| June 26, 2007 | Tuesday | Jamadi-us-Sani 10, 1428 |
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HEC contractual appointments
Poverty elimination
Room for improvement
Gwadar schemes
Hard times for chemical industry
Rain casualties
Military Inc
Now it’s turn of the police
Effective railways
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 was 1300 hours on Saturday, June 23, when people started shouting that a fire had broken out in the Continental Trade Centre (CTC). The first thing I did was to call the fire-brigade and then Edhi ambulance service. Then I called the DIG traffic to request the traffic police to block the main Cliton Road to all the incoming private vehicles so that it should remain open for the fire-brigade and ambulances to discharge emergency service.
The first two fire-brigade vehicles that arrived were from the Defence Housing Authority, followed by the CDGK, KPT and other private water tankers. Similarly the first ambulance service that arrived was from the Edhi centre, followed by ambulance service from other welfare organisations.
By this time a number of people had gathered in front of the CTC. While the fire-brigade personnel and ambulances were busy doing their job, helicopters of the Army, Navy and the Edhi centre started hovering at the scene of the fire.
The fire had broken out in the CTC owing to a short-circuit in one of the kiosk-style shoe shops, which was operated at a corner outside the building of the CTC. Thereafter, the fire spread to the bridal shops facing the main road on the ground floor and to other shops in the basement, mezzanine and on the first floor.
This created panic in the area and in addition to the press photographers, cameramen of different local television channels, there were some youngsters who were also recording the scene of fire rescue operation through their cellphone cameras.
The shopping plazas have been constructed by various builders on the main Clifton Road, and consist of hundreds of small and big shops. It is unfortunate that when builders construct such shopping plazas, they do not make emergency or fire exits, as the builders want to sell each and every inch of the building in order to earn more money.
There are three different shopping malls that are being constructed on the main Clifton Road, near the Teen Talwar roundabout. The Gulfway shopping centre, the Cliff shopping centre and the Metro shopping centre have hundreds of small shops and the builder has illegally amalgamated all the three shopping plazas from inside. But in all the three shopping malls, neither there is any fire-fighting equipment, nor these plazas have any emergency exits?
If some emergency is declared during the business hours in the Gulfway, Cliff and Metro shopping malls, there is a possibility that hundreds of people may die due to suffocation and stampede, as there are no emergency exits made in these shopping malls, nor the builders or associations of the shopkeepers are interested in fixing the old electricity wires that are hanging everywhere in these shopping malls and no portion of all the three shopping malls are open for cross-ventilation.
The case of fire in the CTC is not the very first one in the city. The buyers or tenants of shops are helpless as they cannot make any kind of amendment to the structure raised by the builders. It is very unfortunate that the local builders do not use their sense of responsibility in constructing the shopping malls fully equipped with the fire-fighting equipment, nor they provide any emergency exits, as they are necessary and according to the international standards.
The associations of respective shopping centres must properly check and change the old electricity wiring according to the electricity load consumed in each shop. The maintenance of highrise shopping centres and plazas should not be ignored for the safety of precious human lives and the stuff which are lying in these shops.
The Karachi Building Control Authority or any other authorities who issue an NOC for building construction should make sure that every builder in the city of Karachi must obtain the completion certificate and unless such certificate is not issued by the relevant authority, the possession of the shops should not be handed over by the builders to individual unit buyers.
SYED A. MATEEN
Karachi
A LETTER entitled ‘HEC contractual appointments’ (June 23) carries many assertions which need to be clarified.
The Higher Education Commission’s programme to hire eminent and active retired professors is aimed at filling the present acute shortage of PHD faculty in universities. Only one-third of the 11,000 faculty members in the country possess a doctoral degree while a large number of them retire each year, further depleting the number of highly qualified faculty.
This programme is endeavouring to temporarily overcome the shortage by retaining those outstanding researchers in the mainstream whose retirement would amount to a national loss in the higher education sector.
These professors are selected only after fulfilling rigorous criteria which establish that they are active researchers who have published widely in international journals in recent years and supervised PhD students.
Their placement in universities is only after the written approval of the vice chancellors and not by the HEC on its own. They are not given any administrative positions.
The statement by Dr Zahoor Baber that the World Bank and IMF are funding the HEC is also incorrect. The HEC gets its entire development and recurring budgets from the government. Its programmes, which number over 350, are in a variety of areas, all of which have relevance to our economy.
The Tenure Track System has not ‘failed’ as claimed by the writer, and evidence reflects that more and more universities are now opting for this performance-based system. Fifty-two out of 57 universities have already accepted this system. Faculty members of universities are for the first time feeling the adrenaline rush as the opportunity to work in state-of-the-art laboratories provided by the HEC and to carry out research open up new horizons and expose them and their students to the excitement and joy of discovery.
