| 09 September 2004 | Thursday | 23 Rajab 1425 |
Khwaja Nazimuddin
Musharraf's interview
Dealing with political opponents
Prime Minister and IBA
Terror: no end in sight
Misuse of amenityplots
Wage earners' worries
Heavy mandate
Islamabad allottees' plight
Needed: buses for students
Plea to RTA
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By and large, women's swimming in Pakistan is an unrecognized sport due to the government's general reluctance to patronize swimming. It was not before 1992 that Pakistan held its first ever women's championship in Sindh, while the first contest at the national level was held in 1996 after Punjab responded positively and a body was set up there for the promotion of the sport.
At present, only two elite schools in Karachi have swimming pools, and swimmers generally come from families that can afford membership of private clubs. At the government level, only Islamabad had a 50-metre pool of international standards, whereas in India the city of Bangalore alone has 30 pools.
Swimming should be open for everybody. So far the government has only promised provision of land for a pool. Girls in Punjab are receiving a monthly stipend, which is not available to girls in Sindh.
Moreover, expenditure for championships is arranged through sponsorships, while air tickets are at times paid by the parents themselves. The government has not yet honoured its promise to pay for the body-suits the swimmers wore in the Commonwealth Games, nor has it awarded winners of the SAF Games. Bearing in mind this official indifference, it is heartening to see young swimmers winning laurels, especially in the SAF Games.
Earlier, the swimming team did quite well at the second and the third Islamic Women's Games in Iran and won 18 and 48 medals, respectively. But in this year's SAF Games they won only 14 medals.
However, a 13-year-old student of Class IX, Rubab Raza from Lahore, became the first woman swimmer to represent Pakistan in the Olympics in the 50-metre freestyle category.
She won two silver and three bronze medals in the 9th SAF Games in March held this year. She won a wild card entry for the 2004 Olympics because of her performance in last year's world swimming championship in Barcelona.
Rubab finished fifth in the 50-metre freestyle, with a timing of 30.10 seconds. Although she failed to go beyond the first round of her 50-metre freestyle event, she has made all of us back home proud. It was an encouraging performance by the 13-year-old as most feared she would be finishing last.
Syed Sibtain Raza, father of Rubab Raza, has criticized the Pakistan Swimming Federation for not extending enough cooperation. He says that besides the coach's fees, he paid from his own pocket all expenditure incurred on training.
Young swimmers can deliver more if they are trained throughout the year and provided with state-of-the-art facilities and international exposure. The government should immediately separate sports from the ministry of culture and tourism.
Incentives should be given to athletes and coaches. Now due to the efforts of a dedicated group of women, there are about 90 trained women swimmers who can conduct a championship. Sindh's women's championship has the largest number of athletes participating in any sporting event.
In spite of the government's lack of interest, women's swimming is now beginning to become acceptable in the NWFP and Balochistan. At her age Ms Raza is already a good role model for other women, especially those interested in competitive sports. Pakistan's standing and standard in the game will gradually improve by imparting these young athletes training under a long-term plan.
NAIMA ASLAM KHAN
Karachi
Khwaja Nazimuddin
This is with reference to the letter by S. Babar on Khwaja Nazimuddin (Sept 7). Khwaja Nazimuddin was an unassuming, soft-spoken person who had an extraordinary sense of justice. As governor-general and later as prime minister he took many decisions which are still remembered with thanks, fondness and affection by those who were direct beneficiaries.
Let me share one such incident with readers which I happened to know as the affected person was a family friend. On the urging of the government, an industrialist decided to build a biscuit factory in the newly-established SITE of Karachi in the early '50s.
He completed all the formalities for this such as getting an industrial plot, importing the necessary plant and was all set to commission it, but for the lack of a water connection everything came to a grinding halt. The official concerned and his high-ups would make all promises but do nothing practically.
The industrialist had a lot of patience but when many months passed, he did something which was quite amusing but got him instant results. He changed the original plan of inviting the prime minister to perform the opening ceremony of his factory to asking him to perform the closing ceremony.
He sent a proof copy of the invitation card to the office of the prime minister for approval and for giving him the time and date to perform the closing ceremony.
He even mentioned the making of a silver lock and key to be used during the ceremony and which he would afterwards respectfully present to the PM to be kept in a museum where people at large could see the exhibit and take a lesson from this episode.
When Khwaja Sahib came to know of this, he was advised by some officials to treat this as a prank, but being a just man he summoned the industrialist to his office to hear his story.
The result was that the industrialist got a water connection in a couple of days and Khwaja Sahib performed the opening ceremony of the factory shortly thereafter. I used to have with me the original "Closing Ceremony" card till the late '50s along with a photograph of the "silver lock and key" but alas have now lost them.
IMTIAZ HASAN
Karachi
Musharraf's interview
On President Pervez Musharraf's latest interview with a private TV channel on September 5 (repeated on Sept 6), a few comments are in order: When he was asked how the same scandalized faces about whom he himself had expressed disappointment got included in the new set-up, he said that some shuffling had taken place.
