercive assimilation and critically address the broader question of our time - as to whether secularism can really guarantee the rights of people belonging to different faiths.
ABID MUSTAFA
Slough, United Kingdom
Saarc summit and beyond
This refers to the recently-concluded 12th Saarc summit in Islamabad. Let us briefly discuss the relevant portions of the speeches of three distinguished personalities: Indian Prime Minister A. B. Vajpayee, Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga and Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Jamali.
Mr Vajpayee:
(a) Any joint endeavour needs mutual trust and confidence. For many decades South Asian countries.... have been unable to forge an unintegrated economic understanding, circumventing political differences.
Comment: Joint endeavour needs mutual trust and confidence. Can you expect it after sustained deprivation of a people's legal and moral rights?
(b) Mutual suspicions and petty rivalries have continued to haunt us. As a result, the peace dividend has bypassed our region.
Comment: If the birthright of millions of people is petty rivalry, what is major rivalry?
(c) ... many of us have a shared history which pre-dates our more recent divisions.
Comment: Jinnah began his political career as a leader of India's National Congress and until after World War I remained India's best ambassador of Hindu-Muslim Unity.- Professor Stanley Wolpert The dichotomy between deeds and words of Indian Hindus weaned the Quaid away from them.
President Chandrika:
The vision and courage demonstrated recently by the leaders of India and Pakistan in their efforts to resolve bilateral issues have infused this summit .... with a renewed sense of purpose and vigour. Our prayers and good wishes will be with you during this historic moment in the Indo-Pakistan relations.
Comment: Thanks, Madam, for your earnest sincerity and prayers, but history falsifies this expectation.
Prime Minister Jamali:
... We must realize that this vision (of robust multi- dimensional cooperation in South Asia) could only be transformed into reality if we are able to overcome our differences and disputes and create a climate of mutual trust and confidence.
Comment: Hope springs eternal in the human breast. But we must take Mr Vajpayee's platitudinous kindness with a pinch of salt.
ZAFAR H. ZAIDI
Rawalpindi
SU teachers' promotion issue
This is with reference to the grant of pay-scale 22 to four professors of the Bahauddin Zakarya University, Multan, and to some teachers of the University of Peshawar, reported recently in this paper.
What seems mysterious to me is the silence of the authorities of the University of Sindh, including the syndicate and the Sindh University Teachers Association, in this regard. I wonder why a meeting of the special selection board for Sindh University has not been held in the last six years, with the result that seven posts in the pay-scale 21 and four in pay-scale 22 have not been filled yet.
I know some professors of the Bahauddin Zakarya University who were junior to me by 10 years but are now in pay-scale 22. Likewise, Dr K. D. Soomro of the Sindh Agriculture University, Khairpur, was granted the pay-scale 21 the day his senior, Dr A. R. Malik, retired. But in Sindh University deserving and qualified teachers are retired in pay-scale 20. Eight professors are dreaming of being promoted to grade 21, and three others have already retired in the pay-scale 21, though they were qualified for pay-scale 22.
I appeal to Mr Mazharul Haque Siddique, the vice-chancellor of Sindh University, and other relevant quarters to take special interest in doing justice to the deserving PhD professors of the university, both working and retired, who have served their alma mater for more than 35 years, have 30 or more publications to their credit, had been in grade 20 for more than 20 years and worked in different positions such as directors, provosts, deans and chairpersons. The authorities are requested to promote them from backdate.
If the Higher Education Commission can pay Rs200,000 a month to foreign faculty, why can't Sindh University pay dues to the deserving teachers? Justice delayed is justice denied.
PROF (DR) N.M. SHAIKH (RETD)
Dadu
Interpreting Ghalib
I greatly enjoyed Mr Ayaz Amir's article on K. L. Saigol (January 16). It echoed the same nostalgia that creeps into our conversations when we hear about our parents' experiences of growing up in that period, with that technology and that music.
