| June 24, 2005 | Friday | Jumadi-ul-Awwal 16, 1426 |
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Pharmaceutical industry
Mukhtaran Mai
PAMI’s appeal to government
Prisons for women in Sindh
Gandhi’s visit to Srinagar
Advani’s remarks
‘Standing in line’
Pakistan and Afghanistan
Pensioner’s woes
N-disarmament
THE mystery shrouding the fate of our most prized national asset for the past couple of weeks has finally come to an end. Despite the outcry from the workers and a swaying stock market the Privatization Commission went ahead with the privatization of the PTCL with Etisalat of the UAE, fetching $2.598bn. Now, the next plausible step would be the utilization of these proceeds to reduce debt and poverty. However, it is an irony that the highly affected are rarely considered.
The only thing that the government deems appropriate for the people to know is that Pakistan has achieved a per capita income of $736 and we are among the top three growing countries in the region, and by the wave of a magic wand the government will be able to accommodate seven million unemployed people by 2010. However as simple as it may seem, the government high-ups are only fiddling with the macro-economic indicators.
Ambitious steps have been taken by the government, obliging it to spend 4.5 per cent of the GDP on the pro-poor sector. International donor agencies are expected to bestow us with $1bn for poverty alleviation (June 18). Khushal Pakistan Programme is set to receive Rs60bn. With all this unprecedented grants and soft loans, will the government be able to achieve its targets? This seems far from reality as this fiscal year saw the public sector utilizing only 49 per cent in the first nine months, yet they are confident of completing 100 per cent of the projects during this quarter. Amazingly, no inquiry commission has been made to look into the matter.
Though it may seem sarcastic, the only institution that utilizes its resources to the fullest (and even more) is the armed forces. The reason being the prudent policies implemented, creating checkpoints at every stage and making sure the targets are achieved. It will not be inappropriate to suggest that the army should extend its favour in the public sector, not merely by accommodating its retired officers but implementing the same austere policies that it has come to adopt.
It is about time that our pseudo-intellectuals and philosophers realized that the common man does not need democracy. He needs a system that can provide him with social justice, safeguard his rights, supply him the basic necessities of life and to make him believe that “poverty is no sin”. All this can be attained if the government, democratic or otherwise, can provide its citizens with a transparent system that is established for his welfare and is answerable to him at every stage.
HARIS TOHID SIDDIQUI
Karachi
THERE are many inaccuracies in the observations by Mr Zaheeruddin Babar in his letter (June 17). Obviously, living in another country, Mr Babar is out of touch with the realities of the pharmaceutical sector and his negative comments are aimed at misrepresenting the facts and creating doubts in the minds of the readers.
Pakistan’s pharmaceutical industry is a high technology, essential and even strategically important industry. It is very well developed and has undoubtedly attained the highest international quality standards of GMP, including quality assurance. The major players are 27 research-based international companies which collectively represent the single largest group of overseas investors in Pakistan in numerical terms as well as 60 or so high quality ethical national companies which over the last 10 to 15 years have attained consistent international quality standards.
It is an industry which manufactures a wide range of research-based life saving and life-enhancing medicines and quality branded generics. It is a major contributor to the health of the Pakistani people, and to the economic well-being of the country. Without a strong domestic pharmaceutical sector, which directly meets almost 80 per cent of our nation’s total pharmaceutical needs in value terms for both human and veterinary (animal health) medicines, Pakistan would have fewer resources to pay for adequate health and social care. The industry is a major contributor to the national exchequer and directly employs over 50,000 highly skilled and semi-skilled persons.
Mr Babar’s comments criticizing the role of the health ministry as regulators and their lack of vision is unfounded. In fact during the last three years there has been a noticeable progress in the right direction and genuine industry issues are being tackled.
