Gender-based violence
FOR years, women in Pakistan have been denied the enjoyment of a whole range of rights — civil, political, economic and social rights. The deprivation of these rights makes women more vulnerable to yet further abuse and ill-treatment.
The Amnesty report, ‘Pakistan: insufficient protection of women’ exemplifies the abuses by highlighting the cases of Kubran Bibi, Fakhra Younus, Nasreen and Arbab Khatoon. Kubran Bibi was shot dead by her cousin while sleeping in her family’s home. Her cousin was arrested and later released on bail.
Fakhra Younus was made a victim of acid-throwing by her husband, who remains unpunished for the crime. Nasreen was murdered by her in-laws because her own family refused to pay her husband’s family.
Arbab Khatoon was tortured while in custody at a police station.
Disfiguration by acid, honour-killings and violence and torture in custody all constitute very serious violations of the individual’s human rights.
The problem here seems to be the evil of the few. But even more frustrating is the silent acceptance of the many. There seems to be a kind of tacit acceptance of the rationale offered by the perpetrators of this crime; the victim asked for it. The cases mentioned above is merely the tip of the iceberg; most women are not in a position to make their voices heard.
Gender-based violence, like the examples mentioned above, destroys women’s lives, but also men’s and children’s lives. Women are also wives, mothers and daughters. Pain inflicted upon women also affects their family as well as the community as a whole.
In this connection it is important to fight all forms of discrimination against women. The connection between all human rights is evident. Discrimination against women in general allows for more serious violations of women’s human rights. The view of women as inferior is a premise for more severe forms of violence against women.
I urge the Pakistan government to fulfil seriously its commitment to prevent violence against women. I urge the government to take action now.
Discriminatory laws should be amended so there is no acceptance of discrimination in the legal system of Pakistan. No explicit or implicit discrimination should be allowed, nor should the legal system leave any loopholes for discrimination.
Women should be protected against violence at home and in the public sphere. All anti-discriminatory laws and the laws protecting women from violence should be strictly implemented and violators of these laws should be prosecuted.
KERSTIN FJAERESTAD
Norway
Karachi University affair
FOR the last six months, the administration of Karachi University has been involved in undemocratic, illogical and unjustified acts.
Unnecessary steps like disallowing the Karachi University Teacher’s Society to hold its general body meetings in the arts auditorium, issuance of show cause notices to the teachers and employees of the university, forced retirement of a professor and numerous cases of victimization and harassment against non-conformist teachers, students and employees resulted in the shameful incident of September 7 in which students and teachers were beaten up by the Rangers.
That resulted in the launching of a massive protest and the suspension of classes for more than 10 days.
It is time a serious rethinking was done in Pakistan at the official and society level to save the state owned universities, particularly the University of Karachi, from predictable destruction. In this respect, four important measures must be thought about.
First, the role of the government should be minimized because interference in the administrative, financial and academic affairs tends to erode the autonomy and promote a culture of patronage and intrigues on the campus. The appointment of vice-chancellor and other officials of the university must be made strictly on merit rather than for reasons of political patronage and personal favours.
Unless a vice-chancellor possesses the basic qualities of integrity, competence and good inter-personal skills, he cannot be expected to ensure a good standard of education and a smooth functioning of the university.
Secondly, the teaching community should give up parochial interests and dirty politics and, instead, concentrate their energies in improving the standard of education at the university.
Thirdly, a ‘grievance centre’, headed by a competent and honest person, should be set up to handle the complaints of faculty members and students. And, finally, the Rangers should be withdrawn and a University Security Force be established to maintain peace at the campus.
What has happened at the University of Karachi in the recent past should be a wake-up call for all those who want to save this centre of learning from destruction.
DR MOONIS AHMAR
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Secularism in south India
THIS refers to the letters by Mr Venkatasubramaniam (Sept 14) and Mr Narayan (Sept 18) about Draviadar Kazhagam (DK) which agitates for the establishment of “Dravidastan” in South India.
In 1941 at the Muslim League session in Madras, Mr E.V. Ramaswamy Naikar, the founder of the Dravidian Party, met the Quaid-i-Azam and sought his support for the creation of “Dravidistan”.
The Quaid was reported to have replied that after the achievement of Pakistan, he would consider the possibility of supporting this movement.
The Dravidian Party now seems to be isolated. Previously it aligned with Muslim League, but now it is with the Hindutva elements. Pakistan may now come to its rescue and extend hand of friendship to it. In Pakistan we have Brohi tribes who are racially Dravidian.
About a decade back I met a Tamil Muslim in Quetta who was married to a Brohi woman.
He was completely at home with the Brohi family as culturally, and linguistically they are Tamils. They are in a majority in Khuzdar city and are also spread all over Sindh.
After the liberation of Kashmir, Pakistan should start supporting the Dravidistan Movement to keep up the pledge of the Quaid-i-Azam. It is not enough that Islamabad broadcasts Tamil programme in its external service for 30 minutes.