However, by his own admission, his translation of Mirza Ghalib's verse ("My heart's sorrow is my critic") would upset those (like my mother) who appreciate Ghalib's poetry with the same nostalgia and passion. The complete verse is:
Nukta cheen hay gham-i-dil us ko sunayay nah banay
Kya banay baat jahaan baat banayay nah banay
The translation, taking into account the proverbial usage of the words in the second line, would be closer to:
Her/his criticism makes the narration of my heart's sorrow impossible How can my wish be fulfilled when even my tales (narratives) fail to distract (engage) her/him
The correction being that the subject is not the "sorrow of the heart" but the one with whom the sorrow of the heart cannot be shared. On a lighter note, I beg to differ from the respected writer's assertion that the "underlying quality of Ghalib's poetry is the sorrow resulting from unfulfilled desire". While a sorrowful and bleak situation is often portrayed, the underlying quality is the bemusing irony, the self-examination and the ability of the poet to step outside his plight and share his ridicule - even humour - of the paradoxes of life. It is this detached irony, which is seldom (if ever) tainted by personal sadness, that makes some of Ghalib's poetry as refreshingly unique as it is.
HAIDER ALI MIRZA
West Haven, Connecticut, USA
Revision of electoral rolls
This is with reference to the news item (Dawn, January 1) on the above subject. Like the issuance of computerized national identity cards by Nadra, the Pakistan Election Commission has announced a cumbersome procedure for the revision and correction of the electoral rolls. The people have been asked to follow various steps for the inclusion of their names in the electoral rolls which will finally be approved by the judicial officers appointed by the election commission.
Here again, the government will spend a huge amount on the exercise while making people run to the offices of the registration department and judicial officers for the inclusion of their names in the electoral rolls.
The common citizens will not be able to avail themselves of this facility, nor will they be to spare time and money to follow the above procedure. This is why most of the people avoid getting themselves registered as voters. The fallout will be that the turnout of voters in future elections will not be more than 20-25 per cent.
Our judiciary is already heavily burdened with pending cases before them, and this additional work could lead tofurther delays in the pending cases.
I suggest the process of revision and correction of the electoral rolls should be carried out through the councillors. This will, if done, save public money and ensure accuracy, because councillors and voters know each other while judicial officers have to relay on the recommendations of the registration officers.
To give a free hand to the local government system to function, there is a need to repose confidence in it. In fact, there is a need to simplify the procedure of revising the electoral rolls and to display voter lists at councillors' offices.
TAJ MUHAMMAD
Karachi
Killing of a student
The killing of a student of Karachi's Government Commerce College on Saturday allegedly by students belonging to a rival student organization has once again proved the state's failure to curb violence and terrorism in educational institutions of the country.
One can blame the government for the incident: the area where the college is located is a high- security locality, with the Sindh Rangers Headquarters just a few yards away; and the college principal had earlier asked for Rangers to be deployed there after another ethnic student group had shot and injured him. But the demand was declined for reasons best known to the authorities.
Time and again the government is urged to lift the ban on student unions so as to avert any untoward incidents such as this and to promote healthy activities in educational institutions. But, maybe, it is waiting for a time when our educational institutions will have turned into arsenals and safe havens for miscreants.
It is time the government realized the need to restore the student unions before we lose more precious lives. What use is education when it cannot mould our youth into respectable and civilized citizens?
ABDUL AZIZ KHAN
Karachi
(2)
It is shocking to learn that a young student was shot dead by students belonging to a rival student group near his college gate in Karachi on January 17, which is a great loss.
It is a matter of great concern that political parties in Pakistan have student wings and use them to achieve their objectives. These student groups clash among themselves to get control of colleges and other educational institutions.
Workers or supporters of these student organizations never attend classes and do not have knowledge of their courses or syllabi. Nor do they have any respect for their teachers and fellow students. Despite all this, they manage to pass their examinations.
All political parties claim that they will bring a revolution and change the destiny of the country. One wonders if they can bring a revolution with the kind of training they are giving to young students, who do not have the sense to discriminate between right and wrong.
The question arises: is any political party ready to abolish its student wing and ask its young workers and supporters to devote themselves to education only, attend classes regularly and respect their teachers. Does any of the political parties have the courage to take initiative in this regard for the sake of both this country and younger generations?
