| November 26, 2005 | Saturday | Shawwal 23, 1426 |
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Pakistan Railways
Passport office
Water for tail-enders
Asking the right question
How many languages at primary level?
AIDS centre at CHK
Kashmir solution
Dug-up roads, service lanes
PTCL line rent
Helping car buyers
Blocked service lane
SHAHID Javed Burki’s article “Grave challenges ahead” (Nov 15) made for compelling reading. Pakistan has always concentrated on getting assistance from the US and other countries to boost its armed forces. The evil of corruption is nearly universal, but Pakistan is one of the most corrupt countries in the world and about 15 per cent of all cash received is stolen by government officials.
There is corruption in India too, but it is at a lower level. After independence in 1947, India preferred to get assistance from the US to establish five Indian technological institutes based on the American MIT model. Now there are more IT institutes and many more similar management institutes in the country. It is these world-class institutes that have provided brilliant scientists, mathematicians and IT engineers generating top-tier knowledge based industries, huge direct and indirect employment and billions in export earnings. These men and women have given ‘Brand India’ an international credibility and many of them have returned from the west to start high-tech industries; they have also donated hundreds of millions of dollars to support these institutes.
This success continues to help other Indian industries and service providers in the global economy. India is fast becoming a hub for cutting edge research and development across the whole spectrum of the economy and has developed into a significant out-sourcing destination for global auto and pharma-biotech industries. India is willing to assist Pakistan in its economic and social development, provided Pakistan gives up its confrontation with and cross-border terrorism into Indian Kashmir and elsewhere. Pakistan must change its educational system and exclude religion from non-religious fields if it wants to become a modern and successful economic power in a highly competitive international economy.
Pakistan also needs to give up manipulation of economy and statistics to create international confidence in the country and its management. It is generally accepted by independent observers in Pakistan and abroad that the country’s population is about 160 million, while the government cites the figure at 150 million.
According to The Economist’s special report, “World in 2006”, estimated GDP growth and per capita income for India and Pakistan are 6.8 per cent and 6.6 per cent and $772 and $727 respectively. India is clearly expected to do better on the basis of past data and expectations for the year 2006. However, last year, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz stated that Pakistan’s per capita income was about 25 per cent higher than India’s.
One just has to look at international publications like the Wall Street Journal or the Financial Times (not Indian propaganda) as well as read the speeches of international politicians and business leaders to realize that India is fast becoming a global economic and hence political and military power in the 21st century. That is why international business leaders and airlines are flooding into India for mutually beneficial relationships. It is therefore in Pakistan’s interest to cooperate with India.
VIPUL THAKORE
London, UK
ILLITERATE and ill-trained drivers plying vehicles on poor roads are causing deaths every now and then. The number of trucks has multiplied many times in the last couple of years. The reason being more economic activities, their reliability in terms of delivery and keeping their end customers happy. By providing better and reliable service they have taken away the Pakistan Railways core business of goods transportation.
In early 1900 when the British laid the rail lines for the North Western Railways (NRW), the steam engines were such that they could not run continuously for more than 12 hours at a stretch. Therefore, they created junctions with huge railway workshops at regular intervals, such as Rohri, Khanewal and Lahore, where engines would change along with their crew. Other junctions are there because they combine two different lines. A century has passed since the inception of the NWR. Surely the electrical engines of today can run greater distances without requiring such junction to stop and rejuvenate. If the train is running non-stop with spare crew on board, it can reach Lahore in less than 15 hours. Time is money and every hour the train saves will be appreciated. Shalimar train became a great success just because of this reason. Passengers would love it, Businessmen would adore it and truckers can’t beat this record.
In the late 1960s some visionary railway officers introduced electrical train engines for the Khanewal-Lahore section. Its next phase was to extend it southwards to Rohri and finally linking up Karachi with Lahore. Three decades have passed since its inception and this project is not even on the radar. The electric train engines from Lahore to Khanewal are operating smoothly since 1969. They should consider connecting Karachi with Khanewal using similar electric engines as now the Pakistan Railways has staff trained to handle these machines.
The railways has recently started a container service probably with the same resources. What they need now is 25 to 30 additional goods trains with electrical engines which are similar to the ones they have and new rolling stock that are suitable for containers. Container goods trains should run back to back from Karachi to Lahore at a time difference of 15 minutes. They can take a start from Karachi at midnight. Till 6am they should be able to safely dispatch 30 goods train from Karachi. This is the time when there are no passenger trains all the way to Lahore. Passenger trains should be increased also and should run in a similar fashion during day time.
It will give a boost to Pakistan Railways revenues, bring back its customers and would help them wrest back the goods transportation they used to dominate till very recently.
As an additional advantage the reduced truck traffic will cut down road accidents.
S. NAYYAR IQBAL RAZA
Karachi
I AM writing to draw the attention of the concerned authorities of the Immigration (Passport Cell) Office about the inappropriate behaviour of their official towards me during my visit to the office on Nov 7.
