| 06 December 2004 | Monday | 23 Shawwal 1425 |
Deaths from head trauma
Reviewing UN Charter
Illegal educational institutions
Checking corruption the wrong way
Eroding autonomy of engineering council
Lahore Islamic summit
What about NAB reforms?
Hypocritical
Ayub Park all but destroyed
KESC billing
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In "A love-hate relationship" (Nov 21), Mr Kunwar Khalid Yunus quoted excerpts from the record of an Indian cabinet meeting held on Oct 7, 1947, to suggest that the Two-Nation Theory ceased to exist on Oct 5, 1947, since Liaquat Ali Khan disagreed on that day to accept Muslim refugees from areas other than East Punjab unless the Indian government declared its inability to protect them.
The concept of two nations was pleaded as a constitutional and political basis for the partition of the subcontinent by the Muslim League, which had a galaxy of talented, honest and dedicated stalwarts from all parts of the subcontinent in its fold. Most of these people had greater insight into the aims of Congress since they had spent many crucial years of their political careers as Congressites.
Critics should study the entire history of the freedom struggle and partition and not just stray papers from Indian sources. When the British and Congress accepted this theory they entitled the Muslims to the right of self-determination, which culminated in the creation of Pakistan, thereby liberating 290 million Muslims of the subcontinent living in Bangladesh and today's Pakistan.
The Muslim League had demanded the whole of the provinces of Bengal, Assam and Punjab, but they were arbitrarily partitioned and Muslims were conceded a moth-eaten and truncated Pakistan. So, the June 3 Partition Plan and the Indian Independence Act did not envisage any transfer of populations between the two dominions.
However, with the partition of Bengal and Punjab, there was a large-scale migration of people on both sides in these provinces, especially in East Punjab, an area where Muslim-cleansing was carried out, since Congress had promised the Sikhs an autonomous Sikh state in this area.
It was almost a total transfer of the population, so India and Pakistan exchanged land and property records of these areas only. The NWFP had about 300,000 non-Muslims, most of who migrated in view of a referendum in the area.
Our young politicians cannot imagine the magnitude and gravity of the problems and difficulties that the nascent state of Pakistan had to face without its share in offices, troops, funds, arms and equipment which were all withheld by India.
Even the supply of water to our canals from rivers and head works in Indian control was stopped and the principles of accession of princely states were violated in the case of Jammu and Kashmir and its major part was occupied to control its rivers and strategic parameters to stifle Pakistan.
While all Muslims are members of the Ummah (the world Muslim community, a religious concept), individually they may be members of different nations (a political concept) and citizens of different states.
The Two-Nation Theory is still valid. The emergence of Bangladesh (separate from West Bengal) has solidified it. It is the basis of Pakistan and Bangladesh's separate existence vis-à-vis India. But in Pakistan we have one Pakistani nation consisting of different communities. If two co-sharers of a home divide it, they do it as two parties, and, in the case of a country, as two nations. After partition, they individually constitute one family of its citizens, i.e., one nation.
KHWAJA MUHAMMAD BASHIR BUTT
Bahawalnagar
Deaths from head trauma
This is with reference to "Deaths from head injury" by Dr Ayaz Azhar Siddiqui (Nov 11). I largely agree with the writer that head injury is among the significant causes of morbidity and mortality, even in industrialized nations. Rough undocumented data shows that almost all unprotected motorists are prone to suffer from head injuries, motorcyclists being the worst victims.
My elder brother, 33, was one such victim. He suffered an extensive head trauma after falling from his motorbike in Hyderabad a month ago. He did not fall that badly, but his injury was exaggerated because his head was unprotected. He could have escaped such an injury if he had worn his helmet.
He was admitted to a local hospital for observation by a neurosurgeon in Hyderabad. An initial CT scan showed a small haematoma (collection of blood) in his brain. According to the doctor, he was out of danger, but his condition deteriorated late in the night, eight hours after the accident.
He started bleeding from his right ear, started vomiting and fell unconscious. The neurosurgeon did not check him again and that hospital had no specific neurosurgical diagnostic or therapeutic facilities. Even then the doctor did not refer him to another tertiary care unit, which clearly reflects his lack of professionalism.
Later, we shifted our brother to Liaquat National Hospital, Karachi, in a grave emergency; he was put on life support machines. Repeated CT scans showed multiple massive haematomas, 10 times bigger than the initial one.
The following day he was operated upon by a neurosurgeon and was continuously kept on life support. His condition did not improve and eventually he died on the eighth day. If the surgery had been performed earlier, he might have survived. I have a few suggestions:
a. Motorcyclists should be provided with a separate lane on highways.
b. The use of helmets should be strictly implemented.
c. Head injury patients should be immediately taken to a specialized neurosurgical care centre.
d. There should be a proper system for referring such patients to specialized units.
e. In the rescue room these patients should be given top preference for investigations and treatment, since a waste of time is lethal for such critical patients.
I would emphasize that the state must make proper rules and implement them. This is how we can prevent many young and precious lives from being lost.
