| 22 May 2004 | Saturday | 02 Rabi-us-Saani 1425 |
Torturous visa procedure
Two wars compared
Emergency OT at JPMC
Wheat hoarding
Revenue distribution criteria
Lessons from Indian polls
A 'void accord'
Industrial plots
Robbers on the prowl
Traffic hazards
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Pakistan was created by politicians who believed in democratic traditions and civil liberties. Theodore Roosevelt once said: "No man is above the law and no man is below it, nor do we ask any man's permission, when we ask him to obey it."
Civil societies do not allow usurpation of their resources by a select few, especially those who are on the payroll of the state. It is for the people of Pakistan to decide whether they want to follow the guiding principles laid down by the Founding Father of Pakistan, or they want their country to function as a banana republic.
Our education curricula should be designed to produce citizens who are loyal to Pakistan and not divided on sectarian, linguistic or ethnic basis. We should have more in common with any (Christian/Parsi/Hindu and others) Pakistani than with a Muslim from across the border or from any other part of the world. Our national history should not be distorted and only those who were true heroes should be projected in our curricula.
The fact that religious parties generally opposed the Quaid-i-Azam, Allama Iqbal and the Muslim League must not be hidden from the masses. The negative role played by the Unionists of Punjab, the uniformed and civil bureaucracy and others, who till the last moment were loyal subjects of the Raj, must be exposed.
Mere rhetoric vis-a-vis promotion of education will not serve any purpose unless jobs are given to qualified professionals instead of generalists. Practices of the present government and its predecessors show that promotion of education and human resource development have not been their top priorities, resulting in a massive brain drain.
The right of dissent by any citizen must be respected and all state functionaries must be subservient and accountable to the will of the people expressed through the universally accepted mode of ballot.
Good governance should be the objective. In spite of the hypocrisy and dual standards of America, the fact remains that civil society exists for the citizens of that state.
We have just witnessed the power of democracy when the US president, the secretaries of defence and state, the chief of the staff and all other state functionaries of the sole superpower had to publicly apologize for bringing disrepute to America through their treatment of citizens of another state, Iraq.
It was the fear of accountability that forced an arrogant administration to apologize, and not their moral or religious values. The strength of America lies in its democratic traditions, its constitution, its judiciary and not in its military. We need to learn our lessons very quickly, because time and tide wait for none.
TARIK MALLICK
Sheffield, UK
Torturous visa procedure
Getting an Indian visa by an ordinary citizen seems to be the most difficult thing to do. I understand that a person is required to call upon the Indian high commission three times for this purpose in the following manner:
1. He must go and show his passport. He is then issued a chit with a date on which he should visit the high commission to deposit his passport and visa application. This date can be some months later. (It is not clear why the passport and visa application are not accepted on the first visit to the high commission). If the applicant is from Karachi and is in a hurry, he will go by air and will stay in a hotel in Islamabad and will spend money on hotel accommodation, food and transport. At least Rs16,000 goes down the drain.
2. When he goes the second time and submits his passport and visa application, he is again given a chit with a later date on which he should again come to collect his passport and visa.
3. He has to go for a third time from Karachi to Islamabad to get his passport and visa.
After thus going through the ordeal of making three trips to Islamabad, and the consequential discomfort and loss of about six days of business and after spending at least Rs48,000 in the process, he is ready to go to India. If he intends to go to Delhi, the air fare will cost him Rs16,000.
The situation at the Pakistan high commission in Delhi is not much different. Indian citizens go through the same ordeal and, in view of the vastness of the country, those coming from Madras or Kolkata to New Delhi to get a visa must be spending much more than Rs48,000 on travel to New Delhi.
Is this way the governments of India and Pakistan, both committed to the welfare of the people, should tackle the issue? In the good old days (1960s), if a visa application was submitted at the deputy high commission at Karachi before 1100 hours, the visa was delivered the same day after 1400 hours.
