| May 12, 2008 | Monday | Jamadi-ul-Awwal 6, 1429 |
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Independence of judiciary?
Appreciating the officer
Problems of govt employees
The judge and the prosecutor
Need to be even-handed
Passenger’s grievance
Straightening our priorities
People are waiting
CAA licensing
Customer service
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 Ayesha Siddiqa’s article, ‘Controlling nuclear weapons’ (May 2). The article, as opposed to discussing the issue of command and control arrangements of nuclear assets in Pakistan, harped on various hostile themes.
The writer has tried to promote a perception as if there is an ongoing tussle for control of the nuclear button between the country’s civilian and military leadership. Pakistan’s nuclear capability forms an important and potent factor in the overall calculus of national deterrence rather than being an implement for pursuit of a myopic agenda by the army.
The nation has paid dearly and steadfastly to acquire this capability which has already shown its relevance in the context of averting imminent aggression in the aftermath of the attack on the Indian Parliament in December 2001. Given India’s nuclear capability, coupled with its latent aggression designs for Pakistan, it is a guarantor that our neighbour will not walk roughshod over our national interests.
Ms Siddiqa should know that in the realm of conduct of foreign affairs, it is not the good wishes or profession of noble intent of the interlocutor that matters, but the capabilities that are taken into account. Nuclear assets are a means of averting aggression in the face of an overwhelming conventional deterrence and not a means of institutional aggrandisement by the army.
Pakistan has put into place a well-delineated articulation mechanism, with the formulation of the Command and Control Organisation in February 2000. Incidentally, it was much earlier than India could put such a mechanism in place. Its apex body, the National Command Authority headed by the president of Pakistan, with the prime minister as its vice chairman, is the decision-making body, centrally looking after all aspects related to Pakistan’s nuclear capability.
The decision for employing nuclear weapons, if and when it is taken, will be deliberated by the NCA and the issue decided by the president, much in the manner of deliberations anywhere in the world, instead of being left to the generals’ itchy fingers, as Ms Siddiqa contends. Rest assured that the nation that was able to develop the nuclear capability is capable of dealing with the matter of its control with attendant care and cold rationalism.
Ms Siddiqa is obviously out of her depth while speaking about the threat posed to the nuclear assets in a scenario of large-scale civil disturbances and the presence of the Taliban in the Fata region. The nuclear assets, considering all safety aspects, would obviously be stored at secure places within the cantonments in settled areas.
Pakistan’s armed forces are a national asset and command the nation’s respect. Doomsday scenarios painting ransacking of the army’s arsenals by angry mobs only exist in the wishful imaginations of Pakistan’s detractors. Talk of terrorists taking possession of nuclear weapons for subsequent detonation belongs to the realm of the absurd.
Pakistan’s nuclear programme is under assault by vested interests from various quarters and Ms Siddiqa should have the intellectual integrity to decide which side she stands for.
ABDULLAH SIDDIQUE
Rawalpindi
OUR beloved principal, the late Mr Catchpole, of PAF Public College, Sargodha, wrote thus in my End of College report in the early 1960s: “Although you have crowned your career by being selected for flying training at PAF Risalpur, I would have still liked you to go to Lincoln Inn “.
In the past, his remarks often surfaced in my thoughts. Indeed ! I have been enamoured by the judges and the judiciary. But no more. Why ?
Justice Munir coined the infamous ‘law of necessity’, thus killing the buildup of democracy. It also opened the door and validated unconstitutional takeovers by the army. In fact , the senior judges have been abetting both military and civilian ruling elites in their wrongdoings in the past 50 years.
Today the lawyers, the judges and all the related institutions are highly politicised. The demand by lawyers for ‘ independence of judiciary’ seems more like a catchy slogan.
The existing judicial system is rampant with corrupt practices dating back to mediaeval era. As if the backlog of pending cases in courts was not enough, the last one year was the darkest period of our judicial history. Lawyers and judges took to streets, and courts remained closed, much to the anguish and sufferings of those seeking justice.
When the chief justice and the lawyers adopt an agitational path to redress their grievances instead of institutional process, they are setting a horrible example for the rest of the countrymen.
Being a signatory to the PCO and having failed to bring about any efficiency of courts and speedy justice to the people, the ‘restoration of judges’ does not find much favour. In fact, they have much to atone for their long history of betrayal to the 160 million people.
Political leaderships at all level must devote their efforts and resources to address the problems of the poor people. Judicial activism must not dictate hasty resolutions. Let there be a constitutional method to balance judicial reforms.
Even my three-year-old grandson knows that two plus two equals four which, in present parlance means, ‘it is the job, stupid’. I am not inclined to send my grandson to Lincoln Inn.
WING CDR ( r ) MUSHTAQ AHMED
Doha, Qatar
MY mother has struggled much in life but has never been properly appreciated. She has given more than 25 years to the Sindh police but did not receive her due recognition.
