| July 30, 2006 | Sunday | Rajab 3, 1427 |
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Political instability
Letter to president
Trouble at Jamshoro
Conditions for F-16 sale
Creeping hutments
Medical mafia unchecked
Stock crash
Spoils of peace
WHEN the leading planner of Hitler’s ‘Final Solution’ (extermination of Jews), Reinhard Heydrich, was assassinated by Free Czech agents in 1942, Hitler had ordered liquidation of Lidice, a Czechoslovakia village where the incident had taken place.
All 172 men in the village were shot dead and women were sent to a Nazi concentration camp where they died later.
Houses in the entire village were razed to the ground and no traces were left behind to assume that once any settlement existed there. Even Lidice’s name was removed from the map.
If we draw an analogy between Lidice’s annihilation and today’s Lebanon, we find no difference.
The only difference is that then the world’s big powers were on the side of Lidice but today the superpower and its allies are silent supporter of Lebanon’s destruction.
The world superpower justifies the trauma of Lebanon by calling it a patient in which Hezbollah had grown as a cancer. Lebanon must welcome (surgeon Israel) to remove the cancer Hezbollah. They say that when the cancer is removed, the patient must suffer.
They forget that Lebanon had got that cancer from the wounds inflicted on it by Israel itself in 1982 and 1978.
Since then the US and Israeli military relations took a new shape and the two countries entered into a new era of strategic cooperation.
They conducted first joint naval and air military games. The US gave Israel $1.5 billion aid. Israel claims that it wanted to punish Hezbollah for kidnapping two Israeli defence force troops and not the Lebanese people.
But what the media has shown us is that Israel has destroyed all Lebanese roads, bridges, homes, telecommunications, power infrastructure, airports, factories, food warehouses and hospitals.
The hell it has created in the country had caused exodus of millions of Lebanese.
If that was the Israeli punishment, then what punishment the country itself deserves whose military had so far kidnapped and killed thousands of Palestinians?
Even the killing of four UN observers in southern Lebanon is said to be a deliberate act of Israel as the country was angry with them for not enforcing Security Council Resolution 425 in 28 years.
It was a message to UN observers to leave the buffer zone which can be replaced by a force that the US is trying to create for Lebanon.
The Bush administration simply rejected the UN secretary-general’s appeal for a ceasefire because it is the US which alone had the power to make or break the peace.
No doubt that it was a long-cherished dream of the Israel lobby in the US to act on their recommendations of destroying Hamas and Hezbollah.
Israel’s third attack on Lebanon was long due because when Israel attacked the country, a US columnist said: “It was our war. Our means America’s.”
Therefore, it is wrong to assume that only the monolithic Israeli lobby is behind the destruction of Lebanon, Israeli expansionism and the separation wall. It is the US policy that continuously engineers military interventions and coups around the world. It is the US which backs monarchs, despots and obscure rulers of the Muslim world and controls poor countries through the IMF.
MANZOOR CHANDIO
Karachi
WHILE the next general election is around the corner, the ARD and the MQM parliamentarians had submitted their resignations to leaders of their respective political parties.
Despite best efforts made by power brokers, the government could not patch up the differences between PML-Q chief of Sindh Dr Ghulam Arbab Rahim, who is also the chief minister of the province.
In the centre, members of the opposition leaders are ready to move a ‘no-trust motion’ against the prime minister, Shaukat Aziz, on various grounds, and on the top of all is the allegation of the opposition leaders that the prime minister is possibly involved in the last year’s crash of stock market.
The president in his last televised speech defended that his second-in-command was not involved in the last year’s stock market crash, but who will convince thousands of people who suffered losses.
There are grave differences between some senior members of the various Muslim Leagues who have joined hands to bring their respective ‘Leagues” under one umbrella, but Pir Pagara was the first one to leave the PML-Q, as he did not want to work under a politician junior to him.
Although the president has also defended PML-Q chief Chaudhry Shujat and has said he will remain the party chief, still there are a considerable number of parliamentarians from the PML-Q who do not want to see Chaudhry Shujat Hussain as their party chief.
After defending Chaudhry Shujat, the president has also supported Dr Ghulam Arbab Rahim in Sindh. This has created an overall impact on other political parties that the president only wants to see a strong PML-Q which should win with a two-thirds majority in the next election, not only in the centre but also in Sindh.
It will be a difficult a task for the president not only to get himself elected for the next term by the present national and provincial assembly members, it will also be difficult for him to continue to support Mr Shaukat Aziz to get him elected as the next premier.
The PML-Q is strong at the centre but in Sindh it is in minority. However, Chief Minister Dr Ghulam Arbab Rahim is not ready to accept that his party in the Sindh Assembly is in minority, though he had gone to London before taking the oath of office to have blessings of MQM chief Altaf Hussain.
The MQM parliamentarians’ allegations that Dr Rahim is creating hindrances for them by not clearing files from his desk has been overlooked by the centre, as no fool-proof system has been made to oversee that day-to-day affairs should run smoothly.
