| January 1, 2006 | Sunday | Ziqa’ad 29, 1426 |
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Gwadar problems
A road is repaired
A request to president
Theft at airport
Gunships over Balochistan
Kalabagh dam
Companies ordinance
Unemployed youths
Clarification on ‘vani’
Stranded Pakistanis
Dig, Karachi, dig
Bank charges
A WRITER in these columns recently expressed the view that Pakistan had made all possible endeavours to settle the Kashmir dispute with India without success and it was, therefore, time to suspend all connections social, economic, cultural and political, until India agrees to have meaningful discussions on the core issue of Kashmir and give it top priority.
Tracing our position on Kashmir, it does not appear the right thing to do. Pakistan has tried almost everything to resolve this issue with India. We had a UN resolution for a plebiscite in Kashmir but that went up in smoke in 1971 with the Shimla Pact when we agreed to settle all disputes, including Kashmir, through bilateral negotiations. We later lost support of the international community, including the Muslim states, to successfully bring the Kashmir issue back before the UN.
The year 1999 saw the Lahore Declaration in an attempt to resolve this issue by moving closer and encouraging trade, travel and tourism as a way to building confidence and removing suspicion and hostility. This was followed by the Kargil episode. War was averted and diplomacy was resumed with the Agra visit and repeated attempts by Gen Musharraf to build an atmosphere of peace and goodwill with India. The Islamabad Declaration established a pattern of diplomatic moves and peace dialogues which have led to a definite improvement in relations. Confidence- building measures have been implemented. High commissions have been functioning, airlines operating and crossings have been established along the LoC.
Pakistan has shown a great degree of political maturity in the shape of Gen Musharraf’s offer of flexibility in Pakistan’s position on the UN resolutions on Kashmir if India agreed to a solution to the Kashmir dispute to the satisfaction of the Kashmiri people. He also suggested a demilitarization of Kashmir coupled with the opening of cross-border travel in Kashmir. The Indian government did not refuse this, but the response was lukewarm if not poor and it repeated the old allegation of cross-border infiltration by terrorists. Peace dialogue and various forms of diplomacy are going on but without clear success even on smaller issues like Siachen and Sir Creek which could serve as definite confidence-building measures.
We recently saw Kuldip Nayar’s suggestion of making the two parts of Kashmir autonomous with India and Pakistan retaining control only over defence, foreign affairs and communications. He further advocated opening up the Kashmir border to trade, travel and tourism and holding of elections so that the representatives of the people of the two parts of Kashmir could be identified. Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, according to news reports, referred to such a possibility as an interim solution pending a final settlement.
A story on the front page of Dawn (Dec 25) by Jawed Naqvi refers to the same proposals as emanating from Gen Musharraf and reports that they were being discussed between diplomats and national security officials on both sides. India is unlikely to give up its long-stated position that Kashmir is an integral and inalienable part of India and it also places reliance on a 1951 act of parliament to support this argument.
There is of course no encouragement from the top Indian leadership in finding a solution to Kashmir. Even liberal thinkers like 1. K. Gujral, a former prime minister of India, at a meeting with a delegation of the Karachi Council on Foreign Relations Economic Affairs and Law in October 2004, referred to provisions of the Indian constitution dealing with the special status of states constituting the Indian Union and said that India would be willing to give Kashmir a special status provided it was within the Indian Union.
On inquiry from me, he stated that even the status prevailing at the time of Sheikh Abdullah would be open for consideration by the government of India, adding quickly that he was only expressing his personal opinion as he was not part of the incumbent government. In this background although the views expressed by Kuldip Nayyar are not official government views, they cut through a mesh of political difficulties and show a trend of thought in India which may ultimately lead to an acceptable solution on both sides.
A peaceful settlement in the present state of things is more likely to be driven by big business both at the international and national levels as well as determination on the part of NGOs and citizens interested in peace and prosperity as opposed to politicians making strategic moves on an old chessboard for political and domestic reasons.
The people on both sides who have suffered for 58 years on account of war, hostility and suspicion and have been denied the benefits of peace, progress and prosperity want a change and there appears to be one on the scene before us on which we must develop and build peace.
LIAQUAT H. MERCHANT
Karachi
AS the government is taking a keen interest in developing the Gwadar port, it should also look at problems being faced by the residents of the area.
The inhabitants of this coastal area face a host of problems. For drinking water, they depend on a reservoir fed by rainwater, which is also used by animals to quench their thirst. The use of unhygienic water frequently causes fatal diseases among the consumers, particularly young children. Several of the patients die in the absence of intensive care in local hospitals and the fact highlights dearth of health facilities in the area.
Another problem is shortage of recreational facilities due to which a local youth takes to drugs and other such activities.
