| March 26, 2006 | Sunday | Safar 25, 1427 |
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First military mission to US
Elitist private education
Pre-cast flyovers
Currency blackmarketing
Sources of energy
‘Moderate’ Islam
Auto industry
Law’s delays
‘Chopping and changing’
Questions for ICAP
GUL ZEE in his letter (March 21) writes that Pakistan has been ‘Run as a ‘fiefdom.’ Pakistan has also been run as a ‘feudaldom’, ‘chaudhrydom’, ‘sardardom’, ‘mullahdom’, ‘tribaldom’, ‘generaldom’, and any number of other ‘-doms’, each more self-seeking, incompetent, more corrupt and regressive than the other.
While Pakistan has paid heavily for wholly personalised and self-centred rule and for the greediness of all the ‘—-doms’ which have at various times, singly or jointly, ruled the land as marauders, the most poignant cost has been the decline in the quality of Pakistan’s human resource.
The decline is the result of a virtual cessation of the education process, and the absence of any kind of institutionalised manpower training and development in the country. An ignorant, illiterate, population is easier to lord over and use. Education, and all other kinds of activity, which facilitated upgrading of Pakistan’s human resource was, therefore, consistently and systematically disrupted.
The engineered decline in the quality of the country’s manpower is a damage which will take generations, a lot of deliberate effort, and lots of funding to repair.
There is nothing substantive happening to suggest that the present rulers comprehend the gravity of the steady and continuing decline in the quality of the country’s human resource.
Apologists for the present set of rulers tout the ‘Parha-likha Punjab’ campaign or the HEC’s frantic measures to produce home-grown PhDs in staggering numbers as examples of moves towards human resource development. Mercifully, the thousands of madressahs with a million, or more, students are not given as examples.
The ‘Parka-likha Punjab’ campaign, with its raucous media projection, has been shown to be more a contrivance for personal projection of the Punjab chief minister and less a means to grapple with illiteracy in the CM’s province. The dictator Ziaul Haq used his ‘Nai Roshni’ adult schools campaign for much the same purpose.
How the local PhDs will be produced in numbers the HEC is aiming at, in the virtual absence of research and other support facilities, such as qualified and experienced advisers required for doctoral candidates, or what will be the value of such PhDs, is not explained.
Ironically, while the present rulers, as those before them, think of manpower as an exportable commodity, nothing important is being done to add value to it.
The rising educational and training levels of manpower in Pakistan’s neighbouring countries have resulted in an increased demand for them, and at higher wages. In the 1970s the situation was the reverse: Pakistani manpower at all levels was sought after and was paid premium wages.
The impact of the decline in manpower quality on economic growth and development of the country is worrying. For one thing, foreign direct investors, among the many other negatives for Pakistan, now also regard lack of ready availability of trained and skilled local manpower as one of the negatives.
It has taken our neighbour, India, almost 60 years to develop an educational infrastructure from which, with all its faults, India is now reaping a rich harvest. All these years, while India worked to develop Indian manpower, our rulers stoked peoples hopes with delusions, as they manoeuvred to exploit and dupe Pakistani manpower.
The nation is beginning to pay the price of almost 60 years of self-seeking, incompetent, and regressive misgovernance by small people with big landholdings and with bigger hereditary and pompous titles. And misgovernance by men in uniform.
S. KHALID HUSAIN
Karachi
PAKISTAN made the first military contact with the US in 1949 when defence secretary Iskander Mirza led a military mission to Washington in search of arms and weapons for the weapon-starved Pakistan Army. The other member of the mission was Maj-Gen Muhammad lftikhar Khan, commander-in-chief-designate of the Pakistan Army, who unfortunately was killed in a plane crash a few months later.
Pakistan had been denied by India its share in pre-partition military stores and equipment. To make the situation more critical the Pakistan Army was confronted with the defence of its vital interests caused by the Indian Army’s operations in Jammu and Kashmir. Britain had expressed its inability to meet Pakistan’s needs of weapons under pressure from India. The United States was the only country which had enormous surplus military stores in various theatres of war.
