Baby ban

Published in The Friday Times on May 20-26, 2005

Sir, 

Sometimes you can't help wondering why government functionaries haven't been con-signed to mental institutions. I refer to the attempt to involve the ulema in the population planning program. Considering that orthodox maulvis have always opposed birth control, isn't it a bit too ambitious to ask them to do an about-turn now? Will their illiterate audiences take them seriously if they're told to limit the number of children they have to two or three? Despite the difficulties the common man faces in making ends meet, city-dwellers continue to have six children or more. The problem is compounded by the belief, common among the masses and reinforced by the ulema, that the non-Muslim world is keen to reduce the world's Muslim population. It will take years of education for the ulema to realise that resources are finite, and the only way for Muslims to prosper is to practice birth control. 

Shakir Lakhani, 

Karachi.

Sand and water

Published in the Friday Times on September 1
4, 2007

 Sir, 

The golden beach of Hawkesbay is a favourite picnic spot for those who have no alternative but to live in Karachi. I have been visiting the place since I was te years old, and nothing gives me greater pleasure than watching the turtles lay their eggs and crawl towards the sea, or basking in the deliciously cool sea breeze. 

For many years now, a toll tax  has been collected from vehicles on their way to Sandspit or Hawkesbay. I remember a time when these receipts clearly stated the amount, as well as the name of the authority on whose behalf the tax was being charged (the Manora Cantonment Board). Yesterday, however I looked at the words "Sandspeed/Hawkbay/Manora Entertainment fee" printed on my little sheet of paper. The amount (Rs. 20) was nowhere to be found. Not wanting to create a ruckus, I paid without protest and proceeded further. Turning right towards Hawkesbay, I found no evidence of the promised "entertainment," unless you call the sight of malnourished goats and children entertainment.

A few kilometres down the road, there was another tax collector, claiming to collect tax from those wishing to Cape Monze or "French Bich." It's obvious that these unscrupulous people are minting thousands every year without paying anything to the government or the cantonment board. The authorities should investigate this, and arrest those who are involved in the scam. 

Shakir Lakhani

Karachi

Failed state

Published in The Friday Times on March 24-30, 2006 

Sir, 

NAB has closed its investigation into the sugar scam following threats by those involved of a further price hike. It seems that criminals are highly influential in this land of the pure. They can flour the law with impunity, and they can enter parliament, where they impose taxes without paying taxes themselves. Do we need any more proof that Pakistan is a failed state?

Shakir Lakhani, 

Karachi

Gas out

 Published in The Friday Times on April 18-24, 2008

Sir, 

I had been wondering why the gas pressure in my home had suddenly decreased until I read that some people had installed gas generators to be used during the frequent power outages which are turning the people of Karachi into nervous wrecks. I had always thought that using Sui gas for this purpose was illegal, unless special permission had been acquired beforehand. However, instead of penalising those who are indulging in this blatantly illegal activity, the Southern Sui Gas company has come up with an NRO of its own. It has decided to "regularise" what is unlawful by charging Rs. 1,200 per kva from those who are breezily violating the law. This translates into a one-time payment of 6,000 for a 5 kva generator, the most commonly used variety. But again, those who choose not to deposit this amount can still go scot-free. How will the SSGC know who is using gas generators unless the users themselves inform the company? 

Shakir Lakhani

Karachi

Plagiarist Purge

 Published in The Friday Times on March 14-20, 2008

Sir,

It was good to hear that Punjab University finally took action against the plagiarists, but merely sending them into early retirement was not enough. Some kind of financial penalty together with appropriate measures to ensure that the guilty ones do not get employed in other colleges or universities would have been more suitable. There is nothing now which can prevent these felons taking up teaching and influencing young minds again. Were they let off lightly because of their links to a religious party which has made the university a hostage for many years now?

Shakir Lakhani

Karachi

All in a word

 Publshed in The Friday Times in 2009

 Sir,

There is a tendency among Pakistani Muslims to misspell the name of the famous writer Kahlil Gibran as Khalil Gibran. For those who don't know, Kahlil Gibran was a Mamronite Christian from Lebanon. He settled in the US and eventually died there. The 'g' in his name is pronounced as 'g' in the word 'gate'. Most Arabs pronounce the 'g' correctly, with the exception of Saudis who pronounce it as 'j'. The meaning of the word 'kahlil' is 'field'.

Shakir Lakhani 

Bad Tax

Published in the Friday Times

Sir,

According to the news, the government is considering to enhance the sales tax rate from 15 per cent to 17.5 per cent in the forthcoming budget. This step will only serve to enrich the smugglers and those who indulge in the under-invoicing and mis-declaration of imported goods. What is needed is the imposition of VAT or sales tax at the retail stage. Billions can be collected by strictly enforcing this measure.

Shakir Lakhani

Karachi

Corruptistan?

