| December 08, 2006 | Friday | Ziqa'ad 16, 1427 |
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Distressing hospital rules
Community colleges are necessary
Furore over women’s bill
Women’s rights
University ranking
Switching banks
Emergency room
Security in Peshawar
New stance on Kashmir
A lot to answer for
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
APROPOS of Mr Kishan Bhatia’s letter (Nov 15), I make the following submissions to refute his misfounded concepts:
a. That Muslims in India did not establish a single educational institution in India in their time. Captain Hamilton, a traveller, visited Thatta (Sindh in 1690) during the Mughal period and wrote that there were 400 educational institutions in this area where philosophy, politics, jurisprudence and other social sciences were being taught.
In the time of Sultan Shamsuddin Altamash, for a brief period the provinces of Multan and Sindh were under Amir Nasirud Din Qabacha who established 1,000-seat institutions in Uch (Madressah Ferozia) and in Multan (Madressah Nasiriyya) where students not only from India but all over the world were enrolled.
b. During the Muslim rule in India, every mosque had an affiliated school which was either funded by regional governments monetarily or a property was attached with it for permanent income to sustain the school (waqf).
Similarly, at the central level the educational institutions were sustained by the waqf system.
c. Before the occupation of the English, the official and educational language was Persian and there was practically 100 per cent literacy among the masses but it obviously crashed to the virtual zero level when English was adopted as the official language.
d. I wonder if educational institutions were not there in India under the Muslim rule, then wherefrom did Todar Mal (revenue expert), Siraj Afif, Ziauddin Burni, Qasim Farishta (historians), Waliullah Dehlvi, Fariduddin Masood, Bahauddin Zakariya Multani (scholars of religion), Abul Fazal, Faizi and their father Sheikh Mubarik (poets and scholars) acquire knowledge?
I am sure Mirza Ghalib, Dagh Dehlvi, Mir Anees, Wali Dakani and Gopichand Nairang were not educated in schools or colleges set up by the British. Similarly Dayanand Sarswati, thousands of Shankar Acharyas, teachers of Sanskirt who lived under Muslim rule did not graduate from British colleges or universities. Al-Beruni who accompanied Sultan Mehmood of Ghazni and was first to measure diameter of the Earth near Jhelum was not educated either at British schools or colleges.
e. Muslim rule in India has been most tolerant towards other religions in India and not a single example of forceful conversion to Islam can be cited. Actually the proposal of forceful conversion of Indians to Islam was rejected at a three-day debate in the time of Altamash.
f. Mr Bhatia wrongly accuses Sunnis or Deobandis of creating insecurities in South Asia and unleashing terror in the world, and Muslim rulers of India of destroying Hindu educational institutions. He does not see massacres of Palestinians, Kashmiris or Iraqis as acts of terrorism. Were these started by Sunni or Deobandi Muslims? Mr Bhatia does not mention killings of Hindus by Alexander the Great, Huns and Aryans, but condemns Muslims only.
g. The problem with the likes of Mr Bhatia is that they see through history as was rewritten under the guidance of British. To win sympathies of the Hindus, the rendition of history for depicting Muslims as tyrants was British necessity and it is was the same mindset when Mrs Indira Gandhi uttered the historic sentence on the fall of Dhaka: “We have avenged thousand years’ defeats”. It is the same mindset which is reflected in Mr Bhatia’s letter.
h. As far as lack of military prowess of Muslim rulers in India is concerned, they successfully thwarted many invasions of India by Tatars.
There are documented presence of centres of production of military hardware and ships by Mughal kings and Sultan Tipu.
The English snatched power from the natives not because of their military superiority but because of their better political gameship and being successful in getting local collaborators as witnessed in British victories against Siraj-ud-Daula, Tipu Sultan, and others.
PROF (DR) EICE MUHAMMAD
Sheikh Zayed Medical College
Rahimyar Khan
LAST weekend my four-and-a-half-year-old son had to undergo a minor surgery at a private hospital and although our brief stay there remained pleasant because of our surgeon’s concern and involvement, we as a family found some hospital rules very distressing.
We have twins and my other child, a daughter, was also going to remain with us for this operation. After we were allocated a room and were being escorted to the elevator, hospital personnel came rushing to stop us from taking children to the room as their rules do not allow children less than 12 years to enter the hospital.
They relented a bit when I informed them that one child is actually the patient they’ve just admitted and the other can’t be left alone in the lobby. My husband and I do not have family in Karachi, so we could not leave our daughter anywhere and also we were not aware of this rule barring children from hospital premises.
In order to ensure everyone’s comfort, we decided to have the privacy of a very expensive room in this hospital for a mere 20-minute-long surgical procedure. Restricted to the room, our daughter was not going to disturb the peace and quiet of the hospital, yet we were constantly visited by various officials to have our daughter removed from the room.
They even suggested that I return home with my daughter and leave my husband with our son to deal with his post-operation trauma.
I do not know why they admitted a young patient if the presence of a child in their premises was such a crime.
