| August 04, 2006 | Friday | Rajab 8, 1427 |
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Failure of the United Nations
US values and culture
Beijing-Lhasa railway
Not any better now
What is normality?
Another police encounter
Engineering Development Board
Displaying the national flag
Rise of poverty
The mess HEC made
ISRAEL’S attacks on Lebanese civilians continue with little or no response from other Arab or Muslim countries. Rather than making an ineffectual appeal to OIC members, President Musharraf would do better to talk to the US, the only country that can persuade the Israelis to listen to reason. The president says our defence is impregnable. Surely then we should be able at least to speak the truth without fear: Israel would not be able to kill civilians with impunity without assurance of political and material support of the US.
Some may argue that it is useless to talk to the US because no American politician will dare oppose Israeli actions, especially in an election year. That is probably correct; nevertheless, we will be failing our duty if we do not raise our voice against the atrocities. Imagine India carrying out such an attack against Azad Kashmir; how can we expect the civilised world to come to our help then if we don’t do the right thing now?
I urge the government of Pakistan to take the following actions and appeal to all Pakistanis to support these suggestions:
1. President Musharraf should call Mr Bush and tell him clearly that it will be difficult for Pakistan to continue its cooperation unless the US shows more sensitivity to the feelings of Pakistanis regarding killing of innocent civilians in Lebanon and Gaza. An immediate ceasefire should be enforced.
2. A fund to help Lebanese and Palestinians affected by Israeli attacks should be opened immediately, with the government of Pakistan making an initial contribution of $10 million at least.
3. Medical help for victims of Israeli attacks (in the form of doctors, nurses and medicines) should be dispatched to Lebanon immediately.
PROF( DR) IRFAN ULLAH
Peshawar
MORE than two decades ago Beirut was the jewel in the crown of the Middle East. The city bustled with luxury hotels, its night life was a magnet for a flood of tourists.
After the 1967 war, Israel annexed land from Syria, Egypt and Jordan. It then set its sights on expanding northwards to Lebanon. They bombed Beirut and other Lebanese cities to smithereens and occupied southern Lebanon. In 1982 the Hezbollah was formed to resist the occupation.
They pestered the Israelis to such an extent that they abandoned the adventure which cost them at least one thousand soldiers. The people of Lebanon built the country once again and restored it to its former glory.
When Iraq attacked Kuwait, there was a furore in the world leading to the first Gulf War. The Iraqis were forced to retreat and a UN resolution demanded that war reparations be paid to Kuwait. As a consequence, Iraq’s oil revenue was placed under the receivership of the UN, which claimed money for all deaths, injuries and damage to oil facilities, etc.
Now as the Lebanon war progresses, the infrastructure has been destroyed totally. In spite of the superior fire-power of the Israelis, the Hezbollah is resisting bravely. The mentors of Israel have kept Condoleezza Rice on standby to broker a ceasefire if Israel gets bogged down.
At this juncture the UN should order Israel to pay war reparations of about $5 billion to Lebanon for starting their war of choice. This penalty should deter Israel or any other country from destroying infrastructure in this manner.
RAFI ADAMJEE
Karachi
THE world is watching the cruellest brutalities being inflicted upon the people of Lebanon and Palestine but not a single voice of any significance has emerged from any quarter of the so-called OIC. Shame on all of them.
They are now planning to have a conference in Malaysia, which is another show of hypocrisy. All sensible Muslims around the world should reject their empty slogans and bury the body of OIC for good.
N. M. ABBASI
Lusaka, Zambia
THE UN brings together 191 countries which allegedly have shared aims ‘to maintain international security, to develop friendly relations between nations, to cooperate in solving problems and promote human rights’.
In June 1945 representatives of 50 countries met to draw up a United Nations charter. The UN officially came into existence on October 24, 1945 with 51 member-states. The major powers wanted a controlled form of international cooperation in order to ensure their dominance, while at the same time avoiding the scale of destruction brought about by world wars.
The ill-starred forerunner of the UN was the League of Nations which was established in 1919 but failed to prevent World War II. Many wars have occurred in the world since the founding of the UN. Most parts of the world have been ravaged by war: Africa, Middle East, Asia and even Europe (former Yugoslavia).
The UN’s weakness is illustrated by the fact that it has passed more than 50 resolutions against Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory and yet the US veto on the Security Council means that they are never acted upon. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan was awarded the Nobel peace prize just before 9/11. Since then the UN has failed to prevent war on Afghanistan and Iraq.
The UN is currently engaged in 15 peace-keeping operations around the world. But it is famous for disastrous operations, such as in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia, where thousands were slaughtered while UN peace-keeping troops stood by.
It is rightly said that “history repeats itself”. The UN’s latest failure to stop Israel from wrecking destruction in Lebanon clearly shows that like the League of Nations, the United Nations too has failed.
AFZAL ASHRAF
Karachi
THE self-righteousness of Pakistanis never ceases to amaze me. This characteristic was on glorious display in the letter by “A Pakistani” (July 17).
