| May 31, 2007 | Thursday | Jamadi-ul-Awwal 14, 1428 |
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Mismanaged train service
Import of crude palm oil
Food labels
Frankenstein science
Secularism in Turkey
Cricket team selection
Windows without a view
IBA’s MBA
If gold rusts
Woes of old pensioners
HEC scholarships
We are equally responsible
THE theme for this year’s World No Tobacco Day (May 31), ‘Smoke-free environment’, is a timely reminder for all of us about the serious health hazards associated with environmental tobacco smoke (ETS, also known as second-hand smoke).
Smoking as a direct cause of premature deaths was well established way back in the 1960s – 1970s. Scientific research done over the last two decades has confirmed that exposure to ETS also leads to fatal diseases, including lung cancer and heart attack.
It is because of these scientific discoveries that almost all international airlines are smoke- free today. Many countries have completely banned smoking within offices and covered public places, including restaurants and hotels, as well as in public transport vehicles.
The placement of such bans has not only proved the fact that it is very much possible to implement them; interestingly they have come to be appreciated by smokers and non- smokers alike. Such bans have shown to significantly improve not just the respiratory health of indoor office workers but have imparted several other health benefits too.
Countries which have implemented such bans have also witnessed an overall decrease in the prevalence of smoking. In Pakistan, a ‘Prohibition of Smoking’ 0rdinance was introduced in the country in 2002 which bans smoking in all public transport as well as in indoor public places.
Unfortunately, very little efforts were subsequently made by the government to implement this law. A recent survey done in Karachi by the Pakistan Chest Society has shown that none of the restaurants and hotels is implementing this law. Some restaurants and hotels do have a section reserved for smokers but this does not provide adequate protection to those who are present in the hall.
Even the famous fast food chains, which have completely smoke-free restaurants in the US and Europe, are not enforcing smoking bans at their outlets in Pakistan.
For too long the tobacco industry has spent billions to normalise, market and glamourise a behaviour that is now recognised as a tragic drug addiction. Industry marketing has fuelled global consumption exceeding five trillion cigarettes annually, leading to a 100 million deaths in the 20th century and a billion deaths projected for the century ahead.
Those who have chosen to be a non-smoker have every right to breathe clean air. It is the government’s responsibility to ensure that all public places, as well as public transport, are free from ETS.
According to research, over 70 per cent of the children in Pakistan get exposed to ETS while travelling in public transport or visiting public places.
Implementing clean air laws in the country will not only improve the overall public health but will also remove those social stimuli that prompt people to smoke.
Experiences learned from Ireland, which implemented an indoor smoking ban in 2004, clearly demonstrate that a properly implemented and comprehensive ban on smoking at indoor public places results in immediate and significant health gains.
Within the first year of implementation of this ban, there was a significant drop in the prevalence of smoking across Ireland. Our government needs to implement the guidelines given by the Supreme Court of Pakistan in its suo motu action taken last year for the countrywide implementation of 2002’s Prohibition of Smoking Ordinance.
JAVAID A. KHAN
The Aga Khan University
Karachi
I SUFFERED hard while travelling by Pakistan Railways, I wish to bring this to the highups of the Pakistan Railways for taking some appropriate actions to save this organisation from self created losses.
I travelled by Sukkur Express from Jacobabad to Karachi Cantonment on May 21. When the train reached some abandoned railway station a few kilometres from Dabeji, the engine went out of order and the train was left standing on the main track for about two hours. Later a new engine was brought from Karachi but the train again made a halt at the Dabeji station for over an hour during which the first engine was detached from the train.
When we reached the Karachi Cantonment Station at 9.30am, we were late by over three hours. This train covers entire Sindh and is being used by the residents of nearby towns of Balochistan such as Dera Murad Jamali, Usta Muhammad, Suhbatpur, Dera Allah Yar and Rojhan Jamali. These passengers are mostly patients who travel to Karachi about their treatment but no one in the railways is answerable for mismanaging the train service.
After completion of my work I was scheduled to return by Quetta-bound Balochistan Express. When I reached the upper class reservation office at the Cantonment Station at 3.20pm on May 22, I was shocked to note that hundreds of passengers were denied current reservation on the pretext that in the absence electricity computers were not working.
On contacting the officer concerned about supplying a generator in such a situation, pat came the reply that though there was one available with them, at that moment that was non-functional.
The train which was scheduled to leave at 5.15pm left at 6.15pm. When it reached Udero Lal railway station, its engine went out of order, delaying the train for another three hours.
Who is going to rectify the situation?
IRSHAD AHMED SHAD
Jacobabad
MY family has been associated with the oil milling industry in Pakistan since 1948. We were also the first one to put up a solvent extraction plant in Chittagong in 1968 which was unfortunately lost due to creation of Bangladesh in December 1971.
