| October 3, 2005 | Monday | Sha’aban 28, 1426 |
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Ties with Israel
Transport chaos
Road to university
Less education, better representation
KESC — beyond privatization
‘Nizamate of Chakwal’
Encroachers
Gen Jacob
Tree cutting
Road repairs
Rates of profit
IN response to the letter “Energy policy” (Sept 4), Wapda has decided to wholly ignore the main points and cover only its “dream” project, the Kalabagh dam (Dawn, Sept 25).
The letter referred to sought to highlight the real high costs of hydel power. Wapda should have responded with accurate details of the Ghazi Barotha project and operation costing (its “best” project) and why its “cheap” power concept was not available for any ongoing hydel project since the authorities were ready to accept over five cent/kWH unit just to get project financial close. And this cost does not cover the environmental, lost land and human displacement costs.
Since the Basha dam project feasibility and design/construction planning are expected to be ready in the very near future, it is not understood why Wapda’s thinking power has been limited to “Kalabagh first”.
Since many senior engineers, experienced in this field, are in total disagreement with the figures thrown around by Wapda and as three provincial assemblies have passed resolutions against construction of the Kalabagh dam, this project should have been automatically shelved many years back. This would have prompted Wapda to work harder and with better resources to complete the design/construction planning of the Basha dam by now.
Regarding the views of experts, one only hopes that Wapda authorities read and hear what is coming out loud and clear. The “Kalabagh dam is not a flood control dam at all as it will be empty and will be on run-of-river from June 1 to July 20. On the contrary, it will aggravate floods in the Peshawar valley by blocking the Indus flow and changing the bed slope regime and velocity flow of the Kabul and Indus rivers (quote from Mr Fateh Ullah Khan, ex-chairman, Irsa, Dawn, July 31)”. Wapda rightly did not respond to this letter as it has really nothing to counter such solid reasoning.
We should not be misled by the present announcements of support for the Kalabagh dam from the World Bank. We should all remember its role in the damaging energy policy of 1994-95 which resulted in commissioning of expensive and inefficient (and highly polluting) thermal power plants in the country. We need to think about our own priorities and objectives and certainly not of others.
Regarding the actual contents of the original letter on “Energy policy”, Wapda needs to set its own house in order and ensure efficiency in its thermal power plants. Till we have the Basha dam, Wapda (and KESC) should work to get their inefficient steam power plants converted to combined cycle with private developers which will produce 50 per cent more power from each station without any extra fuel. This will greatly help in meeting dual targets of additional power and lower costs.
Wapda is a national organization and must have the vision to meet the challenges of the future. The lowest cost option is always conservation first, and Wapda must apply this to both water and power.
AAZA
Karachi
THIS refers to Mr Ali Rehan’s rejoinder (Sept 28) to my letter (Sept 25) and the stand of several other writers and correspondents that since the Arabs/Palestinians and the Kashmiris have never done anything for Pakistan, we should pay them back in the same coin and formulate our policies according to our own interests.
Mr Rehan has rather cynically said that I seem to be concerned about our brothers in Palestine. I am not the only one; most of the writers and correspondents appear to have similar concerns.
The important thing is that Pakistan, as the most powerful member of the Ummah, carries a special responsibility to treat others with magnanimity even if they haven’t lived up to our expectations.
As far as benefits of engaging with Israel are concerned, Mr Agha Shahi, who was one of our most competent foreign ministers and is currently president of Islamabad Council of World Affairs, has exposed the folly of this thinking (Sept 16).
He says Pakistan should give up the illusion that its engagement with Israel would lead to a dramatic change in Israel’s Palestine policy or persuade it to take steps for its early settlement. Further, that any possible advantages would be far outweighed by the domestic divisions in the country on the issue and increased divisions in the Muslim world contrary to the objectives of Islamic solidarity.
It would also cause misgivings in the Arab world about Pakistan’s position on Middle East issues, weaken the Muslim world’s support on Kashmir and have possible negative economic repercussions in the Gulf region.
A. ALEEM
Karachi
ONE disagrees with Mr Jilani Sadique’s arguments (Sept 26)for several reasons. One, he said your editorial (Sept 18) was “devoid of conviction.” No fair-minded person can deny that the seven facts incriminating Israel listed in the editorial were absolutely true and convincing.
Two, although it was clearly pointed out in the editorial that the creation and survival of the Jewish state was based on terrorism, the correspondent has taken no notice of it.
Three, like some other correspondents, he has stated that the Arabs never came to Pakistan’s help. That is untrue. Like Indonesia, Iran and Turkey, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, too, had helped us during the 1965 war with India while Libya had reportedly financed our nuclear programme after 1976 to a certain extent. Also, the Saudi contribution to the Afghan Mujahideen’s successful struggle to expel the Soviet forces from their country had helped prevent a likely invasion of Pakistan by Moscow.
Apart from that, Saudi Arabia along with the UAE and some other Muslim countries had provided desperately needed support soon after economic and other sanctions were slapped on Pakistan by the West and Japan after we went overtly nuclear in May 1998. Without that we would have defaulted on our foreign debt repayments and got into a huge financial mess. One should not be thankless, which can spoil relations.
