| August 06, 2008 | Wednesday | Sha'aban 3, 1429 |
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Safta: no concrete steps so far
A tale of two sisters
Shehzad Roy’s new album
Taliban’s obscurantist agenda
Streamlining promotion policy
CIA
Aryan grave site
Traffic laws
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
IBA, Sukkur, carried out a test of teachers in which some 25,000, out of 250,000 candidates, were declared passed, with the minimum pass marks being 40 per cent.
Subsequently, offer orders were issued to all the successful candidates but posting could not be effected by the outgoing ministry.
The present government had off and on announced that all the candidates passing the test supervised by the IBA would be absorbed as the number of vacancies was equal to the figure of candidates passing the test. Unemployed youths heaved a sigh of relief that they would get employment after an ordeal of 13 long years of joblessness.
A couple of weeks ago the Sindh education minister was reported to have said that even the candidates securing 25 marks would be inducted.
The chief minister too held out an assurance to the candidates that all those who have appeared in the test supervised by the IBA and have passed it would very soon get jobs. But now the authorities have decided that only those candidates who have secured at least 60 per cent marks would be taken. Thus about 7,000 posts are going to be filled up out of 25,000.
The authorities stress the fact that the requirement of 60 per cent marks was fixed by the World Bank. To put the record straight, the World Bank has set the only condition that the teachers would be taken on the basis of union council and not from outside of it. Advertisement itself and the result of the IBA corroborate this fact that there was no other condition.
Now if the government goes for fresh recruitment, it is not necessary that the number of candidates passing the test would be equal to the number of posts lying vacant. It means the process may go on ad nauseam, putting out advertisements again and again.
This will cause mental torture to candidates, as well as an irreparable loss to education itself as hundreds of schools will remain without teachers, while the academic year is about to commence shortly.
The present position of Tharparkar district is that only one female candidate has bagged 60 per cent marks whereas hundreds of girls schools will suffer on account of being without teachers.
It would not be out of place to mention that Tharparkar district had the maximum number of vacant posts of teachers because of Thar Package awarded by the previous government. Also the standard of education in various districts of Sindh cannot be at par with the standard of Karachi, Hyderabad or Sukkur. Here in poor districts like Tharparkar people live from hand to mouth and they are affected by frequent famines and droughts.
In Tharparkar district about 2,600 vacant posts, in all categories of teachers, are lying vacant whereas only 54 teachers are going to be inducted. What a havoc to education and unemployed youths of the area!
The government should set aside the condition of 60 per cent marks and give jobs to all the candidates who have passed the test as supervised by the IBA.
MUHAMMAD WARIS SANGRASI
Mithi, Tharparkar
THE agreement on the South Asian Free Trade Area is an agreement reached at the 12th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) summit at Islamabad on Jan 6, 2004. It proposes a framework for the creation of a free trade zone covering 1.4 billion people in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan and the Maldives.
The seven foreign ministers of the region signed a framework agreement on Safta with zero customs duty on the trade of practically all products in the region by end 2016.
The Saarc Preferential Trading Arrangement (Sapta), with concessional duty on subcontinent trade, went into force on Dec 7, 1995.
The new agreement, i.e. Safta, came into being on Jan 1, 2006 and will be operational following the ratification of the agreement by the seven governments. Safta requires the developing countries in South Asia, that is, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, to bring their duties down to 20 per cent in the first phase of the two-year period ending in 2007.
In the final five-year phase ending 2012, the 20 per cent duty will be reduced to zero in a series of annual cuts. The least developed nations in South Asia consisting of Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and the Maldives have an additional three years to reduce tariffs to zero. Pakistan has signed but not ratified the treaty, though there is hope in India that it will do so in 2008.
The Saarc’s main agenda of economic growth has long been held back by old rivalries among members, especially between India and Pakistan. But Saarc made little progress on trade which is the central theme and objective of the group formed in 1985.
The recent summit held in Sri Lanka provides no concrete steps to invigorate the Safta agreement which came into effect two years ago but which has failed to take off until now. Safta has been found in squabbles over tariff concessions with Pakistan. It accuses India of violating the agreement with various non-tariff barriers.
TAHIR PANWAR
Lahore
THE revelation of bondage of two sisters, with their father, in Lahore for 15 years by their brother is as shocking as it is detestable. The loathsome news as carried by Dawn, ‘Two women, father freed from bondage of kin’ (Aug 3), was also splashed on TV channels.
