| July 25, 2006 | Tuesday | Jumadi-ul-Sani 28, 1427 |
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Embracing Israel
‘Kachra kundis’
Staff at post office counters
US values and culture
Tribute to Sattar Gabol
Shortage of water supply
Accountabilityof PM?
Canal Road
Correction
THIS refers to Zubeida Mustafa’s article ‘What next in Balochistan?’ (July 19). The next day the government responded with more bullets, bombs and gunship helicopters and pounded what it called the ‘farari’ (fugitive) camps in hilly areas of Harnai, Sibi and Kamro-Wadh. It was followed by the statement of President Musharraf in a televised speech to the nation that rebel sardars would be fixed to restore the writ of the government.
This statement has dampened the hopes of those who were expecting that the president would resort to conciliatory tone, given the new situation in the subcontinent after Mumbai train blasts.
Most analysts see the Balochistan issue as a part of the failure of the Third World states to settle nationality/ethnic problems in the post-colonial era. There are some studies that show that such states as became independent after decolonisation with weak political systems and fragile socio-economic structures still suffer from ethnic enigma, political polarisation and lack of national cohesion. And Pakistan belongs to the category of states where large ethnic communities co-exit within the same territory, but without having strong feeling about belonging to the same nation. That is why some studies call Pakistan a ‘state-nation’ rather than a ‘nation state’.
According to another opinion, the reason for Pakistan being a weak state was due to the kind of ideology that came to dominate the national political landscape after its creation as state nationalism, rather than popular nationalism with a strong foundation in civil society. The lack of initial congruence between state and nationalities, forming Pakistan, has often negatively impacted upon economic and social development, mainly by diverting resource from development efforts to conflicts between state and ethnic groups. The conflict in Balochistan and Wana is a political and economic drain on national unity and resources.
Here the study of Christopher Clapham offers very plausible insights into the lack of congruence between state and nation: a distinguishing feature of the post-colonial states just after independence was a combination of power and fragility. He argues that states were powerful on account of their well-organised civil-military bureaucracies, which they took over from the colonial rulers. But they were at the same time fragile because these bureaucracies have to exercise their power in societies which were not integrated political communities. It was, therefore, of great importance for these bureaucracies and the new political rulers to initiate an integration process, i.e., nation-building process.
Analysing Pakistan’s situation in the light of this study, it was unfortunate that after Pakistan’s creation our ruler focused more on state-building rather than nation-building. The state-building policy was aimed at territorial integrity, if necessary by force. Indian animosity was shown as the main reason for this. This helped military-civil bureaucracy and new elite class to grab power through extra-constitutional means, resulting in the marginalisation of political forces from corridors of power and death of democracy.
National integration was scarified at the altar of rulers’ personal ambitions and, hence, the creation of national feeling sufficiently widespread and adequately strong to unite vast majority of the population within the same political community was overlooked. Instead, politics was ethicised.
The policy to ignore nation-building has serious consequences today for the country. And for that, strengthening of democracy and democratic institutions is essential for any potential transformation. This would not only increase communication between different stakeholders in the state and the civil society, but would also correct the civil-military relations’ imbalance that, at this point, is strongly tilted in the military’s favour, argues Dr Ayesha Siddiqa-Agha, a leading security analyst.
The situation, nonetheless, is pregnant with dangers and people are drawing conclusion and comparsions. Recently, I had discussion with a friend from Balochistan who complained that the Baloch are being treated in the same manner as Israel treats Palestinians and Hizbollah in Lebanon: submit, surrender and disarm, otherwise face the decimation, destruction, dislocation and humiliation.
He added that like Palestinians today the Bugtis, Marris and Mengals have been uprooted and forced to live in squalid conditions of rugged mountains or in the barren plains of Sindh with their relatives.
He avoided drawing parallels between the Baloch and Palestinians and Hezbollah but said the tone and tenor is same in Islamabad and Tel Aviv. This line of thinking is not savoury for the country.
