Bush's 'rogue' states

The US Central Intelligence Agency falsified reports of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and its Al Qaeda link have thrown cold water on Washington's casus belli for its Iraq war. Yet President Bush reiterates that his country's invasion of Iraq was justified.

The truth behind these US lies is simple: the policymakers in Washington or the proponents of the 'doctrine of regime change' believe that it is the regimes of Iraq, Iran, Syria, Libya and Sudan (once the US declared them rogue states) which have been preventing the United States from exercising its political dominance over the crucial Mideast and Maghreb regions. Having these regimes overthrown or brought under its control would give the US unprecedented leverage in shaping the future direction of these regions.

Bush's rogue states' policy aims at achieving the following objectives:

1. To discount authoritarianism, poverty and social injustice within allied countries by blaming internal unrest on outside forces.

2. To insist on seeking military solutions to what are essentially political and economic problems.

3. To define terrorism as the primary problem rather than bringing to an end the gross injustices that spawn it, and to place the blame for terrorism on governments which the US does not like.

4. To selectively raise the issue of nuclear proliferation as a means of further isolating the so-called rogue states.

The US has vigorously used its considerable economic clout to isolate the 'rogue' states. This strengthens the tools by which Washington can force Middle Eastern countries to cooperate with its strategic and economic agenda, including its pro-Israeli interpretations of the Mideast peace process. And, of course, these 'rogue' states are useful pretexts for continuing taxpayer's subsidies for the Israeli government and US military contractors that send the Israelis their wares.

In strategic analyst Michael Klare's view, it is this policy through which the Pentagon justifies a military budget of more than $260 billion, a figure higher, even if adjusted for inflation, than the level of its military spending during most of the Cold War, including the final military budgets of such Republican presidents as Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.

The most obvious victims of this indoctrinated policy are the people of the Middle East where US-led confrontations have uniformly hurt civilian populations. The US-controlled militarization of the region severely retards economic development and political liberalization among pro-western states, thereby mobilizing popular anti-Americanism. The miscarriages resulting from this US policy are well seen in today's Iraq.

Not only does such a policy drain the US budget and take money from its neediest citizens in order to feed the military establishment, it deflects attention from more pressing foreign policy concerns: the deterioration of the global environment, growing economic and political unrest in the Latin American region and in the Third World, expanding trade, the brewing world-wide discontent about US unipolarism, and declining US-Europe relations.

S. Q. AFZAL RIZVI

Karachi

Cadaver law

The publicity being given to dialysis and transplantation has done a bit of damage. People think that the only way to look after end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) is dialysis and transplantation. I agree that transplantation is the best form of treatment and dialysis prolongs life and a person can wait for transplantation while having dialysis. But both are expensive.

It is about time we realized that this is a country which spends only 0.7 per cent or 0.8 per cent of GNP on health. The per-capita income of our country is $427. About 30 per cent of the people live below the poverty line. How can we look after patients of renal failure costing Rs125,000 per annum per patient?

The commonest causes of ESKD in our country and throughout the world are diabetes and hypertension. Both are preventable if picked up early, and drugs are not expensive. In the later stages, it becomes expensive. So, awareness by the media and early detection and treatment can reduce the incidence of ESKD by hypertension and diabetes.

Chronic nephritis is a challenge for the scientists and a lot of work is being done. At the moment we can only modulate its progress by immunosuppressive drugs.

Publicity should be given to prevention because in prevention lies our salvation.

The publicity given to transplantation has given rise to a kidney bazaar in our country. Mumbai used to be notorious for this. Now Pakistan is heading in that direction. There are even websites available for the publicity of places in our country where you can have first-class treatment and where kidneys of poor people are bought and are being transplanted.

It is about time the government discouraged this by passing a cadaver law. People should be educated to donate their kidneys after death. We should have a transplantation programme going in that direction and we must discourage any form of sale of human organs.

DR A.K. SOOFI

Karachi

Who is better: Bush or Kerry?

The third media debate between President Bush and presidential candidate John Kerry has come to an end, with media reports favouring Kerry against Bush. People here in our country, too, have got a soft corner in their hearts for John Kerry because they consider George W. Bush a symbol of evil and a ruler who is against Islam and Muslims. Muslim expatriates living in the US have the same feelings and are, therefore, active in the Kerry campaign.

Now let us see how Kerry looks at world affairs. He has got a strong resolve to exterminate terrorists and emphasizes the need to catch Osama bin Laden.

Although he differs on the timing of the Iraq invasion, one finds him in agreement when it comes to the toppling of the Saddam government. A couple of days ago, in an interview with India Abroad, he said if he came to power, he would ask Pakistan to end cross-border terrorism and would deal with India and Pakistan differently. He said India should be given the status it deserved.

