Letter to Editor
Medical education reforms
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THE standard of medical education in Pakistan has very well and quite briefly been outlined by Dr M. Rizwan Husain (Jan 31). He has rightly criticised the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) for lack of a proper medical education system within the country which would certainly lead to not-so-well trained doctors.
This inefficient system of education is to a great extent responsible for improper treatment of the people of Pakistan.
In the last 10 years there has been an increase in medical universities in the private sector. For a better future of their children, parents are forced to invest a huge amount of money in their education, but do parents really have to put up such an investment?
Medical education has become more of a business. What is the product that these institutes offer? Who should be blamed for the negligence committed: the doctors, the institute or the PMDC?
No doubt, the teacher-student ratio is a matter of concern in medical universities, especially in government institutions, as has been explained by Dr Husain.
If there is a plethora of medical institutes functioning throughout the country, why is there still a lack of doctors in both urban and rural areas of Pakistan? Are all of them going abroad for postgraduate studies to seek a better future?
The main area for the PMDC to focus is that the country requires doctors. What could be done to prevent them from going abroad?
It is time the PMDC woke up and started building up some upstream strategies on how the medical system can be improved.
DR NABIL RASHID
Australia
Ball tampering
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WE were shocked to see that our cricket captain Shahid Afridi was involved in ball tampering.
We saw how he bit the ball, and the reason given was that he wanted the team to win. It is not justified to cheat and win.
We are taught that cheating is an evil deed, and then we see the captain of our cricket team, who should be a role model, committing this sin.
What will children learn then and who should they follow?
Our players really need to learn that along with being cricketers, they should also be responsible citizens.
GRADE IX STUDENTS
The Indus Academy
Karachi
Computing sugar prices
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THIS is apropos of the letter (Jan 29) by Javed Kayani of the Pakistan Sugar Mills Association. It provided interesting data.
Using his figures, if sugarcane is bought at Rs240 a 40 kg, and 8.1 per cent sugar is recovered, 3.24 kg of sugar is produced for this price.
If you add Rs11, you get a price of Rs85 a kg. Clearly, the consumer will continue to see high prices this year.
However, the writer has not explained why sugar prices increased last year, before the start of the current crushing season in November 2009, when the average sugarcane prices were less than Rs100.
Using his own figures, sugar from the last year’s season should have cost Rs42 if cane was procured at Rs100.
It seems the Supreme Court’s directive that sugar be sold at Rs40 was amply justified.
KHALID R. HASAN
Via email
Mismanaging our affairs
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IT is really shocking to read that 30 per cent people in Pakistan have been pushed below the poverty line.
Pakistan is a poorly-managed country. Miscellaneous factors like inflation, huge defence expenditure, dependence on foreign loans, outdated agricultural equipment, loadsheddings, corruption, etc, are held responsible for our slow progress.
Ragnan Narske has rightly said: “Economic development has much to do with human endowments, social attitude, political conditions and historical accidents. Capital is necessary but not a sufficient condition of progress.” That is the motto we have to follow in our national life because issues such as universal primary education, adult literacy, skill development, basic health cover, sanitation, rural water supply and housing have to be addressed.
Unfortunately, it could not be so and there are no visible government efforts for reallocating resources from non-productive heads of expenditure to the social sector.
At the moment, our people and rulers are in dire need of a ‘can do spirit’.
IMRAN IQBAL RAJPUT
Hyderabad
Rental power projects
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THIS is apropos of a news item regarding the Asian Development Bank’s report on rental power projects (Jan 30).
The report highlights “major inconsistencies and weaknesses in the contracts, violation of procurement and regulatory procedures, lack of available capacity utilisation and up to 87 per cent increase in customer tariff in two years”.
To the best of my knowledge the government does not have enough experience in negotiating on such projects. Therefore, one is inclined to ask as to why our government did not procure the services of internationally-renowned experts/institutions to advise the government on such a crucial and capital-intensive transaction.
