| February 11, 2006 | Saturday | Muharram 12, 1427 |
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Indian media’s perception
HEC and its ‘alert’ notices
Malpractices at airport
Real poverty
‘Pakistan is losing ground’
KESC working
Mass transit issues
Driving on Super Highway
THE publication of the blasphemous cartoons in a Danish newspaper followed by newspapers in some other European countries is indeed upsetting and Offensive. They should be condemned and in my view targeting the economy is usually the best way rather than staging violent protests.
However, I will like to point out some soul-searching issues for us Muslims too. Firstly, we need to know that time never stops for anyone and if we think Muslims can stay in a ‘time warp’ dating back centuries when they were mighty and powerful, they are mistaken. Muslims unfortunately lost their place in history largely because of their own deeds and partly because all great civilizations eventually have their downfall.
They should practice their religion but should not impose it on others as has been happening in many European countries. Several European countries have supported the Palestinian movement where many others have not.
Secondly, will all those writing on this issue will explain t our own record of tolerance? How tolerant are we of each other?
What about our inter-provincial rivalry, not to mention sectarian clashes? What about the abuse of our blasphemy law which has destroyed so many lives? In the case of Sangla Hill, angry Muslims burnt down churches and set fire to bibles. Why did we not complain then? Are we superior?
Also, we must learn to distinguish between Judaism and Zionism. While it is right to condemn the state of Israel, all Jews are not Zionists and indeed many do not support Israel.
I think Islam preaches peace, harmony, tolerance and forgiveness. The Holy Prophet made compromises and pacts with his enemies for strategic reasons. We are constantly showing the world by the acts of suicide bombers and fanatics that Islam wants world domination; let’s show them that we are above bigotry and racism, we know how to forgive and to live peacefully with others.
DR AZRA MAHMUD
Riverwood Grove, Ireland
ONE of Denmark’s largest selling newspapers, Jyllands-Posten, has finally issued an apology to the “honourable citizens of the Muslim world” after publishing a series of caricatures that provoked violent protests across the Muslim world.
But this is not just an isolated event which we have witnessed here; a few months ago it was the issue of the desecration of the Holy Quran at Guantanamo Bay by US soldiers and that too led to many violent protests in the Muslim world.
As the pattern is a recurring one it is predictable that we should anticipate similar events in the future as there will be ever new ideas and methods to stir new controversies. Two obvious patterns of Muslim reactions have emerged so far.
The first is of course the typical violent, emotion filled, slogan raising, ‘flag burning’ attitude which we have seen many times in the past and the second relatively new approach adopted by Saudi clerics is to give a peaceful call for economic boycott of the country concerned and apparently that economic pinch became the reason why the newspaper was made to apologize.
Though post 9/11 Saudi clerics had gained a reputation for intolerance as many of the hijackers were Saudi nationals, the wisdom with which Saudi clerics have peacefully defended Islam in these perilous times is commendable.
I happen to remember an interesting lesson which I learnt from a Christian friend of mine. In the year 1998 a stage drama was presented at one of the theatres on Broadway, New York, in which Jesus Christ was denigrated. Enraged, I called up my friend. He remained totally calm and replied that Christians would definitely protest this but in America there were many forums and venues which could be utilized for this purpose, thus excluding the possibility of violent protests. I saw many newspaper columns, TV shows and radio programmes condemning the play and many Christians even called their elected representative to record their protest but everyone refrained from disturbing the civil order.
Lastly, I feel it is important to ask one simple question and that is as to what the Holy Prophet would have done if such caricatures had appeared in his own time.
I doubt if he would have resorted to any kind of violent agitation, not even an economic boycott for that matter, because we know that during the early period of his prophethood, Prophet Mohammad himself was constantly subject to offences both verbal as well as physical, but his own reaction to his opponents was always a very tolerant one, praying to God to be merciful and to show guidance to those who were ignorant. It was his love for others including his enemies that actually changed hearts and minds towards Islam.
DR MOHIUDDIN WASEEM
McAllen, USA
THIS is with reference to the letter by Inderjit Badhwar (Feb 3) ‘Indian media’s blinkered perception’.
He given a very rosy a portrayal of the Indian media, calling it kind, humane, just, democratic, and unbiased. He refers to the BBC as being a media organization with considerable credibility.
Well, I would like to refer Mr Badhwar and other readers to the BBC’s website which contains an introduction to all countries of the world including notes on their media.
The information about Pakistan includes comment on its media, and the BBC says that the country has the most outspoken and transparent media in the entire region (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/country_profiles/1157960.stm.)
The Indian media, Mr Badhwar maintains, is also very secular. Recently, I happened to watch a movie called ‘Barsat’. It has a scene where a young couple is having marital problems. The husband wants to divorce the wife.
In a gathering of friends, the wife starts a game in which the participant has to translate an English word into Hindi.
