Rising street crimes
Street crimes in Karachi are once again on the rise. People again feel threatened by gangs of outlaws, out on motorcycles, who rob and kill people mercilessly. People are being robbed of their valuables day and night as criminals are roaming streets freely in search of targets. Even residential areas are no longer safe against mugging and scores of mugging cases are being reported on daily basis.
Criminal activities have grown like a disease in Karachi city threatening the life and property of people. According to a CPLC report around 36,360 mobile phones were stolen on streets of the city during first 10 months of 2019. Moreover, 34,000 vehicles were also stolen including 21,000 motorcycles. Law-enforcement agencies should act decisively to uproot criminal activities from the city so that people feel safe. Will Sindh government come up to this task?
MUHAMMAD HAIDER
Karachi
An open letter to Indian PM
Dear Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji: When you were the Chief Minister of Gujarat, you gave a free hand to the BJP and its associates to commit atrocities against Christians and Muslims. When the BJP and the Biju Janata Dal parties were ruling in Odisha, over 50,000 Christians were chased out from their homes and their houses were burnt to ashes. Nuns were even raped in Odisha (Orissa then) and elsewhere in the country.
When the BJP was ruling in Madhya Pradesh, Christian priests and pastors were dragged out from their prayer houses and beaten to death. When the BJP was ruling in Karnataka, the then Chief Minister of the State, Mr Yeddyurappa, gave a free hand to the Hindu right-wing organisations to attack churches in Mangalore and in Udupi.
When you were the Chief Minister of Gujarat, you removed the Good Friday holiday from the list of annual holidays for people of the State. When you became the Prime Minister of India, in May 2014, you removed Good Friday holiday in two of the Union Territories and the High Court of Madras rejected it saying, Good Friday, a national holiday is mandatory to every citizen of this country.
Also, during your tenure as PM since the last five years, there was a lot of lynching and Dalits and Muslims were killed and burnt alive for carrying beef and eating it and you did nothing to stop these atrocities. Instead, you said that those who want to eat beef should go to Pakistan and live there. What is one man’s food should not be another man’s poison, Mr Modi. Also during your tenure as PM for the last five years, you even made it compulsory for Christians to work on Christmas Day (December 25) in some BJP-ruled States of India.
As Prime Minister, you cannot even rule the country with honesty and integrity so it’s high time you went to the Himalayas and lived there forever amongst hermits.
JUBEL D’CRUZ,
Mumbai, India
Gaining regional trust
Some weeks back President Trump said that he would love to meet Iran’s President but then took a U-turn and said that Iran was involved in attack on Saudi Arabia. The US foreign policy has a big question mark regarding Iran. President Trump changes his statement time and again. On the other hand Iranian President Rouhani said that talks with the US were possible only if sanctions were lifted. Pakistan has been asked to play the role of a mediator between US-KSA and Iran. It will be in our national interest if we play the role of a mediator.
We need to further improve our relations with Iran and PM Imran Khan is the only hope in this regard. Previous governments did not take this matter seriously. We must keep in mind one thing that in international affairs friends and enemies change with passage of time yet neighbours remain the same. It’s imperative that we make our relations better with Iran. PM Imran Khan has decided to visit Iran before leaving for KSA. This looks a positive step. Talks with Iran are in the national interest of Pakistan. We need to win the trust of Iran and strengthen our relations with them because whenever Pakistan left vacuum, India utilised it.
One positive sign is Pakistan-China trust. China has a great role to play in regional and world peace. It can use its influence to reduce tensions in the Middle East and specially to support efforts to remove misunderstandings between Iran and Saudi kingdom. Pakistan is always affected whenever situation is tense between KSA and Iran. Our foreign policy needs a revisit to cater to changing ground realities.
OMAR SHAHKAR
Islamabad
Price hike
As a developing country with sixth largest population in the world, Pakistan faces quite a few challenges. One of them is rising prices of general commodities with each passing day. People from all walks of life are facing steep rise in prices of daily use.
During present government prices increased unexpectedly, which are beyond the expectation of a common man. It greatly affected the living standard of people. For common man price hike is always a matter of great concern. As compared to salaries prices rose rapidly. So it is difficult for a common person to meet his requirements. With frequent increase in prices of petrol and diesel, transportation charges also rise and this in turn affects prices of all goods. It has become very difficult to manage things in Pakistan. The government must take measures to keep prices low. Take strict action against black marketers and hoarders.
MARIA SHAUKAT
Islamabad
No hostel facility
I am a regular student of University Law College Quetta, which is a department of University of Balochistan. Sadly, law students are deprived of hostel facility. I belong to Turbat, which is around 800 kilometres from Quetta to avail better educational environment yet I have not been provided with hostel facility even after completion of one semester and that is troubling me a lot.
Not only me but also plenty of poor students who have come from other districts are also suffering due to non-availability of hostel facility. It costs privately more than two thousands per month as room rent without meals. How can poor students like me survive here? Therefore, I appeal Governor and CM Balochistan to resolve our issue and provide us a decent hostel and mess so that we can properly concentrate on our education.
ALI JAN MAQSOOD,
Quetta, Balochistan
Water crisis
Water crisis is a big challenge for Pakistan. There is insufficiency of clean drinking water as well as water for irrigation and industries. Severity of the issue can be judged from the fact that at the time of partition, per capital availability of water was over 5000 cubic meters. Today per capita availability of water has reduced to 1000 cubic meters. Shortage of water has become a serious cause of concern. The implication of this particular issues are alarming. It has devastated agriculture sector, which contributes 21 percent to the GDP of the country. Canals for supplying water to land are too old and inefficient as out of 104 MAF of water diverted at canal heads only 58 MAF becomes available to agriculture lands and farms.
Ever exploding population has contributed to water shortage in the country population of Pakistan has increased from 34 million in 1950 to over 200 million in 2017. The causes of over population in Pakistan are many such as illiteracy and absence of family planning. Unless this issue is addressed Pakistan cannot become a prosperous country. For a country like Pakistan water crises is a serious threat which has to be mitigated by proper planning.
HINA DAD
Via email
Vaping deaths
Vaping deaths have been growing in the West and the US. The news of 18 vaping related deaths in the US come as a shock to many particularly those who had switched to vaping believing it as somewhat safer alternative to cigarette smoking. The health authorities suspect vaping linked to over 1,000 patients across the US since June. As investigations are under way, causes of sudden illness has not been confirmed.
Health authorities strongly suspect it is linked to vaping and first suspected vaping related death took place in August. Now in US a ban is now placed on certain vaping products in reaction to what some are describing as a health emergency. Many other countries also banned it like India, Mexico, Thailand and many more. In Pakistan the vaping trend never caught on a large scale due to heavy price tag attached to vaping devices yet many people, who can afford it, certainly indulge in it. Government should impose restriction on vaping and vaping products.
MAHKAN SARWAR
Via email
