| November 26, 2006 | Sunday | Ziqa'ad 4, 1427 |
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China and the US economy
A tale of lodging FIR
Lebanese unity in danger
Examination hardships
Plight of local bank depositors
Dengue dilemma
Journalist killed
Haj fare
Cancer of corruption
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
MR Sabihuddin Ghausi in ‘Woes of rural Sindh’ (Economic and Business Review, Nov 20) has aptly described the state of rural Sindh beyond the municipal limits of Karachi metropolis as decades away from the modern age. The condition of rural area and its people instead of making advancement has gradually worsened with ever-growing population, lack of proper institutional support and diminishing economic activities.
Even the well-planned cities, leaving aside villages and towns, having population ranging from 0.2 million to more than a million, such as Hyderabad, Sukkur, Larkana, Mirpurkhas and Shikarpur, once famous for their landscape, sanitation and socio-cultural, educational and commercial activities, have been affected severely and turned into ghettoes and shanty towns.
The municipal systems of these big cities have flopped. The streets and even thoroughfares can now be seen littered with garbage, overflowing sewage and dilapidated roads, only to remind the apathy of inhabitants and negligence of authorities concerned.
Buildings of schools and colleges are in ruinous condition, without adequate facilities like libraries and science laboratories, so much so that even toilets are either not provided or if available, are not maintained properly.
The quality of instructions of textbooks followed in public sector institutions is extremely poor, containing official version of everything under the sun, having no nexus whatsoever with modern education. Public libraries and reading rooms have been closed as the same were not found ‘profitable’. Sadly no bookshop worth mentioning is now available in these cities which in the past produced great poets and men of letters.
As if this was not enough, that copy culture started in the early 1970s which ruined whatever amount of sanity was left. In rural areas ghost schools and ghost teachers have become a common phenomenon as, taking advantage of the education department’s weak administrative control, influentials of the area are using the buildings as their barns or ‘autaqs’.
As far as privately-owned institutions are concerned, since their chief object is to make maximum profit, they not only hire poor quality teachers on minimum wages but spend little amount on other facilities required for the children. The instructions they impart are equally substandard. If research is carried out through some independent agency. I am sure they will discover that the education base of Sindh has been shattered.
Another serious problem is the recent boost in tribal culture and its concomitant ills, i.e., karo-kari and clannish vendettas. Unfortunately these are the outcome of society’s backward march towards the mediaeval era. The law and order situation which got deteriorated in the early 1980s, despite tall claims of the authorities, is getting worse day by day. The banditry and robberies which in the past were restricted to some rural areas close to the river forest have now become endemic.
Although, thanks to the government’s lop-sided policies and influential people of the area, the river Indus is denuded of forest, the dacoities and robberies have rather increased. Moreover, the phenomenon of carjacking and mobile phone snatching has added a new dimension to robbery as ‘street crime’ without any letup.
On the health and sanitation side the conditions of people living in rural areas is still worse than their counterparts living in cities. The most serious problem braced by the people at present is the use of unhygienic water, as a result of which there are more than three million registered patients of hepatitis B and C in the province (letter ‘Hepatitis patients in Sindh’ June 25). Moreover, in rural areas medical centres established by the government are mostly without doctors, staff and medicines. The medicines available in medical stores are either spurious or substandard and are openly sold with the connivance of drug-regulating authorities.
The development trend up to the mid-1970s in urban vis-à-vis rural areas, though not comparable, did show to an extent some respectability. However, after 1977, priorities were changed. The province being in the opposition camp got not only scant attention on the development side but became a hub of artificially-created political turmoil, creating enduring chasm among local residents of the province.
I agree with Mr Ghausi that Sindh needs full assistance and sustained policy support to get out of this serious socio-economic mire.
DR ALI AKBAR M. DHAKAN
Karachi
ASIM Maqbool writes (letter, Nov 18) that “China is flooded with hot foreign money in the shape of direct foreign investment, and Chinese central bank is buying incoming US dollars and with that money US government treasury bills.” A more correct picture will emerge when we give due consideration to the following:
A Deloitte Research Global Manufacturing Study published in June 2005 mentions that “foreign direct investment (FDI) by US manufacturing multinationals increased a staggering 90 per cent from about US$28 billion in 2003 to over US$54 billion in 2004 according to a new study by Deloitte Research.”
As per published statistics from the US department of commerce, China’s trade surplus against the US amounted to $162 billion in 2004 and $202 billion in 2005. Also, US investment in China in 2004 brought in $54 billion but Chinese exports to America generated $162 billion. The Chinese export surplus to the US was three times larger than foreign investment from the USA into China.
China’s emphasis on technological self-reliance becomes more apparent when we observe that in 2005 major Chinese export items to US have been electrical and machinery equipment worth $53 billion, power generation equipment worth $52.7 billion, toys and games worth $19 billion. Chinese imports from the US have been electrical machinery and equipment worth $6.8 billion, as well as power generation equipment and air and space craft worth $6.3 billion and $4.4 billion, respectively.
