| May 21, 2005 | Saturday | Rabi-us-Sani 12, 1426 |
To send a letter to the Editor
Click here
‘Kashmir struggle’
US-Europe ties and Muslim world
Minimum wage
‘Status of Punjabi’
Pakistan’s economic standing
Oil price fixing
Traffic police claim
ID card
Pension issues
Telephone complaint
THIS is in response to Mr P. G. Gopal’s letter (May 11). Having lived in the US for a long time, I have had many Indian friends. But for some reason, I have noticed that in the past 10 years there has been a clear change in the thinking of Indians vis-à-vis Pakistan. They have developed a misguided superiority complex about India that is not justified by ground realities.
The article that Mr Gopal was commenting on was written by an Indian. And I was surprized to see that an Indian would even go to the extent of admitting as much as Mr Kunwar Idris did. It is not a trait that one finds in too many Indian writers of today.
It’s a known fact that Muslims are openly persecuted in India on a regular basis, but Mr Gopal somehow still finds some way of commenting on the state of affairs of Pakistan’s minorities. Just to remind Mr Gopal, Hindus and Christians have never been mass murdered or burned in their own homes in Pakistan. Contrary to what I hear from many Indians, Pakistan has never had any large scale anti-minority campaigns supported by ideological governments (a la BJP-Modi-Bombay-Ayodhya-Gujarat).
But it has almost become a cliché for Indians to comment on Pakistan’s minorities. One commonly held misconception is that Pakistan had 10 per cent minorities at the time of partition, but what most Indians conveniently forget is that a majority of Hindus were in what is now Bangladesh, and not in West Pakistan. There have been no mass murders or mass conversions in Pakistan. The reason why Pakistan only has about three per cent minorities is because of Bangladesh’s independence.
Pakistan still has a long way to go in equality of rights for all citizens. But, please, isn’t it time that Indians got off their high-horses as well?
ALI QAZI
California, USA
DURING my recent visit to Pakistan my hosts and business associates drove me through the motorway out of Lahore towards the capital city of Islamabad. They were rightly proud of this excellent highway. They expressed surprised that India did not have any motorway and quoted from an article by Mr Kunwar Idris in your newspaper published a day earlier on May 1.
May I inform Mr Kunwar Idris and your readers that India is currently executing a huge highway development programme, with international and domestic funding to the tune of Rs54,000 crore? We are building four-lane to eight-lane limited access highways, similar to the freeways in the United States and motorways in the United Kingdom. These include NH-2 (Delhi-Kolkata), NH-4 (Chennai-Mumbai), NH-5 (Kolkata-Chennai) and NH-8 (Delhi-Mumbai), besides North-South Corridor (Kashmir-Kanyakumari via Jalandhar, Delhi, Gwalior, Jhansi, Nagpur, Hyderabad and Bangalore) and East-West Corridor (Silchar-Porbandar via Guwahati, Purnia, Muzaffarpur, Lucknow, Kanpur, Jhansi Udaipur, Rajkot, et al).
We are building seven kilometres of highways (motorways/freeways) every day and I wish Mr Idris had visited the eight-lane highway (motorway) going south from Delhi while he was there.
India is benefiting from the experience of highway builders and consultants from the United States, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Korea, Malaysia, Iran, Indonesia, the Netherlands, Sweden, etc. We are developing local skills and many Indian companies are now seeking contracts overseas.
I look forward to India-Pakistan joint ventures for building motorways.
ARUN CHOUDHRI
Via email
THIS is with reference to Mr M. P. Bhandara’s letter (May 10). I have regard for Mr Bhandara as a member of parliament and a prominent politician despite his controversial views about the Kashmir freedom struggle. He is a strong advocate of President Pervez Musharraf’s strategy for resolution of the issue. One may differ with the president’s policy on Kashmir, but it should not be forgotten that Gen Musharraf also considers the Kashmir issue as a flashpoint and a potential threat to peace. Many leaders and think-tanks all over the world are also of the same view.
