| November 13, 2007 | Tuesday | Ziqa’ad 02, 1428 |
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The killer sand fly
Oil wars
Billboard buildings
Taking the blame
Far from the crowd
Appeal for help
American achievements
Where is the money?
Where is the governor?
Confession
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
GEN Pervez Musharraf has suspended the Constitution, deposed and arrested the judges of the Supreme Court and high courts, and launched a crackdown on civil society. This has been done to silence the voices of those progressive forces that are fighting for a democratic Pakistan.
Among those arrested include my father, Yusuf Mustikhan, Senior Vice-President of the National Workers Party; Hasil Bizenjo, Secretary-General of the National Party; Ayub Qureshi and Liaquat Sahi. They have been charged with treason and held incommunicado in the Landhi Jail. Their crime: fighting for the cause of democracy and rule of law. They have decided to fight dictatorship from the prison.
The people of Pakistan have spoken up. They will not tolerate dictatorship anymore and will confront it. Judges, lawyers, trade unions, students unions, journalists and progressive political forces are united and fighting for the cause of freedom and justice in spite of a crackdown by the dictatorial regime.
How many people will they arrest and imprison? How many people will they beat and torture? How many people will they charge with treason?
Have these rulers not learned anything from our chequered history? Have they not read or seen the fate of our former dictators?
They can use brute force to chain, torture or imprison people, but they cannot imprison their minds.
On behalf of my father and all those fighting for the cause of democracy, I say this to the general that the battle for democracy has begun. And we, the people, will win.
KHURRAM MUSTIKHAN
Canada
YOUR editorial, ‘Singled out for treason’ (Nov 11) is very timely and truly a wise warning to the government. You have very rightly pointed out that after 36 years the myopic, spineless and more loyal to the king than king himself stooges of the indispensable despot are committing the folly of repeating the tragic history of the former East Pakistan by accusing two leading politicians of Balochistan of treason.
They were simply part of many hundred demonstrators against imposition of emergency and proclamation of the PCO. Now it’s up to the conscientious Pakistanis and the blessings of God to save Pakistan from a repetition of history.
M. SALEEM CHAUDHRY
USA
FOR 60 years the military, bureaucracy, landlords and industrialists have been taking turns to rule Pakistan and plunder its wealth. They have done everything to seek the highest post and thus created a weak and corrupt society to gain their own means.
They have failed to provide basic human needs like education, health facilities, and jobs for the people of Pakistan. Is this not treason: going against the Constitution, making a mockery of it and weakening Pakistan as a state?
These rulers and politicians who can do anything to achieve their own personal gain and not even hesitate to sell Pakistan to the United States should be tried.
SHAISTA PAL
Via email
I AND my spouse attended a spirited rally in the Boston Common the other day, where dozens of protestors expressed their solidarity with the lawyers, judges, and activists who are so courageously fighting for the revival of the Constitution and for some minimal respect for the law in Pakistan.
While the government is predictably unable to appreciate the ludicrous outlandishness of its actions and the consequences thereof, we hope that hundreds of such struggles would link up globally in order to expand hope where at the moment there seems to be so little.
ARSLAN RAZMI
USA
LEISHMANIA or sand fly takes blood meal at the exposed parts of humans, causing leishmaniasis, which leads to severe illness. Some forms of it, if not properly cured, are hundred per cent fatal. It is spreading at an alarming pace in Pakistan.
The insect bites about 12 million persons annually worldwide. A good number of employees of Lasbela University, where I work, have already become victim of this insect, though authorities have never neglected the periodical fumigation of the residential areas.
Usually, a pimple turns into a large painless ulcer a few days after the bite. In my case, there were four small pimples between the elbow and the hand which became big ulcers in two weeks. During the course of treatment, more pimples surfaced which led up to my shoulder.
My dermatologist at the Research Centre, Military Hospital, Rawalpindi, termed them beads of the lesions and said the phenomenon was not unusual. A research scholar in the similar field in our university, however, warned that it was dangerous. He pointed out that the beads were heading towards the source of blood.
Around 31 shots of famous glucantine injection proved to be the major treatment leading to recovery. I faced severe side - effects during the course of injections, and now that I have recovered, the side-effects are still bothering me every second day. Small pimples anywhere or inside the tiny white spots on arms occur with burning and itching effect.
This fly is not only found in Lasbela or Sibi districts in Balochistan but also has spread up to Chakwal district near Islamabad.
The most common form in the world is coetaneous leishmaniasis (CL) and this one is most common in Pakistan as well. Simple pimples develop into a large number of normally painless big ulcers and take quite a long time to heal.
Proper medical facilities are available at PN Shafa, Karachi, Military Hospital, Rawalpindi, and Combined Military Hospital, Quetta, where civilians are also treated as private patients. Military Hospital, Rawalpindi, is maintaining a research centre.
Keeping in view the above facts, it is proposed that the government may spread more awareness and make efforts to check the population of the sand fly.
