| 10 April 2005 | Sunday | 30 Safar 1426 |
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Pakistan Steel
A polarized province
Karachi Circular Railway
Indian accusation
KESC’S relief package
Electricity bills
Quicksand
Marathon
Postal rates
Religion column
Unhygienic conditions
PTCL service
Priority should rather be given to protect the dignity and honour of women.
ON March 23 I attended the kisan conference in Toba Tek Singh. The last time I had visited Toba, made famous by the moving story by Manto, was in the 1970s, when Maulana Bhashani was the chief guest at a kisan conference.
I was quite pleased to see the improvement in the roads and infrastructure. Toba looked like a small town now, and definitely seemed more prosperous than was the case some 30 years ago.
The “azaan” from the mosques was delivered in a more respectful manner than in Lahore, and residents, it seemed, were not subjected to the sounds of the mullah coughing over the loudspeaker or to numerous announcements, as happens in Lahore.
The conference started at 10am and people started arriving in droves. Soon after, hundreds of trolleys arrived with red flags and workers and peasants shouting “Jera wavaa ohahi khawa”, and “socialism awaay hi awaay”.
These were the same slogans as were heard at the 1970 conference. Sadly, it seemed that in so many years the life of the ordinary people had not improved. When workers shout this slogan of socialism “awaay hi awaay”, to them it is not Marxism or Leninism or any other ideology. To them this slogan means simply their right to equality, justice and equal opportunities to live comfortably after more than 50 years of freedom.
When we hear our prime minister speak so eloquently on issues of development, it is heart-warming, but what sort of development does he mean? Do six-storey buildings mean development? Does making life difficult for the masses in the name of development mean development? Whose development does our prime minister speak of? Our working people who provide us with food and other comforts seldom get enough to eat themselves. Can this be called prosperity or development?
The 500 women who were attending the conference were very clear in what they desired. They wanted shelter, a future for their children, and protection from any custom which demands the killing of women in the name of honour. They wanted too that the government pass laws to ensure protection from the violence used against them by their own men. They wanted political parties to give them an assurance that when in power they would seriously take this matter up and see that necessary laws are passed and implemented.
For the shelterless, I have a suggestion. When the government allows people to build seven or eight-storey buildings, and when people are allowed to build huge house worth many crores, why can’t they ask the wealthy individuals spending money on such lavish structures to build a fixed number of two-room houses for those who need them in villages as a condition? The names of such persons can be prominently displayed and published in capital letters. Is it possible to do that or does it interfere with our sort of development plans? Those in government should think about it and do something that would constitute real development for the people.
The gap between the rich and the poor in the country is becoming wider by the day. When the rich spend millions on decorations, without their conscience pricking them, the half-starved people can only look on in bewilderment.
It is quite disturbing to see food being flown in from Dubai and may be Paris or bridal dresses costing millions being displayed, giant prawns flown from God knows where and other items brought in from Singapore or wherever. This is the ‘new development’ which has invaded our country.
In this scenario, political parties should start gaining the trust of the people and abandon methods of politics seen in the past. It was in their time that the increase in organized crime, criminalization of politics and the dangerous link between the police, bureaucracy and corrupt politicians arose.
They must assure the people that they will establish a government which honestly wants and works for the betterment of the country and improves the lives of the majority of the people. Let the people flourish and let laughter be heard across the country.
TAHIRA MAZHAR ALI
Lahore
THIS refers to Mr Arshad Mehmood’s letter “Pakistan Steel” (April 1). The correspondent has expressed apprehensions with regard to Pakistan Steel’s turnaround, referring to cost escalation, initial investment of Rs25 billion, loans of about Rs18 billion and capacity utilization of 73 per cent. He wants our parliament to ascertain the facts.
The Pakistan Steel management wishes to make the following clarifications:
The government invested Rs24.7 billion in Pakistan Steel in the late 70s. In return, sales and other taxes paid by the PS to the government up till now alone amount to about Rs57 billion. Besides, its assets, including integrated plant, 19,000 acres of prime residential, commercial and industrial land, cadet college, a 100-bed hospital, a residential colony on 1,700 acres, 33 acres of prime land in Kot Lakhpat, Lahore, and marketing and sales departments at Sharea Faisal, Karachi, Gulberg, Lahore, and in Islamabad are worth billions of US dollars.
Out of Rs19 loans, the PS has already cleared the principal amount of Rs12 billion; only interest money has been deferred till 2013.
It is right that the PS has been working at average capacity of 74 per cent since 1984, but that was prior to 1999. It is now working at 94 per cent capacity which has contributed to the turnaround.
Prices of steel products have gone up worldwide because prices of iron ore have inflated by 71 per cent and that of cooking coal by 229 per cent in the last two years. We obviously show foreign exchange savings after deducing foreign exchange spent on raw materials.
On the PS chairman’s request to the National Assembly speaker and the Senate chairman, the parliamentary standing committee for industries has already visited PS and commended the turnaround while the Senate standing committee will pay us a visit soon. The PS chairman has also invited the leader of the opposition in the Senate, Mr Raza Rabbani, to visit the PS along with other opposition members. Mr Rabbani has accepted the invitation.
