Shortsightedness
Sir,
Can somebody in Prime Minister’s House, the Interior Ministry, the Ministry of Health, or the Ministry of Aviation explain why they did not expect the recent travel restrictions imposed on Pakistan because of our failure to provide immunization against polio virus.
What should we expect when the foot soldiers of the anti-polio campaign, the Lady Health Visitors, are not only denied protection in the face of relentless attacks by terrorist all over the country, but also denied adequate salaries. Many of them are on the streets protesting because they have not been given a salary in several months.
There had been ample warnings that if we did not control the deadly virus, we might risk spreading it in the rest of the world where it has been eradicated. Why did our government fail to take preemptive preventive measures before the drastic international sanctions were imposed?
Gull Zaman,
Peshawar.
Land of opportunity
Sir,
The geostrategic importance of a country implies the significance of its location and the advantages it incurs because of its geography, and it can help exercise a worthwhile influence on an international level due to this.
Pakistan is the 6th most populous country in the world. Its geography has been its greatest benefit. It is a bridge between South Asia and South West Asia.
China is interested in making Gwadar port more functional because it has great strategic benefits. The Gwadar project has a very significant role not only for Pakistan but also for the entire region.
It is time that along with maintaining cordial relations with the neighbours and the superpower, we must make them understand that Pakistan has faced losses amounting to more than 67 billion dollars in operations against the militants and has provided help in destroying core assets of Al Qaeda. We have rendered all possible collaboration in this regard. Therefore our territorial sovereignty must be safeguarded.
Pakistan is a hub of various cultures and ethnicities, promises enormous trade potential, and offers buoyant prospects for generating revenue worth millions of dollars. That is the reason why so many nations have shown an intense interest in this part of the world, starting from Alexander in 326BC. There is reasonably a high rate of political participation of women and they are being empowered. Today we are a resilient, modern and forward looking nation and it is undoubtedly no exaggeration that our educated and fervent and zealous youth possesses some of the most fertile minds in the world. What is needed is to just channelize their energies and provide them opportunities to outshine themselves thereby bringing a miraculous change to the fortune of Pakistan.
Shanzeh Iqbal,
Lahore.
Stealing from the poor
Sir
I deposited some money is in the National Savings program. My profit matured and I was told by the officials that the profit is Rs 6,600. After signing the required documents, the gentleman paid me Rs 5,960 only. Asked why he wasn’t paying me the full amount, he said the prime minister has ordered to pay 10 percent less than the actual profit.
Sir, I call this stealing. The clients are made to sign that they have received the full amount, but in reality they are given 10% less. If this direction is from the prime minister, I urge him to stop it with immediate effect. The people who have invested in the National Savings program have done it with this intention to have some more gains from their savings. They have put their money in the program so that the government may have money to invest with. The government is surely earning from the poor man’s deposits, but is giving the poor man very little of that and even from that, a big chunk is taken out.
The poor are already suffering because of inflation. They do not have access to amenities like electricity, gas and water for a large part of the day. The little of the utilities they get is so expensive that they have nothing left to eat with. If such people, in order to invest their savings safely and perhaps earn a fair share of profit the government earns from them, participate in the National Savings program, please don’t take that away from them.
And this is not the first time such a thing has happened. I still remember that in the first term of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, the cooperatives collapsed and a lot of people lost their money. There was no compensation from the government.
In his second term, the prime minister proudly but foolishly did the nuclear tests. No sooner that he did them, he at once froze all the bank accounts with foreign exchange. Here, the account holders may have got some of their money back but at a very high cost. That too is like stealing by the government.
There are many woes connected with these tests. We hit an axe on our own feet and even today we have not recovered from the wound that were inflicted. Even the electricity crisis we are facing is due to these nuclear tests.
Abid Habib,
Mirpurkhas.
Russia in trouble
Sir,
Russia had all the upper hand in Ukraine crisis till mid March because entire world was not approving the interference of West (The US and its allies, who claim to promote democracy world over including in NAME countries through ‘Arab-spring’) in creating trouble (by instigating and allegedly helping protesters) against an elected President Yanukovych, who ultimately was removed in coup ironically just after an agreement on February, 21 - which was reached between then Ukraine government and opposition leaders in presence of Germany, France, Poland and Russia.
But that changed after Russia annexed Crimea in later half of March. Since then, Russia is committing mistakes one after another. Now after the so-called May 11 referendum in Donetsk and Luhansk region of Ukraine, Russia is in deep trouble militarily.
The annexation of Crimea and the coup at Kiev triggered agitations in South- Eastern Ukraine. There people said that if Crimea may go to Russia on the basis of referendum then why not us? Also, if a government may come in office by violent agitations and brute force at Kiev, then why not here?
Russia, being a veto-wielding country of UN, may know better than any other country that such referendums or any other expression of public opinion of predominant majority in some pockets of a country, does not mean anything unless the world recognizes it. The example of South Asia is sufficient to understand this.
Kashmir and North-East in India, Tamils in Sri Lanka, Tibetans in China, etcetera have been airing such demands but it has made no difference, as far as territorial integrity or even political system of these countries are concerned.
