Bilawal’s advice to Obama I salute Bilawal Zardari for advising President Obama to be courageous and apologize for the killing of 26 Pakistani soldiers. I hope he will now ask Prime Minister Gilani to be equally brave and do what the Supreme Court asked him to do, to bring the $60 million dollars of looted money from Switzerland back to the country. Shakir Lakhani Karachi published in The News, May 25, 2012

Just print more money! KARACHI: This refers to the news item in your paper titled “Printing money can help overcome load-shedding, suggests Gilani” (May 16). If printing money could solve any problem, every single country in the world would be doing it. Evidently, the prime minister does not know that one of the reasons for rampant inflation in Pakistan is also caused by the unchecked printing of notes. I wonder why Mr Gilani didn’t also suggest that Pakistan’s internal and external debts could be paid off by printing money. Shakir Lakhani Published in The Express Tribune, May 21st, 2012.

Another Memon died suddenly yesterday. He was Bashir No. 2, the first Bashir having kicked the bucket about four months back. I had met both of them eating like it was their last meal and had told them to be careful. "You're both diabetics," I said, "Go to a cardiologist and get your hearts checked." Bashir no. 1 had laughed loudly. "Of all people, you're saying this, you have never smoked in your life, yet you had to have angioplasty a year ago." He was right, but the reason I survived that first attack was because I was not a smoker and had my weight under control. Bashir No. 2 said, "Brother, don't worry about such things, you live in Karachi, here you can be killed on your way home any day." Fifteen days later, they buried Bashir No. 1 after he suffered that first "silent" heart attack. Yesterday, Bashir No. 2 returned at four in the morning after a night of playing snooker in a smoke-filled room and feasting until he could eat no more. He went into the bathroom and collapsed. Another silent heart attack, another Memon who thought he was immune from heart attacks is gone.

Minimum wage The prime minister (Gilani) recently announced an increase of Rs 1,000 in the minimum wage of workers. The media should investigate as to how much the peasants who till the prime minister’s lands are paid. The prime minister has no problem in announcing an increase in the minimum wage every year because he knows he and his fellow ministers will not be affected, as no farm worker would dare to ask for an increased pay – that is if he is being paid anything at all, which is highly unlikely. SHAKIR LAKHANI, KARACHI (Published in The News, Friday, May 04, 2012)

The only way? In your editorial ‘Was this the only way?’ (April 24), you ask: “After all, what – if anything – is there to cover up?” The answer is: everything. When a political party in government forces private and public organisations to hire its loyalists, disasters are bound to occur sooner or later. We have seen it happening in the case of the Steel Mills, we have seen PIA go bankrupt while the Pakistan Railways is struggling hard to survive. When people know they can’t be sacked because they are supported by those in power, they do not pay much attention to their jobs, until one day the inevitable happens. I’m afraid we may see many more tragedies like the Bhoja air crash before the present government completes its term. Shakir Lakhani Karachi Published in The News, April 26, 2012

Electricity from India APROPOS of a news item ‘India offers electricity at Rs15 per unit’ (April 14), it may sound strange but Pakistan once had surplus electricity. In the 1990s, the Nawaz Sharif government offered electricity to India, which said it would buy it at two cents per unit, though Wapda was buying it for 6.50 cents per unit. Considering that most of India’s electricity is produced for 1.50 cents per unit from coal-fired plants, its demand for Rs 15 per unit (16.50 cents) is unrealistic. S. LAKHANI Karachi Published in DAWN, April 19, 2012

On the run?

This is with reference to your editorial ‘On the run?’ (April 12). In Pakistan, lawmakers have been accused of committing every crime under the sun including murder and yet they are hardly caught, tried or punished. The Hungarian president had to resign because he had committed plagiarism, yet in our country there are people on top positions who either have fake degrees or whose degrees have been issued by non-existent universities.

I suggest that the name of our country should be changed to Corruptistan with immediate effect. That would be nearer to reality.

Shakir Lakhani
Karachi
Published in The News, April 14, 2012

Punishing honesty

This is with reference to the news item ‘ANF officials probing chemical scandal transferred’ (The News, April 10). It seems the honest officers were removed because they were investigating a case in which the prime minister’s son is allegedly involved. It can be safely assumed that earlier the Anti-Narcotics Force director general was also removed for the same reason.

Does the PM think that democracy allows him to transfer or suspend anyone who dares to investigate a case in which he or his cronies are involved? If this is democracy, we are better off without it.

Shakir Lakhani
Karachi
Printed in The News, April 12, 2012

Population explosion

I’m afraid we can do nothing to arrest the exploding population of Pakistan. I frequently tell the religious people I know about how Israel, with only 15 million population, is able to dominate the world, while a billion and a half Muslims lag far behind in almost every field. But most of my friends think that birth control is a sin. Some even say that Pakistan should have at least three times more population than it presently has, as China and India are quite comfortable with their billion-plus populations. And there are others who believe that people who practise birth control are not Muslims.

The situation is hopeless and if the population continues to increase at the present rate, it won’t be long before Pakistanis run out of food and become cannibals. I hope I’m not around when that happens.

Shakir Lakhani
Karachi
Published in The News, April 9, 2012

Fuelling inflation

This is with reference to your editorial ‘Fuelling inflation’ (April 2). In every PPP government prices of almost everything increase exponentially, the rupee declines in value against other currencies, and the rulers always ignore the problems of the common man.

Things will get even worse if the present government continues printing notes. It won’t be long before the ministers start quarrelling among themselves when they find that there is no money in the national kitty.

Shakir Lakhani
Karachi
Published in The News, April 4, 2012