Self-development in science and engineering has been a more important factor in Chinese economic progress. China does not need to buy US dollars from incoming foreign investment. Its exports to the US generate hundreds of billions of US dollars. Instead of bringing home all those dollars, China is investing a substantial portion of the export dollars in US government treasury bills, bonds and other investment vehicles. Through this mechanism China is gaining greater leverage over US government finances. With this leverage, in the future, China will be able to influence US government finances, the value of its dollar, its economy and its trade and foreign polices. ‘
HUMAYUN ZAFAR
Toronto, Canada
I AM a senior citizen without any pension benefits. My son, based in Tokyo, Japan, has been sending money for my maintenance.
Unfortunately a theft occurred in my house the other day and a considerable cash was taken away. I rang up # 15 but in vain. I immediately approached the area police station and personally met the SHO. He asked me to submit an application in this regard whereas I requested him to adopt prescribed law and register a report, viz., an FIR. He declined to register the FIR on the plea that plenty of FIRs may result in his transfer to the police headquarters on inefficiency grounds.
I then contacted the CPLC office inside the Governor’s House with wide publicity in assisting lodging FIRs. I met CPLC chief Memon who heard me sympathetically and sent me to their sub-office at the Gulberg police station. The man in charge of that office arranged a meeting with the town police officer of North Nazimabad. On satisfaction, he made written orders to take immediate action.
I recontacted the same police station where I was refused FIR two days ago. The duty officer acknowledged the papers having personal and immediate orders of his TPO and asked me to wait at my residence where a police officer will attend and visit the site of occurrence. My PTCL and cellular phone numbers were also noted down by him for any future need. I twice reminded but to no avail.
Delays in lodging an FIR may lead to face legal lacunas in future trial of the accused. Also, any chance of recovering the hard cash becomes thin as time passes. What we call justice or injustice, it starts with the lodging of an FIR, which is anybody’s right.
After waiting for seven days, in utter disappointment, I submitted an application with copies of remarks of the CPLC chief, TPO and the SHO through e-mail to the chief justice of Pakistan. A copy with registered post was also submitted to the chief justice for confirmation.
Although two months have passed, I still hope the chief justice will look into the matter, as the yoke of justice lies on his shoulders.
MIRZA WAJID HUSSAIN
Karachi.
LEBANESE Minister for Industries Pierre Gemayel was shot and killed in Beirut whilst he was in his car. This has created a rift in Lebanon between the so-called pro-Syrian and the anti-Syrian blocs within Lebanon. This is something that not even 34 days of bombing brought about during the recent Israeli-Lebanese conflict could do. A few days earlier, Syrian and Iraq established full diplomatic ties.
All this is too much of a coincidence and there must be someone or some states that stand to benefit by trying to exploit any opportunity to create a split amongst the Arabs, which is not a difficult task even in the best of times. The fragile unity that was seen in Lebanon is under threat and the country to gain from this seems to be Israel and subsequently the West with America in the lead because they do not want Syria to come in from the cold where they have put it with their ‘axis of evil’ slogan mongering.
I have been watching and hearing the coverage of the assassination of Mr Gemayel with interest and have noted that the finger was pointed at Syria from the word go. This is very similar to the Mumbai train bombings that occurred earlier this year when an English TV channel hinted that a militant group allegedly from Pakistan may have been involved in the bombing. Therefore, Pakistan was behind the train bombings. It was done within an hour and a half of the continuous telecast of the train bombing.
I have one prayer and that is that saner minds will prevail. A dispassionate analysis needs to be carried out by the Lebanese people themselves before any step is taken. No one, not even the UN, needs to tell the Lebanese people the truth. I am confident that the people of Lebanon can arrive at it themselves.
FAZAL HABIB CURMALLY
Karachi
RECENTLY the AJK Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Mirpur, announced it would hold joint examinations of matriclution and intermediate classes. Earlier these examinations were held separately. They were not put under heavy burden of memorising books but to understand them thoroughly.
Now the AJK Board has changed the pattern and decided to hold joint examinations. This is unwise because it has added to earthquake-affected students’ problems many times. How they can prepare themselves for the last year’s part of which they have lost their books and notes on Oct 8, 2005. The prime minister of AJK should realise his territory’s students’ hardships. He is requested to advise the AJK Board, Mirpur, not to implement this unwise decision for some years.
SYED SAJID HUSSAIN
Chaman Kot, Azad Kashmir
I AM a retired pensioner who has a tough time coping with rising prices and poor bank interest rates. A news item appeared in the local press recently about order of the banking mohtasib that a foreign bank cannot withdraw from its publicly-advertised position that term deposits can be encashed without penalties. I am full of respect and admiration for the sense of justice of the banking mohtasib. However, while there is justice for foreign bank account holders, there is no equality of treatment for cruelly mistreated depositors under the UNISONA scheme advertised by a local bank, which is now in private hands.
