| February 12, 2006 | Sunday | Muharram 13, 1427 |
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Imported meat meal
‘Welcoming foreign visitors’
Mubashir Hasan’s interview
Pensions
Kalabagh dam
Weapons of ‘math instruction’
Riots in India
Motorcycle rickshaw ban
Disturbing the peace
WHAT started off as a little local difficulty about community integration in Denmark following the publication of the controversial cartoons has now escalated into a worldwide chasm between the Muslim and western worlds. Many commentators have fixed the debate between the absolute principle of free speech versus what they perceive as an obscurantist attempt by Muslims to censor any criticism, satire or rebuke of their beliefs or revered figures.
Many recent media editorials and columns imply that the western world practices absolute freedom of speech and expression. But (to take only Britain as an example) absolute freedom of speech doesn’t exist - from incitement to racial hatred, to libel laws, from the official secrets act to incitement to violence, from banning images of child abuse to the proposed glorification of terrorism, many western societies have no shortage of laws that censor speech.
There was little outcry from these advocates of free speech when the British government took out an unprecedented injunction stopping publication of the infamous Al Jazeera memo. There was no outcry from the free-speech lobby when Internet service providers were told to crack down on child pornographic sites (with the exception of Denmark where some sites are legal). Similarly, when the Austrian chancellor condemned the publication of sexually-graphic images of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II, George W. Bush and Jacques Chirac in January 2006 there was no libertarian outcry. Die Welt, the German newspaper that on free-speech grounds took a “principled stand” to publish the controversial cartoons, would never be permitted by law or social pressures to publish anti-semitic cartoons or question Holocaust statistics. France claims to be a protector of freedom while simultaneously denying Muslim women the right to wear the headscarf in schools.
These examples illustrate that every society weighs the right of speech against other important values such as justice, security, dignity, or building community cohesion. The same is true for any freedom. If freedom trumped every other value, no one would be forced to pay taxes, the media would not censor pictures of dead soldiers out of concern for their families, and there would be no need for confidentiality agreements in various walks of life. Failing to place a principled limit on freedom would lead to a free-for-all. Civilized society would collapse, indecency would rise, bad language would be ubiquitous, respect would vanish and community cohesion would be eroded. Every society has its important symbols of reverence. In the United States it is the Constitution, the founding fathers and the flag. In France it is the republic. Britain reveres the institution of parliament and the country’s war heroes. For the Jewish people it is the Torah and perhaps the Holocaust. Muslims revere God, the Holy Quran and the prophets. Each community feels a deep-rooted passion and strong emotional attachment to these symbols. Intelligent people of all civilizations usually understand this and are sensitive to these feelings, even when they disagree with the substance these symbols represent.
If courtesy can be restored, then we can move to the more productive arena of debating the real issues of difference that exist between Islam and secular societies. I know of no debating platform where the rules of civility are not a precursor, and where frank abuse would be tolerated. Isn’t it a basic rule of setting ground rules that all parties agree to them together rather than those with power simply deciding for everyone and being satisfied with their implementation?
The reaction to these cartoons in the Muslim world makes it even harder to argue that western secular values can be successfully implemented there (an objective already reeling from the pernicious “war on terror”). The burning of embassies is regrettable, but it is disingenuous to suggest that the reaction is a surprise given the backdrop of invasion, occupation, desecration of holy books and the humiliation in Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay. In Europe, moreover, there is severe prejudice against Islam in many countries (especially Denmark). It is as if the abuse meted out by republishing the images across Europe was done in the expectation that they would only cause the “cartoon damage” that Bugs Bunny does to Daffy Duck. In real life you can’t abuse people and expect them to just get up again and walk away.
SAJJAD KHAN
Via email
SINCE the incidence of mad cow disease in many European countries, the import and export of all cattle meat and its by-products, including rendered meat meal, was banned internationally because of the possible risks of infection to humans.
