| September 11, 2008 | Thursday | Ramazan 10, 1429 |
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Change of system
Deforestation in Sindh
Misuse of cellphones by children
No grants, please
Mirpurkhas outrage
Reduce speed to save fuel
Revival of IRO 1969
Retired PIA employees
Cruel joke
Appeal of a hapless candidate
Discrimination by NTDC
KU clashes
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
POLITICS is described as the art of the possible. In this regard the Pakistan People’s Party after the recent election has secured a majority in the federal legislature, achieved the ouster of a former dictator without bloodshed and has recently had its co-chairman elected to the presidency.
The PPP is also well represented in most provincial governments through majorities or coalitions. Along the way they have been accused of compromising on principles, horse-trading, kowtowing and breaking accords. In all this their approach seems to be the pursuance of the possible grounded in realpolitik.
The reality is that the PPP has control of most levers of power in the country. One assumes that like political parties everywhere, it has sought power through the ballot box to implement its manifesto promises. Its 2008 manifesto aims at providing education, enlightenment, employment and food, clothing and housing for all; the PPP mantra before and since winning the election has been that ‘democracy is the best revenge’.
Of course, the current political setup and power structure has numerous glaring deficiencies and historical baggage. The fundamental idea of checks and balances in a parliamentary democracy becomes irrelevant when the president has absolute power of dissolving the legislature or when the co-chairman of the same party as the federal government is also the president.
This is without considering the historical role of the Army in the affairs of the state and a judicial hierarchy mired in crisis.
The litmus test (that may be an indicator of how Pakistan will be governed in the near future) for the legislature and the new president will be to implement the first pledge made in the 36-point 2008 manifesto: “The 1973 Constitution as on Oct 12, 1999 shall be restored save for the provisions of joint electorates, reserved seats for minorities and women, lowering of the voting age to 18, and increase in seats in parliament”.
Some may approve and others may not of who is elected to represent them but despite these arguments, one fact remains, that is all these individuals and parties have been elected through a fair democratic process.
The people of Pakistan now have two important avenues to hold the current government to account: (i) through their elected representatives and (ii) by voicing their opinion through a vibrant and vocal media (whose relatively recent emergence is probably the most critical development in the history of Pakistan).
If in four years’ time the people of Pakistan don’t like what they see, they have the potential possibility to replace their governors through the ballot box: an opportunity that has been denied them, historically.
At that time, the PPP could be truly tested for the second principle of its manifesto: “Democracy is our politics”.
The state of Pakistan has survived various disastrous, dictatorial governments in the past. It should survive a democratic one. It may be painful in the short term, but until the next few (verifiably fair elections), democracy in Pakistan, worst and all, deserves a chance.
R. MATIF
London, UK
RIGHT after taking over as head of the PPP, Asif Ali Zardari quoted the saying of Benezir Bhutto that democracy is the best revenge and he would revenge by changing the system.
Within a few hours of Mr Zardari’s winning the presidential election, opponent and vested groups have started exerting pressure for his quitting party politics and serving as impartial president. I think this pressure from these quarters is uncalled-for. Which president has served impartially?
Here I would like to mention that parliamentary form of government in Pakistan did not succeed during the previous 60 years and neither is it expected to succeed in the future as well.
The so-called establishment has specialised in creating rifts among democratic forces, brought down various governments and created an impression that our country is not suitable for democracy.
Thus there is dire need of reforms, mainly switching over from prevalent parliamentary form of government to a hybrid of both presidential and parliamentary form of governance, to avoid leaving any vacuum for self-assumed role of the establishment.
The office of the president, time and again, has been misused by the so-called establishment, notwithstanding the fact that political workers were elected as president and sent to the presidential palace.
The establishment, at its own, has assumed that the position of the president belonged to them: no matter whosoever is elected and brought into the presidential palace, he needs to budge under their pressure and take dictates from them.
It is also evident from the fact that within a span of 12 years – form 1988 to 1999 — five elected government were packed and parliaments dissolved. At the same time, absolute power has been accumulated in the office of the president, on the insistence of the establishment, notwithstanding the fact that our Constitution envisages parliamentary form of government.
