| October 17, 2007 | Wednesday | Shawwal 4, 1428 |
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War against terror
Mutiny on the ship
Sohrab Goth road, bridges
Appeal for justice
Beware of acid attackers
Telephone bills
Inquiry needed
Thank you, PTCL!
Taxation officer’s order
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
THIS has reference to the news item, ‘World financial turmoil a wake-up call: SBP chief’ (Sept 25, Business pages). The SBP governor, while addressing a gathering at the Institute of Bankers, Pakistan, said the recent turmoil in global financial market was a wake-up call for leading financial centres to reassess their legal and regulatory framework.
Revisiting the issue in long-term perspective, the problems erupted in US real estate loans, and global market had its impact on developed economies. Not only in the UK but central banks in Australia, Japan and Canada injected the liquidity in their banking system. The US and elsewhere banks set aside cash as a precaution. In Pakistan, the State Bank has issued directives to provide for 100 per cent against loan losses.
Market will be short of liquidity. Spiralling oil prices, touching $82pb is to affect global trade. Downturn of economies, no doubt, will be a prelude to recession.
The US, on policy issues for a while, will remain occupied in correcting domestic economy, elections, war on terror and Middle East affairs. On the home front, the federal reserve has decreased 50 basis point on dollar interest. Dollar par value is weakened against euro and British pound. It will attract inward flows, making goods competitive.
The US oil marketing companies have already signed deals with Iraqi oil exploring companies for marketing, and profits are to be shared. The magnitude of funds mobilisation should be no one’s wonder. It has entered into agreements with Saudis for $20 billion armaments supply and counter-balanced it with another arrangement with Israel for $40 billion as US withdrawal from Iraq will take a long course.
They have diverted concentration to our northern borders. Aid for those areas has been increased and our elections have their close attention reflected by the visits of US policymakers since we are coalition partner. The most-favoured-nation status needs business acumen and thoughtful strategy for realising its potentials.
Oil business, gold, high tech industry, armaments and service sector are the domain of developed economies, providing them with required benefits. It is politically-dominated global economy. The developing countries will be hard hit with recession as compared to developed countries, which would overcome it with resources and complementing each other.
The regulatory framework and financial discipline laws were part of Basle II agreement with emphasis on KYC policy. Good governance may reduce the operational and credit risk. However, lust for money and power are exceptions to most of the rules and less developed countries prone to succumbing to pressures. The recent takeoff of our banking system still has to go through drill of disclosure laws, and documented economy need to cover a long distance.
The US has stringent banking laws and may anticipate the crisis well in advance. With global influence, they can play a leading role in minimizing the aftermath. Moves of the World Bank will be vital for funds and business flow. The hard realities will remain that in such situation of a reduced amount of trade, unemployment, lower GNP and with our political turbulence, we need extra caution and adhere to the system for a sustainable growth. In an ant’s house dew is flood. Any bad patch will be unaffordable for us.
ANWAR JAMAL KIDWAI
Karachi
WE cannot forget 9/11. Uppermost on everybody’s mind of course, particularly in America, is the horror of what has come to be known as 9/11. Nearly 3,000 civilians lost their lives in that lethal terrorist strike. The grief is still deep, the rage still sharp and the tears have not dried. And a strange, deadly war is raging around the world.
Yet, each person who has lost a loved one surely knows secretly, deeply, that no war, no act of revenge, no daisy-cutters dropped on someone else’s loved ones or someone else’s children will blunt the edges of their pain or bring their own loved ones back. War cannot avenge those who have died.
War is only a brutal desecration of their memory.
We, the citizens of Pakistan, are facing the same grief and pain due to suicide bomb attacks. Every second day’s suicide attacks in Pakistan have taken the lives of innocent citizens, who are now not fewer than the 9/11 victims.
