| July 12, 2005 | Tuesday | Jumadi-us-Sani 4, 1426 |
To send a letter to the Editor
Click here
Hasba Bill
Post-operative neglect
Kashmir: a new strategy
A teacher never retires
Lost working days
‘Terrorist attack on pluralism’
Crime in Karachi
Melting snows
Lahore airport
Evidence
England’s refusal
ELECTRICITY produced with fewer or no emissions of harmful substances is known as ‘green power’ in the West which is perhaps a new terminology for our country.
It is estimated that power shortages will appear from the year 2006, and increase to 5,500mw in the year 2010, if no measures are taken to bring in new capacity. The per capita energy consumption is currently low at 14 MBtu as compared to 92 MBtu for Malaysia and 34 MBtu for China.
According to informed sources, the total power generation capacity in Pakistan, produced by different sources, is about 17,670 MW or 17.67 GW. Out of it, Wapda is generating 9,949 MW. The KESC share stood at 1,756 MW. Likewise, the private sector contributes 5,522 MW while 443 MW is being generated through nuclear technology. The worst bit are the line losses/theft — around 40 per cent in Wapda and the KESC.
The power policy of 1994 resulted in the emergence of 14 independent power projects (IPPs) in the country, excluding Hubco. The policy envisaged a long-term target of producing 34,885 MW additional power by 2020. In 2002, a new power policy was introduced which envisioned new power projects based on indigenous resources and fuels, especially coal.
Discovered in 1992 by the Geological Survey of Pakistan, Pakistan has the world’s third largest coalfield located in the Thar Desert which, according to studies, could produce 40,000 MW of electricity. Currently, our total coal reservoirs are estimated at around 184 billion tons.
Two Thar coal power projects — each with installed capacity of 300 MW of electricity — are being executed by a Chinese group at a total cost of $1 billion. However, coal contains moisture, sulphur and ash content which, when burned, emit oxides of nitrogen which combines with other pollutants to form noxious ground level ozone.
It should be remembered that smog, which engulfs central Punjab every winter and claims many lives, is formed mainly because of the combustion of large sulphur-laden coal in India. Besides that, heavy metals and oxides of sulphur are also produced with coal burning. The Ontario Medical Association, North America, estimates that coal-fired power plants-based air pollution costs Ontario more than $10 billion per year in healthcare costs, lost work-time and other quantifiable expenses, as well as killing an estimated 2,000 Ontarians each year.
There is,therefore, a need to produce ‘green power’ while using coal by adopting environmental-friendly technologies. Use of washed coal in power production is one example as coal cleaning reduces the ash content and some other inorganic substances. Another is the fluidized bed combustion technology which reduces nitrogen and sulphur oxides due to the system’s low temperature. Calcium-based limestone further reduces the sulphur emissions. Moreover, integrated gasification combine cycle power production technology is being successfully used in the world to cater for coal-based pollution.
RASHID ASHRAF
Karachi
THE Hasba Bill in the NWFP if passed will be a grave disservice to the memory of the Quaid-i-Azam. He envisioned a secular nation “where religion will not be enforced on people”— the Hasba Bill does exactly the opposite. The MMA says that it will improve the implementation of the law in the NWFP.
One is surprised that the police, who cannot function in the existing system, are supposed to work in a new system with new responsibilities with regard to supposed “obscenity” in a conservative NWFP society.
The MMA should focus on education and economic development; with the harsh policies of the MMA, no new investment has been made in the province. Gen Pervez Musharraf also needs to stop the MMA from passing the bill, which is against the Constitution of Pakistan. If he does not stop them, one will be convinced that “enlightened moderation” are mere words formulated to deceive moderates/liberals in Pakistan and abroad.
FAWWAD SHAFI
Lahore
ON visiting a friend whose husband recently dies after undergoing two heart surgeries in succession, I was horrified on coming to know of the complications caused by post-operative neglect. Apparently, the surgeon who was responsible for the patient, left the hospital without ensuring the stability of his condition. He chose to leave without authorizing another dependable doctor to keep an eye on the patient, and by refusing to re-operate for 16 hours. When the patient began to bleed, there was no experienced doctor available to attend to it. As a result, clots formed in the lungs which cut off oxygen to the brain, and the patient drifted into a coma. a month later, he breathed his last.
At one time, negligence of this nature was an occasional lapse and was passed on without notice, or was easily drowned in the larger travails plaguing Karachi. What is alarming today, is not merely a multiplication in the number of such cases but the number having increased despite the supposed advancement in healthcare, better equipped hospitals, better trained staff and the leadership of more experienced doctors. What is more alarming is that an organization associated with upholding the highest standards of medical ethics should have allowed such a situation to happen, and not taken notice of it afterwards, as if it was business as usual.
What can be done to prevent such cases from happening in the future? The least one can do is to denounce and condemn the outrage — the attitude of callousness — and voice concern for prevention.
The doctors who are so casual ought to revert to a more compassionate and human approach in ministering to the needs of the patients.
