| December 31, 2006 | Sunday | Zilhaj 09, 1427 |
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KSE and mutual funds
PIA woes
A ceremonial centenary
Theocracy alien to Islam
The root causes
It’s the economy
Liberalise visa policy
Asian Games 2006
Gwadar port
Haj-i-Akbar
Peace talks
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
I WAS sickened to see the picture of a young, semi-naked man being beaten by a police in Islamabad (Dec 29). There is no respect and dignity for the poor and helpless in Pakistan. The only duty of the police is to protect their masters for which they will do any thing. There is no rule of law in the country. I am ashamed of being a Pakistani. As an overseas Pakistani I will never return to a country where law of jungle prevails. May God help the poor and helpless in Pakistan, and may God bring justice to our country.
Dr KHALIL
Manchester
THE way the government (man) handled its citizens who were practicing their constitutional right by protesting against alleged unlawful detention of their family members, is a reality check for those who tout “enlightened moderation” yet allow law enforcers to ignore the basic principles of human rights.
DR OWAIS A. FAROOQI
Memphis, USA
THE photograph of a young man stripped of his shalwar and surrounded by angry looking policemen shall serve well in Gen Musharraf’s quest to project a ‘soft image’ of our country abroad.
His ‘crime’ was to peacefully demonstrate along with more than a hundred people, mostly women and children, against the disappearance of their loved ones who have been taken away by our unaccountable intelligence agencies and have not been heard of since.
It was also reported that a young girl and a child lost consciousness in the skirmishes that erupted after the police reacted disproportionately to what was a peaceful attempt to register protest. Given the alarmingly increase in the number of street crimes, dacoities, murders and white-collared crime (such as the KSE crash and cartelisation by the sugar, cement and oil marketing companies), it is reassuring to note that the law enforcement agency is concentrating on repressing the most vulnerable sections of society. I request the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court to take suo moto notice of the police’s barbarity.
SHAYAN MANZAR
Lahore
THE picture on the front page of some of the leading newspapers (including Dawn) that shows the police force beating up a young man after taking off his shalwar is pathetic. I wonder what it will take for Pakistanis to get up from their deep slumber. A tyrant’s best ally has always been an apathetic population, had the Germans risen against Hitler, the world would have been different today. I would like to reproduce a quote by US President Thomas Jefferson “All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent”. It is so true. We, the so-called educated class in Pakistan, are lending support to tyrants and despotic rulers by remaining silent.
History does not have any favorites. The Pakistani nation will not be forgiven for their apathy!
SYED IMRAN AHMAD ,br>Islamabad
I WAS sickened to see the picture of a young, semi-naked man being beaten by a police in Islamabad (Dec 29). There is no respect and dignity for the poor and helpless in Pakistan. The only duty of the police is to protect their masters for which they will do any thing. There is no rule of law in the country. I am ashamed of being a Pakistani. As an overseas Pakistani I will never return to a country where law of jungle prevails. May God help the poor and helpless in Pakistan, and may God bring justice to our country.
Dr KHALIL
Manchester
THE way the government (man) handled its citizens who were practicing their constitutional right by protesting against alleged unlawful detention of their family members, is a reality check for those who tout “enlightened moderation” yet allow law enforcers to ignore the basic principles of human rights.
DR OWAIS A. FAROOQI
Memphis, USA
THE photograph of a young man stripped of his shalwar and surrounded by angry looking policemen shall serve well in Gen Musharraf’s quest to project a ‘soft image’ of our country abroad.
His ‘crime’ was to peacefully demonstrate along with more than a hundred people, mostly women and children, against the disappearance of their loved ones who have been taken away by our unaccountable intelligence agencies and have not been heard of since.
It was also reported that a young girl and a child lost consciousness in the skirmishes that erupted after the police reacted disproportionately to what was a peaceful attempt to register protest. Given the alarmingly increase in the number of street crimes, dacoities, murders and white-collared crime (such as the KSE crash and cartelisation by the sugar, cement and oil marketing companies), it is reassuring to note that the law enforcement agency is concentrating on repressing the most vulnerable sections of society. I request the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court to take suo moto notice of the police’s barbarity.
