| August 02, 2006 | Wednesday | Rajab 6, 1427 |
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Overcoming loadshedding
Immigrants’ status in Sindh
Children of a lesser god
Whither People’s Party?
Clifton underpass lake
Dignity of man
PTCL clarifies
A matter of semantics
Land acquisition
Land acquisition DAWN has done well to alert against the government’s appetite for real estate (July 25). Taxes will again be used to build assets for patronage of and by the state elites. Strangely, profitable public enterprises are being sold off at the same time.
Some obvious questions have to be addressed by public representatives. How will the displaced be taken care of? What about the Federal Shariat Court judgment against forced land acquisition? When will land be acquired for sweeping agrarian reforms?
US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice says she is “deeply saddened” by the deaths of Qana’s unarmed women, frightened children, the frail and the elderly massacred by Israel’s guided missiles. These civilians did not leave Qana, not because they didn’t want to, but because they couldn’t thanks to the continuous aerial bombardment which made it unsafe for them to escape by any means. Taking refuge in the basement of an abandoned building had been their only choice.
Condi Rice is not horrified by their violent death . She is only “deeply saddened”. I wonder what it will take for her to feel horrified: the return of Hitler or another Holocaust.
ESRA TASNEEM A.
Chennai, India
THE world is not a good place to live in, especially after watching images of the mutilated bodies of children who lost their lives in Israel’s bombardment on a shelter for displaced people in Qana, Lebanon.
This cruel act was carried out at 1.30am when most of these unfortunate children were sleeping. They could not awake. One cannot imagine what these innocent souls would have gone through mentally and physically before dying under the tons of rubbles. They must have wondered why they are meeting such a fate.
Why is the international community so insensitive to children of this world? A large number of children are victims of malnutrition, especially in Asia and Africa. Millions of children are forced to work all over the world. About 1.5 million children were killed in Iraq due to shortage of life-saving drugs due to sanctions imposed by the US. Children are permanent victims of continued wars and armed conflicts in the Middle East, Kashmir, Sri Lanka, Iraq, Afghanistan and in many other parts of the world. What is our world giving the children other than displacement, destruction and death?
ABDUL HAMEED GONDAL
Lahore
KOFI Annan calls for restraint. He calls for a truce and for an end to fighting and so on. This is the only job Mr Annan has done so far as the head of a world body. It is time Mr Annan realised his responsibility and took concrete measures to end cruel persecution of innocents.
SALMAN KIDWAI
Karachi
ISRAEL has no oil. So why don’t Arab regimes boycott Israel by not supplying it with fuel to kill Arabs.
It is time the Arab populations with their governments, especially in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the UAE, demand some action to stop the murderous mission of the Israelis. Even a threat of withholding oil will do. Since the Israelis have destroyed civilian infrastructures and murdered civilians against all international treaties, they should be made to pay for the damage. It looks like the majority of the Israeli population does not care about civilian deaths as long as they themselves are not hit.
The oppressed have become the oppressors. Maybe if they leave the occupied territories there would be no need for Hezbollah or any other resistance organisation to attack them. They have been in Lebanon before and now they are making the same mistakes again. The present Israeli government has a non-military background, so it is killing civilians to show that they too are tough enough to have blood on their hands.
NAVEED AKBAR MALIK
Toronto, Canada
THE root-cause of all the violence in the Middle East is the creation of the state of Israel in the middle of Arab lands. Jews and Muslims were living side by side before the creation of Israel and doing business with each other too. Problems began when these illegal settlements started to be formed by immigrants from Europe and other parts of the world.
This was a political blunder for which both Jews and Muslims are paying the price today. There is no political solution to the mistake done 60 years ago.
Now the present crisis between Israel and Lebanon started with the kidnapping of two soldiers. These two soldiers were on Lebanese territory when they were caught. I will leave it to others to decide how the situation became so ugly from there on.
SYED A. SARIM
Bridgeton, USA
IF someone thinks loadshedding means we sit in the dark for an hour or two without fans, he is gravely mistaken. It has deeper impact on our present and future lives and on our economy.
Electricity has become a part of our lives and is as essential as air, water, food and medicines.
Information technology has turned this world into a global village and research is showing the future trend.
In cities and big villages, almost every person has a TV and a fridge. Through TV they are kept informed of world affairs, and know of any impending peril, so that they can take timely precautions. People enjoy sports and games no matter where they take place. Students and researchers increase their knowledge by using computers and other means. All this they lose if power supply is cut off.
Electricity is the lifeline of industry, which suffers immensely. The government loses lots of revenue. Foreign markets are lost. All this cannot be postponed for three years.
On July 25, Mr T.H. Naqvi, a former chairman of the KESC, said that there was no shortage of power. Our country was generating more power than it consumed. The crisis was not that of shortage but it was due to bad management (Dawn).
The same day the incumbent managing director said at a press conference that workers were not happy with the privatisation (Dawn).
The other day our prime minister innocently said that the problem would continue for another three years. We do not know where the world would be after three years. Every day sees some new changes.
