| May 03, 2008 | Saturday | Rabi-us-Sani 26, 1429 |
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Asif Zardari — brave but naïve
What other kind of change
Mind your language
No patient registries
Changing status, new challenges
PPP’s commitment
Courts in Hala
May Day
Hijacked cars
Always neglected
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
ZAFFAR Abbas’s write-up, ‘Statesmanship needed to save the day’ (April 30), rightly emphasises the need today for our political leadership, as well as for the lesser echelons of power, to show magnanimity in thinking for the future of the country to bring a semblance of order that brings education, civility, rule of law as the standards of our society rather than the lawlessness that has embraced all levels of our society where security of life and limb, as well as of property, is fast becoming a risk for all individuals and drives the destitute to commit suicide.
The time now is not for revenge of any kind to be overtly or covertly exercised by any person or party; better interest of the country and its common people should be our prime consideration. Our history is full of civil and military leaders’ promises made to the people of Pakistan, but not kept.
Empty rhetoric has made cynics of most of us but it is time positive thinking should now prevail, egos are put aside and sacrifices made by all political parties involved as well as by the lawyers, civil society, the judges and the people at large are appreciated.
A little delay in restoration of judges should be peacefully accepted by all concerned. The judges should be restored without any change in stance, allowing them to return to their positions, with the provision that whatever the people’s representatives in the parliament decide by way of constitutional amendment(s) must prevail when approved by the august body.
Those changes cannot and should not be made today to delay restoration of the judges. We as a nation have survived many hiccups in our history and can handle a few days of uncertainty with courage.
Constitutional changes are indeed needed to bring sanity into the country’s rule of law and its proper implementation and to assure that our Constitution is not ever hijacked by any civil or military person with any rank.
This package must be published for input by the people of Pakistan and minutely reviewed before presentation to the National Assembly. This exercise understandably will take more than a few days to complete, so the judges should be restored in the meantime.
In the meanwhile let us ensure that the few days’ gap between this event and the amendments to the Constitution is not misused by anyone, including the judiciary and the executive.
The government has a lot on its plate right now; the common people need relief from escalating prices of edibles and essentials.
Energy and water need immediate attention to prevent mass destruction of our standing agricultural produce; our balance-of-payments are at horrible junctions, our education and health sectors are like ships without rudders and need to provide relief to the common people.
The list can be long but let us all get started rather than bicker about one subject only and waste our total energies on it. Please realise that the constitutional changes cannot be brought about in a matter of days or even weeks. Hence, let us move forward with what we can accomplish today.
HASAN CHAND
Via email
IF those who are at the helm of affairs care for national interest and mandate given on Feb 18, then the judiciary should be reinstated as it was on Nov 2 and, thereafter, introduce reform package through a constitutional change.
SAADAT YAR KHAN
Karachi
“YOU are controlled by the one to whom you are obliged”. If this old adage still holds true, then Asif Ali Zardari having been freed by the NRO is Musharraf’s man.
This perception is indeed enigmatic as it does not match with what we know as Asif Zardari. He is known to be a resistance-incarnate who never faltered.
He had to bear the full brunt of anti-PPP drive simply for being husband of Benazir Bhutto. Scores of false cases were filed against him but he did not give in.
Even seven long years of imprisonment couldn’t bend him. His one ‘yes’ could have changed that prisoner into a premier but he never compromised on principles.
The equanimity with which he steered the orphaned People’s Party was applauded by all.
However, it is really enigmatic as to how such a brave man has been lured in by the NRO. Is it befitting for the leader of a party as popular with peasants and labourers as the PPP to use crutches of the NRO?
Perhaps, he is naive for the implications of his volte face. That is why he had to part ways with the PML (N) on the issue of restoration of deposed judges.
Having no other rationale, he pretends to act under compulsion that the rescuing NRO would be rescinded if the judges are restored. Presuming the worst, cancellation of the NRO simply means that cases against him will be decided by a court of law.
Given the recent National Assembly resolution on ‘political murder’ of Z. A. Bhutto, no court can afford to take the risk of getting labelled as political victimiser.
Moreover, such a situation is simply out of question if courts are independent. Gone are the days when courts used to get dictations.
Mr Zardari should be mindful of the fact that getting acquitted by a court of law is more dignifying than becoming clean by the NRO.
Besides, he should not ignore those points by which a leader moves downscale on the charismatic count.
In order to move upward in charisma, one finds no option but to be attuned to Zeitgeist. Can any popular leader be oblivious of 81 per cent yes votes in a recent opinion poll for reinstatement of the chief justice, Justice Chaudhry Iftikhar?
It is not difficult to decipher that the NRO has not freed Asif Zardari but entrapped him as he is no more free to act at his own. To Get rid of all politically-motivated false cases is his inherent right. But, the way he fulfilled his right is justifiable by none.
Let me recall a Polish proverb: “if you can marry a damsel, don’t abduct her”.
