| 10 January 2005 | Monday | 28 Ziqa'ad 1425 |
Callous indifference
Relief for tsunami victims
Composite dialogue
Controversy over religion column
New domestic cricket structure
Probe into space
Peshawar students
'Spineless' captain
More damaging
Post of foreign secretary
Postal facilities
Education plan
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Dr Pervez Hoodbhoy's article (Jan 3 and 4) on the state of university education in Pakistan and HEC's policies shows where we stand today and where these policies will lead us in the future. In his book Politics, Aristotle said: "If you know what they are teaching in schools today, you will know what the country will look like tomorrow."
Stephen Cohen, the American author of many books on Pakistan, recently described the past conditions in Pakistan in these words: "One of the more frightening aspects about Pakistan clearly is a combination of incompetent democracies and, I think, ignorant and malevolent dictatorships in the past really destroyed the Pakistani education system, what there was of it, and that gives me the concern about the future of Pakistan."
Now our country has a serving COAS as president and the ruling party's politicians have voted for him to 'strengthen' democracy. With this group of army generals and politicians at the helm, one cannot expect a better tomorrow.
OWAIS HASIN
Karachi
(II)
I have a few comments to make on Dr Pervez Hoodbhoy's articles on the above subject (Jan 3 & 4). There is no doubt that the US has the best universities in the world, but some Asian universities are fast catching up.
The World University Rankings published in The Times Higher Education Supplement (Nov 5, 2004) compares the world's top 200 universities. The ranking was based on teaching, research and international standing.
Amongst the top 20 universities, in the group, three are from Asia. These are the Tokyo University, the Beijing University and the National University of Singapore.
It is not surprising that Japan and Singapore have world class universities, as both are rich countries. However, China's achievement in the field of education is quite remarkable.
China went through a very tough time since the revolution. It had to rebuild itself after a long civil war, fight a superpower in Korea and face constant economic and political pressures from the West for decades.
Pakistan can learn a lot from China and it would be worth knowing how the Beijing University became one of the best in the world. I would also point out that the educational system can't be rectified in isolation from the rest of society.
Corruption and nepotism can't disappear from universities while they remain rampant elsewhere. Similarly, science (the key to progress) can't flourish while anti-scientific ideas are constantly pumped into the minds of the younger generation.
DR VIQAR ZAMAN
Karachi
Callous indifference
Though the world community has entered the 21st century and made unbelievable progress in science and technology, it has miserably failed in sanctifying human life. More than 100,000 Iraqis have already been killed and there seems to be no respite from the so-called war on terror.
Afghanistan remains bleeding, with no authentic evidence to justify its travails. Similar tragic things are happening in many parts of the world. But world leaders have done nothing to stop all this.
They seem busy making efforts to restore peace in the world and frequently wax eloquent over human rights abuses. Incidentally, civilians are not far behind their leaders in sharing this hypocrisy which has become one of the defining features of this age of "perceived enlightenment".
There is no doubt that the West has spoilt its reputation by overreacting to terrorism, but the East cannot conceal its own weaknesses by passing the buck to the other side.
Their own judicial and political systems are in tatters and the pubic is silently suffering their plight. If this is an age of unfettering the chains of ignorance, where has that spirit of sharing each other's grief and sorrow gone?
It is really heart-rending to note that protest against these issues has been dismissed as being out of tune with present times. Is this what we call progress?
Have we returned to the barbaric ages? Democracy has been much touted as a perfect remedy for political problems, but it has failed to work in many developing countries, and even in developed countries - the chock-a-block street marches in London and New York could not clear out the war clouds. So why have things come to such a pass?
It is seclusion from religion that has planted these inhumane seeds in our hearts. Secularism has failed to evoke a humanitarian spirit or to address human problems in a complete way. But religion will have to be made more acceptable by highlighting its core rather than its covering.
SHAHZAD AHMAD
Lahore
Relief for tsunami victims
The government of and people of Pakistan have spontaneously started to pour in their help in cash and kind for the great tsunami disaster victims. We have a large numbers of MNAs, MPAs and senators.
They have been drawing handsome salaries as our public representatives. It is generosity on their part that they have come forward to participate in this humanitarian task, each contributing their one month's salary and allowances to the funds, which will amount to millions.
The MMA should also reconsider their scheduled programme of observing black days in this month on three different days. Instead they should motivate their followers, as well as people at large, to contribute for the ill-fated human beings.
The MMA-factioned parties have collections of millions of rupees in their different accounts of Zakat and other funds. These funds are also the direct contributions of the people of Pakistan.
Therefore, they should come up to release a substantial amount for the victims of this calamity. The moment is to establish that our lawmakers are not oblivious of such a tragic situation.
GHEEWALA A.G.M.