I was accompanied by my elder brother who comes under the senior citizen category. By profession he is an income tax advocate and is also rendering services to intending pilgrims to Saudi Arabia. We went to the passport office to submit his application for obtaining a duplicate passport as my brother had lost his passport and NIC in Saudi Arabia where he was in Ramazan in connection with his work.
Immediately on his return, my brother applied for a duplicate NIC on Nov 2 and on the basis of the Nadra token he applied for a duplicate passport, while depositing an urgent fee of Rs8,000. Then the real ordeal started. The counter for senior citizens opened at 9:45 am instead of 9:00 am and he was advised that the passport could not be issued in the absence of the NIC. When I contacted the Assistant Director he refused to extend any kind of help and did not accept the Nadra token for my data which had been fed in the computer. The Assistant Director, who was officiating for the Director who was on leave, was not helpful either. He did not even let me enter his room. We returned empty handed.
The purpose of this letter is to highlight the treatment meted out to senior citizens in contravention of what the president and the prime minister have been saying emphasizing the need to pay respect to senior citizens and give priority to solving their problems. When the NIC data is already in the computer and the token has been issued by Nadra, then why all this argument?
I am ready to identify the officials who refused to help us.
SARFARAZ ZIA ANSARI
Karachi
ENCOURAGED by the way Karachi city Nazim Mustafa Kamal presented his agenda, especially with reference to the so far neglected water problem, in a TV interview recently, we, the residents of tail-end buildings of Clifton’s Block 2 along the beach, want to bring to his notice the fact that our buildings have no water pipelines. As a result, we are not getting even a single drop of water from the KWSB system and depending entirely on water tankers.
Each of these buildings is paying Rs60,000 to Rs100,000 per month to water tankers. In the process the water board is losing revenue, because water tax is not payable by us on the ground that two payments for one service is against the law of nature.
We request the city nazim to look into this problem and take necessary steps to lay water pipelines for supplying water to us from the KWSB system and augment its revenue.
We would also like to point out that the water pipeline project for this area was approved as early as 2003 under the Pakistan Khushal scheme. The work was to start in April the same year.
A managing director of the KWSB had also shown us the blueprint of the approved project. We are at a loss to understand where the allocated fund for the project has gone.
RESIDENTS
Karachi
ROBERT Fisk, a distinguished British journalist, said after 9/11 that we never asked the question ’why?’ American lawyer Dershowitz accused him of asking the question ‘Why?’
“You are a dangerous man, you are sympathetic to the terrorists, hence you are anti-American and being anti-American you are anti-Semitic”.
The same night the BBC put one guest on its programme who said that asking ‘Why?’ is the worst bad joke of the year.
Robert Fisk says that by not asking the right question, the American people were prevented from looking for the motives. By the time they came to that, the US was bombing Afghanistan and lying that there were WMDs in Iraq. And then defeating Saddam Hussein. And then so on and so on.
The modern-day politician with, in many cases, the help, I’m afraid, of journalists, are able to continue to bamboozle the people. The American press is totally dependent on official handouts. The New York Times should be called “American officials say”. So are the LA Times and The Washington Post. They never question power.
The definition of journalism is: you must challenge power all the time, all the time, all the time.
KHURSHID ANWER
Lahore
HOW many languages a child at primary stage should learn? The answer is: “only one”, if we want to progress. What I could gather from her article (Nov 16), Ms Zubeida Mustafa also draws the same conclusion.
Let us first consider some of the universally accepted Facts. (a) The education at primary level up to Class V is best given in the child’s mother-tongue, be it Urdu, Sindhi, Balochi, Seraiki, Pushto or any other language;(b) we have example of China, Japan, Korea, and others which use mother-tongue at all levels, for technical and non-technical subjects, and their progress in a short time is phenomenal; (c) our scientists and educationists such as Dr Iqbal, Dr Abdus Salam, Dr Salimuzzaman Siddiqui, Dr Raziuddin Siddiqui, Dr Basharat Ali, Dr Hameedullah, Dr Sikandarunnisa and Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan were all educated in Urdu medium up to Matric; (d) it is universally agreed that a child picks up, whatever he/she is taught during his/her formative years much better in his/her mother tongue than in a foreign language; (e) in the early stage, the child should not be burdened with too many languages; (f) we have a practical example of this in the Osmania University which, within a span of 30 years, achieved high standards of education in all subjects, including engineering and medical science, through Urdu medium. Of course, English was maintained as a compulsory subject from Class VI to BA/BSc. The books prescribed were the same as taught in any English-medium school and (g) these graduates got direct admission in post-graduate courses in the universities of the UK and the US, without further coaching in English.
Now let us see what we have achieved after 46 years of English-medium education.
Dr Abdus Salam wrote in 1993: “Our ministry of science and technology had selected some students for admission in John Hopkins medical centre. All of these students failed in the first two semesters. Therefore, they were either admitted in other universities or were sent home.”
In a book published in October 2003, Dr Salam emphasizes the importance of teaching of science subjects in Urdu and English, with emphasis on the former.
