| June 12, 2006 | Monday | Jumadi-ul-Awwal 15, 1427 |
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Let sanity prevail
A clash of systems
‘Poverty gauge flawed’
Dental college hardship
Karachi: then & now
Protesting Da Vinci Code
Quaid’s cars
Storming the PMDC office
Waste of power
‘Crying will not help’
MR Mir Ali’s letter ‘Inefficient power plants’ (June 2) shows his anger and frustration at the energy scenario in Pakistan and rightly depicts the helplessness that all concerned people feel on this subject.
It really hurts to see how unrealistic our energy policies are. All we hear from the authorities are repeated announcements that we do not have energy shortages and the present problems are only temporary glitches and very soon everything will be ‘hunky-dory’.
We just do not hear the truth which, in simple terms, should make it clear to everyone that we just cannot afford our wasteful ways and energy conservation is really the only option for us.
And now to the points raised in Mr Mir Ali’s letter:
1. Both industrial and the KESC’s (and most of Wapda’s) power plants need ‘revamping’. In the present circumstances, we have to make our industrialists understand the importance of energy conservation. Long-term solution for best economics will require adoption of efficient technologies and the sooner this is done, the better for the country, as well as for the industries themselves. As far as the KESC is concerned, it is certain that they will have to ensure high efficiency to survive and it is only hoped that the government will not continue to make enormous payments to them to subsidise inefficiency (as in the past).
2. Demolition of inefficient large commercial complexes is definitely not the answer but also it is not sensible to subsidise energy supplies to inefficient buildings for airconditioning. Gas tariffs charged to these energy guzzlers is subsidised to a point where users do not care for efficiency. International gas tariff is minimum $9 per MMBTU and we encourage waste by charging only 50 per cent of this tariff for both the SSGC and SNGPL. The government charges full import value plus taxes for imported oil but offers lower gas tariffs for commercial use, which only encourages waste.
3. ‘Green buildings’ are now recognised as essential requirements everywhere since a typical target for such projects is lowering energy consumption by 50 per cent. Even in the US, where emphasis on energy conservation was minimal only a few years back, laws are being changed to meet the new requirements and most cities there are enforcing ‘green’ codes. Green technologies in large buildings would save considerable energy.
4.Coal is definitely the best and most economical fossil fuel and if Mr Ali knew the quality of furnace oil being imported in Pakistan (for power generation), he would never speak against our own coal. Due to the oil lobby’s influence, we import enormous quantities of high sulphur furnace oil (full of heavy metals and other very harmful impurities) at a great cost, both in terms of foreign exchange and environment pollution since this dirty oil is used mostly near habitation and agricultural lands.
5. No one is against wind power. The only recommendations have been to ensure power at affordable costs. Just like the 1994 energy policy which forced the country to accept high power costs (which we will pay for the next 15 to 20 years), wind power is being proposed by vested interests at exorbitant cost (nearly 10 cents per kWH).
We need to check final prices to consumers and always remember that we refused to accept 5.7 cent per kWH for Thar coal project offered by a Chinese company.
AINUL ABEDIN
Karachi
While President General Mushrraf may continue to believe that he is winning his war on terror in Balochistan and the NWFP, daily news reports tell an entirely different story. Leading intellectuals of the country and every day newspapers editorials continue to advice the government to seek a political solution to the worsening situation in Balochistan and the NWFP.
The highly respected retired Air Marshal Nur Khan’s latest analysis of the situation recently printed in the media also warrants reconsideration of the government’s policy. It had expected that the new governor would introduce policy change in the tribal areas with emphasis on political rather than military means to bring the situation under control. The recent suicide bombing indicates that the militants have interpreted the new appointment altogether differently. The Balochistan government has to bear a loss of Rs1.5 billion in gas pipelines blown up incidents during the fiscal year 2005-2006.
The recent decision to replace civil servants with military personnel to administer the tribal areas also seems to have sent a negative message. There is no let-up in violence. The army is currently bogged down in Waziristan and Balochistan. The ill-advised policy has already led to many causalities among civilians and troops. Army deployment to resolve issues created by complicated social, political or economic problems provides an impetus to militancy instead of curbing it. There is a need under the circumstances to seek a political rather than military solution in Waziristan and Balochistan.
I hope that President Mushrraf would take notice of the saner voices. Please don’t let Pakistan be another Sri Lanka, Algeria or Lebanon. I would also request my fellow Pakistanis to start a letter writing campaign in the hope that the government would hear the voices of sanity.
AMNA MUNIR
Lahore
ACCORDING to a report in the Guardian titled ‘A clash of culture’, Prince Charles of Britain has been speaking in favour of using a more holistic approach to complementary (alternative) medicine (Dawn, May 26), that is, employing other systems of medicine, besides allopathy, such as homoeopathy, acupuncture/ acupressure and herbal.