Providing electricity does not mean joining two wires. It should be a pucca connection, and maintained. In our dictionary we do not have the word maintenance. If you visit any old building, you will find a spider’s web near the switchboard. Allah only protects it.
We could not eliminate the ‘kunda’ system, even though this was dealt with by the high court. Here I am giving some suggestions to improve the system:
a) No retrenchment should be done. All matriculates should be given rigorous training for three months in technical work. Then their present salaries should be doubled.
b) The MQM controls the city now. They should be given the task to remove all ‘kundas’ within six months.
c) Pole fuses should be introduced, and the present system dis-continued. People cannot tamper with pole fuses.
d) Present connected load is much more than sanctioned load. This should be redressed.
e) Abolish all free quota, and disconnect all airconditioners from government offices and houses. When people have no light, no water, no food and no work, how can our rulers enjoy this luxury?
f) Loadshedding hours should be meticulously observed. People will get used to it.
g) Industries should be encouraged to have their own power supply till things improve.
S. MUSLEHUDDIN AHMED
Karachi
IT is a historical fact that foreign migrants who settled down in various provinces of the Indian subcontinent in the past became natives of that province. This also applied to Sindh as will be evident from the following historical record:
In the early stages of the Muslim era, large groups of Arabs moved into Sindh with a view to spreading Islam in the subcontinent. A very large number of them settled down permanently in Sindh and ultimately became Sindhis.
During the Mughal rule in India thousands of Afghan nationals, including those associated with the Mughal dynasty, settled down permanently in various provinces of the subcontinent.
Those who settled in Sindh became Sindhis. After the British annexation of Sindh in 1843, Sindh became part of Bombay province due to administrative convenience of British rulers. During this period thousands of residents of Bombay province, specially from Gujarat, settled in Sindh and subsequently became Sindhis.
When Karachi attained the status of a commercial centre and became a seaport, the non-local population’s interest in business increased to such an extent that, according to the 1921 Census, Punjab alone provided as many newcomers to Karachi as the whole of interior Sindh. The extent of migration from coastline of the western Indian state of Gujarat was so great that during this era ‘Gujrati’ became the ‘lingua franca’ of the city. Under the 1935 Government of India Act, Sindh again became an independent province, however all Gujratis and Punjabis who had settled down in Karachi earlier became Sindhis.
After partition, as Karachi was the capital of Pakistan, a large group of migrants settled down in Karachi to earn their livelihood and start a new life. However, instead of treating these migrants as Sindhis, the then bureaucracy, with the active connivance and support of feudals of Sindh, declared the migrants settled in Sindh as ‘mohajirs’ and fixed for them a separate meagre ‘job quota’ in the federal and provincial services.
It will be pertinent to mention that millions of migrants from various regions of India settled down in Punjab, the NWFP and Balochistan during the same period, but they were neither declared ‘mohajirs’ nor any separate ‘job quota’ was fixed for them. With the passage of time, their separate identity as migrants disappeared and they now are all locals.
The migrants settled in Sindh and their next generation born and bred in Sindh are all Sindhis and it is now their duty and responsibility to work with locals for the development and welfare of Sindh as a whole. The migrants as a class should declare loud and clear in unequivocal terms that “all migrants settled in Sindh are Sindhis”.
In the light of the changed political environment in the country, the migrants have rightly modified their political thinking which now calls for elimination of feudalism and religious fanaticism from society and lays a greater stress on primary education on a mass scale for all illiterate Pakistanis. The use of the word ‘mohajir’ should be banned by the government if it wants to solve the political problem of Sindh for all time to come.
S.A.A. KAZMI
Karachi
THE lack of endorsement for an immediate ceasefire left a riled Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora asking if his people were ‘children of a lesser god’ (Dawn, July 27).
Yes, Muslims are the children of a lesser god. Lamentations expressed by the Lebanese prime minister forms the part of recent Muslim history. Be it Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine, Kashmir, Bosnia or Chechen, all Muslim countries are the target of the might and the people living within these countries are treated as birds to be shot down mercilessly.
Why is it so? Because of the disunity among Muslim nations and undemocratic and despotic governments consisting of a few ambitious persons determined to rule the masses and also control their destiny.
The great Yasser Arafat had been confined to a single room but not a single finger had been raised against the savage treatment meted out to the lion-hearted President of Palestine, who sacrificed his entire life for Palestine, a would-be invincible Muslim country.
Unless Muslim countries wake up, they will be treated as children of the lesser god or in the words of President Bush: ”Their God and Muslims’ God are different”.
GHEEWALA A.G.M.
Karachi
IN a television interview the federal minister for parliamentary affairs, Dr Sher Afghan Niazi, appeared generous in his adulation of Ms Benazir Bhutto and extolled the domestic and foreign policy pursued during her regime, specially her efforts to bring Kashmir issue on international level. When asked why he relinquished the PPP, the minister said: “What would you feel when nobody condoles you on the death of your beloved ones?” He expressed his sadness at the chairperson’s complete abandonment of party workers in their time of trial.
