| March 02, 2008 | Sunday | Safar 23, 1429 |
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Who can alter the law?
A fake mandate
Perks for life
Promises for the new govt
Guilty of plagiarism
Tabish’s translation
Interference
Persistent inflation
Hazara province
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 is about the predicament most parents face when seeking admission for their child to a school etc.
Ever since I moved to Karachi from Britain, I have found that many private schools make admissions promising ‘high quality education’. Some admission tests are extremely difficult, but once a high admission fee has been paid, the quality of education bears little resemblance to the standard promised during the admission test.
Most schools employ young, unqualified teachers in the hope that they will be able to rise to the challenge of educating rather difficult teenagers. Being a teacher myself, I am fully aware that teaching does not just involve the amount of training, qualifications or education a teacher has gained, but is also about interacting well with children and vice versa.
I had accepted a teaching position in a well-reputed school at Hill Park in PECHS, Karachi, and willingly, and trustingly, parted with a large sum of money in order to admit my daughter into Grade IX. Assured by the fact that the school was registered with the British Council, I wrongly presumed that the standard of the school would match those of British or European education establishments.
I was disheartened to discover that this school was extremely strict with matters such as jewellery, uniform and appearance and yet ignored issues such as teachers threatening students with a ‘slap on the face’. Many other issues arose such as my daughter’s copies being left unmarked and unchecked for several months, a high rate of teacher absence, to victimisation of my daughter by one particular teacher, etc. All of these were ignored by the principal, despite several complaints and meetings. Needless to say, this teacher is still employed by the school.
On wanting to speak to the principal regarding a detention that my daughter had received which I felt was unjustified, I was told by the school secretary that the principal would not discuss ‘petty issues’ with any parent and that the detention would still take effect.
My daughter was suspended for a day for not attending the detention, and to this day, the principal of the school is still unaware of the reason why I felt the detention was unjustified as I have still not received a telephone call or any form of correspondence from her, although my daughter will now have a suspension notice on her school records.
I have visited and viewed several alternative schools within the vicinity, and have found that I am in a catch-22 situation. Every school requires a hefty admission fee, which financially binds every parent to one particular establishment. In forcing parents to remit this large sum, education establishments then feel that they can operate as they choose whether this is unprofessional or not.
Every school in Britain is regulated by a governing body that carries out annual inspections of teaching standards, teachers’ abilities, the facilities offered by the school and the general conduct of employees. Should any education establishment fail to meet the standard required, they are given six months’ grace period to raise the standard of teachers and the quality of education offered to students. If these conditions are not met within the six-month leeway period, then the establishment is closed.
Sadly, many schools register their name with the British Council in Pakistan solely as a selling-point rather than actually intending to offer the same standard or quality found in Europe.
It is time the British Council in Pakistan revised their policy on the schools registering with them and conducted official inspection of these schools. Also, many schools that are currently registered should understand and support this idea before affiliation with the British Council become nothing more than a piece of paper and no longer enhances a school’s credibility, hence, no longer becomes a selling tactic.
HANNA FAYSAL
Karachi
IN his article, ‘Who can alter the basic law’ (Feb 14 and 15), Mr Justice (r) Rana Bhagwandas has conclusively argued that on no pretext could a permanent change in the Constitution be countenanced at the behest of the Chief of Army Staff (as Pervez Musharraf then was) or by a court. Mr Khalid Jawed Khan, in his article (Feb 28), has demonstrated that the entire action of removal of judges could be nullified by issuing notifications rescinding earlier notifications of removal.
Everyone in Pakistan now knows that judges of high courts and the Supreme Court can be removed only through proceedings under Article 209 of the Constitution. Notifications removing some of the judges, which were issued on Nov 3, 2007, were signed by the principal secretary to the government of Pakistan, Law, Justice and Human Rights Division. Subsequent notifications were also signed and issued by the same state functionary. That being so, all that is required is that the principal secretary rescinds his earlier notifications.
There is no valid justification for the issue of the purported removal of the judges to be taken to parliament. What was done on Nov 3, 2007 was, to say the very least, mischievous and activated by malice; malice in law and malice in fact.
To take this issue to parliament would amount to giving it a hint of legality which is completely unacceptable. It is to be noted that out of the three organs of the state, i.e. the executive, the legislature and the judiciary, only the last one is based on the concept of tenure. The executive and the legislature, under the Constitution, have been given specific terms of office, which is to say that they are permitted by the Constitution to hold office for certain specified periods of time.
Subject to the Constitution, judges of the superior courts hold office until they attain retirement age. In institutions in which the individuals have tenure and constitutional protection, the individuals are deemed to constitute the institution.
Therefore, there can be no cavil with the proposition that the judges are the court. Without the judges who formed the court under the constitutional dispensation, it cannot be said that functional high courts continue to exist. The same applies to the Supreme Court.