The recent news circulating in the oil industry indicates that our government is considering reduction of import duty on crude palm oil by Rs1,000 per tonne which will not bring any benefit but may prove harmful to our country on the following grounds:
a. Crude palm oil refining requires proper degumming before it can be fully refined into an edible oil and this technique is not known to most of the refineries in Pakistan.
b. Crude palm oil will consume a large quantity of power and gas which are now in short supply.
c. Crude palm oil reacts within the tankers forming metallic compound which can be harmful to the human health.
d. Import of crude palm oil will not generate more job opportunities as most of the refineries are fully automated requiring very few workers.
e. There is likelihood of Malaysian government imposing higher duty on export of crude palm oil if they find that it is affecting the performance of its refineries.
Let us hope that our government will consider the above-mentiond factors before taking the proposed reduction in the import duty on crude palm oil.
RAZA ALI DOSSA
Karachi
MANY governments require food manufacturers to label the energy content of their product to help consumers control their energy intake. In Europe, manufacturers of pre-packaged foods must label the nutritional energy of their products in both kilocalories (‘kcal’) and kilojoules (‘kJ’). In the United States, the equivalent mandatory labels display only ‘calories’ (when used with a capitalised C it means kilocalories).
In Pakistan the use of packaged foods is on the rise but many packed foods are found without any calorie labels. The manufacturers here must also be forced to mention calorie counts of their food items. In this way, diseases like obesity and cardiovascular ones can be controlled. I think that newly established consumer courts can play a major role in this regard.
SAAD FAROOQI
Rahimyar Khan
LAST week the British government, in violation of European law, overturned its ban on the creation of human-animal embryos.
The draft of the Human Tissue and Embryos Bill would allow scientists to create a chimeric embryo by injecting cells from an animal into a human embryo, and a human transgenic embryo by injecting animal DNA into a human embryo. The first somatic cell nuclear transfers is named after the chimera - the fire-breathing female monster of Greek mythology who had a lion's head, a goat's body, and a serpent's tail.
On a biological level the pre-natal being is not like any other tissue: it is human with its own DNA indicating that, as a human, it has the same fundamental and moral right to life as any other human being. The proposed therapy performed on early human embryos is immoral because it alters forever the basic genetic constitution of the person and all of his or her future offspring.
Amazingly, though embryonic stem cell experiments have failed to produce a single, unqualified, therapeutic success, even in animal models, supporters of the embryonic model continue to laud their unproven and currently unethical methods and ignore the fact that adult stem cell therapies are being used extensively today in treating diseases.
We must help those who are suffering, but we may not use a good end to justify an evil means. Human beings are not raw materials to be exploited or commodities that can be bought and sold. To suggest otherwise is to endorse a macabre interpretation of progress. Pure and simple this latest method of genetic manipulation is nothing more than Frankenstein science.
PAUL KOKOSKI.
Canada
THIS has reference to the letter ‘Secularism in Turkey’ by Qamar Iqbal. He cites a report (Dawn, April 24) and concludes that most Turks are against a secular government in Turkey.
The report says 60 per cent of Turkish women cover up, and 59 per cent of Turks, according to a survey by think-tank Tesev, think Muslim women must cover their heads.
These statistics suggest that most Turks oppose, and rightfully so, the Turkish ban on headscarf in public schools, universities and parliament. But to conclude from the report that most Turks would welcome a religion-based government is a serious distortion of facts.
On May 13 large crowds in the Aegean city of Izmir rallied in favour of a secular government in Turkey, in spite of a bomb blast in the city on the eve of the rally. The media put the number of demonstrators at hundreds of thousands, with the Sky Turk news channel estimating as many as one million participants.(Dawn, May 14).
Before that, over a million Turks rallied in Istanbul accusing the government of planning a religious state and demanding it withdraw its presidential candidate (Dawn, April 30).
Religious groups have been trying to gain power in Pakistan, Algeria and Lebanon against the wishes of their people. Besides, scattered protests, the people in these countries, although against them, have not come out in large numbers and rallied against these religious groups. But people in Turkey have.
The fact that such large crowds rallied in favour of secularism in Turkey, brandishing Turkish flags and portraits of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, confirms that a religion-based government would be against the wishes of a significant percentage of the Turkish population.
As for the headscarf issue, being a Muslim I believe the Turkish ban on headscarves should be lifted. But being a woman, I would definitely not like to live under a government as in Iran where women can be arrested, lashed, fined or exiled for not wearing headscarves (Dawn, April 25).
Before lashing out at the founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, Pakistanis should remember that he was held in high esteem by the founder of our country, Mohammad Ali Jinnah.
Mr Jinnah was an admirer of Mustafa Kemal, sharing his attitudes on modernisation, nationalism and secularism. An admirer of Kemal's leadership in the Turkish war of independence, Mr Jinnah desired to implement many of Kemal's policies and reforms.
Recognising Mr Jinnah's admiration of Kemal Ataturk, the Turkish government has dedicated and named a major road located in Ankara after him. The road is called ‘Cinnah Caddesi’.
