| September 10, 2005 | Saturday | Sha’aban 5, 1426 |
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Pakistan & Israel
Plant wealth
PMDC elections
Equivalence certificate
Leopards of Galiyat
Aid to US
Clean water
‘Wars of the 21st century’
Kissinger’s threat
Settlers in Israel
THIS is with reference to the rape of five young girls reported at Karachi’s Civil Hospital (Dawn, Sept. 7). The report also says that the mother of one of the raped girls was working as a maid in the home of a senior police officer, and yet she faced difficulty in reporting the crime.
And in another report, President Musharraf has said that Pakistan was being unfairly demonized with respect to crimes against women
(Sept. 8). I would like to respectfully convey to the president that the reported abuse of women of all ages in Pakistan is a matter of serious concern to all members of the Pakistani communities living overseas.
Also, while women do get raped in western nations, the law and the law-enforcers almost always come down on the side of the victims and are seldom themselves the accused.
NADEEM ZAFAR
Memphis, TN US
THIS is with reference to the Sonia Naz case. The manner in which the police are handling the whole issue appears to be extremely biased. Accused SP Abdullah Khalid has now claimed that he has proof that Sonia Naz was in contact with her husband. The question here is of rape and not of keeping contact with one’s husband.
Whether Ms Naz has been in contact with her husband or not does not by any stretch of the imagination justify the rape allegedly committed by a police officer. Rape cases in Pakistan do not get registered because of such attitudes under which rather than rape being considered as a crime it is seen as some form of revenge, punishment or a way to settle scores or assert power.
Law-enforcement agencies are supposed to protect citizens not sexually assault or criminalize or dehumanize them.
DR TAHMINA RASHID
Via email
THIS is with reference to President General Pervez Musharraf’s speech at the conference on violence against women in Islamabad on Sept. 7.
While much of what he said with regard to statistics and rape cases happening the world over is true, there is one important difference. And that is that laws in the countries that he spoke of are enforced properly and rape victims do get justice. The perpetrators of such crimes get the punishment that they deserve.
Unfortunately, in Pakistan lately such crimes are being perpetrated by those very people whose job it is to provide security and safety to the people.
SYED MUBASHIR MUSTAFA
Canberra, Australia
THE rape of Mukhtaran Mai had exposed our judicial system right from the village panchayat to the higher levels whereas the rape of Sonia Naz has exposed the ugly face of the so-called lawmakers of the nation.
Sonia had gone to parliament to seek help against the tyranny of the police, but was sent to jail by the house to be incarcerated for 25 days and then was picked up by the same police from whom she was running.
It is immaterial now whether she was raped by the police or not. It is, however, beyond doubt that the entire nation’s sentiments were hurt at the hands of the representatives of the nation who sent a helpless daughter of the nation to jail.
T.S. BOKHARI
Islamabad
WHAT is happening to our society? Every day, we read that young girls are being raped, tortured and killed, often by close family members. Either it is the stepfather or an uncle.
I have small children of my own and cannot believe that we as nation are so barbaric and are capable of committing such heinous crimes against children. I would like to know what is the government doing about this. Surely, the president and prime minister must be reading these news stories or at least must be aware of such events. We are becoming a society of intolerant, dishonest and corrupt people.
SOHAIL SULEMAN
Karachi
AFTER decades of hostilities between Israel and the Muslim world a ray of hope for peaceful co-existence seems likely with the latest move by Pakistan in extending a hand of friendship towards Israel.
The bold initiative taken by Gen Musharraf in extending this hand of friendship should be applauded. We are also painfully aware that the extremist lobby as well as those preaching a warped version of Islam will reject this bold move and may create impediments. It would be suicidal for the government to withdraw now that it has made its intentions clear to the international community.
Israel’s action in Palestinian-held land has in the past drawn criticism and condemnation from the international community with the United Nations leading the way. Now that Israel is prepared to vacate Palestinian land in exchange for peace is indeed a welcome shift in its policies.
The impact on Pakistan with this recent move will benefit us all. The international community will see Pakistan in a more positive light. Pakistan needs foreign investment to achieve prosperity. As literacy levels rise and the quality of life improves for people across the globe, it is becoming evident that people are no longer interested in physical confrontation. Peace and prosperity are the order of the day.
HECTOR ALEEM
Chairman, Peace Worldwide,
Islamabad
THE developments on the Pakistan-Israeli front must have caused a flutter in Indian government circles. Indian strategists fear that Israel will welcome Pakistan which enjoys a strategically important geographical location in the region and a unique status among Muslim countries as a nuclear, powerful and comparatively advanced country.
Israel and the American Jewish lobby could cause a paradigm shift in US policy in South Asia.
Unfortunately, India knows of a potent way to thwart any such development. “Raise the bogey of Pakistan recognizing Israel” is the unanimous advice of Indian political pundits. “And target the religious elements of Pakistan to sell this.” Consequently, the Indian government, its strategists and the media — both electronic and print — have embarked upon this plan of action.
