| October 17, 2005 | Monday | Ramzan 12, 1426 |
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Nobel Prize for Literature
Need for quake-proof buildings
Banking practice
Qazi’s remarks
WHAT made Islamabad’s Margalla Tower to collapse needs no further explanation. But it surely gives us food for thought.
The receptionist of the Margalla Tower was reported to have said that help reached after a delay. All the initial footage showed only one crane that too somewhat removed from the debris.
What the footage showed was civilians working with their bare hands and making a human chain in an effort to save those buried under the debris.
Till the end civilians outnumbered army or police personnel. Nowhere on any channel we saw any senior army official or army heavy vehicles in the rescue operation. I failed to see any single army ambulance.
If that was the situation in the capital, what could one expect at Muzaffarabad and other far-flung areas. All our leaders seemed to concentrate on was collecting funds and announcing. I salute the Edhi Foundation whose ambulances are always there.
HANIF A. SATTAR
Karachi
THE priorities of our establishment are repulsive. We do not have funds for medical equipment, and tools to mount a survival rescue operation, but enough funds to procure luxurious four-wheelers and limousines for the multitude of our civil and armed bureaucrats.
Our governors, chief ministers, and the various heads of our military establishment have personal planes, helicopters and a fleet of bullet-proof cars, but there are no funds for provision of civil helicopter ambulances and other essential rescue equipment. Even the heads of some semi-autonomous corporations have acquired corporate jets.
The CDA was supposed to cater to the needs of the civilian population of Islamabad. Provision of fire-fighting and rescue equipment is an essential part of any city.
It is not the role of the CDA to focus solely on real estate development and expansion, unless it has provided the already existing residential areas with basic infrastructure.
Pakistan was not created to be a boon for the real estate mafia, which holds the reins of power, but to be a democratic welfare state. This earthquake has exposed the hollow claims of the CDA and the insensitivity of our political establishment.
T. MALIK
Lahore
SEEING all the glimmer of lights around the plazas and fancy eateries, I wonder whether we truly are a nation in mourning.
I do not know how to explain to my children why ours is such an insensitive nation. I would like to know what the politicians are doing who should be with the people in Bagram, Balakot and other areas, picking up rubble and helping to save lives or retrieve the bodies. It should not just be the jawans rendering assistance but the top brass as well.
When the prime minister steps out in his crisp clothes and pristine shalwar-kameez, I can see the hollowness of our leaders who only know how to give lip-service. We need a leader among us who would sit with us and weep with us and be one of us.
AMRA ALI
Karachi
ON Oct 8 morning, private television channels showed a VIP wearing a bright red tie, sitting on an aircraft having an aerial view of Islamabad.
Newspapers carried stories and group photographs of dinner parties being held in Lahore on Oct 10 to celebrate the election of a nazim, who was the victorious nominee of the ruling PML-Q in the recently-held local body elections.
Another Punjab VIP went ahead with the marriage of his son in London, the day after the tragic earthquake. Later he proceeded to the US for a medical check-up.
Those who have violated the sanctity of the official mourning must be reprimanded and asked to resign. We as a nation need to reflect, reassess our follies and try to learn from our past mistakes.
A huge portion of our annual budget is spent on defence, and Kashmir has been the focal point of our policy.
It was indeed very surprising that in spite of the treacherous terrain and climate, frequent mud-slides, etc, in the northern parts of Pakistan and Azad Kashmir, our strategic planners never thought of having enough helicopters to provide logistical support in this vital part of our country.
We have enough funds to buy the latest Boeing 777s costing $190 million each for PIA, but do not have the resources to procure helicopters capable of carrying three to four tons of cargo.
Our self-styled elite civil and armed bureaucracy has the resources and funds to buy expensive limousines but fails to make allocations for fire brigade vehicles and search and rescue helicopters.
Those who rule us must respect the sentiments of the common man and his aspirations. They must be seen and dressed suitably in accordance with the sombre mood of a nation in mourning.