About education, he said Zubaida Jalal did a fine job but a kick-start was needed. Lt-Gen (retd) Javed Ashraf has been given the education portfolio. Obviously, being an ex-ISI chief, he can deal better with his erstwhile colleagues and brothers-in-arm, the MMA.
Religious parties and the ISI go a long way from the days of the Afghan war and being a privy to and being the organizer of some operations, he can deal better with the madressah problem.
About the size of the cabinet (to date with a total of 63, the largest ever in the history of Pakistan), the president said it was a new experiment and young people were being groomed for future leadership.
This may not go down well with some in Rawalpindi. Just for record, out of 26 ministers of state, 19 are from Punjab. Proper representation, merit and politics have been hit for a six.
As regards uniform, as usual Gen Musharraf was ambivalent. He entwined the issue with the national interest and also said there would be no digression from the Constitution.
The prime minister in an interview telecast on Sept 7 mentioned the uniform and the "national interest" in the same breath. The information minister was simultaneously saying that uniform beyond December 31 in no way transgressed the Constitution.
Gen Musharraf himself said that Qazi Hussain Ahmed knew that there was no constitutional problem (on uniform) but he was being deliberately silent on the issue. Qazi Hussain Ahmed went to the press and asked Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Mr Shaukat Aziz to come clean on the issue else, as he put it, "Musharraf will neither remain army chief nor president".
My prediction is that come December 31, 2004, General Musharraf will remain in uniform in the 'national interest'. His constituency will sulk and suffer in silence. Qazi Hussain Ahmed and the MMA after all the hue and cry will remain the loyal opposition.
ASLAM MINHAS
Karachi
Dealing with political opponents
The Musharraf regime is handing out punishments to political opponents contrary to the promises it made of good governance and respect for the rule of law. Those members of the opposition who took part in the byelections held on August 18, to elect Mr Shaukat Aziz, now Prime Minister, to parliament, are in particular facing the wrath of the regime.
Most farmers depend on water for their livelihood. The regime is deliberately stopping the delivery of water to the agricultural holdings of opposition parliamentarians to cause them financial ruin.
The water-channels of the lands belonging to two members of parliament, namely, Pir Aftab Shah Jilani and Nawab Yousuf Talpur, were closed down as revenge for their participation in the byelections.
Even small farmers are punished for their political views. I bring to your attention the case of Bashir Mallah. He has raised with the parliamentary opposition the difficulty he is facing given the vengeful act of the regime in stopping water to his lands.
Mr Bashir Mallah lives in the small town of Khairpur Mirs, where he has his agricultural lands. During the general elections of 2002, he joined the Pakistan People's Party and actively worked for the local candidates. It came as a shock to him when last year the irrigation department reduced the water timing for his agricultural lands.
This year they punished him more severely. They disconnected the water supply channels to his land, depriving him of an honourable means of income. The Human Rights Cell of the Pakistan People's Party requests the media to look into this matter urgently and the present regime to refrain from using vengeful means to suppress the opposition.
FAUZIA WAHAB
Member, National Assembly and central coordinator, Human Rights Cell, Pakistan People's Party, Karachi
Prime Minister and IBA
I was surprised and deeply dismayed by a string of advertisements issued on behalf of the Institute of Business Administration (IBA), Karachi, welcoming Mr Shaukat Aziz as prime minister
Like thousands of others all over Pakistan, I have also always had great admiration, regard and respect for the IBA as a premier prestigious institution whose standards have been acknowledged both at home and abroad.
Reputation and standards unmatched were achieved after years and years of consistent efforts on the part of the IBA management, staff and students who have had the privilege and honour of graduating from the IBA.
Where was the necessity of indulging in such sycophancy? The fact that Mr Aziz is a former student of the IBA does not justify the publication of such advertisements on behalf of the IBA. Instead, Mr Aziz could have been honoured and acknowledged as chief guest at one of the regular annual functions of the IBA.
MUJAHID HUSSAIN
Karachi
Terror: no end in sight
President Bush, in an interview with The New York Times, said he had miscalculated post-war conditions in Iraq and that the long insurgency was the product of a "swift victory," because Saddam Hussein's forces had quickly gone into hiding in cities where they had mounted a rebellion far faster than the Americans had anticipated.
A couple of days later he told NBC TV's "Today" show that the "Afghan, Iraq wars will end extremism," and defended his decision to topple Saddam Hussein. He further said that success of the United States in Afghanistan and Iraq would mark the "beginning of the end for extremism. When Iraq emerges as a free society, the people will see the wisdom of the decision we made."
Under the prevailing circumstances, President Bush is running after a mirage. In Iraq extremists are growing by the day. After 17 months in Iraq, US forces still often find themselves operating in enemy territory.
Haifa Street in the heart of Baghdad, Fallujah and Najaf are hotbeds of extremist activities. Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, UN representative in Iraq, has reportedly said: "Religion continues to influence politics in Iraq."
In Afghanistan, President Karazi's power does not extend beyond Kabul. Osama bin Laden is ever so illusive. Mr Roedad Khan in one of his recent columns in Dawn observed: "Killing or capturing Osama bin Laden alive has become a top priority of President Bush, strategically, symbolically and politically."
