| May 3, 2006 | Wednesday | Rabi-us-Sani 4, 1427 |
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Amendments to PMDC Act
Technical education
Another political marriage
Bad deal on mini wheels
Parental permission
CBR working
Tribal areas
Internet in Chitral
Army’s role
NBP insurance scheme
Women and modernism
Recruitment test
THIS has reference to Mr Kamran Naim’s letter ‘HEC policies’ (April 10) and my letter (April 2). I am sorry to say that the HEC posture is largely based on rhetoric. And when rhetoric is the only guiding principle, policies often fall flat without producing any result to change the intellectual and academic fabric of the system of higher education.
And it is this rhetoric that has led to the creation of misconceptions about the role of the HEC. Largely, this misconception emanates from its own attitude towards universities, which is intrusive and dictating.
The autonomy of universities has been abridged and campuses are being forced to follow HEC guidelines, regardless of the socio-economic and academic consequences. Neo-reformist orthodoxy while inventing a novel way of controlling the universities has linked the release of funds with the implementation of HEC prescriptions. If any university fails to implement policy about quality assurance and promotions, it will be penalised in the form of cuts in funding. Most critics believe that this policy will divide universities into haves and have-nots, and may be some of the academically sick universities will either be closed down or will produce inferior quality of students.
As for streamlining the governance in universities, the HEC refers to the introduction of search committees for the appointment of VCs. This has yet to come about in most of the public-sector universities due to resistance from some vested interests.
A PhD has been made compulsory for promotions. As a result, very soon we will see the mass-scale production of copy-and-paste PhDs. This PhD faculty project, too, will meet the same fate as the ‘graduate assembly’
Honestly speaking, HEC-funded projects could be a bonanza for universities in terms of physical, technological and academic infrastructure if implemented in a transparent manner. But this is not the case. Often poor evaluation and monitoring are cited as the main reason for the failure of HEC-funded projects such as the IT (Rs70 million) and Date Palm Research Institute (Rs32.83 million) at Khairpur University.
If the HEC, by its own claim, has a role in evaluating, improving and promoting the quality of education through policies and guiding principles and allocating priorities, then it has to establish a stringent system of accountability to enforce its policies.
MANZOOR ALI ISRAN
Shah Abdul Latif University,
Khairpur
ACCORDING to a news item (Jan 24), the prime minister has been pleased to constitute a committee, to be headed by the health minister and comprising prominent experts in the field of medical education, to review the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) Act.
As is evident from its name, the PMDC is also responsible for regulating dental education and the absence of a member from the dental profession is a glaring omission on the part of the authorities who suggested the composition of the committee to the prime minister.
The committee while reviewing the PMDC act should keep in mind various models of regulatory and licensing authorities in the field of medical and dental education in various parts of the world, particularly in the UK and India, from where we inherited the system of medical and dental education.
In India in addition to Indian Medical Council there are provincial medical councils. The provincial medical councils regulate the system of medical education in their respective areas of jurisdiction on broad-based guidelines provided by the Indian Medical Council at the centre. The GMC of the UK also provides guidelines to various universities and medical schools to train medical graduates.
Regulatory bodies like the PMDC do not involve themselves in minute details. The PMDC should only be responsible for ascertaining that a physician who graduates from a medical college in Pakistan is properly equipped with knowledge to provide general medical care and refer specific cases to specialists at secondary or tertiary medical institutions.
It is hoped the committee will take into consideration the above points while suggesting its recommendations and co-opt a member from the dental profession.
DR NIGHAT RANA
Karachi
IT is a known fact that education, particularly technical education, has suffered badly in Sindh on account of unstable governments which have ruled the province since independence.
I am not a political man and nor do I want to discuss political stability. There are good schools, institutions and teaching faculties but the main problem is that students do not attend classes. As a rule, students whose attendance is less than 80 per cent should not be allowed to appear for an examination except under exceptional circumstances but only with a flexibility margin of 10 per cent. The actual situation is that quite a substantial number of students have an attendance of less than 50 per cent but they are allowed to appear for examinations. The Sindh Board also takes a lenient view of such cases.
A textile institution has been established with the maximum possible modern machinery worth Rs15 million and a laboratory costing Rs25 million is being built. But it is extremely depressing when students make themselves absent without any reason. Imposing a penalty on parents does not serve the purpose. Most of them have meagre means and it seems cruel to penalise these poor persons for the negligence and the fault of their sons.
In schools tht teach arts and science, it is possible to complete courses through tuition but in technical education, which requires machinery and laboratories, attendance has to be compulsory without which students cannot learn anything.
The only solution to this problem is that the Sindh Board should become strict about attendance and advertise, propagate and instruct heads of schools or institutions not to allow any student having low attendance to appear for any examination without the written permission of the board.