Karachi
(II)
The Asian tsunami victims need the attention and sympathy of the international community. The United Nations, which of late has become quite apathetic to human sufferings in East Europe, Middle East, Afghanistan and Iraq, must immediately rise to the occasion and provide relief to the affected.
Moreover, a UN postage stamp should be issued to commemorate this moment in the history of human suffering. Indonesia, India, Ceylon, Burma and other affected countries may follow suit.
The sale proceeds of these stamps could be used to help the tsunami victims. In this respect the Japanese government can organize a poster competition on the subject for the participation of children and adults from across the region.
MARIAM DURRANI
Karachi
Composite dialogue
It is almost a year now that India and Pakistan have been pursuing a composite dialogue to sort out their differences and improve their 57-year-old strained relations.
Various diplomatic terms like confidence-building measures, MFN status and track-two diplomacy are being used to befool the people of both countries, and no worthwhile outcome of these talks is forthcoming.
India has always believed in a time-gaining strategy in all talks that have been held so far during the last half a century and is now doing the same again. Whenever we have had bilateral talks, we have achieved nothing except exchanges of cultural troupes or some visa relaxation or some memorandums of understandingon trade.
This time too, our showbiz people exchanged visits and a few artists acted in each other's films, some journalists travelled across the borders for sightseeing and enjoying food festivals.
Both countries played cricket and hockey matches and spectators coloured their cheeks with Indian and Pakistani flags. So it was all fun and frolic and little else besides.
Serious matters like the Kashmir dispute, the Baglihar dam and Muzaffarabad-Srinagar bus service still remain unresolved. 'The talks did not fail but remained inconclusive' - another diplomatic term.
India has always dodged the UN resolutions on Kashmir and has flouted the Indus Basin Treaty by building dams on all rivers flowing towards Pakistan, thus depriving us of our share of water.
We don't need cultural shows and dance parties alone to improve our relations. Let us discuss the core issues seriously and have positive results rather than having a cultural bonanza.
MUHAMMAD AZHAR KHWAJA
Lahore Cantt
Controversy over religion column
Pakistan is an Islamic republic and its passport carries its full name which shows the religion of this nation. Why then is it necessary to include the religion column? Is any modern, developed or enlightened country doing so? A traveller does not have to propagate his faith.
Every country issues the passport to show the holder's nationality and not religion. Not to include the religion column by the government seems to be a conscious effort to avoid misunderstanding.
So, it is better to keep our religion to ourselves which in fact is our own affair, and show our nationality in our passport as all other modern countries do, including the Muslim countries.
S.M. KAZIM NAQVI
Karachi
(II)
The government is vacillating over the issue of the religion column in new passports, with all signs pointing to capitulation. This lack of resolve on the part of the government and ambivalence towards religious extremists is one reason why even the staunchest supporter of President Musharraf finds his pronouncements on 'enlightened moderation' merely empty words.
The tragedy about Pakistan's social scenario is that unlike the rest of the world, fanatics and semi-literate religious zealots are activists whereas the educated class and the silent majority revel in their superficial hedonism, blissfully oblivious of the cancer spreading around.
It is high time this group woke up from its slumber, organized itself for having its views heard and began to impact government policies - unless it wants to live under a Taliban-style rule.
MASOOD HAIDER
New Jersey, USA
New domestic cricket structure
This is in response to the recently-released team names to be featured in Pakistan's new domestic cricket one-day tournament. While I understand that the reason behind the naming convention is to add colour to an otherwise dry and boring domestic cricket structure, marketeers seem to have definitely missed the mark.
When teams are given mascots and names around the world, their names usually signify a connection between the mascot and the city or the region they belong to.
The current NBA champions from Detroit are called the Pistons because Detroit is famous for its automobile industry. American football's current champions, the New England Patriots, were named so because of the region's part in the American Revolution.
The latest team names launched by the Pakistan Cricket Board, however, don't make any sense. The Karachi Zebras? How many people in Karachi have even seen a zebra? The Karachi Founders or Metropolitans or, for that matter, anything else would have been better than an animal found in Africa.
Would people in Faisalabad feel comfortable opting for the wolves? A name corresponding to the city's thriving textile industry or agricultural roots would have been more appropriate.
Moreover, is this really a good idea to expect public support for these teams when less than 20 per cent of the nation's population understands English? I definitely commend the PCB and the sponsor's efforts to bring more life and colour to the domestic cricket structure, but this move will need some rethinking. It is extremely important that they keep in consideration Pakistani culture and values in mind when naming these teams.
SYED MOHIB BUKHARI
Seattle, WA., USA
(II)
To the letter "New look of domestic cricket" (Jan 8) from Mr Asim Malik, I think Shakespeare might have responded with "What's in a name? A rose by any other name still has its petals fall".
