Those gallant men of God: OBITUARY

The last time this newspaper published my article was on September 7, 2002. Air Chief Marshal Mushaf Mir was alive, vibrant and had created a formidable, integrated and intensely motivated air force. The PAF had never been such a powerful deterrent as during the leadership of this gallant fighter pilot, and the PAF was proud to have a chief so down to earth, a hard task master yet compassionate and without any measure of superficiality.

On September 7 at the PAF commemoration dinner, he shyly said to me: “Sir, your article today was very morale raising, but I didn’t deserve the compliment you paid to me.” I told him that I was very conscious about praising anyone, but after my visits to the fighter bases in June 2002, I had only said what was the absolute truth and that he could be rightly proud of his fighting men.

This was an air chief unpresumptuous, warm yet absolutely outstanding, one of the best chiefs the PAF ever had. Up there in heaven he must be blushing; may God bless and rest his soul in eternal peace.

This nation has suffered one of the most devastating tragedies of its history. Pakistan has lost many fighter aces and other officers and technicians of exceptional qualities, a rare breed of men.

Although I also knew the two outstanding AVM, Razaq and Saleem, the future hope of the air force, I had the opportunity to meet and know Air Commodore Rizwan Ullah Khan from the time he was commanding the highly prestigious Combat Commander School. He was also an outstanding officer, gentleman and an exceptional fighter pilot.

The nation should know that it has lost 17 men in uniform with sterling qualities and Pakistan is poorer today in many ways than people can imagine.

The nation owes a huge tribute to these “Gallant Men of God” and we should all pray deeply from our hearts for the eternal peace of the departed souls.

The writer is a retired air commodore

Islam’s accent on effort: FRIDAY FEATURE

ISLAM is generally being taken in the West as a religion opposed to the progress of human society in general and that in the social and economic fields in particular. Even amongst the Muslims, there are people who take Islam as a religion confined to a few sets of rites and rituals, and preaching living a life of complete abstinence and forsaking the world.

This view is based on complete ignorance about the actual guidance and preaching of the Quran. It is common knowledge that the progress of human society in the socio-economic field involves three elements. One is the mental change appropriate to the progress desired to be achieved. The other is the acquisition of requisite knowledge and know-how. The third is sustained efforts for the achievement of the desired progress. The Quran provides excellent guidance and necessary motivation for the achievement, acquisition and, as the case may be, the use of these elements.

In regard to the mental change, the Quran says “LO Allah does not change the condition of a people until they change (first) that which is in their soul” (13:11). The word condition in this verse implies the external conditions, mainly the social and economic conditions of the people. According to the verse, any pleasant or favourable change in the external condition of a people can take place only when there is first an appropriate change in their internal condition.

That change could obviously be a change in the thinking, perceptions, outlooks, attitudes and behaviours of the people concerned. Thus, to bring a change in their external condition, the people have to bring a change in their internal condition which means that there has to be first an awareness about the necessity of change in the external condition, followed by identification i.e. the type of change that should be brought, and acceptance of the change identified, and then by commitment to the bringing of the change.

The commitment is automatically followed by the acquisition of requisite knowledge and know-how and then by efforts, both mental and physical, for bringing the desired change. That’s how a favourable change in the condition of a people can occur. In this way the Quran tells us about two things. One is, that it is the people who can bring a change in their external condition. and the other is as to how that change is to be brought. Likewise, degeneration in thinking and retrogression and negativeness in the outlooks, attitudes and behaviours of the people generates the process of reversal in the progress of the society of which they are the members.

As regards acquisition of knowledge, no other scripture lays as much emphasis on knowledge as the Quran. The importance that the Quran gives to knowledge is manifest from the fact that the first of its surahs revealed to the Prophet starts thus “Read: and your Lord is most Gracious who taught knowledge by pen: taught man that which he did not know” (96:4,5). The Quran further says “Do not follow that of which you have no knowledge, for you will be questioned for the use of your eyes, ears and hearts” (17:36). In the Arabic idioms, heart is considered as the centre of intelligence and affection. Hence, the word heart occurring in this verse is to be understood as having reference to mind or intelligence and affection.

