| May 14, 2005 | Saturday | Rabi-us-Sani 5, 1426 |
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Budget 2005-06
Do we really need F-16s?
Quality PhDs
Investment opportunities
Night parking lot
‘A people with two faces’
Women’s rights
Housing problem
Bank draft issues
Doctors’ fees
UN seat for India
Non-violent jihad
LETTERS appearing in the press describe the problems faced by citizens in getting passports, purchasing NSS documents from the national savings centres, in payment of taxes, and in several other government and civic related matters. But the government and civic agencies seem least concerned about serving or facilitating the people.
Before introduction of the machine-readable passports, the ministry concerned should have evaluated the problems and provided adequate, practical and people-friendly procedures and facilities. It is mind-boggling that a ministry or a government department should so totally ignore the convenience of its citizens and subject them to easily avoidable inconvenience and harassment.
To expect that in a city like Karachi, with a population of over 12 million, only one location for the issuance of the new passports would be sufficient speaks volumes for the indifference and disregard of the public interest on the part of the authorities. At least four or five centres located in different areas should have been planned. Nadra should publicize in the press a detailed list of documents required for the issuance of the new passport, and explain stepwise the procedure to be followed. At present an applicant after braving the heat and humidity and standing in a queue for two to three hours is finally advised to bring this or that document.
The national savings centres comprise another area where specially senior citizens face harassment and frustration. There is inadequate space and staff and the process of issuing and redeeming NSS instruments is time-consuming. The failure of the State Bank and the finance ministry to anticipate the misuse of DSCs for procuring loans by unscrupulous speculators led to the discontinuance of the banks selling NSS instruments. This has greatly inconvenienced the public, specially senior citizens. The remedy would have been to permit the banks to deal in NSS instruments with adequate safeguards against manipulation.
The government has funds for Umra junkets by officials. It has funds to purchase multi-million-rupee limousines for undeserving functionaries. But it cannot spend a few millions on providing more passport-issuing facilities for the convenience of the public.
PRO BONO PUBLICO
Karachi
POVERTY reduction and employment are the main objectives of the government. It is hoped that while framing the budget for 2005-06, it will consider the following measures to boost economy:
a. To increase exports, suppliers should be provided electricity at reduced rates so that they are able to compete in the post-quota regime.
b. Special incentives should be offered to exporters who explore new markets other than the US, EU and other traditional outlets.
c. Disputes of GSP plus and anti-dumping duty with the EU countries should be resolved. If this does not happen, the government should increase the rate of duty on EU imports.
d. The present 15 per cent GST on textile products should be abolished.
e. Banks and leasing companies should be stopped from investing in car financing, which comes to around Rs24 billion, creating a bad impression on foreign investors that banks do not have an opportunity to invest in industry and agriculture.
f. Measures are needed to bring potential taxpayers into the net through their utilities consumption.
g. Income tax should be imposed on those who are enjoying car financing and not paying a single rupee to the national exchequer. Their data may be obtained from financial institutions.
h. Sales tax should be imposed on property sales (excluding 120- square-yard plots) to curb speculation. It will also generate handsome revenue.
i. Capital value tax should be imposed on stockbrokers / stock members who are minting money.
j. Customs duty on industrial raw material should be reduced to curb smuggling.
k. Duty on imported confectionery and beverages should be increased to discourage their import. We are a poor country where one-third of the population lives below the poverty line.
l. All tax revenue generated from higher-income groups should be spent to end unemployment, crime, etc.
m. Electricity, gas and petrol tariff, which is already on the higher side and unaffordable by the low-income group, should not be increased.
ZUBAIR RAZZAK JANOO
Karachi
APROPOS of PAF public relations director Air Commodore Sarfaraz Ahmed Khan’s rejoinder (May 6) to Syed Shahid Hussain’s article on the above question (April 30), my answer is ‘yes’ and ‘no’, ‘yes’ carrying more.
Pakistan was provided with 40 F-16s by the Reagan administration during early 80s. Since the PAF wanted to make this aircraft a mainstay of its strike force, it ordered additional 60 F-16s in 1988 and paid for them in advance as it was a commercial deal.
The deal could not go through because of the Pakistan-specific Pressler Amendment.
The US administration knows Pakistan’s strategic importance. The US has special interests in this region. Pakistan has been fighting America’s wars in Afghanistan and at present is fighting the war against terror. Pakistan needs these warplanes. The sales would not alter the situation, much less the balance of power between Pakistan and India.
On the negative side, Mr Shahid Hussain’s objection relates to the cost and also a possible adverse influence on the peace process. The F-16 is a quarter-of-a-century old. Some defence experts say that it has outlived its ferocity.
The manufacturers, Lockheed Martin, were considering closing down the production line before the decision to sell these jets to Pakistan and India came along. But after the deliveries to these buyers, the manufacturers may finally close down the production for newer models.
