| December 16, 2008 | Tuesday | Zilhaj 17, 1429 |
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A state and its image
Tribute paid to Mahmoud Haroon
IMF loan
Appointment of judges
Pesco victims
Offal biofertiliser
British PM’s comment
Nukes in danger
Right of vote
Airspace violation
Providing subsidies
WMD attack source
The missing R&D culture
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 recent tension in the relations of India and Pakistan in the aftermath of Mumbai attacks. A casual look at the history of the subcontinent reveals that the region has been passing through two alternative phases of disintegration and integration, separated by a process of annexation by a foreign power.
During the phase of disintegration, the subcontinent is usually divided amongst several small independent states, which are mostly at war with each other, individually as well as collectively.
This state of affairs, filled with chaos and anarchy, tempts an external force, like Ghoris, Mughals and lastly British, to invade and subdue these warring states one by one. When this process of annexation comes to an end, we find an integrated Indian state on the horizon of the subcontinent.
As long as this paramount force retains its strength, the subcontinent remains integrated and unified. But, as soon as the paramount force starts weakening, the phase of disintegration sets in and in due course of time smaller states occupy the political landscape in the subcontinent. With this the cycle begins anew.
This drama of two parts has been going on on the stage of the subcontinent for several centuries. The result of this phenomenon has been that despite of being home to about one-fifth of humanity in the entire world at any given point in time, the forces of the subcontinent have never been able to conquer any foreign land.
On the contrary, due to its disunity, it has been repeatedly ravaged by even small bands of invaders, from Ahmed Shah Abdali to Mahmood of Ghazni et al. The result has been that a very large population of the subcontinent has been victim of famine, pestilence, poverty and war throughout the course of history.
Coming back to vicious circle of history, one finds that the last phase of integration in the subcontinent was from 1857 to 1947, preceded by a century of annexations by the British forces, which began in the 1750s with the battle of Plassey and formally ended with the War of Independence in 1857. The British had entered in the subcontinent during the phase of disintegration, which had begun in the aftermath of the decline of the Mughul power.
After about two centuries of supreme power, when the British started showing signs of weakness, the phase of disintegration set into motion. The process formally began in 1947, when the principal state of the subcontinent first stood divided into two and became three in less than a quarter of a century.
And that was not all. There are still several independence movements going on in various parts of the subcontinent. This trend of disintegration is still in check because the principal states operating in the subcontinent after 1947 have retained higher levels of force at their command than that of the secessionist groups. But, this state of affairs could only last till the time when the subcontinent’s principal states retained primacy in the force at their disposal.
A major war amongst the principal states of South Asia is destined to weaken them and set in motion the process of disintegration in the region. The past wars are testimony to this fact and the future one cannot follow a different course. During the last two decades, Pakistan and India have come close to near-war situations at least three times — in 1987, 1990 and 2002, in addition to a mini-war in Kargil in 1999. Once again the air in the subcontinent is pregnant with tensions and likelihood of a war cannot be ruled out.
One wonders if the subcontinent could ever be able to come out of the vicious circle of the past.
DR MOHAMMAD ALI SHAIKH
Former director,
SZABIST Centre for Information & Research
Karachi
AS it is with individuals, states also have a basic and mouldable personality all their own. Its contours subtend an image. This image can be evaluated in ethical, political, economic and social terms.
As a rough and ready measure some serious students of political science have held three contours of the state’s form fundamental. They are: (i) how much reverential awe embedded in integrity, dignity and decorum do the state – of course through its collective structure trussed by its functionaries – inspire in its citizenry; (ii) how objective, pressure-immune, well-qualified, competent, stature-possessing is its judiciary and (iii) how well are the minority citizens looked after. Reverential awe (or “ro’ab” in Urdu) can be readily understood if one were to visualise the position a father enjoyed in the family unit in our traditional culture. This somewhat of an aura can also be said, for further clarity, to be akin to the policy pursued by the British during their rule over India — particularly in the northwestern volatile tribal belt — described esoterically by historians as the policy of ‘masterly inaction’.
The second contour enumerated concerns the need in all civilised societies to jealously guard in every respect a judiciary free of executive or any other variety of pressure. This subject, of late, has been much in the limelight in our midst; to me unnecessarily, for most of the debate that surrounded it was all but politically-inspired and sought to exploit imprecisely defined terminology to obtain emotive effect.
