| May 21, 2007 | Monday | Jamadi-ul-Awwal 04, 1428 |
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City abandoned by authorities
Visa for India
Misrepresentation of history
A point to ponder
Language question in education
Poverty: wake up Pakistan
Why corporate sector remains stunted
Rights of all should be protected
Water shortage
Packaged milk
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
MR Bruce Riedel, who had worked for the CIA for 30 years and also advised three US presidents on national security, presented an analysis at a seminar in Washington (Dawn, May 11).
He says the core reason for Pakistan’s jihadist struggle is the Kashmir movement and it must be helped to free itself from this, for which the US should use its influence with India and Pakistan. Mr Riedel advocated a “carrots and sticks” policy for persuading Islamabad.
When some other scholars in the seminar suggested invading Pakistan to end the jihadist culture, he opposed it, terming it a strategic mistake of enormous proportions. He also alleged ties had developed between the Taliban and Kashmiri groups during the 1990s, “most dramatically illustrated” during the December `99 hijacking of Indian Air flight 814 from Kathmandu to Kandahar, “when Al Qaeda, the Taliban, Kashmiris and the ISI all collaborated together.”The gentleman has overlooked the most important factor responsible for radicalising Pakistanis: the recruitment, training and arming of jihadis after the Soviet invasion of 1979 by America and its allies, when Reagan had proudly declared, “I am mujahideen [sic]”. This had predated the Kashmiri freedom struggle begun in 1989. One feels that the gun and jihad culture spawned here due to the US-led Afghan operations partly got filtered into the valley – the majority being local fighters, as acknowledged even by the Indians. Therefore, it is misleading and hurtful to Kashmir and Pakistan for him to portray this as the real reason.
Instead, he should have blamed India for refusing to honour several UNSC resolutions urging the parties to hold plebiscite in the disputed territory, which were, ironically, supported by the US and almost every single country of the world in the 1950s. He has ignored the criminal occupation of many states, including Hyderabad, Junagadh, Goa and Sikkim by New Delhi, just as it had taken Kashmir. Also, what has caused the dozen other insurgencies in India, notably in its far eastern states, or of the Tamils in Sri Lanka? Are the Kashmiris or Pakistani jihadis responsible for that?
Regarding the hijacking, from Gen Musharraf’s memoirs it emerges that among the people released as a consequence were Maulana Masood Azhar and Omar Saeed Shaikh (accused of kidnapping Daniel Pearl later on). Shaikh, a British citizen, was reportedly recruited by the British agency M16 to join the jihad in Kosovo. He apparently took jihad to heart and upon his return went to Afghanistan for guerilla training and then to India in 1994 to secure the release of Azhar, who had been arrested from occupied Kashmir, but got caught himself.
One recalls that the Taliban had pledged their neutrality during the episode and facilitated, rather than hindered, the Indian foreign minister in reaching Kandahar and trying to resolve the matter. Also, from Omar Shaikh’s story it is obvious he was a product of M16; the ISI wasn’t involved and has been unfairly maligned. Details revealed in the book show Maulana Azhar was arrested after his return to Pakistan.
If the Americans invade Pakistan, they will only create a third Vietnam for themselves, after Iraq. They have obviously learned no lessons from the two debacles and many of them seem very thankless; helping such people only brings heartaches. Without our indispensable assistance, the West couldn’t have won the two Afghan wars and the Cold War. Bullying the desperate Muslims undergoing occupation and state terror in many places, or their supporters, could create millions of suicide bombers.
In contrast, another former CIA agent and head of Al Qaeda desk, Michael Scheuer, had made a fair assessment last year by saying that Pakistan has done more than any American ally, including Nato. But, this has created a real danger of civil war here due to resentment among the Pashtuns of the NWFP, he warned.
President Musharraf, due to his inordinate desire for power, has bent backwards to please the Americans but failed to make most of them happy and compromised our sovereignty, created serious divisions within the country and hatred for army.
Meanwhile, the US and its western allies continue with their inflammatory policies towards the Muslims worldwide, which is the root cause of the latter’s radicalism, as noted by many fair-minded western observers. The West can see the straw in the Muslims’ eyes but not the log in its own.
MEEM SHEEN
Karachi
KARACHI, the city of my birth, the city where everybody used to respect everybody, the city where discipline and dignity was the password, the city where authority rules supreme was turned into a nightmare. I asked “why, how, who”.
The answer to this lies in the fact that those in authority schemed, planned and executed their designs so well that it could be termed a ‘military’ exercise.
Hence there is no one to question who is responsible for ‘murdering’ 34 lives? Killing and injuring scores of people and then we are told that all this was done by the opposition! Are we so gullible to believe that.
Thanks to the brilliant TV coverage we saw and now know who the killers were? No political party worth its name would use violence to silence the other’s point of view.
This is done by trained people who do not mind killing to obtain their desired results. One day, Allah, Who knows who had killed would surely punish those responsible?
