| October 12, 2005 | Wednesday | Ramzan 7, 1426 |
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‘Soft image’
Decaying national heritage
‘Wars of the 21st century’
Contaminated water
SECP policy
Celebrating Eid
Safety barriers
Teachers as role models
Survival of the fittest
I LOGGED on the Internet to search for telephone numbers and other information related to the disaster management cells set up by the government. I was disappointed to see that the website of the Government of Pakistan did not have any breaking news section or any mention of emergency numbers.
The entire country is witnessing the worst tragedy in its history and we have failed to post even a news report regarding this tragedy on the government website or any details of emergency numbers for people who want to help.
On President Musharraf’s website, one had to really look to get the emergency and relief centre numbers. However, I and a friend called these numbers from Karachi and Islamabad but no one picked up the phone.
One can see how chaotic the situation was at the site of the Margalla Towers. Only God knows what conditions are like in other parts of the country which have been hit much harder. It is indeed a shame that we do not have a an effective disaster management plan, or the resources or strategy to help those most affected.
MARIAM DURRANI
Karachi
THE collapse of the Margalla Towers in Islamabad should be an eye-opener for our authorities. I visited the building during its early stage of construction toying with the idea of perhaps booking an apartment there. Being an engineer myself, I quite naturally decided first to examine the quality of construction before visiting the display units.
I saw exposed reinforced steel in the beams and columns in the building’s basement — the beams and columns take most of the load in a building. The reinforced steel was not only grossly insufficient; it was also of low quality. The concrete was abnormally porous and its was laid in a manner which seemed to completely disregard basic concrete-laying procedures.
What I had observed that day was enough to scare me away from the idea of buying an apartment. But, as an engineer, I considered it my professional obligation to bring those defects to the notice of the supervising consulting engineer. I met the site engineer and informed him about my observations. He said that the Capital Development Authority itself was the supervising consultant. He also said that the defects pointed out by me had already been cleared by the inspection engineers of the authority.
Based upon what I had observed, I feel that the collapse of the Margalla Towers is not a natural catastrophe. Our ever too eager fortune-hunting government bureaucrats seem to have run out of luck this time. The hapless inhabitants of the building paid the ultimate price for the apathy of the selfish and the corrupt.
M. SAEED
Islamabad
AS an American watching the disaster in Pakistan, I send my prayers to the people of Pakistan. May God be with you.
PATRICIA FITZWATER
Lafayette, IN, US
OUR presidents and prime ministers have always pledged to make Pakistan a modern, tolerant, enlightened and progressive nation. They have promised the teeming millions that the government will provide electricity, clean and safe drinking water, jobs and prosperity for all by 2007.
They appeal to the nation to reject those who wish to keep the nation chained to the 18th century and display to the world the “soft image” of Pakistan. Their sincerity and commitment to the cause of Pakistan and its citizens cannot be refuted or questioned.
But the West views Pakistan as a nest for terrorism. A senior columnist in her recent article had listed news reports from leading international newspapers and their perception of Pakistan. To sum it up, I will quote just one newspaper, France’s Le Monde:
“The epicentre of global terrorism is in Pakistan .... it is a cauldron, a kind of large factory to produce combatants for the ‘Holy War’.... To have targeted Iraq instead of worrying about Pakistan is one of the many insanities of the Bush government.”
We might not like or agree with what has been written about us, but we cannot behave like ostriches and bury our heads in the sand. We have to face the harsh reality of how the world perceives us.
According to A quarter page advertisements in leading newspapers recently, the ministry of information and broadcasting is hiring professional consultants to work on the “Pakistan Image Project” to project a soft image of the country.
Unfortunately, such advertisements are an admission that we have failed to establish a stable, mature and responsible nation and need image builders to project identity.
Nations are judged by the way their citizens behave and not by images. The governments of Germany and America may be responsible for killing more innocent men, women and children than any government in the world in the many wars they have been involved in, to establish democracy and their style of a free world, yet their citizens are not treated as criminals or terrorists.
Pakistanis have been on the watch list for the last three decades, first for smuggling drugs, then human trafficking, followed by peddling nuclear arms, violation of human rights, rape and honour killings and most recently as a hub of Islamic terrorism and militancy.
And when senior politicians are deported by Muslim friends for preaching violence, then the mere image building by dream merchants is not going to change the world’s perception of Pakistan.
It is the news and images of bomb blasts, honour killings, of women being pulled by their hair by law-enforcement agencies, of young girls being chased by a frenzied mob of bearded men or tearful women narrating their stories of rape and demanding justice that are flashed across the world through the electronic media and Internet which create the image of a nation.
And these are the images that the world associates with Pakistan. They might not be true for the entire nation, but they definitely reflect a pattern of behaviour that has become a way of life in Pakistan. Perhaps, what we should consider is to hire consultants to examine the vision of our fundamentalists and of some of those in government and draw up a script that would help them share the same vision as that of our general-president and the world around us.