Pakistan had hardly any clout in the US State Department nor had any lobby in the American press. Iskander Mirza’s proposal to take part in the Korean War by sending a contingent of the Pakistan Army did not find favour with prime minister Liaquat Ali Khan on domestic political grounds. At this point, Iskander Mirza decided to involve his friend Sir Olaf Caroe in his mission to enlighten public opinion in America on Pakistan’s strategic importance in the Cold War.
Sir Olaf Caroe had been pre-occupied with the power vacuum left in the Middle East and South Asia by the withdrawal of the Raj. Sir Olaf wrote a Mr Ex article in the Round Table of 1949 which was to mark the birth of the idea of military aid to Pakistan and of the Baghdad Pact. Sir Olaf wrote: “The strategic movements of the Allies in Iraq and Persia in the Second World War were made possible from the Indian base. At the present day establishment of independent states on the Indian Peninsula entails a new approach to old problems... Pakistan has succeeded to much of India’s responsibility for the Gulf (which) opens directly on Karachi, in a real sense its terminus.”
Later elaborating his article in his book Wells of Power, Sir Olaf propounded at great length on the security of the region and envisaged a grand role for Pakistan in this strategic constellation.
Iskander Mirza saw eye to eye with Sir Olaf Caroe and relentlessly pursued his mission of arming Pakistan’s armed forces with the required wherewithal. US-Pakistan political relations have gone through ups and downs. The military relationship, however, has endured and remains steady.
SYED AFZAAL HUSAIN ZAIDI
Islamabad
THIS is with reference to Mr Manzoor Ali Isran’s article “Elitist private education” (March 24). I agree with all his suggestions, but would just like to point out some facts about my school, the Lahore College of Arts and Sciences (LACAS).
Each branch of our school adopted a municipal committee school. Each student from my school was responsible for teaching English and mathematics to two students from the municipal school. We also arranged activities such as a sports day for the children’s recreation.
If the school was short of books or uniforms, we would hold bake sales or fund raisers to buy these items for them. This exercise helped me to become sensitive to the problems of the poor.
Elite schools should come forward and adopt such institutions as it would inculcate good values in our future generation. It would also help to boost the standard of education in government schools.
EMMEN SAEED
Lahore
STUDENTS graduating from Ivy League universities such as Yale or Stanford are recruited by the US government, on a one or two-year contract, to teach in public schools before they enter the job market.
Couldn’t we have such programmes? The department of education should offer high income, rewards and appreciation medals to students who complete their contracts honestly. Not only would this provide immediate employment for many graduates, it would also instill a sense of social responsibility in them.
The department of education also needs to work on its textbooks. They should not just update them, but choose new course books that will at least arouse the curiosity of the pupil. I would strongly support removing all local textbooks and replacing them with ones by foreign authors. In fact, they should remove the intermediate and matric syllabus and follow the British one, or perhaps come up with one on par with it. Or if possible, subsidise the ‘O’ and ‘A’ Level education system under some Commonwealth agreement and make the system available to every student in the country.
S. MARIAM HUMAYUN
Karachi
THE first pre-cast cement overhead bridge will be built close to the National Stadium, Karachi. It will take just four months, our nazim says (Dawn news report, March 20).
Great news. Suggest we consider similar construction for the Hino Chowrangi flyover, whose planned completion time is three years, and many other flyovers which are being constructed on the Lyari Expressway, Maulvi Tameezuddin Khan Road, Mai Kolachi intersection and Quaidabad, where a lot of time and fuel is being wasted daily.
New flyovers are also planned at Hasan Square, the Karsaz Road-Sharea Faisal intersection, the Tipu Sultan Road-Sharea Faisal intersection, the I.I. Chundrigar Road-Maulvi Tameezuddin Khan Road connection, etc. All these should be modified to use pre-cast trusses.
