| 08 February 2005 | Tuesday | 28 Zilhaj 1425 |
Does it have to be this bad?
Referring to the plight of contractual teachers, Awami Awaz says that their protest campaign launched in different district headquarters of Sindh a few months ago and their demand for job regularization of about 4,000 teachers have failed to move the Sindh government and nor they have brought their protests to Karachi. Their representatives are observing a token hunger strike outside the Karachi Press Club and they plan to stage a demonstration outside the Chief Minister's House.
The daily says that jobs of contractual teachers in Punjab and the NWFP have been regularized and their salary increased, but their counterparts in Sindh have been denied both the advantages. This has created a feeling of job insecurity and has forced them to take to the streets.
The paper calls upon the provincial government to pay heed to teachers' demand and regularize their service. Besides, the paper says, the government should also lift a ban on recruitment in government departments.
Commenting on the Jacobabad accident which claimed 26 lives, Kawish writes that the tragedy was blamed on the attempet by the driver of a speedy passenger wagon to overtake another. It says that while most of roads in rural Sindh are in a dilapidated state, drivers of inter-city public transport vehicles excel in reckless driving. Moreover, traffic police have failed to make the drivers abide by traffic rules. As a result, hardly a day passes without a fatal accident in the province.
Hilal-i-Pakistan writes about the recent increase in cases of leishmania skin disease in different parts of Sindh, including Dadu and Larkana districts. The disfiguring disease first broke out in the arid zone of Johi taluka in Dadu district two years ago and has been reappearing there and in other parts of upper Sindh since then. Recently, the health department sent medical teams to some of the affected areas but these provided only temporary relief to some patients. The department should work out a plan to stop further spread of the disease and to ensure that it does not appear again.
Ibrat welcomes an announcement that the constitution will be amended to provide rights and autonomy to provinces. It argues that the issue has been under debate for a long time. It has already created a volatile situation in Balochistan and now bomb blasts are taking place in Sindh as well.
The daily says that it is high time to resolve the issue once for all, instead of playing the blame game. It proposes an all-party conference on provincial autonomy and other issues confronting the country.
Does it have to be this bad?
It is most unfortunate that a popular festive occasion like Basant should turn into a tragic event for some. This year's casualty toll was by far the highest: 14 dead and over 200 seriously injured, mostly in Lahore. Most of the deaths were caused by aerial firing, electrocution and by falls from rooftops.
The Lahore Electric Supply Company reported over 2,000 trippings during the 24-hour-long festivities as a result of unscrupulous enthusiasts using metal wire as kite-string. Most deaths caused by electrocution were attributed to this factor. The police reportedly booked over a hundred people for violating the ban on aerial firing, but that did not deter hundreds of thousands more from firing volleys of gunshots into the air or from using metal strings. Deaths in falls cannot be prevented by the strictest of law enforcement. Checking over-zealous behaviour on the part of merrymakers has to come from within. So also, partly, the use of firearms.
Basant has been Lahore's cherished annual festival since time immemorial. It used to be more of a family-and-friends affair not too long ago. Falling in the first week of the native month of Aswaj, popularly known in Lahore as Assu, Basant heralds the warmth of spring after the winter harshness of the preceding months of Poh and Maagh. Hence the adage 'aai Basant pala parrant, gai Basant pala urrant' (It gets colder as Basant approaches, and then it blows the cold away as it leaves).
Other more popular Lahore idioms that come to mind include 'Assu da pakh lagna' referring to the relatively warmer, dry breeze that sets in around Basant time, and which the kite-flyers wait for all year long. And then 'Assu-Kattay mah niralay, dinnay dhuppaan raati palay' (Strange are the months of Aswaj and Katek, days are warm, nights cold). The blossoming of the mustard fields all around, the wavering interplay of fresh yellow amid spring green offered its own primordial romance and treat for the eyes.
But the way Basant has been transformed in recent years, especially the commercial hijack of it all, makes these thoughts part of a fabled past. Gone is the warmth of the gatherings of near and dear ones over food and seasonal fruits, with the youngsters harmlessly indulging in kite-flying amid hurrays of 'bo-kata' as you brought down a neighbour's kite. Gunshots, hooliganism, cheap display of wealth as seen in today's big p bashes for the occasion and, least of all, 'mujras', were never associated with Basant.
But it would be unfair to single out this popular festival. The change taking place in society has confined to the past many an age-old, good value worth keeping. Parenting, as in imparting a proper upbringing and inculcating respect for elders, is a word that has gone missing from many young couples' vocabulary today. Easy access to money and unbridled freedom given to children, especially those in their formative years, has played havoc with youngsters' manners and social behaviour. The kind of uncouth behaviour seen today among some young people, in the company of elders or without them, was unimaginable a generation ago.
Whether it is Basant or any other social event or gathering, it is primarily the responsibility of the elders as well as those hosting the event to ensure the safety of all present, especially youngsters and children. As for Basant, it can be argued that there is a need for opinion leaders, official and private patrons of the festival and kite-flying associations to also step forward and lead public awareness campaigns in the days ahead of the festival. Those who host big and small Basant parties, including the corporate sector, must also act more responsibly to ensure that firearms and metal strings are not part of the festivities, and the roofs selected for kite-flying are safe.
Basant today has become a festival for which an estimated one million visitors converge on Lahore. Since the commercialization of the event over the past few years elaborate advance preparations have also become routine. The least official and private organizers can do is to make sure that it remains a safe occasion and not become a life-threatening one as has been the case this year.