| August 15, 2007 | Wednesday | Sha’aban 1, 1428 |
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We never learn from history-7
KU’s evening programmes
Imran’s politics
Of deals and denials
Trade with Africa
The cover of Urs
Choice of words
Korean hostages
Use of footpaths
Pakistan today
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
THE National Registration Act 1973 for the first time launched a scheme for the registration of citizens. An organisation, headed by a director - general, was created which received applications for the registration from citizens and issued national identity cards. All citizens of 18 years and over required registration. The procedure for the working of the registration organisation and the manner of making applications for the registration and issuance of the national identity card were elaborated under the National Registration Rules 1975.
It was indicated that there would be no fee for the registration and issuance of the NIC. However, a fee of Rs5 was to be charged for issuing a duplicate card, if the original card has been lost etc.
The NIC issued incorporated particulars of the citizen and was valid without any limitation indicated on the card. These cards were valid for lifetime and were to be surrendered in case of the death of the holder to the district registrar by the spouse or the next of kin.
Since Pakistan has a high proportion of population who are poor, and most citizens barely survive on the meagre earnings, it was stipulated in the National Registration Act 1973 that NICs will be issued without any charge and will be valid for life.
This system worked from 1973 to 2000 when the National Database and Registration Authority Ordinance 2000 was issued during the period when the National Assembly and the Senate stood suspended in pursuance of the Proclamation of Emergency of the 14th day of October, 1999, and the Provisional Constitution Order No. 1 of 1999.
The new ordinance provided for setting up of an authority (Nadra ) for registration of citizens and issuance of NICs. However, major departures were made. The NIC was to be issued on application along with payment of fee. It was valid only for a certain limit. The procedure for its registration and issuance was complicated. Besides, a detailed application form and photographs with strict specifications were required. Not only that citizens in Pakistan with high incidence of poverty were saddled with the requirement of fee payment along with application the but also the card was no more valid for lifetime but had limited validity period. In the beginning, Nadra set up mobile teams in markets where NIC applications were received, with the fee payment of Rs50, and the new NICs when prepared were delivered at residential address indicated, but after a great delay.
The validity period of the card was not notified in the press and most citizens receiving their NICs were not aware that the NICs received after so much of processing and hardship were not valid for lifetime as before.
There is no reason why an NIC issued after the due process should not be valid for lifetime. It is the state which requires registration of citizens and this function ought to be performed without any cost or physical hardship to them.
Yet Nadra has put in place a system where citizens are repeatedly required to undergo financial hardship and physical agony for getting new NICs when the validity period of their NICs ends.
The production of the NIC has been made mandatory for almost all daily transactions, with the result that a citizen without an NIC cannot open a bank account, purchase a car, register a car, rent a house, purchase or sell property, etc.
This arbitrary requirement of getting fresh registration and a new NIC seems in conflict with the rights as incorporated in the Constitution wherein Article 38 mandates: “Promotion of social and economic well - being of the people.”
The National Database Authority (National Identity Card) Rules, 2002 were notified on April 3, 2002 and Rule 11, “Period of Validity”, requires that the validity period of the card issued will be notified by the federal government by means of a notification in the official gazette. However, such notifications, if issued, are not available on the Nadra website (wwww.nadra.gov.pk).
It is also amazing that Nadra’s explanatory question/answer on the website makes no reference to the validity period of the NIC.
As Nadra working and the NIC validity concerns all citizens, it is hoped that citizens as well as civil society organisations will agitate this issue and persuade the government to amend the Nadra Ordinance 2000, to make registration and issuance of the NIC for lifetime and without any fee.
MUHAMMAD YOUNAS
Islamabad
THIS has reference to Ardeshir Cowasjee’s column, `We never learn from history’ (Aug 12), claiming Altaf Hussain has received from the ISI a kickback of Rs 20 million. However, the facts are that the writer is a bit `confused’ about judging the names, and the kickback amount.
