| November 22, 2006 | Wednesday | Shawwal 29, 1427 |
To send a letter to the Editor
Click here
An IDEA gone sour
Quackery flourishing
Textile package
Garbage exchange
Ghulam Ishaq Khan
Bank charges
Power rates
EOBI pensioners
University ranking
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 apropos of Mr Sultan Ahmed’s article ‘Evil of black money’ ( Nov 18), dilating on the causes and evil effects of this informal sector on our economy. The basis of the article was a case study, ‘Estimating the black money through monetary approach’, issued by the Social Study and Development Centre (SSDC).
I fail to understand that a senior writer of Mr Ahmed’s calibre would squarely accept SSDC’s figures showing declining trend in the percentage of black money vis-a-vis GDP and improvement in the collection of taxes as compared to 1960 without going into the following factors:
The wealth tax was the direct levy on affluent class, which was abolished in the year 2000 on the ground that it causes hindrance in investment, although in Bangladesh and India it is still in operation.
Although, on the one hand, WT was a check on black money to infiltrate into the formal sector and, on the other hand, despite its small rate and having those assets subject to Zakat deduction outside its domain, formed a sizable source of direct federal taxes.
This barrier being no more in the way for the last couple of years has made country a haven for black money. The figure of black money thus relied upon at the face of it is a drop in the ocean. Besides, Mr. Ahmed has failed to indicate investment boom in the real estate and stock exchange, the main outcome of black economy.
The fabulous rise in the value of urban properties is a case in point. So much so that even the cost of an urban flat (where purchaser neither owns plot, nor a roof) ranges from Rs4 million to Rs25 million, depending upon the locality. The value of bungalows/houses is so high that even an upper-middle-class family cannot imagine in its wildest dreams of buying one. On paper the assessed worth of a property is being shown as one-tenth of its actual sale price. The amount of investment beyond its official value is obviously discharged out of the black money.
Similarly, huge investments made in the the Karachi Stock Exchange in recent years that crashed many a time giving rise to scams and, finally, appointment of foreign consultants on high fees by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan is too an outcome of the existence of a huge black economy.
According to Mr Tahir Mirza’s ‘Promise and performance’ (Nov 17), though the foreign experts have reportedly submitted their findings, naming several leading brokers of KSE responsible for the crash, the same has neither been made public nor any action appears to have been taken against the guilty. Such types of delay also raise many an eyebrow.
I agree with Mr Sultan Ahmed that the black money is the root-cause of countless evils having far-reaching adverse effects on the morals of our society. Therefore, immediately required are the sincere and earnest efforts by the government, utilising its fiscal as well as administrative powers to curb this menace so as to save the future generations form further malevolence.
DR. ALI AKBAR M. DHAKAN
Karachi
THERE is no denying the fact that Ideas 2006 is one of the most high-profile and highly anticipated events of the country and whether we like it or not, Karachi plays host to over 7,000 foreign delegates for over a week.
What is particularly outstanding is the stringent security measures that are implemented throughout the city, especially at Hasan Square, with a brute force of sorts: measures that leave one wondering why similar steps are not taken throughout the year to provide respite to Karachites who have no choice but to get used to the mugging, looting and maiming that occurs on a regular basis.
Given that the various security agencies have prohibited people living in the apartment complexes opposite the Expo Centre (Hasan Square) from loitering in their balconies or opening their windows, with officials perched on rooftops and patrolling the streets, small-time robbers would
probably have a hard time looting anyone in the area for at least a week if not more, but things are not always what they seem to be, for last night my brother and fiancé, the latter of whom was returning from the Expo to get his car from my house where it was
parked, were mugged in the midst of this supposedly “red zone”.
Shoved into a nearby shop by no less than six men, a few of them armed, they were deprived of their money and watches while the shopkeeper looked on helplessly. Interestingly enough, there were no law-enforcement officials in sight. In fact, a couple of them left just a few minutes prior to the incident. While the incident was reported to the authorities, the official concerned seemed at a loss as to how the whole thing happened because “given the high level of security, something like this is simply not possible, unless of course they had internal connections,” he said.
The government is well-advised to impose these much-touted security measures on the very agencies who are supposed to “protect and serve”. Furthermore, the city government is also asked not to make promises they can’t keep because two of the muggers were on a motorbike even though pillion-riding is “banned”.
SAMINA WAHID PEROZANI
Karachi
THE irrational way of treating a minor or a major disease by an unqualified person is quackery. Previously, grandmother tactics, the witchcraft or the services of fake 'pirs, fakirs or herbal mendicants' were predominant and still are thriving in our urban and rural areas with impunity.
The poor illiterate people are duped, suffer loss of life and money, and ailment is further aggravated beyond cure. Alternative medicines are banned in the developed countries and health regulations are not so easily violated as in our country.
Rational or empirical therapy is the base of modern medicine, but treating a patient without diagnosis by the unqualified and self-styled 'hakeems, homoeopaths or doctors' or the paramedical staff can be very disastrous. The minor ailments treated by alternative medicines in the long run cause loss of time, increase morbidity and mortality.
