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ICEP Dawn Analysis

DAWN EDITORIALS PLUS OPINIONS
DECONSTRUCTION

Dated: Sunday 05 July, 2020

BY: ICEP Analysts Rabia Kalhoro & M.Usman.

ICEP Dawn Analysis

Note:
We pick out Opinions from different Newspapers
related to:

#Competitive Exams
#Essay Writing
#Current Affairs
#Historical episodes
#Pakistan Affairs
# General Knowledge
# Global Issues
# Geopolitics
# International Relations
# Foreign Policy

ICEP Dawn Analysis

Dismissal of a judge | Dawn Editorial
AN administrative committee of the Lahore High Court led by the chief justice has
dismissed from service Judge Arshad Malik who was at the centre of a controversy
regarding a leaked video.

▪ As judge of the accountability court, he had convicted(declared guilty) former

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in the Al Azizia steel mills case while acquitting
him in the Flagship reference case.
▪ In July 2019, Maryam Nawaz Sharif had released a secretly recorded video in
which Judge Malik was heard confessing that his judgement against the former
prime minister was given under tremendous pressure.
▪ The PML-N maintained this confession proved that Mr Sharif’s convictions
were mala fide(with bad intent) and part of a conspiracy (secret plan) to
bring about his downfall. PTI leaders had doubted the veracity(accuracy) of
Mr Malik’s leaked video and blamed the PML-N for blackmailing him.

Critical Analysis:

His dismissal from service by the Lahore High Court on Friday is of consequence
both legally and politically. It is also open to interpretation. Both the PML-N and PTI
have claimed this development as a vindication(justification) of their positions.
While PML-N president Shahbaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz Sharif tweeted saying
Nawaz Sharif’s innocence had been proved as it was established that Mr Malik’s
conduct was compromised, Barrister Shahzad Akbar of the Asset Recovery Unit said
in his tweet that Maryam Nawaz was also culpable(condemnable) in leaking the
video of the judge and could face punishment. The law will, however, take its own
course.

▪ The PML-N legal team will need to decide how they want to factor in the
dismissal of the judge in the Azizia steel mills case, keeping in mind the
repercussions on Nawaz Sharif’s acquittal in the Flagship reference case.
However, it is fairly clear that in terms of a political narrative, the PML-N will
use this to reinforce its position that Mr Sharif’s ouster (kick out,expel) and
convictions were part of a conspiracy to remove the PML-N from power and
usher( direct) in the PTI.
▪ For its part, the PTI has already taken a position that Mr Malik was
compromised by the PML-N itself. The logic may wear thin(shabby, weak)
but in a polarised environment like ours logic can easily be sacrificed at the
altar of political expediency(advantage).

Conclusion:

Of greater concern, however, is the impact of this sordid (dirty) episode on the
overall judicial system. Already burdened with credibility issues, the Judge Arshad
Malik affair will raise additional questions about how cases are handled under
various pressures, and judgements likely compromised under duress(pressure). It
may be a while till we find out who actually made Arshad Malik go rogue (pursue
own interest), but it is now increasingly becoming clear that elements inside the
judicial system are vulnerable to influence from private parties and state agencies. It
is obvious that Mr Malik has not been the only one manipulating justice to cater
(take care, supply with) to various agendas. It is high time the superior judiciary
took steps to stem the rot( to stop increasing).

ICEP Dawn Analysis

Rail tragedy | Dawn Editorial
Introduction to the Issue:

IT was yet another instance of a rail tragedy waiting to happen. The collision
between a train and a passenger bus carrying Sikh pilgrims on an unmanned(not
having staff) level crossing near Nankana Sahib, the birthplace of Guru Nanak, on
Friday afternoon could have been averted and 22 precious lives saved if the railways
had secured the crossing instead of leaving it unattended.

Key Points:

▪ The responsibility for the deadly accident lies squarely (fairly) with the
Pakistan Railways. It isn’t the first such accident nor will it be the last one
unless the railway authorities accept responsibility for the unfortunate incident
and start taking action to avoid similar happenings in future.

The accident may have reminded many of a similar one;

▪ A few months back when a train rammed (forcefully hit) into a passenger bus
on another unmanned crossing in Rohri, resulting in the loss of 19 lives.
▪ Or of the one near Pattoki where two newly married couples were killed in
May.
▪ Meanwhile, yet another accident took place on Saturday; at least two people
were injured when the Shalimar Express, en route to Lahore from Karachi,
collided with a cargo train. Accidents involving trains on railway crossings are
quite frequent in Pakistan.

