| July 06, 2006 | Thursday | Jumadi-ul-Sani 9, 1427 |
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‘Repealing Hudood laws’
Tragic road accident
Needy ex-bureaucrats
PTCL sale
Preserving cultural heritage
David versus Goliath
Role model
Frere Hall
Cause for alarm
Empowering traffic cops
Retd
IMAGINE which type of country we are where the current budget has been announced without any population estimation? Whether we are 160 million or 150 million or 142 million (different figures by different development and government institutions) but now we believe that we are above 140 million, at least.
This rapid population growth is affecting natural resources such as gas, electricity and water. According to the Population Association of Pakistan’s Statistical Profile, the country’s population is 142.5 million with 2.1 per cent growth rate (Year 2002 report). Fertility and mortality, the two decisive factors underlying the growth of population, are estimated at a crude birth rate of 30.2 per 1,000 and a crude death rate of 8.3 per 1,000, during the same year 2002.
Pakistan is currently adding about three million and above to its population each year. What growth in population these figures are showing? The government is saying that per capita income of Pakistan is increasing but without mentioning actual figures of population. Why?
Poverty is increasing day by day and influx of population in urban centres is also rapidly increasing.
New shanty towns (slum areas) are emerging on maps of urban cities.
Rural development programmes are facing community participation and ownership problems due to increasing poverty and improper implementation strategy.
The government has no proper plan for development of urban slum areas. Where will these population figures lead us to in the future? The World Population Day will fall on July 11. We must have some rapid planning about population. How India and China have controlled their population? Our planner must read such documents and announce some concrete planning on July 11, otherwise the population bomb will be more fatal than a nuclear bomb.
AIJAZ ALI KHUWAJA
National Urban Poverty Alleviation Programme
Karachi
THIS is with reference to the editorial entitled ‘Repealing Hudood laws’ (July 4).
An important but often overlooked aspect of the matter is that the Hudood laws are being implemented in conjunction with procedural law originating from the British era. What we have in this country is not Islamic law, but a mixture of Islamic and Anglo-Saxon law. This often leads to hardship and unintended consequences.
The Hudood laws are substantive law, but are being implemented in conjunction with the criminal procedure code. You mention that the moment a woman reports rape, she is arrested. This is done under procedural law. There is nothing to this effect in the Hudood laws, nor can I find any provision in the said laws requiring her to produce four witnesses, or be presumed guilty of having committed zina.
An important aspect to which you draw attention in your editorial is legislation through ordinances. Legislation by decree of the executive is a peculiar feature of the legal system of countries once ruled by the British. Even the powerful French president cannot legislate by decree and must approach the legislature.
ASAF ALI SHAH
Lahore
One man messed us up, one man can undo the mess. We need to concentrate, to help President General Pervez Musharraf get the women out of jail and home (there are over 6,500 women in Pakistan’s prisons).
The maulvi-mullah brigade needs to be firmly reminded of what it was Founder-Maker Mohammad Ali Jinnah told the world in February 1948.
“In any case, Pakistan is
not going to be a theocratic state – to be ruled by priests with a divine mission”. And again that same month:
“But make no mistake; Pakistan is not a theocracy or anything like it”.
ARDESHIR COWASJEE
Karachi
WHIILE working at Jinnah hospital, I’ve seen hundreds of cases and have become accustomed to blood and dead bodies that come in and it has actually made me stronger.
But nothing could have prepared me for the emergency that arose some time ago. A man and woman were riding on a motorcycle on Kala Pul when a speeding bus hit them, and the bus driver sped away before he could get caught. The people nearby rushed to their aid and brought them to the hospital. I was there when they were brought in and as I made my way into the room, I stopped dead in my tracks. There was screaming and sobbing, everyone was on full alert since the condition of the couple was serious. The husband had suffered deep gashes in his forehead, arms and legs and had fractured his right shoulder but was conscious.
His wife, however, was in serious condition. She was haemorrhaging severely and was completely covered with blood. She had a gaping wound in her head through which you could see her brain. Her husband kept sobbing and begging us to please save his wife and kept getting away from doctors so he could see her. The staff finally got him under control and assured him his wife was being well taken care of but he managed to get away and went to his wife, held her hand and called out her name but she didn’t respond.
They comforted him and told him that they would do everything they could to save his wife and when he calmed down, they took him away for an x-ray. Two minutes later, his wife died. The room fell into a dead silence. The doctors had done everything they could but her injuries were too severe and they could not stop her from haemorrhaging. Her husband came a few minutes later and the doctor told him that his wife had passed away. His wife was only 20 years old and they had recently been married.
It took every ounce of courage and strength I had to keep from crying. Everyone was visibly upset. As everyone cleaned up in the room, one of the senior doctors told us that he had been in the emergency for 10 years and seen many deaths but none stirred him like this one.
