KHI 29-03-2012_Layout 1 3/29/2012 3:35 AM Page 11
Thursday, 29 March, 2012
Editor’s mail 11
resolving national problems There is no denying the fact that Pakistan is facing all sorts of problems most of which are lingering on as unresolved for varying reasons for years together. Somehow, all these problems, list of which is pretty long, are left to the political parties who are in power at the national and provincial levels for finding their solutions and resolving them. other parties assume the role of opposition and they keep on firing their guns on the federal and provincial governments for failing in doing this and that without realising their own obligations and duties in this regard, even though they may be sitting on the opposition benches in the national and provincial legislatures. PML(Q) President Chaudhry Shu-
jaat Hussain is a seasoned politician who is known to have positive thinking and approach to the national problems. According to the reports appearing in the media in recent days, the elder of the Chaudhry Brothers from Gujrat has said at least on two occasions in Lahore and Islamabad that for resolving the national issues and problems all parties will have to work together and that the parties should evolve a strategy by consensus regarding all national level problems including load shedding and try to play their role for resolving them in the larger national interests. The reports mentioned him saying this while talking to media in Lahore and Islamabad on two different occasions including one after meeting of the
A women only party Central Parliamentary Party of PML (Q) meeting in the federal capital the other day. one may have affiliation with a party and differences with some others, but it goes without emphasising that the problems being faced by the nation and the country have to be addressed on priority basis and efforts made to resolve them at the earliest possible. Today’s ruling party may be sitting on the opposition benches tomorrow and vice versa. Political parties should be working together to try to resolve the people’s problems making their contributions without indulging in criticism merely for sake of criticism. Ch Shujaat Hussain has quite rightly said that all parties should be working
together and evolve line of action by consensus by resolving the problems faced by the nation and the country. Quite obviously, he means that all petty vested interests should be brushed aside and the parties should be looking towards and working to serve the national interests on which there could be and must not be any compromise. All political parties’ top leadership should give due consideration to what an elderly sensible politician like Ch Shujaat Hussain has said and work out how they can work together in the larger national interests putting aside the petty vested interests. This is indeed the dire need of the hour. TARIQ JAVED Lahore
Memo case Pakistan's former envoy to the US Husain Haqqani has sought the Supreme Court's permission to record his testimony to the Memo Commission via video link. Husain Haqqani has made a fresh request to the Supreme Court seeking similar facilities as those provided to Mansoor Ijaz, the main character of the Memogate. If Husain Haqqani is linking his video link with Mansoor Ijaz’s, then it will be interesting to see whether Husain Haqqani will give his Blackberry pin to Memo Commission just like Mansoor Ijaz did. A few days back, Husain Haqqani stated that I have forgotten Blackberry pin codes. My question is if anyone forgets his/her Blackberry pin codes, then is there any procedure of recovering it or one has to buy new Blackberry? MUBASHIR MAHMOOD Karachi
Toulouse killings
Mumtaz Bhutto and nS As per press report, Mumtaz Bhutto, chief of Sindh National Front (SNF) has said that Mian Nawaz Sharif is not antiSindh whereas he is preparing for a merger of his party into Pakistan Muslim League (N) in the near future. Mumtaz Bhutto who is a seasoned politician may be right but the people of Sindh generally want to ask him three questions to reply in order to supplement his claim: 1. why did Nawaz Sharif not launch/complete any mega development project in Sindh during his two tenures as prime minister (a total period of about six years)? 2. why did Nawaz Sharif abandon two mega development projects launched by Shaheed Benazir Bhutto in Sindh ie, Keti Bunder and Thar Coal project? 3. why is Nawaz Sharif not convincing his younger brother Shahbaz Sharif, chief minister of Punjab, not to object on release of at least 10 MAF water Kotri downstream as envisaged in water Accord-1991 to avoid further environmental disaster and human tragedy in Sindh? I hope that Mumtaz Bhutto or Mian Nawaz Sharif would like to reply in detail to satisfy the people of Sindh. MOHAMMAD KHAN SIAL Karachi
road blockage A section of Khayaban-e-Saadi that leads down to Marine Promenade has now been blocked off and is solely for official use. This means that the other side of the road that leads to Bilawal Chowrangi has been transformed into a double road, converting a service lane into a full-fledged road. The commercial area used to have a service lane solely catering to businesses, with routes leading to apartment buildings and houses in Clifton Block 2. when VIPs pass through, all entry and exit routes are sealed by containers etc, which only leaves the route to Ziauddin Hospital open. The other roads are already choked by oil tankers that are defying a Supreme Court order to vacate the area. The tankers have also started parking on the hospital road. Government should take immediate action to solve this issue. AFFAN MATI Karachi
The male dominated political parties are rendering lip services to safeguard women rights and empower them but fact of the matter is that provision of equal rights and opportunities is still a dream for women in our male dominated society. There are many non government organisations working for the empowerment of women in cities. The women living in backward and rural areas are being deprived of basic human rights in the name of social customs, wrong interpretation of religion’s teaching, family honour and cultural tradition. If the women of Pakistan want equal share in the affairs of country, they instead of becoming the wing of political parties should form their own political party and with a separate male wing. I am sure the male wing of women political party will have more male members then a female wing of a male party. As Pakistani nation is divided on the ideology front, a women political party should adopt the ideology of Quaid-iAzam Mohammad Ali Jinnah to make Pakistan a Muslim welfare state. The Pakistan male politicians and military generals have failed in the past 64 years to make Pakistan as envisioned by its founder. There are a number of educated women politicians much better than male politicians who are serving the country. This party will not only be a first in Pakistan but will also set an example for other countries. I will be the first to become a member of such a. S T HUSSAIN Lahore
The silent law In her last written message Fakhra Yunus said that she was committing suicide over the silence of law on the atrocities and insensitivity of Pakistani rulers. Another acid attack, but this time the only difference was that that the one who threw acid on her was himself a politician, a person who was supposed to work for the betterment of this state. But his brutal act shows that he's worse than an animal. This horrible event took place some 12 years ago and no
