| August 30, 2006 | Wednesday | Sha'aban 5, 1427 |
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What makes us invincible
Defining an ideological state
Sindh Textbook Board
Problems at the IBA
Thoughts from a visit abroad
Creating problems
Cellphones: a suggestion
Lack of medical facilities
Faulty phone
PTCL’s clarification
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
IN the aftermath of the killing of Nawab Akbar Bugti the people of Pakistan should move towards unity and attempt to address the issues facing Balochistan, instead of using the situation as a pretext to overthrow the military government and further their own agendas.
Investigations should be launched to determine whether Nawab Akbar Bugti was killed in retaliatory fire or in a pre-planned assassination. However, what ever the result comes out, one thing should be certain in the minds of the Pakistani people — that Bugti was not a person we should apotheosize as a hero but as someone who used the grievances of Balochistan as a garb to further his own causes. He has led himself to his own death.
I wonder whether Balochistan would be in the state it is if any serious attempts had been made to bring progress in the region by development of not only the province but also the minds of its people. The government may have shirked its duty by not ensuring progress in the region; but the tribal leaders were the real culprits. They stuffed their coffers full of the money meant for the people they were supposed to be serving. Let us abolish the tribal system and make both the government and the sardars go through the proper legal process to ensure accountability for their actions.
SAMI NOORSUMAR
Karachi
EVERY day hundreds, probably thousands of Pakistanis die. Some succumb to illness, others to old age. Sadly many die due to poverty, some unfortunate souls are just at the wrong place at the wrong time. But the recent death of one Pakistani marked a milestone in the recent history of Pakistan.
He did not die alone, 36 of his associates died with him. Twenty or so Pakistani soldiers also lost their lives. The sad part is that these people died not because of an enemy or terrorist attack, but these Pakistanis died killing each other.
All this happened because of one of the Pakistanis who died that day.
Nawab Akbar Bugti died as a result of an army operation in Balochistan, which aside for the loss of 20 soldiers was successful as it achieved its goal, it killed the Pakistani.
The fact of the matter is that I am no supporter of Bugti. Like other Pakistani politicians, his life and methods are a mystery. He was neither a well wisher of the Baloch, nor a deadly separatist bent on the division of the motherland. To me, his actual political beliefs and his supposed criminal record are all irrelevant. What is relevant is that he was a Pakistani, whether the government or indeed he himself liked it or not.
In the civilized world, a government holds sway because of a social contract. I give up some of my rights to the government so that I can peacefully co-exist with other human beings. In turn it is the government’s duty to ensure that I be given all my rights and if a crime is committed by me or against me the due process of justice takes its course. So, theoretically it is the responsibility of the president of Pakistan to ensure the safety of all Pakistanis. Bugti however was never read his rights, never told on what charge his freedom was been taken away from him and he never got to defend himself before a judge.
HUSNAIN FATEH
Lahore
ALTHOUGH thorough homework was done by the government; grounds were prepared and the stage set for the grand operation well in advance, but still a few ends were left loose. The entire complexion of the case changed when the media prematurely broke the news of assassination of Nawab Akbar Bugti and his two grandsons.
I fail to understand why the ISPR released news based on hearsay? Should they not have waited till the time the military operation was over and the bodies recovered? The strike on the cave could have been shown on the media as a routine and in the follow-up story names of all those killed could have been announced as and when the bodies were recovered.
I believe that assassination of Nawab Akbar Bugti was grossly mishandled by the agencies. They blew the case out of proportion to the advantage of many who had little or no affiliations with the Nawab. Surely a few heads must roll.
SYED MASOOD HAIDER
Multan
YOUR editorial ‘Tragedy with a price’ (Aug 28) is typical Pakistani liberal thinking. Exactly what ‘political’ solution would you have proposed to someone who launches rockets at the president, machine-guns police officers, and has people murdered for being Punjabi? A political solution, as you suggest, presupposes political questions.
Bugti refused to put forward any specific demands and resorted directly to murder. What options did any government have under these circumstances?
NIZAM FAROOQ
Paris, France
I WRITE this with reference to Mr Rafiq Siddiqi’s letter ‘What makes us invincible’ (Aug 23). If Mr Siddiqi thinks that proposing rationalisation of our national expenditure priorities amounts to ‘fake liberalism’, I have no qualms in including myself in that category.
It is tragic to observe lack of sensitivity among our educated elite about the cost being borne by the country for our continuing reckless policy of expending our scarce resources in the elusive objective of making the country invincible. It is time that we recognise that, in the changing global environment, no country can physically occupy another country. In the case of India, a military confrontation with Pakistan is farthest from their current national priorities. It would be far-fetched to assume that the democratic process in India would one day throw up a chauvinistic leadership that would have no reservations in abandoning their national economic agenda for the short-term satisfaction of destroying Pakistan.
