Articles and letters may be edited for the purposes of clarity and space.
No medical allowance, arrears?
A Large numbers of Radio Pakistan’s serving and retired employees continue to be deprived and denied payment of Medical Allowance with their salaries/pensions to which they are entitled under the law quite regretfully since July 2022. In July 2022, the federal coalition government headed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had quietly replaced Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation (Radio Pakistan) ‘s own scale with the government scales.
Following this development, Radio Pakistan’s serving and retired employees were entitled to the payment of a fixed medical allowance with their salaries/pensions but the same is not being paid to them for a pretty long period to enable them buy costly medicines and also cope for ever-rising essential articles prices to some extent.
PM Shehnaz Sharif, who is in the saddle for the second time, and new entrant as the Federal Information Minister Attaullah Tara are requested to look into the matter and come to the rescue and help of Radio Pakistan’s serving and retired employees who are somehow facing difficult times.
Federal Information Minister Attallah Tarar is also requested to spare some time off his other engagements and commitments of rebuttals to the opposition left and right Radio Pakistan headquarters, located just across the road the Parliament House on the Constitution and hear the grievances and complaints of Radio Pakistan employees and pensioners who among other difficulties and problems are also waiting for the payment of meagre 17.5 percent increase in their pensions and 35 percent rise in salaries announced in June 2023 with the federal budget. The increase was paid to the regular and retired employees in November 2023 but they are still awaiting payment of four months July to October 2023 arrears so far. if the PM and the Federal Information Minister are kind enough should look into the matter and order payment of the four months arrears besides long denied Medical Allowance to Radio serving and retired employees, they will be able to celebrate upcoming Eidul Fitr in somewhat comfortably if not in a befitting manner, please.
M Z RIFAT
Lahore
Diverse challenges
The new government has diverse challenges to cope up with. Among them is the issue of negative use of artificial intelligence. Pakistan has an ailing education system, and the presence of Chat GPT may increase the risk of its unethical use.
Pakistan ranked at 117th out of 133 countries in Global Knowledge Index 2023. This depicts the backwardness in education standards and in the long run, may result in depletion of human resource. Presence of Chat GPT may increase the threat of plagiarism and impact badly upon the quality of literature being produced.
Students should be introduced to the courses of using artificial intelligence in an ethical manner. It should be preferred for learning purposes and should not be used to write assignments and academic papers. The government, therefore, should invite opinions from experts to battle this upcoming hazard. It may urge the universities to tighten the rules against plagiarism and should punish anyone opting for illegal means. Pakistan has huge bulk of youngsters. It is the responsibility of authorities to turn it in a productive human resource that can contribute in the betterment of the country.
UMAR FAROOQ
Sialkot, Punjab
Challenges
for new govt
I am writing to share my thoughts to highlight how the newly formed government will face difficulties and challenges in the days ahead.
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) have joined forces with other smaller parties. However, the result of the general election has added political instability to the already existing economic crisis and militancy. This coalition government will find it inflexible to bring out a mandatory solution.
Conflicts might arise between the two parties which will result in weak and unstable administration. Earlier the PPP said that they won’t take ministerial roles this time which can predict that the coalition will be weaker than the last time.
Other than the political challenges, Pakistan has been in a state of economic chaos in recent years. Covid-19, natural disasters, corruption and energy crisis has made the economic condition more challenging. Pakistan has already made a $3 billion deal with the IMF.
To summarise, the government will deal with a number of issues in coming days for which they should take immediate and progressive steps to overcome these hurdles. I believe all the political parties should work together amid political conflicts to bring stability and prosperity for the whole nation.
FARAH ZAHID
Peshawar