For their part, the politicians must realise that one of the reasons for the resounding defeat of the supporters of Pervez Musharraf was his action of Nov 3, 2007. They should remember his infamous action contributed greatly to their success. In any event, a strong and independent judiciary is essential for democracy.
KAZIM HASAN
(Barrister-at-Law)
Karachi
ALTHOUGH pro-Musharraf PML(Q) and religious parties have faced a clear defeat, some PML (Q) leaders – those who have lost the election and even their security deposits — and some who have never been to the election booths – are insisting on the media that pro-Musharraf parties won 40 per cent of votes. They may be implying that the ruling coalition got 40 per cent votes because people showed their endorsement to Musharraf. However, some facts on the ground contradict their rhetoric:
a. According to Pakistan News Room website, the PML (Q) got 24 per cent of the votes in the National Assembly. The fact should also be considered that lots of PML (Q) candidates got votes and elected because of their personal fame, not due to their pro-Musharraf’s party affiliations.
b. In Balochistan, Aslam Bhootani, the former deputy speaker from the PML (Q), told the BBC Urdu service that all the successful candidates from his party have their own vote bank.
He hoped that his party would be united, however, in his view. If the chief minister is imposed on them by the party leadership, then the PML (Q) will not be united and he will be the first to leave.
c. According to Pakistan News Room website, the MQM got 7.6 per cent votes. No one can deny the fact that the MQM has its own constituency and voters, and they will get similar voters’ support if they run as independent.
Chances are bright that the MQM will be sitting in the government along with anti-Musharraf coalition. So, labeling MQM support as an endorsement to Mr Musharraf is rather naive.
d. When PML (Q) supporters boast of the ruling coalition votes, they should also remember that even if one believes that the pro-Musharraf vote was 40 per cent, of the total votes, the anti-Musharraf parties, the PPP, PML (N) and the ANP, vote is 55.2 per cent of the total votes.
Time has come for the leadership of the PML (Q) to accept the ground reality that voters have delivered a clear crushing blow to the pro-Musharraf ruling party in the Feb 18 parliamentary polls. They should halt this irrelevant debate and learn that the leaders are only powerful when people are behind them.
Making to the power echelons by sitting on the shoulders of an autocrat and hoping to bring him back into power for 10 times will never buy them any respect among the masses. People do not forgive them and reject them by using their votes, whenever they get an opportunity.
MISBAH U. AZAM
United States
I WAS stunned to read an amusing report in a section of the press (Feb 24) regarding the caretaker prime minster conferring various lifetime and post-retirement tax-free benefits and allowances to the Senate chairman. These benefits will also be enjoyed, gratis, by members of his family in perpetuity.
These include diplomatic passports, telephone facility at residence, private guards, cook, driver, private secretary, free medical treatment — local and foreign — for the entire family, airport security passes, free board and lodging in government-owned resthouses/hostels and six licences of prohibited bore.
The irony is that at present the offices of the prime minster and the chairman of the Senate are vested in one person, i.e. Mohammedmian Soomro, who, as a caretaker PM, has allowed himself and his family such tax-free benefits as will cost the poor nation like ours millions of rupees every year.
As Pakistani, I ask following questions:
a. Can a person be judge of his own cause by allowing himself and his family members huge post-retirement perquisites at the cost of national exchequer?
b. Was it the mandate of the caretaker to take decisions involving huge financial implications without the approval of parliament, which is in the offing?
c. Can a resource-starved country, more than 50 per cent of whose population is living below the poverty line at less than one dollar a day, afford the luxury of doling out to its representatives (whose performance nobody can be proud of) such undue and lavish privileges?
Last but not the least, what has Mohammedmian Soomro as president of the National Bank of Pakistan, governor of Sindh, chairman of the Senate, acting president and caretaker prime minister done for the people of Sindh, particularly for Shikarpur and Jacobabad where he belongs?
Although history is full of ridiculous choices our leaders have made , this latest one tops them all. I, therefore, request the incoming parliament to undo such ridiculous and harmful decisions at the first opportunity.
Mansoor ul Haque Solangi
Karachi
WITH all the recent political winners trying to get hold of the apex position in the country, the biggest of the promises to fulfil seems to be that of powering Pakistan with energy. And so far it is unbelievable to see that no one is mouthing any of those promises they were making only weeks ago. And the wheel just started rolling for them.
Any common Pakistani would like to hear how the new government is going to overcome the energy problems this year and in the years to come. So here is a tip for the new government, should it chose to work on it. Pakistan should immediately invest in concentrated solar power (CSP) plants.
