| February 2, 2006 | Thursday | Muharram 3, 1427 |
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Taking Muslims for granted?
Reappointment of VCs
KPT fountain
‘Hard road to reconciliation’
Zafaryab Ahmad
Water use
Private sector universities
Medical education
Incomplete sermon?
Kalabagh dam
A cleaner Eid
NOWADAYS the spin doctors of the Musharraf government seem to be putting too much spin on a dodgy political wicket to get the opposition out through smear and slight. The issuance of red notices to Ms Benazir Bhutto through Interpol seems to be a new one under the old hymn of corruption and accountability, a mantra that has almost lost credibility in the public eye.
The purpose behind the new move, according to some political analysts, is political. On the one hand, the Musharraf government wants to thwart any political alliance between Ms Bhutto and Mr Nawaz Sharif and, on the other, the government itself wants to have a deal with the PPP but on its own terms and conditions.
Many political analysts suggest that the purpose of the new spin is to deflect public attention from the messy situation in Waziristan, construction of the Kalabagh dam, military action in Balochistan and the American attack on the Bajaur Agency.
Our educational system is failing to attain its goal of quality research and teaching at both the primary and higher levels. Our judiciary has failed to provide justice to the most vulnerable sections of society. Our police stations are still serving as torture cells for innocent people rather than provide protection against outlaws aided and abetted by feudal lords in collusion with the police.
Balochistan has emerged as one of the major fault lines of our national unity, which needs immediate attention on the part of the government to have a dialogue with Baloch leaders to solve this problem through political means.
The latest but very ominous development is that the Kalpars, the sub-tribe of the Bugtis, settled in Punjab and Sindh since ages, are being shifted and settled in Sui under official patronage to counter Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti. This will definitely result in intra-tribal war which will have very dangerous consequences for national unity and solidarity.
It is noteworthy that the Musharraf government has also taken some positive steps on the foreign policy front on the range of issues — Gwadar where the Americans wouldn’t be happy with the Chinese presence, the gas pipeline from Iran which Pakistan wants and the Americans are opposed to and the nuclear issue where, despite US pressure, we haven’t allowed direct access to Dr A.Q. Khan. And on the domestic front, liberalization of the press to a large extent, secularization of the curriculum (though under American influence after 9/11), liberalization of the financial market and improvement in the economy are some of the steps that deserve commendation.
However, it is imperative for the Musharraf government to start a political dialogue with all political forces to foster national unity and set the direction for national development instead of maligning and vilifying the political leadership through political spin. This is the only way we can come out of the abysmal socio-economic and political conditions the nation is facing today.
MANZOOR ALI ISRAN
Khairpur
AS if the publication by the Danish newspaper, Jyllands- Posten, of caricatures deemed blasphemous by the Muslims wasn’t enough, a Norwegian Christian magazine added insult to injury by reprinting the offensive cartoon on Jan 10 (Dawn, Jan 11).
The editor of this Norwegian periodical Magazinet rationalized his action by saying: “Just like Jyllands-Posten, I have become sick of the ongoing hidden erosion of the freedom of expression.”
What about the world’s 1.5 billion Muslims who have become sick of these attacks on their religious sensibilities? The moral question that needs to be sorted out in order to ensure peaceful co-existence is to determine where to draw the line between someone’s freedom of expression and hurting another’s feelings.
Mystics in every religion, including Christianity, have taught through the ages that the worse offence is to break somebody’s heart. But some people, particularly in the West, appear to be taking the Muslims for granted. The US keeps bombing them with impunity, as it did in Pakistan recently and neither offered any apologies nor reparations. Our president tried to lessen the seriousness of this American violation of the nation’s sovereignty by saying that Al Qaeda also violates Pakistan’s sovereignty” (Jan 27).
The outfit is very active in Saudi Arabia as well but Washington does not dare intervene over there because it knows the Saudis could turn off its oil supplies. It appears that the only way to keep the West from abusing the Muslims is to collectively boycott its products and to stop oil exports.
Saudi Arabian consumers’ refusal to buy a Danish food giant’s goods, which sells some $328 million worth of products to the country, is beginning to tell, just as the 1970s oil embargo had brought some countries to their senses.
Z.A. JALALI
Karachi
THIS refers to Dr Mehtab Ali Shah’s letter “Reappointment of VCs” (Jan 18) in which the adverse effects of reappointment of retired military officers and bureaucrats on the overall teaching/research and administrative environment have been highlighted.
It is true that institutions/universities administered by retired folk do suffer from administrative and academic malaise. The assertion of freedom on the part of teachers and tight control of the administration on the part of retired bureaucrats foster tension between the administration and academia. Retired bureaucrats patronize particular groups of teachers in order to silence or sideline the opposition to their rule and legitimize their actions.
This is what we see in most of the universities being run by retired bureaucrats. The statutory bodies of universities which are supposed to hold the administration accountable are mostly occupied by pro-administration people.