As far as the availability of counterfeit products are concerned, there is no country in the world that does not experience this menace. In Pakistan a high level ministry task force has been working day and night to combat this menace in close cooperation with the industry, chemists and druggists and various law-enforcing agencies. Rational drug use has always been one of the cornerstones of the ministry’s policies as is evident from the national formulary list, which is reviewed and updated regularly.
The overall expenditure on health in the public sector has seen major increases in recent years and will continue to grow in the future.
ZAFAR H. MOORAJ
Karachi
HOW far the government can go to oppress Mukhtaran Mai? Normally the judiciary and the administration were two separate institutions, but in case of denying justice to Mukhtaran Mai, both seem to be hand in glove.
First, Mukhtaran Mai was gang-raped by four criminals. This was a sentence for a
crime she never committed. Nobody dared lodge a report with the police as the people involved were influential landlords. Our government yielded before them. But the newspaper reports made the Supreme Court take suo motu action.
An anti-terrorism court found the rapists guilty; therefore six criminals were given the death penalty. The Lahore High Court decided, on a petition filed by convicts, that there was no case of rape — and ordered their release. What about the 300 Meerwala villagers who saw her going home with no clothes on — as writes Nicholas Kristoff,
the New York Times correspondent in his article: “Sentenced to be raped”? What about Dawn which has been editorializing on a number of occasions exposing high-handedness?
Then she was house-arrested. She was not allowed to travel outside Pakistan. Her passport was confiscated by the chief minister’s adviser on women’s affairs, Nilofer Bakhtiar, for fear of Pakistan’s image being tarnished.
Why is it happening in this land? Why is the government hostage to influentials who are jagirdars, sardars, zamindars and waderas? And why is the judiciary siding with the government in this case? Is someone listening?
S.M. KAZIM NAQVI
Karachi
THE Executive Committee of the Pakistan Association of Private Medical and Dental Institutions (PAMI) met on Tuesday to consider the demand of the Pakistan Medical Association to the federal government through the minister for health regarding the PMA’s role in policy making and medical education (Dawn, June 20).
This is an alarming situation and a strange request by the PMA. The PMA is for the well-being of the doctors, but it has turned into a trade union of doctors. It has now assumed a political role though most of its office-bearers are government servants.
The PMA’s role on medical education has been hazy. It was the PMA which in the early 70’s masterminded strikes to increase seats in medical colleges without a corresponding increase in facilities. Hence deterioration in medical education.
With the influx of substandard doctors produced by the public sector medical colleges, large private hospitals decided to open private medical colleges with the consent of the government and the PMDC. It then realized that the curricula were obsolete and outdated and needed to be reviewed. It then asked the PMDC for a review of its curricula and representation of the private sector so that the stakeholders could be involved in uplifting medical education.
This generated tremendous public interest as it was a genuine matter, but the PMDC resisted the idea. This served to protect the deteriorating public sector medical colleges as they could not compete with the private sector.
Now, PMA and the PMDC doctors have joined hands to try and close private educational facilities in Pakistan.
Governor Dr Ishratul Ebad Khan should hold free and fair elections, as the PMA has become a political party.
DR. ASIM HUSSAIN
President, Pakistan Association of Private Medical and Dental Institutions, Karachi
APROPOS of the report “Most prisons in Sindh overcrowded: Minister” in your issue dated June 17, there are four women jails in Sindh — at Karachi, Larkana, Hyderabad and Sukkur.
The three prisons outside Karachi are not overcrowded, as the figures in the Dawn news item show. The capacity of the Special Prison for Women, Karachi, is 150, according to the superintendent (and not 102).
There is no doubt that there is some overcrowding at the Karachi women’s prison but compared to the two male prisons of Karachi, conditions in the women’s prison are much better.
It is the large population of foreigners (about 93) in the women’s prison which accounts for the overcrowding. They are all kept in one big barrack, and this creates problems in that particular barrack at night after lockup.
