| 09 August 2004 | Monday | 22 Jamadi-us-Saani 1425 |
Import of used cars
Congress and the minorities
Taking people for a ride
Capital without a cinema
Freedom celebrations
Need to educate police
Policy on troops
Import of wheat
Prize bonds
New leader
Kerbstones
Terrorist attacks
Kargil adventure
No change in 10 years
Controlling extras
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This is in response to Mr Kuldip Nayar's column (July 31). He has advocated India's basic position on Kashmir. But in respect of listing Jammu and Kashmir as part of the Union in the constitution of India, Mr M.O. Mathai, in his book My days with Nehru, has stated that Nehru did all he could to accommodate the Sheikh to accord special status to Kashmir even though there was considerable opposition to it.
This only whetted his appetite. Other ideas entered his head (page 237). Mr M. A. Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, has been quoted by Professor Stanley Wolpert in his book on Jinnah of Pakistan to have reacted in the following words:
"Jinnah looked up his files and said that the telegram had arrived after troops had landed, and that it did not contain any form of an appeal for co-operation between the two Dominions in this matter; it merely informed him of accession and the landing of troops.
Continuing, he said that the accession was not a bona fide one since it rested on 'fraud and violence' and would never be accepted by Pakistan. (Page 352-1998 impression)."
Accession against considerable opposition by the members of Indian parliament was tantamount to imposition by the government of its writ; that is why Mr Jinnah said it was not bona fide.
Mr Nayar has quoted former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif as saying to the then Indian prime minister Inder Gujral that Pakistan was not in a position to take Kashmir forcibly from India. It goes to Mr Sharif's credit that he said India was not in a position to give Kashmir to Pakistan on a platter but Mr Sharif was an industrialist, not a politician.
Referring to the Shimla conference of 1972, the writer says Mr Bhutto had reportedly agreed to accept the Line of Control as the international border. But he dared not even broach the subject after his return from Shimla because Pakistan had not yet got over the humiliation of losing the Bangladesh war.
The word 'reportedly' falls short of an agreement. Regarding the humiliation of losing the Bangladesh war, the concept is misconceived. It was not a Bangladesh war. The eastern wing of composite Pakistan preferred to separate. They raised their voice to be heard loudly.
But India made the situation worse by landing its troops on the pretext of preventing refugees from crossing over. A political settlement could have been reached but for the Indian aggression.
GHEEWALA A.G.M.
Karachi
Import of used cars
The government has still not followed up on allowing the import of used cars, as promised in the budget by finance minister Shaukat Aziz. It is believed that the car assemblers in Pakistan have exerted pressure on the government to rescind their earlier decision which is unfair.
To understand this issue, one must understand the context of the problem. First of all, the new car market has been overtaken by speculators who ensure that the genuine customers have to wait for several months before taking delivery of their car or pay an extra premium to get immediate delivery.
Under this system, it is only the customer who is the victim. The car makers are happy because they get the car money well in advance and the car dealers, who are part of the speculators mafia, end up making an extra buck.
The government, when needed, ensures that it gets delivery of its orders on time and bureaucrats that have the necessary powers are also obliged, and they in turn use this power to oblige others.
The boost in demand for locally assembled cars has come from a flood of cheap credit in the form of low interest bearing car loans. The increase does not have to do anything with the better quality of locally made cars or the increase in the standard of living of people in the country. Its only that the same people have got access to cheap credit.
On the same note, it may be noted that the quality of locally made cars has deteriorated considerably owing to the sudden surge in demand. Car makers cannot cope with the rush and they are compromising on quality in a big way. One visit to any authorized service center for locally made cars will show that most of the cars being repaired are almost brand new.
Despite all this, the availability of credit ensures that the demand will continue for the foreseeable future. It is a misreading of the car makers that the import of second hand cars would result in a drop in this demand. People who can afford it, will still go for new cars.
However, what the import of second hand cars will do is that it will help deflate the unusually inflated second hand car market. This market has also been inflated by cheap credit and makes it almost impossible for people with lower incomes to purchase a second hand car.
Given this scenario, it is hoped that the government opens the import of second hand cars since this will not affect the soaring fortunes of our local car makers.
NASIM AHMAD
Karachi.
Congress and the minorities
In Asghar Ali Engineer's article "Congress and the minorities," (July 24), the writer gives his ideas about what problems Indian minorities face. In 1929, an All Parties Conference was held in Calcutta.
Mr. Muhammad Ali Jinnah, representing the Muslims, offered to forego separate electorates if the Hindu majority was prepared to agree to joint electorates with reservation of seats in the legislatures for Muslims.
