| September 27, 2008 | Saturday | Ramazan 26, 1429 |
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Living on divine intervention
Substandard sugar
Not in the name of faith
Funds stoppage to hit varsities
Skirting around sovereignty
Traffic jams getting worse
Contradictory statements
9/11 of Pakistan
Economic condition
The most smiling president ever
Educating youth on contraception
Chief executive?
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
WHEN militants, many of them foreigners of Uzbek, Arab and Chechen origin, undertake a suicide attack inside Pakistan, killing and maiming innocent non-combatant citizens, these acts are treated deja vu by the religio-political parties.
When American pilotless aircraft, the drones, zero in on and attack the masterminds of these suicide attacks, in the tribal area, the religio-political parties raise a storm of protest on the grounds that the sovereignty of Pakistan has been threatened.
The media too, inadvertently, follows the line of the religio-political parties and creates a hype and makes it look as if the Americans have done great harm to Pakistan while the other set of foreigners, i.e. Arab, Chechen, Uzbek militants, have played no role in a persistent effort to destabilise Pakistan.
Probably, the media and, in turn, the general public forget that the vast majority of the militant leaders that plan suicide attacks inside Pakistan are the former students of the seminaries controlled by the leaders who are in the forefront to raise a storm of protests, when an isolated drone attack takes place by the Americans but these leaders observe absolute silence when the militants carry out suicide attacks that inflict devastating damage on Pakistan’s human and material assets.
Sovereignty of Pakistan is being threatened by the foreigners in the form of militants for the past eight years, resulting in weakening the very foundation of the country.
Seen neutrally, it will dawn on critics of the drone attacks that the Americans are assisting Pakistan by annihilating the masterminds that sit in the tribal areas, plan, prepare and dispatch suicide attackers who play havoc with life and property in the urban Pakistan.
Let us admit that the militants are not only successful, through use of brutal force, in keeping Pakistan in a state of insecurity, they are more successful in spreading effective psychological warfare by creating the impression that their fight against Pakistan’s armed forces or its citizens is not an attack on the sovereignty of Pakistan.
M. SAYED GB SHAH BOKHARI
Peshawar
SHAFQAT Ali Shah Jamote has started this article, ‘Living on divine intervention’ (Sept 13), with the observation: “With inherent qualities of self-destruction we Pakistanis are people whose hallmark is living on a razor’s age”. I tend to disagree with his opening comments, as no people, we included, have the inherent disqualifications of being self-destructive. It is the upbringing and environment made available by societies which make a man of high quality or awful.
While elucidating political history on each turning point of Pakistan’s journey in terms of ‘miracle’ and ‘divine intervention’, it appears that Mr Jamote has made an effort to develop a thesis so as to clear those who have been responsible for mismanagement of the affairs for the last 60 years, which brought the people psychologically to ‘living on a razor’s edge’.
Chronologically speaking, the unfolding of the Cold War, the Korean conflict (1950), the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan (1979) and the 9/11, the so-called ‘divine interventions’, in no way helped Pakistan. On the contrary, these epochs strengthened the hold of dictatorial regimes which ultimately brought the country to bankruptcy, socially economically, politically and psychologically.
In the Cold War and the Korean conflict Pakistan openly sided with the West by joining different pacts, which made its position vulnerable before the entire Eastern bloc and the Non-aligned countries.
Likewise, Afghan intervention, besides introducing sectarianism and extremism, destroyed social fabric of our society through spread of lethal arms, drugs and caused mass migration from Afghanistan, which changed the demography of Pakistan substantially.
Finally it was the 9/11 that brought suicide bombings, an outcome of terror, at our doorsteps in which thousands of civilians, including Benazir Bhutto, a shining star of Pakistan’s politics, have lost their lives.
Amazingly during most of the defining moments, especially in 1979 and 9/11, the state was under the spell of non-political and illegitimate rule. The West during these periods took full advantage of the absence of leadership and settled terms which were totally to their advantage and against the long-term interest of the people. Even during the Cold War period, on which much has been written, Pakistan lost more than it gained in real terms.
Mr Jamote after discussing Zia’s adventure has immediately jumped over to the fourth takeover (1999). He has simply edited out two periods each of the PPP’s and the PML’s sojourns.