Yet no effort is ever made by the railway authorities to properly secure them. Instead,
after every accident we find railway officials shifting responsibility for securing these
crossings to the provincial governments or blaming road users for being ‘too
reckless’(heedless).

Critical Analysis:

Pakistan has a long history of train accidents owing to years of lack of investment in
railway infrastructure and the absence of minimum operational passenger safety
standards. Pakistan Railways is not known for its passenger services and facilitation.
But that is nothing when it comes to its appallingly (shockingly) bad safety record
and deadly accidents. In recent years, the frequency of train accidents, because of
derailment(going off) and engine failure, has been increasing.

▪ Last year is considered to have been the worst in the history of the railway
because of a surge in the number of train accidents and lives lost. Most
accidents are not reported by the media because these do not involve the loss
of life and are now seen as routine.

Conclusion:

Surprisingly, the government has for the last two years focused on launching new
train routes instead of investing in railway infrastructure and updating its operational
safety guidelines. This would involve securing unmanned level crossings in order to
prevent fatal accidents.

ICEP Dawn Analysis

Uzair Baloch JIT | Dawn Editorial
Quick Notes:
Who is Uzair Baloch?

Uzair Jan Baloch is a Pakistani-Iranian activist

originally from Lyari in Karachi, Pakistan. He is
a key figurehead of Karachi's notorious gang war
in his hometown, Lyari.He is also the former
chief of the Peoples Aman Committee, which was a militant group linked to the
Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). Baloch is accused in several cases involving murder,
extortion and terrorism.According to the report, Uzair Baloch confessed to killing
198 people.The JIT report said that Uzair Baloch was involved in the killing of
people during the city’s gang wars and ethnic conflicts.

Introduction to the Topic:

IN a rather(very) dramatic development,

▪ Senior members of the Sindh government announced on Friday;

➢ that they would make public the joint investigation team report of

✓ Lyari gang kingpin Uzair Baloch,

✓ the Baldia factory fire tragedy
✓ as well as former Fishermen Cooperative Society head Nisar
Morai.

Detailed Analysis:According to the officials, these documents would be uploaded on

the Sindh home department’s website on Monday. The move has apparently been
made to pre-empt(in advance) a petition by Federal Minister Ali Zaidi, which he
had filed in the Sindh High Court in 2017 before the PTI came to power, asking for
these reports to be made public. According to the provincial government’s
spokesman Murtaza Wahab, making the reports public would substantiate(verify)
the PPP’s position that Baloch had nothing to do with the party’s senior leadership.
However, Sindh-based PTI leaders have questioned the PPP’s intentions, and have
alleged that the party may upload ‘doctored’(falisify) reports.While all of this makes
for great political theatre and the release of the JIT reports may well dominate the
news cycle on Monday, key questions remain unanswered. For example, how was
Baloch — who has been sentenced by a military court for espionage — whisked
away (run off quickly) by security forces in 2017? What prompted his equally
mysterious reappearance earlier this year? And was his confession, which supposedly
contained explosive details of his underhanded (deceitful) dealings, and friends in
high places within Pakistan’s political parties, given voluntarily?

Conclusion: Instead of using Baloch as a pawn(game piece) to sling mud(insult or

discredited) on each other, Sindh’s political players, especially the ruling PPP, need
to ensure that his trials — he reportedly faces over 50 cases for a range of crimes —
proceed without delay. In this way, the crimes he is accused of can be established in
court. Indeed, the issue of a nexus between criminal elements and political parties is a
very serious one, which is why the truth of the matter must be established in a court
of law, instead of through media trials.

ICEP Dawn Analysis

The Energy Saga | OPINION Pakistan Today
By Kamil Ahmad

❖ From CSS Point of view this Opinion will help in covering Essay
paper, Current Affairs and General Science

Quick Notes:

What are Fossil Fuels?

Fossil fuels are found in the Earth. They are formed from the remains
(fossils) of ancient plants and animals that have been buried deep inside the
Earth for millions of years. Over time, heat and pressure have turned these
remains into the fossil fuels that we call coal, oil and natural gas.