The problem with our cricketers, indeed our country, is that there are too many leaders and not enough followers. Individual brilliance exists in many but we are unable to live, work and play together as a team. Yet that is exactly what the majority of players listed for domestic cricket teams consistently manage to do.
If a multinational bank has taken a commercial initiative to develop Pakistan's domestic cricket by giving unoriginal, perhaps aped but considerably catchy, animal names that may convey to the team members some pack cohesion and spirit, why not adopt them? Would giving them a name like "The Endangered Kirthar Markhors" have made them play any better?
At least the bank has done something constructive which is considerably more than most of the rest of our glorious masses do. And if the process of giving the Karachi teams 'docile and non-predatory' names results in a lessening of some of this city's constant internecine strife, then the blessed masses should be extremely grateful.
DR MERVYN HOSEIN
Karachi
Probe into space
Developed countries, led by the US, spend billions of dollars every year to probe deeper into space. The National Aeronautical and Space Administration maintains a Hubble space telescope at the cost of millions of dollars just to have a peep into deeper space.
I think all this is just a waste of resources which can be used to make life safer on the planet earth. It is surprising that the ratio of money spent on probing into space to that of probing into the earth is 5:1. I don't understand what we are looking for in deep space.
There is no life found yet, no alien space-ships are attacking our planet, man can probably never land on the Mars or the dream of spending holidays on the moon will never come true.
So far there has been no substantial discovery in space in the last 50 years, which can have a direct impact on the lives of people, except the ozone issue which, I think, alone should not be that expensive to probe. The real danger to mankind is under the earth, not above it.
The case in point is the Asian tsunami tragedy. If rich nations divert their resources from their ambitious space programmes toward probing and monitoring the earth, more lives will be become safer.
NASIR RIAZ
Lahore
Peshawar students
Last month, in 'big' cities students who got six or more 'As' in their O level examinations were awarded gold medals by the British Council. However, students from Peshawar with good grades and even those who got straight 'As' were ignored.
These students need as much encouragement as those form Islamabad or Lahore and their efforts should not go unnoticed. Many researchers, doctors and engineers hail from Peshawar, and it is not the land of the backward as it is portrayed to be.
GULMINA MARWAT
Peshawar
'Spineless' captain
I am in total agreement with former cricket captain Imran Khan in describing in an interview with Melbourne Radio Station on Thursday captain Inzamamul Haq's leadership as "spineless". I think it was because of Inzamam that our team faced such a devastating defeat in the Test series at the hands of Australia.
Z. SHAIKH
Via email
More damaging
Which one is more damaging for the country: a democracy run by the army, or an army run by democrats?
MIR TABASSUM MAIRAJ
Islamabad
Post of foreign secretary
I strongly oppose the proposal to bifurcate the post of foreign secretary as reported in Dawn on Jan 3. This will plunge the foreign office into chaos. Dyarchy will result from this unnecessary move.
The locus of power in the single office of the secretary of the foreign ministry does help in running the ministry fairly efficiently. Giving the foreign secretary at least four efficient and well-trained additional secretaries to look after the burgeoning workload with well- identified geographical work zones would be more effective than bifurcating the post of the foreign secretary.
Proponents of this bizarre idea would do well to study Sir Ernest Satow's books on foreign policy and foreign office management. A study of the UK foreign office and how it is now being run will also help in injecting more efficiency into our foreign office and its limbs at home and abroad.
QUTUBUDDIN AZIZ
Karachi
Postal facilities
There is only one post office in Block-14, Gulistan-i-Jauhar, Karachi, that caters to the postal needs of 19 blocks, each of which is getting more populated day by day. The post office is understaffed and does not accept the payment of utility bills in the afternoons.
Moreover, it has no facility of urgent mail service (UMS) for which people have to go to distant places. Being located in a residential area, the post office is not easily reached by the residents of Blocks 16, 17, 18 and 19.
The post master-general is requested to raise the status of this post office to that of a main post office for Gulistan-i-Jauhar and open one or two new sub-post offices on the main road to be easily accessible to the public at large.
The facility of the franchise post office was given to a bookseller in Block-18. It being on the main road was a great facility to the public. But unfortunately for the reasons not known the facility was withdrawn two years ago.
The franchise post office provided registration of letters, parcels and also UMS facilities. It is requested that this facility be restored at the earliest.
M. SHAFIQUE AHMED
Karachi
Education plan
The prime minister has announced that there is a plan to increase the per capita income from the current $600 to $1500 by 2015 (Dawn, Jan 4). Nobody has any doubt in the capabilities of Mr Shaukat Aziz as he has delivered whatever he has promised. One hopes he has a similar plan to be followed for increasing literacy.
S. NAYYAR IQBAL RAZA
Karachi
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