| 10 December 2004 | Friday | 27 Shawwal 1425 |
Hijab issue: a secular view
Regression to tribal society
Pollution in Islamabad
Uma Bharati and the poor of India
Cultural festival in Lahore
Appeal for help
Engaging India
Express train
APNS awards
Road accidents
To send a letter to the Editor
Click here
The Punjab finance department recently moved a summary to the chief minister's office for the creation of a parallel system of accounting and auditing, which is against the provision and spirit of the Constitution.
According to the Constitution, the controller general accounts (CGA) is the overall officer-in-charge of all accounts offices/organizations and the auditor general of Pakistan is the custodian of audits in the public sector.
All over the world it is a cardinal arrangement that the functions of finance, defence, commerce, communication, power, etc., which help promote national cohesion, rest with the centre, not the provinces. Though the question of provincial autonomy is a thorny one and the federal government is infringing on a number of provincial subjects, this move might be seen as tit for tat.
The office of the accountant general, Punjab, was established more than a century ago and the other AG offices later established elsewhere also have been serving their clients (both the federal and provincial governments) well.
The latest move by the provincial finance department is an act of overstepping its own limits/jurisdiction to elevate the previously Grade 18 and presently Grade 19 post (chief inspector of treasuries) to Grade 21 vis-à-vis the Punjab AG.
This would serve no purpose except to create friction between the centre and the province. This problem dates back to 1972 after the East Pakistan debacle when the four provinces were restored and new districts were created.
The then provincial government created the post of district accounts officer and put them under the direct control of the finance department (thereby violating the Constitution) instead of giving their control to the AG Punjab, the actual custodian of accounts at the provincial level.
This anomaly played havoc with the system of financial controls and accounts, ultimately resulting in increased corruption in the public sector, which could not be checked by a powerless AG.
This duality of control is the reason for corruption in district accounts offices as the AG office that is responsible for compiling and reporting monthly and annual provincial finance accounts.
It is unable to perform its functions and thereby loses its control over the checks and balance system in the finance department. This anomaly still exists and is a major stumbling block in the way of overdue reform, thanks to the intransigence and resistance of the provincial finance department.
In 1997 the World Bank under an agreement with the government of Pakistan launched and funded a multi-million-dollar project called PIFRA (Project to Improve Financial Reporting and Auditing), with an emphasis on computerization and transparency in financial transactions between the provinces and the federal government.
A pilot project was launched in the NWFP (as Punjab was not ready to cooperate), which was successful and it was decided that it would be replicated in the other provinces.
The office of the AG Punjab took up the challenge and, despite the lack of cooperation of the finance department, successfully switched its system to new software relating to the Lahore district (including all provincial government departments and the city district government, Lahore). But the next stage at Faisalabad was stalled due to the uncooperative attitude of a DAO under the finance department's control, and the consultant firm stopped working in protest. To make matters worse the finance department has now launched a move just to create hurdles in the way of establishing a foreign-funded national accounting system.
In view of a plethora of organizations regarding audits (which is the constitutional function of the auditor general of Pakistan) and accounts (controller general of accounts), there is no need to create a separate parallel hierarchy which could only be a source of wasting scarce public resources and creating tensions between the federation and its constituent units.
The PIFRA system has to be expanded to all districts since it could greatly help the district governments by ensuring transparent transactions and control over their finances to their representatives (nazims).
The National Reconstruction Bureau ought to take note of this retrogressive step by the Punjab finance department since it could make-or-break the infant devolution system. Without finances, no organization or government worth its salt can exist.
AAQIF VAREED
Lahore
Hijab issue: a secular view
This refers to the letter "Hijab issue: a secular view" by Farangmehr Ghadiali (Nov 30). Indeed people like our friend who live in the West have a better comprehension of the problems confronting them.
Also, in the aftermath of the two deadliest world wars and the persecution of Jews, the European aversion to orthodoxy is understandable. However, a million-dollar question is: has the West become more accommodating or tolerant towards dissent during the last 50 years or so?
