| November 4, 2005 | Friday | Shawwal 1, 1426 |
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‘Science, faith and quake’
Alternative shelter
Corruption & relief effort
‘The real moral lesson’
Saving Margalla National Park
Donation ads
LDA rules on transfers
Incentive for volunteers
Dismantle the LoC
‘Best and the worst’
Vaughan’s spirit
Phone complaint
Clarification
Priorities
THE article “An equation with Israel” by Mr Kunwar Khalid Yunus (Oct 13) contains some information that is contrary to facts and certain conclusions that are debatable.
For instance, the reference to the contacts between the Zionist ideologue Chaim Weizmann and Sir Zafarulla Khan in 1945 and 1948 make out the former to be a reasonable man possessing goodwill. However, his real face was exposed by the noted Jewish convert to Islam, Muhammad Asad, in his book, The Road to Makkah.
During a trip to Palestine in 1922, while he was still Jewish, he had met Dr Weizmann and put some questions to him. One was as to how could the Zionists hope to make Palestine their homeland in the face of the vehement opposition of the Arabs who, after all, were in the majority over there. “The Zionist leader shrugged his shoulders and answered dryly: ‘We expect they won’t be in a majority after a few years.’ This shows that even in 1922 they had unholy plans of exterminating the Palestinians.
Asad then asked him: “Don’t you think that it is wrong on your part to displace people who have always lived in this country”
“But it is our country,” replied Weizmann, raising his eyebrows. “We are no more than taking back what we have been wrongly deprived of.”
“But you have been away from Palestine for nearly two thousand years. Don’t you think that the Arabs could, with equal justification, demand Spain for themselves — for, after all, they held sway in Spain for nearly 700 years and lost it entirely only 500 years ago”
This made the “undisputed leader of the Zionist movement visibly impatient and he said Arabs had only conquered Spain, that it had never been their homeland. Asad then retorted by pointing out that the Hebrews too had come as conquerors to Palestine, before whom many other Semitic and non-Semitic tribes such as the Amorites, the Edomites, the Philistines, the Moabites and Hittites had been living there.
He further noted that they still live here because the Palestinian or Syrian “Arabs” are in reality only the Arabized, original inhabitants of the country, some of whom became Muslims over the centuries, while others remained Christians. Weizmann, of course, had no reply to this and turned the conversation to other topics.
Mr Yunus also stated that some other important Pakistani leaders, such as Liaquat Ali Khan, Ayub Khan, Ziaul Haq and Z. A. Bhutto, had been sympathetic towards Israel and had facilitated interaction with its political leadership, etc.
This is contradicted by an earlier report (Sept 7).
Mr Liaquat Ali Khan is on record as having rebuffed some American Jews’ offer of aid to Pakistan in exchange for recognizing Israel by saying that our souls were not for sale. Field Marshal Ayub
Khan had told an Arab delegation, which had called on him in 1967 to thank Pakistan for its support during the Arab-Israeli war, that even if the Arab countries were to recognize Israel, we would never do it.
It further says that Mr Z. A. Bhutto had, as foreign minister, threatened to walk out from Cento’s military meeting if Israel was made a member. As far as Gen Ziaul Haq is concerned, being a staunch Muslim, he would never have taken the step of recognizing the Jewish state. His contacts with it were mainly for the sake of procuring Russian arms seized by it from the Arabs for use in the Afghan jihad through a deal brokered by the CIA.
If some Pakistanis have been in touch with Tel Aviv it doesn’t mean they did the right thing. Also, one disagrees with the writer that we can recognize Israel on our terms; besides, the disadvantages of doing so far outweigh any possible benefits, as explained in a recent statement (Sept 16) of the much respected former foreign minister, Mr Agha Shahi.
IRSHAD SIDDIQUE
Karachi
THIS is in response to the article by Omar R. Quraishi titled “Science, faith & quake” (Oct. 28).
It is true that we have overlooked the scientific facts that were instrumental in the very high death toll and some have adopted a view that borders close to being illiterate. We should certainly not ignore scientific and worldly reasons that made this disaster even worse and steps should be taken to prevent massive destruction in case of future quakes.
Blaming others and accepting irrational reasons for this calamity is just another example of religion being exploited — not the first time that this has happened in Pakistan. But we should also not completely overlook the religious aspect of this catastrophe.
The Holy Quran itself describes similar disasters brought on different groups of people throughout history. There is reason for each and every incident that takes place on earth and there are lessons to be learned from each of them.
Certainly this tragedy offers us an opportunity to learn many things both from an Islamic perspective as well as from a social and scientific one. As far as scientific and worldly reasons are concerned, the writer has thrown enough light on it and on the steps that should be taken in this regard. We also need to figure out the rational reasons for God’s wrath.
