Why did US drop A-bombs?

AS the anniversary of the A-bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki approaches, it will be once again debated as to why the United States dropped atom bombs on Japan in the dying days of World War II.

The official US position is that the bombings shortened the war and saved American lives which might have been lost in any invasion of Japan. But any history book will tell us that Japan was a smouldering ruin by the beginning of 1945. It was completely isolated by the US naval blockade and American bombers were carrying out massive air raids. In the most massive 300-bomber raid on Tokyo, the US force destroyed Tokyo’s central business district and most other cities were bombed round the clock.

It was only a matter of time before Japan would have surrendered and no Normandy-style invasion was needed.

So why did the United States drop atom bombs on Japan? Dr Leo Szilard, a top scientist involved in the Manhattan Project, left us the answer in his account of the meeting with the Secretary of State-designate and Chairman of the Senate Armed Forces Committee James F. Byrnes on May 28, 1945 (two months before the bombing of Hiroshima). Here is an excerpt from Dr Szilard’s account.

“Byrnes was concerned about Russia’s post-war behaviour. Russian troops had moved into Hungary and Rumania; Byrnes thought it would be very difficult to persuade Russia to withdraw (its) troops from these countries, and that Russia might be more manageable if impressed by American military might. I shared Byrnes’s concerns about Russia’s throwing her weight in the postwar period, but I was completely flabbergasted by the assumption that rattling the bomb (would) make Russia more manageable...

“I was concerned at that point that by demonstrating the bomb and using it in the war against Japan, we might start an atomic arms race between America and Russia which might end with destruction of both countries. I was rarely as depressed as when we left Byrnes’s house and walked toward the station.”

So the United States dropped atom bombs on Japan in order to impress Russia of its military might and to warn against any Russian adventurism in Western Europe. But this triggered a nuclear arms race between America and Russia, as feared by Dr Szilard, although the world escaped any nuclear showdown.

MAHMOOD ELAHI

Ottawa, Canada

Benefit of doubt

SHEIKH Rashid, talking to Naeem Bokhari on PTV, made a telling point the other day. He said that while it was agreed that Mian Nawaz Sharif wanted to become all-powerful, the situation was no different today. Gen Musharraf wants to remain president (for five years), retain his position as COAS, head the National Security Council and also have the powers to dismiss governments.

On top of it all, he has at his beck-and-call Mr Irshad Hasan Khan for tilting the election results (witness the referendum). A PCOed judiciary. A prolonged period of breaking and making — breaking the political parties and making the King’s Party, ensuring through self-serving ordinances that only ham khayal lotas are eligible for election. Talk about cast-iron guarantees for certain success.

Gen Musharraf’s excuse for all these shenanigans is that this is the only way he can guarantee continuity and protect his reforms. This is exactly how Mian Nawaz Sharif reasoned. He wanted the necessary powers to be able to perform on behalf of the people of Pakistan, without the stranglehold of a partisan president, an interfering judiciary (incapable of providing justice to the people), horse-trading in parliament, a watchdog army and the spanner-in-the-works Machiavellian tactics of the opposition party (Benazir to please note as also her minions — Aitzaz Ahsan, Raza Rabbani, Khurshid Shah and the benign Mr Iqbal Haider).

Had Mian Sahib been given the benefit of the doubt, the same that many of us are willing to do today, things would have been much different today.

KHURSHID ANWER

Lahore

I FOUND your cartoon (Dawn, July 9) ‘Funny side up’ very revealing. It showed Ms Benazir Bhutto and Mr Nawaz Sharif shaking hands in front of an empty chair — the seat of power — to grab it again.

It shows the destruction of our polity. Each of them, in their two administrations, focused mainly on two items. One was to loot and plunder by way of commissions, kickbacks and cronyism. The second was to cover it up by exposing the other in opposition by bringing out hundreds of cases of corruption, favouritisms and what have you.

Now in the tradition of robber barons, they are joining hands to loot together whatever remains of this plundered and poor state of Pakistan.

B.A. MALIK

Lahore

Cheating at post offices

THIS is with reference to a letter ‘Cheating at post offices’ by Mr Zaki Alam (June 28). The factual position in this regard is as under.

The renewal fee for driv-ing license in the year 2000, as fixed by the provincial government, was Rs100 for one year.

The writer who went to the Nazimabad HPO on June 29, 2000, for renewal of his driving license, paid Rs150 which was duly acknowledged and entered in his license as well as in the driving license register wherein it has been recorded that an amount of Rs50 is subsequently adjustable. The amount of Rs50 paid by him in excess was due to the fact that the Postmaster In charge had informed him that PT stamps of Rs100 denomination were out of stock.

The renewal fee of driving license was revised by the provincial government in the year 2000, and was enhanced to Rs200 per year with effect from July 1, 2000.

