| 13 April 2004 | Tuesday | 22 Safar 1425 |
Pakistan Resolution
Crime and punishment
Lahore zoo location
CPSP fee structure
Hazards of asbestos
Need to regulate the catering business
Convocation of Hamdard University
'Unsettling talk'
Another case of karo-kari
PTCL's absent staff
Condoleezza Rice's testimony
Electricity failures
ATM charges
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However deceptive illusions may be, at times they look real. Consider the situation when a passenger standing on a railway platform thinks as if he is moving while looking at a passing train.
That is what has been happening to our country. It stopped moving forward a long time ago - actually on August 14, 1947 - the day it became independent. But still some erroneously believe that it is moving ahead when the fact is that it is not.
How did it happen? One reason could be that our leaders, busy with pleading their case for independence, didn't draw a plan - a blueprint - for running the country that they were struggling for. It is as if an engineer invents a machine but forgets to write a manual.
Others not sure how to run it would soon ruin it. It may explain why we have been in a never-ending stalemate - suffering under dictators of all colours - never being able to find our way out of the maze.
It is indeed a great tragedy for the over 140 million people that inhabit this land. With our ineptitude we have not only lost what was the majority province but also caused great harm to our own people.
Though we were able to write a somewhat unanimous constitution after 26 years of our existence, we lost no time in mutilating it beyond recognition and rendering it ineffective with too many amendments - most of them caused through inappropriate means.
Today we are as clueless as we were 56 years ago on how to run this country. Should it be a theocratic state or a secular republic? Should it be a federation or a centralized state? Should we have a democracy or a dictatorship? What should have supremacy: the Constitution or the so-called "law of necessity"? How should the resources be used: for the benefit of all or just the chosen few? What should be the priorities of the state: education, poverty alleviation or beyond-our-means expenditure on a huge defence establishment? What curricula should be taught in the schools? So on and so forth.
One thing we should understand is that our collective inertia in the face of all these questions won't solve anything. We, the people, have to come out and speak. And we all need to be heard. It is our country.
It belongs to all of us. We all should be responsible for its successes and failures. We have to either swim together or sink en masse. We have to wake up pretty soon and get going.
The world is moving at a fast pace. We should come out of the illusion that we are moving along too. The reality is that we are not. It may soon be impossible to catch on with it.
AZIZ NAREJO
Corpus Christi, Texas, USA
Pakistan Resolution
This refers to the conflicting opinions expressed lately about the word "states" appearing in the March 23, 1940, resolution The text of the Lahore Resolution, as proposed on March 23, 1940, uses the words "independent states". States in the plural.
It then goes on to say: "In which the constituent units shall be autonomous and sovereign". Clearly, there is an anomaly in the wording. This was first pointed out by Dr B. R. Amedkar, a highly respected constitutionalist of India. In a federation, confederation or republic, the constituent units are not sovereign. If they are sovereign, they cannot be called constituent units - constituting what?
We now have two independent and sovereign states - Pakistan and Bangladesh - but they cannot be termed constituent units. We cannot put total reliance only on the word "states" and ignore the presence of words "constituent units" which indicate a linkup through a central sovereign authority. The quantum of autonomy for the federating units was not defined in the Lahore Resolution.
From 1940 to 1947 to 1971, there was no demand from East Pakistan to indicate that injustice was done to them when the letter 's' was dropped from the word 'states' at the all-India Muslim League legislators' convention of 1946. This resolution was proposed by a Bengali leader, H. S. Suhrawardy. Much later, even Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his six-point programme did not call for two independent and sovereign states.
F. U. AHMAD
Karachi
Crime and punishment
This refers to the stripping case in Umar Payan, a village on the outskirts of Peshawar (Dawn April 7). The details of this incident were brought out in an article "The Naked Truth" in The Review(April 1-7). It made a painful but thought-provoking reading. Alas, it was not a parable but a truthful account.
Similar happenings are taking place in the region and often going unnoticed and unreported. The description of injustice - in the garb of justice - meted out to an innocent woman cuts through an understanding heart. "Bibi" was severely beaten and dishonoured by a man because her brother had supposedly raped his wife.
A lot of social problems have cropped up among rural families whose menfolk are working in the Middle East. These include rivalries, malice, molestation of women, rape and murders.
But man has devised a strange and convenient system of crime and punishment to deal with such situations. If his wife or sister is raped, he is least concerned with the perpetrator of the crime; instead all his attention is diverted towards the spouse or sister of the culprit. A man's crime against a woman must be avenged by disgracing his womenfolk while the criminal goes scot-free.
