| November 29, 2005 | Tuesday | Shawwal 26, 1426 |
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Death of a lady doctor
Aids epidemic
Weapons for peace
Unfair umpiring
Pakistan’s nuclear doctrine
The lost children of Palestine
Afghanistan in Saarc
Desecration of Quranic verses
Earthquake tax
Bottled water
Indus water
India has already drafted “Indus Water Treaty II” and is getting a sympathetic ear from the World Bank. If that happens, the control of our three western rivers will pass into Indian hands.
THIS has reference to Mr Kuldip Nayar’s column under the same caption (Nov 22). The column makes a benign mention of the issue relating to Indian Muslims’ silence over terrorist attacks, which can become a reason, God forbid, of rising hostility between Hindus and Muslims in India in the future.
Uncharacteristically, the Indian government is not blaming Pakistan for causing this silence. He has referred to the 9/11 commission on terrorist attacks in the US, asking Washington to put pressure on Pakistan to stop the menace. “Pakistan” remains a sanctuary and training ground for terrorism” . Mr Nayar is a well-informed man and should know it better that it was Washington’s monitoring, funding and training the so-called militants during Soviet occupation of Afghanistan that gave rise to terrorism in this region.
It was the US which produced these people who are now being termed terrorists. It was a period when proliferation of such training camps was applauded by no one but the US itself. It did not happen centuries ago But just a few decades ago and is well documented. Pakistan was left high and dry to cope with this problem and, with its limited resources, has been successful to a great extent in curbing growing militancy.
It must also be considered that the US with all its might and mighty allies has been unsuccessful in eradicating this menace. Therefore, putting all the pressure on Pakistan for their Frankenstein monster is uncalled-for .
Mr Nayar also mentions a minister talking of entering India in a tank. Utterances of an individual should not be taken as the thinking of the entire government. There are hardliners on both sides of the divide.
What is important is to understand which direction the wind is blowing, and what is the general sentiment. In Pakistan it is that we want to see peace which can only come through the resolution of the Kashmir dispute.
I am unaware of what happened in the case of the LoC opening points. Someone in the government or following the entire exercise would be in a better position to answer this question even though it was a proposal from Pakistan. But I am sure that we in Pakistan want an end to violence, killing and raping of innocent men , women and children.
Therefore, a large majority here want to see a demilitarized and independent Kashmir. People from both sides of the divide have shown great affection for each other, notwithstanding years of hostility between the two countries. This proves that they don’t want to waste a single more year of their life living as foes. Therefore , Mr Nayar’s allegation in his column that the recent blast in New Delhi had its roots in Pakistan, and that too when it is faced with such a gigantic task of rebuilding people’s hopes and houses in the earthquake-affected areas sounds far-fetched.
In one of his previous articles, he called Pakistan naïve for putting condition of only accepting Indian helicopters sans pilots by saying that India can have pictures of entire Azad Kashmir through the use of modern technologies such as satellites. Why then the Indian forces in occupied Kashmir brought down a helicopter threatening to shoot it down or any other if anything of this sort ever happens again when it was only doing the job of providing relief goods to Kashmiris and mistakenly crossed over? Does it not prove that there are definite sensitive areas which neither government can afford to overlook. I also don’t know the reason behind Pakistan’s tepid response to Indian assistance offer but I remember that sometimes back, during Nawaz Sharif’s era, India was hit by a natural calamity and the Vajpayee government outrightly refused Pakistan’s offer of providing help while it made an appeal and accepted assistance from other countries wholeheartedly.
We in Pakistan see Mr Nayar more as a man of peace than as a man of war and he also remains one of the respected journalists here , therefore he must avoid risking his credibility by adopting India’s official policy of implicating Pakistan for anything going wrong in India.
R. FAHAD MAJEED ABBASI
Karachi
LAST week a young lady doctor lost her life. A couple of months ago another doctor also lost his life most probably due to Crimean Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF). Last year seven people died of it in Balochistan. In 1976 a renowned surgeon, Dr Mateen Siddique, died of CCHF in Rawalpindi. Most of these deaths are preventable.
CCHF is caused by several distinct RNA viruses. These viruses may infect a wide range of domestic and wild animals. Animals (livestocks) become infected by the bite of infected ticks. Human cases or outbreaks of viral haemorrhagic fever occur sporadically and irregularly and cannot easily be predicted.
The causative viruses are very fragile outside the body and do not survive well in the environment. The virus is killed by common disinfectants, solvents, and dry heat (56°C, 30 min.). It is rapidly killed by ultraviolet light. It is not transmitted by casual social contact. These viruses require close contact with contaminated body fluids for transmission. Airborne transmission is theoretically possible. The infectious dose of the virus is very low (1-10 microorganisms).
Healthcare workers who have had contact with tissue or blood from patients with suspected or confirmed CCHF should be followed up 14 days after the suspected exposure. Post-exposure prophylaxis is available but must be used only in those cases which have serious exposure.
