| October 28, 2008 | Tuesday | Shawwal 28, 1429 |
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Wild West called Larkana
No trust, no happiness
Supporting details in ‘Reckoning time for HEC’
In memoriam
America’s blind spot
Student visa fiasco
Security of assets
Pakistan needs to stand on its own feet
Using solar energy
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 reference to Bina Shah’s article, ‘Burning Bridges in Sindh’ (Oct 24).
Much has been written on the exodus of Sindhi Hindus from Sindh in the aftermath of partition in 1947, mostly castigating the Muslim majority of Sindh at that time for the divide that forced Hindus to migrate to India.
The fact remains that Sindhi Hindus, as a class, had alienated themselves from majority the Muslim population of Sindh long before the partition. The movement of two communities in opposite direction came on the eve of British conquest of Sindh in 1843, when Muslim majority was left alone to defend Sindh.
These separate paths continued after the British conquest when the Hindu minority adopted whole-heartedly the new educational system introduced by the British, while Muslims were still mourning the death of the indigenous academic structure.
In due course of time, the Hindu minority emerged as a thriving middle class with doors wide open for them to the public and private employment. Coupled with their almost complete hold on trade and commerce and their increasing interest in acquiring and holding agricultural lands, the Hindus in Sindh, by last quarter of nineteenth century, were a force to be reckoned with.
The Muslims in Sindh at that time, on the other hand, were mostly on the receiving end. Their prejudice against the system made them stand aloof and soon it dawned on them that as a class they were losing their ground everywhere: whether it was trade, commerce, services or politics. Having no education or technical training of the sort, they could not resort to anything that could rescue them from this plight.
Intellectually, the first parting of ways came in the 1880s, when ‘Sindh Sabha’, a common academic and intellectual platform of Sindh’s Hindus and Muslims, broke down, with Muslims under the leadership of Hassanally Effendi opting for the cause of establishing Sindh Madressatul Islam, while Hindus with Dayaram Jethmal (DJ) in lead insisting on establishment of D.J. Sindh College, then called Sindh Arts College.
There were very valid reasons forwarded by the intellectual leaders of both the communities to justify their insistence on their respective standpoints. For instance, the Hindus were of the view that establishment of a college was of utmost importance as there was no college in the province at that time where the school graduates could go. The Muslims thought that they needed the madressah more as they had not many school graduates to send to a college! Both the communities insisted on their plans, which created such acrimony that the viceroy of India had to lay foundation of both the institution on the same day in 1887.
Subsequent developments only widened the gulf between the two communities in Sindh, Hindus further advancing and Muslims lurking behind in the webs of ignorance and poverty. In sspite of sharing the same language and culture, this disharmony in economic realities of the two communities culminated in majority Muslims driving minority Hindus from Sindh in the aftermath of partition.
The lesson learnt here is that there should be even development across all segments of a society: whenever one community monopolises the advancement, the result is always a break-up!
DR MOHAMMAD ALI SHAIKH
Via email
THERE was hope among the people of Larkana that after the formation of the PPP government there would be peace for the terrorised and harassed people of the area.
But instead what has happened is that outlaws are roaming scot-free on the roads, shooting and looting people at their free will. It is like Wild West of Hollywood movies.
A few days ago, near Al Murtaza house, a young man of Narejo community was gunned down by unidentified motorists who were raising slogans of who they were and what they were doing. The broad daylight killing took place at a distance of a half kilometre from the Hyderi police station.
On the same day people of Larkana felt more insecure about their children when a student of KG class, the son of an SHO, was kidnapped. Later his body with torture marks was recovered from a canal.
As soon as Sultan Khwaja left the charge of the office of Larkana DPO, criminals have established a state of their own in the district. Extortionists are so fearless that they come for ‘monthly’ at high noon. Resisting them, Fida Mirani was injured by tribal goons. Cellphone and motorcycle snatching goes unnoticed as no police station is willing to file an FIR about such an incident.
There was time when people considered themselves safe in their houses but now gangs come firing in the air and barge into houses.
In Darri Mohalla they dragged a woman out of her home and took her away. When this incident was occurring, top policemen were enjoying a delicious meal with a VVIP at the DPO house. Recently city goldsmiths have observed a week-long strike in protest against looting of three jewellers.
Initially the elected members of the ruling party tried their best to dissuade them from continuing their strike but the strikers had just ignored them.
The situation puts a question mark over Sultan Khwaja’s transfer. People were satisfied with him and are unable to understand the logic behind his transfer. His office used to be open for people but he gave cold shoulder to bigwigs of the district. Now they are seen driving in and out of the DPO house, especially at lunch and dinner time.
