| June 8, 2005 | Wednesday | Rabi-us-Sani 30, 1426 |
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Mobile phone charges
Amenity plots
Health delivery system
‘Costly consultants’
Police powers
OIC’s name change
No relief
Industrial estates
Muslim unity
SOME letters (May 23, June, 3) have appeared about the fishing ban and the European ban on imports of seafood from Pakistan.
We have a fishing fleet whose registration numbers have crossed 15,000 but at an average of 50 to 75 boats per day discharge their catch at the Karachi harbour, and it is estimated that only around 2,000-3,000 boats may be in operational condition.
Karachi is the main landing and auction area where even fish caught at other coastal ports eventually find their way and are auctioned or supplied directly to processing plants which are about 16 in number inside the fish harbour and about eight in the industrial areas of Karachi. There are now about six more plants located in the coastal ports of Balochistan. The plants can only hold stocks which can roll out immediately upon completion of containers as it requires freezing/processing capacity which is not enough to cope with the quantities that land. Pakistan has been gifted with seafood resources even in this century when resources in other countries are depleting due to huge mechanical fishing, and the reason why Pakistan still has the resources left is due to our backwardness in fishing — a blessing in disguise.
Our problems are different. We have no proper fishing authority and people from anywhere who have no proper knowledge in this field are made to take over, mishandle and confuse issues. Our failure to have a national fishing policy makes us suffer in the following ways:
1. There is no proper stock assessment or a national fishing policy which should be made with the consent of all stakeholders.
2. Plant owners have invested billions of rupees and they can’t even get clean water, uninterrupted electric supply, a proper sewerage system, a clean and properly managed market, proper supply chain, associated spares for machinery or even proper utensils and good quality packaging material. Yet it is expected of them to produce goods equal in quality to that produced in Europe or the USA and compete in the international market.
3. The officials of the ministry and regulatory agencies are not qualified and lack basic knowledge, thus causing severe hardship to the industry. A recent example is the voluntary ban imposed by the agriculture and fisheries ministry which could have been then and even now handled properly without interfering in exports but no agency has investigated whether the ministry acted prudently or because of some self-centred motives or due to shear misjudgement and without proper homework.
The fishing community feels very disheartened. At present, in the fish harbour electricity is shut down two to four times a day for a total of about six to eight hours. This causes severe stress on refrigerating machineries, and when it is provided the voltage is so low that you go back on your generators or damage your machines, and at the end of the month the electricity bill is still staggering. All this is being done systematically, presumably to destroy this industry as there is no one to listen. The association has already been destroyed by some vested interests in collusion with the officials and a number of people calling themselves chairmen who do not even have a stake in the industry.
The demand by boat-owners for allowing them to fish in the month of June and July is always misunderstood as the Sindh Fisheries Ordinance only prohibits catching of shrimps and freshwater fish in these months. But as a lot of shrimp trawlers have been converted by installing winches and changing their nets to high-lift trawls meant for catching fish and not shrimps — which are caught with bottom trawls of smaller meshes — nobody understands their woes and this is due to ignorant officials who are supposed to understand that such boats will only catch fish that is abundantly available in our waters in these times and eating away shrimps and other smaller fish. For example, this year all tuna vessels of the world wish to fish in our waters as a lot of tuna have migrated to our waters and there has to be a lot of small fish as their food in this water. So why stop our fishermen from catching and stopping them at a time when prized species of squid and cuttlefish is landing abundantly and being sold at a good price. An irritating factor for the local fishermen is that they are not given port clearances but deep sea trawlers are allowed to fish in these seasons, and this needs to be investigated as to who is responsible for this injustice.
Our people at the ministry do not even understand that GRT (gross registered weight) is not a measure of the capacity of vessels when they make their deep sea fishing policy while smart operators take advantage of such weak rules, causing trouble amongst various agencies about the documentation of vessels.
SYED AKHLAQ HUSSAIN
Karachi
THERE are six foreign cellular companies operating in Pakistan and the telecom sector is booming. But mobile phone users are at the receiving end, victim of this boom in so many ways. They are paying heavy taxes to the government while cellular companies are overcharging them because of the per-minute billing system.
The government is charging high taxes from mobile phone users. If I load a scratch card worth Rs500, 10 per cent is deducted as advance sales tax and 15 per cent excise duty levied on the remaining amount. Thus, a minimum of Rs120 is deducted as taxes and excise duty on Rs500. This is too much. Most mobile users are from the middle and lower middle classes. The high and mighty of this country do not bear mobile phone expenses as tax-payers are there to foot their bills.
The cellular companies are fleecing the subscribers by overcharging them because of the per-minute billing system. For instance, if a subscriber makes a call for three seconds, he pays for full one minute. If the call goes to 61 seconds, he has to pay for two minutes. Thus, cell phone users are paying extra amount on each call for the airtime they do not consume. Subscribers lose between one and four rupees on each call because of this anomaly.