The most important event in the history when the country became a nuclear power took place during the second tenure of Nawaz Sharif (1998). Similarly, the Kargil misadventure, whose architect was Pervez Musharraf, is also part of this period.
I agree with Mr Jamote that at present the western media and think tanks, which usually reflect the minds of their governments, are projecting all kinds of bizarre scenarios for Pakistan — from Balkanisation to disintegration.
However, to face this challenge and get out of this morass we need a legitimate political leadership and not ‘divine intervention’ which, on all previous occasions, brought ruination which more often than not played havoc with people and the state.
ISHA M. KURESHI
Karachi
AS reported in your paper (Sept 21), the sugar produced by 18 mills, whose names have been disclosed, does not meet the required standards as they contain impurities that could pose threat to human health.
This disclosure is based on the samples collected from the open market and checked by PSQCA, a federal government quality control organisation. Out of 18 sugar mills, product of which was found unsafe for human consumption, 10 alone are located in Sindh and the remaining eight belong to Punjab.
Unfortunately no penal action could be initiated against the culprit because the existing law does not make anyone liable to be prosecuted unless a product is declared a ‘compulsory commodity’. It is surprising that sugar despite being one of the most widely consumed food items in the country has not been declared a compulsory commodity as yet.
A thorough inquiry by the PSQCA should be made to determine whether this default is a sheer omission or out of some design in order to help sugar manufactures to make illegal profits by not adhering to set standards.
At present there are 76 sugar mills operating in Pakistan. Out of this 32 are located in Sindh, six in the NWFP and the remaining are in Punjab. Thus from the samples tested in the laboratories it is evident that 25 per cent of sugar available in the market is substandard and poses serious health problems to its consumers.
As the problem is extremely serious, the government must immediately declare sugar as an ‘essential commodity’, as well as impound the stocks available in the errant sugar mills, whose names have already been revealed in the report, so that the impure sugar may not go to market for sale. Also, the PSQCA should make public the names of defaulting manufactures through the media so that people avoid purchasing substandard sugar produced by these factories.
The punishment for such an offence is six months’ imprisonment or fine up to Rs50,000, which obviously does not commensurate with the seriousness of the crime. Therefore, laws are required to be amended by parliament, introducing severe punishments so that those who indulge in illegal profiteering at the cost of human lives can be discouraged in future.
QAZI BASHIR AHMED
Old Hala
THIS is with reference to Kunwar Idris’s article, ‘Not in the name of faith’ (Sept 21). Whereas I deeply appreciate his voice being added to the trickle filtering in the print media in defence of a targeted community, what happened in Islamabad on Saturday mellows my response to such barbaric incidents.
When I first heard about the killings, my first response was that of unbelievable incredulity. Belonging to a generation which has not experienced the 1973 episode first-hand and being too young to remember Zia’s era from memory, this was when the reality of living within such hostility hit home. It felt for the first time as if I was removed from the mainstream society and stood alone; entirely alone. Coupled with being a woman and keeping the Balochistan incident of women being buried alive in perspective, the sense of isolation increased.
However, the Islamabad incident has been the final hit that drives the nail home.
At one point we are faced with such extreme measures in the name of Islam and tradition, at the other there is such violence rampant in our country which makes no sense at all. One can write articles and debate with the ‘opposite’ side about the misinterpretation of the religion or the grotesque twist on tradition, but who does one address in situations where there is no visible enemy?
The insecurity, the uncertainty and most of all the fear of living in such times is so strong that it hampers the very essence of life — the will to be productive enough to bring any form of change. I am surrounded by people who have, for years, defended the hope of stabilising Pakistan: a hope that many of us lost at many different stages. However, when I see shock in these people’s eyes, feel resignation in their voices, sense their will falter and, most of all, hear them term a discussion on this topic futile, I know the lamp is about to burn out.
Injustice, no matter how glazed over by more hideous incidents, must be spoken against. It is only when the sense of paranoia becomes so strong that one can’t see much beyond basic survival that things start to unwind uncontrollably.
BUSHRA SULTANA
Via email
APROPOS of the article, ‘Finance ministry refuses funds to varsities’ (Sept 24), I would strongly disagree with the government decision in this regard and would like to point out a few key concerns.
