| March 18, 2007 | Sunday | Safar 28, 1428 |
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Chief Justice case
Ensuring press freedom
Familiar story
A minister in distress
India’s deceptive shine
Ethics of organ transplantation
Social responsibility
US blackmail on F-16s
Dengue cost
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
WHEN the chief justice of Pakistan was ‘suspended’, people replied to my objections against Gen Musharraf’s action by saying that “he is the best president we have had in years, and there is nobody better than him to lead us”. When Geo television’s office was attacked on Friday, someone again argued that “we have never had freedom of the press and justice, why shout about it now?”
It is true; I admit Gen Musharraf’s policies are good, and logic — actually, self-interest and apathy — would dictate that we suck it up and ignore his authoritarian acts. But truth is that the unconstitutional removal of the chief justice and attacks on the media point to a very obvious struggle to not only snatch power from the judiciary, but also the people of Pakistan.
It is no coincidence that the first chief justice of Pakistan to be ‘suspended’ is also the first one who ever questioned the ISI’s authority, just as it is no coincidence that the television channel that was ransacked was also the one mincing its words the least. The situation speaks of a systematic attempt to silence all voices that would dare oppose the regime. To stand by and let these heinous acts happen is as vile as the acts themselves.
Justice, democracy and freedom of the press are not mere theories; they may sound rather idealistic to some of us, but I assure you they can be attained and they are worth fighting for. If now we do not stand up for what is right and honourable we do not deserve, as a nation, to have a government that is interested in its people. We think that no leader will ever treat the people of our country as they deserve, but the truth is, no government respects its people until they assert themselves.
SYED SHIMAIL REZA
Islamabad
I SUPPORT Gen Musharraf in all the things he has done with regard to women empowerment, education reforms, economic development, a ‘freer’ media, etc. But the fiasco created by him with regard to Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry is quite ridiculous; also where is Justice Rana Bhangwandas? These measures by the government have made moderates like me realise that Musharaf may not be the right person to run Pakistan; he is alienating even the people who support him.
I wonder who the government’s PR managers are since the government is committing one blunder after another. Images of lawyers being beaten up by the police were flashed on all the western channels and newspapers. Is that the soft image that the president wants?
I thought that Pakistan’s media was free but I choose to write ‘freer’ above because it’s not really free since the government has banned a flagship show of a leading Pakistani news channel and then attacked the channel’s offices in Islamabad. It also keeps telling the media to be careful in what it says about the chief justice issue. Also the Dawn news channel is not being given a licence to operate in Pakistan.
A free media should be allowed to say and do whatever it feels is good for the country, not for the government. It is quite sad that the government chose to jam the transmission of two news channels a few days ago to make an example to warn the other channels.
The MMA is trying to gain political mileage from the issue but they cannot gain back any support after they openly lied about resigning from the parliament before and after the passage of the Women’s Protection Act.
FAWWAD SHAFI
Lahore
THE sudden and arbitrary removal of the chief justice of Pakistan by the president is shocking. It has brought to an end the revival of the rule of law, judicial activism and independence of the judiciary. The chief justice was trying suo motu to know the whereabouts of a large number of missing persons arrested by the ISI on the alleged suspected links with Al Qaeda. He had issued instructions to the government for locating such persons and to bring them to a trial.
The government was also not happy with the apex court’s judgment in the Steel Mill privatisation case wherein it was observed that the deal was made in “violation of law and gross irregularities”. The government also feared that it would not be able to obtain favourable judgments in respect of pending cases, especially the move to have the existing assemblies re-elect Gen Musharraf as president for another term and, lastly, the role of the ISI.
Perhaps, there were other reasons for the sudden removal of the chief justice of Pakistan — like the contents of a letter by advocate Naeem Bukhari addressed to the chief justice wherein serious allegations were made against him. The allegations were taken seriously by the chief justice and contempt proceedings were initiated against the advocate. However, with the chief justice becoming ‘non-functional’, the said proceedings were dropped and the chief justice lost the chance to vindicate his position.
Whatever the motives behind his removal, the president should have acted according to the provisions of Article 209 of the Constitution and should have awaited the decision of the Supreme Judicial Council. The hasty decision has tarnished his image in the eyes of the people. Perhaps, the president has followed Ziaul Haq, who removed chief justice Yaqoob Ali along with five senior judges. However, the removal of the chief justice in the present situation has jeopardised the chances of the president’s re-election by the present assemblies as the weight of the public opinion may prevent the assemblies from electing him as president for another term.
The way the chief justice was made ‘non-functional’ has undermined the image of the judiciary and its independence and from now on a sword of Damocles would hang on the heads of all superior judges.
A.S. PINGAR
Karachhi
I OFTEN find myself in the unpopular position of defending the government while it suffers a verbal pelting in most (pseudo) intellectual debates. For the most part, I don’t mind playing devil’s advocate, particularly in the midst of what is largely mindless liberal propaganda. I am convinced that there are things that the government is doing right — policies and actions that go unappreciated by the press and, therefore, the public.
