- Reform and rent-seeking By Dr. Nadeem Ul Haque
- How Lincoln’s words apply By Naveed Ashraf
- War against virtue By Dr. Khalil Ahmad
- Letters to FreePakistan
- HumorWise
- Issues of the Month:
- From the National Press
- CSR Views & News
- Private Initiatives
Quotes of the Month:
I am free only so far as I recognize the humanity and respect the liberty of all the men surrounding me.
[M.A. Bakunin]
Our most formidable fortress of defense in time of stress still remains the Constitution of the United States. But it is only as good as our understanding and defense of the purpose for which it was drafted. Eternal vigilance and personal responsibility are still the price of human liberty.
[James Mussatti]
Free Pakistan, a monthly newsletter, exists for the promotion of limited government, rule of law, protection of property rights, market economy, individual freedom, and private initiative. Its vision is a free and prosperous Pakistan; for only such a Pakistan can contribute positively to the creation of a free and prosperous world.
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PHILOSOPHY OF LIBERTY
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REFORM AND RENT-SEEKING
By Dr. Nadeem Ul Haque
[The writer is a former vice-chancellor of the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE), and one of those few Pakistanis who strongly advocate market-based reform in Pakistan. This article first appeared in The News International on May 24, 2009.]
The elite -- beneficiaries of government largesse, power-brokers, in other words rentseekers- all do not see any reason for change. They are begging for money to forestall change. With dollar assets held abroad, rupee liabilities at home, and foreign passports conveniently hidden, they have no noblesse oblige or enlightened self-interest.
In this arrangement, should the excluded poor merely wait for donor-funded projects to come through? Will they get more than liabilities? Perhaps Islam is a better alternative for them!
There is a way which if adopted could develop social harmony - the path of reform! Deep reform of all institutions to include all and dismantle our rentseeking system!
The reformist argument runs as follows.
1. The structure of governance and the economic policies that arise from it are based on rentseeking for the elite and exclusion of other classes.
2. The various organs of the state - the army, the civil service, the judiciary, and the executive - are now incapable of providing for the social contract state because they are totally enmeshed in the rentseeking system.
3. The system has evolved to prevent reform from even being a serious topic of discussion.
4. The result is that rentseeking and elite aggrandizement has eroded the state to the point that it now cannot even perform the basic functions of providing law and order and personal security.
5. Rentseeking and a dysfunctional state are incapable of delivering economic growth and development
6. International aid and borrowing are only fuelling rentseeking and not reform
This state is incapable of providing on macro- and sectoral objectives or of maintaining a sound macro economy, or providing a minimum of public service to the people while also acting as the arbiter of justice. This state also does not provide opportunities for social mobility. On the contrary it seeks to maintain an apartheid society, subsidizing elite schools, elite community centres and elite housing societies and protecting and enlarging elite industry and assets while killing opportunities for small start-ups by the underprivileged.
While the 'macro" thinkers continue to look to the state to do good things like eradicating poverty, providing public services and infrastructure, the reformists would argue that it is the state that needs fixing before we can expect it to do the things that civilized states do.
The first item on a reformist agenda is therefore "fixing the state". The state must first provide the social contract good, law and order and security of life and contract before it runs around doing the donor bidding of providing development for it is clear that without security of social contract there will be no development. Fixing the state will mean
1. Reviewing our constitution for better representation, for dispersal of power through the system, for more meaningful separation of powers, and for greater devolution to communities.
2. Deep reform of government administration and personnel management to reward professional and technical public service, rather than power politics and rent distribution.
3. Reviewing the legal and judicial system for modernity and speedy justice.
4. A police system that is independent of the current elite. Fixing the state also means prioritizing state activities.
The second item on the reformist agenda would be dismantling the rentseeking state that protects the rich and develop an equal opportunity state. Rentseeking right now relies on three main components,
1. State subsidies, licensing and regulation;
2. Special perks and privileges for ministers and army and civil service employees;
3. Land distribution system which allows the poor man's land to be acquired for the elite especially the army and civil service.
To reduce rentseeking, policy must accept markets as means for determining success rather than trying to pick winners through industrialization and export policies. In addition, the following 3 items need to be implemented:
1. Defence Housing Authority's special privileges are repealed and the various agencies are privatized;
2. Cooperative housing authorities where fraud thrives are abolished; and
3. Land acquisition act is strengthened to apply only to public purpose.
Land and real estate as a business should then be allowed to develop on commercial basis with no privileged players like DHA or co-op housing.
The third element in a reformist agenda should be developing agencies of change or constituencies of reform. Historically reform and modernization has begun in robust academic centres - universities and think tanks. When these idea factories are churning out fresh ideas a free media has some grist to mill. A free and robust academic sector will be created by allowing social science thinking to thrive in many different autonomous places and allowing them to compete in the idea space. For this let academic salaries and status should be raised to levels even beyond that of the army and civil service. At the same time civil service control of universities and thinks should be relinquished.
A technically well-trained and modernized civil service would be an important handmaiden for the implementation of reform ideas. For this only three small critical changes could go a long way.
1. Monetization and then elimination of all perks with only cash payments every where in the public sector.
2. All senior positions above joint secretaries to be made through open competition.
3. The abolition of transfers and the institution of term appointments for all positions! These changes should induce professionals interested in a legacy of change and productivity to come into the civil service.
This is only the very beginning of a reform agenda and by no means even complete and fully honed. To avoid fundamentalism and anarchy, much deep reform--beyond that related to the usual macro and sectors - will be required. Pakistan requires a long period of reform - a decade or two to modernize every aspect of not only the economy but also society and our behaviour. Without that, the excluded majority will be right in welcoming the Taliban for they do represent liberation from the current oppressive system.
However reform remains a dirty word happily for both the elite and the fundamentalists. Currently the dominant macro-strategic thinkers, many of whom belong to the elite, prevent reform.
Reform needs more space in the country's thinking and in the media if extremism is to be avoided! [Courtesy The News International]
HOW LINCOLN’S WORDS APPLY
By Naveed Ashraf
[This article first appeared in Dawn on May 05, 2009.]
AS a democratic Pakistan looks for solid ground to stand on, it faces unprecedented threats to its existence.
Years of military rule and an ideology based solely on insecurity has left the nation grappling with an identity crisis which has created a vacuum for despotic forces such as the Taliban to fill.
In a fragmented political framework, the government has so far not been able to give the country and itself a single cohesive vision, and thus has also failed to give itself the necessary strength to move its agenda forward. A confused ideological space has allowed a mix of diametrically opposite ideas to flourish, which has undercut the very basis of Pakistan’s foundation and the core ideas of a free nation — liberty, freedom, security, equality and the pursuit of happiness regardless of one’s race and religion.
To move forward as a viable nation and a peace-loving people the country needs a fresh approach and new ideas. Nations and civilisations that have prospered have been open to new ideas from different sources and have absorbed them for their own benefit. Pakistan must do the same. Could the leaders and people of Pakistan find sage advice in the words of America’s greatest president Abraham Lincoln?
“A house divided against itself cannot stand”:
Whereas there is growing consensus in the country against the Taliban, some parts of society have approached the issue with ambiguity and confusion. Some elements in political parties, the military and the media have taken a weak stance and essentially played the role of apologists. It would be correct to suggest that if all sections of society, particularly the military, were fully united in the fight against the Taliban the government would not have had to enter the peace deal.
The question is: why has the fifth largest army in the world equipped with modern weapons not been able to defeat a ragtag gang of a few thousand Taliban? Despite their poor record the military still holds a large chunk of Pakistan’s budget. Is it not time that the share of the military’s budget is tied to its performance? A divided polity will continue to give the Taliban necessary space to further strengthen. Unity with a resolve to defeat the Taliban with finality is imperative.
“If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves”:
A frequent response to the Taliban’s offensive is to point fingers at outside forces, particularly America and India. Confusion remains on the question of who is Pakistan’s friend and who is its enemy. Is our enemy the United States that is providing Pakistan vital economic aid and assistance in fighting the Taliban, or is it the Taliban who are conducting suicide bombings throughout the country?
A sizable segment of the establishment believes that the violence being perpetrated in Swat and other Pakistani cities is in response to the drone attacks. What is not mentioned is the fact that the drone strikes are eliminating people who have attacked Pakistan and who are responsible for killing thousands of Pakistanis. Enemies within our borders must first be defeated before the issue of other nations interfering in Pakistan’s affairs is sought to be addressed. It is to that end that the government should welcome help from all sources including America.
“Important principles may, and must, be inflexible”:
The signing of the peace deal and the government’s agreement to install Sharia law essentially meant ceding part of the state to the Taliban. The peace deal must be a small part of a larger campaign against the Taliban and should be used as a tactical manoeuvre at best allowing the state to establish itself in all areas of Pakistan. The guiding and inflexible principle must be to establish the government’s writ in every part of Pakistan, including Fata and Swat. The government that recently launched military operations in Buner and Dir must show itself to be firm about adhering to this all-important principle.
“The philosophy of the schoolroom in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next”:
The war with the Taliban is as much a war of ideas as it is a war of bullets and guns. We must begin with the war of ideas in our classrooms. The ideas prevalent in our culture are the ones taught in the schools of Ziaul Haq’s era. The government should launch a campaign to reform the education sector. This campaign can begin with a comprehensive overhaul of the curriculum followed in government schools as well as ensure greater check on what is being taught in the madressahs. The upcoming budget would be a good measure of the government’s commitment to reforming education. The percentage of budget devoted to education must at least be doubled.
The other arena where the war of ideas must be fought is the legislature. Pakistani newspapers have published accounts of killing over accusations of blasphemy, the violation of women’s rights because of ‘honour’ issues and similar atrocities. These heinous acts have either support in the law, or the law and its implementation are not strong enough to deter those who indulge in such acts. Draconian laws regarding blasphemy and Hudood Ordinances must be struck down and freedom of speech must be ensured for all Pakistani citizens.
“With malice towards none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right … let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds”:
The government of Asif Zardari should go back to the basics and start legislating for the poor masses of Pakistan, which have always been the PPP’s real source of strength, and make its policies not out of insecurity and fear but with firmness in the right and a belief that right makes might. In all our problems lies the opportunity for rejuvenation and rebirth, provided the country acts with solidarity and unity of purpose. Pakistanis will follow the government’s lead if it deals with Pakistan’s problems, particularly extremist forces, with boldness and resolve. [Courtesy Dawn]
WAR AGAINST VIRTUE
By Dr. Khalil Ahmad
[This article has appeared in The Post and The Frontier Post.]
All coercion is part of the war against virtue unless morally and legally justified.
Our share of the terrorists or Taliban has perfected what we have been suffering in our country at smaller or somewhat larger scales for the last six decades: the moral policing. Sometimes it was individuals or well-knit groups, and sometimes it were governments that resorted to moral policing. However, now in the shape of Taliban, the moral policing has reached its climax, i.e. it has become top most duty of the Taliban type state. The use of force has found its ultimate end. The annihilation of every trace of freedom has been attained. As a result, every semblance of virtue has been destroyed. In sum, with the advent of Taliban rule in parts of the NWFP, the baby has been thrown out with the bathwater.