It is surprising to note that such meat meals have been imported to Pakistan from Europe as a fertilizer but are being diverted to the dairy and poultry feed industry to replace locally-produced fishmeal in spite of the government ban on such imports.
Feeding of such rendered meat meal to dairy cattle and poultry is liable to cause serious public health problems because of the fact that such products might contain the infectious agent responsible for causing mad cow disease, Creutzfeldt-jacob disease and Kuru disease in humans.
Pakistan customs authorities have rightfully detained 35 containers of the so-called fertilizer at the Karachi port but one is surprised at how such a serious violation of the import policy was carried out.
The local fish industry has protested against the malicious intentions of the importers to harm the interests of the fishmeal industry in Pakistan which supplies the main source of animal proteins to the poultry and livestock industry.
The ministry of health should take stern action against the persons involved in such a trade.
SAEED HAFEEZ
Karachi
ONE is shocked to note that hazardous feed is being imported for the local poultry feed industry on the pretext that it is an alternative to the locally-produced fish meal (Dawn, Dec 12 and 17, 2005) and as a so-called B&M chemical as published in a section of the press.
The fact is that both the products are rendered meat and bone meal obtained from the slaughter house and dead animal wastes in many European countries where the recycling of such meals is prohibited because of the agent responsible for mad cow disease. Since both the export and import of the products are prohibited in the countries, concerned, they are differently labelled and exported to developing countries, including Pakistan.
It may be noticed that the incubation period of mad cow disease agent is up to six years during which the disease is liable to appear if any part of the infected animal, especially its nervous tissue, is consumed directly or indirectly. It is surprising that no notice has yet been taken of a great hazard to public health. It is time the Pakistan Medical Association and the Pakistan Veterinary Medical Association took the lead to render professional advice to the quarters concerned.
DR M.S. JAFFERY
President, Society for Advancement of Poultry Science,
Karachi
MR Hafizur Rahman’s column ‘Welcoming foreign visitors (Feb 8), reminds one of several similar experiences in different times and ages. For instance, given below are excerpts from the autobiography of a well-known journalist recalling his experiences of 1920s:
“I remember, one morning when all the little boys of our school moved through the winding lanes of our town in the direction of the Grand Trunk Road. When we reached there we found that ours was not the only school that had been ordered to undertake this early morning march...In the early cool morning it was a kind of picnic though unlike other picnics we neither carried any refreshments with us nor could we see any signs of food or drink...Soon the sun was out and it began to grow hot for it was a summer day. We stood and waited. We were not allowed to talk, even to shuffle our tired feet...It was almost noon and we were feeling giddy under the sun....We saw something moving along the road.
“First it was just a moving cloud of dust, then horsemen emerged out of it....After every 10 sawars riding abreast with their rifles was a white-faced English officer with a revolver in his belt...We were truly scared by the silent, seemingly grim countenances of the Indian soldiers and their English officers ....After the cavalry came the columns of artillery —machineguns mounted on trucks, large barrelled guns pulled by mules. Silently as the caravan passed, the boys were duly scared, intimidated, frightened of the immense power that it represented.
“The summer sun was now at its zenith. One of my friends who had been holding on to his urge to urinate wet his pyjamas and felt humiliated and began to cry. Another boy fainted from sunstroke and had to be carried away by a couple of teachers. But the inexorable caravan continued to march on!”
Appropriately, the chapter is titled, “Caravan of Terror.”
ANWAR ABBAS
Karachi
THIS is with reference to the edited transcript of an interview with Dr Mubashir Hasan (Dawn, Jan 30). Many of our former finance minister’s views are praiseworthy but I have reservations on the following:
1. An increase in crime and the growing unpopularity of the state is true but hatred of the people or that of the military towards them is not. Poverty, unemployment, bribery and misbehaviour in every department was prevalent during the previous regimes: people are disappointed that the military could not remove or even reduce these at a lower level.