M. W. Z. ADENI
Karachi
Preventing suicide attempts
UNFORTUNATELY there is a steady increase in suicide attempts. In our society poverty, lack of strong family bonds and unchecked freedom given to the children by their parents can be blamed for many suicide attempts. Some years ago, two 14-year-old students were admitted to hospital after attempting suicide by injecting each other’s blood. Because of different blood groups they had a life-threatening reaction.
Suicide is an ugly ending of one’s life. To prevent it, social welfare organizations should come forward to help solve the problem.
Social workers can help many individuals overcome their emotional distress. The contact should be private and confidential. Door-to-door visits of social workers would be appreciated.
If our society really wants to get rid of suicide attempts, it should take practical steps. Religious scholars should warn the people that suicide is a sin.
DR ASMA KHALID
Karachi
Cuts in salaries
THIS is to draw the attention of the Finance Ministry (Regulations Wing) to a gross anomaly created while introducing new pay scales.
Initially, the government announced that the scheme of move-over stood discontinued from Sept 4, 2001, the date of issuance of the new scales and various allowances were frozen at the existing level.
Subsequently, however, the move-over scheme was restored till Dec 1, 2001 and it was decided that the government employees who had reached the maximum of their pay scales on or before Dec 1, 2000, would be allowed move-over in the next scale from Dec 1, 2001. But their pay would be refixed in their original scale based on the move-over pay stage (and allowances).
The grievance of the government employees who availed move-over on Dec 1, 2001 is that they have not been sanctioned the special additional allowance (SAA) admissible which makes 20 per cent of the basic pay of their move-over scale.
Instead, they have been allowed the SAA according to their previous grade. As a matter of principle, when the government has restored move-over with effect from Dec 1, 2001, the date of freezing the 20 per cent SAA should have been explicitly extended up to the same date instead of Sept 4, 2001.
Due to the absence of clear instructions on the subject, the AGPR/Accounts Branches of various departments have been denying this allowance to the affected employees.
TAHIR MAHMOOD NADEEM
Lahore
Commuters’ agony
THOUGH the area between Gulistan-i-Jauhar and I. I. Chundrigar Road, Karachi, has already become a much-frequented route for usual commuters owing to the fast-growing population in these areas, transporters still seem reluctant to operate buses on this route.
Commuters from these areas have no choice but to travel in Metro Buses which originate from Malir Cantt, pass through Gulistan-i-Jauhar, Liaquat National Hospital, Bahadurabad, Tariq Road, Nursery, Sharea-i-Faisal, Lucky Star, Shaheen Complex, and culminate at Keamari.
The number of Metro buses is insufficient. If one misses the bus, one has to wait for around one-and-a-half hour to catch the other which certainly creates problems for the time-bound office-workers, students and other people who run their daily errands.
The authorities are requested to arrange more buses on this route.
GHULAM MOHIUDDIN
Karachi
Reforms and the media
THIS refers to Mr I. Kamal’s letter ‘Musharraf’s reforms and the media’ (Sept 15). I do not agree with his point of view regarding respectable journalists as partners in senseless criticism over recent constitutional reforms, and these criticisms are based on theoretical considerations and personal biases, as he says.
He seems to be much impressed by Musharraf. Nothing wrong in doing so but he must keep in mind that the media cannot portray only the fair image of the government. The media is supposed to analyze issues. People have the right to know about both good and bad things.
My aim is not to blame Musharraf or support Benazir or Nawaz, it is just to stress the role of the media in giving current information to the people. Only then can society improve.
FAISAL IRSHAD
Lahore
IDBP’s pensioners
ACCORDING to the IDBP Pension Rules (Clause XIX), any increase in pension allowed by the federal government to its civilian employees would automatically be allowed by the IDBP management to its own retirees.
On the basis of this clause the IDBP, in the year 1999, allowed an increase in pension citing the federal government initiative vide Finance Division letter No. F.4(1)R-6/99 dated July 23, 1999.
Now the federal government has again allowed increase in pension to its civilian employees in the year 2001 vide Finance Division letter No. F.1(5)Imp/2001 dated Sept 4, 2001. But, in spite of personal and written approaches to the IDBP management, the bank has been denying the benefit to the pensioners.
For the past one year, it has been keeping silent after having written to the Finance Division that it would be a burden on financial resources of the IDBP.
Other financial institutions and banks, including the State Bank and National Bank, have already allowed increase in pension.
Would the IDBP MD look into the matter personally to redress the grievance of the retirees, most of whom in their late seventies now?
A PENSIONER
Karachi
Dacoity at bank
THIS refers to the news item, ‘Rs1.5m bank dacoity’ (Sept 13).