From the most private details of one’s life to his public behavior, every thing has been taken over by the Taliban state to make it happen via its use of brute force. The men who wield this power of the state have no legitimate claim to it, since no moral or political theory justifies it but the naked force. It is on the part of the Taliban that they have assumed this power by virtue of their gun-holding. It is on the part of an already existing state that its authority has been ceded to Taliban on the pretext of peace. One thing is common in both states: they have forsaken the individual and his rights. In effect, they have deprived him of his natural right to freely choose his destiny.
It’s just for argument’s sake that under any system of justice statements of confession made under duress are outrightly set aside as unacceptable for the simple reason that they do not issue from a free agent and thus are unworthy of any use in fixing responsibility for one’s alleged acts. Likewise, what one does under oppression, whatever name we give to it, can NEVER be considered virtue. It’s all because virtue grows and flourishes in an environment where freedom is abundantly present in the air.
Conversely in an environment of un-freedom what freely prosper are lie, malice and hypocrisy. That is what we have our whole society from top to bottom infected with incurably. No realm of life be it public or private, political or economic, social or spiritual, religious or secular, learning or teaching, or any other, is immune from it. In such a society the gravity of the crisis manifests itself in a concept of virtue bereft of all meaning of virtue. The only purpose left for virtue to be adopted as a way of life is its usefulness in earning social recognition of one’s virtuosity. It loses its worth as a means to civilize, moralize and humanize one’s self. It metamorphoses us into a conscienceless being. It’s all vice that enwraps itself in the guise of virtue. Virtue acquires the status of one of the ploys of vice itself. Morality is taken hostage by ideology/faith.
The most distinguishing feature of this local war of ours against virtue is its flagrant self-contradiction: it claims to establish a state of virtue whereas instead of letting virtue grow naturally freely it is trying to impose/enforce virtue politically and administratively, and of course militarily also. This should bring the process of our moral fall to a finish.
This is not without precedent. Only that now it is programmed to reach its logical conclusion. Since day one we have had political groups, parties, institutions, and what not which in the name of moral policing were up to achieving this Taliban state like arrangement. In addition to that, we have had both civil and military governments which aimed at setting up such a moral police state. It is out of question here what their intent was. What came to happen as a result is what is important. It is what we have before us right now.
It may be the last war against virtue in Pakistan if we allow our last embankment to be swept away by this hilly torrent. This embankment is our constitution. It seems the enemy has crossed over all the ditches we have dug for our safety. It has run over all the forts and fortresses we have built to protect us. It has penetrated inside us. It has found allies from amongst us. And now it is up to take head-on to our last stronghold, our constitution.
It’s time we realize the importance and significance of the constitution. It’s like life to us, our people, nation and our country. We are in one word this constitution. Pakistan has no other meaning. If this meaning is lost to the Taliban brand of virtue, Pakistan will lose its meaning. The losing of the constitution is tantamount to losing the security of the fundamental rights to every citizen. The losing of the security of the fundamental rights means losing the freedoms of every citizen to live in accordance with his conscience. That in turn amounts to the losing of all possibility of virtue in our society. Let us save virtue! Let us save the constitution of Pakistan!
RE THE LIFE AND ITS BEAUTY
[Azizullah Abid, Regional Head, ABL, RHQ, Jhang]
Reference to your above article published in today's Business Recorder.
Yes, living differently is the beauty of life. I want to quote the scene of praying at 'Kaaba' and at 'Masjad-e-Nabvi' wherein Muslims belonging to different locations wearing different dresses are permitted to pose their different styles as per their beliefs during Namaz. I believe that individuality is in fact a great gift from Almighty Allah in order to enjoy various colours of life.
I fully endorse your views.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Sure, without appreciating such truths we can never live a fuller life.
JIZIA
[Sherry Rehman]
Sherry Rehman says that extortion demands from Sikhs by the Taliban in Orakzai agency are criminal acts and must be condemned in no uncertain terms. We hear that Sikh families are being harassed and forced out of their homes, as if non-Muslims don't have a right to live peacefully and with clear citizenship rights in Pakistan.
This is dangerous nonsense and must be condemned and halted at all costs. Sikh, Christian, Hindu communities and other citizens belonging to any religious denomination have full rights to live in Pakistan as per our Constitution.
VERY EDUCATIONAL WEBSITE
[Naureen Sebastian]
very educational website
Re: Take it Head-on (FreePakistan Newsletter #101, May 1, 2009)
[Abdul Baqi]
kindly keep me on your regular mail posting.
Re: Take it Head-on (FreePakistan Newsletter #101, May 1, 2009)
[Nayyar Siddiqui]
read ur report good hope mailing will continue
RE LET US KILL EACH OTHER!
[SyedKapana]
Dear All: It is a beautiful piece I have read after a long time. I wish and pray people in Pakistan and the rest of the world should read and follow this in letter and spirit. We must learn to live together in peace and dignity and respect each other's lives, rights, freedom and properties. It is sad to see:
ABHI TAK ADMI QAIDI ZADANAY SHARYARI HAY= QYAMAT HAY KAY INSAN NOYE INSANA KA SHIKARI HAY!
The time has come to: MAMAREY HARAM BAZ BA TAMEERER JAHAN KHAYZ!
Wish for love and peace.
'DRAMA'
[Iftekhar Khan, (Completely destroyed), Mingora]
The humanitarian disaster in Malakand division has not yet shaken the nation and it seems that the Swatis will have to fend for themselves. In the wake of the 2005 earthquake, the then president had announced that he would transform that huge challenge into opportunity. And ERRA was founded and a serving general was accommodated and hundreds of military officers were inducted on huge salaries and perks. Many civilian officers also joined this bandwagon of lucrative opportunities.
I therefore suggest that the present challenge should also be changed into a new opportunity for military and civilian bureaucracy and a new entity with the name of 'DRAMA' (Disaster Reduction and Mitigation Authority) may be established. [The News International]
TAUBA HEAD OF ACCOUNT!
[Muhammad Faheem, Timergara]
The title of this letter of mine seems unique and sounds still stranger at the first look and may be people at the first glance laugh at such an idea. Nonetheless, I dare to float this suggestion forward for serious consideration of the concerned quarters for enactment and implementation if feasible.
None of us deny that we are facing the menace of dishonesty at national level and evils like misappropriation, embezzlement, hoarding illicit money, making properties, erecting empires from the ill earned money and leaving huge riches for our descendants. Craving for such mean desires is common to almost all such people of unhealthy conscience. This category of class can be from the government employees, the servicemen of the autonomous bodies, corporations, industrialists, politicians and almost all walks of life.
I have noted a number of cases particularly amongst the retired government servants that they feel very much worried about what they have done during their career and most of them want to repent and get rid of the guilty conscience they are in. Most of such people have been found to be in a very painful and restless situation because of the misdoings of their sons, daughters and other legal heirs. A limited survey carried by me in this regard has shown more than 50 % of such people who are ready to pay back to the National treasury what they have hoarded by unfair means in the time they were the least mindful of such things. The various accountability steps evolved by various governments from time to time have never been effective to overcome the evil.
I therefore, suggest that a Tauba Head of Account be created through legislation or any other constitutional way for the purpose where such people can easily deposit what they want to return. The system should be given wide publicity through press and electronic media, seminars, workshops, lectures and other sources. I am sure this will be a successful project and we will have a handsome recovery through this arrangement. Let's try it. [The Frontier Post]
MY DEMOCRACY WILL NOT DELIVER
By Naeem Sadiq
[The writer is a civil society activist. This piece first appeared in The News International on May 16, 2009.]
As if advertising a new maternity service, the president declared in his opening remarks in Washington: "My democracy will deliver." The fact is that Pakistan has crossed the threshold and now neither any one's personal brand of democracy nor any general brand of dictatorship is likely to deliver anymore. We cannot even hope to come out of what we have allowed ourselves to get into – without scars that shall define our being for a long time to come.
Pakistan faces three major problems. Its army is engaged in a massive war with a barbaric group of militants who are invading parts of the country and forcing the population to choose between getting butchered or adopting their perverted values of the pre-Islamic Jahiliya era. Our next major problem is the United States, our pro-terror partner in the war against terrorism. The United States has succeeded in influencing and penetrating our leadership and converting them into bonded labour by selective application of 'doles and drones'.
Finally we have a colossal human tragedy as some 1.2 million people are deprived of their homes, jobs and dignity. They are forced to vacate their homes and go elsewhere to beg for shelter, food and survival. The scale, severity and complexity of these events are far greater in magnitude than most Pakistanis have even begun to realise. Regardless of what may be the final outcome of these events, Pakistan would have changed forever. It will no longer be 'business as usual'. There is much to suggest that it could implode and fragment, making it possible for the Taliban, Americans and the world at large to choose the most desirable pieces of this dysfunctional state. There are also those who believe in miracles and suggest that if we agree to radically change the structure of our state and its elite, we still have a reasonable chance of becoming a more caring, just and people-friendly society. This however is no longer possible through symbolic candlelight vigils, green flags, inviting the Imam-e-Kaaba or press club protests. The time for attacking the symptoms, and that too half heartedly is over.
The government of Pakistan reacted with shock and surprise, when President Obama made a very simple statement: "The government of Pakistan does not seem to have the capacity to deliver basic services: schools, healthcare, rule of law and a judicial system that works for the majority of the people." This was no discovery and every sensible Pakistani had long been saying the same thing. Any state that only serves itself and its two percent elite through a system of mutual NROs and becomes completely irrelevant to the majority of its citizens is very likely to be replaced by alternate forces.
We are in the midst of a major war. Do the 100 odd ministers and advisers who flout the traffic rules in their unregistered bullet proof Prados give any signs that they represent a country at war… a country that is one of the poorest amongst the nations and whose leaders carry a begging bowl as an integral item of their daily dress code. Could this job not be done by ten good souls driving in plain Suzukis and stopping at every traffic light? Does the itinerary of our globe trotting president even remotely suggest that we are at war? As the country fights a painful war of survival, a profoundly inconsiderate president takes off on a ten-day private visit hopping from one capital to another. Till March 2009, his visits had already cost a whopping 157.257 million rupees to the national exchequer.
The chief justice has been restored. The ordinary citizens are not really interested in how many ceremonial guards of honour does he receive every week. He has avoided touching the core issue of justice in Pakistan – the issue that no one is above the law and that the NRO is an illegal document. He has not taken a suo moto notice of the killing of three Baloch leaders. He has neither summoned President Musharraf for violating the constitution nor sacked the judges for taking oath on the PCO. So it is 'justice as usual' in Pakistan.
