| August 04, 2008 | Monday | Sha’aban 1, 1429 |
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Setting forest on fire
Two approaches to present situation
Tawana Pakistan misunderstood
Road safety is everybody’s concern
Muslim alienation in the West
Unanimity of thought needed
Protecting investors
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
Prof Khwaja Masud’s article, ‘Obama and Pakistan’ (July 30), is not a properly researched piece of writing (July 31). One of its implications is that Mr Obama is a politician of the Chicago brand in whom “politics and crime occasionally overlap.”
It also advised that “if Mr Obama is sincere about eradicating extremism, he should declare full support for our government’s current effort (to fight the Taliban)” and “he should seriously follow up on Senator Biden’s proposal to triple development assistance to us to $1.5 billion per year….”
The writer seems unaware of Barack Obama’s life history and also the fact that he was a co-sponsor of Sen. Biden’s move to triple the said assistance to Pakistan. Besides, after the 2005 earthquake, Sen. Obama was one of the handful of legislators who had written to Dr Condoleezza Rice to greatly increase the financial assistance being provided to Pakistan by Washington so as to cover the reconstruction costs as much as possible.
Coming now to the suggestion, “we should bear in mind that Mr Obama is a product of Chicago’s corrupt politics,” one would like to detail some of the facts from the Democratic candidate’s life.After his mother’s second marriage, the young Obama spent four years in Indonesia and was subsequently put in the care of his maternal grandparents living in Hawaii for much of his adolescence. He got a scholarship to a private high school in Honolulu and was one of only a few black students in the elite institution.
Later on, he attended a university in California for two years and the remaining two years were spent at New York’s Columbia University, which is one of the prestigious ‘Ivy League’ varsities. Next, he moved to Chicago, where he stayed for some years and then enrolled in the Harvard University to get a law degree.
However, while living in Chicago, he engaged in the ‘hardest work of his life’, which consisted of three-and-a-half years of community organising in the impoverished neighbourhoods. His job was to work with a church-based effort to organise low-income residents to improve local conditions. This proved to be a test of his mettle and resilience.
In Harvard, he did extremely well, where an employee remarked that she had never encountered a bigger collection of egos, but he stuck out as being very different. Upon returning to Chicago, he joined a local civil-rights law firm and also started teaching part-time at the University of Chicago. In 1992 he had served as the executive director of a voter-registration drive that added nearly 125,000 mostly black voters to the electoral rolls.
From the foregoing it should be easy to see that his upbringing and grooming took place in localities other than Chicago. His character was thus already formed by positive influences and his life and work is indicative of his humility, integrity, sincerity, concern for the rights of the poor and adherence to principles. That is why he wanted the Pakistani sufferers of earthquake to be helped very generously.
We must be extremely careful when writing about such issues. Also, as individual Pakistanis, we ought to serve as diplomats and ambassadors to help improve the country’s standing and image.
A READER
Karachi
THE joint operation started by the Sindh police against dacoits in the Katcha areas of the River Indus has been going on for the last few weeks. In the local press (Aug 1) it has been reported that while being chased by the police posse in keti Mumtaz some dacoits had taken refuge in the deep forests.
The police instead of cordoning off the area or employing some modern means such as using helicopters or teargassing the sanctuary to the bring culprits out of their hideouts started putting the thick forest on fire. This has, on the one hand, resulted in death of a constable while 24 others fell unconscious due to asphyxia generated by the conflagration and, on the other hand, caused destruction of one more riverine forest.
The riverine forests of Sindh have, through centuries, served as hiding places for outlaws. However, it was during Zia’s era that kidnappings, dacoities and highway robberies multiplied. A new factor unheard of in this part of the world also emerged, i.e. kidnapping for ransom, which because of high return has become an ‘industry’. With this, the forests on both sides of the Indus were infested with robbers who made the lives of contiguous towns miserable.
It was during the same period of lawlessness that influential landowners finding state authority waning in the katcha area started encroaching upon government forests and after cutting trees converted them into ketis. Correspondingly, torching of forests to flush out dacoits, a crudest but the most convenient method, was also ongoing in this province since those days.
As a result of this unmindful and malicious activity, the hapless province of Sindh, which was once home to 87 katcha forests on both sides of the Indus, has lost almost 90 per cent of its green cover by now. Those involved in this dastardly act of inhumanity do not realise that it is not only wood they lose, but with this they deprive the people of the various flora and fauna, variety of birds and animal life, of fertile land, rainfall and protection from seasonal inundation.
