| September 15, 2007 | Saturday | Ramazan 2, 1428 |
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Deportation of Nawaz
Expulsion of Khar
Wretched traffic jams
‘The Terror Presidency’
Denial of job opportunities
Bribery at our expense
Serving to make a difference
Banana republic
PPP spokesman
Prize Bond and expats
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
HOW happy we were to see government advertisements splashed colourfully over half a page of our leading newspapers, advising parents of children in government schools not to buy any textbooks. They were to be provided free of cost to the students.
I thought of the happy parents who would read this out to their children who would then eagerly await the new books, thrilled with the idea of the very feel and look of a new book in their hands.
And then came a second thought. Who would read these ads? No, not the illiterate farmer and daily wage earner whose children attend government schools. Even if some of these parents can read, they cannot afford to buy a newspaper.
So, who was being targeted? Yes, you and I, the fortunate ones who can read and even afford to buy newspapers. We are expected to go into raptures and praise the government saying: “At last something is being done in the education sector.”
Then came a third thought. How much was spent on these ads which will never reach their target audience? It was in millions, I was told. These millions could have been spent more wisely on school improvement, even if it was one school or two -- towards its library, a lab, washrooms, a compound wall, furniture -- the multifarious needs of a school that can be termed genuine.
Intriguingly, the matter does not end here. The next question that will be asked, and not by me alone but by thousands and thousands of children and their parents, is: “When will the textbooks actually be available?”
It is mid-September. Schools reopened on Aug 9 and the children and teachers are still without textbooks. For them it’s a waiting disaster.
In this crisis, the responsibility rests with the Sindh Textbook Board and its patron, the Sindh education department. They knew when the academic session was to begin but failed to meet the deadline. Four chairmen have changed in as many months and only one had the grace to resign. The others clutched on to their posts tenaciously. Why? It seems to be a coveted position. The charges and counter- charges of corruption that have been traded leaves one wondering as to what is happening there.
We only ask, when will the children get their textbooks? Will the books be good or will they be the usual shoddy stuff that the children have had to make do with all these years? We have been told that the new curriculum and syllabus have been revised and are now very good. Will the books do justice to them?
What do we do to enable our children to get their long-awaited books? Who is to blame? Why haven’t heads rolled? It shocks me that millions of children are suffering but no one seems to care. Why should they? The sufferers are not the children of the rich who would have raised hell if their children had been denied books.
The poor are voiceless and have no means to remind government officials that Pakistan is a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Those who step into power with the votes of the poor have no time for the children of their constituents. They are too busy playing the blame game.
ZUBEIDA A. DOSSAL
Karachi
TWO letters (Sept 13) condemn the deportation of Nawaz Sharif that was done in defiance of the ruling of the apex court. This is not an isolated disregard of court orders. In this context one can cite many cases. Back in 1999, for instance, Senator Asif Ali Zardari was shifted to the Karachi Central Prison from Aga Khan Hospital violating the Sindh High Court orders not to shift the senator from the hospital without the court’s knowledge and approval.
The Supreme Court of the USA ruled in 2006 that detainees of Guantanamo have to be charged and brought to trial. This has not happened as yet.
Seemingly, the arrogance of power makes one blind. I thought justice is blind.
DR P. NASIR
Gujrat
FOR Nawaz Sharif the ‘politics of aeroplanes’ has always backfired. In 1999 he lost his power as well as freedom. In 2000 he gained his freedom but lost his face. However, in 2007 he not only lost his freedom but also his face. A clever businessman but gullible politician.
MUSTAFA MAHESAR
London
I WOULD like to ask our most respected so-called guardian of the two holy sites not to part with our dying dictator and kindly do not terrorise us in our house.
It was shameful to see the Arab gentlemen having a press conference here in Islamabad. We do not expect this from our brotherly country – Saudi Arabia -- working against democracy in Pakistan.
Since I had watched the press conferences by the dictator police in Islamabad and episode of Mr Sharif’s deportation, I have a continuous pain in my chest, and I would like to beseech our Arab friends not to teach our dictator to be Khad- i-Main-i-Islamabad.
We got our country through a ballot vote and want it to sail through democracy. Saudi Arabia has damaged our country by littering it with madressahs and spreading hate and terrorism during the Zia era. It should emancipate its own people according to teachings of Islam which does not tolerate despotism and dictatorship.
M. AKRAM BHUTTO
Hyderabad
IT was very interesting to go through the news of Mr Khar’s expulsion and I quote: “Mr Khar had violated the conditions necessary for the party membership and, therefore, ceased to be a member of the party.
This was the ninth time Mr Khar had left the party” The ninth departure is the bottom line and soul of thestatement, which reflects the steadfastness of our politicians and the discipline in political parties.
It appears as if the Pakistan People’s Party has issued him a life long multiple entry visa and who can deny his right to use it at his own convenience. He can board any flight of his choice, from any airport, for any destination, with any Pakistani citizen.
Even, a small village teacher will not readmit a student after eight expulsions. But the PPP has generously given him at least eight chances earlier to improve his behaviour. Mr Khar will definitely take benefit of this kindness in future.
