| November 04, 2006 | Saturday | Shawwal 11, 1427 |
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HEC and appointment of VCs
Utility Stores’ products
National Savings Centre
Curbing crime in 15 days
DHA beachfront development
Mismanaged PIA
Water woes
Rash drivers
The youth & FM stations
Plea from AJK students
Aids campaign
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
THE Pakistan Cricket Board’s ban on Pakistan’s top fast bowlers, Asif and Shoaib is a right decision at a right time and proves that cricket is still a gentleman’s game.
The decision is not only an eye opener for all international cricketers but it also proves that no matter how big the player, he is not bigger than the game itself.
I know that many people around the world, especially Pakistanis, would have reacted with shock to the announcement. However, I ask them: shouldn’t a player who spoils the discipline of the team and put the name of the country at stake be penalised? I would like to say that we as a nation are very emotional at times, when we have to be realistic in judging the issues with a fair minded approach.
QAZI ASIM NAEEM
Hyderabad
THE tribunal committee’s decision to slap a one year ban on fast bowler Mohammed Asif was an astounding one. Taking into consideration the fact that Asif wasn’t provided proper guidance or training regarding doping regulation, such career threatening punishment is unfair.
Secondly, Asif’s comprehension of the English language, as stated by the tribunal committee, is very limited and in such circumstances for him to understand implication and consequences of a drug such as nandrolone is impossible. It was the duty of medical staff to inform him about medicines which were prohibited. With this decision, PCB has adopted a role of a strict authoritarian to blow away dark clouds of controversies that have surrounded Pakistani cricket in recent months.
AHMED HASAN
Karachi
IN our country those who plundered and looted get another chance to rule and plunder again whereas sportsmen like Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammed Asif are punished for doping offences. The results of dope tests cases are often not authenticated before a B sample as was proved in the case of British/Canadian tennis star Greg Rusedski who got off scot free after similar accusations. The only difference was that the British tennis association was supporting Greg Rusedski and here the PCB seems to be looking to get rid of Shoaib Akhtar for good.
Shoaib Akthar was a great ambassador of our cricket and may be last the hero of Pakistani cricket.
HYDER ALI
Feltham, UK
THE commission set up by the PCB for investigating Shoaib and Asif for failing the dope test has come up with a well-deserved punishment for these two players. At least we have some honest people in this country who have the courage to punish cheaters. The criticism from ex-players like Rashid Latif and Wasim Akram is totally un-warranted. Mr Latif keeps on harking about the issue of betting in cricket and players not being punished for that, and I think it is about time someone told him to move on from that issue and concentrate on the issues at hand.
These players wilfully took those performance enhancing drugs and hence deserve what they got. This decision will also send out a strong and clear message to all the young club and first class cricketers that if they want to play this game, then they better play it within the rules.
KAMIL KHAN
Lahore
THIS is in reference to the letter “Education reforms and military VCs” (Oct 18). Through it, Dr Riaz Ahmed of the Department of Applied Chemistry, University of Karachi, criticises the Higher Education Commission in respect of the appointment of military vice-chancellors to universities.
Dr Ahmed apparently does not realize that the HEC has nothing whatsoever to do with the appointment of vice-chancellors of universities in Pakistan. This is done by respective chancellors of the universities who are governors of the provinces.
The HEC had proposed a search committee process for appointment of vice-chancellors which was accepted at the last meeting of the Chancellors Committee headed by President Musharraf held on May 11, 2006. The Chancellors Committee includes Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, the governors of the four provinces, the four chief ministers, and the President of AJK. The search committee process was implemented last year at the federal level for the appointment of vice-chancellors of federal universities and is now also being implemented in the provinces.
However, as stated above, the search committees are constituted by the chancellors themselves and HEC takes no part in this process nor is it represented as a member of any of the search committees. The search committees propose three names to the chancellors of whom one may be selected by the chancellor. If the chancellor does not agree with the three names then he may ask the search committee to propose fresh names.
Dr Ahmed has also mistakenly criticised the HEC for implementing the policies of the World Bank. The World Bank has not funded any of HEC’s programmes since its existence, nor is it involved in policy formulation in the higher education sector. The Commission’s policies were formulated in 2003 after it was established in September 2002 after intense discussions with the stake-holders including vice-chancellors, professors, heads of institutions, faculty members and students as well as the end-users, i.e., the private sector, and are contained in a document entitled “Medium Term Development Framework”.
AAYESHA IKRAM
Higher Education Commission, Islamabad
THE Karachi City Government had announced a Controlled Price List due to escalating prices of essential items, especially during Ramazan, which they tried to enforce through heavy fines and imprisonments.