There are more than 10 million subscribers and the cellular companies are making millions of rupees every day for the airtime the subscriber don’t consume.
There is another serious problem that needs to be tackled — subscribers are not sure whether the one-minute duration of calls is counted after 60 seconds or the minute clicks earlier than that. Whenever a prepaid subscriber asks for the record of calls made, the companies simply refuse to provide it that saying this is not their policy. This is quite strange. Prepaid subscribers, like postpaid ones, should have also the right to know their balance after deduction.
The Pakistan Telecommunications Authority and ministries concerned are requested to introduce and implement the per-second pulse or billing system for cellphone subscribers — a standard practice in the developed world. Some multinational cellular companies operating in Pakistan are also following the per-second billing system in other countries.
The PTA is also requested to issue clear-cut instructions about the billing law and ensure that cellular companies strictly follow them to save subscribers from overpaying.
MUHAMMAD AYUB MINHAS
Islamabad
THE recent sale of “Mid-East” to a builder has dispossessed Karachiites of one more good hospital. This facility was built in the mid-70s at a vantage spot, i.e., the main Clifton road, to cater for the needs of Defence and Clifton. The hospital had 50 beds, a modern operation theatre, laboratory and ICU/CCU; and more significant part is that more than 200 specialists were regularly providing consultancy to 2,500 to 3,000 patients a day. Besides, a round-the-clock pharmacy, well stocked with medicines, was the most convenient and approachable source for the residents of the entire area. Closure of such a medical centre in a city already short of medical facilities and with a fast-growing population is a setback.
It is learnt that now at this site a commercial mall is being constructed. This city has been going through the worst sort of commercialization. Most book stores have been turned into jewellers’ shops; cinema-houses that used to be source of entertainment for the middle and lower classes have been converted into malls and residential plazas. Shockingly, our citizenry has been so desensitized that not even an eyebrow is raised at what is going on.
Like all amenity plots, those marked for hospitals are also allotted to only those who are interested in the specific purpose of establishing medical facilities in an area. But what are we witnessing in our culture is that for last many years due to the sudden rise in the prices of real estate the owners fall prey to avarice as managing a hospital is not more profitable proposition. But where is the law of specific purpose for which such plots were allotted? Where are the agencies concerned and what are they doing to protect the rights and privileges of citizens?
ALTAMASH MANZOOR
H. KURESHI
Karachi
THIS is with reference to the news published in Dawn (May 31) regarding the speech of State Bank governor Dr Ishrat Hussain on the health delivery system in our country.
The governor is right when he says that since the country’s inception the health delivery system has been working for the elite and not for the poor of Pakistan.
It is not possible to provide healthcare when the district governments and provincial governments have no coordination and cooperation. In fact, in many cases they work against each other without realizing the human cost of their short-sightedness.
Dr Hussain is also correct when he mentions the total violation of merit in appointments to responsible posts in the health department all over the country.
It is time the government brought about revolutionary changes by making the PMDC fully autonomous, district health authorities independent, ensured transparency in the working of the provincial health departments and undertook devolution of health to provinces and district governments.
By adopting a policy of strict merit at all levels in the medical education system, we can hope that after a decade things will move in the right direction.
DR HABIBUR RAHMAN SOOMRO
Karachi
REFERENCE news item (Karachi Metropolitan of May 14), editorial (May 15) and Mr Arshed Bhatti’s response (May 19), I would like to confine myself to Mr Arshed Bhatti’s letter.
Mr Bhatti’s assertion that “not a single rupee was spent from the national exchequer” shows dependence on foreign money for every kind of project. Our acceptance without questioning shows a disturbing sign of decline in our abilities and national will.
I cannot think of consigning our youth policy to foreign funding because the in-built mechanism underlying such arrangements leads to a vicious cycle of servile dependence.
The final draft of the youth policy, as available on the Internet, suffers from disturbing structural weaknesses — jumping from one para to another without cohesion and continuity, missing a number of important subjects and issues in the process and confusing its reader about the strategy. This weak mechanism will make it impossible for the ministry to recommend the extent to which provisions can be incorporated in our Constitution to make room for a youth policy based on changing concepts of development in accordance with newly-emerging strategies for human well-being and socio-economic uplift developed by the United Nations.
A good policy must begin with a clear policy statement committing the state to its constitutional obligations toward the youth. It must review constitutional provisions and the legislation supporting the centre’s objectives, its powers, roles and responsibilities, as well as institutional arrangements. Legislative and other references made in para 1.1 of the policy perspective are, in fact, an incomplete bibliography, requiring separate attachment to the policy with a number of other additions and references to be supported by detailed reviews and explanations in the main text.
