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Eco-friendly solutions
By editorial Mar.17,2020

Pakistan can take nationally to make itself more resilient in the wake of climate disasters

The answer to what Pakistan can do amid the global climate crisis is two-folds. Since climate
change is a global phenomenon, a collective effort is needed in order to fight the crisis, as
substantial change is necessary. The first part of the answer has to do with Pakistan pushing the
climate change agenda globally as it is one of the countries most vulnerable to it. This includes
being an active international stakeholder in the fight against climate change while pushing
international communities to shift towards eco-friendly and carbon-free alternatives. The second
part of the answer deals with the actions Pakistan can take nationally to make itself more
resilient in the wake of climate disasters such as flooding, droughts, heatwaves and melting
glaciers.

Adaptability is the key here and officials need to be on their toes to adapt quickly to sudden
changes in the climate while being wary of any disaster that could follow. In an attempt to do so,
the cabinet approved the National Electric Vehicle Policy four months ago with the plan to
convert one-third of the vehicles in the country to electric vehicles by 2030. This is an important
initiative as transport contributes to more than 40% to air pollution in Pakistan. Recently,
Pakistan’s first-ever electric three-wheeled rickshaws started to roll off the assembly line. If
certain considerations are made, this could easily create a foundation that could push Pakistan
towards being an environment-friendly country. While tax exemptions and incentives to
manufacturers, importers and buyers of electric vehicles would be offered, the cost could still be
high for the mass market. It would need to be brought down even further. Lower running and
maintenance costs will be an incentive as well as an investment for electric vehicle owners.

It is clear that the country may rely on electric energy as an alternative; therefore the solar
industry needs to be strengthened to provide sustainable and renewable power.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 17th, 2020.

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Misuse of BISP
By editorial Mar.17,2020

Considering the long-ingrained habit of ‘moral lepers’, such depravity does not come as a surprise

It shows the government’s sincerity to help the deserving, its resolve to curb corruption at all
levels and also the increasing poverty in the country. Names of more than 800,000 ‘ineligible’
beneficiaries have been deleted from the list of the Benazir Income Support Programme and
over 4.4 million new names have been included in it. In a written answer to a question, the
minister in charge of the poverty alleviation and social safety division provided the information
to the National Assembly a few days ago.

The names of 820,165 undeserving recipients have been removed from the BISP list of
beneficiaries after a thorough inquiry. Out of the total number of ineligible beneficiaries, 14,730
were government employees and 127,826 wives of government employees. Among them were
men and women who had travelled abroad by air, owned more than one car and applied for
passports via executive centres, etc. They used the money meant for those living in dire poverty
for their luxuries. They travelled abroad by air and usurped the funds of those who have never
seen an aircraft from close nor will they likely ever have such experience during their lifetimes.
The morally bankrupt were materially quite well-off and had stooped so low as to take away the
rightful share of the very poor. The BISP is meant for poor of the poorest.

Considering the long-ingrained habit of ‘moral lepers’, such depravity does not come as a
surprise. We as a society are fast losing virtue and adopting vice. The other thing that
characterises the society is the ever-spreading tentacles of hypocrisy. The brazenness with which
the undeserving received BISP money bears this out. This, however, is just the tip of the iceberg.
Corruption resulting from insatiable greed is eating into the vitals of our nation. Our souls have
been imprisoned by greed. When will we learn to live within our means? We should live by the
happiness of one another, not by the misery of one another. We should help one another.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 17th, 2020.

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Regional response and coronavirus

By editorial Mar.17,2020

Warring parties can come together to resolve public health crises

The virtual regional summit on the Covid-19 came and went over the weekend with Pakistan
proposing that a ‘regional mechanism’ be developed for disease surveillance. The suggestion put
forward by Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Dr Zafar Mirza calls for members of
the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation i.e. Saarc to exchange real-time data for
helping control the spread of viruses such as Covid-19 now and in the future. Mirza noted that
even though the novel coronavirus been declared a pandemic, “it has been deemed controllable
as well”. He urged South Asian countries to follow guidelines set by the WHO and also learn from
the experience of China and others in effectively addressing the disease after the initial outbreak.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi proposed setting up an emergency fund to fight the
coronavirus outbreak in South Asia, and put his money where his mouth is by offering $10
million to get it started. The fund would be accessible to all members, and India would also offer
rapid response teams and other expertise as requested or required, an unusually conciliatory
Modi said. While Dr Mirza’s health background may have added great value to the meeting, it is
unfortunate that, given the magnitude of the issue at hand, Pakistan was the only major country
not represented by a head of state or head of government. Apart from Modi, Afghan President
Ashraf Ghani, Bangladeshi Prime Minister Hasina Wajid, Maldivian President Ibrahim Mohamed
Solih and other South Asian leaders participated in the meeting.