It is time Gen Musharraf tackled national issues through political means. Let us, therefore, initiate political dialogue with them in the greatest interest of national unity and integrity.
MANZOOR ALI ISRAN
Khairpur
APROPOS of the letter ‘Embracing Israel’ (July 22), it must be added that according to a report in the US media Karen Hughes, whose assignment it is to ‘proselytise’ Muslims politically, organised two teams of US Muslims a couple of months ago.
One of the teams was to tour European countries, while the other was to go around Muslim countries preaching the Bush gospel.
S.G. JILANEE
Karachi
THE war on Lebanon is an example of Israel’s brutality and barbaric aggressiveness. They have created havoc all over Lebanon and targeted civilians, infrastructure and buildings.
They have destroyed Beirut airport, bridges, roads, schools, residential areas and even mosques. More than 300 Lebanese have been killed: most of them innocent civilians and nearly half are women and children.
Half a million have been displaced, rendered homeless they have no place to go. The hospitals are running out of medical supplies as they have to treat a lot of casualties.
All of this started because of the capture of two Israeli soldiers on the Lebanese border. Israel’s big brother, the US, is supporting their brutal and atrocious behaviour by saying that Israel has the right to defend itself.
The US is putting the entire blame on Hizbollah and pointing fingers at Syria and Iran for supporting it. It won’t be a surprise if Syria and Iran are attacked next.
The world is silent over this issue and so are the 57 Muslim countries. The main problem with us is that we are weak and powerless, and technologically and scientifically incapable of developing the latest weapons.
But our utmost weakness is the sectarian divide, for as the famous saying goes “united we stand, divided we fall”.
ANUM ATHAR
Karachi
LIKE all Muslims around the world I am shocked at the brutality of Israeli attacks against Lebanon.
However, as Pakistanis we are again letting our pain for the Ummah cloud Pakistan’s need for self-preservation.
All the Muslim countries that have been impacted by Israel, i.e., Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, Egypt, Iran and Iraq, will not lift a finger if Pakistan is attacked by India or America. The only exception is Jordan, which will do whatever it can to help.
Good relations with Israel mean that Pakistan will be off the list of targeted countries. This will neutralise the Israeli lobbies in the US and Europe as far as Pakistan is concerned, and also improve the treatment of Pakistan at the hands of western media which is largely controlled by Jewish interests.
The platitudes about Muslim unity and the Ummah may sound noble and popular, but they do not contribute an iota to Pakistan’s security and well-being.
BASHIR MIRZA
Doha, Qatar
GULSHAN-i-Hadeed, Phase-I, Bin Qasim Town, Karachi, is about 20 years old. The work of cleanliness of this residential area comes within the ambit of the Gulshan-i-Hadeed Committee, under the administrative control of Pakistan Steel.
The performance of the committee with regard to sanitation in the past was good enough, but now the condition of the area has taken a U-turn and become mucky and messy.
This is because of ‘kachra kundis’ recently constructed in front of houses without ascertaining any feasibility and viability of proper place. Heaps of filth and refuse keep lying here and there, especially in front of the houses facing the ‘kachra kundis’.
Thus, in the evening the ‘kachra kundis’ in front of our houses are piled high with garbage, including wrappers, waste papers, plastic bags and other dirty things which float directly into the houses with the gust of wind.
These nasty things have caused great miseries to the residents. At a time when trash is burnt, the smoke drifts over our houses due to which it becomes very troublesome to breathe. Sometimes clouds of insects float in the air and fall in the houses, which cause infectious diseases and other related complications in the human body.
It is true, of course, that these kachra kundis have become a good breeding place for flies and mosquitoes and bait for birds like vultures, kites and crows.
These birds take the refuse of musty meat, beef, fish, dead mice and other rotten things with their claws and throw either on roofs or inside the houses. A foul smell always fills the air.