The writer’s ire seems to have been provoked by the US ambassador suggesting that more US-funded projects to enable Pakistani students to learn English would offer the latter a window on American values and culture. But heaven forbid that we have anything to learn from the culture of the morally deficient westerners.
No, let’s revel in our own lofty cultural traditions of honour killings, vani, forced marriages, parents filing charges against their own daughters, lack of recourse for domestic violence, lack of accountability of public institutions, etc., etc.
And anyway, which utopia has this individual been living in? Is he not aware that all those ills that he has been attributing to the West (drinking, drugs, pre-marital and extra-marital sex, etc.) exist here as well and to say that it’s all due to western influence is simplistic in the extreme. Moreover, the last time I checked, Pakistan is awash with 50-year-old married men chasing after 20-year-old-girls.
As for the ignorance of the American children, I’m sure they still know far more than the unfortunate 20 million Pakistani children who don’t even go to school (not for any fault of their own, but due to the lack of accountability mentioned above)
While one can find many faults in US foreign policy (and I would not describe myself as a well-wisher of the US for that reason), my experience in the West showed me beyond doubt that one can find far more respect for human life there than in our dear country — and that is the most important ‘God-given value’ of all.
ANOTHER PAKISTANI
Karachi
THE inauguration of the Beijing-Lhasa railway (Dawn, July 3) is a most creditable achievement of our great neighbour, China, in the field of railway engineering. As China’s Asian neighbour, we should be proud of the Chinese accomplishment in trans-continental communication.
In 1955, when I was visiting China for the first time, as a member of a Pakistan press delegation, I recall meeting a Chinese railway engineer, who told me that a railway link between Beijing and Lhasa across the Himalayan mountains would become a reality within eight to 10 years.
At that time China was in the process of starting an air service between Beijing and Lhasa. It was also his forecast that China will also establish rail links between major cities in China and neighbouring Pakistan.
There was talk of an air service between the Chinese province of Sinkiang and Rawalpindi. This air link between China and Pakistan has progressed a great deal and it was used for Henry Kissinger’s first trip to Beijing.
According to Chinese railway engineers, a railway link between northern Pakistan and Sinkiang in China is a distinct possibility provided both the neighbouring countries firmly decide to do so, like buildings the Karakoram highway.
QUTUBUDDIN AZIZ
Karachi
‘KARACHI police accused of offences’(Dawn 50 years ago today, July 27)reads: “Karachi Police Force, inter alia, guilty of unnatural offences, kidnapping or abduction with intent to confine persons, stealing property and using criminal force against women with intent to outrage their modesty”.
These offences were being committed by the Karachi police 50 years ago. But, what an irony! The situation after 50 years is not any better today. It is distressing to note that the police performance has come down too low instead of any improvement. The allegation levelled 50 years ago still hold good and further the police are accused of killing people in fake encounters. They are accused of patronising gambling and prostitute dens, patronising and abetting criminal mafia, land grabbers. A distinct ‘thana’ culture has emerged. People avoid visiting ‘thana’ even if there is a need.
‘Thanas’ have become the centre of all criminal activities. ‘Thanas’ are auctioned as some of them are known to be lucrative (Dawn, Zubeida Mustafa’s article ‘Why we lack good governance’, July 12).
Deterioration of police performance is attributable to politicians in power who often use the police to intimidate the opposition. In fact, the police need major reforms which a real democratic government only could introduce and ensure implementation.
ABDUL SAMAD KHAN
Karachi
THIS refers to Laila Khan’s letter ‘What is normality?’ (July 20). Here in Pakistan the terms ‘normality’ is attached to the interests of our ruling lords and unless their interests are at stake, there would be ‘normality’ at least in their own words.
Most of our rulers have become abnormally involved in the race for gaining political influence and economic benefits, thus they have no concern for law and order and the miseries suffered by common people in terms of mobile snatching, carjacking and loadshedding. As far as this abnormality prevails, there is ‘normality’.
SHAHAB KHAN MEHSUD
Karachi
THIS has reference to former IGP S. Asif Majeed’s letter ‘Another police encounter’(July 23). He writes with the same old notion of police officials supporting extra-judicial killing on the pretext of “on the spot justice”.
Usually the people in favour of extra-judicial killings raise finger on our slow, inefficient and corrupt judiciary without understanding the law and civil rights. If A kills B but the prosecution fails to prove legally that A has done this crime, A has all the right to be freed or acquitted of charges.
This is the basic spirit of the law that ensures that no innocent person is executed or implicated in a false case. But this objective has not been fully achieved as hundreds of innocent people are implicated in false cases and penalised too under political influence or offer of bribe for various motives to punish opponents or to grab land, property or other material benefits.
I merely point it out to Mr S. Asif Majeed that the lot who oppose extra-judicial killings and demand that every accused/criminal should be presented before the magistrate and given the right to defend himself legally, they actually do not deny the facts he had penned down in his letter.