There are two options to deal with this problem — either build another prison or two barracks or reduce the number of those confined. The Legal Aid Office (LAO) set up by group of concerned persons with Justice (retd) Nasir Aslam Zahid seeks to achieve this latter course and has over the past 11 months of operations organized the release of 34 prisoners and the repatriation of 14 foreign women. It is our intention to extend this legal assistance and financial support to other women prisons and in the course of time, resources permitting, to all prisons in Pakistan.
SADIA SUHAIL
Administrator, Karachi Women Prisoners Welfare Society Karachi
THIS is with reference to the letters by Mr M. P. Bhandara and Khalid Hassan on the subject of M. K. Gandhi’s visit to Srinagar on the eve of independence.
The Mountbatten papers, since made public, throw ample light on the imperative of the Indian leader’s visit to Srinagar before the actual transfer of power to the dominions of India and Pakistan.
In a letter dated July 27, 1947 Pandit Nehru wrote to the viceroy: “You will remember that soon after your arrival in India as viceroy I discussed Kashmir with you. It was my intention then to visit Kashmir. But on your telling me that you would go there yourself, I decided to postpone my visit. Your visit to Kashmir was from my particular point of view not a success and things continued as before. Indeed there was considerable disappointment at lack of results of your visit”.
Earlier the maharaja of Kashmir in a letter to Mountbatten had strongly opposed Nehru’s visit. He held “that if the leader of one political denomination arrives, he is bound to be followed by a leader of another denomination”. The maharaja stated that “we do not — at least for the time being — consider the question of linking ourselves from the military point of view with either one or the other of the two dominions. A decision in these matters will be taken when we see how things turn out in the light of circumstances as they develop|
Mountbatten held a meeting on July 29, 1947 to consider Nehru’s visit to Srinagar in the light of the maharaja’s advice and reservations. The meeting was attended by Gandhi, Nehru and Sardar Patel. The minutes of the meeting were recorded by Mountbatten himself.
Mountbatten pointed out that “visit by any Congress leader could not fail to be received in the world press just at the time it was known that Kashmir as the choice of Pakistan or India was before its ruler, but that this effect could be somewhat mitigated if Gandhi went on account of the religious aura that surrounds him whereas if Nehru went, it would be regarded as a piece of straightforward lobbying”
Sardar Patel expressed his view “that neither of them should go but that in view of Pandit Nehru’s great mental distress in his mission in Kashmir to remain unfulfilled”, he agreed “that one of them must go”. He very bluntly remarked “it is a choice between two evils and I consider that Gandhiji’s visit would be the lesser evil”.
Pandit Nehru held forth “that nothing would be more natural than that Congress should send a high-level emissary to lay before the government of Kashmir the advantages of joining the dominion of India”.
Gandhi agreed and went to Srinagar in fulfilment of the mission, namely, to lay before the maharaja the advantages of joining the dominion of India.
S. AFZAAL HUSAIN ZAIDI
(Ex-principal information
officer, government of Pakistan) Islamabad
MR F. H. Ansari has missed out an important aspect from his letter on the above topic (June 19). It was not magnanimity praising Mr Jinnah; it was political expediency as well.
In the last general election the Indian electorate roundly rejected ‘India shining’ and ‘Hindutva’. The average Indian voter could see nothing shining in the darkness of his miserable life, nor could he obtain sustenance from Hindutva. The message he delivered by defeating the BJP was that he wants his poverty alleviated, as well as a peaceful existence without turmoil and bloodshed, in order to pursue his daily livelihood. ‘India shining’ and ‘Hindutva’ roundly failed to provide these two conditions.
In addition, the Muslim vote in India has become a decisive element. Although Muslims cannot return their representatives in proportion to their population, their votes swing the balance.
Therefore, the BJP has to offer a new look to the Indian poor, in general, and to the Muslims, in particular. The core elements of BJP, RSS and VHP, are supporters of big business and landlords, flourishing at the same time on communal sentiment. This baggage has to be dropped in favour of a liberal and secular image, in other words, stealing the liberal and secular mask of Congress.