The same `confusion’ was displayed by Mr Cowasjee a decade back when, in his column, he mentioned Altaf Hussain’s name, hypothetically receiving kickbacks from the ISI.
I had sent a denial about the confusion of the name, and it was published in these columns. I had thought perhaps it was an error by him.
Once again, the facts are as under:
An Urdu national daily (Wednesday, June 12, 1996) and an English national daily (Nov 7, 1997 and not Dawn) reported that the ISI, through Gen Aslam Beg, in the 1990 general elections, distributed amongst 32 rightist politicians, religious leaders and journalists a sum of Rs140 million, to gang up against a political party.
The fact is that Gen Beg’s one side kick, also reached Mr Altaf Hussain’s residence of Azizabad with one suitcase, full of currency notes. Mr Hussain refused to accept it. After a few months, when Mr Hussain met Mr Beg in a function at Lahore, the former cynically asked, if his expensive suitcase reached him safely? The latter sheepishly nodded.
Those recipients who received the cash amounts were (surprisingly not mentioned in Mr Cowasjee’s column) the MQM’s nemesis Jamaat-i-Islami’s Amir (Rs5 million), and Maulana Salahuddin of Takbir’s fame (Rs0.3 million), Mr Altaf Hussain Qureshi (a red-haired veteran journalist) and Mr Mustafa Sadiq (Rs0.5 million).
Perhaps it was the second time that Mr Altaf Hussain Qureshi’s name was, by design, engineered in the infamous list of 32 politicians etc. (on the pay roll of the ISI) as Mr Altaf Hussain (MQM). Why, it is deliberate?
How was the name of Mr Altaf Hussain Qureshi tampered with to read Mr Altaf Hussain? And how was the sum of Rs0.5 million enhanced to Rs20 million? The answers slouch with Mr Cowasjee’s conscience.
KUNWAR KHALID YUNUS
Islamabad
THE internal students enrolled under the evening programme of Karachi University are being subjected to disparity, lack of attention, etc. They are being deprived of several basic facilitations as available to students in the morning session.
This impartiality is inconveniencing the students concerned and has become a matter of utter dismay to their parents. The students and their parents have, from time to time, expressed serious concern about mismanagement of the directorate of evening programme to the VC but to no avail.
In fact, evening students, a majority of them girls, also work part time in the day. Hailing from far-flung areas of Karachi, they attend classes in a hectic routine after spending almost 10 to 12 hours every day in a restless effort and ambition to accomplish their bright future under the present state of competition.
The students, after attending their duties or availing themselves of short leave from their work, travel by city buses and drop at the Silver Gate of the university and then hurry up, on foot, to different departments to attend their classes after suffering a great physical strain.
But the KU buses are neither available for their pick and drop at city points nor any shuttle is available to transport them between the main gate and the various departments in the evening. Buses are parked in the KU depots, depriving evening students of the bus facility.
By the time evening classes start, the libraries of various departments close, denying an opportunity of borrowing and consulting books by evening students for their academic courses.
During the evening session, there is no arrangement of standby generators to continue with lights and fans for classes in the event of regular loadshedding by the KESC. In such cases, the heads of department always postpone the regular classes and even the course of examination and call students later on.
There are also no arrangements of potable water to drink, comfortable furniture to sit, proper lights and ceiling fans in classes. Toilets are in a poor condition, with broken washbasins and commodes and without connection of water in the most unhygienic condition.
Despite payment of high fees by students seeking new admissions, they are seated in open-air tents under the blazing sun and blowing hot dusty winds to appear and clear the test.
With these problems, the fee structure being charged in the evening programme is four times higher than the one for the morning programme.
The vice-chancellor and the high authorities concerned should ensure equal facilities to students of the evening programme.
ZAFAR MUHAMMAD KHAN
Karachi
MR S. A. Qureshi’s article, ‘Benazir and the enemy within’ (Aug 2) needs objective analysis. If, on the one hand, the writer disapproves of the past and the present political stance of Imran Khan, he does not run short of praising the political insight of Benazir Bhutto, on the other.