Pakistan, too, has learned the hard way after losing out in at least three military confrontations with India that it neither has the capacity nor the resources to have an aggressive posture against India.
Let us also not forget that since the last military confrontation with India, in terms of economic profile, the two countries are very, very different: India’s industrial structure, its position in international trade, its foreign exchange reserves — over 13 times Pakistan’s reserves — are just some of the indicators of the difference between the two countries.
Yes, it would do some citizens of Pakistan proud to see F-16s, missiles and other state-of-the-art military hardware being displayed on Pakistan Day parades. For others, this would merely provide a demonstration of our priorities and the reason why people at large are getting impoverished by the day with little hope of improving their life and the lives of future generations. It is time for the citizens of this country to speak loud and clear about the compelling need to review expenditure priorities followed in the last 50 years. Unless there is a drastic reduction of our defence expenditure and re-deployment for the welfare of the people of this country, and soon, there is little hope that we can offer to future generations.
While the military leadership may remain complacent that they are trying to make Pakistan militarily invincible, the country’s foundations would continue to crumble with the process culminating in what eventually happened in the former Soviet Union.
J.M. SHEIKH
Lahore Cantt
I APPRECIATE the nuance explored by Sharif al Mujahid with respect to an ideological state or state with an ideology (Aug 14).
What I understand is that the difference lies in the emphasis. In the case of the former, the ideology precedes the state which comes out as a result of the ideology. It is the ideology which provides ground and footings for the establishment of an ideological state or a government in the already existing state.
On the other hand, a state with an ideology is not the outcome of a particular ideology, rather ideology is evolved by the citizens as a raison d’ etre for the state.
Therefore, the state does not impose any ideology on its citizens who are free and take equal part in the formation of an ideology.
Relying on the above, it goes without saying that the state of Pakistan is an ideological state — an outcome of the two-nation theory.
Now how Pakistani intelligentsia respond to the contemporary pressures and the slogan of ‘Pakistan First’ is really a test of genius and conscience.
What I believe is that we need to be confident to accept the truth that Pakistan was carved out as a result of Islamic philosophy wherein Muslims are an Ummah entirely different than the rest of the people. It must not be forgotten at the same time that although Ummah is a separate and distinguished entity but Islam is for all.
Unlike Jews, Muslim is not the name of a race, colour, or region, rather it is an attribute of any person who professes allegiance to Allah according to the tenets of Islam.
By proclaiming Islam as the foundation of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, we do not mean to undermine all other factors of Pakistani nationalism, i.e., historical experiences, cultural homogeneity, linguistic similarities and so on.
What we mean and mean others to appreciate is that the core of our ideology is Islam. If you exclude Islam from the philosophic contours of Pakistan, the entire theoretical and philosophic edifice shall collapse.
The core issue needs to be addressed is to provide an interpretation of Islam which must address the problems faced by the humanity, in general, and by the Ummah, in particular, in today’s world.
It would be a tremendous service of humanity if the intelligentsia of Pakistan succeeds in answering the question of relevance and importance of their state’s ideology in the perspective of today’s international political scenario.
M. ZUBAIR ABBASI
Islamabad
ISN’T it pathetic that the Sindh Textbook Board has again failed to supply textbooks for Classes IX and X despite the fact that there was an unprecedented long summer break this year? Schools in Karachi are now open, the required books, however, are unavailable and parents are running from pillar to post to grab them at any cost from anywhere.
More painful is the indifferent attitude of the STB in this regard.
It looks like the minister concerned, the secretary of education and other officials of the education department are either unaware or simply ignorant of the difficulties being faced by the people. In civilised societies many would have resigned for such acts of gross incompetence.
PROF. S. M. IQBAL
Regional director, HEC
Karachi
THIS refers to the letter ‘Problems at the IBA’ (Aug 24). The writer mainly claimed that the IBA had increased fees from Rs4,500 a month to Rs12,000 a month for students going on from the BBA to the MBA programme. Actually, no fee increase has been enforced for the MBA programme.
The IBA introduced its four-year BBA programme, not BBA (Honours) programme, by a decision of the board of governors taken on Feb 16, 2002. This was done to bring our programme and degree at par with the US practice as the US is world leader in business education.
Soon after that the Higher Education Commission asked all Pakistani universities to shift to four-year undergraduate degrees (BA, BBA, BCom, BSc). By now all universities have moved to meet this requirement; the IBA was just the first institute to make the shift from the British-style structure of undergraduate degree to the American design.
All in-coming students in 2002 knew that they were joining a four-year BBA programme. It was clearly explained to all in- coming students that this was a terminal degree and that they would be expected to work for two years before coming back for an MBA, if they desired to obtain the higher degree.
This May the first batch of the IBA’s four-year BBA degree students graduated. Many of them have gone into the market and found jobs with businesses in Pakistan and abroad. However, many other graduating students had expressed the desire to continue to complete their MBA’s.
