Quetta carnage and remedy

IN your editorial (July 6) you have described the massacre at Quetta as the most horrible act of sectarian violence in Pakistan’s history. You have quite rightly pointed out two inter-linked factors of “religio-social aberration” and negation of “Jinnah’s concept of Pakistan”.

You have observed that the Ulema have not played the role that was expected of them in helping society to get rid of the menace of sectarianism.

During the Pakistan movement, all religious parties of India, including Jamiatul Ulema-i-Hind, Jamaat-i-Islami, Majlis-i-Ahrar, joined hands with the British and the Congress and fought tooth and nail against the creation of Pakistan.

After the establishment of an independent Muslim state, the religious parties in Pakistan opposed the establishment of Jinnah’s concept of a democratic, progressive and liberal Pakistan where every citizen would be free to practise his/her faith in an environment of freedom and tolerance. Unfortunately, the non-religious parties, while in power, not only turned their back on the concept of the Quaid’s vision of Pakistan as envisaged in his Aug 11 Constituent Assembly speech, but also compromised with the religious parties in the name of Islamization

During the last 50 years the Pakistani nation has been experimenting with the Objectives Resolution. There is no end to sectarian killings, ethnic divide and a quick march towards the ignorance of the medieval times in the fair name of Islam.

The remedy lies in adopting Jinnah’s August 11 speech as a part of our Constitution through an ordinance. As the first president of the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan, the Quaid-i- Azam spelled out equality for all citizens. We can put our ship on an even keel and sail in the turbulent oceans of the future as a confident, enlightened Pakistani nation with no sectarian massacres like the Quetta carnage.

DR A. HAYE SAEED

Karachi

MOST newspapers have reported the Quetta incident as an “attack on imambargah”. The newspapers must be more careful with their choice of words because such a distortion of facts could lead to isolation of the Shia community from the fold of Islam.

The Shias are Muslims and the building in which they offer prayers is called a “mosque”. It is true that there is usually an imambargah situated in close proximity or in the same compound as the mosque, and is used for majalis, milad and other socio-religious gatherings, but prayers are said in the mosque.

If the headlines had said “attack on mosque”, it would no doubt have resulted in a more emphatic response from the entire Muslim community. However, by writing “attack on imambargah”, the newspapers have unwittingly promoted the perception that what occurred was not a tragedy inflicted on the entire Ummah, but rather on a minority group with radical beliefs whose religious buildings are called imambargahs. ZAIN MANKANI Karachi

Indian Muslim bridegrooms

IT is a pleasant gesture by Mr Fasih-ul Karim Siddiqi (June 19). But I have no intention to put a damper on the subject knowing our nationality policy towards the Indian Muslim grooms. Accordingly, if an Indian Muslim marries a Pakistani girl, the former cannot be entitled to Pakistan’s citizenship.

We have a substantial Bengali community living in Pakistan, especially in Karachi. Among them, apart from those living before 1971, the majority came to Pakistan by unconventional means. Now, the government is relaxing its citizenship policies for their benefit. I fail to understand why the government is reluctant to bring the Indian Muslims (who are not more than a few hundreds) in the ambit of such guidelines. No doubt the former are living in a country with which we have ideological differences, but if we believe in Muslim brotherhood, then we should not discriminate between the Muslims of one region and the other.

I, as a legislator, worked on many such cases. Even today, there are instances of Indian Muslim grooms who applied for citizenship 15 to 20 years ago. Although they have become grandfathers, their nationality cases are still in pending. Some of them were also deported leaving their families in Pakistan.

I remember myself in the National Assembly and Mr Iqbal Haider in the Senate worked towards the waiving of such biased legislation. An interior minister also put a note against such discrimination and halted it for a while. But the same bounced back again the moment a new government moved in.

Since there is no report of any involvement of Indian Muslims in the present or past domestic/international terrorism; they are the safest bet compared to the people of other regions; for Pakistan’s citizenry in case they married Pakistani girls. In certain technological fields where we have a chronic dearth of professionals, the Indian Muslims may easily fill the gap.

Viewing a major problem ahead for Mr Siddiqi after his daughter’s matrimony and also to such families in Pakistan, I urge the president and the prime minister to announce waiving of such a discriminatory clause from our Citizenship Act the day Mr Vajpayee visits Pakistan. This will benefit the Indian Muslims who were the major sufferer from the tense relationship between Pakistan and India. This would also further reinforce the ties between 320 million Muslims of the two countries.

It would also place Pakistani women in an equal status to Pakistani male and in equal citizenship, where the latter are allowed to marry Indian girls or girls from any other part of the world. Islam also does not hinder such marriages either.

KUNWAR KHALID YUNUS

Karachi

Lyari roads in a shambles

IT is welcome that repairs and recarpeting of some roads in Karachi are being carried out but so far nothing has been done to improve the condition of roads in Lyari. Here roads are in such a bad condition that it is rather impossible for the pedestrians, as well as for the car drivers, to use them.