The conflict in Ireland, the war in Bosnia, the European Union's reluctance to grant Turkish membership, the attacks on Muslims in The Netherlands, the ban on the public wearing of scarves in France, the war in Iraq, etc., tell a different story.
Although secularism, which predominates European edicts, calls for a separation of the clergy from the state, supports the freedom of speech and religion of an individual provided it is not in conflict with public life. In this way, hijab does not restrict a woman's movement or affect her performance in any field of life.
However, I cannot agree more with the writer's comments that the veil has been used to the detriment of women. The ideology of 'purdah' was to protect the honour of Muslim women in the nascent years of Islam.
In South Asia, Islam came as a beacon of hope for women and rid them of inhumane customs. But it is unfortunate that now Muslim women are less educated, more submissive and superstitious. The veil has snatched freedom from them and made them more vulnerable.
Even in Pakistan, most crimes against women are committed in areas like the interior of Sindh, southern Punjab and the tribal belt where the majority of women observe purdah.
Even in cities like Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad, lately there has been a mushrooming growth of girls with scarves, but facts and figures reveal that there is an upsurge in atrocities against women.
The veil has been instrumental in the exploitation of women in the name of Islam, and the enactment of laws such as the Hudood Ordinance has perpetuated customs like 'honour killing'.
It is time women raised their voice against traditions that hamper their progress or confine them to four walls. There is no way any society can make a headway without utilizing the talent of half its population - which ironically comprises women.
MISBAH NOMANI
Karachi
Regression to tribal society
Nafisa Shah, the nazim of Khairpur district, makes a powerful case against legalizing and institutionalizing the jirga system in Sindh (Dec 3). Using the ongoing blood feuds between the Solangis and Jagiranis as a clear example, she explains that this anachronistic system persists and undergoes reinforcement because of the hopeless inefficiency and partisan nature of the law-enforcement authorities.
Indeed, one can make the same statement about other rural areas of Sindh, and much of Balochistan and the NWFP. Every modern state is based on the central tenet that citizens of that state will be governed by a set of laws applicable to all.
By allowing local jirgas to act as a parallel judiciary since 1947, the Pakistan state has admitted its weakness and inability to govern effectively. Because jirgas are based upon tribal customs and values, and these differ from tribe to tribe, this has meant that an individual's tribal and ethnic identification have become more and more important.
Qazi courts have added to the legal confusion. This reflects a profound failure to build a Pakistani national identity. India does not permit any parallel judiciary.
Should the state now take the last remaining step and legalize the jirga system, it would be a sure sign that Pakistan has given up on nation-building and sees its future as a tribal society where justice is done through revenge killings, kidnappings, blood feuds, honour killings, and the use of women as hostages.
If we are ever to become a modern state, jirgas must be outlawed immediately and law-enforcement must be made blind to tribal, ethnic, and religious differences. If Pakistan retreats into barbaric tribalism, it will have forfeited its right to exist even if it boasts a thousand nuclear weapons.
DR PERVEZ HOODBHOY
Islamabad
Pollution in Islamabad
Some years ago I was going to my office on my motorbike when a police sergeant stopped me on the pretext that my bike was an environmental hazard. He argued that the bike was producing smoke which is injurious to the health of citizens.
I submitted that the bike was a machine and has to emit some smoke, but the environmentally-conscious police sergeant fined me Rs100. He argued that a good motorbike did not emit smoke and that I should be fined for playing with the health of citizens. As a law-abiding citizen, I went to the Islamabad district courts and paid Rs100 in 1990.
If you have not seen Islamabad's industrial area recently, I will give you an idea. The sun, poor thing, is trying to herald a new dawn for the citizens of Islamabad, but it is being obscured by industrially-produced smoke that puts my little Honda CD 70 to shame.
