| September 29, 2008 | Monday | Ramazan 28, 1429 |
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Public transport blues
Neelum-Jhelum hydro project
Need for national unity
Gore Vidal’s prediction
Sepa says noise levels alarmingly high
Who was the target?
Not in the name of faith
Setting the right example
N-Power plant
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 apropos of S. Iqbal’s letter, ‘Time to get serious, sincere’ (Sept 25). While I agree with the general sentiment expressed by Mr Iqbal, I daresay that the time to get serious was about 20 years ago after the end of Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
Pakistan then was, as it is now, a frontline state and now, as then, it continues to be the lifeline and the pipeline to the happenings in Afghanistan.
All that apparently goes wrong in Afghanistan requires Pakistan to serve as a conduit of some sort. It then behooves those of us who can comprehend the simple concept of cause and effect to study and monitor the aftereffects that befall our warring neighbour to the north.
Without indulging in the events that have led up to the situation we are now faced with, suffice it to say that the catastrophic events of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan not only dug the Soviet grave as a superpower, it left Pakistan with the menace of Taliban and terrorism.
It would, however, be appropriate to at least start acknowledging that we have been behind the proverbial eight ball for a long time.
I acknowledge with almost all the sentiments expressed by the writers on this forum regarding sovereignty issue, loss of innocent lives, self-determination and such other concerns.
My question remains: how do you deal with a group or an entity whose idea of negotiations means ‘I talk, you listen’?
Taliban and zealots have a few basic demands that include for most part the strict imposition of Sharia, in its entirety as interpreted by their ‘scholars’ which includes, among other things, no education for women. A point they have stressed several times by blowing up schools for girls.
While those of us who still believe in the sanctity of human life present our arguments against indiscriminate operations in tribal areas due to the loss of innocent lives. Our counterparts, the ones we want to negotiate with, never think twice about the loss of innocent lives in other regions of Pakistan.
The aforementioned are perhaps the salient points of the mindset of the zealots. I think it’s amply clear to those that are listening what the problem is and the gravity of the situation. Say what you may about President Musharraf, but I believe the three-pronged agenda he had suggested in fighting this menace is the only thing I have heard that makes any sense. Our approach should be based on full and dedicated efforts that include the following:
-- Fortify and continue to conduct military raids except using policing tactics that would involve house-to-house search based on ‘seek and destroy’.
-- Collect and share intelligence and other aid with and from the US, including training.
-- Improve the living conditions of these areas by providing better infrastructure, housing, medical benefits, employment opportunities and ,most importantly, education.
-- Keep a keen eye on the Indian RAW operatives in the area who are there only to add to the existing chaos and provide arms and ammunition to many of these outfits through third parties.
The problem of terrorism is not going away from within us any time soon. The hope remains that we wake up soon enough before it overruns us. Think about this if we are concerned about all of the aforementioned and we leave our collective heads buried in the sand and pray the problem goes away, then I daresay “you ain’t seen nothin yet”.
I think Mr Iqbal is almost prophetic when he says and I quote: “The nation’s collective wisdom and resolve must be mobilised, which offer the only hope for treating this problem and saving Pakistan.”
The only thing I would add to that is we ask for help and funds for almost every other cause in Pakistan, why shy away now for political correctness?
WACAR RIZVI
Gaithersburg, USA
GIVEN the steadily surging prices of fuel, Pakistani commuters were eagerly expecting the new government to take steps to alleviate the current burden on the common man’s pocket.
Just when everyone thought that the situation was about to improve, the new government decided to abruptly withdraw the existing fuel subsidy, a move that may prove to have a spiral effect on the economy in the near future.
One of the main obligations of an elected government is to safeguard the welfare of all citizens by not unduly burdening them with increases in the price of essential commodities, such as food and fuel.
A fuel subsidy, instead of being withdrawn altogether, could well have been reduced in gentle decrements spread over an extended period of time, so that the people could ease into their required adjustments without suffering from too much shock.
The current transportation problem in the country is twofold. To begin with, several major cities in the country have virtually no public transport system to talk of. Secondly, of the little modes of transportation that are available, the soaring prices of fuel have made them too costly for the masses. As a result, the majority of students living on a fixed income, like myself, are adversely affected.