There is dire need to change the system, especially this self-assumed role of the establishment. Moreover, the armed services do not have anything to do with the governance of the country and need to fulfil their legitimate role of securing borders from external threats.
On the contrary, time and again, they interrupted the democratic process and made our country insecure by interference in the affairs of the neighboring countries.
I think the proposed change of system has already taken place as Mr Zardari, head of the Pakistan People’s Party, a major democratic force in the country, assumed the office of president of Pakistan and is in best position to thwart any effort of undemocratic forces to destabilise a political process and make armed services to confine their role to constitutionally-assigned responsibilities only — securing borders of the country.
AZHAR GHUMRO
Karachi
YOUR report, ‘Pai forest in dire straits’ (Sept 3), is an eye-opener for authorities.
It is reported that once the forest spread over 4,000 acres — originally 5,901 acres, as an area of 1,015.4 acres was transferred to the department of agriculture and 140 acres given to the Army for the establishment of cantonment, which is located in Nawabshah district.
The forest has now fallen victim to the acute decade-long shortage of water caused by the irrigation department and failure of the forest department to check malpractices committed by influential locals, illegal logging, mass chopping of trees, encroachment and poaching.
The officials of the Worldwide Fund for Nature-Pakistan, working at the site, claim that the forest has been in this apathetic state for many years.
Similarly, the picture under the caption ‘Deforestation’ (Sept 4) showed labourers busy loading tree-trunks in a trolley after cutting full-grown trees in Sahreefpur forest near Naudero.
Obviously these barbaric acts cannot be carried out unless there is full patronage of the forest officials concerned.
If things continue to deteriorate in the present fashion, the small number of leftover woodlands will disappear like most of the forests, which have been mostly converted by the influential in their personal kettis.
If the government does not check further malpractices in this regard, time is not far off when the country, in general, and the province of Sindh, in particular, will be deprived their entire forestation: a catastrophe of the highest proportion.
ALTAMASH M. KURESHI
Karachi
MISUSE of cellphones by teenage students is creating many social and moral problems.
Parents usually provide cellphones to their children to keep track in schools and for better communication with them.
But they do not monitor that their children may misuse this facility and keep chatting, sending messages, etc, thus harming their studies and careers.
Nowadays messaging on cellphones has become a part of lifestyle by most teenagers. They are innocent and cannot visualise its bad effects at this stage.
A few boys and girls manage to talk for hours on, even till late night at home. This can create serious social problems.
A few schools have banned the use of cellphones during school hours but with futile results.
Instead of banning the use of cellphones, we should motivate our children and make them aware of the disadvantages it can have in spoiling careers etc.
I also request cellphone companies to introduce a special package for teenagers where parents can have access to the records of mobile conversations and sms.
This way they can monitor the activities of their children so that they do not get involved in any criminal or moral trap at the expense of their reputation/career.
SABA ANWAR
Islamabad
I AM a visually impaired person and teach computers in a local institution. The government of Pakistan has announced it will offer the following benefits to the people with disabilities in Pakistan.
1. Persons with disabilities can receive Rs1,000 every month directly from the provincial government.
2. Persons with severe disabilities can get Rs2,000 from the Benazir Social Security Fund For Independent Living which can help them to avail personal attendant services.
This meagre amount in my opinion is a complete waste. Instead the government should empower all existing institutions and training centres for the special persons to provide quality training and work for integration of such persons in the mainstream so that they are able to earn with dignity rather than live on ‘grants’.
Qualified auditors should be required to certify that organisations are employing the specified number of special persons.
The government right down to the city level should provide facilities for enabling mobility of the special persons.
We want to live with dignity, not on charity. We have skills, we have demonstrated our ability.
We need facilities and rehabilitation centres to enable special persons to join the social mainstream.
SHAZIA HASAN
Karachi
ONE wonders if the dastardly hands that took away the life of a humanity-serving doctor, Abdul Mannan Siddique (Sept 9), in mofassil Mirpurkhas, in the modest image of Schweitzer, can even visualise their own feelings were they, their families and their larger circle of friends and grateful patients, to be placed in similar cruel and traumatising circumstances for similar senseless, inhuman and divisive reasons?
