| June 08, 2007 | Friday | Jamadi-ul-Awwal 22, 1428 |
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Bank returns versus depositors
Eight per cent inflation?
Bilateral discussion
Loadshedding mess
Apostasy law
Dangers of Siachen glacier
Traffic mess
Salaries and pensions
Imran’s integrity
Ayub’s diaries in perspective
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
SELDOM do the Pakistani media and journalists cross their limits, especially during a military regime. But now they are going through a very bad time with the state getting more powers to shut down television stations or withdrawing the licence of any TV channel.
We all have witnessed how Geo TV's broadcast was stopped in several cities of Pakistan on March 14. Such sufferings for journalists and the media have not come as a shock, as we expect such harsh treatment in a dictator regime.
But neither the nation nor the media should be disheartened by these cruel justifications but take it as a potion of strength. We salute the media for its neutral role and performing its duties as it should.
The government should remember one thing, the masses are not stupid, they know very well what is going around and such veils and bans only make their side of the story more negative.
FILZA G. SIDIQI
Ireland
ACCORDING to a news report, Pemra issued a letter to all TV channels urging them not to air programmes that ‘encourage violence’ or promote an ‘anti-state attitude’.
Violence in any case should never be promoted but can Pemra please define what ‘anti-state attitude’ is?
Is there a difference between ‘anti-state’ and ‘anti-government’? Pemra is requested to elaborate the difference between ‘anti-state’ and ‘anti-government’.
IMAD QURESHI
Indianapolis, USA
PRESIDENT Gen Musharraf is in the process of pushing through draconian legislation by strengthening the arm of Pemra, all this in an effort to curtail press freedom even further as Pemra will have the authority to cancel licences, seize equipment and seal offices.
Under the label of ‘enlightened moderation’, the general gave full licence to broadcasters to transmit all manner of vulgar images as defined by Islam.
When challenged regarding this and its harm on society, especially with regard to corrupting the minds of the youth, there was no Pemra action. Instead the meagre reply from the government was: “Who ever does not like it should simply lower their eyes”.
Well, if Gen Musharraf does not like what the news media is covering regarding public reaction to his policies, there are two solutions: either he change his policies or follow the same advice he gave us and lower his eyes by changing to an alternative channel.
I admit he might not be able to find a news channel other than PTV ignoring such vital issues. Once he gets bored with PTV, he can always turn to one of his ‘enlightened’ and ‘moderate’ channels, sit back and enjoy the images while his empire crumbles.
HAMID NIAZI
Lahore
THIS refers the news report on business pages, ‘Banks not offering good return to depositors’ (June 6). That the banks' spread is rising is not a marmalade- dropper news, but the inexplicable depositor behaviour is.
Everybody knows that the SBP governor is continually asking depositors to ask for high returns from their banks and switch banks if they were not satisfied. One can imagine the kind of pressure the governor must have exerted on banks to raise their term deposit rates, under which most banks are actually offering pretty decent profit rates on their term deposits.
Why is an average depositor not taking advantage of these high profit rates is baffling the analysts. After all, cheque deposits are rising fastest among all savings instruments in Pakistan and this is not a new trend.
Banks are carrying a high amount of cheque deposits (current and PLS) on which they are not supposed to pay any worthwhile profits if depositors are indifferent. The question is, why is an average depositor so indifferent, and not willing to switch over to the higher-yielding term deposits?
An average depositor is also oblivious to his or her entire disadvantage about the existence of money market funds in Pakistan, some of which (no- load ones) are yielding as high as 10 per cent profit per annum on even one week deposits, which can easily beat the inflation.
An average depositor just wants to keep his or her funds in cheque deposits. Someone ought to investigate this irrational behaviour.
Banking spreads can be narrowed if the SBP puts a limit on banks' mark-up on loans, which is not going to be a new thing in Pakistan. That will hurt banks' huge profits, but the depositors will not learn a lesson on rationality.
Perhaps the government or the SBP should put large advertisements in newspapers that would read: "Please, we beg the depositors to earn nothing less than 10 per cent per annum on their surplus funds".
This would be very funny indeed, but who knows it might even work.
MUHAMMAD AASIM MAQBOOL
Karachi
IT reminds me of the kid from a rich family who was asked by his teacher to write a story about a poor family and he started as: “Once upon a time there was a poor family. The family was so poor that their driver, guard and housekeeper were all poor…”
The official economists by the power of aggregation fight so well with the adversities faced by the common man that they seem to be non-existent. They can very easily prove the eight dead along with the two alive to be all 20 per cent alive.
In today’s newspaper the estimated inflation figures have been revised to hit about eight per cent instead of the target of six per cent. About two weeks back this estimate was given at 7.5 per cent.
The reason behind this increase is the price hike in perishable and non-perishable food items that have, according to the official figures, hit 18 per cent for perishable and have crossed nine per cent for the non- perishable food items.
Think about the basket of commodities used to measure the consumer price index and then think about the 30 per cent population that according to official figures live below poverty line. (Poverty line defined as being below the ridiculous amount of earning of Rs830 per head.).
