| 16 October 2004 | Saturday | 01 Ramazan 1425 |
US and Muslim world
Making Sindh Bank operational
Ban on headscarves
Wheat prices
Eradicating extremism
Celebrating five years
Roadside nurseries
Misspelt signboards
ICC awards
'Soldiers who died for lies'
Teachers and the right to attest
Sectarian killings
NWFP's demand
Presidential elections
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Out of all Noble prize laureates, Muslim winners as mentioned in your editorial (Oct 8) are just six. As compared to this, the Jews whose total world population is 120 million have won 163 prizes, 151 of which are in the field of science alone.
Although the Muslim countries - numbering more than 50 with one billion-plus population - are endowed with vast natural resources, their performance is deplorable.
You have rightly pointed out that during the Dark Ages in Europe, the Muslim world produced men of excellence in the fields of science and arts, and that contributions made by them are still being acknowledged by the world. The question is: what has gone wrong? Why is the present-day Muslim world far behind the West?
Although the 13th century Mongol incursions dealt a heavy blow to Muslim civilization, a large part of the Arab world still remained unscathed - such as Egypt, Andalusia and Syria.
Similarly, in the subcontinent Muslim rule remained intact and flourished either in fragmented form during the Sultanate period or in centralized form in the Mughal period.
Countries which were ravaged by Mongol hordes also revived after the defeat of Halaku Khan's forces in the battle of Ain Jalut and acceptance of Islam by some Mongol princes.
The fact is that during the intervening period, the Muslim world was ruled by monarchs and dynasties where the word of the king was the law. In the 16th century even an emperor like Akbar the Great did not allow the Portuguese to install a printing machine in his realm as in his opinion composers would be rendered jobless. Similarly, the Ottoman caliphs discouraged the use of modern inventions in the empire as they were made by non-Muslims.
On the other hand, the Jews who remained persecuted throughout history, especially in Europe, are today the most resourceful people of the world. Their numerical weakness did not deter them from outshining others in every walk of life - the reason being that they knew that the key to success is knowledge.
In Europe also, the spirit of inquiry started with the advent of the Renaissance (14th century), Reformation (15th century) and Revolution (16th century) which completely changed the complexion of their society from the middle age to the modern age.
Thus, the solution to the Muslim world's predicament lies in the spread of education: living in past glory will not take it anywhere.
MANZOOR H. KURESHI
Karachi
US and Muslim world
The political and economic reconstruction of Afghanistan brings to many among us ambivalent feelings. Indeed, the credit for this 'revival of civilization' in Afghanistan goes to the US which is also responsible for making us fearful and suspicious about its intentions.
Having seen the happiness and hope on the faces of Afghans as they went to the polls - the first ever democratic elections in the country - on Oct 10, one may have an impulse to believe in America's "war against terrorism".
The question is: how justified is it for the superpower to intervene in the domestic matters of an independent state the way it did in Afghanistan? Optimists may suggest that the US will not misuse its status of being the sole superpower to benefit itself, but in view of past events involving America, one is compelled to question this optimism.
Given that the majority of the population in Afghanistan lacks the ability to prudently judge their representatives, coupled with the absence of an independent judiciary in the state, didn't the US possess the potential to manipulate the elections and thus the internal affairs of the country?
Furthermore, the position of US leaders regarding the attack on Iraq raises serious doubts relating to the goal of President Bush's war on terrorism. When confronted with the question of justifying his attack, since no weapons of mass destruction had been found, the president vaguely claims the world to be more secure as a result of the attack.
Maybe his definition of the world excludes the people of Iraq and he fails to understand that his war against terrorism is in fact sowing the seeds of terrorism on a far more disturbing scale than was the case before the attack.
If the US continues to legitimize its intervention in other countries, there are compelling reasons for the Muslim world to become cynical regarding its actions.
SHAMSA KHOJA
Karachi
Making Sindh Bank operational
The Sindh Bank Act 1995 (Act No.XII of 1995) was promulgated on Oct 30, 1995, vide Gazette of Sindh, Extraordinary, Part IV, dated Oct 30, 1995, in respect of the creation of the Bank of Sindh.
Although many years have passed, the Bank of Sindh has not become operational. The government may take a step in the interest of the province and the people of Pakistan by making the bank functional, which is a statutory requirement. The bank requires a president, a managing director, a chairman, a board of directors and funds.
According to the preamble of the Sindh Bank Act, the bank was to be established for providing all types of commercial banking and/or investment banking services in the province. Sub-section 3 of Section 1 of the Sindh Bank Act says that "the Act shall come into force at once".
According to the provisions of the law, the authorized capital of the bank shall be Rs2.5 billion and its head office shall be in Karachi. Highly professional senior bankers may be appointed its chairman, managing director, president and directors, and its branches may be established in every district, city, town and taluka of the province.
