| March 1, 2006 | Wednesday | Muharram 30, 1427 |
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Naming missiles
OIC stand against sacrilege
Islam and woman
British defence minister’s comments
PIA security handling
NGOs’ role
KMDC autonomy
THIS is in response to an article by Dr Pervez Hoodbhoy, “Assessing Pakistani science” published in Sci-Tech World on Feb 11.
By sharply criticizing recent initiatives in higher education and science and technology sectors, the writer has presented a very gloomy picture, and one that is far from being true. Unfortunately he has failed to present any alternative model that he feels appropriate for science and technology and higher education development.
Dr Hoodbhoy has chosen to present examples of two very different organizations, the Pakistan Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (PCSIR) and the HEJ Research Institute of Chemistry, and then judged them by the same yardstick. This is unfortunate as one does not expect this from someone who claims to understand the real dynamics of science and technology institutions in Pakistan.
I would present here only the case of HEJ Research Institute of Chemistry which I know best. The institute, founded in 1967 by the late Dr Salimuzzaman Siddiqui, is an internationally recognized institution. Being an integral part of the University of Karachi, it is primarily an academic research institute. The performance of an individual or an institution is judged based on its primary function. The primary function of the HEJ Research Institute of Chemistry is to produce qualified manpower, adequately trained to conduct genuine research and development in the field of chemical sciences. It has been internationally recognized both for the standard of its graduates, and the quality of research work conducted.
The graduates of the institute are now serving in top R&D and academic positions at home and abroad. To give one example, they played a critical role in making Pakistan’s pharmaceutical industry export-based. The institute has received the Islamic Development Bank’s Best Institution prize, selected from 57 countries of the Islamic world. The faculty of the institute is also internationally recognized having obtained fellowships and awards such as the UNESCO Science Prize. The results of research projects conducted at the institute are published in reputed science journals. It is the only institution in the developing world where German students regularly visit for postdoctoral training.
Dr Hoodbhoy’s information regarding the release of a “massive grant of Rs1.36 billion” to the institute by the HEC is not correct. A development project amounting Rs 499.770 million has been approved after the creation of the HEC for the strengthening of the institute for which the grant has not been fully released.
This amount is far less than what other institutions in Pakistan have received from the HEC in recent years. For example, the Centre of Excellence in Molecular Biology, Lahore, has received Rs855.524 million, the Centre of Excellence in Geology Rs652.138 million, a TV production facility at the AIOU Rs486.500 million and so on.
The HEJ Research Institute of Chemistry also provides analytical and consultancy services to industries and R&D institutions.
All relevant information including the names of industries benefiting from the services of the institute, international publications, PhDs produced, patents, and so on are available on the institute’s website at www.jccs.edu.
We must learn to appreciate and respect those who are contributing to our country.
DR M. IQBAL CHOUDHARY
Director (acting), International Centre for Chemical Sciences,
HEJ Research Institute of Chemistry,
University of Karachi
ACCORDING to a news report, Afghanistan has formally complained to Pakistan about naming ballistic missiles and weapons after historic Afghan heroes (Feb 23). The names of Mohammad Ghauri and Ahmad Shah Abdali have been cited as examples.
Muslims all over the world use Arabic Islamic names, examples of which include the Afghan president, foreign minister and just about everyone else. The heroes of Islamic history of any nationality belong to no one country and their names are immortalized by Muslims worldwide by naming various towns, industrial areas, defence establishments as well as prized weapons, etc., after them.
Pakistan, for instance, named its first locally-produced state-of-the-art battle tank as “Al-Khalid” after the famous Muslim general Hazrat Khalid bin Waleed. Similarly, a new submarine is being named “Hamza” after the Prophet’s uncle. A port in Karachi is called “Bin Qasim” for the young Arab hero who had conquered Sindh. Many of our military bases recognize the valour of Pakistani armed forces personnel.
There was an undeniable connection between conquerors from Central Asia and the subcontinent because they had ruled over parts of it. Therefore, just as it would be unrealistic for any Arab to get up and tell non-Arabs not to use Arab or Islamic names, it is unreasonable for Afghanistan’s current rulers to make this demand.
However, one intriguing thing is that Pakistan’s famous missile “Ghauri” has been around for over a decade but no Afghan ever objected to its name before. It seems very likely that, with India’s influence rising in Afghanistan after the Taliban’s ouster, causing Pakistan to repeatedly point out its involvement in Balochistan and in creating rifts between Kabul and Islamabad, that country may have a hand in this as well.
Many Afghan leaders including President Karzai have been calling Pakistan their “second home” and they must not forget that the same New Delhi which now acts as a great well-wisher of the Afghans had provided moral and diplomatic support to the former Soviet Union during its occupation of Afghanistan. Had it not been for Pakistan’s whole-hearted help, the Afghan mujahideen would not have been able to defeat the Soviet army.
M.Y. KHAN
Karachi
AS an avid reader of your newspaper, I found an article and subsequent editorial on Afghanistan asking Pakistan to stop naming its missiles after Afghan heroes very interesting.
