| April 23, 2007 | Monday | Rabi-us-Sani 05, 1428 |
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BBC reporter's kidnapping
Lessons to be learnt
Inevitable bias & grudge
Worth repeating
KEE project: need of the hour
Cricket committee
Virginia Tech
Pakistan post
It can be done
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
I REFER to the news item (April 17) and the subsequent editorial entitled ‘Varsity teaching vacancies’ (April 18) published in your newspaper. In order to dispel the incorrect impression created by the news, we wish to share with your readers the measures that have been taken in order to ensure that the students who are being sent abroad for MS/PhD level scholarships return and serve in Pakistan.
Returning scholars have a much securer future in store for them than in the past. A much higher level salary structure has been created under the new tenure track system which starts at Rs66, 000 per month for assistant professors, Rs94, 000 for associate professors and going up to Rs174, 000 per month for professors.
All students being sent abroad will be employed at the higher salary structures under the tenure track system.
According to a statistical analysis carried out of the loss rate of students that go to various countries in Europe, Canada, the US, etc., we are sending students largely to those countries where the loss rate is very low (Germany, France, Sweden, Italy, etc.) and students prefer to return to their parent countries.
We are, therefore, deliberately not sending many students to the US, the UK or Canada, except under the Fulbright scholarship programme under which students are being sent to the US but two-thirds of the funding is being made available through USAID.
All students who have been sent abroad have guaranteed jobs for them on their return so that they do not feel frustrated for lack of job appointments under the placement of PhD scholars returning from abroad.
Furthermore, arrangements have been made with the embassies of the respective countries that students will not be granted work visas abroad on completion of their studies.
To provide them with an enabling environment, these returning scholars are eligible to apply for research grants of up to Rs6 million in the last year that they are abroad so that they can order equipment and other materials well before they return to Pakistan and join our universities.
So far over 1,200 students have been sent abroad and another 1,000 students will be sent abroad during this year on government of Pakistan’s scholarships. So far all students who have completed PhD degrees are returning to Pakistan — a 100 per cent success rate till now.
In view of the very comprehensive nature of the programme and excellent incentives and enabling environment offered to returning students, it is expected that the programme will be a great success. Time is required for the students to return after completing their studies and this cannot be achieved overnight.
AAYESHA IKRAM
Higher Education Commission,
Islamabad
IT has been about a month since the BBC correspondent Alan Johnston was kidnapped in Gaza. There had been a number of protests by the Palestinian journalists themselves as well as by others in his support, calling upon the kidnappers to free him. Even UN Secretary-General Ban kiMoon had spoken out for his release.
Unfortunately, according to a BBC report (April 15), a group that was never heard of before has now revealed that Mr Johnston has been killed by it. This is very intriguing because all those militants who take hostage always put forward some demands usually the freeing of their imprisoned comrades - to be met in exchange for the captives' release, but these people did not do so.
This has led one to consider the possibility that the Israelis themselves, in order to malign the Palestinian people, in general, and Hamas, in particular, may have staged this drama. This is so because Israel has been angry at the peace accord between Hamas and Fatah, brokered by Saudi Arabia in Makkah. The unity government formed as a result was likely to be recognised by the EU and other nations but Tel Aviv and Washington have been trying very hard to impede that. An incident of terrorism against a European individual would help turn European and world opinion against the Palestinians.
It is noteworthy that Israel had no hesitation in killing innocent westerners in the past. A few years back a young American peace activist, Rachel Corrie, had been run over by an Israeli bulldozer when she, along with some other activists, had been protesting against the bulldozing of Palestinian homes. Tel Aviv had later said this had happened by 'mistake'.
Last year, a British court had ruled that the Israeli forces were responsible for the killing of a British peace activist who, too, had been demonstrating in support of the Palestinians. These incidents make it very unlikely that any Muslim would have slain the innocent BBC reporter.
A. ABDULLAH
Karachi
TANWEER-us-Saqalan’s rejoinder (April 19) to my letter of the same title epitomises the fantasy in which many in our nation indulge incessantly.
Mahatma Gandhi is a legendary figure, quoted by world leaders from east to west and north to south. He was the inspiration for, among others, Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela.
The movie ‘Gandhi’ was made in 1982 and has nothing to do with his fame. John Lennon was another famous admirer of the Mahatma and often quoted him. He was shot dead in 1980. The movement against the Vietnam War was founded on Gandhi’s principle of passive resistance. This again occurred 15 or so years before the movie was made.
Gandhi had the qualities of humbleness, simplicity and selflessness all of which Muslim leaders of the 20th century have lacked. He is admired universally, transcending religious, national and cultural boundaries. No amount of propaganda will lessen his legend, least of all calling him ’half-naked’.
