Agent Orange

IN a recent case, an American court threw out a lawsuit filed by Vietnamese plaintiffs over the use of Agent Orange by the US during the Vietnam War. The plaintiffs were seeking compensation from US firms such as Dow Chemical and Monsanto that manufactured the chemical for the military in the 1960s. The alleged victims say the defoliant — which contains toxic dioxins — is responsible for health problems affecting millions of Vietnamese.

Between 1962 and 1971, large quantities of Agent Orange were sprayed across parts of Vietnam to deprive communist North Vietnamese forces of forest cover; Agent Orange was named after the colour of its container. The active ingredient was a strain of dioxin that stripped the jungle bare.

In time, the plaintiffs contend, the dioxin spread through the food chain causing a proliferation of birth defects and deformities. Babies were born without eyes or arms, or were missing internal organs. A group representing alleged Vietnamese victims says three million people were exposed to the chemical during the war, and at least one million suffer serious health problems today.

Though it is understandable for the courts not to want to interfere in areas of national security, or punish corporations for carrying out the orders of a president exercising his powers as commander-in-chief, there are two aspects of this issue that are not defensible. Firstly, the use of Agent Orange by the US government led by Lyndon Johnson is a timely reminder that western “democratic” states are not immune from acts of systematic barbarity and human callousness. This should not be forgotten as we listen to the rhetoric of peace and human rights emanating from Washington and London during their “war on terror”. The second point is more illustrative of a more repugnant political trend that views human suffering from a perspective of national hierarchy. In 1984, chemical companies paid $180m to settle a lawsuit with US war veterans, who said that their health had been affected by exposure to the substance. Compensation apartheid is a poor reflection of humanity, when one’s nationality is put above the righteousness of one’s cause.

If Agent Orange caused harm to US war veterans, it certainly would have caused severe devastation to a civilian population who were largely treated as cannon fodder in a brutal war. This dismissive attitude towards civilian populations was echoed recently by one of the US Marines’ most senior generals in Iraq. Caught on tape Lt General James Mattis was recorded as saying, “Actually, it’s quite a lot of fun to fight; you know, it’s a hell of a hoot. I like brawling; it’s fun to shoot some people.”

In a world where a western life is still considered more “valuable”, and the lives of the “locals” so insignificant, it is not surprising that scepticism remains about western claims to hold a higher regard for human dignity.

JUNAID ASLAM KHAN
Islamabad

Advani on Jinnah

THERE has been quite an uproar over Mr L. K. Advani’s statements while in Pakistan about Mr M. A. Jinnah’s secular outlook. I wonder if what I had witnessed in Karachi during the riots in the first week of January 1948 would throw some light on the subject.

I forget the exact date — Jan 6 or 10, l948 — when riots broke out in Karachi and Hindus were at the receiving end. They were being killed and their houses looted. This went on for three days. Three attempts were made on us at our first floor house in Trikona (Triangular) Park area near Artillery Maidan. A nawab family on the second floor, who had migrated from Lucknow protected by their Hindu neighbours, saved us.

On the fourth day and not a day too soon, I was passing the Eidgah Maidan when I found Jinnah Sahib addressing the crowds. He had passionately spoken for about 10 to 15 minutes. He had his famous “Jinnah cap” in his hands upside down, extended towards the crowds, imploring them to desist from bloodshed and not to make Hindus the target of their wrath. His unforgettable words spoken in Urdu, which ring in my ears even today, were about Pakistan not having been created for the massacre of Hindus who had an equal right to live with Muslims and others in this “pak” (pure) land not to be made “napak” (impure) by killing them.

He desired the crowds to return and help in returning all the loot to their area police stations. He had sternly warned the masses that shoot-at-sight orders were being given to deal with offenders. And that did have a salutary effect as under the direct orders of the then military chief, the military did open fire a few times on the miscreants and riots came to a halt much to the relief of everyone including our family. It was a pleasant surprise to find the crowds returning the “loot” which piled up at Eidgah Maidan to form a mini hillock.

That was the only time I had seen and heard the creator of Pakistan. I owe my life to him and to my Muslim neighbours, the migrants from India.

HIRA GULRAJANI
Mumbai, India.

MR L. K. Advani’s visit to Islamabad was a big step but his resignation was an even bigger step in the subcontinent’s political history. It has a lesson for our leaders as well.

Advani’s recognizing the Quaid-i-Azam as a great leader not only justifies the two-nation theory but also the creation of Pakistan and the struggle for an independent homeland. His remarks in recognition of the Quaid are in other words a recognition of the just struggle of the Kashmiri people. His resignation and refusal to withdraw his statements gives a boost to his political stature on one hand and gives the people of Kashmir courage to stand up and not to budge from their stand.