However, a group of 13 eminent clinical scientists have opposed such a move saying many systematic reviews have failed to produce convincing evidence that homoeopathy, for instance, works any better than placebos.
This claim is refuted by the fact that homoeopathy has been seen to provide relief even to children and animals, which cannot be explained by the placebo effect. This correspondent had as a child suffered from recurring bouts of tonsillitis for which surgical removal of the tonsils had been prescribed. But, treatment by a reputable homoeopath — even though lengthy, as had been cautioned by the gentleman at the outset — provided a long-term cure.
Apart from that, taking high doses of Vitamin C (megavitamin therapy healed an infected cyst many years later, for which surgery was again touted as the only cure. Yet another example is of acupressure where one has treated many patients as an amateur. The clinching evidence, as observed by this correspondent and some other people, is that related acupressure points sometimes become painful according to the illness(es) these points treat. This could not be due to mental suggestion since the people concerned were not aware of the significance of these points.
Thus, Prince Charles is right in his counsel. However, the report’s title is misleading and should instead have been “A clash of systems,” because homoeopathy, chiropractic, megavitamin therapy, etc., were also developed in the West while some of the other systems of treatment originated in the East.
OPEN-MINDED
Karachi
THE deputy chairman of the planning commission while explaining the conflicting figure of the government and that of NGOs regarding the poverty graph (Dawn, June 1) has blamed the assessment methodology 2001. He states that the existing method of judging poverty incidence is flawed and claimed that, according to the new method, overall poverty in the country has declined to 23.9 per cent.
I am a retired public servant of provincial civil services but a lay man in the field of economics. The parameters of judging poverty indexes are not to my understanding. Therefore, they do not matter to me. However, what matters to me is price hike of all utilities and goods that has halved my already paltry earning, i.e., pension.
Can the deputy chairman put in plain words how poverty has decreased when in the last five years there has been a persistent increase in petrol products’ prices (more than 100 per cent) which has raised the cost of almost every commodity: rise in sugar prices to more than 80 per cent, inflated cost of electricity, gas, water, fabulous increase in the value of real estate, as well as in the cost of construction, whereas my earning has gone up by just 15 per cent?
I request the chairman to not play with statistics and if he is interested in knowing the ground reality he may visit the households of the middle class, lower middle class and the poor. He will find that not only the poor are now living in abject poverty but the other two classes also are close to poverty because of the drastic rise in the cost of living and paltry increase in the concomitant income. The innovative parameters adopted by the planning commission now (not disclosed as yet) are, at the face of it, faulty and need to be corrected.
RAFIQUE AHMED SIDDIQUI
Karachi
APROPOS of Dr S. Baqar Askary’s letter ‘Dental college hardship (May 30), the establishment of a dental college, namely, Fatima Jinnah Dental College, may be a noble deed but its benefits have not reached the population of the locality. It would not be out of place to mention here that the land on which this four-storeyed building is constructed is worth approximately Rs100 million which is not owned by the Cantonment Board, Korangi Creek, but was handed over to the Fatima Jinnah Dental College without any authority.
Basically, it was a community hall. According to a rough estimate, this college earns a handsome amount of Rs25 million, i.e., annual fee for 100 students. But it is regretted that even a a small single-room dispensary is not established in this college for the treatment of the locals. The organisers’ selfishness can be judged from this. We are justified in saying that this locality has not at all benefited from the establishment of such a prestigious institution.
On the other hand, the residents of this locality have been deprived of a community hall, which is a clear violation of the law promulgated by the governor of Sindh in 1994. It is further stated that not a single student of this locality has been given any concession in fee or admission. We disapprove of anything which does not help the locals. We request the senior member of the Board of Revenue, Sindh, and the director-general of the Military Land and Cantonments to take serious notice of this irregularity and rectify the same without further loss of time.
KHALID UMAR CHHURA
Karachi
REFLECTING on Mr Osama Mustafa’s observations (May 28) on my letter (May 21), my original letter has mentioned both Karachi and Larkana when referring to the Bhuttos. Karachi was perhaps left out due to an editing oversight. Nonetheless, even ‘Bhuttos of Larkana’ suggests an identification and does not negate their popularity in other cities and provinces. That it is a narrow expression and takes away something from Bhutto’s name is a matter of perception.
Mr Mustafa has gone to great lengths in detailing Mr Bhutto’s very close affiliation with Karachi. No one can argue with that. Which resident of Karachi does not know of 70 Clifton? Of course, Mr Bhutto courted and married Ms Nusrat in Karachi and, of course, most of his children were born and brought up there. Who can deny that he was a son of Karachi?
It is also true that Karachi gave him its all. It was the city that took on Field Marshal Ayub Khan in his support, when no other city dared. The PPP was literally launched from Karachi and many of its stalwarts come from this city. Yet Mr Bhutto is not known to have opposed the shifting of the capital when he was the foreign minister and the right-hand man of Ayub Khan.
