Whose money do they spend?

The people of Thar, Thal, Cholistan and Balochistan are suffering from malnutrition, snake-bites, drought and disease. Who will help these unfortunate souls? Do we not have any institution to help them get their rights?

According to a news report of December 7, 2003, the decomposed bodies of 70-year old Professor Ghazi Khan Jakhrani and his 65-year-old wife were found in their house in Malir, Karachi. The bodies were taken to the JPMC for autopsy and reportedly it was found that both had had cancer.

It was estimated that they had been dead for 15 days. Professor Jakhrani taught at the Jamia Millia College, Malir, and after retirement, as long as his health could allow, he supported himself and his wife by giving private tuitions. The couple had no children.

According to people living in the vicinity, the two actually died of starvation because of long delays in the payment pension and other dues. Whatever the cause, they died in painful and miserable circumstances.

Despite repeated claims by those in government of making a positive change in the lives of the poor, Pakistan remains in the clutches of poverty. Slum dwellers are fighting for survival. They have no access to basic amenities like clean water, health care and education.

With a daily income of Rs50 to Rs70 and a family of 10 to feed, these basic needs have become a luxury. Malaria, tuberculosis, respiratory and abdominal diseases, dysentery and various other ailments have made a permanent abode in such areas.

In the famine-stricken parts of Sindh, an amount of Rs250 million was needed for the treatment of TB patients, and our government was not able to provide this sum. How could it mobilize this sum after colossal expenditure on defence requirements?

Most senators, MNAs and MPAs are rich people who have accumulated wealth through various means. They got a bill passed unanimously in parliament increasing their salaries and fringe benefits. There is also a wide gap in salaries, fringe benefits of the highest and lowest cadres in the public and private sectors and an armed forces.

In a country where many people do not have access to clean drinking water, food, shelter or clothing, why on earth do the rulers have a lavish lifestyle? Whose money do they spend? Their own or the state's?

It is pertinent to mention here that a tank costs four million dollars - an amount which is enough to immunize four million children. A Mirage 2000 costs 90 million dollars and this amount is enough to provide primary education to 30 million children.

A modern nuclear submarine costs 300 million dollars and such an amount deprives 60 million humans of clean drinking water. Similarly, the money Pakistan paid to France for three Agosta submarines could have provided primary education to 17 million children and clean safe drinking water to 67 million people.

Despite this, our rulers have an urge to accumulate wealth by every means possible. This craving to accumulate wealth through all means is a distinctive feature of our society and was a distinctive feature of all ignorant societies in the past.

The millions living in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, deprived of their rights and justice, are simple, honest and hardworking people. They are the backbone of the nation. The only things they have got in return have been false promises and an unjust system of governance.

S.A. KHOKHAR

Lahore

US democratization plan

US President George W. Bush recently said he would take an initiative in June to introduce democracy in the Middle East. He said rulers there would be held accountable for human rights' violations.

An unadulterated democracy will be a blessing for the people of the region. But an analysis of what the US president has said in the backdrop of the circumstances in which he is living will show that democracy will become secondary to his election year gains and other aims of his administration. Just consider the following:

- Mr Bush has himself decided many things for 22 Arab countries and that too at one stroke. His administration has failed to hold free elections in Iraq. The Iraqis, in the meantime, frequently hold street demonstrations, demanding free elections.

- "Rulers to be held accountable" has been his best election slogan so far. Millions of American voters will think that all Arab rulers are going to be accountable to Mr Bush and they will vote for him.

Now let us examine President Bush's initiative in a broader spectrum. After the demise of the USSR, pro-US governments lost their value. The US now wants to use its initiative for democracy as another vehicle for strengthening its hold over the Arabs through Israel's supremacy in the Middle East. The US-sponsored ME roadmap envisaged establishment of the Palestinian state by 2005. In fact, it was another way to allow Israel not vacate occupied land.

The US may be happy with its democratic institutions, its systems and human rights record which it is so desirous to export to other countries. If this is so, then how to describe it when we know that every 50 minutes an American child dies of hunger and that more young black Americans are in jail than in universities?

The lesson of democracy which we have read in western books is that it comes from giving voice and recognition to the people, and not by occupying a sovereign country.

Z. A. KAZMI

Karachi

Vajpayee's statements

Settling an issue is not impossible if the parties to the dispute are willing to resolve it. For the last five decades rulers of both Pakistan and India have been issuing political statements to gain favour of the people and have not worked seriously to resolve bilateral issues, including Kashmir.

Although Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee visited Islamabad in January and agreed to make efforts to normalize relations with Pakistan, he is issuing political statements from New Delhi, which will badly affect the peace process.

He recently said that if his party won the forthcoming general elections, it would construct a temple at the place where BJP workers had razed Babri Mosque.