That reminds me of an incident during my days in a government college when a group of girl students lodged a complaint with the then principal, Dr Abdul Majeed Awan, against a graduate student and his group for teasing them in the bus en route to their homes. The principal simply issued an order to stop plying the college bus on that route, thus putting the students to greater trouble to change three buses to reach their homes.
Isn’t this an interesting way of solving a problem? But this is what our officialdom does as a routine and popular way to maintain discipline in offices and solve problems of their ‘subjects’.
But the real spirit behind the demand to present all accused before a magistrate and let the court decide their fate is “the very fundamental way to respect and honour the law”.
If you won’t respect the law, you won’t feel the gravity of the sin committed such as dictator Zia did by terming the Constitution a mere folio or bunch of papers he could tear apart and throw into the bin.
Irrespective of the commission of crime, the law demands all rights and respect for the accused till he is proved guilty. However, to ensure that criminals should not go scot-free, we need to check corruption, strive hard to enforce meritocracy so that the negligent, the incompetent and the corrupt could not get to such sensitive posts as can affect the lives of millions in a society.
Instead of shooting the criminals, why don’t the police try to prepare strong cases against them so as to leave no room for the corrupt to favour them?
QAMARULLAH
Karachi
A question was raised in the National Assembly asking the minister of industries, Mr Shaukat Tareen, the qualifications of Mr Imtiaz Rastgar, the chief executive of the epic body called the Engineering Development Board. The minister deflected the question to save his friend.
For information of the house, Mr Rastgar is a simple B.Com who runs a small foundry called Rastgar Foundries in Islamabad. He is not even from the civil service who are all knowledgeable.
By virtue of his being the chief of the Engineering Development Board, Mr Rastgar sits in high-level meetings, presides over engineering issues in various forums and leads delegations all over the world.
He is now issuing policy statements on engineering issues and on Pakistan’s vision on development of the engineering sector which will make Albert Einstein turn in his grave.
Is it not a pity that a nation of 160 million cannot find an engineer to head the board, not even a general from the EME corps of the army? Where is this nation headed?
A statement has come from the minister of industries, Mr Tareen, asking the Engineering Board to come up with a power policy for the country. Is Mr Rastgar competent to draw such a policy?
ZAHID HUSSAIN
Karachi
THIS is with reference to the petition filed by Tahir Muzaffar Raja with the Lahore high court regarding the distribution and display of the national flag by “all and sundry.”
I find his appeal objectionable and offensive as I believe that all Pakistanis have the right to hoist national flags on important occasions and this ceremony should not be limited to few individuals and dignitaries. People off all ages take great pride in celebrating national events by decorating houses with flags of all sizes. This inculcates the spirit of patriotism and unity amongst people.
Already the government has extended summer vacation to August 15, thereby depriving students of celebrating Independence Day with fanfare. If the use of national flags is restricted, then the new generation of Pakistan will feel further alienated from their country.
Respect for the national flag and its proper disposal after display can be engendered through media — not by putting a ban on its use. Second, producing flags for ‘quick bucks’ is not a mockery of the flag but a sad fact since many living here do not have a secure and permanent means of income.
SEEMA KHURRAM
Karachi
EVER since Shaukat Aziz has taken over our finances, poverty has increased. Of course, a few people have also become extremely rich. As for the poor who have meagre bank balances, they have to pay a service charge of Rs50 per month if their balance falls below Rs10,000.
This means something like six per cent per year whereas they get 0.2 per cent as profit. In due course the balance comes to zero. The bulk of account holders are poor people with meagre amounts in their banks. This was not the case six years ago.
May I also mention here that a Sikh peon at a bank branch at Daggar in Buner district while drawing his retirement benefits was charged Zakat that has not yet been refunded.
Not only this government but past ones too have been trying to fool the public by announcing every budget as tax-free, and then levying taxes during the following 11 months.
This year, within a week of the passing of the budget, gas and petroleum products were taxed over 10 per cent. This is the respect the government has for the members of the National Assembly and the people. Sad indeed.
M.AURANGZEB
Saidu Sharif
OVER the past few years I have followed with interest the various letters in the press outlining several issues regarding the HEC. I have read with even greater interest and amusement the detailed responses of the HEC to each letter and op-ed piece.
What struck me is that I have never come across even a single response in which the HEC has admitted that the criticism was justified. They have always denied any and every criticism that is directed at them.
Now if what the HEC says were true, we would be on track to become one of the most highly educated countries in the world. And we know that in a country where the most heated debates on education are centred around the inclusion of the picture of a dog in a textbook — a subject which was important enough to garner the interest of none other the highly intellectual Chaudhry Shujaat, the exclusion of the word jihad from science books and some other matters of such national importance, this is simply not the case.
There has got to be fire where there is smoke. Maybe it is time that the HEC got off its high horse and started cleaning up the mess.
NUZHAT AZIZ
Lahore
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