| 22 November 2004 | Monday | 09 Shawwal 1425 |
Irregularities in PIA
Ban on wedding meals
'Love of English'
Coaching centres
Two-nation theory
Last farewell to Arafat
Foreign exchange
LBW decisions
Russian wheat
Kashmir proposals
Fallujah
The uniform
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A side from the sustained lying, public deceptions, illegality, "collateral" civilian casualties and immense US corporate benefits (nearly $400 billion extra military expenditure by the US alone since 9/11), there is another outrageous scandal associated with the post-9/11 US invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, namely, the non-reporting of civilian casualties by the global mass media.
Some mainstream global media have finally permitted their readers to glimpse the horrendous reality of Iraqi civilian deaths, thanks to an article in the British medical journal The Lancet. However, the figure of "100,000 over 18 months" is a minimum estimate as outlined in the following estimates.
1. From primary survey data, The Lancet article calculated a post-invasion Iraq annual mortality rate of 12.3 deaths per 1,000 (corresponding to 300,120 persons per year, with the article's assumption of a population of 24.4 million.
However, their pre-invasion estimate of an annual mortality rate of five deaths per 1,000 corresponds to 122,000 persons per year - yielding an upper estimate from The Lancet of "excess deaths" of 178,120 people per year - corresponding to 297,000 "excess deaths" in 20 months of the US war and occupation in Iraq.
This upper estimate of nearly 300,000 "excess deaths" due to the US invasion and occupation of Iraq is equivalent to 100 World Trade Centre atrocities. This US study is consonant with the existing UN and Unicef data that has been comprehensively ignored by the global media.
2. According to Unicef (2004), in 2002 the under-five infant mortality rate was 1,000 in Australia, 108,000 in Iraq and 283,000 in conquered Afghanistan (up from 277,000 in 2001), noting that these countries have populations of about 20 million, 24 million and 22 million, respectively.
From the Unicef data, it can be conservatively estimated that the post-invasion under-five infant mortality has been about 0.2 million in Iraq and 0.9 million in Afghanistan.
These estimates largely ignore the effects of invasion and the evil reality that in Iraq (since 1991) and Afghanistan (since 2001) there has been an excess "collateral" mortality of about 2,000 Muslim children for every US combat death.
3. According to the UN, the current annual death rates in Iraq's poorest Arab neighbours - Jordan and Syria - are 4.3 and 3.9 persons per 1,000, respectively, and the rates range from 1.9 to 3.7 persons per 1,000 for the prosperous and peaceful Arab Gulf states.
If we assume a conservative estimate of an annual death rate in a peaceful, non-occupied Iraq of about four persons per 1,000, we will expect 97,600 Iraqi deaths per year - as compared to the post-invasion estimate by the US scientists of 300,120.
The difference - the "excess mortality" due to the US invasion and continued war and occupation - is 202,520 deaths per year or about 340,000 after 20 months of the US-imposed war and occupation.
4. Using the UN and Unicef data, it has been conservatively calculated that total "excess mortality" (excess death, avoidable mortality) in war-ravaged Iraq since 1991 has been about 1.5 million (with under-five infant mortality totalling 1.2 million) and that the "excess mortality" has been about 1.2 million in post-invasion Afghanistan (with the under-five infant deaths totalling 0.9 million).
The same kind of calculations (performed after a 12 month detailed research analysis of global mortality) yielded estimates of total post-1950 "excess mortality" (avoidable mortality) of 1.3 billion for the world, one billion for the First World-violated Third World and 0.5 billion for the Muslim World - a Muslim Holocaust indeed and about 100 times greater than the World War II Jewish holocaust (six million victims) and the "forgotten" World War II Bengal famine that killed four million people in British-ruled India.
The ruler is responsible for the ruled. A formal complaint has been lodged with the International Criminal Court, citing coalition war crimes in Iraq, specifically the illegal invasion of a remote, non-threatening country and horrendous post-invasion Iraqi civilian deaths in that coalition-occupied land. Silence kills. Silence is complicity. Please inform everyone. Save the children.
DR GIDEON POLYA
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Irregularities in PIA
It is indeed a shock to hear that in spite of huge cash injections, PIA is once again in a financial crisis. The recent declaration of a loss in the last quarter is a sad reflection on PIA's management, which was given a free hand by a powerful chairman.
Decline in revenues is due to a poor marketing strategy, coupled with bad corporate planning, administrative and financial indiscipline, substandard maintenance and incompetence.
You can buy the best IT systems, but if you give them incompetent persons, they will ensure that the system does not yield the desired results. The human factor remains the key to success. This requires strict compliance with rules and regulations and a complete clampdown on discretionary powers of top management.
No other CEO of PIA has been able to get such huge cash inflow as the present one, but, having said that, he needs to reflect and reassess the competence and honesty of his team.
Now that a controversial DMD has been sacked or made to resign, the chairman needs to cleanse his team of corrupt, incompetent, conniving non-professionals, including the brigade of retired colonels that surround him.
PIA's fleet of B-777s has had so many problems that this cannot be termed simply as teething problems. There appear to be serious flaws in maintenance. The team of engineers and other crew who went for acceptance cannot shy away from their responsibility. The decline in revenues and financial indiscipline reflects on the competence of both the marketing and accounts departments.
