| July 9, 2006 | Sunday | Jumadi-ul-Sani 12, 1427 |
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Goodies for the speaker
Unicef’s stand on HIV tests
KESC tactics
Sindh PA uproar
Pakistan: kidney ‘tourism’ destination
Focusing on our faults
Roll a few heads
Retd
Learning from mistakes
IN her letter Ms Khushbakht Kaka has cited a research by Prof Adil Najam in the US regarding the 2,000 Jews he says had remained in Pakistan after 1947 (July 2).
One was born and raised in Karachi. While going to school in the 1960s one had two Jewish classmates at different times whose siblings were also studying there. They were friends of mine and I would even visit the second one’s home — being old enough to get around by myself then. Neither any teacher nor the students in our school ever discriminated against or maltreated them, nor did they complain of such a thing from any quarters. By the mid-1960s they had left for Israel.
My father, too, had a Jewish friend, who was probably the head of their local community and there was another old gentleman and his sister who were our neighbours. I was quite young but my elder brothers used to help them out a lot. We were close like relatives, calling them ‘uncle’ and ‘aunty’ and, in keeping with the Islamic and Pakistani values, treated them very respectfully and kindly, which they greatly appreciated.
There were no reports of anybody in the neighbourhood ever harming them in any way. Had there been any anti-Jewish riots, we would surely have protected them, but there were none. However, one must admit that things have changed over the years and there is a very strong anti-Jewish sentiment here as in other Muslim countries such as Indonesia and Bangladesh, in direct proportion to the spiralling Israeli atrocities against the Palestinians. Significantly, several surveys show that most Europeans also consider Israel (and Mr George Bush) to be the biggest threats to world peace.
One is not aware of all the facts but even if there had been any demonstrations at the Karachi synagogue or harassment of some Jews (which must be condemned), it was in no way comparable to the horrible treatment meted out to the followers of Judaism in Europe. Furthermore, many mosques and Muslims’ homes in western countries have been subjected to arson in recent years. All concerned must remember these realities before hastening to tarnish the country’s image or pointing fingers at us due to the frequently exaggerated and sometimes false reports of our alleged bad behaviour towards non-Muslims.
Israel’s grossly inhuman treatment of the Muslims with American and other support is at the root of the anger and militancy in the Muslim world. In the book, The American Jihad by Steven Barboze, published about a decade ago, which is a collection of stories of dozens of Americans who had converted to Islam, there was one about a Jewish girl. She said that during her visit to Israel she was greatly disturbed by the discrimination and cruelty inflicted on the local Muslims and became very disillusioned. Ultimately, she decided to embrace the faith herself.
The fact that Prof Najam, who is presumably a Muslim of Pakistani origin, chose to investigate the past situation of the Jewry in this country is creditable and demonstrates our willingness to focus on such issues. On the contrary, most western nations are simply unwilling to examine their own treatment of Jews even during the Holocaust.
Prior to Israel’s occupation of Arab lands, the Soviet invasions of Afghanistan and Chechnya, the genocide in the Balkans and the conflicts in the Persian Gulf, the world was much better off and there was almost no militancy among the (small minority of the) Muslims. This shows that the adherents of Islam in Pakistan and elsewhere aren’t inherently intolerant or violent and did not initiate the bloodshed but the blame lies with those who forced it upon them. Nevertheless, all human beings must strive to make the world a peaceful and harmonious place, in doing which the ego or baser self is the main impediment.
A KARACHIITE
Karachi
According to news reports the Planning Division has refused Rs85 million for construction of a house for the speaker of the National Assembly. The apeaker might have to sanction the huge amount himself or get it through parliament. But before he does that, please allow me to narrate a true story told to me by Maj-Gen (retd) Mian Abdul Qayyum, who was military attaché to China in the late 1960s.
On his request he was granted an audience with president Ho Chi Minh in what was then Saigon and is now Ho Chi Minh City. Mian Abdul Qayyum arrived promptly 15 minutes before the appointed time and was ushered into what looked like a gardener’s hut in a beautiful garden. He appreciated the good taste of the gardener who was working on a flower bed a little away. While waiting he noticed that all furniture and furnishings in the room were made of bamboo and bamboo reeds. He tried to find some iron nail in the joints of the furniture but to his surprise even the nails were made of bamboo.
He was marvelling at the simple spartan yet dignified décor of the room and waiting to be taken to the president’s palace when in walked Ho Chi Minh, dusting the mud off his hands. “Oh my God” Mian Abdul Qayyum exclaimed uncontrollably. The gardener was Ho Chi Minh and the gardener’s hut was his ‘palace’ where he received the guests.
Mr Speaker, houses do not make leaders; it is the leaders who turn ordinary houses into ‘palaces’.
COL (retd) RIAZ JAFRI
Rawalpindi
After the purchase of a car worth Rs60 million by the speaker of the National Assembly, another whopping sum of Rs80 million has been sanctioned for his palace. The speaker is an unassuming gentleman; he hurts nobody and benefits nobody. Were it not a constitutional requirement for someone to occupy the chair that he occupies, the parliament would have functioned as good or bad, were the speaker’s chair left empty.