Militants from the former Taliban regime are using home-made bombs to confront US troops. Pakistan's action to dominate Waziristan to flush out Taliban hardliners has entered a cul-de-sac. Our security forces are laying down their lives for somebody else's cause.
Saudi Arabia once an oasis of tranquillity in the turbulent Middle East is also facing the music. The butcher of Sabra and Shatila, Ariel Sharon, with all the sophisticated weaponry supplied by the US, has failed to break the will of Palestinians.
And in Russia two planes recently crashed on the same day and a suicide attack occurred at a Moscow railway station. The Russian war on terror has lasted more than 10 years, and with each year that passes, separatists emerge with deadly brutality to get their cause noticed.
Chechnya - a war that Kremlin reignited to boost the political career of Vladimir Putin - today returns to haunt the Russian president. Last Wednesday's seizure of a school in the town of Beslan in the volatile republic of Northern Ossetia came to a tragic end. The school death toll has risen to 330. The bloody end to Russia's latest hostage crisis has tarnished President Putin's image, perhaps irrevocably.
Against this backdrop, President Bush insists that the regimes of Saddam Hussein and the Taliban are history, that more than 50 million people have been liberated, and that democracy is coming to the Middle East. Furthermore, he trumpets Afghanistan's march to democracy in his bid for re-election.
Dawn's editorial rightly said: "It appears that Moscow and Baghdad - and by extension, Washington - are due for some introspection."
PROFESSOR (DR) P. NASIR
Gujrat
Misuse of amenityplots
This is apropos of Mr Ardeshir Cowasjee's column "Through space and time". The columnist seems not to have realized that Plot ST-1, Block 15, KDA Scheme No. 24, Gulshan-i-Iqbal, is an amenity plot.
ST-1 is a 60,000-square-yard (12 acre) plot on University Road, which was designated as an exhibition space in the layout plan of Gulshan-i-Iqbal, and was allotted to the Export Promotion Bureau.
The PIA planetarium sub-plot that was carved out of this amenity plot is also an amenity plot, and its use for a planetarium is in complete consonance with amenity use. However, the town-planning laws prohibit conversion of 'amenity' space to 'commercial' use.
Unfortunately, bureaucrats and politicians bend backwards to accommodate foreign investment by multinational food chains and violate our own local laws in the process.
Trees are cut down, roads are blocked or encroached upon, land use is arbitrarily converted, commercialization of residential and amenity plots is promoted, parking requirements are overlooked, thus causing damage to the environment.
Nazim Naimatullah Khan and DCO Mir Hussain Ali cannot allow conversion of the PIA planetarium plot.
NAVEED JABBAR
Karachi
Wage earners' worries
Former prime minister Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain's order to regularize PTCL's 4,400 daily wage earners in two phases came as good news for people working on daily wages in other organizations.
At Allied Bank of Pakistan Limited, 600 people have been working on a contract basis for the past 18 years. The bank's most outstanding regularization issue of contractual employees started in September 2002, which has not yet been settled.
This delay has caused great hardship to the employees and their families. I request President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz to look into this matter and ensure that the issue is settled as soon as possible.
AFFECTED EMPLOYEE
Karachi
Heavy mandate
This is with reference to the news report "96 pc people want me as COAS: President" (Sept 7). The statistics may be 100 per cent correct but, it had better not to be construed as a 'heavy mandate'.
MIR TABASSUM MAIRAJ
Islamabad
Islamabad allottees' plight
I agree with Mr Muzaffar Gill's views with regard to the development of sectors E-12 and D-12 of Islamabad (August 20). Allottees of these sectors are still without possession, though allotments were made over 14 years ago. They have paid all instalments except the last one, which will be due at the time of possession.
It is a pity that as many as 5,000 allottees who paid a sum of Rs1,360 million to the CDA at the time of allotment, on which the latter must be earning a huge amount of interest, are still waiting for development work to start. Most allottees are retired government servants.
Some of them have left for their heavenly abode while waiting for possession. The extraordinary delay has added to the allottees' misery as, during the period extending over 15 years, the cost of construction has multiplied many times. They had to vacate the official residences at the time of their superannuation and are now living in rented houses.
The prime minister is urged to take notice of the problem and order the CDA to start development work in both sectors simultaneously and deliver possession of the plots within a year.
R. R. ALVI
Lahore
Needed: buses for students
Students of Karachi University and the NED Engineering University (and different institutions situated in that area) living in the DHA are facing great hardship because of the non-availability of public transport.
Buses plying on route Z-2 pass through phases IV and VIII but do not touch the universities. Point buses of the universities also pass by Gora Qabaristan on Sharea Faisal which is far away from different phases of DHA.
It is requested that either the provincial government should open a new bus route from DHA to the universities or the universities should operate their point buses to and from DHA. This will ease the hardship of many students, particularly girl students, who have to change buses.
SHAMIM AKHTAR
Karachi
Plea to RTA
The route from Kahna to Lorry Adda, Lahore, is busy throughout the day and at times at night. On this route (N-5) only small wagons ply, which are very inconvenient. Moreover, the behaviour of conductors with passengers is often rude. I request the secretary of the Road Transport Authority to introduce other buses on this route.
MUNIR AHMAD
Lahore
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