When her turn comes, she wants her unhappy, divorce-demanding husband to translate the word ‘divorce’. The husband says ‘talaq’ to which the wife tells him that he is wrong: ‘Talaq’ is an Urdu word. She says that in “our language, we do not have a word for divorce. We do not have this concept in our culture.”
There are countless Indian movies, talking about how Pakistan is always engaged in harming India. One thing that I never understand is that why in all Indian movies, the thieves, the thugs, and the low-class characters have Muslim names?
The website www.samachar.com is another example of India’s narrow-minded media. I hope Mr Badhwar and other readers visit this site. The way even the simplest of news is broken, twisted and moulded is beyond one’s imagination.
The tone of the news in the context of Pakistan is usually such that it disparages the country. For example, a report had the headline ‘Sachin rubbishes Imran Khan’ and when I read the content I found that Sachin Tendulkar had in fact agreed with Imran Khan that Pakistan had a better pace attack but had added that since the Indian cricketers were professionals, this would not be playing too much on their minds.
A READER
Karachi
THIS is in response to the letter ‘HEC and its alert notices’ by Dr Azmat Abbas Syed, Rector, Imperial College of Business Studies, Lahore, (Feb 7). The correspondent has tried to confuse the separate issue of minimum cabinet criteria in respect of physical infrastructure and faculty with the issue of quality assurance.
The notices have nothing to do with the quality assurance mechanisms of the HEC. These advertisements were aimed to alert parents and students alike regarding sub-standard universities / institutions that do not meet even the minimum cabinet criteria approved in February, 2002 for universities.
These criteria were later approved by the Chancellors’ Committee on May 11, 2004 chaired by the president of Pakistan and attended by the prime minister, all the four provincial governors and the President, AJ&K, in their capacity as chancellors / patrons of universities / institutions.
The Chancellors’ Committee decided that the charters of all such universities / institutions would be withdrawn in February, 2007 after the five-year grace period (given to them in February, 2002) expired. The HEC is responsible for compliance of the decisions taken by the federal cabinet and the Chancellors’ Committee and it is doing so in full cooperation with the provincial governments.
The Imperial College of Business Studies, Lahore, was evaluated in August, 2004 and was found seriously deficient in satisfying even the minimum requirements set out in the cabinet criteria.
The prime minister has taken serious note of the mushrooming of substandard universities / institutions in Pakistan, which lack properly qualified faculty and facilities.
This is doing a lot of damage to the higher education sector. The HEC reserves the right not to recognize degrees awarded by low quality universities/institutions.
DR RASHID MATEEN
Higher Education Commission
Islamabad
THIS is regarding an incident on January 31 at around 10pm at the Jinnah International Airport, Karachi. A delayed flight had me wanting to make a phone call to Dubai.
A man, seemingly very helpful, handed me a card and asked me to take the card out as soon as I finished talking.
I had did as I was told and my conversation lasted for no more than a couple of minutes, certainly not more than four minutes, I can assure you. I asked him how much it cost and he asked me for a whopping Rs 750.
I was astonished and asked him how come. He tried to confuse me by pointing out the number of units I had used. The telephone was in the dark and I couldn’t even see the minutes allegedly consumed.
I told this person that I had only Rs 600 on me, and he said never mind just pay me 10 dirhams more. I did so, all the time feeling cheated.
Even at the rate of Rs 40 per minute, as the civil aviation people made me believe, it could not work out to Rs 750.
So I went to the complaints section and asked them if they were also in on what was going on at which the telephone person, suspecting something fishy afoot, also came to the section and again tried the units game. I told him I travel a lot and nowhere in the world do such rates exist.
I was relentless and I told the phone man that I would get to the bottom of the matter. At this point he took out Rs 360 and handed them back.
I should have asked for more but was happy with whatever I got back. If he hadn’t overcharged me, he would never have given the money back. That for me was proof enough of his misdoing.
Imagine how many other women travelling alone or foreigners these persons must be robbing I appeal to the government to inquire into the malpractices at the airport.
Airport staff don’t need to make nervous passengers more nervous.
NOAMA ZAINAB
Dubai
POVERTY is pervasive in Pakistan but all the same it is extremely hard to distinguish between those who are genuinely needy and those who adopt begging as a profession.
It is easy to find beggars wearing tattered clothes at traffic signals. Many seem physically fine but beg shamelessly. Such people should be discouraged in every possible way as their physical condition dose not prevent them in any way from finding work.
And the irony is that those who may actually be needy do not come out on the streets and beg because they have a sense of pride.
I have found that many of those who fall in the latter category choose to sell various items than beg.
They should be patronized but in doing so we must keep in keep in mind that we do not offend their dignity. An example of doing this is to buy all the balloons of the child who is selling them.
SHAHZAD AHMAD
Lahore
THIS is with reference to the article ‘Pakistan is losing ground’ (Jan 31) by Shahid Javed Burki.