One such bad road is Faqir Mohammad Dura Khan Road near the Lyari Degree College. The councillor, the nazim and the MPA of the area have been approached about the condition of the road but so far no help is forthcoming from their side.

Sewage has been overflowing on this road for more than six months and has formed puddles at various sections of the road. The trucks going towards the port in the morning have further worsened the condition of the road. The area people have lately come to know that the underground sewers are leaking and need immediate replacement to save the road from deteriorating into permanent puddles of sewage.

I would now request the officials concerned, as well as our elected representatives, to just bring their cars and try to pass this road to know the extreme misery of the area people and others using this road.

IRFAN BALOCH

Karachi

Targeting honest officials

WITH reference to the removal and the sidelining of Mr Shakeel Durrani and Mr Saeed Khan as chief secretary and IGP, NWFP, respectively, I am constrained to bring it on record that the vast majority of the people in the province have viewed the action taken against them with great concern and shock and termed the sidelining of such devoted, honest, impartial and experienced officials totally unjust, immoral, illogical, unintelligible and highly deplorable.

It would not be wrong to say that the aforesaid bureaucrats have been made scapegoats for the bigotry, unwarranted rigidity and intolerance of the MMA’s government in the NWFP. Had they been sidelined for their incompetency and personal drawbacks, it would have made some sense. But punishing them for the MMA’s unwarranted rigidity, bigotry, intolerance, uncooperative and undemocratic attitude towards the ruling party in Islamabad could not make any sense at all. Instead of punishing the officials, why are those in the secret agencies not questioned and punished for their miscalculation and improper political planning?

I have no hesitation in saying that leading a religious congregation is totally different from leading and running the state affairs. If this is not so, just tell me what the MMA has so far done constructively and practically except misleading the innocent masses (specially the Pakhtuns).

Their reservations regarding the LFO at this stage is also unacceptable because all the political and religious parties, including the MMA, not only contested the October election and subsequently formed government in the NWFP under the same LFO but are now enjoying all privileges and protocol as well

Keeping in view the attitude of the MMA, the federal government should not hesitate about taking stern action against them. The sidelining of the devoted government officials is not the solution.

What else could be the misfortune of the Pakhtuns whose genuine leaders such as Syed Iftikhar Gilani, Saifullah brothers, Asfandyar Wali Khan, Naseerullah Babar, Mahmood Khan Achakzai and Arbab Jahangir lost in the last elections? Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao, somehow won, which is no less than a miracle.

EID AZAR BANGASH

Kohat

Sialkot’s dying industries

SIALKOT has been the industrial city of Pakistan since independence. It has thousands of gifted technicians who are unparalleled in their performance. Even many highly qualified engineers cannot compete with them.

I recently visited the small, medium-sized and giant industries of the Sialkot region and was stunned to observe that 90 per cent of small industries have been closed down because of the stiff attitude of the tax department. The remaining small and medium-sized industries are also dwindling.

I met a man and his son who were manufacturing something very ordinary in a small room of their house. In reply to my question, the son said: “Sir, we can’t pay the monthly ‘bhatta’ of the tax-people and, therefore, we are closing it down till they have the fear of God in their hearts.” Moreover, the import policy of the government is very unwise. It is almost killing the industry.

Is there any authority in Pakistan which could save the industries of Sialkot and other regions of Pakistan? Is there any government agency which could assess how much wealth have the tax-lords accumulated?

PROF M. IKRAM MIRZA

Rawalpindi

Request to PTV

AS per press reports, Mr Nelson Mandela will address worldwide audience on his 85th birthday” (July 3) on July 18 through the MTV channel.

In his address this noble soul and Nobel Peace laureate is expected to lay bare the gist of his experience and wisdom of over three decades of his personal fight against the injustices of the world, particularly the ‘apartheid’ regime of the erstwhile South Africa and how he faced it.

PTV may use this opportunity and telecast the programme on the date of his address for its audience (albeit, sans advertisements, hopefully).

AMIR ALI ESMAIL

Karachi

US visa: a policy of denial

I WOULD like to point out the systematic denial of J-1 visas to the Pakistani physicians seeking residency in the United Sates. In recent weeks, more than 50 Pakistani physicians, certified as MDs by the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG), were refused J-1 visas to enter the US for their advanced residency training. No plausible reason for the refusal was cited by the US embassy officials in Islamabad.

In a country where sensibilities run high, an apparently systematic denial of medical training opportunity to the physicians cannot be trivially explained as an exercise of discretionary powers of the US visa officers.

To many in the Muslim world, this arguably random action of the US appears as an expression of the intention of a much broader US foreign policy towards Pakistan and the Muslim world. No matter how much misguided the people may be in their conclusions, a blanket denial to medical training not only makes them suspicious of the US motives but it, in fact, undermines the very credibility of the US in the region.

In the light of the events of Sept 11, the need for the US to scrutinize visa applications is well understood and shared by many around the world. However, a blanket denial of visas for medical training cannot be explained as an action stemming from the need of scrutiny.

