| September 17, 2007 | Monday | Ramazan 04, 1428 |
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Humanity’s ultimate bomb
If I were the president
Need for parking lot in SITE
Security in hospitals needed
Express train?
Nawaz episode
Who are extremists?
Traffic police
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
APROPOS of the news item, ‘PMDC poll winner yet to be notified’ (Sept 12), the actual facts are as under.
- That the election to elect a member representing registered medical practioners of whole Sindh was announced in July 2005.
- That ballot papers of 10 candidates were found in order and they were allowed to contest the elections. These included Dr. Sher Shah (from Karachi) and Dr. Zafar Abbas (from Mirpurkhas).
- That nine centres were chosen for polling. However, it was realised that many doctors in interior Sindh lived at considerable distance from these polling stations. To give a chance to these doctors to cast their votes, they were asked to apply to the PMDC in writing, enclosing: (a) a copy of their valid PMDC certificate, (b) a copy of their national identity card, (c) a stamped self-addressed envelope.
Over three weeks were given for this application to reach the PMDC‘s office in Islamabad. If documents were found in order, the PMDC would send a ballot paper to those doctors. These doctors had to put a cross against the name of candidate they wished to choose and return it to the PMDC, where it had to reach by a specified date for counting purpose. The voters living far away from polling stations used these facilities, and the PMDC received nearly 400 votes by post.
Unfortunately, on Sept 11 there was dispute at four polling stations and the polls were postponed. However, there was no controversy or dispute on votes cast by postal balloting.
In May, these elections were again scheduled but were postponed due to section 144 in Sindh following the May 12 incident.
These elections were again announced on July 17. No new candidature was allowed and only those candidates who contested in 2005 were allowed to participate. However, this time, voters living at far-flung areas were given only up to July 22 to apply for postal balloting. Now July 22 was Sunday when the PMDC was closed.
If it allowed three to four days for posts to arrive from far-flung Sindh areas, it meant that those doctors were given 0-1 day to apply.
Dr Zafar Abbas, the only candidate form outside Karachi and Hyderabad, objected to the election committee in writing asking why they were stopping the doctors form distant Sindh areas to vote in these elections.
He said the options before the PMDC were: (a) declare that these elections were only for urban Sindh and not for rural areas and (b) accept the postal ballots cast earlier when adequate time was given.
This would be fair as (a) these elections were merely continuation of previous elections; (b) the candidates were the same, (c) there was no dispute on any postal ballot, (d) this would give ‘all’ Sindh doctors the chance to vote.
The PMDC election committee agreed to count the votes given via postal balloting, saying it could not deny half of the province of its voting rights.
On the day when the final counting was to be done, the committee counted 42 votes, which were all for Dr Zafar Abbas and then revised its decision and decided not to count these postal ballots of 2005.
The point is that due to the election committee’s earlier decision, it had brought about 400 postal ballots from Islamabad to Karachi (for what purpose?). The representative of Dr Zafar Abbas objected and requested that as the PMDC’s rules asked for referring all disputed matters of election to the federal government, this matter should also be referred to it.
It is my understanding that the matter has now been referred to the federal government. Further, doctors of rural Sindh can’t and mustn’t be deprived of their voting rights. Then whoever wins, he must be accepted by everyone.
PROF( DR) SYED RAZI MUHAMMAD
Muhammad Medical College
Mirpurkhas
ACCORDING to reports in the electronic and print media (Sept 12), the Russians have tested the world’s most powerful bomb, which is an explosive device unleashing a shockwave with the power of a nuclear weapon.
This new killer has been called the ‘Dad Of All Bombs’ and is claimed to be four times more powerful than America’s ‘Mother Of All Bombs’ (MOAB) that was until now the most destructive. Thus, a Russian ‘dad’ seems to have beaten the American ‘mother.’ If memory serves, the US had either used or was preparing to use its MOABs in Afghanistan against the Al Qaeda and Taliban militants in 2001.
Anyway, one wonders if some other countries such as China, India and Israel may feel compelled to develop something even more potent than DOAB and, perhaps, label it as the ‘Granddad of All Bombs’? The arms race is likely to spiral further and further up. Like many other global capitals, Moscow probably feels threatened by Washington’s new unilateralism and philosophy of pre-emption that has led it to attack several Islamic countries and plan a nuclear missile defence shield based in Eastern Europe.
Any new moves by China, for instance, would alarm India and Japan, causing them to go for their own deterrents. Pakistan would react to Indian actions and, thus would the frightful militarism proceed.
It is time the world realised the dangers and futility of pursuing such a self-defeating course. Despite being one of the 1.5 billion ‘terrorists’, i.e. Muslims, of the world, I would like to propose a peaceful alternative. We have been hearing the term ‘love bomb’ perhaps since the hippie era of the 1960s but an actual weapon never seems to have been considered seriously.
One would suggest that Unesco or WHO should be given a project to develop a device which, when dropped somewhere, would neutralise emotions of aggression and anger in the people, replacing them with love, if it is felt that a nation or community is getting too violent or bent upon attacking some other entity.
