| February 08, 2007 | Thursday | Muharram 19, 1428 |
To send a letter to the Editor
Click here
Armed attack on airport
Democracy in Muslim lands
Five-day week
Conspiracy against Urdu?
Of primary education
A laudable step
Look who is talking
Zakat on real estate
Sale of Steel Mill land
Trouble strikes cricket team
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 Bush administration is now gunning for Iran for two reasons. The plan to destablise and overthrow the present setup in Iran has always been part of the Bush/Cheney strategy. The second reason is to cover the tracks of their failure in Iraq. Anything, it seems, is worth doing to divert the attention of the now waking up American public opinion to the disaster this pair has caused not only to Iraq but to the US itself.
An attack on Iran by air — the most probable action by either the US or its proxy Israel — will prove to be an immensely destabilising force for not only in the Gulf region but Pakistan as well. It will only be a matter of time before Pakistan will get sucked into this grinder ever more. The sectarian divide will deepen with more communal Iraqi-style violence spreading into Pakistan and beyond.
The government of Pakistan and all the political leaders better start speaking out loudly now against an attack on Iran, or face a worse spillover than what we are facing with the debacle unfolding in Afghanistan. This is the time to speak out, not after. Pakistani leaders, starting with President Musharraf, better make it clear to President Bush, both privately and publicly, that any action against Iran will be opposed on local and international level, not just by words but action too. Pakistan should state that it will stop cooperating with US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, and will assist Iran in anyway possible to prevent its destabilisation.
It is time that our leaders took a regional stance on the problems we are facing. Stabilising Afghanistan and keeping Iran from becoming another Afghanistan, or worse Iraq, should be the cornerstone of Pakistan’s foreign policy. Failure to do so will have a huge ‘blowback’ effect in Pakistan. The Bush/Cheney cabal has been a disastrous experiment for the world, especially the US and the Middle East. It is time for the leaders in that part of the world to start talking to each other and find solutions that will minimise and ultimately remove US involvement. A foreign power with no cultural, ethnic or religious ties to our part of the world is not going to bring harmony among the states.
SALIM AKBANI
Illinois, USA
A bomber has attacked Islamabad airport. That makes it the fifth such incident in less than two weeks. How much more innocent blood will be shed before we see the same condemnation of these incidents and the same moral outrage from the maulvis that they have shown for, say, the Women’s Protection Bill? I find their silence almost obscene in the face of this blatant terrorism against innocent Muslims.
What kind of moral mindset allows these religious parties to arrange rabid rallies and calls for shutterdown strikes when something as innocuous as a marathon is announced, but a deafening silence is the response to the spilling of innocent Muslims’ blood by other Muslims?
How is it that a ‘million march’ is threatened and the whole maulvi brigade comes out in a full, unbridled show of force foaming at the mouths at the very mention of women’s rights? But nary a whimper is heard when cross-border terrorists lure and brainwash our youth and send them to kill innocent civilians.
How is it that the killing of innocent Muslims (including women and children) by other Muslims is not completely repugnant to the spirit of Islam? How is it that these bombers are not buying one-way tickets to hell and how is it that this barbarism is not being condemned with full force and vehemence by the religious parties?
Why is it that Qazi Hussain Ahmad of the MMA doesn’t hold a rally to condemn bombers? How come we don’t see him leading a ‘million march’ to Afghanistan, condemning these monsters? He and his party are, after all, the so-called ‘theikaydars’ (sic) of Islam. If he and his friends spent less time condemning the president, the rights of women, marathon runners and sundry, and spent more energy condemning bombings and their perpetrators, Pakistan would not be witnessing this sorry state of affairs now.
AYESHA MUZAMMIL
New York, USA
I agree with Mr Ghayoor Ahmed ( article ‘Democracy in Muslim lands’, Jan 30) that the concept of democracy is inextricably intertwined with Islam’s political system, thus not alien to Muslims. The famous charter of Madinah, harbinger of the first Islamic society in AD 623, was given by the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) when the European nations were living in the Dark Ages.
