| June 17, 2006 | Saturday | Jumadi-ul-Awwal 20, 1427 |
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Budget disillusionment
Turbulence at the airport
Hindu graveyard
Social security in Islam
Dental college hardship
Quota for disabled people
CED on foreign travel
Job well done
Kashmir problem
Social responsibility
Malaysian PM fined
THIS is with reference to a news item printed in the press on June 5 in which Mr Nawaz Sharif said: “My government was ambushed for patriotism”. May I ask him what he means by patriotism?
Does he mean patriotism for his Ittefaq foundry or patriotism for his palaces and mansions? Did he forget that during his tenure, with reserves of a mere $500 million, the country was about to be declared a ‘defaulted state’? Yet he claims that “had continuation of his government been allowed, Pakistan would have outpaced South Korea”. Surely, Mr Sharif is not that naïve.
Nobody has forgotten his freezing of foreign exchange accounts, which some analysts say was the second worst financial decision in the country’s history, after nationalisation of industry. People still remember ministers and MNAs attacking the Supreme Court on what is regarded as the ‘darkest day’ in Pakistan’s recent history.
Mr Sharif then decided to make someone like Rafiq Tarar president just to avoid any accountability. However, his most expensive and infeasible decision was regarding the making of the lengthy motorway which is still a burden on the country’s exchequer.
Nor have people forgotten about his tough action against media freedom, when one of the top newspapers was reduced to two pages and journalists were threatened and beaten for writing against the government. People also wonder about what happened to the ‘qarz utaro mulk sawaro’ scheme money??
Not to mention the yellow cab scheme scandal, the Mercedez scandal, the closing of the Saindak project and the closing of the Hubco deal. Mr Sharif forgot to mention that the World Bank and the IMF had warned him and his government against manipulating the country’s financial figures.
Last but not least, Mr Sharif tried to ‘hijack’ a commercial airplane of his own country which had the army’s chief of staff and 250 civilian passengers on board, including 40 children. Is this what he calls ‘patriotism’? The people of Pakistan will not be fooled again by such face-saving gimmicks.
JAWAD HAIDER
Quetta
THE indifference shown by the people to the much proclaimed ‘people’s budget’ manifests the complete lack of trust and lack of hope of anything good from the government. There is not a single government that I have seen in my 43 years of existence, whether military or civilian, which has not claimed to have accomplished some record-breaking feats.
It requires some impudence to always declare some kind of records every year despite the fact that ordinary people continue to suffer under the burden of expense and pathetic living conditions.
The tax-payer has become disillusioned by listening to the same rhetoric over and over again. How can a tax culture develop when the entire nation remains sceptical about the use of funds, the lack of transparency and a never-ending alleged state of emergency that sucks up better part of the budget for the armed forces? On what good use has public money has been spent to improve the lot of the people?
Have our roads improved? Ask anyone who plies on the roads of any city of Pakistan. Traffic is a mess everywhere. Is our police any better? Ask anyone who gets to deal with this department. Courts? I don’t want to be incarcerated for showing lack of respect to the judicial system. Hospitals? Stories galore. Income-tax and customs? Despite much freedom it seems even TV channels shy away from narrating the tales of ordinary citizens who must deal with these departments.
Education? Hats off to the ISI. Railways? Recently we read something about good intentioned generals in this regard. Thank God, there were no bad intentioned civilians involved. Electricity? Despite being a nuclear power more than half the country still spends most of the time without it. Drinking water? People in big cities had to die from contaminated water to get the administration moving to change the rusty, age-old pipes.
We are in the habit of doing things as a last resort. The government on the other hand is not tired of declaring big strategies which are completely unfelt at the public level. Though they have their importance, it is more essential that the government pay equal or even greater heed to small things in trying to improve the living conditions of the masses. Else the existing disillusionment will go deeper and deeper and would become unrecoverable.
M. DANYAL ADNAN
Karachi
I WANT to bring to the public’s notice the practices of PIA at King Fahd International Airport in Dammam, Saudi Arabia. The check-in staff (particularly their supervisor) believes that PIA is their personal property and they can do whatever they wish regardless of the rules and regulations set by the airline.
The supervisor will invariably let his acquaintances, relatives, and friends jump queues. I would like to know whether PIA has give him the authority to let some passengers carry excess baggage of up to 18 kilos, while other passengers are charged even for two or three extra kilos.
I personally witnessed this last night when my wife was travelling to Pakistan. She was booked on PIA Flight 242 for Karachi and onwards to Faisalabad. The ticket clearly stated the baggage allowance of 45 kilos, so we packed the baggage accordingly.
At the time of check-in, we were informed that the rules have been changed and the baggage allowance has been reduced to 40 kilos. This was a shock to us.
Our repeated protests resulted in the check-in supervisor doing nothing; in fact he acted like he could not hear us at all. The officer in charge of payments started shouting at us when we protested their behaviour.