2. Division of the elite of Pakistan is correct, though it should have been added that all four sections scarcely think of Pakistan and worry only about their our self-interest. It is also debatable if Pakistan is considered an agent of the United States of America or that the US is not liked here. This is in the minds only of parties of the opposition. In this connection I ask only one question:
Why are all our leaders without exception agreed that the general had no option when after 9/11 he decided to cooperate with the US? Has that decision not benefited all of us up to now?
3. It is correct that genuine political forces have not developed in this country, and have been hijacked throughout by the intelligence services, though the feudals are equally to blame.
Balochistan stands no comparison with East Pakistan. The nawabs and sardars treat their respective areas as inherited property of their ancestors; they have done nothing to improve the lot of their subjects but have wilfully kept them uneducated. This was not so in our lost eastern wing, whose people were better educated than the majority in West Pakistan. There are no backward feudals there.
W.H. ANSARI
Karachi
PENSION given to a widow is almost one-third of what was paid to her husband. To meet the budget deficit, pensioners generally do part-time jobs like that of a tutor or salesman or run a neighbourhood shop, but with their death this supplementary income also ceases.
Several widows have unmarried daughters and unemployed sons. Widowhood old age, ill health, additional responsibilities, big cuts in the income, and the rising cost of living make the life of a widow miserable. Who can better realize the plight of her fellow women than the lady now at the helm of the highest institution financial of the country?
The State Bank of Pakistan makes profit of billions of rupees. It is an autonomous institution. The Governor of the Bank has unshared power to mitigate the suffering of widow pensioners, in particular, and pensioners in general. Needless to say, bones and blood of the retired personnel are in the foundation of the bank.
ABDUL RAZZAQUE SIDDIQUI
Karachi
THIS is with reference to the letter by Mr Waqar Kazmi (Feb 2). I had always believed that Dawn readers were well-informed and educated and did not get carried away by emotional and misdirected and ill-motivated misinformation, and I think such malice against Punjab calls for an apology. We are one country, having a common destiny.
No Punjabi has any ill-will against anyone merely for being a Sindhi, Baloch or a Pathan. We are one nation, one race and profess the same one faith, speak the same language, with dialects changing every hundred miles.
Provincial boundaries are merely administrative sub-divisions. Our national ailments are varied — corrupt and incompetent politicians wanting to become billionaires overnight, non-accountability, a judicial system that has failed to satisfy the demand of an Islamic society. There has all along been an absence of good governance, and the feudals have dominated the assemblies. These politicians and some pockets of people who have not grown with time spread parochialism and hatred.
To set the record straight, the Kalabagh dam reservoir will be at best 900 feet above sea level while the average water level in the lake will be about 825 feet. The edge of the lake reservoir will be 16 kms away from Nowshera which is 1,000 feet above sea level.
Swabi is at 1,080 feet and Pabbi 980 feet. Mardan is far off and 980 feet high. It is not possible for water to rise in a vacuum and gain a height of 100 or 200 feet to pose a threat to any city of Pakistan. The argument has been fostered by NAP which wants to deny 20 per cent benefits of the Kalabagh dam reservoir to D.I. Khan where two million acres of virgin land will get irrigated. The resultant generated wealth will cause a shift of political power, with greater weight to D.I. Khan.
Another factor is Article 161 of the 1973 Constitution. It was interpolated on the demand of Khan Wali Khan because Zulfikar Ali Bhutto wanted the constitution to be a unanimously accepted document. He agreed to lay it down in the Constitution that a province where a hydro-electric generation station is located may be given royalty on it.
It is an arrangement without precedence anywhere in the world. Payment of royalty on water which has been flowing in channels for centuries and the cost of power generation are made by the federal government with the help of loans whose burden is shouldered by everyone.
This article is the main hurdle against Kalabagh power generation and was the reason for constructing the Tarbela dam earlier, although it was recommended that Kalabagh was a much better proposition. Article 161 will have to be debated.