In November of 1932, Mr Jinnah read H. C. Armstrong's biography of Kemal Ataturk, Grey Wolf, and seemed to have found his own reflection in the story of Turkey's great modernist leader. It was all he talked about for a while at home that his daughter, Dina, consequently nicknamed him 'Grey Wolf'.
Being only 13, her way of cajolingly pestering him to take her to High Road to see Punch and Judy (her favourite puppet show) was, "Come on, Grey Wolf, take me to a pantomime; after all, I am on my holidays." [Wolpert]
KHUSHBAKHT VAKA
Karachi
FIRST of all, let me congratulate our new selection committee for including Salman Butt and Yasir Hameed in the team. They did justice with the players as well as with the team. Having said that, there is the selection of one player that has never made sense and he is Mohammad Hafeez.
Let me give you his record in ODIs. His average is 18.86 runs per match. His strike rate is 58.68. He has played 47 ODIs and has not scored a single century. He has made only four 50s. He is the opening batsman, mind you. His average and strike are the lowest among the current batsmen. He is the only batsman who has never scored a century.
Folks, opening batsmen are supposed to be the top-notch batsmen because the batting performance of the rest of the team depends on the opening partnership.
You cannot even select him as an all-rounder, because he is the lowest performer amongst the current all-rounders on the team. We expect more from selectors.
AQEEL SARWAR
Lahore
TRANSPORTERS of large intercity buses have painted the outer windows with corporate advertisements. This makes the inside of the bus a large viewless metal box, which hundreds of paying commuters have to use every day.
The transporters seem to have forgotten that people who travel in these buses would actually like to see out the window. Mobile advertisement is a new and novel way of advertisement placement, but there has to be some consideration given to the poor passenger who is actually not a mindless creature of a lower species but a paying customer.
Imagine sitting in a hotel room or a restaurant with the windows painted from the outside. Quality of life should not be sacrificed for a little profit.
FAIZA FAAIZ
Lahore
IBA has commenced its new two-year MBA programme. But this has added much to the misery of IBA’s BBA student because their three-year degree programme has now been changed to a four-year one.
However, it still admits students with two-year degrees like BCom and BA, enabling them to complete their MBA in four years while people who are doing BBA will complete their MBA in six years.
Would the HEC look into this matter and the IBA authorities make a move to solve the miseries of BBA students?
ASAD MUSHTAQUE
Karachi
GEOFFREY Chaucer (1343-1400) describes several characters of English society of the late middle ages in his famous ‘Prologue to the Canterbury Tales’.
Among the many flamboyant, haughty and hollow characters, one that really impresses one is that of the honest Parson. His entire poetry is in very old English, almost beyond comprehension, so I will just quote the transcribed version of his description of the parson:
“He gave this noble example to his sheep:/ he practised first and preached afterwards /and further added this saying;/ that if gold rusts, what shall iron do?”
Don’t the above lines remind us of the current social, political and judicial impasse in Pakistan and furnish our grandiose national leaders with a direction?
NAEEM SULTAN
Karachi
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 will be recalled that in the last year budget (2006-07) an increase of 15 per cent was given to all the federal government pensioners who had retired after 1977 up to 2006. And 20 per cent increase was allowed to those who had retired before 1977, the majority of whom is not alive now.
As a result, maximum benefit went to the new pensioners who had retired after 2001 under the new and attractive pay scales. Their pension is already on the high side as compared to the majority of old pensioners who stood retired onward 1977 to 2001.
Hence, old pensioners could not get a reasonable increase in their pension last year at the flat rate of 15 per cent.
Keeping in view their low pension and escalating price hike, they should have been given at least 25 per cent increase.
Now, in view of the forthcoming budget (2007-08), the ministry of finance is requested to look into the plight of old pensioners and ensure that they also get reasonable increase in their pension this year.
Z.A. ANSARI
Karachi
I WANT to share my experience of trying to get an HEC overseas scholarship for a PhD. I have gone through the whole process and come to two basic conclusions.
First, one will never be able to get an HEC scholarship until and unless he or she has got an acceptance letter/letter of consent from the professor who will ultimately supervise his or her thesis. Second, only those students are preferred who have done thesis in their master’s or have some background of research.
Sadly, the HEC does not bother to inform the applicants that the acceptance letter and research work are the most vital parts of getting scholarships. Most of the candidates fail to achieve scholarships even if they have a valid acceptance letter just because they have no research experience or have not done a master’s thesis.
It should be the sole responsibility of the HEC to inform the foreign professors that a master’s thesis is not offered in most Pakistani universities. Hence, this condition of research experience should be relaxed to a considerable extent.
SAQIB ALI KHAN
Lahore
THIS is with reference to the news, ‘Girl sets example for consumers’ (May 22). A Class IX girl, who believed that a company by not printing the price on its products is deliberately providing an opportunity to shopkeepers to overcharge, took the company to court.
I don’t know how much importance readers gave to this news item but if things are bad, we are equally responsible for it. Please learn to fight for your right.
I feel extremely proud of her and strongly believe that youth like her is ray of hope in this country.
RANA FAISAL
Karachi
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