| August 19, 2006 | Saturday | Rajab 23, 1427 |
To send a letter to the Editor
Click here
Old age no obstacle to Fokker
Buck-passing game?
Flouting of SBP’s directive
Air chief’s statement
Ranpathani Bridge collapse
Water bills
Curbing inflation
Bus stands
Justice defined
What makes us invincible
Power theft
Readers are requested to restrict their comments to a maximum of 400 words. We reserve the right to edit letters for reasons of clarity and space. Letters, including those by e-mail, should carry the complete postal address of the sender. The views expressed in these columns do not necessarily reflect the views of the newspaper.—Editor
THIS is in response the letter ‘Engineering Development Board’ (Aug 4). The writer has mentioned a question being asked of the federal minister of industries, Mr Shaukat Tareen, in the National Assembly pertaining to the qualifications of the CEO of the Engineering Development Board (EDB). The writer has highlighted the fact that the current CEO does not hold an engineering degree, rather he is a BCom.
Being an engineer and owner of an engineering industry, I feel that it is more important for the august National Assembly to question the performance of the EDB during the tenure of the current CEO. It is the results on the ground that matter the most rather than the paper qualifications of an individual.
What I and fellow industrialists in the engineering sector are witnessing in the engineering industry of Pakistan is not short of a miracle. This miracle in the making has unfortunately gone unreported. We only get to read stories of doom and gloom pertaining to our country.
I agree with the writer’s contention that the EDB is a very important body. If he looks at the performance of this body in the last two years, he will also agree with the importance of ensuring that this momentum should be continued and sustained.
There is a golden opportunity at this time for our engineering industry as the manufacturing base is shifting from western countries to destinations in Asia. China and India have already prepared themselves and have the lion’s share. Over 60 per cent of world trade pertains to engineering goods. We have seen certain far-reaching initiatives taken by the ministry of industries/EDB which have set the pace for Pakistan to carve out its share in the trade of industrial goods.
One of the best indicators for which was the response we saw at the Hanover Industrial Fair in Germany. The last two fairs were organised so professionally that Pakistan stood out. We are dealing in engineering exports and know how painfully difficult it is to change the negative perception of our country abroad. Due to the initiatives of the last two years we are seeing that things have started to move in the right direction.
Pakistani companies which never had the exposure or opportunity have impressed European companies and have started exporting their engineering products due to steps taken by the EDB.
Rastgar Engineering is one of the pioneering companies which started exporting value-added machined goods to Europe. The business model they adopted was to use their foundry combined with a computerised numerically controlled machining facility. It is Mr Rastgar’s demonstrated success in the engineering industry, not his paper qualifications, which led the government to request him to head the EDB.
He has done a great favour to have accepted this honorary post. His guidance, vision and track record of successful experience has catapulted a number of small companies to initiate successful business deals for exports in engineering goods.
Please do not rock the boat, Pakistan already has more than its share of turbulence. Let us assist in making it strong and give it a chance to succeed. The work of the EDB under stewardship of the current CEO is making things work.
Let us all join in assisting our engineering industry to grow rather than to embroil it in petty matters.
RUMI MOIZ
Managing Director Research & Development Engineering Company, Karachi
FOKKER-bashing continues. In his letter (Aug 11) the ‘amused’ Mr Safin Siddiqui asks: Why have the Tiger Moths and Auster aircraft been replaced by new Cessna-150 aircraft for training purposes in the flying clubs?
They are replaced because the technology on the Cessna-150 is more advanced. The Tiger Moth is open-air. It requires you to wear a helmet and goggles. It has no radio. Instructions have to be shouted through a tube against the noise of the rushing slipstream. It has no brakes and no steering, whereas a Cessna- 150 has all this and more.
Replacement of the old for the new in all fields is the order of the day. The old hand-driven fans were replaced by ceiling fans and they, in turn, with airconditioners. The horse-carriage has been replaced with the automobile and, of course, the DC-3 by the Fokker and now the Fokker is being replaced. But this in no way infers that the Fokker at Multan crashed because of old age.