Instead of coming up with weapons of mass destruction (WMD), we should be looking for devices of mass love (DML). Rather than build DOABs and MOABs, we must invent what should be ‘humanity’s ultimate bomb’, whose acronym HUB (having a pronunciation somewhere between hub and hoob) is an Arabic word, also found in Urdu, which means ‘love.’ The unsuccessful efforts to get all countries to sign the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty ought to be replaced by a move to join a ‘Love Proliferation Treaty’ (LPT) binding the signatories to spread the wonderful emotion. It goes without saying that all WMDs must be banned worldwide.
Finally, the proposed love bombs or HUBs, should be kept in the custody of the UN, to be deployed on the approval of two-thirds majority of the UN General Assembly, so that nobody can veto it, unlike what happens in the Security Council.
Some years back I had written in an article in Dawn meant to foster peace between India and Pakistan that, “Life’s priorities are three: The first is to love. The second is to love. And the third is to love.” Let’s build the ‘bomb’ to help do it.
KHALID CHAUDHRY
Karachi
BEFORE I doff the uniform and/or swear in for the second term as president of Pakistan, I would without any delay do the following long-delayed but vital acts:
a. Provincial autonomy to be defined and enforced by ordinance with the proviso that the next elected assembly will have the power to amend it according to the so-called wishes of the people.
b. Financial award, ditto.
c. District government system to be placed on a permanent footing, unshakable by any person in future. This is the bedrock on which rural and urban development and immediate services would depend.
The address to the army, not to the people of Pakistan, may be approximately on the following lines. The central theme in this address should be totally impersonal:
“I am extremely proud that the uniform I am wearing has ensured for the first time in the history of Pakistan the rule of parliament without any break.
“This uniform has also ensured tolerance of opposition and its government in a province which was an anathema to the previous governments.
“This uniform has also ensured a much better rule of law when all the previous governments resorted to repression, castigation, in short, all means to terrorise the people.
“But the greatest achievement of this uniform is the tolerance of difference of opinion, freedom of the media and free spread of opinion and information. This is unprecedented and, moreover, unthinkable, in a military regime so much so that quite a few buffs in the media have adopted insulting and leering attitude to the country’s dignitaries.
“This uniform belongs to the best army in the world and it has been the greatest honour and privilege not only to lead the great Pakistan army but also, and far more important, to start Pakistan on the road of parliamentary and democratic era.”
F.H. ANSARI
Karachi
PARKING has become a major problem in Karachi. In many cases parking spaces are available but those have been encroached upon by shopkeepers / factory owners who prefer to put their material outside their premises, thus depriving motorist of their parking right.
This is done almost everywhere in the city.
Such is the case in a very busy lane starting from Ahmed Foods Industries Plot No. D 112 and Amreli Steels (Pvt) Limited, Plot No. D 89.
This lane ends on Chakiwara Road which is a commercial area consisting of banks, hardware shops, travelling agents, PIA franchise office, restaurant, mill stores, etc.
As parking on the main road is not possible, the only option to park cars is the above-mentioned lane.
The factories situated on the main Estate Avenue have their backs in this lane where a sewage nullah also flows by.
Every factory has at least one gate. The space between gates is left unutilised which attracts encroachers, hawkers, thellas, garbage disposal places, etc.
If this area, i.e. the space between gates of the factories on the back, is declared and reserved for parking, then it can solve the parking problem to a great extent.
The parking lots may be declared as public parking and to be developed by SITE authorities and industrialists jointly.
The factories should be restricted to have maximum two back gates only. A multiple problems can be solved by adopting this step.
ANADIL RASHDI
Karachi
THIS refers to the news, ‘CHK nurse gang-raped in Landhi hospital’ (Sept 7) and your editorial, ‘Rape in a Karachi hospital’ (Sept 8). The grisly incident at the Civil Hospital, Karachi, reveals the state of insecurity of female hospital staff.
In this regard the medical superintendent (MS) of the CHK must also be made accountable for his negligence and incompetence in ensuring security of women employees and poor administration in the hospital. Such incidents occur almost in every hospital of the country unchecked.
In July this year a news report was published, ‘Nurse complain of abuse’ (July 18), in which two students and sisters of the Nawabshah Medical College Hospital (NMCH) accused two doctors, an ECG technician and a paramedic, of criminally assaulting them.
One sister claimed of getting pregnant and was asked to keep quiet upon reporting the matter to the nursing principal. They said the doctors and paramedics harassed and blackmailed nursing students in wards and during night duties but the hospital administration never took any action.
Apart from this, many other types of crime are committed in hospitals, involving kidnapping of newborn babies, thefts and robberies. According to a report, ‘Rs8m looted, guard killed’ (Feb 2) in which Rs8 million was snatched from the cashier of Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH) right inside the AKUH premises.
According to another report, ‘Patients robbed of mobile phones, Rs150,000’(Aug 17), in which patients in a private hospital in Rawalpindi were looted by the robbers. Similarly, a newborn baby was kidnapped in the Shah Bhittai Hospital in Hyderabad, while another news said, “Newborn baby kidnapped in hospital’ (Aug 20).
