Resources needed
Things are going bad to worse for Waziristan’s internally displaced people (‘Half a million observe fast in camps’, Gulf News, July 1). According to the Pakistan government’s own sources, more than five hundred thousand people have migrated from Waziristan to different parts of the country after the army operations.
Most of the people who migrated from Waziristan belong to the poor families. Some of them walked two or three days to reach the nearby cities of Bannu and Dera Ghazi Khan because of lack of transport and curfew restrictions in the areas.
Women and children have been affected the worst. Several children have lost their lives due to lack of medical facilities. The extreme temperatures of the summer season have added further difficulties in their journey. Now, due to lack of facilities, these people find it hard to provide food and shelter for their families.
Local media are showing miserable pictures of all the events. People are forced to stand long hours outside government assistance centres. Only a few non-governmental organisations (NGO) are working in the area with limited resources and instead of providing help to the Waziristan displaced people, political parties are fighting between each other. This is very unfortunate.
From Mr Khawaja Omar Farooq
Saudi Arabia
Cooking excessive quantities
The issue of food wastage across the globe needs to be addressed on an urgent basis (‘Community Report: How to stop the tragedy of wasting food’, Gulf News, June 30). Over one third of the total food produced is being dumped in landfills. People need to be educated on this issue and the importance of food. It is saddening that we continue to waste food during times where tens of thousands of people are dying of starvation, famine, hunger and malnourishment. If we cannot handle excessive quantities of food, then we should cook in moderation to avoid it from going waste. The mindset of cooking more than required to ensure that there is enough food is what leads to wastage most of the times.
The best way to avoid food wastage is to reduce cooking excess quantities and to re-use leftovers in various forms.
From Ms Fatima Suhail
UAE
Facebook comment
Saving lives by donations
Recently I read a column in Gulf News about the outbreak of malaria in Tripura, India, affecting more than 70,000 people and killing 55 (‘Water-borne diseases a global challenge’, Gulf News, July 1). According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), every 60 seconds, a child dies from malaria and 3.4 billion people are at a risk of getting this disease.
Malaria is more common in African countries where people do not have access to protective mosquito nets. I encourage all readers to donate mosquito nets and save the lives of people in these countries. You can do this through accredited online sites. It just takes $10 (Dh37) to buy a bug net, distribute it to a family, and explain its use.
I believe this is something that is in desperate need of attention and hope that people will start donating for this cause.
From Ms Afra A.
UAE
A serious risk
I wonder how these defective and under qualified products have been allowed to enter the UAE (‘Faulty charger ‘kills’ Filipina’, Gulf News, July 1). They should know fully well that it is not the authentic product. The image shows that it can damage the cell phone, burn down a complete building, or worse, really hurt someone.
From Ms B. Okpala
UAE
Facebook comment
Hiring standards
They call themselves doctors and nurses (‘Slow Saudi response fuelled Mers outbreak,’ Gulf News, July 1). Their licenses to practice medicine should be revoked. The Saudi Arabian authorities should focus on establishing more hospitals with a quarantine division. They should also employ more capable and qualified health and medical practitioners to handle these cases.
From Mr Luis Serrano
UAE
Facebook comment
Aviation mystery
Any plane that is left unattended and runs out of fuel, does not just glide to a soft landing, whether on land or over water (‘MH370: New evidence of tampering with cockpit systems revealed,’ Gulf News, July 1). If and when the airplane ‘crashed’ into the ocean, one simple yet baffling question remains unanswered: where is the debris? This seems like the biggest aviation mystery ever.
From Mr Mughis Ahmad
Doha, Qatar
Knowing better
Crime is crime, whether it is done by an adult or a minor (‘Murder suspect declared a minor’, Gulf News, July 1). The killing of an innocent person is not a small crime. If someone is less than ten years old, we can understand, but a 17 or 18 year old knows better. It means the law is protecting them. By the time they are deemed an adult, they could become professional criminals.
If any person, whether he is an adult or a minor knows, understands, when something is right and something is wrong, then they should be held responsible for their actions.
From Mr Ahmad Eftekhar
Sharjah
Website comment
Adult to child in court
From ages 14 to 18 years old and they’re able to hold a gun, know how to shoot it and kill someone to death, or, for that matter, rape someone. How and why should they be referred to as minors? They should not be tried in a juvenile court or be ordered a lenient sentence.
When they were committing the crime, they were definitely looking and behaving like an adult and when the time comes for trial, they become a minor to avoid severity of punishment.
From Mr Ovais
Dubai
Website comment
Need control
There doesn’t seem to be any control on words coming out of these people’s mouths or any moral values seen from them (‘India MP Tapas Pal in rape threat: ‘I’ll let loose my boys’, Gulf News, July 1). No doubt this is what the youngsters, the present and future generations, will learn from this type of social behaviour. There needs to be more laws in India to eradicate all this.
From Mr Rajani
Dubai
Website comment
Conspiracy villains
I would like to know who decides that this man is the most dangerous (‘Isil leader Al Baghdadi more powerful than Al Qaida chief,’ Gulf News, July 1). Every decade, there seems to be someone pulled out of obscurity and made to be the world’s villain. Then, this person is used as a justification for unjust wars. Every now and then, the sole superpower of the world needs new enemies to implement policies.
From Mr Ahmad
UAE
Website comment
Post US invasion
The West seems to be a blind supporter of the US invasions. Many people look back and wonder whether the world would have been safer if the US hadn’t invaded Iraq, Libya and Afghan. People of these countries had a better life beforehand.
From Mr Munawar
Dubai
Website comment
For humanity
The simmering tensions in Middle East; the Russian invasion of Ukraine; the militant insurgencies in Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan and elsewhere; and the ethnic conflicts in Myanmar are all deteriorating international relations. The results could be catastrophic if it is allowed to escalate.
Let’s pray to Allah for a safer tomorrow. We need to raise above all the trivial racial, sectarian and religious differences and work towards a common goal. Our ultimate goal needs to be protecting humanity.
Let’s not teach the younger generations the lessons of revenge, destruction and massacres, but that of peace, harmony and mutual existence.
Let’s work together to leave behind a legacy - one of humanity, if ever, something by that name has ever been in existence.
From Mr Mohammad Mubashar
Ajman
Tragedy of Errors
The defeat of the Super Eagles at the hands of France was indeed a tragedy of errors in the true sense of the word (‘France coach Didier Deschamps wants more of the same from Paul Pogba,’ Gulf News, July 2). The Eagles had the determination, but sadly lacked the grit to defeat a strong
team like France. Though many chances came to the Nigerians, they could not utilise the chances and the second goal by France was a suicidal self goal which sealed the fate of the African champions. I think that had it happened on another day, they would have beaten France. I guess I have high hopes!
From Mr M. Parackel
UAE
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