And so at least another 25 per cent are very close to this poverty line. That makes the majority of the population of Pakistan. Think about the basket of commodities they have. The property valuation issue or the worries of educating their children do not bother them. More than 80 per cent of the basket is filled with food items to keep them alive. They are not hit by eight but in reality 16 per cent inflation.
It is hard to expect any relief but can we expect any adjustment in the definition of the poverty line? At least a number of people who may be wondering about not being poor but still having nothing would know that they can also count themselves in the poor of this nation.
SHABIH HAIDER
Lecturer, IBA, Karachi
THE piece in your paper, ‘Indians have proposed Manmohan visit on March 27’ (June 7), seems to have been written in a parallel universe where the Indian Rajya Sabha is the Raja Samba and one of its better known members, Nirmala Deshpande, is Normal Desponded.
It is only in that universe that India could have proposed a visit by its prime minister so that the president of Pakistan could attend the Saarc summit in Delhi.
In this regard, governments do not quite act like that. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said more than once that he has accepted President Musharraf’s invitation with pleasure and looks forward to his visit, which will, however, take place when substantive outcomes can be expected from it.
We have not reached that point yet and have not discussed dates for the prime minister’s visit. In that other universe, it seems that India, having also sought a formal meeting in Hamburg between its external affairs minister and the foreign minister of Pakistan, did not then respond after Pakistan indicated a date and time.
In the real world, India did not seek a meeting, since the two ministers had recently had a detailed discussion at the Saarc summit.
The ministers had a chat on the margins of the Asem meeting. This is how most bilateral discussions are held at multilateral conferences.
May I say that, for an Indian diplomat in Islamabad, reports like these add to a normal despondency.
SANJAY MATHUR
First Secretary,
Indian High Commission,
Islamabad
WHEN Gen Pervez Musharraf seized power in 1999, he had strongly criticised the (PPP) government for allowing IPPs to produce electricity using oil. He had said that those IPPs were the main barriers in bringing down electricity charges. But after eight years of pathetic power generation planning and when the oil price is extremely high, the government is even encouraging opening new IPPs.
This late decision not only shows compromise but also causes punishment to the people to either sit idle without electricity every day or to buy a generator. The inverse effect of flawed plan has become exponential and multidirectional as the increase in sales of generators and its huge consumption of oil has also led to unnecessary increase in imports (of generator and its fuel) burdening the country and individuals in their daily expenses.
The tragedy is not over as yet. When people find a gas kit as a cost- cutting device of generator use, the Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) has now found its time to exploit customers and has announced it will take action against those who are using gas generators without informing the company.
The overall situation shows that people are finding ways for the solution to their problems themselves and the government is trying to make every way a dead-end.
The government should understand the gravity of this issue. Today, when the nation is already bearing around nine per cent inflation, the additional frustration and expenditure caused by loadshedding is creating immense problems for us.
HAMMAD AHMED SIDDIQUI
Karachi
THIS refers to the letter ‘Apostasy law’ by Zakir Ahmed (June 1). He mentions two unnamed scholars and quotes a hadith to prove apostasy is punishable with death in Islam. I am sure those scholars must be reputed, but I have to point out that not all Islamic scholars agree that is the case.
Regarding the hadith quoted by Mr Ahmed, Jamal Badawi (an Egyptian-born Canadian Islamic scholar) writes in an article on the apostasy: "...this hadith does not state the ruling concerning those who merely apostatise from Islam; ..Hence, it is not valid to base the view that the punishment for apostasy is the prescribed death penalty."
He concludes: "The preponderance of evidence from both the Quran and Sunnah indicates that there is no firm ground for the claim that apostasy is in itself a mandatory fixed punishment (hadd), namely capital punishment."
Shaykh Muhammad Tantawi is one of the Grand Imams of Al Azhar University. To Shaykh Tantawi, a Muslim who renounced his faith or turned apostate should be left alone as long as he does not pose a threat or belittle Islam.
Ibrahim Syed, president of the Islamic Research Foundation International, writes in his article on the subject: "One grave misunderstanding of Islamic beliefs over the years is that Islam doesn't tolerate apostasy."
Syed writes further : "Islamic scholars from past centuries -- Ibrahim al Naka'i, Sufyan al Thawri, Shams al Din al Sarakhsi, Abul Walid al Baji, and Ibn Taymiyyah -- have all held that apostasy is a serious sin, but not one that requires the death penalty."
Specifically, Syed notes the words of the respected scholar in the history of Islamic jurisprudence, Shamsuddeen al Sarakhshi, who stated, "renunciation of the faith and conversion to disbelief is admittedly the greatest of offences, yet it is a matter between man and his Creator, and its punishment is postponed to the Day of Judgment."
Reputed Pakistani Islamic scholar Javed Ahmed Ghamdi writes in his book Mizan: "It is absolutely evident that now if a Muslim becomes an apostate and is also not a source of nuisance for an Islamic state, he cannot be administered any punishment merely on the basis of apostasy."
