| September 22, 2008 | Monday | Ramazan 21, 1429 |
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Sarah Palin the running mate
The plight of doctors
US aggression and our new strategy
Measures to avoid fiscal deficit
Austerity drive
Incompetence all around
Saving fuel
Weekly offs
Basmati rice and unfair business
Price hike
Unemployment for locals
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
THIS is with the reference to the letters published on Sept 14 and 19, regarding the Big Bang (LHC) experiment at CERN, Switzerland.
There are fears among civil society organisations and some scientists that the LHC experiment could produce black holes that could suck up anything around them including the whole earth. Such fears prompted legal actions in the US and Europe to halt the operation of the LHC, but skeptics who were raising concerns have failed in their legal battle against this unprecedented experiment.
The experiment could reveal more about ‘dark matter,’ anti-matter and possibly hidden dimensions of space and time and it could also find evidence of the hypothetical particle -- the Higgs boson -- believed to give mass to all other particles, and thus to matter that makes up the universe
The project organised by 20 European member-nations of CERN has attracted researchers from 80 nations while some 1,200 were from the United States, an observer country, which contributed 531 million dollars for this purpose.
In fact, CERN is a fine example in which high technology and science reinforce each other and that of international collaboration. In one aspect, CERN has a very special relationship with Pakistan that has provided the first and crucial evidence of unification through experiments done at CERN in 1973. One of the predictions of electro-weak unification theory proposed by Dr Abdus Salam, Weinberg and Glashow resulted in a Nobel Prize in physics in 1979 to these physicists. Further the mediators, W and Z bosons, of electroweak force predicted by the electroweak theory (called the standard model) were also discovered at CERN in the 1980s.
The LHC is designed to create temperatures and energy densities prevalent at trillionth of a second after the Big Bang. It will produce a host of particles known, expected and unexpected. A step towards a single unified theory embracing all forces and all matter requires a new type of symmetry called super-symmetry which has physical implications of crucial relevance to the LHC. Super-symmetry implies the existence of partner species (called sparticles) to known species of particles (electrons, quarks, neutrinos, etc.).
But the question arises: do super symmetric particles exist and are source of the dark matter? Today physicists believe that visible matter – the stars and galaxies -- make up only the four per cent of the energy density of the universe. The rest is believed to be some mysterious dark matter and dark energy.
What lies beyond the standard model? Is it super-symmetry to explain the dark matter? Are there higher dimensions that string theory requires? These are the expected questions to be answered. However, finding something that we don’t expect would open new vistas on the nature of reality and that is what would be even more exciting.
Pakistan has already established a linkage with CERN. The realisation of decision-makers that LHC, if it comes about would necessarily incorporate technologies at the most advanced level, that resulted in signing a cooperation agreement in 1994.
In addition, Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) signed an agreement for an ‘in kind’ contribution worth half a million dollars for the construction of eight magnet supports for the Compact Muon Soleniod (CMS) detector.
The Pakistani scientists prepared CMS detector consisting of assembling and testing of 288 Resistive Plate Chambers, helped in fabrication of mechanical pieces at a cost much less than the European cost and designed tracker alignment and other opto-electronic related work.
This was followed by another agreement in 2000 increasing Pakistan’s contribution to $1.8 million. In the same year the National Centre for Physics (NCP) became a full member of CMS. In 2003 a protocol was signed enhancing Pakistan’s total contribution to the LHC programme to $10 million. In 2004 NCP became LHC Computing Grid (LCG) Node. In 2006, during the visit of the president of Pakistan, the government of Pakistan announced a generous contribution of five million Swiss francs further expanding the scope of cooperation.
Fifty-four years ago, in September 1954, CERN, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, officially came into existence. Its founders hoped that “it would play a fundamental role in rebuilding European Physics to its former grandeur, reverse the brain drain of the brightest and best to the US, and consolidate post-war European integration.”
Today, CERN, one of the outstanding high energy physics laboratories in the world, has not only more than fulfilled the goals of its founder, but is home of thousands of physicists and engineers from all over the world.
ZEESHAN AHMAD
Islamabad
THIS refers to the letters, ‘Sarah Palin the running mate’, by Jawad Ahmed (Sept 16) and, ‘A worldview and US polls’, by Khalid Chaudhry (Sept 15).
