| 02 January 2005 | Sunday | 20 Ziqa'ad 1425 |
Turkey's EU prospects
MMA's protest campaign
Women's empowerment
Police powers
Pakistan and western culture
At what cost?
At 'its wits' end'?
New Delhi's objections
Why partyless polls?
Education for overseas Pakistanis
'Islamic satellite'
DHA charges
To send a letter to the Editor
Click here
The magnitude of the death and destruction caused by the Asian tsunami disaster has exposed the limits of the current scientific knowledge and lack of cooperation between nations at the regional and international levels in using appropriate technological tools to alleviate and prevent human suffering.
In today's era of breathtaking technological innovations, where the computer and the internet have revolutionized the way people communicate globally, it is very shocking and hard to believe that so many people would perish instantaneously.
Had there been a global disaster prevention and warning network in place (with the help of today's state-of-the-art telecommunications technologies, in just a couple of seconds a warning signal could have travelled throughout the world), the death and displacement and suffering of millions of people could have been avoided.
The occurrence of natural disasters (earthquakes, floods, typhoons, cyclones, tornadoes, etc.) cannot be predicted with certitude, but with the help of appropriate technological tools, their impact can be minimized by providing advance warning.
It is incumbent on the international community to develop a global early warning protocol and a system to inform people of any looming threat.
The academic community needs to collaborate with the scientific community to develop mathematical/computer models to predict the probability of tsunami generation in the event of an earthquake in an ocean. Wave-monitoring sensor stations also need to be established in all oceans to detect the generation of tsunamis.
International aid agencies should collaborate with the United Nations to establish permanent regional disaster relief centres (with adequate inventory of relief supplies) in developing countries in order to minimize the transportation time of relief goods and to provide effectiveand quick relief to disaster victims.
A.S. KHAN
Lombard, Illinois, USA
(II)
The death and destruction caused by the Asian tsunami tidal waves on the morning of Dec 26 should come as a warning to all developing countries with large coastal beaches.
Every time such a tragedy strikes, I ask myself: how can Mother Nature which provides us with so many wonderful and beautiful things be so cruel?
The tsunami tragedy should be an eye-opener for all developing countries with inadequate emergency services. They must all reduce their expenditures on buying weapons and keeping large armies and ensure that the funds are used to save lives by improving their emergency services.
HAMID MAKER
Karachi
Turkey's EU prospects
I appreciate your editorial "Turkey's EU prospects" (Dec 15). You gave a voice to the way a majority of Muslims feel.
I recently visited Turkey, my native country, and observed that people there are nationally Turks, religiously Muslims and culturally Europeans. It is a model secular state where there is no discrimination on the basis of religion, cast or creed. Christians and Jews live there peacefully. I was told that even Turkish Jews who migrated to Israel when it came into being have mostly returned. This ideal secular environment is a matter of pride for a country where all mosques are still intact.
Thus it is both unjust and unnecessary to talk of Islam and Christianity while debating Turkey's entry into the EU. A quiet revolution is taking place and I foresee that by the time it joins the EU, all such dividing lines will disappear.
It would be impossible for the leaders of the EU to indefinitely ignore a European country which is the second biggest in terms of population. It is ironic that when western countries were fighting communism, Turkey was whole-heartedly welcomed in Nato and still provided the biggest military support to it as a frontline state.
Regarding the apprehensions some European leaders had about the effects of Turkey's entry into the EU, I did not find any trace of Islamic extremism there. Turkey is an emerging power that is offering good business and employment opportunities and it will never be an economic burden on the EU. Rather it will receive more tourists.
The US and UK support Turkey's entry into the EU. They are required to play a bigger and more effective role. EU leaders should realize that there are nearly three million Turks in Germany. Turks have acted as a bridge between Muslims and Christians across the globe and this affinity will strengthen with its entry into the EU. The dream should come true in the next three years so that people of my age could see it happen.
K. MURAD BEY
Karachi
MMA's protest campaign
The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal has launched a campaign against President Musharraf's policies. To lodge a protest, it has erected banners all over the city. Most of these banners display messages related to the president's decision to continue holding the post of chief of army staff. However, in order to malign the head of state and muster support from the public, the mullahs are also raising non-issues. For instance, one of the banners on Sharae Faisal alleges that the president is ridiculing "beard, jihad and hijab".
One may ask these forces who consider themselves as the custodians of Islam if these symbols of religion have not been exploited by Muslim extremists all over the world.
Jihad is one of the basic tenets of Islam and should have been used to weed out evil and build a society based on justice and fair play for all. The Muslim Ummah is afflicted by illiteracy, poverty, unemployment and ignorance which are the very ills that call for jihad. Instead, jihad is now employed to wage war against innocent men, women and children to the discredit of Islam.
Also in the case of hijab, no one can deny that it is exploited by many zealots who want to enslave women within the four walls of the house and deny them their right to go out and earn a decent living. This is a most manipulated Islamic tradition and has hampered development of Muslim societies.
