| June 15, 2006 | Thursday | Jumadi-ul-Awwal 18, 1427 |
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Wind power
Mengal of ‘Baloch Voice’
Role of the judiciary
Ban on school textbook
US role in the collapse of USSR
Fine for Malaysian premier
Budget relief?
No free lunch
Dental college hardship
New business timings
WB on gas subsidy
IT is being discussed whether the existing assemblies can elect president for a new term under the Constitution. According to some constitutional experts, there is no bar in doing so. They may be right but in the prevailing situation the election of president should not be taken as purely a constitutional matter. There are some more aspects which must be considered.
It is illogical for the present assembly to lend, beyond its own life of five years, another term to the president. What will be the credibility and legitimacy of the office of the president if after being elected by present assemblies the majority of its members lose in the upcoming general election? It will mean the president elected was chosen by the legislators who were not the representative of the people. Thus, the people will be deprived of their right to choose the president through their elected representatives.
The present assemblies are not representative as they are vigorously tailored to size. The head of two major political parties were barred from contesting elections. The condition of B.A. degree was also placed to get some desired results.
There were widespread allegations of rigging and, finally, a man in uniform was also there to favour a particular party. These were the conditions when present assembly came into being. This assembly has done nothing good for the country since its formation. It is the most submissive national assembly due to its unrepresentative nature. It will be wiser to get rid of it as earlier as possible. Its presence will cause more harm than any good to country and to democratic process.
It would be a disaster if this assembly is given a chance to elect the president. This situation can be avoided through mass resignations from the assemblies. The ARD and the MMA should work on this option. Gen. Musharraf is aware of the situation and, therefore, he is so keen to get himself elected by the present assemblies as it cannot be guaranteed that the new legislature will be as submissive as this one is. He does not want to take any risk despite all the powers he has.
Gen Musharraf was never an elected president as no election has been held according to the procedure laid down in the Constitution for the office of president since the ouster of Mohammad Rafique Tarar, an elected president. So the word ‘re-election’ does not make any sense in his case.
Free and fair elections are not possible under the present setup as the PML-Q has already rigged two local bodies polls and one general election under the patronage of Gen Musharraf. The presidential referendum can also be quoted as an example. Pakistan needs a true representative government which can be realised only through free and fair elections.
ABDUL HAMEED GONDAL
Lahore
PAKISTAN is heading for a major energy crisis. The solution to our energy crisis lies in non-conventional sources. For instance, one wind machine can produce 1.5 to 4.0 million hours (kw/h) of electricity for 150 to 350 homes in a year. As far as efficiency of wind machine is concerned, it can convert 30 to 40 per cent of kinetic wind energy into electricity.
A coal-fired power plant converts 25 to 35 per cent of the chemical energy in coal into usable electricity. Hence compared to energy production from coal, wind energy is better off. We could have signed a deal with the US on wind energy, which produces 30 per cent of the global wind-blown electricity. It cost less than two cent, and new turbines are lowering the cost even more. Although windmills are not the only solution to resolving our energy crisis, it is an option which cannot be overlooked.
The Pakistan government has constituted a separate board, the Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB), which has sanctioned windmills of 50mgw each to 22 applicants. It will cost each applicant about Rs4.350 billion. So far nobody has started, nor will be able to start before 2008. And we do not know how many will be able to mobilise such huge finances?
We fail to understand the logic of keeping the minimum benchmark of 50mgw. When in India, which started producing wind energy from 1995 and is the fourth largest wind power producers in the world, one can start even with one mgw windmill costing only Rs30 million. More surprisingly, one need not to go to any government department or board or go through any bureaucratic procedure for sanction. It’s all in the private sector. Once money is paid a windmill can be started in two to three months. There are two main suppliers of wind mills in India, Suzlon and Enercon, both with German collaboration, which supply, erect and manage your windmills. No doubt it’s a real business-friendly policy.
Our government should seriously consider revising its windmill policies to attract more and more investors, otherwise we shall be left far behind in this sector. Pakistan should not underestimate the potential of wind energy.
M. HANIF GODIL
London, UK
MUNIR Mengal, who reportedly has no links with any political party, was arrested on April 4 at Karachi airport. He had been preparing to launch a Baloch-language TV station, and this appears to be at least part of the reason he was arrested. His whereabouts are unknown, and he is in danger of being tortured or being made to ‘disappear’.
Mr Mengal is the director of the ‘Baloch Voice’, the first independent Baloch-language satellite television channel. Based in the United Arab Emirates, it was scheduled to start broadcasting in June. He has applied to the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority for a licence for the channel.
His relatives say that they were told by immigration officials that Munir Mengal was taken away by the staff of an intelligence agency. They were told the same thing by the director of the FIA. They believe that he may be held in the Malir Cantonment of Karachi. Karachi-based journalists told the NGO Reporters without Borders, which campaigns for press freedom, that intelligence agencies were investigating the source of funding for the ‘Baloch Voice’.