Nowhere in the world natural resources such as forest are burnt and wasted for the sake of catching criminals. The provincial government should not only order stopping of such act of callousness but also conduct an inquiry as to who has commanded the law enforcement agencies to such ruthless act of torching the forests
ISHA M. KURESHI
Karachi
READING Niilofur Farrukh’s article, ‘Poets and artists, we missed you’ (July 15), first reminded me of what was written in the ‘New Republic’ of America many, many years ago albeit in a different context, but the sentiments were similar (I have taken some liberties with the text):
“Who cares to paint a picture now, or to write poetry or to search the meaning of language, or speculate about the constitution of matter? Or to edit a magazine – to cover paper with ink . . to care about hopes that have gone stale, to launch phrases that are lost in the uproar? What is the good now of thinking…
“Yet, it is equally true that the thoughts of men which seem so feeble are the only weapons that they have against overwhelming force… Knowing this we cannot abandon the labour of thought. However crude and weak it may be, it is the only the force that can pierce the accumulated passion of and wrong-headedness of (this) disaster.
“We know how insecurely we have been living, how grudging, poor, mean, careless has been what we call (‘the land of the pure’)…we shall do no better in the future by more stumbling and more panic.
“If our thought has been ineffective we shall not save ourselves by not thinking at all, for there is only one way to break the vicious circle of action, and that is by subjecting it endlessly to the most ruthless criticism of which we are capable….”
We owe it to the future generation to recall at this stage of our history the words of Romain Rolland: “One is the more alive, the more one embraces life — the more one’s own well-being enlarges to become the well-being of others. And the duty of those more alive is to nourish with their substance those less alive — to come to the aid of the weak and the suffering, the oppressed, the miserable…” There is no other way.
ANWAR ABBAS
Via email
THIS is apropos of the report about the Tawana Pakistan Project (July 20). The purpose of this programme, started in 1999, was to improve the nutritional status of students in girls’ primary schools located in 19 of the poorest districts of the country. Your correspondent has taken notice of the problems encountered by the Tawana Pakistan Project but it is important to clarify that there were two very distinct Tawana Pakistan Projects.
The first Tawana project provided freshly cooked school lunches prepared by community women. Despite many bureaucratic and technical hurdles, this school lunch programme cut serious malnutrition (wasting) to half and doubled school enrollment. Parents’ contact with schools increased, student performance improved and teachers’ morale wet up as their efforts were recognised by the communities. A comprehensive report documented the successes and problems of this first Tawana Pakistan. This report was ignored by the government which cancelled the first programme.
A second project replaced the first Tawana Pakistan with a ‘milk and cookies’ programme. This project ignored the advice of numerous technical authorities. It was nutritionally inferior, was plagued with poor administration, and failed. The losers in this programme were the primary-school girls who benefited from the first project.
We urge Senator Enver Baig and his colleagues to look at the report of the first phase to fully understand the Tawana Pakistan programme.
PROF. GREGORY PAPPAS &
PROF. MEHTAB S. KARIM
Washington DC, USA
IN Pakistan more than 15,000 persons lose their lives in road accidents annually and many more become disabled. Financial losses as a result of these accidents are worth millions of dollars. Here are some safety tips for a safer and peaceful traveling:
— A substantial proportion of accidents can be attributed to overspeeding. Three principal clusters of fatal crashes include drivers losing control because they are driving too fast, lack of judgment of own path or pedestrian failing to give way to speeding motorist.
— The seatbelt wearing rate in Pakistan is alarmingly low and most passengers do not realise that the wearing of seatbelts is compulsory for their safety. So the use of seatbelts should be ensured in every vehicle as it saves up to 70 per cent from injuries in case of an accident.
— Nearly half of pedestrians are killed at night when it is difficult for drivers to see them. A driver’s visibility at night is limited to the reach of the vehicle’s headlights, which is 45 metres on dim and 100 to 150 metres on bright. It is important to decrease speed at night. Drivers must be extra vigilant in areas of high pedestrian activity like schools, shopping centres and residential areas.
— Old and worn-out tyres should be replaced with new and proper ones.
— Lane discipline should be observed by all.
— During long traveling, we should take rest for almost 15 minutes after every two hours of drive.
— Overloading should be avoided to avoid accidents and loss of precious lives.
— Helmet should be used in all condition while traveling on a motorbike.
— While traveling in foggy or bad weather, the driver should be very vigilant. Furthermore, the speed should be minimised, screen and window glasses of the vehicle should be clean and fog lights should be used.
