| February 17, 2008 | Sunday | Safar 09, 1429 |
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Retired and resentful
Open letter to Nawaz Sharif
Earthquake-proof housing
Smaller federating units
Danish papers fanaticism
Killing a child
Misreading the writing on the wall
Sugar industry
Plea to FBR
US election
Kashmir issue
Readers are requested to restrict their comments to a maximum of 400 words. We reserve the right to edit letters for reasons of clarity and space. Letters, including those by e-mail, should carry the complete postal address of the sender. The views expressed in these columns do not necessarily reflect the views of the newspaper.—Editor
THIS is apropos of the photograph (Feb 10) showing human rights activist Tahira Abdullah being dragged by law-enforcers in Islamabad. Ms Abdullah was carrying the national flag which fell on the ground and was trampled under the boots of a policeman.
This happened when Ms Abdullah and civil society activists and lawyers were protesting for the restoration of pre-Nov 3 judiciary and release of Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhary and other deposed Judges and top leaders of the lawyers’ community of the movement, the reason being that the country, its judiciary and other institutions have once again become hostage to the arrogant, intolerant, authoritarian rulers of Pakistan. The protesters have been, inter alia , agitating for an independent judiciary, rule of law and a free and vocal media, which are sine qua non for democracy.
In this context, I would like to draw the attention of the readers to what Lord Justice Denning of England has said on the issues of accountability and the power of the media, as quoted in his book What next in the Law.
On Monday morning I caught my usual train at 8.25. I read The Times. It had a leading article headed ‘A judgement too far’ which included these paragraphs:
“ ‘Lord Denning’s ill-considered remarks on the unsuitability of many blacks for jury service have, understandably, caused considerable offence in the black community. Should he have to give judgement in a case in which race is a factor, he will be exposed to charges of prejudice and to suggestions that his decision might be affected by his personal feelings on racial matters. Such criticism would, it is hoped and expected, be unwarranted. But Lord Denning has only himself to blame for placing himself in a position where such attacks could be made.
“‘It was the same on issues affecting industrial relations. The accusations which the political left and many trade unionists have made against Lord Denning have only partly been based on the judgments he had given against unions in a number of court cases. Much of the feeling against him has resulted from remarks he has made in lectures and in his books’.
“The Times had lived up to its name The Thunderer. It had charged me and found me guilty.
It had sentenced me. It had made retirement inevitable. I had always advocated a free press. Now its consequences were brought home to me.”
Lord Denning withdrew his book, made a public apology forthwith and retired in May 1982. This was, indeed, a grace under pressure of a man, who deserved to be addressed as the Right Honourable and placed his name in history with golden letters.
It may be added here that Margaret Thatcher, the then prime minister, had advised Lord Justice Denning at that time to proceed on three months’ leave rather than resigning immediately so that he could avail himself of full pensions and other benefits. He, however, did not accede to her advice, as the same would have negated the very concept of his self-imposed punishment.
There is enough food for thought in the golden precedent, set by Lord Justice Denning, for our self-imposed, self-styled and self-righteous ruler to voluntarily lift the siege, imposed on the judiciary and the actions taken against Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry and other judges on Nov 3 last year and gracefully step down from the seat of power in the supreme national interest.
SYED IQBAL AHMAD
Barrister-at-Law
THE Dawn TV channel has produced some excellent young news readers and exquisite programmes. ‘Enter the PM’ is brilliant: “their questions are intrusive and blunt yet objective; the compering is outstanding.
The Monday ‘Wide Angle’ programme was wanting a bit. But with the arrival of Kamran Shafi it has gone up several notches. Nawaz Sharif’s interview (Feb 4) was suave; no raising voices and no friction. Some very tough questions, like the mobbing of the Supreme Court, were asked with finesse.
But Kamran Shafi the writer as opposed to Kamran Shafi the compere is somewhat overassertive and a little brash in his Tuesday column in Dawn
He says he is deliberately provocative to “encourage rebuttals based on facts”. Here is a rebuttal on the column, ‘What (who!) next? (Jan 8)’ The subject is ‘the 27th December 2007 tragedy’. He claims:
-- There were half a dozen or more assassins interspersed along the route Mohtarama Benazir was to take
-- There were “two classic assassination shots: “One to the head and one to the upper neck”
-- “Baitullah Mehsood was not involved in the killing of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto”.
-- “There will be no elections on the 18th February 2008”.
How does he know all this? This is not political savvy, this is pure pre-science. Deductions par excellence: better than Scotland Yard and Sherlock Holmes put together.
He has even placed a wager of Rs100 on his assertion that there will be no election on Feb 18. Matching pre-science with pre-science I say that the election will be held as scheduled.
As President Musharraf’s power wanes, running him down and bad-mouthing him at every opportunity has become more and more fashionable. Kamran Shafi (Major retired) derides him with the title of ‘Commando’ in his column.
All our heads of state, both civilian and military, have committed blunders. President Musharraf has a fair share to his credit as well. But none have been ridiculed thus; including Gen Zia who sowed the seeds of Talibanisation, and Gen Yahya who broke up the country. Would or could our columnists revile Ayub Khan, Yahya Khan or Ziaul Haq in this manner? I think, not.