S. QADRI
Karachi
THE most visible change in the urban scenario noticed by someone visiting Karachi after a break of a few years is the phenomenal increase in the number of vehicles and the resulting traffic chaos, congestion and confusion. On a given day one may get stuck in a multitude of traffic jams, not just one or two. The reasons why we are witnessing this unfolding crisis are varied and complex, the most obvious being that a city of over 10 million is not served by a public mass transit system.
There is much debate these days about the urban transport scheme and pivotal in this discussion is the role of large buses in tackling the crisis of public transport. We may go on adding the number of buses in the city, but that is not going to get us anywhere unless this measure is part of an integrated traffic management plan for the city. Today, a number of land-owning /civic agencies are involved in their own little schemes and projects that find no relevance or integration within the overall planning and development scene of the city.
We are in the midst of a frenzy of constructing overhead bridges without pausing to analyze their impact on the overall traffic management of the city and any possible adverse environmental and social impacts. Nobody within our relevant agencies has bothered to link the existing haphazard traffic patterns with the change (often in violation of laws) in the land use/zoning status of the city. As previously, residential areas are being converted to commercial uses, and the traffic generation and traffic attraction points have merged, making it difficult to plan for predictable ebb and peak hours and zones of traffic movement.
Provision of car parking is never a priority consideration when new residential, commercial or recreational outlets are constructed, forcing people to park on the roads and causing the available road space to be reduced. These are just a few of the many causes of the frustrating traffic mess that paralyzes the city.
What is needed is the recognition of the fact that Karachi desperately needs an integrated traffic master plan that mixes both development and management options. Our multitude of land owning/civic agencies cannot afford to continue with the present policy of planning and developing in isolation and instead need to link up and plan with the betterment of the whole city in mind.
FARHAN ANWAR
Karachi
THIS is with reference to the letter by Mr W. Akhter (Sept 26) regarding the condition of the road leading to International Islamic University, New Campus, Islamabad. I can only congratulate Mr Akhter on being a resident of Islamabad and not Karachi and, by virtue of that, being lucky enough to have a pathway available for commuting to his destination.
I agree that since Islamabad is the capital of Pakistan, it is important to keep it spick and span so as to project a positive image of the entire country to visiting dignitaries from other countries and make them believe that we are what we are not. Compared to that, Karachi is only the largest city of Pakistan, and the financial and business capital of the country. It is a major metropolis and the most populated city of Pakistan contributing 70 per cent of the revenue to the national exchequer. It has the largest number of registered students and the largest number of registered vehicles plying the rugged terrain of the city. But, then, it is not the ‘federal’ capital, is it?
It is the most multi-ethnic city of the country and the demography represents a palette of customs and cultures. It has the largest set-up of local government and consumes the highest volume of energy resources. But, again, it is not the federal capital and hence has no right to develop its dilapidated infrastructure. The people living in this city have no justification whatsoever to expect their standard of living ever improving to a tolerable level.
And by now, they have pretty much accepted their fate as you’ll seldom see a Karachiite’s letter in this daily grumbling over the state of affairs. As for complaining about a particular damaged road of the city out of thousands, a Karachiite thinks of that as a lost cause. The irony is that while there is so much hue and cry about the social justice and equality nationally and more so internationally, the ground reality depicts a deliberate negligence of the woes of the largest city of Pakistan.
SYED MAJID KAZMI
Karachi
THE public was stunned to know that Lt-Gen (retd) Abdul Majeed Malik, who was the first chairman of the federal anti-corruption committee set up for accountability by prime minister Mohammad Khan Junejo in January 1987, and was minister in various governments, had the authenticity of his matriculation challenged by his political opponents. His nomination papers for district nazim elections were rejected by the returning officer in Chakwal.
I fail to understand the fuss in view of the fact that more than 30 per cent of matriculation certificates and BA degrees fake and forged and are available on payment from commercial institutions claiming foreign and local university affiliation.
Another point is that in a society where more than half the population is illiterate, how can a parliament or council for which the minimum qualification is BA be representative of the people of this country? Less education in this case means better representation.
ALI ASHRAF KHAN
Karachi
AFTER yet another summer of unending misery, consumers may well view the imminent privatization of the KESC with mixed feelings. Is this a case of “out of the frying pan into the fire”? Is “the light at the end of the tunnel” actually a train roaring straight at us? The government seeks a speedy sale of the utility as it has neither the fiscal space to continue funding the corporation’s losses nor, sadly, has it displayed political will in addressing its substantive underlying issues.
One would hope that in the interest of equity, efficiency, and (as is said) “in the larger national interest” any sale arrangement should contain, inter alia, the following commitments and guarantees from the new owners:
(1) to ensure defined, verifiable and benchmarked service standards consistent with the vital nature of the city as a metropolis containing around 10 per cent of the nation’s population, the premier port and an economic hub generating a disproportionately large portion of tax revenues; (2) to ensure that necessary investments towards upgrading the transmission and distribution infrastructure are made in a timely manner to reduce line losses and breakdowns; (3) to formulate a clear plan to meet the city’s projected future requirements through more optimal and sustainable sources.