The officials were prompt in spelling out rules and handing over a detailed code of conduct to be followed during our stay, however their housekeeping and food quality was far from what one would expect at such a principled outfit.
The only silver lining was our doctor who eventually got things sorted out and perhaps told the authorities to tolerate our violation of their golden rule against entry of children less than 12 years for a few hours.
The hospital is in downtown Karachi, yet it fails to touch base with reality that surrounds it amply. Ironically, it is typical of affluent organisations in developing societies to flaunt an elitist attitude and stay detached to sensitive issues confronted by common people. Later, upon exchanging notes with friends, we heard horror stories of terminally-ill patients not allowed visits by their children in this hospital.
We do not know where this policy originated from because in the West a child-friendly atmosphere is what organisations take pride in and hospitals actually encourage children to spend time with their ailing loved ones as they are considered to be a source of uplifting mood and spirit.
SAIRA MINTO
Karachi
THIS has reference to Abdul R. Khan’s letter (Dec 4) wherein he derides American Community Colleges as dispensing ‘worthless education’. Sadly, Mr Khan shows a lack of knowledge about these very necessary institutions that fill a gap in higher education by offering low-cost quality college education to students who would like to stay in their homes while trying to decide their careers.
A community college, by definition, is run by a branch of the local government and is designed to serve the needs of the community/ locality where it is situated. While there are no residential dormitories, all other necessary facilities, including libraries, laboratories, sports complexes, cinemas, cafeterias, etc., are always provided. Most community colleges offer two-year courses designed as a low-cost stepping-stone for transfer to senior institutions, or associate diplomas which are prerequisite for many service sector jobs.
The courses offered and the instruction provided are in no way inferior to four-year colleges, neither is the faculty less qualified or underpaid. In fact, the academic staff of Nassau Community College in my neighbourhood in Long Island is among the highest paid in the nation.
All community colleges also offer test preparation and continuing education certificate in the evenings and on weekends in addition to instruction in quality of life-enhancing courses for all residents.
It must, however, be said that the educational rank of any institution is mostly dependent on the aptitude, hard work and character of the student body. And this more than anything else distinguishes the Ivy League universities from others.
NAEEM AHMAD
New York, USA
I FAIL to understand the hype and furore over the Women’s Protection Bill, especially in the context of rape, by religious politicians.
How can anybody in his right mind even contemplate the possibility of finding four witnesses to a rape, except in the case of gang-rape? Even in that case, will accomplices of a gang-rape ever testify to the crime committed by them?
The punishment prescribed for consensual sex or ‘zina’ in the case that it is committed in public and hence becomes a social problem for society. This is the reason why four witnesses are required.
The Almighty has ordained in the Quran that He shall judge people on the Day of Judgement for vices or excesses committed by them. This discretionary power is delegated to society only when the crime committed tends to harm society.
The poor judicial system in Pakistan, where professional witnesses are available on rent for false testimony, the award of ‘Hud’ for ‘zina’ becomes a matter for concern given the state of affairs that exist. In any case, till human rights and rule of law are restored, such powers cannot be vested with the corrupt police force and a judiciary that has no credibility. In any case, the mere passing of a law will not enhance women’s rights until there is a change in the archaic feudal mindset of the establishment.
After all, it is the establishment which persecuted the victims of rape like Mukhtaran Mai and Dr Shazia Khalid while protecting the perpetrators of the heinous crime. The escalating cases of street crime, mugging, land-grabbing and kidnapping have not been checked due to patronage by members of the corrupt political and uniformed establishment.
T. MALLICK
Lahore
I BECAME a judge at the age of 24 and served in the NWFP judiciary with dedication and integrity for three years and five months till Dec 4. After some months of my initial appointment I got married. My husband was employed by a private firm in Islamabad, so I requested the relevant authorities to send me to any ex-cadre post in Islamabad so that I could live at home with my spouse.
I requested each and every person I could approach in the matter but my request went unheard at every level. Ultimately I had to submit my resignation which was accepted with regard to my honesty and fair service. I want to ask just one question from the relevant authorities: Is there any law or policy that can allow an employed woman public servant to enjoy a career while being married to a non-public servant at the same time?
SYEDA SAIMA SHABBIR
Rawalpindi
THIS refers to the letter of the registrar of Shah Abdul Latif University, Khairpur, ‘University ranking’ (Nov 22). The writer has used rhetoric to cover up the poor management of the university. The university’s first project had fallen prey to corruption etc and this still continues.
The registrar is wrong in saying that the university started to get funds/grants/projects after the HEC came into existence. Much before the genesis of the HEC, the university, in addition to the regular development and recurring budget, received funds to the tune of about Rs28 million from the ministry of science and technology in 2001 for the development of IT and computer science and recruitment of PhD faculty.
But bad governance has fostered a culture of corruption and favouritism, which can be judged from the following examples:
Sensing that the university would get massive funds for the development of IT (about Rs70 million), the university administration appointed associate professor from the department of statistics as chairman of computer science in blatant violation of university rules.
