| October 16, 2006 | Monday | Ramazan 22, 1427 |
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Literary prizes and literary trends
SBP pensioner’s plight
Idealism of the Quaid
Street crime in Karachi
Bad made worse
Restructuring of KWSB
Population growth
Black and white
Kargil plan
Out of order
Safe returns
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 has reference to Dr Tariq Rehman’s piece entitled ‘Linguistic division of provinces’ (Dawn, Sept 26). Quoting from post-independence history of India, Dr Rehman has pleaded the case for division, on a linguistic basis, of the present provinces of Pakistan, including Sindh
What India did after independence was to undo the unnatural and unjust demarcation made by the British. The British created artificial provinces to serve their political and administrative interests regardless of historical and cultural backgrounds as was the case of conjoining Sindh with Bombay.
The division of Sindh would mean the division of a historically homogeneous and culturally distinct entity into artificial administrative units. Regarding the large number of Urdu-speaking and other settlers in Karachi, it is a fact that they came as immigrants and that also through planned migration.
No sane person would object to the natural migration which has been continuing all over the world. The doctor’s statement that “if Karachi is now made a Mohajir province, it will only confirm and establish the de facto situation” gives rise to a strange situation.
It implies that first you create an artificial and unjust situation, then sustain it with force and/or other illegitimate means, then call it a de facto situation and then make it de jure.
The immigrants in the UAE, mostly from South Asia, are almost equal in number to the indigenous people. Would they be entitled to claim a separate region for themselves? In fact, most of them don’t even possess normal political and citizenship rights. Or take the case of more than three million Afghan refugees who have been residing in Pakistan for about quarter of a century and have acquired big businesses and houses here.
It is a de facto position. Can they lay claim to any part of Pakistan? Furthermore, the languages which were the basis for creating new provinces in India are the indigenous ones while Urdu is bereft of that quality. Dr Rehman says: “If the partition of Sindh can lead to these results (avoidance of tension and bloodshed and maintenance of peace), it may not be a bad idea”.
This is a very simple administrative solution to a very serious political and economic problem. Just take the example of India’s partition. There existed a very complex situation in the shape of Hindu-Muslim adversity. Instead of going through a long and tedious political process, the people opted for the simple solution of division as panacea for all the problems arising out of this adversity.
The result is there for everyone to see. There has been more bloodshed, more tension and more wars, between the two countries as well as within the two countries, as a result of partition.
The root cause of disharmony and mistrust prevalent in Pakistani society lies in the way this state has been structured and is being run since its inception where all the federating units, except one, have been complaining against usurpation of their rights and absolute domination of the centre giving way to movements, insurgencies and wars.
So the main issue needing utmost attention and priority is not the re-demarcation of provinces, but the restructuring of the state by empowering the federating units.
ABDUL KHALIQUE JUNEJO
Karachi
THIS is with reference to the recent award of the Booker Prize to Indian-American author Kiran Desai and the Nobel Prize for Literature to Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk.
Both the awards confounded literary pundits as well as seasoned readers of fiction and literary trends.
Both awards confirm that, in the world of the 21st century, only those writers who indulge in fashionable trends and bow to the needs of the market are recognised by the establishment, of which the Booker and the Nobel are no doubt a part.
Kiran Desai’s novel continues the line of ‘immigrant literature’ pioneered by the likes of Salman Rushdie, Hanif Kureishi and Ruth Prawer Jhabvala.
Before Desai, it was Arundhati Roy (who lives in India) who won the Booker Prize in 1997 for the novel The god of small things. This was not only Roy’s debut novel but it also celebrated something other than multiculturalism.
This trend among modern South Asian writers to produce reams of immigrant literature and kowtow to official multiculturalism is sickening.
There is a market for such immigrant literature, which avoids the big political questions of our time like imperialism, colonisation, the rights of self-determination of defenceless people like Palestinians and resistance.
There is evidence that while writers in Latin America, Middle East, China and Africa are writing about issues which beset their peoples, the contemporary South Asian writer is enamoured by post-modernism and multiculturalism rather than problems which afflict societies back home, or problems created by their countries of residence — predominantly white — when they start behaving as empires.
The Libyan Hisham Matar’s debut novel In the country of men, which is set in Qadhafi’s Libya, would have made a refreshing choice for the Booker, if only because it came from an Arab.
Orhan Pamuk’s elevation to the status of a Nobel litterateur is refreshing given the fact that the last time someone from the Middle East won this award was Naguib Mahfouz in 1988.It also puts to rest — for a while — the Anglo-American domination of the Nobel Prize for Literature. But given what Pamuk has produced since he started writing in 1974, he cannot be classified as a major writer in league with previous Nobel laureates. He only has one important novel to his credit, namely Snow, which is a meditation on the clash between the forces of Islamism and western secularism at battle in contemporary Turkey; his other novels are mere fiction set in the Ottoman empire or exquisite mysteries beloved of the ruling literary fashion, i.e. postmodernism.
