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Editor's
Notes
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Dear Readers,
The situation at Indo-Pak border has never been more tense
or volatile as today. Unfortunately, despite being a nuclear
nation and yearning to be a global super power, India instead
of showing great constraints and responsibility, is bringing
the region to the brink of great disaster and human tragedy.
Pakistan remains committed to the principle stand to, not
only fight against any kind of terrorism but also prevent
its soil from being used for any terrorist group. To this
end, Pak Authorities have already taken positive steps to
curb this menace and offered unconditional negotiations
to reduce the war hysteria. Ensuring that such an offer
may not be construed as weakness, Pakistan has sent very
strong signals to the Indian war lords and world community
that, if attacked, Pakistan shall retaliate with complete
might and resolution. It now rest on Indian leadership,
whether to act in sanity and responsibility or be called
by posterity, as biggest criminals against humanity. Unfortunately,
so far, not a single signal has been received from Indian
side, about defusing of situation. Their ‘record’
is struck on, “terrorists are infiltrating from Pakistan.”
A diplomat friend in private remarked, if a million strong
Indian army equipped with hi tech surveillance system and
armed to teeth with sophisticated weapons, deployed in three
defensive layers with deadly mines along LOC in Kashmir,
fail to stop infiltration then it should be disbanded."
We hope sincerely, that saner elements shall prevail and
bring peace to the region.
We
wish happy reading.
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It's
Our Fault
The targeting of doctors, Americans, Shias and Sunnis
is the product of our apathy and our acceptance
of the present state of affairs as 'normal'. Unfortunately,
nobody's life is safe in Pakistan and before we
become another statistics, let us do something about
it.
All professional bodies can get together and make
loud protests and the media can play its part by
highlighting every murder as frontline national
news rather than a small inside page story.
Let enough be enough and let's all play our part
to stop this menace.
Dr. Shahab Mahdi, Shrewsbury,
UK
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Reader's
Views
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Federal
taxes
In his recent interview on ARY digital TV,
Mr Altaf Hussain of the MQM stated that 62 per
cent of the federal revenues were contributed
by Sindh. This is a gross distortion of facts.
It must be appreciated that all taxes are actually
paid by individuals and not by companies. It
is known to all that companies pass on the burden
of indirect taxes to their customers by including
the tax into the price of their products. If
the products of a company are sold all over
Pakistan, it is not correct to attribute the
entire tax paid by the company to Sindh just
because the head office of the company is located
in Karachi.
To find out what percentage of tax has been
paid by each province, we need to know the proportion
of the products of the company sold therein.
Likewise, in the case of direct taxes, such
as corporate income tax, the burden of tax falls
on the shareholders of the company, not all
of whom reside in the province in which the
head office of the company is located. From
the above, it is obvious that the determination
of the contribution of each province to federal
taxes requires an elaborate exercise. One would,
however, be greatly surprised if the contribution
of each province to federal taxes turns out
to be very different from its share of the national
product.
Asaf Ali Shah Lahore
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A
lesson to learn from crows
This is reference an article about crows in
Reflections. I've read about many campaigns
to get rid of crows. But they are not all in
all bad. An incident a few days ago just outside
my house alerted my attention. The crows were
creating such a storm, reminiscent of Alfred
Hitchcock's movie that I had to go outside and
see what the din was about. There was one crow
lying dead on the road and what mayhem....
There is a lesson we can learn from these so
called menace birds people wish to be rid of.
Daily, people are being killed in Pakistan,
particularly in Karachi, and no one bats an
eyelid. Why can't we stand up like the crows
for the death of one of our own; doctors, lawyers,
philanthropists, educationists all being killed
at the hand of terrorists and both the government
and the people remain silent.
The culprits should be caught and punished.
Then let us see if this is repeated. Why this
apathy? Why this slackness?
S. Babar Karachi
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Corporal
punishment
It has been reported that in a well-known high
school of Hyderabad, a boy was severely beaten
by his teacher and had to be rushed to the hospital
in critical condition. In this age, when we
are so enthusiastic about following western
models from fashion to political systems, and
spare no opportunity to show our concern for
human rights, how can we connive at such inhuman
incidents. This is in not education but barbarism.
The concerned quarters ought to take stern action
in this regard. Corporal punishment, in any
form, must be completely banned in schools.
Tarik Omrani Hyderabad
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Tourism
promotion
The Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation is introducing
a bus service to connect Islamabad with stations of
tourist attraction like Naran, Chitral, Swat, Hunza,
Skardu and Gilgit. Unfortunately, despite immense
interest shown by tourists in these areas, successive
governments made no worthwhile efforts to promote
tourism in the Northern Areas. Sri Lanka is earning
huge foreign exchange from tourism, but in Pakistan
the number of tourists is on the decline. This is
only because we have failed to develop the necessary
infrastructure to make tourist spots accessible to
tourists.
The tourism industry has suffered a lot in the wake
of the Sept 11 incident that has led to a drastic
decrease in the flow of tourists from the United States
and other western countries. This calls for rebuilding
the tourism market but the government alone cannot
do the job. Tour operators, hotels and airlines would
have to make joint efforts to promote tourism.
The law and order situation in the country, too, is
not encouraging for tourism. Our missions abroad should
try to create a better perception of Pakistan in the
host countries to help increase the inflow of tourists.
Amjad Karim Rawalpindi
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Recruitment
of Mukhtiarkars
I would like to ask the secretary of the Sindh Public
Service Commission if a syllabus has been prescribed
for the written test for the post of Mukhtiarkar.
If yes, then why has this office not supplied a copy
of it along with the application forms? If the answer
is 'no', then how can we prepare for that test? I'll
be thankful if the position is clarified.
Ashique A Lashari Khairpur
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