Illiteracy The literacy rate in our country is not so good as compared to other developing countries of the world, although if a person can write his own name, he is considered as a literate person in Pakistan. The biggest reason of the downfall of any nation is the alarming increase in its illiteracy rate. Illiteracy is the root cause of almost every problem today. It increases poverty due to less employment and also decreases the educational facilities due to lack of teachers and educated people. on the whole, because of illiteracy we are left behind in every aspect, economically, politically or educationally. It also causes criminal activities as due to less awareness and education, people get involved in street crimes and various other criminal activities to keep up their living and necessities of life. Like this, illiteracy is the root of many other problems in this country. I just want to address the government and the authorities and request them to please consider this issue seriously and take measures to increase the
action was taken, no justice for her. This also shows how ineffective our law is. A strict action has to be taken against the culprit. It's time Fakhra should get justice. But Fakhra is not the only victim, there are many other women seeking justice in this country. They must all get justice. SEHAR ARSHAD Karachi
education and literacy rate in the benefit of Pakistan. YURJA KAZMI Karachi
To make money while sitting at home is a dream every person has. Modern technology and the internet have made it possible in more ways than one to do a lot from home. one such possibility is earning money. Realising that there is a lot of talent across the world, companies and organisations hire people throughout the world through the internet. Large multinationals and companies hire people across the world and provide them an opportunity to earn money from the comfort of their homes. Numerous people from this region work for such companies to earn a decent living and while the jobs require some work, they can serve as an alternative to most conventional jobs. But there is a downside to all this: some organisations are deceiving people in the name of making money online. As there is little regulation for taking online jobs and people in this part of
the world are less aware of such opportunities provided through the internet, fraudulent individuals trick people into paying registration money for online employment and take advantage of them. Either these people run away with the registration money or in some cases serve as middlemen in the process of getting paid. They hire others and make them do the work, get paid themselves, and hand out a minimal amount of money to the actual workers while making huge profits themselves. This has become somewhat of a common trend in online jobs in Pakistan. Even in cases where people are actually paid to work, the money they receive is far less when compared to the work that they do and certainly considerably lower than what the fraudulent employers receive from the real internet employers. The authorities should take notice of such conmen and punish those who exploit the needs of the poor. Further awareness regarding internet jobs should be provided to ensure that people are not cheated. FARIHA FAZAL Karachi
use of force and abuse of political clout, or resort to extortion and kidnapping for ransom takes place in cities, while in villages they are involved in protection rackets and stealing of cattle. The urban and rural feudals are involved in land grabbing, and prevail on law enforcement agencies, exploiting their political influences, each joining every government that is in power in their province or at federal level. The urban feudal exercises direct control over media, through threats and periodic target killings of journalists,
who dare to cross the line and expose their illegal practices. It was shocking to see a talk show where a platform was provided to Bilal Khar, without a fair chance to any surviving relative of Fakhra, who may dare to point a finger at him. Both patronise criminals, who rob citizens, be it in the shape of street crimes, car grabbing, or providing patronage to robber barons that terrorize those who travel by road. As a society we have degenerated to such lows that it had to be Italy which offered refuge to
opportunity and a scam
This is with reference to the killings of seven peoples in Toulouse (France) by Muhammad Merah, a 24-year-old French national of Algerian origin. He had been under surveillance by French intelligence for a couple of years, having already committed certain infractions, some with violence. The killings occurred during a divisive presidential race that had already turned toward questions of immigration and Islam. It is unfortunate to note here that immediately after the incident French and international media started accusing Pakistan as responsible for the killings. Mr Merah made two trips to Afghanistan and Pakistan in November 2010 and August 2011 respectively. According to the French authorities, he made them on his own as monitored by the French intelligence agencies. However, the reports do not suggest his links and training in tribal areas, even as per media reports TTP has disowned any role behind the killings. Even though some French investigators say Mr Merah was effectively a lone, self-radicalised extremist, his violent ideology fits closely with some French stereotypes of Islam, and Muslims in France fear that the tensions brought on by the murders may prove more lasting. Merah’s links with Pakistan is a typical example of malafide objectives to malign Pakistan for providing sanctuaries to foreign fighters and blanketing the issues of homegrown problems of radicalisation attributed to various reasons confronted by European countries. AFIA AMBREEN Rawalpindi
extra-actors ‘Let it rip! 14 bombs go off within 15 minutes at the Railway track previous month.’ Someone is disturbing our average. Z A KAZMI Karachi
feudal curse and brutality Be it Fakhra Younus or wali Babar from Karachi, Nafees Khan of Mith Ranjha, they are victims of a feudal mindset which dominates our corridors of power in cities, towns and villages. It is not just rural landed illiterates which are accused of the curse of this feudal mindset, but also urban mafias which have been smitten by this evil. Both run private torture cells, private jails and armed criminal gangs, and resort to shut down of markets within their turf to blackmail administration and enforce their writ. Threats of intimidation,
Fakhra, or Canada to Dr Shazia Khalid, instead of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, because their abusers were either an electable feudal or part of establishment. Nothing much has changed in eight years of martial law, or four years of democratic rule to bring these culprits to justice. It is unfortunate that justice in Pakistan is denied on technicalities by hiring shrewd lawyers, while victims of brutality die in vain, frustrated by years of denial of justice. MALIK TARIQ ALI Lahore
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