Another side-effect is that universities suffer from excessive political interference as these people are solely dependent on political support for reappointment and extension. Take the example of Shah Abdul Latif University where more than 500 people have been appointed on political grounds, putting extra financial pressure on the already deficit budget of the university.
To overcome this dilemma, universities need to be freed from political interference from the top with reference to the reappointment of retired bureaucrats on political grounds and be turned into self-regulating communities while maintaining the academic freedom of the teaching community.
DR MUHAMMAD ANIS GORAYA
Khairpur Mirs
THE newspapers are full of editorials, letters to editors and articles on the KPT fountain. One has yet to come across a laudatory item (except of course the spin doctoring by the KPT PRO). People have carped and whined about the cost and the need for such a venture.
Alas, no one is talking about the continuous maintenance expenses that could run into a pretty steep figure every month. No one has demanded a financial break-up of the project. No one has even wondered why the president agreed to even come for its inauguration.
More seriously, what no one has ever asked is why the board of trustees didn’t object when this project was being discussed. One is not talking about government representatives on the board, but of business leaders who represent the stakeholders. One reads about the chambers and associations crying themselves hoarse against increases in the rates of gas, power and water. But when their representatives on the KPT board accept and approve a project devised probably by some vested interests, the business leadership or even members of the OICCI, the KCCI, or the KCA raise not a single voice of protest.
Nor did old man Cowasjee or the zealots of Shehri. Nor did Maker of Helpline Trust or Edhi the Angel. Nor did the clergy nor did the social workers. Only ordinary citizens voiced their sentiments. Of course, in a few days this controversy will die its natural death. In a year or two, millions would again be spent to source parts for the fountain because the company that had supplied the monstrosity was in all probability set up just for that particular project.
In the meantime, many taps in the homes and industries in Karachi are still dry or getting turbid water. The hospitals have no vacant beds because hundreds of innocent children are being treated there after having imbibed that very water. Admiral and trustees, what is the next surprise? Disneyland in Manora?
KHADIJA KARAMALI
Karachi
This refers to Mr Anwar Syed’s article “Hard road to reconciliation” (Jan 22). He writes: “We should unilaterally withdraw our troops from Siachen and let the Indians freeze if they so insist on staying there”. It is not so simple, Mr Syed.
Indians have not captured Siachen to build rinks or convert it into a skiing resort. They have military objectives. The implications of withdrawing are:
a. India will race towards the Shigar valley which is the route to the prized K-2.
b. Develop operations to capture Skardu.
c. Capture the Silk Route and sever the land route of Pakistan with China.
d. Through this strategic road they will like to open a route to Afghanistan/Russia through the Wakhan corridor.
e. The Nanga Parbat will slip from Pakistan’s control.
Siachen is an ultra sensitive issue and should not be treated like a cricket match. Territories are not vacated by the victim of aggression; it should be the other way round. The latest example is the Gaza Strip.
LT-COL (r) SAFIR A. SIDDIQUI
Karachi
IT was a great sadness to read the news of Zafaryab Ahmad’s death. He belonged to the post-partition generation which wanted to build a socially just and egalitarian society. He was truly concerned with the plight of the downtrodden.
Because of his views and activism, Zafaryab was driven out of Pakistan and had only recently returned. All of his friends feel grieved on his leaving us at such a young age. We will miss him.
JAMIL RASHID
Kingston, ON, Canada
A FEW 100-million-gallons-a-day schemes were announced and inaugurated in Karachi during the past decade, yet the persistent shortage has necessitated a costly desalination plant. A very cheap locally-made plant is working in the Gwadar Naval Colony, using only the sun’s heat and a pump. There is plenty of open space all around the seaside, where several such locally-made, economical desalination plants can be easily provided, reducing the cost of water, as compared to that of the capital-intensive plants being considered. The technique can be further improved through research and development.
Apart from this, several aspects of the present KWSB system deserve attention to improve and conserve the use of sweet water:
a. Proper survey to chart all the pipe mains indicating their size, condition, age and adequacy to meet the present and projected demand of the area served.
b. Based on such a detailed survey and planning exercise, repairs, improvement and replacement could be arranged to minimize over 30 per cent leakage losses.
c. About 20 per cent sweet water is wasted in lawns and greenery. A good part of this could be saved by making it mandatory to install improved sceptic tanks in all buildings, capable of offering manure-rich partly-treated water, which could be made useful for greenery through R&D. Such improved sceptic tanks could be standardized and installed at reasonable cost.
d. A rule may be enforced to use smaller flush tanks of about one-gallon size, instead of over three-gallon tanks, possibly using higher gravity and better swirling bowl design.
e. The city size and limits deserve to be fixed, as was envisaged in the 1952 MRVP Master Plan, with large green areas at its periphery to serve as its lungs. Any further city development may be planned as separate towns at some distance, where adequate quantities of subsoil or some other source of sweet water could be available.
f. Such towns or sub-cities could be connected through cheap surface rail to avoid unnecessary increase in vehicle population and consequent road congestion, environmental pollution and accidents.
