| July 21, 2008 | Monday | Rajab 17, 1429 |
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Water losses reduction system
Stopping cheating in exams
Who regulates public transport?
Blaming the ISI
Is US poised to attack?
A sad system we live in
Airport tax
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
IN your editorial, ‘Nato flexes its muscles’ (July 17), you have stated that any military actions carried out in the tribal regions of Pakistan by the predominantly American Nato forces will dent the credibility of the US in the region and have deemed such an adventure as irresponsible.
Since when have the successive American governments and their military might given due consideration to their dropping global credibility ratings when it comes to safeguarding their interests anywhere on this planet?
Be it the massive greenhouse gas emissions emerging from their vast industrial complexes or the SUVs adored by the American public, or the support of Israel in blatant disregard of international laws and civil decorum, US interests have been protected at whatever the cost to their allies or foes alike.
Similarly there are countless examples of what would be considered irresponsible behaviour by the Americans starting from the wiping out of native American ‘Red Indian’ tribes to the annihilation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
At the time when Israel is itching to launch pre-emptive strikes at Iran’s nuclear facilities, clearly looking up to America to come to its aid when retaliation from Iran might be too overwhelming to bear, the last thing US military planners would want is yet another irritable distraction elsewhere in the region.
The militants operating from Pakistan’s tribal belt continue to create trouble for Nato forces in Afghanistan. This has also led to serious allegations that 9/11 - scale terrorist planning is taking place in the region and that the US is its potential target.
It appears that in order to etch out such undesirable elements within the Pakistani tribal belt who might pin down invaluable US military resources, away from any future engagements focused on Iran, the preparations have been made to launch precision strikes with or without the cooperation of Pakistani military already battling the militancy in parts of Fata.
Military operations in our tribal belt have also become the focus of political point-scoring between the rival camps of McCain and Obama. With Obama’s publicly known intent to divert military resources from Iraq to the Pakistan-Afghan border, McCain and the current Republican president would want to be seen as initiating the new battlefront between good and evil, thus appearing tough to the wider American public at the time of elections later this year and pre-empting the Democrats’ future moves.
At the same time the associated withdrawal of troops from Iraq, under the guise of relative stability, peace and self-governance by Iraqis, would be hailed as yet another Republican policy success.
Our government has failed to conceptualise and deliver a concrete anti-extremism policy laced with national consensus, and the ministers are constantly seen clocking up air miles back and forth between Dubai and London where their leaders have suddenly taken up residence in fear of something that the masses are unaware but not ignorant of.
Therefore in the light of the failure of the ruling coalition to govern the country, it is now up to the besieged people of Pakistan to come out in open condemnation of the ideology of the miscreants in the tribal belt who are not only inviting foreign invasion due to their actions, but also threatening the cities of Pakistan with dire consequences should their brand of Islam not be accepted by the government and the people of those regions.
Pakistani people are at crossroads, and must choose wisely and quickly as to what’s in their best interest: whether to continue in silence till the country’s economy is liquefied or to take practical steps to combat extremism at street level.
DR SHAAZ MAHBOOB
London, UK
WHILE the long-awaited ‘water losses reduction and system strengthening project’ finally initiated at Karachi recently at an estimated cost of Rs2.1 billion is a good step, it is important to note that side by side with the physical work of measures to be adopted to reduce ‘water losses’, a public awareness campaign will be a good idea that must also be included as one of the most important components.
This will no doubt make aware and sensitise the general public of the need to conserve water at every level — individual, domestic, community, commercial, departmental, etc. Besides this, it will keep the public informed and updated concerning the physical work being done by the water losses reduction and system strengthening (WLR and SS) project in improving the water supply infrastructure that will primarily aim at reducing water losses.
Perhaps the WLR & SS project could greatly benefit and may also replicate the “mass awareness campaign in water conservation”, that was included in a mega project in Quetta (Balochistan) from March 2006 to March 2007 by the Quetta Water Supply and Environmental Improvement Project (QWSEIP), that was wisely conceived by President Musharraf who gave a special grant of Rs8 billion to improve the overall water supply situation in Quetta district.
In this project the QWSEIP had engaged the services of a local NGO — Society Environmental Awareness (SEA) — as a sub-consultant to implement a mass awareness campaign in water conservation. SEA implemented the project successfully through the print and electronic media, water conservation activities in educational institutions, physical interaction with the general public by conducting local area seminars, awareness sessions for the public in commercial areas and special sessions for womenfolk at the street / lane level.