They should also appreciate the need for fostering a better understanding with the patient and his family to add to goodwill and confidence-building on either side. Perhaps, if the doctor was served a ‘consent’ form prior to the surgery just as the patient has to sign one, it would make the doctor more responsible to any complaint of neglect should it occur before or after the surgery.
If a committee could be formed to undertake such a responsibility, perhaps it could further safeguard survival on firmer lines by bringing negligence under control.
ZIANAB MASUD
Karachi
THIS is in response to Mr Shahid Javed Burki’s article ‘ Kashmir: a new strategy’ (July 5).
Mr Burki always writes in terms of economics, digits, two plus two equals four. I want to ask a simple question. How much resources we had in our hands when Pakistan was created? My answer is: we literally had nothing, except a commitment and a sincere leader.
Pakistan was created on an ideology and Kashmir was to become a part of Pakistan, which unfortunately didn’t happen. And we today declare that we have to have a solution of Kashmir in order to stabilize our economy. What have we achieved since 2001? High growth rate and economic reserves are no guarantee that an economy is performing well. Poverty, unemployment, under-employment, rate of inflation are the real indicators of the positive and negative growth of an economy. And unfortunately these indicators are never exposed before us.
Unfortunately, our leaders want to secure their own unconstitutional holdings and this has been a practice since independence and in this process they really have enslaved Pakistan to the US. This process started as soon as the first ‘knight of Pakistan’ snatched power from the deserving back in 1958 in the name of the ‘supreme interest of the nation’. We still have a military regime giving the same justification but we still do not know what this supreme interest is?
If Mr Burki, like our government, terms it fundamentalism or hardlining, so be it, but this is the viewpoint of a Pakistani.
MUHAMMAD SALMAN FAROOQUE
Karachi
WHILE browsing on Internet (s.bjarnason@acu.ac.uk), a page carrying “The news service for the network of vice-chancellors and presidents in the membership of the Association of Commonwealth Universities dated 28th April, 2005” was displayed containing a report on the retiring age of faculty.
According to this report, in western universities, mandatory retirement of academic staff is almost disappearing. Recently the University of Toronto, following the example of the USA, New Zealand and Australia, where faculty works beyond the age of 70 (specially in research universities) is also offering retirement options to its academic staff which will allow those who wish to continue teaching and research to do so for as long as they want.
As such, the University of Toronto has decided to establish centres for retired academics in each of its campuses, where they can have offices, meeting spaces and possibly access to laboratories.
Unfortunately in our country, like any generalist bureaucrat, a teacher also retires after attaining the age of 60. Basically it is the right age when a teacher reaches the peak of his career where skill and experience, coupled with the professional knowledge he has acquired, made him an asset for society. It is the most opportune point in time when he can be of greater advantage to society.
The attention of the Higher Education Commission, which has now become a focal point of the education sector, is being drawn to these facts only to show how progressive and developed societies are utilizing the capabilities of the scholars for the betterment of the people. It is high time that the HEC considered this important aspect of the retirement age of teachers and preferably raised the limit to 65 years. Even thereafter, their services should be utilized for research and in other fields of social activity.
MANZOOR H. KURESHI
Karachi
IN most government offices, absence or leaving office before the closing time or late coming are treated as a normal way of life. But the fact remains that the absence of even one officer dealing with the public on a single day or part of the day results in the loss of several man days as one full day of every visitor is wasted if he has to visit the office again in connection with the same matter. This may run into millions of man days if we take actual account of such absences with their daily repercussions throughout the year.
The same is the case in the industrial and commercial sector where absence or late coming is treated as a minor omission. An employer, though worried about the visible escalation in the cost of output, is least bothered about the hidden increase in such costs on account of absence, late coming and wastage of time in any other manner. Very few employers in Pakistan might have carried out a costing of absenteeism in their undertakings to know the percentage rate of absenteeism and how much it costs them in a month or year.
In a study carried out at the international level some years back, it was found that the average hours worked by an employee in the US, Germany and Japan, after availing of all off-days, leaves and holidays, allowed under the law and union agreements, were 1,800, 1,600 and around 2,000, respectively, per annum.
In Pakistan 52 days are allowed as off-days under the law in a year, 14 days as annual leave, eight days as sick leave, 10 days as casual leave, 14 days as festival holidays and 120 days as additional sick leave even for minor ailments under the Social Security Scheme, leaving a balance of 147 working days or 1,176 working hours in a year. It does not include absenteeism, late coming and the time wasted otherwise.
In my view, every sunrise will bring a new message of progress and prosperity if everyone, having an opportunity and being capable of working, works for full eight hours a day with reasonable rest intervals and of course holidays.
HAIDER ZAMAN
Karachi
MR Kuldip Nayar (Dawn, July 9 states that “Islamabad does not want to proceed on the confidence-building measures until Kashmir is sorted out”. But doesn’t he realize that resolution of the Kashmir dispute is the biggest confidence-building measure of all and solving this will ensure that the rest of the measures will easily fall into place?
Mr Nayar then adds: “This is like waiting for the cows to return home.” And there we have it. This is the reason why for over 50 years the Kashmir issue has not been resolved, this is why Kashmiris keep on dying every day. This is the mindset of the majority if not of all Indians, their reluctance to even think a solution of Kashmir is possible.