Despite these issues, the government has yet to take any concrete steps for the provision of an effective public transport system.
The mega city of Karachi barely has sufficient public transport facilities in comparison to other mega cities across the globe.
Take the example of Delhi, a mega city which is smaller than Karachi in terms of population, has three lines of metro serving a total of 59 stations.
The Delhi Metro system’s reliability, adequate reach, overall efficiency, environmental friendliness and affordability have led to it becoming Asia’s best mass transit train system. Another example is that of Iran, home to one of the Middle East’s biggest metros, the Tehran Metro.
When developing countries like India and Iran have managed to invest in efficient public transport systems, why is Pakistan then still lagging behind?
It is sad that even the existing resources and infrastructure in the country are not being utilised effectively. The Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) system, a project originally proposed for Karachi some 30-odd years ago, has yet to take off. Every successive government promises ambitious plans to revive this project, but no action is ever taken thereafter.
ANAM AFTAB
Karachi
THE Neelum-Jhelum hydroelectric project was at long last launched on Feb 9 at a cost of $2.16 billion with the help of the Chinese. It will go a long way in the country’s socio-economic development. It would have a 47km-long tunnel and generate 947 MW of cheap hydel power. The project is expected to be completed in eight years. So far so good. But the intriguing question still remains: why has this project been delayed for five years? The country has lost a whopping amount of more than Rs40 billion due to this delay. Just imagine how quietly this loss has been digested as if nothing serious has happened.
Can the people responsible clarify why this delay has occurred? What sort of planning was it? Which agency was supposed to oversee the launching process of the project and remove the bottlenecks as and when they occurred? Why wasn’t it done and have any heads rolled due to this criminal negligence of these officials? If not, why?
Had everything been followed in a professional manner without keeping self-interest in view, the project would have been completed by 2010.
The nation is facing the brunt of somebody else’s ineptitude and is hostage to the unnecessary long spells of loadshedding, as approximately 947MW of electricity would have been produced due to the completion of this project in 2010.
It is unfortunate that this shortage of electricity is despite the fact that we are sitting on one of the largest reservoirs of coal in the world.
The coal reservoirs in China were meeting 70 per cent of that country’s energy requirements whereas in Pakistan, only one per cent of electricity was being generated through this resource.
The technology is available with China. Due to its good track record, China could be tasked to generate electricity from coal at competitive rates. If we utilise only this one resource gainfully, we can face as many industrial booms as we can, establish as many industries as we want, besides meeting the entire energy requirements of the country for more than a century (to say the least) as our total coal reserves are estimated to be 184.5 billion tonnes.
AIR CDRE (r) AZFAR
A. KHAN
Rawalpindi
PAKISTAN was brought into existence by the Indian Muslims, who wanted to live in a land of their own, according to their beliefs, make progress in all walks of life, could live in this world with their heads up and honourably. But, as we have seen, the successive leadership, who steered the country’s political vision after the pioneering Muslim leaders, lacked the qualities of leadership and political statesmanship.
What gradually became the order of the day was graft, greed, selfishness and corruption got so much that we are today ‘ranked as 46th most corrupt county in the world’ (Sept 24).
Besides extremism, intolerance has grown to such an extent that we are always ready to kill the opponent, however saner he may be. Whether it was the civilian or the military rule, it made little difference. The poor kept wallowing in poverty, so much so that even the basic needs of life are not available to them. On the other hand, the rich have become richer and are wallowing in wealth that cannot be questioned.
Now that the country has been driven to the precipice and internal and external threats are staring at us, it is time all of us, irrespective of mutual differences and political ambitions, stood up as a rock against the imminent danger to save the country.
Let us call an APC and bring the facts for consideration and take effective measures to ward off the danger. It is no use to fritter away our resources on issues that are of lesser importance and stop all kinds of agitation against the fledgling government.
Let us sincerely try to keep the masses fully satisfied by solving their basic problems like provision of food, improvement in law and order situation, etc. National unity and cohesion is the need of hour.
M. SHAFIQUE AHMED
Karachi
senior and noted American novelist and playwright Gore Vidal, who has given up his support of Hillary Clinton in favour of Barack Obama, made some observations and also a prediction (Books & Authors, Sept 21).
