| January 10, 2006 | Tuesday | Zilhaj 9, 1426 |
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Hazards of shisha
Decline in institutions
Bank’s negligence
Punjab vs others
Wapda’s performance
Prisoners abroad
WTO and Pakistan
Open drains
Water is life
Railway projects
Unmoved
Where are the bins?
WHAT could be more painful for any mother than to lose her child(ren)? All the mothers of the world, regardless of their race or religion, as also those folks who care about mothers and motherhood, can feel the sorrow of the American lady Cindy Sheehan who lost her son in the Iraq war.
When Casey Sheehan joined the US army in May 2000, “his recruiter told him that even if there was a war, he would never see combat because he had scored so high in the entrance exam ... .”, said the mother. Four years later he was killed in Iraq (Dawn, Dec 10, 2005).
Shocked by this and the death of nearly 2,000 other American soldiers, Ms Sheehan also empathizes with the mothers of thousands of Iraqis who have been killed. She has additionally been able to see how the leaders of her country have misled humanity and shoved soldiers like Casey into a war on the other side of the planet.
I don’t blame the people who killed Casey but the people who brought us into this, who lied and deceived the world,” she stated. Ms Sheehan, who has three surviving children, started a protest movement by pitching a tent in front of Mr George Bush’s ranch in Texas last summer that drew support from many celebrities and was even visited by a number of Republicans.
Her anti-war campaign that also took her to Britain last month made the aggrieved woman the target of Fox news and others on the American right, but the mainstream media has given her some coverage. What should be an eye-opener for the hawks in Washington is her revelation:
“I get feedback from the troops all the time and 99.9 per cent say, ‘Keep on doing what you’re doing because it’s a nightmare here and we want to come home and it’s only people like you in the peace movement that give us hope’.”
The burden of the campaign has taken its toll and she feels as if she’s carrying the whole world on her shoulders. The lady has rejected suggestions to enter politics herself, saying: “An illegal and unmoral war isn’t a political issue, it’s a matter of life and death, and everybody has to do the right thing no matter what party they are in.”
There lies the crux of the whole thing and one would like to broaden her statement to read: “... no matter what country or religion they belong to.” As a first step, Mr Bush should try to understand the primary grievance of the international Islamic community, as pointed out endlessly by the Muslims from around the world and even by many responsible Americans along with some of their European allies. It relates to the decades’ old American practice of supporting Israel blindly and of crafting policies that are hurtful for the Muslims.
Apart from that, the Osama bin Laden affair could have been resolved very easily by accepting the fact that the Afghans never hand over their guests to the latter’s enemies and acceding to Mullah Omer’s offer of trying him in Afghanistan or even in another Muslim country acceptable to both sides. Unfortunately, the Clinton administration had made it a matter of prestige to enforce their own terms.
The US president must also realize that invading Iraq was a monumental mistake and has generated an enormous amount of resistance and terrorism while almost none had existed there before. According to many American politicians and officials, it has reduced the country’s security. Besides, it has also expanded the support for OBL and Al Qaeda and created dislike for America amongst the Muslims.
Instead of merely trying to treat the symptoms of the malady by recruiting officials like Karen Hughes to improve Washington’s image in the Islamic world, Mr Bush should take steps to cure the disease by rectifying his policies. Ms Cindy Sheehan could be sent to Iraq to meet Iraqi mothers to express solidarity with them, after which she should also see the representatives of the resistance movement to find out a solution. That may include a withdrawal of 50 per cent of American troops as a first step if the insurgents begin serious negotiations.
This move will lessen militancy elsewhere as well, including in Pakistan where many mothers have lost their soldier sons during the Pakistan Army’s campaign in support of America’s war on terror against the militants hiding in Waziristan.
There are hundreds of thousands of Cindy Sheehans in America, Europe, Israel, Iraq, Palestine, Kashmir, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Chechnya and elsewhere crying for their children and their unsaid words ought to he heeded by all.
