| February 13, 2007 | Tuesday | Muharram 24, 1428 |
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Somali crisis
Blasphemy laws
Remembering O.P. Nayyar
Death penalty
A cause for hope
The curse of dowry
Good governance
Pakistan and the Afghan war
Going after MBA degrees
World Bank & maritime sector
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
THIS has reference to Mr Ardeshir Cowasjee’s column ‘The state of the national mindset’ (Feb 4). Nothing can be closer to reality. In 1937, the Quaid-i-Azam in a speech said: “I am a prosperous man. I can live comfortably for the whole of my life. But what I see around me is the abject poverty, illiteracy and backwardness of the Musalmans of India.
“This morning I saw thousands of Musalmans living in inhuman conditions in Delhi. This is not my idea of Pakistan in which the people should pass their life. Then what is the use of building a separate homeland where the people cannot get two square meals a day? I shall not have it”.
Now the condition in government hospitals is indeed appalling. The facilities they are offering are nearly negligible and whatever is available is siphoned off by the corrupt staff.
Reference Dawn (Dec 14, 2006), Unicef has painted a bleak picture of Pakistani children, saying some 0.5 million of them die annually before reaching the age of five, mostly from preventable causes. Its report shows Pakistan has made little progress in terms of reducing the under-five mortality and it may miss the Millennium Development Goal of bringing down the mortality rate among children of five under two-thirds by 2015.
In Pakistan’s case this goal could be translated to an under-five mortality rate of 45 per 1,000 births.
Poor pre-natal care is the leading reason for children under five dying, accounting for almost one-third of all the deaths. Acute respiratory infections and diarrhoea are the other main killers.
Sixteen per cent of under-five children annually suffer from pneumonia, 34 per cent are never taken to a healthcare provider. Similarly, 64 per cent suffering from diarrhoea are not given oral hydration and continued feedings.
The government must focus on the issue and increase spending. Another major factor for high mortality rate among children is the high percentage of children born with low weight. The figure of 19 per cent infants born with low weight has remained static for a few years. The Unicef report rated Pakistan’s effort for improving nutritional status of children as insufficient.
Immunisation coverage is yet another grey area. The coverage rates are on an average 75 per cent, which means some 25 per cent have no protection at all against different diseases.
But the rich have no such problems: they either go abroad on state expense or to expensive hospitals in the country where they get all the attention they need. Most doctors work for money and not for serving the poor, ailing humanity. What is most shocking is that instead of improving the government hospitals, the authorities are planning to increase the number of show-piece medical institutions. Two medical towers are being built to provide more efficient services to the privileged.
There cannot be a joke more cruel than this which negates the very ideals of the Father of the Nation. Such magnificent show-pieces are planned in a debt- ridden country where the government spends only about one per cent of the GDP on the health sector and most people have no access to primary healthcare services.
It is on record that the Quaid had refused to go abroad for his medical treatment, stating that Pakistan is a poor country. He died in a broken-down ambulance. With his own conduct he made it clear that Pakistan was not created for a privileged few.
I request the president to visit the government hospitals of Lyari, Civil Hospital, Abbasi Shaheed Hospital and the JPMC. I also request him to visit NGO hospitals like Bantva Memon Hospital and Kuttiyana Memon Hospital near the birthplace of the Quaid catering to the poor people and to see what a few philanthropists are doing for the poor ailing humanity.
I request the president to scrap the Rs2 billion medical complexes for the elite and instead pay attention to the suffering, poor populace who cannot afford two square meals a day.
DR IRSHAD A. SETHI
Karachi
THE current Somali crisis has produced an imperceptible but very dangerous trend. The obvious is the fight against ‘terrorism’, i.e., Islamic extremism (Sri Lankan, Basque type excluded). The less obvious is the unexpected support to this US-led crusade by the African Union. This could, in the long run, mean a divided Africa along religious lines with very far-reaching implications.
