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.
December 16
December 16 is the darkest page of our history when in 1971 East Pakistan was disintegrated and Bangladesh came into being. A lot has been written about the sad incident that occurred due to our own weaknesses and intrigues played by India. A few lines are quoted here from the book written by most controversial character of this war, Lt Gen A.A.K Niazi “The betrayal of East Pakistan”
““The surrender ceremony took place on December 16, 1971. Maj Gen Farman and Admiral Sharif witnessed the ceremony. As I signed the document with trembling hands, sorrow rose from my heart to my eyes, brimming them with unshed tears of despair and frustration. After deliberations, hectic efforts, and exhaustive discussions between the Indian and Pakistani teams, the move to evacuate the Pakistani personnel, both civilians and uniformed, was worked out.
The move was to take place by trains, direct to Wagah border. According to the move plan, I gave directions that the first to move would be the civilians, followed by civil armed forces, the police, and then the armed forces. The senior officers of the three forces would be the last to leave after every soldier was across the border, safe and sound.
The first train full of joyous civilians started off amidst high hopes. It continued without mishap until suddenly the destination was changed and the train was diverted to Allahabad. The joy turned to despair.
Bhutto had released Sheikh Mujib-ur-Rahman unconditionally. With Mujib, thousands of Bengali soldiers in West Pakistani camps, Indian POWs, and a sensitive Indian area like Ferozpur Headworks, all in Pakistani hands, Pakistan had been in a strong position regarding an exchange for the POWs in India. With a single stroke, Bhutto had undermined Pakistan’s situation. Now on a tightrope, Pakistan’s position of strength was reduced to a position of extreme weakness.”
This shows the double standards India always maintained while dealing with Pakistan. We must be aware of treacherous nature of our immediate neighbour.
IFTIKHAR MIRZA
Islamabad
Beggars everywhere
Through your newspaper I would like to draw attention of concerned authorities towards beggars found in every corner of the country.
Begging is extremely harmful to our social life. (1) Beggars encourage many other people in society to become beggars like them.
Thus, many able-bodied men and women begin to beg instead of working to earn money. (2) At least some beggars can become criminals when they find chances of stealing and cheating at homes, shops, offices etc. We know how beggars entering houses can steal precious things.
(3) Able-bodied men, women and children should never be permitted to beg on the streets. They should be provided suitable work in factories, shops, offices and homes and so on at appropriate payment. Hope that government and NGOs will cooperate in rooting out begging in all its forms.
KANWAL HAFEEZ
Taxila
Do we need student unions?
There are many people who had requested government to allow student unions in Pakistan once again. I hope these people can see how Lawyers Union and even Doctors Union are creating daily headaches for common Pakistanis. In such a situation if Student unions are allowed than we will see similar attitude from millions of students in Pakistan.
Rather than to allow Student Union government should try to fix the current unions. For example Lawyers Bars are located in all major cities. These organisations received billions in funding from government and other agencies every other month.
And to receive these amounts the lawyers have to extend favours to powerful people who pay them through donations. Similarly lawyers are famous in Pakistan for breaking the law as even police don’t dare arrest them and take them to court and their respective bars give them protection.
I think government should introduce new rules for Lawyers, Engineers, Doctors and other professional unions. Restrictions should be placed on donations to such unions. FBR should scrutinise their records and most importantly all these organisations should have mechanisms to punish and cancel membership for those who commit crimes.
Common citizens, organisations and government should be allowed to register tracked complaints against members of the unions. Professional unions whose members work in public offices should not be allowed to skip work for strikes or protests and those found in this practice should be removed from office and their union membership cancelled.
Let’s first make the current unions beneficial for our country before we consider allowing even more unions.
ENGR S K BASEER
Peshawar
Food adulteration
I would like to comment upon prevailing situation regarding food adulteration in the country. I hope government will take necessary steps to check this evil practice.
Most sellers of essential food items like milk, butter, spices etc adulterate them (make them impure by adding something cheap substance). This is very harmful for health of people. It specially affects health of those living in the cities as they find it really difficult to obtain pure food.
The main cause of food adulteration is the fact that pure food is in short supply. The prices of pure food are high, therefore sellers adulterate it and then sell it at cheaper rates and in greater quantities to earn more money. I suggest that food production should be increased through better and modern methods. We should have more animal farms for greater supply of milk and butter.
There should be more and better facilities for transporting food from villages to market. There should be effective special courts to punish dishonest traders who adulterate food.
UROOSHIA IJAZ
Islamabad
Unemployment
Our country, today, faces grave problem of unemployment. It translates into starvation, depression, disease, and sometimes death of victims. While dishonesty, corruption, crimes and other vices of all kinds are on the rise, a significant section of the population remains unemployed.
This problem is killing the dreams and wishes of the young generation and leading them towards failure. Unemployment also breeds discontent in the masses. As most of the people are busy hunting for a job, they cannot pay attention to their rights and duties as citizens. There are some main causes of unemployment.
Firstly, our education system breeds youngsters who are not good at anything except reading books and dreaming of high occupations. Secondly, birth rate is very high. Limited resources often fail to accommodate increasing population. Yet, much can be done to mitigate the evils of joblessness. Family planning must be followed in order to keep a check on high birth rate. The government of Pakistan is requested to take a serious look into this terrible issue.
KANWAL HAFEEZ
Taxila
Garbage problem
Through your newspaper I would like to draw attention of concerned authorities towards garbage problem in sector I-14 Islamabad in our locality as residents are throwing garbage in open areas.
Since CDA doesn’t pick garbage and no scavenger come in our locality, people throw their garbage in open areas such as drains, streets etc. Heaps of garbage has blocked all roads and as a result generated mosquitoes and flies in large numbers. It is causing a lot of inconvenience in the locality.
Therefore through courtesy of your newspaper I urge concerned authorities to take an immediate action to solve this problem as soon as possible.
M USAMA ISMAIL
Islamabad