| 06 November 2004 | Saturday | 22 Ramazan 1425 |
Bush's re-election and Pakistan
'Alms and the man'
'First stamp out terrorism'
DHA and DHA
Conspiracy theories
Seeking equal opportunities
Thar as industrial zone
Scholarships for librarians
Flyovers and parks
US elections
Expansion of Security Council
War protesters' detention
Useless cops
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Kashmir is primarily a dispute about justice and people, but it has strategic and territorial dimensions as well. There is a Kashmir that has a physical territorial existence and there is a Kashmir that is in the minds of politicians, strategists and soldiers. The conflict in this, latter Kashmir is a clash between identities, imaginations and history.
The Muslims of the subcontinent argued for Pakistan on the basis of the two-nation theory. For Pakistan leaving a Muslim majority region to India would be a negation of this theory.
The ruling elite of Pakistan has made out that Kashmir is the centrepiece of Pakistan's very existence. Any dilution of that concept spells a catastrophe for this establishment.
India argues that Pakistan is fanning the issue because it is unwilling to accept the fact of a secular India. It (fearing a domino effect of separatism) finds it difficult to turn over Kashmir to Pakistan just because it is Muslim.
The implications of the issue are great both regionally and internationally. The world is pressuring both Pakistan and India for a dialogue. There are 12 options reportedly being discussed these days to resolve the dispute.
If one looks at the map and statistics, one will see that the so-called Chenab formula, which splits the state of Jammu and Kashmir along the river Chenab, is a natural solution both geographically and demographically.
The new idea is: let the 'Chenab formula' be given a democratic colour by conducting a referendum on the basis of regions (Kashmir Valley, Jammu, Ladakh, Northern Areas and Azad Jammu and Kashmir).
If a choice were given to the people, the democratic outcome would be a demographic and geographic split of the state along the Chenab. The statistical indications are that Jammu would vote for India and the rest of the regions would go along with Pakistan.
India takes pride in being the biggest functioning democracy of the world. It would enhance its stature even more if it agreed to a democratic process instead of a solution by force.
A quarter of humanity would be the beneficiary of a just and honourable settlement of the Kashmir dispute. The time is ripe for bold and imaginative steps. The world is helping and both President Musharraf and the Indian government seem determined to find a solution. The people of Pakistan and India should encourage and support them to defeat those who have vested interests in maintaining the status quo.
TAHIR ZAMAN
Karachi
Bush's re-election and Pakistan
The result of the US presidential election is clear. The neo-conservatives are there to stay for another four years. The immediate consequences of this include a stronger operation in Fallujah and Ramadi, more bad news for the Palestinians, something imminent about Iran and maybe Syria. However, what are the consequences of Bush's re-election for us Pakistanis?
Although there is going to be short-term gain for the Musharraf-led government, we don't know about the long term. Wisdom dictates that we should try to get our books in order and establish strong institutions and not strong personalities so that by the time our honeymoon period is over, we are able to sustain the pressure to which our country will be subjected.
But unfortunately the tunnel vision of our military rulers and their political hangers-on will probably find in the present circumstances the best chance to keep our president in uniform.
General Musharraf is the most powerful person in the country; he has the power to 'appoint' the prime minister, dissolve parliament and he fully enjoys the support of the West.
In the present scenario it will be extremely foolish for anyone to seek to replace him. However, if the world scene changes for some reason, the uniform may create more problems than solve them.
ALI BOKHARI
Ireland
(2)
Now that Mr Bush has been re-elected as president of the United States, lots of reactions will come from the world over. I think it is totally foolish to concentrate entirely on a single man, notwithstanding his status as an authoritarian ruler of the most powerful nation on this earth.
What matters most from now on is not the way Mr Bush proceeds but peaceful strategies that we can come up with in order to make this world a better place to live for everyone and neutralize the impression that only those whom Bush likes have the right to dwell.
In "The Voice of the Poet", Khalil Gibran says: "Where is the justice of political power if it executes the murderer and jails the plunderer, and then itself marches upon neighbouring lands, killing thousands and pillaging the very hills?"
SUMAIRA SULTAN MINHAS
Islamabad
'Alms and the man'
Mr Hafizur Rahman's views on charity ("Alms and the man", Nov 3) are ones that I vaguely identify with. The fact that some necessity forces an individual to stand all day in the sweltering heat and asphyxiating traffic begging for money is a compelling enough reason to offer financial help to the person.
Still, seeing the same beggars on the same street corners, in the same financial straits, day after day, demonstrates to me the futility of giving alms in this fashion as it merely feeds the man for the day, without teaching him to feed himself.
It's a complicated issue, for jobs are not readily available and, I admit, I would not hire a beggar off the street to work in my house. Presumably, beggars would face similar prejudices and, by extension, hurdles in finding work elsewhere. But does this justify tolerating and implicitly condoning beggary?