KHALID CHAUDHRY
Karachi
THE use of “shisha” also known as hookah or water pipe is rapidly increasing in the major cities of Pakistan. Unfortunately most people who use shisha are not aware of its harmful effects. Most restaurant owners tell their customers that it is merely flavoured smoke and that there is no tobacco in it.
Recently, however, the World Health Organization (WHO) released a report on the health consequences of shisha use and it has proved to be an eye-opener. A commonly held belief is that shisha is harmless because the smoke first passes through water before it is inhaled. Shisha smoking sessions last for 20-80 minutes, during which the smoker may take anywhere between 50 and 200 puffs. The shisha smoker may therefore inhale as much smoke during one session as a cigarette smoker would inhale consuming 100 or more cigarettes. Even after it has passed through water, the smoke produced by a shisha contains a high level of toxins, including carbon monoxide, heavy metals and other carcinogens.
A similar hazard is posed to other people who are not directly using shisha by means of passive smoking. It is indeed sad that in spite of an ordinance in place which bans smoking in public places many restaurants offer shisha to their customers. Tobacco used in these water pipes is often sweetened and flavoured, making it very appealing to children and teenagers. A survey done on youngsters of school-going age in Karachi recently showed that almost 70 per cent had tried shisha in the past six months, and this included children as young as seven.
Many of the commercially available packets which are used for shisha smoking have misleading labels such as 0.5 per cent nicotine and zero tar. WHO in its report has strongly recommended that healthcare professionals educate the public about the potential dangers of shisha use. Moreover, the sharing of shisha between people poses an additional risk of TB and hepatitis transmission.
I would urge the ministry of health not only to ban shisha use in the restaurants but also to take other practical steps for the full implementation of the “Prohibition of smoking ordinance 2002” in the country. In particular the federal cabinet should ensure that nobody is allowed to smoke in a cabinet meeting. Recently, a newspaper picture of two federal ministers smoking during a cabinet meeting gave a disgraceful picture of the level of tobacco control in Pakistan. Our country needs healthy ministers who are role models for everyone else not people puffing away in a closed meeting.
PROFESSOR JAVAID KHAN
Consultant chest physician
Aga Khan University Karachi
HOW much our standards have deteriorated will be obvious from the following two examples of institutions which had a great name for their excellence.
UMS — urgent mail service — is supposedly the quickest mail delivery system through post offices. On Dec 17, 2005, I sent a letter to Karachi by UMS. I believe Sunset Boulevard and Defence Housing Society, Phase II, Karachi, are well-known to anyone in Karachi. I also wrote down the telephone number of the addressee: I was surprised when the letter was returned to me with the remark in Urdu “Pata ghalat hai” — is address is wrong.
I took the envelope to the chief post master, GPO, Islamabad, I dialled the number and let his PA hear the addressee’s wife confirm the address. I asked the CPM to send the letter back for delivery and ask the Karachi UMS to pull up their delivery people. He said all he could do was to send the letter to Karachi UMS.
Another example: I went to inquire after the condition of a patient in the ICU of PIMS, Islamabad. The ‘monitor’ registering the patient’s heartbeats suddenly went on red alert. I immediately went out to call a nurse. She came with me unconcerned as if it was quite a normal occurrence, and rectified the monitor. “Oh, our monitors are faulty. This happens quite often.” I remarked that she was taking it very lightly. What if the alarm was real? She said: “Oh we have asked the administration several times. No action is taken.”
DR SAMIULLAH KORESHI
Islamabad
What does an account holder do when a bank does not return the money to him lost in a fraud case because of the bank’s own negligence?
I had lost my ATM card on Sept. 26, 2005, and had reported it lost on or before Sept 28 by the phone banking service. I had twice asked the person to whom I was reporting the loss if I needed to inform the bank in writing and was told that this was not necessary.
