| August 22, 2006 | Tuesday | Rajab 26, 1427 |
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Sindh bracing for floods
Terror’s new definition
The fundamentalist challenge
Verdict on Pakistan Steel sale
Sugar and lifelines
Letters to president
Corporate responsibility
Security at airports
Karachi’s DHA
System not working
No guts, no glory
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
ENGLAND was awarded the fourth Test match when Pakistan was all set for a consolation win. Whatever done is done, I just want to ask the ICC what proof Darrell Hair had when he blamed Pakistani players for tempering with the ball? Darrell Hair is known for his stubborn character, especially towards teams from the sub-continent.
He not only penalised the visitors without having an iota of proof, but also insulted Pakistan and our cricket team. If Pakistan is not found guilty, what sort of action will be taken against Darrell Hair? Or are umpires above law in the ICC’s book of rules?
MUHAMMAD MAHTAB BASHIR
Islamabad
I AM appalled at the way Pakistan was accused of changing the shape of the ball without Inzamam even being asked or informed about the suspicion. This is pure racism.
Inzamam’s decision to protest is justified. However, the PCB chairman did not highlight in his interview the fact that Pakistan has been hurt by the incident.
How can anyone blame a national team without concrete proof?
This was certainly a black day in the history of cricket. Pakistan lost the series 3-0 but they won on principle.
IMRAN ALI
Hyderabad
WHEN a nation’s pride is at stake, people have been known to do unparalleled deeds. The cricket world will forever remember August 20, 2006, when the Pakistani team didn’t show up to resume play and a win was awarded to England.
Pakistani supporters will remember this day for when their captain stood for his principles, his players and his nation. Well done Inzamam, I am sure when I say this I speak for the entire nation.
M.F. MEMON
Birmingham, UK
IN India we know Inzamam as a passionate and honest cricketer. What he did is perfect right and it is our moral responsibility to support him. The ICC clearly has different standards for the whites and the rest. We have often seen white cricketers get away with nonsense. In this incident the most surprising aspect was that the umpire took the decision without any clear evidence. He clearly lacked sensitivity. He has no idea what his action means to the team and the cricket lovers in our subcontinent.
MEHUL MEHTA
Ahmedabad, India
THE warning of the Federal Flood Commission to Sindh for adopting precautionary measures in the wake of “very high flood”, expected to pass through barrages of Sindh starting from Aug 11 to 22/23, refers to your editorial ‘Sindh bracing for floods’ (August 10), though well-timed yet will hardly make much difference in view the precarious condition the river dykes are kept.
After superfloods of the early 1970s, in order to harness the wild Indus, protective dykes on both sides of the river were strengthened by raising them substantially under orders of then prime minister Zulfikar All Bhutto.
Since then, unfortunately, no notable measure has been adopted for proper maintenance of the dykes.
Now, as a result of this neglect and complete deforestation of Kutacha areas during the last 30 years — refer to Dr All Akbar Dhakan’s letter ‘Unkindest cut of all’(Aug 12) — almost entire districts through which the river passes have become exposed to flood’s wrath.
For instance, while passing through the new Indus bridge at Hyderabad, one can observe the extremely pathetic condition of the dykes on both sides of the river.
The huge burrows created through digging sand from the river bed for use in construction and big holes made by animals in the dykes are quite visible from a moving vehicle.
Thus the deployment of troops at this juncture will though help a lot in saving the marooned people by evacuating them to safer places, but to avoid such a detrimental condition in the first place more important is to properly keep the dykes in the right shape by carrying out regular repairs and maintenance.
ALTAMASH M. KURESHI
Karachi
“SOME 11,000 terrorist attacks were carried out in the world last year, killing more than 14,600 people as against 651 attacks in 2004 that killed 1,907. Last year’s figures are sharply higher due to the use of a new broader definition of terrorism”: US report (Dawn, April 29). The definition was not made public.
To start with, while we were still waiting for the UN legal committee’s definition of terrorism, other than available in dictionaries, we are informed that the Bush administration has accomplished the task itself: let many worry for the sanctity of dictionaries.
In fact, the US report speaks out the objective of the new broader definition — to bring maximum number of the targeted people into the terrorism net: “The Pentagon and the State Department have joined hands to chalk out a programme to counter tens of millions of real and potential jihadis” (Dawn, April 26, 05).
The report has been released after about a fortnight after the US declared at the conference of 62 countries that they have to fight the terror in accordance with the new definition for another 20 years against a large number of the unknown jihadis and undefined potentials who live in about hundred countries.
Pakistan needs to fight terrorism but not the American brand — they called the great Nelson Mandela terrorist and also Yasser Arafat. Maybe a democratic Pakistan provides a better solution to the problem.
Another point to ponder is as to what may become of the humanity if future wars are also fought because of warriors themselves defining the militaristic words as may suit them.