Possibly, once again, power brokers may mediate to convince the coalition partners to pull along until the term of the assembly is over and the next election is held. But I doubt that the present set-up will pull along for the remaining period of assemblies, when some federal and provincial ministers of the cabinet have already sent their resignations to their respective party chiefs.
The best course for the president is to seek an opinion from the National Security Council whether to dissolve the assemblies and announce the date of the next election to end the political crisis.
SYED A. MATEEN
Karachi
“MUCH has been written on the hype created by the letter signed by 18 prominent(?) personalities. The letter was drafted and issued from the platform of PILDAT.
Ahmed Bilal Mehboob is the paid executive director of PILDAT and it is a foreign-funded organisation.
PILDAT has board of advisers with 11 members. Among the signatories of the letter, Senator S.M. Zafar is the chairman, and Mujibur Rehman Shami and Dr Hasan Askari Rizvi are members of the board of advisers.
It also has a board of directors and one of the members is chief engineer in NESPAK, Lahore, a government organisation. Whether he can be on the board of directors is a moot point.
Of the 18 signatories, four are associated with PILDAT in various capacities. Of the remaining, four are former ministers, three former governors, two also retired lieutenant-generals and two are former ISI heads and retired lieutenant-generals. Another retired lieutenant-general is a retired employee, secretary, defence production. One brigadier (r) and another retired lieutenant-general, former chairman of NRB, who introduced the concept of devolution of power.
This theory of devolution is being successfully implemented by Gen Pervez Musharraf’s government.
Four of these were part of the government of Gen Pervez Musharraf.
They did not offer any advice or suggestion to the president while they were enjoying their authority, perks and privileges. Now they are realising the shortcomings of the present government’s set-up.
PILDAT has been in the forefront in opposing the policies of the government and critical of President Gen Pervez Musharraf. It is under an overwhelming influence of the Pakistan People’s Party which can be noted clearly during its meetings for the parliamentarians.
I had also attended a couple of meetings and I had to think and raise the question: “Are these meetings called only to malign the government and the person of Gen Pervez Musharraf?”
MRS TANVIR KHALID
former Senator Karachi
I WAS distressed to hear that my good friend of many years, Professor Mehtab Ali Shah, was in trouble, all the more so as I have a high regard both for Mehtab and for the University of Sindh at Jamshoro, which I visited some five years ago.
Ours is now a very small world. At lunch today in college I sought out Bill Kirkman, formerly the Indian correspondent of the The Times, thinking to tell him about the trouble at Jamshoro.
I found him sitting next to a colleague from Calcutta. Both had already heard about Mehtab’s predicament. These days there is no doing these things hole-in-the-corner. They are noticed and they affect reputation.
It is a small world in other ways too. When I visited Jamshoro, the subject of my lecture was the security interdependence of Britain and Pakistan. We learned last July that this was a more urgent matter than many here had realised.
It seems doubly absurd, therefore, that there should be a threat not only to a devoted scholar who endured considerable privation as he worked for his doctorate in Britain, but to a man who has, with scant resources, built up the department whose students proved their and his worth on the occasion of my visit by the vigour and perceptiveness of their debate and questioning.
Pakistan should be proud of such a man and keen to keep open the debate that he and others have fostered between our two countries.
I have read and am pleased to endorse the excellent letter in these columns by Manzoor Ali Isran. I am not master of the details of the substantive issue, but find it odd that there should be such a passionate argument about an extension of the period of university of study when the burden it would undoubtedly place on poor students could be dealt with in two ways.
Firstly, a system of certificates, diplomas and credit transfer should allow students to enter, leave and re-enter higher education as circumstances permit.
Secondly, costs can be reduced to some extent by distance learning. I have been a great admirer of the Arab Open University, which has allowed many — women most of all — who would otherwise have found it difficult to enter higher education.
Is there no room for diplomacy and reason here?
CHARLES JONES
Reader in International Relations, University of Cambridge, UK
ACCORDING to a report in a section of the press (July 22), the sale of the F-16 fighters to Pakistan will have many conditions attached.
In a statement, Mr John Hillen, the US Assistant Secretary of State for political military affairs, has said that due to a special agreement on security measures the fighters will not be able to carry nuclear weapons, nor will any modifications in these be allowed without America’s permission. The planes will only be able to fly for a limited duration in a foreign country’s air space and will not be equipped with the sophisticated technology normally supplied with them.
To prevent transfer of technology to China or a third country, the US will monitor the F-16s and American experts will remain close to the aeroplanes to keep an eye on their movements.
While it is fair enough for Washington to demand a guarantee that prohibits the transfer of technology to another country, the other terms and conditions are worrisome and unnecessary and will reduce their deterrent value. The government must not accept any restrictions without caring for the consequences.
Pakistan not only needs to protect its skies and its strategic assets from India but in times of war will require sophisticated planes to not only overcome their air defences but counter the SU-30s, Mirage 2000s already with them and the F-18s or F-16s that they plan to buy. These all are many times larger in numbers and more advanced than the F-16s we will acquire.
