| March 01, 2008 | Saturday | Safar 22, 1429 |
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Perks for life
Women’s seats
Free and fair?
Incorrect quote
Proprietary security system
‘YouTube’ considered a threat
Renaming NWFP
American interference
Expression of interest
Counter-apology
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
GENDER discrimination and harassment at workplaces is common in almost every sector perceived as achievement activity. Women have to face a series of physical and verbal abuses every single day on their way to and from their institutions and workplaces. The rowdy attitude of the bus conductors, and the frequent pushings and shovings end up instilling a fear of going to the college or workplace.
Harassment at the workplace is a more frightful story: flirtatious attitude of male colleagues, frequent invitations to lunches and unwelcome interferences in their jobs. Gender harassment is a form of sexual harassment that consists primarily of repeated comments, jokes, and hints directed at persons because of their gender or sexual orientation. This may contaminate learning and working environments.
Gender discrimination at the workplace is a form of violence that violates the fundamental rights of women workers which, in turn, affects employees, the employer and society as a whole.
Every mode of production has thrown up specific forms of gender harassment. Working men and women in fields and mines are often exploited by landlords and contractors. Women industrial workers also face gender discrimination from factory owners, supervisors and even from their male colleagues. While women employed in the service sector face harassment from their office colleagues, bosses and clients.
Gender harassment at workplace is a human rights issue and a serious deterrent to development. Given the fact that a substantial number of women need a secure workplace where they can put in their efforts and skills for the country’s and self upliftment, there is a need to restrict inappropriate male behaviour.
Gender justice thus includes the concept of equal employment opportunities and appropriate work conditions for both genders. Today one finds women in a wide range of occupations. Surveys reveal that 40 to 70 per cent working women are harassed. Even there are cases when they are treated so in an elected assembly.
It is time laws are made and implemented to stop women’s harassment at workplaces and in the public. As a legislator I had submitted/proposed a law, ‘The Sindh Prevention of Gender Harassment at Workplace 2006’, in the Sindh Assembly, but it was not taken up for discussion because of the government’s non-serious attitude. I insist it is the need of the hour that we:
1. Should struggle for harassment-free society where women can work in a respectable and safe atmosphere so that they can play their vital role in society and improve the economy of the country.
2. Should have specific laws to protect women at their workplaces, etc.
3. Conduct a countrywide campaign to bring together all the organisations that are willing to work for the gender justice at workplaces.
4. Should hold awareness, promotion and counselling programmes to initiate women trade unions. This can serve the interests of the women in a better way.
5. Should plan to work collectively for ensuring gender justice in society where men and women both can do work in a respectable and safe environment.
HUMERA ALWAN
Ex-MPA, Thatta
CARETAKER Prime Minister Soomro sanctioned on Feb 23 a new a set of perks and privileges for all former chairmen of the Senate and their families. Will this not cause a heavy burden on the national exchequer contributed by the poor people of Pakistan through their share of taxes?
Will this not deteriorate their conditions further? They are already dying of hunger and committing suicides out of poverty and want.
Is this move not for his personal gains because the caretaker prime minister will also become a former chairman of the Senate one day? (Remember that Mr Soomro was chairman of the Senate before his induction as caretaker prime minister and would return to this position after the new prime minister assumes this charge.)Is it not cruel and unfair to live a lavish life at the expense of the extremely ill, poor and hungry people and compel them to die one way or the other? Is it not a sinful act, accountable on the Day of Judgment?
DR MUDASSAR AHMED
Lahore
THE caretaker prime minister, Mohammedmian Soomro, has awarded the Senate chairman, Mohammedmian Soomro, and his family a lifelong gift of a tax-free, hassle-free, well-protected high-flying retired life with diplomatic passport, free lifetime medical facilities both within Pakistan and abroad, lifetime provision of private secretary, security guard, driver, cook, free-of-charge access to state/government guest houses, free telephone and much more, costing the state millions of rupees.
The summary was initiated by the Senate secretariat on Dec 26, 2007 for the approval of the prime minister at a time when both offices of the Senate chairman and the prime minister are held by Mr Soomro himself.
Surely the ‘care takers’ have taken good care of themselves by taking away their share of the loot.
DR IRFAN ZAFAR
Islamabad
THIS is in response to the letter, “Women’s seats” (Feb 28). There are almost the same number of men and women in Pakistan. Why Mr Shinwari thinks that 15 out of the 342 National Assembly seats is all the representation that women need is beyond logic. A greater number of seats should be reserved not only for women but also for minority groups. That 15 National Assembly seats are only occupied by those who tend to enjoy pay, perks and foreign pleasure trips at public expense, can be said for a lot of the male MNAs as well. This means the whole system under which MNAs operate needs an urgent overhaul.
This does not, however, mean that seats reserved for women should be sacrificed.
