Mr Woods' letter should have been edited for content and clarity as per the policy of your newspaper.
RAWALPINDI: This is with reference to a letter to the editor “Karachi fire” by Marshall A Woods (September 14). I am surprised at a newspaper of your repute publishing a letter, which draws an irrelevant reference to the non-availability of firefighting equipment, reliable electrical grid and fire safety inspection and enforcement to the non-availability of funds due to a standing army at the Kashmir front.
Maintaining armies, whether at the cantonments or the borders, is a national policy. The shortfalls that Mr Woods has mentioned have to do with bad governance, which has been amply highlighted, not only in the Karachi inferno but elsewhere in the country too. Why was this fact not noticed by Mr Woods? And what about the rampant corruption from top to bottom and the flouting of Supreme Courts orders? I could go on and on but I think this should suffice to let Mr Woods know that one must dissect a problem completely to find out all the root causes. Also, the letter should have been edited for content and clarity as per the policy of your newspaper.
Major (retd) Talaat Khurshid
Published in The Express Tribune, September 18th, 2012.