S.M.A. RIZVI
Karachi
THIS refers to the meeting held in London between Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto. The question today is not whether Ms Bhutto or Mr Sharif are corrupt. The question is whether Pakistan needs a democratic government or a military chief ruling the country.
It is an insult to the civil society of Pakistan to be led by an army chief. We need a leader of our choice, be it Imran Khan or Nawaz Sharif or Benazir Bhutto, who should be elected in an absolutely fair and free election. For that matter if Gen Musharraf is interested in ruling the country, he should follow the normal process laid down in the Constitution. Is he above the law that special measures be taken for one man alone? He should be bold enough to take off his uniform, follow what is prescribed in the Constitution for participation in elections and let the people decide.
How many times in our history have we wanted to have something special for just one man and then we talk of this nation not following the rules. Why can’t we do something which is done all over the civilised world: hold a free and fair elections, hand over power to the peoples’ representatives and let the people decide what to do with their elected leadership the next time around?
If the argument is that the Pakistani politicians are corrupt and power hungry, then as a nation we have no right to live. When we all agree that civil society should run the affairs of countries like the US, India, Britain, etc., then why do we get into unnecessary arguments about military vs civilian leadership? What is true of the rest of the world should also hold true for Pakistan. After all, Pakistan is one of those countries that came into being as the direct result of a vote.
If the military is so averse to corruption, why are many of the ministers of the last Nawaz Sharif government now part of the Musharraf created PML?
Have they become better people or is it just arm twisting by the agencies?
MOHAMMED ZIA
Karachi
THE stylish residential area of Block 5, Clifton, Karachi, has a new set of commuters on the streets aged between seven to 11 years.
These are children who are riding four-wheeled motorcycles, equipped with 50 cc engines. They rumble across the roads, roughly and carelessly, through the days and late into the evenings. Some of them are even spotted on the main roads in the area.
The children are putting their lives at risk. In a city where hit and run is as common as sliced bread, do we need to add yet another curse to our unruly and dangerous streets? Bear in mind that these vehicles are not registered and are being manned by unlicensed riders. Let’s kill this craze before it kills any kids.
BEHRAM N. MANA
Karachi
ARUNA and Moazzam have reached home in Latifabad, Hyderabad, and have appealed to the government to send them abroad, saying they still feared Aruna’s parents could cause harm to their lives.
With the help of the media and her relationship with her husband, Aruna won her case but did anyone think whom she defeated? She defeated her parents, their hopes, their love, their reputation and their sincerity. Her parents brought her up, spent money on her education, provided her with every possible comfort and gave her their name in society, and when they asked her to leave Moazzam, she left them instead.
This is one side of the story. The other side is the effect of it on teenagers. They will think that by using the media they can marry their beloved person without the permission of their parents. Such thinking can permeate the social milieu. Love marriage is right but so is the concurrence of parents.
SYED AHMAD FRAZ
Lahore
CIRCULAR letter C. No. 1 (17) WHT/91-Pt. dated Jan 23, 2006 has recently been issued by the Central Board of Revenue, Islamabad, under which it has been specifically clarified that all NPOs/NGOs/ AOPs ‘registered under any law’ are covered by Section 153(9)(c) for “prescribed person” and are legally obliged to deduct withholding tax while making any payment.
By virtue of the clarification partnerships registered under the Partnership Act have been brought within the definition of “prescribed person”. The CBR has no powers to issue any clarification which is contrary to provisions of law.
Such a clarification has no legal support. In this context, I refer to the clarification issued earlier in 1986, for chargeability of WWF upon income worked out for payments under 80-C.
After this clarification, thousands of orders were passed and demand for billions of rupees created. The assessees approached appellate authorities, such as the ITAT which held upheld that no WWF was chargeable upon notional income, as it was not income assessed, as required by Section 4(4) of WWF Act. The department has to waste a good amount on filing appeals before the high court. After failure before the high court, the department prefers appeals before the Supreme Court of Pakistan. Meanwhile, the assessees remain with a sword hanging sword over their heads.
The CBR clarification dated 23-01-2006 shall also have the same effect, and thousands of AOPs which do not fall within the ambit of the definition for prescribed persons, as per provisions of the law, shall be subjected to uncertainty. The CBR chairman should immediately take notice of the clarification which is contrary to the provisions of the Income Tax Ordinance 2001, and a notification relating to withdrawal of the clarification should be issued.
BHATTI MUHAMMAD
YOUNUS
Hyderabad4
SAYED G.B. Shah Bokhari (April 24) has brought up a very relevant and sensitive topic. While our present government is so bent on teaching western countries to address “the root cause” of different problems, it seems to totally ignore applying the same lesson in the case of our tribal areas. With the full support of the government (with the US in the background), there was a mushroom growth of madressahs in thess tribal areas whose only objective was to recruit youth for jihad. A whole generation of frontier youth was brainwashed and sent into the jaws of death and mayhem.
