I dare to disagree
Sir,
Famous journalist Hamid Mir was attacked and seriously wounded in the largest but also the most crime-infested city of Pakistan. The renowned journalist had just left the Karachi airport when an unidentified gunman fired a volley of bullets from a close range.
The media outburst after the attack was inevitable. A highly enraged media immediately blamed the top Pakistani spy agency for the attack. After 36 hours of the incident, the media, particularly the group Mr Mir worked for, entered the phase of sober realism and changed its stance.
The incident shook the corridors of power in Islamabad. The government constituted a commission to investigate the matter. The most depressing part of the episode is a clear division between increasingly fattening right and the depleting forces of independence, justice and fair play.
One can see clearly that there are people within the journalist community who were rejoicing the incident. Such so-called journalists themselves are known for making underhand deals with business tycoons and exploitative ruling elites of Pakistan. These journalist side with exclusivist state elements and are admired in some parts of the Pakistani society with intolerant and oppressive social values.
The right-wing side of the Pakistani society boasts to be the custodians of faith and faith-based nationalism, and hurl accusations on everyone who dares to disagree, whereas the fact is that Pakistan is a diverse country in every respect – faith, culture, language and social values. Any effort to contest this diversity would always result in social chaos.
Atif Mahmood Majoka,
Melbourne.
Dream of democracy
Sir,
The late French novelist Gaustave Flaubert once said, “The whole dream of democracy is to raise the proletarian to the level of stupidity attained by the bourgeois.” In Pakistan, only a handful of people would know about Flaubert and his contribution to French literature. And if he was a Pakistani national and running for candidacy in the country’s parliamentary elections, he would come out as a crippler than a victor, paralyzed by the country’s powerful aristocrats. Pakistanis are receptive of the changes that have scourged their nation but are too repressed to orchestrate revolutionary movements that would challenge these transformations.
Pakistanis are now accustomed to the sumptuous lifestyles of their leaders. From the self-exalted judges to the notorious feudal lords, disgruntled civilians rebuke the grandeur of political entourages that includes palatial cars vehemently escorted by a dozen security force members.
Pakistanis have been left in the state of oblivion since the day militancy plagued their land, sprouting havoc everywhere. Despite being a part of a democracy where public opinion is of paramount importance, the local population suffers. The people have been a part of a theatrical drama but without a significant character – an audience that is forced to watch the elite class build lavish empires, not to mention the aristocrats and the feudal lords who continue to allure the illiterate with their indecisive addresses which are nothing more than diversionary tactics to obliterate any subversive intentions that might threaten their prolong dominance in the rural areas.
The courts are taking up offenses that are committed by notable figures for self-glorification over secondary misdemeanors which have received mere condemnations than proper action. Little thought is given to the stockpile of minor cases and overcrowded prison cells, not to mention the underprivileged Pakistanis who have been drained off their expenses awaiting legal proceedings. Ample amount of references are made and notices taken but without proper verdicts.
The failure to systematically impose the constitution has plagued the nation. The Pakistani government continues to make colossal decisions that do not serve public interest. As of now, the civilian population is sitting silently witnessing another matrimonial ceremony, this time it is between Pakistan and its Arab counterparts, watching them exchange vows that nowhere include the pledges to safeguard the lives of the Pakistani people or revitalize its deteriorating economy. It will take time until the people realize their country’s current anarchical state. But when they do, they will stand up and change it.
M Imran,
Lahore.
Wait and watch
Sir,
I want to draw the attention of your readers and the authorities concerned to an important matter – the establishment of the National Counter Terrorism Authority, or NACTA, to counter terrorism.
The recruitment test for the organization was conducted in Islamabad Sports Complex a while ago, where thousands of candidates appeared for the various posts announced. Later, after reports of fraud, the recruitment exam was labeled a farce and the results were cancelled. To encourage merit and ensure transparency, the interior ministry decided to advertise the posts once again. This time, the Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC) was chosen to conduct the test. It has been more than six months, but there has been no news about the test.
The purpose behind the formation of NACTA was to make a think-tank kind of force that would deal with terrorist groups and the fundamentalist mindset in the society with intellect, groundwork and strategy. If the organization existed today, it would have worked better than the existing government negotiations committee that seems to be formed only to appease Taliban leaders.
It is unfortunate that in a terrorism-torn country like Pakistan, a body that is to be tasked with dealing with terrorism and extremism would hit the snags because of such irregularities and mismanagement.
Faiza Idrees Sindhu,
Islamabad.
Nose dive
Sir,
There is a large Pakistani expat community living in USA, with sizable populations in Texas, Illinois, Tri State New York/Connecticut/New Jersey and West Coast. In the past, PIA flew to Houston, Chicago, Washington and New York. It even bought expensive long range B777 planes because of a business plan based on the expansion of trans-Atlantic operations.
Instead, they lowered the number of flights, most of which were operating at the average capacity of over 69 percent, which is enough to be profitable.
