Indian troop concentration

AFTER keeping its armed forces in a state of war preparedness for almost 10 months, India has finally decided to withdraw its troops from the borders and bring them back to their peace time deployment.

This war frenzy cost India a price tag of Rs20 billion. Besides, it caused immense losses in the form of reduced business activities, suspension of flights, trains and buses and fear of war in the minds of over a quarter of a billion people in both the countries.

What did India gain from all this? Or rather, what did India want from all this?

Ever since 9/11, India had been trying its level best to exploit this event in the best possible way to malign Pakistan and its role in the war against terrorism. It used the much suspicious December 13 attack on its parliament as an excuse to create an extreme crisis situation to achieve external motives i.e. getting Pakistan declared a terrorist state, covering up its internal weaknesses and arousing temporary nationalist feelings for the upcoming state elections.

India also demanded handing over of the so-called ‘terrorists’ involved in the December 13 firing from Pakistan which was categorically rejected by Gen Musharraf in his address to the nation in January. Even then India continued its threatening tone with statements like “Pakistan will be taught a lesson” and “it is time for a decisive war with Pakistan.”

But all this finally proved to be nothing more than just a storm in a tea cup. So it is time for the Indians to learn a few lessons themselves.

They should now be convinced that Pakistan cannot be coerced into acceding to Indian demands by sheer use of power and military might. Pakistan has never been impressed by India’s show of might and if, at all, India wants a solution to certain problems, it has to begin a meaningful dialogue.

It was a costly mistake to assume that with its army on the borders, India would be able to dictate terms. After being so belligerent, this sudden ‘chickened out’ decision shows realization of facts and acceptance of ground realities, with no primary or secondary objectives achieved.

This also shows the steadfastness and perseverance of the Pakistani government which, all along this situation, kept a cool mind and prevented further escalation.

Would someone in India care to ask its government what did it achieve by this exercise costing Rs20 billion.

It was a highly unprofessional decision to keep an army on high alert for a period of 10 months. It greatly reduced its efficiency and caused widespread demotivation and demoralization among the troops who were fatigued and frustrated. Let’s hope the Indian leadership professes more sensibility in the future before taking any similar steps.

ALTAMASH JAVED LONE

Karachi

Why this US bashing?

THIS refers to Mr Jamil Sohail’s letter, ‘Why this US bashing’ (Oct 17). I, in fact, want to fulfil my obligation as a Pakistani by putting forth my opinion which is quite different to what the author has tried to establish.

First of all I think we need to define the term ‘mutual interests’ used in the said letter.

This term, in case of the US-Pakistan relation, has always meant the US interests alone. If not so, the US would have never abandoned us after Pakistan played a key role in pushing the Soviet army out of Afghanistan which eventually resulted in the disintegration of the communist empire. Memories of the illusion of 7th fleet during 1971 war are still very fresh in the minds of those who think as Pakistanis.

Our interests are not and shall not be defined by the meagre and short-term economic gains but through our own ideology — an ideology of a free and independent Islamic state.

The basis of a coalition with any country should be our own interests and in line with our own ideology of being an independent Islamic state. No matter what economic gains we might get in return, no treasure is worth a compromise on our ideology.

One thing I cannot comprehend is: why are people, and specially the people of Pakistan, shy of supporting anything that has the name of Islam attached to it? If parties with Islamic ideology have won a majority in two provinces of Pakistan and emerged as a force on the political scenes of Pakistan, why cannot we respect the mandate of the masses?

After all these parties have been brought to the forefront through a legitimate and democratic process of polls. They may not have enough majority to form a government at national level today, but we cannot rule out such a possibility in future elections.

And if so happens, what would be your reaction then? Would you want a West-oriented army general to take over Pakistan instead of handing over power to the majority group, if it is a religious group?

I think its about time for us to knock off the notion that religious parties have an anti-US or anti-West stance by any means. They have a different way of looking at things and defining the interests of our nation.

Instead of shying away from them, we should try to learn more about the religious groups and their ideology rather than forming a false opinion under the influence of a negative propaganda carried out against these groups by sources who know very little about Islam.

FIDA HUSSAIN

Dubai

Cadet pilots’ dilemma

WE, the selected candidates for PIA cadet pilots, would like to bring the following facts to the attention of the relevant authorities:

The advertisement for cadet pilots vacancies had appeared in the national dailies in March 2001. The entire process of selection, that included a written test, interview, medical examination, flight check and final interview, had taken a span of 10 months.

The selection process was indeed fair and transparent. The procedure cost around Rs100,000 to each of the successful candidates (non-Karachiite).

However, we have not received any word about our final selection from the PIA authorities since December 2001.

