| December 21, 2005 | Wednesday | Ziqa’ad 18, 1426 |
To send a letter to the Editor
Click here
EOBI restructuring
‘Indian cricket’s caste act’
Stranded Pakistanis
Holocaust — a myth?
Stock brokerage houses
College hours
Telphone complaint
Heritage
Bad roads
Electricity bills
Traffic system
Illegal parking
THIS is with reference to Ayaz Amir’s column “A fever called Kalabagh” (Dec 9), your editorial “Kalabagh consensus” (Dec 13) and Dr Mumtaz Uqaili’s letter “Dam controversy” (Dec 16).
It is said that once when Malik Amir Mohammad Khan, Nawab of Kalabagh, was governor of West Pakistan, the late Justice Rustam Kayani addressed a meeting in the governor’s presence. Pointing out towards the governor, Mr Kayani said that there was a time when people used to show us “sabz bagh” (green pastures), now they show us “Kala Bagh” (black garden).
Dr Uqaili has given an excellent summary of all the dams and link canals. There is one serious omission. All the water that he says flows in the Ravi or at places in the bed of the Sutlej actually comes only from the Chenab and Jhelum. Of all the discussion and debate which has gone so far, an impartial observer can only conclude the following:
1. The proper site for building a bigger dam after Mangla was Kalabagh and not Tarbela.
2. With the current state of silting, both Mangla and Kalabagh reservoirs will lose their storage capacity in a few years from now.
3. There is no other proper place to store extra water from the Kabul River which caused quite an inundation in some districts of the NWFP during this year.
4. Charsadda and Mardan do not constitute all the NWFP. The biggest and most populated is Hazara division, which is mostly mountainous.
5. D.I. Khan division and Bannu district of the NWFP will be one of the beneficiaries of the dam.
6. There is waterlogging in many areas of Sindh. There is also greater requirement for water in some areas of this province.
7. The lives and earnings of fishermen living on the banks of Sindh will be affected. Nobody has yet given exact data on how many families will be affected and why an alternative in the form of fish farms cannot be provided.
8. Incursion of the sea will occur in the delta area. Nobody has worked out the possibility of using physical and mechanical means to prevent sea incursion in those areas during dry spells.
9. Mangrove and wildlife will be affected. (With all the sewage pumped into the sea and the land reclaimed, we could not save the mangroves at Karachi. Do the mangroves really need river water or sea water?)
10. The Kalabagh dam is not going to be built overnight. It will take six years to be constructed. Storage capacity of this dam will be regulated. Its water will benefit all the provinces.
No one else except the president has greater access to scientific seismological, meteorological, hydrological data and other related information. If he says that Kalabagh is good for the country, especially for Sindh, we should seriously consider accepting his point of view.
The problem with the political canvass of Sindh is that a number of our leaders here are sardars, feudal lords or have strong dictatorial tendencies. It should not be political pride but realistic scientific data that should provide the basis for consensus.
DR KHALID H. MAHMOOD
Karachi
CONSTRUCTION of a dam on the Indus at Mianwali was approved by the government of Pakistan as far back as 1952. The Pakistan Economic Council (later re-designated the National Economic Council), the supreme decision-making body in the financial and economic sector, at a meeting held on Sept 6, 1952 under the chairmanship of Khwaja Nazimuddin, then prime minister, approved three hydro-electric projects on the rivers Indus — at Mianwali (Kalabagh), Brahamputra in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (Karnafuli) and Kabul at Warsak near Peshawar.
Earlier at a meeting held on July 19, 1952 the planning commission had cleared these projects on the basis of technical and financial feasibility reports.
While the Karnafuli and Warsak projects were completed and commissioned within two years, the dam on the Indus at Mianwali became a casualty of the dispute between Pakistan and India on sharing the Indus Basin waters. Eventually a dam on the river Indus was built at Tarbela in Hazara district as part of the Indus Basin Treaty signed by Mohammad Ayub Khan, president of Pakistan, and Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, prime minister of India, in 1960.
SYED AFZAAL HUSAIN ZAIDI
Islamabad
FOR almost two years, President Pervez Musharraf has been insisting on building the Kalabagh and other dams, while the political leaders of Balochistan, NWFP and Sindh have been opposing it. But the public has not been informed by either side of the reasons in favour and against. Ayaz Amir in his column has, however, given specifics of the fears of the three provinces
I do not understand why a committee of neutral experts cannot be appointed to give a report on the merits and demerits of these projects for the three provinces and the entire country as a whole in language which a common man can understand.
MOHAMMAD RAFI
Karachi
THE apprehensions expressed in the news item “EOBI closure to affect hundreds” (Dawn, Dec 1) about the repercussions of the restructuring and reorganization in the Employees Old-age Benefit Institution are misconstrued. The measures solely aim at the benefit of the insured persons and pensioners.
The closure of zone offices will not affect pensioners as these offices do not directly deal with pensions. Zonal offices used to entertain pensioners only in appeal cases. Appeal cases will now be heard by two independent adjudicating authorities who will move to the 28 regional offices for such cases and take on-the-spot decisions.