We Pakistanis appreciated the policies against terrorism and war against terror, and would suggest that the following four points may be considered for making Pakistan strong:
a. Our military planners should not have any illusions that their use of militants in the Afghan war has come back to haunt them. The proverbial Afghan war militant tigers from which the military planners are now trying to dismount are attempting to kill them. Supporting militants in the Afghan war but curbing them in Pakistan is a failed policy which must be abandoned. Despite the recent terrorist attack, Pakistan must stay the course to rid itself of the militants.
b. The US must continue to support our government’s efforts against militants. More US support is necessary to train our law-enforcement agencies to combat the terrorists, who wrongly believe that any liberal Pakistani government is effectively a puppet of the US. Therefore, the US support to Pakistan has to be covert.
c. It underscores how much danger Pakistan has taken to help the US-led war against terrorism. Now, Washington must stand by Pakistan in its hour of stress and strain.
d. The culture of suicide bombers/militants in Pakistan took its roots when Pakistan supported the CIA-led Afghan war against the Soviets.
Washington, therefore, has a moral duty to help Pakistan rid itself of the militants/ terrorists.
AAMIR AHSAN KHAN
Karachi
IT is the worst case scenario at sea, caused by the division in the ship’s crew and officers taking sides of or against the captain of the ship. Usually inspired by controversial decisions taken by the captain about its destination, continuation of an unusually lengthy and unhappy voyage (sea passage) or distribution of the booty (in case of a pirate ship). It usually ends up by another strong crew member taking over the command ‘forcibly’. Keeping the old captain either as hostage or ‘setting him adrift’, with little food and water, to be ‘marooned’ on a nearby island.
The circumstances are almost identical in the US and Pakistan politics alike. We also saw the mice abandoning the ship, in the last port of refuge as a bad omen, forecasting the dangers of being sunk at sea. The only difference being in the types of ships.
The American symbolising a powerful modern aircraft carrier and the Pakistani more or less like an old ‘Far East junk’ with tattered sails, worn out ropes, sagging masts and exhausted and hungry crew with very limited rations on board. Anyone linked to the sea in any way can well appreciate the desperate situation prevailing in our country in the last six months.
Fortunately there hasn’t been a (new) mutiny yet, but it is just short of that. And God forbid it can happen any time again under the prevailing turbulent and stormy political circumstances. It took place in 1958, ’69, ’71, ’77, ‘90 to ’97 (four times) and finally on October 12, 1999, from Ayub to Yahya to Bhutto to Zia to Benazir Bhutto to Nawaz Sharif to Ms Bhutto and Mr Sharif again, and eventually Musharraf taking over in 1999 till now, though not a very smooth sailing nor on a steady course in the prevailing unpredictable and stormy weathers across the seven oceans of the world.
What a hopeless showcase of democracy in Pakistan have our so-called great leaders put up, one after the other without fail in succession, in the last half of a century.
‘Bon voyage’ and good luck, ‘Captain Musharraf’ once again.
IJTABA ZAIDI
Karachi
WHILE departing to upcountry through Superhighway (no more super) one has to pass through Sohrab Goth intersection. A place once notorious for ‘bara market’, a no-man’s-land, grown over a period of time inhabited mainly by the Afghan refugees doing all sorts of illegal businesses.
However, after ‘operation cleansing’ carried out in the early 1980s this area has gradually converted into one of the ugliest parts of the metropolis. It is now a parking-ground-cum-junkyard of heavy vehicles such as trucks, buses and weighty construction machinery.
The sellers of construction material who illegally dig sand and gravel from the bed of the Hub river have also encroached upon both sides of the road for dumping their merchandise, giving it an appearance of war-destructed terrain. This situation appears to have been tolerated by the authorities in spite of open defiance of the civic laws carried out in the palpable presence of the police and law-enforcement agencies; it has been escalating every day unchallenged.
The more serious situation cropped up now is the worsening condition of Sohrab Goth bridges (on both sides) on the Hub river. The important overpasses are a shambles owing to the long-needed overhaul and repair. Although the newly-built flyover has become fully functional, due to decaying condition of the bridges the traffic again comes to be snail-paced while crossing these bridges.