No country ever names missiles after its invaders. Also readers should note that the Indian missile “Prithvi” is so named because the word ‘Prithvi’ in Sanskrit means land. It is named after one of the four elements of life — the other three being fire, water and air — and has nothing to do with the Hindu king Prithviraj Chauhan.
Instead of naming missiles after invaders, why not name them after great Pakistani generals like 23 Division chief Gen Eftikhar who fought well in 1971 and overran Indian positions in Chhamb? Another example is Nishan-i-Haider recipient Captain Karnal Sher Khan who defended his positions at Kargil in 1999 against Indian attacks, and was even commended for his bravery by the Indian army chief.
As an Indian, I dare say that we salute such soldiers, even though they fought on the opposite side. Pakistan should honour those who gave their today for Pakistan’s tommorrow. Pakistani people should be proud of their history and name (if at all they want to) monuments and missiles after their home-bred heroes.
VIKRAM RATHORE
Toronto, Canada
IT would be a folly to believe that the Indian missile Prithvi is named after Prithvi Raj. It is named after the elements of nature. In fact, two other missiles ‘Agni’ (fire) and ‘Akash’ (sky) are also named after the elements.
SANKET KARMARKAR
Los Angeles, US
SPEAKING at a press conference in Islamabad, the OIC Secretary-General, Prof Ekmeleddm Ihsanoglu, made some comments that appear to indicate defeatism and a sense of inferiority (Dawn, Feb 22).
On the one hand he conceded that prospects of the EU drawing up a new code of conduct for its media were dim, on the other he said: “The Jews are enlightened, powerful and organized ....? The western countries have been trying to pressure many an Islamic nation to change its laws, such as is being unjustifiably done in case of the laws against blasphemy in Pakistan that protect not just Prophet Muhammad but Jesus, Moses and all other Prophets (peace be upon them). So, why should they not respond to the world’s 1.5 billion Muslims’ demand to make their own laws more civilized so as not to spread hatred against, or insult, a religion, its prophet and his followers?
By showing that we don’t really expect Europe to respect our wishes to bring its laws into conformity with the UN’s charter — which is by no means an unreasonable expectation — we are only acknowledging that their might is right.
About half of the world’s Jews live in Israel and some of them could certainly be enlightened but most cannot be called that.
An enlightened person would never occupy anybody’s land, force people out of their homes, destroy their trees and other means of livelihood, bulldoze their dwellings, kill children protesting against occupation and tyranny, bomb them with F-16s and Apache helicopters, compel them to live in refugee camps with very limited supply of water and so on. All Israelis are either directly or indirectly engaged in such barbaric acts.
On the other hand, look at Mukhtaran Mai. She doesn’t wear western dresses or even speak English, yet she is far more enlightened than most Jews and the Europeans engaged in oppressing the Muslims or in demonizing Islam.
There are countless Muslim men and women from Morocco to Indonesia who may be leading simple and anonymous lives but whose behaviour is exemplary. They don’t hurt anyone, don’t insult people or their religions, extend hospitality to travellers and others in need or distress, as witnessed on a grand scale after last October’s earthquake in Pakistan. They are artless, not deceiving others or grabbing their territories, not torturing or bombing anyone, not depriving anyone’s children of food and medicines — as was done in Iraq where half-a-million children died due to western sanctions.
We need leaders who are strong, self-confident, think in terms of success, not failure. Prof Ihsanoglu should have drawn inspiration from the former Malaysian prime minister. We all were impressed by Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s willingness to call a spade a spade. By his behaviour and his words he showed he would not tolerate disrespect from any quarter and his detractors did find it safe not to mess around with him.
SALIK
Karachi
THIS is with reference to the letter “Islam and woman” by Fseeha Razvi and your editorial “Changing anti-woman laws” (Feb 26). Ms Razvi is perturbed to see violence against women, especially in Muslim countries. The fact is that violence against women and difficulty in getting justice is not merely “perverse western propaganda” against Islam but an actual problem in such societies.
I do not understand why the MMA and other right-wing parties oppose the repeal of Hudood laws in Pakistan. I do not know what kind of religion they are serving by denying equal rights to women. What could they possibly hope to achieve by pushing women into a life of cruelty, injustice and oppression? Even those who want to repeal these laws seem afraid of being labelled as un-Islamic or even anti-Islam.
As you said, the problem lies not with laws but in attitudes, especially of Muslim societies. To stop oppression of women we need to not only repeal discriminatory laws but also change our attitudes. For example, we should start pretending that women too are human beings. Even pretending is a good beginning because if we keep on pretending long enough, we will start believing it.
ASAD BUTT
Pasrur
THE British defence secretary, Mr John Reid, passed some comments during a newspaper interview (Dawn, Feb 23). According to him, (1) ‘Evil Islamist terrorists’ wish to destroy every non-Muslim, (2) they want to destroy every Jew, (3) they have killed children in Iraq for talking to US soldiers and (4) there is no army in the world that has saved more Muslim lives than the British army in Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq.
First, one has never heard Osama bin Laden or other Al Qaeda leaders say they wish to kill every non-Muslim. Indeed, they have pledged not to attack those western countries such as Sweden that are not fighting against the Muslims. Other hardline Islamic leaders have been advocating close ties with China, so there is no question of the Chinese being targeted either.