In Pakistan the hijab is also becoming a fashion with women, but it is regrettable that instead of women getting more security and respect, there is a downward slide in moral values and an upsurge in ogling, eve-teasing and sex-related crimes against women.
The crux of the matter is that rituals in religion are significant as long as they are instrumental in bringing about a positive change in people in general and society in particular. Merely practising them will not deliver any good unless the spirit behind Islamic traditions is understood.
MISBAH NOMANI
Karachi
Women's empowerment
During a recent visit to Karachi I was quite surprised to witness examples of obstacles in the way of women's empowerment in Pakistan. At the airport I was standing in the immigration queue next to the line behind the counter marked "For unaccompanied ladies and children only". I was shocked to see various types of men also lined up in that queue moving along until reaching the counter managed by a lady immigration officer. Watching the whole process grind slowly but smoothly, I deduced the following:
1. Men are insensitive to women's rights and, despite being able to read (so I presume), they have no qualms in lining up in a "women's only" counter.
2. Ordinary women are not aware of the infringement of their rights as was obvious from the lack of any protest even from a number of evidently educated women.
3. The authorities in general are not aware of the need to apprise women of their rights, as there was nobody (from the Airport Security Force or the airlines) directing unaccompanied women and children to go to the counter designated for them. Nor were any police or security officers taking any steps to remove men from the queue which was supposed to be for women and children only.
4. Worst of all, even women in authority are not keen to protect women's rights, as in this case the lady immigration officer was not turning back any man who presented his passport to her.
One can discern immediately on landing in Pakistan that those keen to achieve empowerment of women in the country have a tough task ahead. They need to sensitize not only men but even women, both the uneducated and the educated, including those in authority.
DR GHAZY MUJAHID
Bangkok, Thailand
Police powers
This refers to the report "Law to curtail police powers ready" (Dawn, Nov 9). According to the report, amendments will be made to the Criminal Procedure Code to curtail the powers of the police to arrest people without warrants.
THE FIR is the first report which has been turned into an instrument of oppression. Persons not mentioned are also arrested and nominated in challans. No legal aid is allowed while in police custody, nor are relatives informed about a sudden arrest. Inhuman third-degree methods still prevail. When produced in court, the court believes the police version and grants further remand.
Instead, the court must question the police about the evidence and in case of lack of convincing evidence, the suspect should be released on personal bond with directions to re-appear before the court to answer the charges either personally or through a lawyer. The area councillor of the person should be informed of the situation to come to the help of the suspected person.
If the prime minister, his ministers and the president are serious in their concern, they should open their eyes and ears to see and hear and keep them open in order to provide protection to the people from police excesses, oppression and encounters.
GHEEWALA A.G.M.
Karachi
Pakistan and western culture
I read President Musharraf's speech of Dec 30 with great interest. He called upon students to learn English, which is all well and good in this age when English is the language of international diplomacy and commerce. But he singled out 'western' culture as something that should not be adopted. He also denigrated BA and MA degrees as not being useful. As an American Law School graduate (with a BA degree in political science and history) I have a few comments.
President Musharraf said he wanted to make Pakistan an enlightened, moderate and progressive welfare state as envisioned by Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah. He also said Pakistan had its own culture and tradition which must be promoted by relinquishing fanaticism and that Islamic principles and Mr Jinnah's teachings gave clear guidelines to the nation on making the country a progressive and modern welfare state. If he is relying on an interpretation of Mr Jinnah's speech of Aug 11, 1947, I must tell him that he can only understand that speech in context. First, Mr Jinnah was a barrister and as such was delivering a speech to the Constituent Assembly, which would serve as the guidepost for drafting the future constitution of Pakistan. In that speech, therefore, he enunciated some of the basic principles of a modern state. Those principles were not derived from Islamic civilization; they were in fact derived from western civilization, particularly British culture with which he was much more familiar.
The bottom line is that everything that was modern and progressive about Mr Jinnah and his thinking which had been conditioned by years in the West and law school was western. All of the important principles enunciated in his speech of Aug 11, 1947, are principles of modern western constitutional law.
Even Mr Jinnah's historiography is about mediaeval England when he speaks of religious wars being fought between Catholics and Protestants. But he observes that today they are all Englishmen and hopes that some day a common Pakistani citizenship will emerge in Pakistan. He would be most saddened to learn that there is still a debate going on about whether religion should be specified in the new passport. In Mr Jinnah's view a person's religious affiliation is simply not the business of the state.
I strongly urge President Musharraf to find better things to do than condemn western attitudes, mores and civilization. One cannot learn proper English without being subjected to English on television, including entertainment programmes.
As for banning student politics, let me remind you that without Aligarh University the Pakistan Movement might not have won the battle for independence from the British and then the Hindus. Students can vote and are full political citizens who have the right to participate in politics just like any other citizen.
