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Voice of People
Renaming NWFP
Engr Amir Jamal Qureshi
This is in response to Asif Raza’s letter titled ‘Renaming NWFP’. I
would like to clarify a few points discussed by the writer. It seems
that the writer lacks basic knowledge about the real composition of
the NWFP population. He doesn’t seem to know the history of the
subcontinent as well. According to him, residents of two divisions —
Hazara and D I Khan — are opposing the renaming of the province.
But the fact is that the citizens of these divisions have never
opposed the renaming of the province rather they support it and are
in favour of the proposal. What they don’t support is the name
‘Pakhtunkhwa’ as suggested by the ANP. The writer should know that
the objection on the name is not only raised by the residents of
these two divisions but also by the Hindko-speaking people of
Peshawar and Kohat and the citizens of Chitral.
These people make a sizeable population of the province and their
concerns cannot be simply overlooked. The second thing incorrectly
stated by the writer is that the country’s southern province is
named as Sindh because Sindhis live there in majority. The fact,
however, is that the province is named after the Sindh valley which
is the third oldest civilization of the world. It was because of the
Sindh valley that the people living there were called Sindhis. Also,
the renaming of NWFP on the basis of Pakhtun ethnicity will widen
the ethnic divide in the country which will definitely harm the
national harmony. Any new name that is acceptable to every segment
of the NWFP population will surely be welcomed.
—Mansehra
Load-shedding problem
Sania Asif Abbassi
Pakistan is facing very difficult time because there are number of
problems in which inflation, electricity political crisis are three
major problems Pakistan is facing. Pakistan is going through
critical time and Pakistani nation is badly affected due to these
problems. Every problem is linked with the other.
As we know that in these days Pakistan is suffering from a huge
problem of electricity and we are facing load shedding which causes
us loss in number of ways. Due to load shedding domestic life as
well as industrial life is affected badly. All businesses are going
down. Energy deficit/Load shedding as it is affecting the whole
economy. Unannounced load shedding is hitting the industrial
production badly. There are many areas where over 7-9 hour long
power shutdown. The power shut down also affected the fool supply at
various filling station, the cng station also restricted the per
vehicle gas supply to just two mft, leaving the consumer in
difficult situation.
The businessmen kept their business shutdown consequently not only
industrial, commercial and domestic life activities have been
affected but agriculture sector had also been affected badly. Due to
prolonged load shedding adequate electricity was not available for
tube wells, which had, adversely affected the wheat and fodder
crops. Because how they can do their work without electricity, and
electricity shutdown often every 2 or 3 hours then how can they
continue their work? If the business and industries going to be
closed then there will be unemployment and due to inflation and
unemployment how people can fulfill their needs and their family
needs. How they can bring sugar and milk for their children.
Especially students are badly affected due to this load shedding.
Students are disturbed and upset owing to the prevailing load
shedding as they couldn’t prepare well enough for exams especially
at night because of power failure. And in this summer there would be
a record hot temperature how people will going to pass that
scorching hot season?
—Islamabad
PCO and non-PCO judges
Khaled Ahmed
I believe that Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry and other
judges who did not take oath under the November 3 unconstitutional
PCO should not be called ‘deposed’ judges because they have been
forcefully prevented from discharging their duties as superior
courts’ judges. In fact, the post-November 3 judges of the Supreme
Court, since they took oath under an extra-constitutional PCO, have
little justification for being in the judiciary. I don’t understand
why president’s assent is necessary for bringing back the real
judges to an office which they still legally hold.
—Islamabad
Attack on girls’ school
Dr Mohammad Zafar
The recent attack on a girls’ school in Swat shows Taliban’s
intentions to keep the future mothers uneducated and away from
progress. What kind of Islam are the Taliban trying to promote by
burning girls’ schools? Don’t they know the Hadith which encourages
Muslims (both men and women) to seek knowledge and education even if
they have to go to China? Education is the basic right of women
because they bring up the next generation. Do the Taliban want their
sons and daughters to be brought up by uneducated women?
A majority of the Taliban comes from madressahs where they memorize
the holy Quran without knowing in the real sense of the word its
actual message. The rote learning of the holy book and a few Hadith
is not sufficient for one to become a religious scholar. In the
past, Islam was not spread by sword, rather it was a result of the
honesty and integrity of Muslims which made the non-Muslims realize
the essence of Islam.
The real motive behind the burning of schools by the Taliban is to
keep people away from the knowledge of real Islam. They know that if
people get education, especially in the rural areas, the sway they
hold over them will come to an end. They will lose control over the
people and will not be able to recruit youngsters for their
misguided armed expeditions.
—Islamabad
Quit Danish products
A student
I used to eat chocolate and biscuits of Denmark before the
publication of blasphemous caricatures in its newspapers. These were
my favourite things but now I have completely quit purchasing and
eating Danish sweets because I think that this act on my part will
definitely have a bad, although very little, effect on its economy.
This shows my genuine love and respect for the Holy Prophet (PBUH).
—Rawalpindi
Politics!
Dr A P Sangdil
Whenever something new happens in our politics Maulana Fazlur Rahman
says things like that his party was not taken into confidence or
that it has reservations. Despite this, he has managed to remain in
every government in the 90s. It seems no government can function
without his wisdom and political acumen. His latest pearl of wisdom
is that all the PCO judges must go (a statement also hailed by Altaf
Hussain).
—Oslo, Norway