When Mr Zaki Alam came on June 25, 2001, for renewal of his driving license, he paid Rs200 without demanding an adjustment of Rs50, paid by him in excess in the preceding year. This amount of Rs200 was duly entered and credited to the government treasury and there was no fraud or foul play on the part of the postal official.

Moreover, no request or complaint has been received from Mr Zaki Alam for the adjustment of Rs50 which he had paid in excess during the year 2000. It is, therefore, evident that the contention of cheating by the post office, is not correct.

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR (PS)

Karachi

Doctors and society

A PROMINENT hospital in Lahore run by doctors has been in news quite often. There was a letter from an army officer who forsook the free treatment offered to him by the CMH and went there only to be fleeced.

I now agree with what I have been reading about the hospital and its functionaries as I have gone through the same experience.

I paid Rs500 as consultation fee to an orthopaedic surgeon of that hospital in his Shadman clinic only to be thrown out by him in ten minutes with a list of many expensive tests. Well, I got the tests and again asked for an appointment only to be told that the second visit would also cost me Rs500.

The receptionist asked me to come the next day at 8:50 pm. “Sorry,” I said, “that is midnight for me. Could you make it earlier?” “Okay,” said the receptionist, “come a day later at 7:10 pm.” And so I did, but there was no sign of the doctor till 7:30 pm.

I came away, but happy that I had saved Rs500. He would again have asked me to have some further tests costing a few thousand rupees.

Isn’t it strange that one hears students topping the FSc examination saying that they want to become doctors to serve dukhi insaniyat? How is it that some of them are making insaniyat more dukhi?

ASHFAQUE NAQVI

Lahore

Constituency of ‘greats’

INVESTIGATION into the belated discovery of the gang-rape incident in a village in district Muzaffargarh has revealed some shocking facts. Police records show that gang-rape incidents are very frequent in this district. In June alone, 22 cases of gang-rape by 53 men were reported to the local police. Yet, only this case came to a wide knowledge because of its press coverage, and subsequent action by the Supreme Court.

A shocking aspect of the utterly shameful record of district Muzaffargarh in this respect is the fact that it happens to be the eternal constituency of two ‘great’ politicians, viz. Nawabzadah Nasrullah Khan and Ghulam Mustafa Khar, the former ‘Sher-i-Punjab’.

The hukka-smoking Nawabzadah, who has lectured almost every government since the 1940s on respect for human rights, good governance, and almost everything under the sun, hardly sees what goes on beneath his very nose. What a shame that he is the guru of all our politicians who are clamouring for power to put things ‘right’ in Pakistan. Can the likes of the Nawabzadah, who cannot set things right in the area which he has been representing for such a long period, deliver even an iota of what they promise?

A.B. SHAHID

Karachi

Payment of arrears

PURSUANT to a decision by the Punjab Service Tribunal, Lahore, dated July 21, and August 8, 2001, the government of Punjab, higher education department, issued orders vide No. SO (CE-ii) 5-52/2000 dated April 24 this year for payment of arrears of salary to ex-adhoc lecturers, both male and female.

But it is a matter of great sorrow that despite the passage of a considerable period of time, the district accounts officer, Jhang, is not paying the salaries to such lectures in the district.

It may be noted here that payment has been made in Faisalabad and Gujranwala districts.

The district accounts officer, Jhang, is raising objections to the pay bills again and again, with malafide intent. The communication containing the orders of the Service Tribunal was conveyed to him but he declined to honour it creating panic among the ex-adhoc lecturers of the district. The highups in the education department of Punjab are requested to intervene in the matter.

NAEEM ABID

Rabwah

Cut in NSS profit

THE cut in NSS profit rates is nothing but axing the savings of small investors such as pensioners, widows and disabled persons.

Cut after cut and tax after tax during the past three years have slashed their income by nearly 50 per cent and increased their expenses and liabilities by about 40 per cent with the result that it is too hard for them to survive.

The withdrawal of exemption on deposits made before July 1, 2002, amounts to breach of promise and denial of legitimate expectancy of the depositors.

It may be recalled that in 1998 the Nawaz Sharif government had taxed the yields of NSS which was eventually struck down by the Supreme Court and General Musharraf had graciously restored the exemption.

I appeal to the President to restore the original rates and also the tax exemption on yields of national savings at the earliest.

AN AFFECTEE

Karachi

Comparative car prices

MR Luqman Rehman in his letter ‘High prices of cars’ (July 11) wants to know why prices of cars are higher in Pakistan.

The main reason is the difference in market size. In India yearly car sales are more than 600,000 units while in Pakistan the figure stands at approximately 50,000. A bigger sales and revenue base leads to economies of scale for a company and therefore cheaper prices.