This was underscored by a comment by Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on a private
news channel, where he said Pakistan participated in the conference “despite India’s negative
attitude”. While he was telling the truth, this is no time for point-scoring, especially from our top
diplomat. Even warring parties can come together to resolve public health crises. His revelation
that Pakistan has proposed hosting a meeting of Saarc countries’ health ministers to formulate a
coordinated response also undercut the need for who Dr Mirza was in the meeting instead of the
Prime Minister. Snubbing India should not mean snubbing all of Saarc.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 17th, 2020.

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Pak-EU ties: fostering prosperity everyday

By androulla kaminara Mar.17,2020

Trade is one of the cornerstones of the EU’s relationship with Pakistan

The latest statistics on trade between Pakistan and the European Union (EU) published last week
included remarkably positive figures: The Pakistani exports to the EU in 2019 amounted to
nearly €7.5 billion, 8.99% higher than in 2018. This comes a few days after the European
Parliament in Brussels debated the trade preferences given by the EU to a number of countries,
including Pakistan. The Government of Pakistan as well as Pakistan’s business community has
been following this debate and the preparatory steps very carefully. Why? Because Pakistan is
the single largest beneficiary of the EU’s GSP+ trade regime, which waives import duties on a
wide range of products.

Trade is one of the cornerstones of the EU’s relationship with Pakistan. The EU supports
Pakistan’s integration into the world economy and its sustainable economic development. The
GSP scheme allows preferential market access for exports from developing countries to the EU.
The GSP+, an even more advantageous version of the standard GSP scheme, offers duty-free
access for nearly two-thirds of tariff lines. For Pakistan, 76% of its exports fall under this
category. These preferences are tied to progress to be demonstrated in the implementation of 27
core international conventions on human and labour rights, environment protection and good
governance.

Pakistan’s exports to the EU have grown by more than 64% since the GSP+ status was granted in
2014. Thanks to the GSP+, the European single market that comprises 27 countries is by far the
biggest export destination for Pakistani products, absorbing about a third of Pakistan’s exports.
This is about twice the exports to the US and about thrice the exports to China.

Pakistan’s export base is highly concentrated in textiles. In addition, if exports were more
garments than textiles, the profit to the country would be greater. In addition, this is an export
market that grew by 90% over the last year. Many more products could be exported to the EU
under the GSP+ preferences. A more diverse export base, in particular including more value-
added products, would allow Pakistan multiply the benefit of GSP+.

While the discussion in the European Parliament covered the volume and potential of the trade
flows, a major focus was on the progress, or the lack thereof, the countries benefitting from EU
trade preferences have made on human rights and good governance. It is, therefore, in the
interest of the Pakistani business community and all other sectors of society to ensure that
positive steps in this regard can be demonstrated in order to maintain the preferential market
access to Europe.

The EU is continuously monitoring progress against the 27 conventions. The biennial report on
GSP is only a moment of stocktaking and not the only moment at which the continuation or
discontinuation of the trade preferences are discussed and decided on. After the report, a list of
issues and specific priorities are shared with the GSP+ countries with the request to the
governments to specifically report on them. If a reasonable doubt of a systematic and serious
violation is observed with regard to non-implementation of the beneficiary country’s binding
responsibility, the benefit could be withdrawn adopting a procedure for withdrawal as
mentioned in Article 19 of the GSP regulation. Recently, Cambodia has lost its trade preferences
owing to the denial of political rights, restrictive actions towards civil society and trade unions.

The European Union as a major development partner: Pakistan is one of the EU’s major
development partners, with one of the largest programmes of aid in Asia. For 2014-2020 period,
the grants provided for bilateral cooperation with Pakistan amounted to €603 million. EU-
Pakistan cooperation priorities for 2014-20 programme period focus on rural development (50%),
education and vocational training (35%) and good governance, rule of law and human rights.

