| September 05, 2006 | Tuesday | Sha'aban 11, 1427 |
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Right to know
An unholy nexus
Causes of corruption
Clifton underpass
Crumbling infrastructure in SITE
Contradictions in comments
Telephone complaint
New map of the Middle East
Flood victims in Umerkot
Writing on the wall
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
MR Hasan Bin Rizwan’s letter (Aug 29) is more optimistic than realistic when he demands that Israel should pay for the billions of dollars needed for rebuilding south Lebanon after the savage and ruthless military action against the civilian population.
We must understand that the pattern of 18th and 19th century military occupation of Asian, African and Latin American countries by colonial powers for economic and political gains has changed. Now the same objectives are met through an all-out economic assault by the same countries which are now known as economic powers because the word colonial is out of fashion.
In a recently-published book titled Confessions of an Economic Hit Man‘, author John Perkins narrates his own experiences in the following words:
“An Economic Hit Man’s job was to convince Third World countries to accept enormous loans for infrastructure development — loans that were much larger than needed — and to guarantee that the development projects were contracted to US corporations like Haliburton and Bechtel.
Once the countries were saddled with huge debts, the US government and the international aid agencies allied with it were able to control these economies and to ensure that oil and other resources were channelled to serve the interests of building a global empire.”
When the economic and strategic objectives are not met through the efforts of Economic Hit Men, the military option is used to gain control, and the reconstruction contracts are passed on to the same favourite corporations.
The American aggression in Iraq, and the Israeli destruction of Lebanon are links in the same chain whereby the infrastructure is destroyed to make way for the likes of Haliburton and Bechtel to move in and make billions at the cost of the misery of the Iraqi and Lebanese people.
The situation in Lebanon is different from Iraq. While there is complete anarchy in Iraq, Lebanon continues to have its government in place. When reconstruction starts in Lebanon, with the help of the international community, the Lebanese government must ensure that those countries which contributed to the Israeli aggression should be disqualified from participating in bidding for reconstruction contracts. France was the only western power which stood by Lebanon during and after the Israeli aggression, and as a token of appreciation the Lebanese government should award it the maximum contracts, along with other Muslim countries which can provide the expertise for such mega projects.
TARIQ NAZIR
Karachi
PRETENDING that something doesn’t exist will make it go away or so is believed by our health officials. Last year when Dr Yusra died due to dengue haemorrhagic fever (DHF), the resulting headlines at least brought to light a viral threat that had existed routinely before but which our health officials had chosen to ignore entirely.
No government statistics can prove otherwise because I know that although I am a pretty well read person, before Yusra’s death I, along with the rest of the public of Karachi, had no clue that DHF existed in epidemic proportions in our city.
An interesting denial by a health official was published in Dawn Review Aug 24-30 issue where a statement goes on to say that “Dr Zia and Dr Yusra’s blood samples were sent as far as South Africa and it was confirmed that neither had dengue nor Congo.”
The fact is that Dr Yusra’s blood samples were tested by the Aga Khan Hospital and were confirmed positive for DHF. If government hospitals look the other way every time one of their doctors dies, then it is sadly their heartless choice and not because evidence does not exist.
The statement also went on to label the ‘hype’ created by the media last year as ‘extremely unfortunate’. As a grieved family, we believed and still believe that the public has a right to know even if this awareness is labelled extremely unfortunate by those in charge. I’m sure the Dawn Review’s heading ‘The Dengue virus has arrived’ has also given our health officials a few turns in their cosy beds and fresh ideas are forming in their minds as how to wish away the whole thing.
When are health officials going to wake up to the fact that if a viral threat is present, then precautionary measures are the only deterrent? But as long as we don’t admit we have a problem, we will sadly never have a cure.
Conditions remain unchanged at government hospitals. No proper precautionary measures in effect, no masks, no gloves, no disinfectants. All subjecting medical personnel, as well as naive medical students, to perilous hazards.
True that dengue fever and Congo fever spread by vector mosquitoes and tick-borne virus, respectively, but direct unprotected contact of say a doctor with an actively bleeding patient will also result in the doctor getting infected.
Every day the brightest of our children go to medical colleges and work there facing not occupational hazards but occupational suicide. Is there some one responsible bothered?
MRS ALMAS SHAHZAD
Family member of Dr Yusra
Karachi
YOUR editorial on the above subject (Aug 21) is a brilliant piece enough to prick the conscience of members of the medical profession, particularly the senior ones. You have described only the tip of the iceberg. The ground realities are far worse and dreadful. You have asked the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) to take action. Do you think the PMDC is not a party?
Once a whole team of senior professors was sent to Vienna to establish that training there was so good that a person having diploma from Vienna can be appointed as medical teacher. This was to favour one candidate. The professors naturally obliged. It must be mentioned that such diploma-holders were not allowed even to touch the patients.