MAHER ALAVI
Karachi
SHERLOCK Holmes said to Dr Watson: “Then there is the curious incident of the dog in the night time.”
Watson, with his usual denseness, replied: “But the dog did absolutely nothing in the night time.”
“Aha,” said Sherlock Holmes, “that was the curious incident.”
DR A. AHMED
Karachi
WHAT we witnessed on May 12 was not a mere law and order situation, but the complete failure of the law-enforcement agencies to encounter the situation or perhaps they had no desire to encounter it.
Once again the city of Karachi was used as a political battlefield, this time the rivals being the chief justice and the government and its allies. What were they trying to achieve? What kind of image was portrayed to the world?
Unfortunately, there are no alternatives in sight. All political parties have had a chance in recent years and have miserably failed the nation.
The showdown between the chief justice and the government will continue perhaps on and off the streets of various cities of the countries but the city of Karachi has paid a very high price for it.
It is apparent to the whole nation that all players in this reprehensible episode of our history have disgraced themselves.
Would not the only dignified option left now be for both the president and the chief justice to resign?
In fact, they should have done it much earlier as dignity of the whole nation was among the first casualties in this war of egos that this country is made to suffer.
MAHA A JAFAREY
Karachi
MY father died in a road accident in India. I applied for the Indian visa through TCS courier service. I received back my passports with visa of 30 days stamped within seven days.
I called the Indian high commission in Islamabad requesting them to give me the visa for sixty days instead of 30 days as I had to take care of my ailing mother. The staff and the officers in charge were polite and explained me the procedure to do so. I sent them back my passports with a letter requesting an extension of the visas.
The officer-in-charge and the secretary of the visa section called me to inform that they have received our passports and they would do the necessary formalities concerning extension of visa for 60 days. Although he explained to me that there is no policy of extending the visa once stamped, on my request and explanation he agreed to talk to the higher authority and finally they stamped me the visas for 60 days as an exceptional case.
I must admit that throughout the process the visa officers attended all my calls, they answered all my questions and also called me back if they had any questions.
The most impressive factor is they were polite and very cooperative. I think the people in Pakistan should understand the right process of approach for the Indian visas.
I wish to thank the officers of the Indian high commission.
JUMANA IDREES
Karachi
IN her letter, ‘Misrepresentation of history’ (May 1), Noreen Mirza, without giving much thought to accuracy of facts and details, has drawn attention to the text of a title that was published in 1988, in Hong Kong.
This title by Peter Moss is not in use in Pakistan, nor is it marketed here by OUP Pakistan.
Moreover, when Peter Moss was approached to write the secondary series Oxford History for Pakistan, the text was carefully vetted and attention was paid to accuracy of facts and objectivity of approach.
It should be put on record that at OUP Pakistan we are particularly sensitive to adhering to the religious, national and cultural norms in all our textbooks, for all subjects and age levels, in terms of language as well as of images.
It is regretted that Ms Mirza did not update herself with the new and dynamic books published by OUP, and has instead chosen an old, out-of-date book not published in Pakistan to misguide and misinform the public which leads me to question her motives or hidden agenda for writing such a letter.
AMEENA SAIYID
Managing Director
Oxford University Press
Karachi
TALIBAN leader Mulla Omar had lost one eye but has continued to lead his followers against a superpower and its dozens of allies for six years with increasing vigour.
His military commander Mulla Dadullah had only one leg, yet he fulfilled his responsibilities perfectly and died on the battlefield.
While one doesn’t agree at all with the very strict version of Islam practised by these people, yet one must acknowledge their remarkable courage.
On the other hand, there isn’t a single American or Nato general known to have such handicaps; furthermore, they have the most advanced weapons, unhindered communication and latest spying facilities.
However, none of them personally led their soldiers on the frontlines or died in combat, according to one’s knowledge.
The Taliban leaders’ case appears to illustrate Leigh Hunt’s saying, “When moral courage feels that it is in the right, there is no personal daring of which it is incapable.” It echoes Cicero’s words, too: “A man of courage is also full of faith.”
S. AHMED
Karachi
THIS refers to the letter (May 17) of Mr K.M Chima about education in one’s mother tongue. I fully agree with his views that the government should boost the efforts to impart education in one’s mother tongue and bring the regional languages at par with Urdu. However there are a number of things mentioned in the letter which need to be corrected.
THE reason that Punjabi was not declared the official language of Punjab during the British era was because the people of Punjab were not agreeing upon a standard script for the language.
The Muslims wanted Shahmukhi while the Sikhs wanted Gurmukhi. The British also proposed the Roman script for this language but it was overwhelmingly rejected by the people.
Another reason was that the British regarded it more as a dialect of Hindi/Urdu rather than a fully-fledged language. Urdu was adopted as the official language because it had massive support with the Muslims of that province. The Hindustanis (majority in the eastern regions of British Punjab) were Hindi/Urdu-speaking and wanted their language to also be the official language along with Punjabi (they did not oppose Punjabi completely).