Through a circular/notification of the Sindh government, all provincial departments may be directed to open their accounts in the Bank of Sindh and all transactions in respect of the government may be disbursed through this bank. Likewise, all loans/grants related to the provincial government may be distributed through the bank.
A viable portion of the 45 per cent non-government shares may be subscribed through public subscription through the stock exchanges of Pakistan. I further propose establishment of a "Bank of Balochistan" on the lines mentioned above through an ordinance by the government of Balochistan or by virtue of legislation by the Balochistan Assembly for the welfare and uplift of the people of the province.
SAALIM SALAM ANSARI
Karachi
Ban on headscarves
Girls have reacted to the law banning headscarves in state-run schools in France in various ways such as by having their heads shaved. I have lived in France as a student for a year. I was lucky enough to get to be a part of that society as most did not realize I was a foreigner.
France is labelled as a really free nation. However, the French are known for their xenophobia which extends to other Europeans as well. This is not something I would like to criticize, though, because any country that is overwhelmed with immigrants tends to be a little apprehensive.
The problem is that the law against headscarves contrasts with the French belief in freedom of choice in one's personal and social life. To say that they have put forward this law to ensure human rights is too much to swallow because, in passing it, they have violated human rights and freedom.
They argue in France that most girls and women were forced to cover their heads and that this law has relieved them of the compulsion. The fact is that in France the majority of Muslim girls and women wear headscarves because they want to. It is something they do proudly as it is their identity and culture.
How then can the French government require girl students not to cover their heads? How can it justify this ban? It doesn't make sense. How can one have a rule stopping someone from doing what he wants to do if it does not harm anyone? If the French government cared so much about the freedom of Muslim women, they should have made a rule prohibiting forceful imposition of scarves but allowing for choice in the matter.
Muslims in France form the largest minority and, in the region of Marseille, the most important port in the country, they form a clear majority. This means that more than half the students are Muslim, and by forbidding the scarved girls among them to enter school or college, the authorities will reduce the already low literacy rate in France. If this rate drops, the country will be in trouble as regards social and national progress it has painstakingly tried to revive.
NAGWAN MALIK
Lahore
Wheat prices
I studied in the US and am farming in Pakistan. This year I want to cultivate wheat. The wheat price is low at this time, according to a recent report. The government is buying wheat at $217 a ton from abroad. This costs above Rs1,250 for 100kg of wheat, but Pakistani farmers are paid Rs1,000 for 100kg of wheat.
Fertilizer is not available in the market at Rs900 a bag - the price announced by the president at a "Kissan Convention" (Dawn, Sept 19). The price of FFC DAP in the market is Rs995 a bag. Labour and fuel charges have doubled the cost of growing wheat.
If the government can pick up wheat from the houses of farmers with the help of the police as it did in June this year, it should also provide DAP and other fertilizers at the price announced by the president.
In India, DAP is sold at around Rs750 a bag. One wonders what is wrong in Pakistan. I request all concerned to make a wheat policy which can benefit all. The authorities concerned are requested to do something for farmers who have no money to buy medicines, food, clothes and books for their children and have spent all their income on buying inputs for growing wheat. They should either reduce the prices of wheat inputs or increase the wheat price.
MUHAMMAD YOUNUS
Sargodha
Eradicating extremism
There is no short cut to ending fanaticism which is deeply rooted in our society. Chopping one branch or the other of this menacing tree is no solution.
Religious groups whose duty it was to prepare young minds on a sound moral footing to act as good citizens have taken to mainstream politicking, leaving the youth at the mercy of half-literate clergy. Unless we try for a change for the better, obscurantists will continue to harm society.
Our madressahs continue to teach jihad and produce soldiery and, unfortunately, our schools are doing no better. This suits only religious groups. Nothing will change unless the madressah syllabus is revised. We also have to think about the mindset of our teachers, who have long been on this course.
I have been to many cities in the world but nowhere have I seen TV channels airing religious sermons for 24 hours a day on Catholicism or Protestantism or Bible or Judaism or Torah or Hinduism or Mahabharat or Ramayan. This is otherwise in our case.
In our TV programmes, dramas, interviews and even in documentaries, the tribal culture (now Kalashnikov) is proudly projected. So is the case in cinema-houses. Recently, passing through Saddar in Karachi, I counted 12 posters depicting machine-guns, carbines, rifles, shot-guns and pistols, with menacingly-looking moustached persons, on the walls of a single cinema-house.
Some government agency must survey municipal parks, playgrounds, amenity plots, etc., in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad to check how many of them are partially or fully encroached upon through illegal and other means to build mosques and madressahs there.
I live in North Nazimabad and know it for a fact that more than three-fourths of the area's parks have been occupied by religious elements of more than one hue. This religious mafia keeps a keen eye on important areas/arteries of the city to set up encroachments. Besides, it is now a law and order problem in the urban areas.
Legislation by the federal and provincial governments in this regard is necessary to not only stop such encroachments but also retrieve the land that has been already encroached upon.
