| 07 June 2004 | Monday | 18 Rabi-us-Saani 1425 |
PIA administration
'Twenty-two families'
'Enlightened moderation'
Exemption from house tax
Private medical colleges
Audit of income tax cases
Tobacco ads
Legal advisers
Misplaced priorities
Causes of terrorism
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This refers to the articles "Twisted Truth" by A. H. Nayyar (Magazine, May 2) and "In defence of Nayyar-Salim report" by Dr Tahir Kamran (Education, May 16) pertaining to the controversial report on curricula and textbooks in Pakistan.
Apart from some of the desirable objectives of the report, such as removal of gender bias and militancy or misportrayal of other religions like Hinduism from the textbooks, undesirable ones seem to aim to (a) secularize education in Pakistan, (b) eliminate the spirit of jihad, and (c) distort the fact of India's animosity towards Pakistan from day one.
While the positive changes are certainly welcome, negative changes will give birth to a generation of young Pakistanis who will uphold secularism, rather than Islam, as the way of life and ideology.
They will also be incapable of engaging in jihad against the West, Israel, India or other adversaries if it becomes necessary, and forget the "two-nation theory" - the ideological basis of the country.
The case against the secularization of education was convincingly made in the article "The pen is mightier than the sword" by Khalid Chaudhry (The Review, April 15) and need not be repeated here.
The importance of retaining a spirit of jihad (but not military adventurism) is evident from the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the Palestinian's plight and Iraq.
The lies, deceptions, cruelty and contempt for the Muslims displayed by the American and British administrations and their forces in Iraq should leave no doubt in anyone's mind why the US wishes to impose secularism and crush notions of jihad from amongst the Muslims.
As far as India-Pakistan relations are concerned, the lessons can only be ignored at our own peril. Who can deny that Mr Jinnah was a most tolerant and trustworthy person and devoted most of his life towards creating harmony between the Muslims and the Hindus? Unfortunately, he finally discovered how the Hindus, led by the Congress bosses, were taking his community for a ride. It was only then that he was forced to seek a separate homeland for the Muslims.
Given the much bigger size of India, the obstacles created in the formation of Pakistan, the occupation of Hyderabad, Kashmir, Junagadh, Goa, Sikkim, etc., and its conflicts with China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bhutan, it would only be self-deception not to inform our younger generations and to have a strong defence. Look at Israel's preparations despite the mass of American weapons at its disposal.
Dr Kamran has criticized the Nazaria-i-Pakistan Trust, among others, for opposing the SDPI report and questioned our censure of the Hindus of India while Nepal too is a Hindu country.
One would remind him that no less a person than Dr Javed Iqbal is averse to moves that undermine the Pakistan ideology or Islamic character of education, in line with Allama Iqbal's views. The Nepalese people have faced India's bullying and are able to empathize with and befriend Pakistan.
A. RASHID
Karachi
PIA administration
PIA has been a victim of abuse by various governments, politicized unions, bureaucratic influences and a dominantly mediocre management. The CBAs in PIA have often been those affiliated to the ruling clique, and wrongdoing was done with the collusion and support of a weak management.
Most appointments were made in the top echelons on political recommendations, and this has continued to date. There have been no unions in PIA for the last three years and, therefore, all rules in vogue were framed by its management without any pressure or coercion from any CBA or union.
During the PPP era, there was some undesirable political interference in a few appointments. However, when a questionable deal for acquisition of a used Boeing 747 from SIA was being undertaken, the regime had to shelve it after intense criticism from the press and parliamentarians.
Similarly, there were a few very questionable appointments to the senior cadre made by the Nawaz Sharif regime. Later, he had to order the removal of one director, whose appointment was made in violation of rules and regulations. There were also allegations of irregular appointments among stewardesses recruited during the two governments.
Some contracts were awarded without following procedures, which caused a loss of millions of rupees to the corporation. There was also a marked deterioration in the level of services provided both on board and in the reservation, traffic and other sections.
Some of these problems have continued to date in spite of tall claims made by the management. Whole batches of cabin crew have allegedly been appointed based on the whims of the top management.
The management's misuse of the so-called discretionary powers has caused much frustration among employees, who allege that there has been a serious breach of the existing rules in some of the recent appointments, postings and promotions.
In a few cases, those who took the voluntary golden handshake have rejoined without any loss of emoluments, as if they had never left the airline. Some such employees were out of the airline for more than two to three years and had received their pensions, commutation, provident fund and other benefits.
Although rules do not allow these irregularities, they fall under the much-abused term of discretionary powers of the management and the defence ministry. It is such irregularities that have dented the credibility of PIA and eroded the morale of its employees.
GUL ZAMAN
Karachi
'Twenty-two families'
With reference to the Islamabad Diary of Ayaz Amir (May 28), I could not agree with him less in his depiction of the "twenty-two families as the industrial mafia" representative of the 10 years of the Ayub era.
Far from being carpetbaggers, the 22 families came from all reaches of the globe at the behest of founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah to build a commercial and industrial base for Pakistan, and pioneered industries in the then nascent wastelands like SITE and provided, above all, employment.