I think people display great simplicity when they judge American leaders according to the criterion which is in fashion in their own countries. They should remember that American policies never change with a change of faces. The national interest is always put first and everything else comes second. The working of government there never depends on the personal whims of leaders.

Therefore, Muslims need to think maturely before extending their political support to any of the US presidential candidates.

RAZIQ HUSSAIN

Wah Cantt

'The European role'

The Oct 18 editorial "The European Role" misses the mark in terms of the following facts:

1. Nato now has in place inside Iraq a security training force from numerous of the Nato nations to speed up training of paramilitary, national guardsmen and police.

2. Germany and France are asking for the airlifting of key officer cadres to outside Iraq for specified training of those echelons.

3. Besides the US, Britain, Italy, Poland, Ukraine, Australia, Romania, Belgium, Holland, and many, many others, totalling around 30 nations, have manpower in the military coalition doing its necessary job inside Iraq right now.

4. Since the elder Bush, the US official foreign policy has always been "regime change", which is now being done.

5. Democracy, albeit in an elementary form, is coming along in Afghanistan. Iraq is making overall progress toward parliamentary elections.

6. At stake is stopping terrorism and terrorists, old and new, whose goal has grown from the destruction of Israel, a true democracy in a sea of non-democracies in the Middle East, to now the goal of destruction and mayhem of organized society.

We in the US remain most grateful for the staunch anti-terrorist alliance with President Musharraf, his government and the people at large in Pakistan.

I respectfully disagree with those who do not remember that the long-term American foreign policy goal was and remains complete regime change in Iraq for the good of the world which includes Pakistan with its bad episodes of Al Qaeda and the Taliban insurgencies.

GEORGE L. SINGLETON

Birmingham, Alabama, USA

Invitation to Advani

News has come (Oct 19) that former deputy Indian prime minister L.K.Advani has been invited to visit Pakistan. It is said the invitation for the visit was extended by Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri. We know very well the views and the character of the invitee. As a member and high official of an anti-Muslim and anti-Pakistan political party, he is a sworn enemy of Pakistan and it is certainly wrong to invite him officially.

Perhaps the foreign minister has forgotten that L.K.Advani was involved in a criminal conspiracy to Kill the Quaid-i-Azam in 1947. There were 18 culprits out of whom 12, including Advani, absconded. The rest of the six were charged, prosecuted and convicted. In pursuance of an agreement between Pakistan and India, the convicts were extradited in September 1948. Criminal charges against the absconders still stand. Mr Advani is a fugitive and has yet to be brought to justice.

Readers may recall that the interior ministry obtained a record of the case about two years ago. This was confirmed by the secretary of the interior ministry, Tasneem Noorani. The case is, of course, more than 55 years old, but, as a lawyer, Mr Kasuri should know that the law of limitation does not apply to criminal cases.

Will he come out with a justification for inviting Mr Advani to Pakistan?

PROF MUKHTAR ALI NAQVI

Orlando, Fl., USA

'Going back and back'

I heartily congratulate you on your bold editorial "Going back and back" (Oct 10) warning the military-led government of disastrous consequences of the bill designed to enable General Pervez Musharraf to continue as both president and army chief. The Dawn magazine also did not lag behind and published an excellent article by M.Ziauddin, an informative interview of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and some other articles, all connected with the unfortunate Oct 12, 1999, military takeover and the authoritarian rule in the subsequent five years.

When there are dark clouds of gloom, desperation and uncertainty on the horizon even after five long years of military rule, you have expressed the feelings and aspirations of your readers and the silent majority of this unfortunate country and aptly stated: "What, one may ask, does another deviation matter, particularly when it is to be brought about through parliament? It matters because we take a further step backward in our political life and prove our incompetence to run our affairs in a democratic manner. What kind of a system is it that depends for its continuity, viability and stability on one person - and that too in uniform?"

The reason is not far to seek as one of the seven points of the reform agenda of General Musharraf was also to devolve power to the grassroots level, empower the people and give them 'real democracy', but in his own dictionary, it seems to meant otherwise. The result is that "power is still firmly in the hands of the army with the general keeping a tight leash on this institution as well as on the elected parliament, the provincial assemblies and the local bodies", as rightly stated by Mr Ziauddin. The 17th Amendment has in fact made the general a repository of all powers and wisdom.

The worst thing done by the general is his rewriting of the 1973 Constitution through the Legal Framework Order, deliberately creating a political deadlock and a constitutional crisis in the country for over a year and then amending the Constitution in a mutilated form through the 17th Amendment in collaboration with the MMA, with no remorse and regret on either side. The nation is still faced with a political deadlock and a constitutional crisis and that too of a grave nature.

General Musharraf has succeeded in all his plans and programmes until now and is likely to succeed in getting the bill passed in the Senate, too, notwithstanding the fact that "it brings little credit to Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and his elected colleagues in the National Assembly that they are voluntarily abridging the supremacy of parliament and the Constitution that they have sworn to uphold and protect". The irony is that General Musharraf does not realize what great harm he has done to our younger generations, the future of the nation, which will obviously be greatly affected by the precedents and examples now being set.

