| 29 March 2004 | Monday | 07 Safar 1425 |
N-issue: a matter of serious concern
Guantanamo Bay prisoners
Geography book
Hossam Mohammad Abdo
Yassin's murder and Israel's security
Prudent economic policies?
Telephone connection
'Waziristan' in an enclosure
Why drop Younus?
Road repairs
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The execution of eight Pakistani soldiers by pro-Taliban tribals should serve as the crossing of the limit of tolerance for the Pakistan government. The tribes in the north of Pakistan have enjoyed considerable autonomy over the decades since Pakistan's inception.
However, a day has to come when this autonomy ends and the rule of the Constitution and law is established over this region. This fact is undeniable and as the world progresses into this millennium, this indeed becomes the need of the time.
Given the circumstances of the day, it would not be inappropriate for the government to use this opportunity and deal permanently with this problem which has pestered our country for such long a period of time.
Gone should be the days when murderers and killers (local or foreign) can find a safe haven in any part of our country, be it tribally ruled or otherwise. And gone should be the days when our own military forces have to lay siege to areas within our own country to execute the will of the government.
Such jobs suit the local police and it is indeed a shameful state of affairs that the military has to intervene within our boundaries because of an imminent threat amongst us.
This threat has materialized into the sorrowful loss of our soldiers. The government should seize the moment and go all the way into convincing the tribal representatives to respect Pakistan's law and constitution.
If force is required for such an endeavour, so be it.
MUBASHIR KHAN
Indianapolis, IN., USA
(2)
I salute the soldiers who have fallen in the operation in Fata, martyred in the cause of protecting their country, this time from an enemy within instead of from across the border. For too long have successive governments let these tribal areas permeate our society with drugs, illegal weapons and provide a haven for criminals to seek refuge in.
The Fata people have offered sacrifices for this country like others and I do not doubt that they are loyal to Pakistan for the most part, but now they are the source of a lot of trouble that afflicts the country.
Our opposition and right-wing mullahs are screaming American imperialism. The government gave a lot of time to a tribal jirga to apprehend these criminals and terrorists. It was when an unsuspecting force of the Frontier Constabulary on a search operation was ambushed that the situation escalated to where it is now.
The terrorists, militants and those who shelter them are to blame for this escalation, not the army. The MMA and other opposition leaders now want the army to retreat after what was done. What kind of message does that send to these terrorists? Kill enough people and the government will back off and negotiate with you?
We have to take a strong stance against this menace. For too long have we let customs and traditions provide a haven for criminals. It should be brought to an end and the writ of the state should be imposed there like the rest of the country.
ZAINUL HUDA BHATTI
Port Huron, Michigan, USA
(3)
The operation in Wana has pitted the military against local tribes. Pakistani soldiers are being killed by militants. This is disturbing and one may ask: what is wrong with this picture? But wait.
Who are these people in Wana that are fighting against the Frontier Constabulary and soldiers? They are misguided people who are giving refuge to foreign fighters that attack US forces in Afghanistan and then run to hide in Wana. Islamabad has no choice but to flush out these so-called foreign Muslim fighters. Otherwise, American forces will intrude into Wana.
Thus, it makes sense for the tribes themselves to stop hosting foreign fighters.
SHAUKAT KHAN
Juneau, Alaska, USA
N-issue: a matter of serious concern
Some time back I watched a discussion on a private TV channel between Dr Pervez Hoodbhoy of the Quaid-i-Azam University and a freshman senator with an intelligence background.
Dr Hoodbhoy raised a very serious question that if today America faced an occurrence similar to 9/11, it would be forced to take drastic measures, unknown in its rage, including its non-conventional option against us. The year 2004 is election year in the US. For the sake of victory, the candidates (including the president) can demand or may consider repeating a cataclysmic act.
The FBI has already predicted a major terrorist attack on US soil in a few months and, so, Dr Hoodbhoy was correct in assessing such a probability. It is surprising that we do not have any individual or civilian institution to mull such scenarios and adopt steps to counter them.
The freshman senator preferred to take this discussion head on, as if questioning the patriotic credentials of the other. Why is it that no one else, except the non-civilian, can discuss nuclear issues. Today, we say that this subject should be in exclusive hands, in all matters.
But what about the past when this matter was in exclusive hands and they allowed its cheap advertisement at every chowk of the city, town and village by placing tin models of Chaghai mountains and the rockets? Where did that funding come from? Has Israel or India or North Korea ever boasted in public or in private, or talked about the display of their nuclear competency as we were doing until a few years ago?
Did those who talk of hitting Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata with nuclear bombs ever calculate the risk of counter-attacks on Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad? By doing this we frightened the world which now has certain reservations about us.
Some time back the world had focused on four countries: Iran, Libya, North Korea and Pakistan: as non-serious states in non-conventional weapons. Now it will try every possible means to stop, freeze, rollback and eventually to dismantle such facilities.