According to Imran Khan, in his brief political career his only regret is the time when he supported Gen Pervez Musharraf for implementing his seven-point agenda aimed at ushering in an era of democracy. After that, his current hobnob with the PML-N or hitting it off with the firebrand leadership of the MMA is understandable.
For Ms Bhutto politics is a family affair, a matter of legacy. The neutral observers opine she lacks vision and integrity, the sine qua non for a leader of a country. That is why her two stints as the prime minister were disappointing, if not utter failures.
Despite having big feet of clay, she is lucky enough to thrive on the popular support of the followers of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Her commitment to democracy is merely rhetorical.
Imran Khan, as vocal as ever, now speaks with maturity and combines his criticism of all undemocratic forces with pragmatic suggestions and ideas.
Like all political leaders, he has his detractors. But he also enjoys a clout that can get the better of his opponents. This very quality bodes well for his political future.
Imran Khan is emerging fast as a countervailing force to politicians whose credibility in the public eye is too low.
RAFAT MAHMOOD ANSARI
Islamabad
DURING a seminar organised by the PDF on ‘The Role and Function of the Chief Election Commissioner” last Saturday, Aisha (Tammy) Haq, the moderator, had asked Senator Raza Rabbani of the PPP to confirm if a meeting had taken place between the president and Benazir Bhutto, the news of which had been widely reported in the media.
To everyone’s surprise, Senator Rabbani categorically stated that no such meeting had taken place. And when I asked him if he would resign from the PPP if it had, he once again categorically stated, yes. Now, as it is common knowledge that there has been a meeting between the two leaders and some agreement and deal had been formulated, will the Senator resign?
A newscaster of a TV channel also tried his best to get a clarification from Ms Bhutto herself. He relentlessly kept rephrasing his questions to get a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer about the meeting, but was no match for the Daughter of the East.
The first to blow the whistle and break the news of the meeting officially was Sheikh Rashid, who was pinned down and made to admit that a meeting had indeed taken place.
So once again, almost after 60 years of independence, we will be witnessing another comedy of errors and the citizens will be taken for another joyride for the next five years. Both Gen Musharraf and Ms Bhutto have been stating that there is no room for negotiation or dialogue, so there is no question of a meeting. And now the papers and TV channels are full of accusations and denials.
Why do our leaders keep betraying the citizens? Why could the president not have been honest and taken the citizens into confidence by simply announcing that, keeping in view the deteriorating situation in the country, he had taken the initiative by inviting both leaders to discuss the upcoming elections.
This simple gesture would have won him some of the respect he has lost over the years and ever since he suspended the CJ. It must not have been easy to eat humble pie and meet a person who he has been accusing of robbing the nation.
The Sharif Brothers and the opposition leaders have, of course, screamed foul and protested strongly.
However, in all fairness, will any democratically-elected leader in Pakistan be able to manoeuvre the twisting and turning political roads of this country without the backing or approval of the army? Would any of them have been able to make the many U-turns in our foreign policy?
America has invested $12.6 billion in economic and military assistance to Pakistan between 1954 and 2002. And a further $9 billion since 9/11, ($4.42 billion in economic and military assistance and $4.59 billion in reimbursement for Pakistan’s military contribution to Operation Enduring Freedom).
This investment was made, not for the love of Pakistan or its citizens, but to protect America from future terrorist attacks, which they feel are generated from our region. As such, they will certainly demand their pound of flesh and ensure that their investment is not wasted and will not allow a leader they cannot trust or rely upon to take over the country.
Going nuclear has guaranteed the army life membership and a permanent seat in our politics and a leading role in our government. Some fear that if America feels that the elections will not provide a leader that toes their line, they might even go to the extent of bombing the Fata hills so that an emergency is declared, elections are stopped and their man stays firmly in his place.