There is no justification for adopting English as medium from class I unless we want to destroy the nation. I am not advocating the cause of Urdu as medium. Any other language which can serve the purpose on the national level can be adopted, and English can never attain this status.
This is also a plea to not shut the door of our institutions on the poor people who cannot afford education in English.
SYED MUSLEHUDDIN AHMED
Ex-UN expert on technical Education,
Karachi
THIS refers to news item “AIDS centre at CHK” (Nov 10). It is shocking to learn that the treatment centre planned a year ago has not been fully established and poor patients suffering from HIV/Aids are facing difficulties in getting proper medical treatment.
I would, therefore, suggest that immediate steps should be taken as this disease is spreading at an alarming rate. We are living in a fool’s paradise by assuming that prevalence of this disease is almost negligible. The official figures of 1,600 to 1,700 patients having HIV +ve is unbelievable. One can openly see on the footpaths of Karachi and elsewhere in Sindh the large number of drug addicts using used syringes for inserting drugs in their arms. In rural areas of Sindh particularly homosexuality is common among children and adults.
In our country there are a few public laboratories which carry out the HIV/Aids test. A very small number of NGOs are engaged in counselling the HIV/Aids patients in rural areas. Karachi is not the only place where there is need for opening Aids centres, but there is a need for establishing Aids centres in each and every corner of the country at least at the tehsil level. Doctors and staff may be given extensive training in handling and providing medical treatment and counselling to HIV/Aids patients. Such counselling and referral centres may be opened by NGOs dealing in HIV/Aids.
AMARNATH MOTUMAL
Karachi
ONE can’t escape endorsing the views expressed in the editorial “Mirwaiz’s ideas” (Nov 22) which said that both Pakistan and India should seriously ponder over the proposal tabled by the APHC leader regarding a durable solution to the Kashmir dispute.
The main reason why the Kashmir issue has remained unsettled is the lack of participation from the indigenous people of Kashmir in the decision-making process.
The two countries, which even went to the extent of fighting two full-scale wars on the disputed territory, never provided the indigenous people of Kashmir a chance to decide their fate. As long as the people of Kashmir are not made a part of the negotiation process, it is unlikely that both the sides can reach a durable solution.
Since the disputed land of Kashmir belongs to the Kashmiris, it should, ultimately, be they who decide their future. Since the leadership on both sides of the border has, time and again, expressed its keenness to resolve the dispute for good, it is earnestly hoped that they will make best use of the present conducive climate.
MALIK SIRAJ AKBAR
Chennai, India
THE editorial “Dug-up roads” (Nov 19) was very timely and hopefully it will inculcate in the various utility agencies a better sense of coordination. Karachi roads and its service lanes, which once boasted of cleanliness, are now a shambles, due to lack of timely repairs or inadequate repair on them after KESC, PTCL, SSGC and KWSB had laid their lines. There is no coordination among these agencies which is why our roads are being dug or carpeted throughout the years without taking one’s discomfiture in view.
Block-18 of the Gulistan-i-Jauhar, Karachi, falls within the jurisdiction of Faisal Cantonment Board. They have recently dug up the side-walk of the bridge, where heaps of dug up earth have been left. One wishes that a responsible functionary of the said board would take a bird’s eye view of the digging work to see just how half-heartedly the dug-up earth has been levelled and smoothened. The workers, who have done this work, deserve to be taken to task for their carelessness.
M. SHAFIQUE AHMED
Karachi
AT A time of intense competition in the telecom sector, PTCL should review its charges. PTCL charges an exorbitant sum of Rs235 per month for “line rent” (inclusive of CLI and GST).
Despite the hefty amount, telephone lines often remain unserviceable, causing lot of inconvenience to subscribers. In comparison to this, mobile phone companies provide free incoming calls and various packages where there is no “line rent”, thus proving to be more economical; some people prefer keeping mobile phones over PTCL telephones.
If it is not feasible for PTCL to drop line rent charges altogether, then it should reduce the amount to no more than Rs50 a month. At the same time local call charges should be adjusted to a per minute basis, i.e., 20 paisas or so.
Z.U. QURESHI
Karachi
THIS is with reference to your editorial on the subject of helping car buyers (Nov. 14). You have highlighted an issue that is close to the heart of many consumers.
A quick and easy solution to overcome the menace of paying premiums is that the government should ask all car manufacturers to book cars by taking between five and 10 per cent as advance at the time of booking, with the balance to be paid at the time of delivery.
If that is done, everything will be set right in two to four months.
ANSAR MAHMOOD
Lahore
THE service lane along Khayaban-i-Roomi on the side of the World Trade Centre (WTC), Karachi, has been blocked by the police for no reason. Our offices are located in the WTC building and we are facing problems on a daily basis and this includes theft of car accessories and damage due to improper parking.
This is happening since October and when one of us asked the police about this, they replied that they had verbal orders from the DIG to block the service lane. It hasn’t improved the law and order situation — if anything, it is causing great inconvenience to hundreds of people who frequent the area, which also houses several multinational banks and fast food eateries.
ANWAR JAWAID KHAN
Karachi
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