CSP is different: instead of transforming sunlight directly into electricity, it uses vast arrays of parabolic mirrors to collect and focus the sun’s heat, which is then converted to power. It is ideal for hot, sunny desert-like conditions, and it is scalable -– meaning that given enough space, CSP plants could potentially supply significant chunks of a country’s electricity supply, not the negligible quantities that renewables mostly contribute today.
Algeria already has a 150-MW CSP plant planned for 2012, with grand plans of exporting up to six gigawatts (GW) of solar polar to southern Europe by 2020. Abu Dhabi is also following suit starting off with its new city Masdar powered entirely with renewable energy by 2010.
One may question if we can rate Pakistan at par with Abu Dhabi. The answer would be: certainly not. But Algeria is a country that we can look up at. If they can do it, so can we. The dream of the Kalabagh dam may never come true due to the political complexities of it, but renewable energy, CSP especially, is something no Pakistani should ever object to. And the sooner we started working on that, the better it would be.
ZILL-E-REHMAN KHAN
NIAZI Islamabad
WITH reference to your editorial, ‘Guilty of plagiarism’ (Feb 29), while it was good to hear that Punjab University finally took action against the plagiarists, merely sending them into early retirement was not enough. Some kind of financial penalty together with appropriate measures to ensure that the guilty ones do not get employment in other colleges or universities would have been more suitable.
There is nothing now which can prevent these felons taking up teaching and influencing young minds again. Were they let off lightly because of their links to a religious party which has made the university a hostage for many years now?
SHAKIR LAKHANI
Karachi
THIS is apropos of Maria Elena Martinez’s letter, ‘Research scholar’s appeal’ (Feb 6) in which she has requested the translation of some portion of a legend Persian poetess Quaratul Ain Tahira’s masterpiece in Urdu by noted poet Tabish Dehlavi.
There are many verses translated by the poet in Urdu but here is the masterpiece ode (ghazal) of the Persian poetess translated by Tabish Dehlavi which is considered authentic so far.
KHADIM HUSSAIN BILGARAMI
Karachi
SIXTY years after independence and yet the US and the UK try to influence our domestic politics. This would not be possible had the army wholeheartedly supported the civilian setups elected by people through a free and fair poll.
Secondly, if we can all work together to reduce the defence budget and cut down on wasteful expenditure of the bloated bureaucracy, then we can divert funds towards human resource development. Additional benefit of this will be reducing the dependency relationship on the West. This will enable us to withstand pressures such as we have witnessed over the past few days.
It is important that foreign powers, including Saudi Arabia, stopped meddling in our affairs.
IMITAZ AHMED
Islamabad
A CASUAL perusal of history tells us that persistent inflation produces a fascist society (Germany, Argentina), while persistent unemployment or underdevelopment produces communist, totalitarian society (Russia, China). Neither of these societies is likely to obtain in Pakistan.
GANESH S. KRISHNAN
Minnesota , USA
WITH the hope of a new and a better political setup, the people of Pakistan are closely following exchanges between politicians these days. The political agenda for the next assembly is being finalised as various parties look for alliances to form governments. Asif Ali Zardari has promised provincial autonomy to the provinces with the hope that the grievances of the neglected ethnic groups will be served better with such a measure.
I request the newly-elected lawmakers to look for long-term solutions and to avoid rushing to conclusions that may solve one matter but open a Pandora’s box of other issues. Provincial autonomy will not solve the issue of the negligence of the smaller ethnic groups. It will only shift the problem from the federal government to the provincial governments and thus increase the complexity of the matter many times.
If smaller provinces are not happy with their representation and participation in the federal government, how can it be assured that multicultural provinces will not run into the same problems?
Some of the differences and issues of the Hinko and Seraiki speakers have already been well-known while the government system is still federal. The ANP wants the name Pakhtunkhwa for the NWFP province, which will give an identity to the majority but the same identity will be enforced onto Hindko speakers who form a large minority in the province. This will be severely unjust to them. The compromise names have been rejected times and again.
Four provinces are simply too few for 160 million people. The provinces, in their present form, were inherited from the British and we now perhaps need a referendum to reset their geographical borders.
Based on major ethnic groups in Pakistan, we better subdivide Pakistan into multiple provinces, or otherwise, no province should have an ethnic identity whatsoever and multiple provinces for administrative purposes should be introduced.
Hazara has a totally different demography from the rest of the province. As Asfandyar Wali vowed to work for all the people of the province without any distinction of ethnicity, I propose that the bill to rename the NWFP should include a two province solution. This will be a wise, peaceful and a long-lasting decision. Provincial autonomy, imposed on a multilingual, multicultural province will serve nothing, and we better start serving each other’s interests if we want to rise together as a nation.
Nawaz Sharif has always been a very popular leader in Hazara. I also request him along with the PML (Q), PPP and elected representatives from Hazara to look into the possibility of a Hazara province.
MUHAMMAD MUDDASSIR MALIK
Austria
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