To any objective student an ‘independent’ judiciary has several unassailable facets, which indeed are the inherent strength of this pillaring anchor of any state and which can shield it from any coercing executive pressure.
This inherent strength is amorphously subsumed in academics, stringent selection, security of person and merit-oriented career paths. If these conditions can be made to exist through societal and democratically-arrived-at legislative processes, one will not need to ‘thrust’ a judiciary’s ‘independence’ from without.
The third contour is the question of the quality of life of the minorities; that is, how well are they treated and how much, palpably, are they made to feel part of the mainstream contributory activity.
With more and more emphasis likely to fall, globally, on human rights in the 21st century, this may well be the acid test for acceptability in the comity of nations.
M.J.AS’AD
Karachi
THROUGH your esteemed daily I would like to share memories of Pakistan’s some earlier days which I had the honour of passing with the respected late Mahmoud A. Haroon. As a person he was a thorough gentleman having a very likable personality. I never saw him in anger or showing displeasure to anyone.
Yet another great quality which I noticed in Mahmoud A. Haroon was that he was a strong supporter and protector of the rights of minorities. I saw him protecting some Hindus’ shops from rioters at the risk of his life at Victoria Road.
Since then the defence of minorities’ rights has been the hallmark of Dawn’s policy. Not only this, he also made it mandatory that this newspaper should reflect and promote all those ideals which were dear to the Father of the Nation. Beyond these guiding principles, he did not interfere in the working of the paper. He was, in fact, the first newspaper owner who never interfered in the editorial policy. After partition when I came as a Turkish newspaper correspondent, I received great help and support from Mahmoud A. Haroon, and his younger brother Saeed A. Haroon.
Besides him, our group consisted of the late Ahmad Mian Soomro and Zain Noorani. We used to visit the Central Hotel almost daily in the evening and very much enjoyed each other’s company. I still cherish those memories. I was the youngest among these great people.While holding public offices such as governor and minister, Mahmoud A. Haroon also set unique examples for our present-day politicians. He never used his official authority or public funds for personal gains. He was more concerned about his personal as well as his family image while holding public offices.
Whenever I recall the olden days, I find that the Quaid i Azam was very right and choosy in selecting people around him. That’s why whenever he came to Karachi he always stayed at Mahmoud’s father’s, Sir Abdullah Haroon House. Again, it was not just an accidental decision that the Quaid entrusted the task of bringing out Dawn to the Haroon family, In fact, it was a very calculated and far-reaching move on the part of the Father of the Nation.
In fact, it was also Mr Mahmoud A. Haroon who very courageously faced the difficult days in the history of Dawn group of newspapers. He never compromised on principles. He also had a very cordial relationship with journalists and workers’ community. Not only Dawn, Mr Mahmoud A. Haroon also contributed a pioneering effort for the establishment of a great newspaper like the Khaleej Times.
KT today is the biggest English newspaper in the Arab world and represents yet another big contribution and service of the Haroon family, especially the late Mahmoud A. Haroon.
K. MURAD BEY
Karachi
THE IMF released the much-awaited document that exhibits economic targets as quarterly performance criterion for review and disbursement by the IMF, scheduled for March and June 2009.
Four primary targets set limits on net foreign assets (NFA) depletion, net domestic assets creation, net government borrowing from the SBP, and overall budget deficit.
We must meet these conditions to receive next tranches of the $7.6 billion loan. We can only achieve these targets by utilising this public fund for the best interest and benefit of the nation at large, and not for the personal benefits of a few individuals.
I, as a Pakistani, have all the rights to protest against any misappropriation of the IMF loan, which I equally share the burden of with every other citizen of Pakistan.
Some opportunists have been aggressively advocating the allocation of a 20 billion market support fund to provide a bailout package for stock brokers. I understand that provision for any such fund shall only benefit the corporate feudals of the stock and money market. Ordinary small investors have already lost their last penny.
The highhanded feudals of the stock market are now aiming at public funds to save their own interest. We all know these people have never paid any capital gain tax during the good days, so why should the nation pay for the losses of these individuals in difficult times?
I urge Shaukat Tareen, Naveed Qamar, the SECP and other authorities concerned to take bold steps to save the public funds from falling prey to a few individuals. I strongly demand of the SECP to immediately unfreeze the market floor and let the market forces reveal the true value of the stocks.