For sixty long years, Pakistan has been ruled by a state that is least concerned or interested in its ordinary citizens. It consists of and serves only the interests of a small, rich, wasteful, opulent, pampered and law-breaking elite. They pay few taxes and follow no rules. They are the new breed of well-dressed militants. They carry unlicensed weapons, unregistered vehicles, private guards and often foreign passports. Even when 1.2 million Malakand refugees struggle for every morsel of bread, the lifestyle of this inconsiderate elite could not be altered by as little as a single bottle of mineral water.
Unless this skewed and blatant disparity is considerably reduced and its pampered lawless elite is willing to be a part of a more just and equitable society, we should be well on our way to the US- and the Taliban-intended destination. If we do not reform this dysfunctional state right now, there will soon be no state to reform. [Courtesy The News International]
DEGREE IN BEGGING
[Dr Irfan Zafar, Islamabad]
Now that we have attained excellence in begging from almost every country on earth including the “Friends of Pakistan”, the time has come to officially introduce “Begging” as a compulsory subject in our educational curriculum leading to the award of a Doctorate degree. Lets prepare our future generation in this art right from the word go thus grooming them to become International Professional Beggars. [Pakistan Observer]
Issue of the Month: Resolving the terror tangle
WHO’S FUNDING THEM?
[Ali A Khan, Karachi]
I have a couple of simple and straightforward questions: who is funding the Taliban and who is providing them with weapons? The candidates would be either our own government and army or some foreign government and its army. So could the government and the military kindly clarify this? How can they get their weapons and arms and other essential items of daily living such as food and petrol with such apparent ease? [The News International]
EXODUS FROM SWAT
[Aamir Aqil, Lahore]
This refers to the photograph (May 6) showing children lined up with their belongings on their head to board a vehicle to flee the troubled Swat valley and the news item that almost 500,000 people are expected to become homeless. The NWFP government has requested the international community for assistance to cope with the situation, as one million people are expected to get displaced. It is regrettable that for every unfortunate and untoward incident we seek help of the international community with a begging bowl in our hands, where our own industrialists, our politicians, our parliamentarians and others live a luxurious life. At this hour of the crisis it is the duty of all of us to come forward and extend a helping hand to the unfortunate displaced people of Swat and the adjoining areas.
When the October earthquake in 2005 played havoc in Kashmir and parts of the NWFP, people from Karachi to Khyber felt the pain and came out with all possible help for the quake victims. Such a show of unity and brotherhood is difficult to find in the word. Every sort of help or relief goods within no time started reaching the affected areas. It was a real show of unity by the people of Pakistan. Now once again it’s time to show the world that we are a nation of deep sentiments and share sufferings of our brothers, we are advocates of human rights and when it comes to helping our brothers we leave no stone unturned. No government of the world can cope alone with the displacement of such a large number of population, unless and until a helping hand is extended by its citizens. By showing our unity in helping the displaced persons we will be able to give a message:
--that the vast majority of Pakistan rejects the agenda of extremists and will foil the conspiracies of the enemies of the country.
--that we want our next generation to live in peace and at par with the developed countries of the world.
-- that we want to educate our children irrespective of gender.
-- that we know how to defend our country, how to defend our nuclear assets and how to eliminate the extremism from our society. [Dawn]
TERROR IN BUNER
[Mahabat Khan Bangash, Peshawar]
I fail to understand as to how law and order deteriorated in Buner when a few years back the same area enjoyed peaceful days and restful nights during the posting of Shaheed Malik Saad as SP there. This was because when the people slept in the night, Malik Saad kept watch over them. The secret behind this peace was that the police officer took his job seriously and was sincere to his duties assigned by the state. The people of Buner remember that the criminals had given up their weapons so no one would keep even a pen-knife. Buner and its people are the same but something has gone wrong with the will and regard of responsibility by the law-enforcers with the result that today the Taliban are roaming about with sophisticated arms and doing everything without any fear.
[The News International]
JIHAD FOR LOVE
[Khalid Chaudhry, Karachi]
It is most painful to see how Pakistanis, including women and children, are being killed in many parts of the country on religious and ethnic grounds. After due reflection one has concluded that the real and only long term solution to all our problems lies essentially in reversing the hardening of hearts of those who have lost respect for the life of their compatriots. Caliph Ali (RA) had said that even wild beasts can be tamed through love. It is, therefore, necessary to launch a jihad for promoting love across the land. As a first contribution, one would like to share a couple of poems out of the many one has written lately on this subject. It is hoped that all Pakistanis who care would also participate in large numbers in this noble venture through their pens, word of mouth and actions to reach out to every brother and sister, in each corner of the nation. The electronic media, TV in particular, can make the greatest contribution by broadcasting inspirational words many times a day and creating numerous imaginative plays on this particular theme.
One isn’t a professional poet but the simple poems presented below show one’s sincere and heartfelt sentiments, which may serve to inspire others: Rain of Love/How I wish that love, like rain,/Would pour down from the skies,/So that we all could drink of it/To our hearts’ content,/Forget our hostilities,/And live like a family,/Till eternity!/Spreading affection/If only I had a huge generator of love,/I would send affection through the wires/To light up every Pakistani home. [Dawn]
DOESN'T MATTER WHO HELPS US
[Irum Ahmad, Lahore]
If one's home gets infested with cockroaches and is being eaten up by woodworm one has to take action otherwise the house is lost, and the inhabitants sicken and die. In such a crisis I would not care whether the medicine was locally made in Lahore, or brought in from Karachi or imported from the US. The aim is to exterminate all the parasites before they multiply and eradicate us.
[The News International]
STRIKING AT THE ROOTS OF SUICIDE BOMBING
[Air Cdre (R) Zulfiqar Haider, Islamabad]
Our land and its inhabitants have a history of being used by foreign invaders for their own vested interests. In the early 1980s the US contracted Gen Zia to provide fighters to fight its war in Afghanistan. ‘Some’ madressahs were founded while others were earmarked for the purpose, and their capacity was built to produce ‘mujahideen’ for the job. The job was well done by Zia and his coterie. The US and its Arab friends ‘paid’ for the job and left these madressahs for use by Al Qaeda. It now seems that when Al Qaeda found that suicide bombing was the weapon of mass destruction for their type of war, it converted these madressahs into training centres for bombers. Hundreds of such suicide bombers have been produced and ‘usefully utilised’ by God knows who. There are hundreds of suicide bombers in the pipeline for future use. These suicide bombers are being raised, trained and brainwashed just to kill and get killed. They know no other way.
As long as suicide bombers continue to be produced, there will be no letup in bombings. This unfortunate country is quickly disappearing in the quagmire of terrorism. The farms (madressahs) where suicide bombers are being produced have to be identified and smashed with full might. Do we have the courage to eliminate these farms/madressahs or are we destined to face ethnic and sectarian cleansing leading to civil war. Muslims who keep preaching that Islam is a peace-loving religion have long become irrelevant and the religion of Islam has been hijacked by a group of bloodletting, throat-slitting maniacs. For how long would we, the peace-loving majority of Muslims, shamelessly remain silent. Are we ready to leave our next generation in the hands of terrorists? It is time we spoke or our next generation would pay for our follies. [Dawn]
YOUR OWN PEOPLE...
[Noor Khan, Islamabad]
There is a prevailing dread among many people that history is repeating itself. We have seen two years of operations ending in peace deals and the people affected have blamed the army for leaving in the middle of operations and the government for ignoring the atrocities of the Taliban. The public and the media have recognised the threat that the Taliban pose to all of Pakistan and there has been a positive reaction this time, but in the past, both have been quite pro-Taliban. Now again there are calls to 'stop killing our own people', faint but carrying the threat of magnification by those buzzards of Pakistani society, the ignorant commoner and the political opportunist. It is time Pakistanis set their priorities right. It is time to recognise your own people.
Your own people are the soldiers who have died for you, not those who have killed them. Your own people are the men who have fought for your country, not those who have slaughtered them like animals and left them for dogs to feed on. Your own people are the policemen still reporting to duty, not those who behead them in the name of your religion. Your own people are those who support your government, not those who execute them for it. Your own people are the ones who take up arms to defend their families, not the ones who hoard weapons to destroy them. Your own people are those whose faith lies in their hearts, and not in their beards. Your own people are those who work to earn their living, not the ones who live to steal the earnings of others. Your own people are those who are the first on the scene to help when a bomb goes off, not the ones who detonate the bomb. Your own people are the ones who serve your religion inviting by their example, not the ones who have scarred it to the point of repulsiveness by theirs. Your own people are those being dug out of their graves, not the ones digging them out. Your own people are those whose dead bodies are slung on poles in market places, not the ones responsible for hanging them there. Your own people are the ones who embrace death to protect you, not the ones who kill themselves while attacking you. Your own people are the believers who enter the mosque to worship Allah, not the kuffaar who enter the house of Allah to massacre those believers. Your own people are those who have lost facilities of medicine and education, not the ones who are the cause of this deprivation.
Your own people are the ones who have worked for years to pull you towards 21st century advancement, not the ones who threaten to take you back to the Stone Age. Your own people are the ones who will suffer deformities for the rest of their lives, not the ones who deny them the few drops that could ensure perfect health. Your own people are those who are being lashed, not the ones who wield the whip. Your own people are the ones oppressed, not the ones who subjugate them. Your own people are the ones that have always cultivated peace in your country, not the ones who bring strife from across the border. Your own people are those who want the democracy of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) in Medina, not those who crave the dictatorship of the Taliban in Afghanistan. Your own people are those who are trying to bring you awareness of the menace that looms just beyond vision, not the ones trying to lull you into a false feeling of security. Your own people are the ones who are being intimidated, not the ones terrorising them.
It is time to distinguish your well wishers from the power-crazed enemy that has despoiled your religion and tarnished your identity the world over. There is no justification for suicide attacks and militancy. We must not accept punishment for the 'injustice', real or imaginary, of other countries. Those who have a bone to pick with America must pick it with America, not Pakistan. There is no remedy for a malignant tumour but to remove it before it reaches vital organs. It can never be 'contained' in one part of the body forever. Either we operate now, or risk lessening or worse, losing completely our chances of survival. [The News International]
THE RISE OF EXTREMISM
[Omar Hayat, Karachi]
We, the liberal elite, have lived in denial for too long. The problem of violence runs far deeper into societal mores than we make it out to be, with our social, academic, and cultural elitism overriding the legitimate demands of those below us stuck in a vicious spiral of poor social and cultural reproduction. The people referred to repeatedly as ‘accomplices of religious fundos’ or ‘Taliban apologists’ often do not have food, shelter, clothing, education or healthcare. Neither has there been any concerted effort in furthering the economic upliftment of the era, to reverse the draconian madressah reforms inculcated during ‘jihad’ against the Soviet and to provide the people a modicum of living amenities that might make death not-so-dear to them. Consequently, it is almost too easy for the Taliban to exploit this immense alienation that the public feels from the elites who own the resources in this country and drive them into extremism by promising a better (read: more equal) future.