The above state of affairs in both government and private hospitals in the country clearly shows that security in hospitals is neglected. Similarly, the administration of a hospital, as well as its controlling authority, lacks concern and knowledge regarding security requirements.
Here are some some suggestions:
a. A security department should be established in every big or small hospital and a security officer having knowledge of hospital security with necessary staff should be appointed.
b. Hospital security policies, including anti-sexual harassment policy and infant abduction response plan, should be formulated and made known to all employees of the hospital.
c. Hospital security standing orders should be prepared and read, understood and signed by every hospital employee for strict compliance.
d. A vigilance committee should be formed in every hospital and a system should be evolved for intelligence gathering and feedback from each department and ward of the hospital about the person found or suspected to be involved in suspicious or immoral activities.
e. A critical security survey / risk assessment of the hospital should be carried out from time to time to determine the weak areas and perceived threats to hospital and employees, especially to the women employees.
f. Internal and external area of the hospital should be covered by close circuit television surveillance cameras with video cassette recorder to monitor any undesirable/criminal activities inside or around the hospital.
g. Emergency alarm, panic buttons and public address system should be installed in all the departments of the hospital to alert the security in case of any emergency.
h. Interior of hospital building should be patrolled by security staff to observe and check any undesirable/criminal activity and also for responding to an emergency.
SQN LDR (r) S. AUSAF HUSAIN
Karachi
I HAD a chance to travel by the 178 Up non-stop Faisalabad Express from Lahore to Faisalabad on Sept 9. It stared half an hour late at 8am. This delay is difficult to comprehend as the train commences journey from Lahore. It reached Faisalabad one hour late at 10.30am against the scheduled arrival of 9.30am.
On the next day I again travelled by this train on my return journey. Its scheduled departure from Faisalabad is 11am but it arrived at the platform at 11.20am and left for Lahore at 1.10pm and reached Lahore one and a half hours late at 2.20pm.
It remained standing at the Faisalabad platform for 50 minutes. The local railway official did not care to make any announcement for the cause of delay and its time for departure. The passengers were so subjected to good deal of discomfort in the hot weather.
When the Faisalabad railway authorities were asked for the reason of this inordinate delay, they gave an indifferent reply. They said it had come late from Lahore and so going back late form here.
When asked as to why the train remained standing at the platform for full 50 minutes, they failed to give any satisfactory explanation.
Is it the efficiency of the railways of which the railways minister is making tall claims day and night. The unpunctuality of the service is causing the loss of passenger revenue to the railways.
R. R. ALVI
Lahore
AFTER watching the whole episode of Nawaz Sharif’s return to Pakistan unfold on the TV, I am left with a sense of deep regret and shame for all the parties involved in this scandal.
For President Musharraf: Just when we had thought that he had put his ill-advised confrontation with the judiciary aside, he found a new way to stoop even lower and hit the judiciary with another contempt offence.
For the Saudis: it is bad enough that human rights are non-existent in the kingdom, but how can they defend becoming party to human rights violations in other countries too; further, if Nawaz Sharif is half the man he looks, he may never forget the Saudi hand in his deportation if he comes to power again. And for Nawaz Sharif: how can he hope to convince the people that he is going to fight for their rights when he can’t protect his own rights.
HAMMAD M. MALIK
Edison, NJ, USA
ONE hears and reads in the media that the war on terror is actually a war between moderates and extremists in our country.
But it appears that both are extremists in some sense as both are dealing with heavy arms in killing hundreds of people every month.
We can expect extremists to deal with arms and weapons but why are the moderates also talking in the same language? By definition, a moderate should behave moderately and try to appease and dissolve the critical matters/issues of dispute and strive for peace.
It is very hard to decide who is literally moderate unless one of them deliberately takes initiative to pull back oneself from this bloody mess.
It is expected that the war on terror or extremism can take the form of revenge from either side as we have seen in the recent issues of Lal Masjid and North Wazirstan. Every time there is a suicide bomb blast or a similar incident of kidnapping of army soldiers, the investigations lead to the north Wazirstan or tribal areas.
This vengeance can only be stopped as one-sided retreat or complete annihilation of the other.
In any case there could also be peace negotiations and agreements between the two in order to stop the war and the retrieval of the peace. Moreover, we have to innovate new techniques of combating terror and extremism as the current modes of fighting against it are appearing to be fruitless.
MUBASHER JAMIL
Rawalpindi
THE new city traffic police in Lahore, unusually polite but not necessarily effective, have courteously passed the warning period and now step into the challan era. Just as they were utterly clueless and powerless during their honeymoon period, it appears almost certain that their limitations will not bother the biggest creators of traffic mayhem. I refer to the out-of-control motorcyclists who have made driving a nightmare for everyone. Their driving madness is evident as they weave in and out of several lanes in one go.
These rather essential features and keeping one’s lane were recognised as driving basics by the vast majority of motorcyclists.
Only with proper training and resources can we hope for the traffic police to start making any difference to the mayhem that is Lahore traffic today.
WASIF M KHAN
Lahore
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