| June 12, 2007 | Tuesday | Jamadi-ul-Awwal 26, 1428 |
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Media acting as a mirror
Family on a motorcycle
Bush’s spin
Legal profession as a commoner sees it
An EIA is a must
Banks versus consumers
Harassment
PTCL affairs
Disaster
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
AFTER the retirement of Dr Ishrat Hussain from governorship of the State Bank of Pakistan, a few months later Dr Shamshad Akhter was appointed as the new chief. It was claimed that she had a rich experience of banking and was also well versed with the economy of the country.
A few months later she released the 5,000-rupee currency note which her predecessor had hesitated to issue on account of opposition from all sections of the public. Later, the prime minister appointed a committee to find out whether this high denomination note had encouraged smuggling.
After some time, the State Bank was gripped with a phobia that all the black and white money, remittances from expatriates and even the export realisation were suspected as illegal and diverted towards the sale and purchase of real estate. The CBR was directed to make such rules as discouraged investment in real property.
The argument was to bring down the value of real estate to such an extent that lower income group may purchase a shelter for them and some tax was collected by the exchequer. The fact was that the prices in posh areas fell to an extent and caused suspension of real estate business in such locality but prices of property in the old city area were not within the reach of the general public. Billons and billions of rupees had been siphoned off to the Middle East countries, including Turkey, where investment in real estate was welcomed.
The State Bank and the Central Board of Revenue should make a survey of old areas of the city and they would find that the value of real estate in these areas is many times better than that of Defence Society. For the information of State Bank of Pakistan, the prices of real estate in Mumbai, India, are higher than those in Japan but the Indian government has not taken any step to discourage the investors because the money remains in their own country, whether in the shape of real estate or productive investment.
The latest jihad of the central bank is against the textile industry. There is a planned and persistent accusation against the textiles, including the value-added industry, that they are inefficient, corrupt, conglomeration of junk machinery deliberately showing loss to pressure the government for subsidies and blah, blah, blah.
In one of the statements, the State Bank spokesman said that this industry was dependent upon cotton which was subject to vagaries of climate and not a reliable raw material. The purpose was to let this industry die its own death and that the government should patronise the engineering and other industries.
The commerce ministry, since the time the textiles were taken out from their portfolio, has also become critical. The ministry has forgotten that major investment and modernisation in the value-added textile industry was made during the period when textiles were under the commerce ministry.
The CBR finding two allies, commerce ministry and the State Bank of Pakistan, also joined the band and now the trio is antagonistic to an export industry which is fetching more than 70 per cent of the total foreign exchange earnings.
It is an earnest appeal to the government to safeguard the value-added textile industry which is now a solid source of earning foreign exchange and providing livelihood to 40 per cent of the labour force of Pakistan. The president and the prime minister should take notice that the government propaganda against the textiles, calling it inefficient, producing poor quality of textiles, is further damaging our image in the international market.
How can we export our products when our own government is calling it that they are of inferior quality? Did it make any sense to send the signals to the international market that our textile products are of a poor quality and not up to the standard of foreign market? It is tantamount to cutting the branch on which we are sitting with bags full of foreign exchange?
S.M.A RIZVI
Towel Manufacturers’ Association of Pakistan
Karachi
THE government of Pakistan is in constant state of denial. They feel that the media is against them. They fail to see that the media is merely acting as a mirror. They do not like the image that they are seeing.
I give a lot of credit to the current government for streamlining the procedures that gave the media more freedom. It was the early days of the Musharraf government that some media-friendly policies were made. Javed Jabbar, the then minister of information, deserves full credit for spearheading this new vision.
This freedom for the media was one of the highlights of this military government but like all despots who want to cling to power they now feel that the ‘free media’ should only show the world the view they feel is ‘right’. Freedom to them meant no criticism against them or their policies, it is like allowing rains but without thunder and lightning.
In this day and age if the government and its supporters think that they can suppress the views of the people by strangulating the media and not allowing them to cover all aspects of the Pakistani political spectrum, then they are mistaken.
No state body is sacrosanct. Specially not, if it is violating the role clearly defined for it in the Constitution. The Pakistan Army has been dragged into politics by a few of its generals. It is a domain where they do not have a role.
The generals always lack political foresight. They may be great strategic planners, but their plans are always based on their physical strength. Most of these plans incorporate destruction and capture strategies. They feel that they can control the minds of the people by controlling the free media. Their assumption is seriously flawed.
Restricting the press is tantamount to insulting the nation. Is the Pakistani nation not intelligent enough to decide for itself right from wrong.?
For the powers that be, I would like to sum up my contest for free media by quoting Khalil Gibran: “You can muffle the drum, you can loosen the strings of the lyre, but who shall command the skylark not to sing?”
It may not have been part of the syllabus at the Pakistan Military Academy , Kakul.
IMRAN AHMAD
Karachi
THERE is no need to go to circus for watching multi-riders on one motorcycle as the same can be witnessed every day live on main Sharea Faisal and other roads of Karachi.