Some may argue about the unlikelihood of a war but consider the following facts: first, after New Delhi had exploded its five nuclear bombs in 1998 and before Islamabad was able to respond, Mr Lal Krishna Advani had adopted a very threatening tone and told us to forget about Kashmir. If India now develops hydrogen or neutron bombs or some other very superior weapons that we cannot match, it may well feel too emboldened, as in ‘98.
Second, India doesn’t need much to reverse its attitude towards us, as was seen after the bomb attacks on its parliament when it had massed a million troops on our borders. Also, Dr Manmohan Singh’s shocking, hypocritical and damaging attempts to malign Pakistan and pre-empt the sale of civilian nuclear technology to it during his visit to the US last year was another eye-opener. Even now, it has called off the peace parleys with us after the Mumbai blasts without having any proof of our involvement.
Third, in a telling statement, Baloch leader Sardar Ataullah Mengal has said: “Read my lips: we will accept arms and ammunition for our liberation struggle even from the devil. We won’t say ‘no’ even to India ... I know very well, that we cannot bring the Pakistan army to heel... We are just counting on a foreign country to intervene. Don’t forget that the Mukti Bahini would not have been successful had they not been aided and abetted by a foreign power (Dawn, July 15).”
The extremely dangerous implications of this statement should be obvious. Apart from that, the US can be expected to impose sanctions on us whenever it feels necessary, as we have seen in the past. When the present utility of Pakistan has ended after the war on terror subsides, Washington will have no hesitation to re-impose them, particularly if the choice is between pleasing New Delhi and Islamabad.
There are some other difficulties as well. The presence of American (intelligence?) ‘experts’ will not only be an affront to our sovereignty, but a burden on the national exchequer and a permanent liability in terms of providing them security. It will also compromise the secrecy of the PAF’s operations besides which most Pakistanis will be opposed to the presence of US officials at our defence installations and even on our soil.
It would be better for the government to find out the views of the parliament and let the US know in case these conditions are unacceptable. If these aren’t withdrawn, then we should seek some alternatives such as the SU-30s or Mirage 2000-5 or yet other ones under terms that do not limit out freedom in any way.
KHALID NAQSHBANDI
Karachi
my family and I own a house (65-1-M Block 6, PECHS) near Chanesar Halt. At the time the plot’s possession was given to my father, there were hutments on the road in front of the house. Consequently, when the house was built, the front gate had to be located at the rear of the house, and access was made through a vacant plot at the back.
It took a 40 years’ wait and the Sindh High Court’s decision to have the encroachments removed. This was done in the presence of the Rangers. However, no further step with regard to building the road has been taken. Consequently, the remaining hutments, on the other edge of the road, have begun to creep up on the road once again.
It is imperative that prompt action should be taken to build the road, lest the road is once again occupied and we go back to square one.
The way the city government has been working to improve the shape of Karachi is impressive. It wants to bring order to the city. It is earnestly requested that it pay attention to this problem also. Both the nazim-i-ala and the nazim, Jamshed town, may kindly see that this road is built as quickly as possible.
S.J. Hyder
Karachi
THIS refers to the letter ‘Kidney inquiry’ by members of KBG (July16), and the news item ‘Kidney trade continues unchecked’ (July17).
I am in agreement with the contents and demands contained in the aforementioned letter. But who will move those whose intervention matters? Despite the concern expressed by medical professional bodies over ongoing unethical practice of greedy medical mafia, the federal and provincial governments are silent.
While the PMDC is a regulating and registering body for medical professionals, it can only cancel the registration of implicated surgeons. The poor patients will still be left helpless to suffer from this abominable crime.
In cases of ‘kidney theft’ being performed without consent of patients, a full team comprising the surgeon, anaesthetist, OT technicians, etc., must be involved. How can we naively believe that a fellow surgeon can take out a healthy kidney in place of gall bladder by mistake? Is our government so inept to understand these details? By requiring more proof to put an end to this heinous trading of organs, what sort of message are we sending out to the rest of the world?
DR HABIB-UR-RAHMAN SOOMRO
Karachi
THE president of Pakistan has unilaterally held Dr Tariq Hasan, ex-chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan, responsible for the March 2005 Karachi Stock Exchange crisis, and for that Dr Hasan is already punished, being fired from the office during the last Eid holidays, whereas the task force, formed in 2005, to investigate these crises didn’t hold Dr Hasan or the SECP responsible for such crisis and pointed to wrong- doings of market participants in that period and recommended forensic investigation.
It is very interesting that forensic investigation is being initiated now whereas the president established Dr Tariq Hasan as culprit and got him punished in January and, while doing so, ignored the findings of the task force, contained in its report issued in August 2005.
Finally, we want to know who is responsible for the June KSE crash? In this regard, what happened to the SECP’s high- profiled investigation, immediately started after the crisis?
MOHAMMAD JAMEEL
Karachi
Kuldip Nayar’s article ‘Jaw-jaw is better than war-war’ (July 22) contained enlightening views on Indo-Pakistan relations. It gives useful suggestions on what Pakistan should do to improve the situation.
I would like Mr Nayar to kindly say what India will be doing in the meanwhile, apart from enjoying the spoils of the ‘peace process’ that were presented to it on a platter by Pakistan?
NAIYAR HUDA
Karachi
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