Burdening polls candidates

THIS refers to Mr Ghani Chaudhry’s article ‘Political parties in new role’ (Sept 2).

I wonder when Mr Chaudhry mentioned mainstream political parties making fortune by collecting Rs15,000 to 30,000 from the prospective electoral candidates of October 2002, then what exact parties he had in his mind.

However, the fact remains that the phenomenon is not a new one. It has been going on since the general elections of early 70s when some corrosive fiscal elements were added in the then West Pakistan’s politics.

Muttahida Qaumi Movement — the third largest political party of the country — like in the past, this time, too, puts candidates from middle and lower middle class. It did not ask its candidates to deposit or pay any amount for the ticket or any other favour. On the contrary, its election cell paid the nomination fee prescribed for each NA and PAs candidates.

Most of the selected candidates are referred for nomination from the area’s party cadre.

The big question pertaining to those political parties which enrich themselves with such candidates’ money is that what would be expected from such parties’ potential legislators when even a modest amount is taken from the candidate? Why is the Election Commission which made a litany of moralistic code and rules of conduct for the political campaigns, fiscal limitation, parties and the candidates, quiet on it?

In my opinion, amassing money from prospective electoral candidate by any political party is as dreadful as collecting money from a potential applicant of a governmental or any other vacancy.

KUNWAR KHALID YUNUS

Karachi

Party programme before ballots

PEOPLE often speak and write about the lack of good governance. However, my concern is about the lack of any governance.

One has only to look around and you notice a state of affairs where crimes, big and small, continue to go undetected and, therefore, unpunished.

Between 15 and 20 cars and motorcycles are taken away at gunpoint every day from the streets of Karachi. Security of life and property, an obligation owed to the citizens by the state, is questionable; private security guards have to be employed for protection.

Power breakdowns and loadshedding continue simultaneously with regular increases in power tariff; citizens are often compelled to generate their own electricity. Water supply is terribly short and even otherwise unfit for human consumption; people are forced to purchase costly water while they continue to be charged by the relevant agencies.

Police are not to be seen on the streets except when a VIP is expected but the traffic police are around to detect minor offences which is nothing but a source of intimidation and harassment.

Spot checking by law enforcing agencies for explosives and arms in private vehicles, an exercise in futility, is another source of harassment; armoured vehicles and police vans patrol the streets as an intended deterrent to terrorism and crime but succeed only in frightening innocent citizens.

Public utilities are almost non-existent. Attention and money being paid to human development and social sectors, particularly health and education, are insufficient.

This list can go on but it must end to conform to limited space in these columns.

A dim light at the end of the tunnel is the impending elections which will give shape to the new assemblies.

Will they be different this time around? Will we have a government that will serve the people and not rule arbitrarily? Will our elected representatives and public functionaries really function as servants of the people for the achievement of public good? Will true democracy be ushered in Pakistan to stay forever? Will we never see interventions again?

Political parties have held their internal elections as they prepare for a transition from military rule to democracy. They should also be required to declare their policies on all relevant issues so that the people may know what they stand for and what they hope to achieve well before the elections.

Citizens must demand their rights and fulfil their obligations to the state. The state must fulfil its obligations of providing security of life and property as well as basic facilities to the citizens before requiring citizens to fulfil their obligations to the state.

Together with an independent print and electronic media and a fearless judiciary completely separated from the executive as the final arbiter of the mutual rights and obligations of the state and citizens, we will hopefully achieve a state of good governance.

LIAQUAT MERCHANT

Karachi

Maj Brown and his memoirs

THE story of the liberation of Gilgit in which the Scottish commandant of the Gilgit Scouts, Major William A. Brown, played an commendable role in compliance with the peoples’ wish to accede to Pakistan, always recalls moments of glory in our history. Maj Brown was a Gilgit hero.

Now that his widow Margaret Brown is visiting Pakistan and handing over his memoirs to the President, let this document be published.

Maj Brown could have received rewards from his country had he chosen to act against the wishes of the people of Gilgit, but he preferred to respect their wishes and sentiments.

In the Kashmir valley, on the other hand, Douglas Gracey, the then army chief, chose to disrespect Gilgit people’s aspirations.

The government of Pakistan should honour Maj Brown in a manner he deserves for the services he rendered at that point of time when the British were leaving the subcontinent. Such a people among the Britons of that era were really rare.

K.M. AHMAD

Montreal, Canada

Just to oblige an ex-general

THIS refers to a contradiction carried by PTV in its Khabarnama on August 24. The contradiction related to a news item that was not carried by PTV but published by a newspaper. The news item said: “Ex-ETPB (Evacuee Trust Property Board) chief Lt-Gen Javed Nasir flees country with Rs3 billion in his pocket.”