I am not advocating free hand to the Taliban, no. Our army has to act against them where they indeed wreak havoc on the lives of people by reinforcing their brand of religion. But I really feel the time has come to realise that it is the actions of the self-serving capitalist liberal-minded elite, with their proposition of an oligarchy as ‘true democracy’ and a concerted reinforcement of the status quo, that have created a vacuum large enough in the political framework for forces like the Taliban to even take shape and form. The next time an NGO aunty sits in her drawingroom in the DHA, furnished with million-rupee paintings sitting on an antique Victorian sofa, pointing a diamond studded finger towards the Taliban, let it be known to her that public anger against the elite has to inevitably erupt one day — and that may take flavour of any movement in the form of the Taliban or even a class war. The best way forward is not to demonise these ‘extremists’, but to understand the oxygen supply of the fire burning within and try to cut it off by making Pakistan a more meritocratic and egalitarian state that provides food, clothing, shelter, education and healthcare to all. Provide people with a reason to live — and you will see they don’t want to die after all. [Dawn]
WAKE UP OR SHUT UP
[Ghazala Minallah, Islamabad]
Danielle Riaz's letter of April 30 was both shocking and insensitive. By trivialising the agony of the people of Swat and FATA she has rubbed salt into their wounds. Does she actually think that having to wear a dupatta on the head or having a male escort at night was the 'issue' in Swat? How I wish that were true! The issue, for her kind information, is actually of not having the right to live, unless you bow down to the warped and twisted version of the Taliban brand of religion.
Danielle Riaz says she is sick of hearing about the 'devastating consequences' for women under Sharia. This, my friend, has nothing whatsoever to do with Islam. This is about money, power, greed and control – and they don't give a damn how they achieve their goal. Has she not heard of the beheadings, the slaughtering, the floggings, or the hangings in Khooni Chowk? Or about the loot and plunder, the taking over of our valuable national assets such as the emerald mines, which are financing their bloody games? The Taliban are proudly selling CDs in Swat of their inhuman and appalling punishments for those who dare defy them. Danielle Riaz says that 'when the Taliban stray outside the Sharia' we can protest, and till then we should all 'shut up'. Instead of advising us to go and live elsewhere, why doesn't she go and join the Taliban? We are going to defend our country, our right to live freely and with dignity, and without the fear of being beheaded or slaughtered at the drop of a hat.
While writing this letter I feel choked, because I just saw a video from one of the 'series' being sold in Swat. Four unknown men have their heads sawn off and placed on their chests by young Taliban. The crowd is chanting Allah-o-Akbar and there are Quranic verses being recited in the background. It is sickening and is blasphemy of the worst kind. It is the worst possible insult to Islam. So my advice to the likes of Danielle Riaz is to wake up or kindly 'shut up.' [The News International]
SUSPICION
[Bashir Hussain Azad, Chitral]
Though 1000 people have been killed and 1300,000 people have been uprooted during the two weeks military operation in Swat, Buner, Shangla and Dir in Malakand Division, yet doubts and suspicions are still there in the minds of people in Pakistan. The reason is that despite 15 days fighting Fazlullah, Muslim Khan, Shah Dauran, Sufi Muhammad, Amir Izzat and other top leaders of rebellion and violence are still at large. I shall be thankful if ISPR Chief offers his comments on this crucial topic. [Pakistan Observer]
MINIMISE CIVILIAN CASUALTIES
[Dr M Aatif Jaffer, Peshawar]
If any military has to conduct any armed operation inside its own territory, it should be, without any question, vary precise, accurate, well-targeted and short-timed. But as an ordinary citizen, I cannot see any of the above parameters in the current operation in Buner. The operation is not at all clearing the mess, but only and only bringing more miseries to the locals, civilian casualties and destruction of infrastructure. Also, there seems to be a reluctance to counter the militants face to face and instead there is reliance on artillery and shelling. Such shelling is not difficult for militants to escape, especially since they are usually on the move. I am not at all saying that there shouldn't be an operation -- but only that if there is to be one, it should be done in a manner that maximises our chances for winning against the militants. [The News International]
HOW VERY STRANGE
[Hilal Ahmad, Charsadda]
In 1999 the Pakistan army cut the supply line of the Indian army in Kargil. And in 2009 it cannot cut the supply line of the Taliban -- and that too inside Pakistani territory. How very strange -- where do our taxes go, I wonder. [The News International]
A QUESTIONNAIRE
[Faridun Harmozji, Lahore]
Our revered Interior Minister has been in power now for over a year. During this short period he has done “wonders” as far as security and peace of the country is concerned. If he would kindly answer the following questions for the benefit of every Pakistani: 1. Where are the militants coming from? 2. Who allowed them to infiltrate in such great numbers? 3. Who is supplying sophisticated arms to them? 4. Are the mullahs, Taliban and terrorists three different groups? 5. How long the nation has to tolerate him as the Minister of Interior? 6. Are you sincere to the safety and sovereignty of Pakistan? [The Post]
NO MORE DOUBLE GAMES
[Zulfiqar Gul, A Swati living in Islamabad]
I hope and pray that the operation lunched in Swat will not be yet another round of double game that our military establishment has been playing on and off since 9/11. [The News International]
OF NUMBERS BEING QUOTED
[Dr Irfan Zafar, Islamabad]
"It is time to end the lies. Those who say women and children were killed and several hundred died in the Lal Masjid operation are telling white lies. Only 94 people were killed and all of them terrorists. Not a single woman or child was killed", says former President Pervaiz Musharraf.
May I request the former President to visit H-11 Graveyard and see for himself the unnamed graves of hundreds of children & women that were buried here secretly. [The Nation]
APOLOGISTS FOR THE TALIBAN?
[Umar Beg, Islamabad]
The Jamaat-e-Islami leadership, including Munawar Hussain, keeps issuing pro-Taliban statements every second day. It has become clear to most Pakistanis that the JI is trying to defend anti-state Taliban criminals in an effort to promote a regressive cultural ideology exported from Saudi Arabia. On the international front, the government must impress upon King Abdullah to reform the Saudi clerical establishment, and initiate efforts to renounce the regressive cultural ideology being exported around the world in the guise of religion. Locally, the Pakistani government must fix the broken madressah system and cleanse it of this insidious imported ideology.
Importantly, the government must investigate the JI for its linkages to the Taliban-Al Qaeda combine. Most Pakistanis will remember that several Al Qaeda terrorists, including Khalid Sheik Mohammad, were arrested in the past from the houses of JI party members and office-bearers. The JI has essentially become a mouthpiece for the Taliban thugs running amok in FATA and Swat. Many are speculating that the JI is actively aiding and abetting Taliban terrorists in Swat and elsewhere. The government must probe the activities of all JI-affiliated groups, including Al-Khidmat Trust, that supposedly focus on carrying out charity work. If found guilty of aiding or raising funds for the Taliban, the JI leadership and past cadres involved must be prosecuted for treason. We cannot allow anti-state forces to continue betraying the people. [The News International]
TALIBAN BUILD-UP IN FATA REGION
[Lieutenant Colonel (Retd) M. A. Sadiq, Attock]
DG ISPR has been regularly briefing media on the latest military operations in Swat, Dir, Buner, Malakand Agency where a sizeable number of Taliban have been killed. Taliban established training centers, ammunition dumps, strongholds without our agencies spotting them. The process of securing bases must have been going on for years with no timely detection. Our army is meeting tough resistance and suffering casualties beyond expectations. The nation salutes the professional capabilities of the army that is flushing out Taliban from their strongholds. Our leaders point out that India is supplying weapons, equipment and money to Taliban from Afghanistan. Why our government hesitates to take up the matter with UN and lodge a protest? Are we afraid of Americans? Time our Prime Minister told the truth to the nation about drone attacks and why we hesitate to point fingers at India about its support to Taliban? [Business Recorder]
INDEPENDENT VERIFICATION OF DEATH TOLL
[Mahvesh Khan, Islamabad]
With regard to the current military operations that are going on in NWFP, it is encouraging to see that the government and the army have more support from the general public this time around. But it is most critical that this does not become yet another 'stop-go-stop' campaign. At the same time, the reports about the operations are heavily one-sided with the ISPR controlling most of the information being given out. We need to see the death tolls of the militants being confirmed independently and in that regard it would be a good step if the media were allowed some access. [The News International]
THE NEO-KHARJIS
[Dr M. Yaqoob Bhatti, Lahore]
The emergence of TNSM/Taliban in Swat and Malakand who are trying to enforce 'Shariat' in their own mould upon other Muslims strikes an uncanny resemblance with the Kharji movement of the Islamic history that resulted in the assassination of the fourth Caliph of Islam, Hazrat Ali (RA). The Kharjis also had a similar slogan of Inul Hukmu Illa Lillah i.e. 'The law of Allah'. They also did not agree with the writ of the then Islamic government claiming their absolute right to interpret the commandments of Allah. Hazrat Ali (RA) had argued that the Holy Quran is a book between two folders and unless one opens it and studies it to determine the commandments of Allah, how could one abide by those commandments?
It is a historic lesson that such splinter groups have often emerged in the Muslim Ummah who usurped the right to interpret Sharia according to their sweet will in contradiction of the Sawad-e-Azam, the main body of Muslims. We see a resurrection of the same phenomenon in the rise of TTP (Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan) or TNSM (which are one and the same thing) that seem to thwart the collective will of Muslims of Pakistan and the writ of the elected government through terrorism that has to be repudiated at all costs. The hand of Allah is at the back of the chosen representative of people who hold the sovereignty of Allah as a sacred trust to be implemented as per injunctions of Islam enshrined in the Holy Quran and Sunnah. [The Nation]
PUT EDHI SAHIB IN CHARGE
[M T Ali, Lahore]
Given the poor track record of the civil and uniformed bureaucracy of mishandling public donations for zakat, natural and man-made calamities, I would request Maulana Abdul Sattar Edhi to voluntarily take over charge of all relief operations and funds for rehabilitation of our displaced brethren from Swat, Buner and Dir. I would request the prime minister to place the PM fund at the sole disposal of a committee headed and run by Edhi sahib. [The News International]
TWISTED FREEDOM
[Mir Tabassum Mairaj, Islamabad]
“Agencies detain reporter in Peshawar” and “Give up propaganda, Taliban warn journalists” are two headlines that appeared in a section of the press, which reminded me that ours is the only country on Earth, where media is free and independent but not the journalists; where the Judiciary is independent but not the judges; where Parliament is independent but not the parliamentarians; where bodies are free but not the souls. [The Post]
ROEDAD KHAN AND AMERICA'S LACKEYS
[R Matif, London]
Basic safety advice says: when you are engulfed in flames, it is best to stay calm, sound an alarm, make an exit from the place of fire and then try and deal with the fire. I was puzzled to read the analysis by Roedad Khan: a lot of alarm but falling back on the same old yearning for 'strong leaders'-- some may argue the arsonists who started this fire in the first place. Mr Khan is right that jaw-jaw is always better than war-war; but jaw-jaw with people who are declaring all and sundry as 'kuffar' and liable to be killed, including those they are negotiating with? Talibanism is an ideology forcing itself at the barrel of a gun on an evidently unwilling nation. The ideas of the Taliban and the TNSM are so far off the charts that rightwing, religious organisations like the JUP and Tableeghi Jamaat have taken the unprecedented step to condemn them, directly. La patrie est en danger, mais les Taliban ne sont pas revolutionnaires francais.
