| November 24, 2006 | Friday | Ziqa'ad 2, 1427 |
To send a letter to the Editor
Click here
The area that robbers rule
What kind of merit is it?
Bajaur puzzle
ATM hassle
Alternative treatment for cancer
‘In the Line of Fire’
Free book fair
Indian channels
Water bills not accepted
Lame ducks
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 price of crude oil has now been on the decline for quite some time in the international market, but consumers are still waiting for the flow of some benefits towards them from this decline.
According to a news report (Dawn, Nov 18), price of crude oil sank on Friday to $55 per barrel striking a level last seen in June 2005. New York’s main contract for light sweet crude for delivery in December plunged to $54.86 per barrel in electronic trading. This marked the lowest point since June 2005 before Katrina storm struck the US coast.
What is the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (ORGA) waiting for to implement the government’s policy of deregulation and market-driven reform and to ensure that some benefits flow from the decline in international price of crude oil to the hapless consumers?
One may feel that the objective of transferring fixation of petroleum prices to OGRA from Oil Companies Advisory Committee (OCAC) has not been achieved. It has been suggested earlier also and it is now reiterated that to make OGRA effective in dealing with this matter properly and objectively, it should be staffed with professionals such as chartered accountants and other persons having experience of the oil industry but having no direct or indirect links with it.
It seems the government wants to build strategic reserves for petroleum products. There is nothing wrong with this, but what is the harm if these reserves are built up on the basis of lower prices, which will put less strain on the exchequer’s financial resources.
According to the OCAC’s earlier policy, prices were usually fixed on a fortnightly basis in accordance with the price formula approved by the government. Existing stocks imported on lower value were revalued upwards on each hike in the price of crude oil in the international market.
Also, the oil companies increased their administration and marketing expenses. Their dealers also increased their commission on each price hike. On questioning the rationale of increasing the value of the existing stock and on increasing administration, marketing and dealers’ commission, etc., on a fortnightly basis, the oil companies, refineries, dealers, etc., argued that this is being done in accordance with the price formula approved by the government.
On the same analogy, when the price of crude oil is going down in the international market, the value of existing stocks, administration and marketing expenses of oil companies and refineries, as well as of dealers’ commission, should also go down. It has happened before that when on the intervention of the government the oil companies were advised to hold on to existing prices, they submitted their bills to the government for making up the difference and the government had to make supplementary payments to them.
Now that the shoe is on the other foot, OGRA should not only reduce petroleum prices but also ensure that other measures of revising the value of existing stocks and reducing marketing and other expenses of oil companies, refineries and dealers, etc., are also taken.
It is not understood as to why Attock Oil Refinery is being supplied indigenous crude from Badin rather than from nearby oilfields. The government is having to pay unnecessary freight on this account. This raises the point of finding out as to how indigenously-produced crude is being accounted for in the pricing mechanism of petroleum products. There were some reports in the media that indigenously-produced crude has been/is being sold at international prices of crude oil. It is feared that in the process another lobby would have sprung up to resist downward revision in the prices of the petroleum products.
The bottom line is that while the price formula fixed some years ago is being given a thorough check, the oil companies, refineries, dealers, etc., have made windfall profits at the expense of consumers. It is time some relief was also provided immediately to consumers before the winter sets in and OGRA finds it as an excuse to hold on to the existing prices as petroleum consumption usually goes up during winter for one reason or another which leads to increase in the price of crude oil in the international market.
MOHAMMED ANWAR KHAN
Karachi
IF you recall, an incident took place during local government polls about five years ago in which a man of the Jatoi group was murdered in Lett Nanger Khan Chandio village constituency, Moro tehsil, Naushahro Feroze district. The body had not yet been buried when an exchange of fire between two groups started. Until then they possessed simple firearms, but soon they opted for the latest firearms to gain supremacy over the rivals. The police just registered an FIR and went into a deep slumber.
An exchange of fire then became the order of the day, claiming many a precious life, perpetuating enmity. The local waderas, it is said, asked the district police not to intervene and leave these people to their fate.
Hence scores of FIRs have been lodged by now by either side, but nobody pays any heed to them, nobody comes to their rescue, nobody can make them hang their arms up, nobody can make them cease fire. Those involved are just declared absconders and that’s all.
This state of affairs has given birth to the animal instinct in their young ones. The boys, those who were tenderly reared, now have become killers, robbers and dacoits. They have forgotten things like love, kindness, and sympathy. Since they have tasted the power of arms and ammunition, why should they hang them up, especially when they are reduced to live such a poor and miserable life, to live just in slums, ruined in health, to see their loved ones toiling under hunger and disease?
Consequently, they have made robbery their source of income and so brutality has been unleashed in the area. They know nobody is going to stop them from killing and looting innocent people of the area. The police are dissuaded from entering the area which has just become a no-go area. Who else can stop them from looting villages and the people living in the suburbs?
One cannot think of such a cruel attitude on the part of the police for a long period of five years. This police attitude has given birth to a new society in the area where avarice is a guiding principle, especially when arms are employed in gaining the illegal benefits.
