| May 8, 2005 | Sunday | Rabi-ul-Awwal 28, 1426 |
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Quality PhDs
Cellphones on planes
Recycling empty cartons
Clifton Cross
Defence spending
Traffic signal
ID cards
‘The price of honour’
Clifton beach
Pakistanis for Malaysia
DISTURBING questions relevant to Islam’s image and its appeal to the outside world (and to our own youth) were raised in the rebuke administered by a religious scholar recently on a private TV channel to a questioner who was told not to use reasoning or rationality in dealing with issues having a bearing on religion.
May I suggest, without meaning any disrespect, that such statements strengthen the current campaign of disinformation against Islam in the non-Islamic world and unwittingly raise important questions in the minds of our own younger generation. While rationalism came to the West only with the Renaissance in the 15th century, it was present in Islamic ethos and thinking from its earliest days.
The Islamic pre-eminence in different spheres of science and knowledge during their golden centuries owed itself to their assimilation of the true spirit of Islam. According to Dr Mohammad Aijazul Khatib of the Damascus University, nothing can demonstrate the importance of science and learning more clearly than the fact that “in contrast to 250 verses of the Holy Quran, which are legislative, some 750 verses of the Holy Quran, almost one-eighth of it, exhort the believers to study nature, to reflect, to make the best use of reason and make knowledge and learning an integral part of community life”.
It may be interesting to mention that in the Arabic language there is no word except ‘ilm’ for science. We know of the proud title “inheritors of the prophets” accorded to ulema, men of science and knowledge by the Holy Prophet (PBUH).
In his monumental five-volume “History of the Sciences”, George Sarton describes the 600 years from 750 to 1350 AD as an unbroken succession of the ages of Jabri, Khwarzmi, Wafai, Razi, Masudi, Biruni, Avicenna, Ibne-al-Haitham, Omar Khayyam, Ibn Rushd, Naseeruddin Toosi and Ibn Nafees. Except for flashes of occasional brilliance, the Islamic contribution to science and philosophy fades out in the subsequent centuries. Amongst the diverse internal and external factors accounting for this decline, one major factor was the closing of the doors on ijtehad.
To meet the challenges of the new century, the practice of ijtehad needs to be revived; ijtehad in the sense of interpretation and reasoning based on sacred texts. This would help in providing a contemporary solution to the challenges facing the ummah. In the past the practice of ijtehad was unfortunately opposed by some religious circles as well as by repressive ruling establishments. The thrust worldwide towards a more democratic dispensation and the enhanced freedom of thought and expression should provide a more congenial climate for the revival of the precept of ijtehad.
The restructuring of the OIC should include the setting up of professionally staffed divisions in the OIC secretariat dealing with the intellectual challenges of the new century and the task of promoting higher scientific and technological education, social reforms, social justice, human resource particularly women development and health in the Islamic world. This was highlighted by President Gen Pervez Musharraf in his inaugural address at the international seminar on “OIC Challenges and Responses” held in Islamabad last year.
In the realm of statecraft, Islam lays down what an Islamic state should be like but only in terms of the values that it should espouse and not in terms of the form it should take; in other words the spirit, the essence, the fundamental values, rather than the outward trappings. In terms of its basic values, the Islamic world does not have to choose between Islam on the one hand and dialogue, democracy, tolerance and moderation on the other. For all these attributes and concepts are ingrained in the true sprit of Islam.
MAHDI MASUD
Karachi
THE biggest issue for our alma mater seems to be that of producing quality PhDs. Having read the opinions of Dr Nazir Mughal (April 30), Dr K.M Larik (April 12), and many more I would also like to share my experience.
