| November 24, 2008 | Monday | Ziqa'ad 25, 1429 |
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Restoration of national heritage
Burden on parents’ pocket
Impartial inquiry
Quality education
PhD programmes: halt before it hurts
Pakistan cricket
Abandoned children
CNG buses on roads
Rating of debt instruments
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 recent visit by the newly-appointed Centcom chief, Gen David Petraeus, to Pakistan signals an important development in the ongoing war on terror. While it is too early to predict the outcome of Petraeus’s appointment to this key position, it is reasonable to assume that we will see a gradual change in US strategy in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Patraeus is widely credited with stabilising the situation in Iraq. He has been praised for rescuing the country from an imminent civil war and restoring some semblance of order. Two important aspects of his strategy were a surge of western troops in the country and forming alliances with key tribal groups and militias.
He tactfully used the additional 30,000 troops to secure strategic areas throughout the country, including militant strongholds. This was complimented by forming alliances, particularly with Sunni tribal groups, some of which had even previously fought against the Americans.
This two-pronged strategy seems to have been reasonably successful in Iraq, providing a temporary reprieve during which diplomacy and the political process can be given a chance to foster results.
Patraeus’s appointment clearly indicates that the US realises its precarious position in Afghanistan. Even with the presence of some 60,000 foreign troops, the coalition is facing an escalating Taliban insurgency in the country. Added to this, the Taliban and Al Qaeda continue to maintain a strong presence in Pakistan’s tribal areas, despite intensified military operations by the Pakistan Army.
By all indications, Patraeus is a pragmatic leader who realises that Afghanistan and Pakistan present a very distinct challenge. He will likely attempt to persuade the US administration to revise and adjust policies in the region according to ground realities. This may include additional troops, equipment, firepower, and a clear shift in the focus of the war on terror from Iraq to Afghanistan.
Although his forces will not have a significant presence in Pakistan, Patraeus has made it clear that he views the country as a vital front in the war. Judging by his statements and his meetings with Pakistani defence officials, it is likely that he will attempt to include Pakistan as a more equal stakeholder in the conflict.
It is clear that the Pakistani military establishment has realised the full extent of the threat posed by militants in the tribal areas -- the intensified operations in the region are a testament to this. Patraeus will likely try to capitalise on this realisation, and we may finally witness improved coordination between coalition and Pakistani forces, coupled with increased military assistance.
While it would be impractical to expect the cross-border missile and drone attacks to stop overnight, improved communication between US and Pakistani forces may certainly lead to a more restrained and mutually acceptable use of this tactic.
Considering his experience in Iraq, Patraeus will be more receptive to the idea of enlisting the support of tribal leaders and militias (lashkars) to combat militants in Pakistan -- a strategy with which the Pakistan Army has already had some success. In fact, it would not be surprising to also see this trend develop on the Afghan side of the border in the months to come.
Expecting drastic change and positive results in a short span of time would be unreasonable. Patraeus has admitted that the war in Afghanistan will be drawn out and extremely difficult. Undoubtedly, a lot will also depend on the new US president’s policies when he takes office in January.
WASIF KHAN
Karachi
I CONGRATULATE the Sindh government for its latest decision to restore the Masonic Lodge, a national heritage site, as reported, ‘Protected heritage site -- Government plans to raze illegal structure of Wild Life Department’ (Nov 3).
The Lodge, an edifice built in 1915 by the society of free masons, located at Maulana Din Muhammad Wafai Road, Karachi, is one of the few most gorgeous architectures of the metropolis.
Unfortunately, as was the tragedy with various other heritage buildings in the country, the Masonic Lodge was also given to total apathy. Disregarding all by-laws, the building was handed over first to the provincial information department and later on to the wild life department: the present-day occupant.
These occupants played havoc with the original structure by bringing various uncalled-for and shabby changes inside the building to suit their office requirements.
A few years back, while passing through the site, I was fascinated so much by the facade of the Lodge that I could not resist myself and entered the premises.
However, inside it was total disappointment as not only the various wall-affixed stones in the main hall showing names of the contributors and philanthropic members of society were whitewashed but the original floor and wood work was almost ruined.
Besides, alterations made for the convenience had destroyed the original beauty of the structure. Surprisingly the bookshelves on the walls of the hall were unharmed as they were full of old volumes; these old manuscripts, however, were not ravaged as the shelves were locked apparently since their original occupants left the place.
