| October 01, 2008 | Wednesday | Shawwal 1, 1429 |
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UAE visa renewal policy
Positive Pakistanis
Saving Ramsar sites
Role of media
Marriott hotel extension
Status of Karachi
Energy savers
Kidney Hill case
Banning combat toys
N. Areas identity crisis
Eid thoughts
Good decision
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 we visit a doctor, he or she first establishes a diagnosis before prescribing a remedy. However, the world is faced by a malady where lots of Muslims are suffering from disease, caused by factors which, instead of being diagnosed, are overlooked and massive surgery has been undertaken by western experts and their local supporters in many places.
Isn’t it only fair that a proper evaluation be made, before picking up a knife and slitting the patients’ throats, bombing them out of existence?
Let’s see what the US, UK, Russia, India, Israel and the Philippines have been doing to the Muslims. The western countries antagonised the entire Muslim world by first helping to create Israel illegally in Palestine and then supporting it massively to terrorise the Palestinians and dominate Arab neighbours. The US has been the biggest culprit after Israel. Unsurprisingly, armed hijackings and then suicide bombings first appeared there, with the anger spreading to other Muslim states.
Russia had occupied many Muslim republics in Central Asia, tried to wipe out Islam and killed as well as imprisoned millions of citizens. The other states became independent after the demise of the USSR but Chechnya, Dagestan and Ingushetia remained in Moscow’s iron grip. When the brave Chechens wrested partial freedom for a few years, Putin indulged in a clever game and reconquered Chechnya. Worse still, Moscow’s invasion of Afghanistan has led to unending militancy.
Britain acted unfairly in 1947 and officials like Mountbatten colluded with India’s leaders to help New Delhi occupy Kashmir. When the UN demanded a plebiscite, India refused to honour the resolutions, which were fully backed by many western powers. In addition, its perpetual hostility towards Pakistan promoted militarism in both countries.
The consequences have been equally bad for India, so much so that fair-minded Indian intellectuals like Arundhati Roy are seeking independence for Kashmir. If New Delhi had acted wisely and humanely, rather than covetously and chauvinistically, there would have been no militancy in the region.
France and the US thwarted Islamists in Algeria from coming into power after winning elections in the 90s, causing frustrated Muslims to resort to violence. In Somalia, the Islamists had quickly brought peace to nearly half of the country after 16 years of lawlessness. However, they were unacceptable to the US and its allies, especially Ethiopia, who ousted the Islamists in 2006, turning Somalia into another Iraq.
A somewhat detailed look at the Philippines is advisable, especially due to Washington’s role. Historically, Muslims had dominated the Islands of Sulu archipelago, western and central Mindanao and the Island of Palawan well before the Spanish colonisers arrived in the mid-1500s. Despite 350 years of Spanish occupation, the Muslims were left alone where the local sultanates dominated Southeast Asia (Dawn, Sept. 17).
After occupying Philippine islands following its war with Spain in 1898, the US fought a series of brutal wars with the Muslims to bring them into what was then the Philippine Commonwealth. For most of the 20th century large-scale emigration was encouraged, first by the US and the Filipions themselves, urging Christians to populate Mindanao. In under 60 years, Muslims were pushed into becoming a minority, like Palestinians, in what was once their own homeland.
The latest attempt to bring peace to Mindanao and give the minority Muslims a homeland was officially scrapped recently after loss of 120,000 lives in 40 years of fighting and 11 years of negotiations. The plea was that their Supreme Court had upheld the Catholics’ case about not giving areas to Muslims since it would violate the former’s rights. Malaysia had been brokering the peace talks between the militants and Manila, but it now seems this was just a ploy by the latter to buy time.
It is clear that Muslims have been subjected to occupation, genocide, oppression and injustice for long, followed by conquest of some countries by the US-led coalition.
These are the causes of violence. Unless they’re removed, expecting a cure would be unrealistic. Prescribing military action to secure tranquillity is like seeking the removal of vocal cords of a man who is yelling with pain. Instead of ending their own crimes, the offending countries are demonising all Muslims, to shift blame from themselves.
M.P. CHISHTI
Karachi
THE government of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has changed the rules for renewal of visas, requiring a visa holder to leave the country for at least a month.
According to the new visa rules, people working in the UAE, the majority of whom belongs to the labour class from Pakistan, India and the Philippines, have to leave the country briefly and get exit and entry stamps affixed on their passports each time they need renewal of the visas.
