I am often appalled at the undemocratic mindset of our people. I recently had a chance of exchanging views with a few educated youngsters who passionately favoured authoritarian and undemocratic rule in Pakistan and came up with baseless arguments to substantiate their ill-conceived liking and leaning for authoritarianism in Pakistan. They were quite convinced of the fact that democracy had not delivered in our country due to its inherent weaknesses. A view I do not share. Democracy as a value is a belief in the wisdom and vision of faceless people who stand for democratic values of emancipation and empowerment of the people at large as against the authoritarian forces of confiscation and coercion. Democracy by its very definition is volatile and turbulent and this volatility and turbulence must be considered as the strength and not the weakness of democracy. If democracy has failed in Pakistan it is simply because of the entrenched remnants of undemocratic rules which have brought the country on the verge of disintegration. Finally, the biggest threat to democracy comes from the people who reject this value to protect their personal and narrow vested interests.
Masroor Hassan
Karachi
State of women
Three recent news items prove that as far as women are concerned, we’re still living in the Stone Age. The first, about a woman being gang-raped, should not shock us anymore. This is the kind of incident that happens regularly, so much so that it would be shocking if it didn’t occur on any given day. Yet it proves that the poor women in rural areas are treated worse than animals. At least the females of other species are not raped by males! The second item describes how a pregnant woman, mother of six, was first shot and then thrown into a canal by her brother because he suspected her of having an illicit affair with a relative. It wouldn’t make any sense to tell these primitive men that there is a legal way to deal with adulterous women. In any case, who gave the man the right to kill his sister for any reason at all? The third news item is heart-breaking. A woman of 50, mother of eight, was gang-raped by five men against whom she complained to the police. Instead of giving comfort and sympathy to the woman, her son-in-law (whom she had brought up as her own son) killed her because “he could not stand peoples’ taunts”. So this is the kind of treatment our women get in this Islamic republic! And some deeply religious Pakistanis I know have the gall to say that women have more rights than men in our country.
Shakir Lakhani
Karachi
Unusual honesty
Recently, we heard the commendable story of Gilgit’s Isa Khan who displayed a huge gesture of honesty in these times of anarchy and returned a tempting sum of money to a Japanese tourist. The irony of the entire thing dawned on me when I saw the picture of Isa Khan being awarded with a medal by one of our affluent politicians. Isn’t it a bit difficult to digest genuine and honest people like Isa Khan being appreciated by politicians who claim to value morals, truth and honesty, and yet we never see all these virtues being reflected in their own actions? Who are they fooling?
Mubeshra J. Pracha
Lahore
Takht-e-Lahore
Some of our so-called leaders are using the term Takht-e-Lahore which hints at Lahore being a separate entity from the rest of the province and that it is not a part of Punjab. They are sowing the seeds of hatred amongst people of Punjab, hoping to get some political advantage by doing so. But they don’t realise that there is not only one takht in Pakistan; there are four other takhts as well including one big takht, and if everyone starts talking about takhts, then the winner would be the enemies of Pakistan.So please, think before you talk. One doesn’t become a national leader only by proclaiming so. It requires sincerity with the nation and the country.
Shafiq
Rawalpindi
Blessing in disguise
Have you ever thought about loadshedding as a blessing in disguise? No? Well, consider this. Our electricity rates have increased around 40 per cent in the past one year. If it weren’t for the loadshedding we would be paying electricity bills worth thousands of rupees. What would we do then? So, after realising this, I request everyone to appreciate this blessing in disguise.
Imran Wazeer
Islamabad
APTTA's reality
It seems the whole nation, except those in power, is confused. People are asking each other about the real position of the Afghan-Pakistan Transit Trade Accord. A few days back, Pakistan signed the accord on transit trade in Islamabad. rime Minister Gilani, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and US Special Representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke were among those present at the ceremony. Now no other person than the prime minister himself tells us that the accord has not been signed and it will be first approved by the federal cabinet and then signed by the two countries. Our rulers should tell the truth about the APTTA to the people before they sign it, if this has not already been signed.
Khalid I. Khan
Lahore
Distrust or ignorance
There has been widespread protest across Sindh against the Bhasha Dam. Surely it can't be about agricultural land getting submerged. It can't be about people getting dislocated either – there is no such populace there. Then the protest must be due to the fear that the dam will dam-up the Indus. Is this just distrust or is it sheer ignorance? Due to their ignorance (not distrust), these people want to deprive themselves and the rest of the country of 7 million acre feet of water that the Bhasha Dam reservoir will store from June to August every year; water that is essential for the late Kharif and Rabi crops; crops which cannot be sown without water. In their ignorance, they want to deprive themselves and the rest of the country of 4500 megawatts of cheap power; power which will be needed when Mangla and Tarbela dams stop generating power in 15-years' time.Until this ignorance is not removed, 17 crore people (twice that many soon) will be deprived of 6.1 and 7.0 million acre feet of water, and 3600 and 4500 megawatt of power from Kalabagh and Bhasha Dams respectively.
Khurshid Anwer
Lahore
PTCL broadband
I am a student of class 5 and with the permission of my father we applied for a broadband connection when my summer vacation started in June through the Misri Shah Exchange (Ref 31049SN) for phone 35342706. The PTCL men came to our house and installed the system but did not activate it. Finally, after many complaints and calls, the broadband system was activated after a month on July 3. Even now when the system has been properly installed, the broadband does not work. The lineman said that because our house was far away from the telephone exchange, the lines were weak. In the meantime, we have been billed Rs800 for the broadband. Now, my summer vacation is almost over and we still do not have the internet facility.
A Siddiqi
Karachi
Machine readable passports
The machine-readable passports were introduced with a lot of fanfare by the government of Pakistan. Sadly they have a few flaws. The most glaring defect is that of the passport number in relation to the booklet number. Actually the passport number (which is required to be mentioned on every document) is printed in small digits at a very insignificant place whereas the booklet number is printed in broad numbers or digits on the main page and on all other pages. This is a mistake and NADRA should rectify it. Furthermore, the time for the delivery period of ordinary and urgent passports should be reduced to eight days. The duration/validity period of these passports must also be extended to 10 years instead of five.
Shahid Khan
Karachi
The ongoing water crisis
In a statement Fauzia Wahab, Information Secretary of Pakistan People’s Party said that Pakistan is a water-stressed country, and that even the province of Sindh had shortage of water. She added that due to being water-stressed growers had to implement an advanced irrigation system (drip/trickle) on their farms. In order to implement the drip/trickle irrigation system (which is a good method), the country needs educated people in the rural sector and a stable law and order situation. The region suffers on both counts.
Liaquat Ali
Karachi
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