Today, fossil fuels are mined and then burned to release the energy stored
inside them. They are widely used because there is currently supply, and
because they are fairly cheap to mine and drill for (mining is an activity that
allows the extraction of valuable minerals from the ground).

ICEP Dawn Analysis

What is renewable energy?
A renewable energy source means energy that is sustainable - something that
can't run out, or is endless, like the sun. When you hear the term 'alternative
energy' it's usually referring to renewable energy sources too. it means
sources of energy that are alternative to the most commonly used non-
sustainable sources like coal.

Examples:

▪ Solar energy
▪ Wind energy
▪ Hydro energy
▪ Tidal energy
▪ Geothermal energy
▪ Biomass energy

ICEP Dawn Analysis

Introduction: The pandemic will not change things as much as expected

Global energy demand has risen in the past century which led to

▪ The improvement in standard of living,

▪ Increase in life expectancy
▪ Coupled with decrease in poverty levels globally.
This is just one side of the story:;

▪ Fossil fuel consumption drove the growth but with-it carbon emissions also
rose.

▪ From 1998-2018, CO2 emissions rose 48 percent and to achieve climate

goals carbon emissions have to decrease at the same rate for next 20 years.
However, in the times we are living in,

▪ Electricity demand has dropped six percent and global carbon emissions
have dropped around six percent, with a highest 17 percent drop year-on-year
in April, all because of the covid-19 pandemic.

▪ But globally this reduction in emissions will not be sustained as lockdowns

associated with covid-19 are eased.
Future Estimated Scenario in West:

What should we expect in future? Fossil fuel demand (excluding natural gas) is
expected to decrease in the West in all future scenarios from 2018-2040. This
makes sense as advanced economies can afford to make the shift from conventional
to renewable energy sources.
ICEP Dawn Analysis
In East, Fossil Fuel demand is expected to increase in future:

On the contrary, fossil fuel consumption in the East is expected to increase in the
majority of scenarios in next 20 years.

The Solution of Energy Crisis in Pakistan:

The rise in the renewables which was estimated before corona and fossil fuel decline
it triggered, would still be valid with slight variation. Which is to say, for instance,
solar power which supplied less than 0.01 percent of electricity in 2018,
increased to 2 percent in 2018, and is expected to provide 20 percent of
electricity globally.Be it the circular debt conundrum or the overall governance
problems of Pakistan, administrative and fiscal decentralization is the only viable
solution. Anyone arguing otherwise doesn’t understand the problem, doesn’t want to
resolve it or is protecting certain vested interests (political/financial). In this
government’s case it appears to be a mix of all three.

The game-changing green revolution that is believed to be the outcome of the hit that
the fossil fuel industry received in contemporary times is not grounded in reality and
seems mere wishful thinking. Covid-19 may however speed up the rise in the
renewables in the advanced economies (reasons for which are discussed later).

Impediments in the way of renewable energy:

There will be two kinds of impediments that renewables will have along the way.

▪ For advanced economies low capital turnover and capital stocks will still be a
problem as technology which is to be used in future in the energy industry is
produced earlier. There is a lot of investment at stake and with-it politics
comes into play as well.

▪ As far as the developing countries are concerned, they have received a huge
financial hit because of the pandemic and despite the decline in fossil fuel
industry they will continue to find the shift to renewables, eveb if they are
expensive, and would seek an autonomous increase in energy efficiency. This
opportunity in the developing economies will be lost to the lack of the fiscal
space which is necessary to make the energy shift.
Pakistan: Landscape of Energy

To understand the energy landscape of Pakistan, I got in touch with former

Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi. The former PM said, “As far as the
primary energy mix is concerned, Pakistan is in a much healthy condition. Reliance
on gas has gone up and furnace oil consumption has reduced. Commitments on
nuclear energy have been made and it will become available too.”

He further said,

▪ “4000 MW coal-powered plants (installed in the PML(N)’s tenure) and

▪ 1300 MW which is being installed in this government’s tenure will provide the
cheapest electricity.
▪ We added 13000 MW in the national grid in just four years which is
unprecedented. Along with the coal-powered plants, we have installed 5000

ICEP Dawn Analysis

 MW in LNG-based power plants. A 1000 MW plant running on diesel for
12-13 years around Lahore (installed during Musharraf’s time) was
shifted to LNG, reducing its cost to one-third. Rousch and Nandipur plants
which have a capacity of around 1000 MW were also shifted to LNG. Rousch
was shut down and Nandipur had technical issues when we came in.”
Thar Coal:

Talking about Thar coal, the former Premier said,

▪ “Thar coal is an expensive source of fuel and it will stay like that for 15-20
years when price crossover is expected.