I am saying this on the basis of my personal experience of August 1961. At that time most of the work was manually done but now most of the work is computerized and should take less time; so why cannot a visa be delivered on the same day? Why not totally eliminate visits to the high commission by accepting visa applications through post under registered cover and delivering the same through the same process?
SALAHUDDIN MIRZA
Karachi
Two wars compared
I have been reading a book on the history of martial arts. I came across a passage that has a lot of similarities to the present Iraq conflict. I wanted to share it with your readers.
"America's imperialistic hopes of continued expansion after the subjugation of the American Indian led to visions of Pacific Rim conquests. Hawaii was annexed in 1898, and this year was to prove pivotal in further excursions in the Pacific.
These ideas of expanding an American 'empire' were brought on by big business interests, jingoists, 'yellow journalism', and big navy enthusiasts, to name some of the reasons. This prompted America's first Asian war in 1898, the Spanish-American War.
"At first the Filipinos hailed the US victory because they envisioned independence from Spain. What they found instead was simply another colonial master, the United States.
US President William McKinley was quoted after the war's end as saying that he simply could not let the Philippines go alone, 'that there was nothing left for us to do but take them all and to educate the Filipinos, and uplift and civilize and Christianize them... Emilio Aguinaldo, a Filipinos leader who helped American forces against the Spanish, then decided to fight the newest foreign invaders and became leader of the insurrectionists to fight the United States.
He had dreamt of independence, but the Americans quickly wanted these islands for business reasons. War broke out between the insurrectionists and the United States in 1899.
"In the jungles of the Philippines, American servicemen met with insects, dangerous animals, disease, and rattan- and knife-wielding Filipinos intent on protecting their homeland.
Combat was fierce, with atrocities committed by both sides. Racism was rampant in the United States at this time and these feelings were carried to the Philippine War where American 'boys' were fighting 'coloured' Filipinos.
To illustrate, a Marine major named Waller asked instructions of a General Smith and was told 'that it was no time to take prisoners, and that he was to make Samar a howling wilderness. Major Waller asked General Smith to define the age limit for killing, and he replied 'everything over ten'.
In Batangas Province it was estimated that one-third of the population of 300,000 were killed by combat, famine, and disease directly related to the war." (Karate's History and Traditions by Brucc A. Haincs, 1968).
CAPT (retd) ASIF AZAM KHALIL
Karachi
Emergency OT at JPMC
This is with reference to the letter by Dr A.K. Soofi (May 1). Prof Hasan Aziz's statement that the allocated health budget can only provide for a cheap painkiller and private-public partnership for healthcare is therefore necessary points towards insufficient financial and human resources, a shortcoming common to all developing countries.
Over the last decade the excellence in medical facilities provided at government-run health institutions in Karachi has been possible due to public donations.
SIUT; the emergency, burns, and cardiac wards at the Civil Hospital; the EOT, gynaecology and obstetrics, endocrinology, oncology, ophthalmology and neurology units at the JPMC; emergency and other units of the NICVD; oncology unit at the NICH, dialysis units at the Sindh Government Hospital, Korangi and New Karachi - these are a few examples.
It is because of the generous donations by concerned citizens of Karachi that these units are able to discharge adequate medical facilities to the underprivileged.
Dr Soofi is of the opinion that Prof Aziz's statement (April 22) is dangerous, as it will relieve the government of its prime responsibility. But the respected doctor does not realize the danger of just sitting on the fence and waiting for the government to make adequate provisions while rampant spread of disease and illness adds to the misery of the poor who form the major part of our population. Poor health leads to decreased productivity, further burdening the already crippled economy.
I fail to fathom the connotation of the worthy writer's comment: "Philanthropists are not angels in this country or abroad". It is for sure that in our country the philanthropists have and continue to play a very important role. Their enormous contributions can definitely not be ignored. For the deprived and the underprivileged they are certainly like angels who bring a ray of hope to their otherwise gloomy lives.