Mr Mengal’s family tried to file a complaint with the police, but failed to do so. The staff at Malir Cantonment has refused to respond to the family’s request for information about his whereabouts. The local people in Balochistan are demanding a bigger share in the revenue generated by the province’s natural resources, principally natural gas, which they believe now benefit other provinces. A number of Baloch groups are seeking more rights for the province, some of which have resorted to violence, while others are campaigning peacefully. The government has attempted to suppress this opposition by increasing the military presence in the region.
In such a situation it would be appropriate that the whereabouts of Munir Mengal be made known, and he should be released immediately and unconditionally, unless he is charged with a criminal offence.
SHAHID BALOCH
Karachi
A NATION whose judiciary fails to discharge its moral obligation, slowly but surely declines into a state of anarchy. The role of the judiciary is to deliver justice and not to indulge in political ramifications of their decisions. Had Justice Muneer stuck to his role as judge, Pakistan would not have suffered the ignominy of 1971, nor slipped into state of lawlessness that prevails today.
There have been very few role models like Justice Cornelius or Justice Kayani. In the recent past we have seen men of the calibre of Justice Saeeduzzaman Siddiqi and Justice Nasir Aslam Zahid, who listened to the voice of their conscience, and refused to undo the oath that they had taken to uphold and preserve the Constitution of Pakistan.
They have won for themselves the honour and respect of a nation, which is in dire need of such rare men of courage. These eminent jurists may not have lands, palatial houses or industries to boast of, but they will always be remembered for doing justice to their job.
In 1962 elections held in West Pakistan, results were engineered by a corrupt judge, who served as chief election commissioner (West Pakistan), under Ayub Khan. Had he not done what he did, this country’s political and geographical landscape would have been much different. These rigged elections triggered discontent in East Pakistan, which ultimately seceded.
If the judiciary alone were to play their role, Pakistan can still emerge as a democratic welfare state that the Quaid and Iqbal visualised. An upright judiciary is more essential for the national security of Pakistan than any other institution.
T. MALLICK
Lahore
THIS is with reference to Paaras Abbas’s letter (June 9). I have just finished my O’ level this month and disagree with her that the book Pakistan ki Kahanian should not be banned. She said that awareness about social issues should be raised to which I do agree, but the stories of this textbook only reveal the truth about the injustices and flaws of our society.
Stories like ‘Maang’, ‘Mera Baap’, ‘Paani se Ghira Paani’ and ‘Chounteeswaan Darwazah’ do not suggest solutions to social problems. Not a single story highlights anything positive about our society. The book portrays the image of a highly uncivilised society and anyone who reads the book will conclude that Pakistani society is the worst anyone could imagine.
UZAIR AHMED KHAN
Karachi
THIS letter is in endorsement of the letter by Paaras Abbas. As a student of HSC part II, I strongly feel for this issue. Frankly, the ethical codes in our society are absolutely beyond my comprehension. The selling and trading of girls who have yet to reach puberty happens to be a norm in the so-called respectable society where females are killed for sacred honour’s sake.
I believe that in a society where females are subjected to discrimination and sexual assaults of the worst kind, the only hope exists in empowering the future generation of females with the awareness and aspiration to defeat this menace.
As for the banning of the book, I guess that is just yet another step in accordance with the ever hopeless and baffling ethical and moral norms of our society.
MARIAM ALVI
Karachi
IN his article ‘The Emerging Russia’ (May 27) former ambassador Tariq Fatemi has given a very fine review of the collapse of the Soviet Union and the resurgence of Russia. In his brief but expressive analysis the writer has covered almost all aspects of a very complex situation which leaves little room for disagreement except on one point.
In the fourth paragraph Mr Fatemi says: “A great power built over centuries collapsed with not a bullet fired nor a dollar spent by the United States”. The fact of the matter is that the United States spent trillions of dollars to achieve the cherished goal of the demise of the Soviet Union. All US policies and strategies for 45 years following the Second World War remained Soviet-centric. All the alliances and treaties were made and broken with reference to the Soviet Union and the only criterion for making friends and/or foes during this period remained their support or otherwise to the achievement of that cherished goal.
The huge, unprecedented and unparalleled defence complex that the US developed was mainly and primarily meant for destruction of the Soviet Union. President Ronald Reagan, while launching the famed Star War programme, made a historic speech wherein he said: “We are initiating such a costly programme that the Soviet Union will be unable to match”. America fostered a litany of dictators throughout the world, including Pakistan, Indonesia, Vietnam, Turkey, the Philippines and Chile. It spent billions of dollars on their nourishment and sustenance. The only purpose was to debilitate the Soviet Union.
What was the ‘Afghan Jihad’ if not a multi-billion-dollar project directed by the United States meant for realisation of the dream of destruction of the Soviet Union ? The amount dollars that flowed into Pakistan during this ‘jihad’ is so huge that many well-placed people partook of the flow, including people who are currently big names in Pakistani politics. Money spent by close allies of the US during the Cold War like Britain, France, Japan, Canada and Australia to defeat the ‘common enemy’ is generally not even accounted for.
