| April 25, 2008 | Friday | Rabi-us-Sani 18, 1429 |
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Ensuring hero’s image
Majnoo and graduation
Consumer protection
Undue fees for summer holidays
Poverty
Link with people’s reps
A hogwash
VC’s response
Translation
Our leaders
Learning a lesson from history
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
THE National Assembly and the four provincial assemblies have unanimously passed a resolution to approach the United Nations to get former prime minister Benazir Bhutto’s assassination investigated by an international commission, to be known as Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Commission, on the pattern of a probe into former prime minister of Lebanon Rafiq Hariri’s death.
It may be noted that the previous caretaker government had dismissed a similar demand from the family of Ms Bhutto who was assassinated on Dec 27, 2007 in a gun-and-bomb attack outside Rawalpindi’s Liaquat Bagh.
In this connection PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari had also written to the UN secretary-general and the Security Council president requesting for a UN probe, but a UN spokesperson then said the world body could consider such a request if it will be made by the Pakistani government.
The politically-motivated assassinations have never been probed in right time such as the murder of Liaquat Ali Khan in 1951 and recently the murder of Ms Bhutto.
It is astonishing that the police had not cordoned off/sealed the assassination site and had washed it soon after the incident. Although Ms Bhutto had several times expressed her fears that undemocratic forces would attack her, the then regime did not provide her adequate security.
The jammers provided by the government proved ineffective as all sorts of phones were ringing on the stage or across the surrounding area. Also, the government had not designed any security plan for Ms Bhutto’s Rawalpindi ‘jalsa’.
Everybody was moving about with ease near the ‘jalsa’ stage. Although the police were deployed inside the Jalsa place and ground, all entrance gates of the Liaquat Bagh stadium were without police personnel.
It is feared that in the absence of solid evidences the British team may not come up with any definitive conclusion and it will have to rely on the information provided by the local investigators or the police.
Previously, before returning to Pakistan in October, Ms Bhutto had written a confidential letter to President Musharraf that identified four key individuals within the ruling regime and the state security apparatus that should be held responsible in the event she was murdered.
Her concerns were vindicated by the twin bomb attacks on her convoy in Karachi that claimed 160 lives and 500 injured. In this matter also the Sindh government had ruled out any possibility of security lapse on its part.
A few days before the arrival of Ms Bhutto the government had said that 20,000 Rangers would be deployed around the rally, cellular jammers surrounding the caravans would be enforced and secret cameras installed at Sharea Faisal and Shahrah-i-Quaideen to monitor and restrict any untoward incidents, police personnel will be deployed on rooftops of highrise buildings, high-tech equipment imported exclusively for protecting the president and the prime minister would be used in the rally, etc.
How come such a tragedy did occur? I was an eyewitness. Only two to three police mobile vans were around Ms Bhutto’s truck and no Rangers’ personnel were found moving along with the rally, except at the airport.
Basically, the tragedy happened because of government security lapse.
Was this not meant as a warning to people to avoid democratic caravans? Ms Bhutto had then claimed that the incident was not a random suicide attack but a planned assassination plot. But the government did take no serious security measures to protect Ms Bhutto.
The people of Pakistan second the resolution to identify the culprits, perpetrators, organisers and financiers behind this crime and bring them to justice. The sooner the better the resolution goes to the UN Security Council.
HUMERA ALWANI
MPA, Thatta
THIS is apropos of the report (April 8) that says three senators, including one from the PML(N), have decried the attempts to vilify Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan in a section of our electronic media and sought a debate in the Senate about the issue.
It is indeed unfortunate that some people chose to engage in what the motion describes as character assassination of the nation’s hero. A country that forgets its heroes, much less pillories them, is not able to survive for long.
Another sad part of the news is that the new Leader of the House, PPP’s Raza Rabbani, is reportedly unhappy with Sadia Abbasi of the PML(N) for signing the motion along with the other two senators on the grounds that she is now a part of the government and the PPP has decided to take up the matter with her party’s top leadership.
Two things need to be considered here. First, the scientist himself has said in an interview (April 8) that he had taken the entire blame upon himself for passing on nuclear secrets to some other countries in order to save Pakistan’s neck.
Besides, as he observed, Chaudhry Shujaat Husain and Senator Mushahid Husain, too, had acknowledged his sacrifice and this writer had heard the senator say so while talking to the BBC in February.
Second, the deceased PPP chairperson, Benazir Bhutto, had sent a bouquet of flowers to the nuclear scientist when he was in hospital in Karachi for undergoing cancer surgery.
This shows that she held him in high regard. Therefore, it is improper for Mr Rabbani to take exception to Ms Abbasi for voicing the concern of most Pakistanis who look upon Dr Khan as their saviour.
The PPP leader should not be complaining about the PML(N) senator to her party’s high command.
Instead of doing that, he should focus on ensuring the national hero’s image is not tarnished any further but the restrictions on him are withdrawn and his life is made as pleasant and comfortable as possible. By doing this, Mr Rabbani will be living up to the nation’s expectations.