The government, in turn, should explicitly commit that it would gather and bring to bear the necessary political will and, if required, its authority backed by lawful force in order to assist in the (1) dismantling of illegal connections and (2) prosecution, where feasible, in bulk power theft cases. The treatment of large outstanding dues owed to the corporation (mostly by federal, provincial agencies and other utilities) should be clarified. What value is assigned, what discount is given to these receivables? Consumers, who, through higher charges and erratic service, are subsidizing these dues, have a right to know. The passing of the KESC into private ownership requires a stronger, more knowledgeable and independent regulator to set and uphold stronger consumer rights.
The relevant minister may well have addressed these issues but it is time to come clean about the corporation’s problems in order to win the trust of consumers.
The fear lurks that in the need for a quick fix solution, and another feather in the privatization cap, the grave legitimate issues of consumers may be overlooked. It should be noted that the NCB/PTCL proceeds appear to have gone to the government’s operating fund despite pledges in 2002 (based on the flush of prosperity through post-9/11 flows and re-scheduling) that all selloff funds would go towards “debt retirement”. Since then, however, oil prices have risen considerably and the cost of maintaining the federal establishment, in all its glory, has, if anything, become more unsustainable.
S. OMAR AHSAN
Karachi
I TAKE strong exception to the column by Ayaz Amir, ‘The Nazimate of Chakwal’ Sept 30. His contention that the generals of Chakwal district are timid is incorrect. I would like to refresh his memory.
My father, Maj.-General Tajammul Hussain Malik, did march on Islamabad in 1980 and for that he got 14 years’ R.I. and I got 10 years R.I. for the same offence. Not only that, in 1976 my father was retired from the army on charges of an attempted coup.
If Ayaz Amir had checked his notes, he would also have known that seven days before Ziaul Haq took over in July, 1977, my father had moved troops, though he had retired in 1976, and the troops had reached Turnol before the operation was called off.
As far as his war record is concerned, in 1965 he stopped the first Indian attack at Batapur and the monument there is witness to his act of valour. In 1971, he volunteered and went to East Pakistan from a cosy appointment as DSD in GHQ.
My father never surrendered in East Pakistan. After finishing off his ammunition in hand-to-hand combat which ensued thereafter, they broke both his arms and split open his skull and took him unconscious from the battlefield while in uniform.
He won a citation for Nishan-i-Haider given to him by General A.A.K. Niazi.
NAVEED TAJAMMUL HUSSAIN MALIK
Lahore
IT’s a pity that more than half the population of Karachi consists of illegal occupants of government land. To avail themselves of votes, corrupt politicians have regularized many such areas in the name of katchi abadis.
The need is to stop encroachments immediately and ensure that illegal occupancy does not grow. Then all illegal occupants should be removed.
A proper master plan should be drawn up with the help of new technologies such as satellites and computers. Digital and base maps are needed.
The Building Land Control Acts and Municipal Acts are also stale and require changes to suit the present environment.
H. FEROZ SHAMSI
Karachi
THIS is in reference to A. Aleem’s letter (Sept. 25) where he spoke of General Jacob. As has already been pointed out by a correspondent, the general was born into a Jewish family from south India, and rose through the ranks to become a major-general at the time of the 1971 Indo-Pakistan war.
He is not an Israeli, nor was he loaned from the Israeli army. He lives in India and is now about 88 years old. News about him can be easily obtained by performing a search on www.google.com.
DENNIS DEY
Britt, IA, US
I HAD purchased a plot in Islamabad’s DHA Phase I just because it was surrounded by a beautiful forest. A couple of weeks ago, however, the land mafia began cutting trees in the area.
The tree felling is taking place every day and can be seen by anyone if they happen to be passing sector E.
I request the forest department to take action against those involved and the chief justice of Pakistan to take suo motu notice of the destruction of the area’s natural habitat.
DR NASIR RASHEED
Islamabad
IT IS very disheartening that although we are paying taxes to the government, we do not get much in return. I am a resident of Johar Town in Lahore. It is almost two months now since road construction began in the area.
The work is extremely slow with only one bulldozer in use. There are traffic jams every day and there is no traffic police around to regulate traffic.
Could the authorities concerned please expedite the road construction work and make life easier for us residents and road users?
SANA KAMRAN
Lahore
I AGREE with Mr Amir Ahmed’s views (Sept 17). There is already much debate on the issue of old pensioners’ and new pensioners’ benefits. However, I suggest that pensioners who invested their money in the pensioner’s benefit account about a year or two ago may be allowed to withdraw their amount without paying service charges and they may be allowed to re-invest the same amount in pensioner’s benefit account after an expiry of one month so that they can get a monthly payment of Rs920 instead of Rs840 for every Rs100,000.
AMARNATH MOTUMAL
Karachi
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