| 10 October 2004 | Sunday | 24 Shaban 1425 |
Citrus fruit farm
HEC's directive
Benefits of economic recovery
Pakistani school in Bahrain
Incomplete road project
Commercializing residential areas
Private clinics
'Brain and brawn'
Ban on plastic bags
Cricket team's performance
Biotechnology and Asia
Retirement age of teachers
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The acts of terrorism in Sialkot and Multan are sad and shocking. In his TV comments after both incidents, Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad said that "people who did this are not Muslims and have got nothing to do with Islam and Pakistan".
The question is: do we need to know this, and does he think that such statements will emotionally affect the culprits and they will take it to their hearts, feel bad about being called non-Muslims and eventually stop committing such acts?
The minister also 'revealed' that "people who are doing these things are trying to destabilize the country". The question arises: don't we know this or does he think that all Pakistanis think otherwise.
I wish he could realize that families who lost their loved ones do not need to know this; what they need is justice. They need to know what concrete measures have been taken so far and what the results are. They need to see some action, not such comments. Above all, they need to see justice being done.
It's painful to see our people suffering like this and even more painful to see high-ups saying that "this was a bad thing".
AH
Via email
(2)
We have another wave of sectarian violence that has killed some 70 people in Sialkot and Multan. This is a result of the policy of Islamizing society and depoliticizing politics adopted and vigorously pursued by the military regime in the late 70s and 80s.
Our present rulers say that they are trying to reverse the tide. We hope they are sincere and they will succeed, but the way politics is being controlled in the country again, I doubt there is any serious effort in this regard. We still believe that we don't need all-embracing political parties with people's power. We think that small groupings with a narrow outlook suit our plans of controlled democracy.
MUDASSAR SALIM
Peshawar
(3)
The killings in Sialkot and Multan are tragic and shocking. We as Muslims should ponder if we are faithfully following the orders of Allah and the teachings of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) or defying them.
A handful of fanatics overproject minor differences, fan the flames of hatred against one another and instigate and brainwash their followers into aggression and killing. All this is contrary to the teachings of the Holy Quran. We should all stand together to expose their evil designs and work for peace and harmony in the country.
QAZI ABDUL WAHEED
Karachi
Citrus fruit farm
I wish to draw the attention of the authorities to reports that the military is developing a citrus fruit farm on a 150-acre piece of land in my home district Nowshera, which was initially leased as a firing range for troops.
According to the Cantonments Land Administration rules, lands which are actually used by the military authorities for the purposes of "fortifications, barracks, parade grounds, rifle ranges" are classified as A-1 lands.
These lands are leased for specific defence purposes and cannot be used for commercial purposes and have to be returned if no longer required for the specific purpose.
The Nowshera firing range is also a category A-1 land and it cannot be used for any commercial purpose. If no longer required for the purpose of a firing range, then the land must be returned to the owners from whom it was initially acquired.
Over the years the trend to convert category A-1 lands into commercial enterprises and forcibly occupying land has increased. The Senate was informed recently how vast tracts of state lands in various cities leased for specific defence needs had been converted into golf courses and playing grounds.
Early last month in an unusual newspaper advertisement, the military estate officer, Kohat, warned the general public against an advertisement by the brigade headquarter, Kohat, inviting applications for the construction, sale and lease of shops and houses on a certain piece of land.
The cautionary advertisement by the MEO claimed that the brigade headquarter had occupied the land illegally, and warned that anyone selling or buying shops built on it would be liable to prosecution.
The trend of first acquiring land for specific defence purposes and then using it for commercial purposes is most unhealthy.
SENATOR FARHATULLAH BABAR
Islamabad
HEC's directive
The Higher Education Commission's warning does not come too late and will ensure that institutions which have a charter fulfil the conditions and have the facilities and quality required to justify their affiliation/recognition. But what if the public universities themselves do not measure up to what is required of private institutions?
Universities and boards that 'affiliate and recognize' degrees and intermediate colleges appear to have stopped inspections because the government takes no notice of their observations for rectification. Being government institutions gives them a status so their disaffiliation would cost the 'offending authority' name, fame and job. Above all, motives will be called into question because of the protests of parents and students.
It is surprising that reportedly 20 colleges are opened annually in Karachi without teachers, desks and chairs. According to rules, these should not have been allowed to declare themselves open for admissions in the first place.
Graduate study standards have reached rock bottom because of lack of funds for recurring expenditure and running costs. Science laboratories have apparatus and equipment beyond repair and reagent. Many of us science teachers know that only some of the prescribed practicals are actually carried out.
The establishment of new institutions should be reduced to the minimum, non-functional closed buildings should be utilized through public-private partnership and emphasis should be laid on as much hands-on experience as possible. There is no substitute for making creativity possible through experimentation.