As for the people, they cannot muster courage to walk in the streets after sunset or in the early morning.There is another strange factor: in the area where tribes like Jatoi, Leghari, Unnar, Chandio, Magsi, Khoso, Jalbani, Narejo, Dakhan, Buledi and Jamali are settled, no high-ranking police official is Sindhi-speaking. Can cultural intricacies be ignored while dealing with a worsening law and order situation?
The situation is alarming and there seems to be no end to crime. Previously, people use to flock Naudero house but now its doors are closed for them. Nobody is listening to their grievances and taking efforts to redress them.
It shows that no one is moved by the suffering of the people of this district after Benazir Bhutto.
A CONCERNED CITIZEN
Via email
THE results of most surveys done over the past 20 years have shown that the people of Denmark are the happiest in the world, and a core factor is their quality of trust (Oct 17). The German economist, Justina Fischer, who has studied subjective well-being and its societal and economic correlations for many years, puts the Danes’ happiness down to the fact that people consume a relatively equal share of the wealth they generate, and trust each other.
She said that Denmark is one of the countries with the highest level of trust among people. In other countries, people are more cynical about institutions from government to business, as well as each other. One woman cycling through Copenhagen, decorator Mette E. Peterson, 26, said it meant a lot to her to feel safe and that she could rely on other people.
The implications of all this should be taken note of, in particular, by our politicians, some of whom don’t seem to care one bit about earning the public’s trust by honest and sincere service. Another example is the level of insecurity in our cities. One feels very uncomfortable when using a mobile phone out on the street, for fear of being mugged. Similarly, while going out in a car or on a motorbike, one doesn’t know if it will be hijacked at gunpoint. One could even lose one’s life on resisting or if the hijacker panics for some reason.
And, of late, it appears that the robbers and dacoits, too, would be afraid that if they get caught by the people, they could be burned alive or at least receive a sound thrashing. This is so because the ordinary folks no longer trust the police and the judiciary to apprehend the criminals/do justice to the victims.
Former president Musharraf lost the people’s trust by formulating policies behind their backs; by insulting them with statements such as that some women get themselves raped to get immigration to western countries and by handing people over to the Americans “to earn a bounty of millions of dollars.”
He also removed the judges Pakistanis had come to trust. No wonder, it caused so much unhappiness. President Zardari too has dealt a blow to the people’s confidence by saying that one’s promises aren’t sacrosanct and can be broken.
Likewise, some ministers and government officials in previous and present regimes lost their credibility by giving wrong or contradictory statements. In these very turbulent times, there is at least one thing our leaders can do to make life easier for the Pakistanis: set examples of honesty, which would raise the level of people’s trust in them and, thereby, bring some happiness.
Since some of them are so used to looking towards America for every inspiration, they should heed the former president Thomas Jefferson’s words: “When a man assumes a public trust, he should consider himself as public property.” The norm in this country has for long been for them to consider the masses and their money as personal property.
M. ALI
Karachi
The letter, ‘Reckoning time for HEC’ (Oct 21) gave me an opportunity to provide supporting details to the insight of Dr Pervez Hoodbhoy. Karakoram International University in Gilgit is a real prototype of his argument about doubling the universities without proper planning.
Today this university is Pandora’s box; it is entangled with serious academic and administrative crises. The recent administrative blunder in the faculty recruitment has put the university in catch 22 situations.
It has lost the series of cases in the local court against petitions of the failed candidates in the recruitment. The court has made its decision for the university authorities to issue terminations against the hired faculty on the basis of very strong evidences.
On the other hand, the university has recruited faculty on a permanent basis. And the hired faculty are going through psychological and emotional depression in time of economic crisis because they resigned from their previous jobs to become the so-called ‘daughters and sons’ of the university family.
The university has failed to find qualified teachers since its establishment. It has opened so many departments without strategic planning which is a very serious issue.
A graduate with master’s in English linguistic and literature from this university can hardly speak or write five correct sentences in the English language. Robert J. Kibbee puts it so well by saying that “the quality of a university is measured more by the kind of student it turns out than the kind it takes in”. I would like to conclude with this statement from the article, “One feels that similar resources spent on vocational or college education would have yielded greater dividends”. I wish the new establishment would understand the insight and open vocational and training college which is the real need of this marginalised region instead of this university.
A fair evaluation can make easier to take the suggested decision so that no further evil will unleash from the Pandora’s box because of the forthcoming economic depression in the country.
