| October 15, 2006 | Sunday | Ramazan 21, 1427 |
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Bulldozing houses
Privatisation
Pest control
Vendors at seashore
Illegal fishing nets
Civilian army chief?
Now, a Dubai sixer
Food for thought
It is a duck
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
APROPOS of Dr Tariq Rehman’s article ‘Linguistic division of provinces’ ( Sept 26), allow me to say that certain facts and historical happenings seem to have been ignored while presenting the thesis.
Dr Rehman makes the issue appear very simple and, thereafter, proceeds to propose division of the NWFP into two provinces, Punjab into three, Balochistan gets stripped of its northwest Pushto-speaking area for attachment to one of the proposed divisions of the NWFP, the rest of Balochistan remains one entity and lastly Sindh is required to remain one — grudgingly the author can consider Karachi becoming a separate province.
This all, according to the scholar, is purely based on linguistic realities.
Statistically speaking, the above proposal is flawed. It is based on incorrect linguistic surveys and can also be considered naïve – especially so when the population in Pakistan is most happily (not so sometimes) intermingled and separating one from the other is difficult.
Moreover, the over 30 per cent Seraiki-speaking population of Sindh is forgotten and so is the huge Urdu-speaking population of Mirpur Khas, Nawabshah, Sanghar and such lesser urban areas of Sindh from where MQM many a time had proved its mettle, and lastly the gross omission about Mekran being the same as the rest of Balochistan, although linguistically speaking it has always been distinct from rest of the province. Many more demographic facts have been set aside too.
Breaking up of provinces has always been a favourite ploy of authoritarian regimes. It was in this vein that the One Unit appeared a scheme to convert all of the then commissionerates into provinces during the Ayub period, and now the district governments which nearly owe their allegiance to the federal government than to the provincial set-up.
In fact, there has always been a silent battle going on between the federal government and the provincial forces.
The former consider the latter as near rogues and a negation of a strong Pakistan, while the provincialists rightly consider it all a trick to weaken the provinces and a breach of original covenants set forth by the founding fathers of Pakistan.
Similarly, the example of India and the various new provinces it carved out of the entities it first made on the eve of independence from Great Britain cannot be considered as apt or relevant.
This is so because right from the start these had been artificially patched up unlike the ancient provinces of Pakistan. The Biafra problem and the eventual solution, too, are irrelevant to us.
However, Dr Tariq Rehman is correct when he says that linguistic identity is invoked (or made to resurface every now and then) because there is a real or perceived injustice in the division of powers, jobs, goods and services.
Thus, such problems of Pakistan, and like those of India will not disappear merely by the creation of linguistic units.
The problem will only end when the provinces have an interest in keeping the federation together – which means that they should have, and be perceived as having, an equitable share in the power structure and resources of the state.
ENGR TAHIR BASHARAT CHEEMA
Lahore
THE process of bulldozing houses of the poor, particularly in Karachi and Hyderabad, appears to be a daily routine, as projected by the media in a recent action in connection with the bulldozing of houses of a Sindhi community, with or without legal authority.
In a province where 42 urbanised Provincial Assembly members have shown their existence to the extent that old houses of old Sindhis are being bulldozed. It is believed that even with legal authority there is a procedure of giving notices before houses are demolished, and civic bodies and the district administration must provide alternative accommodation to those uprooted.
The power-that-be has no eyes to see, no ears to listen to and no brains to grasp. There are many advocates and human rights activists, but no one has so far approached the court of law against such a legal or administrative order. Irrespective of the merit or demerit of individual cases of villages, one thing is clear that it projects a poor picture of a nation or of its component to the nationalist parties, senior citizens and wise people.
To avoid prejudices and to prevent unhealthy feelings between Sindhis and Mohajirs or between the government and the public, the best possible way is to take remedial measures. In this connection it is proposed as under:
— That a group of senior citizens or advocates may make out a case of all actions so far taken or proposed to be taken in consultation with respective nazims. In case of irregularity, the quarters concerned may be asked to explain. However, revenue authorities and kutchi abadi authorities should take up all such cases, authorised or unauthorised, and submit rehabilitation and settlement plans to the government forthwith.
— This action may be taken on a top priority basis, failing which it is quite likely that one should be prepared for a day when some powerful group/persons will talk the language of Mr Bush asking Mr Musharraf (9/11 issue) to behave or you would be converted into a Stone Age.
I would suggest that people of the same province should avoid any type of bickering as far as possible.
AGHA SHAHBUDDIN
Hyderabad
WITH reference to several letters in these columns (Oct 1) on poor service by the PTCL, I wish to add that the Privatisation Commission has failed to conduct a thorough check on foreign consortiums bidding for our strategic assets. As a result, we flopped. The PTCL was given to Al Twariqi for peanuts and that too on a pay-as-you-earn basis.
The KESC was booted out to firms registered in Cayman Islands which is known for its shady deals.
To top it all, the Pakistan Steel was in the process of being handed over to a Russian consortium which was in fact the front party for the Mittal group and that too for a paltry price.
