Beware of the unscrupulous

IT is more than a pious thought to help others in need. Whether be it the hapless Afghan refugees or the affected families from occupied Kashmir, collecting donations to help them out of their predicament is a humane effort. That’s why national organizations like the Edhi Trust are beyond reproach whenever they go about seeking society’s help for the needy. Such institutions are, in fact, an example to others.

But at times it becomes very difficult to distinguish between who is scrupulous and who isn’t if the bona fide of the person or the organization collecting charity has not already been established as clearly as that of Edhi or his. Chances are that in such a situation the institution or the person deriving benefit in the name of the hapless is a crook.

Here also, there are some who thrive on the hardships or sufferings of the handicapped or special children. Lately, there have been talks in the town — and we have confirmed reports — that some sensitive agencies have started an inquiry into a music programme held at the Public School auditorium recently, in which not only the name of the celebrated compere, Moin Akhter, was used, but who himself had all the way come here to be present at the show.

According to the insiders, Abdul Rehman had set up a school for the special children at Miani Road about six months back. Nobody knew much about it, but somehow Abdul Rehman was able to cultivate relations with Moin Akhter and persuaded him to attend his show. In Sukkur, there are already two good institutions run by the government’s social welfare department for special and handicapped children. As the one located near the airport drew a small number of children, the authorities first used the building for five years as a Haj transit camp, but now there is a court of accountability in the portion adjacent to it.

It appears that there is little scope for a new institution or else the one near the airport would have attracted students and, hence, not put to other uses as mentioned above. Abdul Rehman, the principal of the Iqra School and organizer of the programme, has set his ambition high because the cards for the Moin Akhter show were classified in five categories: the student category was worth Rs200, the first category Rs500, the third Rs1,000 and then there were VIP and the VVIP cards.

According to the insiders, about 4,000 cards worth one million rupees were sold out in five districts of Sukkur and Larkana divisions. Moin Akhter and his team did the job without any honorium. But what was most remarkable about the whole thing was that the organizer had no provision for a single special child to appear in the Moin Akhter show. Further, when some journalists visited the school at Miani Road, what they saw was a rented house with a big signboard of the school where three or four teachers were sitting without the special children.

The social welfare department here has also said investigation conducted by it shows that the organization sponsoring it was not on the registered list of social welfare organizations or the NGOs of the federal government. This has, therefore, made the show a suspect, and calls for a thorough inquiry to fix responsibility for the financial scam and bring the guilty to book.

The director of social welfare has also informed the high-ups at Karachi about the Moin Akhter show, expressing the fears that there are situations in which noted artists can be trapped by the unscrupulous.

The Sukkur show is the first experience of the city that involves donations from 5,000 people in the name of helping the special children, with the function being held in the auditorium of the Public School.

Nobody here, it is said, was ready to give its hall or auditorium to the organizer for the people had already had their doubts. Even at one stage, it is said, Moin Akhter had expressed his displeasure over the way things were being organized and wanted to leave but somehow was persuaded to save the situation.

The excise and taxation department may be able shed some light on that part of the money that should have gone into the government’s coffer as tax. So far there’s no word about it.

Again, will somebody investigate how the charity show turned into a a pop music show. In the meantime, it may be said, Moin Akhter would have been wiser had he checked with the local social welfare department the bona fide of the organizer.

Book fair in Ramazan

KARACHI: Noted writers of the city were guests the other day at the kutub mela (book fair) being held by Farid Publisher in Ancholi Society, Federal B- Area. The mela launched with the advent of Ramazan will conclude on the last day of the month, engaging the interest of the area people for full 30 days and evenings.

A marriage hall, the venue of the kutub mela, has been hired for this purpose, Farid Husain, the publisher, informed the audience in the glittering hall displaying books on a variety of subjects from history to religion, political biographies, poetry, fiction and classical literature.

Dr Hanif Fauq, Ahmed Hamdani, Hasan Akber Kamal, Prof Saher Ansari, Saba Ikram, Arif Shafeeq, Ali Haider Malik, and Shamim Manzer, in their brief comments, expressed the need to have more such kutub melas in distant places of Karachi, a city of 13 million souls. As the metropolis was fast expanding it was inconvenient, as well as costly, for readers to reach the old city bazaar, Dr Hanif Fauq said. He observed that while publishing and sale of literary books was quite brisk in the upcountry, it was sluggish in Sindh, and people wanted to know the reason for that phenomenon. It was found during the discourse that Lahore, the major centre of book industry, was privileged with more number of outlets in the city and the suburban towns. Also, there were about two hundred libraries in the province to support the local publishers. Further the city was throbbing with literary activities, mostly mushairas, thus boosting the sale of poetry collections.

Karachi was less privileged in the way that it had hardly one dozen libraries, managed by the impoverished municipal organizations, to cater to the need of more than ten million readers.

A writer informed the audience that while the government schools and colleges in Karachi could buy only those books which were launched by the Pakistan Book Foundation, their counterparts in upcountry were free to buy the needed publications from any publisher without seeking permission from the government.

When asked was the kutub mela a profitable venture for the publisher, Mr Fareed expressed his satisfaction over it. His annual mela, a permanent feature for the past many years, benefited students, housewives and many others as books were on sale at their doorsteps on hefty concessions.—HASAN ABIDI

Dangers of heroin epidemic

IN recent years, more and more Pakistanis have taken to experimenting with heroin and psychoactive agents and in the regular and often multiple uses of these substances. A number of surveys carried out after 1979 indicate that a marked increase in drug dependence occurred after the enforcement of the Hadd [Prohibition] Order in February 1979.

Before the ban, the problem was restricted in nature because addiction was confined to alcohol or charas. The ban made both these items ext