| February 3, 2006 | Friday | Muharram 4, 1427 |
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Irsa’s powers & duties
Not the way to run an airline
Pindi traffic mess
Discrimination in renting
Housing sector
Neutral curator
Earthquake shelters
Student Olympiad
Unrealistic TV plays
Reappointment of VCs
VIP search
Haj travel
Traffic lights
CNG kit
THIS is with reference to Omar R. Quraishi’s article “Indian media’s blinkered perception” (Jan 23).
It seems that the writer has a skewed perception. The piece would please the ISI and RAW no end. I was chief editor of India Today and executive producer of TV Today (Aaj Tak) between 1986- 1997. Even during Zia’s time and post-Bangladesh we took the position that India and Pakistan were — and always should be — brothers and that the bureaucracy and political vested interests stood between two great Asian nations that had more in common than the Europeans or the Soviets.
We attacked Hindu chauvinist jingoists openly and without fear. We said that our common heritage and the problems of grinding poverty amidst conspicuously consumptive affluence was a scourge on both our nations. We advocated an Indo-Pakistan strategic alliance as well as a combined cricket team. We mourned over partition. We put stories of female foeticide, bride burning on our covers. We attacked dowry. We opposed our mullahs when they supported male-oriented divorce. We revelled in our Sufi- Hindu-Muslim heritage. We called the downing of the Babri Masjid a “national shame” on our cover.
Repeatedly we said that we’re the proudest nation because (after Indonesia) we had the second largest and culturally integrated Muslim population in the world — a proud Muslim and Hindu and Buddhist and Christian nation. Yes, there were Hindu- Muslim riots in which both suffered equally. They were denounced as blots on our tolerant culture in India’s mainstream media.
I was born and raised in a Muslim majority small town in Badayun where we still have — and respect — many masjids and they by far outnumber Hindu temples. And when a politically inspired Hindu-Muslim riot took place there in the early 1990s, thousands of Muslims and Hindus led by my colleagues Javed Ansari (now with The Hindu newspaper), Tarun Tejpal (now head of Tehelka), myself and my sister Pam Mehra, who was then a state minister with Congress, organized a 15-kilometre peace march in the sweltering heat to the district headquarters to condemn the local administration for not acting quickly enough to quell the violence.
We publish your columnists regularly in our papers even though some of them attract massive opprobrium. We let your journalists travel through India without the IB or RAW or CBI on their tail. And if they’re harassed and we get to know about it we write front-page stories. Unfortunately, the media in Pakistan has not reciprocated in kind, responding usually with its traditional venom. Also, the Indian papers daily write about injustices, poverty, lack of government accountability, political corruption, crimes against women and so on.
In much of the Pakistani print media, and especially on PTV, despite the “thaw” in relations, I see nothing but hate-mongering. Obviously, you are either ideologically gullible or playing or dancing to the tune of your masters.
The most positive articles about India as an emerging economic and political giant on the geopolitical scene are being written not by Indian papers but by the foreign media — the Economist, The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, CBS’s Sixty Minutes and so on. Or the BBC, which till only a few years back considered India a basket case.
INDERJIT BADHWAR
New Delhi
THIS has reference to Irsa Chairman Shafqat Masood’s letter (Jan 19) which defined the powers and duties within the ambit of the Irsa Act XXII of 1992 and paras 6 and 13 of the Water Apportionment Accord, 1991.
It will not be out of place to mention here that provisions of statute must be considered keeping in view the intention of the lawmakers. The intention of each and every statute can be gauged from the preamble and for this purpose it is necessary to reproduce the preamble of the Indus River System Authority Act (Act XXII) of 1992 which reads as under:
“Whereas it is expedient to establish the Indus River System Authority for regulating and monitoring the distribution of water sources of the Indus River in accordance with the water accord amongst the provinces and to provide for matters connected therewith and ancillary thereto”.
In this backdrop, it is further necessary to explain here that the phrase “matters connected therewith and ancillary thereto” does not mean to include “project appraisal” as Irsa would have jurisdiction only in cases of regulating and monitoring the distribution of water sources of the Indus River. Hence, under the ‘eiusdem generis’ (law of the same kind) principle of interpretation of statutes, identical things would be taken as connected or ancillary matters and not altogether irrelevant, which in the context is “project appraisal”.
CH. RIYASAT ALI
Lahore
THERE is something drastically wrong these days with almost every other PIA flight being delayed. It is not just that post-Haj flights that are disrupted (for which the airline usually passes blame on the religious affairs ministry or the Saudi authorities) but even normal PIA domestic and international regular flights are routinely delayed.
Consider this with what MAS, Malaysia's national airline, has done in the face of mounting losses, in spite of a booming economy and thriving tourism. The airline decided to sell a 32-storey-high building owned by it, which is located in Kuala Lumpur and houses the airline’s headquarters. In addition, the perks of the airline's CEO and other senior executives were reduced and then other employees were asked to take voluntary pay cuts. Senior executives have been debarred from undertaking frivolous foreign tours.