There is no question of creating a threatening position for Nowshera, Pabbi Swabi or even Mardan. These are as important as Multan, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Sukkur, Larkana, Jacobabad or Kotri. We should all support Kalabagh’s early start.
According to Mr Shamsul Mulk, former chairman, Wapda, the average rate of electricity has gone up from Rs1.07 to Rs4.64 during the last 10 years due to which the NWFP alone is paying Rs111 billion more every year for not making Kalabagh where power generation will be to the extent of 3,600 MG.
HADI IQBAL HUSSAIN
Tech Society, Canal Bank,
Lahore
I WOULD like to share with Dawn readers the following joke which I received in the email:
A public school teacher was arrested today at John F. Kennedy International Airport as he attempted to board a flight while in possession of a ruler, a protractor, a set square, a slide rule and a calculator.
At a morning press conference, Attorney-General John Ashcroft said he believes the man is a member of the notorious Al-gebra movement. He did not identify the man, who has been charged by the FBI with carrying weapons of math instruction.
“Al-gebra is a problem for us,” Ashcroft said. “They desire solutions by means and extremes, and sometimes go off on tangents in a search of absolute value. They use secret code names like ‘x’ and ‘y’ and refer to themselves as ‘unknowns’, but we have determined they belong to a common denominator of the axis of mediaeval with coordinates in every country. As the Greek philanderer Isosceles used to say, ‘There are 3 sides to every triangle’.”
When asked to comment on the arrest, President Bush said, “If God had wanted us to have better weapons of math instruction, He would have given us more fingers and toes.” White House aides told reporters they could not recall a more intelligent or profound statement by the president.
RAFIQUE HABIB
Karachi
IN the course of his defence of India’s record in various fields (your issue of Feb 3), Mr Inderjit Bhadwar (former chief editor of India Today and executive producer of TV Today, Aaj Tak) has claimed with respect to the treatment of the Muslim minority in India that “yes, there were Hindu-Muslim riots in which both suffered equally”.
In the face of the intermittent brutalization involving massacres of the Muslim minority, recorded inter alia by international human rights organizations and world media, the above statement is breath-taking in its effrontery and brazenness. It instinctively reminds one of Dr Goebbels who believed that the bigger the lie (terminological inexactitude!), the greater the chances of its being believed.
Incidentally, the stand of Mr Bhadwar has rendered no service to the image of the reputed organizations he has headed for over a decade or to the cause of those admirable elements of Indian civil society who have in the past protested against the brutalization of the Muslim minority.
MAHDI MASUD
Karachi
THE Lahore city government has recently banned motorcycle rickshaws on some of the city’s major roads like The Mall, Jail Road and Canal Road. The city government has said that they cause noise pollution, diseases of the eye, throat and lungs, increase air pollution, and that their presence is bad for people’s health.
I ask the city government of Lahore whether it is only motorcycle rickshaws that cause pollution? If the two-stroke engine of the motorcycle rickshaw is bad, then why haven’t motorcycles also been banned?
In our hectic, mechanical and materialistic life style is the motorcycle rickshaw the only cause of high blood pressure and irritation? Is it only this vehicle that causes clouds of toxic smoke on the roads of Lahore? Do the other vehicles run on “solar energy”?
I am really shocked at the sophistry of the city government. It has failed to give any plausible reason for the ban. The real reason for the ban is that the motorcycle rickshaw is probably a nuisance for those who ride in expensive flashy cars on the said roads.
ZIAULLAH IRFAN
Lahore
I WOULD like to draw attention to a group singing songs about winning back Kashmir on Kashmir day. I am a resident of Karachi’s Gulshan-i-Iqbal and this group sang these songs loudly for two days running. This was extremely annoying because I had to study for an exam and the noise was so loud that I could not concentrate.
Why must such people disturb the peace of others?
FAUZIA BABAR
Karachi
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