He is not even Turkey’s greatest living novelist, who happens to be Yasar Kemal, who has spent a lifetime crusading on behalf of Turkish Kurds and whose epic sagas of Kurdish dispossession at the hands of Turkey’s secularised elite are more realistic and original than the one novel by Pamuk. It is Kemal who should have been recognised by the Nobel Committee and not Pamuk.
One suspects that it is because of Pamuk’s defence of Turkey’s Kurds and his endorsement of the Armenian genocide. These two events did happen and it is courageous to voice to speak out against the injustices of history, but given past trends in the award of the Nobel Literature Prize, one is tempted to make the conclusion that the this year the prize has also been given because of politics, and not literary merit.
RAZA NAEEM
Karachi
THROUGH your columns I want to bring to the knowledge of the president and the prime minister the injustice recently meted out to the old pensioners of the State Bank of Pakistan, who are above 75 years of age, i.e., who retired during 1980 and 1990 in the old and poor basic scales of pay and their pension amount was very nominal.
This position was realised by the former two governors of the bank. Since 1999 some better relief in pension was being given to all the pensioners particularly to the old pensioners who had retired up to 31.12.1989.
The increase in the salary of in-service employees was allowed at the rate of 12.50 per cent in 1999 and, thereafter, 10 per cent each year in 2002 and 2004 whereas 25 per cent and 20 per cent increase was allowed in the pension of old pensioners, i.e., the rate of increase in pension was 100 per cent more than the rate of increase in salary. This kindness of the former two governors had given some relief to the old pensioners.
This time 17 per cent dearness allowance has been allowed with effect from Sept 1 in the total amount of salary (maturised salary) but only 15 per cent increase in pension of the old pensioners, i.e., less than 17 per cent given to the employees in salary, whereas in the previous year, as stated above, the increase in pension was allowed at the rate of 100 per cent more than the increase in salary.
This was because the pitiable condition of the old pensioners had been realised by the then bosses. During the last two years the dearness in the country has increased by more than 80 per cent to 100 per cent but only 15 per cent increase in pension has been allowed to the old pensioners.
This is not justice as the day-to-day increase in dearness has become unbearable. The President and the Prime Minister should look into the matter.
S.A. ANSARI
(SBP pensioner) Karachi
THE government is persistently pursuing the Quaid’s agenda for building Pakistan on a strong footing, so said our president (Sept 11). He does not get his message across.
If this was to be so for the last seven years, the element of hope and “feel good” situation in the country would have re-emerged by now.
Is there plentiful of work for the people, are schools and hospitals improving, crimes kept falling? Are not the rich getting richer, rather quickly? “Fifty-six per cent of the people in Pakistan run the risk of falling into poverty trap”, a World Bank report read on Sept 12.
The matter of the fact is that the statement has been issued duly plastered with the charade of solidarity with the Quaid, as was also done by many of the past rulers.
Since most of the ‘strong footing’ jobs are not in the common knowledge of the people, we are not in a position to know whether the results thereof would be countable, measurable, seenable, etc. Why, “well begun is half done” theory always fails the people of Pakistan?
The first priority of the Quaid’s agenda was the safety of our life and property. It can be safely presumed that the number of fortnightly heinous crimes being committed nowadays is equal to the annual figures of 1970-80’s and increasing by the day at our homes and on roads as much in the light as in the dark.
Even the Afghan consul-general and his wife were not spared on Karachi road.
How come? Where are all our guards? Maybe they and their intelligent agencies etc are involved in global struggle between moderates and extremists.
Z.A. KAZMI
Karachi
AS soon as I parked my car near a government residence at Teen Talwar, Clifton , Karachi, a man approached me showing a revolver and asking me to hand over my purse.
I did the same without resisting. The purse contained my cellphone, some jewellery items and, above all, my USB and some ATM cards and official documents.
He left with his companion who was alert and ready to take him on a bike.
This experience has allowed me to compare between the two evils. If the purse was stolen, it would have caused me less or no mental shock or torture that I am going through now at this mugging event.
Every single bike or pedestrian who passes by my car now is a suspect for me. Who to trust? My confidence in driving or moving around has been immensely shattered.
A further gross shock to me is that whoever I am sharing this event has a similar experience to share and is just a normal thing for all citizens of this city.
May I recall my stay in Canada where one finds extensive police patrolling in each street or corner of the city, whose crime rate, when compared with Pakistan, was claimed to be higher by our respected CCPO, Karachi, in his televised programme.
I urge the authorities concerned to please handle the street-crime seriously as it is not only letting citizens losing their valuables but vulnerably losing their confidence.