The Pakistan People’s Party originated in 1967 with the purpose of liberating the masses from feudalism. Its founder, Z.A. Bhutto, was a mature politician and steadfast statesman. With his stunning eloquence and enormous erudition, he won the hearts of people, especially by his famous slogan of “roti, kapra aur makan”. He achieved a staggering victory in the 1970 elections in West Pakistan. Mr Bhutto championed the cause of the under-privileged and kindled hope in countless hearts. His endeavours succeeded in bringing the downtrodden people to mainstream life and in chopping the power of reigning feudal class.
On July 5, 1977 Pakistan’s chequered history witnessed its blackest day when Gen Zia deposed the elected prime minister and imposed martial law. Bhutto was ultimately hanged on April 5, 1979. Despite the brazen brutalisation of political culture during his 11 long years of marshal law, Gen Zia could not extinguish the candle of the PPP which, led by Benazir Bhutto, came to power after 1988 elections due to the indelible impression of the late Bhutto engraved in the hearts of the people. Ms Bhutto was a novice in politics. Her inexperience, coupled with an insincere and inefficient cabinet, resulted in the premature end of the PPP’s two governments ostensibly on charges of corruption and incompetence.
Since her second dismissal, Ms Bhutto is sitting abroad but she aspires to return to Pakistan and be prime minister for a third time. Today her party’s provincial and central leadership rests with members who, barring a few, lack political acumen. Owing to her unavailability at home, the PPP has been prey of internal divisiveness and schism, leading to the change of sincerity with party on the part of several party members and formulation of a ‘forward bloc’ in the form of the PPP Patriots.
The number of turncoats is increasing and due to Ms Bhutto’s lack of contact with the masses from abroad via media, the party is increasingly losing its vote bank. During the 2002 election, it failed to win sufficient seats to establish its government in the centre or provinces and in last local body elections, it had to face defeat even in its home province of Sindh except in the city of Nawabshah.
The result is the disaffection of members as exemplified by Dr Sher Afghan Niazi and Ms Nuzhat Pathan, once a diehard MPA in the Sindh Assembly. Being neutral and having a pragmatic view, one cannot help but admire Mr Altaf Hussain of the MQM who personally calls his party workers and condoles them on the death of their near relatives.
As against the vision of Mr Bhutto, party tickets are distributed to the members of feudal families in whose hands the destinies of the poor rest. These bitter realities do not augur well for the party’s role in future politics of Pakistan and serve as portentous signs of its downfall. Whether the Charter of Democracy will succeed or not is a separate question, but Ms Bhutto should address the above-mentioned issues to avoid the political death of her party.
ASLAM PERVAIZ ABRO
Shikarpur
AS a citizen I protest the negligence exercised during the designing and construction of the Clifton underpass. Just 24 hours of rain has converted the underpass into an 18 feet deep lake, causing untold misery, chaos and literally washing away 180 million rupees of taxpayers’ money.
Not surprising that a foreigner, after taking one look at the Clifton underpass, said that in his country whoever designed such an underpass would be in jail in no time and would be banned from all government contracts. Whoever approved that project would also be serving time alongside. Even the Moenjadaro era artisans did a far better drainage job.
The other great monstrosity gifted to the citizens of Karachi, the 225-million-rupee wasteful water fountain, has already packed up in its first three months of operation and closed down under the pretext of maintenance. Would the government account for this blatant squandering of taxpayers’ money and hold the individuals concerned accountable? The citizens of Karachi should for once unite and demand action.
NAEEM SADIQ
Karachi
REFERENCE to his comment on Qazi Naeem’s letter ‘Dignity of man’, Anil Khan Luni has missed one point in his letter ( July 24). Mr Naeem suggested that semantics of ‘man’ is menfolk minus women that needs to be corrected since semantically ‘man’ stands for both man and woman in discourses of almost all disciplines. Besides, does it make any difference in Pakistan if anything is included in or excluded from its Constitution?
PROF. M. AZAM
Islamabad
THIS refers to the letter “Bad connection” (August 1) regarding the faulty telephone number 6674905. The PTCL would like to clarify that after publication of the letter the officer concerned visited the customer’s premises and fixed the cable the same day.
SALEEM KHAN
PRO STR-III
Karachi
THOSE who say that Islam is a tolerant religion are not doing justice to a religion which believes in every person’s right to practise his or her religion. Tolerance is not a very positive word. You tolerate an irritable colleague or a noisy child.
On the other hand, a non-Muslim’s belief is no problem to a Muslim unless he happens to be a fanatic. How boring would the world be if everyone spoke the same language, believed in the same religion, and had the same complexion. Nature didn’t design it that way, otherwise there would have been only roses or jasmines in this world. One wouldn’t have found any other flower the world over.
The other word which is often misunderstood is secular. Secularism is by no means the negation of religion, which is why la-deenyat is not the correct translation of the word secularism. Someone can be a Muslim or a Christian and yet secular in his or her outlook.
ASIF NOORANI
Karachi
A. ERCELAN
Karachi
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