| 02 March 2005 | Wednesday | 20 Muharram 1426 |
Cooperative society
Hospital waste
Wapda & railways
Inter-provincial harmony
Motorway accidents
PIA posts
Targeting doctors
Hurling charges
Molasses
Literary bodies
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Former ambassador Shahid M. Amin says (Feb 6): "Of course, we feel for our Kashmiri brothers and their interests are dear to us. But the interests of 1,450 million Pakistanis must at some point of time take precedence.
The logical conclusion is that Pakistan has to give a lower priority to Kashmir and it should not be treated as a make-or-break-issue in the current Pakistani negotiations."
The tragedy is that some of our writers, politicians and diplomats consider the Kashmir issue as an issue of the Kashmiris' future with no nexus to the basic interests of Pakistan.
As a Kashmiri, I will not dwell on Pakistan's interests in Kashmir as it may sound self-serving to some people. I will, therefore, quote Z. A. Bhutto. In his book The Myth of Independence, he candidly says:
"(i) Why does India want Jammu and Kashmir? She holds them because of being the handsome head of the body of Pakistan. Its possession enables her to cripple the economy of Pakistan and militarily to dominate the country.
Pakistan has already lost valuable territories to India under pretext of realism and if applied to J&K and other disputes, this process would involve the territorial attrition of our country. It would mean capitulation by instalment and eventual liquidation.
"(ii) By settlement of a dispute we mean a solution designed to achieve lasting peace. Only through an equitable settlement can such an honourable peace be secured.
"(iii) India's occupation of Junagadh and Hyderabad created political and psychological conditions which were of incalculable advantage to her. She was confirmed in her belief that by the threat and use of force as a deliberate instrument of her foreign policy, she could make Pakistan submit to all her policies.
"(iv) The argument that numerical disparity justifies inaction is patently false. Our countries must ultimately live in peace, but only when the conflict has been resolved.
The surrender of Pakistan's interest does not resolve the conflict. If we are not prepared to expose our people and territory to risk, then we must expect our frontiers with India to be eroded.
"(v) If India's terms were to prevail, there would be no viable Pakistan. What would be the consequences of Pakistan abandoning Jammu and Kashmir? It is clear that a compromise of this nature would whet but not satisfy India's appetite and with her growing military power and (now) acquisition of nuclear weapons, she would use these territories as a rallying-point to integrate the remaining parts of Pakistan.
"(vi) It would be fatal if, in sheer exhaustion or out of intimidation, Pakistan were to abandon the struggle and a bad compromise would be tantamount to abandonment which might, in turn, lead to the collapse of Pakistan.
"(vii) There can be no doubt that a weakened Pakistan would embolden India to discriminate further against Indian Muslims.
(viii) The moment cooperation begins with India, without an equitable settlement of the dispute, the people of Kashmir will naturally conclude that Pakistan has abandoned them, leaving them no option but to surrender to India.
"(ix) History holds no precedent of successful joint economic ventures between states with unresolved territorial and other fundamental disputes."
Mr Shahid Amin says: "If given a free choice, the non- Muslim majority areas in Jammu and Ladakh will opt for India. The Muslim majority Kashmir Valley will probably opt for independence."
He is misinformed about the whole of Jammu and Ladakh areas being non-Muslim majority areas. The fact remains that the Jammu region has six districts, out of which three districts (Poonch, Rajori and Doda) and Gol Gulab tehsil of Udhampur district are Muslim majority areas contiguous to Azad Kashmir and the Kashmir Valley with common ethnic, cultural and linguistic bonds.
Similarly, the Kargil district of Ladakh has a Muslim majority with common ethnic, cultural and linguistic bonds with the people of the Northern Areas. Let the pre-conceived ideas about people's choice be tested by holding an agreed plebiscite. Why is India retracting from this internationally agreed formula?
The Kashmiris are the worst sufferers of the ongoing traumatic state of affairs. We cannot have true and abiding friendship with India without a just and fair resolution of the dispute about the future of J&K state, which is a symbol of injustice perpetrated on Pakistan and the Kashmiris in the partition process.
KHAWAJA MUHAMMAD BASHIR BUTT
Bahawalnagar
Cooperative society
This refers to Senator Farhatullah Babar's letter (Feb 10). Since some 150 influential people were affected in the Lahore land scam, NAB was constrained to take action. But who will help the 3,000 members of the Revenue Cooperative Housing Society (RECHS), Rawalpindi?
This unfortunate society has suffered for the last 15 years due to mismanagement but the society and the land, five minutes' drive from the Rawalpindi Kutchery, still exist.
Due to interference of some powerful people, the last elected management committee was not allowed to hold office. Instead, a NAB employee was appointed as administrator to conduct fresh elections and run the day-to-day affairs.
The administrator staged a meeting in November 2004, in which NAB officers also participated, and despite protests, the administrator declared that elections had been held and decided that the society be handed over to Bahria Town for development. Bahria gets all the assets of the society that is dissolved.
The assets of the society are 160 kanals of commercial land worth approximately Rs4 billion. Not only that, a commercial plot of eight kanals on the main Bank Road owned by the society also goes to Bahria.