Even when elections were held and the provinces restored., nothing changed for Karachi. It continued to be treated as the stepchild of Pakistan. Mr Yunus Bandukda has proved this amply in his letter (May 28).
The selection of Karachi as the capital of Pakistan by the Quaid-i-Azam was accepted gracefully and whole- heartedly by East Bengal, the majority province. Karachi became truly cosmopolitan and belonged to all Pakistanis from every corner of the country, regardless of language, religion, colour, caste or creed. It still does.
The shifting of the capital.was probably the first nail in the coffin of East and West Pakistan unity. We got a new capital and lost half the country.
S. AFAQ RIZVI
Karachi
I AGREE with Laxmi Murthy (June 6) that one should not resort to violence when protesting about something that would like to dispel the impression somehow conveyed by the letter that the Muslims are the only people given to violent protests.
The threats given by the Christians of India about using all possible means to block the exhibition of the movie over there obviously did riot preclude the use of force, though the situation fortunately changed before things could go that far.
However, there was much frenzy and violence in South India over a month ago after the recent death of the famous actor Rajkumar when thousands of his fans rioted and there were many casualties.
There was also fighting in France during the French students’ protest against the proposed labour laws a few weeks back. Similarly, there were riots in Nepal by those opposed to turning the country into a secular state from a Hindu kingdom. There are many other examples from South America, Africa and Asia besides some from Europe that show people everywhere do indulge in violent behaviour.
In the US also there have been many incidents. A notable example is that of the attacks and death threats to which the immigrant Muslims had been subjected after the Oklahoma City bombing carried out by the Michigan militia in 1996.
American civilians and officials targeted blameless Arab and other Muslim residents in retaliation for 9/11 and other acts of terrorism, besides some law enforcers’ proclivity to use excessive force against the non-whites in general.
Furthermore, America had directed enormous amounts of its violence mainly against Muslim countries in recent times, where most of the victims were innocent. To be fair, it has also helped them at times, as after the earthquake in Pakistan or the tsunami in Indonesia, but that doesn’t reverse the killings and suffering caused by the unfortunate US militarism that has destroyed its image (June 7).
ZAKIR AHMAD
Karachi
THIS refers to the picture of the Quaid-i-Azam’s Packard on page 16 of the June 5 issue of Dawn.
A friend who worked for National Motors 20 years ago had told me that this car was sent to their workshop for restoration before being put back in the Quaid’s mausoleum.
He told me that due to negligence of a mechanic, the crown wheel was destroyed and the car was rendered unusable as it started making a howling noise at over 15mph.
I am quite sure the car is still in that state. I would like bring to the notice of the custodians of the Quaid’s mausoleum that there is a club called the ‘Vintage and Classic Car Club of Pakistan’ having over 150 vintage and classic cars in our registry (www.vcccp.com).
Most of our members have a wealth of experience in restoring and preserving such cars and would take responsibility for maintaining the Quaid’s cars with great enthusiasm if given the opportunity. We would love to see them being used on important days such as March 23 or August 14 every year.
MOHSIN IKRAM
President, Vintage & Classic Car Club of Pakistan,
Krarchi
APROPOS of Prof Abdul Ghani Siddiqui’s letter ‘Storming the PMDC office’ (May 31), I share his concern about the incidence involving educated people which should not have happened. However, his statement about private medical colleges is uncalled for.
If private medical colleges do not charge heavy fees, how can they run? Salaries given to senior professors in these private medical colleges are much higher than those in public sector medical colleges, as most of the teachers are experienced teachers retired from public sector colleges. In public sector medical colleges teachers may be full-time on paper but less than part-time in practice.
Moreover, any professors posted in Hyderabad are doing private practice in Karachi and vice versa? I know of at least two professors who use to go to their original place of posting only twice a week. They are not to be blamed for this as they are paid a very low salary and legally they are allowed private practice outside college timings.
Our country is rated as a failed state not because of these private medical colleges but the system which is upside down from top to bottom.
PROF ISHTIAQ AHMED KHAN
Karachi
GENERAL Pervez Musharaf must be the fourth military ruler of Pakistan who has absolute powers that nobody dares to challenge. But like his erstwhile predecessors he has not done much for his poor hapless nation
The only momentous action that he should have taken is the banishment of the feudal system. His name would have gone down the history and become cherished by every grateful heart in this nation. The president can do this even now and all sins will be forgotten.
Instead he has been engaged in preserving and strengthening his own position. He has been recruited for chasing terrorism while his nation is getting fed up with its president being absorbed in somebody else’s interests and errands.
DR ABDULLAH J. PATHAN
Islamabad
I WONDER for how long people will remember the last line of Mr. Ardeshir Cowasjee’s column ‘Crying will not help’ (June 4) in which he says about President Musharraf: “He is also not a grand larcenist”? Has Mr Cowasjee forgotten that “a man is known by the company he keeps”?
DR O.A. FAROOQI
Buffalo, USA
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