| June 13, 2008 | Friday | Jamadi-us-Sani 08, 1429 |
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Teaching Sindhi in private schools
Attack on Afghanistan
Wrong commando tactics
Rabies vaccine
Resolving PIA’s problems
Injustice with lady doctors
Slave’s dream
Street children
Cashing on
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 earth was inhabitable before the plant life developed. When plants came on the earth they absorbed nutrients from soil dissolved in water, took sunshine and changed the earth into green mantle laden with food by the process known as photosynthesis.
By the same process, plants took the heavy, lifeless, life-quenching carbon dioxide (CO2) and in its place gave life-sustaining vibrant oxygen (O2). The energy stored in food grains come from plants which is the basis of our existence. Atomic energy cannot provide the energy for living processes and humankind and livestock will be dependant on plants so far as the human imagination can be projected.
Pakistan is an agricultural country where food production has fallen to the extent that we are compelled to import edible oil, wheat and packed food worth more than three billion dollars at present.
The deficiency in food production will increase if it is not tackled now. The low yield is due to the lack of land reform, bio remediation of degraded arable land and control of plant diseases caused by parasites and pests.
New varieties of plants are being evolved to tolerate biotic and biotic stresses so as to increase food production. The evolutionary process continues with the evolution of new crop varieties to resist the attack of hardened and rigid pests.
The mechanism through which susceptibility and resistance operates in plants to pests and the response of pests being sensitive or resistant to pesticides is a continuous natural process on the evolutionary scale.
A strategy of systematic effort is required to be launched in integrating the physical, chemical and biological options using biotechnological approaches for the reclamation of degraded farmlands from salinity and waterlogging etc. and containment of diseases of plant of economic importance.
For that, agronomic factors such as sowing of quality seeds, addition of fertilisers in balanced amount, maintaining adequate moisture in farm fields, supplying water at critical stages of growth, eradication of weeds, taking up plant disease forecasting and plant protecting measures and avoiding post-harvest losses are utmost necessary.
For the achievement of the objectives, knowledge in agricultural science is the key which is severely lacking at farmers’ field level in the agriculture of Pakistan. Implementation and improvement of the aforesaid factors will result in increasing food production and in economic gains in agriculuture-based industries.
DR. M. JALALUDDIN
Department of Agriculture University of Karachi
ACCORDING to the Sindh Province Act, the subject of Sindhi language is to be taught as a compulsory subject in the line of the textbook prescribed for each class (from I to VIII), published by the Sindh Textbook Board.
Each book consists of about 30 to 35 lessons, with necessary exercises to be accomplished by the teacher after completion of the reading of the lesson. All the lessons contained in all the prescribed books are about (a) the life-sketches of various personalities and their contribution to human beings, literature, culture, religion or ethics, etc., (b) Pakistan, (c) Islam, (d) tourism and (e) different aspects of social sciences, technical sciences, commerce, economics, etc.
According to the strength of each school, at least five teachers are required to be appointed as Sindhi language tea-
cher with necessary knowledge and qualification of the Sindhi language.
But, regrettably, the Sindhi language subject is being allowed to be taught just as a formality and not as a compulsory subject, with an objective to learn the language in an appropriate academic and literate sense.
Only one teacher or two are appointed to teach this subject to a huge number of students in each school.
The syllabus or course of each class is prescribed by each school, not in accordance with the book prescribed by the Sindh Textbook Board, but teachers are directed in writing to teach only four lessons out of 30 to 35 lessons contained in the textbooks .
Only two periods a week of 45 minutes each are fixed for teaching the Sindhi language. In this way teachers are unable to teach the boys the basic knowledge of the Sindhi language.
From the policy and practice of the private schools, it has been clear that the Sindhi language is being taught just as a formality and not as a compulsory subject.
It is time the authorities looked into this national fraud being committed with the Sindhi language and residents of Sindh. More so because for the teaching of other languages full time and full strength of teachers are made available.
The Sindh education minister should take up this matter and issue from time to time necessary guidelines/ instructions/ directives so that the Sindhi language subject may be taught in accordance with the Act of Sindh Province for the benefit of the people of Sindh and Pakistan.
Moreover, the Sindhi Language Authority and the audit and inspection cell of the Sindh education department may be assigned the job of vigilance and inspection for necessary correction and improvement in the education of the Sindhi language within the Sindh province.
DR ALI AKBAR DHAKAN
Karachi
IN his letter on June 4, Dr Owais Farooqi insists on Osama bin Laden’s guilt and the Taliban’s involvement in the 9/11 incident for the reason that the two failed to submit to an independent trial.
In fact, they did make the offer but President Bush and his Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld disdainfully declared that there were to be no negotiations.
For details, please see Allan Cullison and Andrew Higgins in The Globe and Mail, Aug 3, 2002.
Here are some extracts from an article, ‘Sept 11 — a tragedy or an opportunity?’ in the Guardian of Sept 8, 2003 by Michael Meacher, British member of parliament and environment minister in the cabinet of Tony Blair for six years, from May 1997 to June 2003, that may be of interest for the record:
“The BBC reported (Sept 18, 2001) that Niaz Naik, a former Pakistan foreign secretary, was told by senior American officials at a meeting in Berlin in mid-July 2001 that ‘military action against Afghanistan would go ahead by the middle of October’.
