| August 10, 2006 | Thursday | Rajab 14, 1427 |
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Lahore street crime
Nadra tracking system
Angry crowd, enraged consumers
Immigrants in Sindh
Sindh Textbook Board
The ultimate in effrontery
August 14 celebrations
Karachi’s DHA
Dispensation of justice
LEBANON is being destroyed brick by brick, house by house, block by block, road by road and bridge by bridge as a part of Zionist conspiracy to destroy its neighbours and occupy lands so that the Zionist dream of greater Israel can be achieved. So far more than 1,000 people have been killed, of which children are one-third.
About one million people have been displaced by Israeli shelling and bombardment. Yet Hezbollah is fighting with all valour to protect its motherland against Israeli aggression that violates all norms of international law, as well as the UN Charter. Since Israel’s birth in 1948, there has been continuous violence between Jews and Arabs in Israel, and between Israel and its neighbours. Sometimes, violence was low-level and even latent. And every once in a while it escalated into open warfare, as now.
Whenever full-scale violence broke out, there was a debate about what started it, as though that mattered. We are now in the midst of warfare between Israel and Palestine in Gaza and between Israel and Lebanon. And the world is engaged in its usual futile debate about how to reduce the open state of warfare to low-level violence.
Israel’s basic strategy since 1948 has been to rely on two things in the pursuit of its objectives: a strong military and strong outside western support. So far this strategy has worked in one sense: Israel still survives.
The question is how much longer this strategy will continue to work. Historically the source of outside support has shifted over time. We forget that in 1948 the crucial military support for Israel came from the Soviet Union and its Eastern European satellites. When the Soviet Union pulled back, it was France that came to fill the role. France was engaged in war against a revolution in Algeria, and it saw Israel as a crucial element in defeating the Algerian national liberation movement. But when Algeria became independent in 1962, France dropped Israel because it then sought to maintain ties with a now-independent Algeria.
It is only after that moment that America moved into its present total support of Israel. One major element in this turn-around was the Israeli military victory in the six-day war in 1967. In this war, Israel conquered all the territories of the old British Mandate of Palestine, as well as more. It proved its ability to be a strong military presence in the region. It transformed the attitude of world Jewry from one in which only about 50 per cent really approved of the creation of Israel into one which had the support of the large majority of world Jewry, for whom Israel had now become a source of pride.
This is the moment when the Holocaust became a major ideological justification for Israel and its policies. After 1967, Israeli governments never felt they had to negotiate anything with the Palestinians or with the Arab world. They offered one-sided settlements but these were always on Israeli terms. Israel wouldn’t negotiate with Nasser. Then it wouldn’t negotiate with Arafat. And now it won’t negotiate with so-called terrorists. Instead, it has relied on successive shows of military strength.
Israel is now engaged in the same catastrophic blunder as George Bush’s invasion of Iraq. The US is heading towards a humiliating withdrawal from Iraq. Israel’s current military campaign is a direct parallel of Bush’s invasion of Iraq. The Israeli generals are already noting that Hezbollah’s military is far more formidable than anticipated, that US allies in the region are already taking wide distance from the US and Israel (note the Iraqi government’s support of Lebanon and now that of the Saudi government), and soon will discover that the Israeli public’s support is more fragile than expected. Already the Israeli government is reluctant to send land troops into Lebanon, largely because of what it thinks will be the reaction of its own people inside Israel. Israel is heading towards a humiliating truce arrangement.
What Tel Aviv does not realise is that neither Hamas nor Hezbollah need Israel. It is Israel that needs them, and needs them desperately. Israel’s only guarantee will be that of the Palestinians. And to get this guarantee, Israel will need to rethink its strategy for survival.
MANZOOR ALI ISRAN
Khairpur
YOUR editorial on Lahore street crime (July 24), while correctly reporting the situation, is off balance in more ways than one because it fails to present the other side of the picture. The mere reporting of crime-related events per se can become counter-productive by creating fear and avoidable despair.
There is a Shakespearian adage which says that when the world purges itself of evil, then part of the good is destroyed with it. Thus the Muhafiz force whilst doing a good and needed job is also bound to run into the kind of trouble you have described. Every new idea has its teething problems, so give it a chance and a little time.
You have very rightly “asked time and again for a more humane metropolitan police force” but have failed to mention the sheer inadequacy of numbers and the miserable living conditions that plague the lower ranks of the police in Karachi and Lahore. Karachi has only 25,000 policemen to manage this sprawling and ever-expanding metropolis, which really requires twice that number. Well over half the lower-subordinates (foot constables and head constables) have no housing or even mess facilities whatsoever.
Are they supposed to live off the land? Policemen often lay down their lives in the line of duty and do not always die in encounters of their own making as the press often alleges. Who has any sympathy for the wretched traffic constable standing for hours in the heat and polluted air, facing the ire of drivers who treat traffic lights like red rags to a charging bull.
Yes, it is certainly true that there is ample room for reform and improvement in many spheres of police activity and constructive criticism should always be encouraged. Despite the ructions wrought by some of the inept provisions of the Police Order of 2002, the upper hierarchy of the force is doing its best in the circumstance. But this requires time and constructive help and support from both the public and the press.