Women are not only slaves to men to labour and toil. They also come in handy to pay for their crimes. The irony is that a woman, on the one hand, is considered a symbol of the family's honour, and on the other, she is treated as an object of contempt and degradation.
S. ABRAR HUSAIN
Lahore
Lahore zoo location
The letter (April 3) proposing shifting the Lahore zoo to Jallo Park has no sound argument. Animals die in other zoos as well. For example, a lion died in the Islamabad zoo.
Jallo Park has a few visitors and gives a deserted look. Many empty enclosures testify to the fate of its erstwhile occupants. Let us not forget the black ostrich at Jallo Park whose mate died some time ago and it roams the enclosure, lonely and despondent.
We need to solve congestion by better traffic management such as bypasses, overhead bridges and one-way traffic rules. As for pollution, vehicles emitting smoke are the main contributor, along with thousands of cars on the congested roads. Let us take firm action against smoke-emitting vehicles and ban cars in most congested areas and provide public transport there.
Lahore has many good gardens, and there is no pressing need for one more at the expense of the Lahore zoo. Mortality rate at the zoo is not abnormal, but more funds will enable the management to provide better care.
It may be understood that the zoo was set up after meticulous planning and its closure will kill many animals/birds, depriving common citizens and children of an excellent and convenient outlet for family recreation and environmental education.
ARNAB MALIK
Islamabad
CPSP fee structure
The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Pakistan (CPSP) has been doing yeoman service for the medical profession since 1962. It has been awarding post-graduate degrees in FCPS, MCPS, DCPS and simultaneously offering admission in 47 specialties and sub-specialties since its inception.
But after the MBBS, a doctor's plans to get specialization within Pakistan face hurdles in the form of excessive fees and the mandatory post-graduate-training without the umbrella of the public service commission.
Then after getting through the hectic examinations of FCPS-I, a young doctor faces utter despair in view of the strategy of the CPSP regarding the fee structure of registration, workshops and examinations.
The post-graduate trainees are compelled to work day and night to accomplish the mandatory training under the auspices of the CPSP. Unfortunately, the precarious financial position of a young unemployed doctor does not permit him to bear the expenses.
The need of the hour is to re-evaluate the fee structure to ease the problems of young doctors. Measures must be taken to bring the fee module at par with the average financial capability of a doctor. Above all, the CPSP must endeavour to win recognition of fellowship and membership degrees abroad.
DR. Z.A. CHAUDHARY
Lahore
Hazards of asbestos
Further to your editorial and subsequent letter on the subject, I would like to add that the commercial use of asbestos has been banned in western countries in the past two decades.
Our EPA must find out what alternative material is being used in these countries and recommend its use for industry. The PCSIR should also endeavour to prescribe a material which can be used in the construction industry as an alternative to asbestos.
However, in view of the large-scale use of asbestos cement sheets and pipes as an economical building material, the following precautions can be taken to minimize the hazardous effects of asbestos pollution:
1. Masks covering the nose and mouth must be worn by persons cutting or drilling asbestos sheets and pipes.
2. After installation, asbestos cement sheets and pipes must be painted with two coats of enamel paint so that asbestos fibres are sealed within the paint.
The above measures will minimize inhalation of asbestos fibres and the subsequent health problems that follow.
ASIF JAH
Karachi
Need to regulate the catering business
It has now become common practice in the country to entrust the catering on the occasions of weddings and other social functions to catering companies. According to one estimate, the catering business has the potential of over Rs40 billion per annum.
If viewed in this context, catering has assumed the dimensions of an industry and needs to be organized, requiring the caterers to adhere to international standards of hygiene and to apply all methods to make sure that the food being supplied to the customers is hygienic and that the customers get "value for money".
This is, however, not being done at present, thereby allowing catering companies to operate at will. This in turn deprives customers of the benefits of safe food, on the one hand, and the public exchequer of sizable revenue in the form of sales tax, on the other.
I have been in the catering business for the last 30 years and have never witnessed as sorry a state of affairs in this regard in any of the countries in the region as in my own country.
There are stringent rules dealing with the catering business and the caterers are required to comply with the laid-down standards in accordance with the legislation of the local government institutions.
It is the responsibility of the health department to enforce discipline in this vital sector and regulate operations of all catering companies, ensuringthat the food being supplied to the customers is safe and all precautions have been taken by food handlers in preparing the food. For this they need to have properly designed kitchens to be run by professionals.
The health department should inspect the premises of the catering companies to ensure that they have proper kitchens to prepare food and that all the requirements with regard to safe food are observed in letter and in spirit.
It is time the health department came out of its slumber and enforced rules to overview operations of the catering companies in the country.