The PIAC board of directors cannot absolve itself of its responsibility as custodians of the taxpayers, who are the real owners of this airline. PIA has been blessed with a large expatriate ethnic community, who till recently were its loyal customers.
If these expatriates have moved to other airlines, it is because of the arrogance of its salesman, unreliable or inconvenient schedules, its traffic staff and problems in the reservation system.
TAHIR G. HASSAN
New Jersey, USA
Ban on wedding meals
This refers to the report outlining the Supreme Court's ban on meals at wedding functions (Nov 6). Of all the injustices in Pakistan, are wedding meals really the most pressing concern? Even if the legislature or the judiciary could reform social practices, which incidentally they cannot, there is a notable exemption in the relevant law for those who have houses large enough to serve guests within the confines of their homes. Is this just?
Social reform is not brought about by the stroke of a pen but by a slow process of spreading education and by example. The ban on wedding meals has been in place since 1997 and we have repeatedly seen it being worked around. And what is the fault of the average middle class worker in the catering industry who may now lose his job?
In a country where duties on BMWs and other luxury items have recently come down and real estate prices are touching multiples of crores, it sounds ironic that wedding meals should be the only extravagant practice to be banned. The more intelligent approach would have been to tax such functions at a high rate, thereby creating revenue which in turn could be used to help out the poor of society.
As regards the contention that our marriage functions are of Hindu origin, one should take a trip to some Muslim countries. Most Muslim wedding ceremonies around the world involve a henna ceremony.
Most cultural customs are in any case not religiously based, but regionally-based such as those in the south of India which are conducted very differently from, say, Punjab in the north. Besides, even if some of the customs originated in Hindu communities, that is not enough of a reason to disown them.
Islam is broad enough to encompass varying customs and traditions. At their zenith, Muslim civilizations adopted much from other communities and refined it.
AYESHA IJAZ KHAN
London, UK
'Love of English'
Mr Hafizur Rahman's article "Love of English" (Nov 17) depicts our sense of inferiority with regard to the language. He has referred to Urdu as our language and implied that it should be promoted along with English.
English or poor English should not be promoted at the cost of Urdu and, by the same token, Urdu should not be promoted at the cost of other Pakistani languages, including Punjabi, Sindhi, Pushto, Balochi and Seraiki. All languages should be given fair treatment.
Replacing English altogether will not solve the problem; rather, it will put us behind in the competition in the international market where English matters. Moreover, it will only hurt the interest of the country and its people, except those from higher-income groups who have access to expensive private English schools. Doing so will also put our labour force at a competitive disadvantage vis-a-vis India and other countries where competence in English is already higher.
Policymakers will do a great favour to the country if they focus their energy on improving scientific education and managing our resources effectively rather than wasting it on misplaced priorities.
English has become an international language of great importance. Even countries such as Japan, China and South Korea are not immune to its onslaught. Newspapers in Canada are full of advertisements for English-language teachers.
Pakistan has a small economy and has to adapt to the changing world situation. Replacing English will have numerous economic consequences in the long run.
SHAKEEL NIZAMANI
Toronto, Canada
Coaching centres
Pakistan has been confronted with various problems since its creation. Out of them, poverty, hunger, ignorance and disease are threatening even the basic concepts of freedom and a free people. However, the deteriorating education system poses the most alarming problem.
Conditions prevailing in our colleges provide one indication of what's wrong. They give a deserted look as a majority of teachers prefer to stay in the staff rooms or in many cases stay at home.
Classes remain unattended, both by the teachers and by the students, and while there may be other reasons for this also, the most obvious is that both the teachers and the taught find their immediate interest is in joining coaching centres.
The taught find a shortcut to their examination-oriented preparation while their teachers mint money. It is estimated that an average teacher at some coaching centres carries home a six-digit salary every month. College students are asked to get themselves admitted to those coaching centres where quality education is imparted by the same teachers who teach at colleges.
It is time to curb this problem. The authorities should persuade teachers to take their jobs seriously rather than open new colleges by spending exorbitant amounts from the public exchequer.
ASIF AHMED KHAN
Karachi
Two-nation theory
Pakistan was created as a homeland for all the Muslims of undivided India, who were committed to the two-nation theory.The struggle for Pakistan was launched by the politically conscious Muslims of Bengal in 1880s, who loathed the idea of living under the yoke of the British Raj or Hindu dominance.
It was much later that this urge for freedom was picked up by Muslims living in the minority provinces and in areas that constitute today's Pakistan. Allama Iqbal was the first non-Bengali who believed that our salvation lay in an independent Muslim majority state. The Quaid's leadership finally delivered to the people an independent sovereign state in 1947.
Our founding fathers made it abundantly clear that Pakistan was to function as a modern, democratic welfare state, in which all citizens, irrespective of caste, creed or language, had equal rights, opportunities and freedom of expression.
The denial of these rights to majority East Pakistanis, who were disenfranchised by Ayub's martial law, led to the separation of our brothers. The Bengalis of East Pakistan were already alienated by the imposition of Urdu as the national language, which the majority could not read, write or speak.