Luckily the Supreme Court intervened and saved the situation.
Essentials such as ‘telecommunications’ and ‘energy’ are better not sold to foreigners. With so many more privatisations in the offing we should take a cue from the US and other countries. When oil giant Unicol was being sold to Chinese, the US Senate blocked it.
The same happened when the management of six US ports was being given to a Dubai firm. Indian model is also fine, they only sell companies which are not making any profit and that too through their stock exchange where every Indian citizen can participate and buy shares.
PROF. M. JALISI
Karachi
THIS refers to the observations made by the director-general of Sindh agriculture extension, N. Korejo, on the indiscriminate use of pesticides and suggesting the use of biological methods for the control of pests (Sept 27).
Pakistan uses pesticides and herbicides worth Rs13 billion every year.
The ever-increasing use of pesticides increases the environmental pollution and its far-reaching effect on food chain.
The WTO regime calls for cautious and judicious use of pesticides. Pakistan exports fruits, fishes, etc, and, therefore, should put emphasis on integrated pest management.
Bio-pesticides obtained from plants (example, ‘neem’ etc.) or derived biotechnologically from micro-organisms are now in use in many countries which are worthy of consideration.
Of the new methods, biologically-based pesticide is bacillus thuringiensis (Bt. Bacterium). They are toxic to targeted pests (borers and worms) of plants and do not harm humans, animals, fishes, birds and beneficial insects.
In addition, bio-pesticides are now reported to control pest populations that have developed resistance to conventional chemical pesticides. Some of the biotechnological methods possess the attribute of parasitic protection as well as of abiotic stresses in plants (example, mycorrhizas).
Agriculture biotechnology will be useful in resolving basic issues that are imperative for the improvement of agriculture as of today and tomorrow.
DR. M. JALALUDDIN
University of Karachi
LETTERS in these columns, as well as reports in the media, have discussed various aspects of utilisation of the Seaview Beach. One of these pertains to the livelihood of various vendors who walk along the seashore selling miscellaneous items like nuts , warm ‘channa’, sweet and green tea. Others who provide camel and horse rides to visitors also depend on the visitors to the beach for their earnings.
In addition to their livelihood, which depends on selling various items to visitors, they have been providing a certain colour to the beach environment and have become a part of the cultural milieu of the area.
It is also a fact that these people have been providing a service to the public by providing snacks and tea at very economical rates for more than two decades when there was no organised commercial activity on the seashore like we are witnessing today.
On merit, therefore, one feels that they have acquired a vested right to the area and hence should continue to be a part of the picture presented by our seashore.
The Defence Association Committee, therefore, discussed this aspect with the new administrator, DHA, who took over last month. It augers well for the area that after listening with an open mind he agreed that they should not be deprived of their livelihood, specially considering the state of unemployment nowadays .
In principal, hence, these vendors will continue to be allowed to ply their trade in the beach area. Through your esteemed columns we would like to share this information with our fellow citizens in civil society and journalists who wrote about their plight. If any case where any vendor is still being deprived crops up, the person concerned or vendor can contact us for redressal.
AZIZ SUHARWARDY
Defence Associations Coord. Committee,
Karachi
THIS has reference to the news report ‘Rs245 million being spent on fisheries: Arbab’ (Sept 26), in which Chief Minister Dr Arbab Rahim and provincial minister Sardar Manzoor Panwar were asked questions in the Sindh Assembly regarding fisheries.
Giving details of the ongoing schemes, Dr Rahim said Rs16.447 million alone was the estimated cost of marine fisheries surveillance in coastal areas of Sindh. Whereas Fisheries Minister Panhwar said that surveillance was being done to ensure that banned nets were not used in fishing. Not only were illegal nets being confiscated, but penalty was also being imposed on their users, he added.
The people at the helm of affairs at the marine fisheries department are well aware that prohibitive illegal and destructive fishing nets (Bola, Gujja and Katra) are in regular practice in the Sindh waters for over three decades. That for the last few years, still bigger and powerful Gujja (now with motor winches) and Katra netting boats have surfaced and the devastation that they are causing to marine life and eco-system is unimaginable and unpardonable.
The Gujja boats (called Gund ka Jehaz) are scooping up everything that swims by scraping the sea bottom like dredgers with their leaded nets and motorised winches. It is now hauling out three times more than when they were without the winches. Then come the Katra boats (called wire boats locally) with nets barely bigger than mosquito nets. While the Gujja boats are catching over 70 per cent trash fish and other marine organisms like weeds, shells and molluscs, the Katra boats are netting out billions of gamefish like barracuda (kund), mackerel (surmai), trivially (kakkan) when these fish are in the juvenile stage.
Areas like Cape Monze, Beauchamp Reef, Churna Island and Kaio Island have been cleaned by the Katra netters (executioners of fish). Again, Bola nets, i.e., estuarine set bag nets (ESBN), are devastating the creeks and estuaries with impunity. Due to illegal fish netting, compounded with overexploitation and excessive fishing, some species have not been able to sustain and are close to extinction.