If I was asked to pay Rs100 for the smoke emitted from my bike, then surely the fine for these industries should be in the billions due to the depreciation of the rupee. Some years ago you would rarely see any donkey-cart or horse-cart in Islamabad, but today you can be a spectator at any of the dozens of races at Zero Point.
It looks like the CDA is promoting horse and donkey carts since they are environment-friendly and do not pollute the air. It will be good for the residents of Islamabad, especially our bureaucracy, to use the environment-friendly tonga.
In this way Islamabad's grass will be eaten by our official horses and the car parking problem too will be resolved, making this the first step towards a pollution-free Islamabad.
MUHAMMAD ANQAR
Islamabad
Uma Bharati and the poor of India
According to a Nov 12 IANS report from New Delhi, soon after Uma Bharati was suspended from the BJP she wrote a letter to L. K. Advani, the new president of the BJP, that said: "Your [Advani's] decision does not affect my situation or future course, as I stand for the cause of the country's poor... I have to find the way to serve the country's poorest man following the principle of Mahatma Gandhi and Deen Dayal Upadhyaya..."
Who are the poor of India? Not the Brahmins, the Kshatriyas and the Vaisyas (baniyas) who belong to the top three castes of the Hindu community, plus the few from the fourth and the lowest cast, the Shudras, who entered the top class by sheer dint of effort. These are 10 to 20 per cent of India's population of one billion people.
For the past half a century they have been hijacking the shares of the lowest of the Shudra caste, the Dalits, Adivasis and hill tribes etc., their shares in the Indian parliament, the state legislatures, government and semi-government departments, corporations and medium-sized and major trade and commerce organizations.
There is only one way the Dalits and other poor people can start improving their economic condition. This is possible by making minor changes to the Indian constitution - without disturbing its heart and soul - so that the system of election to all legislatures includes the provision whereby every ethnic community gets representation in proportion to its numbers in the entire country or the state, as the case may be. This system can be called "joint electorates with reservation of seats".
It would be in the best of interests if the prime minister's powers were vested in the president who at present is a nominal head of the nation and who shall be elected in the new dispensation by the majority of votes cast in the whole country.
After all, when a present-day prime minister is elected in one small constituency and elected by the majority of the Lok Sabha, he or she becomes the chief executive of the nation with unlimited powers, in other words, without the mandate directly from the majority of the voters of the entire country.
The vice-president will come into the picture to preside over the Rajya Sabha elections which, like the Lok Sabha's, will be contested by parties and not individuals.
Before the elections, parties will submit lists of ethnicities in order of priority. This is determined by the services a person rendered in their own party while holding elected official posts in the city/district or state tier.
These lists will be made for each ethnic community. The purpose of the system is that each party should have on its roll call members of all ethnic communities to help root out communalism and ethnic focus in the politics of the nation.
Similar will be the situation in the federating states. The chief executive and his deputy of state will be governor and deputy governor elected by the respective state's voters as a whole.
The parties will contest the elections to the state legislatures but not individuals, just as in the case of parliament. Those who sit in the state legislature will come from each party's ethnic lists submitted to the election commission on the eve of the elections.
If Uma Bharati and those who have the cause of the poor close to their hearts have a better system which can start redressing the economic plight of the poor the soonest, say, in a decade, they had better come forward with it now. It is not the weak-hearted person's cup of tea.
There will be strong opposition, even from the media, because they are dominated by the "haves". Uma Bharati and her fellow travellers will have to conduct a sincere and long-drawn campaign to make this possible.
JALAL AHMED
Karachi
Cultural festival in Lahore
It was heartening and inspiring to watch the mesmerizing performances of world-renowned artists at the World Performing Arts Festival 2004 in Lahore. The arrangements for the festival were superb. The extravaganza was unique because it catered to the tastes of all family members.
