| January 26, 2006 | Thursday | Zilhaj 25, 1426 |
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‘Call out the fire brigade’
Wedding celebrations
Change in curricula
Religion a collective matter
Lahore marathon
‘Indian media’s blinkered perception’
Police promotions
Wapda claims
Respect for rights
Telephone directory
Canadian lesson
NWFP Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani recently asked the federal government to transfer the education, health and agriculture departments to the provincial government to improve the working of these departments.
When I was a college student in 1952, education, health, agriculture and even electricity were provincial subjects but electricity was not given back to the NWFP even after the dismemberment of One Unit. Education, health and agriculture were made concurrent subjects. Thus education is still under the dual control of the federal and provincial governments. It is strange to have two ministries for the same subject. The provincial ministries are always receiving instructions from the federal government for implementation of its policies in the province.
Now the Higher Education Commission has been created which advises and instructs universities to implement its new ideas and policies. This has violated the autonomy of the universities. Earlier they were at the mercy of the University Grants Commission for funds. Thus we have played havoc with the universities and made them subservient to these organizations, which do not allow them to work peacefully.
The new ideas, decisions and policies made in Islamabad do not suit the local conditions of universities in different provinces, which used to function in their own historical, geographical, climatic, cultural and social conditions. Those who frame education policies in the closed-door air-conditioned and centrally-heated rooms of the Islamabad secretariat cannot see through the tainted glasses of their windows the tall mountains, rivers, forests and far flung villages of the NWFP to which access is very difficult. They cannot see the poor children of these villages who travel many kilometres on foot to reach their schools in severe winter and summer.
Policies are framed in the light of local conditions of an area or province but Islamabad-based bureaucrats always impose their own will on the provinces. Education and universities suffer due to continuous intervention in their affairs.
The demand of the NWFP chief minister is reasonable. If education is completely transferred to the province, the centre would be saved millions of rupees every month. The number of the federal ministers, secretaries, additional secretaries, joint secretaries, deputy secretaries, and section officers would be reduced. Their vacant houses and staff cars could be utilized for other useful purposes.
President Gen Pervez Musharraf has repeatedly talked of the provincial autonomy and devolution of power to provinces but the bureaucracy does not move. Overcentralization of administration and accumulation of more and more powers in Islamabad is responsible for the decline in education. The list of concurrent subjects retained by the federal government is mere duplication of ministries and departments. If the list is transferred to the provinces, they will work whole-heartedly to improve the educational, health and agricultural conditions of their people without seeking approval of Islamabad.
PROF FIDAULLAH SEHRAI
Via email
THE controversy regarding the PMDC has ultimately caught the attention of Mr Ardeshir Cowasjee (Dawn, Jan 8), who has requested the president to intervene.
It is not such an important issue as to draw the attention of the head of state. The whole affair has been badly mishandled by the ministry of health. The General Medical Council of Britain knows everything about our educational system, its deficiencies and standards. If they employ any doctor from Pakistan, they have their own entry tests for language and competence. They need not have taken notice of anonymous letters.
Since the establishment of medical universities in each province of Pakistan the role of the PMDC has become irrelevant. (For the information of readers, there are no medical universities either in the UK or America.) All academic matters are being handled by these universities. The Gen Medical Council of Britain can talk to them and they can outline what efforts they are making to improve the standard of education and discipline.
The only other problem which needs to be solved is how to bring the increasing number of private medical colleges and universities under control. The PMDC as constituted at present or with amendments cannot cope with the increased responsibility. An inter-university board has to be constituted which includes representatives of private medical universities to solve all academic and related problems. The PMDC should confine itself to registration of doctors and removal of quackery and have legal powers to take action against professional misconduct of doctors, that is all it should do.
DR A.H. HAQUANI
Karachi
I AM a resident of sector I-8/2 Islamabad. Apparently someone was getting married in the neighbourhood and arranged a ‘mehndi’ function to “celebrate” the occasion. The function took place in a vacant piece of land near a nullah. From six pm till three in the morning, deafening music was played. I called ‘15’ three times but to no avail.
I fail to understand the rationale behind playing music at such functions so loudly that it disturbs the whole neighbourhood. Perhaps, if people want to have loud music they should book a hotel or a marriage hall. I am at a loss to understand this penchant among many of us to put up a tent on any vacant piece of land in a residential area and hold a function. Do not these people have any consideration for others? No one could sleep that night in my house. My younger sister had an exam the next day while I was trying to study for a test as well. If these people had even an iota of sanity they would have at least kept the volume low. Whatever became of the law that prohibits the use of loudspeakers? Or is that law confined only to mosques?