As in other spheres in life, rectitude in the police will certainly come about, but only pari passu with a general advancement in education, economic well-being, standards of living and of civic responsibility in our country.
This letter is neither a plea nor an apology but it is an appeal for forbearance and a hope that the government will spare more funds to meet the expanding reeds of our guardians of law and order.
S. ASIF MAJEED
Karachi
APROPOS of the report ‘Nadra tracking system termed impracticable’ (July 18), it is clarified that the revenue generated through the issuance of VIN tag will be utilised for equipment, infrastructure development, pay/incentives of employees, etc.
The satellite-based tracking system for 1.5 million vehicles would cost a minimum of Rs45 billion (at Rs30,000 each) and the monthly operational cost at Rs750 to Rs1,000 per vehicle will be between Rs1.125 billion and Rs1.5 billion. Whereas the VMIS will have one-time cost of Rs1,200 per motor vehicle and Rs350 per motorcycle with no monthly operating expenses.
The VMIS uses RFID (radio frequency identification device), which is the fastest growing technology for identification and management of vehicles, trucks, containers (land- and ship-based). It is also in use in passports, identity cards, credit cards, driving licences, etc.
The VMIS will check and identify vehicles when they pass fixed/mobile points and any stolen vehicle will be alerted in real time to all check-posts and police posts. It has also been wrongly said that the system is meant for toll collection and other industrial usage only. Toll collection is only one of the many usages of RFID technology. The Citizen-Police Liaison Committee representatives are reported to have stressed the need for an integrated and centralised database of vehicles. The RFID would be a convenient and affordable tool for their purpose.
Although the satellite-based tracking systems can identify vehicles on which these are carried, the question whether motorcycle users can pay an initial cost of Rs30,000 with a minimum monthly expenditure of Rs750.
Among other benefits, an electronic RFID tag will remove the menace of fake registrations and bring transparency in tax collection. The VMIS is a cost-effective solution affordable by all vehicle owners with an extremely high rate of return on the initial and only expenditure.
Nadra is not looking for profits through this system as mentioned in the report because the cost projected barely covers the equipment cost which still is far less than satellite-based systems. Nadra will continue to strive to provide advanced, high-tech solutions using latest technology for the betterment of general public.
MEDIA WING Nadra
Islamabad
JUST when we were getting familiar with the celebratory ritual of an ‘angry crowd’, the alert signal has been upgraded to ‘enraged consumers.’ Our long experience with ‘angry crowd’ led us to gleefully discover that, understandably, they, being angry, enjoyed a complete moratorium and guaranteed non-interference for staging the funfair of burning tyres, taxies, cars, motorcycles, buses within reach, eating-places, specially with a foreign name, and, of course, gasoline stations, hoping for a big boom from the underground storage tanks.
Our gallant law-enforcement segment of the population naturally also enjoy the spectacle from a distance with toy guns and rubber truncheons. When stoned by the ‘angry crowd’, they display remarkable skill in selection of the size of the stone and throwing it farther afield.
The ‘angry crowd’ holds position and reverts to earlier festivities. One occurrence, not long ago, may be worth mentioning: the angry crowd, with brave stalwarts holding tins of gasoline and flame-lighted banners, was gallantly marching towards a foreign bank. The long armed guard kept shouting warnings, then a bang — an assailant dropped — the ‘angry crowd’ almost vanished.
Now the ‘enraged consumers’ have not yet shown their tentacles. According to Dawn (August 2), they “turned violent across the city”, “resorted to rioting in various areas”, “pelted passing vehicles with stones”, probably considered reasonable for a group of people when ‘enraged’.
Could we magnanimously agree that the epithet of ‘angry’ and ‘enraged’ negates the criminality of the ‘crowd’ and gives overt acquiescence to the action that would normally be treated abominably illegal, unlawful and despicable. The government, unnecessarily apologist for its legitimacy, seems to have taken view of ‘see no evil’ — how many countries we could count that permit full-fledged strike, at the whim of a political party, which stops all commercial activities at the so-called ‘drop of the hat’.
M.A.BAQI
Karachi
THIS refers to the letter by Mr S.A.A. Kazmi (Aug 2) which offers a simplistic view of a very complex sociological process involving the stages of migration, conflict, acculturation and assimilation. Historically, the immigrants during the Muslim era and Mughal empire settled in sporadic small contingents in Sindh over a time span roughly of three and two centuries respectively. They adopted local language and culture and naturalised voluntarily. Afghan immigrants in north-west frontier districts of Sindh were settled through the ‘patadari’ system mostly during the 17th and 18th centuries. They naturalised only after the political supremacy of Afghan kings ended during the 19th century.
Voluntary migration from Gujarat, Katch, Kathiawar, Halar and Jadeja - Soda Rajput territories, north-west of the Narbada river, and their permanent settlement in Sindh has been going on since time immemorial.
The process was somewhat faster during the British Raj, for 90 years, when Sindh was annexed to Bombay presidency. Nevertheless, such small contingents of immigrants from neighbouring areas, settling on account of sociological pull and push factors, never created any major socio-economic and political problems.
