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TODAY'S PAPER | SEPTEMBER 18, 2020

Cricket grievances
Editorial | 18 Sep 2020

CONTROVERSIES are not new to Pakistan cricket and the past 68 years have witnessed
as much action off-field as on-field. The latest storm to hit the game is the abolishment
of departmental cricket. The Pakistan Cricket Board, under its 2019 constitution, has
revamped the domestic cricket structure which favours regional and provincial teams
over departmental ones. The deafening noise over the PCB’s abrupt decision prompted
head coach Misbah-ul-Haq, Test skipper Azhar Ali and senior player Mohammad
Hafeez to call on Prime Minster Imran Khan on Wednesday, to request him to review
the decision which has rendered hundreds of cricketers jobless. However, the meeting
proved fruitless, with Mr Khan telling his visitors to focus on their job and not
interfere in policy matters. The meeting that took place without the PCB’s knowledge
has left cricket’s top brass fuming.

In hindsight, the trio had approached Mr Khan with good intentions. However, it was a hasty
move and one that violated the PCB’s disciplinary rules, earning them the authorities’ ire.
Had they done their homework properly and consulted PCB chairman Ehsan Mani and CEO
Wasim Khan prior to visiting Mr Khan, Misbah, Hafeez and Azhar would have had a good
idea of what to expect. It is no secret that the decision to abolish the departments was the
brainchild of the prime minister himself. He has supported the regional format since his
playing days. Being the patron of the board, Mr Khan has ensured its implementation
through the PCB. It remains to be seen whether or not the new domestic set-up works for
Pakistan cricket. Nevertheless, a quick glance at sports in the country, including cricket,
hockey, squash, athletics etc, is enough to show how pivotal departments have been in
producing a majority of the country’s legendary stars such as Hanif Mohammad, Fazal
Mahmood, Jahangir Khan, Jansher Khan, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Aisam-ul-Haq and
indeed Mr Khan himself. In a nutshell, abolishing a tried and trusted system may not prove
to be such a wise step.

Published in Dawn, September 18th, 2020

 TODAY'S PAPER | SEPTEMBER 18, 2020

Parliament shock
Editorial | 18 Sep 2020

THIS week’s tumultuous joint sitting of parliament was eerily reminiscent of last year’s
Senate session, where backdoor wheeling and dealing had resulted in the shock defeat
of the no-confidence vote brought by the opposition against chairman Sadiq Sanjrani.
On Wednesday, the ‘Sanjrani model’ wizardry was once again on full display during the
joint sitting of parliament that President Alvi had summoned to get FATF-related bills
passed. Even though the bills had earlier been rejected in the opposition-dominated
Senate, the government managed to have three key FATF bills passed, along with five
others. Despite having the numbers, the opposition yet again failed to block the bills
despite vociferous criticism against the proposed amendments, which they allege grant
sweeping powers of surveillance to the government. The PML-N’s Shahid Khaqan
Abbasi later said that “no businessmen will now be safe from NAB”; yet, over 30
legislators from the opposition ranks were mysteriously missing from the session, as
against 16 absentees from the government’s side. As a result, the first bill was passed
with the majority of 10 votes. The number of votes cast by the government and its allies
were at 200, while opposition members were said to be 190.

That the opposition with their numbers was defeated on such a significant day is shocking.
If, as the opposition have said, the FATF bills are so damaging, why did such a significant
number of parliamentarians skip proceedings on such an important day? Here, the
confidence and body language of government legislators’, especially of the prime minister,
offer some clues. The way the joint session was called, it appears that the government circles
had been assured that they would have the numbers to pass these bills at the time of voting.
The prime minister’s speech in the Assembly was akin to a victory speech delivered with the
bullishness of one who knows they have secured the prize. This should be a moment of
reckoning for the opposition: if their own members are working against them, why would
the government take them seriously? But not only should the opposition get its house in
order, the government, too, should have accepted some of the proposed amendments instead
of relishing the apparent help it had in keeping so many opposition legislators away from
the session. The entire episode is an affront to the sanctity of parliament. There should be no
space for such manoeuvring in a healthy democracy.