Africa in particular has been for some time the victim of very savage tribal wars fomented by competing interests for the control of extremely rich natural resources of Africa. For example, the Nigerian oil is now monopolised by a single country after long civil wars.
The same goes for Congo and other African countries which saw the overthrow of elected governments. Africa is today witnessing the bloody turmoil which has marked the history of South America, a continent being the victim of long US intervention.
We are witnessing this human tragedy in Darfur which is rich in black gold. With a firm base in Somalia, it would be easy for the US to influence events in Darfur, leading to its eventual separation from Sudan and control of its oil sources by the West.
Another recent development of this religious divide is the apprehension of some Muslims in South African Republic of aiding the so-called Muslim terrorist organisations. This is a trend that could spread to other African countries, thus creating the dreaded religious divide in Africa.
Mr Mandela, whose freedom struggle was long supported by Libya, and persons of his thinking should come forward and stop this sinister trend before it gets out of control. Of all the African countries, Ethiopia was the least qualified to intervene in Somalia on behalf of the US. Preferably it should have been an African Union Force under UN command.
Ethiopia has a history of conflicts with Somalia with the result that the so-called terrorists would now find more sympathy of the masses in their conflict with Ethiopia.
The conflict in Iraq has now spread to Africa where the stakes are equal to, if not more than, Iraq, i.e., the establishment of a strong base in the Horn of Africa to control not only the Indian Ocean but also the mineral resources in African countries.
It is in this context that the Somali conflict threatens to become more widespread causing ever-increasing death and destruction engineered by the multi-nationals.
F. HASAN
Karachi
It’s just a matter of time before the blasphemy case against Martha Bibi of Kasur proves to be another one of the many concocted and fabricated cases falsely implicating innocent Christians.
The rate at which the controversial blasphemy laws are being misused is alarming. The law only requires the testimony of one Muslim man to bring charges against another person for blasphemy; from the time of its conception it has been used for personal animosity and revenge against the religious minorities, Christians in particular. It is being easily and widely misused and Christians are being victimized at the hands of Islamic extremists. Not a single case under this law has been proved. The higher courts of Pakistan have acquitted those accused of blasphemy, after they were sentenced by the lower courts.
Twenty individuals accused of blasphemy, including six Christians, have been murdered during their trials.
When the alleged persons are acquitted by higher courts, it is found out that the cases were registered primarily on the basis of personal animosity.
Furthermore, once acquitted, they still continue to live in fear of their lives. Their families uprooted, their lives jeopardised, the chances of leading any kind of a safe and normal life are diminished forever -– their faith being their only fault.
The religious minority leaders have constantly demanded that the blasphemy laws be repealed and until the laws are repealed, the government must ensure that those who are accused of blasphemy and those who defend them are given proper protection and the norms of justice are strictly followed.
While discriminatory laws play havoc with the lives of innocent non-Muslims, the authorities continue to look the other way, of course having issues to resolve like whether to allow the nation to celebrate ‘basant’ or whether there should be more than one dish at weddings.
How many more innocent people like Martha Bibi need to face the brutality of prison, how may more families need to be traumatised, how many more homes need to be shattered, how many more innocent lives need to be lost, how many more children need to be orphaned, before the government can turn its attention towards the discriminatory laws that are affecting the non-Muslim citizens of the much-talked-about ‘moderate enlightened’ state of Pakistan.
MICHELLE CHAUDHRY
Lahore
O. P. Nayyar, a great Indian music director who died recently at the age of 81, was the master musician of the 1950s and 1960s who belonged to the rare class of music directors whose work still charm the hearts of music lovers of India and Pakistan.
O.P. Nayyar got into prominence in the mid-50s and went on to rule the Indian music during the whole decade of 1960. There is a long list of his compositions which were not only an instant hit but they hold the listener spell-bound even today. The best thing about Nayyar was that he always created something novel and new and it shows that he was an original music composer.