There could be two reasons for this. One, that the Indians really do think that this matter is close to being unsolvable, or two, that in reality they don’t want to solve it — they don’t even want to think in that direction. Why? The simplest answer could be that solving this dispute will be exposing the Indian stance over the past 50 years that Kashmir “belongs” to India. When the Kashmiris will be given the freedom to speak for themselves the Indians will be unmasked. Kashmir it seems is almost solely an ego issue for India, as can been seen through Mr Nayar’s article, especially when he accuses Pakistan of having “terrorist camps” here. He has in one go dismissed all the assurances given by Pakistan to India.
Enough is enough. It’s time India let the Kashmiris get their long deserved freedom. Pakistan got it and so will the Kashmiris held Kashmir.
SAIMA. ABBAS
Karachi
THE gruesome manner in which a group of robbers shot dead two people who resisted attempts to rob them in Karachi last week speaks of the rising lawlessness in the country’s business and commercial capital.
The details of the incident seem to suggest that the robbers were operating in a city with a non- existent police force and bereft of any respect for rule of law.
The robbers, three in number, reportedly boarded a public bus in one of the city’s busiest neighbourhoods in the middle of the afternoon. They then held the passengers at gunpoint and began robbing them of their valuables.
One passenger who tried to resist was shot in the stomach after which the robbers tried to get the driver to stop the bus. Obviously shocked by what had happened, the driver did not pay immediate heed to the order and was also shot at, though the bullet narrowly missed him.
After disembarking from the bus, the robbers also shot at a motorcyclist while trying to steal his motorbike. Eventually they managed to commandeer a car and escaped. The two who were injured eventually died.
The worrying part is that this happened in a busy area of the country’s largest city, in the middle of the day, and must have lasted for several minutes. Despite that, the fatal shooting inside the bus, followed by another on a busy road, failed to arouse any attention from the police or from bystanders who could have alerted the police.
Such incidents tend to erode the already low confidence the public has in the police’s ability to effectively check crime in our society. The Karachi police should make Tuesday’s incident a test case of their oft-repeated claims of serving to protect people by apprehending the murderers as soon as possible.
LALARUKH EJAZ
Karachi
DID it require rocket science to foretell that the record snowing of this past winter would result in extra water coming down the mountains and swelling river flows? For a country that depends on agriculture for fuelling the economy, our specialists dealing with agriculture, water and meteorology are seemingly clueless. The monsoons have yet to really set in and the rivers are in high flood already.
The poor as always are on the receiving end and many hapless families have lost their homes or, worse, precious lives.
But who cares? Politicians, administrators and the whole clique will indulge in photo sessions, false sympathy and then eat up whatever meagre internal resources or begged funds from abroad that are put together.
It would also be not amiss to mention that our rapidly diminishing forests and absence of big dams to hold this seasonal flow of water have added to the negative dimensions.
One expected that the present military strongmen would plan for the country’s future; however it seems that the furthest their untrammelled gaze can see are the presidential elections of 2007.
JAVED KHAN
Haripur, Hazara
THIS is with reference to Mr Tariq Raza’s letter (July 9). One would like to add to it:
The immigration staff gives an impression that this country is a police state; their attitude is harsh and they are disrespectful to travellers. The ministry of interior needs to train the immigration staff in “customer service”, increase the qualification level of their employees to graduation and conduct courses for them in spoken English.
All airports in Pakistan are non-smoking but it is bad to see government employees smoking while on duty and handling customers. There are insufficient immigration counters at the airport and there is no cue management system/staff to facilitate passengers.
All security staff of different agencies at the airports are tasked with receiving guests right from the aircraft to immigration counters during arrival and departure. We need to control the menace of security agencies roaming in all over the airport doing all sort of wrong doings.
SHARIQ HILAL
Kuwait
THIS has reference to Mr Ali Hyder Qureshi’s article ‘Law of evidence in Quran’ (July 1). It is very enlightening.
The writer has quoted verse 3:282, whereby evidence of two men is required. I want guidance on whether it is only in case of financial transactions that two women witnesses are required or in other matters also, such as witness to a crime or murder?
ZAFARUL HAQ MEMON
Karachi
ENGLAND’s refusal to play a Test in Karachi is regrettable. Karachi is a safe place. Recently international sport events were held here successfully. Teams and officials have expressed their satisfaction over security arrangements, hospitality and fan discipline.
In March 2004, the Indian cricket team played an ODI in Karachi and found the atmosphere congenial. It also expressed its desire to play a Test in Karachi during the next tour of Pakistan. This is most encouraging. I think playing Test in Karachi should be a priority of guest teams.
Security should not be a matter of concern for the visitor as this is the responsibility of the host country. The government has already give an assurance in this regard. The Pakistan Cricket Board should not accept the itinerary of guest teams opposing Karachi as a Test venue.
SOHAIL AHMED
Karachi
You can also send letters to the Editor
Just send your message to the following address: letters@dawn.com
Make sure you include your full name, postal address, e-mail address, and in the case of Pakistan your day-time telephone number.