FARHAN QURESHI
Karachi
Convocation of Hamdard University
Since the Hamdard University campus opened in Islamabad in 1998, several batches of students have graduated. However, not a single convocation ceremony has taken place since its opening. Therefore, the report that the university will be holding its first convocation at the end of this month is welcome news for students who have graduated from this institution.
But it appears that two groups of students are being discriminated against and are not being invited to the convocation ceremony. One group comprises students who were officially awarded degrees by the Hamdard University while they were studying at IBADAT, while the other group is the very first batch of students who studied at Hamdard when it had only a single campus.
It is unfair to exclude these two groups of students from attending the very first convocation ceremony of their alma mater.
SALMAN MALIK
Islamabad
'Unsettling talk'
This is with reference to the editorial "Unsettling talk" (April 11). It is misleading to say that the statement of the interior minister concerning President General Pervez Musharraf's uniform was "given prominence on state-owned television". On the contrary, it was the independent electronic and print media which gave extraordinary media coverage to his views.
It should also be noted that Rao Sikander Iqbal and Makhdoom Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat are independent political personalities with long and distinguished political careers and have every right to express views born out of their conviction at any time without fear or favour.
PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICER
Ministry of Interior & Narcotics Control, Islamabad
Another case of karo-kari
It is really sad to learn from your editorial "Another karo-kari case" (April 8) about a lady schoolteacher who has been declared a "kari" by a tribal jirga at the behest of her husband.
For what? That she was standing outside her home in a village of Gambat taluka with her sister when a 15-year-old boy also came over there. When her spouse saw the boy standing near them, he made it a big issue, called her a "kari" and the boy a "karo".
The verdict of the jirga is outrageous and abhorrent, to say the least. Such verdicts are generally arbitrary and invariably discriminate against women. I would like to request the Sindh government to bring the culprits to book.
TARIQ ALI SHAH
Turbat
PTCL's absent staff
The customer services office at the Defence Society Telephone Exchange in Karachi never opens at 9am which is the official time.
Many subscribers are found waiting outside the building till 9.50am or 10am. That's not all. Even when the office is open, none of the staff is available to attend to the customers.
During the last month, I visited this office at least 10 times and found it closed. Will somebody look into this matter please?
H. FEROZE SHAMSI
Karachi
Condoleezza Rice's testimony
I watched the testimony of US National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice (April 8) before the independent commission on 9/11, and it was an experience. She just might have saved Bush from certain defeat in the forthcoming elections in November 2004.
She stole Bush's thunder; and proved herself to be her own woman. She didn't act but was presidential. She seems to be the only man in (Bush included) the White House. Forget Colin Powell, she is one American Africans should look up to.
On democracy in the Middle East, she said that it couldn't be imposed in a hurry. "We have our own history." She made commission members bumble and stutter while she kept gushing forth unimpeded by her questioners.
On Pakistan, she told the commission that to enlist its support, the US played the good cop in bad cop routine (carrot and stick). It has always been so since 1958. Nothing new on that account. We have been in that alley before and we have been sold short and not for the first time. Some consolation.
ASLAM MINHAS
Karachi
Electricity failures
We are residents of Liaquat Colony, Street 3 (Memon Society). For the last one week, we have been facing round-the-clock loadshedding. The problem is especially severe for those of us who are taking their examinations these days. Every day the loadshedding continues for more than five hours.
The following are the timings of loadshedding that we faced last week: Friday, from 3.30pm to 10.30pm; Saturday, from 9am to 1pm and from 7pm to 9pm; Sunday did not witness any loadshedding; Monday, from 5.30pm to 11pm; Tuesday, from 1am to 6am; Wednesday, from 2pm to 11pm; and Thursday, from 2.30pm to 5.30pm. That makes it 35 hours in seven days.
Through these columns we want to appeal to the Sindh governor and the KESC managing director to take action and solve our problem once and for all.
RESIDENTS
Karachi
ATM charges
The attention of the State Bank of Pakistan is invited to the arbitrary increase in ATM charges by private/ multinational banks. When the facility was introduced about two years ago, accounts-holders were encouraged to avail themselves of it and were repeatedly assured that it was free.
Later, ATM charges at Rs10 per month were levied. In my last account statement, I was surprised to see that the charges have now been increased to Rs300 per year, which is a 150 per cent jump.
Besides being a convenience for the customers, ATMs are also profitable for the bank as they need to employ fewer workers and thus save on salaries. In the West, ATMs are an essential feature of every bank at no extra cost. In Pakistan too, it is not a novelty anymore and almost all banks are offering this facility, but with varying charges.
It is, therefore, requested that the State Bank of Pakistan should look into the matter and regulate the charges, which should be nominal at best.
ASIF JAH
Karachi
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