This terrible tragedy could have been avoided if the bus driver had followed the law and kept within the speed limit. And if the couple had been wearing helmets, their injuries would have been less severe and an innocent life could have been saved.
What is happening to the people of this country? Doesn’t anyone care about their precious lives or the lives others? What has happened to the lawmakers and law enforcements? If the police had not been negligent, they probably could have stopped the speeding bus and fined him heavily. This unfortunate incident could have been avoided.
SANA ZUBAIRI
Karachi
RAJA M. Fazal Khan’s ‘Needy ex-bureaucrats’ (June 29) is a revelation that reminds me of an episode wherein a British World War II veteran in his extreme distress approached the prime minister of England for some economic assistance but was refused point-blank. This individual was no less than a person of British Field Marshall Bernard Law, First Viscount Montgomery of Alamein. His heroic exploits in the World War II made him an idol of the British public and ultimately earned him a knighthood. Following the war, he was elevated as chairman of permanent defence organisation of the Western European Union and then deputy commander of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, Supreme Headquarters, and Allied Powers in Europe.
It was after retirement from active service that he once called on the prime minister, who not only felt elevated to receive such an illustrious person in his office but in recognition of past services even offered him his chair and stood in front of him. After a few pleasantries, the field marshal took out from his pocket an application explaining his intense financial distress so much so that he was not even able to pay rent to his landlord.
He thus, in view of his services to the country, requested the prime minister for allotment of one residential house. The PM immediately asked the general that while in service was he not being paid salaries and emoluments and, after retirement, pension regularly? The reply was, of course, an emphatic ‘Yes’. The prime minister thereafter declared in plain terms that first the general always got what was due to him under the law in time and, second, he as prime minister is not bestowed with any discretion to dispense public assets under any circumstances.
In my opinion the ‘needy ex-bureaucrats’ who are doled out public properties in Punjab have in no way better served the cause of their country than Filed Marshall Monty served Britain, and the chief minister has less authority than the British prime minister.
MANSOORUL HAQ SOLANGI
Karachi
ONE state-owned monopoly, viz., the PTCL, has been sold to another state-owned monopoly, viz., Etisalat, on terms and conditions known only to a few. The PTCL was a precious national asset and was sacrificed at the altar of privatisation for the sake of privatisation.
In fact, the then chairman of the privatisation commission had to beg and go down on his knees before Etisalat agreed to complete the transaction. What were the mitigating circumstances that compelled the privatisation commission to stoop so low? This was a profitable entity, so why was it sold in distress? Why are the terms of sale not being disclosed to the people of this country? Why are they so sacrosanct?
Etisalat is a UAE-based state monopoly and for the sake of information of all concerned the UAE does not allow foreigners to own anything except a very few things. Here, we bend backwards to sell even our national assets on their terms and conditions.
I appeal to the chief justice of Pakistan to take suo motu notice of this and initiate proceedings against the privatisation commission and the then chairman of the PC. Even NAB must take cognizance of this and launch its own investigation.
SALIM D. DADABHOY
Karachi
SPEAKERS at a dialogue, organised by the Sindh Democratic Forum (June 5), have approached the Sindh culture department to protect the heritage of Hyderabad. They specifically mentioned buildings such as the old collector’s residence, Sindh University old campus and Dialdas Club as under imminent threat of being obliterated.
As regards the collector’s residence, now DC House, as reported in a section of the press, it has already been decided to build a six-storied complex in the open space of the bungalow, leaving a small built-up area of residence for converting it to a museum at a cost of Rs50 million, to house DCO and nine EDOs, along with their paraphernalia.
The old DC House (collector’s bungalow), Hyderabad, located right in the heart of the city, is Gothic architecture of historical significance pertaining pre-partition days. It comprises a gorgeous lodge surrounded by more than two acres of open space covered by lawns and numerous full-grown trees; a few are more than 100 years old.
Recently some of the ‘neem’ trees were declared by the Sindh forest department as the oldest in the province. Mr H.T. Sorely, a great admirer and an authority on Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai, as collector of Hyderabad also stayed in this bungalow from where he frequently visited Bhit Shah town on horseback out of reverence and research and produced magnum opus Shah Abdul Latif of Bhit: His poetry, life and times..
The city which only a few decades ago was famous for its evening breeze and several attractive parks/gardens now gives a depressing look, with lots of repulsive highrise buildings made up of substandard material, roads mostly dilapidated, shorn of trees with overflowing sewage and heap of garbage, atmosphere full with air pollution and uncontrollable traffic congestion.
In fact, very few open spaces in the city could be protected from the clutches of the builders’ mafia, that too either on account of being government offices or official residences. Now with the change in system, these very few prized possessions of the city are under attack of their greed.
The construction of six-storied complex in an extremely congested atmosphere will only create innumerable problems for the people. If accommodations for officers are essentially required, then the same can be built outside the city precincts.
