| March 08, 2007 | Thursday | Safar 18, 1428 |
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HEC’s mega projects
Downfall is inevitable
A floodgate of corruption
Speaker’s house
Private science candidates
Railway track
Dick Cheney’s remarks
US policy on Iran
Album sales
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
INTERNATIONAL Women’s Day is celebrated throughout the world on March 8 every year. It provides an opportunity to not only rejoice at the achievements of women rights activists, but also to highlight women’s oppression around the world. This year’s theme is: ‘Ending impunity for violence against women and girls’. According to the facts and figures provided by the United Nations, violence against women is the most common but least punished crime in the world.
It is estimated that 113 to 200 million women are demographically missing – they have either been victims of infanticide or have not received the same amount of food and medical attention as their brothers and fathers. And globally, women between the ages of 15 and 44 are more likely to be maimed or die as a result of male violence than through cancer, malaria, traffic accidents or war combined.
This year’s theme is especially pertinent in the Pakistani context. A few months back the government enforced the Women’s Protection Law which gagged the Hudood Ordinance to some extent, which hitherto had been a legal instrument of violence against women. Now the government is working on a law to eradicate anti-women social customs. Making laws is very important but equally important is the implementation of those laws.
The recent murder of Punjab provincial minister Zille Huma by a fanatic who had earlier murdered five women with impunity speaks volumes about the state of affairs regarding women in Pakistan. This indeed is a dangerous trend and needs to be dealt with sternly. Good legislation and good public policy, as well as funds earmarked toward the uplift of women, are very important.
The roles played by civil society and NGOs is very critical. The government alone cannot bring about change in the attitudes of society at large towards the issues of gender equality. The government in its macro vision tends to overlook interventions at smaller level. While NGOs with their grassroots approach make an impact at micro level. Change has to come from within society: from within the family unit where violence against women must not be condoned.
Apart from physical damage that such violence does, constant humiliation, loss of dignity, fear and a sense of helplessness that a woman undergoes have a severe psychological impact on her. The government and civil society collaboration is the best way to empower women at all levels and in every aspect of life.
So today, on this International Woman’s Day, let us commit to make gender equality and women’s empowerment a reality.
SAMIA ALI SHAH
Advocacy & communications manager, International Rescue Committee, Islamabad
THIS is in continuation of the latest critique by Prof Hoodbhoy on the subject of the HEC’s mega projects, a refute by an HEC official and a further response by Prof Hoodbhoy (Feb 28) published in these columns.
It is impressive to note that Prof Hoodbhoy, alongside research in his core area, keeps a close eye on educational developments in Pakistan. One has to give due credit to him for being able to publish his views in the popular media despite his association with a university in the public sector of Pakistan.
I am sure that not everybody in the HEC is so naive as to be convinced about the planning of the new mega projects. It is quite unfortunate that in Pakistan the top management usually prefers to start with new projects and it does so in haste and without much planning.
It is a fact that there was never before so much funding available to universities, and the HEC has put in some efforts in reviving the existing educational institutions in Pakistan. One would, however, expect the HEC to have consulted credible academics with ability to express their views during the planning of new ventures like establishing nine new universities.
It might be more productive and cost-effective to establish fewer new universities and put in more efforts in the existing institutions. The HEC may select departments in different areas of science and technology from among universities across Pakistan on the basis of research output, for example, during the last five years.
It would be relatively easy to get additional faculty members for centres with good research standing than for completely new ones. One must not forget that salary is not the only factor, although important, in attracting faculty.
Instead of asking a glorified clerk to refute a critique, the HEC should be thankful to people like Prof Hoodbhoy whose comments could be extremely helpful in establishing educational institutions that could become centre of excellence and make positive contribution to society.
I would suggest that the HEC invite people like Prof Hoodbhoy, on a regular basis, for their input on existing and new projects.
It is high time for us to be open to suggestions and not get offended by critical viewpoints.
PAKISTANI EXPATRIATE
UK
I HAVE had the opportunity of working with PIA as a supplier in the past, and since my exit from the business I have followed the ups and downs of PIA closely.
The most unfortunate thing of all is the fact that even now no one is ready to stamp out the root cause of its ills and there seems to be a blame game with chairman being considered the villain who brought about the airline’s downfall.
Anyone who has worked with PIA would realise that the end actually came way back in the late 80s to the early 90s and the company since then has been dragged for unknown reasons. I have seen PIA try to rise to stature and then to fall into an abyss.
Ill-placed priorities and lack of strategic focus has led to its downfall, and there is not a lot that can save it. One has to understand that the fall from grace did not occur in one day but it was improper foundations and a systematic decay that led to its fall. PIA built facilities and spent millions on redundant capacity but never focused on the core business.
