Kashmir: Vajpayee as special envoy

Prakash Ambegoankar, visiting fellow at the Centre of Strategic and International Studies in Washington, is reported to have suggested in the interests of early peace in South Asia that the services of Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee should be utilized as special envoy because "ignoring previous breakthroughs is analogous to building a new bridge when another has already been partially constructed."

Fifty-seven years have gone by, the economic uplift of the masses comprising the poor and the far-from-rich - now about 600 million in India and 70 million in Pakistan - has been blocked solely because of the Kashmir dispute, and the annually spiralling unproductive defence budgets have been swallowing billions upon billions.

Mr Ambegoankar felt that "appointing Mr Vajpayee as special envoy may not assure a final peace agreement between India and Pakistan; no one underestimates the difficulties ahead."

But he thinks that Mr Vajpayee becoming special envoy "will assure that the process will not be stalled, derailed or hijacked." All peace-loving people should support this suggestion strongly.

After the UN Security Council resolutions declared Kashmir to be a disputed territory and a plebiscite under United Nations supervision would decide whether Kashmir joins India or Pakistan, India lost whatever slender locus standi it had on it.

Nehru avoided the plebiscite during all of his 17-year rule because he knew that the Kashmiris would vote overwhelmingly in favour of Pakistan. Since the Shimla agreement of 1972, tens of bilateral meetings were held between India and Pakistan but India has been avoiding substantive talks on Kashmir.

It is reasonable to assume that the three parties consider plebiscite as not being feasible, though it is the best means to know the wishes of the Kashmiris. Dialogue gets long-drawn because of haggling, which vitiates the cordiality following the CBMs on both sides.

The jump-start that is urgently needed for the economic uplift of the common people will get thwarted. It has been already delayed by 57 years. If the number of the poor has to be reduced in India, there is one solution - unilateral voluntary withdrawal from Kashmir by India - which Mr Vajpayee in cooperation with Ms Sonia Gandhi and Mr Manmohan Singh can pursue.

He is best suited to be special envoy in the context of Kashmir at this stage. All peace-loving people should support Mr Ambegoankar's idea strongly.

JALAL AHMAD

Karachi

Why Pakistan lags behind

Pakistan lags behind many Asian countries and is far behind developed countries in economic progress. The yawning gap is increasing by the day because of the hard work regularly undertaken by industrialized states, whereas millions of educated and skilled workers here wander in search of jobs.

Millions of semi-educated or illiterate people are also sitting idle owing to non-availability of even those works which most people abhor. As such, the number of unemployed persons goes on rising every year. This state of affairs is disquieting.

The US, the UK and other developed countries have achieved their position mainly by dint of hard work. People there do not shirk work. This fact was also observed by the great philosopher-poet Allama Iqbal during his stay in some European countries as a student and later as a visitor.

He made special mention of the fact in his prose and verse in order to goad the Muslims into action. Western nations also attained mastery of science and technology, and with its help they invaded Afghanistan and Iraq and killed hundreds of thousands of innocent people.

The victims are suffering because they are backward and poor. It is tragic that even the UN has not proved helpful to them as it is controlled by advanced countries. Survival of the fittest holds sway in world affairs.

The UN Charter and international law have been placed on the back burner. The leaders of big powers do not even hesitate to issue fabricated and baseless press statements in pursuit of their selfish ends.

Weakness invites aggression. So, weakness in the sectors of defence, economy and education needs to be removed to meet future challenges. Pakistanis going abroad for work are not well treated as some of them do not respect the laws of those lands.

This causes embarrassment to our nation. All patriotic citizens of Pakistan and other Muslim countries should thus take it as a bounden duty to live and survive with honour and dignity. And this position can be achieved only by working hard.

MAQBOOL AHMAD QURESHI

Gujranwala

Post-December 31 scenario

Mr Shaukat Aziz has proved his credentials as finance minister. He has turned the economy around, but continuity of economic policies is essential for the desired "take-off".

The only worry is that as prime minister he may be preoccupied by a host of political and administrative problems that may keep him away from effective economic management.

Since he will be new to the office, there will be a natural urge on his part to demonstrate his political and administrative acumen that he does not sufficiently possess.

Politics in our country is a dirty game and bureaucrats take longer to learn it. He has no political roots and his acceptability among fellow parliamentarians who have their own political agenda is equally questionable.

He has been nominated future prime minister by his party chief, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, who until recently was a sort of a king-maker. He himself has now become the prime minister though only for six weeks.

He has tasted political power before but never that of the office of prime minister. How he is affected by the newly-gained power is a matter of conjecture and only time will tell.

But it may create some adjustment problems for the PM-designate. The only fear is that in our quest for a good prime minister, we may lose an able finance minister and settle for a mediocre prime minister who is not quite sure of himself.