Mind, eyes and ears are the three means of acquiring knowledge. If we have a look at the positive side of this verse, it would appear that the Quran emphasises the acquisition of knowledge about anything one does or follows. Telling a person “do not follow a thing of which you have no knowledge” means the same thing as telling him to acquire the requisite knowledge or know-how about the thing before doing it. For example, a person wants to follow or adopt the medical profession, he must acquire the requisite qualifications before adopting the profession.

According to a saying of the Prophet “the knowledge which does not yield any benefit for the mankind is like wealth that is not used in the Way of Allah.” It means that if one has to acquire any knowledge it must be such as could be of benefit to the people. Benefit of the people inter alia implies socio-economic progress. There can be no benefit of the people in the true sense without progress in the socio-economic field.

If we read this tradition of the Prophet in the light of the verse which says “you will be questioned for the use of your eyes, ears and hearts” (17:36), it will follow that whatever knowledge one acquires must be such as could be of benefit to the people and must be used for that purpose. This, among other things, explains the purpose for which the people will be questioned as the verse says. Not only that, the Quran exhorts the people to acquire more and more of knowledge (20:114) and excel in all that is good (2:148).

Likewise, the Prophet said “go on acquiring knowledge from cradle to grave” and “go even to China, if you can, for the acquisition of knowledge.” All these admonitions provide clear pointer to continuous progress and improvement.

The Quran repeatedly enjoins the believers to reflect over various signs in the Universe. Reflection does not mean mere thinking but also implies the use of reasoning and analogy. One may learn a lot from observing a phenomenon, analysing and pondering over the chain of events and occurrence involved therein, drawing his own conclusion there from and applying the same to another appropriate situation to get the desired results. Sir Isaac Newton formulated his laws of gravitation after reflecting over the fall of an apple from the tree. Thus, the Quran not only emphasises the acquisition of knowledge but also provides an important clue to research and development so vital to the achievement of progress in the socio-economic field.

The Quran lays as much emphasis on efforts as it lays on the other two elements discussed above. It repeatedly exhorts the believers to seek the Bounty of Allah (17:66) (28:73) with a clear indication that there can be nothing for man except what he has striven for (53:39). Bounty implies the provisions of Allah in abundance while seeking implies making of efforts, mental or physical, to get or make use thereof. The Quran further says “We have created man in toil” (90:4) which also implies making of continued efforts. Likewise, it says “And do not covet what Allah has given some of you more than others: the men shall have their share according to what they have earned and the women shall have their share according to what they have earned.” (4:32).

The word “earned” in the verse has reference to material earning like wealth etc. This is evident from the first part of the verse which has a clear reference to material wealth because it is the material wealth which one eagerly desires. Here also the quran emphasises the making of due efforts as “earned” means that which one has earned through his own efforts. The verse treats the men and women at par with each other when it says that each will get according to what he or she has earned. The Quran further says “He has subjected to you what is in the heavens and the earth, all from Himself. There are many signs in this for those who reflect” (45:13).

This verse provides clear motivation towards unlimited technological and economic progress. The word “subjected” in the verse implies that all the things in the Universe are either providing services to the human beings or can be made use of by the human beings. Making use of these things will obviously require the acquisition of knowledge. Besides, the repeated admonitions in the Quran to spend in the Way of Allah, which means on the welfare of the people, also provide motivation towards socio-economic progress.

From the above

It is thus clear that no other religion gives as much importance to the knowledgeable society built on sound and healthy lines as Islam and no other scripture provides such motivation and guidelines for the achievement of that progress as the Quran.

Is philanthropy the answer to social sector ills?: NEWS ANALYSIS

KARACHI, Feb 20: A bone of contention has come to the fore which has pitted the administration of Civil Hospital Karachi against the health department.

Fears are being expressed that because of the conflict of interests that has cropped up recently the Public Private Partnership programme, which is being implemented speedily at the CHK, may come to a screeching halt.

