| July 30, 2007 | Monday | Rajab 14, 1428 |
In maids, we trust!
ISLAMABAD: The US ambassador-designate to Pakistan, Ms Anne W. Patterson, who made a rather ‘quiet’ landing in the capital last month, has been quite active and ‘visible’ here even though she has yet to present her credentials to the president.
Perhaps too keen to get started, Ms Patterson has been on the go since her arrival here on June 24, almost ignoring the protocol of going through the Foreign Office for meetings with ministers. In most countries, ambassadors-designate do not seek meetings with top representatives of the host government, including cabinet members, till the formal presentation of their credentials to the head of the state which technically makes them operational.
However, presentation of a copy of credentials to the chief of protocol at the Foreign Ministry makes an ambassador-designate functional to the extent of interaction at the bureaucratic and diplomatic level. However, Ms Patterson who seems to be in a bit of hurry to do her job went ahead and sought meetings with around two dozen federal ministers and the top military brass.
She presented a copy of her credentials to the Chief of Protocol at the Foreign Ministry on June 29 and met Foreign Secretary Riaz Mohammad Khan the same day. Soon after that her office put in a request to the protocol section (as is the diplomatic practice) for meetings with a host of government representatives and ministers. It was an unusually long list that included a request for an audience with the president and the prime minister. The president was understandably ‘advised’ not to grant an audience till formal presentation of credentials as was perhaps the prime minister.
Subsequently, the ambassador-designate directed her office to go ahead and pursue the meetings independently. Little wonder that most of our ministers were only too obliging and agreed to receive her excellency. So Ms Patterson ended up meeting more than a dozen key federal cabinet members including the ministers for defence, interior, information and broadcasting, women and development, IT, commerce, finance, industries, narcotics and health. The notable exception was Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri.
Although it was not made public, it is learnt that Ms Patterson also managed to meet Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz about a couple of weeks back. Apparently, she accompanied some American delegation to the PM House. She has also met ruling Pakistan Muslim League’s president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain. Ms Patterson has been busy meeting not only the official and political elite but also the military top brass including the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, General Ehsanul Haq, and the Air Force chief.According to the grapevine, in some cases the government representatives who met the ambassador later disclosed that they had been approached by US deputy head of the mission Peter Bodde for a meeting and told that a lady colleague would accompany him. Later, it transpired that the lady was the ambassador-designate.
Although some diplomats say that there are no rigid rules of engagement for ambassadors-designate, they agree that it is not considered proper for them in most world capitals to hold formal meetings with top functionaries prior to the presentation of credentials.
Ms Anne Patterson is a senior diplomat who is referred to as “a real pro” by her American colleagues. As the 23rd US ambassador to Pakistan she replaces Ryan C. Crocker who is now serving as the US ambassador to Iraq. She is the third American woman diplomat to hold the key post.
Prior to her assignment in Pakistan, Ms Patterson served as the assistant secretary of state for international narcotics and law-enforcement affairs. Earlier, she served as the deputy permanent representative and acting permanent representative at the US Mission to the UN in New York. Her previous ambassadorial assignments were in Colombia and El Salvador. She has also served in Geneva at the US mission to the UN and as economic counsellor in Saudi Arabia in the eighties. She has held key political and economic posts at the State Department since joining the US Foreign Service in 1973.
Ms Patterson is scheduled to present her credentials to President Gen Pervez Musharraf tomorrow at a formal ceremony at the Aiwan-e-Sadr.
Her maiden meeting with the president will take place at a time when the atmosphere between the two countries has been sullied by the recent moves within the US administration and the Congress that have provoked a sharp reaction from Islamabad. Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri has termed statements from US officials “irresponsible, dangerous and counter-productive”. In a loud and clear message to the Bush Administration, he declared: “This may be election season in United States but it should not be at our expense.” Later, the president also firmly rejected US threats for a direct action inside Pakistan. Perhaps to clear the air ahead of her first encounter with the president, Ms Patterson said in a meeting with the defence minister on Wednesday that the US supported President Musharraf, and especially his efforts in the war on terror.
But then just a couple of days later came yet another blow in the form of the US draft bill making aid conditional to Pakistan.
MILIBAND-STRUCK: The new British Foreign Secretary David Miliband on his maiden visit to Pakistan just three weeks in office left the Foreign Office folks impressed by his brilliance and exceptional diplomatic acumen. Those who were present at the delegation-level talks he had with Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri were particularly struck by the 41-year-old’s clarity, confidence and sense of humour. The dominant view was that he is the future Labour Party leader.
I recently encountered about 20 neighbours gathered near my house, sympathising with a man who had been robbed by his household maid. I would have walked away after expressing my condolences but the similarity of the experiences being shared by various individuals intrigued me.
The neighbour at the centre of attention was lamenting that the maid had never acted suspiciously during her six-month employment at his home, and that she had fully satisfied his family with her efficiency, punctuality and, indeed, honesty. However, moaned the man, he had returned home to find that the safe in his cabinet had been broken open. “She stole all the money I saved over ten years,” he complained dejectedly, “I had taken it out of the bank to pay for my daughter’s wedding and the maid has devastated me.” He added that he had gone to the woman’s house but her entire family has disappeared.