On Oct. 17 I checked the balance in my account and found that it was very low. I requested a bank statement and found that there were several transactions made from the card that I had lost and which was supposed to be blocked by the bank. Since Sept. 26 I have written several letters to the bank and have met the people responsible to settle this case and it looks like its going to take forever for them to reimburse my account.
I have suffered considerable mental torture in the past three months because of the bank’s negligence. In any other country, one would have been able to sue the bank for damages.
ALI AKBAR ESMAIL
Karachi
THIS has reference to Mr Muhammad Abd Al-Hamid’s letter (Dec 28).
It would have been much better had Mr Abd not opened this particular Pandora’s box. If he had to do it, he should not have confined himself to exposing sacrifices made by Punjab, but covered the whole canvas.
The population of East Pakistan was larger than of the entire West Pakistan. However, instead of giving it its due share, the parity formula was adopted to downsize its population. Why can’t this formula be adopted now to ensure equal representation to all provinces?
In India, the biggest province UP has been divided. Why can’t this be done here by dividing Punjab into two provinces?
All federating units have more or less equal rights in the federation which is the essence of democracy. Permanent control of one unit on the basis of a bigger population negates democracy.
If Punjab is sincere in running the country on the basis of democracy, it may voluntarily downsize its population by creating a new province.
PRO BONO PUBLICO
Karachi
IT is shocking to note that the role of Wapda has remained controversial almost since its inception. The head office of the government-owned organization is in Lahore and unfortunately its chiefs do not appear to consider themselves responsible for the whole country.
The performance of this organization has remained so poor that the first elected prime minister of Pakistan, Mr Z.A. Bhutto, used to publicly call this organization a “white elephant”.
Former Wapda chairman Lt-Gen (retd) Zulfiqar Ali Khan, who remained in office for five years, had delayed the preparation of a feasibility for the Basha dam, on which all provinces agree, because it would not be located in Punjab.
Although Wapda claims that it is only an “executing agency” and has nothing to do with economics and politics as claimed by its chairman (Jan 5), the facts speak otherwise. The present Wapda chairman and also the previous ones have remained a “party” to the Kalabagh dam controversy as they have supported one party on the issue.
It was surprising to note that till recently Wapda was claiming that in case of construction of the Kalabagh dam, Nowshera would not be inundated but suddenly Wapda changed its stand when its chairman while giving an in-camera briefing to senators claimed that “construction of the Kalabagh dam would necessitate immediate follow-up building of $1.1149 billion (Rs 70 billion) Manda dam to save Nowshera from flooding (Jan 4). This shows that for the construction of the Kalabagh dam, the Manda dam with an estimated cost of Rs 70 billion is necessary and there is danger of flooding of Nowshera if only the Kalabagh dam is built.
Regarding the design of the Kalabagh dam, Wapda has been claiming that its design is suitable and Sindh’s objections are baseless. But Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, chief of the PML-Q, has finally admitted, according to press reports, that Sindh’s objection to the design is correct.
Wapda claims that 35maf water goes into the sea but at the same time it is not willing to tell the nation the fact that this includes the water of India and Afghanistan. Nowhere in the world dams are built by spending big amounts on the basis of the unwanted water of other countries.
I suggest that the president should dissolve Wapda and then form four organizations to be handed over to the provinces as the present setup is working against the integrity and solidarity of the country by supporting Punjab at the cost of the three other provinces.
IMRAN KHAN SIAL
Karachi
“THE government has decided to constitute a task force to deal with the cases of thousands of Pakistanis imprisoned abroad” (Dec 25).
Better late than never. It would have been appropriate if the probable timing of the task force’s functioning was also intimated.
The handout announcing the step has named almost all the countries where our nationals are languishing in jail except Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay. This needs clarification.
