| August 05, 2007 | Sunday | Rajab 20, 1428 |
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In defence of feudalism
Pugree properties
Tigers’ death
KESC’s antics
Letter to Obama
Suicide bombing
Police lock-ups
Aerial firing
Who worships what
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
I FEEL my basic intelligence is being affronted by recent political statements, particularly those of Benazir Bhutto, in relation to the latest tete-a-tete with Musharraf regarding a possible power-sharing deal.
Here is her statement: “I am not confirming that the meeting took place….but I can confirm that we have been engaged in negotiations….for some time now”. Great stuff from the Oxford graduate! Here’s more. “Of course I want to return to Pakistan and the politically-motivated cases against me dropped….but if I wanted to do a deal with the military I would have done that long ago”.
One can only envy Ms Bhutto as the supreme mistress of political spin but probably if she were to simply campaign under her real married name of Benazir Zardari she would be dead in the water. She clearly survives on the name of her father who was an even greater orator. But of course the political future of Pakistan cannot be decided in TV chat show jargon. Mind you the iron foundry bluster of Nawaz Sharif is no better.
But the tragedy for the vast majority of the unwealthy and unemployed population is that they have always been served a short menu of false choices – between the adulterated and thoroughly corrupt politicians on the one hand and the arrogant corruption of the guys in khaki on the other who claim almost divine sanction to rule in perpetuity, and who have even built up a massive commercial power base to perpetuate themselves, as shown brilliantly by Ayesha Siddiqa in her ‘Military Inc’ book.
From the vantage point of an overseas Pakistani who has not yet been jailed on some spurious charge in the UK, it seems BB will play hard to get for the ubiquitous cameras but in reality will take any reasonable offer to get back into the driver’s seat. For this she is willing to suspend buying more buildings and businesses in Dubai and elsewhere with all the usual suspect partners.
The only major sacrifice that Musharraf may have to make is to now don a white shirt and silk tie instead of khaki fatigues. Poor Nawaz Sharif must content himself as a bystander because the US prefers a chameleon who has her eye on the bottom line and who looks good on ‘Sixty Minutes’ and carries the mantle of a so-called martyr’s daughter but mercifully without a suicide belt.
There is the remaining problem about the constitutional ban on a third term for a PM and also the question of pardoning or withdrawing the corruption cases against BB. The president will have no problem in getting the usual nod on such prickly legal issues from the ever reliable destroyer of constitutions, namely, Sharifuddin Pirzada.
So what are the options? (a) BB should start wearing an army camouflage khaki duppatta around her head; (b) Musharraf should enrol for a distance learning doctorate at Harvard with the dissertation theme ‘Military Inc and how to improve governance on the role model of Asif Zardari and SGS’!
ANJUM YUSUF
Dubai
A few days back your newspaper was loaded with letters against the feudal system. To all those who talk about feudalism and its ill effects let me just say that when you crushed the so-called feudal families and replaced them with new families, the latter became rich overnight by continuous government support.
When the Auqaf department was created during the Ayub regime and the shrines were taken into government custody and in many cases the old families were replaced with new mutawallis who had the backing of the government, these shrines became dens of corruption and malpractices.
The face of centuries-old Sufism was tarnished and became a place of sexual, economic, drug and other abuse. This was one part of the feudal structure which you replaced. The second part of the feudal system which you replaced was when you made the local sardar, the local wadera and the local malik become less powerful by alienating him from the state.
The result was that the vacuum left by the feudals was quickly filled up by the mosque Imam who became very influential. Otherwise if you study the feudal structure you would see that all tribes, waderas or old families had a pir who they would follow in their decisions, both public and private, and the rituals were also carried out by the pir. The local landlord was subservient to the pir or the community of Syeds.
Now the situation is different, you have Auqaf managing the shrine and I can well say that the shrines from Abdullah Shah Ghazi in Karachi to Bari Imam in Islamabad are in great decline and all sorts of malpractices are being carried out there.
The rise of the jihadis all over is due to the vacuum created by land reforms, creation of auqaf and destruction of centuries-old social fabric. The pir had a relation with his client tribe or family which had developed over centuries and he understood the local culture. He was mostly a reformist and not a revolutionary. Today the mullah is being backed from numerous Islamic countries.
ALI HUSSAIN MAZARI
Multan
UNTIL recent times, all properties, e.g., flats, shops and offices, used to be given by landlords to tenants against pugree payments, comprising 75 per cent to 80 per cent of market value of said properties. Token rent used to be collected thereafter from tenants.
With soaring property prices, pugree property tenants are facing unbearable harassment from greedy landlord’s refusal to accept rent.
Delay or non-issuance of rent receipts on one pretext or another is some of the tactics employed to render pugree tenants defaulter in order to initiate proceedings in law courts to vacate such properties and re-sell at prevailing high prices to other tenants.
Pugree tenants in this situation are facing the ever-hanging sword Of Damocles on their head for no fault of their own.
Our lawmakers must devise some law to protect the interests of pugree property tenants and landlords both, in order to eliminate this social problem.