A. H. MAKER
Karachi
IN the pre-independence era when dispensing education was considered a mission for social awakening and not an “industry”, some benevolent individuals had established various educational institutions with no vested interest. In Sindh, the following prominent institutions were established by distinguished persons: the Sindh Madressah-tul-Islam in Karachi, the Sindh Madressah at Naushehro Feroze, the Makdoom Ghulam Haidar High School at Hala, the Noor Muhammad High School at Hyderabad and the Mir Ghulam Muhammad Khan Talpur H.S.S., Tando Bago.
The Tando Bago High School, 65 miles from Hyderabad, catered to the needs of an economically most deprived part of Sindh. It was established with the sole effort of Khan Bahadur Mir Ghulam Muhammad Khan, a scion of the Talpur family of Tando Bago. He was an embodiment of simplicity and moral rectitude. Initially in the year 1919, he started junior classes. Subsequently, with an investment of Rs100,000, he built a building, lodging facilities and also a school for girls along with residential quarters for women teachers. It was for his selfless devotion to education that he is still remembered as the Sir Syed of Sindh and Lar Jo Abo (the father of lower Sindh).
The building in which the school (now the Government Higher Secondary School, Tando Bago) is housed is a valuable piece of our heritage. It comprises a boarding house and grand hostel with a palatial dining hall. Students coming from all over Sindh were provided with free board and lodging. Teachers were carefully chosen and were given emoluments better than at other institutions. Besides, outstanding students were given local and foreign scholarships. Many students enjoyed this facility, prominent among them being Shamsul Ulama Allama Umer bin Muhammad Daudpota, the renowned scholar, and Mir Bandah Ali Talpur, ex-chief minister of Sindh.
These days this fine majestic structure presents a picture of neglect. Although four years back the Sindh government had recognized this historical building as a national heritage and funds were sanctioned for its refurbishment, no noteworthy work appears to have been done for its protection and preservation.
The authorities concerned are requested to look into the matter without any further loss of time.
ALTAMASH MANZOOR H. KURESHI
Karachi
IN his letter (Sept 27) in reply to mine (Sept 10) on the question of wars of the 21st century, Mr M. P. Bhandara seems to have crossed all limits of normal human imagination. Referring to Osama bin Laden, he remarks: “What greater ambition for a renegade reclusive billionaire than to disturb the universe?” He further describes bin Laden’s mindset as “I shall destroy and I shall build”.
Mr Bhandara seems to have invented a new biology replacing Darwinian biology without providing any scientific evidence. Now we have, in Mr Bhandara’s view, a “struggle for destruction” instead of a “struggle for existence” as claimed by Darwin. “And who survives?” According to the Darwinian formula, “the fittest”. But Mr Bhandara has still to provide the answer to this question.
One may ask, in the meantime, are Jihadis, including bin Laden, the weakest or the fittest? If weakest, then how can they aim at disrupting or destroying the world? If fittest, then why are they aiming at their own and others’ death and destruction instead of survival?
“Success breeds ambition”, according to Mr Bhandara. But what kind of success and ambition is expected in all these acts of self-destruction of the so-called jihadis?
The truth, as pointed out by Mr K. Zia Hasan in his letter (Oct 2), is that bin Laden is only a bogey man or hobgoblin of the West. At best, he is a myth kept alive by the West to manipulate the minds of the masses for its own political objectives, and for downplaying the main issues of Palestine, Kashmir, Bosnia, Chechnya, etc., which are major world issues, and not merely Muslim issues, needing immediate resolution.
Mr Bhandara’s thesis about this mythical bin Laden’s ambition to dominate the world is an attempt to distract world opinion from the real issues.
PROF (Dr) ARIFA FARID Department of Philosophy University of Karachi
THE news about the presence of the e. coli bacteria in drinking water in Karachi has created anxiety among its citizens. Earlier, contaminated water, with the presence of deadly chemicals, had resulted in a number of deaths in Landhi Town.
E. coli is a common bacteria which normally lives inside our intestines, where it helps our body to break down and digest the food we eat. But when it moves from our intestines, and finds its way into other parts of our body (where it is not supposed to be), a person can get sick.
Pakistan’s per capita water availability has declined from 5,600 cubic metres at the time of independence to 1,200 cubic metres currently. It is expected to reach the threshold level of 1,000 cubic metres before 2010, or even in 2007.
In February 2005, dangerous levels of arsenic in drinking water were reported in areas of southern Punjab, especially Multan. Those samples were taken from 23 girls’ primary schools in Multan city. At some of these schools the arsenic contents in water was eight times the level permissible by the World Health Organization.
In 2003 the Water and Sanitation Agency accidentally discovered arsenic in drinking water during a survey for the improvement and extension of the water supply system in Multan city’s 41 union councils.
In 2000, hundreds of people, especially children, in the Manga Mandi area suffered from crippling deformities, mainly in the legs and spine, leaving them in acute pain and in some cases unable to walk. The problem was officially attributed, after a media uproar, to excess fluoride levels in water.
The death of at least 50 people in Hyderabad in 2004 after drinking contaminated water is another example of the scale of the threat.
