| August 30, 2005 | Tuesday | Rajab 24, 1426 |
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Local government system
Pakistan: secular or Islamic?
US dictation
Bank scam
American policy
Leopard attacks
Anti-polio drive
Madressah registration
An irony
Water crisis
THIS is with reference to the proposed revamping of the United Nations. Some points need consideration and may help in arriving at a consensus beneficial to all.
First, the League of Nations: Despite President Woodrow Wilson’s interest in creating the organization, the US did not become its member. Thus, an emerging power after World War I failed to influence the preservation of peace.
The League could not take any action against Japan’s aggression in Manchuria in 1931. No sanctions could be imposed on Italy for its invasion of Abyssinia (now Ethiopia). No action was undertaken when Germany annexed Austria and Czechoslovakia. The USSR was expelled in 1939. The League could not play its political role.
Second, the role of the United Nations: After the World War II, hopes for preservation of peace were kindled. There have been regional wars in Korea, Vietnam, the Middle East, Afghanistan, Europe and in South Asia. In each of these wars, the US played a dominant role either to stop the war or to perpetuate it. The best of the UN was when despite the Cold War the US under Eisenhower and the USSR under Khureshchev voted together in the Security Council to oust Israeli-British and French troops from Egypt in 1956.
Present developments in Iraq indicate that intervention in another country’s affairs without explicit approval of the UN is counter-productive. It is the role of the five permanent members with the power of vetoes, and having biggest arsenals of WMDs which needs a deeper analysis. For instance, what should happen when a permanent member violates the UN Charter and international law by attacking another country?
Perhaps the minimum action against such a country should be to suspend its veto power by a simple majority vote. Expulsion form the UN , too, should be considered. There was a time when such action could not be contemplated because some permanent members provided the maximum funds. This has now changed. Time has come when other nations can contribute more generously when a particular country’s membership is suspended.
Third, the UN’s location: With its present headquarters at New York, and so much spying going on to monitor its activity and arm-twisting of its secretary-general, it is better to move the UN elsewhere.
I would like to reiterate that France, Morocco or Russia be considered as hosts. As an interim measure, the secretary-general should be empowered to move his secretariat and the Security Council to Geneva where the UN already has some of its offices.
Whether the expansion of the UN Security Council will produce more rational, timely and effective action to promote peace and avoid unnecessary conflicts will be seen, but greater representation and extension of the tenure of temporary members of the Security Council will facilitate dialogue and make the UN more representative.
Mr Kofi Annan needs to be complimented for the wide range of recommendations he has made for a UN reform. We have seen enough of the Brezhnev and Bush doctrines. One dealt with intervention for safeguarding socialism and the other suggests pre-emptive action against suspected enemies. The redeeming feature of efforts to preserve world peace is that the maximum number of protests against the Iraq war were staged in the US and Europe.
We do not have to hate certain nations and people but certain policies of those who are in power in some countries. If the UN’s demise is to be avoided like that of the League of Nations’, it is imperative that the UN assumes a greater role for the preservation of peace internationally. A strong UN remains the only hope for the peace and security of all nations.
BRIG (RETD) KHALID HASSAN MAHMOOD
Karachi
RIGHT since the creation of Pakistan, democratic institutions have not been allowed to take root in the country, owing to the vested interests of some “big guns”. All efforts aimed at strengthening a democratic system were in vain.
At present too, an initiative to devolve power to the grassroots is underway. However, the performance of the outgoing city and district governments shows that this initiative will fail to bear fruit.
The concept was introduced by President Pervez Musharraf as part of his seven-point agenda. And the concept stood for devolution of political power, decentralization of management functions, distribution of financial resources, and diffusion of power authority combination.
It was claimed that local governments would act as nurseries for the development of diligent, honest and fair politicians because elections would be held on a non-party basis. This would allow the common people, including farmers, labourers, shopkeepers, besides women and minority representatives — to participate in governance. However, the local bodies elections have yet to be held on a non-party basis.
This time too, veteran politicians or their favourites were in the field. We have been reading in the newspapers that various political parties contested the elections and won or lost seats.
Not a single ‘common man’ has become a nazim or naib nazim. These coveted seats are always secured by influential politicians, before whom councillors — who may be from the middle class - are often helpless.
As usual during polling, allegations of corruption, mismanagement, favouritism and illegal use of power were common. On the whole the ‘common man’ was once again sidelined. The local government system, therefore, has provided another opportunity to the corrupt politicians to exploit the public. If President Musharraf wants his policies to succeed, he should take steps to: abolish the jagirdari system; introduce land reforms so that the hold feudals have on people can be broken; educate the masses so that they may free themselves from the clutches of feudal lords; open up the remote areas with roads so that the people there could be provided with better economic opportunities, and provide security to all and sundry so that anyone can air his or her feelings without fear.