SHAYAN MANZAR
Lahore
THE picture on the front page of some of the leading newspapers (including Dawn) that shows the police force beating up a young man after taking off his shalwar is pathetic. I wonder what it will take for Pakistanis to get up from their deep slumber. A tyrant’s best ally has always been an apathetic population, had the Germans risen against Hitler, the world would have been different today. I would like to reproduce a quote by US President Thomas Jefferson “All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent”. It is so true. We, the so-called educated class in Pakistan, are lending support to tyrants and despotic rulers by remaining silent.
History does not have any favorites. The Pakistani nation will not be forgiven for their apathy!
SYED IMRAN AHMAD
Islamabad
IN your article regarding the KSE’s performance (Dec 29), it is stated that there were only five IPOs during the year, of which the two mutual fund IPOs were hugely under-subscribed. This is not at all surprising, given the conduct of mutual fund managers during the recent boom years. It has become apparent that the managers of the Pakistan mutual fund industry have embarked on a mission to amass wealth at the expense of the public at large.
It was pure coincidence that at the time the Investment Corporation of Pakistan (ICP) funds were privatised, the KSE was flourishing after years of lethargy. The private sector inheritor’s of the ICP funds also thrived and never failed to claim credit for the phenomenal results. The initial public euphoria was short-lived. For the small investor, the mutual funds turned into bloodsuckers. A study of their short history will reveal that their primary focus has been on enlarging the size of their funds and thereby enhancing their commission.
Instead of distributing dividends to the small investors, they have resorted to issuing bonus shares and offering rights. By issuing bonus shares they have been reluctant to part with any monetary gains. By issuing rights they have coerced their shareholders into coughing up more money or face the prospects of ending up with diluted share values. Moreover, the biggest mutual fund managers operate in unison as a cabal, and have been responsible for manipulating and devastating the Pakistan stock markets.
It is no wonder that, without exception, all closed-end mutual funds are readily available on the stock exchange at huge discounts. The advisors for the IPOs of these fresh mutual funds must be really naïve to have expected any positive reaction from the public.
The SECP should prohibit mutual funds from issuing bonus shares or offering rights since this industry has no valid reason to do so; there is no factory up-gradation or expansion and there is no requirement for any increase in working capital. Such extortion should be put to an end. By refusing to subscribe to the new mutual funds the public has spoken.
KHALID KHAN
Lahore
THE press has been full of statements from various sources giving excuses for the sorry financial state of PIA. Oil prices, old aircraft and over staffing are the usual hiding places. Nothing is mentioned about the management.
Oil prices have been at record highs this year yet European airlines have been unaffected. British Airways, Air France and Lufthansa have all done well as is reflected in their share prices which have gone up anywhere from 60 to 80 per cent. These can be seen on the internet as well as business papers like the Financial Times. Last month Easyjet, a budget airline, revealed record profits. These results were not achieved by raising ticket prices but by cost control and online booking plus the surge in air traffic worldwide brought about ironically by lowering fares – so much for oil prices.
The aircraft fleet of PIA is, on comparison with the mentioned airlines, relatively old but if PIA is usually running at a loss it cannot find the money to buy new aircraft without government support that is usually averse to the continual drain. And yet another huge sum is in the pipeline to bail out the airline.
In any case, the use of old aircraft does not mean running a loss — in a well-run airline it only leads to earning decline. Some budget airlines like Ryanair and Easyjet started with old aircraft but after showing results obtained private funds to modernise their fleet. Recently our own Air Blue, a private airline, using second hand aircraft has declared a reasonable profit.
Excess staffing is another favourite defense. The wage per employee is certainly much lower than in the West; even if this does not make a difference in PIA’s favour moneywise, the bigger labour force could at least show greater efficiency. That it does not is a lapse in management. In the past labour unions created problems with respect to productivity. Now they have been tamed but nepotism and favouritism remain.
Anywhere else in the world an organisation like PIA running into loss in recent times would have been privatised. That is not likely even now because the government and politicians would lose the patronage to keep their selected people happy. The history of the airline will repeat itself moving from one crisis to another – much like the history of Pakistan.
