| May 08, 2008 | Thursday | Jamadi-ul-Awwal 2, 1429 |
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Race and US polls
Solution to energy shortage
The barren eight years
Serialised, systematic cheating
Giving up VIP culture
Myanmar devastation
Seeking wisdom
Time for a decision
CAA licensing department
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
APRIL 20 saw a landmark visit of the Iranian president to Pakistan, Sri Lanka and India. In Pakistan he exchanged his views with his counterpart on issues like challenges faced by Ummah, trilateral cooperation to bring peace and stability to the region. Both sides showed political maturity to shape up what was left to be discussed. However, various modalities were worked out. Pakistan and Iran made headway towards achieving objectives that had hitherto marred the prospects of the IPI gas pipeline.
Iran had proposed it in the 1990s but due to multiple factors: transit fee, tariff and security: it failed to pick up. The IPI gas pipeline is a proposed 2,775km project. It will deliver natural gas from Iran to Pakistan and India. It is expected that it is to take three to five years to complete.
This deal is to cost $7.5 bn. Obviously, Pakistan and India stand to benefit. The pipeline is proposed to start from Asalouyeh stretching over 1,100km through Iran. In Pakistan it will pass through Balochistan and Sindh. The 2,600km pipeline from Iran’s giant south Paras gasfield will initially carry around 60 million standard cubic metres per day of gas.
The Pakistan-Iran gas pipeline deal will open new vistas. Early implementation will pave the way to strengthen and expand the socio-economic and trade relations. Pakistan wants to improve its relations with the neighbouring countries, particularly with Iran, in politico-economic fields, especially energy, said the president of Pakistan.
The Iranian ambassador to Pakistan said that involvement of multiple players would contribute to this project’s viability. And Iran supports regional integration. Pakistan has lately offered China to allow a transit gas pipeline through its territory, along the historic KKH.
Commenting on the inclusion of China in the project, the Iranian president said: “We basically support, but we can’t comment about it at this stage. We have to work out and see how it can become viable”.
There are many questions that were left unaddressed. For example: will inclusion of China be threat to US interests in the region? What are the geo-economic interests of China in the region? Will there be clash of interests on the part of two economic giants? Will the IPI gas pipeline project be implemented and run successfully given the religious militancy, and security concerns?
What could be the American response if the project goes well accordingly? American interests in the region can be characterised as follows: promotion of stability and balance of power, prevent being excluded from the region by another power or group of powers, freedom of navigation and protection of sea lanes; trade and investment interests.
It will try its utmost to promote its national interests in the region. According to reports, if China is included in the IPI project, it may have negative implications on American interests in the region.
However, success or failure of the project depends on when peace and stability is restored to Balochistan. Up to now, peace and security have remained the major focus of the respective countries.
On the other hand, China’s inclusion has been welcomed by tri-nations. Main objectives of China in South Asia are: (a) to maintain stable political and security environment, particularly on China’s periphery, that will allow China’s economic growth to continue, (b) gain access to regional energy resources and raw material, (c) to gain influence in region to defeat perceived attempts at strategic encirclement or containment to develop trade relationship for the politico-economic purposes.
China’s entry in the IPI project will change the destiny of South Asian nations. China’s current trade with South Asia exceeds $20bn a year. It is engaged in several aid, investment and infrastructure projects in the region. How America looks towards these developments and what could be its response towards China, only time will tell.
Economic integration of South Asian states will have an imperative impact on the region. However, there are certain security risks that may hamper the path of progress and development of the project. Peace is an essential element to the successful implementation of the IPIC gas pipeline project.
PERVAIZ ALI MAHESAR
Jamshoro
IT is sad to note that after the Pennsylvania primaries for the Democratic presidential nominee, the question of race appears to have raised its head again. According to a report, Hillary Clinton got 63 per cent of the large, white vote while Barack Obama secured 90 per cent of the African American votes (April 26).
Both the candidates or their camps have tried to downplay the race factor, but the reality remains that, at least until recent years, the colour of one’s skin has mattered a lot in America.
As a lover of humanity, which also includes the Americans, I would like to contribute my bit in helping resolve this vexatious question. The Darwinists believe we all descended from apes, while the Creationists hold Adam to be our common ancestor. Thus, neither group claims to have had a progenitor of this or that tone.
Emerson, whom I greatly admire, like Martin Luther King, Jr., had said, “If you put a chain around the neck of a slave, the other end fastens itself around your own.” In the same vein, I would say: “If you tie the worth of a man to the colour of his skin, you are only debasing the worth of your intellect and need cognitive ‘glasses’ to correct its myopia.”
My own skin is brown but my ancestors from the Middle East were said to have a fair complexion. The hue of my descendents could have been lighter or darker than mine depending on who I married, which could easily have been some lady from Africa, America or the Far East. Senator Obama is being termed ‘black’, despite having a mother who is white. Why not call him white or even brown? An Afro-American friend of mine who, dermatologically speaking, was brown, had once lamented that although he was no darker than me, he was still considered to be ‘black’.