M. NAZEER ABRO
Hyderabad
I TOOK my seven-year-old nephew to the PAF museum , Karachi, the other day as Muiz wanted to donate his clothes, shoes, toys and blankets for the quake victims.
It was heartening to see hundreds of people turning up at the museum to donate clothes, blankets, medicines and food for the victims, but how long will this last?
Will we forget about the poor people in northern Pakistan, Azad Kashmir and the Kashmir Valley after a couple of days and in three weeks’ time, at the end of Ramazan, celebrate Eid lavishly in our usual way?
I urge my Pakistani and Kashmiri brothers and sisters, those who are lucky to have escaped from the wrath of the earthquake, and those who live abroad, not to forget the victims of the earthquake when they celebrate Eid.
I feel we should all celebrate Eid as simply as possible, as we should be sensitive to and respect the feelings of the countless numbers of people who have lost everything in this disaster.
AMR QUAIDIR
Karachi
HUNDREDS and perhaps even thousands of schoolchildren have died in the earthquake. All of them died when their school buildings collapsed as the 7.6 quake hit Hazara and AJK.
The collapse of the Margalla Towers block of apartments in Islamabad’s posh F-10 area also shows the use of substandard construction material. It seems that thousands of innocents have paid the price of greed, corruption and avarice.
Who is/are responsible for the award of these building and construction contracts? What were the criteria followed in the award of such contract and why did so many government schools and colleges collapse?
Who will ensure that those guilty of building substandard schools and colleges are punished? A high-powered commission needs to be established to investigate all of this.
SENATOR (Mrs) TANVIR KHALID
Karachi
WE are constantly hearing about how our people have come together during this tragic earthquake. PTV is emphasizing how our police and security personnel have done an excellent job regarding the collapse of the Margalla Towers.
As a resident of Margalla Towers for the last five years, and barely making it out alive with my wife and two small children, I would like to enlighten the readers about certain facts not mentioned so far.
Within one hour of the collapse of the towers, the entrance to the main reception area (which leads to all the apartments) was sealed off by the Islamabad police. Not even the residents were allowed to go inside the building.
We were told that this was being done to protect our belongings from the thousands of potential looters, rescuers and emergency personnel which had gathered outside the collapsed building.
The next evening after a lot of difficulty, a handful of residents were allowed to enter the building to collect a few personal belongings. Much to our horror, our main apartment doors had been smashed in.
Upon entering, it was obvious that our nightmare had become a reality. Our cupboards and drawers had been broken into, and all jewellery and cash had been taken. This was a systematic operation.
Whosoever was behind this had a lot of time since dozens and dozens of apartments were robbed and all valuables gone.
While some residents were buried alive in rubble, systematic looting of sealed apartments was simultaneoushy being carried out upstairs in the remaining half of the building.
It’s too late to play the blame game. But it shows that while we all show solidarity towards the victims and do all to help, we at the same time fall to the level of stealing from the dead during Ramazan.
The only answer for these despicable acts worth mentioning from the police was: “Why do people expect us to be any different from the looters of New Orleans?”.
My answer to the police was that in New Orleans the looters were from within their own community. They were not from the law-enforcement agencies.
RAJA OMAR KAMAL
Islamabad
WE are all very saddened by the tragedy that has struck Pakistan. I am very proud of the people who volunteered and stayed up all night to help rescue the victims. It is tragic and almost negligent of the government that no proper crisis management plan was physically in place.
It is unfortunate that the government is happy spending money on bullet-proof cars. We should cancel our order of F-16s and spend that money on building the infrastructure of the country. Why are the northern areas remote and can’t be reached? We should have a mechanism in place to take care of that. According to the military high command, we are always told that there are enough planes and helicopters to defend the country. Too much money has gone to the army and that is why our civilian infrastructure is in such sorry state.
