| September 25, 2008 | Thursday | Ramazan 24, 1429 |
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Govt and the rising prices
Inefficient ATM service
A dwindling economy
FBR website
Scary situation
Booming words
Our intelligence agencies
KU contract employees
Is the war over?
Part-time work
Development or degradation
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
THE attack on Islamabad’s Marriott shows it is time for our leaders to get real and bring together the whole parliament and all other parties, as well as military and academic experts, whether serving or retired, to figure out the causes and remedy of this problem.
Robert Fisk is a noted journalist and expert on the Middle East and Afghan affairs and often provides very valuable insights. His report, ‘Why does the US think it can win in Afghanistan?’ (Sept 20), is a timely piece from which much can be learned.
He begins with the situation in Algeria, where the American and French intervention robbed the Islamists of victory following their electoral win in 1997, causing them to start a violent struggle for their rights. After that, the establishment had declared ‘victory’ over the Islamists but thousands of Muslims were killed in the terrorism.
The violence, which had subsided to an extent in the past year or two, has surged again. Oddly, the authorities, as sarcastically noted by an Algerian journalist, are claiming that the increase in attacks is an undeniable proof of the defeat of terrorism.Fisk then says the West has been peddling the same nonsense for years in southwest Asia: “First of all, back in 2001, we won the war in Afghanistan by overthrowing the Taliban. Then we marched off to win the war in Iraq. Now — with at least one suicide bombing a day and the nation carved into mutually antagonistic sectarian enclaves — we have won the war in Iraq and are heading back to re-win the war in Afghanistan where the Taliban, so thoroughly trounced by our chaps seven years ago, have proved their moral and political bankruptcy by recapturing half the country.”
He then observes: “Back in the late 19th century, the Taliban — yes, the British actually called their black-turbaned enemies ‘Talibs’ — would cut the throats of captured British soldiers. Now, this unhappy tradition is repeated — and we are surprised!”
A French soldier described the Taliban with brutal frankness: “They are good soldiers but pitiless enemies.” Mr Fisk has also pointed out that the Nato alliance has slaughtered hundreds of Afghan civilians this year alone.
He then warns: “What the British couldn’t do in the 19th century and the Russians…. at the end of 20th century, we’re going to achieve at the start of the 21st century, taking our terrible war into nuclear-armed Pakistan just for good measure.”
Incidentally, another report in the same issue says eight family members, including three women, were killed in an air strike in Iraq, sparking anti-American demonstrations, where large crowds chanted: “America is the enemy of God.” A third story notes that the number of Pakistanis killed in the war on terror is now the third highest, after Iraq and Afghanistan.
All of this should make it clear that Musharraf unwisely converted US war into our own by needlessly antagonising the militants through following Washington’s agenda. A proof of this is that immediately after the Feb 18 election, the Taliban had stopped suicide bombings in the hope that the Musharraf party’s defeat would end Islamabad’s pro-America policies. When that didn’t happen, the attacks resumed.
The US couldn’t win the guerilla war in Vietnam, Iran and Afghanistan, while Hezbollah defeated Israel. No wonder, 81 per cent Americans and 85 per cent Pakistanis think their countries are headed in the wrong direction. Two-thirds of the former also now believe it was a mistake to invade Iraq while 72 per cent Pakistanis want the militancy issue to be solved through talks.
Gen Aslam Beg’s statement (Sept 22) calling for talks with the Taliban and disallowing US interference is important. The nation’s collective wisdom and resolve must be mobilised, which offer the only hope for treating this problem and saving Pakistan.
Q. IQBAL
Karachi
IN nascent democracies, as one writer in your columns said, politics is an art of the possible by deceptions, lies, hypocrisy, twisted logic, vested myopic objectives.
I have found it true in Pakistan with the exception of the Quaid-i-Azam. The horrendous situation created by Bush in Fata: the government and its pliant media — anchorpersons, columnists — have successfully taken every attention from their worst economic management, failures, killing prices of bare essentials, highest, unjustifiable electricity tariff, GSTs, levies, etc.
The irony is that the world prices of oil, furnace oil, petroleum products, edible oil, etc, went down by around 30 to 40 per cent but the PPP government kept increasing, complying with the WB/ IMF agenda to undo subsidies when their policies are failing in the world.
