| 10 April 2004 | Saturday | 19 Safar 1425 |
Cricket: responding to criticism
Citizenship for aliens
Arranging a function
Passing by a college
Pakistan Steel production
Gaining taxpayers' confidence
The Wana operation
Right to silence
PIA staff's behaviour
Request to extend exam dates
Musharraf on PTV
Road menace
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The US veto has scuttled the UN Security Council's resolution of March 25, denouncing Israel's targeted killing of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the spiritual leader and founder of Hamas. This extra-judicial assassination is no less a loss to the Palestinians than the barbaric murder of Ayatullah Baqer-ul-Hakim is to the Iraqis.
It has pained the Palestinians and, to some extent, the Arab world. Has it hurt the Muslim world, too? We in Pakistan are just as pained as Palestinians are. Who else has a better or worse experience of vetoes? During the '50s and the '60s, it was Pakistan which suffered the most vetoes on the UN Kashmir resolutions by the then Soviet Union.
By vetoing a Security Council resolution condemning Sheikh Yassin's killing, the US is not sending the right message to the world. Instead, it is sending the wrong message to Israel which will be more fortified not only in its state terrorism but also in its resolve to kill more Palestinian leaders, Yasser Arafat included.
US president Nixon wrote in his memoirs that the "USA has a special relationship with Israel which, un-understandable to any other nation, makes us responsible for its security as Israel considers itself - and USA agrees with it - an outpost of the free world and a bastion of democracy in a place where these qualities are non-existent."
But what is not understandable to us is how and why the United States is fighting Al Qaeda, the terrorist organization, on the one hand, and defending the state terrorism of Israel, on the other.
S. M. KAZIM NAQVI
Karachi
(2)
Now that the fallacy called weapons of mass destructions (WMDs) has been exposed, it is extremely unjust to call the Iraqi people fighting the occupied forces as militants, insurgents or terrorists.
Independent and free people and the press of the world are required to exercise some prudence and caution while picking up the highly disparaging remarks aired by the western media. It would be more appropriate and indeed befitting to call the Iraqi people fighting against tyranny and oppression as freedom fighters. The sense of judgment of the entire free thinking world is at stake.
NASSER KHAN
Peshawar
Cricket: responding to criticism
Pakistan's nine-wicket win over India in the second Test should go down in history as one of the best victories of all times, given the circumstances prior to the start of the match. Without doubt, all credit should go to the team and the coach for such a committed fightback.
However, I must disagree with the manner the captain has commented on the criticism made by former players and the media after the thumping defeat at Multan. A victory in the second Test is good enough to silence all critics, but the failure to perform up to the mark in the first Test and the margin of defeat deserved exactly the kind of criticism that was made by the media, experts and the public.
How come the Indians were able to switch so nicely into Test match mould after the one-day series and the Pakistanis were not is a question that I would like to ask the captain.
Let's not forget that despite being a highly talented unit, the Pakistan team continues to remain volatile and at times strong criticism works as a blessing in disguise just as it did with the team in the second Test. Hence, instead of threatening to resign, the coach and the captain should try and admit failures and continue their committed effort to build the team as a more consistent unit.
The series is wide open and the Indians will respond very strongly. Let's not get carried away at this point and focus on winning the series.
KAMRAN A. SHAH
Karachi
(2)
I have been and still am a keen cricket enthusiast. Right now too I am following very keenly the cricket series between South Africa and New Zealand, England and West Indies and more particularly the Pakistan-India series. More and more, the credibility of cricket is being brought into question.
The fixed and liquid assets of some of the international cricketers, including those of India and Pakistan, are perhaps an indication of what is happening in the game of cricket.
The fixing mafia is firmly and deeply entrenched. Cricket establishments around the world, due to their own dubious compulsions, have failed to effectively tackle this menace, which is systematically destroying the game of cricket.
The anti-corruption unit of the ICC has so far proved to be a useless body. It lacks the will to eradicate this evil of match-fixing. The fixing mafia is loaded with billions and one fears that they have perhaps succeeded in even influencing the cricket establishments around the world and the ICC.
For millions of cricket fans the hope of watching a clean and genuine match looks bleak. The only way to end the agony of cricket fans is to forget cricket at least for the next five years.
KHAWAJA FARIDUDDIN
Karachi
Citizenship for aliens
This has reference to the letter "Citizenship for aliens" (April 6) by Mr Aziz Narejo from Texas, USA.
Till recently, the United States was welcoming aliens from all over the world, and the US and Canada are rightly called countries of immigrants. While people like Mr Narejo strive hard to obtain citizenship of the US, they want to deny this very right to Biharis in Pakistan, who were and are true Pakistanis, a vast number of them having fought bravely under very adverse circumstances and laid down their lives for the then unified Pakistan.
