| September 5, 2005 | Monday | Rajab 30, 1426 |
To send a letter to the Editor
Click here
Crimes against women
Inzamam: there is still hope
Stooping low
Teaching quality at PU
Diploma course
‘Does someone care?’
Homes for the elderly
Price of petrol
New Murree project
SBP as regulator?
THE letter of Mr. Rasheed Asghar (June 7) regarding the mismanagement and corruption in cooperative housing societies in Lahore and a story about the corrupt practices of cooperative housing societies operating in Rawalpindi and Islamabad published a few months earlier reflect the malpractices, corruption and neglect of rules and regulations rampant in most cooperative housing societies in Karachi also, specially cooperative housing societies in Scheme 33. Barring a few, a majority of the 123 societies in this housing scheme are indulging in all sorts of mismanagement to serve the interests of a few persons.
These societies were registered in the early 70s, and since then a number of primary members have passed away. Old members who are still alive have retired from active life. This state of affairs has resulted in a large number of membership transfers from primary members to their relatives or new buyers. Many of them do not know much about the rules and regulations governing the working of these societies and their byelaws. Taking advantage of this situation, office bearers and managing committee members of the societies have played havoc with the interests of the members.
It is high time the city government and the Sindh cooperative housing department paid immediate attention to the problems faced by members.
According to the Sindh government policy, Scheme 33 is based on self-financing and a ‘no-profit no-loss’ basis. To achieve this objective, the housing societies are supposed to generate sizable funds running in billions of rupees from the auction of their commercial lands in order to provide civic amenities like schools, hospitals, parks, etc. However, some societies are busy in allotting / leasing out illegally their commercial plots to different persons in violation of the sale agreement.
Scheme 33 was launched as early as 1972. Soon after, a part or whole of the land allotted to some societies were cancelled by the Government to benefit others with a promise to allot alternate land in some other sector of Scheme 33. When lands was re-allocated in other sectors to the affected societies in lieu of their cancelled lands, some societies deliberately delayed the reallotment for years together and waited for an opportune time to allot these alternate lands to their members in an arbitrary manner in violation of rules and regulations.
In Scheme 33 a number of land grabbers are also active in collusion with some agencies. In some cases the office-bearers of a few societies have been found encouraging the illegal occupation of land.
Society office-bearers spend money without approval of the management committees in violation of government rules, and the money is later adjusted under some fictitious head.
A special audit should be carried out of all cooperative housing societies in Scheme 33 and appropriate action should be taken where irregularities are detected. Managing committees should be elected only for two years and no office-bearer should be eligible for any post for a third term.
Cooperative housing societies should also be asked to submit lists of vacant amenity and commercial plots, open auction held under government supervision.
M. FARHAN
Karachi
WHAT do Mukhataran Mai, Dr Shazia Khalid and Sonia Naz have in common? All three had to face an inordinate delay in getting an FIR registered against those who assaulted them.
What is interesting to note about the Sonia Naz case is that despite the fact that a commission has been asked to investigate the matter, no FIR has been registered. It must be realized that the presence of the victim is not necessary and that an FIR can be registered by any person to whom Ms Naz may have narrated her ordeal or by a family member.
When the custodians of the law themselves become perpetrators of heinous crimes, there is no hope for the people. The reason why the police are able to carry out crimes with impunity is that they have been given a free hand by every government. The police have been used to crush political opponents and the government turns a blind eye towards excessive committed by its officials.
Commmissions are set up to investigate complaints and tall claims are made but no sincere effort is made to change the system. Police reforms are introduced which mere of a eye-wash and meant to deceive the public.
There are thousands of Mukhtaran Mais, Dr Shazias and Sonia Nazs in the country who wish to seek justice but have nowhere to turn to. There are no crisis centres where these women can take shelter and even if there are a couple in the country, few knows where they are located.
Violence against women is increasing at an alarming rate. The reason for this is that women are considered as property to be owned by man. The ulema are to be largely blamed for this as they have always projected women as being inferior to men whose sole purpose is to cater to the needs of their children and husbands.
The government should make registration of an FIR easier. It is not for the police officer to decide whether there is an element of truth in the allegation and they should be duty bound to register an FIR. There should be a zero-tolerance policy on this matter and any official found violating it should be dismissed from service.
Also, shelter homes should be set up throughout the country and their locations should be properly publicized. Psychiatrists should be present at these centres to counsel victims so as to help them cope with emotional trauma. Lawyers should be made available to such victims at no cost.
The opening of a free legal aid cell in the women’s prison in Karachi by former supreme court judge Nasir Aslam Zahid is a positive step and should be replicated in other jails in Pakistan.
Furthermore, gender issues should be discussed in educational institutions so that there can be a change in the attitude of men.