For instance, I always believed the present government did not get nearly as much credit as it deserved for giving the media a free reign; it meant that our leaders could take constructive (and destructive) criticism in their stride. That the press had more freedom under a military junta than it did under all our democratic Sharifs and Bhuttos was a significant feather in the general’s cap.
Which is why I was disappointed — crestfallen even — to read (in a news report covering the APNS meeting) that the government had been using advertisements to control the press. According to the news reports printed on Feb 23, newspapers that had been covering the Balochistan issue against the advice of several government agencies had managed to ’annoy’ the bureaucratic powers that be, to the point that government advertisements for these newspapers had been banned.
The fact that the state has resorted to such carrot-and-stick mechanisms to win media silence and public complacency is worrying; it seems like a sign that we’re in more trouble than we know. Such publicity is corrosive to the ‘softer image’ that the entire state machinery seems to be geared towards producing. This then, with all due respect, is a plea to our leaders: ensuring press freedom in a country like Pakistan, where responsible journalism is only starting to be learned, is a big deal. Please don’t ruin a job well done.
KHADIJA AHMED
Lahore
LET’S rewind the tape: a general comes into power after a decade of pseudo-democracy in which the army overtly and covertly influences things with the assistance of the establishment (a cabal of civil servants, ever-green politicians, and opinion makers).
The general oversees an economic boom which is unprecedented in the region, but marked by an unfair distribution geographically and class-wise, a major alignment with the US to an extent that outraged nationalists.
Two military debacles followed in which soldiers died being sent for poorly planned operations that killed hundreds for no good reason.
He is aided by his own carved-out version of the Muslim League taken from odds and ends of different parties, and the fact that the opposition is discredited and deeply divided.
Approaching nearly a decade in office, his police rough up some people for no rhyme or reason but the next day the country is paralysed by a total confrontation by a significant segment of the population and the government.
The opposition, who had little to do with the initial strikes and protests, throw their weight behind the movement followed by a wide cross-section of society.
Rather than resign and give power to even his own handpicked civilian second in line, the general instead hands it over to another army chief. He does this in part because the army generals wanted to wield political power just as much as he did, but also because he feared that he would be held accountable for his own acts, not of financial corruption per se but ‘the abuse of power’.
Sound familiar? It should; it’s the story of the rise and fall of Field Marshal Ayub Khan. To say that our leaders never learn from history would be an understatement.
ZALAN ALAM
Manchester, UK
SINCE the tragic bomb blast on Samjhota Express, the myth of the “growing relationship” with India has been busted. What is left is clear from the plight of Sheikh Rashid Ahmed. Why he did not go to India to meet his counterpart is still unclear. Why details of how the passengers will travel, what documentation will be done at different stages, what information will be shared by both the countries, and why such details were not chalked out well before entering into the deal with India are all questions which still remain unanswered.
Why our worthy minister did not resign if he is so helpless is yet another question which demands an answer. It is the matter of the lives of Pakistani citizens which were lost; does it provide any comfort to know that the responsibility of their security lay with the Indians? What a shame to give such excuses.
I urge the minister to talk less and do more. Bickering on TV about the non-availability of list of passengers and non-cooperation of Indian authorities is an unending tale that only makes us sadder to see incompetent people sitting at the helm of the affair.
SYED MASOOD HAIDER
Multan
INDIAN defence outlay for their new fiscal year presented recently showed a big increase of 11.6 per cent over the amount actually spent last year, taking it to Rs960 billion (Dawn, March 1).
The Indian finance minister, P. Chidambaram, while announcing the budget, said 43 per cent of the proposed defence expenditure was earmarked for equipment purchase. "Any other additional requirement for the security of the nation will be provided," he told the Lok Sabha.
In the same issue another report said: "Daughters not wanted — in India." I was literally moved to tears by what is happening in India that is supposed to be shining.
A visit to an orphanage in New Delhi had showed its writers Raekha Prasad and Randeep Ramesh that girls outnumbered boys by four to one. In reality, most of them weren't orphans but abandoned babies who were found dumped outside police stations, railway toilets, crowded fair grounds, bus stations or put in cradles kept outside the orphanage for the purpose.
Early in February, the police discovered 400 pieces of bones believed to be of female foetuses in a town in Madhya Paradesh. Last September, the remains of dozens of babies were exhumed from a pit outside an abortion clinic in Punjab. The couple running it had disposed of the evidence by melting the flesh with acid and hammering the bones into smithereens.
In a report from last year by two journalists were TV pictures of doctors from four Indian states and 36 cities talking with chilling casualness about how to dump the remains. As a result of such female foeticide, nearly a million unborn girls are eliminated every year, resulting in a sex ratio at birth (SRB) of 882 girls per 1,000 boys. This has created a generation of men unable to find wives, causing social unrest in their areas.