SUNDUS SAMIUDDIN
Karachi
THIS refers to Omar R. Quraishi’s excellent article. As in so many natural and unnatural disasters, the earthquake did not discriminate between good and bad people, young or old.
It’s truly awful that people who have survived and are suffering tremendously are then blamed for bringing this on themselves. The media should do much more to air views of people such as Mr Quraishi to drown out a twisted logic which is getting Muslims nowhere.
We would do better to humbly accept our frailty and focus on helping our fellow humans in need — not try to second guess divine purpose. That would be more in tune with man’s purpose as we know it in Islam.
NAVEED SIDDIQI
London, UK
THERE is an acute shortage of tents to provide shelter to the earthquake victims and winter is around the corner, posing the risk of another disaster.
We need to use our ingenuity to design and provide shelters to the victims.
One option is to make a semi-circular frame out of pipes and fix it to the ground. On the frame any kind of cover like tin sheets, fibre glass, plywood, thick cloth or even a ‘chatai’ (mat) can be fixed and on top of that polyurethane foam can be sprayed.
This will be good protection against the cold because polyurethane foam is a very good insulating material and is used in refrigerators.
A 10 feet by 10 feet hut will cost less than Rs 20,000 which is much cheaper than a winterized tent.
A shelter of this type can be put up quite fast. A spray machine is mounted on a vehicle and can be transported to the site.
Each machine can spray enough to make at least 10-15 such huts every day. There are at least six such machines available in the country which are used for making roofs for industrial purposes or for poultry farms.
Each machine costs approximately 25-30,000 dollars and the government or the army can airlift any number in a short time.
The chemicals needed to make polyurethane are also available in the country but since a large quantity will be required, they can be imported. The shelters can easily last a couple of years and if an outer cover is put on top of the polyurethane foam they can become permanent. The federal relief commission and other authorities should look into this option.
NAEEM BURNEY
Islamabad
I AGREE with Shehzad Farooq’s letter titled “Relief and rehabilitation” (Oct. 29) in which he said that corruption exists even within the so-called transparent NGOs approved by the Pakistan Centre for Philanthropy and registered with the income tax department.
If not on the financial side, definitely on the moral and intellectual side. These NGOs have behaved not any differently to those standing by the roadside collecting donations for any cause in their village. Some issued expensive ads and put up colourful banners in the cities, sponsored by otherwise reputable companies. Government departments put out meaningless ads and to top it all the chairman of the Higher Education Commission is busy writing letters for supplements celebrating anniversaries when the nation is bleeding.
The degeneration is at the top of the pyramid of our society and the unfortunate ones are the hapless and helpless poor, at the bottom of the heap. Captains of industry and professionals sit on the boards of these NGOs, luring the gullible to give to their causes expecting that the contributions will be applied for the purpose they are given for. Instead money is being used to carry out their existing objectives, not relief work for the earthquake victims. At the foothills of the Margallas, the air is intoxicating. I have seen well meaning individuals reach positions of power and turn absolutely corrupt.
ARIF HASAN
Karachi
THIS is with reference to the letter under the caption ‘The real moral lesson’ (Oct. 30). The writer has suggested that the scriptures should also be consulted for finding the reasons for the recent earthquake.
I’m not an expert on religious matters, but all the religious scholars in the mosques I pray in are of the unanimous opinion that the earthquake occurred because of the sins and moral corruption of the people of the area.
They also say that the time of death of each individual is fixed, which means that those who died in the quake-stricken regions would have perished at the exact time of their deaths, even if there had been no earthquake.
Therefore, we cannot blame the builder of the Margalla Towers, since those who were unlucky enough to be buried under the rubble would have died anyway, even if the building had not collapsed. Consequently, there is no use making rules and regulations to force builders to construct earthquake-resistant structures.
Will someone who knows about such things shed light on this matter.
SHAKIR LAKHANI
Karachi
THE suo motu action taken by the chief justice of the Supreme Court and the panel of apex court judges blocking the development of the Islamabad chalets housing scheme is a brave step to help protect the integrity of the Margalla National Park. The Margalla National Park is within Capital Development Authority territory, and has been notified under the CDA wildlife laws to conserve a unique natural ecosystem. If the Islamabad chalets housing scheme is allowed to go through, it is certain that many other housing schemes will mushroom in the vicinity of the National Park irreversibly disturbing both nature and the local communities.
It was heartening to hear the chief justice comment upon the need for humans to learn to respect nature: “If humans encroach upon the homes of wild animals and disturb them, it is not surprising that leopards will be forced to come near people’s houses”. This comment was made while discussing the recent sightings of leopard in the Judicial Housing Colony near the Margalla National Park.