Unfortunately, Pakistan like many other countries is facing quackery and the people practising it are not aware of even the ABC of hygiene, pharmacology, sterilisation of syringes, etc. Surgical instruments used by the self-styled dentists have caused tremendous increase in hepatitis B and C. So also TB is being treated in a casual manner that makes further treatment impossible.
Early diagnosis is thus missed. Sorcery, witch-doctors and charlatans advertise in print and electronic media quick remedies and magic cures and the unqualified are shown as specialists for sure cures. Besides, dressing of wounds by the quacks keeps the wounds alive for months to fleece an illiterate patient.
Preventive health education is most important for the masses to seek treatment from the qualified doctors only. Doctors are also required to be posted in far-flung areas to put an end to quackery.
Legislative measures should be made more strict to control quackery by checking their degrees, registration qualifications, experience and punishing them for their malpractices.
Aphrodisiacs offered by hakeems contain heavy metals that cause permanent kidney damage and renal failure. All our efforts at improving our health services are negated if quackery is allowed to flourish at the same time.
DR RAFIQUE AHMED MIRZA
Karachi
MY old friend Yaqoob Nagaria has recently come out with a statement demanding financial aid for the spinning industry as its health is very poor at the moment.
This is a story which we have been hearing for the last 40 years but, as a matter of fact, it is the most robust industry in Pakistan.
Since the time the spinners were collecting sales tax from their buyers, which they had to deposit in government treasury after one month, there is a continuous flow of millions of rupees daily, which has far more compensated them for the export financing support.
The prices of cotton and cost of inputs like energy and utilities were the same as were last year. What was the justification of recent increase by the spinners of their prices of yarn by 18-22 per cent?
Mr Nagaria has rightly said that the entire value-added textile industry is dependent upon the spinners. I would like to say that it was not dependent but was taken hostage by the spinners. I would like to take the writer to the 1980s and 1990s when several solemn agreements were made between APTMA and the CTA that both will take care of each other but all of these were violated.
It is unfortunate that the spinners do not have any consideration for their buyers, i.e. domestic market.
S.M. RIZVI
Karachi
IN the heart of Clifton's block-2, next to the Sailing Club, lies a grand garbage exchange. Here hundreds of trucks of the CDGK unload their garbage, which is loaded on dump trucks to be taken to the outskirts of the city.
We, the residents across the road, are testing our nostrils with the heavy stench of rotting garbage instead of fresh air. One track of the newly constructed road is encroached upon by a trail of dump trucks, which enter the road in violation of the traffic flow. As a result of the movement of tons of garbage, this road, as well as the surrounding area, is littered with plastic bags and garbage droppings.
The city government, which is very prompt on collection of conservancy taxes, is requested to immediately relocate the garbage exchange to another area.
RAFI ADAMJEE
Karachi
IN his letter (Nov 3) commenting on your editorial (Oct 29) the writer has mentioned Ghulam Ishaq Khan’s massive contribution to Pakistan’s nuclear programme”, as well as towards laying “the foundations of Wapda and the State Bank”. Your readers may like to know the following facts as well:
In fact, Professor Salam and Dr I.H. Usmani had marked out the details of a nuclear project with France in the 1960s. It could be had almost for the asking at that time. Being a sensitive matter, the two nuclear scientists briefed Ayub Khan and requested him to raise it in his discussions with de Gaulle. Ayub Khan referred it to his finance secretary GIK, who shot it down.
It was a great idea but it had originated in the wrong brains. Our nuclear programme as we know it was initiated by Z. A. Bhutto in 1972 when he was the president. Despite threats from a superpower he went ahead. In the early summer of 1977 a sum of $250 million was arranged from a friendly oil-exporting country for the Chashma nuclear power project. This money was sufficient only for one-fourth or at most one-third of the cost then estimated. But it was sufficient for seeding. Within days of Bhutto’s ouster, the then secretary-general-in-chief diverted this money to objects not connected with development at all.
Coming now to Wapda, it was established in 1958. Its first chairman was G. Ahmad, a very distinguished IP/PSP officer, who had many firsts to his credit. He was succeeded by Ghulam Farooq whose vision and drive have been almost unparalleled. Unfortunately, he earned the displeasure of the all-powerful governor Kala Bagh, and had no option but to resign. It was then that GIK became chairman. During his five years as chairman he must have taken many important decisions.
One that stands out is the location of the Tarbela Dam House on the right bank when most of the consumption is on the other side. The location seems to have been determined by a nose for political geography rather than by technical studies.
The State Bank was inaugurated by Mr Jinnah in July 1948. Its governors in the 24 years before GIK were Zahid Hussain, Abdul Qadir. Hasnie, Raschid and Durrani.
GIK was no ordinary civil servant. His admirers have waxed eloquent about his qualities. His great merit though was his uncanny sense of anticipation, which positioned him in time on the winning side. While a stickler for regulations, he was not inflexible either. He threw protocol to the winds when summoned by the GHQ on Aug 18, 1988.