Air Vice Marshal (retd) M. Sadruddin
Islamabad
APROPOS of Tahir Mirza’s article under the above caption ( Dec 22), I support all his points and would request him to spare Mr Shaukat Aziz, the Prime Minister of Pakistan.
The chronic problem with administrators who rely on speech writers is that they easily fall prey to catchy slogans designed by their paid personnel. No doubt Pakistan came into being due to the dauntless efforts of Mr Jinnah, but the Muslim League was an autocratic party. After the death of Mr Jinnah and Liaquat Ali Khan, there was panic the party was being dominated by bureaucrats like Ghulam Mohammad, Mohammad Ali and Iskandar Mirza. When Governor General Ghulam Mohammad dismissed Prime Minister Khawaja Nazimuddin and his entire cabinet, none of the Muslim Leaguers uttered a word of protest.
This reflects that Muslim League as a political party was nothing but a paper tiger which collapsed like a house of cards. The League was always divided, and its members who happened to be time-servers and opportunists joined the League of their own choice. Hence it had mushroom growth and was largely headed by the feudal class.
When Iskandar Mirza created a political party named Republican Party, most of the Muslim Leaguers joined him and when they could not get a slot in the Ministry, they resigned from Republican Party and joined Daulatana’s Muslim League.
This clearly demonstrated that they were all hungry for power. So in terms of democratic evolution, Pakistan today is right where it was in 1953 and tin pot dictators continue to rule with the help of sycophantic faithful as lack of democracy brings weaknesses.
PML(Q) cannot claim to have legitimacy or the support of their own people, so they want to keep a president in uniform. It is unfortunate that weak and incompetent rulers keep manipulating the masses.
ABDUL HADI SAQI
Missouri, USA
THE title of the article “Theocracy alien to Islam” by Prof Mohammed Rafi (Dec 8) excited me because I thought that it would offer a formula for the Muslim majority countries to free their legislative mechanisms of religion, making all their citizens equal in the eyes of their laws.
This is an area in which, in my opinion, virtually all Muslim majority countries lack. However, after I finished reading the article, I was disappointed. I was not surprised that I was disappointed though, for the article embodied no such suggestion.
Regrettably, regardless of how much open-mindedness Muslim intellectuals might pretend to harbor, generally, they just don’t seem to be able to recognise the need to separate religion from the affairs of the state, and the said article is no exception. I would like to ask Prof Rafi a question: If theocracy is alien to Islam, how can a Muslim-majority country legislate on the basis of religion? Would this not give rise to a theocracy?
I suppose that one should not judge a book by its cover, or an article by its title.
SIDDIQUE MALIK
Louisville, USA
I HAVE read with great interest articles in your newspaper on the current state of affairs in Pakistan, especially at the federal level. Your investigative reporting is thorough and tries to capture the root cause of issues, whether they are legal, political and cultural — or a mixture of the three. I have lived and worked in both the US and Pakistan and I am currently working on a project here in Karachi.
Although I do not want to compare the work environment of the two countries, which would be rather unfair, I cannot but observe the time, energy and resources that are engaged in avoiding a discussion of the obvious — incompetence, mismanagement, corruption, cover-up and recycling.
Why would it be unfair to compare this state of affairs with America or any other country for that matter? As Transparency International has shown us with their recent survey results, corruption is everywhere. Although we in Pakistan are moving in the wrong direction under the present government. Instead of being general I’ll come to the specifics.
Recently, on my visits to Pakistan I have encountered the following problems beyond any acceptable level to conduct business or social life.
* Breakdowns in PTCL phone lines for months, internet disconnections — no communication during medical emergencies.
* Elderly patients receiving incomplete diagnose and incomplete medical treatments.
* Abnormal electricity breakdowns; generators left in irreparable condition; wrong electrical wiring.
* Failure to complete a water pipeline work initiated more than two years ago; failure to complete sewage pipeline work initiated more than two years ago.
* Failure to build roads in expensive localities that can now be compared to katcha abadi colonies.
* Too many servants in the house, their lack of work ethic, absenteeism, incompetence, theft etc.
* Rains wrecking havoc.
* Disregard for protection of intellectual property rights; copyrights, patents, trademarks and business ideas.