The key role of any modern university is to advance knowledge. The reputation of a university is augmented by successful research done within its halls; this not only strengthens the image of the university in general but attracts intelligent international faculty as well as international students and maybe even qualified and motivated staff. Hence a virtuous circle begins.
In university rankings ‘the number of highly-cited researchers within the university’ is given high importance.
Pakistani universities are currently nowhere amongst the top-ranked universities of the world and if the funds are discontinued, then the little research which is happening in some universities will eventually be discontinued. Instead of dreaming of competing with universities worldwide, we would even have to despair of any chances of ever seeing a Pakistani university on world rankings at all.
In the case that universities do not get funding from the government, they would have to increase their fee’ by substantial amounts which would be a financial burden on the students and their parents.
Maybe many deserving and bright students will not be able to continue, or perhaps they may not even begin their studies, thus ending any hopes of Pakistan ever having a’ bright future.
The present government should realise that during the last five or six years the HEC has invested a substantial amount of funding on researchers in Pakistan and the sudden cutting off of funding by the finance department would be a great setback to the education system, which is already receiving a meagre percentage of our GDP.
Moreover, the amount which has already been invested would go down the drain. There has been an increase in Pakistani universities intake of students during the past five years.
Keeping this in mind instead of refusing or curtailing the funds the government should not only encourage the pursuit of research in universities but it should also endeavour to provide them with enough funds to accomplish their goals.
It is time the government realized this and stopped playing with the future of Pakistan which is already on shaky foundations due to all the marvelous policies of our dear government.
SAAD KHAWAR
Lahore
THE recent change in the US policy, whereby they have openly showed their intent to conduct their operations inside Pakistan to counter the militants who they think use tribal areas of Pakistan as their bases to attack the allied forces operating in Afghanistan, poses some serious questions to our policymakers.
We seriously need to revise our policy vis-à-vis the United States, which is embarking upon a rigorous and aggressive plan to wipe out the culprits in the tribal belt, eliminating dialogue as an option and expecting Pakistan to join hands.
Recent statements by Secretary of Defence Robert Gates are quite relevant in this regard as he opined that the US has a right to act against the extremists in self-defence, and thus wants the newly elected government to take part in and approve this venture.
It signals the gradual change in the US policy, as it vows to expand its operation in the tribal belt, without having any legitimate right to do so.
Gates also referred to the UN Charter which, according to him, allows the US to carry out such an operation if Pakistan’s government is unwilling or unable to deal with the extremists.
On the other hand, President Bush is constantly assuring his Pakistani counterpart that sovereignty of Pakistan would not be compromised.
This duality of opinion can have serious implications for us, as there is no clear indication as to what the future course of action would be.
So we need to stress and make the US realise that they should not pursue a policy that can be menacing for us, with huge domestic implications.
Sovereignty is not all about boundaries and borders, but sovereignty has something to do with the ability to act autonomously, so we will retain our real sovereignty when we start asserting ourselves.
GHULAM ABBAS RANA
Via email
THE traffic situation in Lahore is alarming. Traffic on almost every main road is in a state of complete jam, and measures need to be taken quickly before the situation gets out of hand. We always hear people blaming the government for not doing enough to counter the situation. Phrases like ‘not enough roads’, ‘useless traffic wardens’ and ‘careless planning’ can be heard almost everywhere one goes.
However, I believe that it is not a problem of a lack of roads or careless wardens, but a problem of too many cars on our streets. If we want to relieve ourselves from the stress caused by long traffic jams, we need to find ways through which we can reduce the number of cars on the road. First, schools should start offering bus services. For every bus that carries about 40 children there will be at least 20 fewer cars on the roads.
Furthermore, carpooling, which is very popular in most developed countries, should also be adopted by people in Pakistan. It not only reduces travelling costs but, more importantly, it leads to fewer cars on the road and hence fewer traffic jams.
Secondly, members of the upper middle and upper class, who own most of the cars, should stop being so status-conscious and start using public transport. It is worth noting that while most of these people hesitate to use public transport in Pakistan, they freely use public transport when in other developed countries.
Although the public transport systems in developed countries are undoubtedly better, it is hard to deny the fact that ‘status’ is an issue for upper middle and upper class when using such modes of transportation.
Lastly, people should walk or use bicycles if they have to go somewhere close. It not only saves them from the traffic but it is also good for their health. It is not very unusual for people in this country to go to the market, which is usually at a walking distance, in a car and then waste a large amount of time looking for a parking space.