However, the wholesalers had rejected the prices fixed by the CDGK and claimed that prices were unrealistic, since the government had neither studied the prevailing international prices nor had they consulted with them when fixing these prices.
This had resulted in the arrest of hundreds of shopkeepers and fruit traders and according to press reports, the government had collected over 40 lakh rupees in fines from these sellers for over charging.
At the same time, to ease the suffering of the consumers, the government had announced several “incentives and subsidiaries” to keep a control on the rising prices, which had included a Eid gift of Rs. 650 million subsidies through the Utility Stores (US). The subsidies announced by the government had naturally created a rush at the US, especially in Karachi, where there are only 56 US, catering to a population in excess of 16 million.
Realising that there was a shortage of Utility Stores, the Ministry of Industries has now finalised a plan to expand the network of Utility Stores Corporation by establishing 16 new distribution centers and 440 new stores at a cost of Rs 812.17 million.
However, one hopes that before the Planning Commission takes a decision on the matter, it will take into consideration the findings about the quality of the products being sold in the government controlled Utility Stores.
According to our investigations, some of the cooking
oils being sold in the US are packed in old, rusted, used tins, carry false and misleading ISO 2003 and PSQCA logo and are of substandard quality and have been declared “unfit for human consumption” by the Quality Control Center of PSQCA.
The analysis reports have been forwarded to the Prime Minister, MD, US, Ministry of Industries and S&T, President, PVMA and other relevant government departments for necessary action.
As such, before the government decides to spend any more of the taxpayer’s money on these stores, we request that the government holds an enquiry and examines the way these stores are being managed.
The government must also take appropriate steps to ensure that these stores display the government declared prices in the stores and do not market substandard and unregistered products.
The government must also introduce Consumer Protection Laws and Consumer Courts in the country without any further delay.
HELPLINE TRUST
Karachi
FOR A long time, a branch of the National Savings Centre was working satisfactorily on the ground floor of Khyber Plaza in the Blue Area. When I went to the Centre to collect my profit on 12 October 2006, I found that it had shifted to F-10 Markaz. As there is no suitable bus or wagon route to F-10 Markaz, there was no alternative but to hire a taxi. I finally traced the new Savings Centre branch after making several rounds of the Markaz.
Since most account holders of the National Savings Centre are over 60 years old — I myself am 75 — why are we old, feeble people deprived of a more accessible Savings Centre facility in Blue Area? Why do we have to go all the way to a Markaz where no public transport is available?
It may be pointed out that an application by the Residents’ Welfare Associations G-10/1 has been lying pending for a long time with the Ministry of Finance for the opening of a National Savings Centre branch in G-10 Markaz, which is a centrally located place. It is requested that the National Savings Centre branch in F-10 be shifted to G-10 Markaz, which is more easily accessible as all types of public conveyance is available here.
S. HYDER RAZA
Islamabad
THE prime minister’s directive to the police to curb crime in Karachi in 15 days is nothing more than a joke. Who takes such directives seriously: the police, the people or the rulers themselves?
People are used to reading such directives knowing fully well that nothing will change — at least for the better — after the deadline has passed.
If this statement sounds cynical, may I raise few questions: Do the police have the capacity to curb crimes, that too within 15 days? If that is the case, why did they have to wait for a directive from the prime minister? Is it not their duty in any case to curb crimes? If they do not have the capacity, what is the use in giving them such directives?
It seems that the prime minister, while issuing this directive, was playing to the gallery.
One should tell him that such directives only add salt to the wounds of the people in Karachi who are already living in the constant fear of criminals — in and out of uniform.
MUHAMMAD ASIF
Lahore
THIS is with reference to the ongoing debate on the DHA beach-front development and the construction of Diamond City on Bundal and Buddo islands. In this connection, I would like to point out that there are four well-established principles for sustainable urban planning.
One, planning must respect the ecology of the area in which the city is located. Two, land use must be decided on the basis of social and environmental considerations and not on the basis of land value (or potential land value) alone. Three, planning must serve the interests of the majority of the urban population. And four, planning must respect the tangible and intangible cultural heritage of the city and of the communities living in it.
Cities where these principles have not been followed are incapable of dealing with natural disasters (such as heavy rains); they are prone to diseases due to biodiversity related issues and pollution; they are subject to crime, violence, strife and social fragmentation as the poor are pushed out of the city to un-serviced slums and the rich ghettoise themselves out of fear and insecurity; their road network is clogged with vehicles; and they lose their sense of identity and as such of cohesion. Sounds familiar?
To meet the above four principles of sustainable urban planning, Diamond City and the DHA beach-front development projects will either have to be scrapped and re-planned or major modifications made to them.