The unfreezing of the market floor will also provide an exit route for those who have purchased stocks under CFS, and the brokerage houses are charging an extremely high rate of markup on transactions booked under CFS.
SHAMIM BUKHARI
Karachi
KUNWAR Idris in his article, ‘Chief justices past and present’ ((Dec 7), has written that in most of the countries the appointment of judges is in the hand of chief executives. This may be true in the case of undemocratic countries where the executive (prime minister or president) is vested with such powers.
No democratic polity tolerates such a system. For example, in England the executive has virtually no role in the appointments of judges. It is the independent (non-departmental) Judicial Appointments Commission, composed of 15 highly qualified members, which after receiving applications from eligible candidates selects the judges.
The commission sends its recommendations to the Lord Chancellor for formal appointments of the judges. But the government cannot refuse the recommendations of the commission. If it objects to any recommendation, it has to give reasons for it. The government cannot appoint any other person as an alternative. This ensures neutrality in the appointment of judges which in turn ensures independence of the judiciary and the rule of law.
As regards the appointment of members of the Judicial Appointments Commission, nobody who is or has been a political activist can be appointed a member. The 15 commissioners are drawn from the judiciary, the legal profession, tribunals and the lay public such as seasoned journalists, professors and others.
For example, the chairman of the commission since 2005 is Baroness Usha Prashar, who was awarded CBE in 1994. She is the first Civil Service commissioner. She has been director of the National Council for Voluntary Organisation and member of the Lord Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on Legal Education and Conduct.
In short, great care is taken to ensure that appointment of judges is not tainted by political consideration. If we had a similar system of appointing judges in Pakistan, we, too, could achieve the goals of independent judiciary and the rule of law in the country so vital for socio-economic progress.
S. FEROZ SHAH GILANI
Lahore
THIS is on behalf of those affected by Pesco in Chitral town, which has the potential of producing 40,000 megawatt electricity but the area remains in darkness for 16 hours every day.
Chitral town is inhabited by 60,000 people; though there are 4,800 commercial connections in the market area of the town, electricity remains switched off from dawn to dusk. More than 2,000 commercial connections are in the name of skilled consumers whose income depends on machinery such as sewing machines, automobiles, light mechanical gears, computers, etc. The remaining 2,800, consumers depend on light for sale of their goods. The town is connected with national grid. It has its own powerhouse of one megawatt and has diesel generators to meet the requirements of the town.
We appeal to President Asif Ali Zardari, Minister for Water and Power Raja Pervez Ashraf and Wapda Chairman Shakil Durrani to intervene and probe the matter.
Experts say that loadshedding hours can be minimised through administrative measures and better management. In case there is problem in the supply, then Pesco authorities should put diesel generators into operation and do away with the current crisis of loadshedding in Chitral town.
BASHIR HUSSAIN AZAD
Chitral
HATS off to the city government workers of all ranks for lifting and disposing of the offal of sacrificial animals within three days of Eid-ul-Azha in collaboration with the town municipal administrations of the city, with great care and success.
According to the news item (Dec 12), the offal has been buried at eight landfill sites which should be earmarked and pursued for its bioconversion into bio-fertiliser. The bioconverted offal will be a very good source for increasing the fertility of farmland soils. A bag (40 kg) of chemical fertiliser like urea or DAP (di-ammonium phosphate) is being sold for Rs1,000 and is reported to be running short in supply.
All we need to do is to pump in water at the buried sites to submerge the offal for accelerating the process of multiplication of microorganisms for the decomposition and solubilisation of mineral nutrients before it is taken out of the dug-in sites.
Microorganisms, i.e. cellulolytic fungi and lignolytic bacteria, decompose and convert vegetables (grass etc.) into organic fertiliser.
The offal made up of protein is broken down by proteinolytic bacteria. The offal contains raw dung (ojhree khad) of carbonaceous matter inside the stomach of animals and the wall of the stomach is made up of protein. Thus offal contains matter both of animal and vegetable origin and an organic fertiliser derived from offal will, therefore, contain major nutrient elements (NPK) in addition to other nutrient elements for increasing the fertility of farm field soil.