Since PTV was in no way involved in carrying the news, it was under no obligation, morally or otherwise, to telecast the contradiction. But still it did it. And did it in a most crude form which only PTV could do. The ex-ETPB chief is no more in service and his only link is to the extent of being an army pensioner.

It was shocking that he tried to create an impression, courtesy PTV, as if he were still in service and the news item regarding his alleged bungling was an attempt to defame the respectable institution, the armed forces.

In this regard, NAB owes an explanation to the nation on the involvement of an ex-general in the alleged bungling.

MURTAZA MALIK

Peshawar

Campaign against Benazir

EVER since the PPP government was overthrown in 1996, the establishment has left no stone unturned to malign the Chairperson of the PPP and the twice elected Prime Minister of the country, Ms Benazir Bhutto.

A pernicious and a slanderous defaming campaign was unleashed against her and the party she was heading. She was accused of everything that one can imagine. Millions of public money (on the SGS case only, they have spent $50 million to obtain those fake documents from Switzerland) was spent to convince the people that she was unworthy of their support.

When she was ousted the first time she was labelled as ‘security risk’, but the people rejected the allegation and elected her again as their prime minister. The second time efforts were made to defame her on account of corruption. But to the agony of those who do not want to see her and want her party to be eliminated, all these efforts could not bear fruit. People rejected the establishment’s propaganda.

The fear syndrome has hit the rulers to such an extent that constitutional changes are being made on daily basis. The recent hurriedly-made illegal amendments are an indicator of their frenzied state of mind. The amendments were not made for providing ‘good governance’ to the people of Pakistan or for ‘alleviating poverty’, but to stop Benazir from coming back to her own homeland.

Now according to newspapers, Benazir Bhutto’s perpetual arrest warrant issued by the National Accountability Bureau has been sent to the IGPs of the four provinces and the federal capital directing them to arrest her on arrival.

It is strange, but true, that NAB’s efficiency is seen only in the cases of Benazir Bhutto, and it looks the other way when it comes to those who happened to be close to the regime and against whom cases are pending in the accountability courts. The process of accountability has turned into a charade. It is selective and lacks credibility.

FAUZIA WAHAB

Central Coordinator,

HR Cell, PPP, Karachi

Water for Jeewani village

FOR long, 30,000 residents of Jeewani village, 89kms from Gawadar, have been waiting for adequate water supply which has been the gravest among many other problems facing the people.

These days even drinking water is not available in Jeewani.

The residents have constantly been complaining to the Nazim but he has nothing but promises to deliver.

The higher authorities are requested to make available the most essential commodity to the people of Jeewani village.

MAQSOOD AHMED

Jeewani

Funding Lyari Expressway

THE Advocate General, Sindh, is reported to have defended the Lyari Expressway project on the ground that the Asian Development Bank is funding the project.

Even if it were true, the ADB has rarely illustrated wisdom in designing and funding projects in Pakistan or elsewhere in Asia.

But now the ADB’s Country Director has denied that the Bank is funding the Expressway project. I think we should leave it up to the courts and Bar associations to decide what should be done if the highest judicial officer of the province is found to have violated his oath to speak nothing but the whole truth.

In a manner both the AG and ADB could be speaking the truth, or at least half-truth. The ADB, like the World Bank, provides various slush funds to the government and can turn a blind eye when funds are siphoned off to pet projects. Hence use of some other infrastructure loan or the broader Khushali funds could allow the government to say that the ADB is funding the project and the ADB to deny it.

At a broader level, we also need to remind ourselves that all donor lending gives government the fiscal space to pursue its agenda. In addition to the IMF-led PRG facility, a World Bank zero-interest loan of $100 million to the Sindh government is an example.

Additional defence spending in response to Indian moves would have been quite difficult without debt rescheduling. Similarly, mega water projects can be run without direct funding by Washington or Manila.

Should we be pleased at the success of donors in enabling political and economic reforms to last unchallenged through the next government?

A. ERCELAWN

Karachi

CDA and taxes

SOME two years back, the Capital Development Authority proposed a raise in the House Tax. To discuss the tax payers’ views on the subject, a meeting was held at Iqbal Hall and was presided over by a CDA officer who took note of the strong opposition to the idea.

The authorities then decided to raise the HT by 400 per cent and reduce the rebate allowed to the retired government servants from 75 to 60 per cent. No rebate was allowed to the owners of plots exceeding 600sq yards.

This year, a notice has been sent to the retired employees of semi-autonomous organizations such as the Quaid-i-Azam University, informing them that they are not entitled to the retired government servants’ rebate.

This would adversely affect the retired government employees. If the CDA imposes such heavy taxes to improve the facilities it extends to the people of the capital, it should visible.

