| May 29, 2006 | Monday | Jumadi-ul-Awwal 1, 1427 |
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Corporate accountability
‘The old refrain of corruption’
‘The sugar crisis’
Power failures affecting students
Karachi roads: a love-hate relationship
Exams in May
Road or filth depot?
‘A horrendous jirga’
National assets’ sale
Kudos to CDA
Elections in 2007
Dead phone
I do not know if we can call Shahid M. Azim’s article ‘Crisis in the Muslim World’ (May 18 and 19) an article or just a press release from the Bush administration.
I love America as a country. I have been living there for the last 25 years. It has given me security, dignity and provided me an opportunity to become an attorney there. The writer’s analysis covered post-9/11 incidents. Nobody has approved or will approve the 9/11 incident. But Mr Azim has gone so far in pleading for the Bush administration that he forgot that Mr Bush is not America. Due to Mr Bush’s policies, his approval rate in America is only 29 per cent and, thank God, the 71 per cent who disapproved of Mr Bush are not Muslims.
The writer has provided a few instances to predicate his point of view that the Bush administration is not only a friend of Muslims, rather saviour of Muslims. The administration’s action in Iraq is for the sake of democracy, but Mr Azim is not clear about the Bush administration’s disapproval of the Palestinians’ fair elections.
According to the writer, Israel is in possession of atomic weapons, but has not threatened any country. He has not mentioned what Israel did with Iraq’s civil atomic reprocessing plant in 1981.
I am not against the state of Israel, but I don’t think Jews or Christians should impose their ideology on Muslims. The same way, Muslims should also understand that they have no right to impose their views on others.
The Bush administration is so confused by the ideas of ‘clashes of civilization’, ‘axis of evils’, ‘pre-emptive strikes’ and ‘crusades’ that it needs Mr Azim’s expertise to cure the grave global situation.
In the end, he should not worry about the civil society of Pakistan if the present regime is changed. Let political parties and political system work in Pakistan so that religious fundamentalists do not come into power. Religious parties never took so many seats in Pakistan; their success in the last election was due to the curb put on political parties during the last elections.
MUHAMMAD S. TAHIR
Rahim Yar Khan
The CEO and CFO of Enron, Mr Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling, have been handed down the harshest sentences in history of America, whereby they will most probably die in captivity. Enron was the world’s seventh largest corporation. These two men were found guilty of defrauding pension funds, theft and robbing investors of billions of rupees.
All their assets have been confiscated and they will be confined to a federal prison, with ordinary criminals. They were found in breach of ‘conflict of interest’ and lying under oath. This is called accountability for committing fraud and robbing poor pensioners of their hard-earned benefits.
In contrast, look at how NAB works in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. People found guilty of defrauding the exchequer, robbing pensioners and widows of their life savings in cooperative scam, persons guilty of rape, kidnapping, land grabbing, bank defaulters are not only free but some of them have also been given key assignments in government.The nation’s largest steel mill has been sold for peanuts in contravention of the Constitution.
Our policy is to push the dirt under the carpet when the so-called elite is involved. This is all done in the name of national interest. We have a strange system in this country where, in the know of the judiciary, a person found guilty of robbing billions is let off if he can negotiate with NAB, pay some of the loot and live the rest of his life in comfort.
There can be no better way to encourage a culture of greed, robbery, deceit and hypocrisy in Pakistan than the manner in which we do accountability. We encourage and respect a person who deceives and robs this nation of billions, as long as he is smart and well connected.
In fact, there is an unwritten pact amongst thieves and thugs to help and protect each other. If you are caught stealing Rs100, there is no way you can get away with this crime. However, there are hundreds of precedents where a person guilty of robbing billions from the poor or the wretched, or from state exchequer, or banks, has got away scot-free. There are no such inhibitions in Pakistan where they make an issue of principles like ‘conflict of interest’.
NASIR KHAN
Peshawar
IN your editorial ‘The old refrain of corruption’ (May 17) it is stated: “The government has managed to control graft at the top”.
This may not be true because the government composed of mostly corrupt elements cannot control itself from corruption. What about institutionalised corruption and corrupt practices prevailing? Absence of accountability at the top echelon is another matter.
Look at the size of the cabinet the prime minister is heading — 70 plus ministers, ministers of state and advisers, etc., (with all the perks and privileges), whereas seven would do the same job efficiently.
Numerous foreign trips by the president, prime minister and ministers accompanied by several camp-followers, which would cost the country about $1,500 million by the end of financial year. Import of duty-free luxury cars and the speaker of the National Assembly buying for himself a luxury car worth Rs11 million are tantamount to legalised corruption. Also consider the president’s and the prime minister’s daily household expenses at Rs716,763 and Rs641,370 respectively.
The Public Accounts Committee of the National Assembly has come up with accounts of non-returned business loans of the Industrial Development Bank of Pakistan (IDBP) by the private sector, including by some known figures and business families. The IDBP is to close formally with defaulted loan of Rs27 billion. The bank is a victim of powerful borrowers not returning the loans. This is one of the top level grafts.