The collected offal reported to be from one million animals in Karachi will be expected to yield 0.1 million tons of offal-biofertiliser. The 0.1 million tons can be sold for Rs100 million at the rate Rs1,000 per ton after one year required for its bioconversion. At a conservative rate it is expected that Rs0.1 million will be spent in preparing bags of offal fertiliser for sale. It is thus expected to be a cost-effective enterprise for the city government.
I would like to draw the attention of the officials concerned in the management of offal to give a thought for pursuing this novel technology, i.e. bioconversion of offal into organic fertiliser.
The offal biofertiliser will be an additional source of organic fertiliser to boost food production.
DR. M. JALALUDDIN
Karachi
”MOST of the serious terror plots being investigated by UK authorities have links to Pakistan,” Gordon Brown says.
The US, the UK and India are playing a game of their own agendas in the wake of Mumbai terror attacks and pressuring Pakistan unnecessarily.
I think it’s time our leadership took a stand and instead of fearing isolation from these so-called developed and big democracies, set its priorities right, had faith in its own people and resources and identified true friends in the international community. Our leadership should show some self-respect, otherwise every other country will continue to blame us.
ASIM HAFEEZ
Saudi Arabia
I WAS amazed to read in your editorial (Dec 14) that K.S. Sudarshan (the powerful supreme leader of the RSS) has advocated nuclear war with Pakistan.
This is the man who is very close to the BJP (which started the nuclear arms race in the subcontinent) and could very well be in a powerful position in the government if the BJP wins elections next year.
This is the kind of statement which wouldn’t have surprised anyone if made by someone in Al Qaeda, but to hear it from a prominent Indian politician chilled me to the bone. The world should ask India to guarantee that its nuclear arsenal is not in danger of being seized by crazy people like the RSS chief.
SHAKIR LAKHANI
Karachi
CURRENTLY I am on a trip in Europe. I have been reading various newspapers in different countries where Pakistan’s name is being negatively highlighted concerning the Bombay blasts. I am immensely proud to see how bravely Pakistanis, who are residing abroad, are dealing with the situation.
It is indeed commendable how they defend their homeland when queried daily by people about terrorism in Pakistan. It is time they were given voting rights in their own country as they are the best ambassadors of Pakistan.
SYED IRFAN ALI SHAH
Former MPA, Sindh
The violation of Pakistan’s airspace has given a signal to the nation that we should not let our guard down even for a second. Pakistan and its people are firm in their resolve to stand in the face of any aggression.
NAVEEN AHMED
Kong
I have read the two articles on page 17 (Dec 8) of your newspaper. In the first article a political party urges the government to provide direct subsidies to farmers, and in the second the Chamber of Commerce requests the government to force banks to provide “soft loans” to farmers.
Obviously the two overarching objectives of both organisations are to support sustained food production and to support sustained poverty alleviation for Pakistani citizens.
One understands that government can only stimulate sustained growth when it has sufficient income from taxes and banks can only stimulate sustained growth when depositors trust them with their money to not make losses (thus meaning they require undertaking finance as an autonomous business).
At the moment all can sadly conclude that Pakistani citizens deposit less money in banks (the domestic savings rate has decreased considerably over the last months) and they pay less taxes to their Government.
To come to solutions that forge a national alliance for sustained growth for all the above facts need to be acknowledged as a basis for improvement.
PETER VAN DIJK
karachi
I HAVE read the suggestion by the bipartisan group in the US that a WMD attack can originate from Pakistan. This is really worrying news as for the last three to four years reports have appeared in the foreign media about routine smuggling of uranium ore in India that could have already reached terrorists.
This could have disastrous implications for Pakistan if and when those terrorists use it against western countries. Some enemies of Pakistan in the West have already begun to prepare public opinion against Pakistan.
I think it is vital that in the light of the Mumbai attack and involvement of Hindu extremists in many terrorist activities in India, our government should immediately address this issue and raise it at various international forums.
ALI MOHAMMAD
Via email
MANY universities lack campus research and development (R&D) facilities which is badly affecting our university rankings as well as local industry because R&D is the most essential part of industrial sector.
On the social front, R&D in the social sector helps improve society and people’s lifestyle. Why do we mostly use foreign case studies, surveys and researches in our curriculum? Instead, why can’t we have substantial local research in all areas of life?
Universities should encourage students and faculty to conduct research and hence contribute to the country’s development.
UZMA SAEED KHAN
Islamabad
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