| March 12, 2007 | Monday | Safar 22, 1428 |
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Defining strategic depth
New currency notes
Rescuing the Keenjhar lake
Benefit to one
Selection fiasco
Ahmadinejad visits S. Arabia
Internship programme
Dr Saeeda Malik day
Truly corporate entity
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
IT is said about the Italian mafia that it always gets its man. The same can be said about our army. The already muddled up and sad judicial history of this country perhaps received its final blow when the Chief of the Army Staff, who also happens to be the president of Pakistan, summoned the Chief Justice of Pakistan to the Army House and informed the highest judicial officer of this country of the charges of misconduct against him.
Accordingly, a reference was made by the Chief of the Army Staff- cum-President under Article 209 of the Constitution to the Supreme Judicial Council, and the chief justice was suspended from his duties.
During the five hours that the CJP remained at the Army House, the acting CJP took the oath while the most senior justice, Mr Rana Bhagwandas, was conveniently in India. Meanwhile, the acting CJP has said that it is not decided as yet whether Justice Bhagwandas will be a part of the inquiry committee against Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry.
No doubt that under Article 209 the president has the right to make a reference to the Supreme Judicial Council on the advice of the prime minister, however, under what authority the president suspended the CJP remains ambiguous. Furthermore, the Doctrine of Separation of Powers was torn to pieces with the suspension of the CJP by the president.
The charges levelled against Justice Chaudhry are comical to say the least. In fact, the causa patet for this reference can be traced back to the landmark judgment concerning the Pakistan Steel Mills deal and more recently the serious notice taken of the enforced disappearances of the citizens of this country. In the sordid judicial history of Pakistan Justice Chaudhry was a radical figure and he paid the price. Today the judiciary of Pakistan has lost its fiercest defender.
SAAD AHMAD KHAN
Karachi
IT was very sad to learn about the removal of a person of such ability, courage and integrity as the chief justice, Mr Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. His removal from office marks another black day in the history of this country.
His crimes include calling high-ranking police officials to court for explanations about their misdoings, issuing suo motu notices on the calls of the needy, cancellation of the Pakistan Steel Mills deal and calling for probes concerning missing persons. The chief justice was one of those who had the means and ways to tackle the evil of society, and he was doing it very well in that capacity.
SHIRAZ MEHMUD
Karlskrona, Sweden
THE CJ has been charged with abuse of power and corruption. Without being found guilty as yet, he has been suspended under Article 209 of the Constitution. Article 209 gives the power to establish a Supreme Judicial Council which, in turn, has the power to inquire into the conduct of judges. The Council includes the CJP as a member. If a judge who is a member (including the CJP) of the Council is under investigation, then the Council has the power to remove that member for the purposes of that particular investigation under the legal doctrine aliquis non debet esse judex in propria causa ( nobody should be a judge in his own cause). There is, however, no part of Article 209 that gives the Council the power to suspend the office of the judge concerned, which is exactly what the Council has done.
It is ironic that the president finds that charges of abuse of power against the chief justice of Pakistan should result in his suspension, but his federal law minister, Wasi Zafar, who blatantly abused his position by avoiding security checking at Karachi airport and let his son badly beat up an innocent passenger, still maintains his position.
ADVOCATE MOHAMMAD ALI
Karachi
THE Human Rights Commission of Pakistan is understood to be doing good work for the country and its people, but the commission’s selection of dates for ICJ jurists to conduct a two-day-long hearing akin to Nuremberg trials is certainly an unwise exercise to belittle our position in the eyes of the world.
I was deeply hurt to read a news item, ‘Pakistan paying the price for US policies, jurists told’ (March 6), wherein the former law minister said: “Under the false notion of “strategic depth” Pakistan supported the policy of the US which recruited mercenaries under the banner of jihad to fight its war against Russian forces…… et al.” Moreover in the news some Pakistani jurists were reported to vilify Ziaul Haq.
First, it should be known to jurists that our armed forces are well disciplined and equipped to fight external wars on all fronts provided our jurists work for national cohesion, without indulging in a vilification campaign against the head of state who died on duty in a plane crash 37 years ago.
Second, Zia ensured that Russians were held back as the real strategic depth existed then: otherwise they would have swarmed into the plains of Punjab.
Third, Indians were busy conducting large-scale military exercises, viz, ‘Brass tacks’, with live ammunitions alongside our Sindh/Rajasthan borders then, it was Zia who dexterously played a world-class nuclear card at Jaipur (India) single-handedly, defusing the border tension. Thus Zia’s statesman-like move was lovingly acclaimed all over the world as ‘cricket diplomacy’ due to the fact that at that time cricket was being played at Jaipur. I wonder why our former ministers do not bother to do their homework religiously before facing the ICJ etc. In any case, these foreign panels of jurists, i.e., the ICC etc, turn a blind eye when they are required to adjudicate Muslim genocides.
MOHAMMAD AHMAD
Karachi
THE State Bank of Pakistan has nearly completed the exercise of issuing new currency notes of different denominations.