Still, Bahria has been asking the members to pay Rs300,000 per kanal or else the allotment of plots would get cancelled and the allottee would get a refund of the amount he paid 15 years ago.
Even if Bahria's intentions are good, where is transparency? No open tenders were floated in the press, and although there is a chief economic adviser with the Punjab government, and no financial assessment of the Bahria bid was carried out.
Above all, the administrator signed an agreement with Bahria that the allottees of the South phase will get plots in five years in Bahria Phase 11, which is 40km away. So the unfortunate 3,000 members are left with no choice but to curse their lot, as there is no one to take up their case.
AFFECTED RECHS ALLOTTEES
Rawalpindi
Hospital waste
Sold waste disposal has always been a testing ground for our city governments. The gravest expression of this failure can be seen in the disposal of hospital waste.
Dawn has, in the last few issues (Feb 20, 22), highlighted the need for an effective framework for hospital waste management in order to raise the standards of health and environment in the country. Hospital waste poses a grave health risk to hospital inmates, municipal staff as well as the public at large.
Public and private health-care facilities have yet to develop a proper framework for safe disposal of hospital waste, in accordance with the Environmental Protection Act of 1997.
Most of the smaller hospitals dump their waste at garbage collection points. This includes risk-based and radioactive wastes like bandages, syringes, human blood or body secretions, X-rays and diagnostic department waste. It is a common sight to see scavengers segregating clinical waste for recycling of the reusable items at the disposal sites.
Hospital management and the government have a moral and ethical duty to ensure safe disposal of any hospital waste that might cause harm to human beings. Unless a massive mass-awareness campaign is launched against the health hazards and of effective ways of collection, storage, transportation and final disposal of solid and hospital waste, the real objective of making our environment clean and healthy cannot be achieved.
The print and electronic media should do more to highlight the fatal consequences of unmanaged waste disposal. Hopefully the municipal authorities, public and private hospitals will heed and deal with the problem in an effective way.
The only practical way of disposing hospital waste is through incineration, which is the burning of waste in temperatures ranging from 1,8000F to 2,0000F. Can the government attend to this need on an urgent basis?
DR ALFRED CHARLES
Karachi
Wapda & railways
So, Wapda will establish 50-bed hospitals in all the big cities for its employees by the end of June this year, and give the option of availing medical facility or drawing medical allowance at the rate of Rs375 per month (Dawn, Feb 19).
Wapda and Pakistan Railways both are loss-making organizations. The railways are much older, more than a 100 years old, and have seen better days. The comedown has been gradual.
However, Wapda has shown confidence enough to realize that investment in human resources through healthcare, better and concessional schooling of employees' children and other incentives such as promotions, allowances, increase in insurance money, all go a long way to build worker morale, improve productivity and thereby profitability of the organization.
The railway administration has, on the other hand, been a silent spectator of the sale/lease at throwaway prices of its prized land in big cities. The best-run schools in Lahore and Karachi have been made over to NGOs, medical hospitals given to private parties and incentives like free and concessional travel withdrawn. And now there is talk in newspapers of the spacious grounds and buildings of railway institutes to be made over to investors. No wonder demoralization has set in among officers and staff.
The Pakistan Railways once belonged to the category of efficient and well-run world-class railways. No more. They are now a poor relation of the same family, saddened and ashamed by the turn of events, and through no fault of theirs.
SURAIYA HAFEEZ
Lahore
Inter-provincial harmony
Inter-provincial harmony undoubtedly plays a significant role not only in the progress and prosperity of a nation but also in promoting and maintaining democracy.
The centre plays a conciliatory role by ensuring that the provinces seek a solution to controversial issues through amicable negotiations and by avoiding unnecessary interference in matters where the interests of the provinces lie so that all provinces can co-exist in harmony.
Sadly, Pakistan has never seen inter-provincial harmony. After independence, the process of preparing the Constitution created a lot of misunderstanding among the federating units, which ultimately resulted in the establishment of Bangladesh in 1971.
The centre did not play its due role at that time, whether it was the language issue, allocation of resources or the representation of the provinces in the government and the bureaucracy, both civil and military.
This created a sense of deprivation in the then East Pakistan which led to what is now a sad chapter in our history. The dictum that "history makes us wise" does not seem to be true in the case of Pakistan, as we have not shown any maturity in dealing with inter-provincial matters even after 1971.
The NFC award is controversial and has caused a great deal of resentment between Sindh, NWFP, and Balochistan. Punjab says that the allocation of resources should be made on the basis of population whereas the other provinces are of the opinion that the level of backwardness should be kept in mind because population-based formula deprives them of their due share in resources.
This has delayed the NFC award. The issue can be solved by a proportionate allocation of resources - both on the basis of level of backwardness and population - and by launching development projects in order to put an end to the provinces' grievances. The provinces, too, should come forward with openness and flexibility.
The distribution of water among the provinces has done great damage to inter-provincial harmony. Here, too, the provinces cannot see eye to eye with each other. Each blames the other for taking more water than its fixed share.
The government has already taken the right step in this connection by installing a telemetry system on the rivers in order to make the distribution of water among the provinces more transparent.