Their core business never was to fix planes: it was to fly people safely and comfortably. If anyone can go around PIA and see, they will find everything to entertain aircraft maintenance to car maintenance, but nothing for the passenger. So how can a company which doesn’t know what its function is ever survive.
For years money was wrongly spent and incompetence flourished under cronyism. The downfall of such organisation is inevitable and they fall to disgrace in an ugly fashion.
PIA may get a reprieve from the EU for a while, but with the focus being not on the passenger and the current lack of integrity it cannot sustain itself.
JEANETTE VINKE
The Netherlands
I CONGRATULATE the Dawn Group of Newspapers on organising Fuelling Pakistan exhibition to highlight the country’s alternative energy potential.
I understand from the messages on this occasion by the president and the prime minister for switching over our vehicles to CNG for a cheaper, safer and pollution-free environment.
I wish they knew the excruciating pain and worries that the investors in this field have to undergo during the process of establishing a CNG filling station .
I have known the harrowing stories of a few who have suffered at the hands of government functionaries involved in this process who wait like hungry hounds to extract money illegally from these helpless investors, barring a few exceptions.
Getting No Objection Certificates and clearance from dozens of agencies is a Herculean task and a nerve-breaking experience which involves an average time period not less than one
year with full-speed running efforts to clear the unreasonable hurdles and at the end of the day losing one-third of the cost of CNG filling station as ‘rishwat’.
I know some of the foreign investors who have run away from Pakistan leaving their projects incomplete because of the non-cooperative and criminal attitude of the government functionaries who wait like hungry hounds to snatch money from the investors.
It is surprising that the government is keeping a blind
eye to the floodgate of these malpractices just under its nose.
I request the president and the prime minister to please do spare some time to look into this side of the story by asking at random any investor who is currently engaged in the process of establishing a CNG filling station.
LT-COL (r) AURANGZEB KHAN
Rawalpindi
THE proposed speaker’s house, approved some time in mid-2005, is finally ready for takeoff. The Capital Development Authority has called tenders for the construction of the “official residence for honourable speaker of (the) National Assembly”, which are to be received by March 13.
The speaker’s house, to be constructed in the ministers’ colony, in sector F-5/2, Islamabad, is estimated to cost Rs38.836 million, obviously excluding the price of the 3,000 square yards of land it is to be built on.
On completion, however, the building may cost the exchequer somewhere around Rs50 million, if not more, simply taking into account 10 per cent annual escalation. It may be recalled that the government had initially accorded financial approval to an expenditure of Rs34 million.
The huge amount is being spent on the construction of the palatial residence whereas the honourable speaker already lives in the one of the posh houses for ministers, as did his predecessors.
Ironically, this happens in a country where the majority of population still remain devoid of healthcare, clean water and other basic amenities, and at a time when the nation is faced with unemployment, poverty and rising prices of utilities and essential food items.
HUSSAIN SIDDIQUI
Islamabad
THE most serious impediment in developing a better society is lack of mass literacy. The basic ingredient is literate Punjab/Pakistan, it is not a slogan but a must for Pakistan. Developing a good human being can only warrant a good citizen.
The fact that our nation’s development depends on the level of accomplishment in the field of science and technology cannot be denied.
But first thing first, we have to prioritise our endeavours. Constitutionally, it is the government that is supposed to provide free education to all up to intermediate level.
But because of many reasons it is not becoming possible as of now, we must encourage every effort being made in this context. It is a genuine birthright of every individual to get himself educated, if he cannot himself, then his children even when he cannot afford it.
There is no debate that we need to develop in the field of science and technology at all costs, the following few lines still need consideration:
Our educational scenario does not provide our students with basic laboratories and qualified science teachers.
Government and private schools both do not have adequate facilities. Many of our people are poor and cannot afford education, they have to work for their living and at the same time fulfil the desire of getting educated.
Most of them appear as private students. The statistics of all the Punjab BISE are revealing:
— According to the 2006 gazette of the Lahore board, the number of science students appearing privately was: 44,850 whereas regular students were 44,140.
— According to the website of the Bahawalpur board, the number of private students appearing in science in 2006 was 14,090 as compared to regular students who numbered 18,320.
— According to the federal board, the number of private science candidates was 5,318 as against regular candidates numbering 32,866.
— According to the website of Multan board, 25,116 private candidates took science examinations as against 29,793 regular students.
— According to the Faisalabad board, private candidates numbered 21,440 and regular candidates 58,258. They did not have figures for science and arts separately.
— According to the web site of Rawalpindi board, the number of private candidates appearing in matriculation examinations since 1999 till present is more than the regular students.
The results show that more private students are taking examinations than the regular ones. Results also show that more than 50 per cent of private candidates managed to pass with good grades and it has helped them to continue with their education.
