| March 15, 2008 | Saturday | Rabi-ul-Awwal 6, 1429 |
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No shaming the shameless
Open letter to Ansar Burney
What an agony!
Intense prejudice
Sri Lankan scene: what next?
Let the games begin
Slow poisoning
Luxury at tax payers’ expense
Recovery of public money
Judges’ issue
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
IT is strange that the PPP, which has secured the most seats, is feeling its hand tied to nominate the prime minister. The apparent choice should be the senior vice chairman of the party, who led it through the eight-year self-exile of the chairperson-for-life.
Amin Fahim’s able handling of the affairs of the party during the absence of the chairperson, and the present co-chairperson, has reflected itself in the victory in the election.
He also appears to be a sober politician, and with no controversy. Why then there should be any hesitation on the part of the party to nominate the premier?
All this has arisen because of the ‘act of the late chairperson of the PPP (a party, claimed to be democratic both by the party and its leaders) to assign the chairmanship to her inexperienced son through a will.
It is said that now two factors are aggravating this difficulty. One, Asif Zardari is reluctant to nominate Amin Fahim because the latter is said to be close to the president. Amin Fahim says it is his character assassination.
Two, Asif Zardari himself would like to be the prime minister. The secretary-general of the party, Jahangir Badar, has already floated this in the market that the best choice for this position is Asif Zardari himself.
How one individual, the co-chairperson of the party, which claims to deliver democracy to the nation, has assumed the right to nominate the prime minister?
SYED OSMAN SHER
Canada
(II)
THE recent politicking by the PPP and the PML (N) is negatively affecting the country; there is also the hassle of choosing a prime minister. Asif Ali Zardari had prior to the election indicated heavily that Amin Faheem would be their parliamentary leader.
Somehow it seems that Nawaz Sharif is now running the PPP instead of Mr Zardari as he has conspired to keep out Mr Faheem from the PM post under the wrong pretext that he is too friendly with Pervez Musharraf. The joint policies of both these parties will end in confrontation with the office of the president.
It will not be that easy for the parliament to simply reappoint the ousted chief justice. Whilst this tussle goes on, the people of Pakistan will suffer.
The acts of Mr Sharif are very similar to when he was last in office, he is taking too far the wishes of the electorate, they did not give him votes to fight with Mr Musharraf, but to work hand in hand with the PPP to give them food, electricity, gas and jobs. They will not be able to deliver such big promises.
The electorate’s patience is not indefinite; they will want results, especially with an open media. The PPP and the PML(N) should get on with the job on hand and stop politicking, we have seen this for the last 60 years. We want change.
ZAFAR RAJA
London
(III)
THE Pakistan Muslim League (N) has already started showing its true colours. Since when in a democratic dispensation can a minority party justify dictating its terms to its major partner.
The Pakistan People’s Party must reject the PML (N) demands regarding Makhdoom Amin Fahim’s nomination for the prime minister’s election. Its conceding to the PML (N)’s demands will amount to betrayal of its own senior leader and worker and it’ll send wrong signals to its devoted and faithful workers across the party.
AFTAB S. ALAM
USA
THIS refers to Ardeshir Cowasjee’s column and Mansoor ul Haque Solangi’s letter of March 2, as also Hyder Ali Khan’s letter (March 4) lamenting the lavish spending of our leaders.
It’s been said, “While shame keeps watch, virtue is not wholly extinguished from the heart, nor will moderation be utterly exiled from the mind of tyrants.” We have already seen how moderation seems to have deserted those who keep harping about enlightened moderation. The conclusion is obvious.
Some 15 to 20 years back the prime minister of a Scandinavian country had needed an extra airconditioner for his apartment — mind you, he wasn’t living in a palatial residence, unlike our monarchical rulers — but had to get it approved from his parliament. In spite of that, there was a headline in the next day’s newspaper screaming that the parliament had sanctioned a third A/C for their PM. Apart from that, some European leaders even used to cycle to work.
Mentioning the example of those Muslim Caliphs who used to turn off their official lamps when doing personal work will probably be scoffed away as a sign of my ‘fundamentalism’. However, in our own Islamic Republic a few decades back I had known a very conscientious secretary of defence production who didn’t use the official car when going back from work to his home in Islamabad from Wah and never used it to transport his family in. Before that, when premiers Liaquat Ali Khan of Pakistan and Lal Bahadur Shastri of India died, their bank balances were almost zero.
In contrast, what happens here is that the caretaker premier Soomro fools the nation by sanctioning lifelong perks worth millions for Senate chairman Soomro and his family. The incumbent, as COAS Musharraf, transfers powers to President Musharraf. He also spends over six million bucks on a three-day jaunt to Britain undertaken merely as a PR exercise to win support from the western leaders and to malign the ousted CJP, one of the allegations against whom was of submitting fake petrol bills worth Rs 28,000. There was no mention of the fact that Justice Chaudhry does not even own a home and possesses a car that is nearly two decades old.
