| January 4, 2006 | Wednesday | Zilhaj 3, 1426 |
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Neelam waters
Credit card heist
Pemra experience
Funds for UC nazim
Commerce teaching
Frere Hall incident
‘Siachen: no winners’
Meals ban violation
Islamabad high court
Toynbee on Israel
Indu Mitha’s dance troupe
THE president’s own men, ministers and parliamentarians, are turning around and telling him that they cannot face their constituencies on the Kalabagh dam issue and if pressed hard, they are likely to lose their seats in the forthcoming elections. It appears that they are not convinced about the significance of the dam and, therefore, cannot convince others.
The dam has been politicized and emotions have got the better of the masses. Even pro-government political parties are shying away and are reluctant to openly support the government. The MQM has come out in the open and has opposed the project as if to prove its loyalty to rural Sindh. A doomsday scenario is being portrayed by the ANP and emotional crowds are chanting slogans about a “holocaust on the NWFP” and the “desertification of Sindh”.
The president has been left alone and has launched a one-man crusade. The only other lone Sindhi voice that has come up in his support is of Pir Pagara, that too not in a persuasive manner as judged from his TV appearance. The president’s address at Sukkur coincided with a mammoth demonstration of opposition parties at Karachi. President Musharraf is fully armed with facts and figures in support of the Kalabagh dam but no one is prepared to listen to him. He is right when he says that without the dam Sindh will be turned into a desert in 15 years’ time and not on account of it. He is also right that the productive districts of the NWFP will not be inundated by the reservoir water. These are simple facts that can be verified with the 21st century tools that are available.
In 1985, I along with NDC participants saw a model of the Kalabagh dam at Nandipur headworks prepared by Wapda. It clearly demonstrated the effects of the dam and the areas submerged by the reservoir. Nowshera was not affected. This demonstration should be arranged for the benefit of the politicians. In fact, it can be better demonstrated with the help of a computer. As for the waterlogging effect, enough expertise is available to calculate the extent and magnitude of seepage and measures required to counter it.
A similar approach may be followed to dispel apprehensions about the flow of water below Kotri for which data is available. Also the minimum requirement of water downstream Kotri to preserve mangroves, prevent sea ingress into the mainland and for preservation of marine life has been calculated by international consultants and is available for anyone to see. This quantity of water should be assured to all the stake-holders. The priority according to which dams should be constructed depends on the time available for the purpose. We need three dams by the year 2020. It takes six to eight years to build a dam. We will, therefore, have to start building more than one dam at a time. Logically, Kalabagh appears to be the first priority as most of the groundwork on it has been completed and the World Bank has given the go-ahead subject to attainment of political consensus. If consensus is not reached on Kalabagh, work on Basha or Akori dam can begin. National integration is more important than the choice of dam at this stage.
S.M.H. BOKHARI
Rawalpindi Cantt
THIS has reference to the report “Pakistan to seek arbitration on Neelam waters’(Dawn, Dec 1). The Baglihar dam is near completion. India is reluctant to stop work on it despite the fact that the making of reservoir on the eastern river, the Chenab, is a clear violation of the 1960s Indus Water Treaty. Although the World Bank, so-called guarantor of the Indus Treaty, has appointed a neutral expert on the issue, the expert’s report will be of symbolic importance, because the WB has denied that it was the guarantor of the treaty(Dawn, Jan 20).
In the past, we have mishandled the Baglihar issue because we should have demanded the appointment of a neutral expert under annexure-F much earlier than in 2003. We did not ask for appointment of a neutral expert because we fell prey to Indian delaying tactics. On the one hand, India was wasting our time in talks and formalities and, on the other, it was building the dam with great speed. Consequently, the Baglihar dam is near completion.
Baglihar is just the beginning because the Indian power ministry has approved the Kishanganga, Uri-11 Pakal Dul and Burser projects. All these will be completed on the western rivers, i.e., the Indus, the Jhelum and the Chenab, to which Pakistan has exclusive rights in accordance with the 1960 Indus Treaty.
If these projects become operational, then we will be compelled to say goodbye to our agriculture and textile exports. So, we should not fall prey to Indian tactics once again. We should demand immediately the setting up of an arbitration court with a timeframe. After its decision, we should raise this issue at international forums as pressure could be exerted over India.
We should also counter the Indian propaganda in held Kashmir that Pakistan is denying Kashmiris access to electricity by opposing these projects. The leadership of the APHC should be taken into confidence on these issues during their visit to Pakistan.
ASIF ABRO
Larkana
THIS is with reference to the letter ‘Credit card heist’ by Umair Mohsin (Jan 2). I have had a similar unpleasant experience. At the end of 2004, the salesperson of a local commercial bank which launched its credit card at that time persuaded me to subscribe. I was told that if I were an account holder of the bank, my annul credit card fee of Rs 1,000 would be waived.
