Kashmir crisis
Madam
I have always known Kashmir as being paradise on earth. However, in the last 70 years, it has turned into hell. Thousands of lives have been lost in a conflict that local people cannot seem to control.
The current Trump-led US government is doing what previous governments did. He has asked both — Pakistan and India — to resolve the issue but it does not look like he is serious about it. Being a superpower, the US could have brought both countries to the table for talks but it didn’t. The UN has been unable to play a decisive role as well while Amnesty International has done no more than issue reports of deaths and injuries in the conflict.
Have these governments and organisations become weak? Can they not overcome the disastrous conflict in Kashmir? I think it is high time they took a pivotal stand and did something.
Khalid Sheikh,
Islamabad.
Child labour
Madam
Child labour is employment of children in any work that deprives them of their childhood and interferes with their ability to attend regular schools. Child labour is mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous and harmful.
This practice is considered exploitative by many international organisations. Legislation across the world prohibits child labour. However, these laws do not consider all work by children as child labour; exceptions include work by child artists, family duties or supervised training. Across the world agriculture is the largest employer of child labourers. Large numbers of child labourers are found in rural settings and informal urban economy where children are predominantly employed by their parents rather than factories.
Poverty and lack of schools are considered the primary cause of child labour. For impoverished households, the income from a child’s work is usually crucial for his or her survival or for that of the household.
Unfortunately, children work because they have to.
Akhtar Shah,
Gujranwala.
Taxes
Madam,
I recently did some shopping at two different shops. Both shops applied 17 per cent general sales tax. I bought the same items a few months ago but at that time there was no GST serviceable.
Was it not applicable before or was it gorged by these outlets? The fact is that sales tax has been collected for many years but was not being deposited in the national exchequer by the retailers.
I paid almost Rs700 as GST for an item worth Rs3,500, which is really a huge amount. Will the authorities concerned shed some light on this issue?
Ammar Khan,
Karachi.
Road safety
Madam,
When traffic police in Islamabad and Lahore can check and penalise motorcyclists for not wearing helmets, and car drivers for not fastening seatbelts, and driving on the wrong side, why can’t Karachi traffic police do the same?
We need to know whether police personnel are exempted from wearing helmets while riding motorcycles. What will it take to ensure that citizens follow the rules? It is for their personal safety as well as having sanity on the roads.
Maybe the inspector general of Sindh police could provide some answers. Just a few symbolic actions on the roads by police to enforce the rules will not resolve the issue. Rules are rules and must be followed by both police and citizens.
Ashraf Qureshi,
Karachi
Addictive game
Madam,
The newly-released game PUBG (Player Unknown Battle Ground) has a special place in the hearts of many people. This game is being updated monthly and new things are being brought forwarded for users. This makes it extremely addictive for the players as they sit and wait for the new updates. The game is competitive, where 100 players are thrown in a battle ground. They have to kill each other; finally, the last survivor becomes the winner of the game. The game has 100 million downloads and has been successful in gaining a young audience. But it seems that users are not aware of the many disadvantages of this game. It can destroy people’s communication skills. People should talk and move to refresh their minds, but it seems that players are only interested in the game. It is turning into quite a headache! There are many negative incidents reported about PUBG. In India, a boy committed suicide after his parents took away his mobile phone and prevented him from playing the game. People are wasting their time in such useless things. Also, in our country certain people play PUBG, especially students. Games are there forever but students should think about their future first.
Shafiqur Rehman,
Turbat
Forced conversions
Madam,
I recently watched a video which compelled me to write this letter. The enmity of Hindus towards Muslims has risen to levels which is incommunicable. When I watched the video, it made me cry since it seemed that humanity was lost. Every human has the right to follow and choose their own religion. They must not be forced to change their religion. In India, Muslims are forcefully being prepared to convert to other religions, especially Hinduism. In the video, a boy was attacked for being Muslim. His fingers and tongue were cut with a knife. Every person has the right to follow their own religion, then why not Muslims?
Gulbahar Yousuf
Turbat.