One may suggest that legislation may be passed that pugree tenants, occupying and paying rent for a property, say for 10 to 25 years, can be entitled to automatic ownership of the said property by paying accumulated rent for say 10 to 25 years to landlords.
The above legislation may be subject to the following provisions, to protect rights/interests of landlords also.
a. Such legislation will apply only to those housing, commercial, complexes/colonies, where several flats, offices, shops have been given by landlords to tenants against pugree amounts, ranging from 10 to 25 years.
b. Such legislation will not apply to one or two properties (e.g., flats, office, shops) whose rent income is the only source of income for senior citizens, widows, orphans and others.
c. Such legislation will not apply to such properties whose landlords have no other flats, office, shop and need the same for their own use. In such a case landlords may be allowed to acquire such property for their own use by purchasing from tenants by paying the prevailing pugree price.
d. All of the above, of course, applies to only properties given on pugree and not pure rentals for a fixed period of time.
e. Pugree properties owned by trusts, mosques, madressehs, welfare organisations, education boards may be an exception to the above-proposed legislation.
I hope our legislators will come to the rescue of the helpless pugree tenants by ensuring justice to all
A HARASSED TENANT
Via email
IT was really shocking to learn about the death of two tigers in the Lahore Zoo (July 15), but more serious were the circumstances under which the poor creatures met their sad end.
The disease caused by trypanosome has previously killed eight tigers in Pakistan during 1995 and 1997 while it was diagnosed for the first time in 1992 when it killed two tigers.
One would like to ask the director and the deputy director of the Lahore Zoo as to what precautionary measures were adopted since 1992. It is really a pity that tigers are constantly dying in spite of the services of the expertise of the local University of Veterinary Sciences and the Veterinary Research Institute.
It seems that no one is aware of the wildlife zoological sciences and about keeping zoo animals as these subjects are not included in the curriculum of any of our veterinary or agriculture institution in Pakistan. It would be much better if we import a zoo curator from abroad. In my opinion the prestigious director and the deputy director of the zoo cannot deliver any good.
The zookeeper in Europe is called `curator’ as he is required to take care of the animals and I doubt very much if a director can have such responsibility. The directors are good in the FBA and the CIA but certainly not in a zoo.
Tigers are an endangered species and is rapidly depleting in India and Pakistan as their total numbers have declined to just 3,000 animals. I would request the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals to take serious notice of this serious situation.
PROF (DR) ASHFAQ A. QURESHI
Veterinary pathologist
Karachi
THE residents of Gulistan-i-Jauhar, Karachi, and areas adjoining it had heaved a sigh of great relief when the KESC during the last month had stopped its obsessive loadshedding. But the joy was short-lived as the KESC is back to its old tantrums, and is resorting again to two to three hours of loadshedding daily, both in the morning and in the evening.
If the KESC is short of energy, the crisis can be overcome by buying power from any neighbouring country until it puts its internal affairs right.
PRO BONO PUBLICO
Karachi
I AM surprised to hear what you said about a sovereign country, ‘Pakistan’, which is a member of the United Nation. Even a man of street common sense cannot say what you said. Moreover, you said against a country which is a nuclear power.
What will be the outcome if US forces go in Pakistan? I think you have no mental capacity to think about it, and I mean it. Let me tell you what is going to happen. I feel that no matter it comes from the US, India or Israel, any attack on Pakistan will mean a severe reply from Pakistan to India, Israel and the US forces in the region. Definitely Pakistan will not survive, but will not survive those who for no reason involve in such a naked aggression against a nuclear power which is trying its best to dig out the grassroots terrorism from its territory.
Mr Obama, Hilary Clinton said that you are naive as far as foreign policy is concerned, and you proved it today that she was right. I was thinking that you had no chances to win election because of race, but now you have proved that you can be a very dangerous person for the safety of our country and the world.
Your chances to become president of the US are null and void. The character, the personality, the wisdom, the communication, the leadership, and the foresightedness a president should have’ I am sorry to say you have none.
MUHAMMAD RIYAZ
Manassas, VA
"OBAMA warns Pakistan on terrorism". I guess this the season to beat up Pakistan. Pakistan is doing more than its share in war on terrorism aka war on Muslims. Furthermore, one cannot fight a proxy war for so long. I can see Musharaf muttering "go to hell".
No US politicians warned Pakistan when these terrorists, previously known as freedom fighters, were holed up in Pakistani territory fighting Russians, and again when Russia was leaving Afghanistan.
The US and its allies dropped everything and dumped thousands of fighters they recruited with their friend-turned enemy Osama on Pakistani territory. No politician warned that if these fighters were not rehabilitated and relocated to their countries, they would become a permanent problem for Pakistan. Though I doubt any country would have accepted them.
So, instead of pointing finger at Pakistan, the US and Europe need some soul-searching and come up at a lasting solution in Afghanistan.