Prior to militancy, the Kashmiris used all means for a peaceful settlement of the issue. They forged an alliance named the Muslim United Front and entered into elections in 1987 to translate the aspirations of the Kashmiri people into reality by using the state assembly floor. The whole world knows how badly these elections were rigged. It was a message on the part of India to the people of Kashmir that political and peaceful means did not matter.
Many young people including Syed Salahuddin and Yasin Malik took part in those elections. But after failing to resolving the issue through peaceful and democratic means, the Kashmiri youth resorted to arms to realize their UN-mandated right to self-determination.
Mr Bhandara has very rightly quoted Bertrand Russell: “When one observes that the high idealism of the Indian government in international matters breaks down completely with the question of Kashmir, it is difficult to avoid a feeling of despair.”
It is very important to read the mindset of the Indian leadership. From Jawaharlal Nehru to Manmohan Singh, everyone has wanted to keep the state of Jammu and Kashmir under Indian occupation at any cost and without any rationale. In such a situation, Kashmiris have been left with no option but to resist Indian tyranny on all fronts. There is a genuine freedom struggle going on in Kashmir by all international standards, comparable to the freedom struggles of the Vietnamese against the Americans, the Afghans against the Soviets and the Algerians against the French. The UN charter and all other international norms justify the Kashmiris right to resist the Indian occupation with or without weapons on all fronts.
Mr Bhandara’s remarks about the mujahideen as “mercenaries” amount to rubbing salt into the wound. If they are mercenaries, who then is a freedom fighter? What will Mr Bhandara like to call those who fought the wars of 1947, 1965 and 1971?
It is painful for Kashmiris that Pakistani legislators like Mr Bhandara while turning a blind eye to Indian terrorism in Kashmir sing songs of hospitality for the Indian rulers.
ABDUR RASHID TURABI
Islamabad
MR Tony Blair’s controversial Iraq policy which has hurt his standing in the recently held UK elections also supports what someone has said — “nothing had so quintessentially disturbed the chemistry of the US-Europe relationship (in the post-Cold War period) as the unjustified US invasion of Iraq in March 2003”.
The present Europe (after the synchronized “eastward expansion” in both the European Union and Nato) is faced with a dilemma — how to choose between the two extremes of discovering a horizon beyond its strategic, economic and political dependencies on America and curtailing its role as an interlocutor on global Washington’s interests as indoctrinated by Kissinger’s diplomacy of “Americanizing Europe”.
The overwhelming view in Europe today is that the American invasion of Iraq has made the threat of terrorism worse than it was, whereas the majority view in Washington is that the United States is currently engaged in a new existential struggle. In the welter of conflicting crisis generated by the post 9/11 era, a number of Muslim countries eagerly support the forming of a new “political order” of an OIC-EU partnership, soliciting an EU interventionist role, particularly in the Middle East.
Although the White House officially backs the European effort to persuade Tehran on the wisdom of adopting the non-nuclear path, the hardcore of the US administration still believes that sticks rather than carrots will be required. Many American and euro-Atlanticists seem convinced that if Iraq brought about a split between Europeans and Americans, any US military strike on Iran would have the most severe consequences for trans-Atlantic relations.
Political realism says that the relationship is passing through a phase of neo-bipolarity in which the negative forces of unilateralism (the US) will be in a constant ideological clash with the positive forces of multilateralism (the EU).
S. Q. AFZAL RIZVI
Karachi
HUNDREDS of thousands of people in Pakistan working in the private sector cannot make ends meet and are living below the poverty line. The other day I asked an attendant at a gas station what his salary was. I was shocked to hear that he receives a net salary of Rs2,000 for working eight hours a day. It compelled me to think how this poor man would be managing his expenses when inflation in the country has gone as high as 11 per cent (Dawn, May 19).