Besides, the speaker is a man of few words—austere both in English and Urdu. Were the assembly proceedings conducted in Punjabi, he would have undoubtedly poured out his wisdom to his heart’s content. Pooping off such a fabulous amount for his palace defies wisdom, especially when a large majority in the country live in abject misery.
The speaker would do well to turn down the hefty sum of Rs80 million allocated for his palace and opt to live where he presently does. After all, he is not without a shelter because this nation is amply munificent to provide bullet-proof Mercedes to its high profile rulers of sorts. The speaker should ask himself a simple question: what do I really do to deserve to live in a palace worth Rs80 million and drive a car worth Rs60 million.
Dr A. P. SANGDIL
Oslo, Norway
APROPOS of your correspondent's write-up 'Aids test likely to be made compulsory' (July 4), Unicef would like to say it is strongly opposed to mandatory HIV testing. At no time did the Unicef staff member voice support for a measure which would clearly violate children's and human rights.
As per Unicef's position, the only exception is when an infant is born to an HIV positive mother, but only with the consent of the parents or legal guardian. Determining the status of the infant is critical in order to introduce life-saving treatment as over half of HIV positive babies die before they reach the age of two.
The Pakistan National HIV/ AIDS Strategic Framework 20012006 produced by the ministry of health and UNAIDS contains statements of principle including:
All HIV tests should be voluntary with guaranteed confidentiality and adequate pre-and post-test counselling. Except in those cases where testing occurs under unlinked and anonymous conditions for research, or in the screening of donated blood (where blood is discarded on initial reactivity and results are not communicated to the donor).
The UNAIDS/WHO policy statement on HIV testing on June 2004 states clearly that UNAIDS and WHO support the three C's: confidential; be accompanied by counselling; and only be conducted with informed consent, meaning that it is both informed and voluntary.
Testing for HIV antibodies is more than a mere biological test as it involves ethical, human and legal dimensions. UNAIDS and WHO do not support mandatory testing of individuals on public health grounds.
Unicef strongly recommends the following minimum conditions be in place before voluntary counselling and testing is offered to children:
* Ageappropriate pre and post-test counselling.
* Availability of confidential and child-friendly quality care services, including the provision of medicines for opportunistic infections.
* Availability of continued support, including sustained counselling.
* Availability of NGO or social welfare services to guarantee the care and support of children through 18 years of age who do not have any family network.
* Awareness raising on HIV and AIDS and advocacy in the communities where the children come from, if they are still with their parents
RONALD VAN DIJK
Senior Programme Officer Unicef Pakistan Country Office
Islamabad
WE were told that the investors in the KESC were highly qualified and technically knowledgeable to run and manage an electric utility company. Siemens, a world known German company, is also involved as collaborators in the KESC's new management.
We are every day told that there is a shortfall in the production and consumption of electricity. Maybe so. It is a debatable question but would the new management kindly give answers to the citizens of Karachi to the following queries:
1. When they took over the management they were more than amply aware of the shortage of power. In any case, in the past too this used to be the problem in summer but the old management had a planned loadshedding programme.
2. The manner in which the loadshedding is done now indicates that the new management has no clue to run and manage a utility company.
3. This can only mean that either the new management is technically not qualified to determine how and when to distribute power or they do it on purpose to harass the people so that they can force the government to raise the power tariff.
4. In these days of the computer, a company can easily determine the management of power. Now in a 24 hours a day the power is shut off at least 2/3 times without any notice.
5. We have no effective government or else the new managers be put on notice that the loadshedding, if needed, be done in a planned, proper manner and not in the haphazard way that is done now. The least the new management could do is to regulate and relate the power shortage and its distribution in a manner that would not bring this shame to the new managers.
Long lectures are doled out as to how and why the loadshedding is necessary. We need no such gossips but truths and let the government have some bone in their backs to tell these new managers to behave or pack up and go back. You need strength of conviction to do this which apparently the present government does not possess.
MAHER ALAVI
Karachi
I WAS amazed to see how the lawmakers took the law in their own hands and engaged in a fist-fight over a note given to MPA Shazia Marri.
What example are our lawmakers setting for common citizens? One of them is passing notes while others fight over it. In the end, the note merely said “aap kesi hain (how do you do?)”.
JOHAR ALI
Vancouver, Canada
A REPORT entitled ‘SC seeks report on kidney sale cases’ appeared in Dawn on June 21. This was followed by an editorial ‘Curbing the organ trade’ on June 24. It is gratifying to note that a Supreme Court bench, which includes Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, has expressed concern about organ trade and refers to it as ‘a very serious crime’.
To our collective shame Pakistan has yet to pass a transplant law that criminalises the buying and selling of organs in this country. With the anticipated passage of such a law in China next month, Pakistan will become the only country in the world that has failed to take any legal action against this deplorable practice. And never mind that buying and selling of organs has been uniformly condemned as unethical and an immoral practice that flies in the face of the teachings and spirit of Islam.