Since I was an account-holder of the bank, and since the fee charged was half of what I was paying to a foreign bank, I decided to subscribe to their card. However, I did not get my card activated because I was already using another credit card. To my surprise, I received a bill amounting to Rs2,000 as the annual fee for two years. When I contacted the relevant people at the bank and reminded them that I was an account holder and therefore eligible for an annual fee waiver, they told me that the matter would be looked into. In the second month, instead of receiving a corrected bill, I received the original bill to which were added late fee charges and other incomprehensible penalties.
In response to that, I returned the torn credit card to them along with a detailed letter explaining the reasons for my cancelling my subscription. However, despite ensuing correspondences and scores of telephone conversations, I keep on receiving bills for the annul fee which over the last one year has risen to a substantial figure due to penalties and late charges. Who is going to save credit card users from this harassment?
FARAH AKBAR
Karachi
BEING overcharged by a leading cable service provider, a complaint was lodged by me with Pemra during Sept 2004 followed by several reminders with copies to the Pemra chairman and the cable provider. No action was taken till November 2005 when the matter was brought to the notice of the secretary, ministry of communications, and through his intervention I was called by the Pemra general manager to attend a meeting of the council of complaints at a particular time.
To my utter dismay I, a man undergoing chemotherapy, was made to wait in a hall, shivering from the cold. It was after several reminders through a junior that I was finally called in after an hour. When I pointed out the long wait and misery I had endured, the general manager kept saying that my sickness was not his fault. One woman member started praising the cable operator as if I was at fault which surely was not her duty.
I write this to bring to the notice of the authorities concerned to inquire into the affairs of Pemra and save senior citizens like me from undergoing experiences like this. If they cannot help they should not torture them.
MUSHTAQ AHMED QURESHI
Karachi
DECENTRALIZATION and devolution of power have become popular all over the world. In Pakistan this has been done as well but the primary problem is that local representatives do not have the financial resources needed to do what they want for their constituents.
I am a UC (union council) nazim. It is my responsibility to go out in the field and to know what are the basic needs of those who elected me — but I am unable to do that. I belong to a middle class family and I do not have the financial resources to go out in the field. This would be all right if there was financial assistance given to me for doing my job but that is also not forthcoming.
This is a problem faced by everyone at my level in the new system. Instead, the money is spent or diverted to people who sit in luxurious offices and hold meetings in airconditioned environs.
I urge the president of Pakistan to transfer actual authority to elected representatives at the grassroots level by empowering nazims at the union council level.
MEHAR ALI LASHARI
Nazim, Kheraho UC, Sindhri
Taluka, Mirpurkhas
IT IS good to see an academy for commerce open in Gujranwala. There are many talented young people in our society who need guidance and training to establish them in commerce. In Gujranwala only a few schools provide such courses and their fees are quite high. Apart from the fees, the students have to buy their own stationery and supplies, which becomes a financial burden on their parents.
Apart from commerce, accounting should also be introduced in such schools and teachers of accounting from abroad can be hired. Subjects like accounting, economics and statistics should also be a part of the regular school curriculum.
HASAN NASIR
Ghakkhar
I AM from the UK and have been volunteering for an NGO in Karachi for nearly two months. Not having any family in the country to spend Christmas Day with, I decided to keep myself busy by visiting bookstalls outside Frere Hall in Karachi. I went for a walk around the gardens and to marvel at the building. The building is so beautiful and there were no signs forbidding photography, so I decided to take a picture of it.
Just as I got my camera out of my pocket, a group of men sitting under a tree in plain clothes began shouting at me. I heard them say: “Stop. No photos allowed”. Respectful of this, without taking any pictures, I immediately put the camera away. The men then came over to me and demanded that I give them my camera. Not knowing who they were and having been told millions of times by ordinary people that crime is extremely high in the city, I immediately thought they were muggers and that I was about to get robbed.
I tried to get away from them, but three men grabbed me by my shoulders. They tore my T-shirt and one punched me in the face with such great force that still, days later, my cheeks are swollen. However, they were not common street muggers preying on the vulnerable, tourists or foreigners. They were the security guards at Frere Hall.
While I was getting physically assaulted by these guards, I tried explaining to them that I was a foreign tourist who was unaware of the restrictions on photography. Yet the man who punched me in the face became even more aggressive at this and threatened to beat me up and take me to a police station.
Whilst searching my bag and my camera, I noticed a group of Turkish Airline stewardesses were also taking photographs of the building. Two of the men who had just attacked me, immediately ran over to these women. Thinking that violence is the way things are done here, I was surprised that they were not getting physically assaulted, as was my fate. The women had their personal belongings aggressively searched and their details were written down.
When the so-called “security guards” finished searching my bag, it was evident that I was an innocent visitor. However, the man that had punched me was adamant that I should be taken to a police station. I was very frightened by his behaviour and felt so helpless and violated. He then dragged me to the head of security who was sitting in a tent on Khayaban-i-Iqbal. This man also rifled through my belongings and took down my details. I explained to him what I already had to the other guards. He finally let me go. I learnt that the American embassy was close by and that the area was a sensitive one.