The world also knows now that some part of Pakistani society can be at the lowest rung as to chain some family members, keep them in captivity for a long time; and give them tree leaves to eat and chilly-mixed water to drink. We know that, in our real society, love of family members, especially between brothers and sisters, is legendary, unmatched and nature’s kindness to humanity. Our men sacrifice their lives for sisters. Such sacrifice is a matter of pride for the family.
It is hard to believe that ‘an apology to mankind’ — Qaiser Mahmood — had denied to his kin the liberty, God’s gift to humanity, for such a long time. His family — the father and sisters — are mentally disturbed. I think he has mentally deranged himself.
I request the people who have a warm heart, who love their sisters, who cherish their daughters and who believe in humanity to help these two sisters, Riffat and Nighat, whatever help they can do. This help might remove some of the stigma from the face of the nation.
I appeal to President Musharraf, Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani and Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar to give preferential attention to this matter and help arrest and punish Qaiser Mahmood, the criminal, so that justice is done. It’s time that somebody gets some justice.
M.K. NAQVI
Karachi
(II)
I WAS shocked when the news broke out on local TV channels on Aug 1 about 15-year-old illegal confinement of two sisters and their father.
How come this can happen when we all live in a society where neighbours know exactly how members of a family live next door to them in a house or in an apartment?
This is a case of purely mental sickness and brutality of the person(s) who confined the two sisters and their father for such a long period.
What next door neighbours were doing for the last 15 years when they all knew that three members of a family are not coming out of the house for doing daily routine jobs?
Why didn’t the next door neighbours question the person who confined the family members illegally in the house?
We all live in a society where people interact with each other quite frequently and know the welfare of their next door neighbours.
The Punjab government should investigate the case thoroughly and an exemplary punishment should be awarded to such persons as are involved in the illegal confinement of two sisters and their father.
The local government should also take care of these people until they gain sense and return to their normal lives.
SYED A. MATEEN
Karachi
‘QISMAT Apne Haath Mein’ was launched at Karachi’s Juvenile Jail with all the media in attendance and boys from one prison cell who were brought in.
They were a rapt audience as they are very entertainment-starved. Shehzad Roy’s initiative changed that and they became the first Pakistanis to hear songs from the newly-released album and watch the video, directed by Ahsan Rahim, that has created such a stir within a day of its release.
Shehzad Roy may have disappeared from the radar after the immensely popular ‘Saali’, but he’s made a comeback and what a comeback it is!
His newly-released album, ‘Qismat Apnay Haat Mein’, was launched at one of the most unlikely places for an event like this; but rather befitting considering the theme and content of the album: Karachi’s Juvenile Jail.
While Shehzad Roy is one of Pakistan’s original blue-eyed boys who burst out into the burgeoning music scene of the 90s with the hit single ‘Dholna’, but while the Shehzad Roy of that decade was the pin-up of teenage girls and adored by millions for his romantic pop songs, the Shehzad Roy of today is a force to be reckoned with.
Shehzad Roy is the man who set up a non-profit trust for street children and education (The Zindagi Trust), and who is now set to make an even bigger splash with the ground-breaking album ‘Qismat Apnay Haat Mein’.
We’re predicting this will be the album of the year, and if the way the album was launched is anything to go by, we have even more good reason to say so.
SADAM SHAIKH
Via email
YOUR newspaper almost routinely describes destruction of girls schools in Swat and Quetta ( ‘Swat militants burn down five girls schools’ and ‘Girls school in Quetta attacked’, Aug 4). These grotesque actions challenge core Pakistani values — the education of our young and vulnerable, especially girls.
However, there is but the mundane outrage and the topic has become almost commonplace. If winning hearts and minds is the objective, preserving girls schools are front and centre of that war. Paraphrasing Greg Mortensen: “Educate a boy and you educate an individual; educate a girl and you educate the whole community”. The government needs to take a hard stand on this and put priority providing security to ensure that these schools stay and grow.
IZAZ HAQUE
United States
(II)
I WAS delighted to read the news report, ‘Girls outshine boys in SSC (Science) exams’( Aug 1). According to the report, “Girls not only outclassed boys in bagging the top positions but they also got as many as 7,244 A-I grade as compared to 5,040 boys securing the same grade although the number of boys who appeared in the examination was 60,533 as against 45,580 girls”.