One wonders if envy has a role to play in the fact that the star Musharraf bashers are retired army officers who could not make the rank of general and retired generals who could not make president.
CAPT S. AFAQ RIZVI
Karachi
I must admit that I did not have many opportunities to vote in a general election. So when I retired from service, I decided to vote in the February 1997 election. I got myself and my family registered as voters by filing special application within the prescribed time.
On the day of election and considering it as my moral obligation as a responsible citizen, I along with a friend drove to the polling station early morning through heavy Lahore fog. As expected, the agents sitting outside the election station confirmed our names in the voters list. But when we went inside the election office to vote, we found with great disappointment that our names were not in the lists.
However, instead of going home as an easy option, we decided to have this mistake rectified. Many telephone calls to the returning officer and the presiding officer failed. We searched the lists of another polling station nearby but to no avail.
The only recourse left with us was to meet the chief election commissioner, Punjab, at the other end of the city. We decided to pursue and drove to his office. After some struggle with his staff, he let us in and listened to our problem. Apparently he could not comprehend our anxiety but anyway referred us to the deputy election commissioner who sent us to another office a few miles away where we lodged our complaint. Hours slipped by while we waited anxiously. Finally, he declared that the supplementary list will be sent to our polling station soon.
This list did reach the polling station just before the closing time and we voted for a candidate of your party with great pride and excitement as part of our responsibility. My friend is dead now and I ask you, Mr Sharif, on his behalf and mine, why did you betray us as you did in the following about three years as prime minister? Corruption, scandals, inefficiency and confiscation of foreign deposits is what I remember as highlights of your government. You are now back with new slogans. Why should I vote for you? God save this country.
M. ABAD KHAN
Lahore
THIS is apropos of the news report (Feb 13) that 20 per cent houses rebuilt in the earthquake-hit areas are not according to specifications. This, indeed, is alarming. It is shocking that our builders, building control authorities and the general public are ignorant of the consequences of such negligence. One is also forced to think about the hordes of highrise and midrise buildings mushrooming up in every city of the country.
The citizens of Islamabad were lucky not to feel the full force of the jolt that flattened thousands of houses in its north on Oct 8, 2005. The unfortunate building that could not resist this jolt was Margalla Towers. Simple logic dictates that there was criminal negligence on the part of the builders and the building control authorities, which resulted in faulty construction of Margalla Towers.
A full-fledged inquiry in this regard was completed under the previous government, but its report was never made public, for reasons best known to the higher-ups. This report must be made public, as it may contain very important and relevant lessons for the building industry and regulatory authorities all over a country, which is extremely prone to high-intensity earthquakes.
I request the prime minister to take the bold step of publishing this report in its original form. He will surely be remembered and revered for this brave and timely gesture.
DR FARID MIDHET
Saudi Arabia
THIS is apropos of Isha Kureshi’s letter (Feb 10) in reply to my letter on Feb 3. It was never my intention to belittle the very rich history and culture of Sindh.
I have lived and worked all over Pakistan and have always been heartened by the generosity and goodwill of the poorest of the people in places as far flung as Mithi and Chachro in Tharparker.
I do concede that the creation of new provinces will have to be considered carefully and cannot be immediate.
However, a gesture by political leaders of Punjab and Sindh, indicating their willingness to consider such a proposal, would create a lot of goodwill.
Political leaders of national stature will not be afraid of a proposed setup. They know that their popularity and following will cross all provincial boundaries.
Such was the case with ZAB and Benazir Bhutto who, between themselves, won four national elections with the support of non-Sindhi voters.
KHALID A
London UK
ON Feb 14, when people in the West, in particular, were celebrating the day reserved for expressing love for others – Valentine’s Day – the Muslims of the world received painful news. No less than 17 Danish newspapers had (re)printed a sacrilegious cartoon of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), the day before.
Perhaps the perpetrators’ level of civilisation goes no further than that, or they have demonstrated an inability to overcome their obsession about insulting other people’s religious figures and sentiments in the name of freedom of expression. Like the religious extremists, they, too, would perfectly fit Winston Churchill’s definition of a fanatic: “A fanatic is a person who can’t change his mind and won’t change the subject.”
The newspapers say they have done this in response to the foiled plot by three Muslims of murdering the cartoonist who had drawn one of the offensive cartoons in September 2005 in order to take a stand against self-censorship.
Terrorism appears to be of two kinds. A visible one, where people are attacked physically, which makes the victims’ body bleed. This is often being done by militants – Muslim and non-Muslim – who claim to be fighting for their freedom, as in Afghanistan, Iraq, many states of India and Sri Lanka, or to protect their religion from hostile forces.
The other is the invisible one, where some people are subjected to emotional jibes, which makes their hearts bleed, as in the case of the media that claims to be protecting its freedom of expression. These latter ones also claim to be most civilised and enlightened.
It is a moot point as to which form of terrorism is more harmful: the physical one that targets a few hundred or at the most a few thousand, or the psychological one that attacks over one billion?