The shortest time a flyover has taken in Karachi is 12 months on the Sharea Faisal flyover connecting Shah Faisal Colony.
President Pervez Musharraf had to personally ensure that it was completed in 12 months. Pre-cast cement bridges will take just four months and will not require such a high degree of focus.
S. NAYYAR IQBAL RAZA
Karachi
I recently visited the bank branch where I maintain an account and asked for a fresh 10-rupee packet but the person at the counter apologised and advised me to try the State Bank.
I visited the SBP but was refused on the plea that they were bound by law only to oblige pensioners and against salary bills of government departments and, of course, the main/regional branches of commercial banks whom they provided with all denominations of fresh currency notes by the truckload for the benefit of the general public.
I pointed out that it might be true in theory but the ground reality was that my bank branch had just apologized for being out of stock of fresh 10-rupee notes for a considerable period and that a black market was actually existing and charging a whopping Rs100 per packet.
Upon this, the SBP said ‘mismanagement’ in some commercial banks might be responsible for such a state of affairs. But can the SBP really absolve itself just by pointing a finger at the commercial banks? As a central bank, is it not responsible to check malpractices existing in the banking system?
HAROON LEGHARI
Hyderabad
THE sources of energy are solar (sun), hydro (water), nuclear, wind, thermal power (oil and gas-extracts from extinct animals), coal (fossilised trees) and bio-fuels (extant vegetables matter). Oil, gas and coal are non-renewable sources and are being depleted while other sources of energy are renewable and, therefore, are being sought after actively for increased transport and industrial activities. Bio-fuel is derived mostly from sugarcane plants and bio-diesel from oil-seed plants. Bio-fuel and bio-diesel are mixed with gasoline before being used as a source of energy. Brazil produces 37 per cent of ethanol worldwide from sugarcane and it is used in running motor vehicles, etc. We are passing through a sugar crisis derived from sugarcane (98 per cent) and from sugar beet (two per cent). How real or artificial is the prevailing price of sugar is not the object of this letter.
Its purpose is to emphasise the fact that Pakistan has the potentiality to increase sugarcane production and export sugar as was being done till a few years ago. Sugarcane production in Pakistan on the average is 35,000 kgs per hectare, which is far below the world average of 70,000 kg per hectare. We can increase the production of sugarcane like Egypt (80,000 kg per hectare). We can produce ethanol like Brazil and can use it for mixing it with gasoline for running vehicles. We spend the highest amount of foreign exchange in importing mineral oil for running vehicles and edible oil for cooking food.
Promoting and expanding sugarcane production will keep our farmers employed. Of the sources of energy, hydropower is linked with the canal irrigation system, which is necessary for our crop plants. Other sources of renewable energy may be highly efficient, economic and eco-friendly but require costly infrastructure, skill and expertise and cannot employ 60-70 per cent of the population (farmers). As Pakistan’s energy needs are growing, it would be prudent to develop energy that does not require costly infrastructure and emphasis should be placed on cheap indigenous sources of energy which would keep our farmers employed.
Moreover, bio-fuels considerably reduce emission of greenhouse gases, which is a great advantage over coal and gas fuels, which emit a very high amount of greenhouse gases. We shouldn’t, however, switch over to mechanized farming for increasing farm production. Farming in North America and Europe is highly mechanized and employs only five per cent of their population, with subsidies in farming for producing more foodgrains than the requirement. We should improve upon and update our traditional agronomic methods (good quality seeds, judicious use of water, fertilisers, pesticides, agricultural tools, harvesting, etc.) and thus improve the socio-economic condition of the our largest segment of our population who are farmers so as to avoid social strife.
Let us strike a balance between our agriculture (farming) and culture (connecting the land with people, and their customs).
DR M. JALALUDDIN
Professor of Agriculture,
University of Karachi, Karachi
IT was really heartening to read the article “Moderate vs. radical Islam” by Mr Ayaz Amir (March 24). Islam has no other face than its original form. The terms ‘moderate Islam’ and ‘enlightened moderation’ were never heard of before.
