According to print and electronic media reports Sindh Home Minister
has ordered to issue more then 150 arms license to Christians to
protect themselves. After recent incident in Taiser Town the
government decided to distribute these arms license. I would like to
say that this is not a good idea to counter terrorism with such
measures.
Being a Christian I believe that we are messenger of love and peace.
As a peace lover and promoter how we can play dirty game of arms and
ammunition? This is integral part of our faith to say no to arms. As
per our noble teachings we discourage to solve problems with arms.
We do not believe in ‘tit for tat’. Instead of this we hate to take
revenge.
Our religious teachers also teach us same specially to stop
dissemination of arms. We strongly believe in dialouge and to end
conflicts. Therefore, I would like to request Dr Zulfiqar Mirza, if
this is his strategy to solve problems, he should think about not to
use Christian people’s name associated with the arms. Because of
current sensitive situation this is also not good idea to practice
this any more. I do hope that the provincial government will review
its policy. —Karachi
JUI stand
Shehzad Ahmed Mir
When the likes of Maulana Fazlur Rehman walks out of the National
Assembly proceedings in protest of on-going clean-up operation by
Pakistan Army in Swat, is that because of how the Government is
handling the IDP’s situation or is it because of the well deserved
pounding some of his black turbaned dear colleagues are taking in
the area? Care to qualify your stand on this issue Maulana?
—Islamabad
Foreign element
Marya Mufti
The fire lit in FATA and Swat was clearly being fuelled by the
Bush-led partners, including India and Afghanistan, to destabilize
and resultantly denuclearize Pakistan. Foreign agencies were all out
to support, fund, train and infiltrate terrorists in the Taliban
guise to threaten the existence of the country. They had somehow
convinced the Bush administration that this way they would bring
peace in the South Asian region and secure their stay in Afghanistan
as part of the great game.
One is not sure whether the Obama-led partners are working on the
same agenda or not, though the set state policies do not change. But
one is hopeful that a better sense has prevailed as is seemingly
visible from Obama’s advisors such as Bruce Riedel and others who
advocate that only a strong and stable Pakistan can ensure peaceful
stay of the US and coalition partners in Afghanistan and if the
Taliban insurgency aimed at destabilizing Pakistan would be given
backing, it would engulf the whole region, especially India, and the
fire would not be extinguished once this monster goes out of hand.
America had to turn its back on its own created mujahideen of Afghan
jihad era and by creating Taliban for destabilizing Pakistan was
another similar irreparable blunder. It seems that India and its
collaborators tried to take maximum advantage without taking even
the USA into confidence, which resulted in inviting the American
reservations over its undue tilt towards making India the bully of
South Asia. The prospects of the expanding Taliban movement could
have been proved to be highly counterproductive once, God forbid,
Pakistan was destabilized or its army suffered.
US as well as India and its collaborators should sense the gravity
of the situation and withdraw any kind of support to fuelling the
insurgency inside Pakistan for their own sake and for the sake of
peace. The world should accept Pakistan as a nuclear state and any
idea of denuclearizing it would tantamount to playing with fire that
would endanger the whole region, even the world at large.
Let Pakistan fight its war on the home front if they do not come
forward to help it. Let it stand on its own feet and digest what it
has in its own capacity and for its very survival. We, the
Pakistanis, have withstood many a turmoil and we have the will,
capacity and potential to withstand the current turmoil. Stop
meddling in our internal affairs, stop fuelling, funding and
supporting terrorism. Stay away from us please, let us solve
ourselves our problems. —Lahore
Customer oriented marketing
Maqsood Jamal
The word marketing simply means attracting customers. An ordinary
person thinks that marketing is just about advertisement and it is
the job of marketing department. In fact marketing the job of every
member of the organization. Marketing process is basically the
umbrella that underlies manufacturing, promotion, delivering and
selling the goods and services to the customers. Advertising is a
major part of marketing. Everyone cannot do marketing; however the
people who have special skills can become marketers.
By doing effective marketing one can easily increase revenues and
can double profits. It is more than selling and advertising. In my
view marketing is to concentrate more and more on customers, either
to maintain or grabbing new potentials customers. Unfortunately in
Pakistani corporate society the organizations do not like to
concentrate on customers. Here we do not have the “customer care”
culture. We need to keep the customer in our mind before launch a
new product and service. Customer plays very important role in a
successful launch of our new product. We need to use different
tactics to attract the customers. First we need to define our
customers that who and where are our customers.
The design of product should satisfy the needs and wants of
customers. For this purpose the organization should communicate with
the customers. Communication means to remain in contact with the
customers through different ways like email, telephone and surveys.
The price of the product should not exceed the buying power of the
customers. Because if the customers cannot buy our product then
surely our product will not capture the market. As the result our
customers will switch to another brand. Advertising plays important
role in attracting customers. Listen to your customers’ problems. By
understanding the problems, you are more able to deliver a solution.
Be quick in responding to the customer complaint and deliver a
solution as soon as possible. Customers get disappointed
particularly when their expectations are not met so try your best to
meet the customer’s expectations. —Islamabad
Don’t call them refugees
Sher Khan
The mass exodus from Malakand division endorses the fact that the
people of Swat and adjoining areas do not like the Taliban to rule
them; that they are fed up with their barbarism; that they are no
more from within them; that they should be eliminated and expelled
from their areas to make their homes safe and businesses secure;
that they would not be used as a human shield for the Taliban; that
they accept the rule of law of the province and Centre, believe in
the unity of the country, recognize the Constitution of Pakistan,
the Supreme Court, the High Courts, the administrative setup – and
that they are ready to render any kind of sacrifice, pay any kind of
cost be it in terms of leaving their houses and shifting to the
camps or whatever.
They are the true contributors towards peace. They have given the
whole nation a message that their areas must be cleared of the
agents of the enemy, elements of hate and perpetrators of terror.
They want to go back to their homes when the fear of the Taliban is
over. People can call them the refugees or internally displaced
persons (IDPs) but should we call them so? No. Should they be living
in camps and make-shift arrangements? No. The whole nation is at
their back, the people from all over the country are ready to
accommodate them in their homes. The Swabi district Nazim has set an
example of very high standard.
He and his people have opened their own homes for them, they have
turned their agricultural land into the camping ground, spared all
their resources to facilitate them. The people of the area are
cooking extra food and distributing among the displaced. The example
can be followed by all other people of the NWFP, Punjab, Sindh and
Balochistan provinces.
A number of affording families have already reached the area, and
besides the NGOs, they have made their own arrangements and offered
to provide them all kind of help. If the nation stands by them and
by the armed forces, no one can dare create unrest in our country.
We will fight them out till the end, Insha Allah. —Mardan