 Published in the Friday Times

Sir, 

As usual, the government has penalised industrialists who are desperately trying to run their factories. By increasing sales tax; withholding tax; and taxing electricity bills, salaries, and other measures, the authorities have dealt a death blow to the already sick industrial sector of the country. At the same time, nothing has been done to tax those who are looting the country. The smugglers and those who indulge in underinvoicing and misdeclaration of imported goods have not been touched. Neither have retailers been axed. Absolutely no steps have been taken to generate employment. Instead of revenue, this budget will generate more thieves, robbers and smugglers. But then, in the words of the prime minister, these are also "honourable men," like the hoarders and black-marketers. Why not re-name the country "Smuggleristan" or "Corruptistan"?

Shakir Lakhani

Karachi

The Verdict

Published in the Friday Times on March 7, 2008

Embed from Getty Images

 Sir, 

Although the people rejected Musharraf and his allies in the elections, the Americans are not happy. They think Musharraf is indispensable for Pakistan. They have been pressuring both Zardari and Nawaz to let Musharraf remain in office. So what was the point in holding elections? Why did we waste those millions on asking the people what they wanted if we can't decide fr ourselves who our leaders should be? Why doesn't the US dictate to India who should be president or prime minister? There is only one way forward now: restoration of the sacked judges and accountability of those who looted the country during the past five years. The nation would love to know what happened to all that flour which we had in such abundant quantity, that our prime minister exported it and then we had to import it at a huge loss.

Shakir Lakhani

Karachi

BB's statements

 Published in Daily Times on October 5, 2007

Embed from Getty Images

Sir, 

One can now expect PPP chairperson Ms. Benazir Bhutto to say anything to please her foreign masters. First, she said that she would allow the IAEA to interrogate Dr. A Q Khan. Now comes the statement that she would allow the US to bomb targets in Pakistan. I suppose we shouldn't be surprised if her next proposal would be to ask the Indian government to send troops into our tribal areas to put down the militants. It seems that Ms. Bhutto puts a higher value on her political ambitions than the sovereignty and dignity of the country.

Shakir Lakhani

Karachi

Faulty Laws

 Published in the Friday Times

Sir,

Photo Credit: The Friday Times

Whenever a man is killed and a case registered, the relatives of the murderer force the heirs of the victim to withdraw the FIR. Why can't we treat every assault and every murder as a crime against the state and take away from the victim or his heirs the power to forgive the assailants or killers? The way things are, according to the Qisas and Diyat laws, the murder of a wealthy man can be arranged by his heirs, who can then forgive the killer. If these laws are withdrawn, the assailants or killers will no longer be able to threaten a victim or his heirs 

Shakir Lakhani

Karachi

The real moral lesson

 Published in the Friday Times

This is with reference to the letter under the caption "The real moral lesson "(Oct, 30). The writer has suggested that the scriptures should also be consulted for finding the reasons for the recent earthquake.

I'm not an expert on religious matters, but all the religious scholars in the mosques I pray in are of the unanimous opinion that the earthquake occurred because of the sins and moral corruption of the people of the area. 

They also say that the time of death of each individual is fixed, which means that those who died in the quake-stricken regions would have perished at the exact time of their deaths even if there had been no earthquake. 

Therefore, we cannot blame the builder of the Margalla Towers, since those who were unlucky enough to be buried under the rubble would have died anyway, even if the building had not collapsed. Consequently, there is no use making rules and regulations to force builders to construct earthquake-resistant structures.

Will someone who knows about such things shed light on this matter.

Shakir Lakhani

Karachi 

Like Father

Published in the Friday Times on September 14, 2007

Sir, 

According to a news item, a nine-year old boy killed one person and injured another after seeing his father fire a gun in the air while celebrating Independence Day.Even if the victim;s family agrees to a compromise and does not take legal action, the police are ignorant of two other crimes committed by the boy's father. 

First, he should have kept his gun securely locked in a safe place, and second, he should never have fired his gun into the air. Too many people have been killed or injured when people resort to aerial firing during wedding celebrations, and I knew someone who almost died when a bullet came down from the skies and pierced his shoulder blades. The police should register a case against a boy's father for these two offences. 

Shakir Lakhani

Karachi

Slave Labour

Published in The Friday Times on April 11, 2008  

 

Sir, 

 

It is reported that "Pepco is now demanding Rs. 9 plus for a unit" instead of Rs 3.69 per unit from KESC. Contrast this with the prices that are charged by electric utilities in India. This is from an article by Brahma Chaellaney in "The Hindu" of March 17: "Escalating construction costs have resulted in all the newer nuclear plants pricing their electricity at between 270 and 285 paisa a kilowatt hour (kWh). Compare those tariffs with Reliance Energy's coal-fired Sason plant project, which has contracted to sell power at 119 paisa kWh, or even with the poorly-run Dadri plant, which supplies electricity to Delhi at 225 paisa a kWh, although coal has to be hauled for the plant over long distances". I doubt that even the KESC (let alone Pepco) knows that electricity is so cheap (Rs 1.19 to Rs 2.85 per unit) in India. So it is likely that the eight hour long power outages are due to KESC not being able to buy electricity at Rs 9 per unit from Pepco.  

