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Wednesday, September 30, 2009, Shawwal 10, 1430 |
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Voice of People
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State gifts
Aneela Chandio
Where else in democracies or in the civilised world, do billionaire
former Presidents, PMs and serving Heads of States take away
expensive gifts given by foreign dignitaries at less than 15% of
their value. As far as my knowledge goes, head of states take away
minor gifts as token souvenirs, when they are leaving office, which
definitely does not include cars, diamonds, hand made carpets,
expensive watches etc.
I am shocked and angered by the sense of honour of these men, with
their insatiable appetite for greed. Compare the likes of Musharraf,
Shaukat Aziz, etc with men like Mohd Ali Jinnah. Shame is the last
defence line for men, for whom integrity or morals are not an issue.
How does our sitting head of state explain his decision to buy
expensive limousines gifted by Libya to the Pakistan government, as
his personal property on payment of just 15%?. These cars belong to
the state of Pakistan and should remain in the states possession.
Leaders are expected to be role models instead of cause for shame. —Sukkur |
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Housing sector
Armaghan Naeem
The government has launched mega housing scheme to construct one
million housing units in the country to be provided to the poor,
needy, government employees, media men and general public at
affordable cost under the Prime Minister programme. According to the
survey carried out, there is a paucity of seventy to eighty million
houses in the country which means that population of this figure is
living without shelter. The construction of housing units at large
scale is certainly a Herculean task and a big challenge for the
executing authorities, yet is seems from the launching of a number
of housing projects by PHA that efforts are being made for speedy
implementation of the housing projects.
Last year, Pakistan Housing Authority had launched a housing project
for the lower grade government employees, BS-1 to 16 in G-10/2
sector in which quota of 5% was also reserved for media community.
This project is in full swing and it will provide residential
facility to hundreds of shelterless people within a short spam of
time. On 5th September, 2009 Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani
also inaugurated a housing project under which 2000 flats were to be
built by PHA/Maymar company.
Federal Government Employees Housing Foundation (FGEHF) has also
launched a housing scheme at Bara Kahu area near Islamabad city
which will accommodate thousands of people. FGEHF is an important
organ of the Ministry of Housing and Works which is actively working
for addressing the housing problems of the government employees,
officials of the autonomous bodies/corporations and media personnel.
Under 11 housing projects in various cities, FGEHF has so far
provided 23,000 houses, plots and flats to the people. This is the
first time in the history of our country that investment
opportunities in the housing sector have opened for local and
foreign investors. Over dozens foreign companies of international
repute had also signed Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry
of Housing & Works and PHA and expressed their willingness to
participate in the Prime Minister’s Housing Project independently or
joint venture with local companies. —Via email
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Moon controversy
Khalid A
Allama Iqbal, in his poem Hilal-e-Eid , addresses the Eid moon and
asks it to have a look at the miserable Muslim Ummah living on the
planet Earth in the following painful words: Firqa araai ki
zanjeeron mein hai Muslim aseer, Apni azadi bhi dekh, in ki
griftaari bhi dekh, May I appeal to our clerics to be realistic and
pragmatic and not to waste their energies on non-issues.
There are more important issues in our nation’s life. Other nations
are getting ready to populate the moon and yet we are busy in a
meaningless debate that would be laughable, were it not so painful
and harmful for the Pakistani nation. Allama Iqbal’s advice to Ummah
was: Isee roz-o-shub mei ulajh kar nah reh jaa, Keh teray
zaman-o-makan aur bhi hain. Most people will be wary of complicated
mathematical calculations involved in predicting the moon sighting.
However the following simple explanation should suffice to convince
the general public that scientists are not trying to ‘invent’
artificial birth of the moon: (1) The first common misconception is
the myth that the length of lunar month varies between 29 and 30
days. Allah says in the Holy Quran that the journeys of moon are
fixed and accurate. How can then there be such a big difference in
the journey time of the moon? In actual fact the moon always goes
around the Earth in 29 ½ days. As we cannot have a date as 1½ or ½,
we choose to count the 1st day either after 29 days or 30 days.
If a month is chosen as 29 days, the next month is already longer by
the extra ½ day. So 29 ½ plus ½ = 30 days for the next month. (2)
When the month is 30 days, the new moon will always be thicker
because it is 1½ days old. This unnecessarily makes people
suspicious that moon sighting has been mistakenly delayed, which is
not true. (3) On any day there is always greater probability of moon
sighting in Europe and America compared to Asia. This is because the
moon is getting thicker by the hour, and evenings in Europe and
America are 5 to 10 hours later than those in Asia. (4) Scientists
are not trying to invent a moon sighting. Nor are they trying to see
it through telescopes. That is unnecessary. All they are doing is to
make a simple calculation and inform us that the age of the new moon
will be 0.2 day or 0.8 day or 1.3 day etc when the evening arrives
at a particular spot on Earth. They also tell us how long it will
remain above the horizon, during the twilight. It is then for us to
lay down some rules to decide whether we should start the new month
or postpone it by one day. For example, if the age of the moon is
less than 0.4 day, the new month may be postponed by one day. This
way, the lunar calendar can be easily and accurately produced for
the next 100 years or more.