As for changes in the demography of Sindh, there are more Pathans living in Karachi than in Peshawar, besides a vast number of people from other provinces like Punjab and Balochistan. Many of them are hard working and enterprising and thus dominate the economic scene and are prosperous.
One can find similarities in conditions of cosmopolitan cities of New York and London, where so-called aliens from all corners of the world come for greener pastures and settle there.
People in Pakistan from various provinces must realize that merit, hard work and dedication to education, as well as correct attitudes to work and profession, are the real key to progress and prosperity. To bank on quotas and sifarish and to keep harping on such subjects like the grant of citizenship to aliens (who are not aliens, by any standards) will not contribute towards the real progress of our country.
Imagine what the US would have been without the immigrants' contribution to its gigantic leap to progress and prosperity. The US owes it to the capable brains of almost all countries of the world, who love to live there because it is an "equal opportunity employer".
HASAN A. GHAFOOR
Karachi
Arranging a function
With the proliferation of universities, NGOs, etc., numerous large convocations and other functions, attended by thousand of guests, are held almost every day. It is high time a code of conduct was evolved for such occasions. A few suggestions are given below:
1. The chief guests should be informed that the function will start on time whether they arrive or not. Often their late arrival wastes thousands of man-hours which our poor country can ill afford. Very busy people should not accept invitations to become chief guests.
2. Most functions start with qirat. The Holy Quran has something for every occasion. The passage to be recited should be carefully selected so that when the translation is read, it makes an impact on the people present. It should also be kept short so that people can absorb its meaning.
3. Some functions also include a naat. Its selection should also be made from the many beautiful naats written by great poets, so that it makes an impact on people and does not become a formality.
4. Speakers should read their speeches at home so that they don't flounder through them in front of the guests. (It is said that as prime minister, Churchill used to read each speech several times in front of a mirror. Something for our politicians and VVIPs to think about.)
5. The parking area or the alighting point should be as close to the entrance of the function as possible to facilitate senior citizens and women.
6. All invitations and chairs should be colour coded so that guests can find their seats with ease.
7. A rehearsal for the programme should be done before hand.
S. KIZILBASH
Karachi
Passing by a college
I pass by Urdu College on University Road daily, and I thought as a Pakistani it is my duty to fellow citizens to tell them of what the very idea of education has been reduced to:
Often, students belonging to a political party play "Islamic" songs by copying popular film tunes. Then another party with an ethnic background blares music and speeches to disseminate their "ideology" to students and passersby.
One day, I saw a majlis being broadcast on loudspeakers. This was obviously in response to what the other group was doing by way of publicizing its "Islamic ideology."
Mr Editor: when I was in college and later university, we too had students belonging to different sects and ethnic groups, but never did we turn campuses into a platform for promoting this kind of parochialism.
Going by what I see there, the emphasis now is on everything except education. And I would not blame the students. I would blame their parent parties which have failed to instil the value of education in the students' minds and make them believe that what matters is party songs, party literature, and party cause and party mobilization, even if this leads to violence and makes a mockery of the very concept of education.
JAMIL ZUBAIRI
Karachi
Pakistan Steel production
Large deposits of iron ore exist in Kalabagh and Chiniot (Punjab), Nokundi and Dilband (Balochistan) and Chitral (the NWFP). Extensive metallurgical studies on some of these deposits have been carried out within and outside the country and their suitability for use in iron-making process has been technically established.
Coking coal is found in Sharigh (Balochistan) and can be blended with imported coal for the production of coke. Good grade magnesite and chromate are available in the NWFP and Balochistan for production of high quality magnesite and chrome magnesite bricks.
Pakistan Steel imports about 18 million tons of iron ore and 0.9 million tons of coal annually and a substantial quantity of refractory bricks involving huge foreign exchange, while they have all the facilities to manufacture these bricks in their own plant using local raw material.
I hope the minister concerned advises the management of PS to concentrate on blending some percentage of local iron ore and coal with the imported material and gradually move towards self-reliance.
QAZI A. WAHEED
Karachi
Gaining taxpayers' confidence
The Central Board of Revenue (CBR) calls for taking measures to gain confidence of taxpayers, besides ensuring justice and an atmosphere free from harassment for them. But the government has given blanket and unfettered powers to the commissioner of income tax to select any person for the audit of a person's income tax under section 177 of the Income Tax Ordinance 2001.
No doubt, there should be an audit of incomes of the taxpayers, but the selection of persons for audit should not be the discretion and/or subjective judgment of the income tax commissioner. We must remember that power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. There must be a judicial check on every power given to an income tax functionary.