By issuing such statements, Mr Vajpayee cannot strengthen his country's relations with Pakistan. Though our foreign ministry spokesman did not make any comments on the Indian prime minister's statement, the sentiments of the Muslims in Pakistan have surely been hurt.

During the first session of talks in Islamabad a couple of weeks back, Pakistan and India also agreed to resolve all outstanding issues, including Kashmir, to the satisfaction of both countries. Mr Vajpayee should, therefore, not complicate the situation by issuing controversial statements.

SYED A. MATEEN

Karachi

State and religion

I congratulate Mr Shahid Javed Burki for his excellent article "Claim to the Muslim state", published in Dawn on February 24.

During my 34-year stay in Germany I have been to many Islamic countries, including Iran in 1976. In those days I travelled to Pakistan from Germany by road.

In 1976 Iran was a highly developed country. Now it is said Iran is a highly populated country with a chaotic system.

I have also observed that most Islamic countries are going backward after the takeover of governments by religious extremists. There is neither political stability nor any real peace in such countries. Religion has been used for achieving political ambitions. This dangerous trend must be reversed in Pakistan and elsewhere.

Education is the key to success. Our country has a great potential to develop in every field if we separate religion from the state. In plain words: the mullahs and the military should not interfere in politics.

TANWEER HUSSAIN

Darmstadt, Germany

Tracing Jhelum's origin

This is apropos of Mr Manzoor Hussain Kureshi's letter "National heritage" (February 16) in response to my letter "The Mangla heritage" (February 6).

As far as the name of the Jhelum River (old name Hydaspes) is concerned, there are the following two versions:

1. The city is named after the horse of Alexander, locally named as "Jhelum", while the actual name was "Bucephala" as mentioned by Mr Manzoor H. Kureshi.

2. The second version is that the name of Jhelum was made by combining two Sanskrit words "Jal" and "Hum" which mean cold water - "Jal" means water and "hum" means cold.

The river was first named "Jal-hum" which changed to "Jehlum" with the passage of time, and now it is called "Jhelum.

The cold water of the Jhelum River comes from the Himalayas' "Veri Nag" fountain, from the mountains of Kashmir. The river divides the state of Jammu and Kashmir and the province of Punjab.

SAALIM SALAM ANSARI

Karachi

Incomplete housing project

The Pakistan Housing Authority, ministry of housing and works, Islamabad, announced a housing project "Ghar Wo Jo Apna Ho" in sector I-11 of the federal capital through TV and newspapers in January 2001. Many people booked flats and paid the money demanded by the Pakistan Housing Authority as per their schedule.

In the first year of the project, only 40 per cent construction work was executed. Since then work on the project has remained suspended, although at the time of the booking of flats it was promised that the flats would be handed over to the applicants within 15 months. The construction position does not show that this project will be completed soon.

We are living in rented houses and paying rents from Rs5,000 to Rs7,000 a month. We appeal to the prime minister to intervene in the matter and order the Pakistan Housing Authority to hand over the possession of flats to their owners after completing the remaining construction work at the earliest.

HASSAN AKHTAR

Islamabad

Promotion of higher education

This is with reference to the news reports "KU asked to plan 4-year honours programme" (February 13) and "Four-year honours plan criticized" (February 14).

I congratulate Higher Education Commission Chairman Dr Attaur Rehman, all vice-chancellors and the other relevant members on such a sensible decision by taking the initiative to introduce a four-year honours programme at university level. Though there is already much criticism, the decision is in the national interest.

If we compare our education standards with India and other Third World countries that came into existence far later than we did, we shall see that we are lagging much behind them. The reason is the substandard quality and insufficient tenure of education that the majority of educational institutions impart to their students.

In developed countries there are standards for a graduate or masters' student. We have been avoiding a proper tenure of education, thus not producing quality undergraduate and post-graduates professionals. This also hinders our professionals from competing with international market. By introducing the four-year programme, the government is trying to promote quality education.

I know many people due to certain problems will find it hard to go for four-year studies, but the question is: is this something that only we, the Pakistanis, will be doing, or is it something which is already being done the world over?

One also lauds the effort of the HEC to close down all illegal local or foreign degree-awarding universities and colleges. This shows the efficiency and the interest Dr Attaur Rehman and his entire team have taken to raise standards of higher education in Pakistan.

SWALEH M. MUSTIKHAN

Karachi

(2)

The news report "SU students week begins" (February 17) sent me into deep introspection. The venue of the event, the Elsa Kazi campus, reminded me of the late Allama Imdad Ali Imam Ali Kazi, one of the most venerated scholars of Islam and an educationist par excellence, and of his contribution to the establishment of this great seat of learning. Equally important was the part played by Madam Elsa, his consort and life companion.

