| May 31, 2006 | Wednesday | Jumadi-ul-Awwal 3, 1427 |
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World No Tobacco Day
Pensioners’ plight
Storming the PMDC office
Baloch senator’s presentation
Innocence killed
Heart-breaking letter
5,000-rupee note
Road to Kasur
Where is the leadership?
Karzai’s accusation
I HAVE read with keen interest the article written by Mr Shahid Javed Burki on the status of social sciences and public policy in our country (“Primacy of Social Sciences”, May 23). In my view, he has touched upon core issues that are not only affecting the flawed policies being pursued in the public sector universities but also at the Higher Education Commission and the ministry of education. Although the current emphasis on science and technology is needed to make Pakistan a competitive country in the present era of globalisation and open economy, ignoring the social sciences and the field of public policy is not right.
The economy and civil society of a country cannot progress without the development of the social sciences and public policy.
Why then have these areas suffered from neglect in our institutions of higher learning? First, most of our past policymakers, as well as top bosses in the Higher Education Commission, did not have any appreciation of the critical role that disciplines like economics, sociology, anthropology and psychology can play.
It is rather unfortunate that someone like Mr Burki had to say that Pakistan had not produced any economist of eminence except for Dr Mahbubul Haq. Would anyone like to refute this claim?
Second, even today we have at the helm of policymaking people who have scant appreciation of the importance of the social sciences and public policy in the development of a society. Today, the Higher Education Commission does not have on board a social scientist who is known in the community of social scientists in the country.
Third, the development of curricula and research agenda in the social sciences is treated in a procedural rather than a creative manner.
In view of the above, there is an urgent need to set up a high-powered commission to diagnose as to what is ailing our social sciences, both in the curricula, material development, faculty development and research.
Instead of appointing retired generals from the army or retired civil servants, eminent scholars from within the country, supported by experts from abroad, should be invited to constitute this commission. The diagnosis of this commission should be used to make policy intervention in this area.
As regards public policy Mr Burki is right in suggesting that robust and technically sound inputs to our policymaking can only be possible through independent public policy institutes.
This can happen only if concerned citizens from different sectors bring their intellectual resources together to make a humble start in this direction.
In this connection, when the National School of Public Policy was launched , one had hoped that it would be a professional and academically strong initiative. But just look at the head of this school and the composition of the board of governors barring one or two names.
A retired general heading a school of public policy and a few secretaries and businessmen. Good heavens! How would these people help in designing public policy curriculum and defining a research agenda relevant to our societal needs.
I hope that the president realises that even though there are undoubtedly some very capable retired generals, retired generals are not the solution for uplifting our academic, training and research institutions.
ZAFAR I. QURESHI
Lahore
MAY 31 is World No Tobacco Day. WHO’s theme for this year’s No Tobacco Day is “Tobacco: deadly in any form or disguise.” This is a timely reminder to all those who use tobacco in any form. Tobacco is the world’s single largest preventable cause of death today. Last year, it killed five million people and if the rising trend of tobacco smoking is not controlled in developing countries, the death toll is expected to rise to 10 million per year by 2025.
Electronic and print media must use this day to educate the public against the dangers of tobacco use.
For a smoker, this is the day for getting rid of their addiction. Smokers have several misconceptions about tobacco use. Many think it helps them to relieve stress. What they consider “stress relief,” is actually relief from nicotine withdrawal symptoms, which a smoker experiences when he does not light up a cigarette for a few hours. Research has shown that stress levels in those who give up smoking are much lower than in those who continue to smoke.
Quitting smoking is the best thing a smoker can do to improve his health. Research has shown that more than 50 per cent smokers die prematurely from smoking-related illnesses; half of those deaths occur between the ages of 40 and 60 years.
According to a scientific study conducted in the UK, each smoked cigarette takes away 11 minutes of the smoker’s life. On an average, a person who smokes 20 cigarettes per day will eventually lose about 10 to 12 years of his life. Also, the quality of smokers’ lives is far inferior to that of non-smokers. Those who smoke fewer than 10 cigarettes a day can give up smoking with will power alone. Others who smoke heavily and are addicted to tobacco would need certain medicines to control nicotine withdrawal symptoms.
Most smokers wait for a serious illness like a heart attack, a stroke, or cancer before they decide to give up this addiction. This is often too late as much damage to the human body would already have been done. The best way of quitting smoking is “stopping it altogether.” Those who think that they will quit by gradually decreasing the number of cigarettes they smoke, usually do not succeed. Most doctors in Pakistan have not received any training on smoking cessation during their five years training in medical schools. There is a need for providing such training so that doctors could help those who wish to get rid of this deadly addiction.