A motorcyclist, with not fewer than eight to nine additional riders and baggage, makes zigzag driving in violation of traffic regulations and with uncaring attitude toward his own life, as well as towards others’, amid vicious traffic of too many vehicles of many varieties: animal-drawn vehicles, pushcarts, bicycles, motorcycles, autorickshaws, minibuses of various sizes, large buses, cars, pickups, trucks, tractors, dumpers, lorries, trailers, water tankers, etc.
The multi-riders on one motorcycle come from one complete family of eight to nine persons, which find easy and open- air accommodation on a motorcycle than in a car by adjusting (three children on petrol tank followed by the wise driver, then two children, followed by wife/sister, followed by another child in the rear and one infant in the laps of the wife, with a few bags hanging down the seats and carrier (total nine+baggage). Hats off to the driver and his family.
Our utmost alert traffic cops and their senior officers always watch and control the wearing of helmet by the driver only, leaving the rest unchecked. Their keen eyes fail to detect multi-riders on a motorcycle.
The question is whether such multi-riders are covered under traffic regulations, whether one helmet is sufficient to protect the heads of the remaining eight persons in case of an accident, and whether this kind of ride is a traffic violation. If this violates the rule, then why is there no punishment?
Broadly speaking, most motorcycle riders indulge in zigzag driving, do use wrong side, break traffic signals, etc. Frequently, failure to observe traffic rules by motorcyclists leads to accidents, causing disability to human organs and loss of precious lives. Some time the entire family on board the motorcycle perishes.
The relevant authorities of the Sindh government, specially the DIG (traffic), Karachi, should take notice of the various traffic violations, specially of a whole family riding a motorcycle, to minimise accidents and save human lives in the larger public interest.
HASAN ADIL MALIK
Karachi
PRESIDENT Bush has apparently tried to repay Gen Musharraf for his favour to the US of not only following Washington’s agenda about Iraq, Israel and the Islamic world but even going out of his way by having taken upon himself the responsibility for the bombing of the madressah in Bajaur where 82 students were killed by a US drone.
He has said that democracy is “a lot more established” in Pakistan than in some other nations and that much of the political protests seen in the country (after March 9) is ‘posturing’ about the forthcoming elections (June 8).
It is regrettable that instead of lambasting the terrorism in Karachi on May 12 for which the world media has held Islamabad and the Sindh administration responsible and the manhandling of the chief justice of Pakistan and many lawyers, Mr Bush has tried to belittle these crimes. How would he feel if the US police and terrorists had targeted him in this way?
That most of the protests are not simply ‘posturing’ is amply proved by the spontaneous outpouring of millions of people onto streets in Punjab during the chief justice’s visits to Lahore and Abbottabad. The legal fraternity is leading these protests and even High Court judges have been attending his addresses.
Additional undeniable evidence is found in the complaints of both the president and the prime minister who have been quoted as lamenting, ironically also on the front page of the same day’s Dawn, that some members of the ruling party were not supporting them in the ongoing crisis.
Mr Bush was able to fool the world once about Iraq but he can’t fool everyone about everything forever.
J. QURESHI
Karachi
I AM not a lawyer but shall dare to comment about Pakistan’s noble judiciary, all this as a client of this system. In Pakistan we do not spend money on training of legal profession. Many so-called law colleges have no real campuses, they are in tatters and are, in fact, academic contraptions, and there is no serious government investment in legal training.
Early vocational legal training is mostly in the private sector and is not government-funded as in several other professions. Here a new junior lawyer learns all money-grabbing techniques and becomes conversant in the use of agents and munshis and others to attract clients .
Despite all this easy entry, the legal profession is not easy bread. Courts are overcrowded, lawyers have to wait long hours in inclement circumstances. Judges might have to listen to 100 plus cases a day and offices for both lawyers and junior judges are substandard. Atmosphere is casual and often not sombre.
A considerable scope for improvement via self-generated funds is there as a lot of income comes to the court system from the sale of stamps and from court fees but none is spent on improving the judicial setups.
Computerisation is just beginning and even now it is possible for one case to be heard in three courts for a long time before being clubbed since no liaison exists between the courts. Judges can be quite temperamental in giving stay orders and injunctions to plaintiffs, unwittingly helping the organised crimes and hurting the innocent, vice versa is of course the expected norm .
Staffing policies are arbitrary too. In courts it is very striking to see unmarried young ladies as ‘family’ judges and marriage dispute judges and likewise quite young junior judges handle billions of rupees’ worth of property cases in main cities with no serious insight or maturity which can come only with age.
Unlike other emergency services as hospitals, there is no real locum system in operation in courts, a judge on leave has no replacements. So, anybody needing bail better remain in jail for a while if the judge decides on a holiday .
Absence of case lawyers and respondents is not taken seriously in lower courts and hence more laxity in court attendance means longer and longer time it requires for cases to get decided.