The writer also indulges in the favourite pastime of a number of commentators who place all the problems of the Pakistan at the door of Washington or the new Pakistani leadership. Of course, it is entirely appropriate to criticise the incumbent government for the current situation. The president's missteps about the restoration of judges or his inability to implement his promise that he will give away his powers to parliament warrant it. Other derelictions of duty of the Pakistani leadership are that they haven't even visited the region of conflict, thus appearing disengaged, or providing a coherent policy for dealing with the economic woes of the country. But the debate could still be framed in objectivity and fairness and there is no reason to display selective amnesia about recent history or an attempt to reduce the other side to caricatures.
Does Mr Khan really think that the problems of Swat, FATA and PATA and the Taliban threat are really the work of the current 'Number One' and his misrule of just one year? Let us take the issue of Pakistan being a lackey of the US. Mr Zardari's government is certainly not the first to pursue a policy of compliance towards America, and given the current geo-political realities, neither will it be the last. The US secretary of state recently commented that the US, in the past, was culpable of supporting military dictators in Pakistan and admitted to their role in the creation of the Taliban monster and abandoning Pakistan in the 1990s. It is also not disputed that the US, to achieve its strategic interests, has given spades of military aid to Pakistan. He who pays the piper calls the tune, but all this money was not forced upon Pakistan. Who was responsible for taking the money and playing the tune?
If the Kerry-Lugar bill is approved, this will be the first time that a major aid package, with a substantial civilian aid element, is given to an elected government of Pakistan. The irony, the critics of US ignore, is that for the first time in the history of Pakistan-US relationship, the policy objectives are not only convergent, but also more urgent and important for Pakistan as a whole and its survival than for the US. But it is highly disingenuous of commentators to conflate the naked power-grabbing agenda of the likes of the TTP and Sufi Mohammad as a result of US policies towards Pakistan or the role of Mr Zardari's government which is still in its infancy. The flames now engulfing Swat were started in the early 1980s and have been stoked and maintained by various dictatorial governments of Pakistan. For they that sow the wind shall reap the whirlwind. The situation, by all accounts, in Swat is horrible. Helping the refugees should be the utmost priority. However, the long-term solution to the problem lies in controlling the fire, stabilising the situation, analysing its sources and causes, objectively, and doing something about it, patiently.
[The News International]
PEOPLE TAKE ON TALIBAN
[Editorial Dawn]
Even the worm turns. For long left at the mercy of the Taliban, the people of the Swat valley now seem to be mustering the courage to stand up to the rebels and fight back. As reported in this newspaper on Saturday, the effectiveness of the army’s operations against the Taliban has encouraged the non-combatants to organise their own defence to foil the Taliban’s attempt to re-enter the villages from where they had been dislodged by the army. Last Thursday non-combatants in Kalam beat back attempts by the rebels to get a foothold in the area to resume their activities. Even though a minority, the Taliban have shown ruthlessness in their attempt to impose their version of religion on the people of Swat, who traditionally have been cosmopolitan in outlook because of the valley’s tourism economy. The most barbaric aspect of the Taliban philosophy revealed itself in their attitude towards women: they beat up even those who had the ‘audacity’ to go to bazaars for essential shopping wearing a burka. They also brazenly advertised their anti-modernity ideology by blowing up schools and colleges. Devoid of the rudimentary concepts of compassion and mercy, the Taliban have slaughtered people and shown off their acts of barbarism on video.
Having destroyed the once-flourishing tourist trade, the Taliban further hurt the people’s livelihood by threatening tailors and barbers and blowing up CD shops. No wonder the people of Swat have realised that it is their own survival that is at stake and that they have no choice but to help the army crush the rebels. What the government should note is that this change in attitude has occurred because the army has finally decided to do its job to destroy the enemy. If they have confidence that the government will not once again make a ‘deal’ with the Taliban, and the army will not abandon them, the people may be more encouraged to fight the Taliban and be an asset in a conflict that has countrywide ramifications.
TO EACH HIS OWN
[Mahabat Khan Bangash, Peshawar]
I was disappointed to watch Capital Talk on May 20. Allama Jalil Naqvi was worried only for suicide bombing in imambargahs in Parachinar, Hangu, D I Khan, Chakwal, Lodhi Khel. Mulla Ejaz Qadri was concerned only for the killings of his party men in Nishtar Park in Karachi. Mufti Kifayatullah was pleading and supporting the case of the local Taliban. This reminded me of the time when Halakoo Khan had besieged Baghdad. When the Mongols entered the city they found clergy engaged in debate. And the rest is history. [The News International]
A PERNICIOUS DOCTRINE
[Editorial The Nation]
While extremism expresses itself in various forms and shapes, the views put forth by Sufi Mohammad represent a most pernicious strain of the phenomenon. His ideas which are shared only by a miniscule and highly primitive section of the population stand opposed to the moderate thinking of the Founding Fathers of Pakistan who stood for democracy, social justice, rule of law and modernism within the framework of a moderate Islam. Sufi Mohammad has rejected democracy and has expressed doubt about the credentials of the leadership of major religio-political parties who are operating within the framework of democracy, which he has castigated as a system created by Kuffar, or infidels, entirely incompatible with the Islamic Shariah. Like his followers in the Tehrik-e-Taliban-e-Pakistan, he considers all nation states in the Muslim world, including Saudi Arabia and Iran, as not being in conformity with Shariah. He refuses to consider the Kashmiris' struggle as jihad as this, in his view, is a struggle for a nation state or for joining Pakistan rather than for the enforcement of Shariah.
The views would provide solace to New Delhi while strengthening the perception that some of the elements among the militants enjoy foreign backing.
Sufi Mohammad's views about women are also highly primitive and in opposition to those of the Founding Fathers. The All India Muslim League led by the Quaid encouraged women's participation in the fight for Pakistan. For this, the party also created a women wing of the MSF. Some of the women Leaguers played prominent role in Pakistan movement. Others subsequently worked as legislators, ministers and ambassadors. Miss Fatima Jinnah not only stood by the Quaid in the struggle for Pakistan but also contested the Presidential elections against Ayub Khan with a number of prominent ulema supporting her candidature. Sufi Mohammad not only opposes female education but also disallows any movement of women outside the four walls of their homes with the sole exception of the travel to perform Haj. His ideas regarding women are out of sync with the times and amount to pushing the country back to the cave age.
QUIT THE COALITION, MAULANA
[Brig (r) Ishtiaq Ali Khan, Lahore]
Maulana Fazlur Rehman is now publicly opposing the army operation in Swat. He and his party say that force is not the answer to settle this crisis -- as if the force that the Taliban were using in Swat was the answer to this unfortunate problem. But at the same time he says he is not quitting the ruling coalition. Morally, therefore, he has no right to stay in the government because his party is opposing the government decision which has rightly decided to employ the army to deal with the Swat situation. If he still doesn't leave the ruling coalition, I request the ruling party to please ask him to quit the government. [The News International]
OUR GOLDEN TINCUPS
[Waseem Khan, Karachi]
The oft-repeated appeals of donations for the IDPs of Malakand and Swat by the filthy-rich rulers of this country often cause one to smile. Every citizen of this country knows their domestic and foreign accounts have billions of dollars stashed in them. I am sure if they could give only one percent of their 'hard earned' money for this cause, the people of Swat and Malakand can easily be taken care of. But, I am just as sure that nothing in their wealth is for the poor people of Pakistan. Hence they are begging from foreign governments and charities. [The Nation]
Issue of the Month: Marching along
JUDGES AND PUBLIC OFFICES
[Barrister Imran Khan, Canada]
Apropos of Nazim Haji’s letter, ‘’ (May 13) , I fully agree with the views of the writer. Only a few important points to add here: the judge should not allow lawyers who are his relative to appear before him in the court on behalf of his client. Such as DB-3 these days in the Sindh High Court still allows Rashid Rizvi and Anwar Mansoor to be heard before him, although now they have become relatives due to a wedding in their family. This rule is being blatantly violated by some judges who themselves are responsible for giving justice. [Dawn]
JUDICIAL FOIL TO OIL
[Sardar Ashraf Khan, Rawalpindi]
Apropos Fasi Zaka's column "Judicial foil to oil" (May 21), the superior judiciary has a huge amount of work in fixing its own house in order. With corruption high in most subordinate courts, long delays in case hearing and backlog of cases, and a near absence of capacity to adjucate on economic issues, the court needs to give more time to itself and let the government run the economy. The decision on fixing petroleum prices will devastate the revenue collection machinery of the government. I plead with the honourable chief justice to focus more on what is good for the country and less on what is popular for the court. [The News International]
JUDICIAL REFORM
[Shahid Ali, Islamabad]
The new judicial policy of Pakistan will be enforced from June 1, according to the media. Under this policy, bail applications are to be decided within seven days, and criminal cases are to be dealt within six months to a year. This policy is intended to improve the efficiency of the judicial system and also reduce the huge backlog of cases, some going back decades. It is hoped that this policy will be successful, as after the immensely successful lawyers’ movement, we need to build on that success and that can only be done through hard work and actual on-ground improvement of the system. The people have placed their trust in the judiciary to do their job and have supported it on the streets; it is now up to the judiciary to repay the people’s faith. [Daily Times]
PETROL PRICES
[Imran Wazeer, Islamabad]
The recent reduction in the price of petrol is a joke. It seems more like defiance of the Supreme Court’s order. [The News International]
LAWYERS! LAWYERS!
[Ali Ammar, Karachi]
The silence of the entire lawyers' community over pronouncements of Sufi Muhammad is really amazing and raises many questions about the true spirit of the lawyers' movement for the restoration of judiciary. They launched a full-fledged campaign and held protests for two when a few judges of the Supreme Court were removed. They were ready to lay down their lives for the cause of free judiciary. However the complete cessation of judiciary in Swat by Taliban and TNSM has not provoked any reaction from the legal fraternity. This shows the efforts of the lawyers were merely for restoration of their favourite judges rather than independence and supremacy of judiciary.