Pakistan is rapidly acquiring the dubious honour of becoming the leader in kidney “tourism”, that is the country to travel to in order to buy a kidney. This was alluded to in the WHO conference on tissue and organ transplantation in Karachi last November, and has become a frequent issue for discussion in the international medical and bioethics conferences I have attended.
Dawn reports that a petitioner, Mr. Mohammad Amjad, lodged an FIR against four people accusing them of being part of ‘a mafia’ that was involved in the removal of his kidney ‘during his operation in a Rawalpindi hospital’. It is not stated as to who constitute this ‘mafia’. What is a fact, however, is that the procedure for removing a kidney from one individual and transplanting it into another is only possible within a hospital and can only be undertaken by a group of healthcare professionals central among whom are nephrologists and transplant surgeons. A market in which human kidneys are sold as commodities can neither exist nor flourish without the active participation in this practice of some members of the medical community, and the turning of a blind eye by others to what their colleagues are doing.
Whatever benefits (arguably few, if any, for people caught in this situation) may accrue for the poor and oppressed of Pakistan in selling a kidney, it is a few hospitals and physicians who really stand to gain in perpetuating these unholy transactions. This has become big business in this country, one that is openly advertised on the Internet, and which rakes in millions of rupees each year. Herein lies the heart of the problem; it is to this matter that I request members concerned of the Supreme Court to turn their attention.
DR FARHAT MOAZAM
Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation
Karachi
DR Kashif Nadeem has described a bloody fight between eight young men in Lahore that compelled him “to take my earphones off,” after which he wrote (June 29): “Why do animal instincts rule our lives and yet we want to be called the most civilised community on the planet.” He then blamed “our religious leaders” for not teaching the virtues but playing politics.
It is good that our friend is concerned about such bad behaviour but he has been uncharitable in magnifying the problem and making it appear exclusive to Pakistan, thereby defaming the country. He should not forget the earthquake of last October when countless Pakistanis, notably including our young people, showed exemplary compassion, courage, generosity and determination to help out the millions of unfortunate victims.
The violence described by him is by no means peculiar to Pakistan but can be found in most places. Africa, North and South America are by no means immune while the skinheads in Europe, Russia in particular, are notorious for attacking and sometimes even killing foreigners. According to recent news, Britain is living “in the shadow of the knife.” In London alone there were more than 12,500 knife-related incidents last year. The peak age for this crime is 15 to 18 years in the UK (Dawn, June 10).
Instead of blaming the religious leaders or other people, we should focus on our own responsibilities. As educated people, we should try to impart learning and civilised conduct to children and other young folks roaming the streets or being otherwise unable to afford schooling. Dr Nadeem should once again get his earphones off, roll up his sleeves and find a group of volunteers to wage this jihad. At the very least we can encourage and help poor children to attend the government-run institutions.
IRSHAD SIDDIQUE
Karachi
THREE cheers for Dawn for blowing up the black cabs scam. However, it is not good enough for the minister concerned to merely state: “We did not receive any application by the deadline (which was still 15 days away). So the facility of duty-free import (of 300 cabs) will no more be available to anybody”.
Would the honourable minister be kind enough to state who in the first place authorised the release of the EoI advertisement from his ministry regarding these custom-built taxis? And does he believe that the advertisement provided a level playing field for all? If the minister detects mischief and nepotism in this exercise, the least he can do is to roll a few heads — if not his own.
NAZIM F. HAJI
Karachi
This has reference to Commander Ali's letter (July 1) in which he calls it unworthy of any Pakistani to pass any remarks against the defenders of this country.
No institution other than our armed forces has received
so much adulation as the armed forces. Their names have always been associated with word 'valiant' spoken or written. Their ranks and batches signified glamour and ideals. In them we attempted to find soldiers like Saladin Ayyubi, and wished them to emulate our great heroes like Khalid bin Walid, who at the height of his victories displayed discipline by relinquishing his command in due deference to
the caliph - a civil authority.
We spent on their perks and privileges more than what a poor country could afford. We expected them to live in austerity but were shocked to see them in the role of Bonapartists. Surely our dreams have gone sour and therefore they miss the past esteem and the warmth which their countrymen previously had for them
More than the display of a rightfully earned dignity, the usage of rank and title even after retirement is to secure undue preferences and privileges at the cost of the common citizen. This reminds us of Napoleon Bonaparte's famous quote: "I have never hesitated to do anything in this world which could give me preference over the rest of mankind."
A. RAZI SIDDIQI,
Karachi
WITH reference to Dr Arif Alvi’s letter (July 3), would some responsible official at CDGK confirm to people of Karachi that the plan for the pedestrian crossing scheme has been taken care of in respect to the upcoming ‘Signal free corridor’ from Site area to the airport?
ANONYMOUS
Vancouver, Canada
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