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.
Humzaad
da Dukh
Born on 28 April 1936 in Jalandhar to Mian Abdul Aziz (Pakistani), the legendary literary icon, Tariq Aziz passed away on 17th June 2020 at the age of 84. His father was so patriotic that he wrote Pakistani with his name. After partition the family moved to Pakistan and spent initial years in penury. Tariq Aziz struggled in the initial years of his career before joining PTV in 1964. He had a superb voice coupled with immaculate style, fluency and communication skills.
Having said that he had sharp memory and could recite poetries at length. He inculcated good moral values in the minds of many generations. His programme Neelam Ghar went on air with different names for more than forty long years, a record in itself. He imbibed goodness through his social messages in millions of people. He remained a Member of Parliament from 1997 to 1999. Tariq Aziz was a dynamic personality, a die-hard Pakistani, an orator, a beautiful writer and a poet par excellence. His book “Hamzad da Dukh” sheds life on different shades of his life.
Tariq Aziz cultivated the barren fields of minds of our country with his aesthetic sense, through knowledge and extreme literary taste. It would be very difficult to compare him with any other person. An icon of his own cult that has ended with his sad demise. May his soul rest in the highest columns of heavens. Amen.
IFTIKHAR MIRZA
Islamabad
Performing Hajj
Saudi government should announce its policy soon for the sake of clarity. Instead of allowing large numbers of people from across the world, perhaps a solution can be found by only allowing a small, symbolic number of locals to perform the key rituals in Makkah, Arafat, Mina, etc so that the religious obligation is fulfilled. Allowing a large number of believers to congregate may complicate the situation further.
And even if Saudi Arabia decides to proceed as usual, each Muslim country, including Pakistan, must assess the risks to their own citizens before allowing them to undertake the pilgrimage this year. Perhaps if Ulema from different countries and schools of thought are consulted, and the advice of health professionals is kept in view, a solution can be found for the pilgrimage to symbolically go ahead, and ensure that Muslims’ lives are not threatened by Covid-19.
SAQIB ISHAQ
Khalana AJK
Banks saving jobs during COVID-19
The rue economic impact of the Coronavirus pandemic still continues to unfold. Employment is one particular area where repercussions are significant with an estimated 18 million people expected to lose their jobs. The State Bank of Pakistan and our financial institutions are playing an instrumental role in making sure that the adverse effects are diluted as much as possible. The payroll financing scheme is one that has been crucial in not just saving thousands of jobs but also making sure that salaries are paid in time.
Many banks including Standard Chartered, JS Bank and Faysal Bank extended payroll financing to organizations which applied for it. JS Bank for instance has so far provided financing of more than PKR9 billion to more than 168 clients. Other banks have similar figures and cumulatively, these schemes have allowed organizations faced with squeezed revenues to keep operations going. Payroll financing has played a substantial role in stabilizing the economy and the banks which forwarded this facility to their clients must be appreciated.
MUHAMMAD ALAMGIR KHAN
Islamabad
Time will tell!
Astonishingly Justice Isa had taken up the claim that the Government has used illegal sources to gather information on his family, explaining in great detail how many steps are needed to just trace one property in the UK and that too only after knowing the exact spelling of names. This explanation alone tells us how difficult it is to trace illegal properties of corrupt officials.
Similarly Justice Isa in his reply blames the petitioner of using surveillance and not actual proof, for their reference against him, but in his own reply he also uses assumptions, without any proof, many times, to instigate other illegal activities against the petitioner. While the replies of Justice Isa have also been mysteriously been released to the media as well, this highlights two things; firstly, the Judiciary is aware of the difficulty in obtaining proof of corruption but have failed to make any suggestions on improving this shortfall in our Justice system.
Secondly, the way this petition is advancing, has provided a text book reply for any criminal for using lawyers to delay or tarnish their cases and investigations in the future. Is this the direction the respected Judiciary wants to take Pakistan along or would the final verdict be powerful enough to improve methods and laws for finding proof against criminals and also stop future criminals for using similar tactics to delay cases. Only time will tell.
SHAHRYAR KHAN BASEER
Peshawar
Injustice by PTI Govt
The PTI-led federal government did injustice with the serving government employees and pensioners by not increasing their salaries and pensions in the budget 2020-21 which seems to be the cruel behaviour of the centre towards the government employees and pensioners. Certainly the pandemic covid-19 has worsened the country’s economy. The poor pensioners whose pensions are very low have also been hit hard by the Coronavirus pandemic. Thanks to the Sindh Government for at least increasing 10% in pension in budget. The Sindh Government has also announced 10% salary raise to serving employees of scale 1 to 16 while 5% for grade 17 and above in budget 2020-21.
Owing to the less pensions and high burden of the extended families, majority of low income pensioners along with families find it hard to survive these days. The Federal/Sindh governments should have provided more relief particularly to the pensioners by increasing 20% in pension.
Imtiaz Junejo
Hyderabad