Probably for the new occupants these manuscripts were of no significance. This needs special attention of the Sindh Archives, which incidentally comes under the provincial culture department, to ensure shifting and safe custody of these old valuable manuscripts at archives.
I would also like to invite the attention of the culture department to another monument of national heritage which is fast decaying due to neglect of authorities.
This is Khan Bahadar Azim Khan Building located opposite Radio Pakistan, Hyderabad. This fine piece of architecture was built in 1934 to house the offices of Sindh Cooperative Society, of whose first deputy register was no other person than K. B. Azim Khan, one of the extraordinary officers Sindh has ever produced.
The provincial government’s recognition of the importance of national heritage, though late, needs to be appreciated and supported by civil society.
I also hope that the control of other heritage buildings, especially the Hindu Gymkhana and Jinnah Courts (occupied by Rangers), as referred by Mr Badar Jatoi in his letter ‘Curtain call for Napa’ (Oct 29), will also be regained, and the buildings restored as national heritage.
DR (PROF) KAZI KHADIM HUSSAIN
Hyderabad
MOST of the private high-profile English-medium schools/colleges run purely on a commercial basis without caring much about pockets of the parents and quality of education despite charging exorbitantly high fees.
Problems with some of these schools are as follows:
1. Fees and other charges are increased anytime without taking parents into confidence who come to know only when fee slips are given.
2. A big annual fund is collected in the beginning of the year for the purpose of providing notes, past papers, etc, during the year. But whenever any such material is provided, full cost is recovered again from the students.
3. At the time of admission all the subjects according to the choice of students are offered and later on, for some of the subjects, the teachers are arranged very late or even not at all, thus the students suffer and pay the price.
4. Some teachers do not regularly attend the classes and eventually force the students for late sittings or weekend sessions without providing any transport for the odd times.
5. Generally the teachers are not paid well and ,as a result, the quality of teaching is compromised by hiring improperly qualified or incompetent teaching staff.
6. Problems of individual students are not addressed in a timely manner.
7. A huge amount is charged for any small thing, i.e. school ID card etc.
Here are some suggestions to improve the situation:
1. Parents’ forums should be created to monitor the performance of such institutions. Parents must take initiative in this regard.
2. An external audit must be conducted on a biannual basis and the audit reports must be made available to the parents when they demand because they being the actual financers of such institutions have all the rights to be satisfied.
3. There should be a sound system of hiring good quality teachers.
4. An annual review in December (so that any essential improvement may be made effective during the remaining half of the academic year) must be arranged where management should present a progress report of the preceding year, plans for the following years and current problems, issues and concerns. Parents and representatives from the controlling bodies must be invited to the review.
5. Commitments should be made in writing during the parents-teachers meetings.
SQN LDR ( r) ZULFIQAR AHMAD
Rawalpindi
THIS is apropos of Faiza Harekar’s letter, ‘Impartial inquiry’ (Nov 4), in which she claims she was forced to write in response to my letter, ‘Plea for impartial inquiry’ (Oct 26).
It was after reading reports in Dawn for three consecutive days about the gruesome incident that I was forced to write this letter.
In the first news the details of the ghastly incident were given, in the second Prof Iqbal Memon rejected the plea for inquiry and tried to cover up the whole incident that an inward inquiry has been made and in the third the medical superintendent rejected the statement of the parents and stated that no negligence took place and alleged that ‘the media has blown the incident out of proportion’.
Now Ms Harekar alleges that the reader may have been misguided by the criticism that I have made in my letter.
The Civil Hospital is a Sindh government hospital run with taxpayers’ money and not charity as claimed Prof Iqbal Memon and Ms Harekar.
Ms Hareker has mentioned ‘Professor Iqbal Memon’s ward. There is no ward with such a name, every ward belong to the government. He is at present the head of paediatric unit II which used to be Paediatric Unit I after the retirement of Prof. A. G. Billo.
Many professors have come and gone from the unit. In government service no government servant can stay at a place for more than three years as a rule. Prof Memon and others who have completed their posting tenure must be transferred to other places in the interior of Sindh. In this way they will transfer their expertise to other hospitals attached with the medical colleges in the of interior.
Ms Harekar says doctors are working day in and day out to serve the poor without salaries and that MCPS and DCH are not paid at all.