I'm not sure the answer to this is as simple as Mr Rahman makes it seem because, by providing beggars with a source of income, we are in fact breeding indolence and are doing very little to rectify the underlying problem.
I work hard for my money and like to see some positive results emanating from the alms I give out. For this reason I give my money to organizations that actually do something constructive with the funds.
I am not one to go out and take it on my shoulders to alleviate the ills of unemployment and poverty from the streets of Pakistan, so I donate to organizations that have an existing infrastructure in place with which to effect positive change.
I laud Mr Rahman's generosity, but from a strictly utilitarian aspect, cannot help but wonder if in the long-run he is helping beggars at all.
HAROON SETHI
Karachi
'First stamp out terrorism'
In the political scenario of Asia where terrorism is rampant, Pakistan is the biggest victim and itself needs help to combat the menace. Addressing a press conference in Bhutan before his departure, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz showed his willingness to extend all possible help to Nepal in fighting terrorists (Dawn, Nov 3).
Eight years of the rebellion by Nepal's Maoist guerillas have cost the lives of more than 10,000 people and battered the Himalayan kingdom's already weak economy. The government of Nepal calls them terrorists, but Maoist leaders say they are fighting on behalf of the majority rural poor to liberate them from the feudal system that favours the only small urban elite.
Prime Minister Aziz did not elaborate on what kind of help Islamabad was willing to extend to the kingdom in combating the insurgency that has been claiming around eight lives daily since the failure of the peace dialogue in 2003.
It is good to think of reaching beyond ourselves and helping other people in specific ways. But Mr Aziz should first set his house in order. The fleet of bullet-proof cars may protect him, his cabinet ministers and his guru from wicked people, but who is going to protect innocent people, including namazis, from being mercilessly killed and how? How will peace be restored in Wana?
LT-COL (retd) SYED AHMED
Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
DHA and DHA
This is apropos of Mr Akram Sadiq's letter on above the subject (Nov 3). Since it inception 50 years back, Karachi's DHA, a city within a city, has come a long way and is considered to be the biggest set-up of its kind in Asia.
Its civic infrastructure has however worn out over the years and far outlived its utility. It is in dire need of renovation to adequately respond to the needs of the ever-growing population.
However, the DHA is undertaking massive rehabilitation and upgradation of the infrastructure of all old phases of Defence to be completed within three to four years at an estimated cost of Rs1.2 billion.
The phased renovation of the infrastructure includes complete relaying and redoing of water supply and sewerage lines, revamping the entire electricity system and improving the road network.
As a result of these measures DHA would soon give a rejuvenated outlook and the residents would see a dramatic and tangible improvement in infrastructure and community services.
While the standards of cleanliness, roads and the traffic system in DHA are not comparable with the relatively new and much smaller DHA in Lahore, there is nothing to be pessimistic about. Let's look at the brighter side.
LT.COL (retd) RAFAT NAQVI
Public Relations Officer, DHA, Karachi
Conspiracy theories
This refers to Mr Nadeem Zafar's letter (Nov 2) which says that it is now confirmed that Osama bin Laden was behind the 9/11 attacks. There are those who firmly believe that Osama is a CIA agent and that he would therefore say or do what his masters request.
And of course there are those who believe that in this age of digital photography, you can easily create a tape pertaining to Osama or anyone else for that matter. Only recently a university student in America filmed his own beheading. He sent the tape to an Arabic TV channel. It was all a hoax and was digitally done.
SYED MUNIM
Lahore Cantt
Seeking equal opportunities
THIS has reference to the news item "Polypropylene industry seeks duty cut" (Oct 30). Before the government considers giving further concessions to the polypropylene industry, which is directly competing with the paper sack industry (as both industries, having the same market, supply their bags for packing 50kg cement to the cement industry), please consider the following submissions:
At the instance of a woven polypropylene sacks manufacturing company, the National Tariff Commission (NTC) scheduled a public hearing on April 15, inviting all the parties concerned to give their views on the question of granting concession in import duty at the rate of five per cent to the PP industry.
All the parties concerned held detailed discussions under the chairmanship of the NTC chief in which polypropylene companies, papersack companies and the cement companies all gave their points of views.
As a result of these deliberations, the NTC made its recommendation to the CBR to bring down the duty rate on PP granules PCT No.3902-1000 (raw material for the PP industry) and sack kraft paper PCT NO.4804-2100 and 4804-2900 (raw material of the papersack industry) from the exiting level of 20 per cent to 10 per cent. It was implemented in the budget proposals in June 2004 and through SRO No.456 (1)2004, dated June, 12, 2004.
This decision was, however, superseded just two months later without any reference to the parties concerned or the NTC and the duty on sack kraft paper, PCT 4804-2100 and 4804-2900 (raw material of the paper sack industry) was unjustly increased from 10 per cent to 15 per cent, thus creating an anomaly in favour of the polypropylene industry and against the paper sack industry, which employs thousands of workers and regularly pays millions of rupees to the exchequer in the form of taxes.