They told us that the travel agent had written the wrong amount of baggage allowance on the ticket. The interesting thing is that I visited the local PIA office a few days earlier and had my wife’s ticket stamped for reconfirmation. I wonder who will trust PIA if they will not honour a document printed by themselves, and which has their stamp on it.
I suppose we should be careful in taking PIA flights lest they start reducing the baggage allowance to zero upon arrival at the airport because ‘the recent directive said so’ or even dishonouring tickets and not allowing passengers to travel at all.
I have been a frequent flyer on PIA even though it is more expensive than other airlines because I believed in helping our national carrier. However, the attitude of PIA and its staff prompts me to take another airline instead. After all, why shouldn’t I pay less for the same baggage allowance, better planes and more leg room? I would like to get an answer to this question from the management of PIA.
PROF ASRAR SHEIKH
Dhahran, Saudi Arabia
I submit the following few lines for consideration of the president, the prime minister and the chief minister of Punjab. On behalf of the Hindu community of Rawalpindi I submitted an application in 2003 in the office of the prime minister of Pakistan for the provision of land for a Hindu graveyard in Rawalpindi.
I am greatly obliged that the office of the prime minister has taken an initiative by marking the application vide letter No. 1(2)/Pol.Secy/PM/2003-1718 dated 19-05-2003 to the district nazim of Rawalpindi, for consideration keeping in view that the graveyard is the basic necessity of human beings and a fundamental right, which is guaranteed in the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
That district nazim vide his letter No. 1322/ZN dated 12-11- 2003 has requested the executive district officer (revenue), Rawalpindi, to report the latest position of the case.
That the district officer (revenue), Rawalpindi, has reported the case to the executive district officer (revenue), Rawalpindi, vide his Letter No. 26/Do/NTO dated 29-05-2004, that a land measuring 20 kanal out of Khasra No. 20, Mouza Rakh Dhamial, has been proposed for the purpose and this land is owned by the government of Punjab and is under the possession of the forest department of Punjab.
That the executive district officer (revenue) vide his letter No. 324/EDO (Rev)/NTO dated 07-07-2004 has requested the secretary (revenue), Board of Revenue, Punjab, Lahore, for necessary order for the proposed land of 20 kanal after taking consent of the forest department of Punjab.
That the Board of Revenue, Punjab, vide its letter No. 1093 04/686-CII dated 18-09-2004 addressed to the secretary to the Punjab forest department was requested on Sept 18, 2004 to issue an NOC for the provision of land for the Hindu graveyard as the proposed land is under the possession of forest department.
The request is still pending. As a graveyard is a basic necessity, the office of the secretary of the Punjab forest department is asked to expedite the issuance of NOC so that land for a Hindu graveyard in Rawalpindi can be allotted.
CHANNA LAL BHATTI
Rawalpindi
SIDRAH Unis’s article on the concept of social security in Islam (June 16) is the sort of effort we need in order to project the true image of Islam.
Without using any emotional and irrelevant rhetoric — which, unfortunately, most of our writers do — Ms Unis has explained some of the various responsibilities of an Islamic state towards its subjects in a very logical manner. She has supported her arguments with Quranic verses and historical facts.
Indeed, it is due to the lack of awareness about the true teachings of Islam that the West harbours so many misconceptions about our faith. At the same time, the irresponsible conduct of certain Muslim factions and governments also causes a lot of confusion about the nature and ideology of this religion.
We need to learn what Islam really stands for and also tell the West about it.
ASMA IRFAN
Lahore
THIS is in reply to ‘another affected father’ of a student of Fatima Jinnah Dental College, (June 9) who laments that the basic issue of asking for extra amount for the ‘invented terminology’ of clinical surcharge was sidelined. Instead “the main purpose was to highlight the kind of education his college is providing and the standard of education it is maintaining.”
I wish to inform all parents that an educational institution, and more essentially a professional dental college, should have as its primary concern the providing of quality education and clinical skills. Once achieved, its main efforts should be towards maintaining this standard. Our claim is that our faculty is adequate, permanent, regular and fulltime. All this is at a great cost to the college but for the solitary benefit of the students.
It may be of interest to note that as a pioneer private institution, the college underwent exhausting and stringent scrutiny by various authorities having power and control over it. Our competent and reputable legal advisers are doing a wonderful job in keeping us afloat, both at the provincial and federal level. As regards financial experts, one could rest assured that we have their services as per our requirements.
Without carrying brief for other colleges, I would mention that as a free standing dental college this college has developed its facilities, buildings and faculty for the exclusive teaching and training of dental students. Other medical-dental colleges use the same for both MBBS and BDS students. Efforts to establish this college were made as there was no dental college in Karachi in the early 1990s.
In the last five years there are seven dental colleges and another three medical and three dental colleges are planned this year at Karachi. How would the previously established colleges cope with this situation? A few colleges have already increased the fee for the clinical teaching and training and others are contemplating to do so. Others are thinking of adding the clause of 10 per cent increase in its declared annual fee.
The claim by the ‘father’ that they were asked “not to inform the PMDC, etc, about this matter” is vehemently denied. The subject of fee, etc., being charged by the college was taken up with the PMDC vide my letter No. PM&DC/ISL-SEC/FJDC-15-02, dated 21st September 2002.
