ARMY PUBLIC RELATIONS: This refers to the report ‘New COAS Asim Munir to appoint engineer as ISPR head’ (Dec 2) according to which, an officer from the corps of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering (EME) has been selected as the new director-general of Inter-Services Public Relations. Contrary to general perception, the position does not require any operational experience. Since it is an inter-services appointment, officers from navy and air force can also be considered for the slot. At present, the two forces have their own directorates of media affairs that are independent of ISPR. This practice must be stopped, or ISPR should be called the Army Public Relations.
Air-Cdre (retd) Khayyam Durrani
Karachi
U-TURN: We saw yet another expected, but expensive U-turn; a long march that was not going anywhere finally went home without any result. Quitting the provincial assemblies would hardly make a difference to the government and, as such, will not force anybody to hold early elections. It would be advisable for the opposition to now patiently wait for the Constitution to take its course.
Malik ul Quddoos
Karachi
SAD REALITY: This is with reference to the report ‘Railway gets 46 modern coaches from China’ (Nov 28). Importing train bogies is rather embarrassing, considering that we make a lot of deadly arsenal. Why not train coaches? According to an estimate, Pakistan Railways carriage factory in Islamabad has produced 2,130 coaches since 1971. So this carriage factory in Islamabad has 51 years of experience in making railway coaches, but we still cannot make high-speed coaches locally. Why?
S. Nayyar Iqbal Raza
Karachi
CURSE OF ADDICTION: I recently visited Khuzdar, the city where I had spent most of my childhood. I was shocked to see that the scene has changed entirely and for the worse. I found a number of young people who indulged in one kind of addiction or the other. Things back in the day were not what they happen to be today. The visit was very disheartening and depressing.
Shehzad Ahmed
Larkana
Published in Dawn, December 11th, 2022