What lessons are Mr Musharraf and Mr Soomro imparting to the people: spend the poor Pakistanis’ money, who are committing suicides out of poverty, to your heart’s content and break as many laws as you want? They may get away with such deeds here due to lack of accountability, but there won’t be any escape in the Hereafter, if they believe in one.
IQBAL
Karachi
I APPRECIATE the efforts of the caretaker federal minister of human rights in perusing the release of Kashmir Singh after the massive period of three decades in the jail. But now I also expect Mr Burney to get the release orders of our more then 65 honourable deposed judges, whom I consider as the asset of this nation.
All the judges have been victim of all the president’s men. Not only are those but their family members and children also not out of the clutches of unlawful detention without their iota of fault.
It is inhuman. You know, I know and the entire country knows that for what reason they all are penalised.
They are penalised only because they stood for rule of law, democracy and welfare of this country.
What a petty reward all are we getting! Pakistan is a democratic country and everybody is safeguarded in the book of the Constitution.
Life and liberty has paramount importance in our golden document, which has described the values of fundamental rights for citizens of Pakistan in Articles eight to 28.
I want to draw the attention of Mr Burney to the most needed, famous, righteous and historical human rights violation that emerged on the surface of our pure land of Pakistan on Nov 3, 2007 when one of the important pillars of the state was unlawfully asked or forced to bow down.
I am sure if Mr Burney loves the rights of mankind, he shall not waste a moment and take up the case of restoration of our judges.
QAZI NAZIM NAEEM
Hyderabad
THIS is apropos of a report, ‘Governor misled’, published recently in a section of the press, as well as of a news item in Dawn of the same date. Read together, they raise concerns.
It seems that the governor was not misled but deliberately ‘not pleased’ with the report of the committee set up by himself, and ‘showed door’ to some physicists, including one senior member of the faculty at the Punjab University.
I would like to share my concerns with fellow Pakistanis back home. Living abroad, earning money, and sending money back to Pakistan is a dream, motto and goal.
Like so many other patriotic expatriates, I think and speak highly of our country, its politicians, judiciary and scientists alike. As if the political turmoil and judicial crisis was not enough, it seems that now the authorities are after scientists.
Dismissal and detention of people like Dr Qadeer Khan and Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry is difficult to defend for the Pakistanis abroad, where we live and work in a multicultural environment.
Whatever is the truth of the matter, the contempt with which judges, scientists and teachers are being treated, as reflected in various news items on a daily basis, is alarming.
The governor of Punjab, being a military man himself, needs to be more sensible than openly showing his contempt for due process, justice, and respect for academia. It is quite clear that he had erred in his method and has abused his authority; for if there is ever any doubt in the truth of an allegation, the benefit must go to the accused and not to the complainant.
When will our authorities have the courage to own and rectify their mistakes? I think it is time for the president of Pakistan to intervene and investigate the matter and find out why and how the governor was misled and why he has not taken corrective measures.
M.N.QURESHI
Dubai
WHEN I was a little boy growing up in America coming from a Christian family, my mother would always tell me to be sure to be kind to my classmates and friends who were Jewish. She said they had suffered horribly during the Holocaust and we must go out of our way to be tolerant. My mother was right.
Today in America, Muslims unfortunately are the object of intense prejudice. Leading presidential candidate Barack Obama is being constantly barraged with anti-Muslim invective: his full name, Barack Hussein Obama, is being emphasised in some quarters in a disparaging fashion, with the name, ‘Hussein’ being intentionally added to show that he may be a secret Muslim and someone who should be loathed.
Instead, people should be saying, “Hey, it’s OK to be a Muslim — this is America where freedom of religion is supposed to be paramount.
“We reject this intolerance and stand proudly in solidarity with our fellow Muslim Americans”.
The candidate Obama should also not be ashamed of his name and should stop giving excuses about his name and how much he is a bona fide Christian.
I am an adult now in today’s America and I’m sure my mother would say that Muslims deserve our kindness and tolerance.
She would say that Muslims are suffering horribly because of terrorism like everyone else, except they are suffering doubly, because some people are blaming them for the bad actions of a few. And from deep within my heart, I know my mother is right.
PAUL A. PETERS
United States
The announcement by the International Independent Group of Eminent Persons (IIGEP) that they are quitting the Presidential Commission of Inquiry comes as no surprise at all. The surprise is as to why the IIGEP agreed to be part of this process in the first place.
Why the international community and the members of the IIGEP itself were unable to see through this devious scheme at the very outset is a matter that deserves some reflection. Indeed, some reflection on the matter can also throw light on why the international community has so far been unable to have a clear view of what is happening in Sri Lanka and why impunity has become such an entrenched practice within the country.