As a Pakistani I am concerned about the wisdom behind the action taken by the US embassy in Islamabad. I strongly disagree with this blanket action and urge the US ambassador to personally look into the matter to dispel the impression that it is a standing State Department policy.

AWAIS NEMAT

Santa Clara, USA

Misplaced priorities

FOR quite some time now the disfiguring of the faces of women on billboards is in the news.

May I suggest to the misguided, monopolists of moralities to save the pain in their neck and start looking down at gaping manholes, broken footpaths, road ditches, overflowing gutters, illegal water connections, as well as to their right and left at smoky vehicles, stinking garbage, pestering beggars, sprawling addicts, etc.?

S. UNWAN HASAN

Karachi

Matric results

I WOULD like to bring it to the notice of the chairman of the Secondary Board of Education, Karachi, that, owing to the delay in announcement of the results of matric examinations, many students will not be able to get themselves admitted to the Hasan Abdal Cadet College where the entry test is scheduled to be held on July 19.

I request the chairman to ensure announcement of the results as soon as possible so that the desirous students may appear in the test.

MOTHER OF A STUDENT

Karachi

Graduation from Camp David

YASSER Arafat, leader of the Palestinians, was wined and dined at Camp David.

Much was made of him, great promises were made to him and not kept and he was made to promise impossible things he could not achieve. He was hailed as a champion of peace and was also awarded the Noble peace prize.

Where is he now? The same people who pampered him at ‘Camp David’ have left him out in the cold and do not want to do anything with him anymore. In fact, it is a wonder that he is still alive.

Is this what happens to Third World leaders after they graduate from Camp David?

YAWAR HAYAT

Karachi

Karachi’s power problems

KARACHI, the commercial backbone of the country, was once known as the city of lights, but for the last 10 years it has been a victim of daily blackouts owing to loadshedding and power breakdowns. At the same time, Karachiites have to suffer voltage fluctuations, low voltage, excessive billings, etc. and yet they have to pay exorbitant energy charges, one of the highest in the world.

The general perception is that the multiple problems and the poor performance of the KESC are because of corruption, mismanagement and poor maintenance. Up to 1996 the KESC was making a profit, but in seven years it has incurred losses of over Rs60 billion and no end is in sight.

The priority of the army-led management of the KESC should have been to check financial indiscipline, corruption and massive line losses. But instead, the KESC has taken the easy way out by increasing power tariffs and burdening the consumers.

To check theft and reduce T & D losses, a special task force was set up under a serving brigadier, but no positive results have been achieved and the line losses still stand at a massive 47 per cent, which is among the highest in the world.

The ADB and the Bank of Japan provided $100 million each in 1995 for improving the transmission systems and reducing line losses on the assurance of the KESC management that through this financial assistance, the KESC would improve its efficiency. Unfortunately, this has not been the case and the consumers still have to suffer frequent hikes in power rates, excessive billing and poor maintenance, resulting in breakdowns, fluctuations and tripping.

The consumers also face serious problems as a result of excessive and wrong billings and have no recourse to the usual report from their inspector being “the meter was sticky”. Even in the housing complexes that have electric meters installed on the ground floor, there is billing by the KESC on ‘average’, with reason saying ‘nobody available’ to show the meter.

The KESC representatives have claimed that the power utility was on the path of improvement and it would manage to rid the Karachiites of various power problems in a span of three years by making use of the Rs13.37 billion, approved by the government of Pakistan. They have also tried to dispel the impression that the KESC is an ill-managed corporation.

The KESC has also claimed that it was the high cost of fuel that created problems for the KESC, raising the generation cost by 200 per cent and that the KESC did secure several loans from the ADB for the rehabilitation and improvement of the transmission and distribution system, but they (the loans) were not sufficient to overhaul the system. But it seems to forget that at the same time the rupee has appreciated against the dollar from an average of Rs60 to the present Rs57 a dollar.

The KESC has claimed that it has embarked on a very aggressive campaign to wipe out illegal connections, reduce pilferage and recover outstanding dues. But the ground realities are quite different and the line losses, power thefts, breakdowns loadshedding are continuing as before.

It is generating power below its capacity and there is deterioration in the efficiency of power plants which are operating at an average level of 32 per cent. The systems are outdated and overloaded and it has become imperative to take concrete measures to improve them and curb higher T & D losses through technical and administrative measures. It should develop a comprehensive plan for refurbishment to restore them to an acceptable level of operational efficiency and fuel usage.

It has been suggested that since big organizations are difficult to manage, it would be practical to divide the distribution network into 52 units and merge KESC with Wapda, so that the resources could be pooled to provide better service to the consumers and form a consumer organization, having the technical know-how, to work in coordination with the KESC and Nepra. The government must also reduce its share in the fuel tax, and the KESC must act as a customer-friendly commercial organization rather than robber barons.

H. MAKER

Karachi