Humans who become infected with CCHF acquire the virus from direct contact with blood or other infected tissues from livestock or infected patient or they may become infected from a tick bite. The majority of cases has occurred in those involved with the
livestock industry, such as agricultural workers, slaughterhouse workers and veterinarians.
CCHF carries a very high mortality ranging from 6-50 per cent, with death occurring in the second week of illness. When patients with CCHF
are admitted to hospital, there is a risk of spread of infection. Patients with suspected or
confirmed haemorrhagic
fever should be isolated and cared for using barrier nursing techniques.
Specimens of blood or tissues taken for diagnostic purposes should be collected and handled using universal precautions. Sharps (needles and other penetrating surgical instruments) and body wastes should be safely disposed of using appropriate decontamination procedures.
DR M. RAFIQ KHANANI
Associate Professor,
Dow University of Health Sciences,
Karachi
THE Aids epidemic has claimed 3.1 million lives in 2005 and more than half a million were children, says a UN report.
Close to five million people were newly infected with the virus in 2005, the annual UN Aids/WHO Aids epidemic update said the other day.
The total number of people with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has reached an estimated all-time high of 40.3 million, the report said. The number of people living with HIV has increased in all but one region in the past two years. In the Caribbean, the second-most affected region in the world, HIV prevalence overall showed no change in 2005, compared with 2003.
Sub-Saharan Africa remains hardest-hit, and is home to 25.8 million people living with HIV, almost one million more than in 2003. Two-thirds of all people living with HIV are in sub-Saharan Africa, as are 77 per cent of all women with HIV. An estimated 2.4 million people died of HIV-related illnesses in this region in 2005, while a further 3.2 million became infected with HIV.
While the epidemic continues to intensify in southern Africa, growing epidemics are under way in Eastern Europe, Central Asia and in East Asia. Several of the epidemics in Asia and Oceania are increasing, particularly in China, Papua New Guinea and Vietnam. There are also signs that other countries, including Pakistan and Indonesia, could be on the verge of serious epidemics.
ALI RAZA
Karachi
THE other day I was reading a news item in which it was reported that the Indian air chief, while speaking at Pune University, said: “Pakistan remains a primary threat to India.”
This statement of the Indian air chief should serve as a wake-up call to the parliamentarians and columnists who are pressuring the government to cancel the F-16 and AEW aircraft deals. We must understand that earthquake or no earthquake, we cannot change our neighbourhood. If a
neighbour so openly declares us as an adversary, then
we have two options only: either to accept his hegemony, or be strong enough to negotiate and maintain peace from an equal pedestal. You do not go to the negotiating table naked.
It is up to the Pakistani nation to choose the option, and decide whether to go ahead with F-16s and AEW aircraft deals or cancel them. Another aspect to be understood is that these deals do not have any immediate financial implications and, therefore, cannot be a factor in the earthquake rehabilitation programme. It would be unwise to miss this window of opportunity to acquire the aircraft so crucial for maintaining peace in the region.
Air cmdr (retd) PERVEZ
AKHTAR KHAN
Islambad
DURING the second test match in Faisalabad, Ian Bell claimed an unfair catch and nothing was done by the umpires or the match referee.
Then Inzamamul Haq was given run out against the law of the game protecting himself against an aggressive throw
by Steve Harmison for
which, again, nothing was done. When Shahid Afridi was caught tampering with the pitch all the match umpires and the match referee suddenly woke up from their sleep and had him banned for three matches.
It is high time the International Cricket Council took note of these exceptions so as to keep the element of fair play intact in the game. Moreover the Pakistan Cricket Board must lodge a protest against the unfair catch claimed by Ian Bell as in the recent past Rashid Latif was suspended for five matches for claiming an unfair catch by the same match referee.
HYDER ALI
Middlesex, UK
(II)
MUHAMMAD Yousuf’s unceremonial dismissal by umpire Darrell Hai raised eye-brows. It reminded one of the time when the appeal of an out made by Rashid Latif in 2003 against Bangladesh was upheld by the then empire, but later TV footage confirmed the ineligibility, for which Latif was banned for five matches. The catch which Ian Bell claimed to have taken was in fact an act of un-sportsmanship. The situation demanded a call for a third umpire but instead Yousuf was declared out.
Can any ICC official shed light on this tragic dismissal? Has any code of conduct been devised for such wrong decisions?
SARFARAZ ZIA ANSARI
Karachi
HISTORY of weaponization shows that weapons are developed as a result of “threat perception” in human nature. The weapon is a symbol of “fear” but in the case of South Asia Pakistan’s nuclear weapons haved proved as the “guarantee for peace” in the region.
The manner in which earlier crises were successfully contained is proof of the relative stability of nuclear deterrence in South Asia. The 1990 crisis, for instance, was resolved because Pakistan conveyed and India accepted as credible the threat of use of nuclear force. In 2002, war was prevented and India forced to withdraw its troops from offensive positions along the international border and the Line of Control in Kashmir because of Pakistan’s coercive nuclear diplomacy.