It was quite exhilarating for me to note that Barack Obama’s grandmother is my namesake, as is the Republican nominee for the vice president’s post. It is a great feeling to realise that the name Sarah is found in the followers of several religions and on all the continents. This is indeed a very powerful bond, as observed by Mr Chaudhry.
After reading that letter, a friend suggested that if I were a US citizen, I would surely have voted for Sarah Palin, being a woman and a namesake. However, upon reflection, it was clear that I wouldn’t be biased by considerations of gender or having the same first name.
More important for me would be to see who would serve the interests not only of the country but of the six billion plus human beings that could be affected by who enters the White House.
Also, it would be important to know whether the person I vote for actually practices what he or she preaches?
On this score, I am doubtful if John McCain would be able to make a major change in the policies being followed by George Bush, whose war in Iraq has cost the US over a trillion dollars, according to Joseph Steiglitz, the Nobel Prize winning economist. It has also made the Americans very unpopular and insecure in the world.
As far as his running mate is concerned, I must admit that I have a very dim view of her inability to provide a morally sound upbringing for her daughter, who’s become pregnant out of wedlock at 17. I know that there are American mothers and their daughters who are very particular about sexual propriety.
Montaigne had said: “There is little less trouble in governing a private family than a whole kingdom,” while Pope Pius XI held: “The family is more sacred than the state.” In these words are lessons for Ms Palin and the Americans.
SARAH A.
Karachi
I WANT to bring to the notice of the Chief of the Army Staff, the Surgeon-General of the Pakistan Army and the president of the College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan (CPSP) the plight of ‘civilian FCPS residents’ at Armed Forces Institute of Dentistry (AFID), Rawalpindi.
The civilian resident dentists here have to work for free and no stipend is being paid to them during the three year course of their postgraduate training, which is against the rules of CPSP.
Instead, they have to pay Rs12,000 a year as tuition fee to the Armed Forces Postgraduate Medical Institute (AFPGMI). In contrast, the house officers, who are junior to the residents, have recently been granted the stipend.
AFID is the sole tertiary care dental hospital of the Pakistan Army which also provides postgraduate training in four disciplines of dentistry, to the dentists who qualify in the examinations conducted by the CPSP.
These dentists are eligible for a stipend of at least Rs15,000 a month according to the rules of the CPSP, but for some unknown reason it is denied to them, though the same amount of work (if not more) is taken from them as their military counterparts.
After graduating from the dental college, and qualifying in the FCPS-I examinations, one expects to be able to earn a respectable amount of money, so that one does not have to depend on one’s parents, at least for personal expenditure, who have already spent a handsome amount on the education of their children.
Moreover, having a paid job inculcates not only a sense of achievement and pride, but also a sense of responsibility in the doctor.
On the other hand, our counterparts in the fields of engineering, IT and management are offered quite a handsome salary package immediately after graduation, although their jobs don’t involve dealing with a human life directly.
The relevant authorities should look into the matter with concern and grant the civilian residents a stipend, which can make them self-sufficient and serve with pride.
DR MOHAMMAD UMER AFID
Rawalpindi
AMERICA has started raiding Pakistan territory with impunity and without any regard for international law. Having failed in their seven year old war on terror in Afghanistan, they are now targeting Pakistani land and its innocent people — what a reward for siding with them and losing thousands of our people in military and civil ranks!
According to Col David Hunt, a former Pentagon expert on Afghanistan, also an attendant of backdoor briefings by the Bush administration (Sept 13), the CIA had informed Pakistan of attacks by ground troops recently, and the impudent declaration: “We don’t ask permission. We told them, we were coming”.
Hamid Karzai, who was unwisely allowed to sit with Asif Zardari at his first press conference, declared unabashedly, on return to Afghanistan, that he had advised the Bush administration three years ago to mount attacks on Pakistan’s border areas.
Our ambassador in Washington and his like should now refrain from downplaying the American highhandedness and hoodwinking of their own people.