I am astonished at the poor delivery of results compared to the expertise engaged on the project, including “close consultation with leading figures” and “critical review of certain international youth policies” as claimed in Mr Bhatti’s letter. These efforts, supported by the hard-earned money of (and in gratitude to) the Norwegian people, are more than sufficient to produce an outstanding youth policy for Pakistan, especially as a policy drafted by John Ewen at a cost of Rs10.2 million is available for consultation.
Terms of reference of the policy have not been defined: briefly, policy guidelines relating to current trends in private and public sectors, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of the present institutional arrangements. The policy fails to provide definitions of various important terms, conditions, premises, provisions, qualifications and stipulations. It also fails to identify the issues involved and offers no mechanisms as to the change in the composition of support measures. Youth roles and responsibilities are changing rapidly owing to socio-economic development. This calls for a new planning process based on how the world can, by 2015, meet the eight millennium development goals under the global plan developed by the UN to stop degradation of life support systems — worth trillions of dollars per year — and their value for the well-being of current and future generations which is a vital factor in youth policy planning.
The policy uses a number of vague expressions, such as enlightened moderation, which cannot be used in policy formulation. This expression, with similar others, lacks objectivity, and carries controversial interpretations. The policy makes too many assumptions without researching into plausible alternatives. It accepts a questionable mould rooted in a modernization paradigm where youth development is seen as a bridging of gaps by means of an imitative process and fails to draw any lessons from the fact that in South Asia alone half a billion people have been rendered jobless in the last few years due to globalization and indiscriminate growth of industry — environmental degradation, limited opportunities, and exploitation of the energy of the youth being some of its manifestations.
This is the state of consultancy services in Pakistan.
MAHMUD IQBAL BAIG
Rawalpindi
THE police have vast powers to arrest but only in accordance with the law (Mr Justice Razvi of the LHC). Ms Asma Jahangir moves the justice of peace against police officials who maltreated her. Mr Justice Tariq Pervez of the PHC in a case concerning an Arab woman says the woman had visited Pakistan of her own free will and entered into a “nikah” and there was no basis for the registration of an FIR. An SHO and three others suspended for torturing a youth to death.
These are all news reports published in your paper on the same day, May 28. There are always a number of cases that are never published or reported. The conduct of the police in all our provinces is similar and both urban and rural people are tired of their methods.
It seems the government — like all governments in the past — has shut its eyes to police high-handedness to instil fear in the people to prolong its rule.
GHEEWALA A.G.M
Karachi
THE OIC is planning to change its name and expand its scope of work. Interesting as it sounds, the name OIC truly described its attitude towards problems facing the Muslim community: “Oh, I see.”
However, it is heartening to know that serious thought is being given to revamp the organization. In this regard, I would suggest that the new name of the organization should be the League of Muslim Nations (LMN).
S. S. JAMAL
Riyadh
IT will be about four months since the sides of the road in front of houses in Karachi’s Block 1, Clifton, along the Sharea Ghalib, was dug up by the NLC to build a drain. Since then, residents have been unable to bring their cars inside their houses. Cars are parked outside on the road. Thieves and drug addicts time and again steal side-mirrors and other accessories from the cars.
The NLC officials concerned have been asked on a number of occasions to come to our rescue but so far no relief has been provided.
MOHAMMAD ANWAR SHAH & OTHER RESIDENTS
Karachi
IF we want to move to a self-reliant economy, we have to industrialize ourselves. Let me narrate my experience. When I established my first industry in SITE, Karachi, I wrote a letter to the SITE managing director about water shortage and roads. Now after 30 years when my son is joining the group, he is also writing letters to the SITE administration on the same issues of water shortage and bad roads, because these problems have remained unresolved so far.
Industries can flourish only when basic infrastructures are available at the most competitive rates. The main requirement of industries, besides capital and skilled labour, is power, water, communication and transportation. As for power, most of us have switched over to self-generation. Water has, however, to be made available by the authorities organizing industrial estates. But the fact is that we have been left at the mercy of the water tanker mafia, while broken roads with potholes are shortening the lives of our vehicles.
We are required to compete with giants from China and India but the government has failed to provide us ammunition in the form of sufficient supply of water, water treatment plants and good roads, etc. Even if good policies made by the government are not implemented to work on a fast track, our industries will remain in the backyard and will not be able to compete in the international market.
It is being frequently announced by the government that industrial estates should be developed. How about the existing industrial estates which lack basic infrastructure? Policies should be made to deal first with the existing industrial estates. The most important facilities the government can provide are water and good roads by establishing water treatment plants and re-carpeting roads.
TARIQ RAFI
Karachi
HOW many more lives? How much more blood? How many more orphans and widows? How many more broken down families? How much more destruction of our cities, etc., is required to awaken us? To make us a united nation? Our true identity is in being united as Muslims; not in being Shia or Sunnis.
MARZIA SAJJAD
Saudi Arabia
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