| October 23, 2007 | Tuesday | Shawwal 10, 1428 |
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India’s civilian nuclear deal
Organ donation
A comet in orbit
Calling a spade a spade
Woes of KESC
No US agenda
Confusions on good government
School clarifies
Mango republic
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 big threat to the survival of the state of Pakistan is suicide bombing, a very new but extremely fatal nature of terrorism in this country.
Suicide bombing was justified by some ulema in Palestine and other occupied Muslim territories where Muslims have no other means to seek their independence or safeguard their basic human rights. But here in Pakistan the case is very different: we are not under any foreign occupation, our judiciary has gained unprecedented independence and is delivering rulings against the powerful sitting government and equally powerful bureaucracy; our political parties are vibrant; media has become a formidable force or a mouthpiece of the wretched millions.
Therefore, no one, not even the majority of ulema, advocates or justifies or should advocate or should justify suicide bombings except some extremist-cum-militant mullahs who either have a very narrow knowledge of Islam and jihad or are acting on the biddings of other powerful foreign or indigenous state enemy agents to spread mayhem and carnage.
The impact of this kind of terrorism on our political, economic, religious and social life is fatal. What is needed is to involve all stakeholders, especially ulema, in peaching peace, tolerance and to reject all kinds of terrorism, including this unthinkable act of death and destruction.
Ulema thorough pulpit and on the electronic media should vehemently propagate non-violence and present true version of Islam, which is the religion of peace and justice to the people.
In addition, the government should, without any further loss of time, pool its own resources, as well as those from the US and other European countries which are ready to extend financial as well as technical support, to bring reforms in education and economic fields.
The government should also instantly close down those madressahs that impart intolerance which ultimately leads to terrorism and also extend generous financial support to those madressahs that do not propagate extreme views and dogmatism.
Not less important is the task to alleviate poverty which is the second biggest cause to push the jobless, depressed youth to be used by elements as future suicide bombers, who exploit them as pawns by offering some financial incentives besides the guarantee of paradise etc.
Perhaps this is a tall order for our rulers and officialdom but the nation hopes that after the recent suicide attack on the life of PPP chairperson, resulting in the death of 150 persons and injuries to over 500 persons, there is no alternative but to muster all courage and harness all means to arrest this menace by setting aside all odds and political expediency as had happened when our president was groping for political legitimacy in 2003, which compelled him to embrace those elements who, if not directly, indirectly provide conducive environment for the intolerance. Rapprochement between Benazir Bhutto and Pervez Musharraf is a step in right direction. Moreover, besides Ms Bhutto and Gen Musharraf, all other moderate forces should also come forward, keeping aside their personal and party differences to fight the menace of terrorism. If they failed to do this, there would be irreparable damage to the state and perhaps they would lose political space to religious militants or even the Taliban.
GUSLHER PANHWER
Johi, Dadu
INDIA’s civilian nuclear deal with the US was plagued by a serious epidemic of arrogance in all those who thought they can impose their brand of dictatorial regime over other people and even their own people.
The names of the plague-afflicted would start with US President Bush, his state department peons, the ambassadors of both countries in New Delhi and in Washington and, last but not the least, India’s very own soft-spoken prime minister, who got the spine to challenge his own coalition partner with a humiliating take or leave it ultimatum.
The way the US side is sulking and calling names, over the turning of their spurious hustle job, to force the gullible Indians to sign on the dotted line, its modest operandi is fully exposed to friends and foes.
Under the expert guidance of the Jewish neo-con handlers, the US works on the lines of a pack of hyenas out to hunt in an organised manner, once a victim is identified and isolated.
The moment the phone call between PM Manmohan Singh and the US president came through, the US was ready with a response. But the defeat of President Bush’s initiative at the hand of India’s Communists, America could only see the hand of Putin and China behind the scuttle.
Bush wasted no time in calling a press conference, putting Putin on warning, to keep off Iran, as it is supposed to be Bush territory. The cold war redrawing the world among the two protagonists is on.
Indian leaders are aware of US/Israel designs on Iran and with the obsession to get the 123 deal through, they were sucked into playing a very negative role, however reluctantly, to isolate and turn Iran from a friend to an enemy, without fully realising where this forced change of foreign policy on behalf of the US would lead.
Manmohan Singh, blinded by prospects of an economic windfall for Indian economy, had no time to go any length to think through the implication of US drawn deal, which could give full authority to the US to order the Indian PM, with a single phone call, to follow US dictates, on pain of dire consequences.
There can be no doubt that India would hugely benefit from being part of a close nuclear community, but at what cost? The big brother within the group will take over and skim off all the cream from any such ‘natural strategic partnership’, feeding billions of dollars worth of business to its own suppliers, while closing other alternative energy options for India.
Why should Indian leaders run after the so-called ‘natural strategic partnership’, where they are exposed to more and more entanglements of the worst kind?