MUHAMMAD WAQAR ASLAM
Quetta.
THIS is apropos of Ayesha Siddiqa’s article, ‘What other kind of change’ (April 25). While there is no denying the fact that the agriculture sector cannot be ignored and needs special attention, as suggested by the writer, her disagreement with Akbar Zaidi is not very convincing.
Mr Zaidi is not suggesting that agriculture should not be given importance; he is just correcting the usual misconception that pre-dominant relations of production in rural areas are feudal.
Independently, the four issues raised by Ms Siddiqa are valid points, as she has enumerated the reasons for the change. But this does not mean that the outcome of these changes which are mentioned in Mr Zaidi’s articles can be dismissed.
There is enough empirical and statistical evidence which shows that feudal relations have undergone a change in our rural society. Take for example, the ownership of farmland in Pakistan which is the basis of feudal relations in any society.
According to the last available agriculture census of 2000 (much has changed in the last eight years), only 16 per cent of the 40.76 million acres cultivated area is of 50 and above acres and five per cent farms are above 150 acres. The total number of such farmers is 14,024. This must have further fragmented in the last eight years.
The argument can be built that this does not show the family holding, which could be bigger. But the best guess could be that most of such holdings would be in multiples of 50 acres and above.
The argument that most of the “big landholders have become industrialists and businessmen” is not strong as such cases are few. The diminishing power of the feudal in Pakistan is also proved by the fact that since the 1990s power has shifted in the hands of industrialists and businessmen, particularly in Punjab where it matters most.
In Sindh the strong middle class is supporting the MQM, and the PPP leadership is also in the hands of middle class leaders. Even Bhutto and Zardari have larger business interests than agricultural land.
Other important factor is that while the relations of production in the agriculture sector have changed, the feudal social values’ hangover has not subsided. It is an accepted fact that though cultural and social values are shaped by the relations of production in a society, their hangover lasts for decades after the demise of the economic base. That explains that though the change Mr Zaidi has pointed out is quietly seeping in, it is not at the pace which Ms Siddiqa and all other well-meaning persons want. Thus Mr Zaidi’s assertions cannot be brushed aside while developing a political and social strategy.
BABAR AYAZ
Karachi
QUITE often I am taken by surprise with frequent use of words like pundit and guru in recent English writings, TV anchorage and ‘news guru’.
It gives rise to various questions like: does it really suit or has any comfortable social acceptability in our environment? Is it not an encroachment on the part of English dictionary? Should any laws or principles be followed for the evolution of any language(s)?
I personally don’t think that such an emotional spread would facilitate its (English) character elevation. Such exercises would certainly need some research and logic.
Finally, this seems to be an inadvertent step in the direction of ‘lashkari zuban’ (mixture of languages) like Urdu or Esperanto -- relatively an unpopular, young, neutral, international language perhaps for business purpose.
BADAR OILMAN
Karachi
APROPOS of the write-up, ‘Premier’s programme for hepatitis control failing seven million patients” by Hajrah Mumtaz (April 28), I would like to comment that from the write-up one thing strikes the reader very strongly, that is there is no basic data yet available to estimate the exact toll of hepatitis C in Pakistan.
Correct estimates of diseases like hepatitis C, B and diseases of blood, cancers and other long-term ailments are only possible through the establishment of patient registries.
This means registering individual patients and following them up through the entire course of the disease.
In this era of technological advancement, even in a country like Pakistan, this is not impossible. Through web-based or software programmes, countrywide exact (or at least with 90 per cent accuracy) data about patients and their course of disease can be estimated.
The Prime Minister’s Hepatitis Control Programme is a wonderful initiative if done properly. We seem to have lost in the first phase, i.e. the correct estimation.
I would request the torch-bearers of this programme to give it a serious thought and start working on the patient registry as a first step towards the successful execution.
Technical help is available if desired. If a private institution like Shaukat Khanum Memorial Hospital can establish a cancer registry, why can’t the government follow in its footsteps with immense muscle at its back? A registry would also help in identifying the right group of patients which could then be processed for clinical assessment and subsequently disbursement of free or subsidised drug to the needy patient.
DR AWAIS E SIRAJ
Department of Management Sciences, Bahria University
Islamabad
INCREASING literacy has somehow empowered women and they are making inroads into every sphere of life, earlier considered the exclusive domain of men.
Equality has not been achieved yet, but women have proved themselves as successful pilots, doctors, lawyers, journalists, entrepreneurs and technocrats. All this is not without a price.
In retrospect, women faced crimes transferred from old times and they demanded emancipation. The main causes of passed-on crimes were that women were considered superfluous and feeble.
They were stigmatised as ill-fated In recent times women are facing sorts of newly-created crimes linked with their independence because men are not ready to accept women as equal.
They think women equality has resulted in greater ignominy for them.
This is because of taboo behaviour of women being obsequious unskilled labour or housewives.
