| June 27, 2008 | Friday | Jamadi-us-Sani 22, 1429 |
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Spectre of inflation
Misleading surveys
Musharraf’s words
Sindh Social Relief Fund
Federer isn’t favourite
No hoodwinking the people
Taliban poppy traders
Why not Pakhtunkhwa
Religious hegemony
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
I AM thrilled that our Supreme Court will have 29 judges, the highest in the world. Senior members of a profession are required to leash in the inexperienced junior ones.In the medical profession, the consultant orders the admission, junior doctors take the history and examine the patient, order and collect the laboratory test, then present the case to the senior admitting consultant who makes the final diagnosis and prescribes treatment within a week, before the patient dies.
Getting justice in Pakistan is a difficult, painfully prolonged and expensive experience. Our lawyers have been covetous and negligent, not attending court hearings and extending dates for years while the culprit languishes in jail on taxpayer’s money.
Our under-paid, overworked, untrained police are illiterate and corrupt, misusing the authority they are ill-equipped to handle. They survive on bribes and the misery of the litigants.
I hope the Supreme Court benches of two to three judges are spread all over the country (14 cities) and each of these judges accepts applications direct from the victims/relatives, especially when the police gang against them for suo motu notice like our chief justice who decided 6,000 cases of rape, Vani, Swara, karo-kari and murder in two years (10 cases daily).
The victim’s/relative’s application should be referred by a Supreme Court judge to the local district or session judge who should get the police to present the culprit/victim with proofs for interrogation.
The final inquiry report should be sent back to the referring Supreme Court judge for final judgment within two weeks. Instead of the age-old custom of justice starting from the bottom, it should now be initiated from the top, referred down for investigations/collection of proof, and the report compiled by the junior judge, and sent back to be double-checked by the referring Supreme Court judge and the verdict given in two weeks, with no room for appeal.
Justice at supersonic speed will be possible in Pakistan only when lawyers and the police stop dragging their feet because a Supreme Court judge is constantly breathing down their necks. The salaries of so many judges will be justified because the expenses spent on under-trial prisoners for years and lawyers’ fees will be considerably reduced.
DR ZARINA KHAN
Islamabad
THERE can be no better illustration about the spectre of inflation looming large, with no adequate measures in sight, than the one that appeared on this page (cartoon, June 23). The striped caricature of a dreadful famished poor hanged on the altar of ‘inflation’ in a tight noose standing on ice lock of ‘subsidy’ which is being melted slowly, tightening the rope around his skinny neck.
The message is loud and clear that the national budget for the year 2008, passed by the National Assembly (‘New tax measures to fetch Rs 80 billion’, June 23), is palpably a rich man’s budget.
In order to collect Rs80 billion, sales tax and federal excise duty have been increased from 15 to 16 per cent, most of which will obviously be paid by the hapless common man. Those billionaire stockbrokers who have amassed huge riches in speculative transactions for the last eight years again have been given two years’ reprieve.
In return of the great favour, they have promised to expiate by feeding 2,000 people per day as discussed in the letter of Dr Kazi Khadim Hussain, ‘Meals and deals’ (June 20).
The regular feeding of a few thousand, however, will create a class of beggars than alleviating poverty as rightly concluded in the said letter.
Another affluent class that has also been left unaffected by the fiscal measures is the estate dealers. It is a common knowledge that prices of properties have skyrocketed for the last five years due to manipulation of some big investors; thanks to Shaukat Aziz and company.
Since these investors have accumulated trillions of rupees, now mostly invested safe in Dubai, have also established strong grid with those in the corridors of power, therefore, they need not worry about taxes.
The incessant hike in world oil prices, undue pressure of the IMF/World Bank to withdraw subsidies, severe power outages, display of riches and lavish lifestyles of parliamentarians and government functionaries as disclosed by Mansoor Solangi in the letter, ‘A matter of shame’ (June 4), and unbridled profit-making by cartels of sugar, cement, wheat, etc, goes to prove that the ice slab is gradually melting under the feet of the hanged common man.
The federal government, instead of solving these grievous economic problems, has on the contrary created more confusion and uncertainty by reneging on consensus created in the Bhurban declaration.
The party in power must understand that unless the issue of restoration of the judiciary is resolved amicably to the satisfaction of civil society, the other problems will remain in limbo and the common people will continue to suffer heavily.