Being a final year doctoral research student at the University of Leeds, what fascinated me most was the requirement of passing research methodology modules in the first year of my study. These modules are aimed at orienting a novice researcher towards various methods of carrying out research in the real world. In social science research, the ethnographic nature of inquiry is emphasized more because of validity and reliability of findings, in that a researcher has a variety of choices ranging from classroom observations to conducting interviews and administering questionnaires, etc. In addition, the research method modules also provide underlying philosophical beliefs based on various paradigms such as positivism paradigm, interpretivist paradigm, and social constructivist paradigm. The major aim of research methods modules is to guide a researcher to conduct his research in an informed way.
When a student passes research method modules he is required to present his detailed work plan and appear for a viva to an upgrading panel of examiners — once those examiners (other than the supervisor) agree on his data collection methods, instruments and data analysis methods, the student is upgraded from provisional to full PhD status. If a researcher fails to satisfy the panel, he is given a maximum of three months’ deferral with a view to improving his research proposal in the light of the suggestions given by the panel. After the stipulated time of deferral the researcher is required to reappear to the same committee. This time the committee has to make a final decision whether to allow the researcher to proceed for a full PhD or to withdraw him from the programme if his work still does not satisfy the examiners. Most of the universities of UK apply these conditions on doctoral research students.
The point is that the first year of the teaching research methodology is central to doing PhD because the later two or three years depend on it. Thus, for producing quality PhDs in our universities we should also adopt a similar approach towards doing research in which it should be made mandatory for a doctoral candidate to undergo an intensive course of research methods at least for the entire first year of his study. Then his progress needs to be reviewed, his work plan needs to be scrutinized and feasibility of the data collection procedures examined. On satisfactory progress he should be allowed to proceed.
To achieve this aim, there is an exhaustive list of references for research method books electronically available, which should be provided to the universities of the country so that they can devise the courses and introduce them for research students.
Unless a systematic and informed approach towards doing research is adopted in our universities, we may lag behind in producing quality PhDs for many more years to come.
RAFIQUE MEMON
UK
SYED A. Mateen (April 28) raises concerns regarding the hazard of using cellphones on flights and would like to see cellphones kept away from their owners throughout the duration of a flight.
Mr Mateen can now rest easy as based on tests carried out recently passengers may be able to talk on their cellphones during flights in the not-too-distant future. The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) may lift the ban late this year — originally imposed because of possible interference with plane equipment and phone networks on the ground.
The fear related to cellphone operation causing an airplane to crash has probably always been a myth at best. Had it been a real hazard, cellphones would have been regulated like firearms, explosives, etc., from the onset. According to a recent regulation passengers are barred from even carrying cigarette lighters on board in the US. Think of it: would terrorists like Richard Reid alias the Shoe Bomber take the trouble of loading up their shoes with explosives and try to set them alight during the flight in order to bring down an aircraft when they could achieve the same by simply dialling a call from their cellphone?
Now that the safety hazard associated with the use of cellphones during a flight has been discounted, most airline passengers are wanting the restriction to remain in place as they don’t relish the idea of sitting next to someone yelling into their cell phones for an entire six-hour flight or putting up with people sharing intimate details of their lives with a planeload of passengers.
In a recent survey in the US, 78 per cent of poll participants agreed that cellphone use in the already-tense, close quarters of an airplane could lead to increased passenger unruliness and interfere with flight attendants’ ability to maintain order, 78 per cent believed that cellphones might distract passengers from hearing life-saving instructions in an emergency and 82 per cent said cellphones might “make planes uncomfortable and be disruptive” to passengers wishing to read or nap. I am all for keeping the cellphone ban on flights in place, if not for safety reasons then for social reasons.
TARIQ RAZA
Jubail, Saudi Arabia
ONE of the single largest sources of solid waste relates to empty cartons of drinks, juices and milk. Now a scheme has been launched in Lahore and Karachi to collect this waste for recycling. The scheme seems to be of a cosmetic nature as the public is totally unaware of the procedure for participating in it.
The theme should be that consumer should not throw empty cartons in the trash, but collect them and deliver them at specific points in return for some monetary reward. The scheme currently envisages that the consumer will get one free carton of milk or juice for 20 empty cartons. However, as no collection points have been advertised, how is public participation to be ensured?