[The Nation]
LAWYERS’ MOVEMENT
[Shoaib Akif, Islamabad]
This is with reference to some letters appeared questioning the silence of lawyers’ movement regarding the Taliban. It’s an attempt to justify the silence of the lawyers’ movement regarding that. As a matter of fact, we do not have a true law at all right from the beginning in 1947. We had one when we were a part of India, in the shape of Indian Independence Act of 1935. It was a secular one. We mixed it with religion in 1949 in the form of Objective Resolution. According to the Resolution, no law can be made against Sharia of Islam and the resolution will be the preamble of all constitutions in future. Movement of lawyers against Taliban could invite the destructive wrath of active Taliban (25,000) and potential more than 160 million (excluding me) in this country. The lawyers have rightly left this matter to the producer and protector of the Taliban to take care of it.They will take care of the Taliban but cannot sustain it for long. [The Frontier Post]
Issue of the month: Strengthening the establishment PPP style
WHY NOT A ROVING PRESIDENT?
[Zaheer Hussein, Hyderabad]
Why not have a roving President who loves to remain away from country, in fire or out of fire? He can throw few buckets of begged dollars to give his input no matter what it costs to national sovereignty and its pride. He must remain an absolute ruler more despotic than his NRO mentor, Musharraf. He must trespass parliament resolutions at will, delay inordinately passing peace accord on nazame adle to appease Obama, adjouring parliament suddenly to circumvent giving guideline (can he think of some giving him any advice) before he left to meet his mentors in USA and brother Karzai, enemy of Pakistan. While 15 lakh people of Swat, Malakand, Buner, Dir etc region have been made refugees, he hops stops and jumps in foreign capitals to get ton loads of fresh oxygen from his fond cities.
Because, when he comes back, he cannot walk ten feet outside the President prison house without costing nation one million dollars for every occasion. Everything happens under the watch of PPP-AZ toadies, MQM, MMA, ANP. Unfortunately Long March stopped at Gujranawala gave the worst ever incompetent clout of PPP-AZ, MMA, MQM, ANP government more opportunities to destroy national peace into present tragedy where disintegration, insurgencies, separatism movements starks us and poor have been plundered by few looters due to the rampant corruption, misgovernance and incompetence. Let there be new Long March to get country rid of the enemies, corrupts of nation within and outside to save our independence. May Allah save Pakistan, Amin! [Pakistan Observer]
RULE OF LAW
[Rafi Ahmed, Karachi]
IN all the critical discussions on the welfare of our country in the numerous TV talk shows we are reminded of lack of governance, ineffective judiciary and lack of rule of law, so much so that even an alien, US President Obama, expressed his concern on all these factors in his 100th day governance address at a news conference on April 29. Many panelists and TV anchors express the view that the change must originate from the people. You only have to drive on the roads to determine how much respect for the law the people have. And coming back to Mr Obama’s 100th day address, our government has surpassed 400 days. Can our prime minister highlight what he has accomplished? [Dawn]
FG ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT
[Khalid Mustafa, Islamabad]
Here is the Federal Government Annual Progress Report for the term 2008-09 for the public approval as Principal. S. Subject Marks %age 1. Law & 28 order situation 2. Food, clothing 22 & shelter 3. Print media 55 independence 4. Electricity to 18 general public 5. Water & sanitation 38 services 6. Nuclear policy 32 7. Student unions 00 restoration 8. Armed Forces 58 utilization 9. Fund raising 60 10. Health & 34 education facilities 11. Political stability 37 12. Bench & Bar 57 relations Note: The report is based on last 12 months performance. The government overall performance is not so satisfactory, so far and special attention is needed to improve the existing performance in the subjects at Serial Nos. 1, 2, 4, 6 & 7 to come up to passing percentage of 33. [The Frontier Post]
SHOCKING ATTITUDE
[Zaheer Hussein, Hyderabad]
It is shocking to watch PPP ministers, party representatives, men or women elected or not, behaving like Czars in TV talk shows. They are intolerant to opposite views of guests on identifying ares of improvement (presently on IDPS), intimidatory and threatening to anchors. Giving shut up call to guests of different opinions, teaching them manners, threatening to leave the programmes when opposed, which appears like a standard modus operndi to confuse and hoodwink failures. They let Swat, Malakand go to dogs and to finally make defense forces take military action resulting in two million or more IDPS which is foremost responsibility of PPP, MQM,ANP to handle efficiently. The whole nation is behind IDPs, defense forces which should not be taken as people behind PPP who have lost trust of nation. [Pakistan Observer]
A DEBT STILL OWED
[Khurshid Anwer, Lahore]
Malik Tariq Ali in his letter waxes forth on reopening of what is popularly known as the judicial murder of Bhutto. He talks of a statement made by one of the judges but ignores the statement of the chief justice: "Some judges may have had political compulsions, but we all knew Bhutto was guilty as hell". Also could the judges hailing from Sindh have continued to live in Karachi, with their families, after signing Bhutto's death warrant. Even the judges and lawyers in Lahore had to be provided police protection for many years. Was not Justice Mushtaq targeted? Did or did not the FSF men ambush Ahmed Raza Kasuri and end up killing his father. Was their hanging also judicial murder? Why is not any credence paid to the intended victim who says he was targeted 13 times. That Bhutto tried his best to get him to retract the FIR. Why was Bhutto so worried if he was not guilty?
Then Malik Saheb vents his anger on Masood Mahmood and Saeed Ahmed. My question is, does an innocent person ever turn approver? Turning approvers is proof enough of their complicity in the assassination. And pray, on whose behalf could they have been playing this life and death drama at the risk of their own lives. Why is it so difficult to believe that a political opponent was targeted. An opponent who had defied Bhutto to go to Dhaka and later accused him most viciously to his face of breaking up the country. Are we being asked to believe that a feudal, wadera like Bhutto would have taken such insults meekly. Even actor Muhammad Ali was targeted after he had criticised Bhutto for having waderas in his cabinet. Bhutto himself provided the proof by sending an emissary to say sorry. Also, was it the first political murder in Pakistan? What about the assassination of Liaquat Ali khan? And was it the last political murder. Bhutto himself is guilty of at least four such murders, according to Sherbaz Khan Mazari. And was not the murder of Murtaza Bhutto a political one? Why is that case not being reopened? [The Frontier Post]
SUPPORTING ITSELF IN POWER
[T. S. Bokhari, Attock City]
The PPP government has raised the support price of wheat to ensure that the commodity owned mainly by the feudals and the big land lords is not sold at a cheaper rate determined by the free market. And they have done so with out regard for whether the people have enough purchasing power to purchase it. I wonder why it is always the PPP that is responsible for taking the major anti-people measures during its regime. The founder chairman of the party used to boast that it was he who had made the oil-exporting Muslim countries to use oil as a political weapon and raise its price. While doing so, he always ignored the fact that how this price hike affected the poor oil importing countries like Pakistan.
PPP it is during whose tenure the financial discipline went to dogs and the inflation shot up to an unprecedented level resulting in the steep fall in the price of labour. Unfortunately they had no plan for supporting price of labour. The people got pauperised as a result and started running away from their motherland by hook or crook risking even their lives in the process. PPP has also played havoc on the political side by making a deal in Swat with TNSM by pursuing their time-honoured policy of 'Udhar tum idhar hum' purely with the objective of keeping itself in power. [The Nation]
NOT A KINDERGARTEN SCHOOL
[A M Mustafa, Peshawar]
The media men suddenly found a modified President in a dinner held recently ( though not from his personal purse).They should realize that country is not a Kindergarten or Nursery School for Presidents, Prime Ministers, Ministers to learn from their mistakes which has already made Pakistan most risky State heading towards chaos and anarchy. I would request JI, TI, ML-N, ML-Q to file petition with SCP to undo the constitutional wrongs of PPP-Zardari to set the democracy on right constitutional path alongside disbanding NRO.ML-N should play the real ‘ opposition’ to save poor from the cruelest clutches of incompetent PPP-Z government. [Pakistan Observer]
MR. PRESCIENT
[Khurshid Anwer, Lahore]
Ali Tariq in his letter to The Nation (April 15) says, "Bhutto laid down the basic infrastructure for developing an industrial base". How wrong can one be. It was actually Ayub Khan who laid down the basic infrastructure for developing an industrial base. Bhutto with his wrong-headed nationalization policy ruined Pakistan's prospects for becoming an industrialized nation. Even his Finance Minister, Dr Mobashir Hasan, was very critical of the way industry had been nationalized. In an 18 page letter, he had warned against increasing state-control of the economy welcome as it seemed at first sight, because it was not without its own perils.
He wrote, "The intervention by the state to avert a collapse of a particular channel of production and distribution is to be welcomed only when the management is transferred in good hands and the management policies are sound. But in the existing situation, leaving the machinery of state in control of those having personal interests in conflict with the rest of the society, and who are inefficient and corrupt besides, would neither help avert a collapse nor strengthen the government. In fact, it would make the situation worse. It is a sure invitation to military intervention and disaster". Surely Dr Mobashir Hasan knew what he was talking about! [The Nation]
AN EXPENSIVE DINNER
[Engr.Munawar Hussain]
This has reference to the most expensive dinner hosted by Pakistan Ambassador to the US Hussani Haqqani in honor of President Zardari at Pakistani embassy in Washington. This dinner was attended by nearly 2000 people at an expensive cost of half a million dollars. It is suggested the government must seek an explanation call from Hussain Haqqani why he has arranged such a lavish dinner when the worst humanitarian crisis in Pakistan history is looming in Swat region. In stead of dinner our Ambassador should have sent half a million dollars for the welfare of the displaced persons.
[The Frontier Post]
DEMOCRACY'S SCOURGE
[Dr Fuad Shafiq, Lahore]
The mullah of Swat is being condemned for verbal outbursts against the constitution, parliament and democracy. Can anybody please explain what measures have been taken against the 'gentleman' who practically broke the constitution more than once, dismissed the parliament, humiliated the parliamentarians and ridiculed democracy for almost a decade. He is still receiving VIP treatment in and outside the country. Nobody in the government and establishment has the courage or the will to criticize and condemn him. The elite of our nation has always shown double standards on all important national issues. [The Nation]
MONEY!
[A. Sarfraz, Karachi]
It is August. In a small town on the South Coast of France, holiday season is in full swing, but it is raining so there is not too much business happening. Everyone is heavily in debt. Luckily, a rich Russian tourist arrives in the foyer of the small local hotel. He asks for a room and puts a Eurol00 note on the reception counter, takes a key and goes to inspect the room located up the stairs on the third floor. The hotel owner takes the banknote in a hurry, and rushes to his meat supplier to whom he owes E100. The butcher takes the money and races to his supplier to pay his debt. The wholesaler rushes to the farmer to pay E100 for pigs he purchased some time ago. The farmer triumphantly gives the E100 note to a local prostitute whom he owed E100.