Now instead of reversing those foolish measures of the past and bringing about a social change, the government agencies are busy in attacking their own progeny. We have rightly forgot this rule of thumb — “As you sow, so shall you reap”.
SOHAIL KHAN
Louisiana, USA
THIS is in response to Mr. Bokhari’s letter in which he has raised some points regarding the power structure of the tribal areas which are commendable and timely. But there are some facts which he has misrepresented like the menace of smuggling, drug-trafficking and car lifting.
With regard to smuggling, the area’s poor and neglected people are forced to make a living by these illegal activities and that too with the connivance of the authorities concerned. The abduction of former Punjab sports and culture minister Naeem Ullh Shahani in North Waziristan is a case in point.
Drug trafficking, car-lifting and smuggling are all due to the wretched poverty prevailing in these areas. The people are in need of generous help from the government so as to bring these areas into the mainstream and wipe out this anomaly once and for all.
NOOR REHMAN, HABIB
AFRIDI
Islamabad
INTERNET users in Chitral were lucky enough to have comparatively fast and smooth service than other remote areas of the country. Unfortunately this luxury lasted not for a very long time. For the last six months Internet users in Chitral have been experiencing slow service with regular disconnections, which is doing nothing other than case financial loss, wastage of time unrest among users across the district.
Due to the unavailability and inefficiency of other means of communication, Internet remains the only hope for individuals, foreigners, tour operators and government and non-governmental organisations. Above all students taking online courses with the virtual university are also totally dependent on the internet.
Pakistan Telecommunication Limited being a major stakeholder and the institution primarily responsible to ensure the best possible service to its clients appears not to be interested in looking into the matter in a professional way; instead delaying tactics are used to test the patience of helpless users.
In the meantime the issue has been brought to the notice of Federal Minister for Communication Awais Leghari and the authorities through the local and national press, but so far no proper attention has been given.
MURAD AKBAR K. RAZA
Chitral
THIS is with reference to Shahzeb Abbasi’s letter “Army’s role” (April 23). I completely agree with his portrayal of the men in uniform. I just wanted to add that he forgot to thank them for the VIP movement on roads which lead to long delays that upset the lives of civilians.
ROMA
Rawalpindi
IT was disappointing to read Mr Mohammad Aleem Shaikh’s letter (April 28). Even though our clarification (letter, April 25) clearly stated that there had been instances where product letters had not reached our customers, Mr Shaikh’s insistence on not receiving a letter is merely the product. He could have signed the deactivation form and got his Rs20 back, as mentioned in our clarification.
The insurance product was designed after a lot of research and input from people from different walks of life. The sum of Rs 200,000 might not seem a reasonable amount to the correspondent, but it has been a source of comfort and financial protection in instances reported to us — a widow who had nowhere to live after her husband died on a rail track, an old father whose only employed son died on the road and children whose father died in a bomb blast.
A product that is not up to the mark of an individual does not qualify to be non- beneficial to a vast majority. The greater good with no fallout or repercussions for anyone is a “win-win” situation for everyone. Therefore our valuable customers are most humbly requested to think in the larger interest of the people.
We have made a sincere effort through the insurance scheme to provide the maximum benefit at a minimum cost. If there are shortcomings in the product they can be and will be addressed.
It is again made clear that NBP will provide a full refund to any customer who is not willing to avail of this product, which is just another effort to bring stability and prosperity in the lives of our customers.
There are more than 10 million account holders with NBP. The bank is the largest lender and services provider of Pakistan. It provides access to banking where no other bank, local or international, is willing to have a branch.
QAMAR HUSAIN, Senior Vice-President, NBP
Karachi
IN her letter Marzia Raza (April 20) defends Prof. Shahida Kazi’s article “On the horns of a dilemma” (April 9) by writing that “Prof. Shahida Kazi has simply highlighted the actual conditions that Pakistani women face today”.
Prof. Kazi has not written about the conditions faced by Pakistani women but only about two classes of Pakistani women: the traditional veiled women who stay at home and the ultra modern party-goers. She has ignored women who belong to the middle class and play an important role in the country’s social and economic development.
Most of these women are progressive-minded yet at the same time they work while staying within the boundaries prescribed by religion and our society.
These working women cannot be ignored. In fact, they are the ones who deserve encouragement and praise the most.
KANWAL H. KHAN
Karachi
THE photograph on your front page (April 24) shows how we are marching backward. In this world of 2006 when people are looking for better and better facilities, these candidates were taking their test in the open, under the sun and sitting on the ground.
This shows that we still treat our people as animals and not as human beings.
PROF ISHTIAQ AHMED
KHAN
Karachi
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