It is hoped that the city administration will look into these vital aspects in the new master plan and schemes for improving water supply.
S.M.H. RIZVI
Karachi
RECENTLY a grading list of all private sector universities in the country was issued by the Higher Education Commission, Islamabad. A number of such universities have sprung up and all of them are fleecing parents. The HEC should insist on the audit of accounts by reputable chartered accountants.
Chancellors of these universities are either the owners or representatives of associations which are the sponsors of the universities. In one university, the chancellor is a dismissed government employee, who was sacked by the then governor on a corruption charge.
The governor and the education minister and the HEC should insist that chancellors of all private sector universities should be men of letters.
Students who cannot be admitted to public-sector universities, being low on merit, run to private-sector universities. In most of the cases, their parents are thoroughly exploited, being helpless.
Through these columns the attention of the federal and the provincial government is to formulate laws and regulations to force private universities to follow a code of ethics.
ALAM CHANDIO
Karachi
MEDICAL education requires surveillance under a dynamic system. No sane nation can afford to maintain the status quo. The present fiasco and trumpeted decline in education standards is due to lack of a futuristic vision by those who matter and matching programmes in the nation’s demand and supply of poorly-trained medical manpower in ill-equipped hospitals. Some of high standard private medical colleges have education programmes matching those of foreign universities.
The graduates from such colleges either serve their alma mater or prefer to go abroad, never returning to serve their deprived nation. In order to standardize medical education and the health-care delivery system, a national health regulatory authority should be created under the Constitution, taking into consideration the following constituencies for sustainable and dynamic improvement: patients (demands of nation); medical students; medical colleges; residents (house officers); and hospital/academic departments, including faculty.
The overall objective of such authority should be to provide medical education and uniform health facilities throughout Pakistan.
Dr GHULAM ASGHAR CHANNA, JPMC,
Karachi
The Khutba-i-Haj as delivered by the chief justice of Saudi Arabia recently has surprised a large faction of Muslims. The Khutba was based on a very well-known Hadis of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him), regarding the five pillars of Islam. To our astonishment, the Imam discussed the four pillars, and intentionally avoided the fifth pillar, viz., jihad.
I wonder what message was intended. On the one hand, it encourages western powers to propagate that jihad is aggression and instigates terrorism and, on the other, the Muslim Ummah is humiliated.
Instead of this avoidance, the Imam should have elaborated the true meaning and the sprit of jihad. Jihad is striving against evils with all possible means.
Maybe these were the reasons that Imam Abu Hanifa declined the offer to be the chief justice.
PROF(DR) M.M.A. FEEROZE
Karachi
THIS refers to Mr Qasim Iqbal Khan’s and Mr Imran Malik’s letters on the Kalabagh dam (Jan 23). Since both correspondents are from Lahore, it is not surprising to see that their views are similar.
Mangla was built with its lake in Kashmir. Punjab was the main beneficiary of its water as well as of the electric power Mangla generated. The same is the case with Tarbela. The NWFP’s fertile land came under water, but it was Punjab which benefited the most from the water and the power generated from it. Two years ago I met a Tarbela displaced person in Karachi.
He told me he was promised land but never got it. He had to come to Karachi to seek a livelihood.
With regard to the Kalabagh dam, the fertile land of Charsadda and Mardan will be submerged as will a part of Nowshera city. The Frontier will bear the loss while Punjab will benefit.
Sindh doesn’t trust Punjab on the assurances that are given to it. Similar assurances and guarantees were given for the Chashma canal, and what a farce these turned out to be. Once bitten twice shy.
SYED WAQAR KAZMI
Karachi
FOR the two days of Eidul Azha, the city looked like a massive abattoir. Can we not find a more humane cleaner way of slaughtering animals?
It all begins first with the transportation of animals. Sometimes, they are squeezed in the vans so cruelly that its a pity to see their torture. Once sold to the customers, children say good-bye to books and studies, tie ropes around the animals’ necks, run with them like cowherds and shepherds, tease them and try to forcibly feed them. When the animals refuse, children are seen poking the stalks of hay in their eyes and nose.
On Eid day, the animals are slaughtered near gutters and drains on the road leaving rivers of blood, innards and stench all over. For the past two or three years, the offals are collected by the city government for which we are thankful. Citizens concerned with cruelty to animals wonder what our future generation is going to be like: will they learn to love animals and improve the quality of their own life or enjoy watching the agony of others?
Moreover, every year thousand of precious trees are cut to make chopping boards for the slaughter. Our mountains are denuded, resulting in shortage of rainfall and a water crisis.
We hope that Karachi Nazim, who has been doing a lot of good work for the city, will make some arrangements for next year so that the city remains clean.
NASEEM ZAIDI
Karachi
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