I enjoyed listening to Farieha Pervez, Abrarul Haq, the Strings and other bands and my husband enjoyed Naheed Siddique's dance performance. My two children did not get bored; they were thrilled to watch puppet shows by Uncle Sargam and Rudolph Schmidt. I would like to congratulate the organizers for arranging so many forms of visual and performing arts on one platform. It was commendable work indeed.
NOSHEEN HAIDER
Lahore
Appeal for help
A distant relative of mine recently went to Greece with three other people from his village. On Nov 5 they were reported to have been shot dead by the Greek police while they were crossing the border at night. However, one of the group's members escaped with injuries.
Later he rang up to give the news of the tragedy, but since then he has not made any further contact. He had appeared very frightened and he was in someone's custody. On Nov 15 a person called up their homes to say that he was a witness that the Greece border police had reportedly buried them on the spot.
Since it is now an international matter, I would request the government, the media and human rights bodies to help ascertain the truth and do the needful for the families concerned. For further information we can be contacted by email or phone as given below.
CH. NAVEEDUL HASSAN
P.O. Phalia Tehsil, M. B. Din District, Tel. # 0456-596835 Cell. # 0320-5525622. Email: naveedzan@hotmail.com
Engaging India
The second sentence of the second paragraph of my letter "Engaging India" (Dec 9) should read as follows: "He was Mr Talbott's opposite number in the long-running negotiations from 1998 to 2000."
MAHDI MASUD
Karachi
Express train
There is one express train service, Tezgam, between Rawalpindi and Karachi. But its timing, early in the morning, is inconvenient. Many passengers from the twin cities often miss this train because of the morning traffic rush on Murree Road, making their reserved tickets invalid and useless. The other options, Awam Express and Tezroo, are slow trains because they take 32 hours to reach Karachi.
Pakistan Railways should change the Tezgam's timings or introduce another express service with the following timings: it should leave Rawalpindi at 1500 hours, going through Jhelum, Faisalabad, Bahawalpur, Rahimyar Khan, Rohri, Hyderabad, and reach Karachi at 1000 hours the next day.
RAJA GHAZANFAR ALI KHAN
Rawalpindi
APNS awards
This is with reference to the publication in Dawn last week of the news report about awards by the All Pakistan Newspapers Society for the best print advertising in various categories.
After naming the members of the panel of judges, which included this writer, the report immediately listed recipients of awards for advertisers and agencies which placed the largest volumes of advertising business in APNS member-publications in the given period.
The panel of judges did not determine such winners. It was only invited to judge the professional and creative aspects of print advertising published during the given period.
The presentation of awards to organizations merely on the basis of the volume of advertising that they place in APNS member-publications has a purely commercial dimension which does not require or deserve "awards".
To the best of my knowledge, this is a unique practice which is not observed by newspaper bodies in other countries. It is quite appropriate to recognize - as APNS also does - excellence in the journalistic dimension of the print media and in the professional aspects of print advertising.
But unfortunately the original imbalance in favour of the commercial dimension has now been further compounded with a new category of awards known as "Akhbar Dost". The panel of judges also did not have anything to do with this particular new category.
The number of awards given for professional and creative excellence in aspects of the print media should be increased and the existing system of distributing numerous awards for business categories should be eliminated.
JAVED JABBAR
Karachi
Road accidents
With reference to your editorial on traffic accidents (Dec 21), the major factors leading to traffic accidents include the lack of law and order from the top to the bottom, as a result of which driving licenses are issued to people without proper training and education.
The culture of sifarish and nepotism prevents punishment for traffic violators, and the culture of bribery results in the construction of substandard roads and bridges.
To curb road accidents, each and every one of us will have to do our part by not breaking laws such as jumping lights, throwing rubbish out the window, using non-standard licence plates, and giving and receiving bribes for traffic violations.
DR ANWAR UL HAQUE
Islamabad
You can also send letters to the Editor
Just send your message to the following address: letters@dawn.com
Make sure you include your full name, postal address, e-mail address, and in the case of Pakistan your day-time telephone number.