It is not clear why this exercise was undertaken. It was never explained what was wrong with the existing designs. There was not the slightest initiative from the public at large asking for the change of designs.
The SBP conducted a big publicity campaign with a lot of fanfare. Advertisements on a very large scale were issued to inform people about the great changes and their distinctive features. With great expectations the unveiling and coming into operation of the new currency notes was awaited.
The notes already in circulation were distinctive, beautiful, eye-catching and very easily distinguishable. The sizes were proper. They were pleasing to look at and easy to handle. Even an ordinary illiterate person having no claim to intelligence would not be misled.
I have had the good fortune of handling currency notes of many countries of the world in my half a century of service and retirement. I always felt that our currency notes were more beautiful than the currency notes of any other country of the world.
Now look at what has happened. The new currency notes are hardly distinguishable. The sizes have been ridiculously reduced, making it inconvenient to handle them. While any fears about devaluation of the currency have been checked, one look at the new notes indicates the optical devaluation of the currency.
The head of the SBP comes from a class about which Iqbal said that the colours of the picture of the universe are because of them. Alas this is not shown in this case. The new notes issued by the bank show total aesthetic bankruptcy.
Unless the SBP is insistent upon sticking to its position, it should revert to the earlier currency notes and phase out the new notes gradually. I do hope that my earnest plea is not a cry in the wilderness. I wish we had a scientific method in this country for ascertaining the wishes of the people.
In Switzerland, sometimes even strangely trivial matters are decided after ascertaining the wishes of the people. If the people were asked to express their preference, I am sure a vast majority would like to continue with the old currency notes.
SAFDAR HUSSAIN KAZMI
Islamabad
IN 1981 the Haleji lake evaporated and all there is left to it is a dry piece of land. Water did not come there again, which was once a source of water for Karachiites and small villages and towns around the lake.
With the passage of time, the same is going to happen for the Keenjhar lake. If anyone has been to the lake recently, they must have noticed that there is no animal sanctuary around it, the only sanctuary there is of people bathing in swimsuits, floating on rubber wheels and taking people out for rides on a boat that has an attached motor, that creates noise and pollutes the water.
Mind you this is the same water that comes to Karachi. Our entire water supply is based on the water that comes from the Keenjhar lake. Our life works as a cycle: the amount that you give to nature, it gives the same back to you.
History is repeating again and due to pollution of noise, people and litter the wildlife does not come near this area. There is an over-access of fishing, and as the little fishes are also being eaten, the cycle of the fishes maturing and laying eggs will come to an end and there will come a time when there will be no fishes or shrimps in the lake.
There will be no birds coming to eat on these fishes, and with the rapid access of tourism happening there, people will be throwing their garbage into the lake. To prevent from killing our main source of water, help rescue the Keenjhar lake and make Karachi a better place to live in.
Moghal
Karachi
TAKING cognizance of the fact that the price hike continues to add to the common man’s woes, the government was kind enough to reduce the price of petrol on Jan 15 by Rs4 per litre and that of diesel by Re1 per litre.
However, it is unfortunate that the basic purpose of the move has been defeated by the greedy transporters mainly because of poor enforcement mechanism on the part of the government.
It has been about two months now since the reduction took effect, but a reduction in transport fares does not seem to be in sight. This phenomenon has at least reinforced the impression that whether the prices of petroleum and diesel go up or down, the transport mafia remains the sole beneficiary. The common man always ends up as the loser.
In order for the benefits of reduced prices to reach the common man, it is a sine qua non that the government also follows up on whether the intermediaries pass on the positive impact to the consumers and take action against those not doing the needful.
M. SHAHID DAYO
Ghotki
DAWN’s editorial, ‘Selection Fiasco’ (March 3), summarises the Pakistan Cricket Board’s Quixotic wisdom in a nutshell.
The PCB chief, Nasim Ashraf, said at a recent press briefing that Asif had a lingering elbow injury for more than six months. Please remember: “Straws show how the wind blows.”
In the recently-concluded South African tour, our extremely talented strike bowler Mohammad Asif was made to bowl about 150 overs in a month’s time in spite of his injury and the fact that the World Cup was at a hand-shaking distance. Out of these, 126 overs were bowled in three Test matches which were played back-to-back with hardly a span of three days in between them.
This should have raised quite a number of eyebrows. A false tale often betrays itself. In the presence of an injury, he was totally squeezed and drained till the last drop of energy was lost. How come? Who is responsible for that? Have a look at cricketing history and see how often do you find fully fit fast bowlers bowling 14 overs at a stretch — let alone an injured one.
Can this be taken as a remedy worse than the disease itself? Or there is a second choice that the doping scandal is true and the wise and know-all of the PCB knew that there is no World Cup for Asif.
The editorial goes on to say that the “PCB has yet again made Pakistan the laughing stock of the cricketing world”. Without going into details, I would just add that outside the cricketing world we are not any better.
