Presidential vs parliamentary system

I respect Mr Kunwar Idris for his well-researched and reasoned articles. But the one advocating a presidential system (April 27) is disappointing. He opines that neither the politicians nor the generals protected the rights of the people... “the fault therefore lies not in the generals nor in the politicians but in the parliamentary form of government.”

Then he gives the examples of Malaysia and South Korea as successful stories. Now, Malaysia has a parliamentary form while South Korea has a presidential form of government. Therefore, it is not the form of government, but the people who run it that matters.

Two, he believes that the present ruckus in parliament over the LFO reflects lack of sophistication and responsibility on the part of politicians. Unfortunately, the opposition was forced to this method having failed to persuade the government to follow the Constitution to amend the Constitution. Now that the prime minister is holding talks with the opposition, the ruckus will end.

Moreover, on many occasions there has been ruckus, even scuffles, in the South Korean, Japanese and parliaments of other mature and civilized democracies.

Three, he thinks that the present debate on the LFO is over the power of the president to dissolve parliament, and the previous dissolutions, whether by the presidents or the generals, were due to the impotence of parliament and the cabinet to restrain an overbearing prime minister. Was Junejo an overbearing prime minister, or were Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif any more overbearing than the presidents of the time?

Four, it is naive to think that the presidential form of government always works. Look at Argentina, Mexico, Chile, Peru, Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Indonesia and others where the presidents caused havoc. On the other hand, look at countries with the parliamentary form of government such as Israel, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Malaysia and others where the prime ministers have left office after losing elections. In Pakistan itself none of the president — Iskander Mirza, Ayub, Yahya, Zia, Ghulam Ishaq, and Farooq Leghari left office willingly.

Finally, in spite of all the mess made by the politicians, it was not during the tenure of a prime minister but of a president that we fought a disastrous war in 1965, lost half the country in 1971 and Siachin in 1984. While during the tenure of prime ministers, Azad Kashmir was liberated, constitutions with national consensus were made in 1956 and 1973, peace prevailed with India, a nuclear programme was started and completed and a full-scale war with India was averted in 1999.

Pakistan has suffered not because of the parliamentary form of government but because of the bureaucracies, the pre-1958 and the post-1958, which have governed this country and are not prepared to let go.

MANSOOR ALAM

Islamabad

Town planning legislation

THIS refers to the news item published in Dawn on April 19. It gives details on town planning and is informative.

It is interesting to note that the conflict between the cantonment and the provincial government has been going on since 1921 and the lack of coordination between the various development agencies has become a common feature and a cancer for our development projects. Yet this issue has never been addressed and solved to date.

The solution lies in promulgating at once effective provincial and federal town planning legislation. Since town planning is a provincial subject, the provincial government ought to have taken responsibility for providing enabling environment for the enactment of the town planning laws such that within its framework the regional plans, master plans, could be prepared by qualified professional town planners and implemented.

Further the provincial government ought to have assisted and supported the newly-created city government in all its technical, financial and administrative commitments. The city government must have been provided with a highly qualified multi-disciplinary team headed by a professional town planner to lead the town planning affairs. In case one is not available in the country, the provincial government must find such a town planner from outside, not a person alien to the country but a Pakistani expatriate.

As Pakistan has a strong land ownership, therefore land, land use and land development has a long history of exploitation and neglect, by all concerned having a strong passion to own land. Consequently, land-grabbing and land exploitation has become a normal practice, to the extent of a mafia operation.

The city government as per the devolution plan has been given the responsibility to prepare development plans and implement the physical development within its jurisdiction. Unfortunately, the city government is facing all kinds of pressure from the government, as well as from certain NGOs in the city. The recent wholesale transfers of officers and unwanted cases against the city government are examples.

Sincerity, on the part of all concerned, demands that all the actors ought to have helped the city government in streamlining their affairs through the enactment of a strong “town planning law”, for the province and the city and the approval of the city master plan which has been held in abeyance for the last 50 years for reasons best known to the government.

ENGR AFTAB MUHAMMAD KHAN

Karachi

Complaint against KESC

IT is always said that one should be weary of the days when one has to deal with doctors and lawyers. I must say that the list now should also include the KESC.

Here’s an instance. The wires in our locality suddenly clipped at 3pm on April 25. While in a house in our neighbourhood, one phase continued to come, the entire electricity of my home snapped. We immediately contacted 118 and the Gulshan-i-Iqbal complaint office (9243611) and informed them of the happening.

From then onwards, we continued calling them. While the Gulshan compliant office did continue to reply, however giving us false information, the staff at 118 were very curt and rude, and as soon as we started to narrate our complaint, they put the receiver down.

We did not get the electricity back the whole night and it was terrible with small kids in our home. In the morning, a supervisor did call and just read his excuse for not restoring the electricity, “The truck did go in your area at night but the staff, being new to the job, were afraid to touch the wires at night and so they returned.” There could not have been a more illogical excuse for the incompetence.