KHALID CHAUDHRY
Karachi
The question of imposing or removing the restriction of graduation for those who wish to contest elections reminds me of the following lines by Akbar Allahabadi:
Kaha majnoo se Laila ki ma ne
Ke beta gar too kar le BA pass
Jhat biah doongi Laila ko tujh se
Aur bunjaongi teri saas.
Kaha majnoo ne Laila ki maa se
Gar yehi shart hai wasl-e-Laila
To isteefa mera ba-hasrat-o-yaas.
(Rough translation: Laila’s mother promised to get her daughter married to Majnoo, provided he fulfilled one condition — that he did his BA. She would then become his mother-in-law.
‘If that’s the condition of marrying Laila then I might as well tender my resignation’ said Majnoo).
Unlike our politicians, Majnoo was a spineless lover for he didn’t go to a court to make Laila’s mother change the condition that she had imposed on her suitor.
ASIF NOORANI
Karachi
THANKS to the Consumer Protection Council for taking care of many letters published in these columns complaining about the unprecedented and unchecked increase in the price of each and every commodity over the last about one year.
All our hope is pinned on the new government to create a department or a ministry to curb exploitation of consumers, give their inspectors magisterial powers to impose penalties on the fleecers.
The ministry should arrange to go through all complaints filed in the print media or a website should be created for this purpose.
Also, they should act swiftly to catch hold of the culprits, then only this dare-devil attitude of the business community will change, else no hope.
Moreover, the point remains that consumers have to unite themselves first and find alternatives to live without all those commodities whose prices are raised inappropriately. Next, action should be taken by the ministry concerned, as proposed above.
M. M. KHAN
Karachi
I WOULD like to bring an important issue to the notice of this political government through your esteemed newspaper.
The primary and secondary education, being on low priority, does not receive appropriate funding due to budgetary constraints in Pakistan.
However, the government can assist parents through regulatory interventions.
The collection of full tuition fee/dues for the summer holidays from students, though being collected since long by government and private institutions, never seems justified.
During these holidays, the schools do save a lot on account of energy, security, transportation, teaching aids and other allied heads and they often lay off teachers just to reduce the salary bill and appoint fresh teachers, in the beginning of the new session.
This cost saving is required to be transferred/shared with parents whose children are studying in that particular school.
Moreover, the transporters engaged in pick-and-drop service for school children receive full transport charges for the summer vacation, though they are not spending any penny on fuel and drivers are kept engaged for other income-generating activities during the summer vacations.
Two of my children are studying in an elitist school, and out of 365 days, the school hardly remains open for 150 days, whereas the dues at the rate Rs4,700 per month per child is paid.
As per my judgment, the educational institutions should be directed to collect half charges for summer vacations and transporters be directed to charge half dues for these summer vacations.
MUHAMMAD MASOOD ASGHAR
Karachi
LUMS’s Prof Ali Cheema recently shared research on the geography of poverty (April 7). Correctly, the article stresses ‘endemic’ poverty as a serious issue that demands structural changes in economic growth.
But he seems to shy away from an explicit call to (what I understand as) Rawlsian justice as the basis of economic policy – no more to the few who have much until the many with little have caught up. More effective, but starving the obese is not yet an option.
A new dean is to come from the World Bank, which would have Pakistan discard labour rights on grounds of flexible markets etc. How will this be reflected in the compelling need for LUMS’s students to understand that poverty eradication needs adherence to minimal labour standards as rights to work and as rights at work?
A. ERCELAN
Karachi
THIS is apropos of your editorial, ‘New US aid package’ (April 19). There is need for the United States to revise its war on terror policy and support the democratic government rather than blindly supporting President Musharraf.
The US and the western powers should realise that without the people’s support they can’t win a war against the increasing religious militancy in the country.
The present coalition government is moderate and democratic, and with the support of the people will be able to marginalise the religious militant groups.
It’s a pity that the president’s prolonged rule only gave the wrong picture to the West that he is indispensable in the war against terrorism.
We hope that the United States, that always makes tall claims about democracy, would help strengthen the democratic government in Pakistan and revise the policy of the ‘war on terror’ by providing to an impoverished country economic aid which should be utilised for the welfare of the poor.
Poverty is also one of the sources of increasing religious extremism in the country.
The question is that if the UK government could resolve the Ireland issue by holding talks with Sinn Fein, why should the interest of the people not be considered by holding talks with the militant group to resolve suicide bombings?
It’s a dilemma that the United States has only engaged President Musharraf and not the representatives of the people. This is not only dangerous for our state but also for the US.
RAZA MIRANI
Karachi
THIS is apropos of an event that took place in Faisalabad recently. A student of the National Textile University was savagely beaten up by a security official. This comes as quite a shock to me as I myself am an Assistant Professor at a prestigious university in Sydney.
In Australia, a policeman or any law-enforcement officer can very easily be sued and punished for even pushing a student. I also heard from a friend in Karachi that a professor was savagely beaten by a security official in Karachi University.
