| August 23, 2007 | Thursday | Sha’aban 9, 1428 |
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British diplomacy
No HEC role in VCs’ appointment
Free and fair elections
Standing water & dengue threat
Water management
Advertising on TV
Time for honesty
An organ bazaar
Keep praying
Lahore vs. Karachi
Completing the projects
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
THESE columns dedicated to expression of public opinion in your esteemed paper and also in every other paper are very valuable in any democratic country. An acid test of democratic prevalence in the country is that the administration or the bureaucracy respects public opinion and incorporates it into their ways of working. The only exception is defence of the country where due to obvious reasons public opinion is not entertained.
Western governments have been following these norms since ages and we all see the quality and strength of democracy in those countries. In our country we miss this very thing terribly. As an operating organ of the government, the bureaucrats consider themselves the last word of wisdom and look down upon public intelligentsia and their opinion. This attitude of the bureaucrats is causing a gulf of differences between the government and the public and is a source of frustration for both. This factor has earlier been identified and conveyed to the government but vested interests of ministers do not let them control their bureaucrats.
Primarily it is the duty of the country’s head of state to remove this anomaly and instruct the bureaucrats to work along with the public opinion. Bureaucrats have been known to engage into conspiring against the governments which forces them to listen.
Public opinion expressed in newspapers should be taken seriously at government level by introducing a dedicated cell to this purpose directly reporting to the prime minister and should present a daily picture of public opinion to the prime minister, and the prime minister is requested to allocate some time in his daily schedule to this important function and consider implementing what can be done directly under his orders. If the PM considers maintaining a transparency with the public through the same medium of newspapers, it is bound to create cordiality between the government and the public.
M. M. Khan
Karachi
ACCORDING to a news report (Dawn, Aug 9), the first secretary (political) of the British High Commission, James Revell, met the chairman of the Sindh Tarraqi Passand Party (STP), Dr Qadir Magsi, recently.
Various matters are said to have been discussed in their meeting, such as the Musharraf-Benazir parleys in Abu Dhabi, role of the MQM in Sindh, any future STP-MQM dialogue, participation of the STP in general elections and the expected seat adjustment with the PPP. Mr Revell remained with the party officials for over two hours.
Presenting the party’s point of view, Dr Magsi said the STP would never hold talks with the MQM, as it didn’t consider the latter to be a political party. He also stated they would not associate themselves with the military dictator and that Benazir Bhutto would not become part of the All Parties Democratic Movement (APDM).
This shows that while the STP apparently has no intention of collaborating either with the MQM, which is a member of the ruling coalition, or the PPP, the British diplomats are trying to cobble some kind of alliance between the parties they perceive to be secular-minded and Gen Musharraf, in order to help the latter prolong his rule, only due to his help in the war on terror, even though it is damaging Pakistan.
This is also in line with the report from London a few weeks back that last year the then British foreign secretary Jack Straw had tried to arrange a rapprochement between Ms Bhutto and Gen Musharraf, while also trying to win American support for such a deal. These activities of the UK diplomats may further the British and western interests, but they will undermine the well-being of Pakistan.
According to a recent survey by the International Republican Institute, Nawaz Sharif was the second most popular leader and Imran Khan third. Dawn has put the PML-N at No. 1 in popularity in its own poll. Thus, people may prefer moderate Islamic centre — right leaders instead of secular ones.
This should have been crystal clear to them from the way the Pakistanis have shown during the recent judicial crisis that they want unalloyed democracy, the end of military rule and no room for corrupt politicians or those with fascist tendencies, in governance. We don’t want such hurtful foreign intervention in our affairs.
ZAKIR AHMED
Karachi
THE Higher Education Commission is making concrete efforts to improve the quality of higher education and to improve university education to meet international standards in the provision of high quality teaching, learning, research and services.
A number of organisations of teachers have claimed that the HEC is involved in appointing army personnel and bureaucrats as vice chancellors of public sector universities. The HEC has no role in appointing vice chancellors in the public sector universities.
The vice chancellors are appointed by the chancellors themselves through a transparent search committee appointed by the chancellors. The search committee comprises five eminent scholars and citizens of Pakistan who send three names to the chancellor after the position had been publicly advertised in national newspapers.
The chancellor then appoints one of the three persons as vice chancellor as recommended by the search committee. The HEC policy is that vice chancellor should be an excellent scholar and administrator. The statements by some persons that the HEC is involved in the appointment process of vice chancellors are, therefore, incorrect. The HEC is not even represented in the search committee which appoints any of the vice chancellors.
In order to promote the cause of teachers, a historic decision was recently taken and the teachers were given one higher grade on the recommendations of the HEC. This was a demand of the university teachers’ community for the last 30 years but was only implemented now through an announcement by the prime minister on the World Teachers’ Day.
SAMINA WAQAR
Higher Education Commission
Islamabad
THE present term of assemblies is about to end in a few months. The president and the prime minister have said on many occasions that the government will hold free and fair elections.