Until July 2001 the US government saw the Taliban regime as a source of stability in Central Asia that would enable the construction of hydrocarbon pipelines from the oil and gas fields in Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, through Afghanistan and Pakistan, to the Indian Ocean.
“But, confronted with the Taliban’s refusal to accept US conditions, the US representatives told them ‘either you accept our offer of a carpet of gold, or we bury you under a carpet of bombs’ (Inter-Press Service, Nov. 15, 2001).
“It is clear the US authorities did little or nothing to pre-empt the events of Sept 11. It is known that at least 11 countries provided advance warning to the US of the 9/11 attacks.
Two senior Mossad experts were sent to Washington in August 2001 to alert the CIA and FBI to a cell of 200 terrorists said to be preparing a big operation (Daily Telegraph, Sept. 16, 2001).
“Given this background, it is not surprising that some have seen the US failure to avert the 9/11 attacks as creating an invaluable pretext for attacking Afghanistan in a war that had clearly already been well planned in advance.”
This is the assessment of a British government minister.
K. HUSSAN ZIA
Canada
THIS is apropos of Kamran Shafi’s article, ‘Politicians must stand by their word’ (June 3), in which he has explained the term SQ (shamelessness quotient) and how it is related to our ‘commando’.
Let us remember that this commando has virtually landed from the sky on this hapless nation in the afternoon of Oct 12 , 1999, which he is taking for a ride ever since. The little I know of military affairs, commandos neither give a pitched battle nor fight a conventional war. Instead they resort to ‘hit and run tactics’ and always keep a safe passage open for withdrawal at the end of an operation.
However, ‘our commando’ has been doing just the opposite in the politics of the country, creating a mess all around. There is a famous saying in ‘Punjabi’ which when translated means that ‘neither shall I play nor let others play’.
In the context of our commando it means that even if the country, God forbid, breaks into pieces, he will continue to remain obstinate like a mule so that there is no one to hold him accountable in the future.
Before things reach an irretrievable point, I urge ‘our commando’ to pay heed to what the ex-servicemen, lawyers, civil society, politicians and others are counseling him to do, i.e. to step down in the larger national interest.
GULZAR WAZIR
Peshawar
THERE has been tremendous public pressure on the NIH to shape up their vaccine department, especially that of rabies vaccine. Of all vaccine-preventable diseases, rabies is most important because of its uniformly 100 per cent fatality.
The NIH’s refrain that sheep brain vaccine is not obsolete (May 31) does not hold water. It has been discontinued in every country of the world except Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh.
At every international rabies or vaccine conference I have attended, Pakistan is named as one of these three countries that continue to produce this archaic, painful and ineffective vaccine. This fact also appears in scientific infectious disease and vaccine journals and textbook chapters.
The NIH has had a sordid history of vaccine production; hence no multinational pharmaceutical dares join hands in public-private partnership with NIH. Despite having received Rs140 to 200 million for production of cell culture anti-rabies vaccine in 2006, NIH is nowhere close to producing it.
In the last 15-odd years they have neither improved on their technology nor added qualified experts to their vaccine division. Instead of filling vials with vaccine from dubious sources, the ministry of health should do what other Asian countries have been doing: importing from Indian pharmaceuticals that sell WHO pre-qualified vaccine.
The same vaccine if used in low dose intradermal route would reduce the cost of a vaccine series from Rs5,000 down to Rs1,000, and be equally effective. The NIH could take a leaf out of the experience of other Asian countries that have brought their rabies down to almost nil.
DR NASEEM SALAHUDDIN
President, Rabies in Asia (Pakistan Chapter),
Karachi
THIS is apropos of your editorial, ‘The problem with PIA’ (May 26). Taking control of the Airline at a time when the accumulated losses are soaring Rs45 billion and a current deficit budget of Rs15 billion reminds me of an exercise a pilot has to do in which you are asked to shut your eyes and the aircraft is intentionally put into an altitude from which recovery is near impossible. Then you are handed over the controls and asked to recover. It is the vision and acumen of our present government which has selected me for this recovery. Insha Allah I will recover the airline just like I recovered the aircraft every time that I did that exercise.
The decision of the government is not based on the fact that I am known to certain quarters but it is based on the fact that I have 32 years of airline experience out of which more than 10 have been in the top management slots. A pilot becoming a managing director is nothing new to the aviation world as many airlines have pilots as their head. British Airways being one and not too long ago our neighbouring country had a pilot as its premier.
My initial actions have been termed whimsical and rash but one must not forget that I am not new to the airline. Being a senior member of PIA I know the airline and its employees like the back of my hand. In PIA monetary losses was not the only problematic area but the more important issue was the fact that every employee was demoralised and unhappy. My first and foremost target was to get rid of the sense of insecurity, raise the morale and give the employee a feel of ownership.
