We are Pakistanis first

LACK of cohesion is the root cause of the problem which has plagued our four provinces. It is interesting to note that the 50 states of the Unites States do not seem to display ethnic discrimination; even India sets a better example to the world in this regard, compared to Pakistan.

I am often asked this hackneyed question: “Are you Punjabi or...? My answer is: “I am Pakistani.” I also wonder how a people who have been citizens of Pakistan for almost 55 years, enjoying all the benefits and pride of living in their own homeland, still call themselves ‘Mohajirs’? After all, Urdu is the national language of our country.

Indeed, there is a painful lesson to be learnt from the misery and despair of the Muslims before partition and in recent times, the Palestinians. The words of Kahlil Gibran ring true for us, “Woe unto the nation that is split into numerous fragments, each fragment considering itself to be a nation.”

This is our Pakistan, the soil we all grew out of. A tree under whose shade we played and built the palaces of our imagination. I believe that man cannot attain the heights he cherishes until he has truly understood the meaning of humility. The attitude of some Pakistanis towards their homeland is sadly reflected by the following incidents.

While waiting at Peshawar airport for my flight, I saw a man puffing away at his cigarette. Ironically, right above his seat was a sign ‘No smoking’. When I went up to him and mentioned this, he replied cynically: “This is Pakistan.”

Once we happened to sit in a state-owned brand new car of a bureaucrat who, while driving with great rashness on a bumpy road, said with authority and a tinge of pride, “This is not my car. It belongs to the government of Pakistan. I can misuse or break it as I please.”

Misguided energies unfortunately focus on intolerance of fellow Pakistanis be they Shias, Sunnis, Christians, Punjabis, Sindhis, Pakhtoons and, instead of ‘Mohajirs’ I shall say, Urdu speaking. The latter are the people who have brought so much culture and education into our society.

I actually crave to meet people who speak Urdu, with the correct accent. It is an injustice to this beautiful language with its background of great literature and a pain for some people to hear its distorted pronunciation.

Ours is a rich civilization and, in fact, each ethnic group gives our country its own special legacy of culture.

We moved to the US two years ago when my children were nine and 12 years of age. I make an effort to keep up with their language, written and spoken. A part of me will certainly extinguish if I am not able to keep this up or if they regress in this field.

I shall always have fond memories of my late uncles, Dr Shafiq-ur-Rehman and Dr Mumtaz Hasan, who have shared their thoughts with the world in this language.

DR ZEBA HASAN HAFEEZ

Karachi

Mountbatten’s role

KULDIP Nayar’s article ‘The trial of Mountbatten’ (Aug 10) was very informative. Indeed Mountbatten’s blunders were responsible for the horrible communal violence that bloodied the creation of Pakistan. Is it any wonder that Mountbatten spared no effort to blame Mohammed Ali Jinnah’s insistence on Pakistan for the holocaust?

Earl Mountbatten was an unbalanced personality, immensely over-confident of his own ability and utterly dismissive of higher intellect.

As Collins and Lapierre mention in their book ‘Freedom at Midnight’, Mountbatten’s decision to choose Aug 15, 1947 for the transfer of powers was impulsive, a rash decision made in haste to impress the press reporters.

His unwillingness to crackdown on the perpetrators of violence is yet unexplained, however.

After South Asia, the world got yet another taste of Mountbatten’s incompetence in Northern Ireland.

While his crimes against humanity in Pakistan and India went unpunished (in fact he was awarded the governor-generalship of independent India), the Irish were not as forgiving.

It is said that Kuldip Nayar, no doubt very young then, asked Jinnah at a tea party in Lahore whether Pakistan would support India in case of an invasion from the west (the Middle East etc)? Mr Jinnah replied something to the effect that blood is thicker than religious and cultural bonds and that Pakistan would side with India.

He had no doubt envisaged a cordial relationship between Pakistan and India. Sadly Mountbatten’s machinations left no room for such a relationship to develop. Since then, more has passed under (and over) the bridge than simply water.

YASSER LATIF HAMDANI

Lahore

Double standard

ACCORDING to a report from Islamabad, the leader of the EU delegation, John Cushnahan, told Pakistan’s Chief Election Commissioner that “we are aware of whatever had happened during the Presidential referendum. We know about all methods of rigging. We cannot be misled. EU has decided to send a team of 164 observers to ensure transparency in the elections. We shall visit every city and village to see things for ourselves in spite of the ongoing terrorism. In case riggings occur, we (EU) shall impose economic sanctions.”

The delegation discussed with the CEC many aspects of the elections.

About the elections in Kashmir, Cushnahan said that, for the time being, there is no plan to observe those polls. Is this because ‘big’ India has said that it will not allow any delegations of observers but that individuals are welcome?

May one ask, what legal right has India acquired over Kashmir to hold elections in Kashmir when the UN Security Council declared that Kashmir is a disputed territory?