All the parts in an airliner, including the engines, everything has to be replaced religiously according to a laid-down schedule, and a certificate of airworthiness is obtained after many, many gruelling and stringent test flights. After a certificate of airworthiness is obtained, the aircraft is as good and as safe as a new one, for one year. Age is of no consequence.
If an aircraft does not meet the laid-down requirements, it is grounded. Many grounded aeroplanes decorate roundabouts, planetariums and museums. The Spit fire which won the battle of Britain, Mr Siddiqui says, is now in a British museum. Of course, it is. Yet no Spit fire ever crashed because of old age.
There is absolutely no contradiction in the fact that airliners do not crash because of old age and that older aircraft should be replaced progressively with new ones having advanced technology.
After his ‘terrifying experience’, which he calls a ‘close call’, in a Fokker, he advises PIA to buy aeroplanes that fly high above the mountains. When a western disturbance (a weather phenomenon) blankets the Northern Areas in winter months, no matter how high an aircraft flies it eventually has to descend past high peaks and “zigzag along the Indus Valley (KKH)” into the Gilgit airfield. How high it can fly becomes irrelevant. The advice to the faint-hearted is to keep the window shades closed.
He mentions the Titanic. I fail to see the connection. But the fact is that even this was the latest, newest ship of its time. It struck an iceberg and sank on its maiden voyage — brand new and shining.
Mr Siddiqui says: “If a lion and a human being can get old, why can’t an aeroplane which is made out of steel and alloy”. He contends that “men retire at 60 in the subcontinent and 65 in the US because human machines get tired and old and their reflexes wane”. Humans and lions, unfortunately, cannot have all their parts replaced periodically by new ones. The old Fokker has an edge over human beings and lions in this respect. When all the organs and limbs in humans can be replaced with brand new ones, they won’t have to retire at 60 or 65. But I am afraid we will have to wait for that.
CAPT. S. AFAQ RIZVI
Karachi
AS expected after losing the third Test match and the series to England, Wasim Bari, the chairman of the cricket selection committee, has defended his team selection and has put the entire blame on the players and the team management of the tour (Aug 10).
Bari has contended that the committee selected the best available players and now it was up to the tour management to get the best results out of them. On the other hand, the tour management has defended itself saying that some players do have basic faults but these shortcomings cannot be rectified overnight.
This buck-passing game can go on and on but it will lead Pakistan’s cricket to nowhere. We cannot escape the fact that something somewhere is wrong.
Bari should realise the fact that in the three Test matches played so far the main cause of our team’s poor batting performance is the failure of our openers. These openers have never given a good start to our team and that put the unnecessary pressure on our middle-order batsmen. It is a known weakness of our openers that they cannot cope with the ball going outside the off-stump and that is why most of the time they get out on a moving ball.
So, the chief selector cannot absolve himself of the responsibility of selecting openers who have been given ample opportunity in the past too but they could not perform satisfactorily. Of course, the selectors have failed to select a pair of good and reliable openers for quite some time. Likewise, the coach should also share the responsibility for not removing the basic faults of our openers ever since he took the reins of the Pakistan cricket team.
Keeping in view these facts, one feels that at least some changes do need to be made in the present setup of the PCB. That is, we need to have a new selection committee headed by someone who should exhibit not only a better cricketing sense but he should also select players on merit and merit alone.
RAFAT MAHMOOD ANSARI
Islamabad
DESPITE standing orders of the State Bank of Pakistan that all scheduled and private banks and their branches in the Karachi city are to accept all utility bills, the ordeals of paying utility bills in Gulistan-i-Jauhar are not coming to an end.
Branches of the Faisal Bank and Sunehri Bank in Block-18, KASB Bank and Bank Al Habib in Block-17 of Gulistan-iJauhar are still not accepting any utility bills to the great discomfiture of the residents of these and other blocks.