It seems to me that the tall claims of President Musharraf that he has truly given Pakistan “grassroots democracy” are hogwash. The fact of the matter is that what he has given Pakistan is terrorism, whether in the form of suicide bombers or in the form of state terrorism by the police etc. These events will greatly increase the feelings of hatred for these law-enforcement agencies.
ROBERT SMITH
Australia
PAKISTAN civil society seems to be operating in a surreal, parallel world to the rest of us (‘Boycott call over case against KU teacher’, April 4). A case is registered against a teacher who is assaulted by the Rangers at the gates of the University of Karachi (April 1).
In the same write-up the vice-chancellor of this institution asks, without any sense of irony: “I don’t know what response I should give to this since it is an individual act.”
If the chief executive of any organisation, who has a legal duty of care towards its employees, has to ask this question when he is unwilling or unable to act, the answer is generally: resign.
R. MATIF
London
THIS is with reference to the two letters titled ‘Translation’, the first written by S.M. Hosain in which he raised a literary question, and the other by S. K. Zuberi, who instead of focusing on the actual issue highlighted by Mr Hosain, launched a rather puzzling personal attack on him.
I fail to understand where in Mr Hosain’s letter Mr Zuberi found accusations of plagiarism against Tabish Dehlavi, and could not help being confused by his uncalled-for defence of Dehlavi’s capabilities.
I have very little knowledge of Urdu or Persian poetry, yet I was intrigued by Mr Hosain’s question. On looking up Rais Amrohvi’s ‘Aks-i-Sefat-wa- Shum-i-Zaat’, I found that it does, in fact, contain the lines he cites, which are part of Quratulain Tahira’s poem too.
So what is the explanation for this occurrence? Is it ‘tawaarud’, i.e. coincidental coinage of the same phrase by two poets, or is it something entirely different?
In short, there is definitely a missing link somewhere. I feel that it is this very gap in our knowledge on which Mr Hosain asked for light to be shed. Unfortunately, by indulging in unnecessary name-calling, Mr Zuberi seems to have missed the literary vein of the query.
Even if he disagreed with Mr Hosain’s viewpoint, he could have engaged in constructive criticism. Instead, he appears to have stumbled off in another direction altogether.
SALMA HAIDER
Karachi
GEORGE Orwell, who was a very wise man, wrote: “Who controls the past controls the future. And who controls the present controls the past.”
In other words, those who dominate our society are in a position to write our histories. And if they can do that, they can decide our futures. Can we trust our present leaders with deciding our future?
ZILL-E-REHMAN KHAN
NIAZI
Islamabad
APROPOS of the caution of financial experts and the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation pertaining to the world food crisis, they predicted that “the world is moving towards a food crisis that may lead to wars and riots. (April 14).
Moreover, experts of the World Bank prepared a report in which they evaluated that “it’s (Pakistan) among the 36 countries that need immediate external assistance to prevent further deterioration.”
Despite the fact that Pakistan is an agrarian society, our country has been facing the food crisis frequently since its inception.
The World Bank report also noted that “the wheat crop prospects for 2008, in Pakistan, are quite good”. But reality does not seem so.
Despite the wheat season, food crisis looms large in the country. It is pity that our policymakers always ignore the chemistry of demand and supply. Also, the interrupted supplies, hoarding for black marketing, smuggling, export of grain and floods are the raison d’être of the food crisis.
To learn a lesson from history, I want to pinpoint the economic policy of Alauddin Khilji (1296-1326), one of the ablest rulers of Khilji dynasty during the Sultanate period.
He was known for his economic reforms and for the first time in the history of India introduced the market policy in a bid to render best services to his subjects.
His market policy was fourfold:
a. Price control of foodgrains: he fixed the rates of all necessities of life at cheap rates. Pertaining to this, he issued several farmaans (regulations) to control the price of food along with other stuffs of daily life.
b. Constant supplies of all commodities: He realised that his market policy could not be implemented until supplies of commodities remain uninterrupted. In order to materialise this scheme he took effective measures. For example, he dotted the whole empire with royal granaries, where foodgrains had been stored.
Sultan also ordered that land revenue would not be received in cash but in kind of grain which was to be stored in royal granaries. Moreover, nobody was allowed to hoard the surplus grain and had to sell these at fixed price in the market.
c. Control of transport: Sultan ensured the effective transportation of the goods and provided all facilities to the traders for the distribution of goods in time.
d. Rationing system: The rationing system of Alauddin Khalji was a unique scheme. He ensured that in case of famine or food crisis, unlimited grain could not be sold to the people. And everyone had a fixed quota. Moreover, he established a well-organised administrative system to ensure the smooth running of this system. He appointed many market ministers, who regulated the Sultan’s farmans and market regulations.
He also developed a strong system of espionage, which was responsible for sending reports on the condition of the market to Sultan. If anyone was found guilty of this system, he was dealt with sternly.
Without doubt, we have a lot of resources but they need to be exploited systematically. The example of Khilji’s reforms is before us.
However, the new government is requested to take steps on an urgent basis. Otherwise the country will face civil riots, as last week violence erupted in Egypt and Haiti over the soaring price of food.
KHALID MEHMOOD
Karachi
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