A bullet in return
Sir,
It is said that the president of the Daska Bar Council abused the SHO and received a bullet for his pains. I will not venture to determine whether the lawyer abused the SHO – this is for the courts to decide. But I do want to ask whether the action was justified.
After all, has one ever heard of our duty-bound, impeccably behaved police ever abusing anyone? At police pickets, their manners are exemplary, their courtesy unparalleled and their efficiency outstanding… Police stations in Pakistan are cheery, hospitable places where every officer is more than willing to help the average taxpayer (from whose pocket comes his or her salary), where access to the officer in charge is easy as pie and where the average policeman is a paragon of chivalry when it comes to dealing with women.
Now to lawyers, those shifty manipulators of the legal system who are probably responsible for hundreds of suspicious deaths in ‘encounters”, who are given to easy bribes from the wrong side of the law, liable to insult anyone who comes to them for help, and caught in running a web of red-light areas and casinos. Lawyers are clearly not gentlemen, which explains the saying in Henry VI: “The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.” Perhaps the SHO took the adage to heart.
Perhaps the lawyers need to take a page out of the police officers’ book.
Ahmad Bilal,
Lahore.
Letter to the Queen
Madam,
We have just held the most ordinary of events – a local bodies election in KP, otherwise known as the forefront of ‘Naya Pakistan’, and made a decided hash of the whole thing, with 24 people dead and over 100 seriously injured. Our democracy and institutions appear unable to organize a two-ticket raffle, let alone deal with such trifles as terrorism, poverty and corruption. Our army isn’t much of a solution either, since they take over intermittently and mess things up even further. The myth of our happy ‘Aazadi’ has only served our ruling classes in bringing us to the brink of destruction.
We therefore humbly request that you revoke our charter of independence of 1947 as we are simply not ready for it, and take over again for a limited period. Ordinarily, we would not have troubled you, fully appreciating that you have your plate full, but there is little choice in the matter. Your exiled convict Yankee cousins are awful colonialists (as they have generously demonstrated in Iraq and Afghanistan), the Russians cannot manage even their own territories and the Chinese are interested solely in trading and profits. The Arabs and Persians are fighting their own wars and despise us, we hate the Indians and we cannot speak French, German or Spanish.
Please despatch a new viceroy at your earliest convenience and a team of 15,000 people – the same number that administered undivided India at the height of the British Raj – to duly govern, civilize and sort us out over the next 15 years. We promise sincerely to do our part during this time; should we fail in this by 2030, please feel free to auction us to the highest bidder.
We have the honour to be, Madam, Your Majesty’s humble and obedient servants,
The people of Pakistan.
Noor Ahmed,
Aylesbury, UK.
No smoking!
Sir,
It is, of course, common knowledge that smoking is a bad habit with harmful effects not only for smokers, but also for people in proximity. The statistics speak for themselves. Under the Prohibition of Smoking in Enclosed Places and Protection of Non-smokers Health Ordinance 2002, people are not allowed to smoke or use tobacco in the following places: auditoriums, health institutions, amusement centres, restaurants, public offices, court buildings, cinema halls, conference and seminar halls, eating places, hotel and other waiting lounges, libraries, bus stations, sports stadiums, educational institutions and other public places.
According to one research study, cigarette smoke contains around 4,000 chemical agents, including carbon monoxide, tar, benzene, methanol, lead and various carcinogens. Smoke-filled rooms have up to six times the air pollution usually prevalent on a busy road. Globally, one person dies every seven seconds from smoking-related diseases, while second-hand smoke causes about 53,000 premature deaths every year. Cigarette and shisha smoke is thus more lethal than atmospheric environmental pollution.
Despite these warning bells, no one in Pakistan seems inclined to follow the law. Very few (if any) hotels, restaurants, cinema halls and other institutions have designated separate smoking areas. It is essential that we start a campaign against this menace to raise public awareness of anti-smoking laws and protect people from the hazardous effects of passive and active smoking. The authorities need to take strict action against management that have so far failed to set up smoking zones. Similarly, they should establish a special task force to control violations of the anti-smoking ordinance on public transport and in public parks.
Ali Murtaza,
Lahore.
Basic needs
Sir,
The ongoing shortage of three basic necessities – water, gas and electricity – continues to make survival difficult for millions of people across Pakistan. One has only to pick up a newspaper or switch on the TV to realise the magnitude of this predicament.
Despite water being such a basic need in rural areas – both for people and their animals – the government has mistimed ongoing canal works such that it overlaps with the rice planting season and causes unfortunate delays. For farmers, whose only source of income is their land and the crops they can cultivate, this is a grave problem. The government should aim to complete all such canal works by the end of every year when the irrigation department stops supplying water to the canals. The scarcity of water means there is no other source for drinking and domestic use except canal water. Thus, people find they have to walk four or five kilometres just to fetch drinking water or water for their livestock.
With the advent of summer in April, the demand for electricity will soon be at its peak. Load shedding has already increased in some areas to 12 to 16 hours a day, which is about the same as last year, indicating we have made no progress in improving the situation. This is despite the fact that the sitting government has now been in power for over two years.
Finally, many people still face an acute shortage of gas: some areas in Sindh and Punjab are subject to more than eight hours of gas load shedding every day, and that too, at the time most households need to prepare their meals.
The shortage of water, electricity and gas are serious issues. I would like to request the provincial and federal governments to take immediate steps to resolve this continuing shortfall of basic necessities.