— Though rare in Pakistani environment, the role of alcohol in the occurrence of road crashes is increasing. Alcohol affects the central nervous system and thus also the drivers’ reaction. It also has the following effects: it clouds judgment, distorts vision, affects balance, impedes distance estimation and slows reaction time. So, use of alcohol should be avoided during driving.
It is worth mentioning here that the National Highway and the Motorway police are making utmost efforts to educate people on traffic/road discipline and they have made some remarkable jobs with regard to traffic management, accident reduction, accident handling and educating the masses.
In case of any emergency on the road, they are always only a call away with their allout efforts to guard you and to fix your problem.
SHAHID HUSSAIN
Rawalpindi
THIS is apropos of Irfan Husain’s article, ‘Muslim alienation in the West’ (July 30).
While Mr Husain makes several valid points, I do not regard the incident described in the quote from Dominic Kirkham’s letter as an example of Muslim bigotry. Instead, I regard Mr Kirkham’s attitude towards the dietary choices of others as an example of bigotry and intolerance.
It is completely acceptable for a Muslim to demand ‘halal’ food, for a Jew to demand kosher food, for a Hindu or Jain to demand vegetarian food, and for a vegan to demand vegan food.
It is also acceptable for a person with peanut intolerance, for instance, to check the ingredients of a dish to ensure that it does not contain peanut-based products.
The probems described in Mr Husain’s article arise partly from intolerance among Muslims and other immigrants. However, they also arise partly from the fact that some people are more comfortable with the notion of a melting pot and assimilation than they are with the notion of a truly multicultural society.
P. S. RAVI
Ontario, Canada
THERE seems a similarity of thoughts between NWFP Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain’s press briefing and Swat Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan’s press talk the other day. For example, both endorsed the peace initiative in Swat, saying “the government and the militants in Swat were abiding by the agreement reached on May 21, but some ‘hidden hands’ were trying to sabotage it.”
Muslim Khan clearly named the forces for sabotaging the peace accord and Mian Iftikhar used words like ‘hidden hands’.
Should the ‘unanimity’ of thought between the provincial government and militants be considered a welcome step? The present and past statements of the ANP government led us to believe that the provincial government and the militants were putting blame on the security forces and the intelligence agencies for what they call sabotaging the peace.
During their private discussions with journalists the ANP leaders express it more comfortably but when they are asked whether they have taken this issue with the central government to expose the hidden hand, they meaningfully regret the idea. Similarly, the militants’ side is giving somehow a similar impression that the problem lies with the security forces, not the provincial government.
The ground reality is that the hand behind the militants and terror does not want peace and stability in the area. It appears that the militants want peace on their own terms; peace with the courtesy of the Taliban is tantamount to doing away with the writ of the government.
The assertions on the part of the ANP government have so far been through press statements, which have helped sabotage the peace deal in Swat. A prudent approach would have been to take up the specifics with the central government, and find out as to where the fault lies.
There has to be evolved uniformity of approach between the two governments and not between the ANP and militants, otherwise there is unlikely any longstanding peace in the area.
ESCHMALL SARDAR
Peshawar
RECENTLY government funds/funds under government control (never mind in which form) were used to protect investors at the Karachi Stock Exchange. Investors’ shares were bought out by these funds to save them from further losses. And the government funds assumed the risk of further losses.
There is something terribly wrong here. The stock index went up from 1,000 level to 15,000 level in the last eight or so years. Not a penny from these gains were shared with the government as capital gains tax. Now the trend has reversed and index has lost just 5,000 points and the government has jumped in to take their losses.
This has raised many questions: 1) Is it now established that the right to have food, education and healthcare is now subordinated to the right to make profits at the stock exchange? We haven’t seen a Rs4 billion rescue package being assembled within hours and disbursed at 8 o’clock at night to offer food for the people who would go to sleep hungry.
2). People having the knowledge of which shares will be bought out with the future rescue packages can become overnight millionnaires. Already, market is buzzing with rumours of where the next Rs20 billion be spent.
3) Can the investors of property market, commodity markets in Dubai also expect such safety nets? If not, why not?
4) Like loan defaulters, were the investors who were bailed out barred from carrying out further trades at the KSE? I am sure these very people invested the very next day and made gains in the following week.
Also, the NIT should now forewarn its investors that the mandate of this fund has changed to include “protecting the losers as defined from time to time”. Last time NIT was used by the government, its value had reduced to around half, and the government (read tax payers) had to issue a bailout package for its unit holders.
A CONCERNED PAKISTANI
Lahore
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