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Spend resources on education, not war
The recent terrorist attacks in
Mumbai have been condemned in the strongest terms by the
President and Prime Minister of Pakistan.
It is ironical that attacks came
when just days before President Asif Ali Zardari made a daring
set of offers to India by suggesting that he is ready to sign a
no-first used treaty on nuclear weapons; and talks between the
Home secretaries of Pakistan and India were held in Islamabad
and co-operation in fighting terrorism was discussed. The
foreign ministers were meeting in New Delhi to ease the visa
restrictions and to build friendly relationships.
Unfortunately, a section of the
Indian media has been blaming Pakistan for the terrorist attacks
and Major General RK Hooda, who was leading the military
operations against terrorists, told reporters that terrorists
are from across the border, perhaps from Faridkot, Multan, but
they pretend to be from Hyderabad, India.
It seems that the burden of a
hostile past is still too big on the Indian military
establishment, whose core agenda seems to be the destruction of
Pakistan.
A joint Anti-Terrorism Mechanism
was set up in September 2006, but it remained redundant. It was
agreed at that time that there will be no baseless accusation
without proper evidence and investigations. Recently, in the
Samjhota Express terrorist attack, the Indian army colonel has
been proved to be involved in planning and execution.
I strongly believe that good
relations between India and Pakistan are not possible without
the wholehearted concurrence of militaries and intelligence
agencies of both the countries. So, with the political will of
the civilian leadership, it is imperative to involve the chiefs
of both countries and their intelligence agencies so that both
countries, which are now spending billions of dollars on
gunpowder, can spend their resources on education of their
respective populations.
ENGR. S. T. HUSSAIN,
Lahore.
APC and
Pakistan unity
We as a nation are very happy
that all political parties, whether small or big, have agreed to
sit togather. If these parties suceed in getting united, then we
will definitely become a great nation. The decision taken in
time can set a policy line for the present government. I as a
citizen suggest that the APC more or less must give an agreed
declaration to the nation. It is said “to be prapared is half
victory”. If not then the parties will not be forgiven by the
coming generation.
Mian Sanjid Shah,
Pabbi.
Smoke-free areas
We are young parents of an
asthmatic child. Like most young parents, we do not have much
recreation in our lives; consequently going out for dinner in a
restaurant is a real treat. However, that treat can turn into
harassment if someone lights a cigarette. We usually ask the
management of such places to request their clients not to smoke,
but not everyone is considerate or obliging. The idea of
confined designated areas for smokers, which would separate the
smokers from non-smokers completely, is the best news for
parents like us. Now I keep reading in the newspapers that there
is an argument about these areas. Personally, there should be no
discussion about it, for the smokers can smoke, be separated and
they can play with their health without harming the non-smokers.
Noreen Wahab,
Lahore.
The voice of conscience
A lot of applause came from
within and without Britain when (the late) Robin Cook resigned
from the prestigious position in the parliament, as a protest
against the naked aggression on Iraq. This was a sacrifice for
the sake of principles and the voice of conscience. Lal Bahadur
Shastri (late) of India resigned as railway minister when a
bloody rail accident occured in the early sixties. Many more
people big and small in positions, are on the record to have
shown a firm stand on principles to admit their weaknesses and
slackness in responsibilities with open heart. Consequent upon
the tragic happening in Mumbai, a number of important
personalities are in the queue to resign. How big they look!
Really big they are.
Look at this land of the pure.
Have you ever known of a single example like this? Our history
is deplete with such honourable deeds. The first dictator Ayub
had to leave the chair when all and sundry came out into the
streets and forced him to leave. His successor, another dictator
Yahya had to stand down when he had completely sunk down the
“East Pakistn” into the Bay of Bengal. The third dictator Zia,
portraying himself to be “Amirul Momineen” got rid of his sins
when he was blown into pieces in the skies. The fourth in the
series, Musharraf, the most cheap, coward, unscrupulous and
subservient to Bush and Blair, killer of his own people and a
criminal of selling his countrymen including women like Dr. Afia
Siddiqui in exchange for American dollars, was shown the door
forcefully. He is the person who has committed the henious crime
of ruining completely the honour of this God-given country.