HUMAIRA M. MOTALA Pakistan Steel
(Public relations) Karachi
After the joint resistance by Hindus and Muslim during the War of Independence, the Raj administration had invented a formula of divide and rule.
Some of their agents used to throw slaughtered cows in Hindu temples and pigs in mosques to start communal riots.
The same practice is still continuing by accepting demands of one group of people while rejecting the others.
The division of Hyderabad district is seen by many as a division of Sindhi and Urdu-speaking people because Sindhis are opposing the move while the Urdu-speaking people are supporting it.
The Sindhi-Mohajir divide originated in the far-off days when Karachi was put under federal control despite the unanimous resolution of the Sindh Assembly opposing the move.
It is very strange to see how from 1947 onwards things in the province are being shaped on the basis of exclusiveness instead of promoting diversity where individuals from all groups respect each other’s rights.
Globally, this is an age of greater acceptability. Two opposite ideologies — communism and capitalism — are coexisting in China under ‘one-country and two systems”.
We have the example of Malaysia. At the international conference on “Muslim Ummah in the Modern World: Challenges and Opportunities” in Karachi, a participant asked a question from the former prime minister of Malaysia, Dr Mahathir Mohammad, about factors which led his country to success.
His reply was that “we followed the policy of sharing the cake among the three main races of Malaysia instead of having 100 per cent of it”. This simple philosophy promoted tolerance and respect for each other among the communities.
In 1969, when relations between Malays and Chinese were strained, there were race riots and trouble. In the 80s, Dr Mahathir Mohammad created “a sense of balance” and “accommodation” between the Malay, the Chinese and the Indians.
The result was peaceful co-existence. Malaysia, which four decades back lagged behind Haiti in per-capita income, now has only five per cent poor. We can learn from the Malaysian example.
MANZOOR CHANDIO Karachi
THE introduction of a suburban train service between Karachi cantonment and Landhi is a commendable step. However, to describe it as a revival of the Karachi circular railway is contrary both to facts and the laws of geometry. A circular line is supposed to go round something, in this case, the city of Karachi. The Cantonment station and Landhi are in a straight line, connected by a rail track which has been in existence for over 150 years. The circular rail track remains in disuse.
The Karachi Circular Railway was based on a wrong concept and proved a financial and traffic failure. The revival of this flawed project has been a favourite slogan of headline-grabbing politicians. Along with another mega idea, i.e., mass transit, it has delayed much needed improvement to Karachi‘s road system. The city government is to be commended for expediting construction of overpasses which, at modest cost and minimum displacement, has quickly brought significant relief to road users. What Karachi needs is a circular highway. This is no longer possible as the elite residential suburbs in the east will not allow any intrusion of expressways. However, the western bypass could have been built more rapidly if it could use the track of the defunct circular railway.
Karachi has a dismal record of neglecting the main road user, the pedestrian. There are few pavements and those that exist are readily sacrificed to widen roads for motor traffic. There are no pedestrian crossings, at least none that can be safely used. Crossing a road is putting your life in peril. Pedestrian crossings and pavements do not cost much but get neglected since they are not suitable material for newspaper headlines. Catching media attention is more important these days than meeting basic public needs.
VASEEM A. JAFAREY
Karachi
INDIA’s foreign minister Natwar Singh, in an attempt to stir up further trouble for Pakistan, has accused the world’s superpower of turning a blind eye to nuclear commerce in South Asia (March 29).
Speaking at a conference of “Emerging Nuclear Proliferation Challenges” in New Delhi, he said: “The infirmities of the non-proliferation order have imposed costs on India and have had an adverse impact on our security, as much of the clandestine proliferation, which is today the focus of attention, emanates from our neighbourhood.”
Before that, his predecessor from the BJP government, Mr Yashwant Sinha, had called even more explicitly for action against Islamabad by the IAEA for the alleged nuclear proliferation (March 24). Both these gentlemen have forgotten the involvement of Indian scientists in Iran’s atomic programme.
One would like to remind the Indian leaders, in particular, and the international community, in general, that the primary impetus for Pakistan to opt for nukes was India’s military intervention in East Pakistan in 1971 that broke this country into two.
The nation had not recovered from this trauma when India displayed its nuclear ability by detonating its first device in 1974. Confronted with these events and being only one-seventh the size of India, Pakistan had no other choice to protect its independence than to acquire a strategic deterrent. Can anyone blame us for that? India’s actions have imposed infinitely greater costs on Pakistan than the Khan network’s activities have on India.
The other big reason was the occupation of Kashmir, where India has refused to implement the UN resolutions regarding plebiscite or Mr Nehru’s promises to that effect. Indian state-sponsored terrorism in held Kashmir and the resultant unrest only added to the animosities. A member of the EU parliamentary delegation that visited occupied Kashmir last October had called it “the most beautiful prison in the world.”