The much-trumpeted Magna Carta (the bill of rights), which was made foundation of establishing democratic institutions, was signed almost 600 years later and that too when the British monarch conceded under coercion a few rights to his citizens.
The rightly-guided Caliphs conducted the affairs of nascent Islamic state with consultation (shoora) that carried spirit of democracy. However, following the brief period of four Caliphs (632-661) commenced dynastic rule which prevailed in Muslim lands through the 20th century.
Mr Ahmed’s claim that “when Europe was being ruled by emperors and then succeeded by fascist dictators, the Muslim-majority countries were scrupulously adhering to the precepts of democracy ordained by their religion” is without any substance. After the last righteous caliph was martyred, the political power was shifted to the clan of the Umayyad. The Umayyad gave up the established system of governance and created family rule, which was succeeded by Abbasids who also established dynasty which lasted till 1258.
Thus all governments throughout Muslim lands were seized by the hereditary
monarchs, which per se are antithesis of Islamic perception of democracy that was first established in the city state of Madinah, though some of the sovereigns were enlightened enough and ruled justly, adhering to fundamental teachings of Islam.
It was because of their patronage of art, science and culture that knowledge spread in lands ruled by Muslims. During the period of those liberal caliphs and sultans Islam produced great names in almost every walk of life such as empirical sciences, philosophy, astronomy, geography, chemistry, medicine and literature. Achievements of Muslim scholars and men–of-letters of that golden era are amazing.
I concur with Mr Ahmed that the goal of democracy can neither be fostered nor can it be attained by rhetorical preaching. But it is also an incontrovertible fact that solution to this predicament does not solely lie in perusing objective dedicatedly but in the spread of education, since key to every success is knowledge which even history of Muslims has amply proved.
MANZOOR H. KURESHI
Karachi
Reference Samar Azeem Khan (letter, Jan 21), the fears about low output are correct but the damage due to a six-day week are more than the benefits.
The system of a five-day week is already partly in vogue in the country, as the secretariats — federal and provincial — government corporations and superior courts are observing a five-and-a-half-day week (with Friday as half-day), while multinational companies and private educational institutions (including those run by DHAs in Karachi, Lahore and elsewhere) are observing a five-day week, with Friday as full day, with a longer break for prayer.
The banks are also observing a five-and-a-day week, with full Friday working and Saturday as half-day. As such, the system is already working, but there is no uniformity. All that will be needed is to make Friday as full day in government offices and to ensure discipline, so that the employees return after Friday prayers.
The difference is even now visible on Saturday morning. The traffic on Saturday morning is more or less 50 per cent due to observance of a five-day-week by secretariats, superior courts and MNCs. The prime minister should be bold enough to put through the proposal.
Only the small offices are open on Saturday. As such if all the offices are closed on Saturday and Sunday, that will bring uniformity in the entire country.
Apparently the government offices observe Friday as half-day and perhaps Saturday as full day, but in practice there is short attendance on Friday (because the offices open for three-and-a-half hours only) and only half-day on Saturday and the people know that the officials would not be available in their offices on Friday and Saturday, so they prefer to go there from Monday to Thursday for their work.
As stated above, almost 50 per cent offices/institutions are closed on Saturday. The government should call it a day and take a firm decision soon.
ZAFARUL HAQ MEMON
Karachi
THIS is apropos of the book, The Politics of Language: Urdu/Hindi: An Artificial Divide, written by Dr Abdul Jamil Khan, reviewed for Books & Authors” (Dec 31) by Dr Rauf Parekh. Also, the letter by the writer (Jan 11) and the article, ‘Tower of Babel’, by Yasmin Alvi (Books & Authors” (Jan 28).
Dr Khan has made the case that Hindi and Urdu are one language and originated with the farmers of the Middle East who migrated to India about 10,000 years ago. Also, that all languages were evolved in Africa, being refined and dispersed by Neolithic farmers of Mesopotamia some 12 millennia ago.
That may be true: words spoken by the first human couple, Adam and Eve, would have given birth to numerous other tongues with the dispersal of humanity and passage of time. However, what is intriguing is the emphasis that is being laid on the idea that Urdu and Hindi are one.