Published in Dawn, September 18th, 2020

 TODAY'S PAPER | SEPTEMBER 18, 2020

Economic prospects
Editorial | 18 Sep 2020

THE Asian Development Bank says Pakistan’s economy is moving out of the
coronavirus-induced sluggishness and beginning to crawl forward. A new report
released by the Manila-based bank on Tuesday forecast a modest but broad-based
recovery, projecting the economy’s expansion by 2pc in the present fiscal year. This is
in line with the government’s GDP target of 2.1pc and a significant improvement over
the negative growth of 0.4pc last year. Indeed, short-term economic trends show that
the economy is returning to the path of recovery. Yet the ADB forecast in the Asian
Development Outlook Update report should not be taken as gospel because it assumes
that the impact of the Covid-19 health crisis will subside by end-December this year
and the implementation of structural reform under the IMF Extended Fund Facility to
address macroeconomic imbalances will resume.

This means that while so far the trends show that the economy is getting back on its feet, in
spite of earlier fears of further contraction, the future remains uncertain. Pakistan’s success
in controlling the virus and reopening its economy has been tempered with fears over a
possible escalation in infection rates, even if business activity is picking up momentum. Still,
the ADB projections about growth, a stable balance-of-payments situation in spite of a bigger
current account gap of 2.4pc owing to an expected fall in remittances compared with 1.1pc
last year, recovery in the industrial and agriculture sectors, and domestic demand growth,
provide us with a reason for cautious optimism though it is too early for celebrations.

Improved GDP growth prospects aside, the report has also pointed out that Pakistan’s
economic expansion will remain significantly lower than that of other economies in the
South Asian region. The economy of the Maldives, which was the most affected by the virus
in the region, is likely to grow by 10.5pc. India, the second worst-affected country
economically, is forecast to make a comeback with an 8pc GDP growth rate. Similarly,
Bangladesh’s economy is expected to expand by 6.8pc and Sri Lanka’s by 4.1pc. The only
countries to grow at a slower pace than Pakistan are Bhutan, Afghanistan and Nepal. The
comparison is important because it underscores the structural issues plaguing the economy
— the weaknesses that we have been long aware of but done little to tackle — which take us
back to the IMF for a financial bailout every few years. Pakistan is not the only country to
have experienced ‘boom-and-bust’ cycles. But it is certainly among those economies that
have ignored deep-rooted structural issues for too long at the peril of the well-being of the
citizenry. The Central African Republic, Chad, Nigeria and Afghanistan are the only countries
that occupy a lower place than Pakistan among 153 nations on the Global Wellness Index.
That says a lot about how our economy is faring.

Published in Dawn, September 18th, 2020

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 TODAY'S PAPER | SEPTEMBER 18, 2020

Genie in a bottle
Aasim Sajjad Akhtar | 18 Sep 2020

The writer teaches at Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad.

IT is telling that last week, 19 years to the day since the so-called ‘war on terror’ was
initiated with the US invasion of Afghanistan, a massive rally was held in Karachi by
religio-political parties of an explicitly sectarian nature, harkening to an era of hate-
mongering that Pakistani officialdom insists is now in the past.

Since 2001, successive Pakistani governments have claimed that the state’s official policy vis-
à-vis the religious right has changed definitively. Our current prime minister had himself
said that Islamist militancy had its genesis in official state policy — from at least the 1970s,
not to mention external patronage by the US, Saudi Arabia and other front-line anti-
communist states. Over the past two decades, both the external patrons and our own
strategic planners, we were assured, have changed tack.

In truth, the so-called war on terror has been both cause and consequence of further
polarisation, the opaqueness of state policy at the heart of a crisis with deep historical roots.
Seen through a comparative lens, the state here is not all that different from the rest of the
world; its coercive and surveillance apparatuses have been empowered everywhere under
the guise of containing terrorism that is nebulously defined.

While in Pakistan these apparatuses have used these enhanced powers to suppress
progressives who have always been considered threats to ‘national security’, they have also
targeted at least some former protégés on the right of the spectrum, predominantly of a
religious ilk, but also, as in the case of the MQM, those of a more secular variety.

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A small spark can spiral into a raging

inferno.

What this suggests is that right-wing forces are not simply puppets that can be manipulated
at whim. Nevertheless, the establishment continues to play a major role in shaping novel
organisational and sectarian phenomena like the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan.