With general election on the horizon, politicians will do best to keep India peaceful and integrated. Manmohan Singh should redeem himself going into intense interaction with his coalition partner in the left, and try to build a national consensus that can stand solid for a peaceful India, strong enough to withstand successfully against push and pull of the coming phase of a very dirty future of international politics.
GHULAM MUHAMMED
Mumbai
IN Pakistan, 50,000 people die every year because of failure of different organs like kidney, liver, pancreas and heart. Fortunately, we have two kidneys and a person can live with one kidney. Therefore, one kidney can be donated.
However, even in this case some time a patient cannot find donor in the family due to multiple reasons, eg blood group incompatibility and non-availability of a healthy donor.
If we talk of heart, pancreas, liver and cornea, it is difficult to get these organs from a living person. The patients with heart failure and liver failure have no option except to die.
Considering this, the deceased organ donation law was promulgated to save these innocent patients. To save the lives of these thousands of people, organs from deceased can be harvested to save their lives. These organs are taken from those persons who were in ICU due to accidents and were kept on artificial respiratory machine and all the efforts to save their lives had failed.
When a neurophysician and an ICU specialist are despaired of saving a life and once the machine is removed, the patient’s life comes to an end.
This is the time an organ can be retrieved and transplanted on another needy person after the next of kin gives permission.
Deceased donor transplantation is going on in most of the countries in the world. In Austria, every person is an organ donor unless he or she withdraws the consent in this regard during his/her life.
Saudi Arabia, Iran, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar have law for deceased organ donation and they have been practising it for the last many years.
In Pakistan this ordinance was passed recently. It is now the responsibility of the media to start a campaign to make people aware of organ donation.
It is also a duty of different sections of society like religious scholars, teachers, doctors, lawyers, jury, students and common people to support this great cause to save lives of thousands of organ failure patients every year. To help some one in need is appreciated everywhere.
DR MURLI LAL
Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation
Karachi
THIS refers to Ardeshir Cowasjee’s column, ‘A comet in orbit (Oct 21). I am appalled at his callousness. When the whole world united to condemn the dastardly attempt on the life of Benazir Bhutto, all Mr Cowasjee could do was to blame the victims.
With over 150 people dead and over 500 wounded (God alone knows how many of these will die from their injuries), Mr Cowasjee is only interested in the loss of money.
Those grieving mothers and fathers who lost their children and those children who lost their parents must be very upset, as would every person with a sense of morality must be, at what he wrote.
He is lucky because probably most of them do not read Dawn.
How come he does not think of public money when he has at his pleasure a 24-hour police mobile, when the same can be used for maintaining law and order. Everyone knows there is a shortage of police personnel.
The people of Pakistan have voted with blood and no amount of personal vindictiveness can detract from the fact that Ms Bhutto is a popular leader of millions of Pakistanis.
Mr Cowasjee should spend the rest of whatever life he has to live in praying for his own sins.
ABDUL WAHAB
Karachi
IN his op-ed column, ‘Let’s call a spade a spade’ (Oct 20) , M. P. Bhandara makes several erroneous assumptions regarding the effectiveness of a democratically-elected parliament in a free and fair election under strict international observation.
The US-brokered deal between Benazir Bhutto and Gen Musharraf would succeed if the participants are serious about getting rid of terrorism, which was imported during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
Pakistan and its people are well aware of the high price they have paid and are paying, due to the inability and ineffectiveness of the military rulers. With the cooperation and consultation of people’s representatives, Pakistan will be able to fight terrorism successfully.
Also, in the run-up to the Democratic Party presidential nomination campaign, it has been widely reported that the front runners are voicing for a massive aid, close to $1 billion, specifically for people of the NWFP. This huge foreign aid should be enough for some in the NWFP to see that people in their home districts are well fed.
After 60 years all Pakistanis must learn to develop only one nation called Pakistan. It is unfortunate that there are some in our parliament who would like to promote some ethnic-based nationalism.
BEHRAM B. ATASHBAND
Austin, Texas
IT is distressing to realise our local companies incurring huge financial losses, especially in the wake of huge foreign investment in the country lately, with such multinationals making huge profits and remitting back to their country of origin. Such is the case with our KESC that has not only ‘not’ been able to improve its performance in terms of uninterrupted power supply to its consumers but is also facing huge financial liabilities.
While it can be regarded that the KESC’s own business operational deficiencies and outdated infrastructure may be the cause behind losses, it is unfortunate to see that there has been no initiatives taken by the government and the ministries concerned to curtail the energy crisis in the city by developing new ways of power generation (through wind, solar energy or biomass). Had investment been encouraged to support the KESC, the company would not have been falling short in catering to the city’s electricity demand.
However, the irony of the situation lies in the fact that we, consumers, if not equally, then to a certain extent, are responsible for the doom of the company in some ways, through power theft, non-payment of the bills and meter tampering, which are being practised habitually at industrial, commercial and residential levels in urban and rural areas alike.