But the question arises: How can we hold free and fair elections when the government has already put a bar on educational qualifications of the candidates? According to the prevailing law, an ordinary citizen cannot file his nomination paper either for the provincial assembly or the National Assembly or for the Senate, unless he or she is a university graduate.
Furthermore, how can one call the elections free and fair unless all the political stakeholders are allowed to take part? If the government is to hold elections without Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, how can the exercise be called free and fair?
Also, the law says that the candidates who have been elected twice as prime minister cannot hold the office for the third time. This shows that there are some flaws that are lying pending for debate in the parliament for holding free and fair elections. Unless these flaws are removed, no free and fair elections can be held.
The government should first remove all the obstacles and then announce the election date. To hold free and fair elections, the government should forthwith remove the bar of graduate condition, and the exiled political leaders should also be allowed to file their nomination papers. It should remain a concern of the voters whether to elect a non-graduate or graduate candidate, as putting a qualification bar is equivalent to denying the basic right of the citizens of Pakistan.
About the hullabaloo about containing extremism and terrorism in the country, this too should be left to be tackled by the political party/parties people elect to form the next government.
SYED A. MATEEN
Karachi
THE DHA and some other areas have been seriously affected by the rains. The scenario is there to see, newly-made roads are being haphazardly cut to drain the water into the sea.. A colossal amount of money and human energy are getting wasted by the ad hoc unplanned actions of the DHA.
Ecologically speaking, shouldn’t there be some systems to store the rainwater in their respective areas and re-use it?
Water standing on empty plots in two weeks’ time will become breeding grounds for mosquitoes and dengue. Are the DHA and the city government going to spend huge amounts on spraying and fumigating then?
One simple technique is to leave any small fish in the water-contained areas. The fish will keep the water moving and oxygenated, mosquitoes will not be able to breed where there is fish, we cannot wait for water to dry on its own, it will take a very long time.
Meanwhile, the DHA and the city government must try to create awareness of the dengue situation, which is staring us in the face, through TV and media or any other source.
All residents should be advised that they need to look after their adjoining areas if water is standing, it is their responsibility to put fish and take stock of the situation, a warning should also be from the DHA and the city government that if any dengue or mosquito grounds are found, the residents’ electricity will be cut as fine. The responsibility of the DHA and the city government is to check, survey and cut electricity until mid-November.
DURAIN CASSIM
Karachi
THE present spell of torrential rains in the aftermath of cyclonic activity due to extreme atmospheric low pressure was heart-breaking and devastating. The loss to life and property is almost unfathomable. The worst hit was the coastal belt of Balochistan and the city of Turbat. Cities like Karachi, Lahore, Mardan, Peshawar, Muzzafarabad, Rawalakot, etc., have also received unprecedented amount of downpour. About 400,000 people are displaced in Balochistan alone.
Thousands of people are affected in other parts of the country. After the earthquake, it is once again proved that we require having a very agile, professionally befitting and well-equipped army, as in Balochistan, at many a place the relief was only possible through helicopters or through small military boats.
This brings us to the second lesson which has to be drawn from this calamity: enhancement of storage capacity to cater this reverine dilemma. Pakistan at present has two main dams for water storage and power generation. We are also passing through the worst energy crisis of our history.
The shortfall in power generation oscillates between 1,500 MW and 2,500 MW, which is 15 to 20 per cent of our total power generation. If this gap continues, then it will grow to 40 to 50 per cent by 2012, meaning thereby that the country as a whole will have an average loadshedding of 10 to 12 hours with no electricity for industrial or even civic requirements. God forbid, we will have darkened cities, blacked-out towns and drab boulevards.
The water shortages will also turn our agricultural lands into dreadful arid zones. Water vision given by President Musharraf is completely vindicated by the present crisis. In Balochistan, if we could have made dams on the Hari river, Kech Kaur, the Nihing river and other hill torrents, then the disaster would have been minimised.
We have three main rivers, i.e., the Chenab, the Jhelum and the Indus. We have absolutely no site for dams on either the Chenab or the Jhelum due to plains of terrain and non-availability of even nominal dam heads and reverse water slope areas. The only choice left is the river Indus.
On the Indus we have sites like Katzara, Basha, Kalabagh, Akori and Munda. The most suitable site is of Kalalabagh, because of two reasons: one that as monsoon accounts for 70 per cent of water in Pakistan, glaciers make up for just 30 per cent. Basha and Katzara sites are glacier-fed whereas the Kalabagh site is unique to receive both the sources, it receives monsoon rains as Swan and Harro rivers. Moreover, the Kabul, Swat and Chitral rivers also confluence into the Indus. Kalabagh is the site where 90 MAF of water flows.
The ‘Water Vision’ given by President Musharraf was the right step in right direction. Due to the political bickering and trust deficit between the provinces we are losing our future at a very fast speed. Our slide downwards is almost torrential.
