| October 28, 2005 | Friday | Ramzan 23, 1426 |
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Relief tax
‘Not quite our finest hour’
Fake degree syndrome
India, secularism & terrorism
Liaquat Ali Khan
Gas bill woes
Uses of adversity
Unfortunate situation
Dead phone
I am just back from Battgram in the NWFP. There are certain things that I felt were wrong with the relief operations going on.
Any person, especially a doctor, who goes there now should go through the army authorities and not any of the NGOs. I say this because many seem to be ineffective and quite a few there to make a quick buck. Also, people should send their donations — cash or in kind — only to army camps or the presidential relief fund. The army is the only organized force out there and it is doing a very appreciable job. I have been somewhat critical of the army in the past but in this time of need, they are the only people who are doing things which are really making a difference. The fact is that without their help, the magnitude of the disaster would have been compounded.
It should be kept in mind that the basic need in these areas is not first aid or emergency surgical intervention but of general practitioners who can treat infected wounds, dress wounds, and provide medicines for flu, cough, acid peptic ulcers, constipation, malaria, diarrhoea, scabies, etc.
People along the main roads are not as affected as are those living on the periphery, especially in the villages in the mountains. Also, there are many survivors who have received first aid but they face problems in getting dressings changed — due to which infections have developed. It was also observed that those living in the mountain villages do not want to leave their collapsed homes which means that if they walk to the main roads to get relief, they often do not bring their children or wives with them, unless the latter need immediate medical treatment.
For example, a survivor came and said: “My daughter has a head injury. She has now developed fever since the wound is dirty. Her neck and shoulders are also swollen and I need medicine for her.” I asked him to bring her daughter to me or else she could die of the infection from his injury. He told me that he couldn’t do that because his village was a three-hour walk away. I asked him if he could get some people together who could then carry his daughter and he told me that it was impossible because every home had casualties. This is the predicament of just one survivor and multiply that by the number of affected people and one can try and imagine the magnitude of the crisis.
It was also observed that trucks carrying relief were being looted. Those not much affected by the disaster are doing the looting and in many cases the motive seems to be to get a kick out of doing this. I have seen local people looting a truck and then joking to each other about it. They usually gather in groups along the roads and then start looting any truck that comes their way, especially those which are not protected by soldiers. A few people working in the area told me that the first two trucks that were looted were looted by the nazim of the area.
These looters are not letting workers deliver relief goods to the worst affected areas. Looting of the houses affected by the quake is also quite common. There were unconfirmed reports that at least two drivers died while trying to resist such looting.
I also saw that some people would come to the free medical camps, get a lot of medicines and then sell it to a local medical store. I don’t know whether they did this on their own or whether they were sent by medical store owners to do this. I also saw a US helicopter being mobbed in front of our camp which was adjacent to an army unit placed in the area. The chopper had the insignia of the US navy and was a Blackhawk. As it landed hundreds of people ran towards it and tried to snatch away the relief supplies. It took the army unit some time to respond by which time dozens had managed to take away whatever relief items they could get their hands on.
Most of the people standing in line at relief camps are not affected by the disaster directly. They are there just to collect and store goods or even to sell them in the local market. This is something very common in the area. Many people were seen selling warm blankets for Rs100 or Rs150 in the local market after getting them from relief camps.
There is also a huge transport problem in the Battgram area with owners of transport vehicles raising their fares. Prices of items of daily use have also increased manifold and this has been done by local shopkeepers. Most in demand are tents because no one wants to sleep under a structure. Also, the local administration, especially in the more remote forward areas, is totally finished.
HARIS IQBAL
Lahore
I MUST say that the letter of Steve Elisha from Colorado Springs, USA (Oct 11), on the alleged relationship between hurricanes Katrina and Rita and the American aggression on Iraq has been appropriately analyzed and effectively replied to by Mr Muhammad Ali Siddiqi in his article under the caption “Where reason and religion clash” (Oct 20).
I agree with Mr Siddiqi that “if Katrina’s victims were mostly Christians, and October 8’s victims mostly Muslims and Pakistanis, the tsunami made no religious discrimination when it crashed on the shores of Indonesia to Kenya. The 250,000 devoured by the tsunami in December 2004 were Muslims, Christians, Hindus and Buddhists, and there must have been some Jewish tourists, too.”
The laws of nature are beyond human comprehension as such catastrophes like tsunamis, hurricanes and earthquakes are, in fact, called “asmani afaat” on which human beings have no control.
There is, however, a general belief among people that such catastrophes come as a divine warning to intolerant, autocratic, despotic and cruel rulers who bring unbearable sufferings for the poor masses. The question before the nation is: are the rulers of the country taking any lesson from this unprecedented human tragedy? It is still not too late to heed the voice of God.