First, that Republican candidate John McCain “is the village idiot. He is very, very stupid, even by American standards.” Second, that Barack Obama has begun to impress him, but only to a point. Third, that he believes Mr Obama will be the next US president.
Then he adds: “He will be shot, though, that’s his problem. If Jack (Kennedy) knew he was going to be shot, a black boy must know it too.”
Mr Vidal’s name-calling of John McCain, or referring to the Democratic nominee as a ‘black boy’, even if his mother had been black, rather than white, was bad enough, but predicting such a horrible scenario, even if he truly believed in it, was definitely a no-no. I believe that a person instead of making dour prophecies — especially when one can’t be sure about them -- should try to impart hope; instead of making people miserable, try to uplift their spirits. Life is too short and, often, too full of troubles; we must not rob others of any joy they can manage to find.
K. CHAUDHRY
Karachi
THIS is apropos of news regarding Sepa’s concern over high noise pollution level in the city of Karachi (Sept 8). I, as a senior citizen of this city, am more concerned about the situation (much more concerned about the disappearance of thousands of mature green trees from the city — the lungs of nature).
Good enough that they have provided enough statistics about the level of noise and places. But very strange, they have mentioned nothing about the gases and smoke emitted by buses and other vehicles which is more harmful for human life. In the past too many half-hearted efforts were made by the authorities concerned without achieving anything concrete, i.e. to control it.
Some years ago the CDGK had engaged some smoke detectors from Malaysia who had surveyed and pointed some places of high concentration but nothing was heard or done beyond that.
There are many court rulings (even of the Supreme Court) about the need to control pollution.
For God’s sake, please implement those rulings. Half-hearted efforts are doomed to fail. Sepa – this time is in news and looks like determined to do something concrete. Wish them good luck.
HAJI ASHFAQ
Muscat, Oman
SOON after the attack on Marriott Hotel in Islamabad, the prime minister claimed that the PM House was the actual target of the terrorists but the presence of high security prevented that, so the suicide bomber then hit the hotel. Meanwhile, his security adviser Rehman Malik had said Marriot was the chosen place.
However, on Sept 22 Mr Malik came out with a new story, saying that NA speaker Dr Fehmida Mirza had arranged to hold an Iftar party for the country’s leadership and other dignitaries at the hotel but the venue was shifted at the last minute to Mr Gilani’s house. This, he said, was in response to intelligence received of a terrorist plan to attack the original venue.
There are several problems with the gentleman’s story. First, hotel owner Hashwani has promptly denied that the NA speaker had made any booking for such a function, saying that his hotel did not even have the capacity to cater 900 guests. This refutes the security adviser’s claim.
Second, if the intelligence information had in reality been received, did he let the hotel management know that the place could be targeted and were any steps taken to beef up the security, so that the hundreds of visitors, guests and employees of the Marriott could be saved from any tragedy? Obviously not.
Third, a group calling itself Fedayeen-i-Islam has claimed responsibility for the bombing (Dawn, Sept. 23). According to another report in a section of the electronic media (Sept 22), the same group said this was done because it had information about 200 plus FBI and marine personnel from the US putting up in the hotel.
Besides, a story in Dawn had already quoted some sources as saying that officials of the FBI, CIA and the Marines were staying at the Marriot and could have been the target (Sept 22). They also noted that shortly after the blast the well-equipped US Marines took positions at the place to remove their colleagues.
Fourth, another crucial fact came to light in a section of the press (Sept. 21). The day the top American commander Admiral Mike Mullen met Prime Minister Gilani a white truck of the US embassy in Islamabad brought many steel boxes to the Marriott. These were transferred inside by US marines while keeping everybody, including the hotel’s security staff away, the main entrance doors having been closed and not allowing the containers’ inspection or even letting them go through a scanner. When PPP MNA Mumtaz Alam Gilani and a couple of his friends, who were coming out of the hote’ls Nadia restaurant, objected, the American soldiers simply ignored them. The hotel security staff seemed helpless and Mr Alam warned he would raise the issue in the NA. But no further action seems to have been taken after that.
The point is that the militants would obviously be keeping their eyes and ears open and would have found out about this secretive operation from their sources, which must have aroused their suspicions and concerns about the contents of the boxes and the presence of hundreds of American personnel in the hotel. What better target could they want? Thus, it is incorrect for the authorities to claim that the ruling establishment at the dinner was the goal of the bombing.