The other area where high-profile corruption exists is donors’ loans. The bureaucracy is addicted to foreign loans and grants. These loans will make, as usual, the bureaucracy and the consultants richer and the services for which the loans are taken will not be any better and the masses still poorer.
ABDUL SAMAD KHAN
Karachi
THE sugar crisis (editorial, May 26) is symptomatic of all that is wrong with Pakistan’s contemporary polity. The government’s much-trumpeted observance of the rule of law lies in tatters, with one set applied to the ordinary folks and another to the privileged.
As for accountability, NAB was apparently ready to take off but the flight was aborted by the powers that be. Transparency, another attribute of fair and confident polities, has been sadly marked by its absence. In fact, every attempt is being made to brush the crisis under the carpet.
Competitiveness, which is the very essence of a market economy, has given way to cartels and the attendant exploitation of the masses. The principle of collective responsibility, an indispensable plank of parliamentary democracy, was given short shrift by the prime minister who conveniently shut his eyes to the greed of his cabinet colleagues and attributed the crisis to a global hike in sugar prices.
In any case, at the height of the crisis the prime minister was on a foreign tour promoting enlightened moderation. It would have contributed in no small measure to the image of a democratic, egalitarian and vibrant Pakistan if he had stayed at home and confronted the scandal in a just, forthright and swift manner. At the same time it would have saved the people millions of rupees that are squandered needlessly on such sterile trips which are rarely reciprocated.
In the meantime, much to the discomfiture of the common man, the price of sugar continues to stay above the 40-rupee mark. It increasingly appears that the government’s sole preoccupation is to stay in power. In the process the public good has once again fallen by the wayside.
Iqbal Ahmad Khan
Lahore
I WOULD like to draw the attention of relevant KESC authorities to the frequent power failures in Karachi. Intermediate students are having their final board examinations and the constant power failures in the daytime hamper their studies.
Power failures the night before the examinations that last up to three to five hours are also frequent. How are we supposed to do our best in the examinations if we don’t get sufficient sleep at night or the time to revise sufficiently in the daytime?
Yesterday in my locality the power failure continued from 12 midnight to 5am. On phoning the KESC office I got the response that an electric cable had tripped due to overload. It was repaired at 3am when the power came on for five minutes, but it tripped again due to the same reason and they were giving it a rest. I was further informed that this problem had occurred due to the excessive use of splits and airconditioners on the prevailing ‘kunda’ system.
I would like to request the KESC authorities to take measures against the prevailing menace of the ‘kunda’ system, otherwise what is the use of an electric supplying board solely for Karachi if it can’t solve the electricity problems of Karachiites.
IFFAT ALAM
Karachi
I HAVE been driving in the streets of Karachi for eight years now, never have I been so stressed out, livid or afraid for my life. Money has poured into the country, financing alternatives have improved and everyone, regardless of class of society, now possesses some form of vehicular transportation. Economic progress? Sure. Progress in driving skills and general civic values? Somehow we missed that part.
The whole country, including the mad driver that I have turned into to survive on these streets, needs a year’s worth of driving lessons. Not to mention a multitude of courses in civic values and courtesy. People driving in two lanes, driving where they please, as fast or slow as they please, might be small issues but they are issues that involve inherent values and courtesies in human beings.
And this is just the tip of the iceberg. Bigger value issues, such as the ongoing treatment of women as the lesser sex, loss of sanctity of religious grounds and mosques (which have become the hottest target of suicide bombers), and the general law and order problems that our fair country is ridden with, are etched into the very fabric of society that we live in. Although the government has been and will always remain the primary beneficiary of our blame, it is us, the people, especially the educated few, that need to do something.
However bad the value system has become, in my 24 years I have also seen Pakistanis to be a very generous, trusting and selfless people. So there is still hope to be had, even though it is barely enough and exists only in the airy-fairy optimists, like myself. Maybe we just need an additional decade or so of economic progress which, I believe, will lead to proliferation of education within the masses.
That, by definition, should cause an upward ripple effect in the standard of living and consequently, as romantic idealists (if there any others left) believe in the value system of this country. Maybe, if day to day survival became a tad easier for the entire nation (rather than just for the people that move around in fancy cars and eat out often), we can take the time to improve ourselves by looking out for each other and this country that has made us who we are today.
The silver lining is that we have already made the “one small step for man”. A pleasant occurrence took place late one night when I was driving back home: a man and a machine together, cleaning up the much-trodden streets of Saddar. And that small moment of delight was enough to restore my faith in our future.
KASHIF MERCHANT
Karachi
WITH reference to the new policy enforced this year for the final examinations of lower and higher secondary schools, final examinations will now be held in May instead of February/March and be followed by summer vacations.
In my opinion there seems to be no logic for dragging the final examinations from February/March to May. One fails to understand why the scorching hot summer has been selected as the time for final examinations.