SANIA SAEED
Australia
WITH reference to Saifullah Khan Shinwari’s letter, ‘Women’s seats’ (Feb 28), one can only feel sorry for his confusion. It seems that he is less than happy about the performance of professional male politicians and for that, as usual, women of Pakistan must be punished.
The writer wants to reduce women’s reserved seats because 15 women have been elected on general seats. This just proves the fact that the general populace in Pakistan supports and trusts women more than many would like. Women have finally realised their democratic rights to contests elections and vote and be in the corridors of power and stand up for their rights as equal citizens of this country.
There is no room for any reversal and we must support increased women representation by increasing more reserved seats for women of our country.
AFTAB S. ALAM
United States
I WANTED to congratulate the current government of Pakistan on the excellent job they have done in ensuring that the recently-concluded election gave a voice to the people of Karachi. This city, inhabited by many other ethnicities, has given a very clear mandate for the party they want as their representative.
As a passionate observer of the happenings in Pakistan, I am baffled at the multiple accusations of rigging coming from everyone (and I mean everyone) that has failed to win in Karachi. Some might call this a case of sour grapes.
On the one hand, we have those that trumpet the success of these elections, but it is becoming more and more difficult to drown out the voices that scream ‘rigging.’
It is not easy to ignore the YouTube videos, the multiple blogs telling stories of intimidation, the series of press conferences held by losing candidates claiming to have ‘proof’ of rigging, the multiple news reports that reserve the right to ‘show more’ of what they have witnessed, the word of mouth (I think at this point everyone in Karachi knows someone who has showed up to find that their vote has already been cast), the unofficial ‘purchi’ process for casting votes, the tales of those who proudly claim to have stamped more than one ballot paper and the ease with which firearms were put on display —even though security forces were supposedly present.
I’m glad the people of Karachi had transparent elections due to the fresh eyes of the media and ever-improving technology (YouTube, Internet, etc.).
Free and fair? You decide.
FAISAL
Canada
TASNEEM Noorani in his article, “Not a recipe for stability” (Feb 25), has quoted from Gohar Ayub’s book, Glimpses into the Corridors of Power, an alleged incident when Ayub Khan was visiting East Pakistan during October 1958. It is stated that president Iskandar Mirza contacted Air Commodore Maqbool Rab and Brig Qayum Sher to arrest Ayub Khan on his return from Dacca. This statement is incorrect as far as I (Brig. A.Qayum Sher) am concerned.
My one and only contact with Iskandar Mirza, during my one-year posting in Malir, as a Brigade Commander (the equivalent of today’s 111 Bde in Pindi) , was on Aug 14, 1958 at a dinner reception by him for the inter-service parade officer participants.
I believe Gohar Ayub has mixed up another incident, which occurred one hour before martial law was imposed in 1958.
We had received our orders for the imposition of martial law. On returning to Malir and before the issuance of my orders, I received a phone call from a person who claimed that he was Khursheed, the defence secretary. He stated that Gen Musa wished to speak to me. The alleged Gen Musa cancelled my orders, which I had just received, and issued detailed fresh orders, which appeared to be a counter-coup.
However, after a little thought, I carried out my original orders as issued by Ayub Khan. The same night I was interviewed by the ISI.
BRIG. A QAYUM SHER
Lahore
THERE are two different systems in private security: contract security and proprietary security. Contract security constitutes private security companies which are a purely business enterprise and offer various types of security services. For example, provision of armed and unarmed guards, protection of cash-in-transit, security devices and security consultancy.
While in proprietary security system the individual organisation or an individual employ their own security guards, arm them and utilise them on security duties to meet their security requirements.
In the contract security system all security problems of the clients, operational and administrative control of guards, are handled by security companies at their cost and risk for which their clients are not responsible. While in the proprietary security system the organisation or individual who employs their own security guards is responsible for all administrative and operational matters. However, both these systems have their own advantages and disadvantages and it depends on the organisations or individuals which system suits them.
In Pakistan many organisations are having proprietary security system. Similarly, this system is also very much popular among certain political parties, feudal lords and high-profile industrialists who do not believe in contract security and employ their own security force.
The contract security, that is private a security company, is controlled under an ordinance of the provincial government in which they operate. For example, private security companies operating in Sindh are controlled by the ‘Sindh Private Security Agencies (Regulation and Control) Ordinance-2000 and Private Security Agencies Rules 2001. Under the above ordinance and rules there are certain restrictions and limitations on the number and type of personnel which can be inducted, number and type of weapons that can be possessed, type and colour of uniform for guards, authority and jurisdiction of guards and procedure for verifying guard’s character and antecedents.
On the other hand, there is no ‘regulation and control ordinance’ for organisations and individuals having security personnel and weapons under proprietary security system. In the absence of the said ordinance any organisation or individual can keep any number and type of persons and weapons and utilise them for any purpose by showing them as security guard.