Now with the recently established NWC (National Water Council) headed by the prime minister it can be expected that a solution of water-related issues will be amicably achieved.
Mega-development projects launched in one province cause a feeling of anger and bitterness among the others. The other provinces take a negative impression that the particular province where the project has been launched will benefit at other provinces' expense. Opposition to the Kalabagh Dam and unrest in Balochistan in connection with the Gawadar Port project are examples in this regard.
Some politicians, motivated by vested interests, politicize such issues in order to mould circumstances in their favour. True, the locals reserve the right to benefit from the projects but to resort to violence to get their demands met is condemnable. This mindset ultimately gives air to provincialism - a deadly blow to national integrity.
The above issues can be solved by engaging the provinces in negotiations and by launching development projects in the provinces that feel they are being ignored.
The decision of the government to seek a political solution to what is happening in Balochistan is appreciable, though tangible results have not been achieved. The leading political parties should play a role in helping the government resolve inter-provincial issues. The sooner it is done, the better.
MUHAMMAD SHAHID RAFIQUE
Okara
Motorway accidents
Just recently, there was an accident near Bhera on the Lahore-Islamabad Motorway, where a bus collided with an oil tanker. The accident took place at about 3:30 in the morning.
It has still not been established who was at fault - the driver of the tanker or the deceased driver of the bus that had rammed into the tanker. The other casualty was a bus hostess while all on board were injured, some quite severely.
A full inquiry should be carried out and the company owning the bus should pay damages to those who were on board. Had the driver dozed off because of too many trips to earn extra money? Shouldn't the company keep records of the trips that drivers make, and if it does, shouldn't it make sure that a driver who has just made a trip or has made two trips in a day not be allowed to drive?
Fortunately, some students had stopped to help the victims. While the motorway police (whose efficiency to cope with emergencies is so publicized by the authorities) were late to arrive at the scene, there was not a single ambulance to help the injured.
AATEKAH AHMAD
Lahore
PIA posts
PIA recently advertised for the post of "cadet pilots". The upper age-limit has been fixed at 30 years, with all relaxations included. The last induction of pilots was done in 2001 which was practically delayed till 2004, and those 31 cadet pilots who were selected are still undergoing training and are not yet fully operational on the F-27 aircraft, which is about to be retired from the service.
Getting a commercial pilot's licence is very expensive (Rs3,500 to 4100/hour) and almost all of us who have ventured into this field have chosen this as a career, not a hobby.
After 9/11, opportunities for (Muslim) pilots have almost vanished in the western countries. Those who were settled there with jobs are now planning to return to the Middle East and Pakistan.
In such conditions, it is very unfair that PIA has put the age limit at 30. We, the pilots concerned, appeal to the government to intervene in the matter and grant relaxation in the upper age-limit to at least 35 years. It is on record that upper age-limit was at 40 years for pilots' induction in 1995.
AFFECTED CANDIDATES
Via email
Targeting doctors
Doctors in any society of the world are respected for pursuing a noble profession. Whenever these servants of humanity have been targeted (as was done in 2001 when in Karachi so many well-known doctors were killed), it has created great chaos.
The unfortunate tragedy of the lady doctor in Sui has been publicised to such an extent that it has started giving an impression that it is the sole triggering factor of the current crisis in Balochistan.
All those involved in it were unconcerned about the fact that in our society this sort of stigma becomes a permanent scar for a woman. The culprits need to be given exemplary punishment, no matter who they are, as no one is above the law.
DR REHAN KHAN
Rawalpindi
Hurling charges
The row between the Sindh chief minister and a former provincial minister has embarrassed the PML leadership. Both men claim to have known about the other's misappropriations for quite some time, but were silent "for the sake of the party". Where can one find another example of such unscrupulousness? For these people their party was more important than Pakistan.
It is an irony that politicians keep supporting each other in their misdeeds and it is only when threatened by one another that they consider it their moral obligation to disclose the corrupt practices of their fellow politicians. The charges levelled from both sides need to be properly investigated - and not just in the traditional NAB way.
MALIK UMAR KHAN
Waziristan Agency
Molasses
In our neighbouring country alcohol derived from sugarcane molasses (also imported from Pakistan) is being effectively used in many industries, especially in the energy sector.
Although we are self-sufficient in molasses, we are not utilizing it for making any by-product. Rather, we export it cheaply to others who then use it in their industries as a cost-effective energy source and earn handsome profits.
If the government encourages our industrialists, we too can produce molasses-based alcohol as motor spirit. This would not only save the precious foreign exchange, but would also keep the prices of POL products at a reasonable level, ultimately benefiting the end-users.
DR ABDUL MAJID
Karachi
Literary bodies
Literary and academic bodies sponsored by the government are apparently stagnant. Has the Academy of Letters or Majlis-i-Taraqqi-i-Adab done any notable work for the advancement of literature? And for that matter what has the Iqbal Academy, or Iqbal Cultural Project or the Quaid-i-Azam Academy done to promote awareness about Iqbal and the Quaid-i-Azam, not even a fraction of what the Indian bodies have done in the case of Gandhi and Nehru.
What do you expect in the circumstances?
DILAWAR HUSSAIN
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