The SBP should take notice why the branches of the aforesaid banks are not complying with its directive. Acceptance of utility bills should not be conditional whether a consumer is an account holder of a particular bank or not, otherwise the woes of poor people will not end.
The SBP should also redirect all private banks and their branches to ensure that utility bills are accepted without any condition and this should be displayed in bold letters that acceptance of utility bills is one of their ‘customer services’ without any condition.
Now, the KWSB has started sending its monthly bill for the water supplied without providing meters. Thus one has now to visit banks four times to pay his/her PTCL, Sui gas, KESC and water bills, instead of three times till recently.
It is, therefore, necessary that all banks and their branches should accept utility bills.
M. SHAFIQUE AHMED
Karachi
I FAIL to understand the hue and cry raised by Mr Ayaz Amir (How many F-16s does Hezbollah have?’, Aug 11) and some of your esteemed readers over the statement made by the chief of the air staff. It has been taken completely out of context.
No sane person can deny the valour and determination of our Lebanese brethren. We stand by them in this hour of great tragedy. The courage and steadfastness shown by Hezbollah is model for any army and nation.
It is quite obvious that a great portion of Beirut and Lebanon has been turned into rubble. This is in spite of the feats of courage by the Hezbollah. I am quite sure that even with a mediocre air force in possession, Hezbollah would have made a very significant difference and Lebanon would not have been the way it is today. With F-16s, Hezbollah could have just turned the tables on its enemy.
S.A. SHAH
Mirpur Mathelo
ACCORDING to press reports, the Ranpathani Bridge is a 100-year-old bridge that collapsed under 20-foot-high flash flood, though earlier ordered by the authorities for urgent repairs. It is a well-known fact that due to global warming, such freak weather conditions are occurring all over the world. Pakistan is not immune to such events.
There must be thousands of such old bridges and other structures on the entire length of the railway, waiting to face such heavy floods. It has become necessary to strengthen all such vulnerable points to avoid costly breakdowns.
While such a policy and its implementation may take some time, it would be desirable to take some urgent measures to strengthen such bridges on an emergency basis, on the following lines:
1. Stone masonry of all old bridges, like the one under review, which some times have hollow spots, can be easily strengthen by pressure grouting, with cement slurry, adding some chemical, now available for the purpose. If machinery is not available, a drum can be used and raised using chains and pulleys on a rail derrick to achieve the purpose.
2. Open foundations of such bridges, as evident from the picture published on the front page of Dawn of Aug 3, can also be strengthened by adequate stone-pitching, adding strong toe walls or sheet piles, besides any other measures to create stone-pitched flumes on approaches to improve the flow.
Such repairs can be implemented without causing any impediment to the flow of traffic, in not much time, at economical cost, saving these from flash floods leading to breakdowns.
S.M.H. RIZVI
Karachi
WHEN our railway minister was active in giving a press statement regarding introduction of bullet train, doubling the track, rail link from Gwadar to Havelian and to Chinese border, a bridge on a stream, near Ranpathani railway station, collapsed suspending the rail traffic from Karachi to upcountry and vice versa.
That bridge has yet to be restored, though rail link is likely to be established shortly. I wonder what would have happened if the bridge had been over a river.
It reminds me of a famous Punjabi villain, Mazhar Shah, of the 1960s who was known for his lofty utterances, popularly known as ‘bharaks’.
Seeing the state of affairs in his department, Sheikh Rashid Ahmad appears to be Mazhar Shah of the Pakistan Railways. Thank you Sheikh Rashid.
HAFEEZ AKHTAR
Lahore
THE Karachi Water and Sewerage Board has introduced water and conservancy bills payment on a monthly basis from July. It is actually one-twelfth of the annual water bill to be paid by consumer every month. This has created a problem for consumers to again stand in queue to deposit the money in the bank, and when the bill is not received, the consumer has to rush to the relevant KSWB office for duplicate bills.