The problem of PIA is pilferage of revenue, kickbacks in procurement and lease of aircraft, lack of accountability, gross financial misappropriations, mediocrity and incompetent and corrupt officials posted at crucial international hubs.
If PIA had a competent management with integrity, it would have eliminated this nexus of officials in its marketing, finance and management, which is responsible for repetitive unchecked commercial suicides. After building up traffic at particular routes, the national airline closes them down at crucial take off points all of a sudden, and by strange coincidence, some airline in the Gulf or Turkey starts its operation, filling in void and earning substantial revenue.
What baffles me is that nobody in Islamabad has taken note of the practice that post retirement, these same senior executives end up getting cushy jobs in subsidiaries owned by airlines based in Gulf.
Hajj and Umra pilgrims continue to be fleeced by a group of officials and some travel agents or tour operators even after a change in government.
While the PIA has the highest employee-to-aircraft ratio in world, it has curtailed its central control, manned by licensed flight despatchers, to help co-ordinate and avoid unnecessary diversions, improve fleet utilization and maintain punctuality of schedules.
Pakistani expatriates in the US were shocked recently when the airline’s toll free number announced the wrong departure time for a flight leaving from JFK airport in New York. Can somebody explain why the PK721 flight on 15th April was diverted to Washington when JFK New York airport was open for all departures and landings at 4pm – the planned arrival time of this flight delayed at Manchester?
How can PIA improve if it protects employees who submitted fake degrees, fake birth certificates, and fake domiciles at the time of recruitment, or are involved in gross financial mismanagement and grave administrative indiscipline?
Ali Malik,
New York.
National interest
Sir,
The cowardly, shameful attack on Hamid Mir on Karachi’s busiest road in broad daylight is very embarrassing for Pakistan, and harmful for its prestige, honor and dignity. The onus now falls squarely on shoulders of our government and our intelligence agencies to unveil the identity of the attackers.
The constitution of Pakistan guarantees freedom of expression and the right to dissent, within the confines of decency, to every law abiding citizen of Pakistan. It is a right that no institution, individual or group can coercively take away from any citizen of Pakistan, through threats, intimidation or use of force. As far as what constitutes national interest, it is for people of Pakistan, through their representatives elected in free and fair elections, to define by consensus or majority decision after a thorough debate, and not for an individual, or paid servants of the state, to define.
In hindsight, it is clear that decision not to accept majority verdict in 1971 elections and instead order a military action, was not in our national interest. Nor was the unconstitutional takeover by Ziaul Haq, or the military rule of Pervez Mushharraf. The Kargil Operation and Operation Gibraltar were not in our national interest either.
We must also remember that abuse of power, or misuse of office by politicians who flout their constitutional oath by patronizing corruption, denying equal opportunities to citizens, allow flight of capital, appoint their cronies to key posts, and use their official status for monetary gains, are in violating our national interest.
It must be remembered that national interest is too sacrosanct to be allowed to be compromised by those who hold public offices of importance, yet have no stakes in this country and conveniently abandon it, once out of power. The national interest is only served, if those in power make decisions on merit for benefit of common man and not when interest of few is served at cost of national exchequer such as tax evasion, allotment of state lands, non-transparent procurement contracts or signing major deals with foreign firms in violation of rules, nor in the appointment of unqualified individuals to executive assignments in state owned corporations.
Tariq Ali,
Lahore.
Recipe for chaos
Sir,
For a country inhabited by a Muslim majority that claims to be an Islamic republic, and whose founding fathers were men of principles, it is shocking to witness tolerance for abuse of power, corruption, intellectual dishonesty, gross injustice, massive tax evasion and pilferage of state revenue, not just by ordinary citizens, but also by the civil and military bureaucracy, and the political elite.
What would constitute a financial crime punishable with long imprisonment and confiscation of assets is considered to be perks of power in Pakistan. Gainful misuse of information acquired by those holding important public offices such as insider trading, or acquisition of land at throwaway prices, which has been earmarked for development projects, has become a common phenomenon, although this constitutes corruption and falls in sphere of serious crimes in the civilized world.
Those employed by the state or elected to serve people, and protect their lives or property, are seen hand in gloves with land mafia and criminals.
If an elected leader or civil or khaki bureaucrat will misuse his official status and give access to real estate investors to information on planned site locations for construction of an airport or road in a major city, this would deprive the poor actual owners of land for equal and a fair opportunity to profit from what belongs to them.
The powerful land mafia with access to such insider information has been known to resort to violence, threats and intimidation, forcing poor land owners who have for centuries tilled this land to feed their families, to sell them, not knowing that the real price would escalate in near future.
When public servants employed to perform specific duties defined in the constitution indulge in malpractices, corruption thrives, institutions deteriorate, and national security suffers, leading to chaos and breakdown of law and order.
Shahzad Khalil,
Sialkot.