Above is a simplified narrative for the general public. Of course,
there is a small occasional variation in the above explanation
because the lunar month is not exactly 29½ days. It is 29 days 12
hours 44 minutes. So there is an occasional adjustment. The solar
year is 365¼ days and we need a leap year every 4 years to adjust
for the extra day that has accumulated. —London, UK
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Don’t beat a dead horse
Sushil Vakil
It seems India is still depending upon the US to help the country
fight terrorism. The recent visit of Home Minister P Chidambaram to
US to have a first-hand experience of how its financial city is
protected by security agencies from terrorist attacks is a clear
indication. Though home minister P Chidambaram had been invited by
the US to have in-depth discussions to find ways of how New Delhi
and Washington could cooperate more to combat terrorism yet the
Washington officials used the opportunity to convey their own
concerns, one being India’s over indulgence in Afghanistan. Keeping
in view Washington’s partisan role India must stop running to US
since its officials are not going to reveal anything new other than
what India knows already.
As a matter of fact US is looking after its interests only and we
have to take care of US. Mr Chidambaram was briefed by officials
from FBI, intelligence and security agencies and New York Police
about the measures being taken by them to prevent any Mumbai-type
terrorist attacks. From walking at the Penn Station, which handles
thousands of train passengers every day, to a briefing by the New
York Police, which had made several changes in its counter-terrorism
measures post-26/11 attacks, Chidambaram and his team of officials
got to know how a mega city like New York can be protected from
terrorists without causing much inconvenience to its residents.
Incidently, in India, it is not the police officials who need
awareness but our leaders to undergo a change of mindset. Let the
police function in its own way.
It is unfortunate that instead of tightening our own security
network, not only in Mumbai but in other states too, our HM had to
rush New York to review their security arrangements. Does our police
force lack will, vigil and action? No. They lack modern arms and
ammunition and powers to take decisions independently. They are
always working under pressure and at the beck and call of
politicians. Before laying their hands on any accused belonging to a
particular caste, colour or religion they have to get clearance from
top to bottom. This is happening nowhere but in India only. Still
our HM expects our police to work like their counterparts in US. Mr
Chidambaram appears to be more interested to retain his chair
peacefully, than taking up the pain to combat terrorism, both
internal and external. —Via email
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Terror fight
Mahmood Zaman
When the country’s establishment was waiting for some clarity over
the post-Mehsud scenario, the policy of wait and see came under
criticism because senior military officers were of the view that
such a policy amounted to unnecessary delay that would only help
militants to consolidate. Security officers understand that it does
not matter for any organization in operation as to who is heading
the opposition association; its only objective is to eliminate the
terrorist outfit along with its leadership. Security official
insisted that the change in situation had not come about only
because of Baitullah’s death, but more on account of various
military and paramilitary campaigns that unfolded and that
effectively exploited the ground realities like various factions
defecting the mainstream militants and local people raising their
own “lashkars” to extend help in the campaign by all possible means
including identifying miscreants. The overall situation thus
emerging across tribal and settled areas is that “Swat is near
closure, Dir is resolved, Buner is concluded and Mohmand is getting
there. However, Taliban leaders in Swat, Buner, Dir, Bajaur and
Mohmand remain busy about the security forces’ ability to track down
the elements behind atrocities and the recent spate of suicide
bombing is one of the militants ploy to raise such questions”, a
senior security officer was quoted as saying. As of late, North
Waziristan is not really on the same wavelength with the South, in
keeping with the Mehsud trait of taking the battle outside.
Bajaur seems to be hotting up again. ‘Money is coming along with
resources and manpower, a lot of foreign assistance is coming but
appears to be a last-ditch effort,’ the officer said. But this is
also indicative of the fact that the power struggle is not over and
all of them will try to outperform each other in small and petty
attacks, generally around Peshawar and in adjoining areas.’ This is
the assessment which may propel the security forces into a new round
of offensive against militants’ pockets in Khyber, Terah, Orakzai
and Bajaur tribal regions. Some of these impending operations have
been on hold due to a variety of reasons. Now that some of the
existing operations are drawing to a close, the government feels
confident to launch new and decisive operations to once and all
bring the problem to an end. That is what the security official said
would help shape up the environment for the final assault on the
Taliban’s citadel and Baitullah’s stronghold in South Waziristan. —Dera
Ismail Khan
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Pakistan Observer 1998-2009,
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