ALTAF IBRAHIM
USA
IT has been mentioned in the press that the American democratic candidate has said that if elected, he will seriously think about sending troops into Pakistan. I hope that he realises what he is saying and what the ramifications of his warmongering will bring to the table. First, he will lose out on a strategic partner in the region, though in hindsight we never were ‘friends’ of America, but mere ‘interests’.
Second, we as a nation have proved in times of need and despair that whenever a calamity falls upon us, we become as one, forgetting political, social, and religious ties. If the American government thinks they can just bully us around, by launching a ground offensive across international borders, we as a nation certainly hold the potential o make US excursions in Iraq and Afghanistan seem like picnics in the park.
We will stand our ground and make any such misadventure fail regardless of the cost of lives to our nation. Take heed and stop war-mongering, if there is a faint trace of Islam left in your body kindly use it to mend bridges and not threaten us with rhetoric which has already cost the Republicans dearly in Congress now and in the presidential elections to come.
As yourself, is America ready for another misadventure which will lead in planeloads of coffins being flown home on a daily basis. Think before speaking, as words are cheap, but the human costs are staggering.
Even if elected, you will not win reelection, as fighting on three fronts is never a good idea, with stretched supply lines and determined defenders.
ALI Z. BOKHARI
Karachi
THE suicide bomber is more the victim than the protagonist of a suicide bombing, which takes the bomber’s life as well as other innocents’. In most cases the suicide bomber is a brainwashed innocent. He is a child of our Frankenstein seminaries. What remains of the bomber is shapeless, helpless mass of flesh, bone and some identifiable parts of the body. Currently no law prevails to identify the evil architect of these ghastly tragedies. It is these evil persons who brainwash the gullible with a so-called Islamic fervour, to commit an act which is absolutely and totally against the injunctions of Islam.
An ordinance should be promulgated to award the severest punishment, including capital punishment, for those responsible for brainwashing suicide bombers. If the source be traced to a madressah or a mosque or an organisation, the head of such an institution be punished as collateral accused.
Our intelligence agencies, for ever busy in surveillance of civil society, should be tasked to determine the perpetrators, and an FIR be filed on each occurrence.
Finally, the time has come for the government to implement the madressah law and take over such madressahs as operate outside the law and appoint qualified teachers.
M. P. BHANDARA
Member, National Assembly of Pakistan
Rawalpindi
ACCORDING to a news report (July 28), five men have been freed from illegal police detention. The story as stated is that a civil judge in a surprise raid on Nasirabad police station, has recovered five men kept in illegal confinement in the police lock-up. The SHO failed to provide any papers validating their detention. The raid was conducted on the directive of district and session judge of Qambar-Shahdadkot district.
The report does not say as to what action has been taken by the session judge against the police official concerned for keeping the citizens in illegal confinement.
This is not an isolated incident. The corrupt elements in the police often keep the poor people in police lock-up to extort money. Some time back it was reported in the press that the police keep the people in private houses locked up, to avoid habeas corpus proceedings.
Now that the chief justice and the Supreme Court have shown the way to assert the rule of law, the lower judiciary should follow the example and take suo motu notice of the atrocities being committed on the poor people by the police and other vested interests.
ABDUL SAMAD KHAN
Karachi
A FEW days back I removed the top cover of my car parked in my courtyard and was surprised to see a hole in the bonnet. Being a fairly new car, purchased through bank leasing, I was shocked with the situation. It became evident after a little investigation that it was a bullet mark. With a little effort I was able to find out the part responsible for the damage.
The next immediate thing came to my mind was that what fatal it could have been had it hit somebody in the head. It was a painful thinking with a sense of helplessness. Should we start wearing safety helmets in our courtyards also? Will somebody in the government guide us what we should do to do away with this risky situation? My house is surrounded by marriage halls and I often hear firing late in the night. Is there nobody controlling the activities in these halls?
At the same time, I will request people celebrating their functions with aerial firing to just keep in mind that their action can be extremely harmful for somebody totally innocent.
DILAWAR HUSAIN
Karachi
THE Israeli president, Shimon Peres, said in a radio interview that the Iranian president, Ahmadinejad, worships “the (nuclear) bomb more than he’s worshipping the God in heaven” (July 31).
One doesn’t know how Mr Peres has managed to peak into the Iranian president’s heart but the situation seems clearer about Israel. While Iran is only thought to be trying to acquire the devastating weapon, the Jewish state had already done that some four decades back – before China, India and Pakistan managed to get it. This proves that the Israelis were definitely worshipping the bomb.
As far as devotion to God is concerned, the Iranian people, who are known for their religiosity, would not have voted Mr Ahamadinejad into power had they not been sure of the strength of his faith in God. However, by their utter disregard for human life, having killed not just thousands of Palestinians and Lebanese people but several (presumably) Christian peace activists from the US and Britain, the Israeli leaders have shown their contempt for God’s commandments.
For, it is said in the Torah that killing one human being is like killing all of humanity; also, that we should do unto others as we would want them to do unto us, known as “the golden rule” and which every religion preaches.
M. SHAFI
Karachi
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