▪ The Main reason for this is that a lot of investment is required in Thar
which takes a lot of time and without it, cost of production will be high. The
main problem with the present government is its indecision. You need to shut
down old power plants, for instance, Jamshoro and Muzaffargarh, but I am not
sure if government can do that keeping in view their inability to make a
decision, and vested interests”.
Renewable Power in Pakistan:

He also discussed the viability of renewable power in Pakistan. He said,

▪ “The problem with renewable power is it doesn’t have a base load and it is
only feasible in Pakistan when the total cost of generation of renewable energy
is less than the fuel cost of your cheapest fuel generation.
Circular Debt Issue:

“Now coming to the problem of circular debt, it is not because of expensive

electricity, as one Minister believes it to be. Secondly, circular debt is a misnomer. It
is pure loss and I suggested we should either privatize them or hand them over to the
provinces to deal with the aforementioned problem,” said Mr. Abbasi while
discussing the everlasting problem of circular debt.

▪ Pakistan’s energy mix now stands with natural gas at 34.6 percent, oil at
31.2 percent, hydro at 27 percent, nuclear at 2.7 percent and renewables at
1.1 percent. As far as the menace of circular debt is concerned, it stands at Rs
1.8 trillion., The government instead of decentralizing distribution and handing
it over to provinces (so it can be managed efficiently), has moved a law to pass
circular debt to consumers.
Conclusion:
This was expected of a government which exhibits a severe dislike for the
Eighteenth Amendment and wishes to roll it back. The consequences of the
aforementioned law, which enables government to pass circular debt to consumers in
the form of a surcharge in the bill, will be dire as people are already struggling to
meet their expenses owing to poor economic conditions and rise in unemployment.

Be it the circular debt conundrum or the overall governance problems of

Pakistan, administrative and fiscal decentralization is the only viable solution.
Anyone arguing otherwise doesn’t understand the problem, doesn’t want to resolve it
or is protecting certain vested interests (political/financial). In this government’s case
it appears to be a mix of all three.
ICEP Dawn Analysis
Reimagining education | Opinion
www.thenews.com
by: Hassan Hakeem

❖ From CSS Point of view this will help in covering Essay Paper,
Current Affairs.All things related to Education and its
revamping.

Introduction:

In the federal budget for 2020-21, the government earmarked Rs83.363 billion for
Education Affairs and Services against the revised allocation of Rs81.253 billion for
the current fiscal year, showing a snail’s pace increment of around 2.5 percent.

Given the pandemic, the education disruption is expected to continue indefinitely.

With unsettled, open-ended and directionless policy responses on education in the
last three months, it is essential to take into account what the future holds. In a world
of rapidly changing economic, political and cultural topology, education models
require a revisit, expansion, and revision to prepare generations for a
sustainable and inclusive future.

As the global conversation is invested in technological advancements, blockchain,

artificial intelligence, and workspace transformation, Pakistan’s education reality
remains status-quo driven – disconnected from the economic world order,
international millennial realities, and social needs. For instance, the country’s
colonial education legacy continues to treat fields of natural science in the limited
scope of technical knowledge, and not an aspect of sociological construct. Hence,
topics of cultural vigour are compartmentalized from engineering courses.

As we continue to deal with education as business-as-usual at home, the global

debate on shaping education models is largely influenced by innovative market
economies and efficient productivity. In Pakistan, education models heavily rely on
traditional passive techniques of learning with emphasis on memorization and
instruction methods; ignoring individual human-centric skills development and
interactive learning critical for innovation-led economies. Though irrespective of
developed or developing countries, education is majorly recognized as learning
opportunities within the confines of school infrastructure depicting a process of
transmitting structured knowledge.

The World Economic Outlook 2020 of the IMF financial surveillance projects that
world economic recovery is expected at 5.5 percent, that of China at 8.2 percent,
India at 6 percent and Pakistan at one percent.

• While the government of Pakistan struggles with 22.8 million out-of-school

children between the age of 5 and 16 (pre-Covid-19 figures),
• inter-provincial disparities based on socio-economic status,
• geography and gender vary largely.
• Other indicators include, enrolment and retention rate,
• accessibility,
ICEP Dawn Analysis
 • number of schools and teachers available,
• infrastructure related challenges and
• malnutrition induced learning disabilities amongst children.

