| February 04, 2008 | Monday | Muharram 25, 1429 |
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Ex-servicemen’s statement
Kissinger: a friend of Pakistan
Not the cost of human life
Denial game
Better to keep it in low profile
Karzai blames Pakistan
Battlefield Islamabad
Illegal hunting
Correction
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
WHEN a BBC correspondent asked the interim information minister Nisar Memon why former chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry and his family were under house arrest, the minister replied that Justice Chaudhry is free, otherwise how could he have issued a letter rebutting President Musharraf’s allegation levelled during his European tour (Jan. 30)
I am amazed at Mr Memon’s defacing of truth. It is like saying that when Z. A. Bhutto had got his book, If I am assassinated, smuggled out of prison, he was not under arrest!
In addition, the same gentleman has been quoted by a section of the electronic media (Jan 30) as saying that in his meeting with President Musharraf, the Israeli defence minister has recognised Pakistan for the first time and it has also raised Pakistan’s stature internationally.
This is really ludicrous. He is making it sound as if it wasn’t Israel, which was created illegally (even according to Mr Jinnah) and through terrorism, but our own dear country that was established in a most democratic manner, which is in need of being recognised. Please don’t degrade Pakistan.
Yet another report (Dawn, Jan 28) cites Mr Memon as saying that the office of the president should not be made controversial because it is the symbol of the federation. Did he ever tell Mr Musharraf not to address the PML (Q) ‘jalsas’ because, as a symbol of federation, he was not supposed to engage in favouritism?
How far can some people stoop in their sycophancy. Until Mr Memon assumed this ministry, I had been admiring him, based on what he purported to do through his organisation called ‘The Reformers’. Unfortunately, he has turned out to be as much of a spin-master as some of the ministers in the previous cabinet. The train of events following the March 9 incident has exposed many leaders, politicians, officials, parties and governments inside and outside the country, for which we Pakistanis can be truly thankful.
Besides him, the president’s spokesman Maj-Gen ( r ) Rashid Qureshi, while commenting to the BBC (Jan 26) on the statement released by many ex-servicemen criticising Mr Musharraf, tried to make it sound insignificant by saying that not a single soldier or officer presently in service had said anything against the president. What would be the test for that: should half-a-million troops have gone on strike or resigned? As a former solider he, more than the civilians, knows that it would be against the army discipline for any serving personnel to do that, making them liable to severe punishment.
The very next day there was a statement by Lt-Gen (r) Kidwai, head of the Strategic Plans Division, that a scientist in one of our nuclear facilities had made a speech against Mr Musharraf in a mosque, for which he was fired the following day (Dawn, Jan. 27). This shows public servants simply aren’t allowed to oppose the president.
Some leaders and officials seem to think that they can fool all the people all the time, but they are badly mistaken. They are simply loathed, for, in the words of Homer, “Who dares think one thing, and another tell, / My heart detests him as the gates of Hell”.
IQBAL
Karachi
I WAS disappointed to read K. Murad Bay’s letter of Jan 29 criticising the ex-servicemen for their recent statement against the president. Some of Mr Bey’s arguments will be considered here.
– Those who matter in our society, like the ex-servicemen, should act when they have the power; responding to one’s conscience when powerless serves no purpose.
To this I would only remind how the ousted chief justice of Pakistan and his family are suffering because Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry decided to act while in power by taking suo motu notices and trying to set things right.
He was the first judge to resist pressure. It is a pity Mr Bey ignored his unique contributions and suffering.
– He says the right of condoning or impeaching/removing the president rests first with the voters and then the future parliament.
We have seen how the parliament had been turned into a rubber-stamp, electorate into non-entities and how the president manipulated things, including the removal of 60 judges and imposition of emergency, to get re-elected. The emergency was lifted as soon as his election was assured. It is strange the writer has failed to acknowledge these facts.