PROF ANITA GHULAM ALI
Karachi
Benefits of economic recovery
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has declared that the benefits of economic recovery will reach the common citizen. More than five dozen 'jobless common men' have been absorbed in the federal cabinet. True, they say, charity begins at home.
Will someone please answer the following questions:
(A) How many of the federal ministers belong to the following categories?
(i) Ruling families of white and khaki collar bureaucracies.
(ii) Scions of the 34 documented jagirdar families of Punjab who helped the British in establishing their rule in India by suppressing local insurgencies.
(iii) The landed aristocracy of Pakistan.
(iv) Industrialists and capitalists.
(v) Wadera and pir families of Sindh and southern Punjab (some of whom also helped the British in consolidating their rule in India).
(vii) The khawaneen of the NWFP, who are permanent members of the ruling elite.
(viii) Sardar and tribal chief families of Balochistan and the NWFP.
(B) Will these noble ministers enjoy perks and privileges and remuneration as members of parliament, its so-called committees and also as ministers?
The prime minister should appoint Balochistan sardars who are opposing mega projects of far-reaching importance in the province as his special advisers with the rank of ministers. Why should they be deprived of a share in the economic recovery in Pakistan? After all, for whom does the common citizen pay local, provincial and federal direct and indirect taxes and other duties?
KHAWAJA MUHAMMAD BASHIR BUTT
Bahawalnagar
Pakistani school in Bahrain
The Pakistani School in Bahrain, running under the control of our mission, was recently fined BD45,500 by a local court for violating the rules and regulations in recruiting teaching staff.
The school was founded by the Pakistani community in 1968. It was run by the community until the mid-1989 when the Pakistan embassy took over its control. Its standard of education has been declining ever since because of unwanted meddling by the embassy whose main job should be to execute its diplomatic assignments, including promotion of trade and commercial relations.
No sincere effort has been made to promote imports from Pakistan. Pakistani manpower in Bahrain is declining and skilled or unskilled workers arriving from Pakistan are sponsored through their relatives or personal contacts, without any help from the embassy.
Moreover, the construction project of the embassy has almost been stopped. It is unfortunate that the project has only reached the tendering stage in two years. As a result, construction cost has increased by 30 per cent.
The Pakistani community in Bahrain feels that the government at home must take measures to promote Pakistan as a new business frontier in the region.
MOHAMMAD USMAN
Member, Overseas Pakistani Advisory, Bahrain
Incomplete road project
Road 8000 (Darul Uloom Road) in the Korangi Industrial Area is one of the busiest roads in Karachi, servicing one of the largest industrial zones in the country and catering to heavy vehicles arriving from and departing for northern Pakistan as well as Port Qasim and the Export Promotion Zone.
Recently its reconstruction was inaugurated with much fanfare by the communications minister and the EPB chairman.
But shortly afterwards, the Frontier Works Organiztion disappeared, leaving behind it a number of trenches facing factories as death traps. The cutting down of trees from the green belt along the road for carrying out a survey was an added insult in the name of development.
The minister and the EPB chairman must realize that such apathy can make us anything but an Asian tiger.
LT-COL (retd) MUHAMMAD ALI KHAN
Karachi
Commercializing residential areas
There is a boom of commercial plazas on major avenues of all big cities. They are being built mostly in residential areas, for which the civic authorities are issuing NOCs by charging heavy fees. It appears that the authorities do not understand the implications of these NOCs.
A residential house on an eight-kanal plot has a maximum of 10 inmates, including servants, five or six bathrooms and one or two cars. It requires approach roads, parking areas, water supply and sewerage to cater for the needs of 10 persons. On the other hand, the needs of a commercial plaza coming up at this plot are totally different. The plaza will accommodate about 80-100 shops/offices with about 200 people working there. The number of visitors will be in addition. Its requirement for the approach road, parking space, water supply and sewage disposal will be 10 times that of the original residence.
The city authorities charge heavy fees for allowing conversion of residential areas for commercial purposes in lieu of providing the necessary amenities required for the plaza. This is the only moral and legal justification for levying heavy charges, but the civic authorities do not discharge their responsibility by widening roads and providing parallel/ bigger water mains and sewers. This eventually results in congestion of traffic, choking of sewers and inadequate water supplies to the entire area, including the original residential houses.
It is proposed that city governments should defer the issuing of further NOCs for two to three years and during this period they should undertake the following steps:
(a) Master planning to identify roads and avenues which will be allowed for conversion of residential areas into commercial areas.
(b) Widening and dualizing these roads with service roads.
(c) Laying bigger sewerage pipes.
(d) Increasing the water supply and laying bigger water mains.
