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.
Language injustice
This is with reference to Letter to the Editor published in your esteemed newspaper Pakistan Observer, dated May 09, 2020. As a national company, we respect and own all regional languages. Sindhi language on PTCL Contact Centre was under development but not deployed as yet. We were in the process of rolling out Sindhi language on our contact centre but due to COVID-19 situation and lockdown in Sindh, it got delayed keeping in mind the safety of our employees.
We assure you that Sindhi language as an option at our Contact Centre was never commercially launched and therefore the deletion could not be possible for anyone. We are expecting to launch it after we resume normal operations post COVID-19 pandemic. We regret any inconvenience caused due to misunderstanding of the situation.
In case of any complaint, PTCL helpline 1218 is available 24/7, where the customers can easily talk to Customer Support Representatives as per their ease and convenience with no restriction placed on Interactive Voice Response (IVR). In addition, customers can also go to PTCL website www.ptcl.com.pk, web chat, PTCL Touch mobile application or PTCL social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter for registration of their complaints. PTCL endeavors to provide convenience to its valuable customers and ensures better experience.
FARIHA TAHIR SHAH
GM Corporate Communication
PTCL
Alcohol consumption
The lockdown is still going on in India but liquor shops have been opened and people are standing in huge queues right from morning to purchase a bottle of it, even though the price has been hiked. The Holy Bible and the Holy Quran forbid consumption of alcohol but we still see several Christians and Muslims consuming it.
Some people just can’t do without alcohol and they even go to the extent of selling their wife’s jewelleries to get a bottle of it. Just as the Holy Bible tells us that all drunkards will burn in hell, the Holy Quran also tells us the same thing. In my opinion, the government of every country should ban alcohol so that the family can live a happy life.
JUBEL D’CRUZ
Mumbai, India
Bad times for commercial aviation
Never before in the history of modern aviation, has commercial aviation industry faced such a crippling crisis that has forced airlines to ground their fleet. Scores of airlines like Virgin Australia with a fleet of 120 aircraft and FLYBE, a British independent regional European airline with 63 operational aircraft have collapsed because of COVID-19. Passenger airline traffic is likely to pick up only after mid-2021, while in the interim period demand for cargo traffic will increase. PIA should refrain from increasing its passenger fleet and consider increasing its cargo capacity.
Airline industry thrives basically on tourism and trust and confidence of passengers who chose to fly on them. Unfortunately, tourism faces a decline of over 80% while fear of infection grips passengers, who feel uneasy confined inside a metallic tube with re-circulating air, making it an ideal environment for breeding a contagious pandemic. Heathrow London, once the busiest airport in world has seen a decline of over 90% passengers. PIA the national airline of Pakistan, already in a perpetual state of crisis, burdened with accumulated losses of almost Rs500b, is technically insolvent in the opinion of its auditors, with liabilities exceeding its total assets. It is facing an impending collapse, surviving only on state bailout.
PIA needs to be made clean and lean, slashing top heavy management, and not inducting more high paid executives with hardly any commercial aviation experience, which is essential in times of grave crisis following COVID-19 infection. Times have changed from days of Nur Khan, where PIA no longer enjoys state monopoly and patronage as it did in past. Salaries and employee strength must conform to financial health.
Undue increase in 2009 salaries when PIA posted highest loss, need to be rationalised. Financial and administrative discipline must be enforced along-with transparency and auditing of balance sheet of PIA and its subsidiaries. Flying half empty aircrafts on domestic and international sectors will make matters worse. Marketing strategies and sales campaign must precede announcement of reopening flights. If government lacks political will to do so than it might as well privatise the airline.
MALIK TARIQ ALI
Lahore
Always after ‘aid’ and ‘packages’
We are perhaps the only nation and the country whose rulers are always seen running after aid and relief packages. We need aid in all situations. Be it flooding, earthquakes, dengue, locusts or Corona Virus crisis. The way this aid is distributed or utilised in this society of ours is an open secret. It is always questionable which is why effectiveness and efficacy of aid is not visible anywhere in this land. I often think that words and wisdom like ‘Self–esteem’, ‘self–respect’, ‘self-reliance’, ‘Austerity’ or ‘living within our means’ do not hold water in this society of ours in all situations and circumstances.
Our neighbouring country, Islamic Republic of Iran, also in the list of those countries which are hit hard by this deadliest virus, but government and the nation are reported to have become true believers of this wisdom which reads, ‘There is an opportunity in every crisis and the deeper the crisis, the better the opportunity can be.’
Despite economic sanctions and this corona crisis, they have emerged as a real nation. It is reported that their innovative scientists, engineers, public health experts have started manufacturing corona virus kits, among other items needed to handle this virus and received orders from more than 40 countries, including European. In crisis, great nations always behave and act like Iranians and polarised nations always behave and act like us. We live and depend on aid and charity and are not capable of seeing opportunity in it.
HASHIM ABRO
Islamabad