The prostitute goes quickly to the hotel, as she owed the hotel for her room use. At that moment, the rich Russian is coming down to reception and informs the hotel owner that the proposed room is unsatisfactory and takes his E100 back and departs. There was no profit or income. But everyone no longer has any debt and the small town people look optimistically towards their future. Could this be the solution to the global financial crisis? [Business Recorder]
TANKS GUARDING A ‘JHUGGI’
[Zarqa Javed, Islamabad]
The people of this country have been made fools for 60 years in the name of ‘national security’. With every new “Ghauri and Ghaznavi” launched, chants of Allah-o-Akbar were raised and we were told that we were safe. With each ugly replica of “Chaghi Hills” and these missiles installed on the road crossings we were assured that we had arrived on the world nuclear scene. So what if East Pakistan was gone but Kashmir would be ours one day, we were told. When independent analysts cried hoarse saying that governments and the state needed to do something to improve the quality of the human capital and divert resources from weapons and defence, they were labelled as traitors. And look where we are now.
The situation of Pakistan seems like that of a ‘jhuggi’ with 170 million hungry, illiterate and impoverished souls living inside it waiting for a miracle to happen. Outside there are tanks installed with nuclear bombs and missiles for the safety of the jhuggi-walahs. The ‘security guards’ who protect these jhuggi-dwellers are all well-fed and live in modern homes. How many times have we — and the rest of the world — been assured by our political and military leadership that our nuclear assets ‘are safe”? Yes, they are safe, but what about the people, what about the nation itself — are they safe? It’s time to ask such questions and it’s time to raise our voices. Heads must roll, starting with a debate on holding those accountable who created these monsters in the name of national security. [The News International]
A GOOD OMEN
[Mahabat Khan Bangash, Peshawar]
It is good news that Bangladesh government is hiring UN experts for the trial of 1971 war criminals. Every military dictator inflicted irreparable loss to this country during their tenure and then escaped accountability every time. This encouraged yet another general for another adventure, till Musharraf. Let the UN investigate into the massacre of human life during 1971 war and bring the war criminals to justice, whether living here or there. It is the time that Hamood-ur-Rehman Commission Report should be made public so that the real culprits should be exposed, which would help the UN team in investigations. [The Frontier Post]
HAS GOVERNMENT ABDICATED ITS AUTHORITY?
[Dr Mushtaque Ahmed Qureshi, Islamabad]
After reading Amanullah Turk’s letter, ‘Where is the writ of government in Karachi?’ (April 30), and the investigative report of Dawn, ‘Lyari violence was instigated by third party’, of the same date, every law-abiding citizen must have felt ashamed. Mr Turk is very right that the perilous conditions of Lyari are not less worrisome than what is happening in the tribal belt of the country. I would like to add here that in tribal areas at least the government has realised, albeit late, the threat of the Taliban and awakened from its earlier complacency: at present armed forces are fighting the violators of law seriously to restore the government’s writ. In Karachi, however, the state machinery appears to have abdicated its authority by handing over governance to the notorious gangs of criminals as detailed in the report.
Now it is these law-breakers who have become arbitrators of peace and tranquillity of people living in these old quarters of the metropolis. These antagonising gangs of criminals have now come to terms and established peace committees in the troubled localities. But lo and behold, there is no free lunch as these so-called peace committees charge from the area businessmen exorbitant ‘fee’ (bhatta) to have smooth sailing. The people have not voted the government in power to hand over the fate of its citizens to the criminals as has been maintained in the report mentioned above. This is the most appropriate situation where the chief justice of Pakistan may invoke his suo motu powers and get the people of the city respite from unlawful activities of a bunch of criminals. [Dawn]
WHITHER BALOCHISTAN
[Hussain K Baluch, Rawalpindi]
I am neither a political analyst nor an expert in current affairs. I am just a retired government official, who is extremely disturbed by the situation in our northern and western provinces. We have been taught in our early school days that Balochistan is a province, which is teeming with natural resources. We are led to believe that there are huge oil and gas reservoirs, massive quantities of Gold, Silver, Chromium and Copper, and many other minerals. The development of Saindak mining project is a clear evidence of that. Why now it is learnt that many armoured watchtowers have been erected all along the Makran coast, the reason for which is difficult to fathom. Gwadar Port has been constructed and the strategically located Ormara as well. Several air bases are rumoured to have been established at Dalbandin and Nushki, capable of handling heaviest of the cargo aeroplanes. I may be pessimistic, but I cannot help seeing the writing on the wall. The province of Balochistan appears to be ripe for “independence†through the help of vested (anti-Pakistan) nations. A clear, uninterrupted passage from the Central Asian ex-Russian states to the Arabian sea is evidently the goal I wish some experts and political analyst would offer their opinions on the subject and expose any possible nefarious designs. [The Frontier Post]
STOP BLAMING FOREIGN HANDS!
[Kashif Khan, Islamabad]
The Pakistani people are getting tired of hearing the same old excuses for everything that goes wrong in our country. Be it the economy, terrorism or any other issue, we are more likely to blame someone else than look at where we ourselves have gone wrong. And it is because of this national tendency that we have not corrected the many things that we have done wrong over the years. Therefore, instead of blaming “hidden hands” and “foreign conspiracies”, we should ensure that we become strong and confident ourselves. We must realise that these hidden hands, if they exist, can only be successful because we allow them to be. If we eliminate our weaknesses, we need to fear no one. [Daily Times]
RETIRED MAFIA AT BAY
[Zaid Ibne Ali, Karachi]
The National Assembly has referred a bill to its relevant standing committee on April 14, 2009 proposing a quick legislation against reappointment of retired employees on contact basis at government and semi-government organizations. Federal Minister for Parliamentary Affairs did not oppose this bill but argued that such a permission of reappointment of retired employees usually provides rooms for wrongdoing and exploitation of young employees at government and semi-government organizations. The bill is a timely step to curb such wrongdoing. Given the rising unemployment in the country, this bill should be passed by National Assembly as soon as possible. In addition to this, the federal government should also take notice of the organizations where succession planning is not being carried out properly. Usually the reappointment of retired employees are made due to absence or lack of succession planning. All over the world, succession planning is regarded as an important HR tool to provide more scope for organizations to grow in desired direction in line with contemporary professional practices and ethics. [The Nation]
RIDICULOUS SPENDING
[Changez Ali, Islamabad]
The propensity of our government to waste is incredible. Daily Times reported on April 29 that the Islamabad Capital Development Authority plans to spend another 6.67 billion rupees on ‘development work’ in the capital. This includes Rs 790 million on rehabilitating the Foreign Office building’s air conditioning system; other costs include CCTV systems at Parliament House, new family apartments for parliamentarians and a presidential housing scheme. Our leaders are building this Versailles in complete disregard for the conditions of our economy and our people. This money would be better spent on schools and hospitals, or tools to help fight the Talibanisation of Pakistan. Or the money could’ve been used to improve the police force.
Policy should always cater to the circumstances surrounding the policy makers. With Pakistan begging just to stay afloat, our leaders think they can still carry on with business as usual, spending state money for their own schemes. It is obvious that most of the money for these schemes will end up in the pockets of various contractors and associates of the high and mighty. Meanwhile the bureaucrats at the FO get a new air conditioning system despite the fact that no one has done a day’s work there since Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s time. These people are intent on destroying our country and running it into the ground. They care about nothing but themselves. Most of them don’t even now how to spend their ill-gotten money and waste it on ugly and expensive junk.
All we want to see is a bit of humility and a little wisdom. [Daily Times]
THE POOREST OF THE POOR
[Mahabat Khan Bangash, Peshawar]
Some poorest of the poor of this country like Musharraf, Shaukat Aziz, etc. are being facilitated in the utility bills of their residences, as reported in an English newspaper. When I compared my utility bills with those of these poorests’, I was consoled to myself that either I stand in the upper class of the society like Musharraf and Shaukat Aziz or they stand at the level of the lower middle class like me. I shall suggest that some help from Zakat Funds should be earmarked for these “poors” on monthly basis to enable them to meet two ends of their families in such hard days of inflation.
[The Frontier Post]
CLOSE IT DOWN. NOW!
[Rashid Orakzai, Quetta]
PIA is facing an all-time high loss of Rs 75 billion while its overpaid pilots are demanding fantastic salary raises of over 35%. The only remedy for this is to close down the airline temporarily. PIA's politically-appointed management, with relatively little or no managerial skills and questionable professional integrity, is not qualified to take on the responsibility of running such a massive enterprise. Tens of billions of rupees have gone down the drain. The raises PIA pilots are demanding would set in motion a chain reaction with engineers following suit immediately and others rising afterwards. Years ago when Philippine Airlines was facing huge losses and persistent demands for salary hikes, the government decided to close down the airline and suspend all operations. It first fired everybody, then chose to rehire a select few and run the airline with drastic reduction of schedules, manpower and other liabilities. The other option is to privatize it immediately and lease out its key operations to other airlines and wait for the time when PIA is hammered into new shape by commercial operators. This airline has bled for decades in revenues due to pilferage in procurement and all pervasive corruption. Time to lay it at rest. [The Nation]
A SPENDAHOLIC GOVERNMENT
[Khurshid Anwer, Lahore]
The British Conservative Party leader has said, "The spendaholic Labour party has to be replaced with the Party of Thrift". I say the spendaholic People's Party has to be replaced with some Party of Thrift. Around the world, US private sector has shed 742,000 jobs.
All over the world, companies and governments are shedding jobs to revive their economies. But Pakistan is merrily re-employing workers laid off many years ago in their thousands, with retrospective benefits, without any consideration as to whether or not any jobs exist. This is featherbedding of the worst kind. Why? Because the voters have to kept happy? PPP is protecting its vote bank at the cost of the nation. [The Nation]
THE SORRY LIFE OF A TRAFFIC WARDEN
[Traffic wardens, City traffic police, Rawalpindi]
The Punjab chief minister is kindly requested to look into the system of traffic wardens that is now operational is five districts of Punjab. The crux of our predicament is that when we -- and most of us are graduates or even post-graduates -- try to enforce the law on the roads, we realise that there is one law for the influential and the rich and one law for everybody else. When we passed out from Sihala we swore that we would perform our duty with full devotion and responsibility and that we would implement the law without discrimination. But soon enough we realised how naive we were. The fact is that for enforcing the law we end up facing humiliation from our own officers and often from area influentials, especially MPAs. A case in point is what happened when one of our colleagues was fining a driver at Marir Chowk some months ago. All of a sudden a PML-N MPA in his luxury vehicle came by. Since the vehicle in front of him was being fined, the MPA's vehicle had some trouble negotiating that section of the road. The MPA immediately rang up the chief traffic officer who without even inquiring as to what was actually happening suspended our colleague. The poor man remained suspended for three months and had to apologise to the PML-N MPA before he was restored to his post. Even otherwise, when we try and impose a fine -- which is not more than Rs400 -- we often meet stiff resistance from the rich and the powerful.