SYED IQBAL AHMAD
Karachi
PRIME Minister Shaukat Aziz, according to a news report (Oct 16), has revealed that reconstruction might take five years. According to another news report (Oct 17), the reconstruction cost of areas affected by the October 8 earthquake could go well beyond the initial estimate of $5 billion.
Public participation from every class of society in fund collection has been tremendous. The question is how long can we afford it? With the passage of time, this zeal and fervour related to fund collection may decrease. As we all know, the majority of the population of this poor country belongs to the lower middle or middle class. If the focus is shifted to that class, while not ignoring the better-off, it may be productive in terms of fund collection. A strategy could be formulated in the light of these points.
Keeping all these factors in view, the government may impose a small levy for earthquake relief. The amount should be around Rs10 per month to be deducted from the salaries of employees of the public and private sectors for a certain period, one year, for instance. This may provide a regular pool of funds for rehabilitation and reconstruction work smoothly while also ensuring a sense of participation.
ZAHID HUSSAIN
Karachi
THIS is with reference to Mr Ayaz Amir’s column “Not quite our finest hour” (Oct 14). I cannot agree with him more that this crisis has exposed the ineptitude and incompetency of our government and the military. The rmy high command has excused itself for not reaching certain affected areas because of road blocks and bad weather and because in some cases they were not even aware that certain villages even existed.
Two points of concern arise out of this situation: First, it shows a lack of knowledge by the civil and military administration of the most highly sensitive areas of our country which lie around our international borders. Second, it reveals how ill-trained and unskilled our armymen can be.
Also, why did the government not make the commonsensical decision earlier to use load carrying animals like mules to provide relief supplies to areas that were allegedly inaccessible by auto-vehicles due to road blocks?
I would beseech our government to save itself from one last embarrassment, that is, of making money out of this crisis. The mobile network providers in Pakistan have started a campaign of raising donations through SMS to which the Pakistani people have responded generously.
Unfortunately, the government has not waived the government taxes applicable to these SMS, and so the government may be earning a tidy amount through this fund raising scheme. It is simply unethical for the government to make money this way, and a tax waiver should be announced immediately.
BARRISTER ALIZEH HAIDER
Karachi
IT was reported in Dawn on Oct 10 that the Higher Education Commission has taken action against fake degree holders who had sent counterfeit degrees for attestation by the HEC. Fifteen such degrees have been sent to the respective universities for cancellation.
This is commendable but as the Punjabi saying goes, while catching a thief, his mother too should be held accountable. The HEC must weed out the black sheep in the form of supervising teachers who approve the fake theses of students receiving fake degrees.
DR M.YAQOOB BHATTI
Lahore
Strained Indo-Pakistan relations have harmed Indian Muslims badly. At long last India has realized that targeting and insulting the insecure Muslims in India is quite different from playing with Pakistan. The Muslims have felt relief at the latest positive developments in Indo-Pakistan ties. The Indian media now also tries to show some mercy towards Muslims by sidelining its anti-Muslim format. This is a good development, if it is real.
After independence a carefully manufactured pro-Hindu bureaucracy placed by governments both at the centre and states in connivance with the media has done unpardonable harm and damage to Indian Muslims.
The secular credentials of the Patel-Nehru combine were exposed even during their time, but the impact continues to keep anti-Muslim sentiments alive. The pro-Hindu organizations and parties took advantage of the weakness of the Indian nation.
The anti-social network operating in India also took shelter under the pro-Hindu campaign. A feeling was systematically created in India that Muslims live only at the mercy of Hindus.
India since Nehru has pursued a pro-Hindu and anti-Muslim policy denying even the minimum to Muslims. Lal Bahadur Shashtri, the weakest of prime ministers India ever had, courted and supported the pro-Hindu forces and his party helped the Hindutva forces spread their poisonous tentacles across the nation.
Governments one after another irrespective of the colour of the political parties they represent have succeeded in alienating the Muslim masses, while at the same time talking about socialism and secularism and democracy. India has very conveniently converted Indian Muslims into a vote bank commodity and even the BJP, aping the pseudo-secularist plank of the Congress party, has also acquired a share in the Muslim vote bank. India has forced the Muslims to the wall in such a way that the Muslims are desperate to see if some political party can just say some soothing words to them. So much so that both the government and private sectors have hardly any jobs left for Muslims.
The big talk of unity in diversity needs to be practised by the state and supported by the press. Favourite expressions like “Islamic fundamentalism” and “Islamic terrorism” have to be replaced with expressions that do not undermine Muslims.
India needs to consider the pathetic condition of the Muslims. Unless the media helps to empower the Muslims economically by involving them in government and the private sector, Indian Muslims will remain as backward as they are today.
DR ABDULRUFF COLACHAL
Jawaharlal Nehru University
New Delhi
THIS is with reference to Mr Noor Ahmed’s letter (Oct 18) about the first prime minister. I have often felt that Liaquat Ali Khan has not been given a proper place in the history of our country. He was killed on Oct 16, 1951. No official report has yet been made public about his assassination. This has obviously led to many theories.