ANIL KHAN LUNI
Lahore
INDIAN star batsman Sachin Tendulkar opted out of this month’s two-Test series against Zimbabwe due to an elbow injury. This ‘tennis elbow’ problem has haunted him for more than a year now and is surely taking a while to heal. Tendulkar was included in both the ICC World XI squads for Super Series but now he’s very much doubtful. The ICC has named Inzamam-ul-Haq and Michael Vaughan as the stand-bys if Tendulkar is unable to play.
Most of us, or perhaps all of us, were shocked to know that Inzamamul Haq was not included in either of the World XI squads. He’s the second leading run-scorer in ODIs approaching 11,000 runs with 10 centuries and a record 81 half-centuries. He has 22 hundreds and 39 fifties in Test matches with an average of more than 50. He is a class act, a treat to watch and much better than many of the existing players in the world. No offence to Michael Vaughan but I do believe that there is no comparison between the two as far as their batting prowess is concerned.
So I think that we would now see Inzamam in action during the Super Series early next month. Even commentator Ravi Shastri (former Indian player) said in front of the chairman of the ICC World XI selection panel, Sunil Gavaskar (another former Indian player), that Inzamam would now be getting ready to participate in the mega event. Shastri expressed his views in a programme aired on Aug 31 on Star Sports.
Well, everything seems to be pointing towards the inclusion of Inzamam but who knows we might witness yet another biased decision and Michael Vaughan might run away with the bounty. So keep your fingers crossed.
AHMED SALMAN TAHIR
Lahore
IT was a chilly morning in February 1955 when the body of a young woman with an infant beside her was found in the waiting room of Gujrat’s main bus terminal. The woman had apparently missed the last bus the previous evening and had decided to spend the night at the bus terminal. It was alleged that she had been raped and murdered. The Gujrat police failed to trace the culprits after which the-then chief minister Malik Feroze Khan Noon warned that if the rapists were not traced he would impose a fine on the whole city of Gujrat.
This was perhaps the first widely reported case of the rape and murder of woman at the national level. Unfortunately, things have not improved since then and have rather deteriorated in the last five decades and we must all hang our heads in shame.
Our religious and political leaders and those responsible for law and order in the country seem to have failed in putting a stop to this. For how long will we see such inhuman acts being perpetrated in our society? How low can Pakistani society go down? When will we speak up against such injustices?
ANWAR KHALIL SHEIKH
Lahore
THE Punjab University’s chemical engineering department has a very good reputation and over the years has produced many competent engineers.
The teaching staff is also quite good and most have degrees from foreign universities. However, despite the presence of such foreign-qualified teachers, the quality of teaching these days is not that good and I would like to ask why is this so. Why are we students made to memorize entire textbooks?
No concepts are taught and all the stress is on ensuring that the syllabus is finished. A teacher’s efficiency is not equated with the kind of learning and understanding his students are gaining of the subject being taught but rather with coverage of the syllabus.
Professional bodies like the Pakistan Engineering Council have asked the teachers to change their way of examining students by adopting a methodology similar to that used in A-levels but no heed has been paid so far to this good advice. The only reason that comes to mind for our teachers not doing this is that they would then have to work very hard, and that this something they rather not do. Will someone, maybe the HEC, look into this matter and take measures so that the quality of teaching in places like PU improves.
MUNAWAR AHMED
Lahore
THE Sindh Board of Technical Education launched a three year course leading to a diploma in associate engineering in computer information technology in CIT) around five years ago. The diploma is considered an equivalent to Intermediate (pre-engineering stream).
Unfortunately, students who study and graduate from this course cannot enroll in higher institutions because universities like NED or Karachi University do not entertain them.
Today thousands of such students are facing this predicament but have nowhere to even register their protest. Who is going to help these diploma-holders?
NAJ-US-SAQUIB
Karachi
I AM neither a scholar nor an experienced “old hand” at anything at all. I am just one of the many people who are counted during the seldom conducted census, contributing to the overall growing burden of overpopulation in Pakistan on the pretext of which many a denomination of foreign currency is attracted in the form of alms and charity, otherwise called foreign aid.
I iron my office clothes the day before as the presence of electricity in the morning is not a forgone conclusion. To bathe and wash, I always keep a bucket full of water as a reserve because the pipelines are usually dry. I see my children tug at huge backpacks full of books going to school where they will sit on dusty, broken desks in rooms without fans or lights, taught by graduates from colleges that simply don’t exist. My children will play in dry and dusty playgrounds and if they are lucky, they will slide on dilapidated slides and swing on rusted swings. They will eat from ‘thelas’ swarming with germs in the midst of flies. They will return home in crowded vans driven by drivers from hell.
I will leave for office early, walk the dragnet of overflowing sewers, garbage heaps, dug-up roads and martyred electric poles to reach the bus stop. Here, in a moment of agility, I will imagine I am a gymnast at the Olympics and jump on to a crowded bus which never really stops; it just slows down to let the passengers embark and disembark. There are many who aren’t as agile as I am, and they often can’t board the moving bus.