AYAZ FARID FAROOQI

Karachi

Nadra’s ‘efficiency’

THE much-publicized efficiency of Nadra is not reflected in its quick disposal. I submitted two applications in the third week of June 2001 for computerized cards through Nadra’s own representative, who had camped in Block-18 of Gulistan-i-Jauhar for about a week.

I was assured that the computerized cards would come by the courier service by Aug 16, 2001. When the cards did not come even after months of the stipulated time, I contacted the local office of Nadra. I was advised either to resubmit my application on Form No: NFA/V.O/R-02, either at Nadra’s local office or to send it to its director-general in Islamabad.

Accordingly, I resubmitted the two applications, complete in all respects, to the director-general at Islamabad, through TCS on July 1, 2002. Despite the telephonic inquiries made from Islamabad and the local office of Nadra in Karachi, the cards are still nowhere in sight. I wish I am not asked to resubmit the applications for the third time.

My old manual card number is 502-64-011225 and that of my wife’s is 502-93-814024. May I once again request Nadra to see that our computerized cards are delivered at their earliest convenience?

ARIF SHAFIQUE

Karachi

‘Why I want to quit teaching’

THIS letter refers to an article entitled “Why I want to quit teaching” (Education, April 20).

The author has made many valid points regarding the general disrespect towards teaching as a profession (which is really a worldwide problem) and the poor working conditions that teachers in “most private schools” have to face. However, I differ with the author on two points.

Requiring teachers to write lesson plans is a way for schools to ensure that their teachers are prepared for every lecture. There is a major difference in effectiveness between a teacher who has a structured, organized lecture, and one who does not.

Agreed, “good teachers always come to the class prepared”, but what about the rest? Lesson plans require even disorganized/lazy teachers to at least be somewhat prepared. The author may find such an exercise overbearing and time-consuming, but this ‘inconvenience’ helps maintain a consistent and balanced lecture for those directly benefiting from it: the students.

A more critical point is with regard to the irreverence that teachers have to face from students. There has been a general decline in the respect that students have for school teachers for some time now. Insulting a teacher can never be condoned, and some of this insolence stems from home.

In the classroom, however, before demanding respect, a teacher must earn it from his/her students. Contrary to the author’s statement, I feel that it is the communicative isolation of students from their teachers — and not casual behaviour alone — that has led to the present condition.

AYAZ ABDULLA

New York, USA

Declassified documents

ACCORDING to the recently declassified official documents, the US policy tilt towards Pakistan during the 1971 war extended beyond political rhetoric.

Dictated by a congressional decision, the US government was prohibited from providing any military assistance to the warring parties. Records show that military aid was directed to Pakistan through other sources. These papers reveal how President Nixon and Henry Kissinger sided with Pakistan in the UN sessions and condemned Indian government policies, even though their media was painting a very negative picture of the Pakistan armed forces.

The most interesting part relates to the transfer of military hardware. 3-F5 and 11-F104 fighter planes were routed to Pakistan via Tehran and Amman, Jordan. China was also encouraged to support Pakistan through all means possible and was given assurance of the US governmental support in case the USSR intervened on behalf of India. The much-discredited Seventh Fleet was moved into the Indian waters as a clear warning sign to the Indian government.

Even though these important historical facts will not be popular or appreciated in times like these, it is equally important for Pakistanis to know their correct history rather than the usual propaganda dished out by self-serving pied piper political pundits.

ARIF QADRI

Abu Dhabi, UAE

Funds for library

AS acquisition of knowledge depends mostly on reading, man has to read as necessarily as he has to eat. It adds to what he has already learnt and makes him strong and fit for the battle of life. But for lack of money, most people, who are keen about reading, cannot buy the books they need to read.

Here lies the value of libraries, which provide an opportunity to those who want to read but cannot afford to buy books. Without libraries, both teachers and students would be affected badly. Libraries also greatly help researchers.

With these considerations in view, some of us — all friends — founded a library in our town. Although we had not much money, we did not relent in our efforts and now this library is a major one in this town. However, it is still far from meeting the needs of the 200,000 people who live in this town. The government which has so far kept itself aloof in this regard can do its bit by helping us or independently. By keeping people engaged in the pursuit of knowledge we can make much success.

QAZAFI KHAN

Tando Muhammad Khan

Company secretary’s qualification

I WOULD like to refer to the proposed amendments to the Companies Rules 1985, announced by the SECP in the press on March 18 regarding the qualification of company secretary.

The prescribed qualification for a company secretary includes the chartered accountant, or a cost and management accountant, corporate secretary or a law graduate. The chartered secretary, who specializes in company secretaryship, is the only qualified person to be employed as a company secretary and the prescribed qualification should include the name of a chartered secretary. But surprisingly the chartered secretary has been excluded from the prescribed qualification for company secretary.

The Code of Corporate Governance issued by the SECP in 2002 included the chartered secretary as the prescribed qualification. This action, taken by the previous SECP chairman, has been reversed, and the members of secretarial profession all over the country are perturbed over this proposed amendment.