PP manufacturers are now making a new move to reduce their duty from 10 per cent to five per cent on very unique grounds that since their raw material prices have gone up in the international market, their import duty should be further reduced.
If accepted, this will prove disastrous to the local paper sack industry unless a similar concession is allowed to paper sack manufacturers on their raw material by bringing down the import duty to five per cent as the market of the two industries is the same - cement industry.
We are confident that justice will prevail and a level playing field will be provided to both the industries - paper sack and polypropylene.
S.Z. KAZMI
Managing director, Pakistan Paper sack Corp Ltd, Karachi
Thar as industrial zone
As reported in Dawn of Oct 27, the federal government has decided to redefine the role of the Pakistan Industrial Development Corporation to use it for establishing new industrial estates like ceramic and granites' industries and upgrading technology in the existing clusters of small and medium-sized industries through public-private partnership. In this connection it is also said that such projects would be first launched in big cities.
I would suggest to the government to incorporate the arid area of Thar in the plan because the area has the largest coalfield of the country and work for installing power-generating plants over there is at the planning/preliminary stage.
Moreover, the road infrastructure, availability of barrage water, mobile phone services and other relevant facilities for industries are also in place. Another reason for according immediate priority to Thar as an industrial zone is the availability of bulk raw material of both granite and ceramic (china clay) and other minerals, etc, which are now being transported to industries outside.
The pressure of establishing industrial zones in the big cities will further aggravate the problems of urbanization.
ASHOK SUTHAR
Tharparkar
Scholarships for librarians
The Higher Education Commission has advertised (Dawn, Nov 1) MS/Mphil schemes leading to PhD scholarships for teachers of "weaker" universities. The need is also felt to start PhD scholarship schemes for 'weaker' subjects such as library and information science.
The education system in Pakistan cannot be improved without state-of-the-art library services and library services cannot be improved without highly qualified librarians. Currently most of the posts of chief librarians in university libraries are lying vacant due to the non-availability of PhDs in this subject.
The HEC should collaborate with foreign universities which offer a PhD degree in this field as no university in Pakistan offers a PhD degree due to the non-availability of PhDs in library and information science.
MIDRARULLAH
Islamabad
Flyovers and parks
I congratulate the Karachi city government on the construction of flyovers and parks. They make our lives easier. The FTC flyover is a blessing and has reduced much of the heavy traffic on Sharea Faisal and the roads leading to it. In fact it has also reduced traffic congestion at the Mehran crossing.
Flyovers are also needed at the Empress Market crossing and other major intersections. I am sure that if more flyovers are constructed, traffic and life in Karachi will improve. I would like our city government to please ignore any negative comments. Parks should also be made in localities such as Garden, Defence, Saddar, PECHS and Mehmoodabad.
JEREMY ROBINSON
Karachi
US elections
If the United States of America believes it has the right to interfere in the internal affairs of all countries of the world, the whole world should be allowed to participate in the US polls. That would be democracy.
IBAD AHMED
London, UK
Expansion of Security Council
Please refer to Mr Colin Powell's remarks (Dawn, Nov 2) where he has hinted that in case of a possible enlargement of the United Nations Security Council, America will side with Italy in a row with Germany.
There is widespread talk about UNSC expansion. India is also a contender. What is the criterion for becoming a permanent member of the Security Council? Where has the representation of 56 Muslim countries gone?
The turn of the millennium has shown events where religion has been made a target. Two Muslim countries have been destroyed; some are under threat of devastation; Muslim blood is flowing in streets which were once a cradle of Islamic civilization. Muslims are being massacred in their own abodes by forces hostile to Islam.
The United Nations is an instrument which was designed to provide an even-playing ground to all countries and all religions. But its powerful Security Council is dominated by the five permanent members all of whom happen to be non-Muslim countries.
Islam, the second biggest religion in the world, has been kept out despite the fact that 56 member countries represent this great religion. Islam deserves to be a permanent member of the UNSC as and when it is expanded.
BRIG (retd) A.Q. ANJUM
Rawalpindi
War protesters' detention
The war in Iraq is continuing and scores of innocent people are daily killed in US attacks. The whole world is anxious about the situation. Protest rallies are being held against the war all over the world.
Last month in Washington more than 250,000 took part in a protest rally. But on Oct 29 when a religious group planned protest rallies in some big cities of Pakistan, the organizers were arrested before the protest rallies could be taken out.
The government is requested to release all detainees for there is no reason to keep them behind bars.
MUHAMMAD RIAZ
Malakand Agency
Useless cops
In one day, five policemen were deprived of official weapons (Dawn, Nov 4). So it comes to this: men who are supposed to protect us from criminals can't even defend themselves.
We always knew our taxes were being misused, but we had no idea that they were being spent on untrained policemen. But why should we be surprised? These cops were probably appointed on the recommendation of some VIPs, or perhaps they're close relatives of those who matter.
SHAKIR LAKHANI
Karachi
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