According to the University Act 1986: “The chairman of the teaching department or director of the institute shall be appointed by the syndicate on the recommendations of the vice-chancellor from amongst three most senior professors and three most senior associate professors of the department for the period of three years.
Provided that where there is no professor or associate professor in the department, it should be looked after by the dean of the faculty with assistance of most senior teacher of the department”.
The present incumbent was appointed as professor in flagrant violation of the University Act. In the advertisement that invited the application for the post of professor asked for the following conditions: “PhD in the relevant field with 15 years teaching/research in recognised university plus 08 research publications in journals of international repute”.
But the fact was that the appointee did not meet the conditions as laid down in the advertisement, rather his basic degrees were in statistics and so was his PhD and publications.
As for the claim of the university about registration of 72 MPhil and 42 scholars in PhD and publications of papers in the journals of international repute, the fact is that the HEC, through various letters, has been showing its concern from time to time about the quality of MPhil/PhDs and communicating to the university authorities.
But the present incumbent has failed to even raise the rudimentary infrastructure -– new updated and relevant books, journals and adequate computing facilities as there are only 10 computers for more than 5,000 students and about 200 teachers and researchers in the central library.
As for the financial indiscipline and Special Audit Report 1997-2002, the stand of the university may not represent the factual position. Actually the special audit report accused the university authorities of serious financial irregularities and in this connection former DG, Audit, Sindh, Ms Nasreen Mehdi, through a letter No DGAS/DP/SALU-02-03/101-104, dated 15/9/2004, requested the HEC chairman to take necessary action. Before that the university administration submitted its reply, it was rejected in Departmental Accounts Committee (DAC) meeting and, as such, the audit paras were passed on to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC). According to some sources, these paras have been published in the green book. Therefore, the stand of the university authorities that these paras have been withdrawn by the DG, Audit, Sindh, who was once the director, finance of SALU, may not present the correct posture.
However, I appeal to President Gen Pervez Musharraf and the Sindh governor to order a judicial inquiry into the whole affairs.
MANZOOR ALI ISRAN
Shah Abdul Latif University
Khairpur, Sindh
WITH reference to news item (Dec 3): “...She (SBP chief)said it was unexplainable why depositors did not change their banks when they could get better returns....”
Reason being the “process”. The process of opening an account in a bank is too much of a complex and more of a sophisticated process. For instance, Go to the bank, fill a form, add relevant documents, find references and, above all, wait for seven days for the processing of application to complete, and wait further for 14 days to get an ATM card, etc.
And once we do that, who could expect us to ‘switch’ banks in the name of ‘minute’ differential returns.
And before we plan to ‘change the bank’ for better returns, the bank’s ‘returns/deposit’ policy changes — changing more often than the change in direction of the winds in North Waziristan.
I believe a policy to create at least consumer accounts in one day should be created and implemented.
KAMRAN KHAN
Islamabad
CONDITIONS in the ICU room in Karachi’s Jinnah Hospital are terrible at night. Patients have been known to lose their lives due to the carelessness of doctors. The staff in the emergency ward is extremely rude towards patients and is known to charge them money for entering the emergency room. I would ask the provincial health minister, the chief minister and the governor to take immediate action against abuses.
SALEEM BALOCH
Karachi
THE worsening security situation in the NWFP has really made our lives miserable. We get much worried if any of our loved one doesn’t come home on time. We can’t go out after 5:30 pm due to darknes and now three suicide bombings and cases of abduction have made the situation abnormal.
We want peace of mind for ourselves and it can’t happen if the security situation is not improved by the government or law-enforcement agencies. I hope the authorities concerned will look into this situation.
ZARTASHA QAISAR KHAN
Peshawar
PRESIDENT Gen Pervez Musharraf’s statement that Pakistan will forgo its claim on Kashmir is equal to assault on Pakistan’s national security. The general has no right or authority to forgo Pakistan’s claim on Kashmir. I condemn this statement and demand that the president immediately resign and hand over power to the elected representatives of the people of Pakistan.
Kashmir is a disputed territory. The UN and the rest of the world consider Kashmir a disputed territory between India and Pakistan. The UN ordered a ceasefire between India and Pakistan in 1948 on the promise that India will hold a plebiscite in Kashmir and let Kashmiris decide whether they want to join India or Pakistan.
Gen Musharraf has also announced that Pakistan will not demand a plebiscite if India goes along with his proposal for self-governance in Kashmir. The plebiscite is a tool generated by the UN to resolve the Kashmir issue. By forgoing Pakistan’s claim on Kashmir and by giving up demand for plebiscite, Gen Musharraf has compromised Pakistan’s national security.
DR K. ASHRAF
San Francisco, USA
WHILE reading your editorial on the present government’s functioning (‘A lot to answer for’, Nov 25), I recalled a joke I once read in a magazine:
Q: What’s the difference between the government and the Mafia?
A: One of them is organised.
HUSSAIN SIDDIQUI
Islamabad
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