A. AYESHA IKRAM
Higher Education Commission,
Islamabad
THIS has reference to Maher Alavi's letter, ‘Poverty: wake up Pakistan’ (May 21), wherein he states that 74 per cent of Pakistan's population survive on a daily income of less than Rs120.
He laments that it is extremely painful for those who have the eyes to see, ears to listen and heart to feel the people’s condition to testify to the truth that there is a big gap between the very rich and the poor in our country.
He concludes by saying: ‘‘It justified for the people of Pakistan to suffer in this manner? Wake up Pakistan.’’
I have a few questions to ask the high functionaries of the government. How can a common man with a very low income of Rs120 a day survive in today’s time (where money seems to have lost all value)? With his measly income of Rs120, he has to look after and feed his wife, children, old parents and maybe younger brothers and sisters.
The government of today should see to it that instead of exhausting its time and energy in engaging in useless militancy and political rivalries, it should mobilise people to take out massive rallies all over the country to educate the masses on how to eliminate poverty, how to get them better education, water, electricity and other environmental problems that we face every day.
While the poor and middle class citizens suffer the wrath, the powers that be are out on a mudslinging battle with political rivals on various issues that does not interest the common man who cannot take home enough to feed his family.
Which political party solemnly promises to get rid of poverty and, if voted to power, is willing to give the citizens better awareness on day-to-day problems and promises to give the poor better and quality education, so that we could give our vote to them in the coming elections?
‘Jago Shehri Jago’, stand up and demand your basic rights as honourable citizens.
SYED AZIZ AGHA
Karachi
THIS has reference to Maher Alavi's letter, ‘Poverty: wake up Pakistan’ (May 21), wherein he states that 74 per cent of Pakistan's population survive on a daily income of less than Rs120.
He laments that it is extremely painful for those who have the eyes to see, ears to listen and heart to feel the people’s condition to testify to the truth that there is a big gap between the very rich and the poor in our country.
He concludes by saying: ‘‘It justified for the people of Pakistan to suffer in this manner? Wake up Pakistan.’’
I have a few questions to ask the high functionaries of the government. How can a common man with a very low income of Rs120 a day survive in today’s time (where money seems to have lost all value)? With his measly income of Rs120, he has to look after and feed his wife, children, old parents and maybe younger brothers and sisters.
The government of today should see to it that instead of exhausting its time and energy in engaging in useless militancy and political rivalries, it should mobilise people to take out massive rallies all over the country to educate the masses on how to eliminate poverty, how to get them better education, water, electricity and other environmental problems that we face every day.
While the poor and middle class citizens suffer the wrath, the powers that be are out on a mudslinging battle with political rivals on various issues that does not interest the common man who cannot take home enough to feed his family.
Which political party solemnly promises to get rid of poverty and, if voted to power, is willing to give the citizens better awareness on day-to-day problems and promises to give the poor better and quality education, so that we could give our vote to them in the coming elections?
‘Jago Shehri Jago’, stand up and demand your basic rights as honourable citizens.
SYED AZIZ AGHA
Karachi
ACCORDING to a news item (May 30), the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) warned the public against making investment in 18 private housing schemes, which have been declared `fake’. The warning is stated to have been issued by NAB’s awareness and preventive division.
The report further stated that the Gwadar Development Authority (GDA) had also announced that the 18 housing schemes had been operating ‘illegally’ without obtaining an NOC.
It is, however, stated that the warning was a belated step because most of the schemes had been launched two to three years ago. Obviously many investors must have invested in these ‘fake’ schemes during these two to three years.
As it appears, the sponsors (of the schemes) have formed a nexus with the bureaucracy to fleece people by launching an advertisement campaign in the media. If it is not so, how much time the GDA or NAB needs to verify that the scheme is `fake’ or otherwise? Hardly two to three days (not two to three years). The agencies concerned should warn the public against investment in ‘fake’ schemes immediately upon its advertisement in the media.
The said 18 ‘fake’ housing projects are listed in the news item. This phenomenon is not limited to Gwadar only. It is prevalent in other cities – Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, etc., – also. It is a fit case for the superior courts to take suo motu notice.
ABDUL SAMAD KHAN
THIS refers to Hussain Ahmed Siddiqui’s article, ‘Hard times for chemical industry’ (Business and Economic Review, June 4). The writer has presented comprehensive facts and figures about the chemical industry in the country and rightly stressed the need for government support to the industry.
Although the writer has covered various chemical products manufactured in the country, he has surprisingly omitted a very important chemical product, i.e., pet resin.
Pet resin is made from petrochemical raw materials, viz PTA and mono ethylene glycol (MEG). Pet resin is used to make pet pre-forms (embryo of a bottle) which are then blown into pet bottles. These bottles are used for mineral water, carbonated soft drinks, edible oil and other containers. Pakistan had no production of pet before 1998. Now not only that Pakistan is producing pet resin, it is also the largest exporter of pet resin in the whole of Africa, the Middle East and the South Asia region.