The idea was that the Muslims should have a proportionate share in the legislatures and in the governance of the country. The fear was that in a free India with a parliamentary system of government, Muslims and other minorities would be swamped by the Hindu majority.
Under the present Indian Constitution, the 15 per cent Muslim population has a 3 per cent representation in both the houses. In a similar manner, Dalits, Adivasis, Sikhs, Christians and North eastern minorities are also under represented.
The share of the minorities is hijacked by the upper caste Hindus. These call for due changes in the election law. If the minorities get their real shares of seats in the two houses of the parliament, in due course of time they will get their share in employment as well.
What is propounded above for India's parliament applies to the legislatures of the constituent units. The Dalits and other minorities will do well to agitate within the limits of the law for representation in legislatures in proportion to their respective populations in the whole country and the federating units, as the case may be.
JALAL AHMED
Karachi
Taking people for a ride
Cheap credit in the form of car loans and other attractions have lured many people to seek this form of financing. However, despite the best efforts of the SBP, there are many unscrupulous elements out there ready to fleece the unsuspecting customer.
When I was looking for a car loan, the first question I would ask is what penalty I would have to pay if I wanted to pay off the loan earlier than the agreed time. This is a question most people need to ask those banks or companies that give the loan.
I was shocked when a leasing company told me this: If I take a loan for Rs350,000, on their books, they record this loan at about Rs 640,000 or so, which is the amount they expect to receive from me over a period of five years (the tenor of the loan).
Keeping this logic in mind, if I make payments according to schedule, after one year I will be owing the company something to the tune of Rs540,000 or so. And so, if I were to terminate the loan after one year, I would pay the company Rs540,000 in addition to a penalty. By any standard, this is daylight robbery.
The way it should work is that the principal and the interest should be kept separate. So if I owe Rs350,000 and the monthly instalment is Rs 13,000, this should be partly the interest I am paying on the principal amount taken and partly the amount that is being deducted from the principal.
So, by the end of the year, if I decide to terminate the loan, I should be paying something like Rs280,000 or so. (I have used the numbers to explain my point so there may be some deviation.)
This shows that while I have been paying interest, the principal is also being reduced. This is the way loans work all over the world. I am surprised that the government allows such leasing companies to use another method. In such a situation, the customer has to be very careful what he is signing himself into when taking such shark loans.
MUHAMMAD BASHIR
Lahore
Capital without a cinema
"Islamabad the beautiful" as CDA likes to call it, is a capital city with out a cinema. The unfortunate owners of a cinema, who tried to give the capital a state of the art cinema, despite the fact that cinema business has been in a loss for over two decades, had to see it burnt down by extremists while the capital administration and police stood by as on lookers.
Despite promises made by the Interior Minister and Prime Minister, the owners have not been compensated. Even the residents of Kabul now have the privilege of going to cinemas in their city. It only saddens my heart to see the last source of entertainment in this country fading. The government should glance at the facts.
Twenty-five to 35 movies where made by our local industry last year and all of them where flops. This year, things look even worse. Instead of waiting and seeing a slow death of this sector, the government should either give permission to all these cinemas to be commercialised as housing projects or let them be fed from the Indian film industry at least till our own film industry can make a come back.
Otherwise this last entertainment resort for the masses of this country will soon meet its end.
ALI KHAN
Islamabad
Freedom celebrations
The country seems to be gearing up for Independence Day celebrations. Every year we look back at the past and analyze our flaws, failures and our achievements and see how we can have a better future.
The main problem affecting our nation is corruption. A few days back I was having lunch in the cafeteria of a local hospital. As I ate, I noticed a police constable sitting on the next table.
He had a Nokia 6610 mobile phone which costs around Rs10,000. In another case, I saw a policeman hold a Nokia 9210 communicator in a police mobile. Why don't senior police officials do something about this very obvious display of ill-gotten wealth?
MUHAMMAD FAHIM
Karachi
Need to educate police
Policing is a very difficult job the world over, more so in free and democratic countries, where all police employees have to serve their political masters.
Every laymen, reformist, parliamentarian, women's rights activist and expert keeps on stressing the need for educating the police force so that it treat citizens with respect and in accordance with the law.
Maltreatment of citizens, taking bribes to make illegal acts legal and bad public dealing is common in this most notorious of government departments. What are the reasons for such behaviour? One is that those who come from rural areas especially are posted for too long outside their native areas.
They live away from their families for a long period of time and this can naturally lead to psychological problems. Most of them have very low salaries compared to the scope of their duties. Sometimes, they have to perform continuous twenty-four hour duties.
Their salaries should be increased, like that of the motorway police and this might help reduce the corruption. Well-educated people need to join the police force so that the abusive and vulgar style of dealing with the general public changes.