A few questions stemmed from this incident. First, what is the need for the use of aggression and violence to stop tourists from taking photographs? Surely, clear signs in English and Urdu saying “No photography allowed” would be enough to resolve this. So why hasn’t the government placed them in such a sensitive area? Second, if they were security guards, why were they not wearing uniforms? Or if they were ISI or the police why were they not carrying identification to distinguish themselves from members of the public or potential muggers? How are foreigners/tourists meant to know that they are giving their cameras to the right people?
If Pakistan is to continue to have volunteers from abroad coming to the country to help its poor and needy, changes need to be brought about to help them during their stay here. It can start by disciplinary actions being brought against the “security” guards at Frere Hall, one of Karachi’s top tourist attractions. Their behaviour was barbaric and inappropriate. I feel no one should have to go through what I did and I hope no one ever does. Needless to say, my Christmas Day was very memorable and something which neither my family at home nor I will ever forget.
A. AHMED
Via email
YOUR editorial on Siachen (Sept 30) has got a key fact wrong. You state that India “surreptitiously took over the strategic terrain widely seen as belonging to Pakistan”. This was certainly not the case. The Cease-Fire Line (CFL) established in 1949 runs along the international India-Pakistan border and then north and northeast until map grid-point NJ 9842. The CFL was not delineated beyond this point to the Chinese border. Therefore, Siachen was never categorically demarcated as belonging to either Pakistan or India. This is the whole basis for the dispute over Siachen. This status quo remained from 1949 right up to the 1980s.
Pakistan attempted to alter this status quo in the 1980s when it started authorizing expeditions to the area, using permits issued by the government of Pakistan. This was seen in India as an attempt to strengthen Pakistan’s claim, by trying to establish a history of jurisdiction over the glacier. India’s occupation of the disputed glacier was provoked by this attempt by Pakistan.
R. SAHGAL
Australia
THIS is with reference to a report in Dawn (Dec. 19) which said that a “lavish” wedding reception was held on Dec. 18 by the NWFP law minister to celebrate his nephew’s marriage. The sumptuous dinner that consisted of items such as “chicken roast, white meat, sweets and other delicacies” was attended by “a large number of NWFP ministers, MPAs and government officials”.
As pointed out in the news item, the host was apparently in violation of the Supreme Court ban on wedding meals. It is outrageous that a law minister would be so oblivious of an order of the country’s highest court. Perhaps, he thinks that being a law minister entitles him to make his own laws.
SIDDIQUE MALIK
Louisville, KY, US
THIS refers to a report (Dawn, Dec 23) that the prime minister has considered the idea of establishing an Islamabad high court.
It is a good idea, but the prime minister should also realize that he doesn’t enjoy a two-thirds majority in parliament, necessary for the purpose of the constitution of a new high court.
It is hoped that the prime minister will take the opposition into confidence to seek its support in parliament for the measure.
ASIM RAUF
Birmingham
THIS is with reference to the letters in Dawn following Iranian President Ahmedinjad’s statement that Israel should be shifted to some European country. His ideas may sound bizarre to some, but such a respected historian as Arnold Toynbee wrote in an article after the 1967 war:
“It is not unreasonable for the Jews to claim that their cumulative experience of criminal treatment by westerners entitles them to have a country of their own. But then they should have been given German territory (e.g. Rhineland) and not Arab territory as the site for a Jewish state. And also from the beginning, Germany, Britain and the United States could and should have given all the Jewish refugees asylum in their own territories”.
I wrote about this idea in my book as early as 1968 and as a young man had the audacity to request Lord Bertrand Russell to write a foreword. Lord Russell, of course, refused, because — I realized from the benefit of hindsight — that it was too much to expect him to write the foreword to a book written by a young man who was carried away by emotions.
Better late than never. The Jews in the western world possess all the resources, and if they set their mind to it they can have their dream come true and they can have a state of their own in Europe or America where they can live in peace, and the present conflict between them and Arabs and Muslims will end.
K. MURAD BEY
Karachi
ANITA Zeeshan reports in “Cultural encounter” (Images, Dec 18) that the Balochi and Khattak dance performance (in Rawalpindi) was by Tehreema and Indu Mitha’s dance troupe.
The boys who performed are, indeed, my students, but these dances were not taught or directed by me.
The classical and creative dances taught by me at evening classes were presented by these boys and my girl students at the German embassy hall to an invited audience on Dec 15. Donations received were for the earthquake victims.
My daughter, Tehreema Mitha, gave a solo dance performance on Nov 27 at Peerzadas’ International Theatre Festival in Lahore, and another at the Afghanistan Centre for Culture and Civil Society in Kabul on Nov 30. Her company is based in Washington and has not yet performed in Pakistan.
MRS INDU MITHA
Islamabad
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