| March 21, 2008 | Friday | Rabi-ul-Awwal 12, 1429 |
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From politics to economics
National Epilepsy Centre
Naming the NWFP
The voice of conscience
Chief judge and the judiciary
Over my body
Missing envoy
War on terror
Education for the poor
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 refers to a report by S.Raza Hassan, ‘Woman says she was raped at mazar’ (March 19). An 18-year-old girl was kidnapped and gang-rapped by five men at the premises of the Quaid’s mazar on the night of March 15.
The management and security staff of the mausoleum was unable to trace the girl until the police found her in the morning on March 17, lying heavily intoxicated, near the outer gate of the mazar.
According to another report, published in a section of the press on March 19, the girl on the night of March 15 was guarding her relative’s shoes outside the Quaid’s museum at the premises of the mazar and waiting for her husband who had gone outside to bring the remaining members of their family waiting outside the mausoleum.
In the meantime a power breakdown occurred and during this period the girl was kidnapped by two employees of the mausoleum who took her to a storeroom in the mausoleum at gun-point.
The girl was recovered by the police on March 17, after she was held captive for 36 hours in the premises of the mausoleum and was subjected to sexual assault.
At present the resident engineer of the Quaid’s mausoleum is looking after security of the mausoleum, with the help of a retired major and 70 security guards.
The victim woman says she was subjected to rape by a security guard posted at the mausoleum as one of the suspects (March 20).
The shameful incident shows that security at the Quaid’s mausoleum is very poor and needs a lot of improvement. Here are a few suggestions:
a. A physical security plan of the Quaid’s mausoleum should be prepared and a security control room should be established in the premises of the mausoleum which should be manned round the clock to monitor and control security operations.
b. Security standing orders for the mausoleum should be formulated.
c. Character and antecedents of all employees of the mausoleum should be verified by the police.
d. Off-duty security guards and other employees should not be allowed to enter the premises of the mausoleum unless they have written permission of the resident engineer/security officer.
e. Close circuit television surveillance cameras should be installed at important places to monitor any undesirable activity by the security control.
f. There should be a proper key control system, and keys of rooms, stores, basement, etc, should be issued to authorised persons only by the security control.
g. Wireless communication between security control and guards should be arranged.
h. There should not be any loadshedding at the Quaid’s mausoleum, as it is a national monument or a power generator should be arranged to keep the security lights on during the loadshedding or power failure.
i. Arrangements of public address system or megaphone should be made to make some important announcement by the security control.
j. No room, including basement of the mausoleum, should be left unattended or unlocked even during the day.
The Quaid’s mausoleum is visited by thousands of people every day and it is also a place for tourist attraction. Hence it is quite vulnerable to criminals and terrorists.
To have better control over security personnel, it is suggested that the overall security of the Quaid’s mausoleum should be under the control of headquarters Commander Karachi of Pakistan Navy, which is already having operational control over contingents of Pakistan Army, Navy and Air Force while performing ceremonial guard duties at the mausoleum since 1973.
SQN LDR (r) S. AUSAF HUSAIN
Karachi
IN his article, ‘From politics to economics’ (March 18), Shahid Javed Burki has dilated on different aspects of Pakistan’s political development, a prerequisite to economic progress.
I tend to agree with him that politics cannot be separated from economics and what happens to one has a definite impact on the other. However, political stability comes first as without it any improvement in the economic activity is not sustainable.
For the sake of taking some help by the policymakers in Pakistan, Mr Burki has mentioned three areas of Indian experiences.
According to him, India excelled in two fields. First, in marshalling of domestic resources for investments by lessening reliance on external resources to achieve high GDP, building strong political structure, successful land reforms and, second, empowering states by devolving them more development authority.
The third experience in which, according to him, Pakistan has done better is the reducing power of bureaucracy which it inherited from the colonial power.
This conclusion appears a bit self-contradictory as Mr Burki has admitted himself that devolution of power by the Musharraf regime “made the civil servants working in the district response, at least in theory, to the elected representatives”.
Looking at the total chaos in the working of district governments, a system devised through devolution of power, the third experience also came to total failure whereas India by keeping the inherited authority intact is doing well.
In the end, I would like to draw the attention of Mr Burki that comparison is made always of the like with the like.
If comparison is made between two countries, one where the constitution, a document of fundamental principles of law by which a government is created and a country is administered, has been made and unmade many a time on whims and followed more in defiance and the other where this document is treated as a sacred trust of nation and followed in the letter and in spirit, the results will always be paradoxical.
We as a nation are living in a very exceptional circumstance and are not comparable with any country with normal system of governance.
Unless we start respecting the basic laws, the state will continue to be governed by adventurers and charlatans having scant regard for politics, a sine qua non for economic prosperity.
BADAR JATOI
Port Coquitlam, BC
WE are overwhelmed by the response that has followed Ardeshir Cowasjee’s column (March 2), some coming as far as from the UK and Canada. It was indeed most gratifying to read the letter of the parent whose child has benefited from their visit to the National Epilepsy Centre (NEC).
