Indulgent parents and unruly kids

This is in response to Tariq Al-Maeena’s article, “Why we should all be flogged” and the letters on the topic. The author says, “Guidance and discipline begin at home and should remain that way. Perhaps if the parents of these teenagers were to be flogged, the rest of us would pay more attention to our own shortcomings that lead our children to activities that do no good to them as individuals or us as a nation”. I agree with Tariq.

During summer holidays these teenagers roam around the whole night, disturbing people and damaging the glass of cars and knocking the doors and windows of the surrounding houses. This happens throughout the summer holidays. Are parents unaware of the fact that their children are not at home?

One reader blames housemaids or children being raised by them for this state of affairs. But the fact is housemaids are so busy and occupied with their work; they have no time to train or educate the children.

In a nutshell I would request parents to take care of their kids and have an eye on their activities throughout the day and teach them how to deal with elders and not damage other people’s property, particularly cars. These teenagers seem to have a talent for identifying the expatriates’ cars.

I will blame parents and to some extent law-enforcing authorities for what is happening. The complaints to the police are invariably met with the indulging remark, “After all, they are kids.”

Mohammad Ashiq Shakir, Yanbu published 15 October 2009

Kerry-Lugar Bill

The Kerry-Lugar Bill presented to the National Assembly should be rejected as it is humiliating for Pakistan. The majority of Pakistanis are against it and so is the military. The National Assembly should send a clear message to the US that we are not beggars, but that their crazy war has cost our exchequer over $30 billion in lost income/costs.

This bill should be a clear signal to our leaders that they must revive the economy instead of relying on handouts from other countries. They must also ensure the availability of basic commodities to citizens. The sugar crisis was a disgrace. What happened to the Pakistan People’s Party’s slogan of roti, kapra and makan (bread, clothes and shelter)? All we have ended up with is social disharmony and terrorism. And where is Nawaz Sharif when the nation is facing grave problems?

Zafar Raja, London published 15 October 2009

Nobel Prize for Obama

I would like to believe that the committee which voted unanimously to award the Nobel Peace Prize to US President Barack Obama might have thought of springing a surprise on the world. I think this is the first time someone has won a peace prize for talking about things he intends to do. Come on, I mean we have the great Mahatma Gandhi who was acclaimed as the last century’s most powerful apostle of peace. What’s more, he actually did a few unbelievable things such as using nonviolence as a weapon in India’s freedom struggle, a struggle he successfully concluded. But he did not get a peace prize.

And yes, we do have more humble and beautiful souls living in various parts of the world who haven’t been recognized or praised for their efforts. Is it Obama’s popularity that won him the award or the committee’s changing yardsticks?

Anyway, I am glad he got the award. Maybe he will think twice before saying, “yes” to anything that is against world peace. Not a small achievement considering that it is the US that is waging wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and threatening Iran with another.

Mushtaq Hussain, By e-mail published 15 October 2009

Nobel Prize for Obama 2

The Nobel Committee Chairman Thorbjoern Jagland stated, “Only very rarely has a person captured the world’s attention to the same extent as Obama and given its people hope for a better future.” The man must be delusional to make such remarks or must be greatly misinformed about what is conspiring around the world at the behest of Nobel laureate Obama. Now that Obama has received this award I guess the next winner will be Benjamin Netanyahu.

Zabiullah Khan, By e-mail published 15 October 2009

Nobel Prize for Obama 3

I am not surprised by the decision of the Nobel Committee. If Yasser Arafat, Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres and Henry Kissinger are winners, then why not Obama? Maybe this award will persuade America to choose humanitarian ways of dealing with the world’s problems. So let us watch and see how Obama delivers during his time in office.

Ashish Dhar Diwan, By e-mail published 15 October 2009

Have you not heard this?

The report, “Unhygienic clinics draw public anger” (Oct. 12) begins by quoting a Czech proverb that says, “Cleanliness is half of health.” Why should you quote a proverb from a country that is on the other side of the globe so to speak, when we have the saying, “Cleanliness is half of your imaan (faith)”?

Hajra, By e-mail published 15 October 2009

It is our good luck

I convey my thanks to Saudi Arabian Airlines for introducing a flight to Lucknow from Jeddah via Riyadh. This has made all the expatriates from the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh very happy.

Mohammed Maroof, Riyadh published 15 October 2009

Fight against extremists

The attack on Pakistan’s army HQ may be a blessing in disguise in that this will lead to an all-out fight against extremist elements. Pakistan may have lost a battle but the war against extremism is not yet over. All that the extremists have achieved so far is to show Islam in a bad light. Their brutality is only exceeded by the sickness in their minds.

Mujtaba Haque, Riyadh published 15 October 2009

Goldstone debacle

The West did not back the democratically elected Hamas government in Palestine, because they knew that the government could not be blackmailed or lured into corruption. They wanted their puppets to run the Palestinian government so that they could manipulate things for the benefit of Israel. Now see how the Palestinian Authority has surrendered to the wishes of Israel and its chief patron in the matter of the Goldstone Report.

Noroudeen Jiwanjee, By e-mail published 15 October 2009

Global warming

This is a rejoinder to letters from Peter Jones (Oct. 9) and Francis Andrew (Oct. 11) on global warming. Global warming (GW) is not a myth conjured by the “merchants of doom”, “grant grabbing researchers”, Michael Moore, Al Gore, and/or by the UN’s IPCC. Only the oil industry lobbyists and the scientists rejected by their peers have some ax to grind. It is well documented that glaciers are melting at an alarming rate, sea levels are rising, and hurricanes are becoming more forceful. The Maldives will be the first victim of the GW phenomenon. These islands will gradually sink into the sea and disappear within this century.

A vast majority of prominent climate scientists agree that GW is happening and that for the past 50 years it has been caused largely by human activities i.e., burning fossil fuels in power plants and cars and by deforestation. A recent study conducted by an economist for the British government predicted that inaction on global warming would have catastrophic effects on the world including droughts, mass flooding, species extinction and an economic collapse comparable to the Great Depression of the 1930s, while the cost of stabilizing the climate would be much smaller. He further predicted that GW would shrink the global economy by 20 percent.

GW cannot be halted quickly. Carbon and nitrous dioxides, sulfur hexafluoride and other green house gases (GHGs) can remain in the atmosphere for many centuries. Even if emissions were eliminated today, it would take centuries for the heat-trapping GHGs now in atmosphere to fall to pre-industrial levels. Only by starting to cut emissions now can humanity avoid the increasingly dangerous and irreversible consequences of climate change. On an individual level, one can adopt eco-friendly practices and start reducing his/her carbon footprint on earth.

Canada is a signatory to the Kyoto Accord. Carbon tax, mandatory climate exchanges and other related legislations by the Liberal government were in the works until the Tory minority government came to power. Since Tories are supported by the huge oil industry in Alberta, their home base, there has been a lot of backtracking and feet dragging on the implementation of Kyoto Protocol. The Canadian government performed shamefully at the 2007 Climate Change Conference in Bali. Let us hope that with US President Barack Obama’s initiatives, it will show more prudence at the Copenhagen Climate Change Summit in December.

Iqbal Paul, Montreal, Canada published 15 October 2009