| 03 April 2004 | Saturday | 12 Safar 1425 |
Teachers' complaints
Capital's water quality
It appears doubtful now if Turkey will get a favourable decision about its entry into the European Union at the next summit meeting in December. On Thursday, the European Parliament in Strasbourg voted by an overwhelming majority - 211 to 84 - to adopt a negative report on Turkey by the European Commission.
The commission praised some "courageous" reforms by the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, but it said that in many respects Turkey still did not come up to the Copenhagen criteria. Specifically, the report refers to Turkey's record with regard to human rights, freedom of expression and the rights of ethnic and religious communities.
The parliament's vote must shock what the commission has called "the pro-European" Erdogan government. At the December 2002 summit, the EU decided that entry negotiations with Turkey would begin if the December 2004 summit felt satisfied with regard to Ankara's progress on the Copenhagen criteria.
Even though the European Parliament's recommendations are not legally binding, the legislative body has to ratify the outcome of the entry negotiations. Given Thursday's vote, all that Turkey should expect at the next summit is perhaps a delay of another couple of years in which to "do more".
Over the years, Turkey has done a lot to improve its human rights record. This has included the abolition of death penalty, greater political freedom and the grant of cultural freedom to the Kurdish minority, including the right to use the Kurdish language. The political reforms have included a greater civilian control over the state as seen in the "defanging" of the National Security Council.
The NSC is now an advisory body, and the seventh reform package passed by parliament in July last year visualized a civilian secretary general. In spite of all this, the EU does not seem to be in a mood to accommodate Turkey.
The truth is that leading EU countries like Germany and France are firmly opposed to Turkish entry. Turkey's population and its size, besides the fact that it happens to have a Muslim majority, go against its full membership of what many in the EU would like to remain a Christian club. The anti-Muslim wave in the western world after 9/11, reinforced in Europe by the Madrid carnage, has served to strengthen the anti-Turkish lobby in Europe. Another sticking point is the Cyprus issue.
The southern Greek-controlled part of the island will become a full EU member on May 1. Since the EU recognizes only the Greek Cypriot government, this means it will come to represent the entire island. The EU will then consider the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus to be an occupied territory. The only good news coming in this respect is Turkey's acceptance of Mr Kofi Annan's plan for a Cyprus solution.
On Thursday, the UN Secretary General announced in Buergenstock (Switzerland) that his plan for a loose federation of the two zones would be put to vote on April 24. EU sources have welcomed Turkey's acceptance of the UN plan, and say it could facilitate the beginning of entry negotiations if a positive decision is made by the summit in December.
The hope is that both communities will give a yes vote, thus paving the way for the entry of a united Cyprus into the EU. That will remove a major hurdle in the way of Turkey's membership. But still it remains doubtful if the Cyprus solution alone will guarantee the beginning of entry negotiations with Turkey.
Teachers' complaints
The demonstration and sit-in held by teachers in Karachi earlier this week brings to light the problems being faced by members of this community. The reaction of the chief minister, who termed the teachers' protest "childish" is unfair and does not address the issues involved. While many lament the deteriorating standards of education in the country, particularly in the public sector, not enough attention is being paid to the conditions of service of the teachers.
As a first step towards improving the standard of education in the country, attention must be paid to the complaints of the protesting teachers, who are poorly paid and shabbily treated by the government. Most of their demands relate to the conditions of their employment and the facilities that are denied to them. Issues like house rent, medical facilities and conveyance allowance may seem trivial to some but for the poorly paid and generally neglected academics any improvement in these allowances can make a big difference in the performance of their duties.
One hopes that the setting up of a committee by the CM will address some of the problems facing the teachers before grievances among them deepen, providing a cause for them to go on strike and stage demonstrations in an attempt to draw attention to their sorry plight.
The protest comes at a time when the provincial government is in the process of appointing 12,000 new teachers to fill vacancies in over 3,700 schools in the province that are not operational for lack of teaching staff. It would be advisable for the provincial government to give priority to the issues being agitated by teachers already in service so that there is no resentment over the conditions of service offered to the new entrants.
If this is not done, it will create an invidious distinction between the old and new groups of teachers. In all this, the ultimate sufferer will be the school-going children who will have to suffer the academic losses resulting from the protests and demonstrations teachers plan to stage across the province if their grievances are not addressed.
Capital's water quality
Occasional reports about the poor quality and insufficient supply of potable water in various cities have been appearing in the press for years without apparently making much difference in the standards of water supply. Recently a well-known non-governmental organization based claimed that as much as 98 per cent of the samples collected from Islamabad and Rawalpindi was found to be unfit for human consumption.
Earlier on, the Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources had also claimed that water in 17 out of 23 major cities, when tested, was unsafe for drinking. However, last week the National Institute of Health in Islamabad countered the negative reports by declaring that the Capital's water supply was fit for human consumption. The NIH's analysis was said to be based on a bacteriological examination report of water samples from the Capital. Whom to believe then?
What seems to be more likely is that while the water being supplied to some sectors may be fit for drinking, in other sectors it is not, especially where the water pipes are much older and leaking, allowing seepage of sewerage water, or where tubewells draw ground water contaminated by industrial waste or polluted streams. So instead of a blanket denial of the negative reports about Islamabad's water, the relevant authorities should have reassured residents that everything was being done to improve the water in those sectors where quality was lacking.
That effort is afoot to improve the water supply in the Capital is apparent in the report that a corporate Federal Capital Water Board is being planned to replace the current Water Supply Directorate in the Capital Development Authority. One hopes that this will not be a mere administrative change but will bring a real improvement in the Capital's water supply.