It was India that gained independence in 1947. Pakistan was created, not liberated on August 14, 1947 for it did not exist before that. Gandhi’s philosophy has not failed. It triumphed in the independence of India, in the civil rights movement in America and in the end of apartheid in South Africa. India, for all that you deride it for, is the world’s largest democracy. It has performed the agricultural miracle of being a nation of a billion people that is self-sufficient in wheat. Its cultural influence is spreading all over the world.
As Mr Saqalan has very correctly mentioned in his letter, we have ungratefully buried Jinnah’s ideals. That is exactly what I was bemoaning in my letter. Until we stop thinking of India as our perpetual enemy and making excuses for our many shortcomings, we will never progress. We can learn a lot from Gandhi’s teachings. He believed in the triumph of the human spirit, not in the triumph of armies, religions or nations.
KHWAJA SHAMAAS
Lahore
AYAZ Amir’s recent articles has sparked a strange discussion among the readers of Dawn. He is being held as having a personal bias and grudge against Musharraf, ‘the dictator’, and Daughter of the East, ‘the plunderer of the country’s wealth’.
Musharraf toppled down the public government and imposed an oligarchy on the people of Pakistan. Then he crippled the country’s Constitution only for his vested-interest. He plunged into the war against terrorism without the will of the nation. His cruelty does not end here. His very recent assault on the judiciary and all previous steps taken on the dictation of the US have compelled every sensible Pakistani to have a grudge and bias against him.
What did Benazir do for the country? I think her and her spouse’s milestone deeds do not have any need to write about. The right of freedom of expression could not escape from these so-called leaders.
Now the sole crime of Ayaz Amir is that he presents the realistic picture of the past and the present. Unfortunately the truth is not endured in society in which we live. I am a Chakwalian but it does not mean at all that I am supporting him.
History would tell his bias and grudge better than me. I think every sensible and patriotic Pakistani must have personal grudge and bias against those who have been engaged and who are engaged in cutting the roots of the country.
It is Pakistan that belongs to Amir and our personality that is why there is bias and grudge against the dictator of the time.
NABEEL ANWAR DHAKKOO
Chakwal
IT would be a great service to the nation if you could reprint these words of wisdom from your editorial of April 9 for at least one week on your front page: “With the development mantra growing louder by the day, the health of the environment is becoming increasingly irrelevant in the official scheme of things. The country’s well-being is now defined largely in cosmetic terms, as apparent from the growing number of exclusive, fortified housing projects, luxury hotels, golf courses, private clubs and other assorted playgrounds of the wealthy.
‘‘The welfare of a tiny segment of the population appears to be of paramount importance in the current order of business and the powerful developers’ lobby the driving force behind government policy. The opportunity for graft and personal enrichment also cannot be discounted as a factor in the ‘development’ drive being witnessed across the country.
‘‘Contracts worth billions are being handed out at an enormous rate, fuelling allegations that a portion of these funds is being pocketed by some top officials. If so, it would partly explain why new façades of prosperity are being raised with such rapidity.”
What the present government is doing is no way to run a country. We are being let down.
KAISER ALAVI
Dhahran, Saudi Arabia
YOUR editorial, ‘A flawed project’ (April 8), discusses the proposed Karachi Elevated Expressway (KEE) one-sidedly, saying little about whether it would also help to lessen the ever increasing problem of traffic mayhem.
Of the several objections raised about this project, the one relating to its future environmental impact has been overemphasised. Although Karachi has grown vastly polluted, to put the blame for this squarely on the construction of material structures, such as overhead bridges, would be unfair.
The blame mostly should rest with the industrial sector where effective controls for containing polluting effects have been found wanting.
As regards the hazardous emitting of smoke from vehicles plying on streets and roads, the same is mainly due to the failure of the concerned governmental agencies to enforce the relevant traffic rules and environmental protection policies formulated from time to time.
Equally to blame here are those social elements including major transporters that have no regard at all for environment for their petty interests. These are some of the issues that remain to be resolved with determination.
However, large-scale conversion of vehicular traffic on CNG as a means of energy is going to prove productive in preserving the environment of the city to an extent and that the government should further encourage the public in this regard while facilitating the purchase and installation of the CNG system by bringing down a bit taxes on the import of CNG system items.
As for the other aspects of the KEE, such as the provision of alternative routes for commuters during the construction of the project, the timely completion of the venture, the quality of work, the need for putting in place a permanent setup for post-completion maintenance of the project are some of the issues that need to be worked out so that the designed objectives of this project are achieved and that the public is spared of the trauma that has otherwise become a common feature associated with the construction activity throughout Karachi.
If projects like KEE are not taken up, Karachi’s traffic problem will become unmanageable, which cannot be allowed as Karachi is not only a commercial hub but a symbol of modern Pakistan.
The commissioning of several overhead projects, though the quality of their work remains debatable, has somewhat relieved the public, providing it with relatively fast and smooth passage at certain points during their travel which does not only save them time and fuel but also helps avert their mental anguish.