Libya and Iran are presently in such a process and North Korea has just announced its decision. Now the field is wide open for only one country - Pakistan.
To me the big patriot today is he who thinks, plans and forewarns about how to save the motherland from an eventuality, and not the one who stops a person from speaking the truth, which was manifested in the TV debate.
Pakistan today needs liberal and far-sighted leaders and not Pied Pipers who will lead us to oblivion. Dr Hoodbhoy has warned the nation about the looming danger and he was heckled and prevented by the rookie parliamentarian.
I would suggest to my new colleague in the Senate that if he is serious about saving the precious national assets, he should work for a new legislation that must help change the present world's mindset about us. It would help our nation and also create a trustworthy image abroad.
KUNWAR KHALID YUNUS
Karachi
Guantanamo Bay prisoners
Recently, it has been announced that five so-called terror suspects are being released in the next few weeks from the notorious American prison in Guantanamo Bay. They are amongst more than 660 suspects who have been held at the United States base in Cuba for two years without trial.
They were suspected of being Al Qaeda or Taliban fighters, or supporters, but have had no evidence brought against them after two years of imprisonment. Even British Home Secretary David Blunkett and US Major-General Geoffrey Miller have stated that these men do not pose any threat to western security.
Despite all of this, the suspects could still face charges in courts of the United Kingdom under anti-terrorism laws. Until now, ministers have said the detainees will either face trial before the US military tribunals or return home.
Greg Powell, the solicitor for one of the men, has told the BBC: "The government knows very well these men were never any kind of security risk, and the Americans have said they pose no threat to the United States."
Surely, if anything exposes the fallacy of western 'justice', it is the arrest and treatment of these prisoners. To date, no factual evidence has been presented as it is clear that they were arrested on mere suspicion. One of the suspects was even arrested in Pakistan, far away from the war.
Here is the evidence of the hypocrisy of liberal democracy, the champions of human rights and civil liberties. The US and Britain are in the forefront of demanding these values from the Muslim world, when they themselves do not adhere to them.
The Muslim Ummah must remain wary of the secular states and recognize that they will go to any length to maintain their domination, even at the expense of their own principles and values.
NADIA KHWAJA
Surrey, UK
Geography book
Although geography is an elective subject at school level, the Punjab Textbook Board's geography elective book has not been available in the market for 12 years.
In the matriculation examinations, a new objective system has been established, but there is no authentic board book available. How can teachers prepare for the subject in these circumstances?
Geography has been included as an elective subject in the Y list. Unfortunately, for the last 25 years, no textbook board has compiled a book on trade geography for classes IX and X, according to the new syllabus of 1993.
The Punjab Textbook Board got a book compiled according to the 1972 syllabus of trade geography for classes IX and X. But it has not been available in the market for the last 25 years.
All the boards of Punjab, including the federal one, are publishing the same 1972 syllabus, although the central syllabus section of the education department changed its syllabus in 1993. No board tried to compile a book according to the new syllabus even though the new objective system has been established.
The education minister should ensure that the authentic book for the subject should be made available, and to take to task those responsible for this criminal negligence.
PROFESSOR MOHAMMAD ANWAR
Lahore
Hossam Mohammad Abdo
Israel has made sure that it accuses Hossam Mohammad Abdo, the 14-year-old Palestinian of planning to carry out a suicide attack. This appeared on international TV news channels and in newspapers. The boy was described as nothing more than the face of terrorism.
One does not even have to read between the lines to fathom the shallowness of Israel in this respect. Can't it see that Hossam's physical existence, which they displayed with scorn and utter hatred, is the sum total of the 14 years of torture, injustice, social and economic denial at the hands of Israel? It is indeed this and this alone that has propelled a young boy full of dreams of a better future to take such a step in which he is prepared to lay down his life for a higher cause.
Someone on the BBC stated that Hossam was quite aware of what he was about to do. Even if we were to assume for a minute that this opinion was based on reality, all I can conclude is that this is the story of not one, but of thousands of Hossams who have been spawned by the brutality of no one except Israel itself.
AMBER IMRAN RAZA
Lahore
Yassin's murder and Israel's security
The Israeli deputy defence minister said some time back that Sheikh Ahmad Yassin "deserves to die". Come last Monday morning and Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, who was almost blind and suffering from a host of ailments most of these contracted when in Israeli prisons, was killed by three Israeli missiles fired from US-supplied helicopters while returning from a mosque. He was the spiritual leader of the Palestinian resistance and established the Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, in Gaza Strip in 1987.
Palestinian reaction was immediate. Hamas leader Abdul Aziz al Rantissi remarked that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had "opened the gates of hell. They are the killers of prophets and today they killed an Islamic symbol".
As a result, for the first time in the history of the organization, Hamas also threatened the United States because America's backing of Israel made the assassination possible.
AFP reports say that the reaction of most Palestinians, even those who did not follow Hamas or agree with its tactics, was overwhelming shock and anger. Critics fear moderate Palestinians will now move into the camp of hardliners.