DR A. HAMEED JAMALI
Islamabad
Reviewing UN Charter
Notwithstanding the temptation to browbeat weaker states into acquiescence through a show of air and naval might and unveiled contempt for prestigious international organizations, the fact remains that no nation can ignore the institutionalized moral authority of world opinion. The quagmire in Iraq is a case in point.
To save the world from such dangerous but very avoidable situations, the need to strengthen and faithfully respect the spirit and intent of the UN Charter is all but an imperative.
The recommendatory report to revamp the UN, commissioned by the secretary-general last year, was recently released. However, regardless of what it may have to say, some fundamental aspects of the UN's operations in the light of the organization's 60-year experience would understandably call for a careful review. I venture to enumerate a few:
- The UN headquarters should be relocated outside New York, preferably Geneva.
- The secretariat must be submitted to a rigorous organizational development exercise to make it cost effective.
- The Security Council must be made more geographically representative but without adding veto-wielding members.
- It must be mandatory for all member states to accept the compulsory jurisdiction of The International Court of Justice.
- All security-related issues must follow the procedure laid down in Article 33, but under Chapter VII.
- A veto-paralyzed Security Council must seek the urgent determination of an issue with a two-thirds majority of the General Assembly.
- A more representative military staff committee (Article 47) must be established and activated.
- Member states must be requested to ready appropriate integrable military contingents.
- A general conference of member states must be called to review the present charter to cope with the rapidly changing demands of the 21st century (Article 109).
M.J.AS'AD
Karachi
Illegal educational institutions
This refers to the Dateline Islamabad by Aileen Qaiser on the above subject (Nov 23). The story is thought-provoking, especially as it mentions that, out of 63 medical colleges on the PMDC list, more than half are provisionally recognized.
This shows that the Pakistan Medical & Dental Council had allowed training of such sensitive professionals who had to safeguard public health without proper facilities for a certain period of time for which provisional recognition had been granted.
It is, therefore, evident that a high-level professional body like the PMDC legalized the training of quacks by granting provisional recognition to medical colleges. It is necessary that the PMDC revise the criterion for recognition.
It must not recognize a medical college if it lacks the facilities required for the purpose of recognition. There should not be any compromising formula such as provisional recognition as devised by the PMDC for obliging certain medical colleges.
The medical college should not be treated as an ordinary institution; it is highly technical and should be dealt with carefully, particularly at the time of recognition, because ill-trained doctors can play havoc with human lives.
In view of the failure of the PMDC to monitor the standard of medical colleges, particularly in the private sector, the Higher Education Commission should be entrusted with the responsibility of recognition of medical colleges because most of the medical colleges had been designated as medical universities, which fall within the purview of the HEC.
SYED EBTESAM ALI
Karachi
Checking corruption the wrong way
Recently Mr Justice Ali Nawaz of the Lahore High Court, Rawalpindi Bench, pointed out the following: "There will be no corruption in the country if police officers and the revenue department became upright." This is like putting the cart before the horse.
Besides the evil of horse-trading, smuggling the national exchequer into foreign countries and usurping bank loans, the main fountainhead of corruption at the national level is the repeated abrogation of the Constitution by most incoming rulers who wish to ensure the self-perpetuation of their power.
From 1958 almost all preceding and present rulers, from time to time, have dismissed a number of government employees in order to uproot corruption with little success.
Centuries ago Naushirwan Adil, the ruler of Persia, said, "If a ruler of a country indulges in a bit of corruption, his courtiers will make a mountain of it for themselves."
This poor nation, in spite of its depleted treasury, generously provided royal palaces and paradisical facilities to the rulers of its homeland who, in turn, heaped the hell of corruption on their fellow countrymen.
MIRZA GHULAM HAIDER
Multan
Eroding autonomy of engineering council
By issuing an ordinance on Nov 24, the government has demolished the autonomous structure of the Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC), established in 1976 by an act of parliament after a long struggle by the engineering fraternity.
The ordinance has disfranchised 80,000 council engineers/ stakeholders and has taken away their right to elect office- bearers and council members. The council, as per the ordinance, will have 46 members as government appointees, including the chairman and vice-chairman. Only 15 members will be elected by 80,000 stakeholders.
A few self-serving bureaucrats have thus tried to circumvent the order of the division bench, Lahore High Court (Rawalpindi bench), given on Nov 11 against their intra-court appeal by the interim PEC chairman, appointed for two years by superseding the council on Nov 15, 2002, only two days before the birth of the present National Assembly.
The division bench had dismissed the appeal on Nov 11 and ordered the authorities concerned to conduct elections within three months of the order. By giving wrong information to the media about the functions of the elected council, the interim chairman has tried to mislead public opinion in general and 80,000 stakeholders in particular.
The non-existence of the PEC accreditation committee is vehemently denied. The committee very much was there, comprising all the vice-chancellors of the engineering universities of Pakistan, together with eminent engineers of the executive body of the council, who were elected by the 80,000 stakeholders. The interim chairman, a retired public servant, has tried to create an appointed position for himself and his supporters in the council.