The government is about to announce the annual budget and is likely to adjust and fix the prices of and duties on a number of items. And it will be called a “balanced budget” that has been prepared “keeping in view the poor man”. On the contrary, it will only increase the plight of the poor.
If the government is at all serious about solving the problems of the masses, it should fix a minimum take-home wage for the working class — irrespective of the fact whether the person is employed in a government or a private company, and irrespective of grade and educational qualifications and experience, etc. — to at least Rs6,500 a month.
The government should abolish the system of the middle-man called “contractor”. There should be set criteria and definition of jobs and fixed hours for the employee. A number of other co-related issues are still unsolved between employers and employees. For instance, overtime, annual leave, medical leave, etc. Unless, the government looks into the affairs of the low-income salaried class, crime rate and domestic violence cannot be reduced.
SYED A. MATEEN
Karachi
THIS refers to letters by Ms Ramla Rauf Khan (May 1) and Shakeel Nizamani (May 4). In Canada, for example in the province of Alberta, the city of Edmonton offers the children of primary schools two languages — French and Punjabi — as an option, whereas Canada’s official languages are English and French. The Canadians tend to change their policies according to their population and vocational human factor. Wherever I go I’m mostly asked by the “native” Canadian people: “Are you a Punjabi?” I have to explain that I’m from Pakistan. They take Punjabi as an entity and consider it akin to a nationality, hence their reply: “OK, so you are a Pakistani, not a Punjabi.”
There are a lot of people who migrated from India and Pakistan, and are still migrating — mostly from the Sikh community and provinces of India and Pakistan’s Punjab where the language is Punjabi. So the administration went ahead and introduced the Punjabi language as an optional language for the children. In Canada we have Punjabi FM radio and TV channels, privately owned but run with official consent. There is no apparent conflict of languages here.
It is saddening to know that in Pakistan we are still entangled in the fight of regionalism and nationalism and petty disputes on the grounds of regional languages, while the rest of the world is moving forward. The nation of Pakistan is our entity.
ANAS A. KHAN
Edmonton, Canada
WE are among 25 of the world’s poorest countries. Nawaz Sharif asked the nation to break the begging bowl and live a debt-free life. That debt-free life never materialized. Benazir Bhutto made promises, but nothing came of them. As an ordinary citizen my only concern is rising inflation and external debt. We owe more than $34 billion. The external debt rose from $33.307 billion at the end of June 2004 to $34.828 billion at the end of December 2004 — an increase of $1.521 billion within six months. There was a $433 million increase in the Paris Club debts in July-December 2004.
One reason cited for this was that the euro gained 10.4 per cent against the US dollar during this period. Nine out of 19 Paris Club creditors use euro as their national currency, which added to our misery. the pound sterling, non-euro, also appreciated by 5.5 per cent during July-December 2004.
State Bank data shows that other bilateral debts, i.e., those not covered under Paris Club loans, also rose from $720 million at the end of June to $761 million at the end of December 2004.
Pakistan’s trade deficit rose by 167.71 per cent during the July- March period of the financial year 2005 over the same period last year. Official figures released by the Federal Bureau of Statistics showed that in absolute terms the trade deficit rose to $4.262 billion during nine months (July-March) of the fiscal year 2005 as against $1.592 billion over the same period last year. Exports as percentage of imports decreased to 70.5 per cent during July-March, from 84.8 per cent during the same period last year. On a monthly basis, the trade deficit rose by 104.68 per cent to $786 million in March as against $384 million during the same month last year.
Canada plans to come to the rescue of 25 of the world’s poorest countries, including Pakistan and Bangladesh, with special attention in its aid budget. Other countries where Canada will be concentrating two-thirds of its assistance are: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, Zambia, Bolivia, Guyana, Honduras, Nicaragua, Cambodia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Ukraine.
Inflation increased to 8.8 per cent in the first seven months (July 2004-January 2005) against a full year budgetary target of 4.3 per cent and Pakistan saw double-digit inflation at 11 per cent for the second consecutive month in April 2005.