PROF. JAVAID KHAN
Karachi
This refers to the letter “Pensioners’ plight” wherein a retired army officer has described the apathy of the government towards his sufferings. His account is the exact picture of every pensioner destined to suffer at the hands of myopic policymakers; who themselves await the same fate sooner or later. I too fall in the same hapless class of superannuated group. I retired in February in 2000 as an executive director of State Bank of Pakistan, in the last stage of the monetised pay-scale and since then have suffered mental anguish for the following reasons.
Against the prevalent laws and rules of the State Bank, those who opted for the pension scheme their pension was calculated on the basis of 50 per cent of the last drawn pay; whereas 100 per cent of the monthly pay drawn was made basis for those who opted for gratuity.
In this way those sitting at the helms of affairs have framed a discriminatory policy beneficial only to a favourite class and financially rob those who opted for pension.
Besides, now the last stage of the pay-scale of an executive director has been revised to Rs150,000 per month, raising the monthly pay three times drawn till the year 2000. However, the pensioners who were already robbed of substantial financial benefits and are facing extreme hardships have not been allowed any relief in pension, what to talk of equal treatment.
The governor of the State Bank of Pakistan is, therefore, requested to have mercy on those pensioners who are victims of the bank’s discriminatory policy and order (i) calculation of pension of those who retired since introduction of monetised pay-scale on the same basis as is being allowed to those who have opted for gratuity and (ii) pensions may be revised in view of increase in consonance with the recent raise in pay-scales in all grades for ending victimization and ensuring uniformity of treatment.
Besides the above, my appeals on several matters such as cash payment of leave, six monthly salary of LPR and R&R and depreciation as well as documents of vehicle which was allowed to me at the time of retirement have been pending for a long time for which I request the governor to decide the same at an earliest to relieve me of extreme mental and financial anxieties.
DR ALI AKBAR M. DHAKAN
Karachi
RECENTLY there was a news item in national papers regarding the storming of the building where the PMDC meeting was being held in Islamabad.
This was done not by hooligans or political workers or mullahs but by highly-educated chancellors and vice-chancellors of private medical universities and principals of private medical colleges.
Apparently they wanted to attend a meeting to which they were not invited. Why then blame Nawaz Sharif who sent his cronies to storm the Supreme Court, upon which the honourable judges had to retreat to save themselves.
It is now common knowledge that private medical colleges are commercial ventures. They fleece students by charging heavy fees to the tune of several hundred thousand rupees. Their educational standards are no better than those of Latin American mushroom medical colleges. There is probably no other country in the world which has such a number of medical universities as Pakistan.
These private colleges employ part-time medical teachers, but to hoodwink the PMDC they show them as full-time professors.
The behaviour of vice-chancellors has brought further shame to our country. No wonder our country is rated ninth among failed states.
Do our worthy chancellors expect that the world will not take notice of this incidence? How will the authorities in the UK and the US recognise degrees from such medical colleges?
PROF ABDUL GHANI SIDDIQUI
Hyderabad
THE Washington-based US Institute of Peace, which is funded by the US government, arranged a video presentation from London of the dissident Senator Sanaullah Baloch, after failing to bring him to the US due to non-issuance of visa.
During the presentation he made several irrational and self-contradictory claims and observations (Dawn, May 26). For example, he criticised the bringing of outsiders, including Chinese, to do jobs that he said should have gone to the locals. “The Chinese receive all the facilities as if they are the real citizens while the Baloch get no facilities,” he said. The senator also stated that China has geopolitical interests in Balochistan and it is interested in the province’s natural resources as well, particularly copper.
The senator knows very well that it is common practice in developing countries, including Pakistan, for foreign experts to be called in by governments to help in various projects when persons of suitable expertise are not available locally. These specialists are everywhere provided facilities that are in keeping with their usual working conditions, if not better, and the tradition of hospitality, as in case of Pakistan, may add to these.
Thus, the criticism is not only unjustified but shows the gentleman’s malice towards the Chinese since he has singled them out. Another reason for doing so appears to be his desire to exploit Washington’s suspicions about China. No wonder the Chinese, who are great friends of Pakistan, have lost some among their ranks to the murderous hands of terrorists.
The senator also talked of “mass disappearances of Baloch activists” but then contradicted himself by quoting Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao. He said the latter had acknowledged arresting 400 political activists, most of whom had been accounted for but 50 were still missing. Does this amount to “mass disappearance”? A much greater number of suspects have been rounded up in the campaign against Al Qaeda and many alleged militants are still untraceable. Still, one agrees whole-heartedly that the government must account for all and try them according to the law.
The nationalist politician slammed Islamabad for upholding self-determination in and demilitarisation of Kashmir but not applying these principles to Balochistan. This is untenable because the province had itself opted for Pakistan and some disgruntled sardars with vested interests cannot be allowed to dismember the country.
It is noteworthy that Islamabad is not supporting the secessionist movements by Muslims in China, Indonesia and the Philippines or the Tamils in Sri Lanka. But the government has to act militarily when innocent people, including the Baloch, become victims of rockets, bombs and anti-tank and other mines used by the insurgents.