M.Y. KHAN
Karachi
A MINOR boy was killed after his father failed to pay ransom ( news item). How shocking! And how cruel we have become! The boy was just a cute kid of four years. It is more shocking that the kid got killed through the hands of the kidnappers in spite of the fact that the parents had paid Rs600,000 -- in two instalments of Rs400, 000 and Rs200,000. The cruel-hearted kidnappers were demanding Rs5 million. Where have the rulers gone and where does their law lie? One thing is certain, that is the criminals are known to the law-enforcement functionaries as it is heard very often from the commoners and what people generally say has some truth in it.
MOHAMMAD FAYYAZ
Charsadda
PRESIDENT Musharraf in his recent address at a conference, ‘Unite for Elections’, organised by the ministry of information and broadcasting, rejected opinion surveys conducted by foreign organisations and has said the opinions of 3,000 people cannot be taken as the opinion of 160 million people of the country. Exactly this is what his opponent have been saying since the start of 2007 that by having support of a few men, he shouldn’t think that he is the most popular leader. How does Mr Musharraf feel now?
He said foreign organisations and NGOs, especially those conducting such surveys, are disturbing and mishandling peace of this region and the world in general. How on earth can these opinion polls play with the peace of the world and how do opinions disturb peace?
Mr Musharraf further said the media and foreign organisations by their opinion polls are trying to create a perception that elections would be rigged which would push the country into a bind and seriously harm the country. He must be told that all over the world such opinion polls and exit polls are conducted before and after election. The election processes elsewhere are not harmed by such polls. Why does he feel that it will harm us here? In fact, this is prevalent in the democratic societies that back Mr Musharraf to their last coin.
He also said the NGOs that conducted these polls are biased and are against the government. Doesn’t this show his sheer uneasiness and tyranny to a verdict of the people that would be unfavouable to his Q League?
Isn’t it obvious from his statements that he is not prepared to accept defeat of his party and his statement that “pre-judging election results raise undue hopes and might result in violence during and after the polls” hints that his party won’t be losing and if other parties are not going to accept such results, force would be used to silence the opposition.
Aren’t such statements from him highly objectionable as it shows a lot of malice on his side if people are not going to accept election results that would be against their wishes? Wouldn’t such attitude disturb peace?
By stating that “all those who think that they could disturb the country’s peace must not test the resolve of the government,” he clearly shows that they are ready to crush people if people are going to stand against a verdict which is not in accordance with their wishes.
He said: “People should not to be misled by any deceit and false propaganda and differentiate between reality and myth”. How is he claiming that such opinion polls are deceits, false propaganda and a myth and not based on reality? Does he know the results already? How can he be so sure of the results?
ASIM H AKHUND
Karachi
WHAT is the allurement or secret in setting up new sugar mills every year at the cost of billions of rupees by investors, when obviously the industry is incurring huge losses. Our present capacity is adequate to produce 7.5 million tons of sugar which quantity would be sufficient for next 10 years.
Sugarcane cultivation around the area of new sugar mills will replace wheat and cotton crops, consuming three times more water. I foresee constant wheat crises if more and more land is diverted towards sugarcane cultivation.
Ironically, we are importing wheat at over $500 per ton while intend to export some quantity of sugar below $300, to ease excess production this year with a view to helping sugar mills.
It is time we banned installing new sugar mills and restricted further expansion in the existing units. All NOCs issued by the provincial government should be cancelled to save wheat crop.
NASEER AHMED
Karachi
IN response to the report published on Feb 5, in which the chairman of the Federal Board of Revenue, while addressing an employees’ workshop, has stated that double salary has been allowed to 16,500 out of 25,000 employees of the Federal Board of Revenue as part of the tax machinery reforms.
May I ask him that under which law a government servant is re-interviewed and re-examined? Secondly, how can the department be so unjust to the remaining 8,500 employees, majority of whom have given more than 25 years of their life in the service of the department.
Favouritism seems to be the order of the day as regards considering the employees for double salary. I plead to the people concerned at the helms of affairs to clarify the above-mentioned matter.
RAFIA KHAN
Karachi
WHILE Zafar Ullah Poshni in his letter (US presidential race, Feb 15) may hope, and rightly so, that Barack Hussain Obama will become the first black president of the United States, the fact remains that his “Muslim connection” has not been highlighted here at all, either in the print or electronic media. Perhaps, it is good for him.
For sure, after the 9/11 tragedy, the paranoia against Muslims, of whatever ethnic or racial origin, unfortunately still persists.
JALAL HUSSAIN
Via email
THIS is apropos of Musavir Gajani’s letter, ‘Kashmir issue’ (Feb 13) wherin he says that he always wished to talk to the Indian government and negotiate regarding the Kashmir issue as it will be no less than a revolutionary step if he succeed in this holy objective to get the 7,718,700 (1991 Indian census) people free and to bless them with their legitimate and moral rights.
It is also suggested that Mr Gajani will take on the revolutionary step of freeing Pakistan from the clutches of dictators and feudals first so that in case he succeeds in his holy objective of liberating the people of Kashmir and making them a part of Pakistan, the Kashmiris do not feel that they have yet to fight another war of independence.
ANIL KHAN LUNI
Sweden
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