The future of European engagement with Pakistan: While trade and development cooperation
are the two cornerstones of the EU-Pakistan relations, the engagement is much broader. The
Strategic Engagement Plan signed in 2019 sets out the new foundation for the EU-Pakistan
relations and deepens cooperation in a number of areas ranging from peace and stability to
democracy, security, rule of law, human rights, trade and sustainable development.

The EU is enhancing its partnership with a democratic and pluralistic Pakistan that respects
human rights and benefits from its full economic potential by supporting sustainable and
inclusive development for all its citizens. The EU will continue to work in partnership with
Pakistan and to support the government and others from across the political leadership to
promote greater prosperity in the country.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 17th, 2020.

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Fear in the time of Covid-19

By hassan niazi Mar.17,2020

Govt is responsible to fight the misperception that the virus is not something to be concerned about if you are young

Apathy is a deadly vice when dealing with pandemics. Even more so when you are given a rather
generous three-month headstart to get on top of things. If you still aren’t ready for what’s coming
after that you have no one to blame but yourself.

We should get that out of the way before our government starts pointing fingers elsewhere to
explain its glacial response to Covid-19.
Now of course the United States and Europe had the same amount of time to prepare as Pakistan
did and they didn’t fare any better by this metric. But they at least had the excuse, even if
misguided, that they were far away from the epicentre of the outbreak. Wuhan was in a land far
away from them, and like SARS in 2002, they would avoid the eye of the storm even though a
sense of security rooted in distance is laughable in the 21st century.

Western hubris thought that pandemics didn’t happen there anymore. Covid-19 humbled that
view.

Pakistan on the other hand did not even have a misguided excuse for its slow response. It chose
to ignore the threat despite having all factors in front of it that spelled ‘disaster’ in big red letters.
It shares a border with both China and Iran but was slow to impose travel restrictions. It has
seen its healthcare system buckle under the pressure of an epidemic in the past known as
dengue fever. It houses a large population in which many people lack access to basic sanitation.
It even saw countries with far greater resources struggle to control the virus. Despite all this,
Pakistan’s approach to Covid-19 was similar to its approach to the smog crisis: ignore it long
enough and it will eventually go away.

That isn’t how a disease works. It doesn’t shuffle away to its lair to sulk if you don’t give it enough
attention.

We appear to be giving Covid-19 some attention now. Taking small steps while still rubbing our
eyes in disbelief.

The good news is that it is not too late to get a handle on things.

First, the government and the people of Pakistan must come to terms with the truth. The virus is
not some minor inconvenience, but a potentially fatal disease. According to The New York Times,
if current trends continue, and aggressive preventive measures are not taken, then
approximately one million people could die in the US alone from the virus. Intervening
immediately and taking steps to combat the virus will reduce the deaths to 475,000.

Every day counts in this fight.

It is the responsibility of the government to fight the misperception that the virus is not
something to be concerned about if you are young and healthy. This is a reckless take on a
serious issue. Yes, if you are young and healthy the chances of a fatality from the virus are low,
but the chances of infecting other people are high. This means infecting the elderly and those
with compromised immune systems. The belief that we all have when we are young of our own
invincibility can be fatal to others in this case. Everyone, young and old, must practise social
distancing. The less interactions there are between people, the less exchange of the virus there is.

Second, in times of crisis the PTI and the opposition must work together. Those who bicker now
will be remembered later for being complicit in allowing the spread of the virus. No one should
want that on their conscience. We have good examples of countries that have contained the virus
that we can take inspiration from. One that I have seen first-hand is Singapore.

In January, Singapore had the most cases of the virus outside of China owing to travel for the
Lunar New Year. However, unlike our experience with an epidemic, Singapore had learned the
lessons from SARS in 2002-03. It took immediate steps. Testing kits were made available at all
points of entry into the country. Those who tested positive for the virus were isolated from the
rest of the community, with university hostels being repurposed to serve as quarantine zones.
Medical officials exhaustively asked positive cases about their recent interactions and used
Singapore’s extensive CCTV network to fill in the gaps. Through this method of ‘contact tracing’
the government was able to quarantine potential carriers of the virus for the duration of the
incubation period (two weeks). Singapore also imposed travel restrictions on China early and
significantly reduced the arrival of new cases. Finally, it compensated individuals who had to
stay at home for lost work.