These are just a few of the many steps that can be taken to trim down the ever-increasing number of cars on the roads. Although the government is, to a large extent, responsible for not providing proper transportation infrastructure, the people of this nation should also take responsibility of the part they play in the problem.
AMAR NAVEED
Lahore
AFTER the presidential election, Asif Ali Zardari took notice of the Sindh government’s announcement of holiday on his victory.
He said there was no need for any extra holiday besides the usual calendar holidays. He banned the unnecessary foreign visits of ministers, and it applies to him too.
A question arises as to why the president called the full cabinet meeting of the Sindh government in Islamabad.
It is a well-known fact that the air ticket of Islamabad is more expensive than Dubai’s.
My humble suggestion to the president is that if he is very serious about the undue expenditure of ministers, secretaries, and other dignitaries, he should take then take rational steps to limit the expenses.
AQEEL AHMED RAJPAR
Karachi
AS Islamabad has always seemed to be a high alert area, I wonder how in the presence of such heavy contingents of police and intelligence agencies in the federal capital a truck loaded with highly dangerous explosive material could enter into a sensitive area and cause a tragic and gruesome event akin to the 9/11of Pakistan.
Is the job of the police on Islamabad only to harass the common man on traffic violations? The whole country is burning and innocent people and children are being killed in the name of war on terror.
Our rulers, as usual, are giving lullabies to the masses. Can we expect from the incumbent government to review its foreign policy, especially relations with Afghanistan and the US, and reset its priorities that save the sovereignty of Pakistan and its people?
SABA GUL
Islamabad
THE current leadership voted into power by the people of Pakistan has paid little heed to the concerns of the diehard voters. Celebrating over the removal of Mr Musharraf, playing games over the restoration of judges, etc, will not counter the skyrocketing inflation, the record high devaluation of the currency, the ever-increasing BoP deficit, flight of foreign investors, depleting educational standards of the country, increasing rate of deaths caused in military operations and the list can go on.
It is time the government stopped beating about the bush and paid heed to the economic conditions of the country before a time comes when there will be ‘four governments leading four different countries’.
BADAR YOUSUF
Karachi
MR Zardari, undoubtedly, you are the most smiling president ever.
Since the day you became Mr President, your smiles have been sweeping the pages of all national and international newspapers, periodicals and journals.
There is, actually, nothing better when the president smiles, for that means he has the support of his people and no worries to deter his path.
But, Mr Zardari, your smile would be most legitimate when the uprising in Bajaur, unrest in Swat and tension in most of the country’s frontiers subside.
Please do something about the ‘civil war in the making’ on the countrywide scale. Please do something for the economy. Please do something for the poor by restoring subsidy on petroleum products and electricity.
Please do something to curb the unemployment rate. Please do something for the betterment of education and health services.
Please do something to improve the rail service in the country. Please do something so that the entire country smiles when you smile.
ZILL-E-REHMAN KHAN NIAZI
Islamabad
SEPTEMBER 26 was the World Contraception Day. There have been other successful world days like ‘World AIDS Day’ and ‘World Heart Day’.
It is depressing that about 220,000 women worldwide report with an unwanted or unintended pregnancy on any one day and about 55,000 women risk an unsafe abortion every day. Almost 10 per cent of the mothers are adolescents.
Although statistics is not a strong area in our part of the world, an international journal mentions the use of contraception in young Pakistani adults as two per cent (only).
Contraception in our country is surrounded by myths. There is a generalised feeling that it is against the nature, religion, ethics and morals and badly affects the health of the couple, particularly women.
The World Contraception Day this year focuses on educating young people, 15 to 25 years old, about reproductive health, and contraceptive options and it aims at reducing the number of unintended pregnancies and abortions.
The motto of the day is ‘Your life, your body, your choice’. Can one hope that such a campaign would be carried out successfully in our country, and contraception would be considered rather a tool to empowerment than a taboo?
DR. NASREEN MAJID
Karachi
“I will be the chief executive even if Mr Zardari gets elected as the president.” This was stated by our prime minister a few days back.
May we know why our chief executive is not representing Pakistan at the UN annual gathering?
ABDUL RAUF
Fateh Jang
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