Nevertheless, Pakistanis, in general, and Indian Muslims, in particular, should welcome any departure from the communal mindset which has brought so much misery and misfortune to the subcontinent. A sincere detente between Pakistan and India would mean poverty alleviation but also stability to Asia and Africa which are witnessing the upsurge of neo-colonialism.
SHAHID HASAN
Karachi
THIS refers to Mr Ayaz Amir’s column ‘Standing in line’ (June 17), wherein he has rightly highlighted the nation’s love for plastics.
Perhaps Mr Amir is not aware that our government is encouraging plastic against all other packaging materials. The government has all along supported the use of polypropylene bags for packaging wheat and now it is encouraging to replace kraft paper bags for packing cement by polypropylene bags.
Our environment ministry and other NGOs might propagate against the use of plastic, pointing out its hazardous consequences, but the government in its fiscal policies has been encouraging plastics by reducing import duty on its raw material from 20 per cent to five per cent.
With this government policy, I think Mr Amir is unduly optimistic in estimating that the future archaeologist will only find plastics while digging the republic’s foundations in a thousand years — perhaps it will be much, much earlier than 1,000 years because we all know that plastic is cancerous and highly injurious to human beings. It will clog our rivers and render our fertile farmland into barren and unproductive ground.
If our government is sincere about our environment, it should immediately increase the import duty on plastic raw materials to a prohibitive level (at least 25 per cent) and increase the rate of income-tax on companies which are involved in manufacturing plastic products.
With these measures we will at least be able to say that we are doing something positive for our environment.
S. Z. KAZMI
Karachi
THIS refers to the news item “Karzai alleges interference” (Dawn, June 21), according to which Afghan President Hamid Karzai has accused Pakistan of interfering in his country’s internal affairs.
If feeding homeless Afghans in Afghan camps is “interference”, then yes, Pakistan is interfering. If clamping down on Al Qaeda (bred and nourished in Afghanistan) is “interference”, then yes, Pakistan is interfering. It does not make sense when Mr Karzai says that Pakistan is “threatening” Taliban that members of their families would be handed over to the US if they do not fight against Afghanistan. What in the world these families are doing in Pakistan?
If Mr Karzai has some concrete information, why is he not making it public and conveying it to the US? After all, Pakistan is the leading ally of the US in the war against terror, fighting it out some times at its own expense.
When will Afghan regimes understand that Pakistan is their neighbour and has tried to help them out in every critical time starting from the Russian invasion till today?
ANAS A KHAN
Edmonton, Canada
THERE was a lot of drumming of the expected increase in pay and pension for a whole year prior to the announcement of the present budget. As usual, it turned out to be nothing different from the past.
A lot has been promised with reference to the increase in the profit rates of the National Savings schemes. Even if it is announced, it would be peanuts and yet another eyewash. But then, we don’t have a choice as we are a burden on the nation, the economy, and ourselves.
A PENSIONER
Lahore
THIS refers to the letter by Mr Rafat Ahmad Khan (June 17). Very few of the senior citizens who retired before 1972 must be alive as they would be in their mid-’90s. Undoubtedly they must be living very miserable and pathetic lives trying to sustain themselves on their meagre pensions of yesteryear.
It would be humane on the part of the government to peg their pension with the cost of living.
MAMNOON KAZMIE
Thousand Oaks, USA
THIS refers to your editorial ‘Nuclear disarmament’ (June 20) in which it has been advocated that India and Pakistan should go for a nuclear disarmament pact. Well, it may suit India because in conventional arms it is far superior to Pakistan.
The fact is that had Pakistan not acquired a nuclear capability, India would not have been restrained from attacking Pakistan both at the time of Kargil and following the attack on their parliament in December, 2001. A two million-strong Indian army kept standing on our borders for more than a year but daring not attack. Why? So reason dictates that we should always maintain a minimum deterrence.
LT-COL (retd)
SAFIR A. SIDDIQUI
Karachi
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