The Asian Human Rights Commission has repeatedly pointed out that impunity in Sri Lanka is a matter of state policy, whether the violations that are dealt with are from the south, north or the east, and that this policy has been entrenched through consistent practice since 1971.
When the state relies entirely on the military and the police for the suppression of all persons and organisations which it believes should be suppressed, the same state cannot pursue a policy that will discourage the military and the police from pursuing their targets as ruthlessly as possible.
When the state sanctions and, in fact, commands its armed forces to act in the manner it wishes, the same state cannot be expected to take any credible action to ensure that its forces act within the accepted norms and standards. As the former defense minister, Ranjan Wijeratne, told parliament: “These things cannot be done according to the law”.
The very foundation of the law in Sri Lanka has changed for the worse. The 1978 Constitution transformed Sri Lanka into an authoritarian state with the executive president having powers equal to an absolute monarchy. With that the structure and ideology of the state changed.
What is needed is a comprehensive understanding of the problem of Sri Lanka which is not just an ethnic crisis. It is a total crisis of the entire legal fabric of the country and the political system. What is required from both local and international initiatives is to create space to deal with the entire issue through a comprehensive plan of action based on an understanding of the actual situation.
We hope that the bitter lessons learned by the IIGEP in Sri Lanka will lead to humble reflections about where the very strategy itself was flawed. A critical review by those involved in the IIGEP as well as by those others who have watched this extremely sad episode can help in the deepening of the understanding of the theoretical nature, as well as of the practical nature in dealing with the issues of justice in conflict situations.
Mere calls to end impunity or making generalised recommendations are of little use. Concrete studies leading to specific suggestions that can form the basis for realistic plans of action are what is needed, not only to deal with the acute crisis in Sri Lanka but also to deal with other similar situations.
ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION
Hong Kong
Now that democracy has been ‘restored’ to Pakistan, let the games begin. And let us hope the winners turn a new leaf and work for the good of the country after being denied to do so for eight long years. The people of Pakistan have spoken.
Asif Ali Zardari and Nawaz Sharif are back in power. All that talk and articles in newspapers about their corruption and bad governance in the past seem false and fabricated.
In the Dawn issue of Feb 24, you took the risk of publishing Ardeshir’s Cowasjee’s column, ‘Allah meherban tau gadha pehlwan,’ wherein, besides other unpalatable reminders to our two dauntless politicians — the honourable Nawaz Sharif and Asif Ali Zardari — he boldly cast aspersions on the characters of the two winners, one of whom will no doubt become the prime minister of Pakistan one day. Remember what happened to the newspapers in the early days of the rise to power of the PPP?
It is said that a people get the government they deserve. I do hope it does not apply to Pakistanis, for they are an honest hard working people, willfully kept illiterate, and misled by self-serving feudalistic masters.
I admire your courage for publishing Mr Cowasjee’s column.
ZIA REHMAN
United States
WE are being slowly poisoned as trees, the source of purified air, are being blatantly cut down, here, there and everywhere. Where is the environment protection society? Where are the NGOs? Who is responsible for this murder of masses in general?
We need to put an immediate stop to this felling of trees. The competent authority and judiciary should take suo motu notice before our children start dying due to non-availability of pure air.
PARVEEN SHAH
Karachi
THE report carried by the national press regarding the president’s four - day stay in a London hotel costing 68,000 pound sterling (Rs8 million) for room rent alone to the Pakistani taxpayers hit me like a bombshell.
Of all the people in the world, I didn’t expect Mr Musharraf to indulge in this kind of luxury at the taxpayers’ expense, considering that he used to harp slogans like ‘national interest’ and ‘Pakistan first’ all the time.
If people in Pakistan evade taxes to the government, the reasons are now well understood. If the rulers of this country indulge in this kind of luxury when their subjects find it hard to get two square meals a day, with a large majority living well below the poverty line, I suppose one can safely say that these are times of utter shamelessness.
MRS SHEHLA AHMED
Islamabad
I AM a senior citizen and a taxpayer. I would like to know how much public money has been spent by the president, prime minister, federal ministers, and provincial ministers and others during the last five years of the PML(Q) government.
As a result of their five years’ rule, there is shortage of power and flour. The common man is groaning under the burden of rising prices and people with a meagre income are helpless spectators.
What beneficial services have been rendered by the president and the prime minister to the nation that they spend billions on foreign tours? This public money must be recovered from them, if they were really sincere, honest in serving the country. They should have visited abroad on their own expenses. After all, they are quite rich.
After recovering the amount from them, it should be spent in building the orphanage hostels and hospitals in rural areas of Pakistan.
ENGR S. T. HUSSAIN
Lahore
“JUDGES’ issue to tax legal brains for long” (March 1). Every problem can provide an opportunity also.
Let us further expand our cordial relationship with the US, with our Supreme Court seeking directly the guidance of the American supreme court in the name of department-to-department cooperation to solve the problem.
Z.A. KAZMI
Karachi
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