| September 27, 2006 | Wednesday | Ramazan 3, 1427 |
To send a letter to the Editor
Click here
Army & civil bureaucracy
Parha likha Punjab
Vice chancellor in Balochistan
KESC’s poor handling of complaints
The bullet train idea
Water bills
Education sans manners
The best response
PTCL clarification
Sufferings of UTPs in Sindh
Civilised protests
Coup rumours
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 to Mr Ardeshir Cowasjee’s letter ‘Bravado and incompetence’ (Sept 19), with a direct question addressed to me.
Let me begin by saying that it would be a misfortune to be handed a general’s baton to rule the country. What would qualify as good fortune is an electoral mandate -– the only legitimate route to any position of political power.
Legitimacy and electoral mandate issues are important. After all why is it that the US placed a highly threatening ‘either/or’ option before Pakistan? Why is it that the US did not consider asking Iran -– Afghanistan’s western neighbour — to make the same stark choice? Why is it that Turkey did not suffer any consequences upon rejecting US demands for using its territory to invade Iraq?
The fact is that legitimately elected governments were in power in Iran and Turkey, while a military junta ran Pakistan. Bereft of legitimacy and a popular base, a mere verbal telephonically-delivered threat was sufficient for Gen Musharraf to cave in. A regime standing on crutches cannot protect the country from threats.
Pakistan was caught on the wrong side of history in September 2001 because of the unsavoury Afghan policy baggage that had accumulated since the days of Gen Ziaul Haq. Despite this baggage, however, a range of options could have been exercised. Certainly, there was no need to challenge the US; not because we are afraid of it, but because it is prudent to refrain from entering the arena of superpower conflicts.
Pakistan could have ceased providing financial and military support to the Taliban, but declined from becoming a party to military offensives against it. Pakistan could have lodged diplomatic protests at every violation of its airspace as US planes and missiles crossed its territory, but refrained from providing bases in the country to launch the war against Afghanistan.
Pakistan could have disarmed and confined Taliban fighters as they retreated into Pakistan, but avoided engaging them in battles. After all, the agreement that has now been reached with frontier tribesmen could have been concluded at the very outset.
Most significantly, Pakistan could have impressed upon the US to avoid war and negotiate with moderate Taliban leaders to bring about a qualitative change in the Afghan regime, rather than a regime change altogether.
A legitimately elected government would have commanded the necessary moral and political stature to negotiate with the US, rather than merely submit to it.
DR KAISER BENGALI
Karachi
ACCORDING to Transparency International report (Sept 19), the military government of Gen Musharraf is more corrupt than the tenures of both Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif in their two respective terms. Is this not sufficient proof for those who always blame the politicians for the ills and problems facing this country.
A malicious campaign against the politicians was started by the military in cohorts with the civil establishment who got involved in the power politics of the country and obviously had a vested interest in keeping the politicians at bay.
The army and the civil bureaucracy both have joined hands in looting this country to the hilt.
But the civilians still are afraid of accountability while the army does everything with impunity because they believe they can get away with it.
There is corruption in India also but the political process has continued unabated and this is the reason democracy has flourished.
When Colin Powel visited India after 9/11, he visited Sonia Gandhi’s house to meet her while she was leader of the opposition.
In Pakistan, he did not even bother to meet our foreign minister as he only met President Musharraf.
Recently there was a survey done in the United States as to which nations are the most favoured in the eyes of the American people. Britain is number one, Israel is number two, Canada is number three and number four is India. Pakistan is somewhere number 137 or 140.
Will the high and mighty stand up and explain this? This is because we have always sent army officers or the cronies of our rulers as ambassadors or high commissioners who usually have very little time for their professional responsibilities. India, on the contrary, sends very high calibre politicians or career diplomats to such postings.
ZOHAIR RANA
Lahore
IT was absolutely revolting to read about the maltreatment of a lady doctor at Jinnah Hospital by the attendants of a patient.
That the patient happened to be the son of the driver of an MPA would be an irrelevant detail anywhere else in the world but here in this great Islamic Republic that is probably the most relevant piece of information.
It is not only the reason behind the whole incident, but also why the culprit will now ‘disappear’ till the uproar dies down and no justice will ever be done.
Will the MPA concerned offer a public apology or resign from his office in shame because his goons mishandled a female physician? Probably not.
It will be just another day in the lives of our exalted parliamentarians, while in the rest of us the bile just keeps on rising. Such are the joys of living in a ‘parha likha Punjab’.
DR KANWAL EJAZ
Lahore
A LADY doctor was physically abused and dragged around by 16 men in the medical ward of Lahore’s Jinnah Hospital in broad daylight as no security is provided by the administration to the duty doctors.