ARSHAD HYDER KAMARIO
Peshawar
I SUPPORT Mr Liaquat H. Merchant’s contention (Aug 7) that Mr Jinnah never used the word ‘secular’ for Pakistan, nor did he want it to be a theocratic state under ‘mullah’ rule.
Mr Jinnah did envision Pakistan as a Muslim state to have the attributes of a secular state such as equality of all citizens before the law whether Muslim or Hindu or Christian. This is indeed the essence of his historic Aug 11, 1947 address to the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan.
I have studied volumes of his public speeches delivered in India, the UK and later in Pakistan and at no time he said that Pakistan would be a secular state.
The United Kingdom claims to be a secular state, yet its Queen is the head of the Church of England and Defender of the Faith. Is it not contrary to the western concept of secularism as a political ideology? Secularism in the United States was recently undermined by the judgment of the American supreme court that displaying the Biblical Ten Commandments in a Texas court premises was valid and lawful because in their view the Commandments went into the making of the US constitution and the founding fathers of the American republic were inspired by Christian dogma.
As Pakistan’s first head of state, the Quaid-i-Azam in his interview to an American news agency made it clear that despite the Islamic base and underpinnings of Islam, Pakistan would not be a theocratic state under mullah rule. The Quaid wanted Pakistan to be a progressive, democratic and Muslim state.
The Pakistan Movement was a struggle of the Muslims of the subcontinent for a homeland of their own under the Quaid-i-Azam’s leadership in the context of Allama Iqbal’s 1930 clarion call for achieving an independent state for the Muslims of the subcontinent.
QUTUBUDDIN AZIZ
Karachi
THE other day a news item was published, stating that a spokesman for the US State Department, namely McCormac, expressed his concern to Pakistan’s education minister while the latter was in Washington that textbooks in Pakistan and other literature reflect hatred for Christians and Jews. The State Department official also wanted our minister to correct the syllabi.
I would advise the education minister to consult Christians, Hindus and other minorities about any disrespectful references in the textbooks and other literature about their religions. There are numerous Christian bishops, priests, professors and educationists in the Christian and Hindu communities whose advice will enlighten the minister to eliminate any objectionable material.
Inclusion of experts of these religious communities in the editorial boards approving the textbooks will help keep out unpleasant references.
Instead of being dictated to by the US, we can set our own house in order by listening to each other and deciding our problems ourselves. I will also request the the relevant federal and provincial departments to regularly consult or take on syllabus committees appropriate Christian and Hindu educationists/ historians. Lack of such small wisdom has made the minister for education suffer a diatribe while on his tour abroad.
ROCHI RAM
Karachi
THIS is with reference to Mr Mohammad Tariq’s letter ‘Bank scam’ (Aug 17).
I am one of those who have been hit by the bank scam in question. While we received monthly profits, we never knew that misappropriation on a large scale was going on and our money was being usurped. It was only on June 5 that the Supreme Court of Pakistan took notice of the situation and the depositors came to know of this fraud for the first time.
Strange enough, the certificates issued to the investors bear the inscriptions that the bank was incorporated by the State Bank of Pakistan in 1990. This authority was later transferred to the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan, Islamabad, which, it seems, was aware of the mass-scale misappropriation but remained silent.
This resulted in the misery and shock for the investors who are sick and aged and not in a position to bear this loss.
The chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan is requested to take immediate action and ensure that the forfeited money is retrieved from the mishandlers and returned to depositors as soon as possible.
ARSLAN ABDUL JALIL
Hyderabad
IN THE 1970s, the Americans lured the USSR into invading Afghanistan. When that happened, the West launched a very ambitious programme whereby thousands of Muslims were gathered from all over the Islamic world, and trained to wage jihad against the Soviet occupation forces.
After Moscow’s defeat and withdrawal, trained mujahideen like Osama bin Laden (OBL), who had no animosity towards the US, turned against it when it stationed its forces in Saudi Arabia for the first invasion of Iraq, because some American troops’ dress or behaviour was considered sacrilegious for the holy land.
OBL and his associates asked the US to withdraw its forces from his country. Failing that and also due to the Palestinians’ suffering caused in large measure by Washington’s all-out support for Israel, the Arab mujahideen turned their guns upon the Americans.
During Mr Clinton’s presidency the US started pressuring Taliban leader Mullah Omar to hand over OBL to them. The latter had agreed to hold bin Laden’s trial in an Islamic court in Afghanistan or, finally, even in an acceptable third Muslim country. However, the Clinton administration made it an issue of prestige and refused to accept the Afghan leader’s offer, launching a massive cruise missile attack on the mujahideen’s camps in an attempt to kill OBL. That was the second big mistake.
After 9/11, the Bush government attacked Afghanistan, and what followed is well-known. These American acts led to a hardening of the attitude not only of the mujahideen but of many other Muslims as well. The wrongful invasion of Iraq has served as a magnet for the militants and made a hopeless mess of the whole thing. This has been the third gigantic mistake of which America and its coalition partners are reaping the whirlwind.