Z.A. KAZMI
Karachi
THIS refers to Mr Shahid Javed Burki’s article “WTO meeting and Pakistan” (Jan 3). Whereas I appreciate the contents and analysis of the writer, I wish to emphasize that Pakistan’s negotiation strategy in the area of agriculture has sharply focused on market access, as was suggested by the author. Pakistan is cognizant of the fact that we have a natural comparative advantage in agriculture, and being a non-subsidizer with a lower level of applied tariff, Pakistan is in an enabling environment to translate its comparative advantage into a competitive advantage under the WTO regime of trade liberalization.
This realization prompted Pakistan to join the Cairns Group — a club of agriculture exporting countries. Within the G20 we are also striving to align our market access based strategy to the group’s overall negotiating stance.
DR SYED WAJID H. PIRZADA WTO Unit, Ministry of Food,
Agriculture and Livestock
Islamabad
EVERY year hundreds of children fall in open drains in Sindh’s interior and a majority of them die before being rescued. It is unfortunate that no one has so far paid any heed to the problem.
Recently a two-year-old boy who came with his mother to visit his relative’s house fell into an open drain in Jacobabad and was killed.
It is time the Sindh government took notice of these cases and gave instructions to town nazims to close all open drains in their jurisdiction.
A CONCERNED CITIZEN
Karachi
IT HAS been estimated that 0.1 per cent of the bulk of the earth comprises water. Out of this 2.5 per cent is sweet water, which is symbolically ‘zakat’ of the sea. Out of this only 0.25 per cent is available for human use, the rest being locked in polar ice, permafrost and the soil.
It is, therefore, of the utmost importance that we use prudently the available sweet water from such sources as glaciers and snowmelt, rivers, lakes, rain and aquifers. The current controversy about the Kalabagh dam must be viewed in the above context so that we are able to use the last drop of sweet water in our God-given rivers as a blessing and not waste the precious resource.
The efforts of President Musharraf in this connection are commendable and we cannot commit suicide at the bidding of the anti-Kalabagh lobby.
DR M. YAQOOB BHATTI
Lahore
THIS refers to Pakistan Railways’ advertisement on Jan 6 inviting EoIs for development of five-star hotels/commercial ventures. It is a matter of great concern and disappointment that for further information and queries, there is no mention of any office in Karachi. Only the railway offices in Lahore and Rawalpindi have been authorized to handle queries from investors and businessmen.
It will not be out of place to mention here that in the same advertisement two out of four projects have to be established in Karachi and if someone here needs information, would he to travel all the way to Lahore or Rawalpindi to gain information? We all know that it is not of much use trying to talk to government offices on the phone.
The project appears to be worth multi-billion rupees, and Karachi, the hub of businessmen and financial institutions which is interlinked with global investors, has been ignored.
M. OZAIR AZAM
Karachi
THE president is taking away the left bank canal (LBC) from the KBD and the people of Punjab are unmoved. Their vast majority in the government, the Senate, the assembly, most of them having their lands in northern Punjab, are not pushed as long as they can hold on to their ministries and their seats.
The LCCI holds forth on the necessity of building the KBD and mentions “guarantees”, not knowing that the guarantee is against the construction of the LBC. The run-of-the-mill citizen in Punjab is quite happy that without the KBD and/or the LBC he will have enough water for the next 12 years, after that “Allah malik hai”. And in between India will take all the water away.
The smaller provinces exploit their “smallness” to blackmail the centre, whereas the average person in Punjab is happy given his “karahi gosht”, a Pajero, a palatial house, shopping trips abroad. It is a pity one can change one’s religion but not one’s province.
KHURSHID ANWER
Lahore
THIS refers to Maryam Hidayatullah’s letter titled ‘Litterbugs’ (Jan. 5). It will be a big help if she were to inform us all just exactly where rubbish bins are located on Karachi’s roads. I often have to carry used tissue or small pieces of paper to my office to put them in a thrash bin because there is not a single trash can on the entire I. I. Chundrigar Road (apparently Pakistan’s Wall Street), what to say of other places.
ABDUL ALAAM
Karachi
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