One says that Said Akbar, an Afghan national, was a hired agent working at the behest of a foreign power. The second theory states that some persons in the bureaucracy, specially in the Punjab police, were accomplices in carrying out his murder.
Liaquat Ali Khan has also been criticized by some for accepting the ceasefire in 1949 in the Kashmir war and for visiting America at invitation of president Truman and postponing a visit to the USSR although he had received an invitation earlier to visit the Soviet Union.
As far as accepting a ceasefire in Kashmir is concerned, many in Pakistan feel that the state of our military and economic strength were never good enough to take any risk about our eastern borders. What happened in 1965 could also have happened in 1948/49.
As for the second point, let us not disregard the fact that strong anti-Soviet sentiments existed amongst the people, specially in religious circles. Under the circumstances it was a better decision to visit America.
An interesting point also emerged due to the controversial remarks made by the Quaid-i-Azam’s physician Lt-Col Ilahi Bux about the excessive anxiety of the government to know the exact state of health of the governor-general.
I think it was quite appropriate for a prime minister of the country to keep himself aware of the state of health of his leader.
Despite all the secrecy about the Quaid’s health, it could be easily imagined that he was in a critical condition. To meet an eventuality of that magnitude, there were so many arrangements to be made.
Another point which is often mentioned is that no senior person was available to receive the Quaid and the ambulance provided broke down en route to the city centre from the PAF base at Mauripur.
We often tend to believe negative points without examining the entire background of an episode.
There is no reasonable account available to indicate that the prime minister was informed of the time the Quaid was due to arrive.
As for the ambulance, in view of the type of ambulances we had at that time, a breakdown should not be considered odd. It should be stressed that Liaquat Ali Khan was a trusted lieutenant of the Quid-i-Azam and remained so till the last. With due respect to every one of the 18 prime ministers that we have had during the last 58 years, he was certainly the greatest of all of them.
I support the views of Mr Noor Ahmed that proper protocol should be given to the late prime minister, who lies buried at the same level of the ground where the actual grave of the Quaid is located.
Posting of two guards from the same battalion that performs duties at the main mausoleum will not cause an extraordinary expenditure for the state.
BRIG (retd) KHALID HASSAN MAHMOOD
Karachi
I RECEIVED a provisional bill (the first one), dated Feb 28, from Sui Gas Northern Gas Pipelines Ltd, Okara, and paid it through the Bolan Bank, Okara.
The second bill, dated April 29, included the amount already paid against the first bill. The billing section of SNGP Ltd, Okara, subtracted from the second bill the amount already paid and advised me to pay the balance. I was satisfied that the matter had been settled.
But every successive bill being received by me since then includes in it the amount already paid (showing it as outstanding). This exercise of including, subtracting and paying the balance has been going on for the last seven months.
My struggle, repeated visits and requests, both verbal and written, have failed to attract the attention of the officials concerned. Will someone at the higher level kindly look into the situation and remedy the problem created for the public in general and senior citizens like myself (I am 73) in particular.
SYED SAJJAD HUSSAIN
Okara
Gas Consumer No: 63200103957
IT is true that natural forces are hard to harness but disasters also unite nations. Now all politicians, businessmen, bureaucrats and scholars should forget about their personal interests for the rehabilitation of the unfortunate earthquake victims. It is time to prove that sweet are the uses of adversity and that the Pakistani nation can work together for the survival of humanity without any discrimination of caste, creed and provincial identity.
DR ZAINAB RIZVI
Lahore
I FULLY agree with Mahmood Aslam (Dawn, Oct 22) about reconstruction and accountability in the areas badly hit by the earthquake of Oct 8.
We have seen that every government, whether political or headed by the army, had the same manifesto: to stay in power and safeguard the party. Nobody cared about such contingencies as an earthquake calamity.
We do not care about the environmental hazards affecting large sections of the population. We do not care to check pollution. We cannot supply safe water and safe food and we cannot care for conservation of greenery, gardens, trees in the plains or in the hilly areas. The earthquake occurred and thousands died, their property, their earnings were destroyed. No government, no civil or military authority, such prepared for such emergencies.
During British rule, there was a restriction on building pucca houses in Murree and other hilly areas. Only wooden structures were allowed and no concrete building was erected. Similarly, in Srinagar all buildings were constructed of wooden material.
It was the job of the government after the creation of Pakistan to warn the people and introduce wooden-frame structures in mountainous areas.
Most of the houses in the affected area are made of stone, without seeking proper advice. Hence the unfortunate situation after the tragedy.
PROF (DR) M.A. SOOFI
Lahore
My phone 481 3284 has been out of order now for 10 days. Despite repeated complaints at 18 the phone has not been fixed. The last complaint number given to me was 201.
A SUBSCRIBER
Karachi
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