Interestingly, many high-profile politicians and feudal lords maintain almost a private army equipped with prohibited bore weapons. Some time back a feudal lord of a certain area was seen on a private TV channel replying to a question by a journalist that he has 1,000 private security guards of his own and out of these he has 100 elite commandos to meet his security requirements.
In proprietary security system there is no dress code for security guards. Hence guards of many organisations having proprietary security system can be seen in khaki uniform of army pattern. Similarly, the guard force maintained by feudal lords or certain political parties wear no uniform at all and they are seen holding their weapons in plainclothes due to which it becomes difficult to identify whether they are guards or dacoits/terrorists.
There is also no guarantee that persons inducted as security guards under proprietary security are not outlaws, proclaimed offenders, convicts, deserters from armed forces or terrorists. Because certain political leaders and feudal lords believe that by inducting persons with criminal background into their guard force they will gain their loyalties.
Therefore, there is a need for an ordinance to control and monitor guard force maintained under proprietary security system by anyone as an unlimited number of guards armed with sophisticated weapons with any organisation/individual, especially a political party, might create serious problems for the government and also become a source of harassment for the people.
SQN LDR (r) S.AUSAF HUSAIN
Karachi
IF you think banning YouTube is going to help in not aggravating the cartoon row or Geert Wilders’ provocative movie (trailer) issue, it certainly is not going to work. In fact, in our opinion, it is going to be counter-productive.
This action results in no financial losses to the people who are responsible for enraging Muslims all over the world in the first place. Nevertheless, if some measure had to be taken, you would have been better off banning Danish products rather than banning a popular website that has nothing to do with the row or the anti-Islamic movie trailer.
We wonder if today the government has decided to ban YouTube, then tomorrow it might decide to ban Wikipedia for similar reasons.
These two websites are just sources of information; how one uses them is totally up to the user.
Therefore, rather than banning such resources, we should counter the misinformation/ propaganda by propagating what we consider to be the truth. Banning is not going to help the West understand our concerns and grievances.
FAHAD ZAFAR AND SALMAN SAEED
Canada
THIS refers to a statement in the editorial, ‘A heartening show’ (Feb 28), saying: “It is time the ANP’s demand to rename the NWFP, reflecting the province’s ethnic majority’s wishes, was accepted”.
Many people may want to rename the province, but not everyone agrees to give it an ethnic or racial name. Since the NWFP is home to many people belonging to various ethnic, racial and linguistic backgrounds, it is not fair to give it a name which does not represent all its inhabitants.
It will definitely be a cause of constant disunity, disharmony and clash among the people of different ethnic backgrounds.
It is time the ANP rose above its ethnic and regional prejudices, and represented the whole province. Like Sindh and Punjab, the NFWP can be given a name after its main river – Indus, i.e. Abasin, which has been aptly suggested by many people. Khyber is another suggestion for a name.
But an ethnic name would not be acceptable. It is hoped that the PPP and the PML (N) would take into account all sides of the picture before supporting the ANP in the formation of government.
DR AHMED AWAN
Abbottabad
THE results of the election that took place on Feb 18 were astonishing. President Musharraf’s supporting party Pakistan Muslim League (Q) was wiped out and the ministers who were lucky enough to keep their seats are now at a safe distance from President Musharraf. The people at large want the president to go.
However, the US has been unduly interfering in our politics as its Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher has emphasised the need to continue President Musharraf’s rule.
Pakistan has remained under military rule for more than half of its life, and the people no longer want any dictator to rule over them. As the PPP has secured the maximum number of seats, followed by the PML (N), the ties made between these parties also pose a serious challenge to the president’s stay any further in office. His rule for eight long years has brought many hardships to the nation and now he should quit.
SYED TAHA JAMIL
Karachi
THIS is apropos of an advertisement by the National Logistics Corporation (Feb 18), inviting expression of interest to requisition private sector load carriers (dry and liquid cargo) with the NCL.
While the government continues to subsidise the NLC at 15 per cent over and above the competitive market rates on inland freight, why is it being allowed to outsource its core business?
It is also interesting to observe that while the NLC only wishes to supervise/monitor its core business, it has ventured into construction of a finance centre in Karachi and, of course, the one and only ‘collapsed’ Shershah bridge (wonder what happened to the inquiry which is yet to see the light of the day).
NAZIM F. HAJI
Karachi
WITH respect to Aamir Aqil’s letter, “Apology to all” (Feb 28), I, as a citizen of Pakistan, would be more than happy to apologise for the purported massacre of Bengali intellectuals.
One proviso: I would like to see some remorse from the Bengalis for the mass slaughter of West Pakistanis and Biharis in East Pakistan. And I suppose it’s too much to hope that anyone will apologise to the hundreds of thousands of Biharis still stranded in Bangladesh 35 years after the 1971 war.
SAAD GUL
United States
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