daily nebraskan
page 5
Afghan, Pakistani students comment on Soviet invasion
monday, January 14, 1980
By Pat ti Gallagher
As Soviet forces continue to move into neighboring
Afghanistan and daily reports of violence and the spreading
threat to worldwide security are heard, some UNL foreign
students express concern over the crisis.
Kumail Thariani, second-year UNL student from Paki-.
stan, said his family's safety is his primary concern.
"All I'm concerned about is my parents and my
family," Thariani said.
. Rahim Walil said he did not want to comment-on the
strife in his native Afghanistan for fear his family would
be endangered.
He did, however, call -the situation "very serious."
Refugees
An estimated 30,000 to 40,000 Afghan refugees have
fled to Pakistan, which borders Afghanistan on the cast.
Thariani said he foresees no conflicts between the
people of Afghanistan and the people of Pakistan because
of the similarities in lifestyles, beliefs and religion. But he
added he "would hate to give guns to any of them around
the border."
Pakistan is in jeopardy because of its location, Thariani
said. "Its position makes it very strategic " he said.
Another Pakistan student, Sylvana Airan, called the
mood in Afghanistan "very, very tense."
Utters confirm
Airan said reports from a friend returning from the
Pakistan-Afghanistan .area in the last two weeks, combined
with bits of her family's letters although they are censored-
confirmed her belief in the tenseness of the situa
tion. Airan said that' the Afghans seeking refuge in Pakistan
will "cause a lot of problems" economically, because
Pakistan is not a rich country.
Airan said American aid to Pakistan is a step in the
right direction. "Pakistan needs backing," she said.
Airan said one of the Soviet Union's aims is to advance
to the Persian Sea.
' She said if the Soviet Union was only , trying to help
Afghanistan prevent outside aggression, as Soviet Presi
dent Leonid Bicshnev claimed, then they should "settle it
and go away." The extended Soviet presence in the
country is causing a world uproar, she said.
minjr u vuuDiug a vvuiiu upiV'tll, Silt SdlU.
A third Pakistani studying at UNL agrees with Airan on
Fraternity should have sounded alarm
,;- By Jim Faddis
The Dec. 18 fire at Theta Xi fraternity, 1535 R St. was
not handled as well as it should have been, a Lincoln fire
, inspector said.
Fire inspector Mike Durst said no one pulled the fire
alarm in the fraternity. Instead, two Theta Xi members ,
woke up house residents to alert them about the fire at
6:30 a jn., Durst said.
. The fire alarm should have been Dulled, he said.
"When you attempt to wake everyone up in a building,
New Year's vow . . .
Continued from Page 4 ,
Unfortunately, these exchanges took place entirely in
my head. , . ,
,. The fact is that, like so many other Americans, I am
increasingly' thwarted at the anger gate by the absolute
certainty that it isn't going to be worth the hassle.
I am sure that I will not be able to (1) find a person to
talk or write to; that (2) this person will neither care
about my. problem or be able to help; that (3) it's com
pany policy (4) the computer did it and (5) after all is said
and done, 1 am left with the choice of bad service or no
service.
Under these circumstances you begin to feel that it's
nutty to complain. It's clearly not sensible to waste your
energy futilcly fighting the system when you need every
bit of it to deal with the system. It begins to appear that
it's saner to cope with the world than argue with it.
But this is an absolutely insidious argument, 1 believe
that you have to pick your fights. But when you find you
there is a possibility that you will miss a room and some
body won't get out," Durst said. "Fire alarms are designed
to alert people about a fire and should be used," -
Theta Xi member Tim Stanek said the fire alarm was
not used because of false alarms in the past.
False alarms a problem
"There have been so many false alarms in othei
fraternity houses and dormitories that most people don't
do anything when they hear a fire alarm anyway," Stanek
aren't picking any fights, you're part of the problem. The
problem of muted rage and ulcerous impotence, and disin
tegrating buttonholes. v , , ;'
People and product managers ought to be caHeST'to'task
for thoughtlessness, -'rudeness, incompetence andt stupid !
shower heads. We ought to do it to keep our ire in shapes
our anger going in the right direction and our principles
propped up. . If you have to rage powerlessly at an
ayatolla, the least you can do is confront a computer
operator. ,' -
So, in 1980, I'm going to be cranky. I'm going to com
plain and not just when it's a leaky roof or a screwed-up
bill. I'm going to get irritated because the Democratic
National Committee keeps addressing me as Mr. E.
Goodman and because the lightbulb with a year-long
guarantee went pop in the night.;
After all, hassling is good for the waistline.
(c) 1980, The Boston Globe Newspaper Co.Writer'i Group
the motive behind the Soviet invasion.
Warm-water port
"The Soviets hav always had a kind of obsession with
obtaining a warm-water port," Munawar Noorani said.
Noorani said the "first stage" of Soviet movement
toward gaining such a port was the action taken in
Afghanistan. Because the population is over 90 percent
illiterate, he said, it is "not difficult to bring in a commu
nist.or socialist government."
Another motive behind the Soviet action is to prove its
power to its own people, he said. It is imperative for the
Soviet Union to succeed in Afghanistan to illustrate to its
large Moslem minority that the government can easily
subdue them.
Noorani said he approves of American action sb far,
but said that because it is an election year, "Mr. Carter
might go overboard."
"There is cold war," Noorani said, and the last thing
the United States should do is give direct military aid to
Afghanistan.
He said the Russians would be more likely to react
violently if another "superpower" were to supply aid than
if a neighboring Moslem country were to give military
assistance.
, inspector says
said.
"We thought that if we pulled the fire alarm people
would have thought it was just another prank and not
have gotten out of the building."
Durst said two .fireplaces in the fraternity had been
used for three days and the heat' started a fire between
bricks in the chimney.
The. fire then climbed three floors through chinks in
the chimney mortar. Durst said. Firefighters were able to
confine the fire to the chimney by making three holes h
the chimney wall and wetting it down, he said.
The fireplaces were used continually because it was
final examinations week and several Theta Xi members
were staying up all night to study, Stanek said.
Durst estimated fire damage to be $1000. Stanek said
the damage was repaired during semester break.
City has regulations
Durst said fraternity and sorority houses must meet
city fire regulations Those regulations require the houses
to have a fire alarm system; to have fire extinguishers on
each floor; to have a fire door on each floor to block stair
ways; and to have two fire escapes on each floor.
Theta Xi meets the regulations, Durst said.
, It is also recommended that fraternities and sororities
have a fire drill every semester, he said . -
Six sororities have had a fire drill where a Fire Dept.
representative has shown sorority members what to do,
Durst said ,; But, he said, no fraternity has asked the
department to conduct a fire drill, "
Stanek said Theta Xi had an organized fire drill earlier
in the year. He said the fraternity has a plan on what to
do during a fire, which includes making sure everyone is
out of the building.
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