Another theme which everybody keeps repeating is that it was God’s will and He did this to show us that we have transgressed. The God I know is the most merciful and beneficent. He does not kill schoolchildren and poor innocent people. If God has to teach a lesson then he can start from the top leaders and can work his way down the cabinet and the opposition politicians including the Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif who were in power twice each in this God-forsaken country and did not do anything except help themselves.
We never plan for anything until it happens. It is time we learnt from this disaster and organized ourselves. Let the lives lost be not in vain and make this tragedy a gain for the children of tomorrow.
ANGRY PAKISTANI
Wakefield, UK
I WOULD like to appeal to the heads of all those companies who have made a lot of profit in recent years to come forward and help the people of Pakistan, in other words their consumers.
I would specifically like to make a plea to companies in the automobile manufacturing, cement and banking industries because they have enjoyed exceptional profits in recent years. This is the time for them to be good and responsible corporate citizens. I am sure that a substantial commitment would hardly have any bearing on their corporate profits.
SAQIB ASHRAF
Abu Dhabi, UAE
I AM concerned about the fate of a former classmate of mine at the University of Chicago. His name is Tariq Husain, and his family is from Abbottabad. His father is a retired military officer and his mother is a doctor.
I think he had at least two sisters. I believe he is now married and still lives in the region. The family’s home address, which I found via the University of Chicago Alumni Association is: 15 Hill Road, Abbottabad.
If anyone has any information as to their condition or the condition of that area I will be grateful if they let them know that our thoughts and prayers are with them and your country.
L. PERRY Omaha, NE,
US
This is with reference to the report that JI chief Qazi Hussain Ahmad urged the government to reject aid received from the US and the UK. This is disgusting.
As the JI chief should know, hypocrisy is a great sin in Islam. In contrast to his continual bashing of the West, in Britain, a lot of my work colleagues from Britain, Australia and Canada are responding to the images on television and trying to help. Britain was one of the first countries to respond. It is high time the Jamaat chose a leader with a heart and a conscience.
NAVEED SIDDIQI
London
A news item in your issue of October 14 catalogued some of the great writers who were ignored by the Nobel Prize for Literature committee but somehow there was no mention of Leo Tolstoy, one of the greatest literary figures, and arguably the greatest novelist in the world. No less a person than Somerset Maugham in his well known book Ten Great Novels and Novelists asserted that Tolstoy’s War and Peace is the greatest novel in the world. The Russian novelist had also written yet another immortal novel Anna Karenina, not to speak of his third work of fiction Resurrection.
One more titanic figure who deserved to join the list of Nobel laureates, and who was not mentioned in the piece published by you was the famous Norwegian dramatist, Henric Ibsen. But suffice it to remember that Tolstoy, Ibsen, Joyce, Conrad and others did not draw their greatness from any award.
ASIF NOORAN
Karachi
Dawn’s editorial ‘Quake-proof buildings’ (Oct 12) has very rightly pointed out that the death toll could have been substantially lower had the structures and buildings in the affected region been built keeping in mind the seismic-prone nature of the region.
If we take into account the case of Pakistan, there are not even one per cent buildings in the entire country that are constructed as “quake-proof buildings”.
People construct palatial houses but they do not care to make it a quake-proof. Similarly, builders construct high rise apartment complex buildings but do so without considering the fact that they are building in an area prone to earthquakes — because if they do that they will not earn as much profit.
The story of Margalla Towers is before us. According to newspaper reports, in 1991 the CDA advertised the auction of three plots for luxury apartments in F-10 Markaz and called for pre-qualification of developers.
After the formal process, Site No 1, Markaz F-10, Islamabad was allotted to a firm on Dec. 14, 1992, to construct Margalla Towers. The builders were allowed to construct ground plus nine storeys, with a basement, for a total covered area of 251,381.18 sq. ft.
It is quite astonishing that without having a “completion certificate” from the Capital Development Authority, the owners of Margalla Towers allowed the purchasers of individual apartments to move into this building.
