| June 24, 2008 | Tuesday | Jamadi-us-Sani 19, 1429 |
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Why support lawyers’ movement?
Water and food
Unfair budget
The skipper’s big miss
HESCO website
Heartless masters
Three options
Bold statement
Saudi intervention to arrest oil price
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
A ceremony was held by Roots College International on the 18th of June to honour high achievers. Students who had shown academic brilliance had been awarded scholarships and admissions by the most prestigious universities in the world, (including US Ivy league universities such as Stanford, Princeton, Harvard etc).
Being a Roots student, I was also present in the hall. In the Principal’s own words, it was a day dedicated to the students.
Who could have thought that the spotlight would be snatched from the 188 achievers, and taken by one student, who chose this platform to make a statement, by refusing to accept his award from the American Ambassador, and making a political statement on the mike?
I also collected an award that day from the US ambassador and Samad’s response made me think about whether I had been wrong, and after this guilt trip, I came to the conclusion that in fact it was him who was wrong. The ceremony was held to celebrate educational progress, the main theme being ‘crossing boundaries, integration, and not just national, but global success’.
This was also demonstrated by appreciating the way educational opportunities around the world have become more open to students in Pakistan. The underlying statement is that whatever the political situation may be, and no matter how differentiated the world may become on this account, the fact that a good education still acts as an international passport, and has to be appreciated. The US ambassador was invited as a guest by the administration to acknowledge and reflect this fact.
The US strike was a tragedy and aroused anger and frustration amongst Pakistanis. The hatred towards the USA gets fuelled by incidents such as these. However the audience of more than 400 present in the hall did not take Samad’s stance. Does this make them less patriotic? No. The audience in the hall mainly consisted of proud parents who had come to see their children shine in their success, and not to make any statements. The American Ambassador being the chief guest was thus overlooked by the parents.
Many parents were upset after Samad’s response, as they felt that their children had not been given their fair share of time on stage due to tightened security arrangements and a cut down on the time. Samad’s achievement was the award he had been given three years ago by the US, but he surely spoiled the day for the other 187 students who missed their moments of glory.
If a protest was indeed called for, this was not the forum to make it. All students were aware of whom the chief guest was days before the event, why was there no protest to the administration on inviting the Ambassador in the first place? There were other ways to decline the award, and being heard at the same time, but such a protest would have perhaps not made headlines.
Calling the President of the country unconstitutional on an educational forum is not right, as many may disagree with this stance (including me). If everyone starts making their own political statements, the purpose of these ceremonies will be killed. If we can’t distinguish between forums meant to make political statements, and ones to encourage educational progress, then we do not deserve these events to be held in the first place.
While I am in agreement that Pakistan needs to take a more aggressive stance against its so called ally, this was not the platform.
The Ambassador was a guest and not a government representative at the ceremony, and the cost of her embarrassment was the staunch image of Pakistani students that went across. Any grievances with the administration should have been put forward before hand. As for the US, we disagree with their policies but we do realize that their education is amongst the best in the world, and that is why we still go to that country to get it. We should not forget that Mohammad Ali Jinnah himself got his education in the very Britain against which he later fought for independence. Our hostility is towards their policies, not their education, and if we want to give ourselves half a chance against them, we need to embrace this education, and not construct walls which will hinder future prospective students from going abroad.
LAILA SOHAIL
Rawalpindi
ACCORDING to a press report (June 3), Maulana Fazlullah held a court in Swat and decided 23 cases which had been under trial in normal courts for the last 20 years. The people were reporting their cases and disputes to the Taliban in the hope of seeking quick and inexpensive justice.
In fact, failure of the learned judiciary to provide quick and inexpensive justice to the poor has contributed to the birth of the violent Taliban movements in Malakand and Swat.
It reminds me of a friend who used violent means to evict his tenant after nine years of futile efforts from Rent Controller to the Supreme Court.
Practically, no authority exists to question delays in justice and exorbitant legal fees, which confirms complete independence of the judiciary and bar except when in conflict with the rulers. For example, a case of my relative in south Punjab is under trial for over 35 years with no final verdict in sight.
According to Lt-Gen. (r) Qayyum in a recent TV talk show, two prominent lawyers charged the government Rs6.2 million and Rs3.5 million, respectively, for unsuccessful defence of the Pakistan Steel Mills case in the Supreme Court but he did not confirm the actual payment.