Professor Khadija Mahbub-ul-Haq made the compilation of 22 families while she was teaching economics at the Government College, Lahore. On March 25, 1969, General Yahya eased Ayub out, and Dr Khadija's husband, Dr Mahbub-ul-Haq, had the nomenclature of 22 families printed in The Pakistan Times that was later carried in Newsweek.
Prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and his finance minister Mubashir Hassan had only disdain for the 22 families because the latter were not sons of the soil and used them as whipping horses. Bhutto's three nationalization ordinances of 1971, 1973 and 1976 broke the back, undid with a single stroke the 22 families.
The Chinese adage "great fortunes know no third generation" was fulfilled in the downfall of the 22 in the '70s. July 4, 1977, marked the exit of Bhutto and the emergence of the Zia regime.
To restore the lost confidence of the business community which was fast abandoning Pakistan for securer Middle Eastern and western shores, draining the nation of entrepreneurial expertise, Zia's minister of production, General Habibullah, had cotton, ginning factories, oil crushing mills, rice mills and flour mills denationalized that were taken away by Bhutto on July 17, 1976.
Ahmed H.A. Dada, then president of the Karachi Stock Exchange, hosted a reception for General Habibullah at Beach Luxury Hotel, Karachi. In his address Habibullah categorically stated that the 22 families had made Pakistan and turned the nation into a bastion by planting the seed of industrialization.
The 22 families made sacrifices when they opted for Pakistan and decided to join with Mr Jinnah in building a separate homeland for the Muslims of the subcontinent. Numerous institutions all over Pakistan - schools, colleges, hospitals, orphanages - owe their endowments to the 22 families.
It is wrong therefore of Mr Ayaz Amir to castigate the 22 families as some kind of a mafia, beholden to their godfather, President Ayub, and his very clever, pragmatic finance ministers, Mohammad Shoaib and N. M. Uqaili.
MOHAMMED AZIZ HAJI DOSSA
Karachi
'Enlightened moderation'
The president of Pakistan's article "Islam and West: Time for enlightened moderation" (The Washington Post, June 1) gets to the heart of the reason behind the polarity between the Muslims and the West.
He rightly points out the harsh reality that the Muslim world is probably at its worst; poverty, disunity, helplessness, and what I personally believe is most important, lack of education.
Many in the Islamic community are gravitating towards intolerance, militancy and fanaticism as a way of fighting back the many injustices committed against the Muslims.
What is perhaps most ironic is that Islam shuns violence and intolerance of any kind. It advocates peace, and the so-called 'Islamists', as they are popularly called in the West, are not really following the true tenets of their religion.
General Musharraf correctly uses the term 'enlightenment' and 'renaissance', for these are dark days in the Muslim world. We have a glorious past when Muslims were the harbingers of education, progress and culture.
Muslims of yesteryear were truly 'enlightened' and, as pointed out in the article, we need to undergo 'self-introspection' and realize that our duty as Muslims is not to arm ourselves against the world but to lead it by example of tolerance and compassion.
It is easy to blame the rest of the world for our problems, but only we can start doing something about it first, no one else.
SARAH IQBAL KHAN
Ajax, Ontario, Canada
Exemption from house tax
It is a century-old convention that residential property in the personal use of government pensioners is kept out of the pale of taxation (irrespective of the constructed or open size of the property) to provide relief to the pensioners, who are exposed to financial hardship after retirement.
Last year, in a drive to raise taxes, a callous decision about gazetted-grade pensioners was taken by withdrawing this welfare convention in residential properties whose area exceeded one kanal. This decision negates the spirit of a welfare state. It should, therefore, be revised from this humanitarian angle and the exemption should be restored.
If the policy-makers insist on what they have done, let there be justice and fair play and tax should be levied on areas which exceed one kanal or half the tax be exempted if levied on the total area.
G.R.T.
Lahore
Private medical colleges
This has reference to the report "'Last chance' for private medical colleges" (April 28). Health Minister Naseer Khan while talking to Dawn has extended the last date for a final decision on private medical colleges to comply with the criteria and standards set by the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council if they wish to operate beyond July 30, 2004. The minister is further quoted as having said that "the time limit has been extended for the third consecutive time".
The minister's wish that he wants to uphold the primary aim of producing properly qualified and skillful medical professionals should be appreciated. His disclosure that "the mess was created by PMDC board members, who had opened their own medical colleges and did not bother to fulfil the requirements" is disturbing and has to be looked into.
As is common practice, the nominees of public sector universities and principals of public sector medical colleges constitute the bulk of the PMDC board.
It is to be noted that all public sector medical colleges have deficiencies, many of them of a gross and serious nature, set by the PMDC itself and which keep surfacing in the media from time to time.
In another news item (Dawn, August 30, 2003), the PMDC gave a list of public sector colleges yet to seek its approval, which included Sukkur Medical College; Saidu Sharif Medical College, Swat; Gomal Medical College, Dera Ismail Khan; Sialkot Medical College, Sialkot; Services Medical Institution, Lahore; and Sheikh Zayed Medical College, Rahim Yar Khan.
