Stop staring -DAWN Magazine; August 10, 2003

August 10, 2003

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Stop staring THIS is with reference to the article Stop staring (July 13, 2003). This is an issue that has created a lot of trouble for women. From markets to bus stops, the stare brutalizes every woman. Along with the unruly looks also come repulsive language. It is probably for these reasons that parents in our society confine their daughters to the boundaries of the homes. But I disagree with the presented solution. If we ask people not to stare at women, they will stare more. We have to finish this sex difference in our society. Even in our buses, women are seated separately as if some showpiece or a model. Men then take pleasure in staring at this strange creature of God. The solution is to make people aware that females are not oddities. They are human beings, have feelings which each and every one of us possess. A married friend of mine once commented that a woman is the cause of all problems in a man’s life. I pitied his ignorance for a man also creates a lot of problems in a woman’s life, to the extent that in some cases he destroys her life. LAJPAT RAI (RAJ) Jamshoro (2) THE writer makes a very good point on the social crime of staring. But men aren’t the only ones at fault. If we analyze this issue, we see that women are responsible for half of this problem. It is because nowadays women are wearing shameful dresses and in the process they have become objects of attraction for the opposite sex. With each passing day, women are going beyond the limits of Islam. So, if women want men to stop staring at them, they should stop wearing shameful dresses. Then nobody will stare at them and the issue will be solved. JAMSHED JOKHIO Hyderabad Go the Chinese way THIS is with reference to Mr Ghulam Kibria’s interview, Go the Chinese Way (July 20). Present-day Pakistan or for that matter the Pakistan of 1947 cannot be compared with China in 1948. The old feudal order was destroyed by the Communist Party in China in 1948, and was replaced by a completely new China. Hence, Pakistan cannot be compared with China at independence. While it is true that Mao was one of the greatest leaders that China, or for that matter the world, has produced, Mao was a failure as an economist. His answer for the sluggish growth of China was ‘The Cultural Revolution’ that pushed China back, instead of taking it forward. As a leader of the social revolution, Mao was great but only upto a point. It was Den Xiaoping who laid the foundation of the economic miracle that Kibria is talking about. This miracle has been achieved as a result of massive investment by multinational companies in China. It has been proved beyond any shadow of doubt that without foreign assistance, economic progress cannot go far on indigenous resources alone Pakistan is also in favour of investment by multinationals, but the law and order situation defies this wish. R.H. USMANI Karachi Blurred vision THIS is with reference to the article Blurred vision (July 27). It was very heartening to read the writer’s views on the subject of Westernization (not many people speak against it these days), and the blatant indifference of the Muslim world to the atrocities being afflicted on their fellow brethren. The writer asserted about faith (“...it opens closed doors, offers solitude, peace of mind and the drive and eagerness to move forward.”). Faith, in my opinion, also gives us a focus and a purpose of life. What is really wrong with us is that our standards are in accordance with the dictates of the media. As Muslims, our standards should be the teachings of the Holy Quran, with the Ahadis, Sunnah and Fiqhah. What’s good or evil is what these sources identify. HAFSA AHSAN Karachi Correction THE name of the writer of the article, The biofilters of heavy metal pollution, published in the issue of July 27, was inadvertently mentioned as Sarwar Ismail. It should have read as Sarwat Ismail.

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