For the post of a “company secretary” in the UK a chartered secretary”, who is a member of the “Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators”, is appointed. Accountants or degree holders do not qualify for the post of company secretary because “company secretarial work” is a specialized field.

Inclusion of accountants in secretarial work would mean professional encroachment. The SECP chairman would be doing the needful by reviewing the commission’s decision regarding the qualification for company secretary and include chartered secretary as the foremost-required qualification.

MOHAMMAD MUSTAFA

Chartered Secretary,

Karachi

Iraq rebuilding: US view

Contrary to what Ms Nancy Powell, the US ambassador to Pakistan, states in her article (April 24), I for one am certainly not completely sure about the US designs in the Middle East. They may or may not be after oil or even perhaps like they suggest out to free “the oppressed people” of Iraq. Their intentions may be true and sincere but only if you have the courage to look away from the facts staring you in the face. You would have to be truly patriotic or incredibly stupid.

Supposing even if their intentions are to save the people of Iraq, the question is, why now? Why Iraq? Iraq has been a problem for 10 years. Why has the American leadership not yet done anything to stop India and Israel from suppressing and killing Kashmiri and Palestinian men, women and children? Isn’t 50 years of flagrant violations of basic human rights a cause for bigger concern than 10 years?

Shouldn’t the US have “liberated” Kashmir and Palestine first to prove that they really were sincere about this? Was it the fact that the US knew for sure that Iraq did not possess the so-called WMDs that they fancied Iraq. “Easy money”.

I for one was a true admirer of the US in many ways but sadly for me, since Sept 11, 2001, the US has not let only the world down but itself too. The US that I envied for its religious tolerance, freedom of speech, thought and so on has let itself be a victim.

ADNAN ARIF

Chicago, IL, USA

Cell phones & accidents

I WANT to bring the following facts to the notice of the authorities:

The number of road accidents in Pakistan is increasing day by day. There are many factors that cause these accidents, one being the excessive use of cell/mobile phones by drivers/motorists. When people tend to talk on cell phones, their attention gets diverted and concentration lost; hence the occurrence of frequent accidents.

I would request the traffic department and others to ban the use of cell/mobile phones while driving a car. Many countries have banned this and now it should be done in Pakistan to save precious lives.

MUNA SIKANDER

Karachi

Roohi Bano

IT is sad to know through the Letters to the Editor columns that Roohi Bano, the once great artiste, is not mentally well and is miserable.

Gulshan Psychiatric Hospital at B-6, Block 16, Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Karachi, wishes to offer free outdoor/indoor treatment to her. She or any of her relatives could contact us at 496789/4962170 between 5.30pm and 9pm.

DR AMANAT A. MOHSIN

Karachi

The new gladiators

THE world has forgotten older gladiators who used to amuse themselves with killings of the weaker or their enemies in the arena. After two World Wars, the League of Nations saw itself replaced by the United Nations following the horrors of war well depicted after atom bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The UN was created with the hope to end human suffering and save it from catastrophe of war.

But the so-called champions of democracy, the US and the UK, came out of their dunghills as the biggest gladiators of this century who rode roughshod over the UN Charter and imposed war on a smaller country like lraq, and made the UN unworkable.

It is strange that these gladiators are destroyers of humanity and still want to become its saviours. One cannot be a destroyer and a builder at the same time. In the 1991 war, the CNN estimated that within 10 years $45 billion would be required to rebuild Iraq’s infrastructure, destroyed by the allied forces.

Ten years had already passed, with infrastructure ready, but the inflow of money had to continue. So, they did it again to grind their own axes.

The UN has no role to play in Iraq. It has failed to stop the war, it is just serving as an arena of gladiators where small nations are called upon to speak out their minds/their problems, and when they do so, they are smothered. I do not understand why Mr Kofi Annan is talking about Iraq. He speaks his ‘Master’s Voice’. It is better he should quit and go home.

This has also a lesson or two for Pakistan to learn from. It must not rejoice over being in the limelight for fighting, with the Americans, against terrorism. Despite all its support, it has not gained anything politically. The superpower’s tilt has all along been in India’s favour.

Moreover, no Muslim state has learnt a lesson from the removal of the Shah of Iran, a great US ally, nor has it learnt a lesson from the manipulation of Iraq-Iran and Iraq-Kuwait wars and the invasion of Iraq by the US and the UK.

There is no end to the sufferings of the Muslims. Syria seems to be the next target of the US and its allies. Muslim countries are on the hit list, and there is no way that these gladiators would budge one thousand of a centimetre on their plan.

Pakistan should not be happy for it is a thorn for the Israelis and the Indians. It must pool all its resources to counter its enemy on all fronts because creation of other two policemen is on the horizons — Israel in the Middle East and India in South Asia. And efforts should be made to strengthen the OIC, instead of the UN.

M.S. SULEHRY

Karachi