Nevertheless, I shudder at the thought of 70 per cent higher electricity bills that I shall probably receive from June due to crushing tariff increase by the PPP government which will kill at least 140 million people: poor, middle class, retired pensioners, fixed income, middle, low income groups, widows of Pakistanc and others.
It is also true of higher bills for gas, telephone, besides inflation running into (officially) 34 per cent but unofficially to 100 per cent on daily goods. To defend the incomptence, PPP ministers boast to adhere to philosophies (to exploit public feelings) of Benazir Bhutto which would make her cry in heavens.
May I, nevertheless, ask how come the most criticised shortage created by the previous government of 4,500 MGW electricity was optimally reduced after paying Rs40 billion to IPPS?
It obviously means the government was deceiving public to increase tariff by 70 per cent , cruelly increased the oil price when it fell from $147 to now below $100 a barrel.
Why didn’t the PPP pay earlier to save thousands of trillions of rupees’ loss to the national economy, agriculture, industries, exports, stock markets, FDIs, political unrest? It must be probed at highest level. Let Dr Salman Shah and Marvi Memon appear in TV debate with the PPP economic team to explain their position.
In the mean time the government must reduce prices of oil, gas, CNG, daily essential goods to Feb 18 level which they most crticise.
MARYAM HABIB
Mirpurkhas
People say that the banking system has progressed in the last eight years. Despite the opening of several multinational banks and privatisation of our national bank, customers are still not getting quality service and no one is here to listen to their complaints about the banks.
I am identifying one very common problem and expect the SBP will do something about it. I have read so many times that the SBP has warned banks to keep their ATMs operational throughout the day but I haven’t found that happening. Those that are working through other banks charge Rs15 from the customers’ account.
Why does the bank charge Rs15 from the customer as it is not his fault if his bank’s ATM is not functioning properly? Nobody is able to complain because the financial ombudsmen are not accessible, nor is the SBP.
If you use your debit card and credit card, then shopkeepers charge 2.5 per cent extra. In a high inflation period where everything is expensive, the customer has to bear the costs of ATM charges or service fees as well for which he gets inappropriate services.
I earnestly request the SBP to do something so that a customer can receive good service especially during Eid holidays.
AKBER HUSSAIN KHAN
Via email
SOON after the democratic government took over the rein of the country’s business, there has been much talk about the poor health of the economy. It is mindboggling when one counts the total number of days that the present government has been in power, and fails to understand how an economy which was faring well a few months ago has suddenly fallen to tatters.
Apparently no mega investment has been initiated by the new government so far, nor has the money been spent on lavish foreign tours of the rulers, as hardly two or three foreign trips would have been made by the prime minister after being sworn in.
We have also been hearing about the declining foreign reserves, ably accumulated by the previous government. One factor in the declining the foreign reserves is obvious — the weakening of our rupee to foreign currency as we are paying more in the form of foreign payments against import bills, and getting no advantage of exports in return because of our least capability in exportable productions.
This gap is now due to be reduced as the oil prices have fallen from $145 per barrel to $91 per barrel.
Such a bad economy is, therefore, not the result of the policies of the present rulers. It was never in good health as was falsely painted during the dictatorial rule by handpicked economists on the advice of the international financial institutions. Such a false picture of a vibrant economy was in fact serving the interest of world powers to keep the dictatorial rule intact.
However, the present government has failed to come up with a fact sheet of the prevailing economy, and as soon as they took over, they seem to have been shifting the blame of bad policies handed down by the dictatorial rule to them.
There is no excuse for the present government to tell the nation that the previous government’s wrong policies coupled with manipulated economy figures are the reason for the current crisis.
The only course now left for the present government is to improve their image, and come up with an effective strategy to rightsize the economy before it is too late.
ABDUL SAMAD CHANNA
Karachi
The FBR’s website was recently updated to facilitate e-filing of income tax returns for the year 2007-2008. However, I would like to bring to the attention of the highups that the e-filing website and most of the features are highly flawed and dysfunctional. The site in general also lacks the basic features such as a site must possess.
If you make a call, you end up listening to music for a long time as no one picks up the phone. When you walk into the office, the RTOs staff seems to want to rob you the moment you step in the premises, and is totally non-cooperative. With the recent tragic events at Marriot Hotel, Islamabad, whatever services were left of the e-filing website have been shut down.
The downloadable Income Tax Assistant 2008 is not of much help either because it misses most of the documentation and is not up to date. With the last date for filing of income tax approaching fast, I would suggest the government should take some immediate steps to facilitate the citizens in filing their tax returns.