In lower courts, lawyers in Rawalpindi mostly demand Rs50,000 or so for obtaining succession certificate for a bereaved family. And so on.
Despite all this, a sizable section of civil society is supporting the lawyers’ movement for restoration of the judiciary, primarily for the sake of the deposed chief justice who dared to challenge the dictator. Ex-servicemen (retired generals) have also announced their support to the lawyers’ movement.
They may not be aware that a pension case of ex-servicemen (non-general ranks) is pending with the Supreme Court for well over 10 years while similar case for retired judges was approved some years back and implemented.
So, worthy lawyers should now spell out the specific benefits in terms of speed and cost of justice that would be available to the common people after restoration of the judiciary, to justify wholehearted support to their movement. I hope the worthy media will play its people friendly role as usual with more vigour in this respect as well.
RAJA M. AFZAL KHAN
Gujar Khan
WITH reference to the letter, ‘Water and food’ (June 17), Dr Allah Bakhsh has rather glibly pointed out: “So, if we don’t build dams, we will not have enough food”. But he has not explained how the dams will be filled with the dwindling outlook for water availability in the future, as per his letter.
Also in the same breath: “We can analyse this situation from this year’s wheat production. All our three provinces are short of wheat except Punjab.”
Does this indicate that more and more land has been brought under cultivation in Punjab using the water at the cost of other provinces? Does that explain why three provinces are against some of these dams and only the Punjab in favour?
SHAFIQUE SIDDIQUI
United States
Widows and pensioners who have put their life savings in Behbood and pension accounts of National Savings face a grave issue after the announcement of the current budget.
Before the budget if a widow put Rs100,000 in these accounts, they received Rs970 per month as profit on which no withholding tax or zakat was deducted. The new budget has increased the profit by 2 per cent, but no hurray as the profit is taxed at 10 per cent.
Also, if one year has not passed since purchase, one has to pay a fine of Rs1000 for changing to new profit rates. The profit rates are raised from 11.64 to 13.64 per cent. On one hundred thousand, the yearly profit comes to Rs13640 minus 10 per cent tax equaling Rs12276 minus Rs1000 fine which comes to Rs11276. This translates to a monthly profit of Rs940, a loss of Rs30 per month and real profit rate of 11.276 per cent.
Our honourable leaders, Mr Nawaz Sharif, Mr Asif Zardari and all others elected are humbly requested to take a note and order the increase in the real profit of 2 per cent. Please cancel the withholding tax, and fine for widows and pensioners. The amount invested in these schemes should grow equal to the inflation rate, besides fair profits for survival. Please make the policies of foreign bankers’ representatives history.
PENSIONER
Lahore
The unveiling of the ICC Champions Trophy in Lahore the other day was an official ceremony of the mega event to be hosted by Pakistan in September. World’s top eight teams are scheduled to participate in the contest.
The ceremony was attended by ICC top officials – President Ray Mali, acting chief executive Dave Richardson besides Chairman of the PCB Dr Nasim Ashraf.
However, it was quite strange not to find Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik at the inaugural ceremony of an international competition widely considered as the most prestigious event after the World Cup. In place of Malik, vice-captain Misbah-ul-Haq graced the occasion.
According to earlier media reports, Malik, after playing in the Bangladesh tri-nation series, had gone to India for some commercial shoot following Dr Nasim’s permission that can be cautiously termed wrong.
The national captain missed the official ceremony of a mega event set to be staged on his home soil for the first time for a commercial shoot. Does it appear appropriate? Does it give a good signal to people outside Pakistan? And above all: does a national duty carry less significance than a commercial shoot?
Could Malik not delay his commercial commitment for the national cause for a few days? Could he not come to Pakistan for a day or even for a few hours, to attend the ceremony that always requires due national recognition from all quarters concerned – national board and local administration, public and of course the national captain?
However, perhaps neither Malik nor anyone among our top cricket officials realised this though the primary responsibility of this negligence lies on Malik for he is not a teenager and has been given a very prominent place in Pakistan cricket set-up.
Malik and the PCB officialdom should make sure major mistakes like this do not happen again.
