| 31 December 2004 | Friday | 18 Ziqa'ad 1425 |
Planning residential areas
Purging Fata of arms
Death penalty for juveniles
Discrimination against minorities
Wedding meals
Hyderabad that was
Payment of utility bills
Appeal for visas
Blocking progress
The Melbourne debacle
Screening visitors
Removal of road humps
'Builders on both sides'
What about the army?
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The horrendous tragedy which has struck a large number of countries around the Indian Ocean has been appalling and heart-breaking. The real issue which has now emerged internationally, however, needs some thought. The absence of a warning system in the Indian Ocean has contributed to this situation.
Such a system exists for the Pacific Ocean, based in Hawaii. Whereas it is debatable whether a serious effort was really made to convey the alarm if indeed information of the earthquake was available at the Hawaii Centre, we living around the Indian Ocean have no one to blame but ourselves.
As early as 1990, Sri Lanka had taken the lead in organizing the Indian Ocean Marine Affairs Cooperation (IOMAC). Pakistan was an active member of the body which also included Kenya and Mauritius.
India, Indonesia and Australia had observer status. I was elected president of the IOMAC in 1993 as head of the Pakistan delegation in Colombo. Mr Hiran Jaywerdhene of Sri Lanka was the secretary.
The overall intent of this body was to associate as many relevant countries as possible. Efforts were being made to persuade Iran, Bangladesh and South Africa to also come on board.
India had taken a lukewarm attitude from the very beginning. In a way, its attitude was very paternalistic towards the lead taken by Sri Lanka and Pakistan in the matter.
It procrastinated becoming a full member and soon with Australia and South Africa set up the Indian Ocean Rim Countries Organization from which Pakistan was excluded, at least at the initial stage. I am not aware of any progress achieved by this organization subsequently.
The crux of the matter is that issues like early warning systems, regional cooperation in the maritime sector and a cohesive approach to international initiatives such as those at the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and other agencies were part of the IOMAC agenda.
It appears that very little was done after the IOMAC was sabotaged. The fact is that if you want to treat the Indian Ocean as your own lake, you must live upto your responsibilities.
I am sorry to sound a discordant note at this sad juncture but I hope that the Indian Ocean Rim Countries Organization will take heed from this tragedy and not confuse essential regional requirements with power play.
SHAHID AZIZ SIDDIQI
Former additional secretary, Ministry of Communications, Karachi
(II)
An international warning system in the Pacific was started in 1965 after a tsunami triggered by a 9.2 magnitude quake struck Alaska. It was administered by the US-based National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
If there had been a Pacific-style alert system covering the Indian Ocean, there would have been enough time for people in Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, Bangladesh and Somalia to save themselves from the deadly tidal waves.
Scientists in the region recorded Sunday's earthquake. But without ocean sensors tracking the path of the waves, there was no way to determine the direction in which a tsunami would travel.
Such a system presumes an organized communication system and widely understood procedures and discipline by the local authorities to clear the coastline quickly in case of a coming disaster.
Now that tens of thousands of people have lost their lives and millions have become shelter less, the governments in the region should wake up and develop an organized communication system to avert future disasters.
SYED A. MATEEN
Karachi
Planning residential areas
Recent letters in these columns criticizing the haphazard attempts by various agencies prompt me to record two separate development endeavours in different countries, which may perhaps inspire the agencies concerned to review their performance for the benefit of the country.
ABU DHABI: In the latter half of 1970 the PWD decided to create several residential localities for eventual use by nationals and increased inflow of expatriates.
Sand dunes were levelled, land impacted, wide three-lane dual carriage roads, with a wide divider, built, on which Pakistani labour worked round the clock. Side roads on both sides were laid out, with a central area, in each residential locality, offering a commercial area consisting of shops, market for fruit, vegetables, meat, poultry, fish, a mosque, a school for boys and girls and a medical clinic.
All basic facilities were provided for each plot, such as water, sewerage lines, electricity and telephone cables. Gas was then available via portable cylinders.
Whenever a plot owner decided to start construction, all basic facilities were hooked up with a simple request to the agency concerned. No multiple applications, no greasing of palms at every step.
MUMBAI: Many years before partition, a marine drive was planned, a high retaining wall constructed to control the fury of the waves, and a very wide promenade was laid out.
Residential buildings were constructed from the Parsi Gymkhana end to Nariman Point. The area between Chowpatty and the residential buildings was covered with a municipal park, the Christian, Medical College/Wilson College, Hindu/Islam/Parsi Gymkhanas.
For over 65 years now Marine Drive is used by thousands every day, the residential buildings are all intact, and have appreciated in value beyond the wildest dreams of the original builders.
Compared to this Karachi's Sea view and Darakshan Villas wear a tired lool. The same Arabian Sea impacts on both Karachi and Mumbai, and with greater force in Mumbai for three months during the monsoon season.