There should be a “pollution charge” on each carton marketed and the companies should submit reimbursement claims of recycled waste through some NGO, which may monitor the scheme. Revenue collected from such a “pollution charge” could be utilized for establishing pollution control projects.
QASIM IQBAL KHAN
Lahore
MR Kafil Ahmad Khan, PRO of the Karachi Port Trust (KPT), in his letter (May 3) talks about KPT’s contribution to the “reconstruction of the road infrastructure in Karachi to ease the traffic problems”. He assures us that the efforts “will bear fruit soon” and that the “inconvenience faced by the people residing in the Schon Circle area is temporary and for a short period”.
Would he please elucidate? What in bureaucratese is the connotation of “soon” and “short period”? Is it weeks, months or years? And the inconvenience, for his information, is not merely caused to people residing in the Schon Circle area. It is far more widespread, affecting people from all over Karachi who have to drive through the area in question.
Suggestion: Mr Khan’s boss, Vice-Admiral Ahmad Hayat, get into his own car (not his staff car), and drive himself between 1000 and 2100 hours, on a daily basis Monday through Saturday, trying out all the alternative routes that can take him from Teen Talwar to Do Talwar. This exercise should also be undertaken by the corps commander, driving himself, incognito and in disguise, by the governor (accompanied by his principal secretary), by the city nazim, and by all others involved in the mess made.
All that can now be done is to alleviate the “inconvenience” and ensure that the FWO dig round-the-clock, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, without downing tools even once. The city authorities should also do, and pronto, what they should have done before they dug up the Schon Circle area and ensure that all night and every night work is done to recarpet/fill-in/level/widen and make usable the roads used by the “inconvenienced” on the quite dreadful alternate routes they are forced to take.
AMINA JILANI
Karachi
ONE must give credit to Mr Ardeshir Cowasjee for raising the Schon Circle crossing issue on behalf of citizens not only residing in Clifton, Defence, Punjab, Hijrat and Neelam colonies but the whole of Karachi, as the Schon crossing affects transport and millions of citizens going to and from the Korangi, Site and Landhi Industrial areas and the Karachi Port.
This project is an apt example of our lopsided priorities and the lack of coordination between various agencies running Karachi. While the president of Pakistan rightly talks about discussion on public interest issues before their resolution, the bureaucracy has failed to understand the importance of taking the citizens into confidence. Millions will be spent to replace roads which were upgraded recently. Why was that money wasted? People will have to travel vast distances and then turn back to reach their destination. Imagine the amount of time and fuel which are going to be wasted.
The roads which are being uprooted were quite wide and this money could have been better spent on providing a water supply system to the people living in poor conditions in katchi abadis around Clifton. The underpass plan was never discussed with the public or their views sought. One fine day we opened the newspapers and read that suddenly this project costing millions is being undertaken and will be completed in three months, emulating the Punjab government. No alternative arrangements were in place. Service roads were in a mess in the surrounding areas and chaos still prevails. It is doubtful if this project will be completed even in one year, leaving citizens in misery and agony.
The only issue highlighted by citizens and the press has been the congestion due to oil tankers and container trucks passing through Schon Circle. This was supposed to be solved with the completion of the Northern Bypass and Lyari Expressway , which will be used by heavy traffic — or are billions being wasted there also?
The silence of the MNA from this area is sad. These are real issues which are affecting the daily lives of citizens but politicians are busy in non-issues. One would have expected the governor, who is from Karachi, and the sitting federal minister, under whom the Karachi Port Trust is, to have done better for the citizens. Meanwhile, citizens living here and having to pass through will continue to suffer.
AZIZ SUHARWARDY
General Secretary, Defence Association Coordination Committee,
Karachi
IN its recent reports, the World Bank has pleaded for reduction in defence expenditure by developing countries.