ABU HASAN
Rawalakot

World Environment Day

WORLD Environment Day was observed in Pakistan on June 5. The purpose of the day is to give a human face to environmental issues and to empower people to become active agents of sustainable and equitable development. It is one of the principal vehicles through which the UN stimulates worldwide awareness of the environment and stimulates political attention and action. This year the day’s theme was “Green Cities” and the slogan “Plan for the planet”.

The environmental problems faced by the world today are painfully familiar. Despite the Earth Summit, and despite success stories like the Montreal Protocol to protect the ozone layer, human beings continue to plunder the global environment. We are failing to protect resources, ecosystems and to invest enough in alternative technologies .

Pakistan has become a an example of multiple environmental degradation. Solid waste management, deteriorating air quality due to vehicular emissions, drinking water contamination, coastal area degradation, poor disposal of hospital waste, noise pollution, tree felling and mangrove destruction are a few nightmares for the government. Sadly, the Sindh EPD and the EPA were unable to arrange for any gathering or walk involving the masses, on June 5.

We must protect our own ecosystems and habitats from further degradation or we will force devastation upon ourselves. It is imperative that environmental issues must be fundamentally repositioned in the policy-making arena. Our government must ensure strict implementation of the National Environmental Quality Standards.

RASHID ASHRAF
Karachi

Anti-American reactions

THE killing of six workers at the KFC during a protest is inexcusable. Those responsible should devote the rest of their lives to the support of the families of their victims. The killing of ordinary Pakistani workers, people who never harmed another human being, is particularly reprehensible.

Besides, such rioting is having the opposite effect intended by the attackers. It plays into the hands of the right-wing American war party, led by President Bush, who have one more reason to meddle in Middle Eastern affairs.

America, sadly, has a lot to account for. President Bush, as commander-in-chief of the military, is personally liable for the torture and murder of Muslim prisoners in his network of dungeons. After World War II, the Japanese general Yamashita was sentenced to death for war crimes, including killing American prisoners of war. The “Yamashita Standard” exactly fits the case of Mr Bush. He is also responsible for the deaths of 100,000 Iraqi civilians, among other crimes.

President Bush talks “democracy” but engages in a vast military build-up that is a characteristic of tyrants. America spends more money on arms than all other nations combined. It is the No1 exporter of arms to the world. It is investing an astounding sum of $1.5 trillion in 80 new weapons systems. To oppose the US by force is to play with the Pentagon’s deck of cards. It will be a losing game.

The way to fight fire is with water. Instead of rioting — and killing Pakistanis in the process — Pakistanis should refuse to buy American products: no cars, no machinery, no movies, no fast food, and especially no F-18 “Hornet” fighter-bombers. Prediction: after President Bush takes your half billion dollars for the warplanes, he’ll sell just as many to India. Both nations will be poorer; only President Bush’s home state of Texas — where the planes are built — will be richer.

One last thought: we Americans need your help. President Bush is enacting legislation to destroy our historic liberties. He and his Republican Party must be driven from office. It’s up to you to send them a message. Commit no negative act. Keep your temper despite provocation. Oppose America the honourable way: boycott American products. It will send Mr Bush a message that even he can read.

SHERWOOD ROSS
Founder, League for
Non-violent Solutions
Miami Beach, Florida

Cellular service

REFERENCE Helpline Trust letter regarding consumer rights and protection (June 9), undoubtedly in the absence of consumers courts and consumer laws the gullible customer is being fleeced left, right and centre whether he is dealing with local or multinational companies, schools, hospitals or service providers, and there is no one whom he can turn to.

Take for example the cell phone industry. With the boom in mobile phone business there is a plethora of advertisements in newspapers and on giant hoardings and most of these can be completely misleading. In many of these advertisements the per-minute rate for calls and SMS do not include the cost of government taxes. The latest entrant to join the fray has skilfully advertised 30-minute billing, whereas in reality it is only true for calls made within the company’s network. Unfortunately the customer learns this only when he buys the connection.

The sooner the honourable governor presents the consumers protection ordinance to the Sindh Assembly for legislation the better it will be for customers.

DUPED CUSTOMER
Via email

Political ideologies

HENRY Ford once remarked that US consumers could have any colour they wanted for their motor vehicles as long as it was black. Politics today is no different from the days of the US motor baron. Western politicians often boast about the nature of pluralism in their political process, yet the reality is far removed from the rhetoric.

In the UK elections, three major capitalist parties fought it out over small differences while other ideological parties not willing to engage in political deception were effectively excluded by Britain’s unwritten constitution. As we have seen in the elections, all three parties broadly agree on the chosen political paradigm and even dip into the same political lexicon, using terms such as “choice”, “opportunity” and “looking out for hardworking families”. What is abundantly clear however is that regardless of which party won, there will not be a shockwave through the political system. There would be no profound effect on the markets nor will we see a sudden re-nationalization of private assets, an abandoning of the “war on terror”, an abolishment of private property or a return of religion to politics. What these parties differ on are specific policies and the means to achieving common ends and shared values of liberalism and capitalism. Despite this, it is fashionable to condemn other countries — such as China, a country that only has one state communist party — for their lack of pluralism.