Unfortunately this is not an exaggeration rather part of an actual chronology of events which goes much further. The blame for this has to be borne by the current government since most of what is mentioned above was brought to light much earlier for intervention and they failed to take corrective action in all instances, either deliberately or thanks to mismanagement and incompetence. In light of all these problems, current business and social environment is not functional unless everyone or every business can have their own infrastructure in place. And seeing what I have seem so far, it is mission impossible!
F. KHAN
Karachi
THIS is with reference to Abdul Baqi’s letter entitled “Staunchest US ally”. The nuclear deal between India and the US should not come as a shock.
It did not come about due to the failure of our foreign policy or the presence of a military government. It is a simple case of India’s economy booming and ours still struggling.
Had Pakistan a stronger economy today then regardless of who was ruling Pakistan, we too would have been the recipients of nuclear deals and beneficial trade agreements.
The failure of our economy can only be attributed to our corrupt leaders, both in uniform and the ones elected democratically.
TAIMUR KHAN
Lahore
I FULLY endorse the request made by K. Pradeep (Dec 22) for the start of a Madras - Lahore train service. Such a service would actually be no more than the resumption of the rail links that existed before Partition.
The venerable Grand Trunk Express (which now runs from Madras to New Delhi) once connected Madras and Lahore.
Then there was the equally famous Frontier Mail (now the Golden Temple Mail), which linked Bombay with Peshawar.
It would truly be an indication of peace between our two countries to have these rail links restored.
JAGAN MOHAN
Stamford, USA
I FULLY agree with the contentions of Sandeep Bhalla (letter, Dec 20) on the above subject.
As long as the serious business of responsibility for sports is dished out to retired or active government servants of all ilk as lollipops, the dismal results of sporting events such as the Asian Games recently held in Doha are to be expected and should come as no surprise. It seems to me that cricket is the only game which is not affected by this malady.
Excellence in sports, or for that matter in any field, is achieved by sincerity of purpose, incessant hard work and a revolutionary zeal to excel. None of these qualities have been exhibited by the people who head our sports bodies in their own profession; why should we expect them to deliver the goods in the field of sports?
We have to learn that nothing can be achieved by shortcuts and quick fixes. The road to success is paved with stones and not roses.
MIAN SHAUKAT HUSSAIN
Karachi
This is in response to Yawar Nawaz’s letter (Dec 29) where he laments the Pakistan government’s decision to hand over the management of Gwadar port to the Port of Singapore.
The basic theory of economics dictates that capital should flow where it is used most efficiently. I am surprised that even after seeing the ineptitude of government agencies for so many decades, Mr Nawaz would still prefer government control.
As an Indian I fully endorse privatisation. The role of the government is to create the environment that fosters investment and efficiency. Running ports, airports, hotels and airlines are best left to private industry.
Competition will bring out the best and may the best company win.
ANSHU DEWAN
Bartlett, USA
I REFER to Col (R) Riaz Jafri’s letter (Dec 25) regarding Haj-i-Akbar and would like to clarify a misperception prevailing amongst the people that a Haj that falls on Friday has a greater consequence than one which falls on other days. Some people say that its reward is many times that of a normal Haj and is thus referred to as Haj-i-Akbar.
As far as Friday is concerned, it is undoubtedly a supreme and sacred day amongst all other days but it does not affect Haj at all. So it should be kept in mind that performance of the Haj is indeed an outstanding worship which can gain a matchless reward from the Almighty irrespective of day or any other parameter. The only things that can make a Haj Akbar or otherwise are one’s own piety and righteousness.
QAZI MUHAMMAD UMAIR
Islamabad
IT was heartening to read that peace talks between India and Pakistan are finally making headway.
President Musharraf’s bold new proposals show the courage and ingenuity that his predecessors lacked. The Indian PM has responded positively to these proposals and it is hoped that soon a peace treaty will be signed thus bringing to an end a more than half a century old hatred that has caused the loss of innocent lives on either side.
This momentous opportunity should not be lost, despite expected opposition by extremist elements on both sides. Coming from a military leader who also enjoys parliamentary support, the proposals present the chance of a lifetime which should not be squandered at any cost.
M. AHSAN HAFEEZ
Doha, Qatar
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