While we see some measures being taken by the new owners of the KESC in bringing improvement in its business operations by revamping the infrastructure of the company, it remains our social responsibility to extend help and cooperation by saving energy and reporting power thefts to the utility and the authorities concerned, which will help lift the utility out of its problems and see a situation reverted.
GHANI KHAN
Karachi
APROPOS of Ameer Buksh Bhutto’s letter, ‘Karachi bomb blasts’ (Oct 20), I disagree with him that PPP Chairperson Benazir Bhutto arrives in the country with the blessings of her American overlords to promote their agenda.
No one has denied the political skills of the PPP chairperson who forced a military dictator to announce the shedding of his uniform. We should appreciate Ms Bhutto’s political vision rather than discourage her.
We should understand that religious extremists are the real threat to the state and society and as such we should mobilise all democratic forces to achieve unity at home and in the region and should focus on eliminating poverty instead of increasing defence budgets in the name of security .
FAHEEM MIRANI
Karachi
DR Viqar Zaman in his analysis of amazing social-economic success achieved by East Asia (‘Confucius on good government’, Oct 18) agrees with The Atlantic Monthly’s divide of east Asia into ‘Confucius’ and ‘non- Confucius’ blocs. He has also seconded their view that the remarkable economic accomplishment of countries such as China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam and Singapore is owing to the Confucian teachings.
Confucius (551-479 BC), who is wrongly mentioned as a contemporary of Socrates (469-399 BC) as the latter was born 10 years after his death, is almost like Homer, author of the Iliad and the Odyssey (the two major epics that have survived from Greek antiquity), little known for certain about his life which is mostly identified from traditional stories.
The more reliable source of information about him is the collection of Analects ‘Assorted Sayings’ by and about Confucius and his disciples. The age of China’s first great philosopher was the era of Chinese feudalism full of intrigues and vices.
Confucius laid stress on ethics and role of individual of society. Out of humility Confucius claimed himself merely teaching the dao ((way) of ancient sages. He taught principles that embraced high ethical and moral values urging the feudal leaders to live by these standards and serve as examples to their subjects.
It is his work that defined Chinese culture for more than 2,000 years. Similarly, the countries that came under the influence of Confucian philosophy benefited from his teachings. However, to assert that these countries owe their extraordinary socio-economic and cultural progress of last 60 years solely to Confucianism is a gross exaggeration. The country which historically benefited most from the teachings of great sage was China and not Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam and Singapore.
Notwithstanding the above, Chinese fabulous growth also owes its subsistence to the discipline and organisation of socialist and Marxist principles of philosophy. The same China, before takeover by the communist forces of Mao Zedong, was a corrupt and moribund feudal agrarian society. During China’s Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) Confucius was condemned as an element of China’s ‘feudal’ past. The interest in his teaching, however, renewed later on in the 1980s.
The astounding progress achieved by other East Asian countries ‘Confucius bloc’ after the Second Great War contains various factors. The success story of Japan, a feudal headed by Shoguns (military dictators who ruled Japan almost continuously from 1192 to 1867) overthrown by Mejji Restoration 1868 and become a monarchy, is for the fact that after laying down arms before the Allies, it disbanded army once and for all and invested its entire resources educating masses and development of science and technology.
The same is the position of other countries, i.e. Koreans, Taiwanese, Singaporeans and Vietnamese. After attaining sovereignty, with an added advantage of homogeneity being single-nation-states with no sub-national conflicts, they also paid extra attention to the development of human capital which unfortunately in this part of the world is at the lowest of priorities.
The progress achieved by Malaysia, a non-Confucian state, during the last quarter of the 20th Century is another example which can be quoted of East Asian phenomenon.
This discussion is to set the record straight and in no way denigrates the impact of Confucian teachings which, though not a single factor in attaining amazing progress of these countries, yet will continue to inspire not only East Asians but people across the world with his vision of social harmony, insight into human virtue and his techniques for cultivating of ethical individuals.
MANZOOR H. KURESHI
Karachi
APROPOS of Tariq Masood’s letter (Oct 9), the City School PAF Chapter management is fully cognizant of the traffic situation in front of the school gate and has approached the Karachi city government and the Faisal Cantonment authorities repeatedly for construction of a pedestrian bridge but to no avail.
The City School does not shirk its responsibility and is always willing to do anything to safeguard the interest of its students.
Our administrators, guards and staff members along with the police personnel facilitate the smooth flow of traffic around our vicinity very efficiently.
The case for construction of a pedestrian bridge is yet to
be decided between the Karachi city government and Faisal Cantonment for lack of clarity on the matter of jurisdiction.
We hope that both the civic bodies would resolve this issue soon and save the general public and students from grave inconvenience.
NAILA SUNANI
Principal
The City School PAF Chapter
Karachi
BANANA republic is unstable and ruled by a small and corrupt clique put in power by the US. Though we have fulfilled all the attributes of being qualified as a banana republic, there are factors that are not covered under this definition. It’s time for a new label, such as mango republic, to differentiate us from others.
Dr Irfan ZafaR
Islamabad
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