| October 4, 2005 | Tuesday | Sha’aban 29, 1426 |
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Karachi’s traffic mess
Defenceless waiters
Five-day week
PM & OCAC
Crossing Wagah on foot denied
Wheat rust
Pakistan in motor sports
Quick justice
PTCL problem
Clifton underpass
Water connection
Passport
Bus service
ISRAEL and Pakistan have held their first-ever talks through their foreign ministers in Istanbul, Turkey. It is a positive step. The two should continue to talk as there are a number of issues that need to be discussed to normalize relations between Israel and Palestine.
The first thing to do is to secure the lives and property of the Palestinians as well as of the Israelis. After uncounted people have been killed, there should be an unconditional halt to killings of innocent people from both sides.
If Israel takes the initiative for an independent Palestine state with Al Quds as its capital, much can be achieved to ensure peace and tranquillity between Israel and Palestine.
The pullout of Israel from the Gaza Strip is a positive sign. People in Pakistan hope that Israel will give due respect to the fundamental rights of the Palestinians, so that they should live in freedom and peace in their own motherland, which in turn will bring peace and security for Israel itself.
After a lot of killings and destruction on both sides, Palestinian and the Israelis should learn to live together as peaceful neighbours so that the next generation should live in peace and harmony.
SYED A. MATEEN
Karachi
THIS refers to your editorial (Sept 18) and the comments by Mr Jilani Sadique, Mr Manzoor Chandio and Mr Mansoor Alam (Sept 26). If Mr Chandio could differentiate between “terrorist” and “freedom-fighter”, he would find that what Syed Munawar Hassan, the Jamaat-i-Islami leader, said (Israel being a terrorist state) was true.
That Israel’s existence is similar to Pakistan’s, as stated by Mr Jilani Sadique, is not correct because the Israeli state has been planted in Arab lands by western powers, whereas Pakistan came into being on its own land on the popular demand of Muslims of the subcontinent. It is true that the Arabs did not come to Pakistan’s help. But look at the Arab states. Most of them are being ruled by dictators and kings who play safe to remain in power.
Israel is committing atrocities against Palestine and other neighbouring countries, the latest being killing of Mohammad Al- Sheikh Khalil, the most senior Islamic Jihad commander in Palestine, on Sept 25. Israel is duly backed by the US in all such atrocities.
The OIC is non-effective. The ummah is leaderless. Pakistan, the second largest Muslim country in the world and the only Muslim nuclear power, should stand up. President Musharraf lacks legitimacy to decide.
Let a free and fairly elected parliament emerge after 2007 general election to take a decision vis-à-vis Israel.
ABDUL SAMAD KHAN
Karachi
THE most visible change in Karachis urban landscape noticed by someone visiting the city after a break of a few years is the phenomenal increase in the number of vehicles and the resulting traffic congestion.
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 crisis are varied and complex, the most obvious being that a city of over 10 million does not have a mass transit system. There is much debate these days on this matter and pivotal in this discussion is the role of large buses.
The number of buses can be increased but that is not going to get us anywhere unless it is made part of an integrated traffic management plan for the city. Today, a number of land-owning and civic agencies are involved in their own little schemes and projects that find no relevance or integration within the overall scheme of planning and development for the city. Several overhead bridges and flyovers are being built without anyone pausing to analyze their impact on Karachis overall traffic management or any possible adverse environmental and social impact.
No one working in the civic agencies has ever bothered to see if there is any link between the existing haphazard traffic patterns and the change (often in violation of the relevant laws) in the land use or zoning laws. As previously residential areas are converted to commercial uses, the traffic generation and traffic attraction points have merged making it difficult to plan for proper traffic management.
Provision of car parking is never a priority when new residential, commercial or recreational outlets are constructed forcing people to park on the roads. This in turn causes a reduction in the available road width and creates further traffic congestion and accident hazards. These are just a few of the many causes of the traffic mess that paralyzes the city every day.
What is needed is the recognition of the fact that the city desperately needs an integrated traffic master plan that mixes both development and management options. The land-owning and civic agencies cannot afford to continue with the present policy of planning and developing in isolation and must coordinate their plans keeping the betterment of the whole city in mind.
FARHAN ANWAR
Karachi
INCIDENTS of violence, aggression and abuse against the poor have increased of late in the federal capital. The spoilt brats of the rich and influential residents of Islamabad have made the life of other people insecure and unsafe. Cases of girls and women being harassed are rising, as are incidents of petty quarrels and harassment of servants.
According to one recent report, a federal minister recently went to dine at a five-star hotel. He got angry with the waiter (because there was a delay in service) who was serving him and as a consequence of that physically assaulted the poor man. When this particular incident happened, two other federal ministers and many other respectable people were having dinner in the main hall of the hotel. But no one intervened or even said anything to the minister. Even the hotel management did not protect the poor waiter, and instead apologized to the minister.