Thus due to all-type transport plying round-the-clock to and from upcountry, not only these decrepit bridges have become extremely vulnerable but also cause severe damage to the vehicles.
If immediate attention is not paid to restoration, these bridges, a vital road link between the port city of Karachi and the rest of the country, can collapse any time, causing not only loss of lives and property but at the same time depriving the country of its important linkage which, in turn, may cause huge damage to economy of ‘Ranpathani Railways bridge’ sort.
Isha M. Kureshi
Karachi
THIS is to draw the attention of the authorities, especially the chief justice of Pakistan, that a year ago my brother, Mohammad Ismail Khan, a journalist, was murdered in Islamabad. The police are still clueless and there is no headway in the whole investigation.
My brother was working as a resident editor of the PPI at the time of his murder on the Oct 31-Nov I midnight, 2006.
We appeal to the chief justice through these columns to take sou motu notice of the matter.
ABDUL WAHEED KHAN
Birmingham, UK
THIS is with reference to a report by Malik Tahseen Raza, ‘Acid attacks become the order of the month’ (Sept 27). The report indicates that the incidents of acid attacks are increasing in the county day by day. Figures obtained by Dawn from the Acid Survivors Foundation (ASF) of Islamabad shows that Muzaffargarh tops the list in the crime where 10 people, nine of them women, have been targeted.
Of the 39 cases of acid attacks reported in south Punjab from January to September this year, 10 belong to Muzaffargarh. According to the ASF, the biggest acid attack took place in Shujaabad (Multan) in which 23 people suffered acid burns when some people abducted a girl and threw acid on 23 of her relatives who tried to rescue her.
Recently an incident of acid attack was reported, ‘Acid thrown on woman’ (Sept 28), in which a man threw acid on the face of a 26-year-old primary school teacher, Mehtab Shah, near the Jamal Shah village in Nawabshah (Sindh). In most of the cases, the tormentors are none other than the dear ones who have committed the offence to exact revenge.
The motives of such perpetrators are various. For example, an attack is some time carried out by a man to avenge a girl’s refusal to marry him. This disfigures a girl’s face and eliminates her chances for any success in her life. Some time the attack is caused by a man on a girl who has refused his sexual advances.
In any of these situations, other people or the family members of the victim are some time inadvertently harmed due to their proximity at the scene of acid attack. Although acid attacks mainly target women but there have been cases where women carried out acid attacks on men either to take revenge from her divorced husband or to protect her honour and life during an attack by a rapist. However, acid attacks by females on males are comparatively uncommon.
Although nobody can predict the plan, people can always apprehend such situations where someone develops personal enmity or rivalry with them on any matter like refusal of a marriage proposal, especially by a girl, rivalry in some competition or vengeance of some other refusal or jealously.
In such situations the perpetrators normally chooses punishment for the victim by throwing acid on the face of the victim to burn and disfigure it, which is worse than death and otherwise ruins the life of his or her victim. Here are some tips to avoid becoming a victim of acid attack:
a. Use your instinct and guess who can possibly attack you. Keep his or her face in your mind so that you are extra careful on seeing the suspected attacker and take necessary precautions.
b. Be always observant and watch for the person approaching you with something in the hand, may be a bottle or can. Try to read the face and body language of the person approaching and be prepared to deflect the attack by getting aside and hiding your face by something. Shout for help and get away from the attacker as far as possible.
c. While going out of your house, be vigilant and mentally prepared to take evasive actions in case you are suddenly attacked.
d. If you are travelling in a car, keep window glasses fully rolled up, especially when stopping on an intersection/traffic signal.
e. If you suddenly come under acid attack, hide your face with hands, close your eyes and turn around and run towards some nearby safe place. This will at least save your face from burning and disfiguring.