Imagine the post-December 31 scenario: if Musharraf takes off his uniform, he is likely to be invited by the PML to become its party chief. By this time, Mr Shaukat Aziz would have been inducted as prime minister and the erstwhile king-maker would be without a job.

Chaudhrys have strong political roots and cannot be merely wished away from politics. Also, only one provincial chief's slot may not satisfy them. What future role the elder Chaudhary will play in the national politics is not quite clear at this stage.

S.M.H. BOKHARI

Rawalpindi

Charged car parking

I work at a private company located in a building next to Zainab Market in Karachi's Saddar and park my car in front of the building every day. Hardly a day goes by when I do not have a squabble with the charged parking people. They insist that we pay Rs20 every day for parking in front of the office for the whole day.

I daily pay the amount but face hardship when I have to visit a client for an hour or so. By the time I return to the office, the parking place is full and the person collecting parking fees shows his inability to accommodate my car.

In the past 10 months I have tried my best to avoid fines and have parked at every possible legal place in front of my office. But I have still got my car lifted four times, and once even got it clamped (clamping charges Rs300).

Finally, I discussed the problem with the charged parking person. He said that in order to avoid hassles I should get a monthly car ticket (worth Rs500) made. This would help me avoid everyday quarrels and parking troubles.

Trusting him, I got a monthly parking ticket made. But the problem persists. Because even now I cannot find a place to park my car in the afternoon. Since double parking is not allowed, I have to wait and sit in the car, wishing someone to leave so that I can park in his place.

Thus, instead of working in the office I worry about my car and have to waste time outside looking for a parking place every day. This problem is faced by many people every day near our office, as the place is frequently visited by people coming to Zainab Market and Saddar.

On average at least 10 to 15 cars are lifted every day. I request the authorities concerned to look into this problem.

FARHAN SIDDIQUI

Karachi

A stakeholder's query

Pakistan is for the most part an arid and semi-arid country and is seriously threatened with desertification and degradation of land and acute water shortage due to its fast increasing population and our inability to use natural resources judiciously.

An institutional framework for environment protection has been operational in the country since 1997 when the Pakistan Environmental Protection Act was promulgated. It is coordinated with by the Pakistan Environmental Agency, generally called the federal EPA.

The Pakistan Environmental Protection Council headed by the chief executive approved a National Environmental Action Plan (NEAP) for improving environment. Later, we came to know that a five-year NEAP support programme had been developed through UNDP assistance at a cost of $42.7 million.

Since then, $70.573 million has been allocated for improvement of environment, such as protected area management, wetland projects and implementation of the National Environmental Action Plan.

Furthermore, Rs1,238 billion for forestry, wildlife and wetland and Rs29.04 billion for local government and rural development were allocated. All these representative projects are being funded by the UNDP, the Asian Development Bank, the World Bank and the government of Japan.

As a stakeholder, may I know the status of the above-mentioned projects? The lack of knowledge about the projects has killed the initiative of stakeholders on various environmental issues.

I suggest the authorities should set off success stories/progress (if any) related to environment on the electronic media.

RASHID ASHRAF

Karachi

Medical universities

This is with reference to Dr Hussain Bux Kolachi's letter (July 5) in which he has justified the creation of medical universities in Pakistan. First of all, you do not need to establish a medical university to set up a water testing laboratory and to invent ORS or to train 700 lady health workers.

If someone were to ask me the rationale for creating medical universities, my understanding would be that this would result in a more vigorous and structured medical training for medical students, better patient care and disease intervention and promotion of research and development projects within the gambit of medical sciences.

The Liaquat Medical College was made a university and a University of Health Sciences was created in Punjab. A considerable time has elapsed since the creation of these universities, but not a single feasibility study has been done so far to assess the success of this decision.

In contrast, more and more medical universities are being made, the most recent one being the Dow Medical University without any proper in-depth planning. As a student of the Dow Medical College, I can say that the upgradation of the DMC into the DUHS has made no considerable impact on the state of affairs at the college.

Teaching has not improved. We are still following the decades'-old system of rote learning. No new teaching methods have been introduced. Patient care is still pathetic where often patients are treated as "cases" rather than "humans" and, above all, no worthwhile or credible research has taken place in any field of study.

What is required is to put medical students first and to make medical training more vigorous and academically challenging. Medical education in Pakistan would benefit a lot more by undertaking concrete research on why our system is on the decline and by suggesting methods to improve it.

The tragedy is that the problems medical education faces in Pakistan are fundamental and basic, but we are determined to take complicated measures without any long-term planning. The few steps outlined below can considerably improve the standard of medical education in Pakistan.

1. Cutting down the size of the medical class and making merit the only criterion for admission.

2. Depoliticizing the whole system and making all teachers and students accountable for their actions.

3. Maintaining strict discipline and promoting a healthy learning environment, with adherence to rules without distinction.

