| July 21, 2006 | Friday | Jumadi-ul-Sani 24, 1427 |
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Harking back to martial laws
National priorities
NSS and pensioners
Like Samson’s hair
Orangi scheme
Responsibility for Mumbai blasts
H. R. Vohra remembered
Dignity of man
Nadra clarifies
SLIC phones
Complaint
ISRAEL has unleashed a wave of shock and awe on Lebanon and Palestine. It is widely targeting populated areas disregarding the civilian casualties. Its aircraft deliberately cross the sound barrier causing sonic booms to wrack the nerves of the people.
The West and Israel point fingers towards Damascus and Tehran for supporting and bank-rolling the Hizbollah. They contend that Iraq gives $20 million annually to Hizbollah while forgetting that Israel receives billions of dollars overtly, while sophisticated arms and technology worth many billions are given under the table.
Until recently they were also giving the Palestinians sustenance through corrupt agents who considered the dole as hush money.
The US also bank-rolled Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq war. It sent Mr Rumsfeld to arm the Iraqis with lethal gases and hardware to crush their adversary Iran.
In the present war Israel is engaged in dropping ordnance on Lebanon, but when Katyusha rockets hit Haifa and other cities, it cried foul.
The Hizbollah leader rightly said: “The Muslim children will not be the only ones to cry and die”. Now when the Jews are injured and killed, it directly hurts the Jewish lobby in the US.
RAFI ADAMJEE
Karachi
IN total disregard to Lebanon’s sovereignty, Israel has launched a series of air attacks on civilians, killing more than 200 innocent people, majority of whom were women and children in the last several days.
The myth of UN Security Council has been tattered by the microphone catch, which has been heard by most of the investigative media teams at St. Petersburg, the venue of G-8 meeting, where President Bush was trying to broker a deal with his European ally Tony Blair in confidence over the turning situation in the Middle East to the disadvantage of Israel, and seeking his support during the forthcoming air-dash trip of Ms Condoleezza Rice to the Middle East to broker a ceasefire on their terms, which have already been softened by Israel by not demanding the disarmament of Hezbollah in Lebanon.
What is the need of the UN and its Security Council which have declared the massacre in Lebanon as an open war, which again goes in favour of Israel which has not been condemned and charged with genocide of innocent women and children in Lebanon.
The recent manoeuvring, which was heard through a microphone catch, was nothing but a frustrated effort of Mr Bush and Mr Blair to recover their lost prestige in the so-called war against terror, which actually is a war of attrition, designed to serve the purpose of Israel to subdue Muslims all over the world.
George Bush and Tony Blair as a matter of fact are playing Israel’s game, while the majority of autocratic rulers in Muslim world are a silent spectator. Wait and see.
The fate of all such adventurers, including George W. Bush, Tony Blair and Israel, will be sealed. History will never forgive the killers of humanity.
ALI ASHRAF KHAN
Karachi
WHILE Lebanon is burning, the OIC is fast asleep. Just as it slept soundly when the Muslim world was in an uproar over the publication of caricatures of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him).
The Muslim world is already at rock bottom, and its condition is further aggravated by the irresponsible attitude of the Organisation. The OIC’s general secretary, Mr Ehsanoglu, is not a crisis manager. He should have resigned long ago. I suggest that Dr Mahathir Mohamad be appointed the general secretary instead, so that it can emerge as a meaningful organisation and achieve results.
BRIG (retd) RIAZ HAIDER
Karachi
I am writing in response to the article written by Kunwar Idris “Harking back to martial laws” (July 9). I read the article with interest but in the end was disappointed with Mr Idris’s conclusions.
I am at a loss to understand if Mr Idris is a democrat or someone who is a semi-supporter of dictatorships? It seems nostalgia runs deep in him as he appears extremely enamoured of some of our various dictatorial heads of government. So much so, that he actually romantises a dark period in our history.
I believe that all dictatorships are akin to the worst form of cancer for the development of a society, no matter how well meaning the dictators or their lackeys are.
Furthermore Mr Kunwar seems to be of the opinion that civil servants are something to be venerated. I strongly disagree with him, for as far as civil servants are concerned, it is better for us to be ruled by corrupt politicians rather than by civil servants who feel that they are modern colonial masters.
At least the politician can be eventually thrown out of office, a civil servant, even in the worst scenario, is just transferred to another department. He is then free to play havoc there until he attains retirement.
In the US civil servants are subservient to their democratic bosses, not the other way around.
Civil servants don’t collaborate with military institutions to forsake their democratic bosses or the setup itself. In Pakistan civil servants are as guilty of ruining the democratic setup as their cohorts in the Pakistan military. In the US the mayor is the boss of the city, not the governor or the secretary.
Writers should desist from romanticising the past dictators of our country. They can continue to criticise the present setup, but by using examples of democratic people and institutions.
KASHIF AFTAB
Houston, USA
MR Anwar Mooraj writes in his article ‘Scams for all seasons’ (June 26) about a four-storey mansion on 19,000 square feet being constructed for the National Assembly speaker.
The mansion is to cost the poor taxpayers a staggering Rs84.706 million. The speaker is already rolling in a luxury car worth Rs11 million, purchased out of public money.