Summer is very harsh and humid in Pakistan, especially in Sindh and part of Punjab. Additionally, we have frequent electricity breakdowns and load-shedding. It is also pertinent to mention here that the majority of the population lives below the poverty line, their children either avail themselves of public transport in cities or go to their schools on foot. These are the ground realities which in no way justify the delaying of examinations till May.
There is another disadvantage of this new policy and, that is, immediately after the examinations children will proceed to summer vacations.
That will result in the wastage of two-three months of educational time, as the children will have no books to study and no homework to do. Whereas, having their examinations taken in February/March students were promoted to their next classes, they bought their new books and attended new classes till May.
That got students acquainted with their class teachers and covered some of their courses. They got enough homework to keep them busy during the vacations. When they rejoined their school after vacations, they have covered 20 to 30 per cent of their courses.
I, therefore, earnestly request the authorities to reconsider their decision and let the final examinations be held in February/March as has been the vogue since the British Raj.
HANIF A. SIDDIQUI
Karachi
I HAPPENED to drive through Gujranwala by way of the bypass on the Sialkot side. The amount of filth and garbage lying on the canal bank made me feel sick in the stomach and ashamed of my country. I would request the president and the prime minister to travel here unannounced some day to realise the conditions under which commoners live and breathe.
It is not possible to see the real Pakistan from dizzying heights at which the luxurious planes carrying the VVIPs cruise. The people are fed up with big slogans that bombard them from Islamabad about the alleviation of poverty while the reality is different. All the solid waste and garbage of Gujranwala is being dumped on canal banks.
I have visited so many countries where canals running in the centre of cities are so clean and the water so fresh that one can sit for hours on their banks without experiencing a whiff of polluted air.
A. PRESHAN
Lahore
I READ with utter horror your editorial ‘A horrendous jirga’(May 24) regarding a panchayat verdict in Punjab. This highly deplorable verdict against an innocent couple was issued by a tribal jirga was in total defiance of the Lahore High Court’s ruling. The couple’s only crime was to exercise their God-given right to choose a spouse.
I cannot fathom how a bunch of uneducated and or semi-educated so-called elders could be allowed to congregate and issue a verdict of death upon anyone in this day and age. Not only is this against the ruling of the court, which these individuals could be held in contempt of, but is against all moral, ethical and religious teachings and traditions.
The authorities should clamp down on such self-proclaimed and illegal jirgas and use all available resources to prosecute the individuals involved in this mockery of justice. Jirgas incite people to commit criminal and unlawful acts of double murder. The authorities should also be pressured to leave no stone unturned and no avenue unexplored in offering protection to the couple.
Our society continues to be rampant with similar evil ideologies. No society can deem itself civilised if it does not acknowledge and protect the rights of women. Our only mechanism of defence is mass education. A change in thought can be brought about by using the media effectively. I also take this opportunity to praise the role played by your esteemed daily in highlighting and educating the public regarding the issue.
DR. RAFAY SHERAZI
Dublin, Ireland
WHILE spelling out his government’s privatisation policy, President Gen Pervez Musharraf categorically stated that strategically important assets of the country would not be privatised.
Moreover, he said that whatever industrial units were sold, the money received would be used for paying the debt of over $30 billion so that the country might be freed from the clutches of the World Bank, IMF, etc.
Forgetting his pledge to the nation, the president has sold the PTCL and the Pakistan Steel, both strategic assets of the nation, to foreign buyers and it is not known how or where the money received from their sale has been used.
Why were strategic national assets sold to foreign buyers when it was possible to sell maximum shares to the general public through the stock exchange?
S. T. HUSSAIN
Lahore
HATS off to the CDA for installing light-reflecting signboards at various points in Islamabad. This will help facilitate all and sundry, especially visitors to the capital.
Would the CDA likewise pay heed to the following: cleansing the foul-smelling nullahs; setting right the overflowing gutters; trimming the trees and chopping off the mulberry trees, especially those which are tilted hazardously or died out; directing its sanitary staff not to burn the waste or throw litter in roadside drains and removing wild growth and debris intermittently?
M.TARIQ LATEEF
Islamabad
THIS refers to Salim Khan’s letter ‘Elections in 2007’ in which he has expressed concern about the yardstick by which the election commissioner measured the fairness of election. Mr Khan suggested the election would be another attempt to subvert the Constitution. He hoped “the president will take an honest step to clean the mess made by politicians.”
I want to ask him, does he honestly believe our president will do something about the mess? The recent presidential order to close the investigation into the sugar crisis, because it would expose too many politicians, has emptied me of any remaining hopes from the president.
ALI MAQSOOD KHAN
Lahore
MY telephone 6949942 is out of order. During the last 90 days, I lodged complaints with divisional engineer, North Karachi Telephone Exchange. Numbers are 27, 54, 198 and 36.
I regret to say that so far no positive action has been taken for its restoration.
M. RASHID MUQADAM
Karachi
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