Girls are not encouraged to go to far-off schools for socio-cultural reasons. They mostly appear as private students.
We must help and encourage every endeavour to educate everyone. Emphasis on quality education has to be there but as government schools even do not have enough and adequate arrangements for science experiments, it would be a little unfair to ban private students.
No child, specially when he himself is endeavouring to get educated, should be denied the basic right to education. All odds are against education and it takes a very strong will to outwit these impediments.
We would urge the government to lift the ban permanently and give access to all students irrespective of their background to appear for science matriculation examinations privately.
MRS ABIDA MAHMOOD
Pakistan Education Watch
THE construction of a double track railway between Lahore and Karachi, announced recently by the railway ministry, will bring a revolution in the development of Pakistan provided this project is implemented earnestly and faithfully by dedicated and experienced engineers.
For early completion of the project, it should be divided into various sections which should be awarded to various contractors instead of only one. It should also be ensured that these contractors are financially and technically resourceful having the required modern equipment for laying the track expeditiously by working in three shifts.
With the completion of the project, more than 60 per cent of the goods load carried on the roads between Lahore and Karachi can be shifted to the railways. This will help to reduce both maintenance costs and accidents on the highways. The double track railway will also help to reduce the time for transportation of goods and travelling time for passengers.
It is hoped that before the completion of the Lahore-Karachi double track, the contract for laying of the double track from Lahore to Islamabad will be awarded and then the third phase of laying the double track from Islamabad to Peshawar and Landikotal should also be undertaken in a similar planned and systematic manner. This is a long overdue project of national importance which should have been undertaken in the 1960s or 1970s.
M.M. AKHTER SHAFI
Peshawar
APROPOS of Mr Jalaluddin Hussain’s letter ‘Dick Cheney’s remarks’ (March 5), I would like to add that Al Qaeda and the Taliban are the bane of the US. If the Americans are sincere about stopping infiltration of alleged terrorists from Pakistan, why don’t they help Pakistan to build the fence in volatile areas on the Afghan border?
Afghan President Hamid Karzai is against this fence, why? It is he who has no control over his own people and is blaming Pakistan. Why doesn’t he take back lakhs of Afghans who are creating trouble in Pakistan? The threats of sanction and attack on Pakistan from the US have encouraged India also to speak in the same tone. Probably, it might be the connivance of both.
The Americans should know that Gen Pervez Musharraf has done whatever was possible and the result to bend him more would be disastrous for America, as well as for entire South Asia. We had enough threats from various countries but if any attack is awaited on our territory, it would certainly start a world war. American chauvinism has resulted in failure both in Iraq and in Afghanistan.
S.M.A. RIZVI
Karachi
A NAÏVE question is being raised by responsible as well as common people. The question is: “Why doesn’t America follow with Iran the same policy as it has followed with North Korea in the matter of nuclear technology?”
One answer is obvious: North Korea is already a nuclear power having exploded a nuclear device. This cannot be reversed and is the result of the wishful thinking that North Korea would be brought to its knees by threats and economic compulsions.
The other answer is more important and that is: “Which is the lesser evil -– North Korea or a nuclear Iran threatening not only Israel but also the US hegemony in the Middle East?”
American Vice-President Dick Cheney reinforced this line of thinking in a speech in Sydney recently in which he said, more or less to the effect, that oil resources cannot be left in the hands of Islamic fundamentalists and extremists. In other words, the oil resources should be controlled by the US and its allies.
He reinforced this argument by saying that Muslims are dreaming of an empire stretching from Spain to Indonesia. In other words, in order to defeat this tendency the war in Iraq and an attack on Iran and later on any other Muslim country is necessary to control and contain the Muslim world. North Korea in this sense is not an enemy in the long run.
The only difficulty with this line of thinking is that unlike Communism, Islam cannot be rolled back as it is not a social or economic theory but a faith rooted deeply in a population of more than a billion people. It will take many generations and incredible death and destruction to accomplish this miracle.
F. HASAN
Karachi
Apropos of Mr Umer Sheikh’s letter ‘EMI Pakistan’ (March 1) and being a Sajid and Zeeshan fan myself, I would like to say all promotional activities like the pre-launch gig, radio shows and video were done in July whereas the album was released in September.
How would the fans know that the album was now available? Fans were searching the market in July and they couldn’t find the album anywahere. They had to wait for three or four months for the album to be available in the market.
Things have changed. An album and the artists need proper promotion. Damage to Sajid and Zeeshan’s album has been done.
However, my advice to EMI will be to get professional: what happened to Sajid and Zeeshan’s album should not be done to other artists. Let’s face the fact that album sales are just done in the first few weeks of its release. After that, it’s available on the Internet. So if your distribution and promotion is not good, the artists will suffer.
ADIL MUFTI
Peshawar
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