If the government did take the advice from institution(s) of credible repute on this issue, the onus to respond to the ADB’s reservations should fall on those institutions, and the government should have the right to impose appropriate penalties on the advisers for neglect (provided, of course, the government had entered into reasonable legal contracts with those advisers).
In the absence of such an advisory arrangement, could any of the government representatives please come forward and explain the situation to the general public.
A CONCERNED CITIZEN
Kuwait
Outsourcing income-tax audit
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THE Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has failed to learn any lessons from the blunder committed 10 years back, and has once again decided to hold audit of taxpayer companies through external auditors/chartered accountant firms, as disclosed by the member, FBR, in an interview with a TV channel.
The member confirmed that a list of 468 cases of companies selected on the basis of computer ballot has been sent to the heads of large taxpayers unit and all regional tax offices for outsourcing.
According to the member, instead of conducting audit through departmental officers, the third party will conduct it through chartered accountants/audit firms.
He also said audit would be done through a transparent process and if any misdemeanour was found at any stage, the auditing firm would be liable to cancellation of its registration.
He said further that the third party audit would not only deter big tax thieves — thereby discouraging concealment of income — but he also expected extra tax in the billions going to the government kitty.
The FBR (previously CBR) during the preceding regime had gone through various experiences: holding audit through the third party source in 2002 was a failure.
The reason for employing external auditor on stupendous payments was basically the corruption and unprofessional-like behaviour by officials of the department.
With the new scheme it was expected that the third party audit would introduce new methodologies in unearthing avenues of collecting extra taxes and also bring new taxpayers into the net.
Sadly this innovative and costly exercise resulted in disaster. Not only no worth mentioning extra tax was collected but there was a sharp decline in the collection as compared to what was achieved by the departmental officials in the preceding year.
Unfortunately no responsibility was fixed for this loss. In order to save a few higher-ups, the department hushed up the matter. Reasons for failure were mainly:
1. The chartered accountants/audit firms being experts in conducting audit from tax point of view have the least legal background. On the contrary, it is they who guide taxpayers how to evade income tax, legally or illegally.
2. Balance sheets of cases selected were already audited by the same auditors. Therefore, auditing the same cases by them again yielded no fruitful results.
3. The selection of cases through computer was also defective in the sense that cases chosen were mostly found to be of insignificant value.
4. In most of the cases where certain auditors tried to be fair and pointed out some anomalies in balance sheets, the auditing company which had initially audited the balance sheet of the taxpayer challenged even the qualification of external auditor. As a result, such cases became contentious.
After this devastating consequence, the department closed the chapter of external audit for good as the experiment was found to be not even worth having a fresh thought.
After 2002 the department was almost revolutionised. Some positive changes were introduced, i.e. 100 per cent raise in salaries, improvement in working environment and exhaustive and foreign training were provided to officers with expertise, vigour, commitment and impetus to give better results.
In the case of external audit, not only the huge funds spent on overall improvement will be wasted but the entire fleet of well-trained and committed officials will be made redundant.
I, therefore, suggest that before going for the third party option the FBR must have an impartial analysis of the earlier (2002) experiment and find out the causes of its failure.
If it does not do so, it will certainly be the national budget which will be affected adversely and severely in case of any setback to audit this time.
This case study is also important as it will help in fixing responsibility in case the present scheme also failed to yield desired results.
RAFIQUE A SIDIKI
Karachi
Courtesy and humility
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IN his recent book entitled ‘The Professional’ the famous Indian entrepreneur and writer Subroto Bagchi has stressed the importance of courtesy and generosity as a mark of professionalism.
He writes: “Generosity, grace and courtesy become valuable only when shown to others at the height of your professional career, not when you are just an aspiring leader.
“Professionals must know that humility is critical to enduring success. When we are humble, we can listen to others. When you suspend humility, you only hear the adulation and it becomes regenerative till you turn deaf.