Whereas the main QWSEIP project is scheduled to be completed by 2009, the component of the mass awareness campaign in water conservation was unfortunately and unwisely ended after one year due to non-availability of funds in the awareness campaign head. It is,therefore, essential that any awareness campaign to achieve the desired result and impact should be on a long-term basis, or at least continued till the completion of the main project, otherwise the money spent would go down the drain.
The WLR and SS project would do well to give a serious thought and consideration to initiate an ‘awareness campaign in water conservation’ at the soonest possible that shall positively integrate a multidimensional approach to the project.
MAJ (r) K. SAFI WASIUDDIN
Quetta
THIS is with reference to your editorial, ‘The world of cheaters’ (June 7). I see eye to eye with the line of your argument that it is all because of the failure of our education system that students are cheating today.
Not much has been done by the federal education department to have a close eye on the dissimilar dimensions of the requirements.
This case is precisely not just restricted to the boundaries of Karachi city district, Kech too has been a victim of it. The problem lies at the level where our education department takes steps to put education into a system.
I would rather call it the regime’s pathetic attempt to provide legal sufficiency to each corner of the region.
Far-flung areas paint a bleak picture of the regime’s poor efforts to provide school buildings and teaching staff. Moreover intricate curriculum is equally bad.
After undergoing such trials and tribulations the students cannot avoid cheating.
Hence, if students cheat in examinations, they are not fully responsible.
The education department is advised to be extra watchful, making its ministers to review the entire system to find out the loopholes and provide solution to prevent cheating.
JAMEELUR REHMAN
Turbat, Kech
IN response to the recent price hike of petrol and diesel, public transport owners have raised the fares as well. I routinely travel from Hala to Shahdadpur through public van which usually carries 22 passengers and now charge Rs30 per person. Earlier it was Rs25.
However, the diesel price is touching almost Rs55 per litre. The total distance between two destinations is 20km approximately. The average consumption of the van would be around three litres, i.e. Rs165. The profit to transport owners is about 400 per cent. The poor and marginalised people are already burdened with a shortage of floor and souring prices of other groceries. The monopoly of transport owners has added to the miseries of the common man.
It is very strange that there is no authority to fix and regulate public transport fares in Sindh’s interior. I would request to chief minister and other officials concerned to immediately take notice of the issue. Concrete measures should be taken against such monopoly.
ASIM JALEEL ABRO
Hala
WHENEVER something goes wrong in India or with Indian interests, within a day or two they blame Pakistan’s ISI or some jihadi organisation for being responsible for it.
The latest example is the accusation levelled by their National Security Adviser about ISI arranging the blast at the Indian embassy in Kabul, the United States statement absolving Pakistan of having any role in it being conveniently ignored. What good the bombing would have done to Pakistan, anyway?
Actually, it is India’s own agency RAW, that was created in the late 1960s with the express purpose of breaking up this country, hopefully by separating East Pakistan from us, in which it succeeded brilliantly and is responsible for causing many other problems here, whose activities need to be examined first.
Ironically, the former Indian parliamentarian and journalist Kuldip Nayar has admitted in his recent memoirs that India got into the act of dismembering Pakistan long before the rumblings in its eastern wing were heard across the world in 1971. Also, that 10 months before the birth of Bangladesh, India started army the insurgent Mukti Bahini force (Books & Authors, July 13).
This fact was already confirmed in the 1990s by a Bangladeshi gentleman, M. Zainul Abedin, in his book ‘RAW and Bangladesh’. In it he has said that he was among those who were taken to India by this agency and trained for guerilla warfare, like thousands of other East Pakistani youths. He returned to fight the Pakistan army, and Bangladesh was finally created.
However, he says that the systematic loot and plunder by Indian soldiers after the Pakistani troops’ surrender and later evidence of RAW’s attempts to get an iron grip over his country greatly disillusioned him and he decided to struggle against that.
Interestingly, in a column in Dawn (Feb 28, 2005), Mr Nayar had lamented that the Indian agencies like IB and RAW engaged in dirty political games at New Delhi’s behest. He wrote: “I do not expect the agencies to follow any code of ethics since Indian society on the whole has ceased to be sensitive about methods.”