I think we should also go full throttle to warn our religious political leaders not to fall into this trap. They must also be asked to use their influence in educating the masses regarding the benefits that the Ummah, in general, and Pakistan, in particular, stands to gain from engaging Israel.
COL (retd) RIAZ JAFRI
Rawalpindi
THIS refers to a news item (Dawn Metropolitan, Aug 30) about an HEC workshop on current trends in flowering plant taxonomy at Karachi University, attended by plant taxonomists of Pakistan.
The sponsoring of such a workshop by the Higher Education Commission is to be appreciated for providing an opportunity to focus on important issues like the plant wealth of Pakistan and its role as a source of alternative medicine. In this connection it should be remembered that Pakistan is basically an agricultural country, but gradually it is becoming deficient in food, resulting in the import of 16 agricultural commodities at a cost of $5 billion (Aug 27).
Plants as a source of food for Pakistanis are of vital importance for sustenance. People belonging to the lower economic groups suffer from malnutrition due to the ever rising cost of food, and the middle class is in distress.
The HEC has become a good source for sponsoring such moots on important national issues and has gone to the extent of hiring active and viable retired scientists and researchers for promotion of science and technology. In this regard they advertised on Aug 14, 2004 for retired scientists and researchers. While retirees are willing and waiting to render services while they yet can, there has been another notification on Aug 7, 2005 in this regard.
The practice of appointment of educators and researchers by selected peers should be free from whims and fancies. In the vast and expanding secretariat of the HEC, its chairman, who is himself an active scientist, may not be able to examine every aspect of the HEC under the microscope.
Increasing the agriculture yield per unit area in our crop field either by the best available agronomic means and methods or by means of agricultural biotechnology is of vital importance and at present it should receive priority over high-tech microelectronic researchers for the sake of self-sufficiency in food. Food is needed alike by the common citizens, bureaucrats and nuclear scientists. Moreover, self-sufficiency in food is the best form of defence.
DR M. JALALUDDIN
Karachi
ACCORDING to a Dawn report (Sept 4), only eight per cent votes were cast in the recent elections of the PMDC councillors from Punjab. The reasons for this pathetic voting and thus non-representation of the vast majority of doctors in the election process include the PMDC’s poor management.
Many of my colleagues and I did not receive any information on the elections despite the fact that we receive the PMDC gazettes. Nobody asked us about filing nominations, etc.
We did not know who filed and who were the candidates and what were their qualifications and their aims and objectives.
When I talked to the deputy secretary of the PMDC and asked for a postal ballot, he said it was too late while I knew someone who had just the previous day received a postal ballot through a candidate. The PMDC deputy secretary-general said if the PMDC had tried to inform all member doctors, the cost would have been too high. This is a very lame excuse.
The PMDC is earning a lot of money through registration, including foreign exchange from overseas doctors and consultants. Actually the PMDC would have made more money because a lot of people who had not renewed their registration would have done so in order to vote.
I request the PMDC to nullify these elections, as these were neither transparent nor representative. I also appeal to all doctors to join hands to have fresh elections with easy postal ballots from across the country as in these days it is not possible for people to take days off to personally go for voting. Doctors as professionals are busy people and easy reliable postal balloting will solve many problems.
PROF. ANWARUL HAQUE
Islamabad
UNTIL last year, forms for obtaining an equivalence certificate for O- and A-levels had to be sent to the central office of the Inter-board committee of chairmen (IBCC) in Islamabad with a draft of Rs 1,600. It was a long and tiresome process and what made it worse was that there was no guarantee that one’s documents (originals had to be sent) would not be lost or misplaced.
However, this year one was pleasantly surprised to find that certificates could be obtained in Karachi as well. The process, though, is still the same and the certificates have to be sent to Islamabad. The whole process is smoother now and the staff sitting at the Karachi office (Bakhtiari Centre, North Nazimabad) are cooperative.
SAIMA K. SIDDIQUI
Karachi
HAVING closely followed the reporting of the incidents involving leopards attacking and killing women in the Galiyat region, I was glad to see The Review (Sept 1-7) do a detailed story on the issue.
Our knowledge about wildlife these days is based on indirect sources, and is likely to be incorrect. I tend to disagree with the reports about man-eaters. My views are based on the writings of the well-known hunter, Col. Jim Corbett, who in his book ‘Man-eaters of Kumaon’ said the following: “In the case of human beings killed by carnivora, the doubt is often expressed as to whether the animal responsible for a kill is a tiger or a leopard. As a general rule — to which I have seen no exceptions — tigers are responsible for all kills that take place in daylight, and leopards are responsible for all kills that take place in the dark.”
According to the published reports of these attacks, the women were killed as they went out collecting wood in the day. The leopards who attacked the women were female and were with their young cubs, and probably attacked the women because the felt that their was a threat to their offspring. This also explains why the women were not eaten or carried away by the leopards.