There are more than 200 house officers, senior registrars and registrars in the four paediatric wards and all are paid permanent employees. Seventy-five per cent of the Civil Hospital budget goes to finance the salaries of the staff and the rest goes for the treatment. This money is not charity, it is taxpayers’ and meant for the citizens. It is their right.
In the recent past, treating ailing humanity in Pakistan was service to humanity but I regret that now the aim is bottom line: money and that too at the cost of poor patients who are non-affording.
I would like to quote a cause from the physicians’ oath as adopted by the General Assembly of the World Medical Association: “I would practise my profession with conscience and dignity; the health of my patients will be my first consideration”.
Ms Harekar has stated: “If they shun their duties to run clinics, they are justified because they have their families to feed”. This is a purely commercial approach to earn money.
DR. IRSHAD AHMED SETHI
Karachi
IN Pakistan the reality is that we have many thousand of ghost schools and hundreds of thousands of ghost teachers, what does the government planning to do to improve this situation. One of the main problems in the education and many other departments in Pakistan is heavy corruption that must be abolished in the popular elected tenure of this government.
One of the major hurdles for this is lack of good pays. For example teachers in government schools and colleges get very low pays. This must be at least three times more, this will not only attract quality teachers but also encourage them to do justice to their job.
No a new budget is required for this, and what the education department should do immediately is to get a districtwise examination board and test each teacher and after proper tests and examinations only the quality teachers should be retained at higher pays and the rest should be replaced to lower employment grades.
Also all the ghost schools should be checked and only the ones that are in good locations and performing well should be given extra allowance for repair and be maintained through a reputed company like NESPAK to supervise and ensure quality of work, and also the ghost schools not in use should have their budget withdrawn till a proper evaluation of their staff and students and facility is conducted.
In Sindh alone the official figure quoted is that there are 7,500 ghost schools. This should be reduced and their budgets suspended to evaluate, and the funds saved from this should be applied to all performing schools.
Also book banks should be maintained in each school library where the students should be able to get the books on rental at a very nominal fee, thus saving millions to the already tight education budget.
This saving should be passed on to the principal, the teachers in better pays and the students for a lunch allowance where a small pack of biscuits and a box of tetra pack milk, as well as free uniform, are given to each student as incentive to attend.
Z.H. EFFENDI
Karachi
I HAVE been victim of the drama being carried by Karachi University in the name of MS/PhD and MS/MD programmes for the last two months.
A good sum of money has been collected by the university through forms and brochures and then by NTS for testing service, which could have been carried out by the university with much ease by itself. And then they took 40 per cent of that test for the final merit list.
The deans committee that has been the decision-maker throughout has been working and behaving like primary school students. Now I wonder with regret that whether they deserve to conduct these programmes. Is the university ready for this? God knows better, but as far as circumstances show, it seems difficult. I am writing these lines to halt this programme for a while and review carefully again.
The hue and cry that has been made by many students regarding the final merit list is quite justified. Everything has become upside down in this context. There should not be criticism of the HEJ Institute because they are the one doing the right thing, although after the event.
The decision to take the pre-entry test was quite right because there were students from all over the country and abroad and from different academic careers. Let us take an example, a master in microbiology from Swabi, a master in physiology from Hyderabad, a master in genetics from Hyderabad and a medical graduate from Karachi were striving for enrolment in molecular medicine.
The test was the only way to check their IQ at a certain level. Their academic careers differed quite a lot. There was a great mismanagement in the test. Moreover, the merit formula they have adopted is all rubbish. They have given NTS performance 40 per cent weightage and academic careers 60 per cent.
It means a person who has got 95 per cent score in his master’s from ‘Laloo Bhai University’ on any corner of the street can enter this programme easily although he obtained 30 per cent on NTS. How absurd was this?
Prof (Dr) Shahana Urooj has declared (Dawn, Nov 18) that a new list will be announced ,but now the whole process and its credibility is in jeopardy.
I fail to understand the efforts being made to just increase the enrolments at the cost of the quality of these degrees. A PhD degree is not the right of everyone, rather it is the previlige for the very competent. Research is very expensive, it not only requires a lot of hardship and manpower but also a lot of money and time. These should not be wasted like this.
It someone has acquired a certain standard score (in percentage or percentile), then he should consider other things in academic careers.