SYED IQBAL AHMAD

Karachi

Woes of Model Colony

This refers to the news item "Survey of sewerage system ordered (Sept 25).

Many surveys of the sewerage system of Karachi's Model Colony were completed in the past one decade and work on it was started accordingly, but only to be discontinued and disrupted with men and material withdrawn from the site. Why this was done is not known yet.

Instead of carrying out a new survey, an inquiry should be ordered into what happened to the sanctioned amount and the material bought there in the past. The errant should be punished according to the law, and the residents should be provided with a sewerage system.

M.A. RAHMAN

Karachi

Examination dates

It is really annoying the way dates for examinations for students at the Rawalpindi Medical College are being set. We were informed that the viva voce for the fourth-year students would be held on Nov 3. Then a student happened to see a notice which said the date had been changed, but no new date was given. Many students got to know about this through word of mouth and rushed to the college to find out the new date.

There the students were told that the date had been changed but no new date had been decided. Upon prodding by the students, the RMC administration rang up the University of Health Sciences in Lahore. The reply was the same - the original date had been changed but no new date had yet been fixed.

This was not acceptable to the students as it meant that they would have to keep going to the college every day just to find out when the viva voce would be held. Upon the students' insistence, the RMC again called up the University of Health Sciences in Lahore, and this time they were told that the date for the viva voce would remain as Nov 3.

Is this a joke being played on the students? In fact, since the RMC came under the University of Health Sciences, such uncertainties regarding examinations have become a routine. This is very upsetting for the students. The dates for all tests, stand-ups and written and oral examinations should be settled well in advance at the beginning of the term and the schedule should be strictly following, barring any unforeseen circumstances.

STUDENT

Islamabad

Of diplomacy and poetry

This is with reference to the letter by Mr S. P. Jain (Sept 24) in response to Mr Mahdi Masud's letter on the above subject.

While Pakistan has always been sincere in its desire to restore peace in the region, India's moves have never been devoid of self-interest and are summed up in the following couplet:

Ishq ney seekh li waqt ki taqseem keh ab

Woh mujhey yaad tau aata hai magar kaam key baad

TAHIR MAQBUL ZUBERI

Karachi

Quaid's words

Breathes there a nation with soul so dead which did not even squeak when the inspiring words - unity, faith and discipline - of the Father of the Nation Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah were removed from Teen Talwar, our national monument, at Clifton, Karachi, after it was renovated.

Who is responsible for this act?

A. REHAMAN

Hyderabad

Physiotherapy: role & scope

Florence Nightingale, the founder of nursing as a profession, used to perform exercises on her patients to keep them and their limbs fit and mobile. After World War I, the role of physiotherapy gained great importance because the war had left tens of thousands of wounded with multiple fractures. Electricity, ultrasound and other gadgets were being used for treatment.

As time passed, physiotherapy was used to treat rheumatology, osteoarthritis, post-traumatic fractures, neurological conditions like stroke, palsy and polio.

Now, in rehabilitation of paraplegics, polio, and nerve injuries, we can provide appliances (orthotics). Patients can be rehabilitated to their profession by occupational therapy. Modalities used are short-wave diathermy, nerve stimulator, traction and ultrasound. New electrical devices are now being used to mobilize paraplegics.

Physiotherapy is now a well-developed speciality with research and training facilities available at government and private hospitals where students should be encouraged to acquire the skill to serve the invalid and the partially-disabled.

DR RAFIQUE AHMED MIRZA

Karachi

'Backtracking on laws?'

I read with interest your editorial "Backtracking on laws?" (Oct 15). I agree that the blasphemy and Hudood ordinances were imposed through decrees by General Ziaul Haq and that the laws were politically motivated. I do not agree, however, with your assertion that their purpose was to keep the regime's critics under threat.

The only motivation for promulgating the Hudood ordinances, in my opinion, was to suppress and demoralize non-Muslim Pakistanis, particularly members of the Ahmadiyya Jamaat.

If there is an independent inquiry into how many times these laws were used against Ahamdis and as against their use against political opponents of General Zia, the truth will be quite apparent.

DR NAVIDUL HAQ KHAN

Essex, UK

Punjab sectt entry

This refers to the news item "Pay Rs10 and enter secretariat" in your issue of Oct 19, which said that an amount of Rs10 was being charged as fee for entry into the Civil Secretariat, Lahore.

No visitor is being charged a fee for entering the Civil Secretariat. The facsimile of the visitor's slip that has been printed along with the news item carries "10" as the time of entrance of the reporter to the civil secretariat and not the amount charged.

KHUSHNOOD AKHTAR LASHARI

Additional Chief Secretary, Government of Punjab, Lahore