In February 2004, an Iranian plane Kish Air flight IRK-1770 carrying migrant workers back from a visa-renewing journey, crashed near Sharjah Airport, killing 46 people aboard and narrowly missing nearby homes.
The late president of the UAE, Shaikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahayan, then abolished the visa rules and, thereafter, workers who arrive on visitors’ visas and later find jobs in the UAE were no longer required to exit and re-enter on new work visas.
The visa renewal policy of the UAE is changed from time to time and the poor labourers have to comply with the new visa policy announced by the UAE government. Mostly people go to the nearest Iranian island of Kish or to the Omani town of Buraimi.
The recent reports published in the press have mentioned that 5,000 labourers are awaiting renewal of UAE visas on the Iranian Island of Kish and 700 at Omani town of Buraimi, which has caused a backlog.
The government of the UAE should simplify the visa renewal policy so that it should not become a problem for poor foreign workers in that countrty.
A person who is submitting an application to immigration authorities for renewal of his or her visa should be asked to submit a letter from the employer confirming the status of employment which should also mention the period of renewal of the visa.
Computerised record of each visa renewal applicant should be maintained in the respective immigration offices and at all airports of the UAE and once the visa of the applicant is renewed, the required piece of information should be fed in computers, which can store the record of the labourers working in the UAE.
But this should be done without making it a must for the labourers to leave the UAE territory for a month, as a month-long leave should be left for the workers to avail after working 12 consecutive months.
SYED A. MATEEN
Karachi
I AM writing with reference to Cyril Almeida’s article (Sept 24). I am amazed at the writer’s negativity and persistent pessimism. He, like a child with a scab, insists on scratching till he sees blood, not allowing time to heal.
The writer doesn’t seem to remember that President Asif Zardari is the architect of national reconciliation. That for the first time in Pakistan all major political forces have set aside past differences in order to work together towards Pakistan’s well being. So much so that in Sindh, even the opposition voted Asif Zardari in as president. Such cohesion is just what Pakistan needs right now.
The Pakistan People’s Party has, since its inception, been the voice of democracy in Pakistan. Its leaders have laid down their lives for the people of this country – sacrificed all so we could live. Indeed, in Pakistan, Team PPP is Team Democracy!
The Pakistan People’s Party believes in actions speaking louder than words. In a man who, through his actions, convinced the people of Pakistan to be patient, even when he lost his wife, the most beloved leader of Pakistan.
In a man who delivered Pakistan from a dictator whose black reign lasted many years. In a man who took the reins of Pakistan’s largest political party at a time when a national tragedy threatened the very fabric of the nation.
I. for one, feel that such opinions the people of Pakistan can live without. Sarcastic criticism and acerbic wit may be entertaining for some, but the need of the hour is optimism and hope.
SHAZIA MARRI
Minister for Information,
Government of Sindh
Karachi
IN the second week of September about 35 buffaloes wroth Rs 2.5 million died in villages around the Nerri Lake in Badin district. The buffaloes had consumed water from the Nerri Lake.
So far no one has come to help the families who have lost their buffaloes, a source of their income.
Unfortunately, the department and the organisation concerned are not doing anything to save the ecology of the lake, which is being destroyed by the Left Bank Outfall Drainage effluent, as well as by continuous flow of poisonous chemicals from some sugar mills in Badin district.
Since 2004 the LBOD’s poisonous effluent is flowing into the lake, while some sugar mills of Badin district have been pouring dangerous chemicals into it since the 90s. This has destroyed the ecosystem of the lake.
Sadly, there are no treatment plants with these mills. Although the locals, particularly the poor fisherfolks, have shown great concern about the lake being polluted, nothing is being done.
Once this lake had enough flora and fauna and was a great source of livelihoods for the poor fishermen and peasants, but now it is almost ruined.
We are blessed with rich wetlands which have unique biodiversity and habitat. To this day, Pakistan has 19 Ramsar sites which have been seriously degraded over the last 50 years due to unsustainable national policies on water and environment.
I would request government and non — government agencies working on environment in Pakistan to start prompt investigation into the matter and adopt measures to save natural resources of the country. I would also request the Ramsar organisation to help enforce the Convention of Wetlands in Pakistan.
ABDULLAH KHOSO
Karachi
THIS refers to Syed Shah Bokhari’s letter, ‘Misplaced sense of sovereignty’ (Sept 27). I fully agree with his viewpoint that religious parties and some news channels are playing a negative role in reporting the events around us involving Pakistan.