They have already issued such warnings, the most recent being from Barack Obama, the US presidential candidate, who has stated that if elected, he would consider the option of sending troops into the Fata areas if Pakistan failed to take appropriate action.
Such are the uncertainties in the murky waters of politics, which also happens to be a nuclear power and has celebrated its 60th independence day.
H. MAKER
Karachi
I AM a frequent traveller to Africa. The opportunities here are enormous, in terms of both magnitude and volume, but it is very confusing that the presence of Pakistani companies is conspicuously missing in the entire market.
We either don’t have diplomatic ties with most of the emerging economies such as Mozambique, Zambia, Angola or don’t have consulates/commercial offices in these countries.
A large population with a good buying power should be a big attraction to our exporters of all segments, but interestingly none of the exporters are inclined to export to Africa. The biggest market is for electrical goods, electronics, sports goods, garments, services, especially IT and accounting services.
I seriously think that the EPB should start gathering data and should organise ‘Made in Pakistan’ exhibitions in these countries as they are flush with cash. Also, our exporters and industrialists should hire marketing staff, which should be able to speak local languages, such as Spanish and Portuguese.
M. SALEEM USMANI
Dubai
HERE in Jhelum, the Urs of Hazrat Sulman Paras is celebrated every year in August. A countrywide funfair surrounds the shrine from all sides. But we find the Urs full of illegal activities like gambling , immoral dances, etc.
Above all, at the shrine, drugs are the most easily available items. One can smell drugs here and there and may find sellers and addicts.
The government should take notice of all such illegal activities here as last year the superintendent of police, Umer Farooq, took a daring step and put restrictions on all such activities but, as expected, he was transferred from the city.
ASIF MIRZA
Coordinator, Insaaf Human Rights
Jhelum
THERE is a valid reason that President Musharraf is loathe to the demand that he should take off his army uniform: the demand is improperly phrased. He should be asked to change his uniform with civilian clothes, not just take it off.
SIDDIQUE MALIK
Kentucky, USA
THE holding of South Koreans hostage by the Taliban in Afghanistan is contrary to the teachings of Islam. It is also contrary to the Pushtun code of conduct, to which ethnic group most or all the Taliban belong. They probably have justified it to themselves by thinking that the occupation of their country and the killing of innocent Muslims by the western forces and its Afghan collaborators is equally inhuman.
But, the Muslim aren’t allowed to fight the opponents by coming down to their level of injustice or cruelty. That is why the Holy Prophet (peace) had forbidden the killing of non-combatants and even the destruction of the enemy’s trees and crops. The Taliban and its supporters being martyred or injured will get their compensation in the Hereafter, which, I believe, will be lost by treating their enemies’ women, children or other innocents in an un-Islamic manner.
I would appeal to the Taliban to release the Koreans and hope for divine help in their jihad. They are urged to try out this prescription at least a few times.
IRFANULLAH
Karachi
IT is said that in Mumbai and some other cities people use footpaths, particularly at night, to sleep. In our case also, a similar situation is seen at Jinnah Hospital/Sindh Medical College and the Abdullah Shah Ghazi Mazar area where hundreds of poor people occupy these footpaths to sleep at night.
Some are using these footpaths as their permanent residences. It is time the government took immediate steps to stop this practice. Problems faced by these needy people must be addressed and these persons provided jobs according to their age and gender.
LT. COL (r) IRFAN HAIDER
Karachi
M.P Bhandara in his article (Jul 22) said, “We ask ourselves over and over again to our utter shame: would our Quaid be happy to live in today’s Pakistan? How would he react to the fact that some of the religious parties which opposed his concept of Pakistan tooth and nail and even tried to assassinate him have now become the purveyors of Pakistan’s ideology?”
I would like Mr Bhandara to ask himself how Quaid would have felt for his unrelenting support to a military dictator?
NAUMAN YOUNIS LODHI
Rawalpindi
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