“In our culture, respect for senior people comes rather naturally. A professional does not take this respect for granted, but is one who actively cultivates respect and understanding for people who are way below him.”
In Pakistan the people in authority and power — they may be politicians, bureaucrats, senior government officials or senior managers in companies — are prone to ignoring any criticism as they are surrounded by sycophants who prepare a temporary shield around them which wards off the reality approaching them.
This wall collapses when they are no longer holding that position which makes them defensive and jittery and, consequently, they cannot adjust at any other place or job.
When I was working for a large multinational company in Karachi, we used to take expensive lunch (subsidised for managers) in a five-star hotel environment and would discuss the problems of ordinary people.
People were so much pampered that they would not tolerate even minor lapses or inconvenience in smooth flow of services and facilities.
The environment is different in a large hospital where I am employed at present. I have to stand every day in a long queue in order to get the meal which comprises simple food items. Eating along with me are mostly junior ranked staff of the hospital or the attendants of patients. Some of the attendants appear worried about the condition of their hospitalised patients.
Looking at the selection of food items I realise how poor are their eating habits, which may lead to health complications or obesity.
Comparing the two situations, my preference is for the latter as it provides me an opportunity to watch the lifestyle of common people and make suggestions to the catering manager to provide healthier food.
One can make positive contributions to society only after shedding false notions of superiority, arrogance and inflated ego, which engulf a person living in affluence.
This does not mean that one should not aspire for higher status or position in society or the organisational hierarchy but should keep his feet on the ground even after successful achievement of the goals.
PARVEZ RAHIM
Karachi
PPP needs to sort out its working mechanism
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KUDOS to Irfan Husain on writing a very balanced and objective article on the PPP (Jan 30).
The writer has appropriately acknowledged the major achievements of the party while at the same time highlighting some of the areas where its performance leaves much to be desired.
Therefore, the conclusion is that the party is its own worst enemy. Why is the PPP its own worst enemy?
No political machine can become stronger by only pointing out enemies outside of itself without a serious soul-searching to identify its own inner weaknesses.
Accepting the fact that the establishment had not been very friendly with the party, it is also a fact that the party and its leadership had also been attacking the establishment oftentimes without substantive empirical evidence to prove its claims. So the first thing it needs to do is to review its political rhetoric which is always aimed at targeting the establishment to conceal its own failures. Most of its rhetoric continues to be hollow slogans.
The main strength of a political party akin to other institutions is its intellectual capital. You denude an institution of this precious capital, its performance is bound to go down and without correction it will wither away.
Historically, the party had started with a rich intellectual capital base. But look at the party today. Whatever intellectual capita it possessed had been marginalised.
And what does the party possess today? To a large degree, mediocrity, sycophants and cronies are the power wielders or power brokers in today’s PPP’s power structure.
What would be the end result of this? Absence of serious inner reflections, disallowing independent judgments, and silencing dissent with the top leadership will become the operating norm under these conditions.
For the party to hold on to its status as one of the major national political parties, it needs to change this practice. Otherwise, it will become extinct. It is not the strongest but the most adaptive that will survive, said Darwin.
The second important strength of a political party is its cadre of workers. No institution can continue to thrive without creating a large number of second, third and fourth line of leaders.
Given the past and present leadership traditions of the party one sees no improvement in this. A political party is at risk if it promotes cronyism at the cost of merit whether in internal functioning or in governing other institutions.
In view of the above, I endorse Mr Husain’s conclusion that unless the party focuses on enhancing its ability to deliver on its promises to people, it will continue to be haunted by conspiracies to destabilise it by the ‘non-state actors’. With a good and strong performance score card, nobody or institution will be in a position to tarnish its image. So the party must reform itself from within to ward off threats from outside.