DR ZARINE MOGAL
Karachi
Wheat hoarding
In Shahid Kardar's article "A controversial step" (May 10), it is stated that the imposition of the ban on inter-provincial transport of wheat has resulted in a loss to the grower. The ground reality is that the farming community, particularly small growers, suffer whether or not there is a ban on the wheat movement.
Before the transport restrictions were implemented, the main beneficiaries were middle men who had contacts with hoarders in the NWFP. The middle man purchased wheat from growers at almost the same price as was being offered by the Punjab government and then made a profit by selling it at Rs300-Rs350 per bag, with practically no expenditure at all.
I personally am a witness to the unhindered transport of flour from Punjab to the NWFP. Hoarders in the NWFP, of course, find it convenient to sell their stocks to Afghanistan, where wheat fetches higher prices because of the shortage of the commodity there. We should be reminded that the act of hoarding edibles with the intention of effecting an artificial price hike is forbidden in Islam.
SYED WAJID
Mianwali
Revenue distribution criteria
Much resentment is witnessed in some quarters whenever Sindh proposes that one of the multi-criteria for the distribution of taxes from the divisible pool should be revenue collection.
Apparently, this element and Sindh's claim in this respect are greatly misunderstood. It is not Sindh's claim that since 69 per cent of Pakistan's revenues are collected in Sindh, it should get a major portion thereof.
The province does receive its share, or somewhat less, from the divisible pool. Yet the taxes paid and collected in Sindh far outmatch the amounts collected in the other provinces. While 69.02 per cent of the taxes are collected in Sindh, Punjab collects 23.04 per cent, the NWFP 5.54 per cent and Balochistan 2.40 per cent.
Sindh's case is that the large number of industrial and commercial enterprises located in it and the services sector, which produce this predominant amount of resources, are sustained by the infrastructure of Sindh.
Its two ports provide the main conduits for this notable economic activity. People from all over the country who produce these goods are cared for and housed by this province.
Its roads (with constant traffic congestion incurring heavy opportunity costs) and its factory-cum-work sites provide the required support. Its food provisioning apparatus and its municipal services sustain the workforce which keeps constantly growing due to the influx from the other provinces.
It is for this extra expenditure which Sindh incurs that it seeks a small extra amount from the revenues collected in the province. The other three provinces also bear expenditure from their own resources on enterprises contributing revenues there.
They too shall be accordingly entitled to receiving their shares under the revenue collection criterion. Newspapers have written on the issues bedevilling the deliberations in the current National Finance Commission.
Sindh's proposal, as gleaned from these, appears to suggest that it is willing to share the divisible pool resources amongst the four provinces according to the following multiple criteria: population 90 per cent; backwardness five per cent; revenue collection 2-1/2 per cent and inverse population density ratio 2-1/2 per cent. This is perhaps not an unfair proposition.
The four provinces have been agitating for 50 per cent of the resources from the divisible pool. The centre says it can part with only 47 per cent. In fact, it is giving only 43 per cent to the provinces.
The four per cent difference is the amount represented by the 2-1/2 per cent general sales tax which the centre is wrongly including in the divisible pool. This amount constitutes payment to the provinces in lieu of the lost octroi and zila tax. It is not a part of the divisible pool.
The centre cannot include it in the divisible pool and then claim that the provinces would be getting 47 per cent. They would be receiving only 43 per cent under the currently-proposed dispensation. The people of Pakistan reside in its four provinces. They deserve at least 50 per cent of its tax resources.
GHULAM HYDER ABBASI
Karachi
Lessons from Indian polls
Hats off to Indian democracy, especially the way it has shown how a government should be changed, not by force but by the will of the people. Mr Vajpayee, after losing the people's mandate, had neither thought nor wished it proper to remain in power.
He could have prolonged his rule through dirty tricks forming new coalitions but he preferred to bow before the supreme will of the people. It reflects how strong political norms and institutions are in India.