Ms Alvi notes that at the John Hopkins University in the US the course of ‘Hindi Conversation’ has now been renamed as ‘Hindi-Urdu Conversation’.
Some notable changes brought in the syllabus by its Prof (Ms) Swadesh Rana, are listed as:
Week I: ‘Duniya kee sair/ Vishwa bharman’
Week II: ‘Alfaaz ka khazana/ shabdkosh’ and
Week III: ‘Andaaziguftagu/
sumvaad ki kalaa’.
I am sure 99 per cent Pakistanis wouldn’t be knowing the meaning of the words ‘Vishwa bharman’ to ‘sumvaad ki kalaa’. How can anyone buy the notion that these are one and the same language now?
Likewise, listening to news broadcasts in the Hindi service of the BBC or the All India Radio should illustrate very well the great difference between the two. Another noteworthy thing is that some Japanese universities have in recent years renamed their courses of ‘Hindustani’ as ‘Urdu’, thereby acknowledging its different identity.
There are common elements between a whole lot of languages existent in the world today because the roots are shared. However, this doesn’t mean these differences can or should be erased, which would, theoretically at least, result in a few tongues or even just one. Many illustrations can be given.
Perhaps the most pertinent is of Indonesia, whose language has thousands of words from Arabic, apart from many from Sanskrit/Hindi. Their greeting, ‘Apa khabar?’ (How are you?) can readily be seen to be linked to ‘Aap’ (you) and ‘Khabar’ (news).
‘Selamat Jaalaan’(Goodbye) is derived from ‘Selamat’ (Arabic for safe), and ‘Jaalaan’ which reminds one of ‘Jaana’ or going away in Urdu.
Some of the countless other examples are the Arabic words, ‘Faedah’ (benefit), ‘Faham’ (comprehension), ‘Muflis’ (insolvent), ‘Waham’ (suspicion) and so on. One has even come across Muslim Indonesian women having Hindi names such as Ernawati and Pudji (pronounced ‘pooji’). The case of the Malaysian language is very similar.
Interestingly, Arabic words can even be found as far afield as in the official Filipino language Tagalog, one example of which is the word ‘Selamat’, although it has the changed meaning of ‘Thank you’. Similarly, Spanish still has some 8,000 Arabic words and the oft-used exclamation of joy or surprise, ‘Ole!’, is a form of ‘Allah’, just as we say ‘Wallah!’ One has also seen the surname ‘Medina’ among contemporary Latin American Christians.
The ‘Bahasa Indonesia’ is thus composed of thousands of words from the Middle East, South Asia and Europe, however, there is no move to prove that it is the same as one of the other languages. There is friction between China and Japan, but the presence of over 2,000 Chinese characters in the Japanese lingo is not employed to erase their difference.
Arabic and Hebrew have many alphabets in common, such as ‘Aliph’, ‘Laam’, ‘Meem’, and many words that are same or similar, e.g., ‘Ofaq’, ‘Siddiq/ Zadik’, ‘Kahin/Cohen’. The Irish, Scottish and Welsh languages have the same Celtic root as English, but the Irish people couldn’t live with the English while who would say that the words ‘Croeso I Gymru’ mean ‘Welcome to Wales’? Yet, nobody is challenging their separateness.
Urdu is a very important part of our identity, and peace between Pakistan and India cannot be attained by erasing this identity. Other ways can and should be found to attain peace. However, we must not allow any power(s) to undermine our linguistic and Islamic heritage or the two-nation theory.
A PAKISTANI
Karachi
Mr S.A.A. Kazmi’s letter ‘Of primary education’ (Jan 23) is an example of hypocrisy and muddled interpretation. Starting with a bizarre sequence of his understanding on ‘development and primary education’, he concludes on his implicit objective: “Some katchi abadis and goths in the city and its neighbourhood had to be demolished, it was in the interest of development of Sindh’s capital city.”
Dispossession of resources and displacement from land are the beginning of colonisation, and it is not that much unexpected that “some kutchi abadis and goths” are to be disposed of, all in the name of development.