From where would Pakistan get spares — the life-blood of these machines?
The need for transfer of technology is obvious. Without this the purchase of the F-16s would not be a good idea.
S.M. KAZIM NAQVI
Karachi
REFERENCE the letter by Air Commodore Sarfraz Ahmed Khan (May 6), in response to the article by Syed Shahid Hussain titled “Do we really need F-16s?” (April 30), Pakistan never really needed the F-16s.
F-16 is basically a defence strategic aircraft which can also be use for offensive purposes but has limited speed and fuel capacity. Pakistan is a poor country and let us not waste its resources. For defence, we are already working on a joint-effort aircraft with the Chinese. We need an offence-capable aircraft.
The Russian MIGs (MIG-29 or MIG-31) or the French Mirages are better options than the F-16s.
SHEHZAD BANDUKDA
Moss Bluff, LA, USA
THIS is with reference to the letter by Prof Nazir A. Mughal (April 30), advising the Higher Education Commission (HEC) to develop a database of dissertations and their indices. This is a good suggestion which if implemented could possibly reduce several ills which Prof Mughal has mentioned in his letter.
Meanwhile, I would like to bring to the attention of your readers that the Council of Social Sciences (COSS), Pakistan, which is an autonomous, non-profit and service-oriented organization of social scientists has created a database on PhD and MPhil theses of 15 social science disciplines written from 1948 to 2001. The database includes the title of the thesis, the name of its writer, the year of its completion, the name of the supervisor and that of the university in which the thesis was produced. According to some preliminary findings of the COSS database, from 1947 to 2001, a total of 1,095 social science theses have been produced. Out of these 418 (38 per cent) are PhD theses. The remaining 677 (62 per cent) are for M Phil. The highest number of PhD theses, which is 64 (15 per cent of all theses) were produced in the disciplines of political science and education followed by psychology which produced 47 theses (11 per cent of all PhD theses). The highest number of M Phil theses (184) were in the discipline of economics.
Full information of the COSS database will be published in a book form in the next three to four months and will be placed on the COSS website www.coss.sdnpk.org.
DR INAYATULLAH
Council of Social Sciences
Islamabad
ACCORDING to a news item (April 20), Dr Salman Shah, adviser to the prime minister on finance and economics affairs, has called upon US businessmen to avail themselves of investment opportunities in Pakistan. In the same spirit if the US immigration rules are softened, the net impact of immigration may be positive.
Money inflow will improve the environment for producing more skilled workers and professionals. Unlike inflows of investment or borrowing, remittances generally go directly to the less well-off, easing social pressures. They help in alleviating poverty and improving education, housing and small businesses.
MUHAMMAD ARIF BUTT
Karachi
SOMETIMES in the past one could see a row of trucks, trailers and tankers parked on the bridge linking the Musa Colony and Dr Ziauddin Hospital in Nazimabad, Karachi. Lately it has been observed that there are two rows of trucks, trailers and tankers parked on this bridge at night. Will the bridge collapse? Only time will tell. Perhaps we are the only country where a bridge is leased out as a night parking lot.
SHARJEEL JAWAID
Karachi
QUITE a few Pakistani writers and intellectuals are making the mistake of focussing only on their country’s or compatriots’ shortcomings, whether real or perceived, while ignoring the many good points they have which, ironically, often get pointed out by foreign visitors.
Mr Hafizur Rehman has unthinkingly accepted the conclusion of a western individual, drawn from some other person’s statements, that we are a people with two faces. He then goes on to praise the West by saying that “they call a spade a spade...” in his column of April 27.
Incidentally, in her May 1 column, Ms Anjum Niaz has mentioned that applicants for American citizenship are asked four specific questions, one of which is: “Are you guilty of polygamy?”
It is common knowledge that many Americans (and others in the West) have one or more sexual partners besides their own spouse, from whom they sometimes even have children. If someone practising polygamy — hardly two per cent Muslims do — calls a spade a spade, he is denied citizenship, but not a person effectively having several wives.
I have heard of a few men who declared their second wife to be a “girlfriend” and had no problem with the US immigration authorities. Isn’t this hypocritical?
Interestingly, the noted German orientalist, Dr Annemarie Schimmel, who had had much exposure, disagreed with the western notion that women in a militant, fundamentalist (read: Islamic) society are an oppressed group without any rights, not able to voice their opinions or to have a say in their own religious affairs. On the contrary, she had pointed out that women, especially mothers, played a very important role in their homes, including in the subcontinent.
Mr Hafizur Rehman has ignored many facts. One of them is that a majority of Pakistanis look after their parents in their advanced age instead of sending them to old people’s homes, as is done in the West, and take care of any widowed, sick or handicapped sisters as well. Grandparents, aunts, uncles and other relatives are also attended to, if required. Another is that countless young men — who certainly outnumber those stereotyped as “maulvis” by him — make sacrifices by working and delaying their marriage until the 30s so that their sisters can be married off first.