While global economies struggle to fight the current pandemic, it is time for our
federal and provincial governments to rethink education models, to reprioritize
education resources and enhance learning and productivity simultaneously. Financial
models predict that an estimated $11.5 trillion can be saved globally by 2028 if
countries develop and adopt efficient learning systems in sync with future economic
needs.

Globally, education discourse is transitioning into preparing children for potential

industrial needs. An established theorem in this argument is that education in
childhood years has longstanding returns on an individual’s learning and
earning outcomes. While ‘quality’ of education is debatable, fundamental
innovation, creativity, adaptability to change are key in the new economy. To
actualize this, it is also key to address needs for future-oriented content designed, and
build upon the agency of interconnectedness with global community, sustainability,
problem-solving and critical thinking. The evolving world economic order
necessitates that societies that are quick to adapt new concepts and build
ecosystems accordingly will always have a competitive edge.

Overall, these skills can transpire (occur) through multiple formal and informal
learning interventions. Central to non-traditional learning opportunities is the
development of social-emotional intelligent skills dovetailed (join closely together)
with an enabling environment that shapes today’s children to lead with empathy,
inclusivity, cooperation and values of global citizenship.

Global coalitions are experimenting to promote innovative skills to enable

exploration instincts, inquisitiveness (curiosity) and trial and error through playful
activities that are structured and unstructured. Likewise, coding games and online
education can go hand in hand – whereby app developers allow children to express
creativity by contextualizing learning through the use of engineering design.

ICEP Dawn Analysis

The future of education would also require teachers to act as coaches and
facilitators to enable critical thinking for real world needs as compared to
traditional top-down teaching. This requires developing a learning environment
that is student-led, custom tailored and self-paced while simultaneously collaborative
and unlocks maximum potential of a child.

Furthermore, redesigning schools with customized learning characteristics is essential

to personalized learning experience for children. With key features on responsiveness
and flexibility to students’ needs and environmental realities, schools would need to
provide learning spaces that sharpen non-academic life skills, use of instructional
methods coupled with competency-based learning – but most importantly allow
student-centric learning and growth. This would also require assessment tools that
encourage cognitive and behavioral skills amongst students to promote high order
thinking.

As organizations turn agile, move towards flexible work models and expect multi-
talents from the workforce, it is critical that the children of today are provided
personalized learning practices based on individual experiences, skills mastery and
alternate narratives. A recent RAND Corporation comparative study on student
learning outcomes between schools providing personalized learning and traditional
schooling methods concluded that personalized learning strategies are “making
greater progress over the course of two school years, and that those students who
started out behind are catching up to perform at or above national averages.”

To reorient Pakistan’s public-sector education discourse, private-sector

inclusion is key. Empirical evidence has shown that the private sector education
system has proven better learning outcomes and effective results-based teacher
training. This implies not only experience sharing but also allowing private sector
participation in public service delivery. Outsourcing education services has been a
tested solution globally; allows for improved organizational efficiency, quality
and student learning outcomes, teacher trainings benchmarked on process
oriented assessment and evaluation – while the government holds the oversight
and top management reins.

The writer consults for the parliament of Pakistan on the UN’s Sustainable
Development Goals.

Twitter: @HassanHakeem87

ICEP Dawn Analysis

Renewing America’s Commitment to the Indo-Pacific |
Opinion
By: The Diplomat

Rising influence of China in South China Sea and Indo-Pacific region alerts US
strategic Allies

As China brashly(aggressively) tries to impose its own system of rules and order in
the Pacific, the United States and our allies in the Indo-Pacific confront a time for
choosing. We must choose to advance our vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific.
We must choose to ensure the success of the principles of regional and global order
that remain essential to our shared security and prosperity. These are difficult choices
that will come at increasingly greater cost. Beijing will do its best to make sure that
the right choice and the easy choice are never the same, but we believe Americans
and our allies are up to the task.

Australia : Fulcrum for restoring Indo-Pacific dominance

For instance, U.S. allies like Australia are already making the tough choices, while
braving Beijing’s bluster and bullying. By standing by its calls for an independent
inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus and by remaining open to trade while
refusing to trade away fundamental values, Australia has set a proud example for all
the world. As Beijing lashes out across the region from the Himalayan Mountains to
the South China Sea, Australia’s actions serve as a reminder for our other allies that
in a free and open Indo-Pacific, right makes might — and not the other way around.