Throughout all of this, one of the most important things the Singapore government did was to
control the spread of panic and misinformation. One of the ways it did so was by regularly
communicating with its people. One method involved a WhatsApp notification system that
anyone could opt in to receive information on the virus and the steps being taken by the
government. These methods eventually resulted in stopping people from hoarding face masks or
hand sanitizer.
Here there is an important lesson for any government. The people in Singapore listened to the
government because the government has built a relationship of trust with them. Compare this
with what is happening in the US where a complete lack of trust in Donald Trump and his
government has caused polarised reactions. People are either panicking and emptying grocery
stores, or, thinking the virus is a joke blown out of proportion by the media.

Finally, and this is something that should have been fixed by countless governments in the past,
it is time to give healthcare the importance it deserves.

It is guaranteed that those who will suffer the most in Pakistan will be the poor: daily labourers
who cannot afford the luxury of working from home; those who cannot afford healthcare; and
those who have been long neglected by the government and therefore lack basic sanitation
facilities. This won’t be a mild virus for them; it shouldn’t be for us either.

In times like these, if the government doesn’t act now, the virus will overwhelm its healthcare
system. If that happens it will face situations in which people with severe cases will need to be on
ventilators for three to six weeks. Pakistan will not be able to cope with that. At that point, we
will enter some twisted utilitarian nightmare where the government will have to choose who is
worth saving and who is not.

Let’s not get there.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 17th, 2020.

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Suffering of the invisible

By muhammad hamid zaman Mar.17,2020

We will continue to underestimate cases and continue to increase likelihood of our system to get overburdened

The official number of confirmed cases for Covid-19, as of Monday, March 16, is 94. To
understand how widespread the epidemic in Pakistan is, we need to understand how many
people have been tested. The National Institute of Health (NIH) says that around a thousand
people have been tested. If this number is true then there is cause for concern as one out of every
ten people tested is turning up positive. Testing in the private sector seems ad hoc and there is no
real data available to fully understand the scale and scope in the country.
Beyond transparency in the numbers, there are other real challenges as well. From what has
been said in the news media, testing is neither free (unless there is a government referral), nor
straight forward for the common person. As per the federal minister, in a country of nearly 210
million, there are a total of 13 sites to get tested. By any standards, this is woefully inadequate.
These 13 sites are unreachable for the majority of the country that does not live in major urban
areas. But even if these 13 sites were fully functional, and worked round the clock, the financial
burden on individuals to get tested is significant, and one that is going to be a deterrent. As a
result, we will continue to underestimate the cases, and continue to increase the likelihood of our
system to get burdened in ways it cannot handle. Then there are many who live in crowded
communities, where social distancing is simply not possible. How will these people, who do not
have the luxury of self-quarantine receive care?

Finally, the fact that we have closed schools, universities, and major events is a step in the right
direction, and one that should have happened a few weeks ago. But with these closures,
thousands will have no ability to make a living. The small shop owners, street vendors and the
daily wage earners will be hit hard. They may or may not develop symptoms of the viral
infection, but if they do, they will have even less money to come to the hospital and low incentive
to get tested. Burdened by inflation and financial insecurity, these citizens are already hurting
well before the virus has hit their homes and communities. They may not be in our official
numbers, but they ought to be cared for with heightened sensitivity for their difficulty.

So what should we do? There are things that the government ought to do, for example, be honest
and transparent about the numbers, provide a clear and coordinated strategy among all
provincial and local governments, and increase testing sites that offer free services for testing.
Indeed, all 210 million cannot be tested, but those who feel there is a need (symptoms, travel
history, coming in contact with others, elderly) should be able to get a test. As the virus spreads in
the community, a very narrow case definition (based solely on contact with confirmed cases, or
history of travel to China, Iran or a couple of other countries) will exclude others who ought to be
tested. Testing should also be facilitated in sites that go beyond large hospitals in big cities.

But there are other things that citizens ought to do as well. Local organising can make a
difference between life and death for the most vulnerable. We should reach out to the support
staff in our workplace and our homes, pool in resources so that hourly and daily wage earners
can stay at home and still get paid, and create ways to provide non-perishable food items to those
who are in need.
We take great pride in having a culture of caring — let us see it in action for those who are not
part of our official statistics.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 17th, 2020.

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