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.
Republic Day
Republic Day is a special day for India, celebrated annually as a national festival to honour the day when the Constitution of India came into force (26 January 1950). Our national flag is a symbol of the nation’s pride and respect. There is liberal use of the flag on Independence Day and Republic Day. There is a new trend of selling flags made of paper and plastic, which is incorrect. With a sense of national pride, people enthusiastically buy such flags but the very next day, we find them being trampled upon on the roads and thrown into dustbins. By allowing this to happen, people forget that they are insulting the country’s flag.
Often, these flags are burnt along with the garbage. It is the duty of every citizen to maintain proper respect towards their national flag. We also commonly see people waving the national flag proudly during national, cultural and sporting events. However, once the programme or the event gets over, we see the flags strewn all over the place. This disrespect towards our flag must be stopped. As responsible citizens, we should respect our country’s national flag, national anthem and national song.
JUBEL D’CRUZ
Mumbai, India
Fuel shortage
I have been reading with interest about the June 2020 fuel shortage. I am simply astonished that in the year 2021, the Government of Pakistan still expects to control prices of critical basic commodities like gasoline and diesel, when the most powerful governments of the world would not dare.
We are possibly one of the only countries on earth to ascribe such power to our elected representatives. India, US, UK, Europe, none of them dictate prices at the pump. So why does Pakistan think it right to try and do so?
This is a communistic, command-economy type of policy typical of the same that brought down the Soviet Union. And aside from the wrong premise that bureaucrats in Islamabad can know and dictate what the best price should be at every petrol station across the country, the policy is doomed to failure, which is evidenced by the very shortage that happened in June 2020.
It seems to be a strange point that the Government of Pakistan has asked for an inquiry as to why petrol companies were not selling fuel at a price that was lower than their cost. They should ask themselves what they are doing wrong that caused the shortage in the first place.
How can a government try to force businesses, established to make profit, to sell at a loss? This is the key question. Not only is this criminal, it goes against Islam and capitalist economic theory. No Government has the right to force private companies to sell at loss. Can the government force someone to rent out their house on a negative rent? Until this question is resolved, similar crises will continue to hurt the people and corporate sector of Pakistan.
M ROHAIL HASSAN
Karachi
EV to launch in Pakistan
It is usually not common these days to hear good news but something big is coming related to the automotive market of Pakistan. It is expected that the Prime Minister of Pakistan is going to have a meeting with the executives of Tesla so that they could discuss different investment opportunities that involve the launch of their electric vehicles in Pakistan.
Javaid Afridi, who is a Pakistani journalist and is also a huge investor in MG Motors Pakistan, has stated that it is highly expected that Tesla might be coming to the automotive market of Pakistan. He has already conducted multiple meetings with Tesla executives and from that, he concluded that Tesla seemed interested to expand its product market in Pakistan.
This news was originally covered by a renowned journalist, columnist and TV anchor, Sabir Shakir, who uploaded a YouTube video on his Channel in which he stated that Javaid Afridi has been conducting multiple meetings with Tesla executives and in this video, he also highlighted that the economy of Pakistan is moving rapidly in an upward trajectory which will probably result in various positive outcomes especially for the automotive sector of Pakistan.
SYEDA SANA ANWER
Karachi
Reopening of schools
The Government of Pakistan has decided to reopen schools for class one to class eight from February one. This decision looks quite awkward and surprising for both teachers and parents. First, the decision of resuming academic activities in schools should have been deferred because of the growing cases of Covid-19. A majority of people don’t follow SOPs even in schools. What is even a lot of alarming is the fact that the school administration rarely asks students or teachers to follow precautionary measures in letter and spirit. As a result, education institutions slowly turn into Covid-19 hotspots.
It is also important to mention that the Covid-19 vaccine is not available in the country to control the spread of the contagious virus. The current situation suggests that schools shouldn’t be opened. The authorities should open all education institutions from March Ist, 2021, because the government has already announced that the annual examinations will be held in May and June, teachers will easily cover the rest of the syllabus within one and a half months and students can also prepare for the exams. The authorities should reconsider its decision.
FOZIA BATOOL
Islamabad