Capitalists make investments to reap profits. And America, being the biggest capitalist on earth, made the biggest investment ever to remove the biggest hurdle, the Soviet Union, in the way of capturing and dominating world markets.
Now that the hurdle is gone, the US is utilising its energies and status of the sole superpower to the fullest to seize the global market and exploit the resources of other countries for filling the coffers of the companies and corporations that dominate the American government.
Ventures in Iraq and Afghanistan are just a few manifestations of that policy. The US feels justified in doing whatever it wants and whatever it can since it made huge investments to achieve this position of the sole superpower and now is the time to reap the profit.
ABDUL KHALIQUE JUNEJO
Karachi
THIS is with reference to the news item “Illegal parking, Malaysian PM fined”( June 12). The prime minister will be paying $278 for 11 tickets issued for various violations.
The brave policemen who achieved this feat will certainly faint if they see the VIP movement in Pakistan. I wish the civilian bureaucrats and military top brass would try to infer something from this news.
ALTAMASH JAVED LONE
Karachi
UPON being informed that he had outstanding illegal parking and speeding tickets to pay, Malaysia’s prime minister thanked the authorities for letting him know and indicated he would settle the amount immediately.
I shudder to think of the consequences had someone dared to challenge the authority of the high and mighty in our country. I would imagine it to be somewhat as follows. The policeman, having the audacity to stop a car probably with tinted windows, a fancy personalised number plate and an army of armed guards publicly displaying unregistered weapons, would initially be subject to all sorts of abuses.
The policeman would then be beaten up and kicked till he pleaded for his life. The matter would of course not end there; the man’s name would be referred to the higher-ups who would suspend him from duty without any hesitation. This is the price you have to pay for doing your rightful duty in Pakistan.
ABBAS HAIDER
Karachi
THE government’s claims about giving relief to the common man that were made before budget announcement and the actual relief announced show a substantial difference. Can an increase of Rs500 to Rs1,000 in the salaries of Grade I to Grade 17 officers justify the government’s claim when the price hike has made the life of the common man miserable?
Interestingly, employees hired on contract are not entitled to this increase, while for corporate employees the relief amount is more like peanuts, about Rs50 to Rs100 per month saving in tax on salaries of up to Rs400,000 a year. Are these benefits the big relief claimed by the government?
Can the distribution of pulses, sugar and other discounted commodities through limited Utilities Stores fulfil the needs of 160 million Pakistanis? The government’s policy should be to ensure that discounted commodities are available in neighbourhood general stores rather depend on utilities stores that ultimately do not fulfil the need of millions of people.
KHALID TIPU
Karachi
PRIME Minister Shaukat Aziz visited the Sunday bazaar in Islamabad on June 11. PTV news gave plenty of coverage to his visit. It was, however, sickening to see the PM paying a few rupees for goods purchased by some women while uttering: “Yeh meri taraf say hai” (This is from me).
If the prime minister was paying from the government kitty, he did not do any favour to anyone. If he was paying from his own pocket, he should remember that according to Islamic teachings the left hand should not know what the right hand has given.
In either case, the use of the state media to project favourable images of the rulers is wrong and must be avoided. NUSRAT VOHRA
Karachi
IN response to the views of Khalid Umar Chhura (letter, June 12), I would like to state that Fatima Jinnah Dental College and Hospital Trust, Karachi, acquired the amenity plot measuring 1,380 square yards through advertisement by the Cantonment Board, Korangi Creek, and after competing with other applicants.
The college building was constructed according to the approved plans in 2002. Similar objections of the residents raised in the initial stages were investigated by the Cantonment Board authorities at Karachi, director-general of Military Lands and Cantonments HQ at Rawalpindi and also the Sindh government. It was only after close scrutiny and clearance that the building was completed.
As regards the matter of ‘benefits reaching the population of the locality’, I have to say that another amenity plot for dispensary/hospital measuring 1,800 square yards was also acquired through open bidding.
We have submitted building plans for a 200-bed teaching hospital which would bring sophisticated philanthropic medical services at the doorsteps of the residents.
DR S. BAQAR ASKARY
Chief Executive,
Fatima Jinnah Dental College Karachi
THE decision of the government to close down shopping centres and bazaars early in the evening is ridiculous. If the KESC cannot cope with the increasing demands of power why should the consumer and the retailer suffer?
Closing down shops early would mean that there remains hardly any time for a working professional to shop.
It would also mean the loss of millions of rupees of business for the shop owners and also for the government. Surely, there could be a better solution to all this.
HARIS HASSAN
Karachi
THE World Bank has asked the government to withdraw the subsidies allowed to domestic consumers on the pretext of removing tariff distortions (June 3).
Are we oblivious of the enormity of income and expenses discrepancies between the rich and the poor that need eradication first? Will the government discriminate against its own citizens if the World Bank so desires?
MANSOORUL HAQ SOLANGI
Karachi
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