Not to mention, at night, early in the morning and in the evening groups of dogs, including bitches, are to be seen roaming around the ‘kachra kundis’ and on the road in front of our houses. These dogs keep on barking, butting pedestrians and disturbing our sleep at night.
The chairman, Pakistan Steel, was apprised of the situation twice in writing and requested to direct the Gulshan-i-Hadeed Committee to demolish/shift these kachra kundis to an isolated place but nothing has happened and the residents are still suffering.
I would request the ministry of industries and production and the health and environment authorities to intervene to demolish all the ‘kachra kundis’
HABIBULLAH ABRO
Karachi
ON July 15 at 11.55am I had been to the post office of Block N, North Nazimabad, Karachi, to get my motorcycle licence renewed and to pay utility bills. The official sitting on the counter for collecting utility bills told me that banks were closed and, as such, he would not receive bills.
I then presented my motorcycle licence for renewal on the next counter where a young man with strong physique was sitting. He was also issuing stamps, envelopes and collecting ‘dak’. He told me that as the post master had gone out for some work, I should wait till returned. Meanwhile, a customer with a utility bill came and started chatting with the official on duty for receiving the bills. The bill was accepted after making necessary entry in the office record. On my request, both of them once again refused to receive my bills.
At 12.30pm the post master came and renewed my licence. On my telling him the story he also managed to receive the utility bills. I also reported him the rude behaviour of his subordinates and requested him to let me know their names so that I may lodge a complaint against them. But he did not disclose their names.
About this moment the young official on the ‘dak’ counter got up from his seat and pushed me to the door. He continued pushing me even to the door of the boundary wall and called me names. Needless to say that I could not put up any resistance because of my old age.
Such people deputed for public dealing are reluctant to perform their duties peacefully. They should not be allowed to work anymore.
Further, I would request the relevant authorities to investigate the matter and take strict action against the staff concerned.
AFZAL HUSSAIN MUGHAL
Karachi
THE letter ‘US values and culture’ by ‘A Pakistani” (July 17) makes interesting remarks about the values and social problems of the US, mixing the two in a crude way.
Apparently, the letter writer’s ire was triggered by a comment made by the US ambassador to Pakistan, Ryan Crocker, at a US-funded English language training programme.
The ambassador reportedly said that learning English at the US consulate will give students an insight into American values and culture: a simple, straight-forward, honest and accurate argument. But obviously, it sent the letter writer into an anti-American tirade.
The letter writer states that while on a visit to the US he came across a child who asked a silly question about the way people lived in Pakistan, met a lady who did not know Pakistan’s location, etc.
He thinks that based upon these and a few other equally trivial incidents, he is qualified to discount a truly great country.
He has equated the values of “freedom, democracy, philanthropy, hard work, honesty, scientific methodology and equal opportunity” with the problems of illegal drugs, teenage-sex, etc. For his information, the latter category is that of social problems, not national values.
When Mr Crocker talked about the US values and culture, he had only the first category in mind. I am sure the ambassador does not want Pakistani English students to emulate the second category.
The letter in question contradicts itself. It claims that “the Americans have a reputation in the world for generally not having interest in or knowledge about things happening outside the US borders” but goes on to praise America for achievements in “scientific methodology”. How can one achieve this without a thirst for knowledge from any source?
It is illogical to disparage a country because of the social problems it faces. Which country does not have various social problems?
What about the so-called ‘honour killings’ in Pakistan? What about child labour, exploitation of kiln workers, treating women as possession, bribery, rapes, rapes sanctioned by village councils, exploiting religion for personal gains, etc? Should the entire Pakistani society be blamed for these terrible problems? Of course, not.
America, as the writer also admits, is the land of freedom, and freedom of speech is an integral part of Americans’ psyche. This great value is the main reason for America’s undisputed strength and greatness. Nothing will make America happier if other countries try it.