The government has appointed highly qualified candidates to around 1,300 posts of assistant sub-inspectors through the public service commission. They must have a salary package like the motorway police or else these highly qualified ASIs will also become part of the old police culture.
No government can function properly without a strong and efficient police force. Every political government has used the police to suppress its rivals. This practice must also stop.
RIASAT ALI DOGAR
Islamabad
Policy on troops
My hats off to Ayaz Amir for expressing the views of the silent majority of this unfortunate nation. The two Pakistanis have been beheaded and our smug, self- confident, iron-willed leadership has refused to budge from its 'principled stand' that it will continue 'to take no decision on sending troops to Iraq'.
One wonders how India can say no to US pressure and we keep on dithering even when it is a matter of saving precious human lives.
The Pakistani nation demands an explanation from our leadership for their failure to take a clear policy decision and protect the lives of the two Pakistanis who were taken hostage and eventually killed.
YOUSUF SHAHID
Karachi
Import of wheat
It was sad to hear that a country whose economy is based on agriculture should import wheat. It is time we built more dams so that our water storage capacity can be enhanced. Farmers will be able to irrigate more land and hence produce more wheat.
Farmers in Indian Punjab have a yield of up to 65 maunds per acre while our farmers have a yield of 20-30 maunds per acre. What is the reason for this and what measures are being taken to increase the yield for our farmers? Also, the government needs to take decisive action against all those in the provincial food departments who create the crisis every year in the first place.
LT-COL (retd) IRFAN HAIDER
Karachi
Prize bonds
This refers to a report in your newspaper (July 26) regarding PPL's share offering. Fifteen per cent of the government's holdings consisting of 205,751 shares are to be disinvested to encourage people with small savings to invest in the stock market
It became a lottery like prize bonds and a windfall for bank managers. Long queues prevented normal working of the banks. The worst sufferers were pensioners who experienced delays in depositing their pension forms.
The Privatization Commission should recommend a further disinvestment of 15 per cent and allow them to be sold in blocks of 1,000 or 2,000 shares each so that pensioners and other small savers might further benefit.
H.A. HAJI
Karachi
New leader
The daughter of our great lady in opposition has been in Karachi. I came to know of this as my car, along with those of many others, was forcibly stopped by gun-toting men in four-wheel drive pick-ups to make way for a black Mercedes with tinted glasses and no numberplate, which made its way on the wrong side of the road in Clifton near Bilawal House.
The men pointed their guns at one errant driver who dared to question thier actions by honking his horn in protest. If democracy throws up such leaders in Pakistan, I wonder whether we are better off with dictators?
SHAHID NADIM SYED
Karachi
Kerbstones
While the project to widen the Karsaz Road in Karachi is yet to be completed, one can see that some portions of the newly installed kerbstones have already started to break and crumble.
It is hoped that the city government takes notice of this and issues instructions to find out why such sub-standard material was used in the first place.
IMRAN NASIR
Karachi
Terrorist attacks
The recent spate of attacks on senior government officials and other bouts of violence shows that the government must address the root causes of terrorism. In this, it would be useful to remember the famous old saying: "The ship that does not yield to the storm, yields to the rock".
AMIN-E-AJAM
Karachi
Kargil adventure
It is logical to believe that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was not fully aware of the Kargil plan nor had he approved it before he met prime minister Vajpayee.
We can only know the truth if our leaders, military and civilian, are held accountable. But why should the leaders bother when they are committed to securing personal rather than national interests?
Mr Sharif claims that he was kept in the dark about the Kargil operation. If true, this proves how ill-informed he was about army affairs despite his heavy mandate. He was busy enjoying good food and aspiring to become the Ameer-ul-Momineen, with absolute power to rule.
When he was not party to the Kargil adventure, why did he choose to rush to president Clinton for face-saving? Instead he should have taken the into confidence and appointed a commission to get to the bottom of the incident.
ENGR. S.T. HUSSAIN
Lahore
No change in 10 years
About 10 years ago, a letter of mine was published on increasing cases of rape in the country. It seems that nothing has changed in that regard; in fact things have probably become worse.
In March this year two girls were raped and killed in the vicinity of a police station in Gadap outside Karachi. Nothing happened, and people have forgotten the whole sordid affair.
At the very least, our female members of parliament, in the National Assembly and in the Senate, should raise such issues on the floor of the house.
S.M. AHMED
Karachi
Controlling extras
We gifted India 38 extras exceeded only by Tendulkar and Ganguly. We gifted at least 25 extras balls or four overs. The average Indian scoring rate was about five per over, so we gifted about 20 runs for the extra overs. Add this to 38 and it comes to 58. This means India really scored only 183 runs. Can someone control the extras?
MASOOD HASAN
Lahore
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