The way it works is this: the cost of building a manufacturing unit is the same whether it is in India or Pakistan. The ‘running cost’ of production per car is also the same. But since the fixed cost of setting up the production unit is divided between the number of sales, the ultimate cost per car is less if the sales volume is more.

There are also other recurring fixed costs like plant maintenance, R&D, upgrades etc which get divided between the sales.

Of course if there was free trade between the two countries, this issue would not arise as it would be one big market. But that is a different story.

RAHUL MALHOTRA

University of Texas, Austin,

USA

The job of an FM

THE federal finance minister, Shaukat Aziz, had declared in his budget speech on June 15 that he was working on a programme of poverty reduction which, if implemented, would improve the lot of the poor in the country.

Every one with a little common sense knows that reducing poverty is an impossibility whereas it is easier to reduce the poor and that is exactly what is behind our imported finance minister’s programme. A finance minister’s first job is to work out the minimum wage for a person who has to support a family of six with an income of around Rs 3,000-3,500 a month, keeping in view the present cost of living in the country.

WAHID BUTT

Lahore

Pollution in Murree Hills area

OF late Murree has become a heavily polluted place. One comes to it to relax and enjoy the tranquil peace and quiet but, alas, it is no more so like that. The noise given rise to by pressure horns used by buses, trucks and vans, is immense and one feels miserable. I suggest that the entire Murree Hills area be declared a Silence Zone.

Besides this noise pollution, Murree Hills suffer from other kinds of pollution too. Adequate garbage disposal services do not exist. Tons of trash is produced daily by visiting tourists. The same is gathered and then loaded on to municipal vehicles which conveniently dump it into the nearby streams.

After some time these heaps of garbage start decaying and foul smells fill the air surrounding Murree. The decayed garbage in the streams pollutes the water channels that supply drinking water to the villages downstream.

In this connection, I have contacted various local authorities but none of my pleas have been heeded to. I am afraid we cannot go on testing Mother Nature’s patience like this, and if something is not done immediately to amend the situation, disaster awaits us.

SUSAN IFTIKHAR

Murree Hills

University clarification

THIS is with reference to a letter by S. Ali John Naqvi (July 8) regarding alleged delays in the examinations department of the University of Karachi.

It is clarified that the results of BA/BSC/BCom were announced as per schedule and there was no delay.

It may be pointed out that the examinations department disposes of all cases of complaints pertaining to scrutiny, rechecking and correction, within 7 days of its receipt.

Mr Naqvi’s reference to complain No. 3001 seems to be the result of a misunderstanding. All the registers of the examinations department were checked and there was no entry in the register with this complaint number. It seems that the applicant has considered the bank voucher number 3001 as the complaint number which is not correct.

CONTROLLER OF EXAMINATIONS

University of Karachi,

Karachi

CSC at Landikotal

THE PTCL Customer Service Centre at Landikotal has been closed temporarily and not permanently as reported by Dawn.

The centre was located on the first floor of a building which was not only inaccessible to the public but was also not revenue oriented. Hectic efforts are being made to find a suitable location in which one-window operation could be provided.

DEPUTY MANAGER,

MEDIA Northern Telecom Region-I,

Peshawar

Denationalization of schools

THE Punjab government’s decision to denationalize the colleges and schools nationalized some three decades ago will create unrest among 30,000 teachers in addition to sparking a new controversy about the rationale of the step.

In effect, the decision will place teachers of these institutions, selected by the Punjab Public Service Commission, at the mercy of exploiters from whom they had got themselves unshackled after a sustained struggle.

The decision of the military regime raises many questions. For example, why does not the government see the working of the private educational institutions? A person who started with one school some years ago now owns a chain and then gets a degree-awarding status.

If an individual can climb the ladder of success so quickly — and conveniently — why is it not possible for the government to follow the pattern? Should it be assumed that the collective wisdom of the government and resources available to the state cannot produce results an ordinary person with an average IQ can achieve?

In my opinion, a dramatic change will take place in the working of the government-run educational institutions if they are accorded financial autonomy and a governing committee is set up for each of them. This done, the government will not have to give financial assistance to these institutions and they will be able to meet their expenditure on their own. There is urgent need to rationalize the fee structure of the state-run institutions.

While the government has already alienated all major political and religious parties because of its policies, the decision of denationalization will force thousands of teachers to be affected by it to turn against the rulers.

The teachers of such institutions will not feel secure while working with the private owners.

They may continue to work — as they won’t have any alternative — but it would be unfair to expect proper performance from them when the sword of termination of their service will always be dangling over their heads.

I appeal to the government to review its decision without delay in the interest of thousands of teachers and in its own interest. The government should not make it an issue of prestige or ego. Let’s not unsettle the settled issues. The country is already facing a number of problems that require the government’s immediate attention. Instead of opening a new front — and that, too, against the teachers — the government had better use its energies and resources to solve other problems.

KHALID MAHMUD HASHMI

Lahore