Thus, our American friends need to shed their preoccupation with colour and race, if not for any other reason than only because it hurts the feelings of their coloured compatriots that I, as a neutral observer, had often noted. The degree to which we respect other people’s feelings shows the true ‘colour’ of our heart and our level of enlightenment, which is what really matters.
KHALID CHAUDHRY
Karachi
SEWAGE is a dirty word. While some towns dump it in landfills or process it and give it away for fertiliser, sewage treatment plants in the world are attempting a more eco-friendly solution: turning the effluent into energy.
Processing the waste of some 3.4 Londoners, Britain’s Beckton Sewage Treatment Works produces 110,000 kilowatts every year; enough energy to power 7,000 homes annually. Over 15 million gallons of sewage is filtered at Beckton hourly. The plant uses bacteria to clean the water before it releases it into the Thames, leaving behind thousands of pounds of solid waste, or sludge. Beckton incinerates the goop and converts the resulting steam into electricity, which it then sends to Britain’s power grid.
It was because of the sheer negligence of our rulers in the past 15 years that today we are plunging deeper and deeper into the pit of darkness due to an acute dearth of energy. Almost 40 per cent of the international investment has withdrawn its hands from Pakistan owing to the electricity shortage. From a cobbler on a sidewalk to an industrialist, all have equally been affected by electric outages. Every day, a new solution to cope with this problem can easily be spotted in the newspapers.
The question is when our patriotic leaders will take heed and really do something to save Pakistan.
ZILL-E-REHMAN KHAN NIAZI
Islamabad
THE worst thing that could happen to Pakistan during the eight - year autocratic rule was the import of a Pakistani - born American from Wall Street to be the prime minister of this country. This could have happened only in the country where chaudhrys and their ilk could keep the ‘sword arm’ in thrall.
As for the establishment, it was the limit of subservience to American dictation. It is only now, when democratic rule has been restored to the country, that all kinds of accusations are being freely aired in the absence of Shaukat Aziz who was wise enough to flee the country soon after Feb 18 when tables were turned completely upside down.
I call this period “the barren eight years of Pakistan” as one cannot recall anything of consequence and lasting value, apart from something in the sphere of so - called ‘defence’ when one can hardly notice any possibility of ‘offence’ from across our borders.
Perhaps, Mr Musharraf may be remembered by the residents of Karachi alone for his gifts in the form of Lyari Expressway and Northern Bypass when the projects are completed in the near future.
JAFAR WAFA
Karachi
THE Secondary School Certificate (Part I) examinations have recently ended, leaving a bad impact on many students like me. I strongly believe that cheating is a crime and so I have attempted the examination honestly. However, in the eyes of my invigilators, I was the most foolish person because they could not find any sort of cheating material in my possession. Although, they were encouraging cheating by saying: “Everybody does, then why not you people”…and to my pleasure, it was a government school.
Examinations ended but we did not hear that there was any external invigilator. Every student had the solved five years’ papers and mobile phones in their custody. When they were caught, they were strictly told to hide the cheating material as soon as anybody else arrives, to protect the image of the school.
Soon I lost control and very strictly told an invigilator to stop students from cheating. To my surprise, till the last minute, she tried her best to note down my roll number. She very calmly came nearer and said that I should not even breeze about what went on in the examination hall.
Another thing that also added to my surprise was the payment of Rs500 to the school administration for the solution of the Pakistan Studies’ paper. Those who paid the desired amount were seated in another room.
The future of a country is on the shoulders of its young ones. The idea of guidance for them is nothing but dishonesty. People who encourage these activities have no right to call themselves teachers as they are a curse to the nation. Moreover, the education department should try to improve the standard of government schools rather than give the infrastructure to the private bodies.
Is this what we call education where there is nothing else except cheating and cheats in the garb of teachers?
MARZIA RAZA
Karachi
IN his very first speech in the parliament, the prime minister announced his resolve to eradicate VIP culture to every possible extent. The move was welcomed and appreciated, especially in the backdrop of recent hike of food prices, and whereby the government needs to cut down expenditure, and offer subsidy on food items.
We understand that the process is slow and might take some ‘trickledown’ time, but hope for the sincerity of the present government was broken when news items reported rather an increase in VIP culture.
Using the taxpayers money, now Mr Zardari shall be provided with a security cover equivalent to those of the prime minister and the president. It is highly disappointing and frustrating to know of this unnecessary spending. It seems the ‘change’ has not been really brought in, and we are witnessing the repetition of the previous government’s policies where Chaudhry Shujaat and many other non-entitled individuals spent hugely in the name of security.
One, however, is inclined to praise the Punjab government for going beyond the mere slogans, and coming up with some solid steps on cutting down unnecessary spending of the VIP culture.
Mr Zardari should follow the example of Nawaz Sharif who had recently declined the government offer of an increased security for him.