Unfortunately, to a significant extent, the escalating defence budgets of the developing countries stem from a narrow and dangerous concept of national security.
Actually, national security means much more than planes, missiles, bombs, ships, tanks and even men. It requires an economy which is strong, sustained and fair; a society which is harmonious and provides open opportunities; and a foreign policy representative of finer national values.
Only then does national security rest, as well, on effective, responsive and responsible military power. Those who equate national security only with national defence do not understand either their own society or the nature and purposes of the military created solely to serve it; and they threaten to cross the important line between civil society and the military in a free society.
AFTAB AHMAD KHAN
Karachi
WHENEVER my university bus drops me on the roadside, I ask myself the question: “How long will I have to wait today to cross the road?” I reside in a Karachi apartment which is located in Block 21, F. B. Area. Rashid Minhas Road. The road runs in front of my residence. Until a couple of years ago it was not a busy road. But today it is one of the busiest roads of Karachi. We have to wait for a long time to cross it due to the tidal flow of traffic.
This area, known as the centre point between Gulshan-i-Iqbal and F. B. Area, needs traffic signals, as well as a zebra-crossing. I would also suggest building an overhead bridge over here.
SANA JAMIL
Karachi
THIS refers to Mr Kashif Hussain Qureshi’s letter (April 28). The CNIC form of Mr Qureshi’s wife had been rejected because the CNIC number of her husband/father mentioned in the form was incorrect. NADRA is maintaining the family tree of every applicant and no record of the CNIC number of the applicant’s husband/ father provided by her was found. Hence the CNIC form was automatically rejected. Mr. Kashif Qureshi is requested to contact the provincial headquarters of NADRA in Karachi.
MEDIA WING (NADRA HQ)
Islamabad
MR Ameer Bhutto has accused the PPP of trying to shelter the accused in the gang rape of a poor girl in Rattodero in Larkana district early last month (Dawn, April 30).
It is surprising that Mr Ameer Bhutto sees a PPP hand at work to protect the culprits from prosecution but did not notice that Ms Benazir Bhutto and the PPP were among the first to not only condemn the incident but also warn against letting the culprits off the hook through forced compromise with the victim.
Upon learning that pressure was being exerted on the victim’s family, Ms Bhutto also asked the PPP women MPs and leaders including Ms Naheed Khan, Ms Ruqia Soomro, Ms Rubina Qaimkhani and Ms Tauqeer Fatima Bhutto to immediately visit the victim in the police station, console her on her (Ms Bhutto’s) behalf, offer any legal aid and see to it that the victim’s family gets justice as demanded by it.
This was reported in Dawn (April 8) under the heading “Benazir condemns gang-rape incident”. The victim’s family wants justice. The PPP has been and will be in the forefront in demanding that justice is done, no matter how high the position of the culprits and how low their character.
SENATOR FARHATULLAH BABAR
Islamabad
YOU were kind enough to publish my letter on the planned mutilation of the Clifton beach and also some letters in support of my concerns. Your correspondent, Mr Noman Ahmad, wrote a piece on privatization of Clifton beach.
Regrettably, the protests have had the opposite effect on the authorities. They have apparently decided to expedite implementation of the scheme. One lizard-like structure is already under construction on the beach, for housing a high- priced restaurant.
It claims having reclaimed the land, but this can be disputed.
I have approached the provincial government which is sympathetic but helpless. It seems difficult to stop this destruction of a public beach in the guise of development. Karachi, which suffers from a shortage of basic amenities, will not be lacking in expensive eating-places.
V. A. JAFFERY
Karachi
ACCORDING to a news item (Dawn, March 19), Malaysia plans to employ Pakistanis to reduce an acute labour shortage. This plan was actually made in the first term of the Nawaz Sharif government but had to be postponed by the Malaysian government “due to unnecessary delay in agreement” by the government of Pakistan. It was an irreparable loss to the nation and its economy.
SYED SADAQAT HUSSAIN
Karachi
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