Later he relished his authority as president and twice sent assemblies packing. It was only when he lost support of the GHQ that he stepped aside in the summer of 1993. He did try hard to secure a second nomination as president. However, when it was made clear to him that the nominee would be a member of the party in power that he withdrew into retirement — not missed much, except by his relations or family friends, and not to be heard of again, except on his death.
The choice of the new president did not avail the party in power. But it deprived GIK of a hat-trick and chance of entering the Guiness Book of World Records .
After dissolving the National Assembly in August 1990, acting on his own, GIK withdrew the nomination of Dorab Patel for the International Court of Justice. Patel could well have been elected despite Pakistan’s theocratic and militaristic image. He would certainly have won more votes than the two (including that of Pakistan) that Anwarul Haq got. But Patel had annoyed the establishment when he refused to join the hatchet-men. And GIK was a senior member of the cabinet that endorsed Ziaul Haq’s rejection of the mercy petition for commuting the death sentence passed against Bhutto. (It will bear reminding here that it was not the late prime minister who had moved the petition.)
Ghulam Ishaq Khan was a big man no doubt. But his admirers are now portraying him even larger than life. They should be complimented on outdoing their mentor in his loyalty — “Wafadari, ba shert-i-ustawari assle eemaan hai . . ..”
K.M. CHIMA
Islamabad
SOLELY driven by profit motive, banks have tended to be overtly exploitive in pricing their card-based consumer financing products, negating the ethical axiom: “A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business.”
Notwithstanding exorbitant interest rates on such products, many banks continue to further squeeze their consumers in one way or the other. The UBL’s Cash Line Account is a case in point. In addition to prevailing 23 per cent annual interest rate, the UBL has slapped counter-charges of Rs200 on each cash deposit made on account of repayment instalment into the said account.
With this, an account-holder borrowing, for example, Rs10,000 for a month from the said account, ends up paying around Rs190 in mark-up and Rs200 in counter- charges. This is quite irrational.
To get a waiver, the bank impliedly coerces the account-holder into opening of yet another account just to draw repayment cheques on.
As a majority of beneficiaries of this product are fixed-income groups, this act on the part of the bank is likely to result in closure of many of these accounts, thereby resulting in lost customers.
To protect the genuine interest of such account-holders, it is necessary to immediately withdraw these charges.
MUHAMMAD SHAHID DAYO
Ghotki
ACCORDING to a press report, the Wapda chairman would like to increase the electricity prices by Rs7 to Rs14 per Kwh to reduce Wapda deficit, which is Rs111 billion. The justification for this increase given by the chairman is that due to increase of oil prices it is not possible for Wapda to keep the present prices.
Although POL prices have decreased in the international market and consumers are asking OGRA to pass on this benefit to them, the Wapda bureaucracy is very reluctant about doing so. Having monopoly in supplying electricity to consumers is one of the main reasons for inefficiency, incompetence and corruption.
It is time the government privatised electricity generation and distribution by allowing private sectors to generate electricity and sell to consumers freely. Consumers would have also the choice to buy electricity from those companies that charge less and provide a better service. As long as the government owned and managed electricity generation and distribution, consumers will suffer and pay for the inefficiency of the management.
S. T. HUSSAIN
Chairman, Consumer Rights
Forum, Lahore Cantt
The EOBI pensioners who previously used to receive their pension from the Habib Bank were later made to queue outside the United Bank branches when the arrangement with the HBL was withdrawn suddenly. The new arrangement did not last very long and now the pensioners would have to deal with the National Bank of Pakistan.
Here the poor, old and sick male and female pensioners are made to stand in long queues to be informed when their turn comes that no funds are available and that they should try their luck some other day — where have the funds to come from ? and why are the funds not provided? are the questions to be answered by EOBI which receives contributions in millions of rupees every month.
Will the higher authorities look into the matter and ease the situation by authorising more than one bank to distribute pension in a respectable way?
GHULAM RABBANI
Karachi
THIS refers to Mr Manzoor Ali Isran’s letter ‘University ranking’ (Oct 29), in which he has levelled allegations against Shah Abdul Latif University teachers and administration. The facts are as under:
Shah Abdul Latif University is a developing university which received substantial grants only after the Higher Education Commission came into existence and it is only five years back that we received a substantial grant for establishing our laboratories, procuring research journals and providing funds to our researchers.
At present there are 72 scholars registered for MPhil and 42 scholars in PhD programme of the university. Besides, many of our teachers are doing MPhil and PhDs in Pakistan, as well as in universities abroad. Their research articles will appear in research journals of international repute in due course of time.
It normally takes three years or even more for a research article to be published in a journal of international repute.
About Mr Isran’s charge that the university lacks good governance, it is clarified that the special audit of university accounts was conducted by the auditor-general of Pakistan through the director-general of audit, Sindh, for the last five years from 1997 to 2002. They have verified all accounts and have given a clean bill of health to the university. Mr Isran’s allegations have, therefore, no locus standi.
ABDUL KHALIQUE SHAIKH
Registrar, Shah Abdul Latif
University, Khairpur
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.