It is unfair to blame pharmaceutical companies alone. They are after all commercial companies which find purchasing such greedy doctors cheaper than giving ads on the TV channels. The unfortunate part of the story is that these consultants earn many times more than they can spend, by their honest practice. But the greed has no limits.
Selling kidneys is another way to pacify their greed. Many examples are quoted in academic circles in Hyderabad. A valima dinner arranged for a consultant with bride and the groom sitting in front of a banner advertising the drug is the most humiliating of all.
Consultants, professors and administrators are having a heyday. For opening an account, they demand a car. Repair and furnishing of their bungalows are just taken for granted. Arranging circumcision functions for their siblings is a routine. A professor who was given air ticket to Bali with his spouse used to write costly third generation cephalosporin for fistula in an operation, for which usually no antibiotic is given post-operatively.
A pharmaceutical agent used to sit outside the operation theatre to make sure that such drug is written in the prescription. What does it matter if the patient spends Rs10,000 to Rs15,000 more on drugs? Why then blame poor policemen who stand in the sun for hours, exposed to toxic and carcinogenic fumes of traffic and get a few hundred to support his family.
It is said God has 99 names (powers) out of which only two are delegated to humans -– ‘shafi’ and ‘munsif’, i.e., doctor and judge. If they become corrupt, the wrath and the punishment on the Day of Judgment will also be exemplary. If they do not fear God, what do they care about Hippocrates oath which they had taken several years ago and forgotten.
PROF ABDUL GHANI SIDDIQUI
Hyderabad
MR SULTAN Ahmed, in his article ‘Trading corruption charges’ (Aug 17), has rightly suggested that if corruption is to be eliminated, it has to be done in a non-partisan manner.
However, this social malice is so pervasive that it has now afflicted civil society at every level.
It, therefore, requires a multi-pronged approach, i.e., not only it has to be plugged with an iron hand but more imperative is to eradicate the causes of its spread.
It is a matter of record that besides disparity in incomes and wealth, the two most dominant sources that give rise to assuming illegal methods of earning is consumerism and ostentation.
The menace of consumerism is a latest phenomenon, and can be traced back to the 1990s when the world with disintegration of the Soviet bloc became unipolar. With this change, the less developed world was transformed into a lucrative market for developed and rich economies to dump their merchandise.
Innumerable neon-signs and hoardings displayed on roadsides advertising all sorts goods from electronics to automobiles to food stuff and medicines, coupled with easily accessible bank credits, provide enough impulsion to people for going beyond available means.
The ostentatious style is another chief impetus for adopting illegal acquisitions. It is said that simplicity in character is the natural result of profound thought and the greatest truths are the simplest; and so are the greatest men.
Therefore, those who have adopted spendthrift standards should be made to realise the virtues of simplicity. Thus as long as they are not convinced about the adverse impact of artificial and wasteful standards, menace of corruption will remain as a mainstay of our culture.
The development of country and, as a consequence, prosperity of the nation solely depends on how people at large are prepared to accept the principle of “high thinking and simple living”, as high living and high thinking never go together.
Emerson has rightly said that “nothing is more simple than greatness; indeed, to be simple is to be great’.
MANZOOR H. KURESHI
Karachi
AFTER the first rainfall storm drains near the Clifton underpass were dug up to facilitate the removal of water from the area. Since then they have been left unattended. Sewage water is collecting in these dug up drains. Not only is it a matter of great inconvenience for the residents and shopkeepers of this area, it is also extremely unhygienic and unhealthy.
The area has become a breeding ground for mosquitoes and flies while the quality of tap water has clearly deteriorated as it has a very unpleasant smell. No restoration work is being carried out in this area at all. I request the Clifton Cantonment Board and the KWSB to kindly redress the situation on an urgent basis.
M. YUNUS
Karachi
THROUGH these columns, I would like to invite the attention of the authorities concerned, especially the so-called Board of Investment, to the horrendous condition of the roads, transportation, sanitation, electrical and telephonic installations in the Sindh Industrial Trading Estate, which is considered to be the industrial heart of Karachi.
Roads are in total ruin and present the moonscape scene — mountains of garbage, chocked overflowing drains, stinking and chemical-laced water freely flowing on the devastated roads, broken wires and heavy cables hanging on poles or lying naked on road sides.
In the six years I have been daily commuting on the SITE roads but I have never seen a single sweeper or any garbage-removal activity in the entire area. Roads remain dug up for years. I can guarantee that this industrial area can earn worldwide top honours in ill-planning, illegal constructions, filthiness and soul-wrenching oblivion and delinquency of the authorities.
On top of all this, the huge truck-trailers brazenly block the traffic through hours-long parking and turning into or out of narrow gates of factories. The ubiquitous “workers’ hotels” dot every side and turn of the roads, throwing their garbage freely, and the mini-buses stand on road corners routinely to aggravate the traffic mess.
The plot-numbering in SITE is another masterpiece of childishness of the SITE establishment. If a plot, F-115, is located on one road, the next plot, F-116, may be found on another road half a mile away, because numbering has been done serially as and when allotted, without a pre-drawn numbering plan or map.
