| February 24, 2007 | Saturday | Safar 6, 1428 |
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Samjhota Express tragedy
Thai woman’s detour
Can PIA do this?
Patients’ basic rights
Criticising Ijazul Haq
Zille Huma’s murder
Validity of degrees
Extent of CDGK control over Karachi
‘Be maqsad city’
Parking on Club Road
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 is with reference to the news story titled ‘MMA against teaching pre-Islamic history’ (Feb 22). It is unfortunate that at a time when Pakistan needs to develop in every aspect related to infrastructure, societal well-being and healthcare, we have political leaders who are arguing to erase a major part of the subcontinent’s history.
We should take pride in our heritage since the Indus civilisation was one of the earliest and agriculturally-advanced societies in the history of mankind. Knowledge is given the utmost importance in Islam, thus the pursuit of it was one of the major objectives of earlier Muslims that, in turn, made them leaders in the fields of medicine, warfare and architecture.
I do not understand how learning about the past would contribute negatively to being Muslim. To have such insignificant, egocentric and baseless discussions in the National Assembly just shows how clueless our leaders are in this time of action and development.
Pakistan does not have a very bright future if we continue along this path.
HASHIM QURESHI
George Washington University, Washington DC, USA
THE recent hue and cry created by the MMA during the current parliamentary session over teaching of history in Pakistan vividly illustrates that the party is trying to gain political mileage at the expense of the taxpayers’ money, time and votes.
History is something people, nations and countries have to live with, and one cannot just discard it simply on the basis of religion. After all what’s wrong with teaching who ruled our land a thousand years ago?
Great countries always find and extract strength from history. Japan did it when they learned how to cope with the attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. They could have erased the episode from their textbooks and forgotten their history.
But instead they openly taught what they faced and how they stood up to become one of the few Asian countries that are developed today. Why can’t we also teach where we came from, who we are, what our roots are?
With so many other pressing issues facing parliament, why are they wasting so much of time on debating whether to teach pre- or post-Islamic history?
Instead they should be concentrating on other issues such as the parliament’s quorum that still remains a major issue, or corruption which is going up by the day, or the people who are entering the job market but cannot find suitable jobs. We must question our current state: where are we heading and is this the Pakistan we desire for our children?
HUSSAIN GULRAZE MIR
University of Warwick, UK
INDIA and Pakistan seem to be antonyms. I believed India to be sincere in its resolve to have good ties with Pakistan and its people, but that belief was shattered by the recent bombing in Panipat. India’s actions don’t support its rhetoric. I make this bold claim due to the following reasons:
a. The Indians held the train for hours at Atari, although they knew friends and family were impatient to see their loved ones return to Pakistan.
b. They have not provided the complete list of the people travelling on the train.
c. As 90 per cent of the victims were Pakistani Muslims, the Indians have hastily blamed the whole episode on banned Muslim groups.
Every crime has a motive and every injustice has a backlash. As most of the people travelling in the train were poor Pakistani Muslims, the only people who would have to gain from such a bombing are supporters of Hindutva and hard-line Hindu fundamentalists.
Their only aim is to inflict pain and suffering on as many Muslims as the Hindus who suffered in the recent Mumbai train bombings.
As the Indian government kept on blaming Pakistan for involvement in the Mumbai train bombing, the Hindu hardliners needed a textbook case of retribution which they got in the form of the Samjhota Express bombing.
Nevertheless, the Indian government would never want to believe that Hindus can commit such crimes that are nowadays being labelled as the trade mark of Muslims. So the most convenient justification is to get on the bandwagon of defaming the only underdog currently known to humanity: ‘Islamic terrorists’.
M. FAISAL JAN
Peshawar
IT is most unfortunate that such a cruel act has been committed against humanity, which is unpardonable and unacceptable under any pretext. It was a well-planned and targeted killing of Pakistani Muslims. One thing is certain: it appears to be the act of Hindu extremists.
It is a matter of great concern that Hindu extremists and their extremist organisations like the RSS, Hindu Vishva Parishad and many others have a free hand in India and there is no check on their activities. One of their leaders, Bal Thackeray, openly advocates violence against Muslims. It is time that a very strong protest is lodged with the India government and a demand made to ban all Hindu extremist organisations that advocate violence and hatred against Muslims.
LT-COL ( r) S. IFTIKHAR AHMED
Karachi
A THAI mother got lost for 25 years after catching the wrong bus home (Dawn, Feb 10). The lady ended up in Bangkok, some 1,150 kilometres away from her home in south Thailand. To make matters worse, she again took another bus, only to stray a further 700km north.
The real problem was that the lady, who is 76 now and had a Malaysian husband and seven children, only spoke a Malay dialect that was not understood elsewhere in the country, while being unable to communicate in the Thai language. She spent the first five years as a beggar and was then sent to a homeless shelter.
Her ordeal only ended now when three students from her hometown happened to arrive there on an exchange programme and she sang a song for them. It thus came to light where she was originally from. Her shocked family, who had been given to understand by the police long ago that she had apparently been killed in a traffic accident, was thus able to take her back.