In reply, the PMDC in its letter Ref. No. PF.59-F-2002(FJDC)/865 dated 26th September 2002 informed that the “PMDC has no concern with the amount of fee being charged by the College.” As such, the college is in a comfortable position in this and all other matters concerning the regulatory authorities in accordance with the prevailing laws.
In the end, I would like to stress that we are not oblivious to the predicament of parents. Two meetings with parents have already been held and more are planned for the coming week. It is hoped that through discussions and negotiations, a mutually agreed formula can be worked out for solving the problem.
DR S. BAQAR ASKARY
Chief Executive,
Fatima Jinnah Dental College
Karachi
ALTHOUGHT there is two per cent quota for the disabled for employment in grades 1 to 15, with 10 years’ upper-age relaxation, the irony is that disabled people are not accommodated in this regard. In the banking sector they are ignored straightaway. Also in higher education, especially in the field of PhD, the disabled people are discouraged.
In Pakistan there is no special education offered in higher institutions. Whenever questions are raised about these issues the government comes out with lame excuses that it has already made such and such laws and has directed the departments concerned to enforce these but the ground reality is that whatever laws there are, they remain in the statute book.
We, the disabled, appeal to the government, the World Bank, the UN and such other bodies that we must be helped as far as possible by them in areas of education, employment and empowerment.
We demand that we should have a quota of five per cent seats in parliament because we form five per cent of the population of Pakistan. Without our being in parliament, we think that no policy concerning the disabled people will succeed. We must be a part of law-making and decision-making.
We demand a university or two for special education where we can learn information technology, management sciences, media and production sciences, biotechnology and telecom sciences from foreign faculty. We hope civil society, i.e., political parties, intelligentsia, media and NGOs, will take up our cause.
GHULAM ALI SHAH
Karachi
THIS is with reference to the imposition of 15 per cent CED on foreign travel announced by the government in the 2006-07 budget. One fails to understand the logic of the Central Board of Revenue in recommending such measures.
It is worth noting that mostly foreign travel that takes place is business-related or of those Pakistanis who live abroad and visit their families regularly. These people already earn valuable foreign exchange for the country, while leisure travelling would be a very small component of the travelling undertaken by the people of Pakistan.
Imagine the case of a Pakistani labourer or worker who is joining work or the case of pilgrims going to Makkah to perform Umrah. Why does the government keep on taxing these people through indirect means? This is not the right approach.
People will eventually find loopholes and it will be the Pakistani government and Pakistani airlines like PIA that will suffer the most.
The CBR should think about such scenarios while coming up with such ideas. Instead of focusing on how to increase our tax base by increasing the number of taxpayers, it keeps focusing on how to milk the already overtaxed ones.
ALI WAHAB
Karachi
IT is heartening to note that a penalty of Rs10,000 to Rs40,000 has been imposed on the various delinquent sugar mills. It is indeed ‘just’ punishment for plundering billions of rupees from the public through unfair trade practices.
Great job, Monopoly Control Authority.
INAM ELAHI SUKERA
Lahore
THIS refers to the letter by Mr Nasir Siddique regarding Kashmir (June 6) and the other letters supporting his stance on the issue. I beg to differ with them. An independent Kashmir is neither in the interest of Pakistan, nor India, nor the Kashmiris.
A small, land-locked country at odds with its neighbours will be hijacked by unscrupulous elements, mafia dons, etc. This will soon lead it to the wrath of the world superpowers.
Even jointly, Pakistan and India will not be able to handle these unscrupulous elements and they will also not be able to stop superpowers from going their own ways.
The best solution is to maintain the status quo in Kashmir, with both sides being given maximum autonomy to trade and travel without restrictions.
As far as defence and security matters are concerned, they should be the joint concern of Pakistan and India.
SANJAY SAXENA
Dehradun, India
I AGREE with ‘a Pakistani’ (letter, June 8) regarding the offensive nature of dares performed on the TV show ‘Living on the edge’. The event that has been described involves violent physical contact with another person.
I don’t know about Pakistan but in some other countries that would definitely constitute a punishable offence under the law.
Gentle physical contact is one thing, but hitting someone with force is completely another. This is not to say that all dares shown on the programme are violent.
An idea for the hosts of the show is to let the participants perform ‘dares’ involving only the participants themselves, something on the lines of the show called ‘Fear Factor’ (probably from where the concept was taken).
This way only the participants will end up with an adrenalin rush, while others will be spared the humiliation caused by their daring actions.
HASAN BIN HAMZA
Karachi
THE news report ‘Malaysian PM fined’(June 12) was a pleasure to read.
“Abdullah said he would pay the summons amounting to some 278 dollars on Monday”.
One can only hope and pray that a day will come when similar news will appear regarding our leaders. It is no wonder that Malaysia is where it is today, a proud and progressive country.
The answer lies in the rule of law and its enforcement without discrimination.
NAZIM F. HAJI
Karachi
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