India’s insincerity and desire for hegemony is further demonstrated by its insatiable hunger for all kinds of weapons, most of which are Pakistan-specific, while fiercely opposing the latter’s plans to acquire merely a few dozen F-16s. It has built supersonic BrahMos cruise missiles in collaboration with Russia; bought a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier; ordered many Mig-29s and 150 SU30K fighters that are much superior to the F-16s and most of which will be manufactured in India. It is also developing a fifth-generation fighter aeroplane with Moscow’s cooperation.
In addition is the order for Phalcon AWACS, Greenpine radars and pilotless spy planes from Israel along with 125 F-16s and/or an unspecified number of F-18s, plus the Patriot ABM system from the US. They are also buying subs from France and plan to build an aircraft carrier. The British Jaguars and French Mirage 2000-5s should not be forgotten, nor the well-known collaboration with Israel in nuclear and conventional arms development.
The cost that Mr Singh should really be worried about is the one imposed on the ordinary Indians by their rulers’ desire for power and hegemony. As far back as 1949, Mr Nehru had indicated his ambitions about making India a nuclear power.
S. QADRI Karachi
THE Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC) is offering a relief package to inactive consumers to clear their longstanding dues (Dawn, Feb 13). Defaulters of more than three years are getting 50 per cent discount and defaulters of five years or above are being given 70 per cent discount.
The more deserving are non-defaulters seeking reconnection. Such inactive consumers seeking re-connection are made to pay a huge amount accumulated as minimum monthly charges for the disconnected period. The KESC is requested to provide a similar relief package to small non-defaulting consumers seeking reconnection.
M. IKTIDAR AHMED
Karachi
BEING a power consumer I expect the supplier company to provide me bills based on meter reading. Hesco at Larkana is not doing this.
Also, under the provisions of the Land Revenue Act 1967, no supply can be disturbed/ disconnected when there is any serious dispute about payment of electricity charges, or the amount of such disputed bill cannot be recovered as arrears.
It is a long time since I have been pleading with Hesco to issue me revised bills based on meter reading. Instead, the electricity company stops off and on the power supply to my house in Larkana.
M. ANWAR CHANNA Account # 002-23570. Larkana
THIS has reference to the letter “Allotment of Clifton beach” by the PRO, DHA, Karachi (April 4). He has missed the point in my letter that the DHA is reclaiming the beaches in a dangerous fashion in absence of proper barriers, endangering the lives and property of those who inhabit these sand boxes.
The PRO is requested to reveal what measures the DHA has taken to protect the reclaimed areas which could be certainly washed away in case of a cyclone or tsunami.
RAFI ADAMJEE Karachi
UMME KULSOOM Karachi
THERE used to be a fixed wooden board displaying postal rates for various items like letters, registration and parcel, as well as for foreign mail for different countries, in the verandah of the Lahore GPO building. It was a source of great convenience to the general public.
This board was removed some months back at the time of repairs to the building. Since then it has not been re-placed. As a result, people experience much difficulty in finding rates for different categories of mail, particularly since postal rates have been increased. The inquiry desk of the GPO too is not of much help in this regard.
The Punjab post master-general is requested to direct the Lahore GPO authorities to immediately put up a board indicating clearly all postal rates.
R. R. ALVI
Lahore
THE restoration of the religion column in passports has sparked many questions. Some of these are as follows:
a. Is this a typical U turn made by the general as he made after 9/11? After such an action can he still continue to talk of “enlightened moderation” to his western friends?
b. Has he reached a compromise with the “mullahs” to forestall their “million march”?
c. Is it a quid pro quo for the help extended by the “mullahs” in the passage of the 17th Amendment?
d. Are we still serious about building the Quaid’s Pakistan in line with his vision?
When we do recognize citizens of a country on the basis of various denominations, then hate is generated.
S. Khan
Doha, Qatar
I AM an old resident of Clifton, Karachi, which used to be a real good, clean locality in the past. But nowadays it has become a slum, with overflowing gutters, broken roads and heaps of garbage littered all over.
I appeal to the Karachi nazim to visit Clifton’s blocks 1, 2 and 3 and the Bath Island area and see for himself the conditions obtaining there.
Also, Clifton’s Jehangir Kothari Park, built before partition by a great Parsi mayor of Karachi, is now the habitat of drug addicts and stray dogs.
M. A. KHAN
Karachi
MY residential telephone, No. 4389697, installed at D-166, KDA Scheme No. 1, Karachi, went out of order in November 2004. Beginning the next day numerous complaints were lodged on “18”, but to no avail. I visited the PTCL customer services centre, PECHS, Karachi, four times and was promised that the fault would be rectified. It has not happened until this date. However, the department regularly issues bills and sees to it that they are paid.
I will now seek a refund for the three/four months that the telephone department has charged me for the phone when it was not in order. If this is not possible, then I will seek legal assistance to get the rules amended to give me justice not only for mischarging me but also to compensate me for the mobile phone charges which are being made in the absence of the line telephone.
MAHMOOD RAFI KHAN Karachi
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