The repeated entry to and exit from the party is independent of any respect for rules, principles, party policies, personal integrity, ethics, decency,character, conscience, code of conduct, core values, loyalty and sincerity.
Socrates once said that his wisdom was limited to an awareness of his own ignorance, but the wisdom of our politicians is limited to total unawareness of their unlimited ignorance.
The institution of politico - business should now be closed and they should honestly try to deliver what is demanded by the nation.
MEHDI RIZVI
Pickering, Canada
THIS is with reference to Mr M. K. Naqvi’s letter (Sept 13) in which he has highlighted crucial issue being neglected by authorities as well as the public. Despite births and deaths taking place on city roads due to traffic jams, no solutions are forthcoming. In Karachi alone, the cumulative losses of time, fuel, health and environment are unimaginable. However, no heed is being paid by any quarter. A man of ordinary intellect can conclude that under the existing jam packed roads with most of them in an utterly bad shape. The following alternatives can be helpful:
Where there is rail track like Sharea Faisal-Landi, activation of local trains would not only shift the population from roads to train service but would generate revenue for the railways, another ‘national asset’. Currently, three local trains from Landi to Wazir Mansion are uncertain, especially due to unjustifiable stoppages in the vicinity of Cantt Station. If people know that local trains are running as per schedule, most people, especially those serving at I.I. Chundrigar Road, would shift to taking trains. One timely train can take about 500 vehicles (cars and motorcycles) off the roads. How much relief it would provide to people but sadly relief is not a consideration.
For the areas where there is no rail track, a bus with capacity of 60 passengers can take about 15 cars and 30 motorcycles off the roads (remaining 15 have no self transport). If 50 buses start plying from North Karachi to Tower, one can imagine the cumulative impact on the roads.
A media campaign may be started to educate the drivers to abide by the traffic laws. One of the most common yardsticks of estimating development stage of any country is as to what is happening on its roads. And that happening in Karachi needs no commentary.
AMJAD IQBAL
Karachi
IN her interesting article, ‘The shrinking Bush bubble’ (Sept 8), Rosa Brooks, who is apparently a lawyer, has likened the current situation of the Bush administration to a shrinking bubble.
She has also revealed that Jack Goldsmith, a Yale graduate like George Bush, who ran the US Justice Department office of legal counsel in 2003has a book coming up this month titled, ‘The Terror Presidency’. The title is self - explanatory and the publication gives accounts of life inside this bubble. It notes that from the outside, the administration looked powerful and dangerous... capable of rolling over any opposition. But it was hollow and illusory – and on the inside, many knew it.
In Pakistan, after 9/11, President Musharraf seems to have modelled himself after Bush. A look at how the Chief Justice of Pakistan and his family were treated from March 9 onwards, attack on a TV station in Islamabad, the terrorism witnessed in Karachi on May 12 and the attempt to muzzle the media through the Pemra ordinance were sufficient examples.
Now, the mockery of law, justice and Pakistan’s sovereignty witnessed in Nawaz Sharif’s deportation, along with the arrests and bullying of
PML - N and other parties’ leaders and workers is reminiscent of May 12.
Musharraf has managed to do all this because of the backing of the Americans who keep harping about the importance of democracy but are willing to ignore every principle and support dictators or obstruct those politicians who don’t toe their line, if a situation doesn’t suit them. The interference by the US in the Sharif episode, apparently by pressuring Saudi Arabia, is very clear.
A London based PML - N leader has argued that had Saudi Arabia and Saad Hariri been worried about the violation of the agreement by Mr Sharif, they would have reacted when he resumed political activity after moving to London two years back. Further evidence of this stems from the fact that a team of construction experts had been sent from Jeddah to Lahore six months back to rebuild and renovate the family’s Raiwind residence before their arrival.
He concluded: “The Saudi authorities came into action only when Washington saw that Mr Sharif’s return was going to upset their future plans in Pakistan” (Sept 11). These arguments do make a whole lot of sense.
M. SHAFI
Karachi
THIS has reference to letters, ‘National School of Pubic Policy’ (Aug 28) and ‘HEC advertisement’ (Sept 9), highlighting the significance of divulging the total/exact number of vacancies and the provincial quotas in the advertisements calling applications for job opportunities falling vacant in these organisations.
The unfair practice of masking correct information is not the speciality of only these two institutions as one can witness in day - to - day advertisements that most of the public sector departments/institutions, on one or the other pretext, avoid disclosing such vital information, thus depriving the candidates of smaller provinces of their right to employment.
This underhand practice is against the constitutional provision about the norms of transparency and looks extremely mischievous at the face of it. Such distortion, specially coming from the above two institutions -- one representing not only the federal government but also the federating units, and the other representing the seat of higher learning -- is not unacceptable at all.
The need of the hour is that transparency and intellectual honesty should be enforced so that nation - building can be ensured . The federal authorities are, therefore, approached that in the great national interest they should take note of this undesirable state of affair which, on the one hand, is depriving the people of their right to job and, on the other hand, can become the cause of mistrust and chasm between the people of federating units.
