| March 25, 2007 | Sunday | Rabi-ul-Awwal 5, 1428 |
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March 25, 1971
Undermining Urdu
CNG consumers’ woes
Sketches of terrorists
An avoidable tragedy
Thank you, JPMC
Delisted public limited companies
The sword above
O Captain! My Captain!
Military leaders
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
WHETHER or not the reference against Mr Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry holds any truth, I do not know. But what I do know is that it reflects the heights of hypocrisy that Pakistani politicians have so painstakingly acquired.
A few months back, the government of Punjab held tests and interviews to hire officers for (ASIs or SHOs, I cannot recall) for Punjab police. A close relative of mine successfully completed the tests (both academic and medical). A person of authority learned about it, and offered him a guaranteed job letter in return for several lakhs.
Upon further investigation, it was learned that most, if not all, seats were reserved for those who gave forth cash presents to the Punjab government functionaries.
Yet, Gen Musharraf only sees his constitutional responsibility to make ‘non-functional’ one of the few officials who are making positive differences in the lives of ordinary Pakistanis.
A question both the president and the prime minister must answer: given that the CJ may have derailed the former’s bid for reappointment, and the latter’s suspicious involvement in the Steel Mills transaction, how do they separate this out from his alleged abuse of power?
Suppose even if all charges against him are found to be truthful, how will the two men of power be cleared of this complicated bias? The problem here is not the CJ’s ethics, rather it’s the pretension of the president and the PM of the purity of their motives.
Yet, the CJ whose ‘abuse of power’, even if proven, is really the norm in Pakistan, and an overwhelming majority of Pakistani citizens like myself share the blame for condoning and allowing a system of such abuse to take root in our amidst, was it not abuse of his authority as chief of the army staff when Gen Musharraf imposed himself on this country unilaterally?
I urge the media to ask the critical questions at this most important hour to bring forth a revolution of transparency in our country. If youths like me are to be expected to do good for the country, those who have the ability to support us must do so without fearing the consequences.
H.N.K.
Canada
MARCH 25, 1971 at midnight Operation Searchlight was launched and the then president of Pakistan, Gen Yahya Khan, had ordered Gen Tikka Khan, commander, eastern command, to ‘sort them out’, and he was referring to ‘sort out’ the citizens of his own country, who in the eyes of the government of the date were traitors and agents of foreign powers.
The Operation Searchlight achieved nothing but death, destruction, loot, plunder, rape and genocide of the Bengali people. It was the last nail in the coffin of the united Pakistan, the golden ‘Sohna Bengal’ was virtually turned red with the blood of innocent people of all ages irrespective of old or young.
All the foreign correspondents were ordered to get out of the Eastern Wing and a tight censorship was imposed on the local print media and in the darkness of the night the drama of killing the own countryman and destroying the beauty of Bengal was staged .
The tragedy of East Pakistan is one of the greatest tragedies in the history of mankind. The separation of East Pakistan is a unique one in the world history when a majority got separated from a minority, and the only reason of this unfortunate and dark chapter of our history is our behaviour and biased thinking towards Bengalis. The majority was never treated as the first citizens of the country.
Right from the day one they we considered them ‘low class’ citizens, even the Bengali language, one of the richest languages, was neglected, their beloved poet and Nobel prize winner Rabindranath Tagore was black-listed from textbooks of the country. The culture and traditions of Bengal was never given its due importance and share, no concrete steps were ever taken to address the genuine grievances of the people of East Pakistan, and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was compelled to “smell jute from the roads of Islamabad”.
As a citizen of Pakistan, I offer my sincere apologies to the people of Bangladesh for the murder of young students of Dhaka University, for the brutality and barbaric acts of people from Western Wing for the death of intellectuals and for keeping the Bengali nation for 25 long years as slaves, and through these lines I appeal to all Pakistanis to seek pardon from the people of Bangladesh. Some NGOs must come out with an aim to collect letters of apologies from all over Pakistan and send them to the people of Bangladesh or people from all walks of life must visit Bangladesh and at Paltan Maidan on behalf of all Pakistanis offer apologies to the people of Bangladesh.
The print media on this day must come out with special supplements highlighting the importance of the day with special references to the unfair and biased attitude of the ruling junta of West Pakistan, while the electronic media should come out to telecast the documentaries on this subject to let the present generation of Pakistan learn the facts about the separation of East Pakistan.
AAMIR AQIL
Lahore
THIS is with reference to the letter ‘Undermining Urdu’ sent by ‘A Pakistani’ (March 22). I am not a linguist or claim to be a scholar of any type. I am a simple software professional and admit that I don’t know much about the criteria to distinguish any two languages. I have never studied Urdu at my school and have never been to cities like Lucknow or Hyderabad, the famous places of Urdu ‘tehzeeb’ in India.
But I often watch PTV World and except the language used in the PTV Urdu news bulletins, I enjoy all other stuff like tele serials and songs, without putting any extra effort to understand their vocabulary. And I tell you they use the same language, what at India, we use in our daily life or the same being used in Bollywood movies of Shah Rukh Khan or Hrithik Roshan and, as far as I know, Bollywood movies are popular in Pakistan too, without the need of any dubbing or displaying subtitles.