Gwadar district has only a few education institutions - 15 primary schools, one lower secondary and one secondary school and an intermediate college - which are not sufficient to cater to the needs of the people. In the absence of a proper college or university, local students have to go to Quetta or Karachi to acquire higher education.
Moreover, schoolteachers are recruited here on a political basis and most of them avoid attending classes. These days several teachers have turned to dealing in property business and running estate agencies.
If the government really wants Gwadarians to reap the benefit of development, it should revamp the education system and establish institutions of technical education in the area.
MOHAMMAD BALOCH
Nalaint, Gwadar
Let us celebrate: Karachi’s Abul Hasan Ispahani Road has finally been repaired in such a short time as six months. It was dug up in June last, and using the state-of-the-art technology, borrowed from Moldova, Europe’s technologically most advanced country, the city government engineers were able to open it to traffic in a record time that must find its way into the Guinness’s Book of World Records.
After it was dug up in June and sand and stones dumped on one track, the other track was allowed to be used for two-way traffic. The cloud of dust that remained hanging in the area for six months was inspired by similar experiments in Congo and Papua New Guinea. These clouds of dust improved the respiratory systems of the young and the old in the area. The traffic police cooperated exemplarily by deciding never to be seen on the road.
Another road where such an experiment still continues is M.A. Jinnah Road Extension. To ensure undisturbed experimentation, the city engineers dug up small portions of the road at both ends - one near the Quaid’s mazar and the other at Jail Chowrangi. Both tracks of the road were dug up in July and are likely to remain in that condition for another six months. A novel form of improvisation is that the dug-up earth near the Jail Chowrangi has enabled some buses to turn that part of the road into a bus terminal. This idea has been borrowed from scientists on the Andaman Islands.
I am sure city government engineers will get rapid promotions if they repeat these experiments on roads where the Governor House and Chief Minister House are located.
JAMEEL ZAMAN
Karachi
I LIVE in an apartment close to the Army Guest House where President Musharraf stays during his visits to Karachi. Recently I waited almost for two hours in my car in front of the barricade erected next to our apartments.
In spite of repeated pleadings that I was a resident of the apartment nearby and that in the past too we were allowed to pass, the policemen on duty refused to do so. Many couples, families and residents living in the apartments nearby were seen arguing with the police in a similar manner.
Finally, the SP on duty was kind enough to understand our problem and issued instructions to allow all those living in the neighbourhood to go to their homes.
I request President Musharraf and the authorities concerned with his security to issue necessary instructions in this regard so that the residents are allowed to pass through after showing proper identification.
In the past some people claiming to be from army intelligence went from house to house collecting details of the residents living in these apartments with an assurance to issue special passes but nothing has materialized as yet. People will be spared the unnecessary trouble if the president chooses to stay at one of the Army/PAF bases near the airport.
TYRONE MASCARENHAS
Karachi
I WAS travelling to Lahore from Karachi by a private airline flight 402 on Dec 23 at 8am. As I put my suite case and hand bag in the airport X-ray machine and went to the other side to collect these, I saw my luggage coming out. As I pushed my trolley closer, within the blink of an eye, my hand bag had disappeared. Shocked and confused, I started to look everywhere but the bag was nowhere in sight.
At that point I started to shout at the security personnel. I told them that I am going to get my boarding card, and my bag better be found when I came back, otherwise I was not going to leave this place and as such the flight might be delayed.
This actually unnerved them. I came back after 15 minutes with my boarding card. Some other security people also gathered there and about five minutes later my bag was found. According to them, it was lying near the flower pot just a little distance from the X-ray machine.
I immediately checked the contents in my bag and found Rs2,000 missing (one 1,000-rupee note and ten 100-rupee notes.)
I request both PIA and airport security high-ups to inquire into the matter.
PALWASHA DURRANI
Karachi
REMEMBER what a quack did to treat a malaria patient? — he gave him aspirin instead of quinine. My experience of years of service in Balochistan, albeit many years ago, tells me that apart from the discovery of Sui gas the socio-economic complex has scarcely changed and that governance is still best conducted with the help of the tribal sardars in what was once the B area.
Governing through the barrel of a gun is never a wise option. Negotiating a settlement is a matter for parliament, not the army, to decide on which side the balance of advantage lies.
S. ASIF MAJEED
Karachi
THE news that a decision on the Kalabagh dam will probably be taken on March 23 gives a much-needed breathing space to all those who want a fair solution to this issue. It was Wapda engineers who had stopped the KBD from being built by the World Bank, and fought for the bigger and more expensive Tarbela dam to be funded first by the WB, entirely in the national interest.
On completion of the Tarbela dam, the KBD was ready to build in 1986, when Ms Benazir Bhutto came back from exile and put a spanner in the works (although better sense prevailed in 1990 when she very much wanted to build it). The KBD was designed to store flood flow and monsoon flow (apart from Kabul, Swat, Soan and snow melt). The Basha dam can store only snow melt, no earthly comparison).