Normally, elections are not conducted in any country in troubled and violent environment. But the West has dealt a master stroke by getting Ukraine government to declare elections on May 25, which will provide legitimacy to the government of Ukraine. Even if smooth elections do not take place on May 25 in areas where Russian speaking people are in majority, it will make no difference and will not be so important.
But from now on, problems for Russia will be real. After the May 11 referendum, Donetsk and Luhansk, as independent sovereign States, will try to form a government (with its military, police, bureaucracy, judiciary, and Parliament) or will demand autonomy or federalism, which the West will see to it that Ukraine government does not concede to, and crushes with full police and military force any such demands. These demands are highly likely to be violent. This is bound to result in the bloodshed of Russian speaking Ukrainians in these or perhaps even in other regions (as happened in Odessa). This will bring tremendous pressure on Putin from the people of Russia to stop the bloodshed of Russian speaking people in Ukraine (who are now potentially Russian citizens in view of recent law passed by Russia about citizenship).
Here, Crimea will be the deciding factor. If Ukrainians out of their patriotism or the West out of their respect for international laws start demanding the retrieval of Crimea and go as far as (which is highly likely) to take back Crimea from Russia militarily, then Russia has had it.
Hem Raj Jain,
Pennington.
Objection, your honor
Sir,
Twelve human rights and civil society groups in South Asia have come together to condemn the brazen killing of Advocate Rashid Rehman Khan, a Supreme Court lawyer and coordinator of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan in Multan, who was murdered by unidentified gunmen at the office of the HRCP in Multan last week.
Khan has been killed for defending a university lecturer against unfounded accusations of blasphemy – a charge that carries the death sentence. He had been openly warned by fellow lawyers in the presence of the presiding judge, against continuing to defend the accused during the course of a hearing being held inside jail premises. Khan’s requests to the local police to investigate these threats had gone unheeded and he was murdered as he sat preparing an appeal to the High Court asking that the blasphemy case be quashed. Soon following his murder, a group of lawyers have been charged with blasphemy.
The Constitution of Pakistan obliges the State to ensure each individual a fair trial, assures each person of a right to an effective defense as well as assures each person of the right to hold their own views, associate with others and follow a profession. The killing of Advocate Khan for doing his duty as a lawyer amounts to a traitorous act against the Constitution and is a direct obstruction of the Pakistani court process.
It is one more instance of violent acts that is impeding the delivery of justice by intimidating Bar and Bench through vigilantism. The killing, the latest in a growing number of violent incidents, threatens the whole edifice of rule of law that is designed to overthrow it and replace it with the rule of the mob.
We urge the government of Pakistan to take necessary steps toward effective investigation by higher police authorities and swiftly identify the killers and bring them to justice along with their abettors.
Aditi Datta,
New Delhi.
Rights and wrongs
Sir,
Minorities in Pakistan have been granted equal rights in the constitution, but they are deemed second class citizens.
On the political front, they are subjected to massive discrimination. Minority representation in the May 11 general elections was nominal. Of 342 National Assembly seats, about 10 were reserved for minorities. Similarly, only 4 seats were allocated for the minorities in the Senate, out of 104.
Terrorist attacks and target killings of non-Muslim minorities are on the rise. The minorities are subjected to increasing levels of extremism, and social and religious discrimination. The discrimination is mainly attributed to anomaly in laws and policies. It portrays Pakistani government’s inability to show tolerance for minority rights.
An evidence of multi-dimensional discrimination against minorities is the hatred advocated against them in the curricula of primary and secondary schools.
In light of this grave situation, the government should develop a framework to counter this discrimination, including mass campaigns inculcating the significance of the rights of minorities.
Aiyza Javaid,
Lahore.
Bitter pill
Sir,
The Punjab Pharmacy Council has allegedly started producing quack pharmacists by opening a ‘category C’ which is sheer encroachment in the pharmacy profession. This does not make any sense in the 21st century. Once these quacks pharmacists come into the field, they may play havoc with the lives and health of the common man. The Pakistan Pharmacist Association has also become a silent spectator.
Thousands of pharmacists are graduating every year from universities in the public as well as the private sector and there is no dearth of pharmacists in the country. If registered graduate pharmacists are not available, the practice in other parts of the developed world is that the pharmacy is shut down.
It is a pity that pharmacists getting a five-year rigorous education to qualify for a PharmD degree are registered with their respective provincial Pharmacy Council along with matriculate equivalents who appear for assistant pharmacists without any regular training.
No changes have been made to the Pharmacy Act 1967 in the last 40 years. It was last amended in 1973. This shows that we do not want to keep abreast with the latest changes taking place in the profession.
A major issue in the healthcare system today is the rational use of drugs which could only be ascertained if a registered graduate pharmacist ensures its authenticity at a pharmacy outlet. Pharmacists find no other option but to leave the country and go where they are given due status and respect. People at the helm of affairs are not ready to discern the gravity of the situation. I request the federal government to immediately make amendments in the Pharmacy Act 1967, which have already been passed by all the four provinces, and take action against those responsible for exploiting and misusing the outdated law for vested interests.
Farooq Bashir Butt,
Lahore.