Recently I had also the same problem. I went for the duplicate bill to the Awami Markaz and requested the officer concerned if he could issue an annual bill instead of a monthly one for making full payment in advance. But the official concerned refused, stating that they have no such instruction.
It is, therefore, brought to the knowledge of authorities concerned to instruct all offices of the KWSB to issue annual bill to all consumers who desire to avail themselves of such advance payment facility.
KASSIM H. MOOSA
Karachi
WITH regard to the prevailing inflation in the country, President Gen Pervez Musharraf in his recent speech has informed the nation that the reason for inflation is abundant money with the public.
It is quite an amazing statement since the general public is greatly disturbed due to
the growing rate of poverty, high cost of living, rapidly spreading crimes and unemployment.
In fact, the money is being rotated amongst certain groups of people in Pakistan which resulted in the rich becoming richer and the poor becoming poorer. It is not denying the fact that the common man is facing great hardships due to continuous inflation. The government should curb the current inflation and take appropriate measures to improve standard of living of the common man who is struggling hard to survive.
MUMTAZ HUSSAIN
Karachi
IT is a pity for the city government as they are still unable to transfer the up-bound buses out of the main roads of Karachi, especially from the Saddar area and main University Road near the Civic Centre.
During rush hours it becomes an uphill task to cross these roads, especially from Jail Road to the Civic Centre, mainly due to these standing buses for Quetta.
These bus stands may immediately be shifted to the outskirts of Karachi so that transport movement eases up for the citizens of Karachi.
LT-CDR JAWAID MANNAN
Karachi
THE Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: “When a task or job is assigned to a person who does not qualify for it, then wait for the Day of Judgment.”
In other words, it is one of the signs of the Day of Judgment that positions of sacred trust would be given to those who are not eligible for them.
Will Durant writes, in context of Plato, in his book The Story of Philosophy: “A just man is a man in just the right place, doing his best, and giving the full equivalent of what he receives.” A society of just men would, therefore, be a highly harmonious and efficient group: for every element would be in its place, fulfilling its appropriate function like the pieces in a perfect orchestra. Justice in a society would be like that harmony of relationships whereby the planets are held together in their orderly movement. So organised, a society is fit for survival; and justice receives a kind of Darwinian sanction. Where men are out of their natural places, where the businessman subordinates the statesman, or the soldier usurps the position of the king, there the coordination of parts is destroyed, the joints decay, society disintegrates and dissolves. Justice is effective coordination.
I just recall an English proverb that still holds good: ‘A square peg in a round hole.’
DR KHALID MAHMOOD SHAIKH
Islamabad
APROPOS of Mr Anil Khan Luni’s letter ‘What makes us invincible?’ (July 28), an invincible defence will ensure that we do not become another Kashmir, Bosnia, Kosovo, Palestine or Lebanon.
A. RASHEED
Karachi
SINCE the electricity problem becoming worse in Karachi, some people are still enjoying power theft. I am resident of Saadi Town near Malir Cantonment where there are no electric poles except at a few places. There are a couple of houses, including mine, where meters are installed. All others are thriving on ‘kunda’. On the main road one 250KV PMT is installed whereas a 50 KV PMT is installed on the Police Society side which is serving half a Saadi Town, i.e., Blocks 4 and 5. There are houses with ‘kundas’ where electric heaters are used for cooking instead of LPG cylinders and to the extent two to four split and window airconditioners are also being used. Fluctuation and low voltage is a daily routine. Being a resident with meter I cannot use airconditioner even with stabiliser.
I would request the government, as well as the KESC, to look into the matter.
MUHAMMAD FAWAD BIN RASHID
Karachi
You can also send letters to the Editor
Just send your message to the following address: letters@dawn.com
Make sure you include your full name, postal address, e-mail address, and in the case of Pakistan your day-time telephone number.