As a young idealistic girl, she joined the police force to bring about that change and she has been among the few honest police officers that have given back to their nation. She has also left a positive mark abroad by working in Bosnia and East Timor on UN missions.
However, the Sindh police force has failed to reward her efforts at providing better and corruption-free service. She helped raise the traffic policing standards by facilitating the new ticketing system, being in charge of the Camera Unit, and running the Licensing Office, Nazimabad, on international standards.
She and her other colleagues have not been granted their constitutional rights and are victim of gender discrimination. On the basis of both merit and seniority she deserves to be promoted, yet she is denied that.
She was promoted to the rank of DSP in 1998 but that was only after a long battle in the court of law. Currently she and others are fighting against the government to be promoted to the SP rank.
I wish to draw the attention of the relevant authorities to the case of the Sindh women police officers and that of DSP Shaheen Barlas in particular. My mother has served exceptionally well, a claim that is backed by her excellent performance appraisals. I am proud of all that she has accomplished being a mother and a police officer and just plead to the relevant authorities to appreciate my mother’s perseverance.
SANA HUSSAIN
Karachi
THIS refers to the letter from a citizen in Karachi entitled as above (April 29). I am a gazetted officer of Grade 19 and am passing through extremely difficult circumstances due to the rising cost of living and skyrocketing inflation. I totally subscribe to the views of this citizen. It has become extremely difficult to make both ends meet for an officer like myself. What would be the condition of employees in lower grades?
I urge the prime minister and the finance minister to focus on the plight of the people, in general, and government employees, in particular, before more suicides occur. My recommendations are:
a. All ad hoc additional allowances be merged with basic pay.
b. Fifty per cent increase be given on merged basic pay scales.
c. Hiring ceiling of government employees be increased by 100 per cent.
d. House rent be given on maximum pay scale and on not basic.
MANZOOR A. QAZI
Rawalpindi
I WAS shocked when news was broken by a friend of mine from Pakistan that a police officer a few days before his retirement from service has been appointed to head the office of the Sindh ombudsman.
The office of the ombudsman was enshrined in the most revered and the most abused Constitution of 1973. However, practically through the Presidential Order 1983 it was introduced and the offices were established at federal and at provincial levels.
The main purpose of the ombudsman is to diagnose, investigate, redress and rectify any injustice done to a person through maladministration on the part of federal or provincial government officials. The primary objective of the office is to institutionalise a system for enforcing administrative accountability.
The organisation of ombudsman was quasi-judicial, therefore it was deemed proper to appoint retired judges of the Supreme and High Courts. However, subsequently some reputed retired senior civil servants were also posted to head the exalted office.
However, employing a man in uniform, though subsequently superannuated after putting 35/40 years of service in the police department as prosecutor, is extremely distressing. But unfortunately strange things do happen in this land of pure.
I hope the present provincial setup mandated by the people for five years should re-evaluate the thing. In case the position of the ombudsman is not restored to its pristine place, the people will obviously lose faith in the organisation, which hitherto has established its credential as an effective deterrence against departmental highhandedness.
BADAR JATOI
Port Coquitlam, BC
SINDH government spokesperson Shazia Marry, in a statement, has said the provincial government has decided to withdraw all cases against the accused involved in incidents after Dec 27, 2007. Amazingly there was no reason described for such absolute withdrawal. She, however, also declared that a detailed probe would be made into the May 12, Oct 17 and April 9 incidents. She categorically stated that the culprits of these incidents will be punished regardless of their party affiliations.
It is incomprehensible why should those who were involved in incidents taking place after December 27, 2007 should be absolved of the crime they have done. The right thing for the government to do is to be even-handed and punish all culprits.
FAYYAZ WARRAICH
Lahore
I TRAVELLED with my family on Airblue flight ED204 from Karachi to Islamabad on April 3, and then on ED205 from Islamabad to Karachi the following day. ED204 was scheduled to take off at 1600 hours, and just about three hours before the flight, I received an SMS saying that the flight was now to take off at 1700 hours. However, my family and I reached the airport by 1530, and after checking in we were told that the flight would now take off at 1730 hours due to the late arrival of aircraft from Faisalabad.
The flight finally took off at 1800 hours after a delay of two hours, as compared to its original scheduled time. The drama was yet to begin.
The same case happened on ED205, where the passengers were messaged that the flight would take off at 1930 hours, when it was originally scheduled to take off at 1830 hours. The passengers were then told at the time of check-in that there was a further delay of an hour and the flight was confirmed to take off at 2030 hours whereas the flight inquiry still had 1930 hours saved on its computer. Now the only way that the passengers waiting in the departure lounge would get to know the actually time was by sighting ED204 land.
Now after the boarding, a passenger who had a business class ticket, realised that the seat he was sitting on was wet. Upon his complaint, the station manager entered the aircraft and spoke to the passenger. However, the matter could not be resolved and the manager asked the passenger to offload. All of this happened in front of some 125 passengers on board. The flight that was scheduled to take off at 1830 finally took off at 1955.
Are passengers expected to sit on wet seats? The authorities concerned should look into the matter.