Z.A. KAZMI
Karachi
THIS refers to the column of Mr Tahir Mirza under title of ‘The fundamentalist challenge’ (June 11).
I wish to congratulate Mr Mirza for trying to educate his compatriots in an interesting way on the serious exploitations of religion being made by various characters in our society. It is time people were politely told of the facts and made aware of their own position in society. Unless the people will stand on their own feet, the possibility of correction and improvement in the future conditions of Pakistan will be minimal. This subject will also be of concern to those who are interested in the territory of Pakistan and its strategic importance.
It is well-known that Quaid-i-Azam M. A. Jinnah wanted the economic emancipation and freedom of the deprived Muslim minority of India (he was fighting for all the minorities but most of them happened to be Muslims) who could be crushed by the fundamentalist and cruel majority of a banya- controlled political power that the British could leave behind. For this Mr Jinnah originally wanted some workable administrative solution with the help of British government and he fought for that till end.
While he could study the behaviour of a rather impossible attitude of his local Indian opposition, being a wiser statesman he could also read what a new country in the shape of Pakistan could offer to the western powers.
He was thus able to negotiate well and got us a territory on the world map under the flag of Pakistan. Despite all the deviations from the principles of rule of law and democracy for which the Quaid stood for how much the creation of this country benefited the millions of people of this geographical area is very well-known. Pakistan is as much needed to stay intact in 2006, as it was in 1947.
We, however, cannot deny the fact that the people of Pakistan did not win any war of freedom to win a free country in the real sovereign sense. Had the Quaid-i-Azam lived longer and had we struggled long enough to institutionalise certain matters of statehood, we might have become aware of some aspects thereof.
We just got a land in 1947 under the title of Pakistan. Therefore, we as people of Pakistan don’t know much of what freedom is; and we don’t know how freedom can be secured or defended. And many think that we probably shouldn’t worry about that because everything that matters in life is taken care of by an uncle in a distant land.
So Khuda Hafiz or Allah Hafiz, who cares?
MIAN TARIQ MAHMUD
Lahore
THE judgment of the Supreme Court in Pakistan Steel Mills privatisation case has revealed many interesting facts which show that the government had gone out of its way to accommodate the bidders.
The incentives/concessions not advertised but extended to successful bidder included:
i. The stock in trade contained in the unit worth about Rs10 billion.
ii. The commitment of the government of Pakistan to clear the loan liability of the PSMC which was due for the year 2013 to 2019, amounting to about Rs7.67 billion from the cash of Rs8.559 billion lying with the Mills as per the statement of account.
iii. Refund of Rs1 billion paid in advance as tax to the government of Pakistan.
iv. Responsibility accepted by the government of Pakistan to satisfy the claim of the workers opting for voluntary scheme up to Rs15 billion. If this was not enough, the privatisation committee had agreed to change the names of the bidders in the agreement for handing over the steel mill so that bidders could save themselves from double taxation.
The above-mentioned facts along with violation of various laws reported in the judgment show that the whole deal lacked transparency. In a country in which ‘true democracy’ was being practised such a judgment would have led to an investigation and resignations being submitted by the officials concerned.
The problem is that even if an investigation is launched into the whole affair, one cannot expect much from such an investigation as the government itself was party to an agreement which was based on unlawful consideration.
It is indeed a pity that even after seven years of rule of a leader who claims himself to be champion of democracy, not a single democratic norm is being practised in the country.
ANIL KHAN LUNI
Lahore
ACCORDING to news reports in Dawn (July 27) and the electronic media, the government plans to keep sugar imports duty-free for another year to avoid any price spiral.
How considerate of the planners to worry about the common man. Where were these stalwarts when the rise in the price of sugar was causing so much distress to the common people? Why have we not seen any report on investigations as to why the country’s sugar mills were allowed to create a shortage of sugar and list the few rich people who are in the government and opposition who benefited from the crisis? Will they ever be penalised heavily (not just Rs40,000 or Rs50,000) for their unconscionable self-serving actions? Is anyone willing to hold their breath for this to happen?
Poor farmers cannot be expected to continue spending time and effort to increase the production of sugarcane when they do not get paid a reasonable price on time. Meanwhile, the fat cats monopolise input costs as well as output revenue to secure monetary advantage for themselves and their cronies in the circles of power at different levels. We have all read the demand the sugar mill owners made recently asking the government to buy their stocks of sugar at the same price as the landed cost of imported sugar.
Is there no shame left among the powerful people of this country, and is it necessary for the government to continue to look the other way when their shenanigans are repeated time and again? Then we are told over and over again that the government is working for the benefit of the common man. The ‘common man’ in this country is not among the rich two per cent but rather the other 98 per cent who find it difficult to make ends meets.