And the mad part is that the land price is quoted in terms of tens of millions when hundreds of plots are occupied by closed units or are lying vacant. The worst culprit in this state of affairs is the SITE administration, the Sindh government’s industries department, followed by the callous industrialists and their trade associations which are oblivious of the surroundings in which they operate, and are sitting cushy on the big plots acquired cheaply.
It is no wonder that Punjab is fast developing industrially and overtaking Sindh because of serious and sincere efforts of the Punjab government in sharp contrast to the incompetence and lethargy of the Sindh government.
Our ministers do not tire of praising the favourable investment environment in the country. I bet none of them has ever visited or toured the SITE in Karachi. A foreign investor will immediately fly back to his base if he is ever shown photographs of the SITE areas as proof of Pakistan’s industrial progress. Surprisingly, our media has also ignored this vital economic artery of Pakistan and it is time some of them took up the trouble to highlight this issue in the greater interest of Pakistan.
S.H. TEHSIN
Karachi
YOUR editorial of Sept 3 and Mr Kunwar Idris’s column of the same day are remarkable for the contradictions inherent in them.
In your editorial ((Need for an inquiry), while criticising the mode of Nawab Akbar Bugti’s burial, you say, “In normal circumstances, what happens when a person dies? His body is taken care of by his sons and family. This is what should have been done in this case, too”.
If this is the case, then why did you say “in normal circumstances”. Could the circumstances surrounding the late Bugti chief’s death be called “normal”? Then how could the body be handed over to his family when the circumstances were anything but “normal”?
In his column Mr Idris says, “Must a man who had, at different times, been minister, governor, and chief minister have to die in a mountain cave?” Answer: must such a man organise a militia, run a parallel government in his fief, blow up pipelines, cut off gas to large parts of the country, bomb railway tracks and electricity installations, kill foreign engineers, especially those from such an ally as China, import arms and ammunition from enemy states, take to caves and wage war on the state of Pakistan? If, to repeat, “a man who had, at different times, been minister, governor, and chief minister” does all that can he die any other death except that in battle?
JAMIL ZAHID
Karachi
THE attention of the chairman of PTCL is invited to the fact that my telephone (number 021-5863033) has been out of order since of July 21.
Complaints have been registered at the automated complaints centre at 18 but no action has been taken. The last complaint was made on September 1 and the complaint number given was 285.
It is hoped that some one in the PTCL will relieve me of the agony that I have been undergoing for the last one month.
S. EHTRAM ALI
Karachi
THIS has reference to the news report (Aug 27) captioned ‘New map proposes changes in Pakistan, Middle East’.
The US state department has rejected suggestions that Washington is planning to redraft the boundaries of the greater Middle East, including Pakistan, along ethnic and religious lines.
However, the purported plan appeared recently in the US Armed Forces Journal along with two maps showing the new boundaries. The state department spokesman said that the article did not reflect the views of the US government.
The second last paragraph of the news report read: “What Afghanistan would lose to Persia in the west, it would gain in the east, as Pakistan’s Northwest Frontier tribes would be reunited with the Afghans.
Pakistan would also lose its Baloch territory to Free Balochistan. The remaining ‘natural’ Pakistan would lie entirely east of the Indus, except for a westward spur near Karachi.”
Soon after we read about the death of Nawab Akbar Bugti in an army operation. On the same day Gen. Abi Zaid of US Central Command arrived in Islamabad.
The ground realities reveal that irrespective of the denial from state department as reported in the above-mentioned news item, dictation is being taken perfectly as per maps published in the US Armed Forces Journal.
W. AHMAD
Karachi
THE havoc wrought by heavy rains and flooding in many areas near Umerkot, Thar and Mithi is agonising. Many of the affected families are still living under the bare canopy of the skies, or in ramshackle old houses.
Even some school buildings are occupied by the hapless victims. Their crops and stored foodgrains are gone. Neither the government nor social welfare agencies are providing help to the victims.
The government has declared some affected areas as calamity-hit. But no survey of the damaged areas and extent of losses has been done so far.
In the neighbouring Indian villages, which were also affected by heavy rains and flooding, relief work has been organised by the local Indian authorities of Indian Rajasthan.
Similar relief work on the Pakistan side is urgently needed.
QUTUBUDDIN AZIZ
Karachi
THIS is with reference to a letter by a Concerned Reader from Germany (Sept 1).
Any issue is good enough for our politicians to give a call for a countrywide strike. It does not even occur to them how much loss they are causing to the nation and how much hardships the people – their voters – are subjected to.
If the government is wrong, then must they hurt the country and punish the people for the government’s wrongdoing? One reason why Pakistan could not become an Asian tiger is that our politicians, the so-called ulema especially, have no concept of economic development being of the greatest importance for the nation. They should know that other issues must take a secondary place.
Is there anyone who can make these ‘leaders’ understand this obvious truth?
RIZWAN YASSIN
Karachi
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