SQN LDR ( r) S. AUSAF HUSAIN
Karachi
A TELEPHONE was installed at my residence about 16 months ago. I received its monthly bills through our neighbour – teenage boy since he is a friend of my son of the same age. On my inquiry, I am told that a man who comes to our area usually delivers the relevant bills of our vicinity to them for onward distribution to the respective subscribers. This sometimes misses the practice and I arrange to get the duplicate bill to pay. Certainly this was informed to the department concerned but till now there is no action.
The September bill has not been received as yet whereas others in the area obviously got the same. On Oct 10, my wife got a phone call from the TNT department saying that the bill is still not paid and if it is not, our telephone line will be disconnected without any notice.
The next day I arranged to obtain a duplicate bill and sent it to the bank for quick payment to avoid disconnection of my telephone line.
I was taken aback that the branch concerned has turned down to accept the payment saying they are reluctant to honour a duplicate bill and also I am told to anticipate next month bill which will positively include the bill amount under question.
No doubt, the TNT staff are quick and active to disconnect the telephone line of a subscriber and put him/her into unnecessary trouble.
From the above cited grievances I can only appreciate if the relevant TNT authorities kindly inform all the branches of the banks to honour the duplicate bills if tendered for monthly payment, otherwise there is no sense in obtaining a the duplicate bill by subscribers.
RIZWAN SULTAN ALI
Karachi
THE media is advertsing the’achievements’ made by the Punjab government.
The chief minister says: “Har qadam khushhali key janib”.
Which ‘taraqqi’ is he referring to ? Atta, ghee, etc., are costilier now. He says the poor are paid Rs32 million a month, as if this is from his pocket.
The ad amount must be more than Rs80 million. It means he is projecting himself at the expense of taxpayers’ money? Some judicial inquiry should be ordered.
INAYATULLAH SHEIKH
Karachi
Our telephone no. 021-534 2322 has been out of order for over a month. There has been no response from the PTCL to fix it depsite repeated complaints.
Abdur Rahim
Karachi
THE new scheme of the income-tax law reposes trust in the taxpayers that they will declare correct incomes and pay due taxes thereon. The income-tax department, however, selects certain reasonably big taxpayers to scrutinise their income-tax affairs by way of auditing the genuineness of their claimed expenses and /or their declared receipts.
The taxation officers, without creating harassment, have been conducting the audit procedures, in a polite manner, only to check whether universal self-assessment scheme has or has not been misused and or whether incomes declared compare favourably with their business potential, on the basis of taxpayer’s own record or third party information from other departments/institutions.
The additional commissioners of income-tax under the new law as well as under the repealed ordinance have/had supervisory role, inter alia, to check whether the taxation officer has or has not applied his mind to the revenue potential aspects of the taxpayer’s case and whether the taxation officer has or has not omitted any major head of income/ expenditure from consideration or allowed any relief/exemption which was not legally due in favour of the taxpayer.
There has been controversy regarding the scope of exercise of such supervisory powers by the additional commissioners. The consensus of the judge-made law appears to be that in case the taxation officer has not examined/investigated and or has not given any finding on a major legal factual issue, involving definite figures/amounts, or has given a finding on such a major issue against the facts on record and or contrary to any provision of law, then the additional commissioner may exercise his supervisory power to amend/ supersede the assessment order passed by the taxation officer and thereby the additional commissioner can retrieve, in favour of the tax department, such a loss of revenue so caused by such an erroneous order so passed by the taxation order.
In my opinion, such a consensus of the judicial decisions/opinions, can be summarised to be that there should be definite figures/amounts which have escaped assessment or under-assessed or assessed at too low a rate of tax and only then the superior officer/additional commissioner/commissioner can exercise his/her supervisory power to correct such an erroneous assessment of income tax made by the taxation officer.
Such a supervisory jurisdiction cannot be exercised with reference to any non-specific/non-definite and or minor issue/amount, which is likely to be labelled as a harassment.
SHABNAM
Karachi
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