Apart from that, there are numerous examples of Pakistan being falsely accused of crimes in India. In March 2000, about a day before President Clinton’s arrival in India for an official visit, 36 Sikhs were killed in occupied Kashmir for which finger was quickly pointed at us, but the Americans as well the Sikhs of Kashmir didn’t accept that. An inquiry by a retired Indian judge later on had held an Indian agency responsible for it.
Similarly, after the Mumbai train blasts, the Indian authorities had accused the ISI of carrying these out.
But, impressed by this rapid Indian detective work, the Scotland Yard had sought permission to join the probe to find out how the Indian police had concluded that.
Fearing their bluff would be called, the Indians quickly reversed their stand and a minister said that there could have been a mistake, while refusing the British sleuths the permission to access the findings.
All this goes to show that blaming the ISI or others in Pakistan is a smokescreen to cover up RAW’s own misdeeds, such as interfering in Balochistan and elsewhere.
Q. IQBAL
Karachi
According to a Texas Congressman, the American commandos are poised to stage ‘hot pursuit’ raids into Pakistan’s tribal areas to stem mounting Taliban attacks against US troops in Afghanistan and to disrupt resurgent Al Qaeda operatives.
The Congressman from Texas should think twice before issuing such statements which can have serious implications. Already Pakistan is fighting its own war against terror, fighting extremism on its borders and such statements do not make matters easier for us.
The US has been violating Pakistani air space. To make matters worse, Nato troops in Afghanistan have reported that attacks from Pakistan’s borders are increasing. The US should concentrate on its own front in Afghanistan along with Mr Karzai and let the Pakistani troops do their job.
AMIN SULEIMAN
Rawalpindi
THE other day I was part of an accident, and its reverberations are still impacting me. As I was returning home from a dinner at around 11, we saw a crowd gathered around a pick-up van. My driver was curious and slowed down. I was about to ask him to go on when I heard a woman shouting. Being a woman I realised that I must get down and help her, beleaguered by men, who traditionally wouldn’t touch or help a woman no matter how hurt she was.
I elbowed myself through the throng of men hanging around a totally hysterical woman who was screaming and incoherent and, finally, collapsed. A police mobile was standing right there. It began to move away. One of the men tried to stop it but the police pushed him away. I tried to stop them asking them to help, but they left.
By now part of the family was sitting on the footpath. The father was injured — he said his arm was broken. His two small children, oblivious of the father’s pain, kept hanging on to his arm and howling ‘abba’. Many cars were parked around but nobody offered to take them to hospital, which happened to be down the end of the road.
I knew no one took initiative for fear of being involved in a police case. But I nevertheless put them in my car and took them to the hospital. I called the emergency people. They came and saw but seemed reluctant to take them in. They said: “We are a private hospital — why don’t you take them to a cheaper place.” I told the staff that they are duty-bound to help, and if they want to send the injured to another hospital, they should use their ambulance.
A sad system we live in where we watch fellow humans suffering but are too scared to take injured people to the hospital, where the police leave the wounded lying and drive off, where hospitals won’t take emergency cases in, for whatever their reasons are. Shouldn’t hospitals have a charity fund to help people in emergency cases like this?
SABIHA MOHAMMAD
Karachi
THIS probably is known to every air passenger that an airport tax is levied on each air ticket. But what is the purpose of this amount of money the civil aviation authority charges?
Recently I travelled from Islamabad to London and back after a short stay at Dubai. From Dubai the flight of Emirate Airlines reached Islamabad International Airport at 0230 on June 22. It was raining outside and the passengers had to disembark through the stairs in the same downpour.
We got into a coaster bus of some old vintage which took us to the tarmac. After getting down from the bus, we had to bypass a rainwater obstacle just in front of the entry gate. No one was there to ensure a queue at the immigration counter and some fast ‘dubbayyas’ bypassed the queue, with the people watching them helplessly.
It took one hour to my baggage to appear on the conveyer belt since the baggage from the following PK flight also started pouring, neon sign indicated that the luggage on the belt was from the PK flight, it became a source of worry for the EK passengers.
There was no airconditioning nor were there any fans and the people were seen wiping off sweat from their faces and grumbling in disgust. Some cursing the culture of projecting the so-called heroes by renaming national assets.
Is the airport tax meant to tax the people physically and mentally? Who is responsible for save the people from discomfort, not to talk of comfort at such an important national face?
LT-COL (r) KHALID MAHMOOD
Mansehra
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