There has also been a considerable talk about the need for making the mass transit system a reality. This system is, indeed, one of the many needs of this city and that the realisation of this project would go a long way in providing relief to the people. But to say that this project would in itself be capable of catering to the traffic needs of the city completely would be incorrect.
One has to just look at the ever-growing city population and the constant influx of people from other parts of the country to conclude as to how a single railway network would meet the demands of the public. A mass transit system can supplement the road traffic network quite well and, therefore, merits due consideration.
Also, as it is no longer possible to reverse the rising trend of buying or rather renting personal vehicles on the basis of easy leasing arrangements offered by almost all financial institutions, getting people to board trains is going to be next to impossible. As a result, every passing day is going to witness a large number of vehicles getting on the roads for which there is hardly any space available.
It is, therefore, the need of the hour to go for such projects as KEE to avert a severe traffic mess that would otherwise make Karachi a living hell for its inhabitants. However, we should also evaluate the benefits of the project to the public. If we find some technical flaws in its design or some faults in its overall implementation, we must come forward and make them known to the authorities concerned.
AFTAB AHMED SAHTO
Karachi
MAKING Salim Altaf a member of the World Cup performance evaluation committee, which has been set up to salvage the ruin that is Pakistan cricket, is akin to sending Jack the Ripper to conduct the autopsy of his victims.
Mr Altaf is complicit in creating the policies that have reduced Pakistan’s standing in the cricket world to that of a toothless giant blinded by its own elevated sense of importance.
Like Dr Naseem Ashraf if not more, Salim Altaf needs to admit mistakes made by the PCB under his management before we can hope to re-build Pakistan cricket.
Like the PIA planes that were barred from flying into EU because they were not fit for purpose, the PCB should also be rid of PIA personnel (Altaf, Bari, Talat) who have also failed miserably to deliver.
Instead of querying all and sundry about what went wrong, it should be Saleem Altaf answering questions and providing an explanation to the committee for the demise of Pakistan cricket.
We never learn, do we?
TARIQ RAZA
Woking, UK
IT was sad to see 33 innocent people lose their lives at Virginia Tech University. When they said that the killer was of Asian decent, I was praying that no Muslim was involved. Later we found out that he was from South Korea.
What surprises me is the way media covers such stories. If he were a Muslim, the Taliban would have been linked in some way or the other.
Words such as Islamic militant, Islamic extremist, Islamic fundamentalist and Islamic terrorism would have been used. But since he is not a Muslim, the media is now disclosing that he was mentally ill.
I wonder why such words are only used for Muslims and Islam. Our media certainly needs to do more against such stereotypes.
FAWAD SULTAN KHWAJA
Peshawar
FINALLY we have discovered that the ‘weapon of mass destruction’ is in the hands of young Americans.
Besides revealing the sorry state of the American government combat against their gun culture, it also shows that the government has not done anything since the tragic episode at the Columbine school in 1999.
I believe it is right time for the American government to look into their internal affairs first.
YASER MAQSUD
London
THIS refers to the letter ‘Pakistan post’ (April 10) by Albert Samuel, who was all praise for our present-day postal services dishing out snail mail in the face of newfangled e-mail and fast courier services whose name is legion.
At the same time there is a complaint by an old gentleman like me (April 13) lamenting paucity of post offices in Malir and adjoining areas in particular. To this I may add that generally speaking the shortage of post offices is in the whole of Karachi.
The new breed of town planners has ignored to demarcate space for post offices at convenient points within a populated locality in their blueprints. I live in the sprawling settlement euphemistically called Defence Housing Authority, which has one main post office off Sunset Boulevard and another post office in Phase II near the marketplace. There used to be a franchise outlet in Darakhshan market, which was closed down long back.
Being an octogenarian and living in Seaview Apartments I have to go all the way to the post office in Clifton opposite the driving licence department of the Sindh police, where parking is prohibited. With crippling limp I have to stagger up to the counter to hand over an envelope for franking.
It is needless to add that there must be a post office in each phase of the fast-extending DHA. There must be a postal point for a reasonable population within the Clifton cantonment limits. It may be out of place to add that we have destroyed an institution left behind by the Raj. The post and telegraph department used to be the hallmark of efficiency of the colonial era.
There is a newly-constructed community centre within the Seaview township. The high-ups in the postal department and the DHA may decide to open a sub-office there for the convenience of the public at large.
MOINUDDIN KHAN
Karachi
THIS is with reference to your editorial ‘Reeling under a power crisis’ (April 19). Conservation is a good idea and this can be done not only by switching off lights when they are not required, but also by using energy-efficient appliances.
The state of California is planning to replace conventional light bulbs by fluorescent lamps, thereby reducing energy consumption by 60 per cent. Our government can first discourage manufacture of light bulbs greater than 40 watts and then ban their use entirely. It will be difficult, but it can be done.
SHAKIR LAKHANI
Karachi
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