The 16 people included the bodyguards and driver of MPA Ch. Parvaiz Nakai who was there himself and supervised the torturers as they broke through locked bathroom door where the poor victim was hiding.
All of them assumed that it was due to the doctor’s negligence that their old servant’s father had died, while it is on the record that the patient had a brain haemorrhage and was probably brain-dead already. Doctors at the hospital protested by shutting the main
gate and blocking the main road.
They demanded the arrest of the culprits and asked the government to produce the MPA in the Assembly.
But no case has been registered against the MPA. I appeal to the higher authorities, the president and the governor, to take action against the government representative who was involved in this incident.
DR ALI KHAN
Lahore
TWO retired brigadiers are already working in the University of Agriculture and Marine Sciences at Uthal and University of Engineering and Technologies at Khuzdar.
The governor of Balochistan now intends to appoint a third brigadier as vice-chancellor in the University of Balochistan after the expiry of tenure of the present vice-chancellor. This is in violation of the decision of the Higher Education Commission.
The HEC has constituted a search committee for the appointment of vice-chancellors for the universities. According to policy, the vice- chancellor must hold a PhD.
The governor is also ignoring the current law and order situation in the province and the general apprehension of Baloch people towards the army.
The leader of the opposition in the Provincial Assembly and the Baloch student community has criticised this appointment in their press statements.
The HEC is requested to intervene and stop this appointment which is in contradiction with its appointment policy.
Otherwise, it will create unrest among the student community and will also lead to a law-and-order situation which is already bad in the province.
This appointment will also disrupt the academic atmosphere in the university as well as in the province in general.
BASHIRZAIB BALOCH
Chairman, Baloch Students
Organisation, Quetta.
When the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation was privatised I was hopeful that it would not be long when the agonies of the citizens of this city due to frequent power failures, load-shedding, etc., would come to an end.
It did not take long for my hope to be dashed. In fact, the KESC’s performance drastically deteriorated after privatisation and there appears no hope of any improvement in the near future.
But what prompted me to write this letter is the power utility’s attitude towards handling and sorting out complaints of minor nature which neither need funds nor extra manpower. One such complaint is proper maintenance of power meters, particularly those installed in apartment blocks, shopping malls, etc. In a number of apartment buildings, shopping plazas and office buildings, particularly in the old city areas, meters are in a dilapidated condition, many hanging by a single wire. Needless to say that it is a dangerous situation and could cause short-circuit and even fire.
I want to draw the KESC’s attention to my apartment building — plot G-23 in block 9, Clifton. More than half of the power meters in this 48-flat building are either hanging or the wires are loose all around.
It amuses me to think what the KESC meter-readers do when they visit the building every month to take readings? Is it not their responsibility to inform the department concerned to send staff to fix these meters?
TANVIR AHMAD
Karachi
THIS is apropos of the Pakistan Railways’ advertisement for a feasibility study for bullet train on Lahore-Islamabad section and a subsequent letter (Sept 6) on the subject. The idea of the bullet train, as the Shinkansen of Japan was initially known but the phrase was later extended to cover all high- speed trains operating at speeds in the range of 250 to 300 kmph, is not new for this country.
Prime minister Nawaz Sharif was as enthusiastic about it as he was about the motorways. It was on his specific orders that a feasibility study for the project was undertaken in 1992 jointly by the planning division and the ministry of railways only to find that the initial investment for the system and the fare structure shall both be absolutely prohibitive.
It is not understood as to why this country needs a bullet train. There are only very few countries in the world which have such high-speed trains. Only Japan and France are extensively running such trains — the Shinkansen and the TGV ( Train a Grande Vitesse). These operate at speeds varying from 275 to 300kmph though the highest recorded speeds of these trains are 443 and 515km per hour respectively. Italy, Spain, Germany and the UK are also running limited train services at such high speeds.
The rolling stock for the trains, their infrastructure and the maintenance of equipment — locomotives, coaches, track, signalling, etc., — are state of the art technological feats. The fantastic investment on setting and operating the system is justified only for very extensive commutation in quick succession.
These trains are not only a remarkable scientific achievement but almost a vagary and represent a vision, a culture and a way of life.
Only very disciplined nations, with one hundred per cent literacy rate, living an orderly and methodological pattern of life can afford to indulge in such extravaganza.
When the Shinkansen train stops at a station, the entrance doors of the carriages synchronise with the markings on the platform where the passengers have already queued up, for the stoppage time is a matter of seconds. A full train set of the TGV has a crew of only four men consisting of two conductors in passenger area, one driver in the cab and one server in the food and bar service area. In 17 years of its service there has been no casualty. Over most sections, these trains usually operate at intervals of three minutes. Boarding, travelling and disembarkation from these trains call for a disposition and orderliness which is exclusive to the nations which are progressing with the time and looking far ahead on the essential issues of space and time.