In 2006 the Supreme Court Bar Association suggested President Musharraf to file a reference in the Supreme Court to seek judicial opinion on the Kalabagh ‘issue’. That was really commendable. This type of judicial activism is required to address national issue. Yearly we are losing about 35 to 40 MAF of water as runoff. Due to global change in weather this loss might be increased due to unpredictable weather patterns.
It is time we rose above the political ramifications and took decisions in national interest.
IMRAN JAMALI,
ROJHAN JAMALI
Via email
THESE days one is bombarded with senseless ads on TV channels. In the absence of any public interest watchdog (at least I am not aware of any) it seems that such ads are inserted indiscreetly without viewers having any say or recourse.
The viewers’ ordeal reaches its pinnacle when time checks are shown at 15-minute intervals as if none among 160 million-strong Pakistanis is blessed with a watch. Moreover, repetition of the same nonsensical ads is a depiction of the empathyless attitude towards viewers shown by these powerful media magnates.
If Pemra can formulate and implement policies pertaining to live coverage of events on a war footing, then why is an exception being exercised on how much time can be allocated to ads during programmes? Sometimes, I get a feeling that air time is cheap which enables these channel owners to fill the programme space with quantity rather than quality.
I appeal to producers of various programmes as well as renowned anchormen to specify how much ‘quality time’ will be allocated to the programme content.
M. AMER HUSSAIN
Lahore
HONESTY is the greatest of all virtues. It speaks volumes about a society as much as it does for individuals. Gen Musharraf and Benazir Bhutto have made utter fools of their respective aides and the Pakistani nation at large by unsuccessfully keeping their Abu Dhabi meeting a secret.
Diplomatic silence is a norm in international affairs but it is hard to think of a situation where there is official denial of a happening of national significance, which has actually happened and will have to be disclosed sooner or later.
Besides what potential political harm could have been inflicted if the government and PPP sources had confirmed the news of the meeting once it was under way? After all, nothing political or non-political has been able to persuade both to stick to their stated public stance anyway.
All those individuals and particularly their families who were given the official duty of denying the news about any such meeting while the national and international media was claiming that it had taken place deserve sympathy. It requires great courage to earn the title of ‘dis-informer’ for somebody else’s deeds.
H. BASHIR
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
IT’S really ridiculous that this government does not care that the country will soon emerge as an organ bazaar on the world map. It is unfortunate that poverty-stricken, humdrum Pakistanis are in such dire need of money that they can’t even think before selling their organs. In this way the organ trade is flourishing by leaps and bounds.
Why are doctors involved in this heinous crime ignobly free?
It is because no law has been implemented to curb this crime. I have read the appeals of Dr Adibul Hassan so many times but the government always turns a deaf ear towards them. I appeal to the government to wake up and save Pakistan from being known with one more ignominious name.
TANZEEL HASSAN
Karachi
HAFIZUR Rahman’s column, ‘Praying for an ideal son’ (Aug 15) was well written until he decided to join the bandwagon and bash the army. All fathers pray for their sons, no matter what they do but why single out the Pakistani soldier? The entire prayer appears to be meant for a general not a soldier. I did not expect an experienced writer such as Mr Rahman to commit such a mistake.
The soldier of the Pakistan army may only be praying for deliverance from irresponsible writings. A soldier stands on duty in the face of all sorts of enemies with utter disregard for his own safety. You find soldiers evacuating people from flood- or earthquake-hit areas but we never consider the fact that the soldier’s own family may also be suffering the same plight.
I also find Mr Rahman’s idea of hiding behind an anonymous friend for the poem, absurd. What I have learned from my friends in Stockholm and Pakistan is that our military academy is one of the best in the world. Mr Rahman must enlighten us as to how an undeserving cadet got the sword of honour.
NADEEM KAWISH
Sweden
I read with interest Farrukh Rahman’s letter ‘Lahore vs. Karachi’ (Aug 21). I too carried similar impressions when I visited Karachi some years back. Lahore is greener, cleaner and livelier than Karachi and part of the credit for that goes to Mian Shahbaz Sharif, the former chief minister of the province.
He worked tirelessly to upgrade the city. Pakistan needs persons like him to make this country what one would like it to be.
DR SHAHID QAYYUM
Lahore
THE Supreme Court has ordered that heavy traffic should keep off the roads of Karachi during the hours of 6am and 11pm. Also, the court may see fit to also order that no stakeholder in Karachi may give any further contracts for roads, bridges, sewerage till the existing under-construction projects are completed
However, there should be no organisation which can claim “exception to this ruling,” be it the city government etc.
A committee of all the organisations should be appointed to ensure and certify that each other’s ongoing projects are complete in all respects. Once the existing roads/projects are completed in all respects, then other projects may be considered. Administration is the implementation and then the completion of projects, not just the awarding of contracts.
MAQBOOL RAHIMTOOLA
Karachi
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