| January 20, 2007 | Saturday | Zilhaj 29, 1427 |
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White paper on education
Los desaparecidos of Pakistan
This dream of Islamic renaissance
Firewood motor
Truth about the Durand Line
Death toll rises by one more
PIA says it’s working all right
A true patriot?
Shifting blame
Violation of motorway rules
Missing persons’ relatives beaten
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
AS I write these lines, my fingers ache with utter frustration and disappointment over the failure of the police department to obey courts. I am a former cricketer who was part of the Pakistan cricket team, which toured India in the year 1952-1953, and I am also a recipient of the award from the president of Pakistan for my services to the game of cricket.
An engineer by profession, I spent a good part of my professional life in the Middle East and was instrumental in generating employment for at least 10,000 Pakistanis over there.
When I came back to Pakistan, besides our family dwelling, I built a house in the DHA (318-K) Phase-1, Lahore) with an intention to give it on rent and use the rental income to cater to our daily living expenses.
With great regret I have to state that the tenant did not pay the rent for the last many years which forced us to knock at the doors of the courts for the desired justice.
After five years of tiring efforts, the court gave a verdict in our favour and appointed a bailiff to get the house vacated with the support of the local police.
When we reached the house in order to get it vacated, the tenant’s brother used abusive language and threatened to shoot us. Mysteriously, the police under the supervision of an SHO escaped from the scene. The bailiff was also forced to run away by the tenant who was accompanied by the armed person around him.
When we contacted the SHO, he had no justifiable reason to run away from the scene. One call to him from a senior police officer who happened to be the relative of the tenant was the actual cause of the police’s evasive action.
Does this mean that a police officer who is supposed to be custodian of law is actually above the law and is influential enough to defy the court orders because of his important authoritative position as a government servant?
The bailiff has already given the factual report of the above happening. Will the court take strong action to get their orders implemented? And will some senior police officer take time to find out why their department failed to get the law implemented. If not, then where should we go to plead our case? Can someone guide us how we should get the justice?
KHALID QURESHI
Lahore
EXTRACTS from the white paper as published by you recently in three parts must have been read with interest by your readers. You have opened a debate on the educational system of Pakistan, which is going down day by day. Almost all observations made in the white paper have the “capacity to a change mindset”.
Unfortunately, one aspect of the purpose of education remained unattended by the authors of the white paper, as published by you. It is the lack of interest in the development of nationalism in Pakistan, as we are not yet a nation, divided into several nationalities as wished by our politicians and ‘friends’.
A national Pakistan will be a stronger state which is not in their personal or regional interests. I consider Pakistani nation in a larger circle of the ‘millat’. What, the Arabs and other Muslim countries have their nationhood, why not Pakistan?
History of nationhood revolves round land, language and ideologies. In our state, language is made a controversial issue as our rulers wished to replace Urdu with English. Article 251 of the 1973 Constitution says: “The national language of Pakistan is Urdu. Subject to clause 1, the English language may be used for official purposes until arrangements are made for replacement by Urdu.”
On one pretext or another, English is not only the official language of Pakistan, it may become our national language after 2007 elections.
In your paper (Jan 19) Ms Zubeida Mustafa’s thought-provoking article on ‘Teaching in mother tongue’ falsifies three myths about teaching English from Class I and shows her deep concern about the treatment of mother tongue in the early years of schooling.
President Musharraf’s most repeated slogan is ‘Pakistan First’. He should also think about the Pakistani nation first. A nation without a practical national language remains divided over different issues. A Larkana-datelined picture (Dawn, Jan 11) shows how divided we are.
No doubt common sense is not very common but we expect common sense from our leaders as far as national interests are concerned. Urdu being language of the Pakistan Movement deserves national treatment at the highest level.
(PROF) ZAFAR UMAR ZUBERI
Karachi
MR Ardeshir Cowasjee’s column ‘Los desaparecidos of Pakistan’ (Dec 17) otherwise a well-thought-out analysis - except for unfair and unmerited remarks that equated Cuban leader Fidel Castro with Gen Augusto Pinochet Ugrate, a dreaded dictator who, as has been rightly said, was responsible for torturing, killing and incarcerating thousands of Chileans who opposed his authority.
Pinochet, a general with backing of the US, overthrew Salvador Allende, a Marxist-Leninist socialist popular leader who was elected by the masses in 1970 as president to lead Chile. The reason for his overthrow was nationalisation of American multinational copper giant, companies which set him seriously odd with the US.
However, Fidel Castro was a revolutionary ideologue who opposed Batista’s corrupt dictatorial rule. After an unsuccessful attack on an army post, he was first imprisoned but later on after release he went to Mexico where he organised a revolutionary movement. He invaded Cuba with his brother Raul, Che Guevara and other rebels, hid out in the Sierra Maestro Mountains from where he attracted supporters and fought a guerilla campaign that ended in the year 1955 the repressive rule of Batista.