I can guarantee also that many of the people who attended that function that night would have been discussing amongst themselves how the country was in decline, how we lacked civic sense and how we disregarded the rights of others. To quote Plato, “the price of apathy towards public affairs is to be ruled by evil men”. How well that applies to us today.
USSAMA YAQUB
Islamabad
A LOT has been written in newspapers about the change in curricula at different levels of studies.
Any change in curriculum involves a certain cost, financial, institutional or organizational. It has become a fashion to talk about innovation without strong reasoning and without considering the ground realities. Teachers are not taken into confidence and irrelevant and unscientific changes are imposed on them.
Political, personal and, more commonly, financial reasons are becoming stronger. Millions of rupees are involved in any change. Since our government is investing big money in education, corrupt people are attracted towards it to play their dirty games. To change or improve the curriculum we should involve dedicated and experienced teachers.
Curriculum should involve active learning that can take place with a little extra effort on the part of teachers. Teachers with sound knowledge of a subject can deliver inter-active lectures and generate question-and-answer sessions.
They can give assignments, initiate quizzes, missing links, interpretation of graphs and photographs. They can organise seminars where students should be encouraged to present topics so as to build their confidence.
PROF SHOAIB TAUHEED
Chairperson, Physiology Department, Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi
MR S. Qadri (Jan 20) and people like him who believe that secularism means ‘la deeniat’ need to change their definition of secularism.
I would like to give few examples to explain the term secular as is understood in the UK. Recently the UK government helped to finance the building of a mosque and community centre for the local Bangladeshi community. I am still waiting to hear of the government of Pakistan financing the building of a church or temple. In Germany, the government has been helping the Turks build mosques and community centres and the same is true of France, Belgium, the Netherlands and almost all other EU countries. This is true in Canada, Australia and America as well.
Mr Qadri needs to contact the Muslim mosques there and they would tell him the way the government and local agencies have been helping them. This is what secularism is, which is that a state does not support any one religion or group.
I would like to suggest to Mr Qadri that rather than blaming women for apparently inciting passions and unwarranted feelings in men, men need to control their ‘passions’. In any case, if the government’s job is to control Muslim women it should be to control the men as well. The best solution to it is that all Muslims whether men or women should war burqa/hijab.
ASHAR J KHOKHAR
Leeds, UK
THE press has been reporting that some elements plan to jeopardize the international marathon race to be held in Lahore this coming Sunday on the pretext that women are not allowed to participate in such events on religious grounds.
The bulk of our labour force is engaged in agriculture where men and women work side by side. Both men and women work because they know that if they don’t there will be no money to feed their families.
The women of Lahore will take part in this event along with men to show to the world that they are equal to men and productive citizens of the country.
WAHEED MALIK
Lahore
This is in response to the article by Omar Quraishi “Indian media’s blinkered perception” (Jan. 23) where he has trashed the Indian media. He ignores the fact that it is the Indian media which is keeping politicians and public servants in India on their toes.
Coverage of films and the glitterati occupies considerable space in print media worldwide and Indian dailies are no exception. While I do agree with him that the Pakistan media is much more critical of the Pakistani establishment than its Indian counterpart is about the Indian establishment, I beg to differ with him on the view that Indian editorials are hawkish and full of venom for Pakistan.
Most of the views and perceptions, if not all, about Pakistan stem from facts and not the whims and fancies of Indian editors. The Indian media draws a clear distinction between the Pakistani public and the establishment, and hence all comments are directed towards the establishment (read army) and not the common man on the street.
Most young Pakistanis cannot even read newspapers because of their prohibitive cost and because of Pakistan’s low level of literacy. Besides, the reader is also exposed to hogwash by the establishment’s information machinery. General Musharraf seems to have this penchant for wanting to be in the limelight and he does this by every now and then throwing fresh suggestions at India, without analyzing their feasibility. His comments on the Mukhtaran Mai case drew worldwide criticism. One fails to understand how can one talk of peace when militants are constantly killing innocent people not only in Jammu and Kashmir but also in other parts of India.
As far as the comments on the creation of Pakistan are concerned, the argument in favour of partition ignores the fact that Muslims in India were spread all across the subcontinent and not concentrated in a few regions. Many writers in the Pakistani print media, especially Dawn, have recognized the injustice done to those who voted for the creation of Pakistan but were not welcome in the land of their dreams. Therefore, I don’t see why Indian editorials should be taken to task on this count.
I have been reading various Pakistani newspapers online since the past few years and have found them enlightening and perhaps more neutral in their perspective vis-a-vis the Indian media. Having said that I hold the Indian media in the same esteem and have faith in its credibility.
JITIN MANGLA
Mumbai
THIS in response to the article “Indian media’s blinkered perception” by Omar R. Quraishi (Jan 23). I do agree with him that the Indian media gives too much coverage to Bollywood or corporate events.