The reaction to the killing was divided largely along party lines in Israel, with members of the right-wing Likud party praising the action, and most members from the centrist Shinui party and the leftist Labour party condemning the move, including Shimon Perez.
Israeli Interior Minister Avraham Poraz from Shinui party warned that many Israelis "could pay with their lives. He questioned "the wisdom of targeting a Muslim cleric, even one involved in terrorism. The result can be very dangerous."
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw also condemned Israeli action by saying: "All of us understand Israel's need to protect itself against the terrorism which affects it, within international law but it is not entitled to go in for this kind of unlawful killing. It is unacceptable, it is unjustified and it is very unlikely to achieve its objectives."
The attack may have been connected to Sharon's disengagement plan which calls for a unilateral Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. Norway's Hilde Henriksen Waage, director of Norway's International Peace Research Institute, has said that Israel needed to hit Hamas in order to deny the organization the opportunity to say that the group had driven Israel from the Gaza. "Israel doesn't want to pull out of Gaza with its tail between its legs, however. They don't want Hamas to claim any such victory, seen with Israeli eyes."
Columnist Ben Kaspit of Maariv writes that while Yassin may be "history", the question is as to how many Israelis will "follow him to the grave" because of Sharon's decision of killing Yassin.
The psychic perversity of Ariel Sharon has gone too far. He and his top aides have approved the order to target all senior militant Palestinians. The Israeli army chief has hinted that President Yasser Arafat and Lebanese Hizbollah guerrilla leader Sheikh Hasan Nasrallh could end up on the hit list.
The Washington Post reports that the US was not notified in advance of the strike. Who is going to believe it? And look at the statement of National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice: "It is very important that everyone step back now and try now to be calm in the region.
There is always a possibility of a better day in the Middle East." What better day? We all know that each day has been a hell for the beleaguered Palestinians.
PROFESSOR (DR) P. NASIR
Gujrat
Prudent economic policies?
Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz proudly claimed on March 15 that because of the government's prudent economic policies, the per capita income for the current fiscal year would be $600, taking Pakistan from a low-income to a medium-income country.
I think the minister does not have correct knowledge of the socio-economic conditions of the common people. I wish he would address some public rallies to tell the people how rich they have become because of his prudent economic policies during the last four years, and then see their response for himself.
The minister might as well inform them that the foreign currency reserves could not be utilized for their socio-economic welfare and were, therefore, transferred to other countries at a two per cent interest rate for their socio-economic development. Instead, we have taken a loan in the shape of euro bonds at a 6.75 per cent interest rate, with heavy commissions to foreign banks.
SHAKEEL AKHTAR
Rawalpindi
Telephone connection
I applied for a telephone connection vide application No. 635/151/03 dated 10.11.2003. After a few visits, the DE Azizabad issued a demand note for Rs6,000 plus including Rs5,000 as security deposit on the excuse of not being given ownership documents of my property, whereas at the time of application I had provided all the required documents, including the letter of transfer of ownership issued by the builders.
Please note that my husband works out of Pakistan and I am living with my three children in a far- flung area on the Super Highway where telephones are regularly installed on the same transfer of ownership letter as I have submitted.
FARZANA SHAHID
Karachi
'Waziristan' in an enclosure
For the second ODIbetween Pakistan and India, almost the entire Pakistan cabinet turned up to see the match at Rawalpindi. On seeing the ministers sitting in a row, Imran Khan quipped that one could see 'Waziristan' in a small enclosure.
The comment by Imran Khan belies the general impression about him that he can be anything but witty and humorous. In fact, such spontaneous remarks make commentary interesting.
RAFAT MAHMOOD ANSARI
Islamabad
Why drop Younus?
I was astonished to learn that the national panel of selectors has not named Younus Khan in the Test squad for the forthcoming Test rubber. May I remind them that Younus Khan was played in the ODI series where he did not score a century but has been ignored for the longer version of the game where he has scored five centuries in all? Instead, the selectors have included Yousaf Youhana who exhibited a pathetic performance in the ODI series except for the match in Karachi, and claim to have done so because of his experience.
It appears that Pakistan is the only country where performances in cricket are entirely ignored and experience takes over. If this the criterion for selection, may I ask why Waqar Younis has not been selected in place of a highly famed and dangerously erratic Shoaib Akhtar?
KAMRAN A. SHAH
Karachi
Road repairs
I want to draw the attention of the highway authorities to the poor state of the road linking New Saeedabad to Bakhar-Jamali.
The surface of the road has been badly damaged by rain and heavy vehicles. There are also deep pits in the middle of the road which may cause serious accidents. The public has been facing great hardship for a long time. I have made a large number of appeals to the highway authorities' office, but in vain.
I appeal to the governor and the chief minister of the province to take necessary action in this regard.
ALI AKBAR JAMALI
Bakhar Jamali
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