According to official sources, a local organization which is involved in several of the CHK’s Public Private Partnership projects is ready to undertake yet another renovation project. Under this project the CHK proposes to upgrade and improve the hospital’s radiology department.

However, the health department is reportedly dragging its feet and has not granted the requisite permission even though more than four months have passed since the idea was approved in principle by the then governor, Mohammadmian Soomro.

The sources claimed on Thursday that the senior officials of the health department wanted their cut from the sponsors of the project as well as the hospital administration. The health department sources, however, claimed that it had genuine reservations vis-a-vis the CHK’s Public Private Partnership projects.

Regardless of what really lies behind the health department’s ‘reluctance’ to grant approval for the said project, the episode underlines the problems that the Public Private Partnership programme will encounter. It also serves to throw in sharp relief the questions that can be raised about the merits and demerits of the projects.

‘Philanthropy’ is the buzzword nowadays. Several initiatives have been launched in recent months under the said programme and a couple of seminars have been organized.

During one such seminar — aimed at corporations — an extremely interesting announcement was made by a senior official of the USAID who said the American government was soon going to launch a Public Private Partnership initiative in Pakistan.

The USAID was looking for a suitable nongovernmental outfit which could deliver the goods in this regard, he said. In response to a question put by Dawn, he said the modalities of the proposed initiative had not been formulated yet.

“When we are ready with all the details, we will hold a press conference, hopefully very soon,” he added. His announcement showed that the USAID, which has had a chequered history in the country, is set to make its presence felt in the social sectors.

Meanwhile, the question which was raised time and again at the same seminar was: Are the authorities justified in abdicating their responsibilities after soliciting funds from the corporate sector? Javed Jabbar, a former information minister, was among the people who raised this question.

The adviser to the prime minister on finance, Shaukat Aziz, in response had said the government alone was not in a position to fulfil all the needs of the social sector. That’s why the present government was trying to create an ‘enabling’ environment under which the public and private sectors could join hands to bring about the necessary improvements.

Talking to Dawn after the seminar, Javed Jabbar said the Pakistani governments had never attached enough importance to social sectors, especially education and health. The Public Private Partnership would allow them to allocate even lesser amounts in the said sectors and this, he said, could never be justified.

Dr Shamsh-Kassim Lakha of the Aga Khan University told this reporter that Mr and Mrs Average were willing to donate big sums provided they were certain that the money would not be misused. He proposed that corporations set aside 1 per cent of their income before taxes for philanthropic endeavours.

In response to a question, he said his team could provide a blueprint which could be followed by corporations in this regard.

What Mr Lakha told Dawn that day was not untrue. It’s true that common people are more than willing to donate money for a good cause.

Both Aga Khan University — an initiative in the higher end of the ‘market’ — and Edhi Foundation — an endeavour in the lower end — stand as testament to the philanthropic spirit of the Pakistani people.

However, the question which perhaps should be raised here is: Will every penny to be donated by the philanthropists be exclusively handled by organizations like Aga Khan University and Edhi Foundation?

A short answer is: Of course, not. A partnership between the public and private sectors means that both are equally important. In fact the public sector may be more equal than the private one.

Therein lies the problem, one is compelled to conclude. More than five thousand closed, on paper and ghost schools show that funding has never been a problem. So do thousands of non-functional basic and rural health units. The main problem is the lack of good management practices. Lack of worthwhile policies are also a problem. It’s these two factors which have caused the going to waste of billions of rupees so far, may be more.

Now, the Civil Hospital Karachi has sought to do away with all these problems by coming up with a unique approach. Under its scheme of things, a ward is upgraded and improved by funding from both the public and private sectors.

A committee, comprising representatives of all the stakeholders, jointly oversees the renovation and improvement work. Once this work is done, an agreement is signed between the hospital administration and the private enterprises who undertake to run the ward concerned for three to five years.

Again, the operation is proposed to be run by a committee consisting of people from both the public and private sectors. And the hospital’s medical superintendent heads this committee.

Whether such a system will work properly remains to be seen. Only time will tell if the renovated and improved wards will return to the shape they were in before the launching of the Public Private Partnership projects.