In this critical situation, we should make a shift in the strategy to safeguard our integrity against foreign violations; we are not weaker than Venezuela, consider the following:
1. Refuse to accept/seek any foreign aid to kill our own people in our land and risk our Army’s position.
2. Withdraw our ambassador from Washington, in the first place, if Americans don’t listen to us.
3. Let our armed forces exercise their legitimate role to safeguard our sovereignty against foreign incursions. At this stage, the militants should also keep their cool, desist from destructive activities and respect the democratic government in Pakistan. Also, the ‘supreme’ parliament should wake up and discuss the critical matters confronting the country.
MOHAMMAD ALIM SHAIKH
Karachi
SOONER or later the country will face a serious liquidity crunch, following which some financial measures will be overdue. How long can we live on aid from the US, Saudi Arabia, IMF, ADB, etc.
Sooner or later, they will themselves be in a financial crunch and even today giants like Lehman Brothers and AIIG Meryll Lynch are going bankrupt. One day the Afghan war will come to an end, then where from we will get money.To overcome such a situation, we should start adopting some saving measures for the unforeseen days:
1. Medical treatment abroad should be completely banned.
2. Haj and Umra on government expense should be banned.
3. Overtime in government and other offices should be stopped and it should be ensured that all work is completed within the office hours.
4. For public transport, CNG buses should be run to avoid congestion and save fuel bill.
5. PIA should have only economy class or economy plus class
6. Import of car above 1300cc and SUV be stopped immmediately.
7. Billions of rupees are spent each year on payment of fake medical bills. The problem needs to be addressed.
8. One dish or high tea should be introduced at weddings.
9. Dowry should be banned or limited to one Rs100,00.
10 A two-day weekly off should be introduced immediately as with slowdown of economy there is less work to do.
11. Daylight saving should continue even if there is enough power. It should be from April to October every year
12. The Higher Education Commission should send scholars/teachers/students to India and Sri Lanka instead of sending them to the US and Europe.
Without developing primary and college education, spending billions on higher education will not be worth anything.
PROF MUHAMMAD IQBAL
Karachi
THE government is rightly taking step to narrow the fiscal deficit by removing subsidy on gas and streamlining tax collection. However, it is important that austerity with accountability starts at the top.The president of Islamic Republic of Pakistan should set an example by voluntarily handing over the wealth and assets to treasury that he and his late wife failed to declare. If the national exchequer can realise a billion dollars from him and another five billion from other leaders like Sharifs and Chaudhrys, Pakistan can have a good start.
Combined with the above, the government must minimise non-productive spendings like on President’s House and Prime Minister’s House (Rs50,000 per month), tax luxury cars, including those for legislators: this will show the world that we are responsible and serious about improving our economic health.
The government also has to reduce workforce dependency on government jobs by 10 per cent every year for the next five years to bring that number to 15 per cent. Civil servants need to understand that it is ‘pay for performance’ redundancy from organisations like PIA (25 managers for 19 planes), Railways, Steel Mills, etc.
Military and civil armed forces must realise that they are the public servants and if they think the salaries are not up to the mark, they should leave the jobs and go into private ventures.
I have served in Singapore and now in the USA. This is a norm from one of the largest to one of the smallest countries.
U. AHMED
United States
I AM thankful to Danish Ozar Zuby for his comments on my article, ‘Incompetence all around’ (Sept 1).
In his exuberance to defend Pakistan’s good name, he seems to have missed the central point of my article. My basic argument was that for about 30 years we did well and were quoted as a model for the developing world, but then things started stagnating.
Finally a process of regression started and now we are counted amongst the 10 most dysfunctional states of the world. I would have been happy if he had analysed reasons for this regression.
There are countries which were far behind us and were trying to learn a thing or two from us, but have succeeded in changing the lives of their people in one generation. Their progress is all-encompassing and all segments of society have benefited from it. Isn’t it time that we start learning from them?
No one denies that at individual level we have brilliant people. The list can be very long but what about the collective level.
Do we compare well with Chinese, Malaysians, Thais or Taiwanese as a nation?
If we have produced one Dr Abdul Salam (and discarded him for his religious beliefs), what is the state of our science and technology? Where do we stand in social sciences? What are our productivity levels? What is the cost of doing business in Pakistan?
I have always held the view that the people of Pakistan are not the villains, but victims (of an oligarchic system which stifles their potential to move forward).
By and large, they are hardworking, intelligent and less demanding, but they do not get even the basic necessities of life which are sine qua non for development.