We haven't any grudge against the CTO or the said MPA. We just want to ensure that no one is exempt from the law. And this is only possible, if you we are given worthy officers like Zubair Hashmi and Sultan Taimoori. We request the Punjab chief minister to look into our predicament and take measures to make life easy for us. At least one step could be to build some kind of housing colony for traffic wardens since accommodation expenses take up a major chunk of our salary. [The News International]
IQBAL BANO
[Omar Tarin, Abbotabad]
The sad demise of the ever-glorious Iqbal Bano is a tragic blow to the entire nation, nay, to music in the subcontinent. While her haunting renditions of Ghalib and Faiz will always remain to provide us joy, I wish to remember her here, please, on a more personal level. I first had the honour of briefly meeting Iqbal Bano in 1977 or 1978 at the Ferozepur Road residence of the legendary South Asian movie director, late Anwar Kamal Pasha -- a great-uncle of mine, for whose movies she sang some of her most classic songs during the 1950s -- and the memory will always be fresh in my mind. Some meetings influence us in ways we cannot fathom, and I recollect Iqbal Bano's quiet and dignified manner and her very erudite discussion with my great-uncle on Akhtari Bai Faizabadi, and on some of the great subcontinental gharanas, that fine winter's day. I also recollect, very clearly indeed, a remark she made. Someone in that mehfil talked about Ghalib and the 'theme of love' in his poetry and complimented Iqbal Bano on the way she sang/interpreted Ghalib: to which she replied in Urdu, "Ji yehi ishq hai" (This is love). She loved her vocation, was passionate in vocalising the best of our Urdu poetry, and truly immortalised some fine verse through the medium of her art for many. That is, after all, indicative of a true mystical and lofty love, 'becoming' the song, the beloved; and that is her eternal monument.
I had the felicity of listening to her a number of times subsequently, and each time I could not help being moved by the sheer love and purity that shone through her voice. It is ominous, in that respect, that she passed away at this time when the hate-mongering and bigoted Taliban are systematically eating away at the love and beauty that was ever the mark of our faith. With her passing, a whole world has passed away and we are all very much the poorer. May she rest in peace, amen.
[The News International]
DYING LIBRARIES
[Editorial The Post]
The historic Jinnah Library is presently in a dilapidated condition with wide cracks in the walls and ceiling, dampness and a stodgy odour in every corner. The building was once the pride of Lahore, a grand white structure that was admired by the onlookers. Now, it presents a picture of apathy and neglect since little effort has been made to preserve this historic structure. The absence of Board of Governors for the last eight months is a major reason for the deplorable condition of the library. A sum of Rs1.7 million had been sanctioned by the Higher Education Department for the restoration of the building in September 2008, but no work has been done in this regard till now. Moreover, two new extension basement blocks are being constructed around the library but no attention has been paid to the original building which is in dire need of restoration and preservation. The two extensions have been under construction for more than two years and till today the project remains incomplete.
The fact that one of the most prominent and historic libraries in Pakistan is in such a deplorable condition, does not bode well for the other less prominent libraries in the country. Libraries are of paramount importance in any developed or developing country. Sadly, in Pakistan libraries have been profoundly neglected to such an extent that most of the public libraries are in ruins. It is lamentable considering the fact that most of the libraries in the country are a part of the rich cultural heritage of Pakistan as they were founded in the early 19th century. However, the utter lack of concern of the relevant authorities and the irresponsible behaviour of the citizens has played a part in bringing the libraries to their current situation. Most of the libraries are grossly under-stocked with a limited number of books and journals. Universities and colleges do not put emphasis on the importance of research work and as a result the students hardly ever go to a library to consult the relevant material. In any educational institution in Pakistan, the library is without a doubt the emptiest place with only a handful of students present.
Easy access to internet has also reduced the importance of libraries since any information that the students need is just a click away. The point that the students and the authorities need to understand is that the internet cannot replace the libraries. If that were the case there would not be any libraries in the developed countries. Yet, in the West libraries are still very important and are well maintained and well funded. In Pakistan, libraries are not properly administered and one often finds difficulty in locating books due to improper or erroneous cataloguing. Moreover, students who borrow books often neglect to return them, thus causing monetary and administrative damage to the libraries. Many times, the books that are returned are not in the same condition in which they were lent and often pages have been torn out. This kind of behaviour is very common in our society and has contributed in the decline of public libraries in Pakistan.
Libraries play a very important role in educating the masses and need to be well-maintained so that they can function properly. The Education Minister and the relevant authorities should take notice of the poor condition of the historical libraries of Pakistan and take immediate measures for their restoration and preservation. The government should allocate more funds for the maintenance of libraries. Moreover, we should all act as responsible citizens and respect the property of the libraries.
SANITATION IS DIGNITY
[F. H. Mughal, Karachi]
Over two million people, most of them children, die each year from diseases owing to inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene. The number of deaths is equivalent to 10 jumbo planes, packed with children, crashing each day. An overview of visit to various towns in Sindh shows that sanitation is either non-existent or where it exists, it is in deplorable condition. The government of Sindh should understand that sanitation saves lives and the faster the government acts, the more lives can be saved. A child’s life could be saved every 20 seconds, if safe drinking water and basic sanitation were available. This improvement could reduce 80 per cent of all sickness and disease. Health improvements would permit more dignified lifestyles, providing each man, woman or child with more time to work, learn or care for the family. Access to clean water and sanitation at an affordable price is a fundamental human right. Sanitation provides privacy and protects women from inconvenience. The Sindh government should recognise the potential of sanitation for human development and act quickly.
Unless the government immediately plans to protect people from malaria, dysentery, cholera and other serious infections, their number in Sindh will rise steeply within the next three years. Hardest hit will be the marginalised poor living in villages. In Sindh, many children have lost their lives due to poor sanitation. Their rights to an adequate standard of living and to the highest attainable standard of health are enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, a treaty ratified by nearly every country in the world. Sanitation is the best preventive medicine. Safe sanitation and clean water can save 5,000 children under the age of five per day. Sanitation contributes to gender equality, access to education and dignity. Toilet facilities provide privacy and prevent women from experiencing abuse while defecating openly. Their own health is safeguarded while they gain time to further their education and contribute to their family’s well-being.
Clean toilets contribute to poverty eradication by protecting one’s health and ability to work. Good school sanitation is essential for keeping children in school, particularly girls. Education is the foundation for development. Two hundred million school days could be gained every year if sanitation is improved. Girls bear the burden of water collection, which can take many hours a day, leaving them with no time or energy for school. A study by Bangladesh and Unicef in 1994 revealed an 11 per cent increase in girls’ enrolment mainly due to the provision of sanitary latrines. Healthy children spend more time in school and help create an educated society. Sanitation protects water and soil resources from pollution. Stabilised human excreta can be used as soil conditioner. Treated urine and faeces are excellent fertilisers. Biogas provides renewable energy. Reuse of treated wastewater results in water savings.
Sanitation should be viewed as an opportunity. Each rupee invested into sanitation results in economic return worth Rs10. Meeting the Millennium Development Goal for sanitation would cost about $10bn every year, but yield benefits upwards of nearly $200bn. In Sindh, almost all excreta-laden wastewater is discharged untreated into canals, which are used downstream as sources of water supply. In Sindh, the chief secretary and the additional chief secretary, planning and development department, are the key actors as they guide and drive the development in Sindh. I would request them to take the issue of sanitation, together with the issue of safe water supply and hygiene, on a war footing. The recently-established, ADB-funded Sindh Cities Improvement Programme is an appropriate forum, which can embark upon the programme of providing adequate sanitation facilities in Sindh. [Dawn]
CORPORATE ROLE IN HUMANITARIAN RELIEF
By Zarak Ishaq Khan
[The writer is Financial Management Consultant, London. This article first appeared in Business Recorder on May 16, 2009.]
Pakistan is known to have one of the fastest developing economies in the world. At present, our economy is going through a political and economical turmoil. Recently, we went through a major financial crisis. Research by Bloomberg and Hess shows that the presence of a recession coupled with war increases the probability of internal conflict between two- and three-fold. Such dynamics are suggestive of a poverty conflict trap.
There are various channels and levels through which economic downturn affects social stability viz. Unemployment, ethnic violence, the role of political groups creating social unrest, association with religious intensity and migration (Internally Displaced Persons). The presence of all the above dynamics has had an adverse impact on the social stability of our country. We all benefit from a socially and economically stable country but the biggest beneficiaries are the businesses and companies of the country. The role of a business in an open market economy system is not only to create wealth for shareholders, employees and customers but also for the society at large. Global corporations have long supported humanitarian activities in regions hit by catastrophe similar to the Tsunami in 2004 and Kashmir earthquake in 2005.
It should become companies' business to play a vital role in promoting stability and preventing violent conflict in the country in which they operate. From a business perspective, social stability and the prevention of instability are of obvious importance. Social and economic instability represent significant threats to companies' growth prospects.
An economic solution may, however, make a contribution as there are basic human needs which need to be satisfied before higher level needs may be met. For this reason, there is an urgent need for humanitarian support through philanthropic programmes by companies for the IDPs in Pakistan. If these needs are not satisfied, desperate behaviour may occur, including aggression. Aggression may lead to further conflict.
The current crisis in Pakistan gives an opportunity for companies to re-examine their options and consider humanitarian activities in terms of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Companies should enhance their interest in corporate humanitarian partnerships. They should take critical steps in building successful links between companies and humanitarian organisations and identify good management practices in these partnerships. When successful, these partnerships will have the potential to deliver fast, effective support during a crisis, help build capacity between disasters, and foster the exchange of ideas and best practices that benefit both businesses and humanitarian organisations.
Humanitarian organisations which regarded cash as the only useful corporate donation now recognise that businesses have more to offer in terms of goods, human resource services, expertise, and technology. Being a good corporate citizen should be at the heart of most companies. Companies continuing to help the unfortunate in our society will prove their commitment to the communities in which these companies operate. [Courtesy Business Recorder]
ODE TO THE PEOPLE OF KATLANG
[Sabina Rizwan Khan, Karachi]
I salute the people of the village of Katlang in Mardan district, many of whom for the past 10 days have moved out of their own homes and with their relatives, so that they can accommodate the IDPs of Swat and Buner. For the last 10 days, the IDPs are being provided three meals a day, beds, clothing and access to medical care. And these people of Katlang who are doing this are not particularly well-off but they want to help their fellow Pakistanis. I respectfully and with pride salute all those unsung heroes of Catlaang who are helping people in these times of distress, showing the world that Pakistan is still united and it will remain so. I also salute our soldiers who are fighting and giving up their lives so that we can live! Remember we owe them, and to pay our tribute to our heroes' sacrifices for us, we as a nation, need to stay together and united. [The News International]
Edited and prepared by
Khalil Ahmad
Email: khalilkf@yahoo.com khalil@asinstitute.org
[FreePakistan Newsletter, among other things, is a compilation of views and news taken from the national newspapers’ print and online editions. It is not possible to mention the source of every piece of news or view made use of herein; but as a matter of policy, where possible the source is mentioned with due thanks. However, no opinion expressed here should necessarily be taken as reflecting the view of Free Pakistan Newsletter.]
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