Now look at the other report by Ms Zubeida Mustafa (June 28) captioned ‘What of education of the poor?’ According to this write-up, 82,200 schools do not have regular school buildings with toilets, 68,000 schools do not have drinking water, 107,000 schools operate without electricity and 82,000 schools do not have boundary walls.
This is how the unscrupulous ruling elites squander the public money on themselves unmindful of the people’s needs. But again, what this government is expected to do?
If the speaker can abandon plan for construction of a new palace for himself and continue to live in his present mansion, the amount of Rs84.706 million thus saved could be used for betterment of the school buildings for the poor. But where are the national priorities?
Pakistan is blessed with a rich economic resource base and as such there should be no poverty. But society is being robbed by a few ruling elites while the masses are being pushed into poverty.
ABDUL SAMAD KHAN
Karachi
THE senior citizen’s letter on “NSS and pensioners” (July 14) reflects the bitter feelings of thousands of elderly investors in National Savings schemes.
At the time of the budget announcement, the government had promised ‘substantial’ relief for all, and retired senior citizens had been eagerly anticipating a significant increase in NSS return rates.
Almost everybody expected a 10 per cent raise, while optimists hoped for 15. The increase when it was finally announced was one of the cruellest jokes played upon the poor: less than a half per cent. And even this pathetic increase, as your correspondent points out, is to be doled out only when we re-invest — if we live long enough to do so.
The hard fact of the case is that we self-respecting middle-class investors have no nuisance value. Already retired, we cannot go on strike. We cannot come out on the streets and set fire to buses.
We cannot storm public places and shout slogans because we are not into politics. Within our unbelievably straitened means we keep on living quietly a decent, respectable life, and hope we may die the same way. But let the authorities remember, God takes pity only on those who show pity to others.
ANOTHER SENIOR CITIZEN
Islamabad
ARISTOTLE said: “We cannot prove geometric truths through arithmetic.” He may have been correct in asserting this many centuries ago, but President Gen Musharraf is trying to provide non-political solutions to political problems and the result of this is social distortion.
Gen Musharraf recently said that the uniform was like a ‘second skin’ for him and he would seek re-election for a third term. Of course, Gen Zia said essentially the same thing when he claimed that his uniform had been sewn into his skin. Why do Pakistan’s military rulers insist on wearing the uniform till the bitter end? Clearly because they know that the moment they lose their uniform, they will lose all their power. Their uniform carries the same power as Samson’s hair. Then surely every dictator will have to face the fate of Samson.
The growing civil-military disconnect is due to political generals. This trend cannot be checked without a decision on the part of the military to step back from their political role. The main responsibility for governance and political management has to be assigned to elected civilian leaders. Unless this issue is settled, Pakistan will continue to suffer from political distortions and may never achieve autonomous and viable civilian institutions and processes.
SAYED TARIQ SHAH
Peshawar
A COTTAGE industry scheme in Orangi Town was announced by the KMC (present CDGK) about 10 years ago.
According to this scheme, 200 yards cottage industry plots were to be developed and handed over to owners in two years’ time.
After more than 10 years no development work has been started in this scheme. Encroachments have appeared in the area due to negligence of the authorities concerned. No budget allocation has been made to develop this scheme.
I request the authorities concerned to take measures so that this scheme should be completed in a short time.
MURAD QADIR
Karachi
THE killing of innocent persons anywhere cannot make a normal human being happy. The leaders and the common people in Pakistan have uniformly condemned the blasts in Mumbai.
However, the sad thing is that some official sources and a section of the media in India have already started pointing fingers at Pakistan, as usual. The timing of this unfortunate event forces one to recall how, in March 2000, when President Bill Clinton had just arrived on a state visit to India, around 36 Sikhs were killed in a village in held Kashmir and the blame was immediately laid on the Kashmiri freedom-fighters and Pakistan. It is another matter that a subsequent inquiry by a retired Indian judge had held their own intelligence agencies responsible.
A number of such incidents have kept occurring since then at times crucial for India or Pakistan in some way. The attack on the Indian parliament soon after 9/11 when India was trying to get us declared a ‘terrorist state’ and America had also rebuffed its offer of collaboration in the invasion of Afghanistan, is a further example. The raid on the temple in Ayodhya on the eve of Dr Singh’s extremely important visit to the US when, in addition to a number of agreements on defence and nuclear cooperation, he would also be canvassing for a seat in the UNSC, is yet another one.
Now, the Mumbai terrorism has intriguingly happened when the US Congress had started considering the vitally important civilian nuclear deal with New Delhi and the Indian premier was due to attend the G-8 summit which is receiving global media attention. What is more, it was also scheduled to take up the issue of sale of F-16s to Pakistan on July 13 but, probably as a reaction to the explosions, that has now been postponed ‘until further notice’ without any reason being cited (Dawn, July 14). Thus, if Islamabad can somehow be implicated in fomenting terrorism in India, it would be very likely to help New Delhi’s cause and hurt the former’s. In the four days since the postponement of the congressional hearing about our F-16s, the latest development is a statement by the US State Department that up to now it has not seen any evidence to suggest that Pakistan or Pakistan-based groups were involved in the Mumbai blasts. Perhaps as a result of this, the hearing about the fighter aeroplanes was rescheduled for July 20 (Dawn, July 18).