There is also a feeling among fair-minded people and liberals that the institutional policy of the establishment is still inclined towards religious and pro-conservative elements. As long as the establishment does not free itself from their stranglehold, both the government and the people will remain hostage to religious outfits.
KUNWAR KHALID YUNUS
Karachi
Celebrating five years
Newspapers on Oct 12 carried full page ads sponsored by the bureaucracy at public expense celebrating five years of military rule. This reminded me of a similar extravaganza called the "decade of development" sponsored in 1968 to celebrate the 10 years of the first military dictator, Ayub Khan.
Not long after Ayub's celebrations, he was chased out of office, ruefully admitting later, in the words of one of his biographers, "we were able to bluff the world, but our own people called our bluff".
If Ayub could speak from his grave, he would be telling Musharraf:
Mujhey shadaabi-e-sehn-i-chaman sey khauf ata hai
Yahee andaaz thhey jab lut gaee thee zindagi apni
(I dread the blossoming garden for I was ruined in the midst of blossoms)
SENATOR FARHATULLAH BABAR
Islamabad
Roadside nurseries
Karachi's Safari Park surroundings are full of cow dung sold by roadside nurseries. The residents near these nurseries in Block 1 of Gulistan-i-Jauhar keep their windows shut when a new consignment of cow dung arrives and mixing takes place for sale at night - usually at 2am.
You wake up in the middle of the night with the horrible smell, shut your windows and try to sleep again. What is this? Is this no-man's-land? Who authorized these nurseries to make the life of the residents miserable?
SHAHABUDDIN A. SIDDIQUI & OTHER RESIDENTS
Karachi
Misspelt signboards
It is quite sad to see misspelt signboards throughout the country. However, it is shocking to see them inside the prime minister's secretariat in Islamabad. Upon entering the building, the first signboards one sees has central, mosque and conference all wrongly spelt. Should one not expect better from our leaders?
OSMAN NAEEM
Islamabad
ICC awards
It is sad that no Pakistani player was given any award nor was any player selected for the Test and the ODI teams of the year in the ICC awards ceremony held some time back.
I think this is alarming for Pakistan cricket because we claim our team is one of the better sides of the world but our players have not been included in the best Test and one-day teams of the year.
The selection of Sharne Warne over Murlitharan is also surprising. The performance of the Sri Lankan bowlers is much better than those of the Australians and it seems that politics, not merit, influenced the ICC decisions.
IMRAN KHAN SIAL
Karachi
'Soldiers who died for lies'
This refers the write-up "Soldiers who died for lies" (Dawn, Oct 1). The armies of the "coalition of the willing" comprise unwilling soldiers. How can they also be willing when they have no enmity and bias towards the Iraqi people?
We all have seen that the people of the so-called "willing" countries have taken out mammoth rallies against the US-led war in Iraq. Rallies and demonstrations are still being staged in various parts of the world, including the US. It is also gratifying that the real motives of the US behind this war are fully exposed.
MRS AMBAR UMAR
Lahore Cantonment
Teachers and the right to attest
I am a teacher in a public university and wish to narrate an incident whereupon I, a full-fledged BPS grade 19 government officer, was denied the right to attest a document.
I had gone to the revenue directorate of the Capital Development Authority to deposit the property tax of my sister, who is a widow. There I was told to get the letter stating that she is a widow attested from any grade 17 or above government official. I said that I could do it, being a grade 19 official. Quick came the reply: attestation from university teachers is not accepted.
Throughout my 21-year teaching career, I have attested hundreds of certificates, documents and letters in my official capacity upon request by students, relatives and friends.
This is the first time that I have been told that a government teacher's attestation is not acceptable. I feel awkward approaching any other government official for the attestation since I myself am supposed to be a government officer. Ironically, the incident took place on World Teachers' Day (Oct 5).
DR ARSHAD HAFEEZ
Islamabad
Sectarian killings
We have buried about 75 people killed in the recent wave of sectarian violence in a short span of two weeks. The government is relieved that the funerals took place peacefully. Since this is not the first time this has happened, the powers that be will expect the people to soon forget this and look forward.
General Musharraf's government will continue in power and deliver lectures on how well the country is progressing under his leadership. Is there any institution which can independently investigate the carnage and bring this spate of sectarian killings to an end?
M. AFZAL KHAN
Faisalabad
NWFP's demand
In a surprising move, the NWFP Assembly has demanded abolition of the Ruet-i-Hilal Committee and recommended the observance of Ramazan and Eids according to the sighting of the moon in Saudi Arabia. This is clearly un-Islamic, since the Holy Quran enjoins the Muslims to begin fasting and end it only when the moon is sighted by them.
The assembly should have been more concerned with the fact that people in the NWFP see the moon when it isn't there.
SHAKIR LAKHANI
Karachi
Presidential elections
We should learn from the presidential polls held recently in Indonesia where an army general did not stage a coup against the president. He, instead, contested elections and defeated the president.
AFZAL RAHIM
Islamabad
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