— He argues had Mr Musharraf not joined the US war against terrorism after 9/11, Pakistan would have been in a worse condition than Iraq and Afghanistan. He is reminded of Turkey, which had taken a bold stand against American demands to allow operation in Iraq from its territory and was even offered billions of dollars. Yet Turkey refused but wasn’t ‘bombed back into Stone Age’.
In any case, we aren’t in much better shape than Afghanistan. The accounts of the suffering of the displaced men, women and children up north often make me cry.
– Mr Bey says the president has done nothing for himself and has given maximum freedom. I can only say he must be joking or trying to pull wool over the readers’ eyes. It is clear Mr Musharraf has been exerting himself to remain president, what more could he do for himself? Regarding freedom, we have all seen the bloody images resulting from the ‘freedom’ the Pakistanis have. I am disappointed at Mr Bey’s distortion of truth.
– In the end, I would say not only the ex-servicemen but the ex-CJPs and senior diplomats are absolutely right in asking for the president to quit.
SALAHUDDIN
Karachi
APROPOS of Mr Abdullah’s letter, ‘A wish’ (Jan 29), criticising President Musharraf for looking at Henry Kissinger (Jan 29), I have to inform him that Mr Kissinger, though a practising Jew, the second important man after president Nixon in the US, prior to and during 1971, was a friend of Pakistan.
It was perhaps due to the help provided by president Yahya Khan for becoming a bridge between Washington and Beijing. (At this time president Nixon had mused: “By not recognising China, we are saying that one billion people do not exist”.)
Both Nixon and Kissinger wanted to help Pakistan during the Pakistan-India war but the entire US administration, mesmerised by Indian lobby, went against Pakistan – and manoeuvred Nixon into installing the help.
He had to turn an enemy, or what we think of him, due to the change in the US policy after Nixon’s resignation.
When he met Z. A. Bhutto in Larkana in August 1974, Kissinger asked him to extend diplomatic recognition to Israel in the wake of Arabs recognising it after Ramazan War of 1973.
To this suggestion, Bhutto replied to him with all his hate-America policy: “We are the men of desert, Indus is in flood, and we are affected by torrents. My emotions are high so I cannot do what my people won’t accept”.
Well then, Kissinger told him that he must give up the idea of developing the nuclear programme; and compensation would be offered for the nuclear energy, and also more benefits for recognising Israel. The answer was an emphatic ‘no’. Did it seal Bhutto’s fate? This was what Mr Abdullah refers to as the threat of ‘making an example out of Z. A. Bhutto.’
The question of recognising Israel is nothing new. Tel Aviv has been trying it right from 1948 through the US and the UK. In trying to create good will, the Mumbai-born Israeli president Shimon Perez has congratulated the president of Pakistan on becoming a civilian president recently.
Before his death Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah had said that he was neither against Jews nor against establishing a state of their own, recognising their state would be premature; we are not yet ready for that.
Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and President Musharraf have tried to know if our nation is ready now.
M. K. NAQVI
Karachi
THIS is apropos of Dr Irfan Zafar’s letter, ‘Cost of human life’ (Jan 27). The relief announcements that government officials make at the site of suicide bombings or other acts of violence, which Mr Zafar refers to as ‘self-glorification’, are the actual need of the hour.
When poor men lose their lives as a result of suicide bombings etc, they often leave behind families of six or even 10 for which they may be the sole bread-winners.
In such a situation the financial standing of these families is the real issue, the gravity of which people like us, who watch such events from the comforts of our homes, snug in our living rooms, or read about in newspapers the next day, may not realise.
For the said people, their leaders immediately rushing to the scene, expressing solidarity and a commitment to fight this injustice (no matter how unconvincing), followed by a resolve to try and address their financial woes, is perhaps the best chance they will ever get at a closure.
I encourage commentators to take a moment to think and to please always offer alternatives along with their criticism. In this case, please state what you would have the officials say at the scene of a situation like this.
ALI NOMANI
Karachi
WHEN Iraq was invaded by US troops, the then information minister was denying on television that the invasion had taken place, though US tanks were crossing the bridge on his left.