The other day, in Jinnah Supermarket in F-7, a family, headed by a former female TV artist, had a quarrel and physically assaulted the waiter of a multinational chain of pizza restaurants. All that the waiter had done was to ask the guests that they should park their car properly so that the vehicles of other patrons could be accommodated as well.
The former TV artist not only abused the poor waiter, her young son started beating him up, and then forced him into the car and drove away. This whole incident lasted almost 20 minutes and took place in full view of a large number of onlookers, including the restaurant’s management. While a single soul came forward to rescue the poor waiter, one courageous woman made a strong protest and asked someone to call the police.
At this, the crowd of onlookers then gathered the courage to surround the car of the former TV artist (the family had come in two cars) and demanded that her son come back with the waiter. Meanwhile, the police reached the scene and to the surprise of everyone, the young man who had beaten up the waiter was with them. The police officially said nothing, and nobody knows what happened to the waiter. As with other similar cases in the past, no news of the incident appeared in next day’s newspapers. End of story.
HUSSAIN SIDDIQUI
Islamabad
ONE very important reason for having a five-day week is so that there is enough time for families to be together. This makes for the fostering of good family values and provides children the emotional support they need from their parents and older siblings to grow into well-rounded individuals.
Unfortunately in a city like Karachi, those from so-called elite backgrounds choose to hand over the upbringing of their children to their domestic staff and maids either because they dont want to take out time to spend with their children or because they simply cannot because of long working hours and a six-day work week.
I live in Holland where there is a 40-hour work week spread over five days. I am sure that the GDP per capita of Holland is far higher than that of Pakistan. The people are relaxed, friendly and lead a relatively stress-free life. Here in Holland you dont find 10-year-olds driving their fathers expensive car on the road, something that one will find readily in a posh neighbourhood in a Pakistani city.
I do, however, love Pakistan and visit it every year, only to shake my head in dismay at the way the Pakistanis have ruined the country. Things like civic sense, common decency, respect for rule of law, respect for the traffic police, responsible driving and a community spirit are all missing in most areas of Karachi. These attributes are by and large considered normal practice in a civilized country.
Having a shorter working week will allow todays young people and children to spend more time with their parents and elders and that good perhaps bring in this missing civic sense and respect for the law.
KHAN
Holland
I HAVE been eagerly awaiting for a follow-up to the news item PM seeks explanation from OCAC on POL prices (Sept 23). According to the report, the prime minister had sought a report about the alleged anomalies committed by the OCAC while determining petroleum prices and further that members of the OCAC would be holding a meeting with him in this regard on Friday which could have been Sept 23 or Sept 30.
Was this meeting held then? If so, what happened? I would very much like to know the outcome.
USMAN TARIQ QAZI
Lahore
LAST month a group of 17 children crossed the Wagah border to Perform, along with Indian children, a play called Border border. The theme was peace and love and it was an affirmation of the policies of the governments of both India and Pakistan for the promotion of peace. However, it took the children eight hours to cover a distance of 40 kilometres.
Border Border is a collaborative performance between children of Ajoka Childrens Theatre, Lahore, and Springdale School, Amritsar, and was performed in Amritsar, Delhi, Lahore and Islamabad in 2004.
Anyone not yet aware of the complexities of Indo-Pakistan relations and the large gap between official statements and actual practice may wonder why it took so long for the children in Lahore to cross over and meet their Amritsar peers.
The reason, if one can call it that, was that the children were denied permission to cross Wagah border on foot and had to travel by the notorious Samjhota Express. In unbearable heat and humidity, the children squeezed into the packed train at Lahore station, got down at Wagah for immigration and customs, then boarded it again only to get down a few minutes later, for immigration and customs at Attari on the Indian side.
They were made to wait for hours at railway platforms on both sides in sweltering heat and inhospitable conditions. It was nothing short of deliberate torture, and that too on children whose only fault seemed to be to want to act out a play. Ironically, Borders borders touched on the theme of the ambivalent policies of the two governments and had a song called Samjhota Express, which had a line Yeh samjhota bus naam ka hai/na kaj ka hai/na kaam ka hai/yeh karishma uncle Sam ka hai.
It seems that someone at the interior ministry, which rejected the request for permission to cross the border on foot, was obviously not amused by these lines and made the children pay for it by forcing them to undergo the torture of travelling in the Samjhota Express. If the children had been allowed to cross the border on foot, the journey to Amritsar could have taken not more than an hour. It was difficult to explain to them why their request for crossing on foot had been denied Why couldnt they be dropped at the border by their parents and picked up on the other side by their hosts? they asked.
In fact, no sane person can understand the wisdom of this requirement of special permission from the two governments for crossing the border on foot. And what is the justification of letting foreigners cross on foot without special permission but not children or teenagers? Even if there was a reason for such a restriction in the past, surely that does not exist any more if we are to believe in the earnestness of the peace process.