The decision of bringing the 747 back on line did not need any study or feasibility. Had we not brought our own 747s on line, then for Umra and Haj we would have to lease aircraft and it does not take rocket science to evaluate that our car no matter how heavy it is on fuel consumption will always be cheaper and more convenient than a cab.
Coming to the question of how we plan to recover, I am now in the process of setting the stage for the business plan. The first step is setting up the team and reorganising the departments which have already begun. This is taking some time as it needs proper assessment, evaluation and selection of the right person for the right job plus making sure that every member of the team is at the same pace that I want to steer this Airline out of the crisis. I have to have a team for a one-day match as there is no time for a five-day test series.
The second step is cutting costs and plugging leakages with the cost factor of about 90 billion, a target of 10 per cent is not a tall order. Even if we achieve half of that, it will save 4.5 billion. The engineering department which consists of 4,000 trained and experienced personnel, along with maintenance and overhaul facilities, is our biggest assets.
The manpower available at present is unutilised and treated as liability will be put to good use by acquiring third party business. In aircraft overhaul and repair 70 per cent of the cost is labour. We can offer these services to the world market at very competitive rates. If we achieve 50 per cent of our potential, that will earn PIA around five billion.
PIA at present has a load factor of 72 per cent, with the policy of aggressive marketing if we achieve five per cent increase in load factor that will give us another four billion.
Also, cargo, speedex, flight kitchen and PIA training centre are all areas that can be turned into profit centres.
From the above you can see that the present deficit balance sheet can be turned — if not in profit — at least into a break even.
In the end I would request the media to give us time and a fair chance. God willing, “we shall rise”.
CAPT MOHAMMAD AIJAZ
Managing Director, PIAC
ALTHOUGH Pakistan has increased the quota for women in national and provincial assemblies to encourage women in our society, a lady has also been elected speaker of the National Assembly, for the first time here, there is a haunting story of gender discrimination.
We, the graduates of 2005 who completed our house jobs in 2006, have been deprived of our rights because of 36 posts for lady medical officers and 166 posts for male medical officers. For these posts 66 lady doctors passed online test held on Jan 31 this year but, due to the limited number of the posts, 30 of us are deprived of our right.
All of our male colleagues, whether they were qualified or not, were accommodated, yet 87 posts have been left vacant.
We demand for the re-designation of the male posts into female posts. In this context we had a meeting with the governor of Balochistan on April 7. He recommended our demand and forwarded it to the health department.
As we were looking forward for an appointment with the chief minister, the Public Service Commission announced the vacant posts again on May 1 during the ‘ban on jobs’ period. We consider this to be an unfair and disappointing measure, depriving us of our basic right of seniority and giving rise to financial problems, as we suffer from unemployment.
We request the chief minister to give us preference over the juniors in accommodation of all the lady doctors of our batch, as all of us are competent, qualified and duly eligible for these posts. Our success in passing the pre-entry test of Bolan Medical College and the online test of PSC is testimony to this fact.
GRADUATES OF BMC 2005
Quetta
WITH reference to Jawed Naqvi’s column, ‘The slave’s dream’ (June 5), I have only one question: If he feels so bad about the abuse of servants in India, why did Mr Naqvi and his ‘team’ not refuse to drink the tea that was made for them by a boy who was woken up and terrorised by the police into opening the kitchen for them at an ungodly hour?
It is amusing to read that he thinks that in the days gone by, being a servant was filled with romance! “Gone is the romance of the domestics and their witticisms that infused much of Indian literature.”
Mr Naqvi should know by now that nobody becomes a servant unless they are forced by poverty and no amount of ‘wit’ can compensate for the drudgery that all manual labour involves.
Of course, he conveniently forgets to mention that poverty is at the heart of the problem and instead chooses the usual explosive words: caste, lower class, exploitation.
B. K. VASAN
United States
IT is a common sight when we travel in Karachi or any other city of Pakistan that hundreds of street children are engaged in different activities on the road, including cleaning of car glasses, mechanic work at various car repair shops and begging.
Most of these children are those who have ran away from home due to different reasons. These children are subject to various forms of genetic and physical abuse on a daily basis due to which most of them suffer from AIDS and Hepatitis C.
I would like to request the HRCP and various other NGOs to take notice of the plight of these street children. We all have to make combined efforts and then only we will be able to do something for these children.
If each of us takes responsibility for their education, food and clothing of one street child, I am sure that this will dramatically reduce the number of children on our streets.
This is a very important social issue and in this era of rising prices and inflation, it is our responsibility to keep in mind those who are not as lucky as we are.
ANITA NIZAR ALI
Karachi
IT was an eye-opener to watch the interview of Lt-Gen (r) Gulzar Kyani on a private channel disclosing it all and giving frank opinions on all that happened. How difficult it would have been in those times accepting the promotions and then the new job while not agreeing to what was happening around.
If his tenure had not been shortened as an FPSC chairman, I am sure he would have soldiered on for another two years. I wish he had spoken at those times.
It’s a bit like after the death of Lady Diana’s death, every butler and bodyguard is writing memoirs to cash on.
K. SAEED
United Kingdom
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