Put differently, the religious right has continued to survive, and in some cases, thrive, in part
because of state patronage but also because it maintains organic linkages to young people in
contemporary Pakistan, particularly amongst the toiling classes.

This is a lethal combination. Young people — of whom there are 150 million in Pakistan —
want economic security and dignity. As the recent upsurge in sectarian mobilisation
suggests, the way in which such aspirations are moulded by religio-political organisations is
potentially devastating.

On an everyday basis, we hear regularly about religious functionaries abusing minors, girls
and women being treated as barely human on account of supposedly religious mores, as
well as accusations of apostasy and blasphemy against almost completely invisibilised
religious communities.

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Perhaps some amongst us don’t care about such matters. But how long can we turn a blind
eye to rallies in which thousands come onto the streets of Karachi, or Islamabad, chanting
slogans against the biggest non-Sunni sect in the country? Or the fact that leaders of various
sects are employing strong-arm tactics to lodge cases against and incarcerate leaders of
other sects?

Let us not forget that the so-called Afghan jihad against the Soviet Union in the 1980s also
had a specifically regional context. The Iranian Revolution of 1979 triggered a chain reaction
that weaponised both Shia and Sunni identities within Pakistan due to the competing
strategic interests of Iranian and Saudi theocracies. Needless to say both states continue to
exercise influence beyond their borders; Saudi Arabia in particular remains a kingmaker in
Pakistan’s domestic politics. Even if one argues that Shia-Sunni sectarian violence that
peaked in Pakistan in the 1990s subsided, a small spark can once again spiral into a raging
inferno.

Today as in the past, the establishment still perceives itself as the ultimate arbiter, able to
unleash chaos upon society yet still manage it effectively enough to both ensure its
monopoly over power and neuter any meaningful transformative impulses. It has certainly
managed to weather any number of geopolitical storms in the past, and clearly believes it
will be able to do so in the future.

Seen from the perspective of oppressed castes, genders, ethnic-nations and the working
masses more generally, the weaponisation of religion has been an unending disaster that
continues to have untold effects on our individual and collective genus. Crucially, however,
some of the most exploited elements in our brutalised society seek mobility through religio-
political movements, not to mention the promise of salvation in the afterlife.

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The genie that was let out of the proverbial bottle more than four decades ago continues to
haunt us till this day. We can continue to shout ourselves hoarse about it, screaming into the
ears of strategic planners and religious leaders who will never listen. Or we can undertake
the much more difficult task of building an alternative politics to transform state and society.

The writer teaches at Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad.

Published in Dawn, September 18th, 2020

 TODAY'S PAPER | SEPTEMBER 18, 2020

Reviling the ‘other’

Jan-e-Alam Khaki | 18 Sep 2020

The writer is an educationist with an interest in the study of

religion and philosophy.

ONE of the greatest teachings of the Holy Quran that is universally important relates to
preventing the reviling and ridiculing of others for one or the other reason. Many
individuals and communities have the destructive habit of feeling superior to others.
Rather than learning from others, they try to ‘teach’ others at all times.

We often learn about others, particularly sects, from our own hostile sources depicting a bad
picture of those whom we do not like or approve of, perpetuating a bad image of them
through generations, because of hostile communal histories. Critical and contextual study of
these materials is hardly done, and a given image is perpetuated. This often leads to giving
nicknames and associating bad images with a whole community.

How much God disapproves of this attitude can be gauged from so many verses in the
Quran. For discussion in this article, a few samples are selected. To start with, the Quran sets
a general rule for the Muslim community and it says, “O you who believe! No people should
ridicule other people, for they may be better than they [are] … Do not speak ill of one
another, nor insult one another with [offensive] nicknames … And do not spy on one
another, nor backbite one another. …” (49:11-12).

The warning that the ‘other’ may be ‘better’ is enough to make us humble at all times and
discourage us from pointing fingers at others. This is important for a very deep reason as
well. When we describe others, we actually describe ourselves. We create others to suit our
own image! Are not our judgements based on perceptions, opinions and preferences we
have been exposed to and limited by our parents, teachers, elders, colleagues, friends and
books? So, do we not see the world around us, not as it is, but as we have been conditioned
to see it?