A PAKISTANI
Karachi
MUHAMMAD Rafiq Rajput, officer, Wildlife Department, Sindh, died on Oct 12, leaving behind in grief the community of wildlife lovers, conservationists as well as institutions involved in the research of biodiversity.
He had a very long association with field surveys and was a very knowledgeable field worker. His death is an irreparable loss with reference to wildlife surveys and research in Pakistan.
During a survey of Balochistan, he captured a live snake called ‘sanchoor’ (Indian krait), a deadly poisonous snake. He reached home on Oct 12. When he was shifting the snake from the jar into the cage, the snake bit him. His family members rushed him to the Jinnah Hospital, but unfortunately the hospital did not have any serum to treat a snake-bite patient. Doctors told his family members that the serum will be available in the Aga Khan Hospital and it will cost him Rs5,000.
The family members first returned home to make arrangement for the money and then visited the Aga Khan Hospital. When they returned to the JPMC, it was already late. Rafiq Rajput had already died. May Allah rest his soul in eternal peace.
Our health authorities should ensure availability of life-saving drugs in all government hospitals so that no one may lose his life just for want of such medicines.
ABRARUL HASAN
Zoological Survey Department
Karachi
(II)
THE death of Professor A. Majid Memon, a veteran gynaecologist, on Oct 16 has created a vacuum in the profession he followed.
He served the Dow Medical College as a professor and then as principal for many years with distinction and devotion.
The fact that he was a true academician reflected in his textbook on gynecology and obstetrics. His students are spread all over the world and are carrying his mission forward. After retirement from the Dow Medical College, he joined a private institution that was literally blessed with his expertise and academic input.
He served that institution as dean for a while and later on became a postgraduate adviser. His quest for knowledge and refinement in medical discipline continued until the last day of his life.
People like him are born in years. He deserves great tribute for his achievement in and contribution to the medical field.
DR AMIN A. GADIT
Canada
THIS refers to the letter, ‘McCain versus Obama’, by Khalid Chaudhry (Oct 19) and the report, ‘Muslim — the ultimate slur in US politics’(Oct 22).
Mr Chaudhry has pointed out how some participants have been raising unbelievably bad slogans against Barack Obama during the recent rallies for John McCain and Sarah Palin. These have included epithets like ‘terrorist’, ‘traitor’, ‘Muslim’ and — horror of horrors — ‘kill him’! What is more, the two candidates had not asked the sloganeers to refrain from that.
This is terrorism, pure and simple. That is why such extremists have been equated with Al Qaeda and rightly labelled ‘Al Republicaeda’ by the correspondent.
In the above-mentioned report, the writer has observed, “there is no doubt that calling someone a Muslim is now considered a slur in American politics.” It may be added that this word is even being used interchangeably with ‘Arab’ and, worse still, ‘terrorist’.
The Americans must recapitulate some hard facts of not too long ago. First, it was primarily the Americans themselves who had pushed the staunch Muslims towards militancy and jihad by recruiting them to fight against Cold War rival USSR, whose troops had invaded Afghanistan in 1979, to avenge the former’s defeat in Vietnam.
Subsequently, Washington got into a tiff with Osama bin Laden — a product of the CIA effort in Afghanistan — by rejecting his call for the return of American troops from Saudi Arabia in deference to Islamic teachings. Consequently, Bin Laden got violent and attacked some US interests in Africa.
At the time he had been staying as a guest of the Taliban regime led by Mulla Omar. The US asked Omar to expel him from Afghanistan but he said their code of hospitality didn’t allow it unless evidence of his crimes was provided, so he could be tried in a court and expelled, if guilty. Since Washington wasn’t agreeable to a trial by Taliban, Omar offered to allow his trial in a mutually acceptable Muslim country.
However, the US refused, and the rest is history. Now, after sustaining big losses in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Americans (and Europeans) appear to have realised the impossibility of a military victory in Afghanistan and are entering into talks with the militia. Furthermore, the public in America now believes Iraq’s occupation was a folly.
Remember also that the Iraqi invasion was based on lies of the Bush administration about existence of WMDs and alleged Al Qaeda connections. The outcome of the occupation of two Muslim countries and saber-rattling against some more greatly alarmed the Muslims, who saw it as a new western crusade. This pushed many more of them into the militants’ ranks.
So, who’s really responsible for promoting all this extremism and militancy among the Muslims? Instead of facing the truth, the Americans (and Russians) have shut their eyes to their own wrongdoing and are defaming the world’s 1.5 Muslims by stereotyping them as ‘terrorists’. This shows how irrational quite a few — but not all — Americans actually are.
