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.
ECP’s judgment
There is one message in the ECP judgment that relates to Imran Khan’s most important political strategy: to throw the ‘chor, chor’ slogan on the faces of his political opponents. He can now be considered to have been painted by the same brush. In any case, there may be a little less shine on his narrative, which has worked so well so far.
PTI leaders and supporters have their own arguments against the ECP judgment but the facts reported about the Toshakhana affair and details emerging from the ECP judgment should at least make the doubters think twice about the PTI leader’s protestations of innocence.
There is no dispute about the fact that Imran Khan sold some gifts that he had received from foreign dignitaries when he was prime minister for large profit, after acquiring them from the Toshakhana at a concessional price.
The ignominy of selling these gifts in the market belongs only to Imran Khan. Even if there is some legal justification for doing so, it cannot be condoned on ethical grounds. Imran Khan’s indiscretions are known to have affected Pakistan’s ties with an important friendly country. It seems likely that Friday’s ECP ruling and its consequences would further deepen Pakistan’s political polarization and accentuate a sense of turmoil in the nation’s affairs.
QAZI JAMSHED SIDDIQUI
Lahore
Breast cancer
Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer and the leading cause of cancer deaths in women globally. Pakistan has the highest incidence rate of breast cancer among Asian countries: one in every nine women has a lifetime risk of being diagnosed with breast cancer. The key to cure the breast cancer is early diagnosis.
In order to address the urgency of breast cancer, Pakistan is in dire need to initiate multi-pronged strategies, including better reporting and documentation of cases, community-level awareness, promoting the early detection of breast cancer, overcoming the barriers in the provision of better health facilities and making diagnosis easy.
Due to low health budget of the country, there is a scarcity of modern cancer-care infrastructure. It also shows that Pakistani women are deficient in knowledge about breast cancer and follow many prevalent superstitions and spiritual statements about the disease.
This review highlights that there is an urgent need to educate the women, promote early diagnosis of breast cancer and ensure the better equipped public facilities for palliative care of patients suffering from breast cancer.
For better management and effective planned polices, there is an urgent need to set up a national-level cancer-registry database that can provide accurate prevalence of diagnosed cases, survival rates and other related parameters.
The government must invest in cost-effective early breast cancer–detection strategy to promote downstaging and ensure the availability of accessible specialized hospitals for breast cancer, trained female oncologists, nursing staff, genetic counselling centres and awareness chapters in course books.
SAMAN ABDUL QAYYUM
Karachi
Scourge
of political revenge
Despite of grabbing victory on six out of seven National Assembly seats, he had contested on October 16 by polls, recently former Prime Minister Imran Khan is disqualified by a unanimous verdict of the five-member bench of the Election Commission in Toshakhana case. Phenomenally, the verdict may not have been completely unanticipated as the PTI seemed to have an idea what was coming, as they were persistently blaming the Election Commission’s partiality.
Having said that back in 2017, Mian Nawaz Sharif was also disqualified in the same kind of case and consequently, a political flaw was created leaving behind an unprecedented crisis in the country’s economy and infrastructure. Regrettably, we have not learned any lesson from those aberrations. In the best case scenario, the authorities should have sit together to put the things right in place without endangering the national stability.
Contrary to it, the ruling party is again playing its revenge card in spite of caring ongoing crisis driving the country towards a plagued situation. Those who are holding sway are exempted from the consequences while the populace is always abandoned solo to bear the aftermaths. This scourge trend of political revenge is ultimately driving the country towards political and economic instability. There is a dire need to stop this trend before it is too late.
SAIF UR REHMAN
Lahore
Inflation
I would like to draw the kind attention of the concerned authorities towards the unprecedented hike in prices of essential commodities. Prices of essential commodities have shot up & the petrol price is rising; that’s why the public transport fare is also high. This rising trend continues unchecked. As a result, the majority of people who have meagre salaries find it difficult to make their both ends meet. It seems there is no system to check the unusual price rise.
We cannot imagine where this price rise will stop. It has crushed the common man. The essential commodities and things of daily need are becoming dearer every day. The common man cannot fulfil his basic needs. He cannot give good education to his children. Good medical treatment is beyond his reach. It seems that the regulatory system has completely collapsed. The skyrocketing price rise is a cause of great concern for all. Though the low income group people are the worst affected.
It is time that our government should check the causes behind the ever-increasing prices without any delay. It needs to immediately check black-marketing, hoarding and profiteering and it should strictly deal with those who are found guilty. In fact, they are the enemies of society. Hence, they deserve to be tackled hard-handedly. Only then can the common man be relieved from the effects of price hike.
SYEDA HAYA ALI
Karachi