PROF FAZAL HAQUE QURESHI
Quetta
ZIA ul Islam’s article, ‘Oil wars’ (Nov 7) is very informative and also highlights the flawed logic of ‘War for oi’. Obviously the American government thinks it can perpetuate the US lifestyle by grabbing all the oil in the world, America is powerful enough to do so but the most compelling reason is of daily commuting to and from work.
Based on information available on the Internet, Pakistan has a little more than half the population of US (160 million) packed in a small piece of real-estate at 340, 403 sq miles, i.e. approximately nine per cent of the US continent which has 50 states, at 3.79 million sq. miles. US population density works out to 79.15 people per sq. mile while the population of Pakistan works out to 470.03 people per square mile, i.e. six times the density of the US.
In a nutshell, having so much space, Americans tend to commute much further on a daily basis and they have a highly mechanised society, hence their need for oil. This, however, does not provide an excuse to rampage all over the globe killing innocent poverty-stricken human beings. To be sure. history is full of conquests by war mongers and associated killings, but having refined their society, the Americans are nullifying it by indulging in this Neanderthal behaviour. This aspect of the American society has remained primitive; in balance they are showing that they are more productive at killing than previous warlords.
They do have the option to divert their war budget to smaller vehicles and larger mass transit systems of public transport, both rail and road, the fact that they are not doing so unfortunately adds a sinister motive to their killing spree, further nullifying the good they do around the globe. In practical terms, the Americans are willing to kill to save commuting time. I hope they can look at it from this standpoint.
SYED RAHEEL MAHMOOD
USA
LATELY, I have been observing the blatant use of institutional buildings/head offices as billboards, especially the big financial institutions. It is unfortunate to note that these big financial giants have stooped to this level of mediocrity. Instead of focusing on creating better built environment by having decent buildings or trying to maintain decently the building that they have inherited or have.
Builders have always tried to extract profit from every inch of their project, by selling rights of the roof. Since this trend was restrained due to the structural stability certificate requirement, bill board/outdoor signage mafia lured them to sell their building façade. This idea caught like a wildfire happily fueled by the multinationals and other local companies.
As soon as you step out of the Karachi Airport, these horrendous commercial projects are seen repainted in the name of building maintenance by sponsors having their brand painted all over.
Let’s Grow Together is also mushrooming on every possible location or building regardless of whether there is room to grow.
On one hand, concerned citizens are trying to rid the city with horrendous and dangerous billboards which fell like nine pins in the recent rainstorm a couple of months back. I am dreading the time when other institutional/commercial buildings which are in the pipeline or being acquired by emerging financial intuitions, MNCs etc. will be converted into permanent bill board buildings.
I urge the CDGK, KBCA and concerned departments to stop this menace. Also, I would like to request all the professionals to refrain from such practices and help NGOs, concerned citizens to stop this criminal act of defacing the city. Otherwise gear up and get ready to enter the new era of “Bill board buildings”, where the occupants will be provided with pigeon holes and ventilation ducts to breathe.
HANIF DAUD
Karachi
IT was both amazing and amusing to hear President Musharraf read out what was effectively a chargesheet against himself, during his address to the nation. One fails to understand why it didn’t strike him that the problems he was referring to were, above all, the result of his own failures.
When the Pakistan cricket team crashed out of the World Cup, its captain Inzamam, although a great player with an undeniably good record, accepted responsibility and quit the captaincy right away. Now, according to a BBC broadcast, two senior officials of the Citibank, including the chairman, are stepping down due to big losses suffered by the bank in the US mortgage market (Nov 5).
It is absolutely important that instead of plunging the nation into greater crises for continuing their hold on power, both Musharraf and Shaukat Aziz must learn from the Citibank example and give up their posts. Even at this late stage the Pakistanis would be willing to forgive them by looking upon it as a favour.
I. RAHIM
Karachi
I WRITE this letter with reference to the report (Nov 11) on the shifting of the US consulate.
I was surprised and disagree with the contentions and imagined risks involved in shifting of the US consulate from the present crowded location to a comparatively isolated place near the junction of Maulvi Tameezudin Khan Road and Mai Kolachi Bypass, as projected by the reporter.
Without commenting on documentary lacunae involved, I would opine about the risk factors and inconvenience issue which seems overplayed by the reporter.
In my opinion the benefits of shifting the consulate outnumber the risks mentioned.
First, the present location, in addition to the consulate, hosts some other important commercial and government buildings, most importantly the monumental Frere Hall library and its sprawling lawns and grounds. I am sure thousands of book lovers like me miss the books and events around the library, specially the Sunday book bazaars, which are now redundant due to security threats and attacks on the US consulate after 9/11.
Also, people could not move around Cantonment Station, Clifton Bridge and the Lilly Bridge area, Saddar, Sharea Faisal, and I. I. Chundrigar Road due to security barricades.