MRS SADIA QAZI
Karachi
Pluralism of knowledge
Knowledge has seven forms on the basis of their evaluation: empirical (physics, chemistry), mathematical (numbers, logic, deduction), moral (good, right, ought, pride, humility), religious (virtue, sin, prayer, sacrifice), aesthetic (harmony, effect, feeling, rhyme), philosophic (reality, value) and historical/sociological (events, causes, actions).
For the development of a wholesome and well-rounded personality, students should be exposed to pluralism of knowledge and should not remain oblivious to its moral, spiritual and aesthetic aspects.
Pluralism of knowledge would give us wisdom for getting insight/understanding, discernment and vision - the elusive capacity to see beneath and beyond the surface of things - with one eye fixed on the challenges which face us here and now and the other focused on the distant view, with a clear sense of direction and purpose.
On the one hand, this will give us a vision which not only encourages and inspires, but also allows and celebrates the diversity of people and pursuits. This will ultimately result in a sense of shared values and common purpose, with all of us cooperating as members of one body seeking the common good - a paradigm of an emancipated world.
FAQIR AHMED PARACHA
Peshawar
Racist slur on PTV World
A presenter of the PTV World programme "News Night" was interviewing the finance minister on January 14. When the minister said that Pakistan was about to repay expensive debts of one billion dollars to the Asian Development Bank, the host made a comment that had a tinge of racism. He wondered whether the bank was going to accept the return of loans before time, since a "pathan' who lent money on interest would not accept such a transaction.
The act of an individual or a groups of individuals should not be attributed to a whole community. The national TV channels are for all ethnic groups and communities that constitute the Pakistani nation. Anything with even a slight implication of racism should not be aired on PTV.
TAHIR ZAMAN
Karachi
Senior citizens
This is to appeal to the president of Pakistan to resolve the problems of senior citizens who have been systematically barred from participating in the run for the plots reserved in Sector G-14/4 of Islamabad for retired federal government employees.
It amounts to depriving the senior citizens of their privileges. I hope the president intervenes in the matter and ensures justice to the affected.
A SENIOR CITIZEN
Rawalpindi
Religious intolerance
"Religious intolerance" (January 17) by Ghayoor Ahmed is a timely article and helps us marshal our thoughts on the true purpose of religion which is to unite, and not divide. It leads us to the conclusion that the phrase 'religious intolerance' is an oxymoron.
President Musharraf has now given a clarion call to end this intolerance which has bred terrorism. He also follows the lead given earlier by Pope John Paul II for promoting inter-religious dialogue to eliminate the religious 'divide'.
Any major religion, be it Islam, Christianity, Judaism or Hinduism, has three constituent parts: rituals, mythology and hard-core philosophy. The first two vary from religion to religion (and even subsect to subsect) and has at times resulted in conflicts because of differing interpretations as to their true meaning and purpose. At the philosophical outreaches, however, all religions do converge and provide the basis for unity of the human race.
To the average person, religious philosophies appear to be esoteric and herein lies the problem. Interfaith movements should help remove this anomaly, end all the causes of friction and misunderstanding, and bring all the common people together on a philosophical platform. They have a tough but not an impossible job on their hands.
KANGAYAM R. RANGASWAMY
Madison, WI., USA
Bhakkar tragedy
In any civilized country, a catastrophe of the magnitude of the recent Bhakkar bus tragedy, in which 62 people were killed, would have shocked the nation in general and the authorities concerned in particular, but not so in our country.
Every now and then one reads about such tragic, but avoidable, accidents in Punjab. Is there no administration in the province? I appeal to the chief minister and the chief secretary of Punjab to hold the DIG (traffic) concerned accountable for the Bhakkar tragedy. Unless heads roll, the situation will continue to deteriorate.
NAZIM F. HAJI
Karachi
Cricket team
It is time the Pakistan Cricket Board examined the performance of the captain, the coach and the management of the Pakistan cricket team in the recently concluded one-day series in New Zealand.
The team selection was flawed. The captaincy and coaching were primitive and left much to be desired. It is unfortunate that such a talented team lost because of lousy captaincy and coaching. They will fail against India unless changes are made and other all-rounders are brought in.
SAEED BOKHARI
Ottawa, Canada
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