The unfortunate thing is that
the man who should have been dragged to the gallows, is being
protected and honoured with protocol by this regime. Nobody
cares what to speak of resigning despite all failures in the
fulfilment of the pledges and promises prior to the election.
They have failed to reinstate the lawful judiciary with honour.
They have failed to fulfil the promise of rooti, kapra and
makan. Due to our utmost passiveness, America has been emboldend
to the extent that it has kept on continued its attacks on our
soil without any justification. Internally, peace, law and order
are in shambles. Who is behind the unfortunate situation in the
city of Karachi, the backbone of the country’s economy? The
criminals are quite conspicuous. There is the need for a bold
and fair policy for this menace. If not all the leadership, at
least the two men, the defence minister and the advisor for the
interior should admit that they have failed to deliver.
Muhammad Faheem,
Timergara.
Isolate smokers
Being a frequent traveller
within Pakistan, I get to spend a great deal of time at the
airports. Consequently I witness various misdemeanours taking
place, like spitting, littering and smoking. Sometimes, the
ironic sight is people smoking right under the no-smoking sign.
News of designated smoking areas had given me hope that finally
the smokers shall be pushed into little cubicles where they can
burn their lungs to their heart’s content. However, I became
very hopeful very soon, for now the government is being
pressurised into taking its sensible solution back. I wonder
when we will ever really learn from the countries that we
emulate to be. There have been designated smoking areas in most
of the developed world and some of these countries are reverting
their ban on designated smoking areas, for they realise that
people who have a craving will light up regardless the
consequences. They will light their cigarette in toilets or in
closets, thus becoming a fire hazard. Just because the ordinance
has been passed, does not mean that the humanity will quit
lighting their cigarettes. “Smoke Free” is a process that will
take time. Meanwhile, why not let these smokers congregate in
their own cubicles and leave the rest of us alone?
Durdana Tameezuddin,
Islamabad.
Action re-play
A senior American general has
revealed that al-Qaeda is planning to invade America from the
FATA area of Pakistan. This is action re-play of 9/11 incident
of 2001. Seven years back, CIA had planned an attack on world
trade centre and after the attack, it managed to issue a
statement through its agent, to accept responsibility for the
attack by al-Qaeda, an organisation not known before that day.
It is likely that next year when
Barak Obama takes over as Democrat president CIA will attack
another city and blame Pakistan for the attack. Pakistani
government and people should beware of the conspiracy, and
action replay of 9/11 by CIA in the near future.
Bashir Hussain Azad,
Chitral.
Academicians or intellectuals?
Many Pakistani intellectuals
often write in newspapers in much interesting way or speak in TV
talk shows with much eloquence on many topics, some of which can
be, though, termed as oft-repeated ones. However the views of
most of them about these topics hardly carry some new thinking
or idea. Most of their arguments, views, comments, analysis or
suggested remedies etc are often idealistic, bookish and of
academic nature or of stereotype. Very few come with original
ideas and arguments. The real worth of their intellect is tested
when they are faced with such questions or issue on which the
related materials are least available or it needs original
thinking or realistic logical and coherent and convincing
arguments. It is a common experience of many readers that most
of these intellectuals never answer back when they are asked
with such questions through emails.
Though academicians may not be
knowing the answers of many problems as their job is simply
learn and present it back in simpler way. However intellectuals
can not be absolved easily as true intellectuals are the ones
who come with new and original ideas. They are supposed, and
justly, to be possessed with creativity and ingenuity and should
never be allergic to tough and new questions as true
intellectuals always welcome complicated and tough questions so
to seek out their answers. And that is the job as well as
identity of true intellectuals.
Habib Ullah,
Peshawar. |