Before 1979, the Afghans and Pakistanis were quite at ease. But Moscow’s and Washington’s interventions ravaged them. Consider this example. Mr Washcow strikes a man on his head by a hammer, who goes unhinged on a short-or long-term basis, starts behaving violently, even throwing stones at the passersby. When Washcow’s compatriots or friends get hurt, would he be justified in calling the victim a ‘terrorist’ or some such name?
That is precisely what some of the western states have done to the Muslims, primarily by their unequivocal support for Israel’s brutal treatment of the Palestinians and occupation of Arab lands, not forgetting Tel Aviv’s cluster-bombing of Lebanese civilian targets during the 2006 war with Hezbollah. The overt or covert actions in Afghanistan, Algeria, Iraq, Somalia and now Pakistan, are some of the later causes of Islamic world’s anger.
Seumas Milne’s essay, “West’s barbarity in Afghanistan”, in the Guardian, London, relates the tragedy of an Afghan man. He lost both grandparents, his wife, father, three brothers and four sisters in a US bombing last summer and said: “So long as there is just one 40-day-old boy remaining alive, Afghans will fight against the people who do this to us.”
Instead of using slurs against their Muslim compatriots or the global Islamic community, the irrational and fire-breathing section of the Americans, whom I would call “al Americaeda” must do some introspection first.
M.P. CHISHTI
Karachi
This is with reference to the delays when applying for a UK visa; although the green passport has always connoted a great degree of ‘third worldliness’ and invites considerable prejudice from several quarters when standing at the Heathrow immigration queue, however the recent ad-hoc rejections and delays in the student visa process are highly objectionable.
My fiancé had applied for a UK student visa, hoping to be able to pursue his post-grad degree at LSE this year. However after holding on to his passport for about 6 weeks, it was returned with a rejection, based on the fact that they had not been able to contact the sponsor on his phone.
I am not sure whether our local Gerry’s service is more to blame for the delayed information or the embassy itself. It is rather disappointing that after obtaining admission and securing a complete scholarship, (which are the more challenging phases I imagine) one is still unable to make the most of the opportunity due to such administrative constraints. I certainly feel the procedure needs to be more transparent and students in particular should be allowed to attain visas for academic pursuits at reputed institutions before their classes begin.
SABA KARIM KHAN
Karachi
THE State Bank governor’s assurance regarding the security of assets in Pakistan is laudable. But actions speak louder than words.
Would it not greatly increase the confidence of all the Pakistanis, as well as the foreign investors, if our president and the leader of our biggest opposition party were to divest their multiple overseas investments, including real estate in the Middle East and the West, and transfer all the billions back into Pakistan?
A.H. KIZILBASH
Karachi
AN unequivocal ‘yes’ and as Mr Suharwardy has suggested our leadership has to take the lead. It would help if our press can uncover the collective worth of our leaders — in the government or outside it — and some leading military and civilian bureaucrats associated with top governance of the last 20 years.
My own estimate based on newspaper headlines of this period is that this collective wealth more or less corresponds to what is at present our national debt in US dollars. If they love Pakistan as they all so vociferously claim, then they should put their money where their mouths are.
This money should not be a donation but the start of a fund whose trustees again should be Pakistanis whose credentials and integrity are beyond reproach. I am confident that ordinary Pakistanis living abroad and at home will pitch in and our empty coffers will fill up.
Moreover, government waste will have to be curbed. With ordinary Pakistanis going hungry, how can government functionaries spend money as if there is no tomorrow. Starting with the president, the PM, governors and chief ministers, followed by federal secretaries and armed forces brass, their living standards at government expense have to be visibly toned down.
JAVED KHAN TAREEN
Haripur, Hazara
Recently, the U.S. House and Senate passed a historic bill that will massively increase the use of solar energy all across the America. This includes an eight year extension of the 30 per cent solar tax credit and removal of the monetary cap for residential solar installations.
All over the world, solar energy is being promoted as it is free, abundant, and clean. The case in Pakistan is the opposite. The KESC has been known to take strict notice of anyone trying to run their house or business on solar energy. They claim it leads to a loss for KESC.
I would like to ask the authorities why solar energy is not being promoted in Pakistan, as we receive a lot of sunlight all year round.
If more people switch to solar energy, it will benefit not only the environment, but also lessen the load on the electric supply system. I suggest the government should take notice of this and allow people to utilise this efficient and clean source of energy.
ANAS FAROOQUI
Karachi
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