Anyway, the government should not allow the Americans or anybody else to bring in whatever they please, without inspection. Worse still is the fact that the Americans acted most irresponsibly. If that stuff had been transferred to the US embassy directly from the airport, it would not have jeopardised the safety of the visitors and staff of the hotel. The American intelligence operatives are clever enough to know that such operations wouldn’t pass unnoticed by the militants.
It appears that after the Fedayeen owned up to the attack, the PM’s adviser tried to reconcile the contradiction between the premier’s and his own statements, while also shifting attention from the real focus of the bombing, which were the American operatives and troops staying there. This would save themselves and Washington from embarrassment.
A CITIZEN
Karachi
THIS is with reference to Kunwar Idris’s column, ‘Not in the name of faith’ (Sept 21), and I quote:
“This month’s gunning spree (three wounded are still struggling for their life) followed soon after a prime hour discussion on one of the more popular television channels commemorating the 1974 amendment. That programme ended with a verdict by a participating mufti of an extremist school that for deviating from the conventional view of the finality of the prophethood of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) the Ahmadis deserved to be murdered. A condescending compere followed it up with a lyrical oration heaping insults on the founder of the Ahmadiyya movement.
“If festering prejudice needed an impetus to murder, the compere of the Sept 7 programme and his chosen scholars provided it. A measure of understanding, perhaps, can be shown to politicians and priests when they are persuaded to whip up religious emotions to the point of violence only to divert the attention of the people from other woes. But the mass media that stands for full freedom of expression with matching social responsibility should not be seen as joining them.”
As a follow-up to the above, three good human beings, viz. Dr Abdul Mannan Siddiqui from Mirpurkhas (Sept 8), Seth Yusuf from Nawabshah (Sept 9) and Shaikh Saeed of Karachi (on the following day), were mercilessly killed.
The questions that I would like to ask are:
1. Where is the government?
2. Where are the ministry of justice and the LEAs?
3. Where is Pemra, the so-called Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority?
4. Where is the ‘Ethics Committee’ of the associations of the electronic media? And finally,
5. What is the responsibility of the channel in which that ‘hate’ programme was telecast? I would like to appeal to the print and electronic media first to respond itself to my questions and then also demand a response from the government.
NAZIM F. HAJI
Karachi
The US armed forces’ intrusion into Pakistani territory and the immediate reaction in the shape of the bomb blast in a renowned hotel should serve as an eye-opener for the incumbents in Pakistan.
The sole use of military might will not serve the purpose of establishing peace and eradication of armed religious extremists in tribal areas and the NWFP. The situation may be alleviated for the time being but unless a permanent and lasting agreement is arrived at, peace seems to be a farce.
In the same vein, unchecked access to the Pakistani territory and airspace is a blatant and outright rejection of the recognition of Pakistan’s sovereignty. The complacency shown on the part of the government and the meek official protests have not had the desired effect.
The US security forces and their headquarters persist on continuing any actions they deem fit in the name of security for America. However, the Iranian president’s address to the UN General Assembly purports a standout example of a nation’s stance on sovereignty and yielding to external pressures.
In stark contrast stands President Zardari’s stance and body language which portrayed a picture of weakness and timidity during his address to the UN General Assembly as well as the press conference alongside the US president.
A nation going through testing times such as ours needs a leader who, at the least, purports a picture of confidence, authority and composure. I being a student of political science would advise our president to pull a leaf out of Mr Ahmadinejad’s book of conduct and come forth as a true leader of the nation.
CYRUS RAZA TAHIR
Lahore
THE government decision to have 4,000 MW power projects completed as early as possible to overcome power crisis is laudable.
We know that unluckily our efforts to get AP 1000 Nuclear Plant from Westing House/Shaw could not succeed as the US refused it.
According to news reports, four 1,000 MW plants are available with the USSR, and India has been offered to have it immediately on placement of order. We can request the USSR for giving it to us as they had helped us as regards the Steel Mill in the past. This is the best opportunity available which must not be missed whether we have to beg or borrow because we need it to save our economy. May God help us.
RIAZUL HASAN KHAN
Karachi
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