MOHAMMAD AHSAN KIDWAI
Karachi
WHY do we not have a rational and sagacious approach to problems rather than harping on egoistic and emotional issues which possibly make bolder and more prominent headlines but do not provide any succour to the common man?
The coalition partners, instead of blaming the previous setup, justified to some extent, should ensure that it does not add to the woes and difficulties it claims to have inherited.
The government must divert its energies to address the most pressing problem gripping the nation and discuss the strategy as to how to provide the desperately needed relief to the people.
The government ought to appreciate that increase in KESC tariff and further increase in POL rates would have a deep effect on prices.
Let’s have our priorities straightened.
KHAN A. SHAMSHAD
Karachi
APROPOS of Ghazala Minallah’s article, ‘Open letter to Mr Asif Ali Zardari’ (May 1), I would like to start off by applauding the writer for presenting a very relevant yet touching piece of writing. The writer has adequately summed up the present situation and has correctly put forward the wishes of the majority of the population.
We, as a nation, are not ready to undergo military rule any longer for the past has already been more than enough to bear. I would advise the president to take a minute and look back at the nine years he has been in power before labelling Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the truly great civilian leader in Pakistan’s history, as the worst thing that happened to Pakistan.
Another point that I would like to elaborate is that Malik Qayyum is still serving as attorney-general. Ms Minallah has rightly pointed out how Mr Qayyum’s father had a great role in the judicial murder of Mr Bhutto, whose party is in power today.
Moreover, I’m sure it cannot be forgotten that how major a role Mr Qayyum has played in causing the judicial havoc in Pakistan. I would take a moment of my own to request the leadership of the Pakistan People’s Party to appoint a new attorney-general who is a man of noble abilities.
Benazir Bhutto was a ray of hope for millions of Pakistanis and her presence will be truly missed. However, the point of the matter is that the people of Pakisatan have given their verdict and, be it the youth or elderly, eagerly wait for positive changes. Hundred and sixty million eyes look towards Mr Zardari with hope and one can only but pray that this hope sees what it waits for.
RABAIL NAZEER
Karachi
APROPOS of Hasan Ali Khan’s letter, ‘CAA licensing department’ (May 8), I would like to highlight some facts to clarify the ground realities.
The Civil Aviation Authority licensing department is in the process of revamping the examination process in consonance with international standards. The scope of test and syllabus will be clearly defined as per the International Civil Aviation Organisation standards leaving little jurisdiction of the examiner. Once done, this will eliminate all such complaints of the candidates and make the system more transparent.
PERVEZ GEORGE
Public Relations Manager
CAA, Pakistan
IN an era when customer service and follow-up is considered to be as important as the core offering of any organisation, one doesn’t expect negligence on the part of a multinational bank as big as Standard Chartered. Since I haven’t received any formal communication/reply from the bank despite appealing to them in writing five times, I am forced to put my issue on record in these columns.
A sum of Rs365,000 was drawn from my ready cash account on 13.11.2007 through four separate cheques containing my forged signatures. All these cheques were presented by unknown persons at four different branches of the SCB.
Ms Sadia, a tele-banker from the SCB, contacted me and offered me a change of product of my subject account (merge SCB’s and Union Bank’s account to provide me a better cash limit along with additional services). On her instructions I handed over my cheque book along with certain documents required to open a new account to a rider representative of the SCB, Farhan Saeed, on 12.11.2007. Thereafter, four cheques of a cumulative amount of Rs365,000 were issued from the same cheque book with my forged signatures and were cashed on 13.11.2007, i.e. on the very next day.
What is worth noting is the fact that all the four cheques contained my forged signatures on the back of the cheque leaf, implying I myself have presented the cheques ( it can be verified through the video clips recorded by the security cameras in all the four branches as to who presented those cheques).
What is even more surprising is that while submitting the fourth cheque at the Dadex Branch, Shahrea Faisal , a copy of my NIC was presented where the cashier/teller stamped the cheque to confirm that the original NIC has been seen. Such major neglects force me to think that either the bank employees were involved in this fraud or that they weren’t taking their daily chores seriously.
While inquiring about my account balance from the customer service centre on the same day, I realised that this fraud had been committed with me, whereafter I immediately lodged a complaint with the SCB on telephone and in writing. On receiving no immediate response from the SCB, I personally submitted two more follow-up complaint letters in writing to the fraud department for which I was not given any official receiving.
I didn’t receive any grievance letter from the bank in all this period. Also I was assured verbally by members of the fraud department that my case will be resolved within a period of 60 days which hasn’t been done till now. It’s been four months and I have no clue on the progress of my case.
Since previously I had always enjoyed good business relations with the SCB, I have paid three monthly installments of this amount (principal + interest ) out of sheer goodwill. However, its time that I be treated justly. I request the SCB to solve my case as soon as possible by crediting into my account the entire amount which has been fraudulently drawn under my forged signatures.
MUHAMMAD AHMED
Karachi
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