The reason for MAS's heavy loss is that it entered into a price war when it tried to undercut rival low-cost airlines, which had dented its domestic and regional market share. The other reason is a rise in the cost of fuel. The aviation industry is a specialized business and its CEO must be well-versed in its delicate intricacies. The airline customer today has a wide range of choices and prefers an airline that offers it a schedule suited to his travel plans. PIA needs to evaluate its client preferences, instead of relying on executives closeted in its headquarters located in Karachi, totally unaware of existing ground realities.
These executives still think that the air traveller has no choice but to travel on PIA and that is clearly no longer the case. PIA's new flight schedules reflect the outdated mindset of its planners, unaware that revenue depends on pleasing customers the way they prefer and not the way PIA would like them to be served.
N. K. KHAKAKHEL
Peshawar
A private TV channel recently aired a documentary on traffic in Rawalpindi. It had the SP traffic of that city who came on air and showered much praise on his force. It seems that he is too closeted in his office to know the facts. My advice to him is to get out of his cosy office once in a while to see for himself the mess on the roads.
He should visit, at any time of the day, the Pir Wadhai roundabout on Peshawar Road where he will find half a dozen big buses standing around collecting passengers and in the process clogging the entire flow of traffic from both sides. He will also notice three to four traffic constables or sub- inspectors standing right there next to their motorbikes and chatting away. By taking no notice of the traffic mess they are in fact assisting the bus drivers in picking up passengers from the road-side. And of course, they do this in return for something and surely the SP knows what that is.
COL (r) RIAZ JAFRI
Rawalpindi
I HAVE firsthand experience of racism in my own country and by fellow Pakistanis.
Moving recently to Islamabad and while house hunting to start a new life in this city I realized what it meant to be a foreigner or to have dollars. The entire property business is influenced by those who have dollars. Foreigners pay in dollars not rupees and we have made everything simple for them while making it so complicated for our own citizens.
The ordinary man cannot have a decent house for rent because the “goras” can pay in dollars so the estate agents run after them. The agent gets a higher commission and the house owner gets the dollars. Who is to be blamed here? Where is our identity and why have we adopted a racist attitude just for getting some dollars? It seem this greed for dollars has made us so blind that we are not respecting our own people.
MARYAM HUSSAIN
Islamabad
ACCORDING to a report (Dawn Islamabad Metropolitan, Jan 31), the Capital Development Authority has decided to entertain claims of some 285 cases in respect of built-up structure in Sector E-12 on the basis of clearance by the National Accountability Bureau.
Both Sectors E-12 and D-12 were sold by the CDA in 1989 at the same time. While development of Sector D-12 has started, development of E-12 has been held up.
It is understood that the annual development programme of the CDA for 2005-2006 contains a suitable provision for Sector E-12 and as more than half of the financial year is gone, the funds allocated are likely to lapse. It is hoped that the CDA will now initiate development work in Sector E-12 so that the allottees who have been waiting for the last 17 years are not required to wait any more.
ONE AFFECTED
Islamabad
MUCH has been said about the pitches of Lahore and Faisalabad prepared by our PCB for the just ended Test series between Pakistan and India. The result of the Karachi Test is before everyone. The Pakistani team and the nation should be congratulated on winning the Test series after a good 18 years against India. Credit also goes to the pitch at Karachi and the persons responsible for its preparation.
As there are neutral umpires these days in one-dayers and Tests, we should think seriously of having neutral curators for Pakistan in order to prepare sporting pitches, which can produce results and provide entertainment to the spectators and millions of TV viewers as well. The chairman of the PCB should give this serious thought and the ICC should also look into it.
MAJ (r) MUSARRAT KHALIQUE
Karachi
PEOPLE are still reeling from the impact of the Oct 8, 2005 earthquake. This is because we were least prepared for such a major natural calamity. So, along with providing succour to the affected people, we must think of precautionary measures to improve our disaster management capability by training the local people and those of the adjoining areas in this respect and set up an organizational infrastructure to tackle such emergencies in the future without waiting for outside help.
This should include acquiring up-to-date know-how and essential equipment, including adequate quake-proof shelters, which could be maintained at schools, hospitals, clubs and mosques. These should be so designed as to be easily accessible at short notice. They will help to obviate the need for tents, which have been found to be ineffective against the vagaries of nature.
Several suggestions have come in this context from concerned individuals. These include:
a) Provision of dome-like shelters of some kind of polyurethane foam, similar to those offered by some German firm in Turkey.
b) Pre-fabricated structures of light insulated material.
c) Insulating the inner flaps of the tents with robust double plastic sheets with air bubbles, and the outer flaps with harder plastic or CGI sheets.
d) Prefab houses of plastic, CGI or plain steel sheets.
e) Sleeping bags.
f) Steel or plastic drums, insulated by sawdust, for hot water to keep the tents reasonably warm.
How far these suggestions reached the people concerned is not known.