Moreover, there is no tradition of doing research to find proofs helpful in the case, instead clients are asked to provide that. This means that legal research is hampered. Many purported Pakistani law books are partial copycats of legal books of neighbouring countries.
Few lawyers speak good English. There is no real system of judicial sub-speciality in actual practice though it exists on paper, making it possible for cases to be decided wrongly due to lack of expertise. Cases which require medical technology or knowledge are often decided wrongly as neither the doctors, nor the lawyers or the judges are trained in proper forensic medicine.
So bizarre has been the system that several Pakistanis who studied law from the West find it hard to work in Pakistan as law has no system . We do expect legal community to be more client and profession-friendly and invest money in general legal training and specialised legal training, courts need construction and refurbishment and judges need be responsive and not act like military tribunals.
M. I. SHAIKH
Islamabad
THIS is in response to the statement by the project director of Tameer-i-Karachi Programme where he stated that “an EIA is a time- consuming exercise” (June 7)
It is for his kind information that neglecting an EIA in the past has resulted in drastic impacts on our environment.
An acute example is the introduction of untreated toxic and hazardous waste into the sea which has adversely affected marine life and fisheries. If in the past EIA was conducted before the development of industrial estate like SITE and Korangi, the situation might be reversed.
In my opinion, EIA of the North Nazimabad-Qasba bypass is a must because such projects are generally considered ‘Class A’ project which definitely requires an EIA. Second, it is a mandatory requirement to conduct an EIA imposed by the government and, according to PEPA (1997), no NOC would be issue to the project proponent until the EPA feels that the project has no significant environmental impacts associated with it.
An EIA is unavoidable for such project for the following associated environmental impacts:
a. Generation of particulate matter would result in asthma and vision problem.
b. Nuisance due to noise generation.
c.High fuel consumption due to traffic jam, thus increasing the vehicular emission. If an EIA is not done, that would clearly be the violation of law made by the government and violated by the government.
NASAR U. USMANI
Environmental consultant
Karachi
THIS has reference to the letter, ‘Bank returns vs depositors’ (June 8). The banks in Pakistan have made a cartel and are enjoying a high spread, so much so that their numbers are at the highest in the country’s history.
It is the State Bank of Pakistan’s duty to check this growth and get a fair return for depositors. Even in a market economy, central banks are regulators and constantly check if the due portion of the banks’ profits goes to depositors.
Here only the owners of banks are enjoying the profits with the help of the central bank. At this stage, I will say that “banks are looting consumers in Pakistan.”
INAYAT SHEIKH
Karachi
THE other day I went to Rainbow Centre in Saddar, Karachi, to buy some audio MP3 and CDs. On my way back to work while I was crossing the road I saw two policemen on a bike signalling me to come over to them.
Although I was shocked by this kind of bizarre attitude, I went to them. They asked to see what I was carrying even though I told them that I was in government service. They insisted on seeing those CDs and when they did not get their wish, they turned around and said: “Okay, you are like our brother, thank you Sir, and you may go now.”
I ask the higher authorities in the police department whether policemen have been deployed just to harass citizens. Or is it part of their duty to harass the innocent citizens and blackmail them in a bid to extort money?
M. RAFEEQ D. BALOCH
Karachi
AFTER deregulation of the telecom sector, which paved the way for many new players in this field, the threat to the PTCL’s many years of monopoly was always there. But the way the PTCL top management has responded to this threat even after privatisation is regrettable.
They had enough time to proactively respond to this challenge of deregulated environment, but sorry to say that they even couldn’t react to those challenges that should have been sensed quite earlier. This poor anticipation has led to some serious setbacks as follows:
a. Loss in revenues and reduction in net profits of the company.
b. Dissatisfaction of common and corporate customers in terms of quality of service.
c. Highly demotivated and demoralised human resource due to unprofessional HR policies.
d. Poor working environment.
e. Departure of talent from the company due to lack of career growth opportunities.
f. Uncertainty about company’s future.
g. And so on there is a list of serious blunders and one of them is hiring a bulk of contractual employees on very lucrative salaries which were far above their experience and qualifications, while there were many talented and deserving employees in the regular workforce which needed to be identified and compensated accordingly.
This one bad HR policy has forced many to leave the company at a very alarming rate and many more are ready to take off due to immense frustration and disappointment. This whole situation is not less than a nightmare for any company in the corporate world, and needs immediate attention from relevant quarters if they want to exist in this highly competitive world at some respectable place.
Otherwise we are going to witness the collapse of this organisation which had ruled the telecom sector in Pakistan for years.
M. OWAIS NABEEL
Gojra
LAST year many people lost their lives because of electrocution in various parts of the city, especially on I. I. Chundrigar Road, but it seems that the KESC and the city government have not learnt a lesson yet.
Due to development work in various parts of the city, live cables are lying on footpaths and pavements. I would request the authorities to act fast before the monsoon rains strike Karachi.
SHEHZAD ALI SHARIF
Karachi
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