The NEC is an NGO-run centre and one of the several public-private partnership facilities at the JPMC.
At the NEC a team of dedicated volunteer doctors under the supervision of the head of the Department of Neurology, JPMC, are not only looking into the medical aspects of the people with epilepsy but are also providing psychosocial counselling to patients and their families, which is a very important part of epilepsy management.
Also through various projects we are creating public awareness of this treatable but ‘highly stigmatised disorder’.
Our outpatient services started in April 2007 whilst video-EEG and drug bank facilities began in October 2007. We have already registered more than 800 patients, and 500 of these are being supplied regular medicines at a token cost of two rupees per day whilst the actual expense of medicines, on an average, is about Rs900 per month per patient.
All this has been possible through continuous donations from people who are providing finances to cover the 92 per cent of the medicine cost whilst the patient contributes only eight per cent.
Through these columns on behalf of the NGO and NEC I thank all our well-wishers and supporters who have showed faith in us and our mission to provide excellent services to the people with epilepsy in Pakistan, irrespective of their caste, creed or status.
We at the NEC are resolute to continue providing the best services to the people with epilepsy and turning them into fruitful citizens like the humanitarian Mr Edhi, who is an icon for all people afflicted with epilepsy.
DR ZARINE MOGAL
Neurology Fund (NGO) assisting National Epilepsy Centre,
Karachi
THIS is apropos of Khalid Chadhury’s letter, ‘Renaming NWFP’ (March 9 ). He suggested 10 names for the province, but didn’t discuss why he was opposed to the idea of naming the NWFP as Pakhtoonkhawa.
The names he suggested like Thorkhaman, Khyberan and many more are both grammatically and strategically incorrect because Thorkhaman means (many Thorkhams) and Khyberan means many Khybers while in fact there is just one Thorkham and one Khyber, and that too is just a pass that doesn’t represent the whole province.
It seems that the writer doesn’t have any background of the Pashto language, that’s why he suggested these names.
Also, he gave a nice example of four brothers residing in one house and one of them wishing to name his baby should take suggestions from other brothers because it’s a more fraternal way.
But in fact it would be a more fraternal way for the other brothers to be satisfied with a name which the immediate parents of the baby are more enthusiastic about.
People of the NWFP are more enthusiastic about the name Pakhtoonkhawa and that’s why this time they gave a heavy mandate to the ANP. It will be more fraternal and democratic for the people of potohar provinces to help the people of the NWFP in changing the name.
In turn, it would create feelings of love for the people of other provinces among the Pakhtuns and a sense of belonging to Pakistan , and it will be a good step towards national unity and harmony which is the need of the hour.
MURAD KHAN KASI
Quaid-i-Azam University
Islamabad
ACCORDING to a news item (March 18), a resolution has been moved in the US House of Representatives, spearheaded by Congresswomen Zoe and Sheila, the chairperson of the Judiciary Subcommittee on International Law and Caucus on Pakistan on Capitol Hill, respectively, “condemning the dismissal of the Supreme Court in Pakistan”.
The resolution seeks the reinstatement of the judges who were ousted for refusing to take the oath under the PCO. In fact, the resolution calls for reinstatement of all the judges who were made to leave on or after Nov 3.
It’s great news for all the conscientious-minded and those who believe in the cause worldwide in general. As the saying goes, “Better late than never”, all the true democrats across the world were wondering how come the United States of America, which houses public representatives of the model democracy of the world, have not shown their concern on imposition of emergency.
However, this resolution has shown a ray of hope, particularly when it is spearheaded by two daring women under their leader Nancy Pelosi, the first woman speaker of the House.
This is highly motivating and rewarding for legal fraternity of Pakistan, particularly Aitzaz Ahsan and his team-mates who led an unprecedented movement for social change for rule of law at the cost of huge sufferings.
M. SALEEM CHAUDHRY
United States
THE sacked judges, including Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, were summarily removed and locked up along with their families in their houses, cordoned off by the law-enforcement agencies with the barbed wire fence erected all around their houses (a treatment akin to prisoners of war).
This summary punishment by the then Chief of Army Staff (COAS), when the so-called parliament was in place, through an unlawful act drove the last nail into the coffin of the country’s self-respecting higher judiciary, thus dashing all hopes of the entire nation vying for the rule of law ever since the creation of this country.
The highly-paid, from people’s money, attorneys, advocate-generals, barristers, and money-seeking lawyers representing the then COAS in the PCO-created courts and pliant judiciary were able to get the unlawful action regularised as lawful even after the perpetrator of the action himself called it illegal and unlawful.
This statement immediately called for suo motu action by the apex court. This amounts to a nursery rhyme: “White is black and black is white/ You are wrong and I am right”, and the honourable court upheld the rhyme.