As the apostasy law is being considered in Pakistan, I would like to point out an interesting fact.
S. A. Rahman, a former chief justice of Pakistan, argues that there is no indication of the death penalty in the Quran.
In his book, Punishment of Apostasy in Islam, Rahman declares the verse 2:256 to be "one of the most important verses of the Quran, containing a charter of freedom of conscience unparalleled in the religious annals of mankind . . .". He goes on to criticise the attempts by Muslim scholars over the ages to narrow its broad humanistic meaning and impose limits on its scope in their attempts to reconcile it with their interpretations of Muhammad's (pbuh) Sunna. Different Islamic scholars have different views about the punishment for apostasy. But it is certain that the Quran is silent on the matter.
In fact, the Quran encourages tolerance and freedom. One only needs to read the verses [2:257], [10: 99],[18:30], [88:22,23) and [109:7] to know the truth.
When the mullahs demand that apostasy be made punishable with death in Pakistan, they forget what the Quaid said in February 1948: "In any case, Pakistan is not going to be a theocratic state to be ruled by priests with a divine mission"
UZMA
Karachi
THE presence of an entire division of the Indian army in the Siachen glacier has caused immense damage to the already frail ecosystem of that region. I'm sure the situation is the same on the Pakistani side as well.
Both armies have acknowledged that they have lost more men to the hostile weather than to enemy fire.
It is sheer madness to stay perched on such heights in such weather and in the process cause immense environmental degradation.
A huge network of rivers in the northern part of our subcontinent is fed by the glacier. The region also hosts a variety of flora and fauna.
Any melting of the glacier will endanger the life forms there and also reduce the water flow in the rivers.
This in turn will affect the climate and raise the temperature and lead to further melting; irrigation and hydroelectric power generation will also suffer.
Both the governments must realise the dangers in store for their armies and to the ecosystem and take immediate steps to demilitarise the region and repair the damage already done.
RAGHAV IYENGAR
Chennai, India
A HOST of reasons -- like the growing number of vehicles, absence of underpasses and overhead bridges at key locations, absence of or non-functional traffic signals at required sites, breakage of roads due to heavy traffic load without regular repair, blockage of roads due to protest rallies and strikes, interruption of smooth traffic flow due to VVIP culture, violation of traffic rules by bigwigs and their exoneration without any punishment, encroachment on the roads by vendors, parking of vehicles at 'No Parking Zone', unlawfully constructed buildings and illegal bus stands — have created a traffic mess in all the big cities of Pakistan.
Without removing these bottlenecks the dream of a streamlining of traffic flow will never be materialised.
The government has recruited hundreds of traffic wardens to improve the traffic system but they must also be empowered like the Motorway Police to indiscriminately fine the violators.
The electronic and print media should launch a campaign to create public awareness about the traffic system and to inculcate a respect for traffic rules.
In this way menace of traffic choking can be averted to ensure a smooth flow.
DR TANVIR H BHATTI
Lahore
FAMILIES of meagre means have hard time pulling through in an inflationary economy. Incomes have remained, more or less, static for the working class and the fixed-income groups but the cost of things has increased beyond means, and prices are rising very silently and rapidly.
To sympathise with the salaried class and pensioners, the government has announced it will allow increase in salaries and pensions. To point out, formal increase of five per cent, especially for pensioners, is a kind of joke in the name of relief.
The government must allow uniform increase of 15 per cent in pension irrespective of grade and without bar of any time period of retirement. Price hike is a common issue and concerns all pensioners equally.
Therefore, uniform increase would facilitate an access to basic needs and attending to old-age health problems etc.
ZULAIKHA YOUSUF
Karachi
NO matter what Imran Khan’s detractors and opponents say about his past, what has become certain over the course of years is his unquestionable integrity when it comes to his political career.
In the rotten mess of Pakistani politics, he seems to stand for his principles and has not succumbed to the pressures of conformity for the sake of power.
In the broad scheme of things, Mr Khan is probably one of the very few Pakistanis who have brought some glory to the country. It is sad that a person of such high integrity and honesty in Pakistani politics stands such a low chance of ever succeeding in leading this nation. I hope I am proved wrong in the time to come.
TAIMUR A KHAN
Lahore
COMMODORE (r) S. Sajjad Haider in his article, ‘Ayub’s diaries in perspective’ (June 3), defends Air Marshal (r) Asghar Khan. Every human being is an amalgam of qualities and weaknesses.
Can anyone give a single example in the world where during a conflict the country’s Air Chief telephones his opponent, without the knowledge of the Army Commander-in-Chief, suggesting that both air forces stay out of the conflict? Air Marshal (r) Asghar Khan did precisely this during the Rann of Kutch conflict in 1965. His retirement orders from the Air Force soon followed.
A lot has been said by the commodore. Detailed answers and more he will find in my book, Glimpses into the Corridors of Power to be launched on July 31.
GOHAR AYUB KHAN
Islamabad
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