And I presume Hindi is not a regular subject in Pakistani school curricula. Doesn’t it explain that the relationship between Hindi and Urdu is special and quite different than the same between Chinese and Japanese or between Arabic/Sanskrit and Bahasa Indonesia or among all the Celtic languages? Some things in our life are too obvious, just we need to think with an open mind without any prejudices.
We have inherited a common language and there are common attempts on both sides to replace it with an artificial and more patriotic one, a Persianised Urdu in Pakistan and a Sanskritised Hindi in our case. But despite all this scholastic manoeuvres, always, the language spoken by the common man triumphs and it will in our case too.
RITESH KUMAR
Indore, India
THE Consumer Protection Council has failed to take any action against the continuous rise in the compressed natural gas (CNG) price in the country, as members of the CNG Dealers Association and the petrol pump dealers are bent upon fleecing CNG consumers with both hands.
On March 14 the CNG Dealers Association distributed a circular to all petrol pumps mentioning that CNG price had been raised by 50 paisa per kilogram effective March 14. Since that date CNG is now been sold to consumers at petrol pumps at the rate of Rs33.50 per kilogram.
The CNG Dealers Association’s circular, being displayed at all petrol pumps, mentions two main reasons for increase in the CNG price: (1) increase in the electricity tariff and (2) increase in the miscellaneous expenses.
In less than three years, i.e., from November 2004 up to March 2007, the CNG Dealers Association increased the CNG price by Rs7.50 per kilogram, the details of which are as follows:
The CNG price was Rs26 per kilogram in November 2004. In 2005, it was raised by Rs3 per kilogram to Rs29. At the beginning of 2006, the price was further raised by Rs1.25 to Rs30.25. After the budget announcement the price further went up by Rs2.75 to cost Rs33 per kilogram. After the increase of 50 paisa per kilogram on March 14, CNG now costs Rs33.50 a kilo.
In view of the coming budget, it is feared the CNG price will further go up, putting the consumers under greater stress.
SYED A. MATEEN
Karachi
SPATTERED with the blood, the current year drags on. More than half-a-dozen suicide attacks struck the NWFP and other parts of Pakistan in the last two months. A number of innocent people, including some policemen, were killed.
Ironically, when a bloody incident occurs, the authorities ritually go through a stereotyped chart of activities in a sequential order. First, security is ‘beefed up’ after the incident. Second, the killings are ‘vehemently condemned’ by the powers that be. Third, an ‘inquiry team’ is put in place to investigate the incident. Fourth, ‘monetary compensations’ are announced for the dead and the injured.
Last but not the least, ‘sketches’ of terrorists and their accomplices, if any, are drawn up and advertised in the press. Eventually, the case slips into the veiled secrecy of investigation files.
Naturally, one is curious to know if any terrorist or his accomplice has ever been arrested on the basis of sketches. This remains a guarded secret.
SARDAR ALI AMAN
Chitral
ON Feb 24 our neighbour’s 12-year-old son, Hamzah, died in the most tragic circumstances. He, along with some other children, was attacked by a dog on top of the eight-storeyed Mall Square on Zamzama Boulevard, DHA, Karachi. Hamza ran desperately in panic to save himself but tripped over the 18-inch-high boundary wall on the terrace, and plummeted 100 feet down to his death.
News of this tragedy spread like fire and scores of people came to condole the bereaved family. Three weeks have passed. If we have a moment we should try to think back and find out what went wrong. There are three points noteworthy:
First, the 18-inch-high boundary wall on the terrace was extremely unsafe. It should have been at least three feet high. Who was responsible for this negligent construction and why was the wall not raised to an acceptable height in all the years the apartment complex has been open is a question which remains unanswered.
Second, the Mall Square Residents’ Association, if there is one, should not have allowed children to go to the terrace when the boundaries were so obviously unsafe. Whose fault was it?
Third, the dog was not on a leash. It was a vicious canine who attacked the children as they ran for their lives. Who was this dog’s owner and why had he not put the dog on a leash, is another question?
Furthermore, nobody from the Mall Square Residents’ Association, or the inhabitants of the penthouse in the immediate vicinity of the terrace, or the owner of the untrained unleashed dog came to offer condolences to the family or even express their regret. Total apathy?
In a developed country, with a sound legal system, the apartment association and the owner of the dog would have been sued for massive damages. Instead here we are calling ourselves a civilised race of people when the people partly responsible for this devastating accident, albeit indirectly, do not even have the heart to express regret, remorse or sorrow for what transpired.
We at 12th Zamzama Street feel very strongly that this incident should be probed and measures taken to safeguard against such tragic accidents. This is the least we all should do to share the pain, suffering and agony of our bereaved neighbours.
DR QAISER A. HAI & RESIDENTS
12th Zamzama Street,
DHA, Karachi
ON Feb 24 my grandson met with a tragic death at Mall Square. The children, playing on the 8th floor terrace, were attacked by a vicious ‘killer’ dog; and in panic running to save themselves, 12-year old Hamzah tripped and fell over the “only 18 inches” high, totally substandard and unsafe wall, to meet with a tragic death several stories down.