The dam would create surpluses and distribute these to all the provinces according to an agreed formula, as per the 1991 water accord, in which the then prime minister reduced Punjab’s share to bring Sindh at par, despite Punjab’s much bigger population and even larger cultivated area. This was done to get Sindh to agree to the need for further storages on the rivers and Sindh did agree at that time.
As designed, the KBD would have met the needs of Punjab and the Frontier through two canals and also provided water, additional to what Sindh is getting now, through the Indus, also improving the situation at Kotri. Although the problem there is not shortage of water (eight MAF would suffice) but of even distribution over the 12 months, as against the sporadic flood flow as at present.
Sindh has to be persuaded that the KBD will not reduce river flow in the Indus. Actually, the additional water from the KBD is essential to the well-being of Sindh. However, with Mangla dam silting up progressively, two-thirds of Punjab will revert from irrigated to barani, and one-half of the national food produce will be lost. The NWFP will also not be able to irrigate acres upon acres of fresh meadows.
KHURSHID ANWER
Lahore
IT is indeed right that the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has at last agreed to review the Companies Ordinance 1984. It is imperative that the grievances of members in private limited companies holding less than 20 per cent should be genuinely addressed.
As a matter of fact, almost all private limited companies are family-based and in course of time by traditional induction of new members of the family those holding less than 20 per cent are squeezed out. The exploitation of the number game has certainly helped majority group to run companies for the benefit of their families.
The provisions of majority rule are abundantly exploited and misused whereby the majority derives substantial benefits and deprives other shareholders of their due share.
It is proposed that the value of the share of an aggrieved member is accepted and/or the aggrieved member may be made entitled to purchase the entire/total shareholding of the company at two times’ value as determined by the company itself.
IQBAL AZAD
Karachi
THE swelling number of unemployed and unemployable youth is a matter of serious concern for the country. Our higher education system has not been able to provide jobs to a vast majority of our youth, who have been denied access to education or provided with one of poor quality.
The Higher Education Commission is taking some good steps to improve the higher education system in the country by increasing the number of PhDs. It is hoped that we learn a lesson from India, which is also doing a great job in producing PhDs, but has no infrastructure to produce skilled technicians.
SHAHAB AFROZ KHAN
Karachi
THIS is with reference to Mr Khalid Rashid Quraishi’s letter (Dec 12). It is clarified that the Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf has been in the forefront in bringing the vani issue into the public spotlight. PTI Chairman Imran Khan has on a number of occasions said unequivocally that there is a need to put an end to such barbaric practices. This should be done through education, enforcement of rule of law and mobilization of political and civil society.
ARSHAD MALIK
Press secretary, PTI
Islamabad
APROPOS of Mr Manzoor Chandio’s letter (Dec 19) regarding repatriation of stranded Pakistanis, it has nothing to do with the Liaquat-Nehru pact of 1950 since most of the stranded Pakistanis had migrated to East Pakistan before that date. Also, stranded Pakistanis were citizens of Pakistan and loyal to pro-Pakistan forces during the civil war of East Pakistan.
The 250,000 people who have been living in the scattered camps across Bangladesh were enrolled by the Red Cross and Islamabad to be repatriated to Pakistan.
Pakistan has a legal and moral obligation to take these people back. During the American War of Independence the loyalists were welcomed and, in fact, given arable lands across Canada by the British.
Most of the loyalists who settled in Nova Scotia were black people loyal to British forces. The other nationals like the Gorkhas, Sikhs, people of the Falklands and Bermuda who had been loyal to the British were never left out. Even the people of Hong Kong still carry British passports.
TAUSIF HASSAN
Via email
THIS is to convey to the Karachi city government and all its functionaries our “appreciation” of the manner in which they have dug up all big and small roads of the city. Such is their efficiency that they come, they dig and then at a snail’s pace try to repair the roads.
They just do not bother about the difficulties of the people of Karachi. Some of the major roads have been lying in a state of total disarray for several months.
We, the people, are so docile that we use these bumpy roads without a squeak. At a very important junction of a major road I can testify that the speed of repair is not more than 10 feet in 48 hours and for this they have large road repairing equipment, trucks and what not.
Please CDG, spare the people of Karachi the agony and pain by repairing the roads quickly and efficiently. In a foreign country the existing roads are either repaired or made in hours or alternative roads are provided.
MAHER ALAVI
Karachi
WITH reference to Col (retd) M.A. Butt’s complaint about bank charges (Dec 24), I would like to tell him that there is financial anarchy in the banking sector with regard to bank service charges. The funny thing is that this has been allowed by the State Bank of Pakistan.
Funnier still would be that if our friend Col Butt wants a pay order of Rs50, he would be paying bank charges of Rs100. You can laugh if you want to.
S. M. KAZIM NAQVI
Karachi
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