The per capita GNP of Pakistan in 1989 was $350 whereas that of Bangladesh was $170, India $330 and China $330. At the moment the per capita GNP of Pakistan is $685 whereas India and China are far ahead of us.
The only solution to our problems is to set our political, religious and sectarian differences aside and work as a nation and dream for greatness because “If you never have a dream, you’ll never have your dream come true”.
KHALIL AHMED
Karachi
THE oil advisory cartel has decided once again to maintain prices at the existing level when oil prices have steadily declined in the international market, and stand at $48 a barrel from the previous $53.
The government doled out a cool Rs2 billion to the cartel for the loss incurred by not increasing prices during the prime minister’s election drive. The present windfall, however, will go into the cartel’s coffers.
It has been mentioned time and again that prices should be reduced when crude prices drop. The government-within-a- government attitude is fattening the sacred cows at the expense of the nation.
It is the need of the hour that oil pricing policies should be handled by the central government and any change in prices be approved by the legislators to uphold consumer rights.
RAFI ADAMJEE
Karachi
THE Lahore traffic police chief recently proudly claimed that his department collected Rs7.5 million in fines from motorcycle riders violating the helmet rule. But what about the dozens of broad daylight dacoities involving millions of rupees in Lahore daily? Nobody tries to catch the criminals, because that requires effort and courage.
The motorcycle is a means of transport for students belonging to the lower middle class. They are easy prey for the police. It is an act of fleecing the weak. The police should not be proud of it.
Government representatives have tried to justify the helmet rule by citing statistics of deaths caused in a year due to motorcycle accidents. This claim needs to be examined in the light of the number of deaths involving car or bus riders every year. This will show that the number of deaths in car, wagon and bus accidents in a year is much more than those caused by two-wheelers. The government should also introduce compulsory safety measures for users of cars, wagons and buses.
M.K. CHEEMA
Lahore
THIS refers to Nadra’s letter (May 8) in reply to my plaint about rejecting the CNIC form of my wife on the plea that the CNIC number of the applicant’s husband/father was incorrect/ not found.
In the last six months I have sent several copies of my CNIC No. 41303-1495275-1 and my wife’s father’s NIC No. 450-49- 059911 issued from Hyderabad under No. HD-579, dated 16-4-1974, to Nadra offices in Islamabad, Karachi and Hyderabad under registered post, but in vain. Nobody bothered to give me an appropriate reply.
KASHIF HUSSAIN QURESHI
Karachi
A FEW months back Gen Pervez Musharraf announced that to provide relief to pensioners, the minimum pension under the Employees Old-Age Benefit Institution (EOBI) scheme had been increased from Rs700 to Rs1,000. But it seems that the authorities of the EOBI have a different view.
One of their senior officers immediately declared that it was difficult to raise the minimum payment. Even after a passage of more than four months, no instructions to banks have been issued. Does it not mean defiance of a presidential order?
The prime minister should find out how much the poor have to suffer to collect even Rs700 by spending on transport, braving the extremes of the weather and standing in long queues. If the president’s directive can be so easily ignored, the time is not far when people will lose faith in the government.
We urge the president and the prime minister to ensure that their directives are immediately implemented.
M. ALTAF ALI
Karachi
MY residential telephone 4924128 has out of order since April 19 and in spite of numerous complaints, there is no relief. I also applied for a new connection on 111-900-900 under registration No. 09942 on May 2 as per the PTCL press announcement for free connections and free telephone sets from May 2 to 26, but that too has produced no result so far.
MUHAMMAD DAWOOD
Karachi
My telephone no 6984461 has been out of order for 12 days. In fact, I found out that someone running a PCO is using it in connivance with a lineman. I submitted a written complaint with the DE (phones) on May 14 but to no avail.
ABDUL AZIZ
Karachi
You can also send letters to the Editor
Just send your message to the following address:
Make sure you include your full name, postal address, e-mail address, and in the case of Pakistan your day-time telephone number.