CONCERNED CITIZEN
Karachi
Purging Fata of arms
Giving an excuse for not doing away with the FCR is an easy job, and saying that the tribal areas are awash with arms is another lame excuse or a diplomatic statement.
Can the NWFP governor say that the areas covered by courts of law are free of all evils, arms and drugs? Are all tribesmen terrorists or extremists and not the citizens of Pakistan and, therefore, are denied the right to appeal in any court of law?
Are women and children of Fata, languishing in jail for the crimes of others, not human beings and, therefore, cannot garner anyone's sympathies? Has anybody ever bothered to change the phrase "British India" appearing in the century-old FCR to Pakistan even after being freed from the clutches of the colonial era more than 57 years ago?
Is there no value of the superior court's verdict in 1975 in the Chaudhry Zahoor Elahi case which said the "FCR could not be included in the definition of law"?
Are the Treaty of Gandamak, 1879, and the Durand Line agreement, 1893, signed between the British and Afghan governments, still valid?
Is the FCR serving some special interests of a few?
SAFIULLAH GUL
Karachi
Death penalty for juveniles
The letter "Death penalty for juveniles" (Dec 28) has addressed the issue of the death penalty for children in Pakistan who have been tried in adult courts under the age of 18.
As a former six-year-member (1994-2000) of the Alabama Department of Youth Services Board, our juvenile jail system, I can say that if a juvenile is tried for murder in a juvenile court, we incarcerate him in our juvenile jail system but do not execute him. He can upon attaining the age of 18 be paroled if the judge and DYS evaluation officials can so justify.
The premeditated heinousness of a murder has to be evaluated on a case by case basis in Alabama to determine whether to try a juvenile in a juvenile court or in an adult court. Juveniles tried in adult courts can however receive the death sentence.
Age-18 executions have not happened in Alabama during the 25 years I have most recently lived here. Summarized, there is no black and white method or cut and dried single legal outcome. Each and every case has to be decided on its own merits.
GEORGE L. SINGLETON
Hoover, Alabama, USA
Discrimination against minorities
It is ironic that we cannot even cherish the good that Pakistan does. The machine-readable passport is an improvement and allows other countries to appreciate the upgrades that are gradually being brought in. Even more pleasing is the fact that the requirement for identification of religion has been removed from the passport.
Living as a minority in the US and being able to practise Islam both in private and in public, one gets to appreciate what freedom really means. And if one encounters that rare incidence of racial behaviour, one tends to ignore it, thinking that since we were not born here, we could expect that occasional poor treatment.
But what if you were born in a minority community and you were always reminded that no matter what you do, whether you pay your taxes or serve in the armed forces, or give your life for your country, you would always remain a minority or a second class citizen?
One is reminded of why Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar wanted to die in an alien country, for he had experienced real freedom. I wish our 'minority' Pakistanis could have the freedom and respect in Pakistan that they truly deserve.
NADEEM ZAFAR
Memphis, USA
Wedding meals
I strongly support the letter "Wedding meals" (26 Dec). Considering our cultural and socio-religious demands, there is no escape from serving some kind of a meal at weddings.
I narrate here what a janitor at my office had to say on this topic. He said that by not serving a simple meal at his son's wedding, he would be cutting his own nose.
Nobody would attend the wedding. As for these bans, he said, we simply pay an amount to the local police and the wedding ordinance is quite conveniently held in abeyance for us, thus allowing a normal wedding with meals.
This is a true picture of what is going on in both big hotels and small marriage halls. The seminal question again is: why is our government bent upon promoting corruption and bribery in society? We appeal to President Musharraf to kindly allow the money-saving practice of serving a one-dish meal at our weddings.
FASEEH SHEIKH
Sialkot
Hyderabad that was
Once Hyderabad was considered to be a well-planned and clean city. Having a salubrious climate because of its nearness to the Indus, with arteries of canals passing along both sides and the green countryside, the wind was so fresh that people would enjoy a strol on the roads. Wind-catchers installed on the rooftops were common.
In those days the evenings of Hyderabad were full of intellectual and cultural activities. The libraries of the British Council and the American Centre, located on Tilak Incline, were stocked with quality books, and their reading rooms were seldom found without readers.
On the other side of the road the Pakistan National Centre had a full-sized library, catering to the need of at least 100 students at a time. Also, Khana-i-Farhang and municipal libraries had their own share of educational and cultural activities.
Small bookshops providing books on rent and bookstalls at the railway station also catered to the reading public. The exalted role of the Sindh University Library, located in the Old Campus Senate Hall, where its first vice-chancellor, Allama I.I. Kazi, used to deliver his famous lectures, was in no way less important.
Karachi Hotel and Cafe George provided a rendezvous for the city's intellectuals and journalists. The city had some of the best educational institutions in the country. The Sindh University, before its shifting to the new campus, produced fine public servants.
For recreation the city had a number of gardens and parks - the prominent ones being Rani Bagh, Prem Park, Effendi Garden, Tirwit Garden, an artistic park on the bank of Phulleli canal, etc. - besides cinema-houses. Hyderabad had the distinction of having a ladies club where women had their own cultural activities.