The supporters of these projects have given examples of similar developments in Dubai, Thailand and Malaysia. We must learn to think for ourselves rather than justify our plans on the basis of very questionable forms of urban and recreational development. However, it must be said that recent planning in Thailand and Malaysia is increasingly sensitive to social, cultural and ecological issues due to which large ecologically sensitive areas have been preserved and remain accessible to local communities and to lower and lower-middle income groups, and eco-tourism rather than brick and mortar development has been promoted in them.
Given the serious controversy around these projects, it is recommended that the government (whoever that is in this case!) appoints a review committee (whose members are acceptable to all stakeholders) who can initiate a process of public hearings on the basis of which an informed decision can be taken on this issue which is of utmost importance for all Karachites irrespective of their class and ethnic backgrounds.
ARIF HASAN
Karachi
THE national flag carrier PIA has been placed under scrutiny by the EU. The only worse thing that can happen to it is a total ban. After all had various executives not been promoted on political recommendations, they would have placed their reservations in writing to the CEO. This is a collective failure of top heavy airline management and CAA Pakistan.
Incompetence at the end of the day comes back to haunt those who helped such people occupy the posts they are not qualified to handle. This airline has been a victim of a corrupt mafia which is involved in travel and cargo agencies, leasing of aircraft, technical stores purchases and various other contracts.
The airlines former head of corporate planning was arrested by NAB, only to be let off on intervention by the man sitting in London. He not only came back, but served in his executive assignment, till his day of superannuation.
If the federal government is hostage to political blackmail and considers appointments to semi-autonomous organisations a means to oblige power lobbies, then what has happened to PIA, is likely to strike any organisation subject to international scrutiny.
MUZAFFAR H SHAH
Sukkur
IT has been almost two-and-a-half months since we, the residents of Merchant Centre (DC-4, Block-9, Clifton), have been receiving sewerage water in our main line meant for drinking water.
Despite our attempts to convince various people from the Clifton Cantonment Board, Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) and Saddar Town, none of them have accepted responsibility for this.
We are now fed up with this unscrupulous attitude. Will someone have the moral courage to accept their fault and grant us relief by actually doing something practical, rather than by just letting off hot air and passing the buck?
FUAD SHAIKH
Karachi
THIS is with reference to a report about an accident in Karachi in which a motorcyclist was crushed to death and his pillion-rider injured (Oct 31). Much as my heart bleeds for the dead and the injured, I can’t help but ask what was a scooter doing riding between two four wheelers?
I wonder why the local administration and the police seem to have turned a blind eye to these scooter riders whizzing across the highways, boulevards and streets of Karachi without helmets and taking the law in their own hands?
TALAT RAHIM
Karachi
PROVIDING entertainment, it seems, is the purpose of the various FM radio channels that have mushroomed in the past couple of years. However, have our morals deteriorated so much that we find pleasure in those western songs whose language will put any respectable being to shame? Are decently worded songs a feature of the past? Is this what we want our youth to learn?
I would any day advocate adopting the positive aspects of western culture, but airing songs that are just a chant of vulgarity and obscenity is certainly not what we should be doing.
Another very shameful incident was when two RJs were discussing, rather ridiculing, the way our singer Mehdi Hassan used to sing. A man who has brought laurels to a country should be appreciated, not laughed at, and especially when he has an ailment which has rendered him incapacitated. I can understand if a celebrity is made fun of when he is in the prime of his performance, but when he is unable to perform, mocking him is just not ethical. I sincerely hope that our young RJs realise that having a laugh at the expense of others is definitely not what we would like to teach our youth.
MUNEEZA SHAIKHALI
Karachi
THE country’s Boards of Intermediate and Secondary Education took a wise decision to hold separate examinations of secondary and intermediate levels. This proved beneficial for students as they could complete their academic pursuits in a befitting manner without unnecessary burden.
However, the bureaucracy changed their decision and now students are supposed to appear in joint examinations.
This may be possible for students in Pakistan, but it is not possible for students in
Azad Kashmir because most of them have lost their belongings — even books, notes etc — due to the last year’s earthquake.
I appeal to the prime minister AJK, minister of education and chairman of the AJK board to change this decision for at least two or three years. It will help students prepare for their examinations without undue additional pressures.
SHUGUFTA NAZ
Bagh, AJK
I AM a regular subscriber to TIME magazine. In the latest issue, there is an advertisement by Pakistan’s National Aids Control Programme regarding awareness and health education. This is clearly a waste of time and money, as this advertisement must not have been cheap by any standards.
They should know that only a handful of people in this country subscribe to this expensive magazine and I am confident that majority of them are well educated.
The Ministry of Health and National Aids Control Programme should use some common sense while embarking on this kind of blunders wasting national resources.
DR ABDULLAH PATHAN
Quetta
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