The day at the office is not very different. The boss knows how much my salary is, which he obviously thinks is way too much because no matter how much I work, it just isn’t enough to satisfy him. On the other hand, the salary gets me through just past the first few days of the month. Every month, the utility providers find out that I am alive and they issue a bill worthy of a king.
The next few months are spent on endless visits to their offices trying to find out what happened and to rectify the ‘mistake.’ When all this running around catches up with me, I fall sick. Its just a virus they will tell me. The doctor at Gizri is really good. A visit to him will resolve my cold. A detailed examination will reveal I have the flu. I will need shots from a syringe that has seen many an arm. I will receive medication as well as the virus that causes hepatitis or AIDS also. A detailed list of expensive anti-biotics will be prescribed. I will be fine after the injection and a week of these medicines. Fit and strong for the same routine all over again.
I am nothing, nobody, just a count for a census—or does someone care?
SALIM KHAN
Karachi
I would beg to differ from Mr M. A. Nayeem’s views (Sept 1) regarding the need for establishing homes for the elderly, similar to those in the US, the UK and other western countries.
However honorable the intentions might be for such initiatives, establishment of care homes (so that older people could be sent away when the time comes) send the wrong signal. We can still take pride in struggling to maintain our centuries-old traditions of caring for our elders, even though the family has become much smaller than it used to be.
Societies learn from each other and a crucial and sensible part of that is knowning what not to adapt. There is a lot we ought to learn from societies of America and Europe. However, there is a lot in those societies that we need not copy. Among that is the the loss of respect for parents and elders that seems to be so prevalent in western societies.
Just because we find individuals in our society who seem to have chosen the path of neglecting their duty to pay due respect to their parents, does not mean that we should launch a campaign to build old-age homes. Instead, it should be the moral responsibility of close relatives, neighbours, work colleagues and friends to convince such misguided individuals that they should fulfil their filial responsibilities.
However, I do agree that there is a need for care homes in Pakistan for those who do not have relatives or children capable of looking after them in their old age. Such elderly ladies and gentlemen of our society should have the right to use such facilities and to be cared for with respect and dignity.
Such an enterprise could be funded by their own savings, by the government or by charities. Our elders should not be regarded as “spent cartridges” or a burden, when it comes to caring for them. After all they never did that when we were babies and looked after us with the utmost of care.
The least we can do is to repay them back by looking after them ourselves, with a fraction of the love and blessings, they have always given us regardless of how we treat them.
DR SHAAZ MAHBOOB
London, UK
While the price of petrol has risen to $71 per barrel, petrol in the US is available for $3.25 per gallon, which comes to around Rs 51-52 per litre without any government subsidy. Pakistan buys Saudi and Kuwaiti crude for $55-60 and the government also pays to subsidize the cost by paying the oil marketing companies, and despite all this the price is Rs52.61 per litre. Is there something wrong with my calculations? Can anyone correct them?
A GOOD PAKISTANI
Lahore
THIS refers to the editorial “An ecological disaster” (Aug 27).
Only 2.17 per cent of the Simly Dam’s catchment area falls within the boundaries of the New Murree resort project. This, too, has been left untouched in the project’s master plan. To suggest that this would adversely impact water run-off to Simly Dam is not correct.
The editorial mentions “millions of trees” and their removal. Satellite survey supplemented by the survey on ground indicates a total population of 400,000 trees in the project area.
For the information of readers, only one per cent of the trees in the project area will be affected by the development of the resort. As against this, over 200,000 saplings are being planted in the existing blank spaces within the project area in the first two years alone.
IQBAL M. CHAUHAN
(Director, administration) New Murree Development Authority
THIS is with reference to your editorial ‘Ecological disaster in the making’ on the proposed New Murree project by the Punjab government. Why is it that the provincial government is so bent on going ahead with setting up what will inevitably prove to be a ghastly, gaudy and ill-planned concrete jungle, spoiling forever forest land that has existed for thousands of years. If the Punjab government cannot see for itself the sorry state of present-day Murree or does not give two hoots for preserving the environment, it should at least pay some heed to the experts who have said that the proposed project could permanently affect in a very negative manner the water supply to Islamabad and Rawalpindi, by causing silting in the Simly and Rawal dams.
ALIYA KHAN
Islamabad
IT is heartening to know that finally the State Bank of Pakistan has asked private banks to stop making misleading claims in the advertisements. These dats it is common to see banks claiming to offer hefty returns on various savings schemes. However, when one reads the fine print, the claim appears to be quite hollow.
Also, I would like to draw the SBP’s attention to the ongoing practice by some banks to unilaterally increase mark-up rates (from 8% to 12.5%) on consumer financing schemes. This they are doing despite a prior fixed agreement on the rate of mark-up between the two parties, the lender and the debtor.
This is an unethical and unjustified act and should be stopped immedtiately. I hope that the SBP will take necessary steps to address this issue.
FAWAD A. SHAIKH
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.