A charismatic leader, Castro established a one-party socialistic government based on Marxist ideology that benefited the vast working class of Cuba. In the process, he weathered severance of economic and political ties by the US and some Latin American nations; the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961 and US economic blockade and Cuban missile crisis in 1962. He subsequently supported revolutionary movements in other Latin American countries and Africa and has become the symbol of revolution and social change in Latin America.
Under socialist dispensation today Cuba provides best social security programme to its citizens that include free education at all levels and compulsory between the ages of six and 12, free medical care for all, besides a wide range of health services, including old-age benefits etc. Since the 1980s Fidel Castro has emerged as an acknowledged leader of the Third World and non-aligned countries.
ALTAMASH M. KURESHI
Karachi
THIS has reference to the article by Mansoor Alam (Jan 15). The writer erroneously labels Salafis ‘traditionalists’ when in reality their doctrines remain truer to fundamentalism (in the vein of reformism) and not the kind of traditionalism that is normally found within the Brelvi and Deobandi schools.
Drawing this distinction is not trivial since Salafism is not acceptable to the overwhelming majority of the subcontinent’s Muslims, not to mention the majority of Muslims in the Middle East, Far East, Central Asia, or Africa, nor the majority of Muslim immigrant and convert communities throughout the West that pointedly do not ascribe to Salafism and yet consider themselves practising fully ‘traditional’ Islam.
Mr Alam’s choice of labels is unfortunate as he corrals all religious discourse with the same stick in a hurry to praise the modernism of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan. In fact, Mr Alam unwittingly illustrates that we have simply traded yesteryear’s holy figures for more modern ones, as we raise the personae of Sir Syed and Allama Iqbal to the same heights of hero-worship and political correctness these two gentlemen came to see as dangerously wrong.
The real change in Muslim behaviour, and a bell-wether of a truly indigenous revival, would be for our intelligentsia to get back to worshipping God alone. Without this elemental first step, all the shifting of cultural tendencies from this ideological frame to that will not change anything.
BILAL AHMED
Houston, USA
A MOTOR which may be operated by firewood/agricultural waste is needed for rural areas where there is neither the supply of electricity nor that of petrol/diesel. Such a simple motor which may be developed on the pattern of steam engine would be useful for operating water-pump, electric generator as well as for operating other agricultural machines. It would also produce distilled water in a limited quantity.
The above-described motor would facilitate in lifting the underground water, rural electrification and for mechanising the agriculture sector. The proposed motor would also help in the installation of sprinkler system of irrigation.
The Pakistan Council for Agricultural Research, Pakistan Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Pakistan Science Foundation or any other such organisation/ institution may take up the project and design an engine which may be cheap and durable.
In the wake of soaring oil prices such a motor is the best option that would facilitate optimum use of water and boost agricultural production.
S.A. KHAN
Karachi
REFERRING to Ghayoor Ahmed’s article on the Durand Line (Jan ) , I whole-heartedly agree with his assessment of the situation on tribal areas. Gen Musharraf is acting individually without consulting any democratic leaders on such a serious issue. Only time and history will tell how much damage the president has inflicted on the fabric of Pakistan. We have a professional army that obeys orders and that is the reason he does not want to quit his army post. He feels secure in an army uniform, otherwise he would have kept his promise to the MMA about removing the uniform.
ZARWAR KHAN
Dallas, USA
THE death toll rises by one more, thanks to our system of public transport. A speeding Mehran coach killed the brother of my friend, whose valima was to take place. He was riding his motorbike when the speeding bus hit him from behind and he went sliding down, with his head hitting a pole. His head was split open.
The bus was totally out of control and stopped only after it hit a pole itself. The unlicensed culprit jumped out of the moving bus and tried to run away. He was taken into police custody. The driver had previously struck a car before killing the poor soul, and was trying to escape.
The victim had married recently and he was in fact going to see the cook who was supposed to prepare food for the valima. His poor widow did not even complete three days of her happily married phase of life.
The major reason behind such accidents is only one. The drivers are issued tokens which bound them to get to a certain spot in a certain time. On the next spot they are issued another token for the later spot. I just don’t understand why they are allowed to stand for more than a minute at a certain bus stop. They take rest there, smoke, urinate and some of them pray, especially at dusk, which is of course acceptable. Apart from praying and urinating, they should not be allowed to stay at the bus stop for anything other than picking and dropping the passengers. As soon as they see a rival driving a bus on the same route in, they drive away like hooligans which presents a scene of buses participating in a race held in heavy traffic. Otherwise, they are comfortable wasting time at the bus stops for collecting passengers, no matter the passengers already boarding the bus screaming on him, begging him to drive while they continue to get late.
I request the government and the transport authorities to abolish the present system of tokens and not to allow the bus drivers to rest or waste time in other activities at the bus stop in the midst of their routes. We have had enough deaths through these accidents, please not anymore.
ALI AHMED
Karachi
THIS is with reference to AVM (r) M. Sadruddin’s letter ‘PIA’s woes’(Dec 31). First, oil prices, old aircraft and overstaffing are a reality and not ‘hiding places’ or ‘ruses’ which was the word the writer used in his earlier letter.