While the CDA law allows for construction of roads inside a national park, the existing network of roads needs to be reassessed from the perspective of benefit to the park. While the roads to Daman-i-Koh and Pir-Sohawa allow people to appreciate the beauty of the park, having easy access beyond Pir-Sohawa towards Haripur district in the NWFP is not desirable. One hopes that the CDA chairman will look upon the Supreme Court action more as an opportunity rather than a problem. The widening and surfacing of the road through the park into the NWFP is not contributing towards improving the park and, therefore, may need to be removed and converted into only a jeep track to enable local residents and nature enthusiasts to use it.
MEHJABEEN ABIDI-HABIB
Lahore
SEVERAL large multi-national corporations (MNCs) have started basing their marketing on donations for victims and survivors of the earthquake. I am sure that these MNCs as corporate citizens of Pakistan are also generously helping the country financially. However, I don’t see why they need to print expensive ads in the media to announce their donations.
For example, one company announced that this year it would not print Eid or New Year cards and donate that money to the earthquake victims. Being in the marketing field myself, I am sure the printing and designing of those cards would not cost more than Rs150,000 whereas just the designing and media placement of their print ad announcing this humble gesture of theirs would have cost them over Rs300,000 in one newspaper. Why can’t we make our donations silently rather than trumpeting our generosity and channelling our money effectively?
FRAYAN MAMA
Karachi
HOW scope for official corruption is manipulated is indicated by the clever device of laying down new rules and procedures where none are needed, opening fresh avenues for departmental arbitrariness and interference. An instance in point is provided by the new LDA rules requiring the obtaining of “reports” for certifying a previous LDA transfer, should the transferee apply for subsequent sale transfer to be entered into the LDA record.
This requirement, as far as the previous transferee is concerned, is doubly illegal since it negates the earlier certified transfer when all that the LDA has to do is merely verify it from its record.
Will someone stop this exaction?
AMJAD SHARIF
Lahore
PAKISTAN desperately needs volunteers in the medical field to help the countless injured survivors of the Oct. 8 earthquake.
The quickest way is to offer incentives to final year and fourth year medical students, on a rotating basis, to volunteer two weeks of their time. This should count towards their final medical degree.
As I understand it, this was common practice at independence in 1947 for attending to the flood of refugees.
In Canada all high school students have to serve some time as volunteers in any registered social organization and in return they get credits towards their high school diploma.
NAJMA QAYYUM
Mississauga, ON, Canada
THE Berlin Wall was dismantled by ordinary Germans and not by soldiers. Let us the Kashmiris erase the Line of Control.
We should take the decision on our own because it seems the Pakistani and Indian governments do not want to resolve the situation. They both want the Kashmir issue to remain because it serves their interests.
GUL BUTT
Karachi
THIS is with reference to the column ‘The best and the worst’ by Mr Ayaz Amir (Oct. 28). The writer has exposed the incompetent and poor response by the government.
The point that we saw no government functioning during the first days of the crisis is a fact known to and believed by a majority of the public.
An inquiry commission must be set up by parliament that investigates the delay in the relief and rescue efforts by the government.
EHTISHAM ALI EHSAN
Stourbridge, UK
IN his first press conference with the media in Pakistan, the captain of the English cricket team, Michael Vaughan, said that if by playing good cricket his team could bring a few smiles back on the faces of people stricken by the devastating earthquake, then the trip would be well worth it.
Contrast this with what then captain Nasser Hussain said when the English team came a few years back. He had remarked that the team was not in Pakistan to “make friends” but to win. I hope the spirit of this changed attitude will remain till the end of the series and Pakistanis will enjoy some good cricket. Thank you, Mr Vaughan.
MUHAMMAD ALI BUKHARI
Karachi
MY telephone 5803218 Karachi has been dead for more than 20 days. Complaints have been registered daily on 18. I have also visited the Defence telephone exchange personally a number of times and registered my complaint.
I met the SDO and DE several times and was promised that the phone would be rectified the next day. But all this has been to no avail.
The senior PTCL authorities are requested to look into the matter.
SYED FAIZ JALAL
Karachi
THIS has reference to an agency report carried by Dawn in the Metropolitan section of its Karachi edition under the sub-heading ‘Plea dismissed’ on Oct 29. The report is based on wrong information. I am not an ‘ex-director’ of Alliance Motors. In fact, I never had any link or transaction with the defunct company.
The allegation against me in the pending Alliance Motors reference is that one of the company’s directors, Pir Asghar Ali Qureshi, gave me some money. I moved a writ petition in the Sindh High Court praying that the proceedings against me be quashed as the allegation was unfounded and baseless. A division bench dismissed my petition with a direction to the accountability court to conclude the trial speedily in accordance with the Supreme Court ruling in the Asfandyar Wali case.
MUHAMMAD RAMZAN KHWAJA
Lahore
PAKISTAN has $600 million to buy Navy frigates from China, and $3 billion to buy F-16s from the USA, but needs help from international donors to deal with the earthquake.
SHOBHAN PAUL
Malibu, CA, US
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