However, I disagree with his assertion that no coverage is given to problems facing the country. Everyday there are reports in all major Indian newspapers on all kinds of social issues whether it is rape in New Delhi or female infanticide. Our newspapers were the first to report the problem of female infanticide in India. I never find mention of social issues in Dawn (barring Mukhtaran Mai) or any other Pakistani newspaper.
Being in corporate America I have seen respect for India grow from being an IT outsourcing country to a business partner. I have not attended a single board meeting without a mention being made of India.
Besides, nobody can deny the role of investigative media outlets like Tehelka that have exposed the corruption amongst politicians and the military. I doubt this will ever happen in Pakistan for another 50 years.
What the writer calls toeing the official line of Pakistani involvement in terrorism in India, even the US media says the same. As for the writer taking issue with the poll by CNN-IBN “Can we trust Musharraf?”, can people in India be faulted for that given his role in Kargil?
TEJAS DUMASWALA
Bridgewater, NJ, US
A NEWS item says that a top policeman has approached the Supreme Court because he was not promoted to the rank of DIG, which was promised to him by an ex-chief minister of Punjab, Mr Shahbaz Sharif. This raises a couple of questions.
Is the police officer seeking out-of-turn promotion? Can a chief minister or for that matter the prime minister promote Grade 18 or 19 officers out of turn for whatever reason? And, if the officer has been passed over in regard to his normal service seniority and feels that he has been unjustly treated, should he not approach the Services Tribunal in this matter? Can a court or should a court entertain any such request from someone who has not been promoted departmentally?
We in the military do not even represent on being passed over let alone go to court, and mostly resort to the age-old and honourable tradition of asking for premature retirement instead of serving under a junior. Can’t the civil servants also adopt this honourable course?
COL (retd) RIAZ JAFRI
Rawalpindi
THIS is with reference to the letter by Shafqat Jalil, director, public relations, Wapda, (Jan 20). I would like to add for his information that in the recently released report of the technical committee on water resources, the chairman of the committee had observed the following: “Wapda has not made water availability computations a regular feature of its activities since its inception, nor has it developed any standard format for computations of water availability.”
Many people would be surprised to read these observations but those who know Wapda well will be not to surprised. In my personal affiliation with the organization for a year I was shocked to observe that such a large organization with a huge workforce and resources did not even have correct and accurate figures for consumer load at residential and commercial connections.
NAYYAR HUSSAIN MIRJAT
Karachi
I WANT to congratulate Anil Khan Luni for the very insightful comments in his letter (Jan. 22). I just wish there were other clear thinkers like him who could look at issues of “haqooq-ul-ebaad”/universal human rights without muddying them up in the name of faith.
RUKHSANA KHAN
Karachi
THE PTCL has started a media campaign regarding printing of a new edition of the telephone directory. It is interesting to note that previously it was normal practice for the telephone and telegraph department to print the directory annually.
Currently, we have the telephone directory for the year 2001 and this issue was published after four years’ interval in continuation of the 1996 issue. Because of our low literacy rate hardly anyone consults these directories. It is also not very easy to find entries on the correct page. Moreover with the increase in the number of subscribers, the volume of the directory too has increased. The present directory consists of three volumes. It is useless because hardly anyone goes through it. Maybe in the past people used to consult the directories but now with the help of the media and Internet one can get the required information within a few minutes. Even the PTCL’s own website provides on-line search facility for any number. Another fact is that people have cellphones where they can store numbers.
Not only is the printing of the directory a problem but its transparent distribution will also be a problem. I would like to suggest that all allocated fund should be transferred to the president’s relief fund for earthquake victims.
DR ALFRED CHARLES
Karachi
PAUL Martin, the 21st prime minister of Canada, conceded defeat the other night and announced he would step down as liberal leader after an orderly transition.
This spells the end of a decades-long political journey for Paul Martin and his team.
In a highly personal address on TV, in the early morning of Jan 24, Paul Martin described his love for his family and spoke of meeting a little girl who blushed upon failing to address him as prime minister.
“She can call me Paul again,” Martin said with a broad smile on his face. Paul Martin is not going to take the Liberals into another election as party leader. However, he will continue to serve as the MP for LaSalle-Emard, Quebec, Canada.
His crowd of supporters cried, “No”, “No”, but none accused the leading party of either rigging the elections or threatening to go to the apex court for seeking a remedy.
This should act as a lesson to Ms Benazir Bhutto, former prime minister of Pakistan and chairperson of the Pakistan People’s Party, Mr Nawaz Sharif and his team, and the present as well as future leadership of the country.
LT-COL (retd) SYED AHMED
Mississauga, Ontario Canada
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