Bashir Ahmed Qazi
Hala
MR Ardeshir Cowasjee’s column ‘The free and fair syndrome’ (Sept 9) raises a very interesting point: why indeed should the general drop all cases against a politician and her spouse and overturn all of the court judgments so that she can have yet another go at the prime minister’s office?
It is both ironical and I’d like to add farcical that the lawyers’ fraternity should have taken to the streets in a big show of solidarity in favour of the chief justice, calling for respect for the judiciary and the rule of law, yet not one of them, including the high-profile Aitzaz Ahsan, have spoken out against the proposed deal between the general and an ex-prime minister who has at least as many cases against her as her number of years on earth.
Giving amnesty to someone with a past which is riddled with abuse of power and corruption doesn’t say much for due process of law or respect for the judiciary and trashes the work of hundreds of people who worked tirelessly to pursue cases against the first couple.
Benazir Bhutto wants ‘free and fair’ elections; however the deal, if it goes through, will also provide her with the green light for business as usual. That, in my view, will be a sad day for Pakistan.
SALMAN DAR
Toronto, Canada
MR Ishrat Husain has taken serious offence in his letter, ‘Serving to make a difference’ (Sept 4), at an implied oblique critique by his friend Tasneem Siddiqui -- for whom he has ‘the highest respect’ -- when he referred to Dr Ayesha Siddiqa’s unfounded assertion that Mr Husain in his landmark work on Pakistan’s Elitist Economy had not included the military amongst the guilty elite.
For safe driving as well as to distinguish him from armchair critics and “to serve the country in whatever little way they can make a difference”, Mr Husain has rightly chosen to be circumspect when it comes to military.
People of Pakistan must thank Mr Husain for ushering a non - elitist economy through a silent and invisible revolution in a matter of five years that he held the reins of the State Bank of Pakistan. Mr Husain may be credited with controlling inflation and increasing dollar balances by buying on the kerb. His singular contribution to the science of economics is the discovery that defence does not necessarily detract from development and both can grow. But the problem is how to finance that. Increased taxation is the answer, he says. Easier said than done.Mr Husain in a rather hurriedly - written retort has shown more hurt than anger with either Siddiqui or Siddiqa. He is an old practitioner of public service as an art of the possible and has never failed. His hard work and complete identification with the jobs in hand have distinguished him from jabbering intellectuals and the results of his labours have been acknowledged particularly by the bosses he served so satisfactorily.
Finally, a word of advice. Mr Husain is an author of a number of books and instead of feeling slighted by an odd remark, he should be proud to have been quoted.
S. S. Husain
Karachi
WE have a prime minister of Pakistan who says he will “not allow anyone to tarnish the image of Saudi Arabia”, a federal government that deports its own citizen (not to mention an ex-PM) despite a Supreme Court ruling, and a provincial government that domestically deports another citizen already on its soil from its largest city. President Musharraf should immediately pass a decree renaming the country the Islamic Republic of Bananas, and should appoint himself banana -in-chief for the next five years. It would be perfectly in keeping with the traditions this government is setting.
OSMAN KHALID
Lahore
THROUGH your newspaper, I request the sundry spokespersons for the Pakistan People’s Party to spare us their clarifications of the Benazir Bhutto’s parleys with Gen Musharraf’s military regime. A compromise with a military dictator is, at the end of the day, still a compromise, no matter how well it is packaged. And in this case, the packaging is as disgusting as the contents.
MUHAMMAD ISLAM
Lahore
I AM an overseas Pakistani living in the United States and can hardly ever return to my dear homeland. Nowadays I am in Pakistan and I came across a letter in your esteemed newspaper (‘Prize Bond scheme’, Aug 11), which truly spoke my problem.
As I live overseas, I transfer funds as foreign exchange and invest in various savings and investment schemes, especially in the Prize Bond scheme in Pakistan. Years back we had the facility to encash our winning prize bonds through the ‘power of attorney’ and we were really at ease due to this facility being in the United States but now we can’t claim our prizes as the physical presence of the winner is obligatory to claim and receive the winning prize.
As I am visiting my country after many years, it is quite disturbing for me to learn that a number of prizes against my winning prize bonds have gone void because the claim period of six years has been completed.
It is simply a matter of great regret for me and has made me lose interest in the Prize Bond scheme any longer. How can a person take interest in the
Prize Bond scheme when the ‘power of attorney’ facility has been withdrawn and only
six years’ period is valid to
claim the prizes?
Due to this my interest in investing in the Prize Bond scheme has decreased to a large extent and my friends have been suggesting me to take my hands off this scheme.
I strongly support the coordination group in this regard and request Ahmed Owais Pirzada, director-general of the National Savings Organisation, government of Pakistan, to reintroduce the ‘power of attorney’ option to facilitate the overseas Pakistanis and attract more investments in the Prize Bond scheme instead of pushing people out of this scheme.
NAJAM BILWANI
Virginia, USA
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