As in other religions, there have been extremists in Islam too but there has never been genocide of non-Muslims for religion’s sake. Muslims have ruled over India for many centuries but never engaged in such acts.
Islam is spreading rapidly in Africa; hence the craziest militant would not think of destroying the Africans, while the faith is beginning to pick up in South America as well. That only leaves the West, where again Islam is the fastest spreading religion. If this continues, most of humanity will have converted to Islam within a few decades so there will hardly be any non-Muslims remaining.
Mr Reid should be careful in passing such remarks in these times of heightened tensions between Islam and the West because many people over there are stereotyping all Muslims as being “terrorists”. It appears that he has made such a claim to scare the world’s non-Muslims into supporting the West and to shift focus from the US and the UK’s sin of invading Iraq on false pretexts.
Second, some western leaders are overly concerned about the welfare of the Jews but show scant regard for the Palestinians, including children, who are being cold-bloodedly murdered by the Israelis. Similarly, a British historian has been jailed for challenging the Holocaust and the mayor of London has been suspended for four weeks merely for having compared a Jewish reporter to a Nazi concentration camp guard (Feb 25), while Islam and its Prophet (peace be upon him) are being reviled in the worst manner.
It is amazing how some western governments and section of their media have become such puppets of the Jews.
Third, he has mentioned the killing of a few children in Iraq who may have been acting as informers of the American army.
However, when nearly 500,000 Iraqi children died due to western sanctions after the first Gulf War, no British or western leader expressed any remorse. In fact, the then US secretary of state, Ms Madeline Albright, had most shockingly tried to justify it.
Four, it is a good thing that the British army has saved many Muslims lives but no country has probably hurt the Muslim interest more than Britain by implanting Israel like a dagger through the heart of the Islamic world, whose harvest is now being reaped by the East and the West alike. The Arabs and the Turks were also alienated from each other through Britain’s machinations and the Middle East was carved up after World War I.
Kashmir is another intractable problem created by the collusion of some British officials with the Indian leadership at partition due to which nearly 250,000 Kashmiri Muslims were killed by the Hindu Maharaja’s army in 1947 and another 100,000 to date by the Indian troops; it has also led to wars between India and Pakistan, as also to their nuclearization.
ABDUL ALEEM
Karachi
THIS has reference to the letter “PIA security handling, (Feb 26). The facts of the case are as follows:
A credit card and bank loan sales representative of a bank who did not identify himself as such came to visit the PIA head office at 3.20pm and asked to be allowed in to visit a Pax handling officer. As a normal procedure, the security guard kept his identity card and allowed him to go inside. The person who he had sought to visit was not there and a staff officer met him instead. The credit card sales representative started going from office to office disturbing the normal functioning of the offices and two hours later, he was found loitering outside the office of the GM, security, by PIA’s security guard. Thereafter, he was asked to leave the premises and escorted out.
On this, he started abusing security guards but when he realized that his identity card was still with security, he started to behave. As soon as his identity card was returned, he started abusing all the security guards present. At 5.30pm office closing time when the staff officer who met him initially was leaving the premises, he became aware of the situation.
On recognizing the visitor, he tried to intervene and calm him down but the man started abusing him too. Since he was disturbing peace at the security gate, he was asked to leave and on his refusal a scuffle followed between him and the security guard. Finally, he left the premises.
I hope this clarifies the eyewitness account in the letter under reference.
CAPT. HASSAN JAFFERY
General Manager,
Public Affairs & Communication, PIA,
Karachi
ALL central crossings in Islamabad these days are displaying promotional material relating to a stage play that is described as a “bedroom farce”. The Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary describes “bedroom farce” as a funny play about sex.
Islamabad is turning into a hub of NGOized fashion marathons blowing whistles of moderation and enlightenment. These ”basanti” organizations have enough freedom to trespass into the living room and put on bedroom farces on stage.
These agents of change apparently propagate that freedom of speech and expression helps to harmonize society. But through opening unnecessary and useless debates on topics of their own choice so many questions are left unanswered about poverty, corruption, malpractices and lawlessness.
TANVIR A. SIDDIQUI
Islamabad
IT is regrettable to note the deplorable condition of the Karachi Medical and Dental College and the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital.
Insofar as the college is concerned, I must point out that it was started with the intention that it would remain an autonomous body. The college has its own governing body with 23 members and its own bylaws which were approved by the then corporation vide Resolution No. 1434, dated Dec 31, 1991 and later by the Sindh government vide No. SOVI/33/92, dated April 9, 1992.
These bylaws clearly define and empower the governing body to form a selection board, appoint a suitable person for any post, take disciplinary action against anybody and also streamline the running of the college smoothly.
I would like to know as a former principal and well-wisher of the college as to how this has been reversed and a ban on appointments imposed. If so, what was the need for the bylaws and a governing body.
Abbasi Shaheed Hospital was one of the best public hospitals in the country. I would request the present authorities to look into the slide backward. There should also be a thorough audit of equipment and instruments as I feel that many of the expensive items may have been taken away.
ISHTIAQ AHMED KHAN
Ex-principal, KMDC
Karachi
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