Our parents and families have come a long way to suffer with as in our agony and despair. We have lived up with this for about 20 months now with hopes to become a career pilot in the national flag-carrier.

One of our fellows, also a successful candidates, Ahmed Israr, died of gunshots from the ground while he was flying a leaflet dropping aircraft in Peshawar.

Had the PIA authorities inducted him, we would not have lost a qualified pilot.

Despite our repeated pleas, the authorities have been keeping silent over our induction.

We appeal to the President for justice and request him to look intothe dilemma so that such a fair selection process be encouraged and merit may flourish.

CANDIDATES FOR CADET PILOTS

Karachi

European observers’ judgments

THIS is with reference to Mr Izhar H. Siddiqui’s letter about the European Union observers (Oct 17). The writer feels that these observers are making judgments and not observations. He further says that interference in the internal affairs of the third world countries is not uncommon and that we should make a protest against it.

What I feel is that our protests should be directed against the leaders of our country. They have brought us to a point where around 40 per cent of the population is living below the poverty line and the majority of population goes without adequate facilities for education and healthcare. Besides that, these leaders have made the society so corrupt that we are unable even to hold fair elections. That was why these observers were sent here.

Instead of protesting against them, we should try to put our house in order.

NABI HOODBHOY

Karachi

Anti-corruption day observance

IN order to create awareness and bring about attitudinal changes amongst the masses, the modern world has devised the methodology of observing various days through out the year.

So we have specific days which are observed all over the world for the promotion of certain virtues and eradication of various evils from the society. Children’s Day, Polio Day, Mental Health Day are some of the examples.

In case of Pakistan in particular, the whole country and its system of government has been octopused with the scourge of inefficiency, mismanagement and corruption. The dilemma is that we are striving to achieve a democratic dispensation in our country, whereas democracy thrives on money.

It is irrelevant whether that money has been acquired through fair or foul means. Look at India where the sundry take immense pride in democracy but which has completely failed to check corruption from their society, besides finding no solution to other pressing problems like population explosion, hunger, disease and ignorance.

This scenario makes it a breeding ground for corruption. The question arises: what good is that democracy which cannot root out corruption and other ills from the society?

In the light of the foregone, we in Pakistan should chose a given day and observe it as ‘anti-corruption day’.

Seminars and rallies should be held on this day highlighting the causes and remedies of corruption. It is quite likely that other countries may also follow suit.

GULZAR WAZIR

Karachi

Foreign degree and experience

EVERY day I go through letters in this column from which I conclude that obtaining a student visa to foreign countries has become a great achievement for our new generation nowadays.

I would like to inform my countrymen who wish to go abroad for higher education with hopes of great job opportunity upon their return. They will be highly surprised and disheartened after the unexpected treatment they will receive. Here is my really sad story that I would like to share with those ambitious young men.

I came back to Pakistan in 2000 after obtaining an MBA degree in Marketing from London. Along with that, I also equipped myself with management experience gained while working for a pizza firm in London as manager.

I started applying for jobs in Karachi shortly as I was quite sure that I would very soon land a very good job opportunity or at least would get a job in a similar pizza firm in Pakistan. I went through written tests and several interviews but all went in vain. Either the job vacancy was said to be frozen later on or simply I proved to be an unfit here even though I was the same person who had achieved gold awards in London for my performance in three years.

I approached all the banks in Karachi by personally submitting my resume in everyone of them. You name it and you will find my resume there. After pulling a lot of ropes, I managed to get a job in a private bank as a tele banker and was paid Rs7,000 per month which I believe was not worth enough.

I compromised and worked there but after staying there for six months, in spite of salary increase promises, nothing happened and my salary remained the same. Then I resigned hoping to get a good job and consequently, I applied and was interviewed by many local and foreign banks. To cut the story short, I was interviewed by every bank in Karachi and loads of other organizations but all my efforts were useless.

Today, I feel ashamed of myself thinking why I ever came back to serve my county after letting down the job offers in the UK.

I spent so much money on my education so I could have a better and secure future for me and my family. But my dream has been shattered by the organizations in Pakistan because of their preference for personal acquaintance, nepotism, and so-called standardized procedures. I only wish that I had never ever come back to serve my country.

ALAMGIR KHAN

Karachi

Campaign against Musharraf

WE are outraged by the anti-Musharraf campaign adopted by your newspaper.

Every little mistake he makes, such as blocking traffic, is trumpeted across your front pages while every achievement is downplayed.

Time magazine said that Musharraf’s job is one of the hardest in the world. We have no right to pick on such a little thing as a traffic jam.

Your newspaper is holding on to an ideal of democracy that is just not achievable in this country given our level of socio-economic development. Don’t let this ideal pull the wool over your eyes.

If we open our eyes and look around, we shall see that Musharraf is doing more good for our country than any other person. Give him a chance.