DR ZAFAR I. QURESHI
Lahore
Learning peace & harmony from Bhitai
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SHAH Abdul Latif Bhitai, the mystic poet of many dimensions, enjoys an outstanding position in literature, particularly in Sindh. His verses, compiled under the title of Shah Jo Risalo (The Message of Shah), are the masterpiece of the Sindhi language. The Risalo is divided into tunes dedicated to the immortal local stories prevailing in the subcontinent, such as Umar Marvi, Sassui Punhoon, Suhni Mehar,Noori Jham Tamachi, and Sorath Rai Dhiach.
There are 30 tunes (sur) in Shah Jo Risalo. About his poems he himself says:
‘What thou consider are not merely poems
‘Are the translation of the Quran glorious
His poetry serves as a guideline for the dejected, worrywart and lover. His message, conveyed through the medium of poetry, teems with the spirit of Oneness of Almighty Allah, prophethood, insightful ways of mysticism, patriotism, transcendentalism, sacrifice, ceaseless efforts in search of the beloved (God), search of truth, love for land and its people, honesty, integrity, sincerity and what not his poetry pour with.
Latif in many ways excels other poets of the world. Allama I.I. Kazi, the first vice chancellor of the University of Sindh, on the basis of characteristics given by Thomas Carlyle, has proved Latif as the great poet of the world.
The Romantic Movement in English Literature started in 1798 with the publication of revolutionary literary ballads by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
The book showed new trends in poetry and revolted against the existing system in the field of poetry. The true spirit of Romanticism lies in the subject matter of the poetry which for the first time in the history of English literature focused on the rustic lifestyle and the elements of nature.
For the first time the common man was made the centre of gravity of all literary compositions. The same idea was practised by Latif a century ago and he made common people as the centre of all his poems and in that sense he can be called as the real pioneer of Romanticism.
Moreover, Wordsworth and other romanticists excelled in content and they attached scanty attention to the form but Latif excelled others both in form and in content.
In literature Wordsworth is considered to be the originator of literary ballads but Latif a century earlier had composed literary ballads, most of which are commonly sung on festive occasions in Sindh.
It is time the Sindh government spread Latif’s message of love, peace and harmony:
Oh God! Let Sindh prosper
Oh Gracious Friend! Let all nations prosper.
VIJESH KUMAR
Ghotki
Police Act
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I FULLY support the views expressed by Mohsin Khan (Jan 30). I would request your newspaper to enlighten its readers on the background as well as with the consequences involved.
The Police Draft Act 2010 reflects the materialisation of the cherished dream of DMG officers to recreate the colonial institution of deputy commissioner.
Their every single move stands testament to this desire, whether it is the recreation of district magistrate office in Swat through Nizam-i-Adal Regulations or the reintroduction of levees system in Balochistan.
Some questions, however, baffle my mind. They are as follows:
a) Is it not a blatant violation of Article 175 of the 1973 Constitution which demands a separation of the judiciary and the executive?
b) Is it not a fact that the most powerful position of bureaucrats had been in Fata and Balochistan?
In these two areas the political agent/district magistrate is simultaneously sessions hudge and superintendent of police.
As political agents in Fata and Balochistan, they supervised over the accumulation of a mess which has led to the present Waziristan fiasco.
c) Will it not create confusion within the law and order machinery if the office of district magistrate is re-created in these times of terrorism?
d) Can we afford to demoralise the police force at this hour?
e) Can we afford the deployment of police escorts with deputy commissioners and assistant commissioners (already commissioners have been provided with police escorts)? Does it not sound criminal in these times?
f) Why are we keen on going back to a colonial institution? Why has the British government not replicated this office in their own country as well?
The politicians (especially the Punjab government) are being hoodwinked by the bureaucracy for their own selfish ends.
Shahbaz Sharif should, in fact, introduce the police commissionerate system on the line of models being followed in all other countries.
Further, it is also hoped that the petitions against expected restoration of magistracy shall soon be fixed for hearing in the Supreme Court, as so far these have not been taken up.
The Chief Justice of Pakistan shall hopefully look into this delay.
FAWAD KHAWAJA
Lahore
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