We are an underdeveloped country, one of the very few in this world with a falling literacy rate. We are still entangled in getting the women’s rights bill passed through the National Assembly and at war with the mullahs to amend the tragicomic Hudood Ordinance.
We look the other way when the customs of ‘swara’, child marriages, ‘badl-i-sulh’ and honour killings show their ugly faces. We are yet seeking to settle the disparity between rape and adultery. These issues are very useful in keeping the nation busy with unproductive work.
Do we need the bullet train? If it is installed and set to work, it will benefit only a very small section of society at an enormous wastage of funds of this poor country. We must first strive to maintain our existing railway system in the condition in which we inherited it from the British.
ZEESHAN KHAN
San Ramon, USA
THE Karachi Water and Sewerage Board did an excellent job by issuing monthly bills to its consumers, which include not only the current bill but five per cent of outstanding areas. This step of the KWSB has helped the consumers to clear long outstanding dues in instalments.
But there is a serious problem. This is about the very small number of bank branches that have been nominated for accepting the payment against this bill. I urge the KWSB to nominate all those branches of banks which accept other utilities bills like electricity, gas and telephone.
AMBER BHATIA
Karachi
IN a letter to the editor (Sept 19) M. Shafique Ahmed has implied that manners should be taught in school. I beg to differ. Students and teachers are under stress because of a heavy workload that has to be completed within a short school year. However, I do agree that teachers should correct students if they are rude, ill-mannered or disrespectful to their elders.
Good manners cannot be inculcated in school. It is the responsibility of parents and other members of a family to teach by example, and by correctly guiding the child in the use of good manners. To my knowledge there is not a single well-mannered child who has not been consistently corrected by the parents until good manners become second nature.
B.F. COWASJEE
Karachi
RECENTLY the Pope expressed views about Islam which caused anger in the Muslim world. Muslims tend to take to the streets to show their dismay over such incidents. To me the best way to punish the Pope is to ignore him. Even the Holy Quran advises Muslims not to reply to the ignorant, instead say to them ‘Salama’.
S. MUZAMMIL HUSSAIN
Islamabad
THIS is refers to the letter “Woes of privatisation” (Sept 24), regarding the faulty telephone number 4937240. The PTCL would like to clarify that after publication of the letter, the officer deputed lineman concerned to customer’s premises and fixed the cable the same day.
SALEEM KHAN
PRO, STR-III Karachi
APROPOS of your editorial ‘Agony of under-trials’ (Sept 19), it is right to say here that under-trial prisoners have to suffer a lot due to shortage of prison vans, as a result of which UTPs are not produced in courts. Moreover, the vehicles that are available are not supplied fuel properly, so much so that their availability does not help in carting UTPs to the various courts for a hearing etc. The twin problems must end to provide speedy justice to the under-trial prisoners.
As far as prison staff is concerned, they have been facing hardship as they cannot maintain themselves in the face meagre and improper allowances given to the Sindh district police. Moreover, they have been deprived of basic amenities and facilities in staff colonies.
It’s worth mentioning here that there have been many steps undertaken to improve the quality of life for the NWFP, Balochistan and Punjab prison staff, but no such things for the Sindh prison employees as yet.
MEMBERS OF SINDH
PRISONS STAFF
Karachi
IN his address to the UN General Assembly, President Hugo Chavez verbally attacked President Bush by referring to him as the devil. This was not the first time Mr Chavez has attacked Mr Bush, as earlier also Chavez had called him a sick man, an alcoholic, a menace and a dictator.
The furore in the political circles saw condemnation and warnings to Chavez to refrain from such abuses. Some felt an attack on their leader as an insult to all Americans.
In spite of the gravity of the situation, protests made against Chavez were in a civilised manner and he was still allowed to continue his stay in the US where he kept up his criticism of Bush in front of American audiences.
I wonder if we would ever get to such a stage in our society where we would have a more urbane approach to condemnation of actions instead of our norms of desecrating flags, burning vehicles, destroying public property and taking innocent lives.
ABBAS HAIDER
Karachi
PLEASE refer to the news story, ‘Outage sparks coup rumours’ (Dawn, Sept 25), regarding the countrywide power breakdown that triggered coup rumours. Reportedly, some opposition leaders claimed that the rumours of the change of government were “greeted not by alarm but a sense of relief by the masses.”
As a student of political history of Pakistan, I would like to remind our opposition leaders that every change of the government since Ayub Khan’s takeover has been greeted by a sense of relief, and this pattern includes the governments of two ‘democratic stars’ — Benazir and Nawaz.
This phenomenon indicates some deep-rooted dilemma of our polity rather than petty point-scoring.
SHAHID ANWAR
Toba Tek Singh
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.