I would particularly like to mention a Pakistani private news channel which is the undisputed champion in sensationalising any event of bombing or other related issues. This channel generally gives a very negative image of the country. It seems the only objective of the channel is to frustrate and demoralise the common public. It is a great tragedy that this channel is quite popular among the masses which truly reflects the state of mind of an ordinary person in Pakistan.
We are passing through the most difficult time of our history. Our existence as an independent country is at stake. Now the world media talks about Yugoslavia-like fate for Pakistan within the next five years.
Therefore, the need of the time is to get united, portray a positive and healthy image instead of negative propaganda.
Is there any policy in place to stop this negative approach adopted by a few channels?
ARSHAD ZAIDI
Saudi Arabia
IT was shocking to listen to the interview of the owner of the Marriott hotel using the bomb blast as an excuse to put pressure on the government to allocate the land adjacent to the hotel for the extension of this hotel facility.
The businessman has reasoned it that security in future cannot be ensured if the adjacent land is not given to him as per his architects’ design proposal and went on to threaten that he will not construct the hotel if his proposal is not accepted.
It is unfortunate to note that the owner is using this tragedy to enhance his business interests.
The best option for the CDA is to go for an open auction of the plot and give it to the highest bidder.
If the owner of Marriott can win the bid, well and good, else the government should not be deprived of billions of rupees by selling, under pressure ,this prized land at a throwaway price.
It will not be out of place here to mention that the hotel is located in the residential area of Islamabad which in itself is against the CDA rules.
The government should ensure the closure of that facility in the light of security threats as the place is mostly visited by foreigners and any terrorism incident can cause a lot of damage to innocent people living in the neighbourhood.
DR IRFAN ZAFAR
Islamabad
THIS is apropos of Bina Shah’s article, ‘Who owns Karachi?’ (Sept 14). Earlier she had come on the columns of this paper with another question, ‘Who is a Sindhi?”
I fail to comprehend what compels her to bring under dispute such settled issues and put question mark over the future of a people who carry a glorious past of more than 5,000 years. Is she doing this with some objective in mind or out of sheer ignorance and/or innocence? She herself says: “I learned more about Karachi from Mr Yousif Dadabhoy’s letter than I have from all my years living in the city, to be honest”.
Honestly speaking, if she really wants to get answers to such important and serious questions, she should open the pages of history books, know more about the process of immigration, natural and unnatural, throughout the world and understand the political and economic interests/motives of the different power players therein.
She considers the city nazim of Karachi ‘forward-thinking and progressive’ and is very much impressed by his ‘My City My Responsibility’ programme, according to which “anyone can come forward and register himself or herself as a city owner. All one has to do is volunteer two hours of time per week doing something in the interest of the city”.
Her one question comes to mind immediately: is this the way of owning cities in the world, particularly the US to which Ms Shah refers so often? Can I go, whenever it suits me, to New York, Paris or London and become its owner by getting my name registered after doing two-hour work in the interest of the city?
And if giving two-hour time can make anyone the owner of Karachi, then what will happen to those who gave sweat and blood to build this city and have spent many generations here? The current nazim has initiated another programme, also called ‘Hamara Karachi, an annual festival, for the last few years. Here people from as far as Kolkata, Hyderabad Deccan and Mumbai are included but no Sindhi is invited.
The writer compares the ‘golden years’ of 40s and 50s of the ‘gem of Karachi’ with ‘today’s Karachi of guns, drugs, crime and filth’ with a sense of sadness.
I would only like to add here, for her knowledge, that this difference, in the exposure of Karachi, is the result of unlimited, uncontrolled, unregulated and free-for-all influx of people from different parts of the world facilitated by such policies as pursued by the sitting mayor.
Ms Shah has fallen prey to the tendency, nowadays being promoted by certain groups, of using such terms as carry serious repercussions for the unity and integrity of Sindh. For example, ‘urban Sindh’ ( and rural Sindh). Through this description the idea being promoted is that the urban Sindh belongs to non-Sindhis ( immigrants)and the native Sindhis occupy the rural Sindh.
The most important part of Ms Shah’s article is the one mentioning plans for picking Thatta as an option (alternative to Karachi)for ‘the disinfranchised population of the old goths of Karachi, as well as a restive interior youth who want to move from the rural to the urban areas of Sindh’.