Now a great debate in view of civil society’s outcry is ensuing in the press and on TV channels whether the judiciary could be restored through an executive order or by a two-thirds majority, or a simple majority by the new National Assembly.
The vested interests are giving all sorts of turns and twists to the simple issue and some have the cheeks to even say that any action by the legislators, the public representatives, will be struck down by the apex court on a review petition filed by the legal group fed on fees paid out from the public money.
These people are pre-judging and want the nation’s boat to keep rocking in the high seas of uncertainty.
Some even say that no politician will allow honest, upright and hardworking judges to come back to the judiciary, calling them pro-active.
This is utter nonsense, a judge is a judge and is there to allow rule of law and constitutional provisions to be strictly enforced in society.
He is not obliged to anyone, nor to lawyers except his God.
This is what Mr Iftikhar Chaudhry while addressing the Multan Bar after March 2007 said to the lawyers that he was thankful to them and in return had nothing to give or offer them now or in the future.
Mr Iftikhar Chaudhry has the courage to give our judiciary real independence and a sense of direction, if allowed to do so, where no dictator will ever be able to get a judgment of his choice.
Long live Aitzaz Ahsan, Munir A. Malik, Ali Ahmad Kurd, Justice ( r ) Tariq, Hamid Khan, Ikram Chaudhry, Athar Min-Allah, Akram Sheikh and many of their likes all over the country.
AIR CDRE (r) ISHTIAQ AHMAD KHAN
Chaillianwala, Mandi Bahaudin
WHO do the US presidential candidates think they are? Obama wants to go into Pakistan territory for taking out the militants, and now McCain wants to please the Jews with Jerusalem as their capital.
Are the Muslims of the world to be taken for granted? Don’t they see what the world has come to due to the arrogance the US has shown in case of Palestine? Can the world be kept safe with the boiling hot rhetoric the US presidential candidates are hurling to attract votes?
The war in Iraq; the threats to Iran; the deaths and complete destruction of Afghanistan; the Lebanon crisis; African quagmire; hegemony in oil supply routes; the atrocities on the Palestine people; political interference in Pakistan, Turkey, etc.
These are some of the large areas on which the US takes pride in being the architect and proud to be a successful state bringing the world to its knees. This is the action, and every action has an equal and proportionate opposite reaction, has the superpower forgotten this scientific fact?
I do believe the US has gone far beyond the limits of human endurance in case of the atrocities it has caused to the humanity in general and the Muslims of the world in particular.
DAWOODI MORKAS
Karachi
IN 1986, an Israeli Air Force plane went down over Lebanon. The navigator, Ron Arad, was known to have been captured by locals. For over two decades, Israel has sought the return of the officer, or at least that of his remains.
In Pakistan, unfortunately, life is much cheaper. An officer of the rank of ambassador has gone missing, and none seems to care. As for the many Pakistanis held in India, the only flicker of interest seems to come when their tortured corpses come home.
SAEED GUL
USA
I WRITE these lines while sharing the grief and tragedy faced by Brig ( r ) Khalid Hassan Mahmood on the untimely death of his only son, Maj Farhan Mahmood, at the hands of the enemies of Pakistan and Islam while he was serving in the Bajaur tribal region (March 16).
One more gallant solider — a young man, a brother, a father of two innocent children, the only son of a man who throughout his life served the nation — lost his life at the hands of unknown enemies of the country.
There can be no second opinion that these terrorist activities have no link with Islam or its teachings or with the followers of the greatest religion of the universe. Brig Khalid has very correctly analysed that “there is an urgent need to redefine the term ‘the war on terror’ and review our existing policies” and he has raised a very important question of the role played by the electronic media in the war on terror.
Soldiers fight on the battlefield while intellectuals and writers fight with their pen, which is more powerful than the sword or a gun. Unfortunately some in our media are not aware of the great responsibility that devolves on them and are only interested in sensationaling news, some time so horrible that it really needs iron nerves to watch it.
Brig Khalid, through these lines I assure you that every Pakistani shares with you and your family the grief and sorrow as Maj Farhan, your beloved son, sacrificed his present for our future. May Allah give you courage to bear this irreparable loss.
AAMIR AQIL
Lahore
I AGREE with Mahmood Hassan Khan’s article, ‘Education for the poor’ (March 12). Indeed, creating incentives for the poor to enroll their children in schools could be the best solution to increase enrollment and ensure children’s retention in schools.
These cash incentives could further be linked with uplifting family livelihood/business with the commitment of involving adult family members to build up their existing professions/businesses in addition to focusing on market development. This could be a two-way strategy to alleviate poverty, on the one hand, and improve education status of the poor, on the other hand.
Some NGOs have also launched pilot projects in Pakistan which can help policymakers to learn from their constraints and successes.
Furthermore, curbing political involvement in teachers’ recruitments and transfers can be a way to ensure that the poor have access to education in rural Pakistan.
ASHOK SUTHAR
Tharparkar
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