Many letters have appeared in these columns and write-ups against the haphazard construction of high-rise buildings, in violation of building laws, with the builders mafia able to ‘fix’ things through payment of fines for regularisation.
Mall Square Developers (MSD), officials, its architect, contractor, DHA officials and the dog owner may not have the courage or grace to admit or accept their fault or failure, express remorse or regrets. Our lives have been shattered with the loss of an innocent 12-year-old child, and whilst we reconcile ourselves in total submission to Allah’s will, since Hamzah’s time was up; we pray that Allah protect MSD/DHA officials and the dog owner and their children from such avoidable tragic incidents, entirely due to human fault and folly. Ameen.
KHALED A. BAAKZA
Karachi
ON March 13 at about 8pm while driving from Bhitai Town to the Defence, the tie-rod of the car driven by my young nephew suddenly broke down. Not only the car was severely damaged when it dashed into the wall of a bridge, my nephew was seriously injured and fell unconscious.
Fortunately, two gentlemen saw the accident and rushed to the scene and brought my nephew out of the vehicle after breaking its window glasses. In the meanwhile, they contacted us on telephone, numbers of which they found from the pockets of the injured. However, instead waiting for the family to arrive on the spot, they put the injured in a taxi and rushed to the JPMC.
The doctors and staff on duty available in the casualty ward of the hospital displayed a great sense of responsibility and immediately attended to the patient and despite his critical condition saved him by making all-out efforts and providing life-saving medicines gratis.
The conduct of the doctors and the members of staff was so empathetic and humane that I cannot hold myself from expressing gratitude on behalf of my family for attending to the patient so dexterously. I also want to convey my thanks to those two gentlemen who took my nephew to the hospital with all his belongings intact, which is again a rarity these days.
MANSOORUL HAQ SOLANGI
Karachi
I HAD applied for 500 shares of Rs10 each against initial public offering by Kohinoor Looms Ltd in March 1992. Ever since I am a shareholder of this company which is no more traceable now.
Like mine, thousands of its shareholders’ hard-earned money has gone with the wind.
The market value of its share plummeted from Rs10 to as low as 40 paisa by the year 1999 when it was declared defaulter and delisted and, subsequently, written off the books of the Karachi Stock Exchange without caring for the plight of small investors who suffered huge losses.
Is it that easy for the sponsors in our country to get away with the millions of subscription money without being accountable before any authority or rather the big wigs are given free hand to commit daylight robbery in a legal way.
The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan is believed to be working in the interest and for the safeguard of small investors, then how could such a thing happen right under their very nose?
A. RAUF SOZER
Karachi
THE judicial phrase ‘contempt of court’ is the most important tool of law. This deterrent was meant to be applicable to the four walls of the court room.
In earlier times this sword was extensively used by the Church of England to excommunicate and sentence the violators.
In the present age the contempt clause is extended to cover journalists and the electronic media. This inevitably provides near pharoanic powers to the rulers working under the umbrella of the judiciary.
RAFI ADAMJEE
Karachi
KHAN Sahib is dead. It was a privilege to serve under him. I cherished every moment of my association with my inspirational Editor.
He was truly a very special person — a perfect gentleman who respected his subordinates and made their day with affection and winsome smile. Every week as we – Ayesha, Amna, Misbah and myself – made our pilgrimage to his room to seek approval of the Magazine pages, Khan Sahib’s behaviour seemed to testify “a thing of beauty is a joy forever.”
The comparisons may sound odious, yet Khan Sahib’s death reechoes stirring lines I learnt at school:
“…O captain! My captain! Rise up and hear the bells;
Rise up! For you the flag is flung, for you the bugle trills:
For you bouquets and ribboned wreaths, for you the shores a-crowding:
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning …”
I know Dawn staffers’ loss. For I was once one of them.
May his soul rest in peace.(Ameen)
AKHTAR MAHMUD FARUQUI
Editor, Pakistan Link
California, US
BRIG. (r) A.R. Siddiqi, whom I hold in esteem and respect and very carefully read his articles, has expressed his views on the above subject in his article published in Dawn. He has briefly described the role of Ayub, Yahya, Zia and Musharraf. His views on the first three dictators are quite clear but with regard to Musharraf his comments need clarification and explanation.
In his article, Mr Siddiqui mentions that President General Musharraf boarded the democratic train derailed by a miscalculating prime minister. He further goes on to state Musharraf deems his legitimacy from constitutional engineering.
Both these statements require clarification because from what is known to the people at large that popularly the elected prime minister was ousted by the barrel of the gun and this was not derailed for the army to take over.
In any case, would Mr Siddiqui explain if there is a role designated either in the Constitution or the army rules to take over the reins of the government,
Mr Siddiqui’s second statement about legitimacy through constitutional engineering falls because Gen Musharraf himself is on record to have stated that the referendum was engineered and did not reflect the will of the people.
I am sure Mr Siddiqui shall be able to correct the general perception so as to know his views better.
MAHER ALAVI
Karachi
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