Here a two-pronged policy is being pursued: ‘old villages’ are being uprooted and the people of ‘interior’ denied entry into the life of Karachi, while people from outside Sindh are being facilitated settlement in Karachi.
ABDUL KHALIQUE JUNEJO
Karachi
The government had planned to import one million energy savers to meet some shortfall of electricity in the country.
As per Wapda’s estimates, approximately 250MW of electricity would be saved through this arrangement. This was not a bad deal, as to generate this much electricity, a lot of effort and resources would be required.
However, the import of one million bulbs wouldn’t solve the problem either if we think on a long-term basis. If these bulbs are manufactured in the country in our existing bulb-manufacturing factories out of which three are located in the NWFP, and their facilities are upgraded through the government’s financial assistance, I think it would be a much better and cost-effective proposition.
Moreover, the demand for energy savers wouldn’t be just one million, but in hundreds of millions. This demand, if met through indigenous resources, would save a sizable amount of foreign exchange.
AIR CDRE (retd) AZFAR
A. KHAN
Rawalpindi
THIS is apropos of Ardeshir Cowasjee’s column, ‘A date etched in memory’ (Sept 14), in which he referred to the above matter also and suggested to President Asif Ali Zardari that a park be built at Kidney Hill in remembrance of Benazir Bhutto.
The factual position is that in our out-of-court settlement of the Kidney Hill land case last year it had been agreed between our housing society and the city district government of Karachi that a space of 21 acres would be reserved for a public park, named Ahmed Ali Park.
Now I am happy to say that in view of the suggestion made by Mr Cowasjee it was decided at a meeting between the CDGK and the Overseas Cooperative Housing Society the other day that the proposed 21-acre Ahmed Ali Park be renamed as Benazir Bhutto Shaheed Park.
Secondly, in order to put the record straight, the statement of Mr Cowasjee in the column that the petitions (of Shehri and others) were dismissed “as the court declared that the government had made contradictory statements” is not quite correct. There was no contradiction in the documents filed by the respondents.
The court had actually made that observation about the documents filed by the CDGK and the government’s departments.
ASAD NOMANI
Honorary Secretary,
Overseas Cooperative
Housing Society
Karachi
TOY models/replicas/true copies of pistols, shotguns, TT pistols are available for sale in the open market, and vendors sell these at the price of Rs50 to Rs100 a piece.
It is a step towards teaching violence and antagonism to children.
The government should immediately put a ban on the sale of these kinds of toys and take punitive action against vendors.
ADNAN NAZIR
Karachi
WHILE addressing a joint parliamentary session on Sept 20, President Asif Ali Zardari said: “The people of Northern Areas must also get their basic rights, representative rule and an independent judiciary.”
Indeed, the people shall get their right of being Pakistani, even after six decades of the independence from the Dogra Raj of Kashmir. But we expected a lot more from the president. Just beating about the bush by saying that the people shall get their rights is not going to lessen the growing discord and sense of deprivation and alienation among the people.
The president should have announced concrete steps and his government’s plan of action with regard to Gilgit-Baltistan the identity crisis it has been facing. As our media and government officials are mixing up Swat and tribal areas with Northern Areas, it has badly damaged the image and economy of the area.
I regret to say that President Zardari is also attempting to cajole us, the residents of Gilgit-Baltistan, with words. I will remind the leaders that time has changed and now verbosity does not inspire us anymore.
NOOR MUHAMMAD
Via email
IT is difficult to say whether this Eid will bring happiness and joy for us or pain and sadness as, in reality, our country is not in a state of happiness.
First, there used to be no bomb blasts, suicide attacks, etc., in our country but now all these are happening in multiples every day, resulting in loss of countless precious lives of Pakistanis.
On this Eid my mind goes to those who have lost their loved ones in macabre incidents, and certainly this year they will not be able to celebrate Eid as they used to do earlier.
Secondly, there are many people who do not have their own shelter and have been forced to live in tents after being compelled to leave their home and hearth. Such people will not be able to enjoy the real happiness of Eid.
MUNTAZIR MAHDI
Karachi
IT would be more sensible for the US to ban the presence of its personnel on our soil and leave the area, including Iraq, as soon as possible. The US has done enough damage to the world peace, not only militarily but also economically.
The German finance minister has very rightly said the US is unlikely to remain a super economic power and we look forward to seeing that day come sooner rather than later.
RAZI MALIK
Jubail
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