Aesop’s, the famous fable writer, left a message for our PCB elite. A crow was jealous of the raven — since the latter is considered a bird of good omen and always noted by his flight to predict the good or evil course of future events. Seeing some travellers approaching, the crow flew up and perching itself on one of the branches cawed as loudly as she could. Before anybody could start taking it seriously, one of the travellers said to his companion: ‘It is only the caw of a crow, and her cry is no omen’.
Moral: Those who assume a character which does not belong to them, only make themselves ridiculous.
NASIR KHAN
Kuwait
RECALLING the old duo Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis will not, however, solve the problem our team has been having with its opening pair. I think this can be solved by also recalling openers Ramiz Raja and Amir Sohail. It must be pointed out that Inzamamul Haq, Mohammad Yousuf and Azhar Mahmood are already old and gold.
SHAUZAB
Islamabad
THE remarks made by Jaffer Naqvi (March 6) about the Pakistan cricket team were highly derogatory and offensive. It is just beyond my imagination that one can pass such insulting remarks against one’s own national team.
If we cannot encourage our team, then the least we can do is not discourage them. If one is so concerned about one’s sleep, one should not be watching the game at all.
Be positive. By the way, the inclusion of Asif, Shoaib and Razzaq in the team would not have guaranteed anything, even the completion of full 50 overs.
TARIQ MAHMOOD
New York, USA
IT was indeed exciting and moving to see Saudi King and Iranian President walking hand in hand. Thanks to Dawn for publishing such a shot (March 4). I wish to see similar photographs more often. I also wish Iranian President should visit other Arab, Gulf and Muslim states and is received and conducted with similar reverence by his hosts.
The eggshell in which Iran has been living for the past 30 years must be broken now. The sects (Shia and Sunni in existence since 1,400 years) should not be allowed to come in the way of seeking economic and political unity among the Muslims. For this, I would suggest that the influential Muslim states/leaders should stop looking at other Muslim states through American lenses.
At the same time, Iran should take a step forward, demonstrate its willingness to listen to the reason and show readiness to cooperate in the fields of economy and world politics without bringing the internal systems of a neighbouring and Muslim state into consideration.
The Muslim leaders must aim at improving the quality of life of their people by integrating their people rather than continue to discuss mundane issues and internecine conflicts. The present-day EU and Asean are the living examples of high quality of life of the peoples that has been achieved by integrating national economies.
CDRE (r) SHAHID NAWAZ
Islamabad
I completed my post-graduation last year and have been wandering continuously for the last six months to get a respectable job -– without any success.
Each and every advertised job in the public and private sectors pre-requisitely requires a specific work experience. For a fresh graduate, work experience is not possible in a vacuum. As a result, a large number of educated young people are either unemployed or under-employed.
In the prevailing frustrated circumstances, the ‘National Internship Programme” of the government is a ray of light for the young people to get expertise immediately after their academia and get respect in job market for their future career.
While some analyst criticised the programme referring it to the election campaign of the government, in my view this step of the government is a part of positive politics, which should be praised. In spite of using negative tools over political victory, the government’s approach seems straightaway positive.
MUHAMMAD IMRAN
Faisalabad
THE Sindh government must be congratulated for its unique creativity and astuteness. While the rest of the world wasted time, money and speeches on celebrating International Women’s Day, the Sindh government instead decided to celebrate Dr Saeeda Malik day on March 8.
The day began with a two-page Dr Saeeda Malik supplement in all major newspapers of the province. This taxpayer-funded initiative displayed six large coloured photographs of the woman minister, including a message describing the glorious strides in liberty and equality that women in Sindh have achieved in the past few years. Words like legal empowerment, socio-economic empowerment, political empowerment and capacity building were used to describe their unique accomplishments.
Oblivious of these high-sounding words and achievements, Naseema Lebano, Kainat Soomro and Mukhtaran Mai stood in silent vigil outside the Karachi Press Club. They only seek dignity and justice. They understand that the two-page newspaper supplement, studded with ministerial portraits, may promote something but not the cause of women.
NAEEM SADIQ
Karachi
Pakistan also celebrated this day with lots of functions, where all the VVIPS participated to show their support.
The ideal support would have been if the culprits of Mukhtaran Mai case would have been convicted and put behind the bars.
S. JAMEEL HUSSAIN
Karachi
GETTING a fixed-line PTCL phone is a hard task, but getting a phone disconnected is even harder. I applied for the disconnection of my telephone 051-4445476 on Aug 21, 2006 at I-10 exchange in Islamabad. I was issued a receipt no. 20060821001043 saying ‘close’. I also paid a subsequent bill the next month that showed some calls were made before the application for closure.
But since then, the PTCL has been regularly sending me monthly bills showing line rents.
I again request the PTCL management to stop sending me bills for a disconnected phone, and stop charging for the services which were not rendered. It was expected that after privatisation the PTCL would become a truly corporate entity, but the case seems otherwise. The company seriously needs to simplify its procedures to facilitate customers.
MASROOR MOHSIN GILANI
Islamabad
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