Thus it had nothing to do with the Hindustani. Plus it’s a known fact that the army during the Raj was drawn mainly from the Sikhs, Punjabis, Rajputs, Baloch, Pashtuns and Gurkhas. The reason that Punjabi has not been able to function fully as an official language of Pakistani Punjab is the lack of support from the Punjabis themselves.
They have time and again aligned themselves more with Urdu and English with many Punjabi families discouraging their children from speaking
in Punjabi, even in their homes. The reason that Sindhi and Bengali languages were able
to move up was because the ordinary Sindhis and Bengalis supported their languages and even laid down their lives for the cause.
In the case of Sindh the ‘new Sindhis’ were initially mislead that Urdu might lose its status of being the national language (that’s why they used the phrase Urdu ka janaza hai zara dhoom se niklay during the Sindhi language movement of 1972) but later they accepted Sindhi along with Urdu to be the official language of the province.
Imparting education in one’s mother tongue is something which the government should work on. For this the government should give all the regional languages the status of national languages (similar to India) along with Urdu and implement them as official languages in their respective provinces.
Secondly, the people should also come and make efforts to propagate their mother tongues by encouraging their children to learn them rather than putting the entire blame on ‘Hindustanis’ and ‘new Punjabis’.
M.S. RAFFAT.
Karachi
INTERNATIONAL definition of extreme poverty implies a daily income of less than
Rs 60 a day and moderate poverty an income of Rs120 a day.
According to the World Bank’s world development indicator, 74 per cent of Pakistan’s population survives on a daily income of less than Rs 120.
These figures, therefore, blatantly belies the trumpeting claims made by high functionaries of the government that poverty has reduced in the last seven years.
Those of us who have the eyes to see, ears to listen and a heart to feel the people’s conditions would testify that the truth is that the poverty has not decreased.
One feels extreme pain when one sees the colossal expenditure on the defence, the lavish spending on mind-boggling living and, above all, the big, big gap between the very rich and the poor.
Let us ponder and think, is it justified for the people of Pakistan to suffer in this manner? Islam tells us that no one should sleep hungry and if he does, we all are collectively and singly responsible for this. Wake up Pakistan.
MAHER ALAVI
Karachi
I MUST commend J. M. Sheikh for his brilliant article, ‘Why corporate sector remains stunted’ (May 12).
He has painted a true picture based on hard facts and his conclusion that Pakistan’s private sector has consciously chosen to shy away from preparing itself to prosper in a competitive environment while the government has failed to create the human resource platform – an essential element of the enabling environment -- is a valid indictment of the failure of our private sector to face the challenges of today’s economic and business environment.
The views of Mr Sheikh are a breath of fresh air as opposed to the mantra being promoted since long by the apologists of oligopolists and experts from the World Bank/IMF, particularly Shahid Burki whose educational background is more suited to writing on other aspects of human nature and history.
He should spare us his thoughts on economic issues.
IMTIAZ AHMED
Islamabad
FOLLOWING violent unrest in Karachi last weekend in which over 40 people were killed, and continuing tensions nationwide over the suspension in March of the chief justice of Pakistan, Amnesty International is urging the Pakistani authorities to vigorously exercise its duty to protect the rights of all.
Those seeking to exercise their rights of peaceful assembly and expression must be protected from attack by political and other opponents, and also be secure from excessive use of force by security personnel in the name of maintaining public order.
In the present climate of political tension in Pakistan, it is important that civil society be allowed peaceful assembly and expression without the fear or threat of violence.
The authorities must take urgent action against targeted attacks by competing groups, or incidents of brutality by security force personnel, if the risk of further political violence is to be avoided.
SHAHID BALOCH
Karachi
I WANT to draw the attention of the authorities towards the shortage of water in our locality.
I am a resident of Karachi’s North Nazimabad, Block H. There is no proper arrangement of water supply in our locality.
The pressure of water in the pipe lines is very low and sometimes it takes an hour to fill a can because the water trickles.
It has become a great source of trouble for the residents of this area. We cannot take a bath daily and also cannot wash our rooms freely.
We have been facing this problem for a long while but no action has been taken so far in this respect.
It is the right of the public to have adequate supply of water as they are paying full water taxes regularly. I request relevant authorities to take action in this respect.
ZAIN-UL-ABIDEEN
Karachi
MILK that is available in Lahore these days is mostly unfit for human consumption. Whether it is in Tetra packs or the 'gowalas', adulteration is at its peak.
Despite tall claims made in the media by the leading brands that the milk is ‘pure’, it sometimes smells of oil and has chunks of some solid substance in it.
I would request the food and health authorities concerned to kindly look into the matter so that people get milk that is safe for consumption after paying Rs39 per litre.
REHMA SHAHAB
Lahore
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