This raises the question as to who could actually be responsible for the blasts? Pakistan, obviously, would not be foolish enough to act like that. Significantly, the “Country Reports on Terrorism 2005” just published by the US State Department has lauded Pakistan’s role in the war on terror and said: “(The) Government of Pakistan continues to pursue AI Qaeda, the Taliban and their allies aggressively ....” (Dawn, July 16).
One would not rule out the involvement of RAW or one of its sister organizations just because the victims were Indians, as was proved by March 2000 incident. However, other foreign agencies wanting to obstruct the F-16 sale to Islamabad could just as well be involved. Still, the perennial difficulty for Pakistan is that the Indians can easily get hold of some innocent Kashmiri or Indian Muslims or visitors from over here and plant evidence to “prove their guilt. This has happened in the past as well, for instance when the noted Indian peace activist Ms Nirmala Deshpande had soundly argued against the charging of a Kashmiri man named Afzal Guru in connection with the attack on the parliament (Dawn, Aug 12, 2005).
The sudden surfacing of an AI Qaeda spokesman in held Kashmir for the first time at this juncture could be designed to either capitalise on the scare in India, if he is real, or tip the US Congress further towards New Delhi, if he is any intelligence agency’s brainchild.
M. Y. KHAN
Karachi
MR Kuldip Nayyer’s rather harsh reference to Hans Raj Vohra’s role in the Bhagat Singh conspiracy case (March 25) revived memories of a friend and colleague.
I met H. R Vohra in 1944 in the information bureau of the Punjab government, where he was employed as an article writer and I worked there as a junior translator.
His charming manners attracted his colleagues and junior staff alike. We became friends.
He was rather recluse. Although his part in the Bhagat Singh conspiracy case was well-known, he never talked about it. I always thought a shadow of gloom hung over his beautiful face.
After some time Vohra left Lahore for New Delhi to join the government of India’s bureau of public information as assistant information officer. Coincidently, I also joined the same bureau and we became colleagues once again.
Although our place of work were New Delhi and Lahore, respectively, Vohra invariably contacted me whenever he visited Lahore to meet his family and we spent a pleasant evening together.
Partition threw us into two separate mutually hostile countries and we lost contact with each other.
After some time Vohra resigned the government job and joined the Statesman. When I became principal information officer to the government of Pakistan, I invited Vohra to visit Islamabad as a guest of the government.
He accepted the invitation but could not make the trip for some reason. He shifted to Washington where he later died. His memory has faded in the mist of time and distance.
SYED AFZAAL HUSAIN ZAIDI
Islamabad
ARTICLE 14 (1) of the Constitution of Pakistan states: “The dignity of man and, subject to law, the privacy of home shall be inviolable”. We hear of horrendous crimes involving gang-rape of hapless women, even at the hands of policemen, which was previously unheard of in our society.
Perhaps the above provision of the Constitution ought to be amended to say ‘the dignity of man and woman’ so as to at least rectify the semantics to enable a woman to be equated with a man. This might put the fear of the law into the crazy minds of wayward citizens, if not the fear of Almighty Allah. It is heart-wrenching to hear about such happenings in our country which indicate the sorry state of law and order.
QAZI NAZIM NAEEM
Hyderabad
THIS has reference to the news-item ‘Bug in Nadra software annoys citizens’ (July 3).
Pakistani machine-readable passport (MRP) is fully compliant with International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) standards which require the data page of the passport to be endorsed with the last name/surname and given names in separate fields. Further, the ‘last name’ is mandatory and cannot be left blank, as per the ICAO requirements.
Whenever an applicant possesses a single name, it had to be printed onto the ‘last name’ field, in order to meet international guidelines. This is why the ‘first name’ has to be left blank in such cases. To ensure that the applicants understand this rule, the printout given to applicants after data entry at the passport offices clarifies the situation by putting a comma between the first and the last name in the respective column.
The report of a ‘flaw’ is, therefore, incorrect as it is a mandatory requirement for compliance with international travel document standards. The international standards have to be fully complied with so that the MRPs are fully accepted at international exit and entry points.
MEDIA ADVISER Nadra
Islamabad
IT is business as usual at the Southern Zone office of SLIC (State Life Insurance Corporation of Pakistan) located at building No. 2, Wallace Road, whose telephone # 111555888 and 9217001 have been dead for the last three or so months.
Isn’t this amazing that a leading national organisation is managing the affairs with its communication with the outside world snapped for such a long time.
It is the helpless policy-holders who are made to run from far-flung areas of the city to reach their office strictly during working hours only to get their queries answered which otherwise is a matter of just a phone call.
The relevant authority in the SLIC should review the situation.
A. RAUF SOZER
Karachi
I recently read in the newspaper that the KESC has lodged a complaint (don’t ask me with whom) that the weather is to be blamed for the lack of power supply to customers. Now the question is — who does the weather blame?
ALI AKBAR
Karachi
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