As a concerned environmentalist and sportfishing promoter who is an eyewitness for over three decades to the blatant use of the infamous illegal nets and also overfishing in Sindh sea waters, I have the following questions for the chief minister:
a. Which agency has been entrusted the job of doing the surveillance to ensure that the ban on illegal nets is implemented?
b. How many boats and nets have been confiscated to date?
c. What penalty and fines have been imposed on the habitual offenders and how much?
d. Will the chief minister ask the marine fisheries to come forward with the past and present records of confiscations and fines on illegal nets (where and when) and make them public?
For the people managing the marine fisheries department, I ask, why are you people with power and clout behaving like ostriches and letting the marine food chain get destroyed? How can the shrimps, fish and other marine life sustain under such pressure from illegal netting?
If we love our marine environment and wish to retain whatever is left of marine life and want that it should revive, then the time to act on a war footing is now, or else Pakistan may be the first nation to go down in history to have destroyed its marine life without having studied its wealth and resources. For heavens sake ‘Jago Sheri Jago’
SYED AZIZ AGHA
Member, Shehri-CBE Karachi
THE rate at which army officers, retired or still in harness, are taking up civilian responsibilities including the position of vice-chancellors in universities, it would only be fair if civilians are allowed to fill in important posts in the army.
I, for one, would like to offer myself for the position of the Chief of the Army Staff, but the only problem is that I can’t keep secrets. However, all is not lost, for all we know we may get a prime minister, whose first three loves would be lassi, motorways and cabs of the same colour as some journalists happen to be in this country. He would be too absorbed in either of the three and not listen to what I may say. Later he may deny that I never told him anything.
I don’t see any problem in my getting the assignment for I don’t believe in unenlightened immoderation. Also please remember in the early 70s we had a civilian holding the position of the chief martial law administrator, so why can’t the army let a civilian hold the post of the COAS.
Surely, you don’t need to have a feudal background to hold that position. So, what if the civilian martial law administrator was a landlord and I don’t have a piece of land for all I own is a first floor apartment?
ASIF NOORANI
Karachi
“PAKISTAN gave approval for $43 billion project to build a Dubai-style model city near Karachi to be completed in 13 years.
This would create employment opportunity in Pakistan” (Sept 28).
Leaving aside many more things, it is commonly known that Pakistan is politically, socially and economically different from the sheikhdom, then how should it be a guide for us? Even earlier, Islamabad said, “Pakistan would prefer to send troops to Iraq under the cover of the GCC’’ (Dawn, July 9, 2003).
The mass project may be completed in 13 years or 20 but the $43 billion can be added earlier to our foreign investment figures for the desired respectability of its grand total: this looks a timely political sixer.
The proposed all-luxury project is meant principally for super-rich families though the poor would also get some bucks by way of wages and as such it cannot be linked with our poverty eradication programme for the 80 million poor among us, as recently estimated by the World Bank economic experts.
Z.A. KAZMI
Karachi
THE headline ‘Bangladeshi economist Muhammad Yunus and his Grameen Bank wins the Nobel Peace Prize’ would have read, ‘Pakistani economist Muhammad Yunus and his Grameen Bank win the Nobel Peace Prize’ had our nation embraced the concept of unity and fair play.
Unfortunately, our leadership continues to not fund education and weed out corruption or even enforce the rule of law. I expect that in another 20 years we may read a headline that states, ‘Baluch economist Muhammad Yunus and his Grameen Bank win the Nobel Peace Prize’.
FARAS ALI KHAN
Lahore
IT is heartening to see that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2006 has been awarded to Mr Muhammad Yunus of Bangladesh and his Grameen Bank.
This is truly groundbreaking news on several levels. First, that a Muslim economist of worldwide repute has finally got recognition. Second, for the first time it has been acknowledged on such an auspicious stage that poverty breeds war and violence.
Thanks to the insight of the Nobel Committee, this has finally become a globally accepted fact rather than just a slogan.
I have no doubts that this will go a long way to support efforts for alleviating poverty worldwide.
TALHA BIN HAMID
Karachi
KUDOS to the government of the NWFP and the MMA for winning an Rs110 billion award from Wapda. They should be commended for their persistence in pursuing this matter to their satisfaction.
This also shows that contrary to common belief the institutions are functioning at least to the benefit of the MMA.
What bothers me about the settlement is the mention of a 10 per cent mark-up that Wapda will have to pay to the NWFP for the next five years. Although the tribunal called it a mark-up, it sounds something else.
There is a saying that if something looks like a duck, walks likes a duck and quacks like a duck, then it is a duck.
This 10 per cent mark-up looks like interest to be paid on the amount that Wapda owes to the NWFP. Senator Prof. Khurshid Ahmad has supported the award “on the basis of the Constitution and principles of equity”. Professor Ahmad is not only an MMA senator from the NWFP, he is an economist and a scholar in his own right. I would like him to explain the nature of this 10 per cent mark-up that the MMA government will receive on behalf of the NWFP.
AMAN U. SAIYED
Karachi
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