AMIR KHURRUM RASHID
Singapore
THE recent cyclone in Myanmar brings back memories of the devastation caused by the 1970 cyclone in Bangladesh (formerly East Pakistan), and the terrible human miseries that followed. Now is the time for the new Pakistani government to lay aside any historical misgivings between the two countries, and try to extend as much support to the people of Myanmar as possible.
The destruction of rice-growing areas around the Irrawaddy is going to cause severe food shortages, exacerbated by the already tumultuous global rice market. Instead of only supplying monetary funds, it may be more feasible for our government to offer aid in terms of food, clothing, raw materials, etc as well as providing skilled personnel who can provide grassroots assistance.
Although the ramifications of the 2005 earthquake are still fresh in our collective memory, it is disasters like these that constantly remind us that humanity transcends all political, religious and cultural identities.
HUSSAIN KAKAL
Canada
AYN Rand (1905–1982), born Alisa Zinov’yevna Rosenbaum, was a Russian-born American novelist, philosopher, playwright, and screenwriter. She is widely known for her best-selling novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, and for developing a philosophical system she called objectivism.
She was an uncompromising advocate of rational individualism and laissez-faire capitalism, and vociferously opposed socialism, altruism, and other contemporary philosophical trends, as well as religion. Her influential and often controversial ideas have attracted both enthusiastic admiration and scathing denunciation.
Once she said: “In any compromise between food and poison, it is only death that can win. In any compromise between good and evil, it is only evil that can profit.”
Being a common citizen who has nothing in his power except vote in a while and without taking any side with the group who had done wrong to the justice system of Pakistan, or the group who is trying to reinstate the judges with their sincere efforts, which look 180 degrees apart, I cross my fingers and pray to Almighty God to provide our ‘leaders’ with wisdom to arrive at a right decision so that evil forces should not profit.
MIR TABASSUM MAIRAJ
Islamabad
PRESIDENT Musharraf’s supporters say that the ousted judges cannot be restored without a constitutional amendment. This amounts to a claim that a dictator can whimsically oust the country’s top judges but an elected prime minister cannot issue an executive order to restore them.
Also, I don’t see the problem over what to do with the so-called PCO judges. The prime ministerial order would bring the judiciary back to the state in which it existed on Nov 2. This would automatically mean that the so-called PCO judges would go back to their positions as they existed on Nov 2, too.
When Y. R. Gilani, within minutes of being elected as leader of the house in the National Assembly, ordered the release of sacked judges from detention, I wondered about his executive authority, because at that time, he could only be called PM-elect. Nonetheless, his action filled my heart with joy.
If the prime minister could release the detained judges even before taking the oath of his office, what is stopping him from restoring them, now that he is fully installed as the country’s chief executive?
I hope the date of May 12 for restoring that judiciary to its lawful status is not yet another ruse by the parties constituting the current coalition government to buy time for Mr Musharraf to devise yet another conspiracy against the rule of law. The government must not allow suspicion to take root, let alone even emerge in people’s minds that it is in cahoots with the president.
SIDDIQUE MALIK
USA
THIS is the abyss where for preparing examination papers no rules and regulations of ICAO or international licensing apply except personal egoistic whims and corrupt and ruthless practices.
We parents spend a lot of money on CPL and soaring related fees and expenses for future of our children, but our young promising children are discouraged by these ruthless and crooked officials who make examination papers, which neither follow ICAO rules nor are according to the international standards.
A vague syllabus has been posted on the CAA Licensing site and it is hard to prepare a single paper as no specific syllabus has been given. The facts given above seem to be too harsh but they are true, some more facts about these examinations are as follows:
1. System of multiple choice questions is followed worldwide as per ICAO standards where three multiple choices are given, in CAA examinations the student is confused as there are five to six choices.
2. The examiner declares at the start that if anybody wants to change an answer, he can do so by circling the first answer and then can tick or x another, this opens the way for the examiner to do whatever he wishes.
3. The system of rechecking the paper is a joke where you pay a lot of fee and the same examiner informs you that your paper has been rechecked and you have failed again, the paper is not shown to the individual at all.
4. No numbers are allotted and shown in front of the questions, it is left to the examiner’s discretion to manipulate it.
5. No multiple choices are given for mathematical questions, therefore leaving the examiner room for nefarious tricks.
6. Question papers are so lengthy that they cannot be attempted in time, which shows that the examiner has not set the paper in accordance with time, which also shows the professionalism at its ebb.
7. Students are humiliated on one or the other pretext, so that they are discouraged.
8. The appropriate sitting arrangements are not provided for students, some of them sit on a single chair or on sofa while attempting papers.
We spend a great amount of money for the future employments of our children but examiners deprive them as future competitors and, therefore, try to block them by this hegemonic tactic.
Highups of the CAA are requested not to take a defensive position and issue a diversionary statement but are urged to check the facts mentioned in this letter, otherwise some international body might take notice and the already bruised image of Pakistan might suffer more in this field also. Not to mention that students who can afford are already going abroad on being discouraged.
HASAN ALI KHAN
Lahore
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