The council was performing all the functions and responsibilities mentioned in the press release based on the ordinance. After failing to justify the super session of the council, instead of appealing to the Supreme Court against the order of the three judges, they decided to circumvent the orders of the superior judiciary by getting the ordinance issued on Nov 24 - only a few days after the session of the National Assembly was adjourned.
Although government policy is to give autonomy to professional institutions, the interim PEC chairman had proposed, now part of the ordinance, the total structural change in the PEC Act 1976, thereby converting the autonomous body, financially running on its own, into a government department and has thus undertaken for the government to foot the council's budget.
I would urge the government to withdraw the ordinance and allow the council to run democratically. Any change that the government wants to make could be sent to the elected council through the ministry of water and power. If the proposal is in the interest of the country, it would be welcome.
S.M. ZAKERYA KAZMI
Karachi
Lahore Islamic summit
Kings, presidents, prime ministers and leaders of the Muslim world met at the second Islamic summit in the historic city of Lahore between Feb 22 and 24, 1974. It was a unique gathering of leaders from 38 Muslim countries on a single platform for a demonstration of solidarity of the Ummah for a common cause.
All eyes were focused on Yasser Arafat who symbolized the struggle and aspirations of the valiant people of Palestine. Mr Arafat delivered a stirring speech, which will go down in the annals of the Palestine jihad against Israel.
After delivering his speech, Mr Arafat presented a replica of the Al Aqsa Mosque to prime minister Z. A. Bhutto as a token of appreciation for Mr Bhutto's role in making the Islamic summit a success. The prime minister came down from his presidential chair to receive the replica and embraced Mr Arafat to loud cheering from the delegates.
There was thundering applause when Mr Bhutto in his closing address after midnight on Feb 24 declared: "If there is a conflict in the future, you will find the whole weight of Pakistan behind your cause, and Insha Allah Ta'ala in Baitul Muqaddas we shall enter as brothers-in-arms."
SYED AFZAAL HUSAIN ZAIDI
Islamabad
What about NAB reforms?
I welcome the prime minister's initiative on police reforms which he announced during his recent speech to the nation. Let us hope they are implemented.
However, he was silent on the much needed reforms for the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) which, for instance, calls citizens to its offices through notices and orders which do not mention at all the specific allegations, thus creating great fear, anxiety and a sense of harassment for those called in this Gestapo manner. It is the right of every citizen in a democracy to know what he or she is being charged with.
Would the prime minister look into this aspect of a citizen's fundamental rights? Also, would he do something to bring about a change so that courts could boldly take on and judiciously decide an aggrieved citizen's appeals against any high-handedness from NAB?
ABDUL QADDUS
Lahore
Hypocritical
Was it not hypocritical of Mr Nawaz Sharif to telephone Ms Benazir Bhutto to congratulate her upon the release on bail of her husband? This is one caller upon whom she could have justifiably slammed the phone line shut because it was under his watch as prime minister that her husband's ordeal started.
SIDDIQUE MALIK
Louisville, KY., USA
Ayub Park all but destroyed
Public parks are supposed to provide a neat, clean and pollution- free atmosphere in open space with green grass and trees for the public to stroll, jog and relax in.
The Army Heritage Foundation has cut down thousands of trees to cater for noisy melas, has restricted the walking area, opened roads to smoke-emitting vehicles to earn entry fees, and practically converted Ayub Park, Rawalpindi, into a dusty and noisy cheap entertainment spot.
Now, Lucky Circus with blaring loudspeakers till after midnight has made life miserable for citizens living within a two-kilometre radius of Ayub Park, in blatant violation of the much-trumpeted environmental laws.
I am sure it is not the heritage of the army for which the foundation has been created at the cost of poor taxpayers. I am confident that the army top brass will take notice of these cheap activities unworthy of its good name and confine the foundation to only activities which qualify to be recognized as the glorious heritage of the army.
In fact, there is no justification to set up a separate foundation in the presence of a large army establishment (which was already managing the grand Army Museum), Fauji Foundation and the Army Welfare Trust.
GHULAM MUHAMMAD
Rawalpindi
KESC billing
When we speak of a law and order situation in this country, we usually mean burglaries, robberies or acts of terrorism. However, what does one call a situation in which a public utility company like the KESC chooses to bill law-abiding, bill-paying citizens exorbitant sums based on so-called arrears that the KESC itself is unable to justify in writing?
This is exactly what is happening, at least to some DHA residents. You get a circular saying that meters have been changed because they were found to be "sticky". Subsequently, you are told that the KESC bills from 18 months prior to the circular were incorrect and that now you have to pay "arrears" in excess of Rs50,000.
You then bring out all your bills and try to establish exactly where the problem lies. You write umpteen letters, including some to the KESC managing director, but all you have in your hand is a five-line circular stating that your meter was "sticky".
You are not provided with any other information, and certainly nothing explaining how the so-called "arrears" were calculated. Finally the amount is loaded onto your current bill and you are put on a seven-day disconnection notice period pending payment. What do you do? What can you do?
Consumers just have no recourse. It's either pay up or be disconnected. Isn't this daylight robbery? Isn't this yet another law and order situation?
MARIAM ALI BAIG
Karachi
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