This result clearly refutes the belief that women are inferior to men. And it also proves that if given a chance, women can not only compete with their male counterparts but they can also outclass them in academics, and most of the professions as well.
On the one hand, the aforementioned news item gives us hope about the bright future of our female population and, on the other hand, two news items appearing in this daily’s issue of Aug 4 are very disturbing about future of women’s education in areas under influence of the so-called local Taliban.
According to one report, the Taliban burned down five more girls’ schools in Swat and so far these so-called knowledge-seekers (Taliban means students in Arabic) have burned down or blown up 48 girls’ schools in the Swat area over the past year.
According to another news report, a girls’ school in Quetta was destroyed by the militants on Sunday. The situation in tribal areas is even worse as there were a very few girls schools which the Taliban have either destroyed or these have been closed due to threats from them. It is ironical that the Taliban claim to be the flag-bearer of Islam, but they shamefully have forgotten the very teachings of the Prophet of Islam according to which “it is obligatory on every male and female Muslim to get education”.
One can see a clear male chauvinist agenda in the Taliban’s activities which should be condemned and countered by all civilised and progressive elements of our society.
Pakistani society must wake up from slumber before it is too late and act now as the Taliban’s obscurantist agenda is infesting settled areas and even big cities of Pakistan.
QASIM RAZA
Karachi
THROUGH a regular competitive examination conducted by the Federal Public Service Commission, officers in grade 17 are selected after a very tough written/oral interview and procedure, which is commonly termed Central Superior Services (CSS).
After selection, the prescribed duration of service for promotion to next grade is five years in grade 17, seven years in grade 18 and five years in grade 19. However, from grade 20 onwards, promotions are made on a seniority-cum-merit basis.
At present the officers in DMG, police, customs, and foreign services group of the batch of 1989 have been promoted to grade 20. However, the officers of Income Tax Group of batch 1980 are still working in grade 19 and have not been promoted to grade 20. Thus there is a gap of almost eight to nine years.
Promotion is a great incentive in the service of civil servants. The officers who work hard suffer due to the laxity and flaws in the system. At least 30 available posts in grade 20 in the income tax department have been slashed in the name of reforms.
It is suggested that the establishment division should devise a uniform policy whereupon all eligible officers of different occupational groups of the same batch may be promoted at the same time, or alternatively the FBR may increase the number of posts to make timely promotions as there is actual and genuine need of officers in the income tax department to broaden the tax base and to increase the tax /GDP ratio.
JAWAID AKHTAR
Karachi
PAKISTAN’s ambassador to the United States, Hussain Haqqani, told a TV channel that involvement of ‘foreign elements’ in publication of the recent CIA report against the ISI could not be ruled out (July 31).
Of course, ‘foreign elements’ are behind this report. The CIA is an agency of the American government.
The ambassador should have presented arguments against the report, rather than deploying typical subcontinental mentality of blaming all problems on foreigners and then assuming that their job is done.
SIDDIQUE MALIK
USA
THIS is apropos of the news item, ‘Aryan grave site in Chitral’. The news reveals that the department of archaeology is engaged in excavating important archaeological sites in various districts of the NWFP, including Chitral.
I would like to draw the attention of the government of Pakistan, the NWFP government and the United Nations Educational and Scientific Organisation (Unesco) towards the proposed construction of an officers’ mess and a guest house at the important archaeological site of ‘Lakapo Dok’ in Mastuj district, Chitral.
The site is located on a 200-foot-high mound, which also contains graves as old as 600 BC. It is pertinent to mention that the NWFP government constructed a high school on another archaeological site at Brep Chitral in 1978. ‘Noghor Dok’ in Brep has remains of 2nd century AD fort and Buddhist relics of great significance.
I appeal to the relevant authorities to protect the 600 BC archaeological site of ‘Lakapo Dok’ from being razed to the ground.
BASHIR HUSSAIN AZAD
Chitral
The Islamabad police have efficiently launched a campaign against the use of cellphones and for wearing seat belts while driving.
We must appreciate this move as this would reduce the causalities and people would focus on driving. However, a question arises as to what about the usage of mobile phones by the policemen on duty?
I believe they should not be using phones, especially not while they are directing the traffic as this act is as hazardous as using a cellphone while driving. Second, there should be a law for all car manufacturers in Pakistan to install belts in the cars.
HYDER BILGRAMI
Islamabad
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