Australia should not be alone in this effort. The United States stands with our allies,
and we are prepared to make our own tough choices.

Future of Asia Reassurance Initiative Act (ARIA) : dependent on Republicans

and democrats Coalition

In the United States, we have seen how even in the most rancorous(resentful)
political times, Republicans and Democrats have joined together to renew the
country’s commitment to the Indo-Pacific region, like when the Asia Reassurance
ICEP Dawn Analysis
Initiative Act (ARIA) became law in December 2018. As was stated in the U.S.
Department of Defense Indo-Pacific Strategy Report, released in July 2019: “This
legislation enshrines a generational whole-of-government policy framework that
demonstrates U.S. commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific region and includes
initiatives that promote sovereignty, rule of law, democracy, economic engagement,
and regional security.”

In the coming days, the U.S. Senate will take the next step toward renewing the
country’s commitment to the Indo-Pacific region by passing the National
Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021, which establishes a new Pacific
Deterrence Initiative that will complement ARIA and implement its vision of a
more robust U.S military presence in the Indo-Pacific. This initiative will enhance
the security commitments set forth in ARIA, and help guide Congress and the
Pentagon in making the tough choices necessary to prioritize the Indo-Pacific
and extend critical deterrence initiatives to check our adversaries.

United States Studies Centre reports findings of need of the Pacific Deterrence

Last year, a seminal report from the United States Studies Centre (USSC) at the
University of Sydney provided one of the clearest explanations of why the need for
the Pacific Deterrence Initiative is both real and urgent. The report shows how China
is attempting to “undercut America’s military primacy” and “sowing doubt about
Washington’s security guarantees in the process.” In the face of this development, the
report describes an “increasingly worrying mismatch between America’s strategy and
resources,” especially in the Indo-Pacific. Even as “America’s military services have
started to implement much-needed changes,” the report warns, it’s not clear that
America will have the “budgetary capacity or strategic focus to deliver these in a
robust and timely way.” We share these concerns, and the Pacific Deterrence
Initiative is designed explicitly to address them.

Four main key points of the USSC report

• First, the Pacific Deterrence Initiative will enhance budgetary transparency and
congressional oversight by organizing our defense budget around critical Indo-
Pacific priorities. The initiative will make it easier to translate regional
ICEP Dawn Analysis
 priorities into budget priorities, and ensure that security requirements are being
matched with the necessary resources.

• Second, the Pacific Deterrence Initiative will focus resources on key capability
gaps to give U.S. forces everything they need to compete, fight, and win in the
Indo-Pacific. The initiative would focus new resources in many of the areas
recommended by the USSC report, including a more distributed regional
defense posture, resilient logistics networks, fuel and munitions (war
supplies) storage, missile defenses for U.S. bases, and more experimentation to
test and prove new operational concepts.

• Third, consistent with ARIA provisions, the Pacific Deterrence Initiative

will prioritize cooperation with allies and partners across the Indo-Pacific.
The initiative will increase security assistance for our regional allies and
partners, and invest in interoperability(ability to work together). In the
future, we expect the initiative will provide resources to support new
mechanisms for deepening regional defense cooperation, including
multinational fusion centers and joint training and experimentation.

• Fourth, and finally, the Pacific Deterrence Initiative will help preserve peace in
the Indo-Pacific by bolstering credible deterrence. The initiative will focus
resources on efforts to deny our adversaries the possibility of a quick, easy, or
cheap victory. By injecting uncertainty and risk into the calculations of our
adversaries, we can discourage them from choosing the path of aggression.

Way forward : Mutual Cooperation of Indo-Pacific Regional Allies

The Pacific Deterrence Initiative is by no means a cure-all. After all, achieving

credible deterrence in the Indo-Pacific region is not America’s task alone. It can only
be realized through a collective effort with our allies and partners such as Australia.
Moreover, the challenges we face today are not limited to, or even primarily, military
in character. As ARIA emphasized, we must also step up our diplomatic and
economic security efforts while remaining true to our values. Nonetheless, we hope
the Pacific Deterrence Initiative will serve as another demonstration to our mates in
Australia, as well as our other allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific, that America’s
commitment to the region remains bipartisan and enduring.