Moreover, it bears recalling that one fair-minded person, Mr Imran Jamali, had written in these columns from Balochistan on Jan 16 and quoted figures to prove that after 1999 Punjab had made the most sacrifices for his province.
In contrast to Balochistan, the Kashmiris were not allowed to choose between India and Pakistan as per the partition plan and subsequent UNSC resolutions but had been forcibly annexed by India. Mr Baloch and his nationalist colleagues are trying to mislead the international community by making such statements.
One of the participants of the seminar, Mr Frederic Grare of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, commented that “it is meaningless to say who is training the Baloch nationalists and how. The Baloch have genuine grievances and the Pakistan government has made no attempts to address them.”
It is regrettable that the institute holding the seminar has apparently not shown a similar concern for the Kashmiris whose freedom struggle is labelled as ‘terrorism’ in the West. One agrees that our Baloch brethren have some genuine grievances, but the seminar organisers did an injustice to Islamabad by failing to invite a government representative who could provide them with relevant facts and figures and answere the allegations.
Nevertheless, our foreign office or the embassy should send a fact sheet listing all the development work apace in Balochistan to the institute and all the seminar participants. It must also account for the under-development over there and outline the remedial measures planned.
One would still like to ask Mr Grare how would he feel if during the Cold War some foreign power had started arming and training Afro-Americans and Native Americans (Red Indians) who have suffered far more than the Baloch for hundreds of years and have numerous grievances against the white majority in the US?
PAKISTANI FIRST
Karachi
It was saddening to read about the 14-year-old girl who was shot five times by her own cousin because she refused to marry him (Dawn, May 25). This unfortunate girl passed away in Jinnah Hospital in Karachi. What a cruel punishment was given to her by the so-called men of our society, who left her wounded with five bullets in her body in a dark ditch thinking that she was dead.
This is the story of hundreds of innocent girls living in our villages. And we have been reading and listening to such traumatic stories for years. Who is to be blamed for this? The heartless people who commit the gruesome sins or the authorities who always fail to stop the crime or even to punish the criminals? A lot has to be done to eliminate these barbarous acts.
FILZA G. SIDIQI
Wexford, Ireland
THIS is with reference to the letter from Adnan Khan in the US (May 24) commenting on an article by Irfan Husain. Rarely have I come across a letter with so much emotion, so much pain and so much desolation on what has gone wrong with our country and what forces intelligent people like the writer of the letter to move away from the people they love so dearly and become a “stranger in a strange land” as the writer puts it.
The letter should be compulsory reading for every person in a position of power in this country. However, I guess you cannot get the deaf to listen or the blind to see and while the merry-go-round of power and politics goes on in this land of the pure, we lose thousands of bright people like Mr Khan.
F. PASHA
Karachi
THE launching of 5,000-rupee notes aim at ‘facilitating the people and the market’, according to the SBP governor’s statement (Dawn, May 27).
Way back when high denomination notes were discontinued, it was argued that this was being done to stop smuggling of currency.
Now it appears that smuggling and inflation are no more, and that the elite and the powerful market forces are allowed to enjoy their windfall.
MOHAMMAD ALEEM SHAIKH
Karachi
LAST year on April 11, Gen Pervez Musharaf inaugurated the construction of a dual carriageway from Chungi Amar Sidhu, Lahore, to Kasur. The project was proposed to complete in a year with Rs2 billion. Now one year has passed but the road is still incomplete.
It has become a source of trouble for people rather than relief. The stone is laid throughout and the construction work is in progress very slowly. Now the season of duststorms has started and whenever wind blows, it becomes a source of trouble for the local people and drivers.
Second, telephone cables of the specified area remain uprooted for the last five months and the people are suffering from lack of communication facilities.
I request the authorities concerned to complete the project as soon as possible and at least water the road regularly so that the dust is not be a cause of trouble for people.
ZUBAIR BUTT
Lahore
I READ the article ‘The bitter truth of our politics’ by Murtaza Razvi with an open mind and found it partly biased and partly incomplete. He has discussed Pakistan’s political history and concluded that Pakistan needs proper leadership as he doesn’t see candidates among present politicians or army generals. Let us presume he is right in his assessment.
Does he have any solution for changing the ‘political field’ and bringing in new leadership? His article would have been complete had he given the answers to these pertinent questions. It’s easy to point out the problems. Everyone can do that. It is difficult to come up with solutions.
DR GHAYUR AYUB
London UK
AFGHAN President Hamid Karzai has once again criticised Pakistan. Pakistan and its people have done a lot for the Afghans and this is what we are getting in return. I think it’s time for us to take action. Our government should send all the refugees back to Afghanistan as only then will their country stabilise.
FAWAD SULTAN KHWAJA
Peshawar
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