Also, according to some respectable research institutions, Pakistanis are among the most philanthropic people in the world by virtue of the money they spend on charitable purposes every year. Obviously, all of that is not reserved for men but at least half the amount would be benefiting girls and women. Furthermore, our hospitality is well known, which is especially showered on guests and visitors, including Indian cricketers and fans.
The foregoing are just a few examples. Many others can be given. Hence there is no reason why some of us should have such a poor self-image and portray fellow Pakistanis so badly. I readily concede things are not perfect and many of our women do undergo violence and maltreatment like their counterparts in South Asia and the Third World. It is, however, grossly unjust to single out and label all Pakistanis as having “two faces”.
FORTHRIGHT
Karachi
AMINA Wadud, contrary to Islamic law, led the Juma prayers in a church in Manhattan, USA. She was supported by many human rights and feminist groups. The Roman Catholic church states that the Pope cannot be a female. However, there was no outcry against this from the same human rights and feminist groups when the new pope was elected in Rome. This clearly shows that the Amina Wadud controversy has nothing to do with women’s rights or feminism; it was just an excuse to attack Islam.
DR IRFAN PARACHA
Lahore
I WOULD like to draw the attention of the authorities concerned towards the problem my family and I are facing: Through a welfare trust I purchased a flat in Soldier Bazaar #1, Karachi.
Four brothers, mechanics by profession, are operating an illegal garage on the ground floor of this residential complex.
These brothers claim that they are all working for National Accountability Bureau, Islamabad, whereas I found out that they are just piggybacking on some government officers who get their vehicles repaired at the garage.
They took Rs11,000 from me as “brokerage charges” when my deal with the welfare trust was finalized whereas they had nothing to do with it. On top of that, they took Rs3,000 against an existing telephone connection in the flat, otherwise threatening to cut off the wire and sell the connection to someone else.
Afterwards, when I started renovation work in the flat they began harassing the labourers, telling them to call off work or else they would be locked up in the police station.
I have lodged a complaint with the Soldier Bazaar police station but they, too, seem to be under pressure. I request the authorities concerned to take action in the matter.
MUHAMMAD RAZA HEMANI
Karachi
I VISITED the MCB, Daroghawala branch, Lahore, on May 4 for getting a Rs100 bank draft in the name of the Allama Iqbal Open University, Islamabad, as fee for verification of my daughter’s BEd degree. The official concerned told me that the bank being a private one could not issue a bank draft of less than Rs1,000, and asked me to contact a public sector bank.
The question arises whether banks have been denationalized so that they should not entertain the public to solve their banking problems. I hope that the State Bank will take note of this.
MUHAMMAD RASHID
Lahore
NO one will be happier than senior citizens, poor pensioners (always crying for an increase in their pensions) and low-paid people on your timely editorial on doctors’ fees (May 9). Charges at private hospitals, pathological, radiological laboratories and the maternity homes also require a check.
As for doctors’ fees, they show a drastic variation even when the doctors’ qualifications are the same. They vary from Rs300 to Rs500 to Rs900 or more, for all visits. In the past, doctors used to charge half the consultation fee on follow-up visits.
Other charges also need looking into: they should be the same everywhere for the same procedure. If you go for removal of cataract by the phacoemulsification method, the cost varies from Rs10,000 to Rs24,000, even more in some cases, when the technique and the machine used are the same. Pathological laboratories for routine tests charge different rates for the same tests.
Doctors’ fees and laboratory charges should be fixed in such a way that neither the doctor is a loser nor the patient.
M. SHAFIQUE AHMED
Karachi
THE nation seems somewhat perturbed about China’s reported promise of supporting India’s bid for permanent membership of the UN Security Council. We always profess that China is a lifetime friend of ours, and there is no doubt about it.
We should have quietly told China to offer support to India’s candidature for the UN Council seat on the condition that New Delhi would agree to a settlement of the Kashmir issue according to the wishes of the Kashmiri people.
Secondly, why have we not created a lobby in the UN to plead that countries which violate UN resolutions should not be eligible for a permanent seat in the organization? There may be quite a few of them but India and Israel are the biggest culprits.
RAFI NASIM
Lahore
I APPRECIATE the research of Mr Tim Flinders (April 29) on the non-violent jihad of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (Bacha Khan) and I’m glad that there are people who can still appreciate his efforts and sacrifices. It is sad that some of his countrymen call him a traitor even after he was nominated for the Nobel Prize for Peace. The fact is that Bacha Khan was a great patriot. It is high time that Pakistani authorities portrayed his real image and gave him due credit and honour, and not propagate the “Sarhadi Gandhi” image. I also appreciate Dawn for publishing the letter from a foreign reader.
MURAD KHAN KASI
Quetta
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