The 2002 crisis, the most severe between the two states since the 1971 war, was prevented not because of intervention by the international community, international law and international organization as someone wants to believe. It was the nuclear capability of Pakistan which prevented India from aggression.
From those who argue that international pressure prevented India from attacking Pakistan, I ask them if this is so, then why it didn’t work in 1965 and 1971 wars when India crossed the international boundary and attacked Pakistan. In fact, Pakistan’s emphasis on opacity and its rejection of a no-first-use doctrine reflects its concerns about conventional inferiority vis-à-vis India. Nuclear capacity and nuclear weapons capability are regarded as means of deterring conventional war. Pakistan could resort to nuclear use in the event of an Indian attack, conventional or nuclear, on its territory. However, Pakistan refuses to officially define its nuclear threshold even as it rejects nuclear first use.
India would likely reverse its no-first-use posture during a military conflict. In any case, India has already revised that policy to cover other unconventional attacks by weapons of mass destruction on Indian troops within or outside Indian territory. It is, therefore, an inherent element of policy if the primary objective of nuclear weapons capability is to deter conflict.
Pakistan shunned a declared nuclear doctrine, since Pakistan military circles believed that nuclear weapons were indeed instruments of war fighting, to be used against high value targets during the course of conflict. Pakistan’s nuclear doctrine did not rule out pre-emption in the event of even a conventional attack on its territory.
GULZAR ALI MEHBOOB
Karachi
IN early 2003, newspaper columnist Peter Beaumount paid a visit to Palestinian occupied land to examine the psychological effects of Israeli atrocities on the Palestinian children. His findings included, “their fear is displayed as anxiety, crying, regression and speech disorder, a sense of helplessness and withdrawal from normal world” (Dawn, Feb 12, 03).
Islamabad has decided to send a large delegation to Israel and so also to Palestine. We request our foreign minister to include a few psychologists as part of the delegation to talk with such children and to plan to organize camp offices for psychological and psychiatric services for them. This would give a better purpose for the delegation, besides the goodwill.
Z.A. KAZMI
Karachi
SAARC is a region of old rivalries and domestic conflicts. Its heavyweights at summit meetings always stick to their old stand without touching sensitive issues that mar their relationship. So they show the world that they feel good about themselves.
This was all that happened at the recent summit in Dhaka. Surprisingly, Kabul has been admitted to Saarc in a smooth way. This seems to be the outcome of a high diplomatic drama contrived behind the scenes for a specific purpose. Never mind poor Afghanistan is still a victim of foreign forces. The drama is alive with the spirit of conquest.
FAIZ AHMAD SHEHABI
Lahore
ANNUAL reports of public limited companies containing Quranic verses found lying scattered on the floor of record room of Karachi stock exchange.
The logo of many banks containing Quranic verses are found on cheque books and deposit slip books. Such material is used in day to day business transactions but torn off in case of minor mistakes and thrown into the waste-paper basket.
Newspaper pages containing Quranic verses are seen on roads and streets coming under the feet of passersby. Thus desecration of Quranic verses takes place but no one cares.
It is suggested that the Quranic verses should not be printed in companies’ reports. Banks should also avoid printing Quranic verses on cheque books, slip books, stationery, etc.
ABDUL AZIZ
Karachi
PRIME Minister Shaukat Aziz at a press conference the other day said that no tax had been imposed for the earthquake relief. I say, why not? During my young days I remember we had refugee tax and later in the 1970s flood relief tax, both taxes remained operative for decades on end.
The president has plans to call for a local donors’ conference, which is a good step towards fund-raising. However, how many of them will come forward and with what amounts? Most of the prospective donors have already donated willingly and generously and probably would do so again, but the funds pledged will not match the funds collected through the earthquake tax collected from the entire nation.
I would, therefore, suggest to the PM and the president to introduce earthquake tax to meet the colossal expenditure needed for the rehabilitation and reconstruction phase.
COL (retd) RIAZ JAFRI
Rawalpindi
OF late the Pakistan Standards Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) has started inserting notices in the local press that bottled water not certified by the PSQCA is substandard. May the authority please enlighten the public if water supplied by civic agencies to Karachiites for their daily consumption meets PSQCA standards? How does the same water as supplied by civic agencies become substandard when bottled after having been filtered and processed through UV is anybody’s guess?
Furthermore, trading in such bottled water is notified as a crime. How innocently the local small business entrepreneur is being sacrificed at the alter of the multinationals? Would somebody please explain the logic behind these double standards?
ASGHAR ALI
Karachi
Those opposing the Kalabagh dam should wake up to these real dangers before it is too late. They my have blocked the Kalabagh dam, but will not be able to block India from building many more dams.
KHURSHID ANWER
Lahore
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