4. Introducing new teaching methods and personalized attention to medical students by professors and teaching staff. Ensuring interactive learning, PBL patient-based learning and frequent tests and supremacy of merit in awarding marks.

5. Promotion of research and other activities so that students can become active learners.

6. All this will need adequate funding. Improving medical education can be a great investment in eventually improving the healthcare system of Pakistan.

ALAM

Chicago, Illinois, USA

'Rooting out karo-kari'

The editorial 'Rooting out karo-kari' (June 23) was a part of Dawn's sincere and strong campaign to rid our society of this inhuman practice. It has been mentioned specifically that "with the exception of a handful of human rights activists, there has been little attempt by society, including opinion makers and politicians, to root out this pervasive evil."

No heed is paid to the superior courts' orders, for the reason that our rural society is feudal and enjoys perpetual domination over all the governments in succession, in the assemblies, and the administration.

This custom represents a deep-rooted traditional hegemony over the subjugated people by the feudal lords. If they come forward to discuss the issue as suggested in the editorial and ultimately agree to banish the system, they will lose their superiority, which they are not prepared to do, howsoever educated they may be.

A. G. M. GHEEWALA

Karachi

ATM working

As I came across Ms Aamna Saquib's letter in Dawn (July 4), I remembered my own plight at the hands of ATM outlets of a private bank while I was in Pakistan.

I agree with the writer that it's a great convenience to be able to withdraw cash during any of the 24 hours. However, what makes it a misery is the unpredictability attached to the facility.

I remember (apart from the first time it happened) it never came to me as a surprise when at least once a month either the ATM I tried to use was found out of order or was unable to process my particular account. Not only that, once Rs5,000 was charged from my account from an ATM machine which I tried to access but was out of order.

Banks should take special care in improving the quality of ATM banking by making their ATM outlets more reliable and efficient. This will certainly guarantee more customer satisfaction.

SAIMA SITWAT

Chicago, IL., USA

Change of PM

It is most unfortunate that the establishment has felt it necessary to relieve a relatively sincere politician like Mr Zafarullah Khan Jamali as prime minister. The nation was hoping that our political setup this time was perhaps mature enough to allow the prime minister to complete his tenure.

This is a reflection of the fact that even after a lapse of 57 years, this nation is not able to generate quality leadership and political maturity which would allow its citizens to have some hope.

The only good thing about this particular change of prime ministership, is that it has been done in a more dignified and graceful way. And for that I am more inclined to give higher marks to the ex-prime minister than to the president.

SHIRAZ SACHEDINA

Karachi

A VVIP cavalcade

On July 2 I was really amazed to see the cavalcade of a provincial VVIP passing through Lahore cantonment roads. It appeared as if President Musharraf were in town. All traffic signals were put off and extra traffic police were posted on roads to stop or divert traffic so that the fast-moving, bullet-proof car of the VVIP did not have to slow down anywhere.

The first in the cavalcade was a pilot jeep with headlights on, followed by an open police car and again a speeding police jeep with hooters on. Then a black limousine with a Pakistani flag flying and having tinted glasses, closely followed by two cars full of police commandos, sped by.

It was a sight to watch how our leaders travel within their provinces. If the law and order situation is so bad that our so-called elected leaders feel insecure on the roads, I suggest that they should not come out.

They should get serious about this situation and devote their time to make their constituencies safe both for themselves and for others. Such VVIP movements are not only a burden on the national exchequer, but also the public is put to great inconvenience.

MUHAMMAD AZHAR KHWAJA

Lahore Cantt

Marlon Brando

Marlon Brando, perhaps the greatest actor of all time, died on June 2. To me, his tour-de-force performance was his role as the unforgettable colonel Kurtz in 1979's 'Apocalypse now'. Some of Brando's lines in that movie merit repetition here, relevant as they are to the situation in Iraq and Afghanistan today:

"Horror has a face... and you must make a friend of horror... horror and mortal terror are your friends... if they are not, then they are enemies to be feared... they are truly enemies....

"...these are men that could kill without fear, without feeling, without judgment... without judgment... for it is judgment that defeats us in the end..."

KHWAJA SHAMAAS

Lahore

Conformism

Professor Emeritus Anwar Syed (July 4) notes: "It is probable that until about a couple of hundred years ago all cultures discouraged the questioning mind and enjoined conformism." This statement is incorrect. In the 15th century European renaissance was already under way.

Given that his article is in the July 4 issue, it is appropriate to note that a cursory knowledge of the culture and history of the country he lives in (United States) would show that Thomas Paine was writing his well-known texts Common Sense, Rights of Man and The Age of Reason more than two centuries ago in the late 18th century.

PROFESSOR ARUN KHANNA

Indianapolis, IN., USA