From the concerned authority of our bank at Faisalabad, we have received the factual position as hereunder:
At about 11:30am, three dacoits armed with pistols entered the HBL, Abdullahpur Branch, Faisalabad. They snatched the pump-action gun from the security guard, deployed at the branch, and after overpowering him, held the branch staff hostage.
In the meantime, the manager of the branch collected courage and activated the alarm prompting another dacoit, sitting in the car outside the bank, to rush into the branch and ask his accomplices to flee.
The dacoits, who had already collected Rs476,496 and were in possession of the guard’s gun, left the bank immediately and fled in the waiting vehicle(s). An FIR has been lodged with the concerned police station.
SHUJAT ALI BAIG
Divisional Head, Habib Bank Limited
Karachi
PCB and merit
TALKING of the merit by the PCB is really amusing (Khalid Butt’s letter ‘Sindhi cricketers and PCB, Sept 19).
Will the gentleman from PCB also tell us, in plain words, about a recent selection in the team visiting abroad; with a controversial induction of a young cricketer with the help of his father’s credentials and definitely without merit?
This was done after ignoring and dumping another youth from Karachi with the most impressive record throughout the last national cricket season, not only in Karachi but also in the whole of Pakistan. Will Khalid Butt explain and identify to the readership the ‘strong source’ behind such meritless selection?
KUNWAR KHALID YUNUS
Karachi
NA candidate
RECENTLY some national dailies have printed a list of candidates for elections to the national and provincial assemblies. I am surprised to see that my name has been omitted, although I continue to be a candidate to the National Assembly seat from Constituency NA-250, Karachi, as per Form V issued by the returning officer of the constituency.
The continuous omission from the list of the candidates, in spite of repeated reminders, appears to be a deliberate plot on the part of either my rivals or those who are anti-PML(N) to damage my election campaign.
MAMNOON HUSSAIN
Karachi
Discriminating the poor
NEARLY 4,000 houses, shops and other structures belonging to the poor were demolished to construct the Lyari Expressway. However, where the property of a feudal was involved, work came to a standstill.
In my locality, Tando Yousif, UC-15, Latifabad, Hyderabad, the main road, which is hundreds of years old and was reconstructed in the 1960s and again in the 1980s, is now under construction under the KPP. But construction work on half of the road has been stopped because of a false claim made by a local feudal that a piece of land acquired for the road is his property. People of the area have been running from pillar to post to get the construction work restarted but the whole district administration of Hyderabad seems to be helpless against this feudal lord.
Thus, while properties of thousands of poor people were bulldozed for the construction of a highway, the construction work has been stopped on a road simply because a wealthy person has made a dubious claim on a piece of land coming under it.
Why this difference in dealings with the poor and the rich?
TARIQUE BHATTI
Hyderabad
Allure of python: more information
APROPOS the write-up, ‘Allure of python’ by Bialal Mansur (Sept 22). I can assure that all zoological gardens in Pakistan will be happy to accept pet snakes, more so a python of whatever origin. Ring 9215383 Dr Kazim or 9215382 Qazi Mansoor (Director Zoo) during office hours and tell them where to collect the snakes from.
There is a lone python in Karachi Zoo and I doubt Lahore and Bahawalpur have any. They were breeding in Karachi Zoo comfortably for years in my time; in fact they became a nuisance and I started offering them in exchange with other animals.
To the best of my information, pythons are finished in Sindh where they were once prolific particularly in the Indus Delta region. I have no reliable information that any are left in the Punjab. Baluchistan had no pythons in nature. They are on the point of extinction in Pakistan and someone must breed them in captivity. They would never breed or live happily without water, preferably running, and in lots of cool, damp, shady area.
They would easily breed in a coconut or banana farm. If you need help about choosing the right site, food and living condition, contact me c/o Dawn.
Pythons were swept away by the truckloads in the days of Ayub Khan when a rat-race began to kill, trap and skin crocodiles and gavials. All crocodiles and gavials in the Indus and its tributaries were killed along with pythons that were skinned alive for the skin. Well, that is what results when there is no awareness about conservation and/or the role animals play in nature.
Other species of snakes are still being trapped continuously in Sindh irrespective of stopping the activity in the breeding season. That has drastically reduced their population and increased the field rat population on which they fed. The rats are destroying the crops and stored food.
One of the worst culprits in reducing the poisonous snake population in Pakistan is the serum-producing unit against snake venom) in Islamabad. They milk them dry, never feed them in captivity and when they die of hunger they are thrown away. The institute belongs to the federal government. The non-poisonous snakes are dying of hunger because of the destruction of their habitat.
I urge the younger generation to form a body parallel to the Greenpeace that struggles against any destruction of biodiversity pool.
The NGOs in Pakistan, taking care of exploitation against nature, have not been taking care of nature effectively. The Wildlife Conservation Society of Pakistan is still alive and I invite everyone to come forward in taking care of nature.
DR A. A. QURAISHY
Karachi