No, they are impervious to the havoc they have played with innocent lives for they have allowed their humane side to be deadened by vested obscurantism, the bane of Muslim societies for many, many long years.
However, if only to assuage the inconsolable feelings of the grieving family and all who have been equally saddened by this patent carnage, isn’t it in good order for peaceful and law-abiding citizens of all tormented communities to ask as to where, when such tragedies occur, are the resonating larynxes of the Cambridge-tutored long-marching Russells: of the apostles of Walpole’s panacean democracy; of the suo motu sensitive jurists; of the podium-thumping moralists; of the nightingales of human rights; of the mollifiers of minorities; of the columnists and the much-touted free media; and, finally, of the administration.
The long suffering masses expect that the din of the collective resonance of these sectors of society, particularly, should be such that none dare do such acts again; may God be with us.
M.J.ASA’D
Karachi
WHILE a two-day holiday is welcomed as a fuel-saving measure, the closure of petrol pumps will only create long queues on Thursdays.
It would be far better to reduce the speed limit on all highways by 20km per hour. For example, reducing the speed limit on M2 from 120 to 100kph would only lengthen the journey from Lahore to Islamabad by half an hour but use 15 per cent less fuel. (Smaller cars will save more fuel). Fuel with be saved in thousands of litres per day! Just for driving slower. Closing petrol pumps is like banning uphill driving.
SHAHRYAR SAIGOL
Via email
(II)
The new measures to reduce oil consumption in the country envisage two official holidays in a week, as well as closure of petrol pumps on Fridays.
A taxi driver, who was hired by me on the 8th instant, when told of the ‘good news’, laughed loudly.
The witty driver was quick enough to respond that the government is full of ‘nincompoops’.
No matter, if petrol pumps are kept closed on Fridays, he said, motorists would get the refuel tanks filled on Thursdays.
It may only draw a big rush of the motorists at each petrol pump station in the city on Thursdays, to which we are used. Then how will it result in saving oil consumption, as contemplated by authorities who lack imagination.
A COMMUTER
Karachi
THE Senate has approved the Industrial Relations Bill 2008, which will repeal the infamous Industrial Relations Ordinance of 2002 (IRO 2002) and revive the law of 1969 (IRO 1969) “for not more than one-and-a-half years” when a consensus legislation will be tabled in parliament (Dawn, September 5).
It would have been better if the Industrial Relations Act 2008 would have been enacted after due deliberations between the stakeholders, i.e. representatives of the employers, workers and the government.
If the IRO 2002 could remain operational for six years without any trouble, it could continue to be in force for another few months and some of the obsolete clauses of the IRO 1969 would not have been revived unnecessarily.
A few advantages and disadvantages of reviving the IRO 1969 are mentioned below:
— The IRO 1969 (Section 1) did not apply to the Pakistan Television Corporation or the Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation and the security staff employed by the PIA Corporation. The IRO 2002 made the law applicable to these organisations, which will now again be not applicable to them.
— Under definition of ‘workman’ in the IRO 1969 (Section 2) the supervisors drawing salary of more than Rs800 were not considered as a workman. The IRO 2002 made the law applicable to supervisers who will now again be ousted from the purview.
— Under Section 7 (J) of the IRO 1969, the union office-bearers were elected for two years which term was extended to three years by the IRO 2002.
— Under Section 23 B and 23 C of the IRO 1969, the redundant forums of ‘workers’ participation in management’ and the joint management board, respectively, deleted by the IRO 2002 will be revived. These two forums have overlapping functions with another useful forum of ‘Works Council’, which was kept in tact in both the ordinances. Besides, Section 23 B contains a clause on union’s option to request for second audit of a company, which always remained a bone of contention between the employers and unions.
— Under Section 46 (5) of the IRO 2002, the labour court had the power to allow compensation to a worker aggrieved by his wrongful termination from service, which will now be withdrawn.
— The forum of Labour Appellate Tribunal, Section 38 of the IRO 1969, will be revived.
— A progressive new clause on “observance of workers and employers reciprocal rights and obligations” introduced in the IRO 2002 will now be withdrawn.