Patriarchal society is so often being condemned these days regarding the rights of women. The question here rises that is it only the archaic system which humiliates woman and does not recognise her basic rights?
The man-dominated society might have been a reason behind her not getting the respect that she actually deserves but it is in fact women’s disempowerment which promotes heinous crimes to be carried out against them without the fear of being punished.
Since childhood every girl is taught to respect or rather we can say fear the male members of the family.
Often she has to see her mother being browbeaten, humiliated and tortured by her father. Men whatever evil they do don’t leave a scar on the family’s face but if a woman seeks a judicial help, she is looked down upon and is accused of giving a bad name to the family.
Girls from the lower strata of society are denied their basic rights. So are well-educated girls from upper strata who are not even allowed to make a choice of a life partner or to pursue a career on their own.
A woman is rarely able to fight out her case in a court of law. The question that often haunts her is where she will eventually end up after winning the case.
Indeed it is a difficult question to answer. Daarul Amaan cannot be termed a haven for any woman coming from a sound family. The answer to this question lies in empowering women.
Women should not only be educated but should also be made financially independent.
Men greatly fear that if a woman will start working, she won’t allow herself to be humiliated or tortured by them.
NGOs that are working for women’s welfare should also launch some programmes to enlighten men about women’s right.
Law-enforcement agencies should also respect those women who seek their help in solving their problems.
SHEHNILA ZARDARI
Karachi
WHILE urging restoration of judges, Ghazala Minallah in her open letter to Asif Ali Zardari (May 1) asks him to ‘rise above personal grudges’ in relation to judges. She also says: “It is unthinkable that after getting this far, there can be talk about actually penalising the judges”.
It is both wrong and unfair to presume that the PPP harbours any grudge against the judges or is thinking of penalising them in any way.
Although the PPP has suffered grievously at the hands of a servile judiciary in the past, it has entertained neither personal grudges against judges nor penalised them. It has neither sacked judges nor attacked the courts.
The PPP is committed to the restoration of the judges and the independence of the judiciary in accordance with the Murree Declaration and the Charter of Democracy.
I wish to assure her that the PPP “will put the wishes of the people and the salvation of Pakistan first” as wished in her open letter.
SENATOR (r) FARHATULLAH BABAR
Islamabad
I WOULD like to bring to the notice of the Sindh High Court chief justice that the people of Hala have no option but to face hardship in the absence of courts of senior civil judge and additional session judge.
The chief justice should establish the courts of senior civil judge and additional session judge in Hala so that people get speedy justice. I hope that the appointment of the judges will be made at the earliest.
FAZAL QADIR MEMON
Hyderabad
THE whole nation enjoyed a relaxing holiday on May 1 except the labourers on daily wages.
DR HASSAN MEHMOOD KHAN
Karachi
APROPOS of Jameel Yusuf’s letter, ‘Hijacked cars’ (April 30), I would like to clarify certain points.
Terrorism has taken the entire world into its web and incidents of bomb blasts and suicide attacks in explosives-laden cars/vehicles are quite common everywhere in the world, especially in Iraq, Afghanistan and also in Pakistan.
Therefore, possibility of using a snatched/stolen car by the terrorists for suicide attack or blasting an explosives-laden car at their intended target cannot be ruled out.
In Pakistan many incidents have occurred in which terrorists have used stolen/snatched cars after putting explosives/bombs in them either as remote-controlled bombs or in suicide attacks.
Car thieves do not require reading letters in Dawn for getting the idea to plant bombs in cars. Thanks to Internet Cafes and violent movies from the West, which are enough for them to copycat such acts of violence and terrorism.
In this context the government generally advises people by displaying warnings and notices at public places to inform the police immediately if they find any unattended parcel, bag, motorcycle or an abandoned car/vehicle anywhere, as it might be planted with a bomb.
Hence, a car abandoned by fleeing criminals cannot be taken for granted that it does not have a bomb planted in it and is safe to touch.
A stolen car might have been tracked when it is in possession of terrorists going to blast their target or on a suicide mission.
SQN LDR (r) S. AUSAF HUSAIN
Karachi
THIS is to all HR managers of national and multinational companies. They always claim in their ads, “We are equal opportunity owners”, but the opportunities are given to few who have degrees from the well-known universities. Candidates from interior districts are always neglected. Pakistan’s 75 per cent population is middle class and lower class.
A majority of students get education from local universities and colleges, and they are very hard-working, talented and faithful and they will certainly prove to be good employees if given a chance. They are, however, rejected, probably because they have domiciles of interior districts, as I am in my own district.
I have applied twice in an oil and gas company but the company is not ready to employ me even as a trainee technical. As a graduate, I still have been looking for a job in my town. It is my earnest request to government authorities, as well as to private companies, that we should be given equal opportunities in every department.
FAHEEM AHMED GHALOO
Dadu
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