Social affections are considered accidental and disturbing elements in human nature. So this type of condition has brought unprecedented miseries to those at least who have so far been unwilling to take up arms and to resort to such activities. Should they join robbers, thugs and thieves? Perhaps the police and waderas want them to be so.
S. K. CHANDIO
Moro
THE word ‘merit’ has been degraded in our country, especially in the feudal Sindh. Nowadays we usually hear our politicians say that everyone will be employed on the basis of merit, but nowhere do we see this merit.
Problems relating to unemployment and poverty are getting worse day by day. No leader takes serious view of these issues. People find it difficult to make both ends meet as the cost of basic needs touches the sky. This leads many a soul to commit suicide.
Tests conducted by various departments are nothing but a hoax played on unemployed but talented candidates. Written tests usually start three to four hours late while cheating is ensured -– one does not have to worry about questions, invigilators are too glad to dictate answers. As a result, answers of every candidate are 100 per cent correct.
Moreover, there is no interview call for those who have no connection or sifarish. Therefore, such candidates wait for another advertisement and undergo the same traumatic process. This is called ‘merit’ in this province.
Most candidates come from rural areas. As bus, train and rickshaw fares are quite high, they borrow from their near ones to meet their small expenses. They also borrow money for other expenses such as for photocopy, photographs and postal expenses.
Thus one has to suffer physically, mentally and economically if he applies in any of the tests conducted by departments. As seats are filled by influential people, advertising and conducting of tests are a mere ritual.
It is hoped that authorities would take notice of the matter and make rules as suggested by the World Bank “that tests and interviews from BPS-1 to BPS-17 should be conducted by the commission.”
ABDUL SATTAR SHAIKH
Larkana
A LOT of ambiguity has been created about the strike on a madressah in Bajaur. While the director-general of the ISPR claimed it as a strike under the Pakistan army’s control, the American television progamme ABC News and the locals have been alleging use of predators and thereby accusing the US of carrying out yet another attack on Pakistan’s sovereignty.
Well, President Musharraf’s In the Line of Fire explains it all. On page 265 he talks about the creation of a Special Operations Task Force (SOTF) after operation Kazha Punga on June 25, 2002:
“In coordination with the US Centcom and US intelligence agencies, a helicopter-borne Special Operations Task Force was created.
“It was composed of a battalion from SSG made helicopter mobile, thanks to assistance from the US.
“We demanded and were assured of night flying capability. We also established technical intelligence centres in cooperation with US intelligence.
“Unmanned aerial vehicles were to be made available on demand, flown by American handlers. This completed a triad of intelligence — human, technical and aerial. The human responsibility was ours — the other two were under the control of US.”
I hope this will put to rest the controversy on the subject. Full marks go to the official spokesperson for his veiled statement, as well as the locals for identifying the US machines employed in the operation.
BRIG ( r) ASAD HAKEEM
Rawalpindi
I RECENTLY tried to draw Rs5,000 from an ATM machine. I received a single note of Rs5,000 denomination.
I had to go to a nearby branch the next day to get change. Using the ATM became a hassle rather than a facility because it did not save me time, and even after wandering to different stores I could not get the change.
There is an urgent need for any artificial intelligence (AI) software in ATM which recognises the amount and provides the cash accordingly.
If a person draws Rs25,000, this may be provided in the form of Rs5,000 notes.
There should be an option to the consumer for drawing the notes of any denomination they want.
ISRAR H. MOMIN
Karachi
FOLLOWING information may help cancer patients. Details can be found in the book, Cancer and Vitamin C, written by the two-time Nobel laureate Dry Linus Pauling and his associate Dr Ewan Cameron. Both had conducted research on the benefits of taking vitamin C in high doses for cancer and it was tried out on terminally ill patients covering cancer of many types in a hospital in Scotland.
They argue that while most animals synthesise this vitamin in their bodies, a few, including man, lost this ability during evolution. Thus, a goat weighing as much as a man (70kg; 154 lb.) makes 13,000 mg of vitamin C daily, so it is reasonable to assume that a human being also needs this amount for optimum health. Over 300 biochemical reactions in our body require it, making it the most important nutrient.
It stimulates the production of a substance that inhibits the enzyme hyaluronidase released by malignant tumours which attack the intercellular cement of surrounding tissues, thus weakening them and allowing their penetration by the tumour. It also has detoxifying powers; boosts the immune system; inactivates viruses and replenishes the severely depleted levels of vitamin C in the cancer patients. In the Scottish trial it had benefited nearly 80 per cent of the hopeless patients to varying extents. It also helps prevent or treat many illnesses including infections and common cold.
The vitamin comes as ascorbic acid, which is slightly acidic (available locally) and sodium ascorbate as well as calcium ascorbate, both of which are alkaline (may have to be imported), all in tablet or crystalline (powder) form. The recommended way is to start at one gram (1,000 mg) per day, preferably in its pure, crystalline form and increase daily by one gram, with the total being taken in three or more divided doses, until diarrhoea develops. This is called the bowel tolerance limit.” The dose is then decreased by one gram below this tolerance level and continued thereafter.