Any long-term resettlement plans should be carefully prepared, based on the experience of other countries in similar conditions.
S.M.H. RIZVI
Karachi
THE recently-held seventh International Students Educational Olympiad was a great success in fostering healthy competition among more than 35 English-medium schools from all over Pakistan and abroad. The sponsors deserve special thanks from all participants.
However, it is suggested that matriculation students should also compete with their age groups in O-levels. Urdu group discussions along with Urdu debates should be held to promote the national language. Since in the vocals everybody sang in Urdu, more talent might have been discovered if some Urdu medium students had also been invited.
The idea of ISEO is terrific; we wish it should continue forever.
MARIA SHOAIB
Head Girl, PECHS School,
Karachi
OVER the last one year I have watched several drama serials aired by PTV, GEO, ARY. My observation has been that in most of these serials the stories revolve around one man, who either has one or two wives, and is also having an affair with another woman, or that a 20-year-old is in love with a 40-year-old divorced/widowed woman.
In these dramas most of the characters live in lavish villas, yet not in a single case their source of income is obvious, nor education. What is wrong with our writers and producers? In Pakistan, almost every household has members who have gone abroad or to another city to find work to earn a living. Having two wives or being married and having an affair with another woman are not really pressing issues. Our writers and producers are advised to write something that is closer to the heart of the average Pakistani.
IQBAL AKHTAR
Mt Vernon, IL, US
THIS is with reference to Professor Mahtab Ali Shah’s letter “Reappointment of VCs” (Jan 19). He regrets the third-term appointment of a vice-chancellor. Perhaps he is referring to the present vice-chancellor of the University of Sindh. It is true that the VC is not an academic man in the strict sense, nevertheless he is a good administrator. What about the NED vice-chancellor? He is in his 80s and has taken the university back to its former glory.
As a director of postgraduate studies in medical sciences, it has been my experience that more damage is done to medical education by academic secretaries and principals and vice-chancellors than CSS secretaries.
PROF ABDUL GHANI IDDIQUI
Hyderabad
THIS is with reference to the letter "VIP search in NY" published on January 28. I would like to remind your readers that body searches are now part of the airport security procedure in the US. Democrat Senator Edward Kennedy, brother of former US President John F. Kennedy and possibly one of the most-readily recognized politicians in the US, is routinely stopped at airports in the US. He is regularly pulled aside at airports and his briefcase is emptied and searched.
The security personnel posted at airports in the US are a lot more courteous and cooperative than the discourteous security staffers of our so-called brotherly Arab countries.
KHALID MAHMUD
Atlanta, GA, US
APROPOS of Mr Ijtaba H. Zaidi’s letter “Haj travel” (Jan 30), PIA would like to clarify that prior uplift of Zam Zam cans for distribution to Hajis, upon arrival in Pakistan, has been discontinued under the provision of a royal decree that prohibited bulk carriage out of Saudi Arabia.
Under the existing arrangement, which was defined by the ministry of religious affairs, PIA has pre-paid the cost of empty cans to the ministry of religious affairs which, in turn, was required to distribute these cans to the pilgrims at Makkah.
Additionally, PIA ensured seal-wrap at the Hajj terminal for these cans. This facility was paid for by PIA and extended to the individual upon departure.
Also, as regards reporting and check-in at the Haji terminal, the existing procedure has been in place for many years and was defined in collaboration with the directorate of Haj, ministry of religious affairs.
About delayed post-Haj flight departures, PIA would like to say that the delay, including that of PK732, was caused by the late reporting of pilgrims at the Haj terminal, Jeddah. Their dispatch and transportation from Makkah to Jeddah is organized by the directorate of Haj, ministry of religious affairs.
We hope this will clarify the matter.
Capt HASSAN JAFFERY,
GM, Public Affairs & Communication PIA
Karachi
THIS is to invite the attention of the authorities concerned in Karachi to the urgent need for installing traffic light signals on the T-junctions with Stadium Road, of Sir Ibrahim Rahimtoola Road, Sir Shah Suleman Road and the road emerging from the new Army Housing Colony. Another T-junction that needs traffic lights is the one between Sir Ibrahim Haroon Jaffar Road with Stadium Road, opposite the Aga Khan University.
With the increasing number of vehicles using these roads, fairly massive traffic jams are seen on this stretch of Stadium Road and the quickest way to minimize the jams and the possibility of accidents is to install traffic signals as early as possible.
A SENIOR CITIZEN
Karachi
BELIEVE it or not, now cars are being robbed of their CNG kits. In such cases the vehicle that is stolen is found after a few hours but without its CNG kit.
To curb this, the following suggestions may help:
1. A thorough and regular check of illegal or unlicensed CNG fitting workshops involved in the business.
2. A check of the stock maintained by all licensed workshops and verification of their purchase of CNG kits.
3. CNG filling stations should be required to check if the kit has been fitted by a licensed workshop before filling.
IRSHAD KHAN
Karachi
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