Sad as it is, it’s a simple story and, I think, very common. Assuring the man that he was not the only one to have been robbed by a housemaid, his next-door neighbour recalled that a maid he had once employed had stolen his wife’s jewellery and remained untraceable for four years later. Another man said that his housemaid had stolen a bagful of gems but had refused to confess. Yet another narrated how artistically his maid had plundered the household food and grain stocks for months, but had finally been caught red-handed.
In short, each person in the crowd had a story about being robbed or cheated by a housemaid, and I was no exception.
Almost every household in my middle-class neighbourhood employs a housemaid, and quite a few employ a woman who lives with the family. Stories of being robbed by such unscrupulous women are repeated whenever a new incident takes place in the neighbourhood.
I grappled with the question of why people continue to blindly trust such strangers even after they have fallen victim to their criminal acts. Ironically, most of these victims then go on to employ another housemaid. Why? To be robbed again?
I loudly put this question to the crowd. “Not all housemaids are unscrupulous,” said one individual. “After all, there are certain compulsions and we have to get the housework done,” said another. A more level-headed gentleman offered the advice that housemaids ought not to be allowed to move freely in the house and must be kept under a watchful eye until they leave the house. “That’s why I have not been robbed again,” said the man next to me, claiming credit for having come up with the idea since he was robbed by his employee a couple of years ago.
I remember an incident when a housemaid, hired by an elderly woman who lived alone in a single room apartment in Block 3 of the Federal B Area, almost killed the employer after learning that she had a considerable amount of money. She first located the cash and then tried to asphyxiate the old woman with a pillow. Fortunately, the victim survived and identified her assailant, who was later arrested.
Incidents where the victims are well-known, such as showbiz stars, make headlines in the newspapers.
The only possible safeguard is to gather all the necessary information on the person to be hired and allowed to move freely in and out of your house; and, of course, information about the employee’s relatives and acquaintances so that the maid is not confident of avoiding punishment after committing a crime.—Awam
Marked contrast
Airports in Pakistan meet the international standards; they are clean, spacious and modern as all airports should be. Even the areas adjoining it are in pretty decent condition with wide roads, litter and plenty of security. People in Karachi especially are found at the fast-food places by airport just to enjoy the clean and cool evening breeze with their family.
But why is it that railway stations paint an altogether different picture? These are much closer to the situation of the rest of the infrastructure of the country. Sewage pools, polythene bags, and loads of garbage welcome us at the railway stations. Be it Lahore, Karachi or Peshawar, the railway stations keep their identity well defined. Most of the railway stations also have inter-city bus terminals nearby that add to the rubbish around. And with no public toilet about you can well imagine the situation. Apart from that, the passengers waiting for trains and buses also attract vendors selling juice, biryani and other popular and inexpensive drinks and eatables. Needless to say all the garbage gets dumped not in the cans (a rare sight to behold), but on the street. Amazingly, the cleanliness (or lack thereof) of a place invokes in people a certain responsibility to keep it the way it is. That is probably why when at the airport, our folks look for dustbins to throw even chewing gum the wrappers into. However, when the same set of men or women are at the railway station, with heaps of garbage around, they think that it won’t make much of a difference if they add to the mess.
Does this have to do with the fact that all the “important” people, both local and foreign travel by plane and not by trains or buses? Or is there any other factor involved?—Meera Jamal
Monkey business
Monkeys were created for swinging from tree to tree in the jungles of the world. They were not created for begging in the streets of Karachi. However, their human masters are using them as a begging utensil probably thinking that on seeing the poor creature people’s hearts will melt and they will start offering alms.
About a decade back no monkeys could be seen on a leash. But with the advent of the new millennium, this innovative form of begging seems to be becoming more common.
There are several crossroads where you can see a monkey on a leash along with his master who seems to have arrived recently from a rural area in Sindh or Punjab. If you are travelling in a coach or a motorcar, you are bound not to miss the banana- and monkey nut-loving creature at Numaish, Hassan Square and on M. A. Jinnah Road near the Nishat Cinema and near the Tibet Centre.
As soon as your vehicle stops at a signal, the monkey and his master will suddenly appear out of nowhere. With each tug of the leash, the monkey immediately spreads out one of its paws begging you for some money. Some monkey acts will also follow like scratching the head or scratching the underarms or picking up a tick or a lice and putting it in its mouth. You can either enjoy the show and handout some loose change (which in these days means nothing less than a rupee) or you can be disgusted and turn your face the other way.
However, you can’t deny the fact that animal rights are being violated. So far nobody has turned up to protect the monkey from this monkey business. Maybe Brigitte Bardot, who is today one of the world's most influential animal rights activists with her Brigitte Bardot Foundation for the Welfare and Protection of Animals, will come to its help as she is considered a militant for animal protection. Or maybe Maneka Gandhi, another renowned animal rights activist closer to home, will be able to do something about it.
If you think that no animal rights are being violated, don’t be mistaken as each tug of the leash puts a scar on the monkey’s neck. And if there is one already there, the leash digs deeper into the skin widening it all the more. For training, the master also uses a cane. If the monkey misbehaves, he can also be punished by not being provided meals regularly.
But then in this day and age when human rights are being violated every single day, who cares about the rights of an animal – be it a monkey, a donkey, a cow or a horse.—Mohsin Maqbool Elahi
Compiled by Syed Hassan Ali
Email: karachian@dawn.com