However what would happen if instead of having one communist party it had two communist parties, say, a Marxist/Leninist and a Trotskyist fighting it out in a national election under a communist microscope constitution? Of course if such a hypothetical scenario came about, such a set up in China would still be condemned, yet this is exactly what we see in western democracies.

It is clear that ideological nations rooted in values and common visions ensure via constitutions, written or otherwise, the types of parties that are permitted to operate. The British establishment, the US founding fathers as well as Europe’s secular elite are well aware of the need to carefully manage such political arrangements.

OUSAMA HANIF
Islamabad

Message of peace

A POWERFUL blast killed at least 20 people at Hazrat Bari Imam while several people died in a suicide bomb attack on the Madinatul Ilm mosque in Karachi. Many people were injured, families shattered and countless lives wrecked.

A debat about who was to blame of who to blame goes on. The atack on the Karachi mosque took place on the same day as a protest against the descreation of the Holy Quran. The desecration was indeed a horrible and unbearable event. We must raise our voice to protect ourselves and our identity. But why we must also look at issue of why people are being killed in cold blood for the past so many years?

We are giving the message that it is important for us to protect our Holy Book, but are we also saying that the useless spilling of innocent blood means nothing to us? In the course of protecting the Book, haven’t we forgotten to save the teachings of the very same Book?

While we prove to be so keen about whether a woman is leading prayers in a faraway country, how can we forget the women who are afraid of sending their children, husbands and brothers to mosques for prayers or other religious congregations, fearing they are not safe? Is there any other lesson more prominent in Islam than peace and humanity?

We need to set our priorities right. All the while when we are too overwhelmed by the unfairness of external forces, our internal structure is on fire. How can we even point a finger at someone else when we remain mired in the pit of brutality, injustice and hatred?

SYEDA AASIA BATOOL
Mirpurkhas

Foreign debt figures

THROUGHOUT General Musharraf’s tenure there has been talk of ending foreign dictation with regard to the economy, the latest reference being in the budget speech when the minister of state for finance endorsed “sovereignty from external interference, domination and dictation” and “making the sovereignty of Pakistan absolute”.

The government has made various attempts to dress up the rising debt we owe to multinational institutions such as the World Bank, which interfere in every area of the economy as well as areas such as education. At times the figure for debt has been combined with external liability figures to hide it, as the adviser to the prime minister on finance, Dr Salman Shah, did on June 8. It has been expressed as a percentage relative to the GDP, to hide its absolute rise.

However, cutting through such smokescreens, debt to international financial institutions has grown immensely as a close scrutiny of State Bank figures reveals.

Before General Pervez Musharraf came into power, Pakistan’s debt to multinational institutions such as the World Bank stood at $10.599 billion (July 1, 1999). As of March 30, 2005 it had risen by 50 per cent to $15.461 billion. As for the debt to the IMF it now stands at $1.757 billion, a marginal reduction from the $1.825 billion it was before General Musharraf’s regime. This is in spite of the fact that over the same period we have paid $8.8 billion to multinational institutions.

So, rather than taking the nation into confidence about the true picture of increasing dictation by international financial institutions, we are having the wool pulled over our eyes. This is putting the interests of the western donor states first who back the World Bank and the IMF, to ensure the increased influence of western multinational companies and to prevent Pakistan from emerging as an industrial power.

DR ABDUL WAJID
Lahore

Freedom of press

HOW free journalism is in our country can be visualized from the following:

There were 11 attacks on mediapersons between January and April.

Two journalists were killed and a number of them were wounded in tribal areas.

On May 3, the world observed International Press Freedom Day. A rally of journalists in Lahore was lathi-charged. On the same day 30 journalists were arrested in front of Parliament House.

There are a number of other problems due to which journalists remain under constant threat and tension, and cannot do their jobs properly. Why?

A. LUQMAN SADIQ
Lahore

Sales tax returns

THE attention of the CBR chairman is drawn towards the following two columns missing in the format of sales tax returns prescribed for commercial importers in the new sales tax rules 2005 introduced in the budget 2005-2006:

1. Sales tax refundable.

2. Input tax from previous tax period (if any).

Without these two columns the commercial importer shall be unable to file his monthly sales tax returns.

MUNAWAR H. MANEKIA
Karachi

Saudi visa

ACCORDING to an announcement of the Saudi Arabian embassy in Pakistan (Dawn, June 9) all those applying for visa to the Kingdom are required to present new machine-readable passports, as a new system is being installed which would only be able to process such passports.

This requirement for new passports cannot be justified because the existing manually prepared passports are to remain valid at least for one more year — till the end of June 2006. It would therefore be appreciated if the Kingdom’s embassy delays its decision for machine readable passports till June 2006.

NAJAM
Via email