Of course, institutions are made strong or weak by the people who run them and for that very reason no sane person would want to draw a parallel between Indian and Pakistani politics and democracy.
Both countries started from the same reference line in 1947 with almost the same opportunities and difficulties. One moved forward towards a set political target while the other stumbled repeatedly along the way. Taking a leaf out of Indian democracy, our national political leaders should try to set a positive political target and move swiftly towards it instead of moving in a vicious circle.
The world is continuously changing while we are lagging behind. We should try to catch up with those who are ahead of us. It is never too late. With a strong national spirit we can do it.
DR ZAINAB RIZVI
Lahore
A 'void accord'
This refers to the news item "No accord on Sharifs produced by govt: SC" (May 8). According to report, the Supreme Court in a detailed judgement in the Mian Shahbaz Sharif case observed that the government had not produced any agreement under which the Sharif family had been sent in exile to Saudi Arabia.
It is being alleged by some politicians that a deal had been struck between the Sharif family and the government, according to which cases against the Sharif family would not be proceeded with if they did not return to Pakistan. Further, Nawaz Sharif was also pardoned under this deal.
It must be realized that even if such a deal exists, it is void as agreements in restraint of legal proceedings are void. Section 28 of the Contract Act, 1872, states: "Every agreement, by which any party thereto is restricted absolutely from enforcing his rights under or in respect of any contract, by the usual legal proceedings in the ordinary tribunals, or which limits the time within which he may thus enforce his rights, is void to that extent."
Article 15 of the Constitution of Pakistan states: "Every citizen shall have the right to remain in, and subject to any reasonable restriction imposed by law in the public interest, enter and move freely throughout Pakistan and to reside and settle in any part thereof."
Thus, Shahbaz Sharif has the constitutional right to return to his homeland and if a deal exists which prohibits his entry into Pakistan, it is void.
ANIL KHAN LUNI
Karachi
Industrial plots
It is amazing to note that 4,200 applications worth Rs5,000 each have been received with pay orders worth Rs300,000 each, for industrial plots in Karachi. Who are they? Investors only, I guess.
Who says Pakistan does not have a business investment climate. We are in business since 1981 but could not submit an application for the above plot at SITE and as such are on rented premises.
There should be some rules, preferences for allotment of these industrial plots. As read in the newspaper, only 119 plots are available, which should be given to businessmen and not to investors.
Set some criteria like experience in business (at least 10 years), income-tax certificate, GST certificate, bank statement, rent agreement (must not be owner of plot/land) and inspection to verify.
It should be ensured that these plots are allotted to businessmen and not to investors because SITE is taking Rs1.5 million for half an acre whereas in the market it is Rs7.5 million. At present most of the plots are vacant - on sale - in SITE phases I and II.
MUSARRAT NASIM ASLAM
Karachi
Robbers on the prowl
The two letters (May 10 and 14) on the above subject highlight the crime wave in various blocks of Karachi's North Nazimabad. Perhaps it needs no further elaboration to make the point. As most of the robberies have gone unreported to the area's police, for one reason or another, this has emboldened the anti-social elements to indulge in their nefarious activities with impunity.
Besides frequent police patrolling, an eye has to be kept on prowlers who, on finding an opportunity, burst into a house, leaving the inmates stunned and agape. As very rightly demanded, streetlights are also needed to deter intruders. Will the KESC see to it?
I request residents to introduce a chowkidari system if it is feasible. In some areas of this metropolis this system has worked very well. A day and night chowkidari system can be easily supported by the residents by contributing their mite.
A RETIREE
Karachi
Traffic hazards
There is a proliferation of small signboards all over Karachi that advertise a number of things - from schools to beauty parlours to shopping centres. These are not technically advertisements as they are supposed to be guiding people to a place of business.
The problem is that these signboards have become a traffic hazard as they block the view of incoming traffic for those wishing to turn. The cantonment boards, as well as the city government, need to act on removing these.
IRSHAD ZAMAN
Karachi
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