The Pakistan information minister did the same by denying that the chief justice was free to move though it was clear that he was under house-arrest.
Our president, in the meanwhile, reiterated that there was no need to impose emergency.
The following days saw an emergency engineered to oust the judiciary which hurdled the appointment of his presidency. Recently, during the Davos summit, the president stressed that US troops would never be allowed on Pakistani soil but the people here are apprehensive that even this denial could prove otherwise in future as the US is bent on denuclearisation of the only Islamic state by hook or by crook.
RAFI ADAMJEE
karachi
THIS is apropos of the news, ‘Marriage of choice not all roses’ (Jan 23). The news briefly says that Shahnaz Akhtar and Ghulam Mustafa of a village close to Sahiwal solemnised court marriage on Nov 6, 2006. Shahnaz belongs to a rich family whereas Mustsafa is a son of a poor cobbler. When Shahnaz disclosed her marriage, her family immediately arranged her forced marriage with her cousin, Tanveer.
A back-dated ‘nikahnama’ of second marriage with effect from Aug 15, 2006 was prepared and the union council of the area issued a marriage certificate. Her father-in-law, Bashir, got registered a case of abduction of Shahnaz against her husband, Ghulam Mustafa, his father Roshan Din, an old man of 95, and his two brothers on July 18, 2007.
Later on the police arrested both Shahnaz and Ghulam Mustafa. Shahnaz was produced in the court of civil judge where she disclosed that she was an MA in Islamiat and Ghulam Mustafa had a master’s in Pakistan Studies and they both were highly educated and knew best about their future.
She denied her abduction by Mustafa’s father, or any other member of his family as alleged in the FIR. She requested the court to prevent her family from inflicting any harm on Ghulam Mustafa’s family. Ghulam Mustafa had written an appeal to the president of Pakistan to provide him justice but he is still awaiting a response.
What news says is just normal in Pakistan but Ghulam Mustafa’s appeal to the president has inspired me to write this letter. Also, it reminded me of another tragic story.
Dr Shazia Khalid was raped in Sui allegedly by an army officer and was sent out from Pakistan to cover up the story despite a strong public pressure and media coverage.
It was a sample case where an army captain was allegedly involved. It was too much publicised and our president had to announce on TV that he was convinced that the nominated accused in the case of Dr Khalid was 100 per cent innocent, even before any investigations were conducted.
He further said: “You must understand the environment in Pakistan. This has become a money-making concern. A lot of people say if you want to go abroad and get a visa for Canada or citizenship and be a millionaire, get yourself raped” (The Washington Post, Sept 13, 2005).
“You are against me and Pakistan,” said the president when a human rights activist referred to his alleged comments in the Washington Post interview. “I am a fighter, I will fight you. I do not give up and if you can shout, I can shout louder,” said president after being provoked by a question. When the president had to pass such remarks, what kind of justice could any court deliver to the victims?
I request our media not to widely publicise the case. Too much publicity may take the case to the international media and our president may have to intervene with some comments of his style with all his good intensions that may spoil the case, victims may not get the justice and the president himself may have to clear his position later on.
Here, I’ll like to commend the great philosophy of ‘mitti pao’ (just forget) of our symbol of wisdom, the philosophical and intellectual legendary leader Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain. Today, I understand the logic behind ‘mitti pao’.
SQN LDR (r) ZULFIQAR AHMAD
Rawalpindi
THE Afghan president Hamid Karzai said in an interview to CNN: “Without the United States in Afghanistan, Afghanistan would be a very poor, miserable country, occupied by neighbours and Al Qaeda and terrorists” (Jan 27).
Also, in a veiled reference to the theory that Pakistan needs Afghanistan for a strategic depth in its fight against India, Mr Karzai said that ‘misguided policy objectives’ of some countries continued to fuel violence in his country, which could have disastrous consequences for the entire region.