Once, my maid narrated an incident. A very old lady had come to stay with her daughter’s family where the maid also worked part-time. One day she went to visit a relative but got lost quite close to the daughter’s home on her way back. Quite providentially and unexpectedly, I happened to send the maid on an errand at that very time and she saw the woman standing somewhere and crying, while asking the bystanders where her son-in-law named so-and-so lived. She took her home.
Thereupon I sent a message across that the address and phone number of the present residence be placed in her purse so that she wouldn’t face a similar problem again. It was revealed that had been done but she had misplaced it.
Anyway, my advice to the families of all such people everywhere in the world is to give them a locket or armband with the necessary information in it in the local and national languages so the old folks won’t ever have to face the heart-rending ordeal the Thai lady had to undergo. The governments concerned are urged to spread this message through the media so it can reach everyone.
KHALID NAQSHBANDI
Karachi
Recently, an American airline issued the following apology to its customers. Let us call the airline XYZ.
“Dear Customers,
“We are sorry and embarrassed. But most of all, we are deeply sorry.
“Last week was the worst operational week in XYZ’s seven-year history. Following the severe winter ice storm in the Northeast, we subjected our customers to unacceptable delays, flight cancellations, lost baggage, and other major inconveniences. The storm disrupted the movement of aircraft, and, more importantly, disrupted the movement of XYZ’s pilot and in-flight crew members who were depending on those planes to get them to the airports where they were scheduled to serve you. With the busy President’s Day weekend upon us, rebooking opportunities were scarce and hold times at 1-800-XYZ were unacceptably long or not even available, further hindering our recovery efforts.
” Words cannot express how truly sorry we are for the anxiety, frustration and inconvenience that we caused. This is especially saddening because XYZ was founded on the promise of bringing humanity back to air travel and making the experience of flying happier and easier for everyone who chooses to fly with us. We know we failed to deliver on this promise last week.”
After further apologies, the airlines said, “most importantly, we have published the XYZ Airways Customer Bill of Rights — our official commitment to you of how we will handle operational interruptions going forward — including details of compensation.. You deserved better — a lot better — from us last week. Nothing is more important than regaining your trust and all of us here hope you will give us the opportunity to welcome you onboard again soon and provide you the positive XYZ experience you have come to expect from us. “
I wonder if PIA will ever extend an apology like this to its customers.
A PAKISTANI
Karachi
THIS refers to the letter by Dr Rafique Ahmed Mirza (Feb 15) on the above subject. My worthy colleague has raised a number of diverse issues and missed many important problems of the patients and doctors. In advanced countries now the emphasis has shifted from treatment of the disease to its prevention.
Most of our doctors just ignore this basic fact that prevention is better than cure. Dr Mirza has mentioned about cardiac diseases, cancer and terminal illnesses. Eighty per cent of the patients coming to the clinic and hospital are either suffering from water-borne diseases or vaccination-preventable diseases.
Similarly, lack of exercise and obesity, cigarette smoking, chewing tobacco are the major causes of cardiovascular diseases. Chewing tobacco and smoking are the leading factors of oral and lung cancer. Passive smoking is another factor as is extreme pollution.
Instead of emphasising prevention, most of the doctors go for a prescription and prescribe antibiotics, cough syrups, anti-parasites and other drugs like steroids which have their own side-effects. “For every ill, there is a pill” is the common notion. Therefore, it is of paramount importance to advise the patient about prevention.
In paediatrics, it is significant to advise about the importance of breast-feeding and the devastating effect of top-feeding with bottle. Although immunisation against all preventable diseases like meningitis, pneumonia, influenza, hepatitis-A and chicken-pox is costly, it prevents a lot of morbidity in children.
I have not mentioned about the EPI programme which includes OPV, DPT, hepatitis-B and measles and are given free of charge and is financed by Rotary International the world over.
Prevention of accidents on the road is another important cause of morbidity and mortality. Most people do not even know whether traffic rules exist. Therefore, there is no respect for the traffic rules. The police have their own axe to grind. Justice (r) Zahid Kurban Alvi laments the chaotic condition of traffic in Karachi(letter ‘Sri Lanka revisited’, Feb 15). Sri Lanka has nearly 100 per cent literacy rate and Pakistan has less than 35 per cent. Most drivers are illiterate and addicted to drugs. So, comparing the two countries defies logic. A CSP candidate was asked about Zebra-crossing. He answered: “It is a crossing where zebras cross the road”.
Coming back to Dr Mirza’s letter, he states that the patient has a right to choose the treatment he or she can afford. I strongly disagree with him. A patient should be allowed only scientifically-based treatment and not homoeopathy, hikmat or so-called reflexology.
Regarding fleecing of patients by doctors, I would like to state that the fish rots from head. The vice-chancellors of universities of health sciences, directors and medical superintendents of hospitals, professors of the ward take little interest in their own wards and instead work full time in their private clinics to earn money. Thus they make a bad example for the juniors.