Whatever may be the reasons for our backwardness, the fact remains that as a nation we cannot get away from the image we have got worldwide. The question is with this heavy baggage, how can we survive in this world of cut-throat competition?
Misplaced patriotism cannot solve our problems. We have to seriously probe as to what is wrong with us. Our tragedy is that we seem to have run out of options: bureaucracy, army, politicians all have in turn ruled the country, but the level of incompetence has increased in each succeeding regime.
TASNEEM SIDDIQUI
Karachi
I agree with the need for reducing car speed to save energy. I myself had experienced this. While travelling from Lahore to Islamabad in full speed, I was bone dry when I reached Islamabad.
The first thing I did was refilled tank to full. Stayed there for four days and then returned with the same fuel in tank at a speed of 90kph. I consumed only 75 per cent fuel and my mileage was excellent on that trip. It took me only four-and-a-half hours to reach Lahore back time.
Also, if all the government officers who use escort cars daily stop using the green number plate cars and avoid police escort, this would not only reduce security risk and police escorts but could also be utilised somewhere else for public benefit.
If one journey of such officers costs, say 50 litres a day, one can calculate it for 300 working days and see that it comes out to be 15,000 litres per year per one officer.
Think of how much fuel would be used if there are 1,000 such escorts every day throughout the country.
Not just million but billions of rupees can be saved. This would reduce longer traffic jams resulting in burning undue fuel on the roads. Red light on every crossing should not be more than 60 seconds. There should only be 15 seconds given for drivers to move everyone. This would avoid traffic jams.
KHALID IQBAL HAMID
Lahore
I DISAGREE with the arguments by Syed A. Mateen in his letter (Sept 16). We as a nation have our own leisure and working patterns. Two or even three weekly holidays will not affect the economy or social status of our workers. We will only end up spending more money on two holidays.
In my opinion we have to work hard to solve our national issues.
The president had cancelled the holiday offered by the Sindh government to the general public when he swore in as president. I hope he can do a lot if he continues to be the president.
SYED ABID RAZA
Karachi
IT is not a secret that India had been initially selling Pakistani basmati in Dubai and abroad by buying it in bulk from the Dubai market and reselling it in five-kg packing, branding it as Indian basmati.
This unethical business practice went on unobstructed with the full knowledge of our government, business concerns, chambers of commerce and industries, Export Promotion Bureau, the Rice Export Board and the government of India: to an extent that the Indian government illegally announced super basmati rice as an Indian variety of rice.
Consumers abroad, who are unaware of the fact, have been deceived tactfully and craftily by Indian traders. This has badly damaged Pakistani basmati rice sales in foreign markets as reported in the media last year. However, nothing has been done to check this situation.
India has already misreported on basmati rice in EU and FSA and has misinformed consumers at large. The problem has now assumed a critical state and needs to be taken heed of immediately.
A new government is in order and people are optimistic that it will bring about a change for the better. We are confident that this matter will not be kept in the cold storage as the former government did. It will be taken up at all the right forums and levels effectively and proficiently.
S.ALINA MASROOR NAQVI
Karachi
I HAVE observed that during Ramazan prices of fruits and other edibles are sky-high. However, a more painful thing is that authorities do not take any action to control the prices.
Thus middle class people are not able to buy any fruits or other special things for Iftari. This goes to show that those who can afford edibles during Ramazan are the ones who can survive the month.
Why does the local government not take strict action and punish the real culprits?
ASHFAQ SHARIF
Karachi
I AM a resident of Jhanagara village, situated about 15km from Bhit gasfield. It is to bring to the knowledge of the company’s officials and the public at large that the rights of the locals are crushed by the community officers.
They are cosying up to the local influential people and are busy making money by putting false claims. As defined in the petroleum policy of the government of Pakistan 2007, the company has an obligation to provide health and safety initiatives and employment to the local community but the scenario is totally different here.
We are feeling the pinch of the financial crisis as inflation has reached a record high. People who live in rural areas are finding it extremely difficult to support their families. It is hoped the company will review its policy of employing locals.
I belong to that area and being a qualified member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), UK, I met local community officers but they ignored me by giving fictitious reasons.
One can well imagine how hard it was for me and my family to support my hard-earned degree of ACCA.
WALI MUHAMMAD CHANDIO
Karachi
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