He further said: “The fight against terrorism is not in Afghanistan, a very small part of it may be (here), the bigger part is in the sanctuaries where they get trained… (and) motivated that is where we should go…”
While praising the US and insinuating that Pakistan has plans of capturing his country, the gentleman forgets that were it not for Pakistan’s enormous help and multiple sacrifices that still continue, Afghanistan would have still been under Soviet occupation. He would perhaps be living in Pakistan, India or the US, as he had done before 9/11.
As far as his jibe at Pakistan’s quest for strategic depth is concerned, a correspondent had written (Nov 11) that an Indian analyst had claimed some months earlier that Afghanistan provides strategic depth to India. This is also evident from New Delhi’s setting up of numerous consulates in cities near the Pakistani border to foment insurgencies here and by its offer to set up an airbase (probably) in Tajikistan ostensibly to train its pilots.
India could easily place its commandos and military aircraft in these neighbouring regions of Pakistan to launch a surprise multi-pronged attack on its nuclear sites and also use close ties with Kabul to stir up conflicts with Pakistan over Durand Line and other issues.
Finally, Mr Karzai ought to realise that even if he succeeds in his unholy objective of destabilising its southern neighbour, the fallout would be no less disastrous for Afghanistan. Instead, he should set his own house in order and hold parleys with the Taliban, rather than selfishly trying to retain all power himself, when there is no end in sight to the fighting with his foes.
M. P. CHISTHI
Karachi
THIS refers to the photograph, ‘Battle Islamabad’ (Dec 18), showing policemen baton-charging forefront women folk.
After the discovery of the enlightened moderation by Mr Musharraf, may be many men stopped beating and thrashing their women in their homes. How come, he has allowed our women’s beating by strangers on the roads?
Z.A. KAZMI
Karachi
THIS refers to a report (Jan 29) highlighting the demand of Marooara NGO network to impose and implement complete ban on hunting of the near-extinct species, including hourbara bustard, in district Tharparkar. Tracing back the continuous and unabated hunting expeditions by foreign influentials in every winter over the last one-and-a-half decades, it can safely be assumed that the dwindling stock of hourbara bustard is either already exterminated or has been reduced to double-digit figure.
These lovely shy birds start their journey from Kizil Kum desert of Central Asia in southeast of Aral Sea, pass thousands of miles flying on high altitude, cross Afghanistan and Iran to arrive by mid of November in the open and vast valleys of Balochistan and plains of Thar Arid zone in Sindh.
Houbara lays only two eggs making it one of the most precious species for protection and preservation. So far, all efforts carried out under extremely controlled conditions and expensive methods for artificial breeding of the bird have failed. In fact, it has now disappeared from most terrains of the Mideast. Houbara is listed under a convention on migratory species of wild animals known as the Bonn Convention. The World Conservation Union has declared it as endangered species.
The hunting of houbara bustard also involves threat to species of endangered falcons -- the peregrine and saker falcons, which are being continuously poached and traded for multi-millions in hunters’ market.
Pakistan is a signatory to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora (Cites), which had been expressing its concern over the dwindling population of the falcon and had also urged the signatory governments to check and discourage poaching and trading in the falcon.
We are thankful to our ancestors who bequeathed to us the beautiful and delicate ecosystem. It was full of fauna and flora, life and charm. I am not sure whether I would be able to pass it on to my generation.
ALLAH NAWAZ SAMOO
Tharparkar
APROPOS of my letter, ‘Our kind of democracy’ (Jan 25), I have quoted Justice (r) Fakheruddin G. Ibrahim as saying: “Lots of Pakistani people may be uneducated but they are not illiterate”.
After this quote, I began to add my comments. However, if you look into the quotes it seems that the remaining text is part of Justice Ibrahim’s words. I do apologise to Justice Ibrahim and readers if I did not use the correct quotation marks and caused any misunderstanding in this regard.
MISBAH U. AZAM
Phoenix, USA
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