When I visited the CDA’s Iqbal Hall office recently, I was stunned to see the conditions under which the junior and underpaid employees were working. Stagnant water had flooded the record office and toilets were intolerably filthy.

The authorities should wind up the CDA if it cannot even improve itself.

WAHEED AHMAD

Islamabad

Sunday Bazaar

THE Sunday Bazaar in Model Town, Lahore, has been shifted from its location of many years — close to the home of the district Nazim — to where there has been a dhobi ghat for 50 years.

The poor washermen are being edged out as the district authorities have been asking them to ‘go elsewhere’.

These poor people have been forced to stop washing on Sundays.

Then the Model Town main road is being redeveloped. Instead of cleaning up the old one, a new layer is being put on it (which costs a fraction of proper road construction) Is there anyone who can look into these matters?

A. MAJID

Lahore

The odd friends in need

NOMINATION papers of Benazir Bhutto have been rejected for the forthcoming elections in the country and Nawaz Sharif has decided to withdraw his nomination papers to show solidarity with her.

A politician in bargained-exile has shown solidarity with the politician in self-exile. Both have held the highest public office and both belong to the upper-most class of this country.

During their tenure they plundered the national wealth in 1990s and loved to hate each other. Both of them used to call the other ‘a security risk’. And when they were supposed to show their solidarity with the people of the country and offer personal sacrifices, both of them conveniently left the country.

Had the two adversaries shown a fraction of solidarity, politeness and tolerance while they were at home, either in power or in opposition, the damage caused to the national economy and the democratic process could have been averted.

This is a clear message to the stake-holders of this nation — the politicians and the public. The politicians must uphold public interest over everything else while they are in power. And the pubic must vote for only those who possess this quality.

HUMAYUN ZAFAR

Karachi

Cricketers’ performance

IT is annoying that Pakistan’s national team, despite its extensive exposure to international cricket, has failed to evolve into a well-oiled functioning machine. It continues to suffer from lack of consistency in almost all departments — batting, bowling and fielding. It is evident that the team’s current captain, coach and manager have not been able to rectify the mistakes that our players are prone to making in international matches.

I feel that the PCB, particularly Gen Tauqir, ought to initiate a comprehensive assessment of the performance of the team as well as the professional acumen of the team’s coach, captain and manager.

TASNIM A. KHAN

Lahore

No change

THIS refers to Seema Yasmin Syed’s letter ‘Another landmark judgment’ (Sept 3). It is an accepted fact that our judges deliver landmark judgments in case of gang-rape/zina and military takeovers. Why is this so?

While writing these lines, I happened to glance through Mr Omer Kureishi’s recent column, ‘The rains came’. I would like to tell Mr Kureishi that heavens can fall in Pakistan but no change can ever take place here.

K.A. WAHID BUTT

Lahore

Encroachment

A CAMPAIGN against the encroachers of government lands is under way in Karachi but for some unknown reasons the encroached land around Aziz Bhatti Park has not been touched so far. A well-planned construction cannot be done without the involvement of some unscrupulous elements within the KDA.

DR SOHAIL SHAH KHAN

Karachi

Inhuman atrocities on Muslims

THE 21st century has brought in its wake a retrogressive dark age of barbarity, denial of basic human rights and an era of law of the jungle prevalent in the first century AD. The acts of terrorism of 9/11 for which members of Al Qaeda have been blamed are undoubtedly highly deplorable.

In retaliation, the United States has already bushed thousands of innocent Muslims in Afghanistan with the latest weapons of mass destruction, but the lust for vengeance has not yet been satiated. Let us ponder over the conduct of moderates who are champions of human rights and secularism and profess to be opposed to all forms of terrorism. One shudders and is flabbergasted to read following press reports about some events of 2002.

The Newsweek magazine reported that about 1,000 Taliban prisoners died of suffocation in northern Afghanistan after they had surrendered to the US-backed forces. The prisoners died in cramped, sealed and searing freight containers in which they were packed and which had no ventilation at all.

Over and above the atrocities and brutal murders being committed every day by Israel throughout the Palestinian territory, the genocide of hundreds of Palestinian refugees by use of aircraft, gunship helicopters and tanks in the refugee camp in Jenin has failed to arouse human sympathy in the West.

The Indian Army burnt down 200 houses in village Marmot in Doda district in Occupied Kashmir. They stripped and paraded naked Muslim women and dishonoured them. They pick up Kashmiri youth from their homes and cold bloodedly murdered them while in custody.

Such awful inhuman happenings are a slur on the face of humanity. The lamentable aspect of this situation is that the western and UN human rights organizations do not take any notice when the victims are Muslims.

KHAWAJA M. BASHIR BUTT

Bahawalnagar