I wish the Group of 18 would now send a white paper to the president and prime minister listing the multitude of escalating hardships faced by the silent majority. They should be made to see the actual hardships people face that cannot be satisfied by the empty rhetoric we see on television and newsprint every day. The principles of macro-economics worked for a while but the micro-effect has not trickled down, thus causing misery and indicating signs of a bleak future. Maybe the president and the prime minister need to feel the pulse of the real common man a little closer, rather than listen to the hangers-on that make up their group of advisers.
MOHAMMED HASAN
Karachi
TWO letters to the president, written separately within two months by distinguished upper class (group) Pakistanis, reflect a kind of super anxiety about the governing system in vogue.
The authors feel not much positive has happened and is happening under the present dispensation. The remedy they suggest lies in a military-free democracy brought about by free and fair elections.
Things would certainly work under democracy, but democracy too must have a substance and a direction: nothing, no matter how much sacred and purposeful, works in vacuum. And as a nation we certainly have a political vacuum.
Not that the leaders of three effective political parties are in exile. The political vacuum exists because none of the so-called political parties, whether in power or opposition, are political.
They have no workable manifestos, no aims, no targets and hence no future. They are at the top at the most a gathering of opportunists only.
The only political party we ever had and have is the Pakistan Army.
Our opportunists in the guise of politics follow the policies and precedents given by this most organised institution of the state.
So how can we change, if defence would consume most of our revenues and Kashmir would continue to ride our nerves? Add to it a patronised militancy.
Our goals are fixed; and so is our destiny. Meanwhile, let us think about how to maintain the status quo: a task that too is becoming increasingly difficult; and that is the real reason behind the super anxiety of our elite.
MUHAMMAD AHSAN YATU
Islamabad
IT is always great to see the leading fast food chains reaching various cities in Pakistan. Recently another one of them has struck the city of Rawalpindi.
Unfortunately, they have forgotten to put up trash cans outside the luxuriously-created structure. When I inquired, they asked me to put the trash in the corner.
These multinationals promote themselves as socially responsible organisations but sadly they sometimes forget the basics.
I would like to request those concerned to preserve the hygiene of the nearby Jinnah Park and install proper trash cans. After all, keeping our city clean is the responsibility of every citizen.
HYDER BILGRAMI
Islamabad
MUCH has been written and discussed in the media on security checks at airports. It is reiterated that US authorities are not satisfied with the arrangements at Pakistani airports, specially at Lahore and Islamabad.
In my opinion the demand for a direct flight to Pakistan from the US is quite genuine as most of the times people have to reach home in emergencies. If at all the security arrangements at Pakistani airports are not satisfactory, at least on the way back from the safe haven of US airports the flights to Pakistan can be flown direct.
The cumbersome part of the journey, both ways, is the transit compulsory evacuation of passengers at Manchester airport which includes women with infants and small children and senior citizens who have to walk a long distance and even walk up and down the stairs to go through the transit security checks after going through the safest scrutiny at US airports.
ABU DANISH
New York, USA
THIS refers to Mr Ghulam Rasool Bajwa’s letter ‘Karachi’s DHA’ (Aug 10). The Defence Housing Authority has an inherent problem of acute shortage of water because of reduced bulk quantity supplied by the KWSB, which is not adequate enough to meet the demand of the residents.
The demand and supply differential varies between three and four MGD water. However, the DHA has tried its utmost to mitigate sufferings of the residents.
In addition to revamping and upgrading the water supply lines, a number of short- and long-term measures have been initiated by the Authority to improve the water situation.
The DHA’s power and desalination plant will start functioning in December, and become fully operational by March’ next.
With three MGD output of potable water from the desalination plant and the promised additional three MGD water by the KWSB out of the K-3 project becoming available, the water situation in the DHA would improve.
Hardship water tankers are supplied to the houses of those residents where due to some technical or other reason there is no or very less water supply, and that too at no cost.
The tankers supply water only after approval by the competent authority. The allegations of the writer in this regard are unfounded.
LT-COL (r) SYED RAFAT HUSSAIN NAQVI
Public Relations Officer, DHA,
Karachi
THE performance of our country has just been like the operating system of a computer. No matter how many times we format the hard disk and install the software, the system will not run smoothly unless the basic hardware is replaced.
So many times, there have been improper shutdowns resulting into files’ deletion and we end up with corrupted windows.
Gen Pervez Musharraf is making all his efforts to install the proper version of windows but we all know that the hardware is not good and, therefore, our system would keep on crashing. The masses can just see the attractive desktops, themes and screen savers for the time being with no access to the setup files to make things better for themselves.
SYED NEHAL ALVI
Karachi
I COULD not stop laughing at the suggestion by Dr Khurram Fiazuddin (letter, Aug 17) that our president visit Cuba to thank President Castro.
Our leaders did not even have the guts to say a word of comfort to our Muslim brethren in Lebanon lest Uncle Sam is offended.
DR OBAIDULLAH
Peshawar
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