MUHAMMAD FAISAL
Karachi
Ismail Khan’s write-up on Bajaur operation (Sept 20) and other news stories on the ongoing operation in the Frontier Province and the Marriot Hotel blasts in Islamabad make readers very scary.
We all know that we are suffering the consequences of Zia ul Haq’s Afghan misadventure and Musharraf’s war on terror but the nation needs to know why the situation was allowed to reach this scary and grim state.
We need to know who the so-called Taliban are. Are they the same people who went to Afghanistan when the Taliban ruled that country? If they are why were they allowed to resettle in the tribal areas? If they are a home-grown phenomenon, where did they receive their training to fight as ferociously as they do? Who are their financiers? Where do they get sophisticated and modern weaponry from? How have they acquired latest means of communications?
When they were digging tunnels and bunkers, why were they not spotted? When their Majalis e Shura holds meetings, why don’t we know the place(s) where they meet? The media has access to some of these terrorists, why doesn’t the government?I for one have never seen any report or an analysis that might answer these questions.
If Afghanistan and India are conspiring to destabilise us, why can’t we openly point our finger at them just as they do at us? Why are we always defensive in our responses to their accusations?
I know we have a powerful establishment wedded to certain theories and practices, but now we have democracy and a free media. Why can’t the free media and the democratic government expose the establishment’s theories and practices that have brought us to this sorry state of affairs?
The world kept telling us to ‘do more’ and we kept telling the world ‘give us credible intelligence and we would do more’. Does it mean that our intelligence agencies were so inept that they didn’t know what was going on in Swat, FATA and Bajaur? May be we should have listened to the world for our own sake and ‘done more’ to destroy the areas where the Taliban were being indoctrinated and trained.
M. ASLAM KHAN
Karachi
‘Never before in the history of Pakistan has a president on his own given up his powers’, said President Zardari in his address to parliament.
Had these words come from the people or from the media or from an admiring world instead of from the President’ mouth, that would have been a tribute, and honour, for the President and for the country.
How would he give up the powers? The answer was a downer, a squeak — ‘I have asked an all parties parliamentary committee to ‘revisit’ Article 17, 58 (2B)’.
Revisit? Like his people revisited the judges restoration issue, only to discover new ‘reasons’ at each ‘revisit’ why, despite Zardari’s firm commitments including in writing, it could not be done.
The nation is saddened and amused, the world is intrigued and dumbfounded, at Zardari and his people’s cunning and nimbleness.
The committee’s conclusion which is entirely likely with ANP, JUI, MQM and the like on the committee that, despite Zardari’s wish to do so, he cannot ‘constitutionally’ and without ponderous, convoluted and unending parliamentary process, give up any Presidential powers, will become another rabbit pulled out from the PPP bag.
Rabbits multiply fast, but have of late been multiplying unusually fast in Pakistan.
S. KHALID HUSAIN
Karachi
A truck loaded with over half a ton of explosives, goes loitering about the streets of Islamabad, choosing at will, to detonate where it wanted to. Maybe it’s time, our so-called security apparatus started looking more at home. Maybe it’s also time they stopped playing politics and started doing their job for which they are paid through tax payers money.
We should be grateful to the Australian, South African, New Zealand and England teams for not coming to Pakistan for the ICC Champions Trophy. If they had been staying at Marriott for the tournament, guess no one would have ever shown up in Pakistan for another cricket, hockey or even a kabaddi tournament. We should gracefully give up the right to host the ICC Trophy.
The level of sophistication of this attack shows clearly that the so called self proclaimed “Jihadists” are being aided by the people that these very terrorists call “Infidels”. Foreign agencies have become involved and are fully exploiting the situation to their advantage. Probably the government doesn’t have the guts to say it out aloud, but it’s true.
The terrorists are being aided and abetted by neighbouring countries’ intelligence agencies and our government doesn’t even dare say anything about it. We keep on sinking to another level everyday.
It is time we stopped embarrassing ourselves by claiming everything is safe here, and inviting people to come and do business and come and play tournaments, when we can’t protect ourselves. Not even the top diplomats and government people are safe. It’s time we stopped making a fool of ourselves. The terrorists have sent a clear message. No one is safe.
JUNAID NASEER
Via email
IN the last six months, the PM and the Sindh cabinet have on many occasions ordered the regularization of Grade 1-15 employees. Almost all other universities as well as at the PIA and the Pakistan Steel Mills have the daily wages employees been regularised.