PROF FAWZYA R.KHOKHAR
Bahria University, Karachi
A FEW days back while I was shopping at a general store for some food items for ‘iftari’ in Clifton, a person came in and told the cashier that the magistrate was conducting a raid and that he had sold him an item which was not according to the government rate list.
The cashier was picked up along with all the rest of the other people from adjacent general stores.
Later that day I found out that all the stores were fined Rs2,000 and everything was back to normal.
Now I ask you, from where will these working people recover their loss? Of course, we the customers are paying the price for these fines. As if the price hike during Ramazan was not enough to break our bones. The situation is really pathetic.
ALI YASIR JUNEJO
Karachi
THE Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) is at present in need of a major overhaul, with respect to aspects related to both institutional development and the systems/ facilities rehabilitation, placed within the context of overall sector-based institutional and governance reforms.
In this regard, the recent efforts undertaken by the KWSB management are timely and creditable in that they are focused on building capacity within the institution for improved technical and financial management.
Sustainable service delivery improvements are not achievable unless technical and financial inputs are driven by effective and accountable institutions – clearly accountable to legitimate political authority and consumers, and with full responsibility for operational management.
There is now a need on the part of the KWSB to convince the consumers of the technical and financial viability of their plans and proposals in order to gain the much needed public acceptance and legitimacy for reforms.
It is vitally important that issues such as the ‘cost of inaction’ are properly communicated to the common consumer. For example, how the 24-hour water supply may cut down the need to construct underground and overhead water storage tanks and extensive plumbing fixtures that account for a significant portion of the construction cost of a new home.
How supply of properly treated clean drinking water would cut down on the gas consumption accrued while boiling water many times a day and save the money now being spent by consumers on the installation of expensive water filtration systems.
Then there are the savings in health costs. Supply of clean drinking water would result in improved health and subsequent savings in health-related expenditure.
Similarly, an improved sewerage system would mean fewer overflowing sewers that are sources of many diseases – yet again savings in health costs.
It is, therefore, extremely important that improved services leading to possible tariff adjustments are effectively linked with savings in cost at present being spent by the consumer in a manner that a common consumer can easily make the necessary linkages and is better placed to make an informed decision in favour of any proposed change.
Merely government-driven sector reforms and organisational changes would have limited effect, unless all stakeholders are properly informed about and involved in the reform process.
Numerous examples can be cited where the most technically sound reform proposals failed because they were not properly communicated to and owned by the many influential stakeholders.
This means that institutional arrangements should be arrived at only once their credibility has been built in close partnership with the key stakeholders.
In this regard, it is felt that the forum of the ‘Civil Society Liaison Cell’, another commendable initiative of the present KWSB management, is well placed to play a pro-active role in seeking stakeholder consensus and support for the ongoing reform process.
FARHAN ANWAR
Karachi
DEMOGRAPHERS in the US are acutely worried by the continuing massive increase in human population in the world. Even in the US, demographers are ringing alarm bells. They estimate that by 2100 the population of the US would be 810 million. The USA’s Census Bureau had earlier projected the US population in 2100 as 600 million.
It seems that population control measures in some countries are less effective as in Pakistan, with the result that unbridled increase in population is spawning many social and economic difficulties for the affected countries.
Socio-economic experts are giving stern warnings to mankind’s leaders to put effective curbs on unchecked population increase.
QUTUBUDDIN AZIZ
Karachi
I WAS appalled to see an advertisement on TV propagating fair skin. In the ad a girl, who by virtue of being black, belongs to the slums, is ignored by a rich boy passing by in a fancy car.
But her luck changes after she uses a cheap quality cream to lighten her skin. She is now fair-skinned enough to marry the same boy.
What are we trying to preach to the younger generation? Why are we further pressurising a generation that is already unduly influenced by the West?
Can’t there be some kind of a censor board which assess the social and moral implications of the media?
NADIA HUSSAIN
Karachi
REFERENCE Amir Wasim’s comments on a new book on the Kargil adventure (Oct 2) in which it is claimed that Gen Musharraf while sitting in China discussed details of the secret Kargil plan on a telephone line with Gen Mohammad Aziz in Pakistan. This is unbelievable and really takes the bun. Stories seldom get any taller!
S. ASIF MAJEED
Karachi
NADRA’S kiosk (ATM), adjacent to KESC, Customer Service Centre, N. Nazimabad Zone, Subdivision -7 off office of DC, North, has been out of order for a long time.
Consumers are forced to pay utility bills at nearby UBL, (Sakhi Hassan Darbar branch) where due to the long queue it takes on average over two hours to pay a bill through cash mode.
I hope that the kiosk will be fixed soon as it will be a great relief to consumers in the area.
M. HANEEF SHAIKH
Karachi
THE president and the prime minister say that Pakistan is a safe place for investment. Will they then return the money which some of us invested in the Islamic Investment Bank? The bank is duly licensed by the SECP. If not, then their claim is false.
M. RIAZ
Thana Malakand Agency
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