S.M. IBRAHIM FAROOQI
Karachi
The website of HESCO has a facility of theft reporting. A reward will be payable to those who report theft of electricity provided that the theft is verified. The amount of reward will be a set percentage of the amount recovered.
More than 18 per cent houses in Hyderabad have illegal connections of electricity. I reported power theft complaints several times by using this facility, but there is a problem with the code of submitting button. Whenever I tried to submit a complaint, there was always an error.
Complaints could not be lodged. It seems that the error has been created intentionally so that people are not able to lodge complaints.
There is a dire need to correct this problem so that people are able to submit power theft complaints, specially these days when the country is facing an energy crisis.
IMRAN IQBAL RAJPUT
Hyderabad
I HAVE often observed at restaurants and other eateries that it is quite common, perhaps more so in Lahore, that fairly large families with many little children enjoy their meal while the children are looked after by very young maidservants.
These maidservants sometimes look younger than the children being looked after. You can see how they struggle with their demanding duty as they get bullied and teased by the children but they have no choice but to take it all silently and endure the agony. This shows such injustice as the situation seems heart-wrenching watching these young maidservants slog through.
Worse is when an order for food is placed, there is none for her, not even a cold drink. While the family feasts, she sits aside, often with a very young baby in her lap, watching hungrily while others eat.
It is shocking to see how insensitive and callous these people are. How much more would it take for them to discard their feudal mentality and be gracious towards their child servants by at least serving them a meal and letting them eat on the same table.
KHALID RASHID
Rawalpindi
In an interview to Channel Five, President Musharraf has said that he has three options: to remain seated and watch the situation, to quit office without completing his agenda or initiate the agenda of his reforms.
Musharraf was clear about the fact that it was not part of his nature and training to be a mere spectator and leave things unfinished. The President said he had not decided about initiating his agenda of reforms. Musharraf has always lived up to his word whether it was the doffing of the uniform or the holding of fair and free elections. It was he who initiated the policy of reconciliation for the interest and betterment of the nation, something which other political parties are claiming credit for.
Again, facts should be verified that it was the Sharif brothers who signed an agreement to leave the county, a fact that has been acknowledged by the Supreme Court and the deposed Chief Justice. Benazir left the country on her own accord during Sharif’s premiership.
Sadly, everyone seems to forget these facts. The present government should adopt a prudent policy and that can only be achieved by working closely with the President for the betterment of the nation.
SADIA BUTT
Peshawar
THE whole nation is enraged at the violation of our airspace by the US forces. Shocking though was the statement of our brave defence minister, who said, “We don’t have the capability of defending our airspace at the height of 30,000 feet”.
I wish to ask that if we can’t defend our frontiers, why are we feeding our defence forces? We should invite the Americans to take over the control of our country and give us the status of its state. Moreover, have we bought SAAB for flying to Mars?
MALIK AMJAD
Karachi
The production increase announced by the Saudis to dampen the oil price hike may temporarily bring some relief to the oil price jumping Jack however, it is not the solution to the problem at hand.
The resource of oil is not going to last forever. The current crisis may be an eye opener for what needs to be done to find alternative energy resources.
The Saudi initiative at the most will curb the price boom in the short term, which to be specific would give way as soon as the winter stocking of oil commences. The west is a cold region, they have to survive the cold with enough heat to make every abode livable, and energy at present is the only source that keeps them comfortable in the cold.
The issue of oil price also has its nerve in supply concern. The areas that export oil are mainly the Gulf of Iran and the Arab nations in Asia, and to some extent Nigeria in Africa. The war on terror has squashed the supply to the level it should have been, or has made the countries producing oil vulnerable.
The Iraq oil has resumed its market potential; however, this supply can be interrupted once the occupying forces leave the country. Next, Iran is on the verge of being attacked if such a misadventure is undertaken. There would be an imminent oil crisis as the entire region oil supply will fall prey to the war in the Gulf and the supply from the region would be almost at a standstill.
The price prevailing at the present juncture is taking into account many other factors that only the oil giants know. The consumers are paying new (and better) prices on a daily basis, some say oil would touch $200. Even if it touches the illusive figure, there seems to be marginal chance of the oil receding to $100, even if the Saudis double their present capacity.
DAWOODI MORKAS
Karachi
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