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Let us build our relations on the basis of

respect and dignity.

This subjectivity obviously colours our view of others and distorts their image. Alluding to
this, the Quran warns “… Let not the hatred of some people lead you away from being just.
Be just, for this is closer to piety, and fear Allah. ...” (5:8). What could be the meaning of ‘just’
here? This perhaps means seeing people as they would like us to see them, not the way we
want to see them. This in research tradition is called the phenomenological method, in
which a researcher tries to understand the phenomenon as it is, and not the way it should
be. Judging people all the time from our own standards is a recipe for distortions.

The Quran has a strong message for those who revile others. It admonishes, “Revile not those
unto whom they pray beside Allah lest they wrongfully revile Allah through ignorance. Thus
unto every nation have We made their deed seem fair. Then unto their Lord is their return,
and He will tell them what they used to do” (6:108). The verse makes an important point by
saying that all will be judged by God only — a point repeated many times in the Quran. So,
we should not make sweeping generalisations about and pass judgement on the faith and
actions of others, let alone revile them.

The Quran also focuses on those who talk about others behind their backs. The Holy Book
says, “O ye who believe! Avoid suspicion as much (as possible): for suspicion in some cases is
a sin: and spy not on each other, nor speak ill of each other behind their backs. Would any of
you like to eat the flesh of his dead brother? Nay, ye would abhor it. ...” (49:12). The
backbiting could pertain to individuals as well as to communities.

Advising on those who tend to drift away from faith, the Quran says, “It is part of the Mercy
of Allah that thou dost deal gently with them. Wert thou severe or harsh-hearted they would
have broken away from about thee; so pass over (their faults), and ask for (Allah’s)
forgiveness for them; and consult them in affairs (of moment). …” (3:159). What this verse
emphasises is that one should attract towards the faith with good counsel and allowing
participation in decision-making so that people feel themselves to be a part of the
community.

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To conclude, with today’s global outreach and pluralistic outlook, let us build our relations —
individual or communal, real or virtual — on the basis of respect and dignity, rather than
indulge in reviling and blaming others.

Let us make a sincere effort to learn more about others and understand, appreciate and
admire them. Progressive societies today are building on the premise of not just mutual
respect and recognition; they go a step further by admiring and celebrating each other in the
areas of culture, faith, tradition and civilisation.
The writer is an educationist with an interest in the study of religion and philosophy.

Published in Dawn, September 18th, 2020

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 TODAY'S PAPER | SEPTEMBER 18, 2020

Pappu and politics

Asha’ar Rehman | 18 Sep 2020

The writer is Dawn’s resident editor in Lahore.

A WHOLE jungle of wild voices have resulted from the horrors of the motorway
incident. Some comments have had to be later clarified but no apology is expected, nor
has one been sought from the maker of these remarks which have been quoted
verbatim.

“I wish Imran Khan had mentioned about Pappu case in Zia-ul-Haque time ... the culprit was
sentenced to death in a case of child rape and his body was publicly hanged at Chauburji
Chowk, this served as a deterrent as many years. This is the solution to the problem in such
cases.”

This is a veteran from the general’s stable speaking from his heart in the latest race to nail
the guilty. His profound words are additionally inspired by the policy line given by Prime
Minister Imran Khan on the horrifying crime that shook the country.

Prime Minister Khan favours public hanging of the highway rapists. He favours castrations
as punishment so that no one can again think about committing the act. On cue, the prime
minister’s team members — for instance, Senator Faisal Javed Khan — have made it quite
clear. Ideally they would like a consensus for public execution post-conviction.

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Zia’s urge to hold a whole party, actually an

entire country, in awe of his menacing
powers, must have been at its strongest.

The sentiment is echoed by many in this country. Inevitably, the one example that is cited in
support of the demand is the sole public hanging staged in Pakistan more than four decades
ago.

The Zia veteran quoted here is a ringside witness of many a champion who has ruled this
country. He may have naturally been struck by the similarity in tone of our prime minister
now and the general who was out to create fear of his writ under martial law then.

The hanging of those convicted of the rape and murder of Pappu in Lahore took place in the
year 1978 — one day short of Pakistan Day in March, according to the peerless chronicler
duo, Raziuddin Razi and Shakir Husain Shakir.