SHAFIQUE ANSARI
Dubai
THIS is in response to the news item, ‘Pakistan placed among dysfunctional states’ (June 25).
I want to thank Dawn for bringing me a piece of information which is highly depressing and, more importantly, misleading.
The index being used by the firm is highly abstract, and has scores for ‘Rise of Factionalised Elites’, ‘Legacy of Vengeance-Seeking Group Grievance or Group Paranoia’ and ‘Security Apparatus Operates as a State Within a State’ among others. How they quantify these indicators, remains to be known.
I would be glad if the (AP) reporter of the news would try and explain that, as I could not find the quantifying methods on the website of the firm.
Moreover, Pakistan has an equal score in the ‘Uneven Economic Development along Group Lines’ criteria to that of the Central African Republic, even though Pakistan has a much higher HDI and a better value for the Gini coefficient.
I believe it is the responsibility of the paper to seek the item’s credibility before publishing it, specially if it is such important news, one that can severely dent the morale of the people, which has already been going down.
ASAD V. SHAIRANI
Via email
I WOULD beg to defer with the opinion of Sadia Butt that President Musharraf has always lived up to his word (June 24).
The president promised to take off his uniform in 2006 but he did not honour his commitment for another four years.
He said several times that Benazir Bhutto had no role in Pakistan’s politics and would not be allowed to return to Pakistan, but it is now a known fact that he met her in the UAE and made a deal and allowed both Ms Bhutto and Asif Ali Zardari to return to the country.
He came to power to rule out corruption in the country but by bringing the National Reconciliation Ordinance he dropped all corruption cases against those who looted the countries’ wealth.
On several occasions, the president said that he would resign from his office the moment he realised that the public was against him but when the public opinion came on Feb 18, he refused to step down.
He also said on more than one occasion that he would keep the country’s interest before anything else but the whole nation saw that he sacked over 60 judges because they were about to give a decision against his contesting election from the outgoing assemblies.
Like Ms Butt, I was also once a strong supporter of President Musharraf when he came to power with his seven-point agenda but I am sorry to say that he has never kept up his promise and people now are not willing to accept him as a legitimate president of this country for another five years.
In my humble opinion his time is over and sooner he realises this and resigns the better it is for the country.
JAVED KHAN
Karachi
THIS refers to the letter of Dr Ali Akbar Dhakan, member, Sindh Relief Fund Committee, published on June 22.
Suggestions preferred by Dr Dhakan are more of charity in nature than constructive or rehabilitative ones for collective welfare of society. The charity- based programmes are already functioning under the government like Zakat and Ushr and Pakistan Baitul Ma’al, with no real benefit for the downtrodden.
As a result, the general public that is the main stakeholder in remitting zakat collection, for distribution among the poor by the state, has little faith in the efficacy of the programme.
Zakat administrations at federal and provincial governments’ level have remain engaged in deliberations to bring in effective changes in the mode of utilisation by emphasising upon institution-based mode of disbursement.
The establishment of vocational training institutes in Punjab being financed through zakat fund is one example. Yet none of the other three provinces could be able to introduce similar programmes, obviously due to lack of capacity with them.
The focus of schemes to be formulated under the Sindh Relief Fund should, therefore, be towards institution-based welfare of the poor segment, i.e. disbursement of loans (without interest), rehabilitation of maimed persons, grant of scholars to poor students for higher education and research, and helping out people in distress or facing self or collective calamities, etc.
All such assistance should, however, go through a system accountable before parliament/provincial assembly.
This way the purpose of SSRF could be achieved, else it shall be none but a new of corruption and drain on resources.
ABDUL SAMAD CHANNA
Karachi
THIS is apropos of the news item, ‘Federer not favourite at Wimbeldon, says Borg’ (June 20)
I agree with Bion Borg’s statement that Roger Federer isn’t invincible anymore and that this year’s Wimbeldon will be an open one. If one is to go by the last year’s final, which the Swiss only just manage to win after surviving a tough contest by Rafael Nadal, then this year one can expect the same, and Federer, who had been so invincible on grass, would have to play out of his skin to win Wimbeldon. Rafael Nadal has improved greatly in the last 12 or so months.
Having said that, Roger Federer isn’t the best player for nothing in the world and one is sure that he will fight tooth and nail to regain his lost pride. Federer plays superbly on the faster courts because he uses his opponent’s pace to good effect to place the ball wherever he wants it in the court.
Having watched the last year’s tournament, one can easily notice that the grass court has become slower.
