This is in response to Ameer Malappuram's letter "Exit/re-entry woes" (May 30). I totally agree with him. This type of a system is rarely prevalent in the world. Due to it, I had lost my flight to Dubai last month. I am holding a multiple exit/re-entry visa. Nowadays, the authorities are issuing a separate paper for exit/re-entry (earlier, it was a sticker on the passport). Unfortunately, this paper was not in my passport when I reached the airport. I had been told by the official that there is a Jawazat counter in the basement of the airport. I rushed to the counter and requested them to reprint the exit/re-entry document. The officer entered my iqama number in the system and said: "You are holding a multiple exit/re-entry visa, therefore, print cannot be taken." I rushed back to my home in Olaya, returned with my documents, but by that time the flight had already taken off.
I am sure many expats must have faced similar issues. We, therefore, urge the authorities to look into the matter and make the necessary changes.(Basheer, Riyadh)
Pakistan is here to stay
This refers to the column "Pangs of Partition: Facing the reality of Pakistan." I would like to congratulate the writer for the wonderful article, which touched the various events leading to the creation of Pakistan, and which I thoroughly enjoyed reading.
We need to understand some very important milestones that led to the creation of Pakistan. Gopal Krishna Gokhale made the famous statement about Mohammad Ali Jinnah, describing him as the "Ambassador of Hindu-Muslim Unity." Who can forget the role of Jinnah, on so many occasions, regarding his efforts to bring the Hindus and Muslims together for the freedom of India. One such great effort has been described by Jaswant Singh in his book, "Jinnah, India-Partition Independence" (Pg. 103): "The Lucknow Pact was made possible by the single service of Jinnah to the cause of Hindu-Muslim unity as recorded by the Bombay Chronicle of 1st Jan 1916."
It was unfortunately the arrogance of the Hindu leaders like Nehru that forced Iqbal and Jinnah to change their minds and left them with no choice but to go for partition. Jaswant Singh goes on to write in his book (Pg. 505): "What certainly pushed the situation towards partition was Nehru's inability to restrain himself, to always give his views to the press, and in a manner that almost on every occasion generated huge contention and multiple controversies, wiping out all earlier achievements."
Secondly, we should not forget that Muslims had ruled over India for more than 700 years. If the Britishers had left India completely to Nehru and company, it would have only meant a change of masters for the Muslims of India. Pakistan on its part kept its borders open for the Muslims of India to migrate to Pakistan freely till 1955. So all the Muslims presently in India are in India by their own choice.
As rightly pointed out in the article, Pakistan had to start from scratch, and as a Pakistani, I feel we have not done bad. Our economy was indeed better than that of India during the 1970s and 1980s. Unfortunately, the Russian invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 and now the current so-called 'War on Terror' has delivered a blow to our economy.
The bottom line is that Pakistan is here to stay. Problems we have many, but we will fight, no matter how hard it is, to resolve them. Today we have a very vibrant, free media and an independent judiciary, but most importantly, we have a country of our own - Pakistan. (Babar Mumtaz, By e-mail)
Letters to the Editor: Exit/re-entry dilemmas