In the last fiscal year Pakistan’s pet resin’s total export figures touched $90 million, which represents substantial increase over last year. It formed one per cent of Pakistan’s total exports and is very critical for Pakistan. This has been possible due to Pakistani producers acquiring state of art technology and making billions of rupees investment in pet production. The main market for Pakistan pet is Europe where more than 80 per cent of our pet exports go.
We take this opportunity to point out that the pet resin industry is passing through a tough time since on the worldwide scale currently there is an overcapacity of four million tons/year. This overcapacity will increase to 6.4 million tons next year.
The government, instead of providing support to the pet resin industry, is considering reducing the current rate of import duty on pet resin, which is 10 per cent. It would virtually kill this industry in view of overcapacity of pet resin in world market since Pakistani producers will not be able to compete against world-scale producers who are vertically integrated and are having their own raw material (PTA/MEG) production unlike the Pakistani producers of pet resin.
There is no logic in reducing the duty of pet resin from 10 per cent to five per cent since the downstream industry enjoys sufficient protection with duty on pet pre-forms at 20 per cent and pet bottles at 25 per cent. The import duty and net protection on other plastic products and resins in Pakistan like PVC is also at 10 to 15 per cent.
SHABBIR DIWAN
Karachi
THE heart of every Pakistani is saddened by the avoidable loss of lives during Saturday’s rain and storm episode. Most of it could have been avoided for sure if the CDGK would have focused its attention on the more important regulatory and maintenance tasks.
The public-spirited citizens and professionals have raised serious concerns on the mushrooming growth of publicity hoardings and billboards which are erected in gross violation of standing bye-laws. A proper foundation and structural design is a pre-requisite for all such structures before even the permit to erect the same is granted.
Hoardings on the roof-tops offer double jeopardy for the building inhabitants and the passersby. The unregulated practice of erecting roof-mounted towers for mobile phones and Internet services are other potential hazards. The development of an error-free system of power supply with inbuilt precautionary measures needs to be implemented without delay.
Creation of working rainwater drains, proper mechanism of storing/harvesting rainwater through check dams/reservoirs, disaster management measures to safeguard lives of the common people, fool/corruption-proof enforcement of building bye-laws and a safeguard of vulnerable locations are a few steps routinely expected from the CDGK.
It is high time that the decision-makers at the CDGK need to shift their attention from the needless real estate and mega projects and focus on the urban basic services which is their prime responsibility.
DR NOMAN AHMED
Karachi
WRITER Ayesha Siddiqa deserves credit for unveiling the truth through her brilliantly-crafted book ‘Military Inc’. Her work has exposed those using the physical strength of this institution to have their corporate empire expanded under the cover of so-called dandy national interest.
Unfortunately, instead of procuring modern hardware for the defenders, the taxpayers’ money is being spent on luxury defence housing societies, corporate sector and golf course. Since 1947, through well-thought-out agenda, Pakistan has been a security state rather than a welfare state.
This has resulted in dryness of democracy and never ending honeymoon of a few generals. Even not an inch of territory was gained during all the four wars that we fought so far but we are still being milked out to cash on so-called external threat scare for personal empire-building.
The next democratic government will do this nation a great favour if peace is achieved with all the neighbours to divert the saved resources towards poverty alleviation.
ZULFIQAR GUL
Swat
THE picture of the police constable being beaten by members of his fraternity (June 20) speaks volumes of the chaos and injustice being perpetrated in the country. This is a moment of introspection by the police force itself which is used as state apparatus primarily to subjugate and control the people.
Instead of providing protection, security and comfort to the people, the police are used for the protection, security and comfort of rulers, while the people who pay through nose (by way of direct and indirect taxes) are maltreated, humiliated and harassed by the same police.
It is time the judiciary and civil society took notice that if members of law - enforcement agency themselves are deprived of their rights and are subjected to torture in public, can they be expected to have any powers and will to provide any relief and protection to the general public.
It is also time for the electorate to know, when they are likely to use their right of adult franchise in the forthcoming election, as to what has been the performance of their graduate assemblies. They deserve to know as to how many laws were enacted by our graduate assemblies, how many days assemblies were in session and how many days our lawmakers attended the session.
We had heard great hype on new police laws; nobody knows what difference did it bring in terms of improving the quality of the police department and resultant benefit for the people.
ASAD ALI SHEIKH
Karachi
MY appeal to the city government of Karachi is that instead of pursuing the Karachi Elevated Expressway they should contemplate building an effective railway system in the city.
This would particularly help businessmen, students and labourers to get to their respective destinations. It would also help reduce traffic congestion on the main roads of the city. Furthermore it would give impression of Karachi as a modern megacity.
ANUM ATHAR
Karachi
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