Furthermore, while making compositions he always kept in mind the situation of the story and not the artist or a particular singer. His God-given talent was so vast that he composed all types of music, including happy and sad songs, according to the demand of the situation.
However, one cannot help noticing the fact that Nayyar did have a penchant for happy songs. For instance, who can forget his masterpieces like ‘Jaaiye Aap Kahan Jaayenge’, ‘Maang Key Saath Tumhara’, ‘Zara Holay Holay Chalo Moray Sajna’, ‘Diwana Hua Badal’ and ‘Yeh Lo Main Hari Piya’. These are just a few of the best and the most memorable songs composed by Nayyar.
It is said that great music composers find and make great playback singers. O.P. Nayyar too had a Midas’ touch that helped galvanise the talent of Asha Bhonsle and Geeta Dutt.
O.P. Nayyar lived in an era of Indian music which saw the stalwarts like S.D. Burman, Naushad, Madan Mohan, Lakshme Kant Pyaare Lal and Shankar Jaikishen. And that was the time when the standard and the quality of the Indian music reached its zenith. We did not enjoy that class of music afterwards.
In short, the old Indian music will always owe its greatness and immortality to music directors like O.P. Nayyar and his contemporaries.
RAFAT MAHMOOD ANSARI
Islamabad
IT was a great day for Islam in Pakistan when the Women Protection Bill was passed overwhelmingly in the Assembly cutting right across the political divide. Rarely have our lawmakers risen above their differences and supported a bill on its merits, unless it is about their salary and perks. We thereby rejected the blasphemous Hudood Ordinance.
The HRCP has recently questioned the imposition of capital punishment despite an unambiguous commandment in the Holy Quran. Allah declares: “O ye who believe! the law of equality (Qisas) is prescribed to you in cases of murder; the free for the free, the slave for the slave, the woman for the woman.”(Surah 2/178).
The devine law is visionary. While recognising that exacting justice is critical to the safe running of society, it also recognises the frailty of human nature. It has, therefore, made a provision for relaxation. However, the Shariat does not regard it as murder of ‘a’ human being. It considers it as assassination of ‘the’ husband of a fellow human being.
The society has just lost ‘one’ of tens of millions of its members. This fellow being has lost his\her ‘only and all’. Hence Allah has given, in the same ayah, the decisive right to this victim and not to society: “But if any remission is made by the brother of the slain …”
Additionally, it is emphasised that this is a grisly incident between ‘brothers’ and, therefore, demands forbearance and not revenge. The ayah then goes on to state: “Then grant any reasonable demand and compensate him with handsome gratitude”, i.e., the demand for the blood money should be reasonable and should be paid with appreciation. God labels this arrangement as: “This is a concession and a mercy from your Lord…” and ends the ayah with admonition:
“After this, whoever exceeds the limits shall be in grave penalty”, referring to an unfair demand or dithering payment.
The next ayah pronounces the great wisdom underlying this decree: “In the law of equality, there is life to you O ye men of understanding! that ye may restrain yourselves.”
It is imperative that we throw away the shackles forced on our religion by a revivalist interpretation of its injunctions. However, in the process let not the pendulum swing to the other extreme where we ignore the fundamental tenets of our religion.
By definition, a Muslim cannot and must not rule on the death penalty without first pondering on these ayahs. There is nothing ‘mullaish’ about this perception. By all standards one cannot and should not claim membership of a club without following its essential principles and statute.
Dr. KHALID MITHA
Karachi
THERE is much anguish among our intelligentsia about affairs across the globe, particularly concerning the Arab-Israeli crisis. Pakistan and its citizens can do little about these matters; all the evidence indicates that the Arabs neither ask for nor welcome our ’help’.
However, there is a list of issues closer to home where we can alleviate much suffering. The plight of stranded Pakistanis in Bangladesh, the minority communities including the recent murder of engineer Girish Kumar, misuse of the blasphemy law including the detention of one Ms Martha, malice towards minority communities and the ‘disappearance’ of people are all within our control.