SIDDIQUE MALIK
Louisville, KY, USA
I FIRST came across Abdul Sattar Gabol in 1970 when he, with Hafiz Pirzada, was spearheading the newly-founded PPP’s election campaign in Karachi and I was district magistrate. Three years later he was Sindh’s labour minister when I joined the department as its secretary.
Whether as a campaigner (when I had to direct him) or as a minister (when I reported to him), Sattar Gabol always acted with dignity and fairness. I can hardly recall an instance where in either role he acted against the law or propriety despite pressures from his clan and party.
Although a barrister-at-law, there was something quintessentially native and simple about him which compelled him to quit the rough and tumble of politics early in life and return to Lyari where he was born, raised and died last Sunday.
It seems he found taking care of the poor of his own small world a vocation so absorbing that he ignored the wide world outside and the world too forgot him.
His death has provided an occasion to remember him. It can be only surmised whether his continuing in politics would have slowed its slide into corruption and violence. But recalling my own short association with him 35 years ago, I can say safely that he wouldn’t have become a part of it.
KUNWAR IDRIS
Karachi
THE residents of the National Cement Housing Society, Block 10-A, Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Karachi, opposite the Aladin Park, are facing acute shortage of water supply. The Society consists of 800 houses, divided into five blocks.
There is a main reservoir in which water is stored and supplied to each block after 10 to 15 days for half an hour only.
The main source of water supply to this reservoir is a two-and-a-half-inch-diameter line on which a valve has been fixed on main Rashid Minhas Road. As the valve is opened for a short time, the water supply to the main reservoir is meagre and inadequate for the Society’s need.
All surroundings areas, including kutchi abadis, get enough water regularly except the NCH Society. The people have to suffer from an acute water shortage and have to depend on supply of water through tankers.
There is another problem also. People have go to the hydrant at 3am or 4am but the rush there is great and in the midst of management it becomes quite impossible for one to get a slip for water tanker.
The authorities are requested to look into the matter.
ABDUL RASHID
Karachi
THERE have been numerous editorials in newspapers, including yours, alluding to the fact that in spite of all the recent scams, Prime Minister Shakuat Aziz himself is not personally corrupt. This may be true, but we are still waiting for his answer regarding the report that two police plots were allotted to him in Islamabad.
However, when one is responsible for the welfare and destiny of 160 million people but overlooks corrupt practices amongst his cabinet colleagues, he cannot the escape the blame. After all, didn’t the prime minister promise to evaluate the performances of his ministers on a quarterly basis?
If he really meant what he said, he would have suspended, if not outright dismissed, quite a few of his ministers based on their doings, including his law minister who has a penchant for slapping all and sundry and is currently running a systematic campaign against a senior woman bureaucrat. Mr PM, you are known by the company you keep, and in your case it is a sorry lot that is keeping you company.
NUZHAT AZIZ
Lahore
I WOULD like to propose a compromise between saving trees and widening Lahore’s Canal Road. First, I want to make clear that like the majority of the citizens of Lahore I am against the felling of the trees and widening of the said road. I am sure there are alternatives to this such as constructing parallel roads, better traffic management, etc.
However, in the more likely event of the road being widened, I would suggest that only one bank of the canal be widened. That is, widen the right bank only as a six-lane highway and all trees can be cut and paved over.
This will leave the left bank as it is now. The road along the left bank should be closed to traffic and left for recreational purposes like walking, running, bicycling. We will end up with a kind beautiful park, stretching from Dharampura to Thokar Niaz Beg.
HASAN ABDULLAH KHAN
Lahore
IN my article entitled ‘The two presidents in adversity’ published in Dawn on the oped page on July 23, the second sentence of paragraph six carried an error. The sentence should have read: “The American onslaught against the Taliban and the Northern Alliance’s atrocities aroused the Pakhtuns on this side of the Durrand Line” and NOT ‘in Afghanistan” as printed.
ANWAR KEMAL
Islamabad
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