Through these arrangements pensioners will be greatly facilitated, as instead of the present 10 offices, they will be able to file appeals at 28 offices nearest to their place of residence.
The decision for restructuring has been taken after taking all the stakeholders into confidence, including employers’ and employees’ representatives from all the four provinces. This long overdue restructuring is being made to rationalize a number of offices and improve their performance by providing them proper human resources and technical support.
It is also aimed at reducing administrative expenditure. The employees being released from the zonal and regional offices will be adjusted at other offices close to their existing places of posting. No employee of EOBI will be removed from service as a result of the restructuring. The regional offices sought to be closed will continue to operate as field offices.
MOHAMMAD AFZAAL BELA
Director, Public Relations, EOBI
Karachi
THIS is with reference to “Indian cricket’s caste act” by Javed Naqvi (Dec 19). What Mr Naqvi does not say (probably because he does not know) is that the “Gotra”’ system is a brilliant way of ensuring genetic diversity in spite of marriages within members of the same caste.
Let me explain without going into convulsions about India’s caste system. I have no idea how the Muslims and Christians of India practise the Gotra system. But, typically, a Gotra is named for an ancient sage. The people of that Gotra are said to be his children (or descendants). By making sure two persons of the same Gotra don’t marry, Indian Brahmins have ensured genetic diversification and avoided in-breeding. Though this is not a guarantee against in-breeding because the Gotra of a child is that of his father alone, it still is better than marrying someone in the same caste blindly. Especially when that caste happens to be small in numbers.
As for many good cricket players being Brahmin, why stop there? Look at scientists, lawyers, doctors, businessmen, academicians, Brahmins dominate. Mr Naqvi sees caste, I call it discipline and good upbringing. Anywhere in the world, there will always be a select group of people who dominate the elite disciplines. Not because they were born into a high caste but because they had good parents and good teachers. Religion, class and caste just happen to be the stratifications that inevitably happen over centuries to any such elite group.
Why is it that extremely successful black men in America — from Colin Powell’s sons to Tiger Woods — end up marrying white women? It is not because they are obsessed with white people. It is because the circles in which they move tend to be “Brahminical” in the American “Boston Brahmin” sense.
B.K. VASAN
Oakland, IL, USA
I AM happy that Mr Manzoor Chandio (Dec 19) has taken pains to find out from dictionaries the meaning of the word “stranded” and has concluded, therefore, that those who remained in Bangladesh after its creation are not stranded and are Bangladeshis.
Actually he has missed the point. Starting from the time of Mr Zulfikar Ali Bhutto till Mr Nawaz Sharif those who did not want to become Bangladeshis and had decide to remain as Pakistanis waiting to be repatriated to their homeland were brought to Pakistan and their number exceeds more than 150,000.
The present population of the “stranded” Pakistanis are the remaining members and their sons and daughters of those Pakistanis who had enlisted to be repatriated to Pakistan.
What is there crime then that they are still waiting and waiting? Their leader Nasim Khan died recently with his dream unfulfilled and now the government of Pakistan and some politicians who cannot see
others as patriots and Pakistanis should understand that though Pakistan has a political boundary, it is an ideology and a concept for which during its movement Muslim stood as one solid rock behind the Quaid from Peshawar to Ras Kumari and from Quetta to Chittagong.
Had they not showed that unanimity and solidarity, Pakistan would still remain an illusion and a dream. Any denial of the right to come to Pakistan to these unfortunate “stranded” Pakistanis is a manifest betrayal and nothing less.
S. FAIYAZUDDIN AHMAD
Leicester, UK
THIS refers to the report “Holocaust –- a myth, says Ahmadinejad” (Dec 15). Yet again Iran’s ”fire-brand” President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, has directed his verbal ire against Israel. This time he has scuttled the world’s sympathetic patronage of the Jewish state by declaring that there was no holocaust.
Jews, all of them — whether modern, orthodox or Zionists, inside Israel or elsewhere — won widespread sympathy after reports of their mass killings in Germany and Austria were made public. That sympathy helped Jews to establish the state of Israel; and they continued to receive help in cash and kind to strengthen their newly-founded state.
But if it was a myth, how come the “so-called criminal” of that holocaust, Adolf Eichmann, who was living in Argentine disguised as an oil executive from Kuwait, was caught in 1960 and was “whisked” away by Israeli agents to Tel Aviv to be tried for war crimes and crimes against humanity? During the court trial he confessed his guilt and was executed.
S.M. KAZIM NAQVI
Karachi
THIS has reference to the letter (Dec 15) by the manager, public relations, KSE, in reply to my letter (Dec 11) on the above subject.
I had requested the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) to lay down policy guidelines, on the pattern of the State Bank of Pakistan, for stock brokerage houses in order to provide quality and standardized services to their customers. The reply given by the manager, public relations, KSE, has confirmed the genuineness by complaints by account-holders. A comparison of his reply with the points raised in my letter will reveal that he has skipped a number of points and for others has come out with excuses and pretexts.