The message was sent across alright — but to whom is a point in contention. Less than a year
into his ambitious rule, Zia needed to reinforce his position as a stern, no-nonsense dictator.
This was not for the benefit of petty criminals. The urge to hold a whole party, actually an
entire country, in awe of his menacing powers, must have been at its strongest.

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It so happened that four days before young Pappu’s murderers were hanged in what is
recalled by a witness 42 years later as an eerily quiet day in the city of the zinda dilan, the
Lahore High Court had sentenced Zulfikar Ali Bhutto to death. Now while the fate of Pappu’s
killers had been sealed the moment the gavel lent finality to the judge’s order for their
extermination, the public hanging, the first and the only one in the history of the country,
cast them in a role in a drama that had political ramifications.

The protests were on and PPP politicians were being rounded up. The mercy pleas by
countries such as Iran and Qatar had just landed and there were reports of students at
demonstrations falling to the Lahore police’s bullets. The Masawat newspaper was shut
down. There was a reason for a public hanging now to clear the way for a secret execution of
another, of a former prime minister, a year and two weeks later.

Through the next few years, intimidation and rule by fear were the main ploys employed by
Gen Zia — although towards the latter half of his rule, he did find merit in flashing his
human side before an appreciative audience. However, not even this trendsetter warrior on
the right path could bring himself to take human lives publicly — notwithstanding the
ghastly nature of the crime.

He may have had his reasons for not attempting to institutionalise public hangings, instead
carrying out floggings to make an example. The debate on turning executions of capital
convicts into terrifying spectacles of deterrence has gone on through all these years, albeit
with a due amount of politics thrown in.

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Perhaps it was not the smallest attempt at legerdemain to take the political context out of the
public hanging of Pappu’s killers. You routinely run these days into a message pasted next to
a smiling Gen Zia in which this model public hanging is said to have taken place in 1981 — at
a sufficient distance from ZAB’s sentencing and his non-public and quite secret hanging and
burial.

Only with the gap established, do supporters of public hanging hail it as an event which
ensures there were no such crimes in the country for the next decade. God knows in which
wonderland these angels of justice were distracted. For counting from 1981, the next 10
years would have included the two-and-a-half-year term of ZAB’s daughter, even if it is
assumed that the little period of time in the decade when Mian Nawaz Sharif was at the
helm was expected to follow the calm perfected by his mentor.

This veteran now prescribes Zia’s medicine in Imran’s era as a most loyal understudy. He
was a vital part of the machinery then and is a handy part of the system now. His association
with the origins is just too deep and long for him to come out of that age. The disappointing
part is that others — not least of them our prime minister— have to begin this debate by
taking extreme positions.

‘Castration’, ‘hanging’, ‘public hanging’ … these terms are certain to be repeated as the
discussion on the issue at hand heats up further. An in-charge of an operation, where the
government is unable to prevent a suspect from disappearing in the fields right before its
eyes, will only be adding to the outrage and frustration by resorting to personally favouring
punishments that, according to his own admission, have been replaced by other evolved
substitutes.

To tell you the truth, pledging punishments and public hangings and then saying these may
not be possible in the face of international pressure is in itself a withdrawal plus an
unnecessary admission of foreign influence. Better avoid the company of apologists such as
the opposition leader in the National Assembly and the CCPO Lahore.

The writer is Dawn’s resident editor in Lahore.

Published in Dawn, September 18th, 2020
 TODAY'S PAPER | SEPTEMBER 18, 2020

Women in the informal sector

Faisal Bari | 18 Sep 2020

The writer is a senior research fellow at the Institute of

Development and Economic Alternatives, and an associate
professor of economics at Lums.

THE pandemic has had a large impact on women who work in the informal sectors of
Pakistan’s economy. And most women in Pakistan work in this sector, where they
already have lower pays, longer work hours, irregular coverage of benefits, no job
security and no social protections. Non-essential work shutdowns forced almost all of
them to stay at home, and many did not get paid for the period they were furloughed.
After these sectors began opening up, if not already laid-off permanently, many
workers have had to put up with even lower salaries and fewer work hours. Quite a few
have had to switch to less desirable jobs.