It is unfortunate that in Pakistan builders of highrise apartment buildings do not
follow the building rules and regulations and construct building projects by greasing the palms of government officials.
The latter in return issue the builders the no-objection certificates that give legality to the structure.
In the absence of an environmental watchdog, like Shehri-CBE in Karachi, the builders of Islamabad and Lahore are enjoying a free hand in violating the rules and regulations. Karachi is also not a different case, but Shehri-CBE has taken a number of builders to the task.
A detailed survey of shopping malls and high-rise apartment buildings will reveal that none of the buildings constructed in the city by members of Association of Builders and Developers or by individual builders is earthquake resistant.
No provision of emergency exits are made and not a single fire extinguisher is seen around in the buildings if an emergency were to arise. Hundreds of people are likely to be killed in case of a stampede, whether that takes place in a high rise apartment or in a shopping mall.
The government should take serious note of this and depute experts to physically visit the sites of under-construction high-rise apartment complexes to determine if they are indeed quake proof.
After completing the investigations, the government should publicize from time to time, through the print and electronic media, the names of all such high-rise buildings that are not earthquake-resistant, so that people should refrain from buying apartments in such buildings.
Syed A. Mateen
Karachi
RECENTLY the State Bank of Pakistan issued its BPD circular No.32 by which banks were asked to order any person having a computerized national identity card without a photograph to provide a photograph attested by a notary public.
It is common knowledge that in Pakistan many women do not have photographs because they think doing so is against their religion. Accordingly, the government has given them the option of holding CNICs without their photographs.
For the State Bank to require banks to insist on such women providing their photographs attested by a gazetted officer/nazim is to deny such purdah-observing women the facility of banking as they would not be able to produce their photographs.
If the government, in keeping with our Shariat, has allowed such purdah-observing women to be issued CNICs without their photographs, I do not see why the State Bank should insist on such women committing a breach of Shariat and get themselves photographed and then unveil themselves before a gazetted officer/nazim to have their photographs attested.
The banker-customer relationship is based on trust and confidence and it has been a requirement of banking since times immemorial that a bank must maintain complete confidentiality in respect of affairs of its customers, particularly in respect of balance in the customer’s account. In view of this, when returning a cheque on account of insufficient balance, bankers always return the cheque with the reason “refer to drawer” and do not give reason “insufficient balance” to avoid closing the customer’s balance in the account.
In complete disregard of this age-old and internationally accepted banking practice, the State Bank has recently ordered all the banks to clearly specify “insufficient balance” instead of “refer to drawer” when returning a cheque on account of insufficiency of balance. Thus, the very fundamental of banker-customer relationship has been done away with in Pakistan.
I understand that the practice of issuing cheques without sufficient balance in the account is a practice which must be condemned and steps need to be taken to stop it, but the method adopted by the State Bank is not appropriate. In other countries, France, for example, banks close the account of any customer whose cheque has to be returned on account of insufficient balance and the name of such account-holder is reported to the central bank for circulation among all banks so that no other bank opens his account.
Appearing on the television daily and getting applause and cheap publicity is something which should best be left to the politicians and it would be better if our bureaucrats-cum-technocrats do not resort to it and confine themselves to service to the public as their main and only goal.
WAQAR HASAN
Karachi
I was deeply shocked to read in the Dawn of Oct. 10 MMA chief Qazi Hussain Ahmad’s remarks in which he was saying that the government reject the aid offered by the US and UK. Qazi Hussain Ahmad, who is also the amir of the Jamaat-i-Islami should know better before making such a demand. Aid is a gesture of goodwill towards the needy and any amount, be it a single dollar or millions of dollars, should be welcomed wholeheartedly.
Not accepting or criticizing the aid given is a sure sign of ignorance or arrogance and totally unacceptable in Islam.
Farakh Z.A. Malik
Karachi
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