The ideal Islamic state of which Gen Musharraf speaks is unfortunately producing only religious fanaticism as a consequence. The only real answer lies in turning Pakistan westward.
OMAR MIRZA
New York, USA
At what cost?
Every now and then we see a lot of illumination during public meetings held by political/religious parties. Recently we had two such meetings in Karachi at Nishtar Park.
Can the managing director of the Karachi Electricity Supply Corporation tell the general public how much these parties paid for the electricity used at their meetings?
It would also be of interest for the public to know how much revenue was collected by the KESC on the occasion of Aug 14 and other religious festivals for illumination in the whole city.
MOHAMMAD FASIH
Karachi
At 'its wits' end'?
I am an avid cricket fan and one of those diehard Pakistani cricket team supporters that Mr Tanvir Ahmad has referred to in his article "PCB seems to be at its wits' end" (December 31).
I think Pakistan played much better at the Melbourne Cricket Ground compared to the WACA Ground, and though we lost, I will continue to support the team and coach Bob Woolmer because our team has been improving.
The team has been destroyed before for lesser runs on flat pitches, and let's not forget our massive defeats on home ground by India earlier this year. Since then we have defeated India four times in a row and one sees a marked improvement in the team spirit under Mr Woolmer.
Pakistan needs to put honest work into improving its cricket structure, including pitches and academies. I think the Pakistan Cricket Board and Mr Woolmer are on the right path. Give them some time.
YUSAF KHAN
London, UK
New Delhi's objections
This refers to the Indian objections to the US arms supply to Pakistan in the wake of its new role and the challenges it faces in fighting terrorism. During Gen Zia's era, there appeared a cartoon in one of our Urdu dailies showing Gen Zia and Mrs Indira Gandhi sitting across a dining table with the Indian prime minister's plate full of weapons while Gen Zia's plate had only F-16s. The caption was: "Hamari chatni pe bhi aitraz hai."
More than a decade down the line, similar objections are coming with unchanged vigour, even though in the present scenario Pakistan will get what it has paid for years ago and, moreover, is now a major non-Nato ally. Both countries by now should realize that whosoever the recipient is, the ultimate beneficiary is the US arms industry which thrives at the cost of the poverty-stricken masses of India and Pakistan.
NADEEM NASIR
Rawalpindi
Why partyless polls?
Apropos of the contents of your editorial "Why partyless polls?" (Dec 30), I endorse your view that "there can only be one objective for doing so, and that is the government's desire to manipulate individuals into acquiescence rather than having to deal with organized party cadres at the grassroots' level who would follow their respective parties' line".
If the government is sincere in its thought and deed, partyless elections must be held accordingly and no party or group should be allowed to adopt a common platform/name.
NAZIM F. HAJI
Karachi
Education for overseas Pakistanis
Recently I was in Saudi Arabia where I stayed at the house of a relative. Overseas Pakistanis living there have been supporting their families financially. They feel a great honour in serving our pilgrims as their guests, but I was highly perturbed to see that the children of overseas Pakistani are being deprived of a proper education because they cannot afford private schools or private transport.
An overseas Pakistani whose monthly income is 2,000 or 2,200 riyals can hardly bear the expenses of his children's schooling.
Through these columns I appeal to the authorities concerned to advise our embassy in Saudi Arabia to open its own schools so that the children of poor overseas Pakistanis can also receive an education.
S. FARID-UL-HASAN MOHANI
Karachi
'Islamic satellite'
It has been announced that the first "Islamic satellite" will be launched in 2006 (Dawn, Dec 29) to facilitate crescent-sighting, a perpetual source of division in the Muslim Ummah. One cannot help but feel frustrated about such worthless endeavours.
Moon-sighting can be very accurately predicted by computer models. And the Muslim clergy has been persistent in its reluctance to accept the intervention of science in such matters. Believing that an Islamic satellite will produce a paradigm shift is like living in a fool's paradise.
For the last 10 years I have seen this issue come up every year in our mosques in Memphis and has been a source of repetitive heartache and frustration. If ever such a satellite is launched, it should be used to facilitate education and healthcare in far-off areas of the Islamic world. Measures must be undertaken to ensure that the Islamic satellite does not end up in a controversy.
NADEEM ZAFAR
Memphis, USA
DHA charges
Notwithstanding the melancholy cry of Pro Bono Publico (Dec 15), which I fully endorse, the DHA doesn't care a bit. One can write a thesis on its catalogue of mismanagement and extortion. But then they are a class which in Pakistan cannot be touched.
The truth is that plot owners in DHA VII and VIII, despite all their tears, have started paying the additional charges, even though they had paid the final charges long ago. They have no choice and no sympathizer either. Even a judge who lives in phase VIII was forced to pay Rs250,000 to get an electricity connection.
We regularly pay the annual water charges but not a drop of water comes in the pipeline.
DR MUSHTAQ AHMED
Karachi
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.