Each year, the CBR after due consultation with its commissioners should in fact evolve a certain criterion for selection which must be made public. This will ensure that no arbitrary selections for audit have been made. The taxpayers have the right to feel confident that audit authorities have been selected according the parameters laid down.
There is a great fear in the minds of taxpayers with regard to the income tax authorities. Much of it has developed over the time because of the arbitrary attitude and highhanded ways that have often been adopted by income tax functionaries in exercise of their powers.
I would humbly submit that these functionaries have done more harm than good in choking the entrepreneurial activities, which if allowed to flourish, could grow many times over, thus being really beneficial for the economy and revenue and also for alleviation of poverty. Time has come when both the Central Board of Revenue and our finance minister need to look into the matter.
TAXPAYER
Karachi
The Wana operation
Your reader Dr K.T.Kamal seems to be one of the victims of one-sided government propaganda on the Wana issue ("Withdrawal from Wana", April 6).
It is wrong to say that there are terrorists or outlaws hiding in Wana tribal area. All these people came to Pakistan on the invitation of Pakistani authorities. They fought against Russian forces in Afghanistan during the last quarter of the previous century.
After this war, they settled in the tribal areas and married there in local tribes with the tacit approval of the Pakistan government. These people have never committed any crime against Pakistani laws nor have they harmed the interests of the country.
The law-abiding people living in the tribal areas have always been friendly to Pakistan and its government. Their hosts, the local tribes, have also been loyal to Pakistan throughout our history.
It is America which has declared an all-out war to enforce its hegemony in the world and it is an American plan to destabilize the Muslim world. The Wana operation planned at the behest of the US has proved to be a great loss to Pakistan and unfortunately a blow to the good name of our army. We have gained nothing from this uncalled-for operation.
HAFIZ M. IDREES
President, MMA, Punjab, Lahore
Right to silence
This is apropos of the letter "Reading out rights" (April 9) by Mr Anil Khan Luni. Although Mr Luni rightly points out that police in Pakistan are not the most trusted force, it is naive to assume that in the West police officials are considered trustworthy.
It is well accepted that the practice of reading out rights in the West is a mere formality. The truth is that a majority of the suspects are unaware of their true rights and fail to realize the consequences of their statements at the time of their arrest. There have been many instances in the West where the police use such laws at their own peril and often construct a case against the accused gravely undermining the much nurtured "right to silence".
A suspect is likely to be intimidated and nervous at the time of the arrest and may make incriminating remarks which he/she does not mean. Thus, Section 162 of the Code of Criminal Procedure 1898 may be an effective provision to safeguard the foremost right of the accused, i.e. to be presumed innocent until proven guilty.
SHABBIR A. HARIANAWALA
Coventry, UK
PIA staff's behaviour
While returning home after performing Haj this year, I had a bitter experience at Jeddah airport of impolite behaviour by the PIA staff. If any Haji/passenger had extra weight of about two/three kilograms, he was charged, which in principle was the right of PIA, but the staff behaviour and their dealing with passengers was ungraceful.
In my case, after getting my boarding card I proceeded to the departure lounge along with my wife, where another PIA officer took away my handbag in which I was carrying an additional weight of four kilograms. When the officer demanded extra charges, I gave him Rs1,000 which he refused to accept and demanded riyals. I had to borrow the required riyals from a Haji to reclaim my bag.
The PIA staff should realize that all passengers, particularly Hajis, are their guests who must be dealt with politely and given due respect.
HUMAYUN SHAHZADA
Karachi
Request to extend exam dates
The decision of the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Karachi (Dawn, March 29), to hold the HSC examinations from April 28 is commendable. Besides the workload on the BISEs, during the current academic year the students had shorter time for study as the summer holidays were extended for a month because of heavy rains in Sindh.
I request the other BISEs in the province to follow the example of the Karachi board in the interest of students and extend the dates of examinations. I hope the steering committee of the provincial education department will relax its policies and do the needful.
AGHA ATTAULLAH KHAN
Ghotki
Musharraf on PTV
Ptv recently put up an uninteresting show with General Musharraf as the guest. The half a dozen or so people who raised hands proffered tame and parroted questions that General Musharraf gladly and wholeheartedly answered. As is the case in such official presentations, no one raised challenging or contrary topics.
In a previous TV dialogue with an Indian audience, piercing questions were asked ranging from Kashmir to democracy in Pakistan.
ASLAM MINHAS
Karachi
Road menace
I would like to bring to the attention of the relevant authorities the menace of mercury lights that many people have got fixed in their cars. These lights are actually normal lights that have had a shade of blue pasted over them and, when put on high, their beam gives the effect of a mercury light.
The problem is that these lights are blinding to oncoming traffic, as well as to those who drive ahead of these inconsiderate drivers. Can the relevant authorities do something?
NAYYAR ALI
Karachi
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