Other reports say hundreds of farmers have committed suicides in recent years due to poverty. Indian columnist Kuldip Nayar has noted (March 3) that the reason why the nine to 10 per cent growth rate of the country is not resulting in uniform benefits is that the upper half of population is its real gainer, while the lower half has remained static.
He has also decried the growing communalism over there, for which the BJP and the other Hindu fundamentalist parties are largely blamed. This aspect of India has been poignantly highlighted in Mike Marqusee's article, 'A blind eye to bigotry', (Dawn/Guardian Service, March 2).
He writes: "Five years ago this week, across the Indian state of Gujarat, the storm troopers of the Hindu right, decked in saffron sashes and armed with swords, tridents, sledgehammers and liquid gas cylinders, launched a pogrom against the Muslim population."
Mr Marqusee goes on to describe some of the atrocities of these terrorists: "The pogrom was distinguished not only by its ferocity and sadism (foetuses were ripped off from the bellies of pregnant women...) but also by its meticulous advance planning."
Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi of the BJP was the principal culprit behind this genocide. The police sided with the attackers and in some cases fired at the Muslims trying to flee the mobs. When asked to help a group of girls being raped on the roof of a building, the police officers demurred, explaining: "They (i.e. the Hindu extremists) have been given 24 hours to kill you."
The writer concluded with another eye-opener: "An array of interests — in New Delhi, London and Washington — is dedicated to ensuring the atrocity is consigned to oblivion,. because the events of 2002 did not conform to the paradigm of the war on terror, in which India is a prized ally of the West."
If these get exposed in the UK and the US through the feature film 'Parzania' made on the subject, "it will offer a ... countertale to the fashionable fable of the Indian neo-liberal miracle, exposing the brutality and bigotry that have gone hand in hand with zooming growth rates and hi-tech triumphalism."
K. CHAUDHRY
Karachi
THE proposed ‘Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissue Ordinance, 2007’ has been presented in the wake of the unethical renal trade in Pakistan. Apparently, one of the major objectives is to stop the sale of organs in Pakistan.
Many of us in healthcare feel that the ordinance in the current form actually ‘legalises’ such unethical practices. One of the WHO guiding principles in organ donation is that “the donor should be free of any undue influence or pressure and sufficiently informed to be able to understand and weigh the risks, benefits and consequences of consent”.
The policy at SIUT and other ethical transplantation centres in our country has always been to allow living blood relatives to give organ donations after a very strict screening, keeping in view the above guideline. One of the major issues of our concern is that the ordinance allows room for non-blood relatives to donate living organs.
Anyone who understands healthcare in developing countries knows how easy it is to exploit the loopholes in the law. If such a law is promulgated in the current form, anyone can be coerced, persuaded or exploited to donate his/her organs. The most likely victims are the poor, bonded labourers and women.
We should learn from India that had a similar flaw in their law and ultimately placed a ban on organ trade a decade ago, to which let me add that we should learn from the mistakes made by others even before making our own.
Before it is too late and before the ordinance is signed into a law, we urge anyone who cares to discuss and deliberate on the issue.
Why not promulgate a fool-roof law that addresses the needs of our population?
DR MOINUDDIN SIDDIQUI
Ziauddin University,
Karachi
AS I drove down Zamzama Street recently, it was very sad to witness a group of young boys in a Suzuki Alto, licence plate # AFZ 265, throwing some form of liquid at the pedestrians.
They were thoroughly enjoying this and showed no concern for the poor passersby. This yet is another reminder of how important it is to educate the youth regarding ‘social responsibility’ at the school level so that they can grow up to be socially responsible residents of Karachi.
ZAIN YOUSOF
Karach
ONE agrees fully with the thoughts of Mr Shiraz Mehmud's letter, 'Blessing in disguise' (March 13) regarding the F16s ordered by Pakistan, whose delivery is becoming doubtful due to American legislators' intervention.
During the past year, many concerned writers and correspondents, including this one, had been cautioning the government against ordering these fighters from the US, given the fate of our previous order placed in the early 1990s. Not only that, but these F16s would be no more than 'toys' or 'fangless' weapons, due to the severe and unprecedented restrictions on the avionics package to be supplied and the aircraft's use in highly protected environments, such as around India's strategic assets and military bases.
It would be much better to scrap this deal right now, even if that causes some financial losses and look for alternatives although they would cost more. Apart from the excellent job done on the JF17 Thunder, we should also consider working jointly on the new fighter jet J10 of our Chinese friends, which is said to be in the same category as FI6, SU30, Mig29, Mirage 2000, Eurofighter and Grippen (Dawn, PAF Advertisement Supplement, April 5, 2005).
KHALID NAQSHBANDI
Karachi
THE dengue outbreak last summer is estimated to have cost upwards of Rs7 million (Dawn Metropolitan, March 1). This estimate does not, of course, include the economic and non-economic losses caused by the number of lives that were lost.
Wouldn’t it have been wiser (knowing that dengue fever is being reported for the last few years) to invest in preventive measures in the first place?
DR SEEMA I. HASSAN
Karachi
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