These colleges were set up by provincial governments on political exigencies, ignoring PMDC laid-down criteria and requirement. Students have been admitted and are at various stages of acquiring medical degrees without the indulgence of the PMDC as regards inspection of professional examinations, etc.
The health secretaries or their nominees are also members of the PMDC board. They effectively get the colleges of their provinces approved, while offering their support to deficient and older established public sector colleges, also functioning under their ministries.
In contrast, the PMDC has not accorded membership on its board to any of the 28 or so private universities and colleges, except the Aga Khan Medical College, Karachi.
According to the same news item, private colleges yet to be approved by the PMDC are Abbotabad International Medical College (Abbotabad), Jinnah Institute of Medical Sciences (Peshawar), Al-Huda Medical College (Lahore), University of Faisalabad Medical and Dental College (Faisalabad), University College of Medicine and Dentistry (Lahore) and Islamabad Medical and Dental College (Islamabad).
These private colleges are not represented on the PMDC board. It is hoped that the well-meaning federal minister will use his powers without discrimination and give a similar "last chance" to public sector colleges also.
He is expected to take appropriate action after confirming the facts through means other than the PMDC itself. Any other procedure will help undeserving medical colleges take legal refuge.
The minister has to see that proper standards relating medical education are achieved across the board.
DR MUHAMMAD JAWED
Karachi
Audit of income tax cases
The Central Board of Revenue has recently given guidelines to income tax commissioners to select cases for audit out of returns of income submitted under the Universal Self-Assessment Scheme for tax year 2003, and the commissioners have started issuing letters to assessees informing them that their cases for 2003 have been selected under Section 177 of the IT Ordinance 2001 for audit.
The IT Ordinance was promulgated by the government with much fanfare, and it was declared that all returns filed for the tax year 2003 would be accepted under the Universal Self-Assessment Scheme and only those cases would be selected for audit in which evidence of concealment or understatement of income would be detected.
Isn't this a breach of confidence between the tax collectors and the tax payers? The present position in the cases in which returns of income were filed in time stands accepted under the law contained in Section 120 of the IT Ordinance 2001.
Can't the CBR ask the tax collectors to dig out cases of concealment or understatement of income and then reopen the cases already accepted under the Universal Self-Assessment Scheme? That would be a job worth doing by the tax collectors and for which they are being paid.
LATIF QURESHI
Lahore
Tobacco ads
I was shocked to read the news item "Ministries lock horns over tobacco ads" (June 2). According to the report, the ministry of information has written to the federal government to reverse its decision of restricting tobacco ads on the electronic media.
A tobacco epidemic is on the vise in Pakistan. Scientific research has clearly shown that a comprehensive ban on tobacco ads helps in reducing demand for this powerful addictive substance. Currently 100,000 people in Pakistan die every year as a result of tobacco use.
We, health professionals, are asking for a ban on tobacco advertising on billboards and the information ministry is trying to lift a ban on such ads on TV and radio.
Tobacco ads on the electronic media were banned in most countries of the world a long time back. In its recommendations for tobacco control, the World Health Organization has called for a total ban on such ads in the electronic and print media.
It appears that PTV is addicted to tobacco money and has no regard for public health. I would like to ask PTV that if Bangladeshi and Indian TV channels can survive without tobacco ads, why can't it do the same?
I urge the ministry of health to strongly resist the demand of the information ministry.
PROFESSOR JAVAID A. KHAN
Karachi
Legal advisers
Legal departments of government-owned corporations need highly skilled supervision because there are claims for millions of rupees filed either by the corporations or against the corporations in courts which are usually not proceeded or defended with full concentration, resulting in losses.
The remedy lies in improvement of legal departments by appointing persons from the legal profession as legal directors with knowledge of court proceedings.
S.ASHFAQ HUSSAIN
Karachi
Misplaced priorities
Being a resident of Model Colony, Malir Town, it pains me every day when I pass along the deteriorating roads that have been in a pathetic condition for the last two years or so.
Instead of repairing these roads, big money is being spent on building a not-so-essential Re-Union Park at great speed on a road connecting the Quaid-i-Azam International Airport with Malir Cantonment.
In this act the authorities have overlooked the residents' interests which are good roads, a workable sewerage and drainage system, normal water supply - the area is facing an acute water shortage - and a better environment.
I would request the authorities concerned - the nazim and the councillors - to give proper attention to priorities and to use the allotted budget for the right problems and to ensure that educated and qualified people are selected to implement their policies.
SHAMIM JANG
Karachi
Causes of terrorism
Terrorism is badly affecting the socio-economic conditions in Pakistan, and it is necessary to address its root causes, i.e., poverty, unemployment and social injustice.
With the poverty index already at 33 per cent, the situation is getting alarming with every passing day. If this cause of frustration is removed, the crime rate will come down eventually.
The amount of stress people have to undergo in paying taxes, utility and medical bills and in trying to get quality education for their children is enormous. It prevents them from differentiating between right and wrong. Hence, more and more people adopt criminal behaviour, resulting in erosion of society.
If proper measures are taken to solve these problems, people will stop using illegal means. They will also not feel deprived. It is hoped that these concerns will be addressed in the coming budget.
UMBER NADEEM
Lahore
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