Resulting from partition, the acceptable spell of migration went on till 1954. The Gazetteer of Sindh by Dr Sorley (1959) estimated 0.7 million Urdu-speaking immigrants. After that, all types of migration are perceived as politically planned and motivated. The present rough estimate of about 10 million Urdu-speakers could not possibly have resulted from natural demographic processes.
In addition, there are about four million illegal immigrants in Sindh originating from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Burma and the Philippines. All of them, as per the World Bank Sindh Economic Report 2006, are better placed in terms of social development and economic prosperity when compared to rural Sindhi population.
Today, the representatives of 21 per cent Urdu-speaking population are in effective socio-economic and political control all over Sindh. While they have banned the entry of Sindhi youth to seek employment in Karachi, they are demanding 40 per cent jobs in Sindh government — more than twice the current ratio of their population.
This has recently been validated by Pir Pagara, a coalition partner of government. The Sindhi language has been abandoned in urban schools and the indigenous Sindhi population is being expelled from Karachi and Hyderabad in a planned manner.
Simplistic verbal proclamations of assimilation are thus diametrically opposed to the on-going engineered illegal immigration from India and Bangladesh, which has jeopardised the language, culture, socio-economic development and political writ of Sindhi people in Sindh.
Under the circumstances, the Urdu- speaking people do not seem to be getting any closer to sociological assimilation and naturalisation in Sindh. Well-wishers of Sindh and Pakistan must, therefore, initiate a continuous dialogue of all stakeholders to resolve the pertinent issues of migration and equitable allocation of rights and resources through consensus and constitutional means. In the meantime, all illegal immigrants must be gradually expelled and further migration on any pretext be banned forthwith to foster the process of naturalisation of genuine and legal Urdu-speaking population in Sindh.
DR RAJAB ALI MEMON
Jamshoro
THE Sindh Textbook Board is charged with publishing error-free textbooks for the whole of the province. It is under the control of the education department. Time and again it has been subjected to a barrage of angry complaints and criticism about serious factual mistakes in its publications.
A few years ago it printed the national flag in red colour and last year the height of a dam of national importance was misquoted. But nothing happened to the perpetrators of these blunders. On the contrary, the staff responsible for review and editing and proof-reading are regularly rewarded with handsome increments in pay and promotions.
The Sindh Textbook Board can easily get good authors and experts in textbook writing, editing and proof-reading on a contract or deputation basis. By adopting this procedure, savings of millions can be made in the expenditure on salaries.
ABDUL WAHEED
Hyderabad
The US government has invited proposals from architects for the design of their new consulate in Karachi. I read their AD in Dawn at the same time I was reading about the genocide in Lebanon, and George Bush and Co’s continued endorsement of the murder of innocent children at the hands of the Zionist butchers.
Sir Richard Rodgers, Michel Sorkin, and others, some of the world’s most renowned architectural personalities, were part of Architects and Planners for Justice in Palestine. They stated that they would not accept any architectural projects in Israel as a protest against Israeli policies in the occupied lands.
Michael Sorkin, however, wrote in Architectural Record recently that Rodgers backed out when faced with the threat of cancellation of a couple of very large projects in the US, sponsored by pro-Israeli Jewish groups.
I could say shame! But then I look at what we have done .... nothing.
Can the architects of Karachi say now that we will not respond to the advertisement and not send any requests for proposals as a protest against the USA’s blind support for and criminal refusal to rein in the Israeli war machine run amok?
HUSNAIN LOTIA
Karachi
EVERY year Independence Day is marked enthusiastically by Pakistanis living in Pakistan as well as abroad. But this year the Sindh education department has ordered all the schools in the province to remain closed until August 16. In case of disobedience, it has threatened to cancel registration. There is no justification for this decision by the education department.
Reopening schools after August 14 would mean that no Independence Day celebrations at the grassroots’ level will take place and this indirectly means that the spirit of patriotism is being taken away from Pakistani children. Pakistan’s Independence Day is of great importance and should be celebrated as such.
I request the authorities concerned to review their decision and order the schools to reopen before August 14.
JAVERIAH KHAN
Karachi
THE Defence Housing Authority, Karachi, has unfolded plans worth billions of rupees, to be spent on the ‘welfare’ of its residents, as reported in your paper (July 19).
They are silent on one basic need, i.e., the supply of water, which is sold through the tanker mafia.
It is not that there is any shortage of water. Water is available in abundance but not in the pipelines but through tankers of the tankers’ mafia operating in connivance with the DHA.
Phase IV of the DHA, where I live, has pipelines which are for ever dry but a retired colonel who is in charge can supply water on DHA tankers for Rs300 — as much as you need.
GHULAM RASOOL BAJWA
Karachi
JUSTICE and fair play has been the hallmark of Muslim societies. In the past Muslim rulers were conscious of the fact that society cannot survive without the proper dispensation of justice.
The recent decision of the chief justice on the privatisation of Pakistan Steel is highly commendable. The credibility of the highest court in Pakistan is increasing as its decisions continue to create a sense of trust in the common man. We all pray for the success of the Supreme Court.
USMAN MAQSUD
Rawalpindi
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