In Karachi, to a significant extent, the poisoning of water is linked to the mixing of industrial effluents into rusted drinking water lines. Due to the constant water shortage related with the inadequate supply, Karachiites have been forced to install suction pumps. These suction pumps create a negative pressure in the pipeline which attracts contaminated effluent-mixed water as well as sewage water from the vicinity into the pipes.
The federal cabinet in July this year rejected a proposed national water policy owing to its apparent clash with the jurisdiction of the Council of Common Interest (CCI). The sources said the delay in approval of the policy was already delaying World Bank assistance to Pakistan. The bank has committed $3 billion in assistance for three years, but unless a water policy is announced, the funding will not be properly released.
The policy envisages that the water supply should be of good quality and equitably distributed. It should meet the requirements of all water users through an efficient management, institutional and legal system that would ensure sustainable utilization of water resources.
To tackle this problem, the government has to establish small-scale laboratories in all affected areas for periodic check of water quality. Boiling of drinking water has always proved to be a safe and secure practice.
Information about water quality should be disseminated through the media more effectively. It is suggested that supply of drinking water with adequate pressure to discourage the installation of suction pumps should also be ensured. Moreover, where Karachi is concerned, there can be no second opinion about the need for the installation of desalination plants.
RASHID ASHRAF
Karachi
THE growth in Pakistan’s capital markets over the past few years has been unprecedented. With the expansion of Pakistan’s investor base, the need for accurate information and its responsible dissemination is of paramount importance. It is here that an organization of Dawn’s repute must play an important role in supporting the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan’s (SECP) mission of protecting investors.
The stock market roundup published in Dawn on October 5, under the title “Unabated bullish spell draws warning to play safe”, states that the current flare-up was attributed to rumours that the SECP has agreed to a proposal to raise the financing limit to Rs40 billion from existing Rs25 billion to meet the rising funding demand of investors in a bull-market. Such rumours can alter market sentiments and can also result in market manipulation. Printing such rumours adds a certain level of credibility to them and often misleads.
It must be pointed out that the SECP had issued on a press release on September 22 (published in Dawn on September 23 stating clearly that rumours regarding the lifting of the CFS cap were unwarranted.
This information is also available on our website (http://www.secp.gov.pk/news/PDF/News 05/Sept 22 Funding CFS.pdf). Dawn could have supplemented the reporting the rumour with reference to the clarification already made by the SECP in this regard.
In order to disseminate accurate information, the SECP is always available to clarify any such information that is essential for the protection of the investors.
JUNAID IQBAL
Spokesperson, SECP,
Islamabad
THE regular increase in the prices of petroleum products and high inflation are making lives of the people difficult.
Prices started moving upward well before the start of Ramazan. The most affected are the salaried class and pensioners.
Wouldn’t it be a relief if one month’s pay and pension is announced for all government employees, including retired ones, to celebrate Eid?
AAMIR NAFEES
Lahore
THERE is an urgent need for two more safety barriers for pillars at Karachi’s Liaqatabad crossings: one for traffic coming from the Super Highway turning towards Nazimabad and SITE and the second one for the traffic turning towards Saddar.
SALEEM ATHAR
Karachi
THIS is with reference to your editorial “Teachers as role models” (Oct 7) where it has been rightly suggested that though benefits and facilities help improve teachers’ economic state of affairs, it is professionalism, training and knowledge which earn them true esteem and respect in society. Thus the only way to improve the status and standing of teachers and enabling them to become a role model for students and, as a consequence, to society, a multi-pronged approach is required.
A separate pay and perquisites structure for teachers should be announced starting with aggregate pay and emoluments of Rs10,000 for a primary teacher. All appointments irrespective of grade should be made either through the public service commissions or specially designated bodies with full autonomy, headed not by bureaucrats or politicians but by senior academicians headed by no less a person than the vice-chancellor of a university. Aptitude tests should be conducted and made the basis for appointment. The existing training institutes should immediately be upgraded. Their teaching faculty should be given special incentives in the shape of extra allowances so that they should not look for jobs elsewhere.
After appointment, teachers should be given one year’s strenuous training in the methodology of teaching. Those who come out with good positions should be given extra increments.
We must have Higher Education Commission-recognized private or public teachers training centres all over Pakistan, offering three to six months’ refresher courses.
All educational institutions should treat training certificates as a mandatory requirement for hiring teachers. The HEC, which has taken over the responsibility of modernizing and spreading education, is urged to rise to the occasion and consider the afore-mentioned recommendations so as to make teachers play a role which is required to build an enlightened society.
SHAHMEER I. QURESHI
Hyderabad
WITH the advent of the WTO quota-free regime, the survival of the fittest theory has now permeated the world market posing a serious threat and challenge to the weaker nations. President Musharraf described the present scene as an arena of cut-throat competition for our global village (Dawn, Sept 25).
The president’s view of free trade, though a little late, is thought-provoking.
However, our commerce ministry is all praise for the WTO and its mysterious lexicon transforming us into a buyers’ market.
FAIZ AHMAD SHEHABI
Lahore
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