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.
No dual nationality for US citizen
There is absolutely no space for any American citizen who once he/she while taking an oath of citizenship “entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state or sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic”, to pledge loyalty to any other country. Once an individual has taken such an oath, he is not allowed to again pledge his loyalty to any country, including the country of which he has formerly been a citizen by birth or any other mode for acquiring citizenship.
In case an American citizen chooses to publicly pledge an oath of allegiance or loyalty to any other state he automatically loses citizenship of the USA. For a country like Pakistan with almost over 95% Muslim population, the significance of an oral oath needs to be recognized and accepted as part of our faith, because recitation of Kalema is the essential prerequisite for any human being to enter the faith. The Kalema is an oral oath where an individual publicly acknowledges existence of Almighty Allah SWT as sole creator of universe and all that exists and his belief in finality of our Prophet (PBUH) as His messenger.
After acquiring citizenship of the USA, the individual gives a commitment “to bear arms on behalf of the US” and “perform non-combatant service in the Armed Forces of the US when required by law”. Such an individual should never be allowed to hold any public office in Pakistan and cannot be privy to state secrets or sit in any cabinet meeting or a committee. Afghanistan, India, Malaysia etc do not allow dual nationality.
MALIK TARIQ ALI
Lahore
Ehsaas scholarship project
The Prime Minister of Pakistan has formally launched “Ehsaas Undergraduate Scholarship Project (EUSP)” 04 Nov 2019 across the country. This is the largest ever needs-based undergraduate scholarship program in history of Pakistan. A total of 200,000 Scholarship will be awarded and divided into 50,000 scholarships annually for next 4-5 years. 50% scholarships reserved for female students with monthly stipend or living expenses, 02% for physically challenged students, with an average budget of Rs.6b annually for provision of merit and need-based scholarships especially for low income families. It is a significant step to ensure affordable higher education in all major fields of education including agriculture, arts and humanities, business education, engineering, medical, physical sciences and social sciences.
It is a vibrant program which will facilitate creation of the competent workforce thus enhancing employability factors in the youth. It foresees to create drive for education among those students who have discontinued studies due to limited financial issues. By targeting most vulnerable segment of young population through this initiative, poorer households would be enabled to come out of poverty, which in a long run expected to have positive impact on individuals, their families and community.
In this backdrop, students are encouraged to apply online for Ehsaas Undergraduate Scholarships Programme for Phase-II/2nd year of the Programme the deadline is October 30, 2020. It is better opportunity especially for the low income families hailing form Sindh and Balochistan. This is basically poverty elimination step by the PTI’s Government under Ehsaas Project.
GM-MALLAH
Islamabad
PPP demands an end to ethnic politics
This refers to the news report ‘In Karachi solidarity rally, PPP demands an end to ethnic politics” (October 5). According to the report, while demanding an end to ethnic politics, the Pakistan Peoples Party held MQM-P and PTI responsible for Karachi’s dismal situation. The utter absurdity of the accusation can be judged from the fact that after 18th Amendment, for over twelve years, the Sindh province has been under the continuous rule of Peoples Party, with MQM also having parted ways with it.
The problem is that instead of devolving the provincial powers and the accompanying financial resources, further down to the local governments, the Peoples Party clawed back even the powers that General Pervaiz Musharraf had given to local governments. During Musharraf’s rule, these were the fairy empowered local governments which did excellent work, first under the Mayor Niamatullah Khan of Jamaat-e-Islami and later Mayor Syed Mustafa Kamal who, because of his splendid work, managed to earn the title of the second best Mayor of the world.
However, now Peoples Party has taken back nearly all the powers and financial resources from the local governments, and placed them in the hands of a Provincial Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah, together with the portfolios of Forests and Religious Affairs. And this clearly shows how much importance the Sindh Government gives to local government which has the responsibility to provide civic services to masses at grass roots level.
The Supreme Court has recently taken up the case for devolution of powers from the Sindh Province to the local governments. I hope the court will also redress the other great injustice to Karachi and order a proper count of its population to secure its legitimate share in the financial resources as well as seats in Parliament, thus making demand for a new province superfluous.
S R H HASHMI
Karachi
Merciless SPSC!
Sindh Public Service Commission is an independent body for recruiting civil servants and bureaucrats in government of Sindh. It has very deep roots and was established in 1926 by the British Raj in India. After independence, it had been named as Sindh Public Service Commission having Head-Office in Hyderabad, Sindh.
It has been the ray of hope for thousands of aspirants across the province. But, very sorry to say that its name has been defamed by some unscrupulous people who work there. There is no name of merit in SPSC nowadays and almost half of the seats are filled through sifarish. Many bogus appointments have been noticed in many departments; and more importantly in competitive exams of 2018.
Some of them paid heavy amount for selection while others relative or family members are working in SPSC. Oh SPSC! Show mercy on those who deserve the posts. But, as they have no source, therefore, they are struggling and are jobless for a long time. Is there anybody listening?
SHAHZAD PANHWAR
Sukkur