Pakistan belongs to all those who either migrated to it or were born in the areas that constitute it. However, there falls upon its citizens the obligation of complete loyalty, especially on those who migrated.
Every individual who migrated, or those who were born here, has benefited both economically and socially from this country. We need to ask ourselves what we have done for this country.
Those who consider the creation of Pakistan a mistake or an error, even in hindsight, have no right to live here, earn a livelihood, or enjoy any other benefits that a citizen has a right to.
There is no place for economic migrants in Pakistan, which has already been a victim of internal intrigues and conspiracies. The illegal transfer of billions of dollars to foreign bank accounts by those who earned all their wealth in this country is a crime that continues till todate.
NAZEER ABRO
Hyderabad
Last farewell to Arafat
On the auspicious day of Jumatul wida on Nov 12, Yasser Arafat was buried at his compound in Ramallah where he had been forced to stay as a captive for the last three years by Israel.
When the helicopter bringing the body of the Palestinian leader appeared in the skies of Ramallah, people surged in tens of thousands to participate in his funeral. It was a scene seldom witnessed before at funerals.
The hollowness of the claim of Ariel Sharon and George Bush that Arafat was not a leader of his people was exposed. Arafat was the only leader that the Palestinians had known as a symbol of sacrifice, freedom and hope for 40 years. He created a highly motivated and spirited fighting machine out of hungry people living in desolated villages.
Leaders like Yasser Arafat are seldom born and the world comes to learn their true worth only after the cruel hands of death take them away.
A.Q. ANJUM
Rawalpindi
Foreign exchange
Please refer to the article published in Dawn (Nov 3) about foreign exchange, which is quite correct. The government should consider allowing opening of accounts in foreign exchange with banks for Pakistani citizens who are working abroad to earn foreign exchange in Pakistan. If this order is in force again, foreign exchange will come to Pakistan and deposits will increase.
We hope that State Bank and the government will consider this matter, which shall benefit the nation.
MUHAMMAD ARIF NISAR AHMED
Karachi
LBW decisions
Mr Khalid H. Khan claims that Youhana was palpably LBW (Dawn, Nov 2). I regret to point out that some members of the elite panel of umpires have been inconsistent in their judgment.
The ball that hit Youhana on the rear leg in front of the leg stump appeared to be drifting towards the leg side. In an identical case, Younis Khan was not given out, despite covering the leg stump, as the ball appeared to be moving away towards the leg side. The point, therefore, is whether it is the position of the leg or the direction of the ball that has to be taken into consideration.
We quite appreciate your tilt towards a team, but the comments have to be fair, unbiased and free of sarcasm which, unfortunately, they were not in this particular case.
MYRA KHAN
Karachi
Russian wheat
The chairman of the Trading Corporation of Pakistan has defended the decision of TCP/Minfal to import Russian wheat in the first tender. Press reports say that not only is the Russian wheat acceptable to flour millers in Pakistan and the general consumer, it is also much cheaper than wheat of US or Australian origin (at least by $10 per ton), which enables the government to save forex reserves.
But the question is: why then was Russian wheat excluded from the second tender? Is there no need now to save our foreign reserves? Will someone at the TCP explain this?
NAZIMDIN
Karachi
Kashmir proposals
Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri has announced (Dawn, Nov 17) that Pakistan will formulate its formal proposals for a solution of the Kashmir dispute in the light of the consensus to emerge from the ongoing debate on the options outlined by President Musharraf and the opinion of Kashmiri leaders.
The president has not explicitly put forward any proposal. His roadmap is identification of the regions at stake, their demilitarization and changing their status. The proposals are vague. For debate and public discussion, concrete proposals should be put forward and opinions and comments invited, as was done in the case of the Legal Framework Order.
Simultaneously, such proposals should be directly sent to all political and religious leaders, particularly the Kashmiri leaders, for seeking their opinion. I suggest that Jammu should decide between joining India or becoming independent. Azad Kashmir should decide between maintaining the status quo or becoming independent, and the valley should decide between joining India or Pakistan or becoming independent.
S. NAQI HASAN
Lahore
Fallujah
The city of Fallujah in Iraq has been converted into a war zone. This action has been launched by the interim government and US forces. The US forces have turned this city into a training ground where live exercises can be held. Additionally newer bombs and smart ammunitions can be tested with ease as whatever is destroyed is not US property and the destruction can be conveniently placed at the doorstep of "terrorists".
Eventually when the action ends, thousands of homes and businesses will cease to exist. It remains to be seen what the people find when they return to their homes. Since the whole city has been reduced to rubble, with the winter approaching, the citizens will be forced to brave the cold under open skies.
The people of Iraq, it seems, will face action city by city until all the infrastructure is destroyed and life within it - except the oil spigots.
RAFI ADAMJEE
Karachi
The uniform
Gen Musharraf's visit to the Americas could be much more rewarding for Pakistan if he removes his uniform or at least pledges not to wear it on his return. A military uniform in the presidency is unnatural and an indicator of the usurpation of people's rights.
M. AFZAL KHAN
Faisalabad
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