We all know what Rafael Nadal is capable of unleashing on a slower surface, as his topspin shot proves absolutely lethal for his opponents.
So Federer needs to guard against complacency, otherwise the likes of Rafael Nadal and Djokovic will definitely end his reign on grass.
HAMDAN SIDDIQUI
Karachi
THE long march was not an ordinary event in the history of Pakistan. Viewed with rationality and without the prism of jaundiced eyes, never in history such a glorious movement has occurred.
The long march was simply a message of the people that they are wide awake and can’t be hoodwinked by the dictators and their collaborators. A change in Pakistan is very visible and if the government in power ignores it, it will be at their own peril.
To those who were saying that the long marchers should have held a dharna (sit-in) as it would only put more pressure, the participants have behaved very democratically and the whole world has seen with open eyes how moderate and disciplined our people are.
The organisers of the long march really deserved to be complimented for plying such a mega event, in which a big number of people participated with enthusiasm. However, to underestimate that participants of the long march were only 10,000 to 15,000, the entire world has witnessed and they must be laughing at those who served vested interests.
This is a struggle for democracy in our country and people will win. No government or military ruler can subvert the process of democracy which stands on a sound pillar. The sacked judges must be restored so that no military ruler in future will have the temptation to violate the Constitution.
The wisdom dawned on Asif Ali Zardari and the prime minister as they ordered the administration to remove the containers. This time the people are agitating for transformation of society into a democratic polity. It is in the best interest of the government that the draconian act of removal of judges must be dispensed with.
YASIR ALI
Attock
BBC TV Asia Today on June 25 ran a report that the Taliban in Afghanistan are earning hundreds of millions of dollars a year in their poppy trade. Films were shown of bearded and turbaned Taliban openly reaping from large poppy fields.
The Taliban are enforcing their own brand of the most purest and stringent tenant of Islam. If anybody is caught, even in possession of liquor, he is severely punished, but these self-professed Islamic purists can openly cultivate and deal in narcotics. This is duplicity of the highest order.
RAFI AHMED
Karachi
THIS refers to Irfan Khan’s letter, ‘Why not Pakhtunkhwa’ (June 17). The writer should realise that majority is majority whether it is 53 or 51 per cent. He should also realise that Pakhtuns make up the overwhelming majority of the province, where they constitute over 80 per cent of the population. Therefore, the minority should stop imposing their will on the majority.
TAUSIF ALAM
Peshawar
THE IJT is in the thick of things yet again. This time a PU student has lodged a formal complaint against an IJT worker for living illegally in the hostel and for threatening the student’s life. This is quite a step since previous victims of IJT ‘justice’ have always been afraid of taking official action, and indeed so too has the administration.
I must commend PU VC Mujahid Kamran for his firm hand in dealing with these people who have dominated one of Pakistan’s most important educational institutions. For a quarter of a century the IJT has bullied and intimidated students and faculty alike, and have done much to sully the name of PU. It is time some concrete steps were taken to curb their ‘holy enthusiasm’.
As a genuine Lahori born during Zia’s time, I have always considered the PU campus to be an unsafe place to set foot on. All my life I have heard of one horror story after another of vigilante IJT activists resorting to violence and intimidation, ostensibly for religious reasons, but primarily in order to maintain their power on the campus.
The IJT has attacked and injured innocent people for any type of activity they considered to be wrong. If you step on their toes, they hit you. The problem is that you never quite know what might be considered as stepping on their toes.
And this type of violence, intimidation and complete disregard for the rights and liberties of others, has not been restricted to students. Even the faculty cannot consider itself to be safe from the threat of violence as Prof Mujahid Kamran can testify himself ( he has been physically assaulted by IJT activists for having lunch with a woman in the university canteen. It didn’t matter to the IJT that the concerned woman was his wife and fellow faculty member).
He has been part of the faculty for decades and his action against the IJT is not the brash action of an outsider, rather the result of years of witnessing (and experiencing) the maltreatment of this organisation.
The IJT’s protests of being victimised are plain ridiculous. Having your wings clipped after decades of steel-fisted control does not mean you are being victimised. It means you are getting your just desserts.
The illegal hostel tenants must be evicted, the organisation’s power of violence and intimidation curbed and the campus given back to the students. PU must return to being a centre of education and enlightenment instead of being the home base of a violent and aggressive organisation.
HASSAN KILDE BAJWA
Lahore
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