For over 50 years, elections held in Kashmir illegally have been rigged in favour of New Delhi’s quislings. But the EU did not speak of sanctions against India because of the rigging in the elections or the violation of human rights in Occupied Kashmir.

Furthermore, do the demands of protocol justify his statement about the presidential referendum?

JALAL AHMED

Karachi

SPSC report: a critique

THIS is with reference to the Sindh Public Service Commission’s annual report submitted to the Governor of Sindh (July 23).

The report is quite biased and full of wrong assumptions. The chairman of the commission, a retired bureaucrat, has utterly failed to understand the ground realities about Sindh’s education sector. Due to financial constraints and political pressure, the universities of Sindh were forced to allow private/external candidates in arts and social science disciplines to attain higher degrees.

I as a retired professor of Sindh University, who has also taught in the University of Balochistan and the University of Malaysia, can say that the performance of regular students of the universities of Sindh is not poor.

I am saying this as I was a member of the Sindh Public Service Commission for six years and an examiner of FPSC, Islamabad, for 25 years. The Sindh University has been producing talented students and this can be ascertained by the FPSC and SPSC exam results.

So far the conducting of written tests and interviews is concerned, retired bureaucrats cannot do this work efficiently. The commission’s nature of job demands that it must have experienced education experts.

The Governor of Sindh is requested to look into the matter and do the needful.

PROF (DR) M . HASSAN SHAIKH

Karachi

Karachi zoo

RECENTLY we visited the Karachi Zoo and observed that unhygienic condition there is equally affecting the visitors and the animals.

There seems to be no proper arrangements for cleanliness inside the zoo and the visitors have no option but to tolerate heaps of garbage, filth and polluted air.

For animals, the environment is more painful because they are not visitors as they have to spend rest of their lives within the same vicinity. Their posture speaks itself and one can easily guess how much attention they are being paid by their caretakers.

I saw many of the animals with lice and fleas on their bodies.

Apart from the general condition, tickets of the three-minute mystery show and a brief elephant ride are too costly.

The only restaurant in the zoo remains crowded though the eatables, we observed, appeared to be not fresh.

Washrooms are awfully dirty and nobody cares to clean them properly.

The zoo is frequented by a large number of people, mainly women and children, every day. I request the concerned authorities to ensure general cleanliness as well as proper arrangements with regard to the facilities essential for a public amusement site.

I also appeal to the authorities to take care of the innocent animals.

BEHJAT SAHAR

Karachi

Inflated bills

FOLLOWING the recent conversion of the Model Colony telephone exchange to the digital system, the subscribers have been receiving inflated bills.

For the last three months, the non-commercial subscribers of the area have been receiving bills up to an average of Rs4,500 which is more than double the average before the conversion.

The impolite staff at the customer service of the exchange would not let the complainants to see the Divisional Engineer or some other senior official personally and apprise him of the problem.

However, they tell the aggrieved that the inflated billing has resulted from some ‘problem’ with the newly installed meters which will be set right soon.

Their lethargy can be gauged from the fact that I have submitted an application for the disconnection of my line (4405501) more than a month back because I cannot afford such a big amount every month, but my application is still pending an action.

RAIHAN A KHAN LODHI

Karachi

A matter of credit

A NEW song Ishq, mainly shot in Rohi, Cholistan, and shown these days on PTV, is no doubt another classic direction by Shoaib Mansoor. Much of its verse belonged to Khwaja Ghulam Farid but the director has avoided mentioning his name at the attributes list whereas Bulhay Shah’s name has been included.

I think the name of the great mystic poet is worth mentioning.

SHAMSA REHMANI

Karachi

Public health dept

THE Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) had been a part of the PWD before it was accorded the status of an autonomous body in 1963 and since then it has been functioning independently.

The PHED is a government department but recently, on the advice of the NRB, it has been merged with a semi-govt department (i.e. Local Board).

The move is absolutely unrealistic and unfeasible as the two departments have completely different terms and conditions.

Some administrative changes had taken place in 1999 with regard to the strength of superintending engineers and the grade of the chief engineer.

These moves have adversely affected the proper functioning of the PHED.

As chairman of the All Pakistan Technical Draftsmen Federation (APTDF), I request authorities to restore the sanctioned strength of the SEs and one SE be posted at each district and the Grade-19 post of Director, Technical, DG Office, Hyderabad, be abolished.

Restoration of the previous status of PHED with its original sanctioned strength on the analogy of Balochistan and the NWFP, as already recommended by the Chairman of Pakistan Engineering Council on March 11, 2001, will be a welcome step.

HAFIZ MATLOOB

A. CHISHTI Chairman,

APTDF

What leads to corruption?

THE old leadership has started re-surfacing in Pakistan’s political parties. The ‘graduation’ requirement has no effect because the new persons are still the representatives of the feudals.