Having completed the above, the city authorities will be ready to accept applications and allow conversion of residential into commercial plots and, of course, then they will be justified to levy appropriate charges for issuing NOCs.
FAQIR AHMED PARACHA
Peshawar
Private clinics
The news that "50 per cent fee (of private clinics) would go to the government account and the rest to the respective doctors" may not work well, as ours is not a very honest society (Sept 25).
As a matter of fact, healthcare in big cities has become so costly that it is out of the reach of common citizens. No two consultants, with the same foreign qualifications, charge the same fee. Hospital expenses in some private clinics are astounding and have led to the mushrooming of a number of small hospitals, most of which are not properly equipped.
Patients received in emergency are redirected to other hospitals. In some private clinics, patients are given distilled water injections, medicines are overcharged and unnecessary operations are performed to increase income. It is because most of the small hospitals are not registered and there is no check on them.
The charges for heart surgery and the treatment of cancer are enormous. The consultation fee of some specialists varies from Rs300 to Rs900 and above. The charges for the removal of an ordinary cataract varies from Rs8,000 to Rs24,000. The treatment of diabetes, which requires constant surveillance, is also not cheap.
In order to give relief to poor patients who form the majority, there is urgent need for the Pakistan Medical Association and the ministry of health to fix charges for all pathological tests, X-rays, surgical and medical ailments in a way that neither a patient is fleeced nor a doctor has to work under duress.
M. SHAFIQUE AHMED
Karachi
'Brain and brawn'
The figures quoted in the article "Brain and brawn" (Oct 3) by Mr Ardeshir Cowasjee are very frightening, but still these numbers are less than the actual number of people suffering because of various problems in Pakistan, especially religious, ethnic, communal and sectarian violence. I wonder if politicians either from religious parties or political parties understand this situation.
The history of Pakistan shows that they have never understood it. They are power hungry and run for the race to get seats to make themselves richer, and not to provide ordinary people with better housing, health, sanitation and education facilities.
ASHAR J. KHOKHAR
Leeds, UK
Ban on plastic bags
Proposing a complete ban in the editorial (your editorial, Sept 26) on the manufacture and use of plastic bags is timely.
Both cities and villages suffer from the harmful effects and pollution these bags cause. What is needed is a ban on the import of raw material which is used to produce plastic bags.
ALTAMASH MANZOOR
H. KURESHI
Karachi
Cricket team's performance
Our cricket team lost to the West Indies in England in an embarrassing way last month, but this did not come as a surprise as we have lost in similar fashion on a number of occasions in the past. Our cricketers sometimes think they are opposition politicians and are obliged to stage a walkout.
What is surprising are the three home victories since then in the one-day triangular tournament being played in Pakistan - two against Zimbabwe and one in Karachi against Sri Lanka. Another surprising part is that we have only two recognized batsmen - Inzamam and Youhana - and two established bowlers, namely, Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Sami. The rest of the work is left to allrounders who are expected to score runs and take wickets all the time.
We still do not have a set opening pair. Yasser Hamid, a player who finds his own way back to the pavilion without much effort from the bowler, is in the team because there is none to replace him. Other batsmen have made no impression even on docile home wickets.
So who are we going to take to Australia, and where is the talent that experts keep telling us about?
AKHTAR ISMAIL
Karachi
Biotechnology and Asia
I refer to the article "Is Asia becoming a 'dustbin' for biotechnology?" (Dawn Economic and Business Review, Oct 4) by Mr Ashfak Bokhari. It is an interesting story but I note that it contains one deliberately untrue statement. The relevant paragraph follows:
"It is for the first time that a government in a developing country was so sharply divided on the use of this controversial technology marketed by powerful transnational corporations but largely considered harmful to human health."
All crops are genetically modified; farmers have been altering the gene structure of crop plants for as much as 8,000 years - all that the new technology allows is precise control of the change. This is more accurate, effective and efficient than all the other methods of crop improvement that have been used, including radiological mutation of genes.
There is absolutely no evidence that the new technology crops are dangerous to human health. The technology does not give one or more multinationals control over farmer choice. If the crops work better (higher yield, lower spray costs), farmers may choose to use them; nobody forces them to do so.
Because they lessen the use of crop protection chemicals, this new technology should be welcomed by everyone as it reduces environmental damage, including soil erosion.
ALAN WILLIAMS
Via email
Retirement age of teachers
Pakistan has a literacy rate of 36 per cent if official statistics are anything to go by. However, largely with the efforts of HEC Chairman Prof (Dr) Atta-ur-Rehman, we are witnessing a gradual change in our education system.
I would like to make a suggestion here: the retirement age for teachers who have done their PhD after attaining the age of 50 should be extended for another five years. This will give students an opportunity to learn from some qualified people. The quality of education will also improve.
RAFAY BIN ALI
Karachi
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