Under this scheme I was promised in public advertisements that my deposit would be doubled in five years and tripled in seven years. However, now that my deposits have matured after waiting for over seven years, the private management of the big local bank have refused to honour their original commitment and have told me that deposits, under the new terms and conditions of the bank, are only available on a profit-and-loss basis, which was never communicated to me by the bank before maturity and was never publicly advertised in the media.
It is regrettable that the State Bank of Pakistan has not intervened in this matter to ensure that justice is done to small savers like me who were duped and tricked by public advertisements to place our money in long-term time deposits. If the bank wanted to change rate of return on time deposit under UNISONA scheme, they should have allowed me the right to remove my deposit without penalty, which was not done. All my letters of complaint have not received any result and I am shocked to see that this major bank is now reporting extraordinarily high income for the current financial year and abusing its position as public trustee to its customers in order to achieve super-duper results.
As a taxpayer and former civil servant, I expect that I will be treated fairly and with human decency. I cannot afford the high minimum balance requirements in foreign banks and, therefore, felt safe in placing my money in a local bank which was in the public sector at that time.
This is a national disgrace and is rendering poor account holders throughout Pakistan poorer every month because they relied on wrong statements in the media and suffered prejudice. Is this ‘UNISONA product’, in any sense, a “welfare or good banking product” or was it designed to trick people and obtain deposits through cheating? Finally, I, my wife and my son have accounts in this local bank; and we received no letter for consent of change of terms for UNISONA..
I would request the banking mohtasib and the State Bank to look into the matter.
DEPRESSED DEPOSITOR
Karachi
THERE is a lot of talk about implementing awareness programmes and educating the public about the prevention of the dengue virus, but an outcome is yet to be resolved. The delay of this resolution is pushing people into the danger zone and costing many lives.
The government and environmental agencies need to come out of the curtains and stop pretending that everything is under control or will be under control. What the government doesn’t realise is that practical steps such as fumigations, repellents, protection by nets, etc., will only subdue this virus for a short period of time, it will not completely liberate us from it. To eradicate a problem, one has to start at the root of the problem, and the root here is not the mosquitoes but the horrendous unsanitary conditions.
Polluted water and waste can be found in almost every street of Pakistan. The infested water creates a breeding site for many diseases and because of the appalling irrigation systems, these diseases are carried throughout cities. These conditions can even be witnessed right in front of our homes, putting us at a higher risk of contracting the deadly dengue virus. Children are forced to play in these atrocious areas because suitable environments are not available. There’s no surprise as to why there are so many dengue-related cases and deaths.
Government officials really need to place environmental controls on the priority list and create a system for suitable living standards. If this task is too arduous for them, they can at least propagate their ideas on prevention programmes if that’s not too much to ask for.
AMBER KALHORO
Hyderabad
WHEN I read the news item ‘Journalist found brutally murdered’ (Dawn, Nov 2) I was shocked that what is happening in Pakistan. Yet another brave journalist is murdered for writing and speaking boldly. Why is there no security for people who are speaking and writing the truth?
Malik Mohammad Ismail was one of the big names in Pakistan journalism and his murderers have not been traced or caught so far. His was the 12th murder in Islamabad in a month and criminals involved in none of the cases have been traced yet. If the killing of journalists keeps rising like this, no writer will dare speak against the wrong happenings in society.
ABEER KHAN
West Palm Beach, USA
WE understand that PIA and Saudi Airlines, taking a cue from the former, have raised the return air fare from Lahore to Jeddah to over Rs58,000 for the Hajis, which is normally Rs36,000. And this is so for the flights which are so jampacked that there is hardly room for the meal tables to open, and the passengers have their knees bruised by the time they disembark.
To protect this increase, no other airline is permitted to compete. This over Rs22,000 is collected from pilgrims, some of whom have saved all their lives to perform this once-in-life duty in our Islamic Republic.
It is obvious that this is going on with the tacit approval of our dear leaders and the Haj ministry, who damn care for this because they perform their Haj many times over on state expense and are well-pampered and greased all the way by our national carrier when they do so.
We have no option but to request the one and only ears and eyes that this poor country seems to have, the honourable and worthy chief justice, to summon the PIA chairman to explain why these fares have been so drastically raised and why other airlines are blocked from offering an open competition for this big business.
KHWAJA JAVED SAEED
Lahore
IT is unfortunate that corruption is not only rampant in Pakistan but is thriving with new methods and techniques. The Sindh governor sadly acknowledged this fact during a seminar on Nov 13 at the circuit house, Hyderabad.
He, however, did not give any recommendations to fight this menace but advised the nation “not to be discouraged.” This not only hurt numerous victims of corruption and encouraged the corrupt people but also showed the helplessness of the government in this regard. It gave a message to the people that they have to live with it.
Surely, the fast increasing corruption cannot be reduced by giving lectures to the corrupt on morality or religion. The corrupt in the hierarchy, bureaucracy or in the private sector have to be removed after prompt and severe punitive action against them by the incorruptible government. In this way not only will the devils get their due but this will serve as a deterrent for many. We also have to remove the causes which lead to corruption.
LT.COL ( r ) SYED JAMSHAID RAZA
Karachi.
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