I would urge the authorities to come forward and save Hyderabad from further ruination by immediately forbidding highrise construction in the open spaces of the old DC House and stopping slaughter of valuable trees.
In the larger interest of promoting art and culture the city government is also requested to preserve residency which is a heritage of the city and open it for the public to enjoy its glorious architecture and serene ambience.
ALTAMASH M. KURESHI
Karachi
ENOUGH is enough. The Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC), the Arab League, the European Union and the United Nations should immediately intervene in this David versus Goliath fight, in favour of the weaker party — the Palestinians.
All these organisations, with the help of the Quartet – the UN, the US, the European Union and the Russian Federation — should help check Israel’s ruthless invasion in which innocent Palestinian civilians have been made the primary target.
Let all the above-mentioned organisations lend their collective support in resolving this nagging and internecine conflict, once and for all. The Palestinians amply deserve an independent and sovereign country of their own, on the basis of United Nations’ Resolutions 242 and 338.
JALAL HUSSAIN
Quebec, Canada
THERE is no doubt that Pakistan has honest and devoted officers such as Syed Masood Raza Shah, an officer at Habib Bank’s KAECHS branch. The other day I went to take something out from my locker in the said branch. When I returned home, I realised that the jewellery I had gone to take out was missing. Thinking that I may have put it back in the locker, I returned to the branch in p`panic. The said officer immediately handed my valuables over to me and he informed me that he had been looking up my information to give me my jewellery. It was worth more than Rs200,000.
I am writing this because I feel that this act of honesty needs to be appreciated. Habib Bank should be proud to have such honest and devoted officers, to whom I am very grateful.
NUZHAT KHALID
Karachi
I HAVE been a regular visitor of Frere Hall, once a most beautiful garden in Karachi, full of pleasure and grace. Recently, a dramatic change has taken place. First, I was glad to see that the city government is striving hard for some improvement in this historic garden. In fact, they have recently constructed a footpath using coloured stone kerbs on both sides.
I was shocked to see that just after a week the same was mysteriously uprooted — not for further improvement but to make a short, secret and safe passage for the US consulate personnel whose residence is on one side of the Frere Hall and the consulate office on the other. I think that they have given a perfect demonstration of an old saying: “If you don’t find a way, make one.”
People got so scared seeing this deliberate attempt that, leave aside any human being, even birds have disappeared from there. It looks so deserted now! What to do?
ZAMAN
Karachi
I READ with shock about the father who killed his children due to his desperate economic situation. He in turn was killed by a policeman who lost control of himself. What I find equally shocking is that no reader from Pakistan has written condemning the policeman’s action. Letters to the editor that were written regarding this incident, in fact, express sympathy with the policeman’s state of mind. No one seems to be bothered that a policeman took over the role of a judge as well as that of an executioner.
The fact that most Pakistanis do not seem to mind the policeman usurping professional functions other than his own is in a nutshell an explanation for why Pakistan struggles to be democratic. In the bigger picture the army is viewed like this policeman. It steps in to correct the faults of an elected government. As with this policeman, the army usurping another role evokes sympathy, perhaps even understanding, regarding the circumstances under which it takes over power. In both cases the abuse of power by officials should be cause for alarm.
S. SRINIVASAN
Amsterdam
I FELT very bad the other day while passing through I.I Chundrigar Road. The mini-bus driver crossed the road on red signal and the traffic officer tried to stop him, but the bus driver did not stop. To add insult to injury, he abused the officer while going.
This thing would be unheard of in developed countries. The traffic officer in the US have so much power that he has the authority to shoot down the individual if he does not stop the vehicle, once asked to stop by the traffic officer.
Why would a violator in Pakistan stop his vehicle when he knows the poor traffic officer does not have a bike, no gun to stop him? It is this fear that people follow traffic rules in developed countries.
It is human psychology that they would use the freedom to undo advantage if it is not checked. We seem to blame the traffic police officer for any traffic mess, but these poor people do not have the resources or authority to implement the traffic rules in a proper manner.
So, who is to blame? In my opinion it is the local government at fault here. I sincerely hope that the traffic police officers are given authority and resources to rectify this situation and the higher-ups should also have checks and balances to monitor if the traffic officers are doing their job in an efficient manner.
ADNAN ABBASI
Karachi
THIS refers to the letter by Mr Faisal Siddiqui under the above caption (June 26).
Military officers all over the world write their designations even after their retirement, albeit adding the word ‘retd’ to denote that they are no more on the active list. Other professionals also do the same. Even retired judges write ‘Justice (retd)’ before their names.
Likewise, engineers write the word ‘Engineer (retd)’, railway station masters write ‘station master (retd), a retired principal of some college writes ‘former principal of so and so college’, while actors who has ceased to perform writes ‘former actor’ before their names.
This is just to indicate the background of the man and his former station in life, and to distinguish them from their namesakes. Why should any one grudge this practice?
S. M.
Karachi
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