In Karachi University, some employees working against budgeted post are still to be regularized. On the other hand in case of the teaching staff, a new faculty is inducted at an entry level in basic science departments. Extensions are also given. However the non teaching staff working on budgeted post is still on contract basis. In the last few months in the non teaching cadre, a number of new appointments were made directly on regular basis.
We appeal to the kind hearted VC and Pro Vice Chancellor to expedite the process to give relief to a few who have no political leverage to get regularised.
CONCERNED EMPLOYEES
Karachi
This is apropos of Ardeshir Cowasjee’s article, “Is the war over?” (Sept 21).
While there is no doubt in anyone’s mind that America has the firepower to annihilate Pakistan many times over, there are certain things Mr. Cowasjee should consider before advocating servility.
The first is that much the same was said of Ho Chi Minh’s Viet Minh in 1941, 1954 and 1965 when it took on Japan, France and the United States respectively and emerged victorious each time. The same was said of Afghanistan in 1979 when the Soviets invaded and in 2001 when the so-called “coalition” invaded.
The same was said of Iraq in 2003. The same was said of the Hezbollah when Israel attacked Southern Lebanon in 2006. In which of these instances was the “weaker” nation wiped of the face of the earth?
If he were more cognizant of history, politics and the popular sentiment Mr. Cowasjee would know that the last thing America would want to do is attack Pakistan.
What seems to be least important of all to Mr. Cowasjee is doing what is right. Is it right to deal with the several insurgencies in North-Western Pakistan in our own way or to do it on American terms that include a senseless overkill and a violation of our sovereignty? Is it right to allow others to kill our own?
Mr. Cowasjee should dwell on these words spoken by Patrick Henry (an American, Mr Cowasjee) on March 23, 1775 when a seemingly invincible British Army approached the North-American east-coast:
“They tell us, sir, that we are weak — unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance, by lying supinely on our backs, and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot?”
KHWAJA SHAMAAS
Lahore
I agree with engineer Amanat Ali Bhatti’s suggestion (Sept 24) to the government to legalise part-time work for government employees. Here in Malaysia too the government has allowed government officials to do part-time business in order to fight the ever rising cost of living.
MUHAMMAD RAZAULLAH
Malaysia
A multinational oil and gas company is extracting oil and natural gas from its plants based in Taluka Johi District Dadu, since 1998.
According to its agreement with the federal government, it is bound to spend one percent of its pre tax income on the welfare and social uplift of the communities living there. It is also bound to employ local people but the company has not adhered to its agreement.
Neither is it providing jobs to locals nor is it spending the exact amount on the social uplift of the people. For this indifference of the company local people have protested from time to time but the arrogant management of the company remains unmoved. The staff of its Community Development Program (CDP) is drawing lucrative salaries and other perks from this meager one percent and schemes of training of traffic police in Islamabad, up gradation of Margila Hills in Islamabad and such other elite projects have also been funded from one percent solely allocated to be spent on the welfare of the local population.
The local residents complain that after the installation of the plant the underground sweet water has been rapidly changing into brackish water and overall environment degradation is galloping due to the large quantities of the poisonous smoke coming out from the chimney of the plants and other chemicals thrown around the plant. The company is doing nothing to check this environmental degradation. The company has silenced some local NGOs by awarding them with a few projects which have brought little or no change in the lives of the local people. These funds are so meager that these NGOs are hardly able to meet the operative costs of their activities.
Moreover these projects are imposed upon the NGOs from the company, whose officials in develop these projects cold environs of Islamabad and then ask the NGOs to implement them. Thus the real needs of the people and the area are not taken into account. These financially crunched NGOs do not open their mouths and meekly implement the projects.
The company signed an 18 year agreement with the government and after 10 years when it leaves the area, it would be in ruins. The people of the area have raised their voice in the media (a farmer has been on hunger strike for that last five years against and according to him the company converted his lease deed of 32 acres land into to sell deed with the cahoots of local revenue officers) and elected representatives in assembly but it seems that the Company is not accountable to anyone.
The newly elected Sindh Assembly has passed a bill on multinational companies. I appeal to the PPP led ministers and other concerned authorities to take strict notice of the company for reneging from its commitment and stopping social, economical and environmental injustice with the local people of the area.
GULSHER PANHWER
Johi, District Dadu
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