For the most part the article is a repetition of old, familiar arguments and hardly contains anything new. There is the usual refrain that “some of the biggest companies of the United States” have announced plans to shift a portion of their business to India. This, Mr Burki says, will create more than 7,500 jobs and will also attract a great deal of foreign investment.
According to him, what attracts foreign companies most to India is not only low costs but also “the quality of human resources available in that country ... the quality of staff being produced by Indian universities.” The point regarding “low costs” is well-taken. However, the quality of staff being produced by Indian universities is a questionable proposition.
Newsweek in a special edition dated December 2005 paints a dismal picture of the state of university education in India.
According to the article “not a single Indian university is among the top 10 in Asia, let alone the world,” and that “only about 10,000 of the 280,000 engineers who graduate annually, or just about four per cent, are of international calibre.” Shekhar Gupta, editor-in-chief of the Indian Express newspaper, is quoted as saying that “the graduates you see on the outside, in places like Silicon Valley, are the cherry on the cake, but underneath the cake is largely rotten.”
The magazine says further that “today there are an estimated 5.3 million university graduates in India who are unemployed” because of lack of adequate skills and knowledge.
In spite of all the media hype, India remains a desperately poor country. To lift it out of its poverty is going to require more than mere foreign investment, which in my opinion serves the economic and financial interests of the foreign companies more than it does that of the recipient country.
Without dependence on outside powers, India is, nevertheless, in a good position to gain international status commensurate with its size and population if it were to roll back its enormous military expenditure, and invest the money so saved in socio-economic projects, and work closely with Pakistan for finding a satisfactory solution to the Kashmir dispute.
The problems relating to the minorities and other disadvantaged groups in Indian society also need to be tackled in earnest. Freed from all these tensions, and from the curse of wasteful military expenditure, the vision of India as a major global player is achievable.
It is hoped that writers and experts of the calibre of Mr Burki will adopt a holistic approach when discussing the economic, social and political problems which beset developing countries like India and Pakistan instead of concentrating on one or two factors.
SALAHUDDIN K. LEGHARI
Lahore
WHEN I began construction on my house in Mahmoodabad in August 2005, I had two electricity connections. With the start of construction I received an extra Rs1,400 surcharge on each meter on account of the construction.
I went to the KESC office at Baloch Colony, where I explained to an officer (an SDO) that since I was not utilizing the power properly because of the construction activity, I should not be billed, or that I should be billed for the “units” that were being utilized.
The officer told me that the KESC had decided, in principle, that “every house that is under construction should be charged Rs1,400 per month”.
I then requested the KESC official to disconnect my power supply. The official said in this case my connection would be removed permanently, and in future if I asked for a connection I would have to pay new connection charges.
In the meantime, KESC disconnected my power supply for non-payment of the extra charges. As a law-abiding tax-payer who should I ask whether I should get a ‘kunda’ connection? Why shouldn’t I pay for just the units that I have consumed?
NASIR ALI
Karachi
THIS is with reference to Arif Hasan’s comment on ‘Traffic and mass transit issues’ (Feb 3). Mr Hasan has raised several issues of a basic nature.
Those of us who have some idea of the complexities of metropolitan transportation systems in developing countries realize the significance of the relative location of land uses and such traffic related facilities as mass transit, flyovers and expressways.
We believe that the megacity of Karachi certainly needs an elaborate mass transit system with well researched corridors.
Now Mr Hasan informs us that “the mass transit systems introduced in cities such as Kolkata and Bangkok have neither solved their transport problems, nor have they helped in solving their traffic problems.”
The ball now lies in the court of the city government, particularly its mass-transit cell.
It calls for a fresh look at the relevant data pertaining to the existing land use and an elaborate traffic survey and other related surveys which would help us in the reappraisal of the situation with respect to city transport problems.
DR QAZI S. AHMAD
Karachi
DRIVING on Super Highway on any other national highway out of Karachi has become an absolute nightmare. It is hard to imagine that these are highways that connect the country’s main port and commercial centre with the rest of the country.
A portion of the Super Highway right after Nooriabad was dug up a couple of years ago and it has not been completed to this day.
To make matters worse other major portions of the highway have been dug up since without the Nooriabad portion being completed, with the result that it is now a single carriage highway at most places.
The same holds true for the National Highway from Hyderabad all the way to Moro.
In addition to the loss of time and nuisance it is also a serious safety hazard as I have noticed a lot more accidents, especially head on, since this madness began. One would like to know who is responsible for this state of affairs.
A CONCERNED CITIZEN
Karachi
I WOULD like to share my concerns about travelling from Karachi to Hyderabad by the Super Highway. The condition of the road is very poor, especially the Nooriabad to Hyderabad portion. More than half of the road is under construction at three different places and because of that traffic on both sides is diverted on one track. The NHA has signs saying that the speed limit is 50 km/h and overtaking is prohibited. But nobody follows these rules and there is no one to enforce them either.
This has resulted in a significant increase in the number of accidents. When will the construction work on the Super Highway end?
ALTAF AHMED
Karachi
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