Without going into details point-wise, I would once again request the SECP to bind the stock brokerage houses to provide the following services to their account-holders:
Supply of monthly statement and account and statement of securities held on behalf of their customers; charge uniform rates of commission and sale/purchase of shares; the SECP to carry out random audit of accounts of brokerage houses and their customers to check if taxes payable by brokerage houses are actually being paid them; stop the practice of charging extra 10 to 20 per cent amount on sale/purchase of odd lots; to bind every brokerage house to accept sale/purchase of shares in odd lots; to re-start since acceptance/verification of physical shares/transfer deals by charging reasonable commission; arrange proper training of their staff and equity dealers; and instruct the houses to open trading halls and electronic index boards.
The claim of the PR manager is not based on facts about the functioning of trading halls/index boards. He may like to visit one of the leading brokerage houses on the main Clifton Road, Karachi, whose trading hall has been closed/index board switched off for a long time.
The above points need the attention of the SECP which should carry out an inquiry to find out the factual position and take remedial measures to redress the complaints. No doubt it is an uphill task as stock markets are dominated by multi- billionaire groups having enormous wealth and influence at their command as compared to the small investors whose hard-earned savings are lying at the mercy of these wealthy groups to play with.
SHAUKAT RIZVI
Karachi
I am a student at the Lahore College for Women University (LCWU). I want to draw the attention of the authorities concerned, especially Punjab Governor Khalid Maqbool (who is chancellor of my university) towards the problem of the college’s timings.
I am in BA (part II) and get off at 3pm. Like many students I use public transport — a college van — to reach home, and because of the timings that happens around five in the evening. I am a young girl belonging to an ordinary family that has a conventional approach towards life, morality and attitudes towards girls. The college hours are creating problems for me and many other students but the college does not seem to care. We don’t find enough time to study given that we reach home so late.
Also we get three hours free in the college and we have nothing to do in these three hours. There is no extra curricular activity to participate in. I am interested in the arts and in studying French but the college authorities don’t let us participate in any such extra curricular activity. There is not even a common room for arts students where they can spend their leisure time and in winter it is very hard for us to stay out in the open.
The governor should have the college hours changed.
A STUDENT
Lahore College for Women University
Lahore
THIS has reference to the letter (Dec 18) regarding faulty telephone # 6315169. The telephone’s working was disrupted because of damage caused to the underground cable while optical fibre was being laid in the area.
Now the fault has been rectified and the telephone is working satisfactorily.
SALEEM KHAN
Public Relations Officer
STR-III, Karachi
I WOULD like, through these columns, to ask the building authority as to who gave the permission and authorization to de-seal the Russian embassy which is a heritage building and for a school to be started in a residential area.
The school bought this building after being told its status. It was duly sealed. One wonders how it was de-sealed specially when the house of the ex-naib nazim was next door.
S. BABAR
Karachi
Why have almost all roads in Karachi become so wrecked that it driving even a short distance becomes difficult? Many have open gutters, pot-holes, craters, ditches and so on.
I have come across numerous letters from people living in Gulshan-i-Iqbal complaining of bad roads but trust me roads in Clifton are equally bad.
Much time and energy are wasted in struggling to drive on such roads and by the time one reaches one’s destination one is exhausted.
MARYAM HIDAYATALLAH
Karachi
MY old electricity meter No. 3-P 0000015850 had stopped functioning in June. It was replaced with a new one in July/August, No. 3-P 000003481.
Since then, however, I have been receiving exorbitant electricity bills. The new meter runs very fast, and the bill for October and November is Rs2,066 and Rs1,329, respectively, which had never been the case in the past. With the old meter, my electricity bill for October and November 2003 was Rs914 and Rs549, and the electricity bill for October and November 2004 was Rs1,077 and Rs477.
Thus, the amount charged for October and November 2005 is more than double the amount compared to October and November 2003 and 2004.
May I state that all fans in my house are off, and we have neither heaters nor airconditioners. The new meters are definitely running very fast and they should be checked by some experts from abroad.
S. HYDER RAZA
Islamabad
Many years back Britto Road in Soldier Bazaar, Karachi, was officially declared a one-way road and was used as such from its junction at Bahadur Yar Jang Road, i.e., from the traffic signal at Soldier Bazaar market up to its connection with Nishtar Road (Lawrence Road). But for last some years the road has been used by vehicular traffic as a two-way road.
It may be noted that “No entry” traffic signs still stand on the corners of by-lanes meeting Britto Road. Besides, no traffic signal lights have been installed on the opposite side of the signal near the Soldier Bazaar market.
The need is to immediately enforce the one-way system.
M. ATHER
Karachi
THIS is to inform the higher traffic police officials that after abolishing the charged parking system by the Karachi city district government, some persons with the help and support of the local police have started this business privately.
Operators of the private system of parking have become so powerful, specially in front of the National Bank of Pakistan head office and on Wallace Road, that they have started car parking in three rows, leaving a narrow passage barely sufficient for a car to traverse. This leads to traffic jams and is a headache for those working in offices in the neighbourhood.
The authorities concerned are requested to look into the matter.
SYED SHAFAAT ALI
Karachi
You can also send letters to the Editor
Just send your message to the following address: letters@dawn.com
Make sure you include your full name, postal address, e-mail address, and in the case of Pakistan your day-time telephone number.