PIA has maintained transparency about its working and sometimes even at the risk of comments such as the writer’s. If he does not believe PIA, he should at least believe IATA which, in a statement as late as December last, states that cumulative losses of the airline industry, including restructuring costs, are $6.5 billion. The airlines of the world are yet recovering from a colossal $41 billion loss incurred from FY 2000 to FY 2006.
The airlines which the writer mentions and that have shown profit are all airlines that hedged their fuel at the right time. Unfortunately, PIA did not hedge fuel when fuel prices were low in 2004. Fuel prices since 2004 have risen 74 per cent. Further, the industry average of fuel cost as a percentage of total revenues is 31 per cent, whereas in PIA it is an unbelievable 49 per cent.
As for the PIA management, all operational indicators critical to the performance evaluation have in the last 19 months shown an improved trend, whether it was market share or fleet utilisation or number of passengers carried or yield (read, revenues) or cargo uplift or punctuality or regularity.
All this shows efficiency of the current management in putting new systems and processes in place, which posted an increase of 14 per cent and 11 per cent in revenues, in 2006 and 2005, that translates into an operating profit of Rs3.3 billion in 2005 and Rs2 billion in 2006, if you take fuel prices to be constant at 2004 levels.
Thus, Rs4.3 billion is the revenue increase in PIA since the new management has taken over but the fuel prices wiped out this good work, besides other factors such as the old 21 years’ average, fuel-guzzling planes and personnel to aircraft ratio.
Another comment heard ever so often is about the top heavy management. Well, even here too, only a few years ago in PIA there used to be a chairman, a managing director, and chief operating officer, all these functions are now performed by one man; there used to be three DMDs, now there is only one; there were 18 SVPs or directors as they were then called, and now there are only 13, etc.
Also, the writer should know that a bigger labour force than required does not result in more efficiency. If four people are doing the job of one person, it creates inefficiency. And such is the case with PIA where we have 410 people to each aircraft while the international average is 130 persons per aircraft.
Finally, while a public sector corporation has some inherent problems, it does not follow that it cannot be run as efficiently and profitably as a private organisation. All it needs is professional management and you can see many public sector companies turned around into efficient companies effectively competing with multinational companies.
CAPT HASSAN JAFFERY
Chief Coordinator,
Public Affairs, PIA
Karachi
IT is painfully observed in your columns that a party leader of one of the coalition parties in the Musharraf government is constantly harping on secession from Pakistan or on similar themes. Nowadays he is commenting on new maps of Pakistan. What has gone wrong? Is this some sort of power game to get his share in upcoming election or is there some sort of gut feeling that the government is after him. Or like a true patriotic, is he genuinely disturbed over this issue?
FARHAN
Karachi
RIFFAT Rehman’s letter titled ‘Shifting blame’ (Jan 15) reeks of self-contradictions, confusion and inaccuracies. The author begins by extolling the vast freedoms enjoyed by women in Pakistani society today, how they are able to become fighter pilots, and then quickly accuses the same of not doing justice to their children. Has the writer conducted an extensive survey or working mothers in Pakistan on which she is basing this ‘fact’? Does she have any reliable data on which she is basing her opinion?
She is also quick to point out that more women in the West are becoming stay-at-home moms rather than working mothers. The writer should be reminded that not working and spending the rest of one’s life pursuing personal hobbies and interests is probably every person’s preferred way of life. This is why people retire in their 40s when they can afford to. Here too it is mostly women from families that can afford to live on one income that choose not to work. Looking at the state of our country nobody can possibly argue that we can afford to discourage 50 per cent of our population from working.
The writer also points out that working women contribute to a decline in population rates in societies. This is certainly true for some countries. But with a population in excess of 160 million, and going strong, would that be such a terrible thing for Pakistan?
M. USMAN ILYAS
East Lansing, USA
I WOULD like to express my admiration for Neshmiya Adnan Khan (letter, Jan 18) for speaking out against the alleged abuse of motorway rules by an official government vehicle.
Whether or not the vehicle in question was carrying the federal culture secretary, appropriate inquiries should be made as to the behaviour of the driver to reassure the common man that public funds and assets cannot be abused.
More importantly, those who occupy such positions do so at the pleasure of the Pakistani citizen and are subject to the laws of the land.
I believe that young people such as the writer who brought this incident to notice represent the real future of Pakistan.
MOHAMMED ELAHI
Brampton
Canada
NESHMIYA Khan’s letter ‘Setting an example’ was shocking; yet not so shocking. After all, our federal ministers can get away with anything. Especially the federal cultural secretary because such acts are part of our ‘federal culture’.
ALI M. KHAN
Lahore
WITH reference to the letters published under the above title (Jan 4), I would like to submit that according to Hazrat Ali (RA), the fourth caliph, “A society can survive with terror and tyranny but none can exist without justice.”
YET ANOTHER VICTIM
Karachi
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