In the life to come we are more likely to be held to account for these, rather than matters in Iraq or Venezuela.
Recent events, including the vigilance of the judiciary and the passage of better legislation, indicate that there is cause for hope. Let us focus on these and, Insha Allah, we shall see the payoff.
SAAD GUL
Winston Salem, USA
“WHAT the government can do, however, is curb social ills through concerted awareness campaigns.
“This will go a long way towards highlighting the curse of dowry and educating people about according women their due respect and rights (Dawn editorial, Jan 30).”
Sir, to prompt this malady even the scheduled banks have started offering bridal loans and keep the parents and their heirs mortgaged lifelong to discharge the debts.
In fact, this is the most burning issue of our society to which our shariat preachers and ulema and rightist politicians must have diverted their energies to get our society clean of this curse.
But, to our great misfortunes, they do nothing but the politics and street uproars.
GHEEWALA
Karachi
RECENTLY a director of a public-sector company of the maritime sector was sacked unceremoniously by the politico boss for demeanour.
It is reported that the director had refused to comply with the ‘unlawful’ order.
It is hoped that our bureaucrats and other public-sector officers may follow the lead and shall not act as spineless, so that some good governance as desired by the president takes off the ground.
HYDER HASSAN
Karachi
THIS is in response to Mr Manzoor Chandio’s letter ‘Pakistan and the Afghan war’ (Feb 7) in which he has come out with a good piece of historical and geographical knowledge to argue against the mining and fencing of the Durand Line.
However, he ended up giving the same crooked, rotten argument that fencing the border will divide Pakhtuns on both sides, something I am sick of hearing.
Would Mr Chandio and others who believe the same as him say the same about border with India along Punjab? Should it be abolished because it divides Punjabis on both sides?
I am a Pathan myself and I welcome any interaction between Pathans on both sides of the border which will be in the interest of all Pathans but interest of Pakistan comes first for me and so should be for everyone else.
Nationalism is good only as long as it is constructive and sane.
Those who are worried about the division of Pakhtuns because of mining and fencing of border can cross over to Afghanistan and live together with Pakhtuns there before the border gets mined and fenced.
NAVEED ALI
Manchester, UK
For the last couple of years there has been observed an increasing tendency among students towards doing MBA (Masters of Business Adminstration).
Not only this but those students who are getting their professional degrees in other fields they are also trying to get an MBA degree, because it helps them as a plus point in their carrier development and they are also given additional incentives in their respective organisations.
Undoubtedly MBA-holders have got a lot of opportunities in the business market. They are welcomed in all the national and multinational companies, especially in the growing banking sector.
Actually an MBA degree has got this wide scope because it is being supposed that an MBA degree holder must be a knowledgeable person, he/she must have knowledge regarding all the terms which are going in the market, nay the students should be excellent in their specialised fields, such as marketing, finance, HRM and IT.
But unfortunately now it has been observed that there are some universities which are selling the MBA degree for some thousand rupees without imparting the proper knowledge to their students. This has lowered the value of an MBA degree.
The Higher Education Commission is requested to take notice of this.
BISHARAT ALI KUNBHAR
Karachi
MR Ali Mohammad’s letter (Jan 30) is a mere statement of fact endorsing the World Bank report.
Perhaps the writer is unaware that to implement/ execute the recommendation you must comprehend the moral of the report. Unfortunately the controlling ministry is infested with generalists who can’t even comprehend the essence of recommendation made by maritime experts. To the generalist at the helm of affairs, it will be another unidentified foreign object.
The government is well advised to place the maritime sector under ministry of defence as it was before because there is no need of a weak maritime ministry exercising no control.
The Karachi shipyard is doing well under the ministry of defence, so the ship-owning and ports shall do equally well with full protection from PAC. No question asked. It is the recipe of good governance.
DR SHAHID HASSAN
Karachi
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