The profession of medicine is no more a service to ailing humanity but a money-minting industry. Unless the practice of these greedy, self-seeking, politically-motivated professors is banned, the situation will go from bad to worse. These professors instead of filling their pockets with loads of money should devote their afternoons and evenings towards research and rounds of their hospitals and wards.
Only then the junior doctors will know that medicine is not a lucrative business but a welfare service to the poor, ailing humanity which forms more than 75 per cent of the populace of Pakistan who live below the poverty line with less than a thousand calories a day. For this reason, protein calorie malnourishment is the cause of nearly all the diseases because of reduced immunity.
DR IRSHAD A. SETHI
Karachi
A NUMBER of correspondents have been criticising the minister for religious affairs, Ijazul Haq, for yielding to the Madressah Hafsa students regarding the mosque built on government land and accusing him of upholding the tradition of his father, Gen Ziaul Haq.
While I don’t approve of encroachments at all, but this was a very sensitive issue that could have badly disturbed the public peace and had to be handled extremely carefully. What the government can do is to disallow such constructions on occupied property in future.
Nevertheless, we must not be unfair to the gentleman. First, his critics should understand that as religious affairs minister it was his duty to hold the negotiations and the agreement could not have occurred without the approval of the president.
Second, the lawmaker and writer M.P. Bhandara had narrated in his article, ‘Gen Ziaul Haq as I knew him’ (Aug 17, 2006) that the late president Zia had sought his permission even to build a small mosque on the president’s office premises that were owned by Mr Bhandara’s company, which shows his respect for the owner’s rights.
IBNE INAYAT
Karachi
THIS is with reference to your editorial ‘Zille Huma’s murder’ (Feb 22). The situation is much more serious than ordinarily believed. In this country, there are people who strongly believe that it is legitimate to kill not only members of a sect declared outside the fold of Islam, but also those belonging to other sects and sub-sects.
People practising a particularly rigid and intolerant version of Islam cannot stand the sight of those who believe in going to shrines for their prayers to be answered. And since it is almost impossible to change the mindset of such people (who, I believe, comprise more than 20 per cent of the population), the government should now invest heavily on security. By increasing the number of security personnel and checkpoints, terrorism can be eliminated to a large extent.
SHAKIR LAKHANI
Karachi
DESPITE a clear policy statement by the HEC that all bachelor degree programmes should be of four years, the private affiliated colleges of Sindh University in Hyderabad are offering two-year BBA degree programmes.
What is the validity of such a degree? Will Sindh University authorities justify their position on this issue?
CONCERNED PARENT
Hyderabad
APROPOS of MNA Akhlaq Hussani’s statement (Feb 18), people are generally in agreement that the entire Karachi city must be under one well-coordinated municipal agency. Military cantonments must be relocated far outside the city limits — as the Pakistan Navy is doing while moving out of the Manora island.
But the CDGK is hardly the epitome of good governance or high quality municipal service. The same poor state of most roads, chaotic traffic and parking, uncollected garbage, overflowing gutters, raw sewage dumped into the sea, inadequate and poisonous water supply, mushrooming encroachments on roads and public spaces, illegal and dangerous construction of buildings, poor law and order enforcement, etc., exists in city government areas as it does in cantonment jurisdictions.
In fact, one privileged section of the cantonment, i.e., the DHA, has maintained higher standards in some respects, causing the affluent and educated of the city (including government officials, judges, politicians, professionals and the like) to abandon city government areas and flee to the DHA.
MRS AMBER ALI BHAI General Secretary,
Shehri: CBE,
Karachi
MRS Akhtar Nasimi has criticised Mr Ayaz Amir for calling Islamabad “be maqsad city” (Feb 18). She has compared the construction of Islamabad with the building of Korangi and Mangala and Tarbela Dams. This analogy is misleading.
Korangi Township was built by Gen Azam Khan (not Ayub Khan) to provide shelter to the homeless refugees from
India.
Mangala and Tarbela Dams were constructed to provide hydel power to the energy-starved nations at that time there was acute shortage of electricity whereas expenditure on Islamabad was unnecessary and avoidable at that time as Karachi was adequately serving the purpose of the national capital.
The central government had made considerable investment in the city.
It is worth mentioning that GHQ was provisionally housed in Rawalpindi at the time of partition and was to be ultimately shifted to Karachi. Generals instead of taking GHQ to Karachi brought the capital to Islamabad as most of them belonged to the area around it.
It should not be forgotten that shifting of the capital to Islamabad was one of the reasons for the secession of East Pakistan.
R.R. ALVI
Lahore
THIS is with reference to Mr Aleem Shaikh’s letter on the subject (Dec 14).
It is surprising that although two months are going to elapse, nobody in authority has cared to take the corrective measure. With the closure of the Club Road for parking of vehicles, the volume of traffic has increased in the commercial area between the Club Road and the Governor House, Karachi.
Day after day, the citizens who visit this area for their work have been facing extreme trouble owing to non-availability of parking space around the commercial centre.
It was, therefore, a good suggestion that limited parking may be allowed on the Club Road.
This will not pose any security hazard as no ugly incident had occurred there because of parked cars.
SHAMIM AKHTER
Karachi
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