It is the lopsided economics which leads to corruption. There will be no change when there is no shortage of tycoons ruling over a sea of poverty and a middle class too small to exert the stabilizing influence needed for a viable democracy. So long as there is feudalism and un-Islamic and inefficient agricultural and industrial monopolies there will be corruption.

The proposed changes in the Constitution are acceptable if ratified by an appropriate majority of a legitimate parliament. However all posts, including the Presidency, should be up for election.

Mr Musharraf must run on his own without the state apparatus and put his name next to other Presidential candidates on the ballot.

Similar to working democracies around the globe, all power should ultimately vest in the legislature including the power to amend the constitution.

MAJID JAAN

New Jersey, USA

Admission to IBA

THIS is with reference to the IBA’s new admission policy. Apart from laying emphasis on the standard of education and the need to upgrade it, the policy has some interesting aspects. The term for the BBA programme has been increased from three to four years, which is good.

However, the policy for admission to MBA programme needs reconsideration. It states that in order to get admission in MBA programme one has to show two years’ working experience. That is, one has to show two years experience after graduation degree.

This is totally unjustified and shows that the policy has been formulated without considering the ground realities. There are not enough jobs.

The IBA authorities are requested to look into the matter and do the needful.

M. KHURRAM MANGI

Karachi

Clear picture after polls

AS there are so many splinter groups in our major parties, it is most likely that no party will get majority in the coming elections. Coalition is a solution but it will not be without horse-trading as has been the practice in the past. This will again damage the political system.

Political leaders are critical of the amendments being made in the Constitution but they should know that these could be debated in the newly elected parliament.

At the moment the entire political horizon looks murky. A clear picture may emerge after the elections.

MOHAMMAD AFZAL SADIQ

Attock

Save our trees

THOSE beautiful banyan trees, growing all along the Lahore to Rawalpindi Road about which Mr Saeed Chowdhury writes go movingly in his letter (Aug 5), remind me of the ancient trees that once graced the Murree Road up until six years ago when they were destroyed to widen the road.

Those two-centuries-old trees on Murree Road were as much a part of our monumental and historical past as are the banyan trees, once cut these cannot be replaced its like cutting a page of history.

Yet in spite of the local commissioner’s recommendation that the trees should be spared, the road could be widened without their destruction they were wantonly destroyed.

All over the country since years now, thousands of great old trees — our precious heritage — are destroyed daily. With a little more care and imagination this could be avoided.

The government is merely the custodian of these national treasures, the public has a legal right to demand that every effort is made to avoid unnecessary loss of these marvellous old trees or any tree.

Without the support of the public, especially the participation of children in school and colleges, there is little we can do to stop this.

MRS KATHERINE ABBASI

Karachi

Dead whale

IT has been attributed to some officials of Karachi that they are in a fix over the situation arising out of the landing of a dead whale on Clifton sea shore.

The remains of the mammal are rotting and stinking only to create health hazard for people living near the spot where the whale lies.

The officials say that they are unaware of the process to remove the giant. They have not a suitable place either to keep the whale on display for the people keen to have a glance of it.

I just want to remind the officials that they must act swiftly to handle the situation before it goes out of their control.

The only suggestion I have is that they should immediately consult local NGOs or some international organization to solve the problem.

ZAIRA RAHMAN

Karachi

Independence Day: a caution

ANOTHER Independence Day is here bringing with it the festivities to celebrate the joy of freedom. However, over the past many years, two very serious oversights have been committed one of them grave enough to be declared a crime.

These festivities also create an opportunity for many to make an easy buck so they set up stalls for the sale of national flags and buntings. However, it seems nobody has any idea of what our flag actually is like, its colour, the size of the crescent and star and the proper manner in which it should be flown.

The colour should be dark green with a white strip towards the flagpole end. This represents the minorities. However, one sees the national flag in all shades of green; light green, parrot green etc. Instead of a white crescent/star and band, a golden crescent/star and band are seen.

Nothing should be written on the flag. Only the flags flown on the Town Halls of Lahore, Sialkot and Kasur can the Hilal-i-Istaqlal be displayed on them. But we see the words Jashn-i-Azadi written beneath the crescent and star and the Minar-i-Pakistan is also painted. This is wrong.

Many people have no idea whether the flag is straight or whether it is being flown upside down. Flying the flag upside down amount to its desecration, which is a crime.

Another flaw observed is that slogans read Jashn-i-Azadi Mubarik. The word ‘Jashn’ means festivities while ‘Yaum’ refers to the day itself. Probably they want to say ‘Yaum-i-Azadi Mubarik’

Surprisingly, no Urdu language expert has observed this. I hope the administration takes cognizance of the above flaws and adopts measures to ensure that they are rectified.

LT-COL E. JOSHUA

Lahore