Now, after 30 years, the city has turned ugly. The civic system has collapsed, sanitation lines are choked, water provided to the people is poisonous, air is polluted, roads and streets battered, with traffic jams a normal feature, the bookshops gone and the libraries closed, cinemas have been converted into shopping plazas and flats and gardens have disappeared.
There are no more late-night sittings of intellectuals because of security concerns. Those at the helm of affairs who have benefited from the city must sit together and find a way to restore to the city its past glory.
MANZOOR H. KURESHI
Karachi
Payment of utility bills
It is indeed welcome news that our cabinet has decided that all utility bills, including electricity, gas and telephone bills, will now be received by post offices throughout the country. May I suggest that the payment of ticketing fines should also be allowed to be paid at post offices?
At present these fines can be paid only through the National Bank of Pakistan, and people who have been fined, especially visitors to Islamabad from other parts of the country, find it very difficult to locate the bank. Besides, payment timings are also very limited. As a result many ticketing fines are not being paid despite the increasing number of such challans every month.
In Islamabad alone, there are 59 post offices, 24 sub-post offices and 34 BO/EDs (total 117). Many of these are open until 9pm. This facility will not only provide tremendous relief to the public but also increase government revenue.
BASHEER ALI
Islamabad
Appeal for visas
I am a retired government servant, bearing CNIC # 4210133604407, and have been a permanent resident of Karachi since 1957. My eldest daughter, Mrs Shahida Khatoon, wife of Mohammad Nizamuddin, of Maizdee Court, Noakhali, Bangladesh, had been trying for a long time to get a visa for Pakistan to see her ailing mother and other members of the family, but she failed and in the meantime her mother died.
I have sent a sponsorship letter undertaking full responsibility to take care of her and ensure her return as soon as her visa will expire. I earnestly appeal to the Pakistan high commission in Dhaka to issue visas to my daughter, her spouse and two minor children.
MOHAMMAD HANIF
Karachi
Blocking progress
This refers to the timely criticism of the Jamaat-i-Islami by Mr Irfan Hussain in his column "Obscurants blocking progress" (Dec 25). The Jamaat's pressure tactics to obstruct education of Pakistani youths are reprehensible.
The Aga Khan University has attained recognition as one of the best medical schools. The honour and prestige it enjoys has come through the dedication, hard work and professionalism of its founding members, leaders and patrons.
Their high standards are certain to be reflected in the working of the Aga Khan University Examination Board. Petty politics should not be allowed to dictate the way to the future.
DR MUBASHIR KHAN
Indianapolis, IN., USA
The Melbourne debacle
The defeat of the Pakistan cricket team in the second Test at Melbourne has not come as a surprise. Though the team showed some resilience in the first two-and-a-half days, it all fell apart due to the pathetic batting display by our batsmen.
The problem lies not in our players' techniques or fighting capabilities but in their lack of confidence.
BHAOZAIN BABAR
Karachi
Screening visitors
The letter "Screening visitors" (Dec 22) by Mr Misbah Nomani has focused on a vital problem. No one can deny that AIDS is spreading rapidly throughout the world. We have to take measures to safeguard our country. Prevention is better than cure is the best way to tackle the AIDS problem.
In an advertisement on an Indian TV channel, Mr Amitabh Bachchan tells his viewers that one person gets infected every minute in India. This is very alarming.
It means that every day 1,140 people are becoming HIV positive, in one month 34,200 people get infected and in one year 410,400 more people are carrying the infection.
AIDS is spreading in other countries too. So our government should make a rule to issue visas to foreign visitors who have obtained a medical clearance certificate. Pakistanis who travel frequently or who come back after a long stay abroad should also be made to obtain a medical clearance certificate.
MRS FAIZIA SULTANA
Karachi
Removal of road humps
Mir Karam Ali Talpur Road in Karachi's Saddar was recently carpeted and given a facelift. But one thing that was very disappointing about those who did the carpeting was that all the road humps on this road were removed, and as a result vehicular traffic has picked up speed, creating its own hazard for residents, especially children.
This is actually a one-way road but now it has started being used for two-way traffic. Either the road should have road humps or it should be bisected like Dr Daudpota Road if it is going to be used as a two-way road.
DESMOND CARLTON
Karachi
'Builders on both sides'
Mr Ardeshir Cowasjee's column "Builders on both sides" (Dec 26) is thought-provoking. I disagree with his suggestion that building the tallest tower of the world in Karachi is foolhardy.
Pakistan needs some showcase projects to counteract negative perceptions among foreign investors and tourists. The tallest building in Karachi is a good idea; the largest university in the world is even better one.
PROF ARUN KHANNA
Indianapolis, IN., USA
What about the army?
"Police should stay out of politics," says Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz (Dawn, Dec 2). What about the army, Mr Prime Minister?
TAHIR MAQBUL ZUBERI
Karachi
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