Shahid Ahmed Qureshi,
Badin.
Income head
Sir,
At present, the rent received from agricultural land and buildings on it is not liable to income tax because such income is deemed agricultural. I suggest this exemption be abolished on the basis of incorrect rendition. Such a reform would be in the interest of good governance.
Taraq Jazy,
Lahore.
Heartless terrorists
Sir,
Once again, terror was let loose in Karachi on 9 May 2015, when six armed men intercepted a bus carrying around 60–65 people – mainly members of the Ismaili community – and killed 45 of them, including 17 women and children, in cold blood. Reportedly, the attackers wore uniforms resembling those of the law enforcing agencies and mercilessly shot dead the occupants of the bus with Kalashnikovs and 9 mm pistols. As always, they simply fled the scene of the crime before any law enforcing agencies could get there.
Other reports say that pamphlets in both Urdu and English were also found at the site, claiming that the attack was carried out by the “Mujahideen of Daulat ul Islamiyyah of Khorasan” or the Islamic State to avenge, allegedly, atrocities against the Sunnis in Iraq and Syria, the deaths of women students at Lal Masjid in Islamabad and ‘fake’ encounters by police officers of Karachi. The claims of this audacious terrorist group reflect nothing but the magnitude of their sheer inhumanity.
The Pakistani public has condemned these murders in the strongest terms, as have civilized nations across the world. His Highness, Prince Karim Aga Khan, a person of international eminence and the spiritual leader of the Ismaili community, termed the tragic incident a senseless act of violence against a peaceful community.
Indeed, Ismaili people across the world, including in Pakistan, are seen as a peace-loving community. His Highness, the Aga Khan, has contributed and continues to contribute enormously towards the socioeconomic development of Pakistan. The country has a profound regard for him and fully acknowledges his contributions. The government of Sindh has, according to media reports, succeeded in nabbing the criminals involved in the Karachi bus massacre. If this is true, they must be brought to book immediately.
M. Fazal Elahi,
Islamabad.
Wake up, varsities
Sir,
Recently, the Chief Minister of Sindh announced that well-educated professionals (21 May 2015) were allegedly responsible for the spate of terrorist activities in Karachi and elsewhere. I am left perturbed by this disclosure. The terrorists who attacked Ismaili bus passengers at Safoora or who killed Sabeen Mahmud may be people with degrees from the IBA and other well known universities in Karachi. This begs the question, what sort of education are our institutions imparting? Have they lost any moral ground after this disclosure? Is it premature to ask whether such students regularly attended university or if they obtained their degrees through other means? I strongly feel that the IBA and other institutions should check their records and verify the validity of degrees and other information concerning students allegedly involved in such heinous crimes as we have seen in recent weeks.
It seems appropriate to quote Martin Luther King on the purpose of education. He argued that education had both a utilitarian and moral function, that character and moral development were necessary to give the critical intellect a humane purpose. “Education must also train one for quick, resolute and effective thinking,” he cautioned, adding, “To think incisively and to think for oneself is very difficult. We are prone to let our mental life become invaded by legions of half truths, prejudices, and propaganda.”
The function of education is, therefore, to teach one to think intensively and critically. But education that stops at efficiency could prove the greatest menace to our society. The most dangerous criminal may be someone gifted with reason – but no morals. If we are not careful, our universities might end up producing a generation of closed minded, unscientific propagandists consumed by immoral purpose.
Be careful, teachers, and wake up.
Aijaz Ali Khuwaja,
Karachi.
Brain-eating amoeba
Sir,
Even now, despite the medical advances made in the last century, scientists have been unable to develop a cure for the dreaded Naegleria Fowleri amoeba. This is a matter of grave concern and must be treated as such by the international community.
Found in freshwater and soil, the amoeba infects the brain in the shape of primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM). It enters the nasal cavity when contaminated water is inhaled and ascends via the olfactory nerves into the brain. Here, the organism begins to feast on the cells of the brain and becomes pathogenic. The symptoms of PAM include headaches, fever, nausea and vomiting, followed by neck stiffness, seizures, altered mental state, hallucinations and coma. A laboratory confirmation can be carried out by testing the patient’s cerebrospinal fluid. However, given that the results can mirror those of bacterial meningitis, a false diagnosis is common.
In Pakistan, seven confirmed cases of Naegleria Fowleri have already succumbed to the disease in 2015 alone. Currently, there is no licensed vaccine or drug to counter the disease. The regimen usually prescribed includes Amphotericin B and Rifampicin, along with therapeutic hypothermia. The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention recommends Miltefosine, which has shown promising results against Naegleria Fowleri.
The Department of Biological and Biomedical Sciences at Aga Khan University in Karachi has conducted experiments using Digoxin and Procyclidine in vitro against the amoeba – indicating more than 95% potency. Moreover, the nfa1 DNA vaccine against Naegleria Fowleri shows promising results. However, the international medical community needs to make a uniform effort to formulate and certify a standard treatment for this disease.
Additionally, preventive measures must be put in place both in the short and long term. Minimizing the risk and scale of infection, for example, by ensuring that water reservoirs are chlorinated, is key to this effort. Further research is also needed to determine if the amoeba’s feeding apparatus can be impaired. The development of a drug that can inhibit the nfa1 gene – and thus reduce the amoeba’s motility – would be a significant leap forward in therapeutic terms. Finally, it may be worth conducting studies to determine if Naegleria Fowleri is able to help manage brain tumours.
Faisal Ali,
Abbottabad.