Articles and letters may be edited for the purposes of clarity and space. They are published in good faith with a view to enlightening all the stakeholders. However, the contents of these writings may not necessarily match the views of the newspaper.
Disaster Management lapses
The Federal Government provided funds in 2007 for establishing NDMA to provide relief and rescue to citizens of this country who are victim of natural or man-made disasters. Unfortunately, this top-heavy organization, along with thousands of other state employees posted there, failed in the most recent such disasters that occurred in Murree where 23 citizens, died stranded on a snow-covered road in a habited area.
All state funded organizations at hill stations are equipped with tools and paraphernalia required to tackle snow fall, rains, landslides and tree uprooting etc., that occur every year. Instead of elevating administrative set-up of Murree, other than escalating administrative expenditure, it will serve no other purpose. What is needed is to recruit personnel qualified and trained in search and rescue operations associated with local Fire Brigade and other such departments. The report fails to identify whether the 2 km road adjacent to Kuldina, was under administrative jurisdiction of civil administration or cantonment executive board.
It was an avoidable tragedy if all organizations had coordinated. The snow removing equipment existed but was either unserviceable or did not have fuel and drivers required to operate them. The NDMA was established to formulate policies for crisis management. Rescue and Relief Operations are specialized skills. An audit must be carried out. Unless those responsible for criminal negligence are given exemplary punishment, dismissed from service, followed by imprisonment after a judicial process, such disasters will continue to occur.
ALI MALIK TARIQ
Lahore
Book reading culture
AAA Associates is a socially mindful and responsible organization. It consciously integrates itself into initiatives for the betterment of the community; it caters to many needs of the society through various charity and awareness programs and supports sports.
AAA Associates, in collaboration with RDA, established a street library, “Bazam-e-Zauq”, in Rawalpindi near RDA Office, like an oasis in a desert. As a first step, in inculcating a sense in us that books are around us just waiting to be opened and read.
We often talk about our history embellished with the volumes of books in mighty libraries of the Muslim world, which takes one to a fantasy world of flying carpets and rubbing lamps, a world of ancient and the magical, of science and inventions, a sudden nostalgia which overcomes, with a gloomy effect as if we have lost something which was once very dear to us.
A culture which we adorned, and still take pride in, of reading books and sharing knowledge. Once we look around, 75 percent of the people do not read books.
The book reading culture seems like a distant memory, conversations around books are dimmed, libraries seem lost in the busy world of social media and mobile phones, where TikTok videos and YouTube likes and subscriptions appear more important than turning a leaf off a torn book, saying it has been read many times.
The books somehow stay valuable to us, from keeping the religious book on the upper shelf and always associating respect with book readers we are a nation still in romance with the books. It is only a matter of a few glimpses of the old lover that we will come back rushing to it. Here comes the role of a street library. Many people do not even have the access to books, library cards and funds to purchase books and add to the imaginary home library. Many have not even been introduced to the concept of reading a book as a leisure activity.
MARYAM NAWAZ KAYANI
Islamabad
Corruption
in Pakistan
Transparency International revealed that Pakistan dropped 16 places in the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) for 2021 compared to the previous year, ranking 140 out of 180 countries. Corruption has been a systemic issue for a long time in Pakistan, however we continue to drop further down the list and losing sixteen places in one year is extremely concerning and shameful.
The CPI measures how corrupt a country’s public sector is perceived to be by its experts and business people, and uses a scale of zero to 100 where zero is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean. Last year, Pakistan’s CPI was calculated to be 31, and for 2021 the score has now deteriorated to 28. For the sake of comparison, India’s corruption score stood at 40. In Pakistan’s case, Transparency International has revealed that the absence of “rule of law” and “state capture” has resulted in a substantially low CPI score of Pakistan.
For a party and head thereof PM Imran Khan who came into power on the manifesto of eliminating corruption, this report arouse disconsolate sentiments in the heart of active supporters of PTI. Narrative of Corruption seems dashed down.
Even since inception of government’s accountability drive started to appear as being overtly politically motivated against opposition members, instead of rooting out corruption embedded in the system.
All its energies are being utilized to defame and scandalize opposition instead of providing relief to people. Those in the media and civil society who attempted to pursue the cause of accountability have been trolled and hounded, essentially removing any checks on the government.
On top of all of this, the resignation of the PTI government’s accountability advisor Shahzad Akbar is also interesting in its timing and can be interpreted in multiple ways. Not doing well in terms of delivering on accountability and eradication of corruption, the government will have a tough time selling this report card to its voters.
An accountability drive can only work if governments and their institutions prioritize merit and keep the process free of any political motives. The lesson here is that a partial accountability drive is not going to do the country any good.
QAZI JAMSHED SIDDIQUI
Lahore