The academic board of the IBA and the board of governors agreed to allow such graduates to continue. A special, more intensive programme, allowing for much greater specialisation in chosen fields, has been designed for such students as have a strong business and general education background through our BBA programme.
Regarding the fees, the current policy and practice is that when a new class enters, the top half of the entering students are charged a very special 60 per cent discounted fee. The other half, also chosen on merit, are required to pay the full fee. The students who get the discounted fee benefit from this merit- driven system for four years.
The academic board and the board of governors decided that now that we have the actual four-year performance of all the students, the fee to be charged from such students should be determined on the basis of the four-year cumulative grade point average of each student. A merit ranking is prepared; the top half in merit in studies at the IBA should be asked to pay 60 per cent discounted fee, the other half would be charged the full fee.
This further strengthens the “merit and reward for performance system” at the IBA. In fact those who would benefit at this stage have been awarded this benefit on more substantial grounds than the basis used for awarding the discount at the entering stage.
Obviously, the IBA does not get any additional revenues; only some of the students who were getting a privilege for four years might not be eligible for this benefit because others who had performed better over four-years would now get this advantage.
All students at the IBA are talented and are chosen and survive on merit. The IBA believes in rewarding merit; this is a continuous process of competition among highly talented young people. Some win all the time, others win some of the time.
All students, whatever the fee they have to pay, are eligible to apply for financial assistance in the form of scholarship and interest-free loans on the basis of need.
DANISHMAND
Director, IBA
Karachi
HOW much of an effort would it be for our leaders to stop thinking about how best to feather their nests and actually do something for the good of this country? Surely many of us have wondered about this, but now that I am in England for research studies I cannot help but ponder this question again and again.
But that is exactly the point. Being here and seeing the kind of facilities available to the people here — and the fact that they take it for granted — is mind-blowing. You go to a shopping mall here, it’s five times larger than Park Towers in Karachi but that’s not the most striking difference. The most striking difference is that everyone is able to visit the malls there and have fun. It’s what they expect their lives to be.
I think of my poor bleeding country and I can’t express what I feel when I realised that our self-absorbed leaders have travelled abroad as many times as possible, have studied in the West, have seen what life should be like and yet they have done nothing except treat the national treasury like their own personal expense account. I stood looking at the rows and rows of food, the sheer volume and variety and I remembered beggars on the streets of Pakistan who have never seen this and never will.
The roads here aren’t broken, the cars are in tune, there are no beggars and you sense a general feeling of well-being. Everything is so well planned and yet still they say it’s not as well-oiled a piece of machinery as it could be. I would give anything for Pakistan to be like this.
SANA SYED
Cambridge, UK
I AM a resident of Old Golimar, Karachi, and would like to draw the attention to the persistent traffic jams on Garden Road which are making life difficult for citizens.
Policemen on duty do not seem interested in controlling traffic.
They just stand there creating confusion for people or when they do intervene, they do so to make money.
Our traffic police are creating problems, not solving them.
SALEEM BALOCH
Karachi
AS a student, I wish to suggest to the mobile manufacturing companies to make available mobile phones with the specific feature of the English dictionary and thesaurus.
It will not only be handy as a pocket dictionary but will also save time by providing quick access. It is a lot more easy to click and find the meaning of a word than to turn the pages of a dictionary which is not at hand all the time.
Although one may find dictionary-loaded mobiles in the market, this added feature is only for “the name sake”. A mobile phone with the specific feature of a standard dictionary and thesaurus like Oxford Talking English Dictionary will greatly facilitate everyone, especially students at all levels.
By designing and developing such a mobile phone, the mobile phone manufacturing companies will render great service to the cause of education as a corporate citizen.
MARZIA FATIMA
Karachi
I WANT to draw the attention of the NWFP government toward the problem of insufficient medical facilities in RHC, Latamber. Female patients particularly are hard pressed due to non-availability of a lady doctor.
In the RHC, basic facilities like blood, X-rays, ECG and medicines are not provided to the people. The civil hospital in Bannu is at a distance of 27 km from Latamber. And it is not possible for the poor to go to Bannu for treatment. Most patients requiring emergency treatment have died on their way to Bannu.
The government should appoint a lady doctor, as well as specialist doctors for medical, children, and ENT departments of the RHC.
ZAINULLAH KHATTAK
Latamber
MY telephone (No. 6331995) has been crossed with another phone line since Aug 17.
I have lodged a number of complaints on ‘18’ but nothing has been done so far by officials concerned at the Azizabad telephone exchange to rectify the situation. Can anyone from the above telephone exchange please look into this matter?
MUNEER HUSSAIN
Karachi
THIS refers to the letter ‘PTCL blues’ (August 28), regarding the faulty telephone numbers 4937240 and 4932668.
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
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