A perusal of the above shows that the IRO 2002 was not as dreadful as we assume. Nevertheless, the government should immediately convene a tripartite conference of the stakeholders so that the controversies shrouding this most important labour legislation are resolved without further delay.
PARVEZ RAHIM
Karachi
RECENTLY, the PIA management has restored the previous procedure for entry of its retired employees into the PIA head office premises, which is a praiseworthy step.
The procedure adopted by one of the previous chairmen was highly disgraceful to any retired employee who had otherwise given best years of his life to PIA ranging up to 30 to 40 years.
As per the abandoned procedure, the retired employee first had to go to the main reception where only after getting permission from the intended department over phone he was allowed to visit by wearing a ‘visitor’s card’ and also restricting his visit to any single floor.
Since many departments were relocated or interconnected at the head office, such retired employees had to face humiliating attitude at the hands of PIA security staff as per instances, in case his visit to another floor became unavoidable without involving the said lengthy procedure again.
I hope that the new PIA management would further protect the interests of retired employees as they had given their precious years of life to PIA which was once known as one of the best airlines of the world, therefore, their contribution in this regard cannot be denied or lessened in any case. Nevertheless, they deserve such favour.
MOHAMMAD KHAN SIAL
Karachi
SOMEONE played a practical joke on the Pakistani nation on Sept 3. The so-called attack on the PM’s motorcade was a joke. How can a PM’s motorcade be called one when the PM was not in any of the motorcars?
How can a car be PM’s car when the PM was not in it? How can one say ‘PM had a narrow escape’ when the PM was hundreds of miles away at the time of attack?
Further, a TV channel tried to create sensation out of the news which showed sheer poor judgment.
If anyone thinks that terrorist are so stupid that they will attack a motorcade when the PM was not in it, he is making a fool of himself.
Terrorists have shown a 99 per cent accuracy in targets and have seldom missed the target.
Under such circumstances, who will believe this was a terrorists act.
To carry this joke further, a police officer stated that it is yet to be decided whether the car was hit by bullet or a stone.
The episode of shooting seems a crude attempt to divert people’s attention and to win sympathies for a government which has done nothing in the last seven months.
INSPECTOR QABACHA
Lahore
THE petition of a candidate (‘Appeal of a hapless candidate’, Sept 6) was extremely moving.
The chief minister of Sindh, as well as the provincial education department, who in his cold logic has denied them appointments, must realise that these 600 candidates, who have rightfully qualified for these jobs have families to support.
Strangely it is at the hands of a popular government that candidates who have come through a Public Service Commission are now being denied of their legitimate right.
I hope their appeal must have got attention of Asif Ali Zardari, now an elected president of Pakistan, and the prime minister, to whom it was addressed. The grievances of these 600 aspirants need to be addressed sooner else people will lose confidence in the credibility of representative system of the country.
BADAR JATOI
Canada
The Economic Coordination Committee, presided over by Finance Minister Naveed Qamar, took a decision to instruct the National Transmission and Distribution Company (NTDC ) to charge the same power purchase rates from the KESC as the other distribution companies of Wapda (Aug 27).
Bakhshe hain humko ishq nay wo jurratein Majaaz
Dartay nahi siaysat-i-ahl-i-jahan say hum
Previously they were charging Rs10 per unit to the KESC against Rs3.70 to rest of Pakistan. This amounts to 270 per cent more than anyone else. Karachi is a ‘Ghareeb Parwar’ city with more than a fair percentage living in shanty towns.
All the residents of Karachi, the poor and the not-so-poor will welcome this decision. It will also remove this anomaly which may be there since long.
S. NAYYAR IQBAL RAZA
Karachi
THE recent clashes at the University of Karachi claimed the lives of three students and one security man, while many others were injured.
Being a student of the university, I am witness to everyday clashes that have resumed since the ban on political groups has been lifted. Due to their activities the scheduled students’ week has been cancelled.
The programme scheduled was disturbed and the threats were also received by the students of the mass communication department not to perform the historical dramatisation of the project which is part of their assignment.
Through this letter, I would like to wake up all the authorities and students to see, what is right and what is wrong, why do they come to universities and what are they learning?
After all it’s our university and we want a violence-free university.
FATIMA SOOFI DESAI
Karachi
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