There was one case where a victim’s body was partly eaten, but it could very well be that the body was eaten by other animals in the area. In the last incident, one girl was injured and in that case it could very well be that the animal’s intention was not to kill but to scare away the human.
The book Mammals of Pakistan by T J Roberts confirms that in Pakistan leopards give birth to cubs in the spring and summer. I appeal to the NWFP Wildlife Department and the WWF to consider these points when making any decisions. Knowledge of this will give a truer picture of events, and will also help to reduce fears among the local population of the Galiyat — who have taken a stand against so-called man eaters.
The increase in population of leopards has brought them closer to humans, since each leopard requires an exclusive area for itself and when there are cubs, it will try to protect them, just like any mother would.
COL (retd) SHEIKH MOHAMMAD WASIM
Lahore
LET me get this straight: Kuwait has pledged $500 million and Qatar $100 million to help the US in its efforts to deal with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. With due respect to the governments of these Arab countries, the last thing the US needs is money. If it can afford to spend billions of dollars on the occupation of Iraq, it can certainly set aside some funds to take care of its own citizens.
What the US needs is to re-assess its priorities. And while on the subject of priorities, shouldn’t Muslim countries practice charity closer to home where people really are underprivileged and living in poverty?
For example, they could give some of this money instead to Africa or to build the infrastructure in Iraq or Gaza. The obsequious attitude we display towards the US, at the expense of Muslims, is disgraceful and clearly illustrates why Muslims have no one to blame but themselves for their status in the world today.
S. IMRAN
Jeddah
THIS is with reference to the news item that Pakistan intends to donate a million dollars to help the victims affected by Hurricane Katrina in the US.
Has Pakistan solved all it own problems, and has it become self-sufficient that it should start helping victims of disaster the world over? The one million dollar amount could be better spent at home.
MUHAMMAD IMRAN LARI
Karachi
ACCORDING to a news item (Sept 5), a report has been presented to the prime minister by the ministry dealing with the environment which says that the biggest problem of Pakistan is lack of clean drinking water.
The water people are drinking is heavily contaminated, among other things, by arsenic which is causing catastrophic health hazards. No wonder we have an alarming number of hepatitis patients.
This is not a new problem. Twelve years ago hepatitis (all kinds — A, B and C) had surfaced in Pakistan. The world knew — and we knew this too — that unless this disease was taken care of soon, we would have a medical disaster. Hepatitis is chiefly caused by contaminated water; and contaminated water’s main ingredient is arsenic. This water, the report discloses, is used by all four provinces.
Why have successive governments done nothing about it? It is likely that it may not have been such a huge problem earlier.
Now a beginning has been made. The prime minister has ordered the establishment of a number of desalination plants in all parts of the country. A sum of Rs10 billion has been allocated.
S.M. KAZIM NAQVI
Karachi
MR M.P. Bhandara’s article “Wars of the 21st century” (Aug 13) is far too speculative and imaginative. Trying to underline Al Qaeda’s real aim in this war of terror, he maintains that it is least bothered about the struggle of the Palestinians, the Kashmiris, the Bosnians, the Chechens, and others. “What then are the objectives of the globalized war instigated by Osama bin Laden?” he asks, and replies: “To my mind it is an audacious attempt at world domination.”
Mr Bhandara continues in the next paragraph: “In modern times there have been historical actors with not only the vision but the will and means to dominate the world. Such was the determination of Napoleon and Hitler.” Referring to bin Laden again, Mr Bhandara argues: “The chosen means is not arms but ideology based on a religious cliff”.
Mr Bhandara is giving a new twist to “war of terror” and “war on terror”. His thesis is more dangerous than Huntington’s Clash of Civilization. He is redirecting world attention from the real conflicts the Muslim world is facing in different parts of the world whose resolution is the responsibility of the UN and of all conscientious peoples of the world, to an imagined enemy ideology of the jihadis whose imagined mentor is the semi-mythical bin Laden.
Mr Bhandara is raising a false alarm which may further confuse the world about the causes of terrorism. The 7/7 London bombing by British-born terrorists sufficiently highlights the fact that this worldwide terrorism phenomenon is not the work of any mastermind or any “domination ideology”.
PROF (Dr) ARIFA FARID
University of Karachi
Karachi
APROPOS of Mr Mahir Ali’s lapidary (“The preacher and the president”, Aug 31), one fails to understand why the good columnist failed to mention the name of Z.A. Bhutto in the panel of Washington’s “foreign undesirables” eliminated by America through local proxies.
Has he forgotten Mr Kissinger’s threat?
RAHIM JUNEJO
Hyderabad
YOUR editorial of Sept 3 says: “The problem with Israel is not that it is a Jewish entity but that it is a colonial power run by settlers from Europe”. Allow me to correct this misconception. Half of Israel’s Jewish population comes from the Middle East and North Africa where Jewish communities predated the seventh century Arab conquest by 1,000 years. Israel’s Foreign Minister Sylvan Shalom himself is of Tunisian origin.
LILLIAN SADKA
London
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