This main Clifton road has been rendered as the no-go area for common pedestrians, motorbike riders, pickups and families travelling in highroofs. Its shifting will relieve pressure from this area and provide access to the common citizens. This will also improve commercial activity in the area.
Endangering the citizens of new location point seems overemphasised. The Naval Colony is fairly far and Sultanabad triangle between the KPT, Institute of Bankers and the NLC setup seems hardly residential. It is a commercial and repairing centre populated by dentures, painters and other auto-mechanic shops built on mostly encroachment plots – a fact that seems to have been ignored in the report.
As far as the risks of bomb attacks on the consulate and its impact on the nearby residents are concerned, what about other countries’ consulates like Chinese, Saudi, French, Swiss and Russian located in thickly crowded and purely residential areas? Should we adopt a similar policy for all foreign missions that those must be relocated far away from the people on some isolated island, which seems impractical and means creating difficulties for our own people.
Finally, creating problems for the foreign missions in the city means they all should pack up and limit them to Islamabad only which will deprive the people of Sindh and Balochistan from accessing these missions for visa, educational and other information.
NIZAMUDDIN NIZAMANI
Karachi
SOMETHING very unpleasant happened in my area as two newly-married girls had been kidnapped a month ago. I was shocked when I came across this incident. Their parents and family members searched for them but in vain and the police were as usually not cooperative.
The police had actually arrested a suspect who is in the local police station of Thana Chowk Qureshi, Muzaffargarh district. He is treated as a guest with the help of local influential. The parents and family members of the kidnapped girls report that they have been threatened by the detained suspect.
They have also received life threats through anonymous phone calls. According to family members, the man under arrest has some links with some influential Pathans of Lorali district. The suspects have also threatened the affected family not to approach the media.
This was the reason why the matter was out of sight of the media. The local nazim and politicians of the area are not willing for any assistance either.
Is there any justice in this country? We want help as this is a big example of injustice. The aggrieved have come to me because I have some education and could be of some help. They might get some relief as they have done everything possible to save their daughters. Please help them in some way.
KALOO KHAN
Basira, Muzaffargarh
THIS refers to Ijtaba Zaidi’s letter, ‘US destabilising our world”. While I strongly disapprove of American imperialistic policies and consider George Bush to be the greatest threat to world peace, I am also disillusioned at the Muslim/Arab mindset.
Instead of appreciating the achievements of other societies and civilisations, Muslims try to downplay and discredit them by saying these achievements were only possible due to the works of Muslim scholars of the past.
This was on glorious display when Mr Zaidi wrote: the Saudis (Arabs or Muslims) could do it, they sure would be capable of sending the ‘first man on the moon’ years before the US.”
True, Islamic civilisation sowed the seeds of the European Renaissance. But that does not discredit the astounding achievements of the West, including the USA .
We should not discredit the great American achievements of people like Thomas Edison who invented the light bulb, the Wright Brothers who invented the airplane, Frederick Winslow Taylor who introduced scientific management, and Henry Ford who discovered lean manufacturing. Not to forget the great Bill Gates who gave us Windows
We have no right to downplay American achievements.
The list is endless. Here are to name a few: the Internet, artificial heart, space shuttle, calculator, optical fibre, laser, integrated circuit, polio vaccine, nuclear submarine, heart-lung machine, polaroid camerac carbon dting, mcrowave oen, nylon, radio astronomy, frozen food, wirephoto, aroplane, airconditioner, safety razor, escalator, camera and so many more.
Why can’t we be broadminded enough to praise the achievements of other societies, especially western civilisation, instead of trying to take credit for everything?
I asked this question from a wise man once. He correctly answered: “I suspect the answer lies in history as much as in psychology. A defeated people will lash out as those they see as having displaced them from their perch.”
KHUSHBAKHT VAKA
Karachi
THE US government has been giving more than 100 million dollars per month to the present government on the war on terrorism. Where has the money gone? What good has come from this?
Only lawyers marching and protesting in the streets will not have any effect on the present regime to step down and conduct promised elections. Past governments have failed to satisfy the people and the same leaders are being recycled.
The state of Pakistan needs a new political system. Educating the people from all regions of the nation is the key.
NAILA CHUGHTAI
Canada
I WAS shocked to see the news regarding a hunting trip by the NWFP governor. It looks very odd especially when there is so much chaos in Swat and every day, one after the other, towns are falling in the hands of extremists.
When there is a bomb blast outside the house of a federal minister in Peshawar and the county is in the grip of an emergency rule, at such a time the governor of the main troubled province could find time to go on a trip to hunt for wild animals.
DR M ANSARI
New York
I WANT to make a confession. I endured a forced marriage. The person who forced me into this marriage was none but myself. Before that I was in an acute dilemma. Shall I, or shall I not, was my dilemma. Thanks to this forced marriage, I must confess, that more or less I am happily married.
S.H.Wasty
London
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