Does the College of Physicians and Surgeons consider someone suitable if he has not passed FCPS-I whatever he has done in his academic career? They must understand that educational institutes vary quite a lot in allocating the marks, place to place and time to time. From here the idea of standardisation of education up to a certain level has emerged. Tests are taken all over the world to minimise this differentiation but here the vice versa has been implemented.
Now, I wonder how much time and money are going to be wasted in this matter. It is better to emphasise on enhancing the standards of education in the country rather than enrol cobblers to do PhD in international relations or public administration or molecular medicine or genetics.
Otherwise it will be a waste of time and money in this era of high risk economy.
DR ABAD-UL-AGHFAR
Karachi
The Saleem Malik controversy in Pakistan cricket has traversed a long journey covering over 15 years. During the same period the same scandal involved Indian and Australian Test players, i.e. Mohammad Azharuddin, Shane Warne, Mark Waugh and others but their respective countries deemed plausible to exonerate them by imposing minor penalties or even without penalties, with the result that all those players are participating freely in international cricket affair.
But in our case, where the sport affairs relating to cricket are already at its lowest ebb, we hitherto are so much accustomed to wash our dirty linen in public that the courts (right up to the apex court) in Pakistan have allowed Saleem Malik to participate in cricket affairs by dismantling the impugned ban on the players but here some ex-star players are still settling old scores by behaving churlishly on the subject, like a proverbial bee in their bonnet, bordering on personal vendetta, which is certainly jarring on the nerves of Pakistani fans of the game.
In the light of the latest judgments of the courts this sordid affair ought to have been closed, once and for all as has been done by other countries. So that the fair name of the game may not get tarnished further by any chatter box.
PRO BONO PUBLICO
Rawalpindi
THE picture of the two sobbing children, left by their poverty-stricken mother with the Edhi Care Centre is really heart-rending. When the poor of any country have to abandon or sell or kill the apples of their eyes, it shows the worst example of governance.
The problems like the stark poverty, high cost of education, healthcare, harnessing, etc are some of the crucial problems to receive the government’s attention.
It is the people of the country and the elected government that can deliver us from these self-destroying things.
M. SHAFIQUE AHMED
Karachi
THE ripples of my joy and jubilation dashed against the banks on my heart when I read a news item (Nov 5) on the above caption. Due to very limited number of buses plying in the interior of Sindh from Karachi to Jacobabad, the owners are charging exorbitant unbearable rates of fare, particularly on Eid festivals they make 80 to 100 per cent increase as per their sweet will and there is nobody to ask them the reason.
I have been trying to invite the attention of the government right from chief minister / minister, chief secretary / transport secretary for the last 15 years prior to the commencement of Eid, but no action was ever taken for the last fifteen years, except one action, which was drastic action taken by the then Commissioner of Sukkur, Khalid Mehmood Soomro, who impounded the bus plying from Karachi to Jacobabad for three days. Otherwise every year deaf ear was turned to my application.
The present government has arranged 100 buses which would ply from Karachi to Sukkur. Such series of CNG buses would definitely tear into pieces the monopoly of private buses. It would be better if these 100 buses are allowed to ply from Karachi to Jacobabad. The minister for transport is further requested to see that these buses are not overloaded like ‘goods train’. It should be neat and clean service with civilised staff.
LALA FAZAL AHMED
Hyderabad
DAWOOD Money Market Fund is being shown as having a five-star rating on the websites of both PACRA and Dawood Capital Management Ltd.
According to the PACRA website, rating is an evaluation of the capacity and willingness of the Dawood Money Market Fund to honour its debt obligations.
Pakistani investors should be informed of the criterion adopted by PACRA for revision of ratings of a debt instrument or a corporate entity. This is because my redemption form for units in the Dawood Money Market Fund was accepted by them on Oct 14 and I was informed verbally that the amount payable would be sent to me after six working days. I also received a statement of my account showing that I have no units in the Fund and indicating the amount payable.
It is now a month since the redemption form was filed and accepted and I am still waiting to learn when I will receive the money due to me. The reality now is that I have no units in the fund nor have received the redemption amount, yet the Fund still continues to be highly rated by PACRA.
I hope one will agree that if a fund is not able to honour its debt obligations on time, PACRA ratings should reflect this so that all present and future investors are able to develop their investment strategy.
MATIN GHANI
Karachi
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