The mandarins sitting in the interior ministries of both countries should reconsider this policy which makes people-to- people (or in this case children-to-children) contact so difficult and unpleasant. A president can fly to watch a cricket match, a prime minister can travel by the Dosti bus, but the shortest route to peace is a walk across the border.
MADEEHA GAUHAR
Artistic director, Ajoka Theatre
Lahore
THIS refers to the report (Dawn, Sept 23) on the steps to be taken to check a new race of stem rust UG99 which is posing a threat to genes Sr2, Sr31 and other genes of wheat in Pakistan which are to be countered by the agriculture ministry. In the report it has been pointed out that E. Africa is the hotspot of wheat rust where the advance lines of Pakistani wheat are to be screened against the rust.
The inocula of rust (spores) come from Nilgri and Pulney in India and not from East Africa. Genes that have been exploited for increased productivity and for resistance to diseases through plant breeding are plants’ own gene or their near and/or wild relatives growing in the same ecological niche. Advances in molecular biology have made it possible to transfer genes from near or wild relatives to evolve transgenic crop plants for a desired objective. The gene for resistance to rust can be transferred in the genome of advance lines of Pakistani wheat to resist the rust disease.
For countering the incidence of the disease, consideration should be given to the impact of different agro- ecological zones on the occurrence of rust and smut diseases of wheat in Pakistan which has been elucidated by Dr S. A. Jamil Khan, et al (Pak. J. Bio. Sci. 8(2): 356-360, 2005). This calls for upgrading the national research institutes andthe infrastructure and training of research personnel on a zonal basis for increasing wheat productivity, which is running short of requirement.
DR A. GHAFFAR & DR M. JALALUDDIN
University of Karachi
IT was heartening to see Pakistan compete in motor sports for the first time and what even made it better was that the driver did quite well. Adam Khan drove brilliantly and was able to secure seventh position among competitors from 25 countries. He beat out the driver from India by a large margin which is commendable given that motor sports has a much longer history in India. We would like to congratulate the Pakistani team on such a great achievement, and hope and pray for further success.
AISHA & ASMA QADIR
Islamabad
WITHIN a matter of days, Lt-Gen (retd) Majid Malik was able to get justice from the Supreme Court. An unimportant matter of an important person was resolved quickly.
However, three years down the road, Mukhtaran Mais case still lingers on. Is the reason perhaps something to do with the fact that it is an important case but of an unimportant person
NAEEM SADIQ
Karachi
PTCL does not advertise any contact (phone, email, postal address, etc.) or the name or designation of an official on its website, who could be contacted if a customer wishes to register a complaint.
I went on the the PTCL website recently and found none of these details. The PTCL does, however, advertise an email address for its corporate clients but not for individual customers. I would suggest that it should do the same for individual subscribers as well.
QASIM USMANI
Karachi
IT was incorrectly reported in your newspaper that the Clifton underpass was opened to the general public on Saturday.
As a resident of Clifton overlooking the underpass, let me inform you that it was opened in one direction from the Do Talwar roundabout at 10 minutes to midnight. In the other direction, it was opened at around 1am. For some inexplicible reason, three policemen would not open the underpass to the public earlier than this, though the occasional VIP was allowed to pass.
Secondly, work on the service lanes has been halted by the Karachi Port Trust and the Frontier Works Organization. This is causing a lot of discomfort to the residents and shopkeepers of the area. There is an immense amount of dust flying around. Ever since the beginning of this underpass, I have twice been treated for eye infections, and my doctor has told me that it was caused by pollution from dust.
My five-year-old son has asthama, and has been made to suffer continuously over these last few months. The authorities are requested to have some mercy on us and complete the pending work in the side roads as soon as possible.
MOHAMMAD YUNUS
Karachi
I OWN a plot in the Works Cooperative Housing Society in Karachi’s Gulistan-i-Jauhar, Block IV, Scheme 36. Three years back the society applied for a water connection but so far nothing has happened. Other housing societies around have all the necessary utilities such as electricity, gas and water.
Will the authorities concerned please take action on our application and approve the request for a water connection?
WORRIED OWNERS
Karachi
ALTHOUGH the government has introduced a simple procedure for issuing a computerized passport where no one need be bothered by a middleman, at the Saddar passport office it is the other way round. Here somehow the middlemen have wormed their way into the office and are up to their old tricks, extorting money from unsuspecting applicants.
Those who come through the middlemen are able to complete the process out of turn. This happens with the collusion of the technical staff who display the token of the person of choice on the screen by crossing all token number sequences.
I hope the authorities concerned will intervene in the matter.
M. ANWAR CHANNA
Karachi
THIS refers to the planned Lahore-Amritsar bus service. The fact is that Indians and Pakistanis are much closer to each other than the two governments would believe. I would like to ask both countries why not open bus and train services along the border.
J.D. SINGH
Ottawa
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