The US after promoting jihad and training the mujahideen when it served its purpose is now very disturbed by this Islamic precept. During World War II it had dropped atomic bombs on Japan but these days it lives in fear of an attack by the terrorists using WMDs. It has been so rightly said: “The power that is supported by force alone will have cause often to tremble.”
Washington is now forcing Pakistan and other Muslim countries to secularize their educational system and, in particular, to completely omit any material that introduces the students to the concept of jihad. This American coercion is going to backfire because it will be viewed as an attempt to change Islamic teachings and finally replace them with secular and western values.
The right approach would be not to interfere in the Muslims’ religious affairs but to treat them with genuine friendship and sympathy and to help them in resolving their political (Palestine, Kashmir, Chechnya, etc.) and economic problems. Of course, the Afghan and Iraqi issues also need to be tackled honestly and wisely in consultation with the Muslims.
That done, assuredly relations between the US and the Muslim countries will return to what they used to be in the 1950s and the ‘1960s, when the educational curriculum was essentially the same. Our American friends should heed Abraham Lincoln’s sage advice: “Force is all-conquering, but its victories are short- lived.”
KHALID CHAUDHRY
Karachi
APROPOS of the news item ‘Girl attacked by leopard’ (Aug 25), it seems to be the same leopard that killed two women and a girl and mauled three others in the Abbotabad area in July. This leopard must have shifted now to the Nathiagali forest after getting scared by the police commandos who claimed to have killed the killer leopard last month.
I had already indicated my doubt about this (July 27). Had the wildlife department established the identity of the killer leopard last month, it could have become easy to ascertain if it was the same leopard.
It is not always possible that leopards present in every forest start attacking people wantonly. Because of its size, a leopard can hide in places impossible to locate by the human eye; its uncanny sense of self-preservation and stealthy disappearance has no equal. Tigers, panthers and leopards are known to exercise an almost human power of deduction. They would not appear in the same area again for a long time after they have been chased.
The Frontier’s wildlife department must have the record as to how many leopards were present in the forest of Kalabagh/Nathiagali and any addition now means that the same killer leopard has entered the forest. They should also try to compare the pug marks, any peculiar habit and manner of attacking a human being of this leopard with the previous killer leopard’s.
It is, however, suggested that a hasty decision should not be made this time to kill the leopard as before. The leopard should preferably be captured alive and if this is not possible, then the services of an experienced big-game hunter should be obtained to kill the beast. Also, people should be warned to take extra precautions while moving about and also to keep the doors and windows of their houses closed, especially at night.
SQN LDR (retd) S. AUSAF HUSAIN
Karachi
IT is reported that Aishwarya Rai, the Indian actress and former Miss World, has agreed to boost the anti-polio drive in Pakistan as a Unicef ambassador.
I hope she will have time to delve into the procedures of the anti-polio campaign. Let us remember that the drive is dependent on administering a vaccine which entails refrigeration from the time of its production to the point it is administered to an infant. I am sure that she knows that at this time there is no foolproof method of maintaining this cold chain, at least in Pakistan; I cannot comment on India.
Ms Rai should apply her mind to this problem before agreeing to be a part of the campaign.
ZAFAR OMER
Lahore
THE religious fringe in Pakistan has been getting away with having its own way for too long now. There are no two opinions on the ill-effects a false sense of religiosity has brought to bear on society. Where dictators and corrupt politicians have thwarted progress, it is an unscrupulous section of the religious lobby which has taken Pakistan into the dark ages, using the name of Islam which enjoins lasting peace, justice and enlightenment. Many of our maulanas have managed the exact opposite.
It is depressing to chronicle the gory details, but suffice it to say that some religious seminaries and madressahs are the breeding grounds of hatred and violence.
All such institutions need to be very closely examined. It would not be surprising if the authorities discover horror houses of physical and other abuses that are reportedly inflicted on young and helpless children. At such places, their impressionable minds are exploited to prime them to become potential killers and suicide bombers.
JAVED KHAN
Haripur Hazara
A COUPLE of rooms are being constructed on the roadside across the residence of the federal minister for water and power. This is to accommodate the army of guards and servants that the minister has.
May I please point out that this is an illegal construction and should be stopped? I would also request our minister to kindly look into the fact that though living a single street away from him, our street does not have a single light whereas his street has got new floodlights. Also, we do not get any water and have been getting tankers for the last two years. I would also like to point out to readers the presence of a KESC generator permanently parked outside the minister’s house.
MADEHA AHMED
Karachi
THE residents of Clifton Block-2, Karachi, have been facing a severe water shortage for the last several months, while there is ample water in the adjacent Shireen Jinnah Colony and other areas.
It is unfortunate that tax-paying consumers are denied water while many free-loaders get regular supplies.
The water board appears to be scared of the illegal consumers because they attack the board offices with sticks and stones. If this is the case, should consumers like us also protest at the Press Club to be heard?
RAFI ADAMJEE & RESIDENTS
Karachi
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