When Sindh University was shifted to Hyderabad, Allama I.I. Kazi was appointed its first vice- chancellor. It was he who conceived the idea of a university township on the pattern of Oxford and Cambridge at Jamshoro, Dadu district, at a very picturesque sight on the right bank of the Indus. During his short stay of eight years, his selfless and persistent efforts produced a full-fledged modern university. However, we have not been able to maintain the standards, let alone the ideals set by these visionaries in the early 1950s.

The last three decades have witnessed a degeneration of society in every walk of life. The quality of education worsened immensely because the public sector did not take much interest either in improving educational standards or in increasing the literacy rate in the country. Apart from the absence of proper regulatory laws to oversee the services provided by the private institutions, paltry funds allocated to education are also responsible for this sorry state of affairs.

While people from the upper class can afford the high fees of private institutions, acquiring quality education has become a costly affair for people from the middle class.

MANZOOR H. KURESHI

Karachi

Managing traffic

During the morning till about 8.30 and in the afternoon till about 3.30 traffic on The Mall, Jail Road, Ferozepur Road and Multan Road in Lahore remains unmanageable. Traffic signals during these peak hours are closed and the huge traffic is controlled by a couple of policemen at each intersection.

Error of judgment in controlling traffic by them creates traffic jams. This results in accidents and scuffles between vehicle owners coming from various directions. It seems that intervention by the traffic police usually aggravates the situation.

To avoid bottlenecks and control unruly traffic, the signals at peak rush hours should not be closed but properly regulated keeping in view the traffic coming from different directions. A good example of such regulation is the Gulberg Chowk signal just before Sherpao Bridge, Jail Road.

DR ZAINAB RIZVI

Lahore

President's promises

Gen Pervez Musharraf is no doubt a president in military uniform, but at the same time he is democratically elected and has fulfilled all his commitments to the nation and the political parties. He has earned the goodwill of the overwhelming majority of Pakistanis and a large number of democratic countries by taking a series of steps to promote democracy in the country and strengthen the economy of Pakistan.

Nobody can deny that no leader of Pakistan has been confronted with such a flood of crises at every step of his political career as President Musharraf. He has emerged strong from each crisis.

In his talking of the nuclear issue, he has acquitted himself most honourably.

K. MURAD BEY

Islamabad

KPT flyover

This refers to the "KPT flyover: suggestions" (February 20) by Mr Farooq Alam Siddiqui.

The sketch given in the ad (Dawn, February 14) for a Karachi Port Trust flyover to be built on Korangi Road was a proposal only. The design is being prepared in consultation with all concerned. The suggestion made by Mr Siddiqui will also be considered.

Although the designer is constrained by some factors such as availability of land and disruption of services, etc., the KPT assures that it will do its best to prepare a flawless design.

HASAN ARIF BILGRAMI

Executive Engineer, KPT, Karachi

Robert Fisk

With reference to Mr S.G. Jilanee's appreciation of Dawn for publishing Robert Fisk's article on February 22, I would like to add that Mr Fisk has been writing fearlessly for many years and appears regularly in the British and other press.

Apart from him, some other western writers too are regularly writing on the issue of Palestine and the unjust wars against Afghanistan and Iraq.

Recently Mr Paul Findley, former congressman and the author of the books They dare to speak out: deliberate deceptions, and Silent No More; Confronting America's false images of Islam, has written a very forceful article "A Republican's case against G. W. Bush" where he concludes that Mr Bush's decision to initiate war in Iraq will be the greatest and most costly blunder in American history.

Pakistani readers should read such writers and thinkers as well, for they in fact represent the American public.

S. FAIYAZUDDIN AHMAD

Leicester, UK

Standardizationof cotton

Your editorial "Cotton standardization" (February 23) was much appreciated. As a cotton consultant and analyst, I very frequently stress implementation of a cotton standards/grading system from the ginning stage. A cotton standardization system is the only viable system that can improve the quality of our cotton to meet international standards and ensure better prices for cotton growers on the basis of quality.

Cotton growers can get about Rs3 billion every season as premium on their cotton, and resultantly our cotton yarn, cotton cloth/ fabrics and garments can fetch better prices in both local and foreign markets.

I hope your editorial will help the relevant quarters implement this system in the best interest of the economy.

S. A. AZIZ SHAH

Karachi

George Bush's re-election

I have no doubt that Osama bin Ladin will be apprehended or eliminated in the future, given his acts against a superpower.

However, should we be contributing to the re-election of a neoconservative-dominated government in the United States which has so far destabilized a region, promoted pre-emptive war and rewarded our country for all that it has done to help the US in its war on terror by refusing even a few measly F-16s?

MUBASHIR HASSAN KHAN

Indianapolis, IN., USA