MAHNAZ USMANI,

NAJIA HASSAN,

AINEE, SHAHZAD

& HADIA SAJJAD

Karachi

MMA’s influence

SHOULDN’T I be extremely worried if not horrified as to the effect of the MMA’s large win in our country? Am I alone in thinking that they resemble the Taliban? And what’s even more scary is that they really do believe that the perverted Islam preached by the Taliban is the true Islam.

The effects of this are already visible on our streets with people harassing women if the latter’s dressing does not match the former’s way of thinking.

I have also noticed that during the elections, when an MMA candidate was asked about his stance on the war on terrorism, he conveniently avoided the question and took refuge in presenting the example of Israel.

With the amount of freedom we have these days in the press and especially the media, every opportunity should be taken to grill these candidates on their views of Islam and Taliban.

Only then will their true colours show and hopefully specific actions will be taken to prove them wrong, if not dismiss them altogether before they can pollute our society with their version of Islam among other things.

How a society can suffer from the lack of proper education, including religious, has never been more apparent until now. Maybe the West, too, will realize that they should have helped the Third World countries in specific fields, education being the topmost, instead of ignoring them or sticking to the arms trade.

But it’s never too late. Maybe a billionaire or two can still help us out.

There is no doubt whatsoever that the positive or negative happenings in one country really do effect the other country respectively, no matter how far they are.

SAIMA ABBAS

Karachi

Cowasjee on TV

THIS is with reference to the letter by Lt-Col (R) S. Iftikhar Ahmed about a television appearance of Mr Cowasjee (Oct 17).

I am a regular reader of Cowasjee’s column in this newspaper and I think that he is bold and frank.

As for his television interview, I do not think he passed any unfair remarks about Pakistan. Of course he jeered at our past rulers and our flawed system of government, which I enjoyed. He just replied to what he was asked about.

Cowasjee has always been straightforward, and this is the quality that distinguishes him from others. But it does not mean that he is anti-Pakistan.

ZIA UR REHMAN RIZVI

Karachi

Delaying pension

I TOOK premature retirement from the post of Principal, F. G. Public School, Pano Aqil Cantonment, with effect from August 9, 2001, to finance the education of my children studying at different institutions, out of the pension benefits that I was expecting to receive.

However, my case for the grant of pension is lying with CMP Grant-I Section, Lahore Cantt, forwarded to them by FGEI C/G GHQ Rawalpindi vide No. 04/PF-1556/77-FGEI (PS) dated July 20, 2002. My case has been delayed for almost one year on one pretext or the other.

Competent authorities are requested to take suo motu notice of the matter.

SHAFI MUHAMMAD JUMANI

Karachi

English-based merit

ENGLISH enjoys a unique position in our country. A person’s scholarship is based on whether or not that person is fluent in English. With hardly 50 per cent of our population being supposedly literate and the rest being actual thumb imprinters, it is amazing that this country carries out the business of state in English.

In my opinion, 99.9 per cent of our graduates are unable to draft even a simple application without making several mistakes and are unable to speak English for more than two minutes at a stretch. And these scholars have studied English as a language for at least four years (from class IX onward), studied all their subjects in English and appeared in examinations conducted in the same language. If you criticize these graduates’ fluency in English, “it’s not my mother tongue” comes the pat answer. These same half-baked graduates demand and agitate to get cushy government jobs as a matter of right.

Pathetic as it is, only those candidates are selected for government services, like CSP or armed forces, who are fluent in English, effectively depriving more then 70 per cent of the country’s population for good government jobs. A very large number of very intelligent, hardworking, honest young men who could have helped this country flourish in all fields of life are hence deprived of jobs because they can’t write or speak English.

The irony is that all cases in the courts of law are argued in English, with the majority of the populace being totally unaware of how their cases are being argued by judges and even their own lawyers.

Lectures in educational institutes, seminars/conferences etc. are conducted in English, which are beyond comprehension of our fellow Pakistanis. Most of the street names and sign boards are in English. The question is: why can’t we use Urdu, Sindhi, Punjabi, etc. to run the affairs of our country? Are our heads of state ashamed to make their speeches in Urdu in international forums like UN, as do our neighbours, India, China etc?

Please don’t misunderstand me, this is not meant as a tirade against English; rather, it is meant as a way to encourage real merit based not only on fluency in English but on real scholarship, and to make life easier for the majority of our countrymen.

It is no shame if one is not fluent in a foreign language but it is shameful that, after studying all your life in a language, you can’t effectively communicate in it on any level.

It is time the government did something about it. The new members of assembly and everybody who matters in framing policies of our country should endeavour to promote our local languages to improve the quality of our lives.

DR JAMAL NASIR MEMON

Karachi