These terms are used in order to provide a cover to the illegal actions of some. Meanwhile anyone who follows Islam diligently is seen as a threat and, like Mr Amir says, “any Muslim country standing up for itself is [considered] radical”.
ADNAN RIZVI
Karachi
AYAZ Amir’s anti-Americanism fuels his frequent forays into simplistic arguments characterised by raw emotionalism and totally devoid of any sense of balance.
How, for instance, would remaining neutral (if that could even be possible) in the war on Afghanistan have been beneficial for Pakistan?
He may be in awe of the Taliban, just as he is enamoured of Saddam Hussein and the insurgents, but their rout was the best thing that could have happened to Pakistan.
If the government could only muster the political will to decisively weed out all remnants of Taliban and Al Qaeda, the political and economic dividends that will accrue will be unimaginable.
Mr Amir fails to understand that a country free of religious and sectarian violence would be a more welcoming place for foreign investment. The war against terrorism is not America’s war but in Pakistan’s best interest.
MASOOD HAIDER
New Jersey, USA
THE auto industry is crying hoarse over the government’s policy of allowing import of used cars in the country. The fact is that the demand far exceeds the cars they assemble and taking advantage of this, they are minting money in tons. The bad thing they do is to collect 100 per cent of the price as advance and keep the buyers waiting for months. Isn’t the government right in its policies to provide some kind of relief to the buyers?
Alternatively, the government can offer to reverse the policy from the date automobile manufacturers start taking 10 or 15 per cent as advance with the booking of orders. This will not only provide relief to the buyers but also prove beneficial to the assemblers. Their order books will swell several fold immediately because buyers will not mind leaving a smaller amount with them for a longer period.
Actually, they themselves have forced the government to think of providing relief to the buyers when it is actually in their hands to do that.
N.A. KHAN
Karachi
ON March 9 the Supreme Court dismissed the first of four review petitions filed by an Indian national Sarabjit Singh convicted of spying and bomb blasts killing 14 people and sentenced to death in 1991.
It means Sarabjit Singh is waiting in the death cell for the last 15 years seeking a final court verdict. In case the death sentence is finally upheld by the court, he will then have to wait for a decision by the president of Pakistan. I hope our worthy bar associations and advocates-dominated human rights NGOs will be kind enough to make the nation wiser on the subject of the law’s delays.
RAJA AFZAL
Gujar Khan
IN his column (March 19), Mr Ardeshir Cowasjee has talked of three kinds of beings: “women beings” (as distinctly different from human beings) and “animal beings” (as manifestly different from all of us) and “tree beings” that weep but cannot speak — like our women and animals.
The womenfolk of Pakistan, 70 to 90 per cent, he says, are victim of domestic violence. He didn’t say, so I say instead, that women in Pakistan are treated worse than animals. I will quote Nicholas Kristoff, a New York Times correspondent who wrote that damaging article: “Sentenced to be raped” in July 2002: “The women in Pakistan are chewed up and spat out.”
Then he goes on to tell a ‘joke’. Quote: “Fifty per cent of the women who are brave enough to report rape are immediately jailed under the provisions of the Hudood Ordinance which make rape a criminal offence committed by the victim, the woman.”
It is difficult to laugh at this joke. Our women, myself one of them, do not laugh, they only cry. But will you jail me for laughing, if I did laugh?
REHANA NAQVI
Karachi
A PERSON who clears four parts of the chartered accountancy examination is called a “charted accountant”. What name will be given to a person who only clears the first two parts of the examinations conducted by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan, i.e., the intermediate part?
A few years back exemptions were given in the CA final to Association of Chartered Certified Accountant (UK)-qualified students. May I ask why those exemptions have been withdrawn now? The exemption included all major and difficult CA final papers and excludes those which were easy to pass.
JAWAD SHAKEEL AHMED
Karachi
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