 

Someone recently suggested using buffaloes to generate electricity by using gear boxes  to convet the animals' five revolutions per minute required by generators. It may theoretically be possible to manufacture such gear boxes, but the cost would be prohibitive even if someone did succeed in making them. In fact, it would be much better to convert what comes out of the animals into methane gas, which could then be used to produce electricity. However, there is one method which can be used by our feudals who have plenty of slave labour working in their fields. This would require a stationary bicycle to which a dynamo is attached. The dynamo would produce power to run a TV set or an energy-saver bulb. About 100 men would easily illuminate the palaces of our waderas. So if ever the electric supply to a feudal's house is suspended (for non-payment), he can easily get his slaves to produce electricity for him in this manner. 

Shakir Lakhani 

Karachi

Elemental wrath

Sir, 

I think there's something wrong with the country if the leader of its main opposition party says that the earthquake is due to God's anger and his daughter blames what she calls "obscenity" in the media for the deaths of thousands of children, amongst many others. If earthquakes are the wrath of God, why do they occur beneath the oceans where no humans (and therefore no obscenity) exist? I agree with the religious leaders: we have to change our lifestyles. But not in the direction they want We need more science programmes on television and more emphasis on scientific education so that our people no longer need mullahs to explain the causes of natural disasters. So no marks for guessing why the mullah
s are so strenuously opposed to modern education!

Shakir Lakhani

Karachi

Holidays galore

Published in The Friday Times on October 15-21, 2004

Sir, 

It was rumoured that a holiday would be declared in Karachi on October 6, so that people could see a cricket match between Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

This is a good thing, since it will help us in our heartfelt quest to be ranked the poorest country on the planet. Seeing that we're so good at multiplying, it won't be long before our population exceeds that of China. And more holidays will certainly help us attain that target speedily. Industrial production and expert targets don't mean anything to the 95 percent of our countrymen who're still living in the seventh century.

And while we're at it, why not declare holidays during the entire month of of Ramazan? I've yet to meet a real red-blooded Pakistani muslim doing any work without complaining while fasting. 

Shakir Lakhani

Karachi

Self-sacrifice

Published in the Friday Times on November 25, 2005

Sir, 

Te new chief executive of a public company that manufactures and sells electric power will draw a salary of only Rupees 18 million per year, or 15 lakhs per month - in addition to transportation allowances and the Provident Fund. He has graciously declined to accept any other benefits under the service rules (although he is fully entitled to all of them). It's so nice to know there are such people in the country who are not greedy and who have the interests of the shareholders at heart. 

Shakir Lakhani, 

Karachi

Common Sense

Published in The Friday Times on March 30-April 5, 2007 

Sir,

When I told a university graduate about people taking the law into their own hands and stoning two men and a woman to death, he defended the action, since (according to him) the amendments to the Hudood Ordinance had made prostitution lawful. 

He said that the police have been told not to register any complaint about men and women indulging in illicit sex, and to look the other way if they see such activities. Mind you, this man is not a bearded, rabid fanatic. If such a person believes this, what about men whose mindsets are like those who lived in the Stone Age? 

There are people in this country who believe that a woman talking to a male stranger from a distance of less than ten feet is guilty of adultery. Not long ago, the activists of a religious party used to beat up male and female students for this reason. 

Shakir Lakhani 

Karachi

Shoaib's smack

Published in The Friday Times on September 21-27, 2007 

Sir,

Why is so much fuss being made over Shoab Akbar's swipe at Asif? After all, Shoaib is just a boy(only 32), and you should not deprive him of these small pleasures. In fact, he should be allowed to get away with a couple of murders as well. These things happen in the great game of cricket. You can't be a good bowler if people get upset when you hit another cricketer with your bat. What are bats for if you can't use them for striking people? I think we should let him loosen up whenever he wants to. The best way to relax is to see one of your teammates double up in pain after you have hit him with your bat. 

Shakir Lakhani

Karachi 

Birth of a leader

 Published in The Friday Times on April 2005

Sir,

Every year, people who have nothing else to do raise doubts about Karachi being the birthplace of Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah. These people clearly have vested interests in declaring Jheruk as Mr. Jinnah's birthplace. Jheruk was never a part of Karachi. In fact, Sindh itself was part of the Bombay Presidency at the time the Quaid was born, so why don't these people say that he was born in Bombay? Why do they ignore the great man's statements that Karachi was his birthplace?

Regarding the history books published by the Sindh Texbook Board which mention Jheruk as his place of birth, it is well-known that in the early days after the Partition, there was practically no supervision and thus someone got this inaccuracy inserted in the text books at the time. This sort of thing is being done even now. Former Indian deputy Prime Minister Mr LK Advani has said many times that he was born in Karachi, yet I have seen articles and met people who claim that he was born in Advani Mohalla, Hyderabad. 

Shakir Lakhani,

Karachi.