Any project which has no popular support, or being opposed by the local people, is imposed development, which he advocates. A particular political entity in Karachi has always been against the regularisation of those kutchi abadis which have surfaced after 1985, as they fear this will weaken their vote bank in this city. As far as the feudals in this country or particularly in Sindh are concerned, they are organised, politicised and fully patronised by civil-military bureaucracy in Pakistan, and the people of Sindh have marvellous history of engaging trend-setting movements against military regimes, feudalism and dictatorships.
Would Mr Kazmi let us know how many goths are to be demolished since there are 808 Sindhi goths in Karachi, out of them 458 goths have already been regularised by issuing ownership rights to 51,421 villagers, while the remaining 350 goths would be regularised soon (reference Goth Regularization Committee)?
LIAQUAT THAHEEM
Karachi
AS reported in your paper (Feb 2), Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has approved the National Internship Programme (NIP).
According to this, students who have completed 16 years of education from any educational institution recognised by the Higher Education Commission (HEC) and who are 25 years or less will be provided internship and stipend of Rs10,000 per month for 12 months in order to gain experience and become employed after getting their degrees.
This is very a laudable step taken by the prime minister and he deserves to be appreciated in this regard. This programme will be very helpful in overcoming unemployment and reducing the level of poverty in the country.
But its success depends on how sincerely and effectively the programme is implemented. One can only hope that the authorities concerned will be sincere in acting upon this plan.
BISHARAT ALI KUNBAHR
Karachi
MIAN Shehbaz Sharif (letter, Feb 2) has set out the vision of PML-N, proclaiming that “when it returns to power, will be to promulgate the absolute independence of the judiciary”. Mian Sahib, please give us a break, and for God’s sake do not make fun of our intellect and memory.
It was under the premiership of your elder brother and during your tenure as chief minister of Punjab that politicians and cohorts associated with your government and party in broad daylight on Nov 28, 1997 stormed the Supreme Court in Rawalpindi. This dark day is etched on our memory and will haunt us for a long time.
Nowhere in the present-day world has such bizarre and irresponsible behaviour been documented. Please do yourself a favour and all of us some good by staying where you are. May God give you the strength to confront yourself honestly, having twice made s mockery of the political and judicial system in Pakistan.
DR IRFAN AHMAD
Illinois, USA
THIS is with reference to your editorial ‘Zakat on real estate?’ (Feb 7). When the government first started collecting zakat (under an ordinance which, as you correctly pointed out, was promulgated without any public debate and without eliciting the opinion of religious scholars), followers of Fiqh Jafaria were exempted from paying zakat to the government, after their scholars protested.
Now, even followers of the Hanafi school of thought are exempted. Since these two groups comprise more than 95 per cent of the population, it is difficult to understand why the government is still collecting zakat, since religious minorities are not supposed to pay zakat anyway.
SHAKIR LAKHANI
Karachi
THE Economic Coordination Committee of the Cabinet took various decisions as reported in Dawn (Feb 2). The ECC also decided to sell 1,423 acres of Pakistan Steel Mills land to the industrial sector.
The land belongs to Sindh and was given to the PSM for specific purpose, i.e., for establishing the Steel Mills complex. Thus propriety demands that since the landed property intended for auction is no more required by the Steel Mills, the same should be returned to its original owner, which is the province of Sindh.
DR ALI AKBAR M. DHAKAN
Karachi
ONCE again trouble has struck our cricket team when one least wanted it. However, I was surprised to learn that one of the players being flown in is untested and the other hasn’t delivered much in whatever chance he has been provided. To be fair, it hasn’t been much. But given the nature of the tournament, wouldn’t it have been wise to include experienced players?
Secondly, what is the basis for Imran Farhat’s selection, especially for one-days? When will someone be bold enough to drop him? Why do we keep ignoring Yasir Hameed?
His performance at this level is by far the best. And Salman Butt was a better player than Imran as well, even if his recent failures are taken into account.
Also, will someone remind us where Saqalain has disappeared? It’s been a while since he was seen in action. Maybe he deserves a recall?
REHAN AHMED
Mississauga, 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.