Over these months, many households have had to borrow quite heavily despite the fact that
all of them tried to cut down expenditures as much as possible. This indebtedness will not
only impact future consumption patterns, it will also impact the survival rate of micro-
businesses. Their cash flows have been disrupted and their working capital eaten up, while
many of these entrepreneurs have taken on debt to survive over the last six months. Their
ability to restart their businesses and sustain them has been significantly compromised.

Below are some of the results that my colleagues Ahsan Zia Farooqui, Sahar Kamran and I
have found based on a 1,100 women phone-based survey and some more detailed
interviews, which we recently conducted in partnership with The Asia Foundation, to gauge
the impact of Covid-19 on women working in some of the informal sectors of the economy.
We selected sub-sectors with the most women working informally: home-based workers,
domestic services, salons, beauticians, agriculture workers, teachers and micro-enterprise
owners.

The impacts started before formal lockdowns, as news of the pandemic slowed down
demand for many services. The lockdowns disrupted businesses and income-generating
opportunities almost completely. But even after much of the lockdown restriction has been
lifted, business has been slow to come back and this has meant lower demand for employees
as well. The variation in income for people who have little or no savings can only be
smoothed out through expenditure cuts or borrowing.

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The pandemic’s economic impacts, while

very significant, are only a part of the full
picture.

But the poor have a limited ability to borrow. Many women reported that they borrowed the
maximum they could. The rest had to come from expenditure-cutting and coping: many
people defaulted on utility bills and/ or delayed rental payments, and cut back on all
expenditures, including expenses on education and health.

Economic impacts, while very significant, are only a part of the full picture. Most women
reported increased responsibilities and time commitments at home. Household chores and
care work for elderly relatives and children fall disproportionately on women. While Covid-
19 increased financial pressures, it also reduced these women’s ability to leave their homes
as well as to search for productive work opportunities outside of home.

There has been concern, locally and internationally, about increased incidence of domestic
violence and abuse. Our survey reflected this: a significant increase in domestic abuse and
violence against both women and children was reported. Reduction in income and financial
hardships, inability to be able to move out of the household, lack of access to support
mechanisms, being cooped up in confined spaces (the number of people per household in
Pakistan is large; most women reported six to seven other members in theirs) all add to the
pressures. Women, the elderly and children become vulnerable. Strong policy responses in
this area — in detection, reporting and support — are badly needed.

A lot of women also said that, given their household debt, reduced income over this period,
and uncertain job and income prospects over the next six months to a year, not only have
they been unable to provide proper support to their children through home-schooling,
tutoring and/ or online learning opportunities (even if available), but that they might not be
able to do that over the next year either. Some said they have not been paying school fees
and might not be able to send their children back to school. This might have a differential
and more severe impact on the girl child.

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The overwhelming response from our respondents was that they did not get any support
from the government. Ehsaas payments did not reach them and most felt that they were not
meant for them and were targeted at poorer households. Those who tried to apply were not
successful due to lack of understanding of the process or lack of needed documentation.
Micro enterprises did not get any support either. And, in this case, most micro entrepreneurs
did not even know if there were any programmes that could provide them with financial
relief.

It was clear from the responses that the government did not have information about a lot of
women and their households (Ehsaas was focused on the very poor and not on low- to
medium-income groups), did not have the ability to reach them, did not even have the
outreach to share relevant information, and did not have any programmes that could be
targeted at specific groups. Going forward, social protection and risk-mitigation policies
need a lot of work to make them more robust, nuanced and comprehensive.

Covid-19 has had a very significant and negative impact on a number of variables for
women working in the informal sectors. Informal sector workers have lower salaries, work
in poorer conditions and have fewer protections to start with. Women within this sector face
even more gender-specific vulnerabilities. And now Covid-19 has made the situation much
worse. Increased debt, joblessness, lower salaries, reduced working hours, reduced
expenditures on health and education, and higher exposure to abuse and violence are only
some of the consequences. Opening up has not addressed all of these issues and some will
persist for long. Government policies have been quite inadequate for these sectors and for
informal workers in general, and need to be improved a lot more going forward.

The writer is a senior research fellow at the Institute of Development and Economic
Alternatives, and an associate professor of economics at Lums.

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Published in Dawn, September 18th, 2020