When the patient’s condition improves, the requirement for vitamin C will go down that will be indicated by a decreased bowel tolerance limit. The dose is then lowered by one gram below this new limit and so on.
This treatment can be used along with surgery, radiotherapy, hormone treatment, immunotherapy and chemotherapy (if this is being given only as a palliative). However, if chemotherapy is being used for a cure, the vitamin C must only be used during the gaps between treatment. The use of vitamin C in large doses should not be stopped suddenly but tapered off over five to seven days. But, if the urine is to be tested for sugar, the vitamin should not be taken for 12 hours before the test. An open-minded doctor’s supervision is advisable.
I have personally known a cancer patent who was prescribed three grams of calcium ascorbate thrice a day (total nine grams) by a physician in the US and improved by 70 to 80 per cent in one year only by this regimen and has remained so for over a decade. Another good thing of vitamin C is that cancer pain is also relieved and there is no need for morphine or heroin.
The book gives case history of a retired US Navy admiral aged 70 with prostate cancer. He was advised hormone treatment but refused it and started taking eight grams of vitamin C per day with a beneficial effect. However, he reduced the dose upon improvement but the tumour again started expanding. Now he refused radiotherapy and increased the dose to 10 grams while also taking oral laetrile (a substance obtained from some seeds with unverified benefits).
The patient finally went up to 12 and, finally 20g/day along with high dose of vitamin A and a strict vegetarian diet. At age 78, he was physically active and free from cancer. It seems if he had not decreased the dose when taking eight grams, even that may have cured him.
KHALID CHAUDHRY
Karachi
I HAVE just finished reading the memoirs of President Pervez Musharraf In the Line of Fire. Although the book is fairly extensive, it is very interesting — his ascendancy to power, the problems, the assassination attempts, the decisions taken and the manner in which they were resolved.|
Gen Musharraf has quoted the famous lines of Omar Khayyam: The Moving Finger writes and having writ/Moves on: nor all your Piety nor Wit/Shall lure it back to cancel half a line,/Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it.
Yes, destiny was behind it. If such a book had not seen the light, we would have been unfortunate in not having known at least one side of the story.
Moreover, despite criticism, it’s good that it’s on the shelves today while he is alive and in a position to answer to any ‘reasonable’ questions and objections.
For the benefit of Pakistanis, who have the power of a vote, it is hoped that Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, the other two important players of this period, should come out and give their version of the facts as well, so that when we cast our vote we behave as fair, responsible and intelligent Pakistanis.
I hope this book finds its way to Internet where more and more people are spending time. My interest here is that the fire generated by the book opens new horizons for us because only from a background of knowledge can we come to light and progress.
MUNEER MUHAMMAD KHAN
Karachi
THE APMSO organised a free book fair at Anu Bhai Park (Nazimabad) on Nov 11 which is a bold step. It is pleasing that now our political parties are thinking about the future of the youth.
While the effort to unite the subjugated and provide a forum for their future was commendable, all visitors were required to fill forms by standing in long queues. Although no entry fee seemed compatible with the notion of egalitarianism and national brotherhood being promoted by the event, it would have been much better and easier to donate the books to a library because most of the books were taken away by those people who had nothing to do with the books.
While majority of the students like me returned empty-handed.
KHALIL ZAFAR
Karachi
MANY right-thinking Pakistanis believing in the destiny of Pakistan will agree with Faiza Mujahid (letter, Nov 7) that none of the grounds for banning Indian TV channels is valid or justified.
As a friend or an enemy, we have a right to information from and on India. Pakistan has nothing to be afraid of. Pakistan must stick to its own culture, education and political strength.
Pakistanis’ love for their country, religion, integrity and historical evolution stand on their own inherent ability. It is ridiculous to think that an Indian TV artiste, an Indian play, an Indian music, an Indian newscaster or analyst can sap our strength. The ban as such ought to be removed. It shows lack of self-confidence on our part.
ROCHI RAM
Karachi
THE HBL branch in Block-18 of Gulistan-i-Jauhar, Karachi, is the only bank that is accepting all the utility bills in compliance of the directive of the State Bank of Pakistan, despite its limitation of space. Now that the KWSB has also started sending its monthly bills for the water consumed, without any measurement of water-meter, it has increased the rush at the HBL branch, as other branches of private banks have not cared a hoot for the SBP directive to collect all the bills. They are collecting all the other bills but not KWSB bills.
The SBP is requested to see why the other branches of the private banks in Gulistan-i-Jauhar are still defying to accept the water bills. If all the branches of the said banks start receiving water bills, this will greatly facilitate the public and save their time to reach their workplaces in time.
When all the banks have started taking the other utility bills, there is no reason why are water bills, received every month, not accepted by the branches of private banks? Let the authorities concerned look into the matter.
PRO BONO PUBLICO
Karachi
The US mid-term elections finally brought ‘hawks’ down to ‘lame ducks’, that’s what democracy should mean and should be implemented and abided by in our country as well; prosperity is the only option afterwards in each and every field, department and section of our society.
ANAS A. KHAN
Canada
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.