Jim Inhofe and Cory Gardner are U.S. Senators.

ICEP Dawn Analysis

Performance debate
Ahmed Bilal Mehboob July 05, 2020

The writer is president of the Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and

Transparency.

SUDDENLY, the debate on government performance seems to be all over the place.
On second thoughts, it may not be so sudden. The incumbent government is about to
complete its two years and that is usually the time when people stop giving any
allowance for the newness of the government and expect solid delivery on the
promises made by the ruling party.

Performance has been the cornerstone of Imran Khan’s campaign for prime
ministership. He gave special attention to the preparation of his party’s election
manifesto and explained in detail its various aspects at a well-attended seminar in
Islamabad at the start of the election campaign. He then came up with another
instrument, not used by any other political party of Pakistan earlier, of capsuling the
initial party plans in ‘Imran Khan’s first 100 Days Agenda’ and launched it with a lot
of fanfare.

Once in power, a special cell in the Prime Minister’s Office was created to monitor
the progress on the implementation of the 100 Days Agenda and to periodically place
the findings online for all to see. A party enthusiast even established a ‘Khan Meter’
to independently monitor the progress on social media. A debate on the PTI
government’s performance in the first 100 days was promoted by the party itself by
presenting a report at a media event despite the fact that the government did not have
any landmark achievement to show except for the formation of over 50 task forces
and committees to do preparatory work on its programme.

Sadly, the PTI and the government it heads have gradually moved away from
publicly reporting their performance. Occasional media reports indicate that Prime
Minister Imran Khan seeks periodic performance reports from his ministers, but there
is hardly any public evidence that such reports are presented or discussed. The
government has shared no such report or even its sanitised version with the people.

The most recent performance debate about the PTI government was triggered by
none other than a vocal member of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s cabinet, Fawad
Chaudhry, who until about a year ago was the official spokesperson for the
government of Pakistan and now holds the portfolio of science and technology in the
federal cabinet. In an interview with senior journalist Sohail Warraich on VOA Urdu,
Fawad Chaudhry made a number of interesting and candid points about the working,
weaknesses, setbacks and failures of his party’s government over the past two years.

ICEP Dawn Analysis

Unlike many other politicians disgruntled with their respective parties, Fawad
Chaudhry’s talk was not the outburst of a desperate person. Instead, it was more of a
sober introspection and dispassionate analysis, which makes his messages even more
valuable and worthy of serious attention both within the party and outside. In a
political culture where the top leader of the party is sacrosanct, Chaudhry’s open
criticism of Imran Khan’s selection of unelected cabinet-level team members and
style of governance was remarkable. Equally remarkable was the fact that although
the prime minister reportedly conveyed his displeasure, Chaudhry continues to hold
his cabinet position. The contents of the interview reportedly also became the subject
of a passionate discussion at a cabinet meeting where opinions were fairly divided.
This perceived tolerance and willingness to accept dissent may be taken as a
welcome sign of budding internal democracy within political parties although parties
need to go a long way to become truly democratic institutions from within.

Chaudhry wholeheartedly acknowledged that the PTI government had not been able
to meet the lofty expectations of the people who had voted for the party to overhaul
the entire system and not to run a ‘routine’ government. He attributed this lack of
performance to infighting among senior party leaders but, even more importantly,
blamed this on the weak team picked by the prime minister. He did not mince his
words when he said that the implementation of the party programme depended on the
quality of human resource deployed for this purpose and the leadership chose weak
people for key positions.

It was a shocking observation, but he was probably spot on when he blamed Imran
Khan for appointing pliant people in the provinces in the hope that they would
willingly take dictation from him. The domination of unelected advisers and special
assistants over elected ministers in the cabinet also drew his criticism; he felt that
giving a decision-making role to unelected persons was a negation of the
parliamentary system. He seemed to agree with the interviewer that the PTI had also
failed to strengthen party structures and nurture a second-tier leadership.Interestingly,
he said that the prime minister too was concerned about the government’s
performance and he had given five and a half months to the ministers to improve
their performance, otherwise the government would lose the initiative for the change
promised by Imran Khan.

Chaudhry’s candid interview raised a storm of controversies both within the ruling
party and among the general public. One can disagree with some aspects of his
analysis but it has made a significant contribution towards promoting the culture of
assessing and debating the performance of the ruling party and the provincial and
federal governments.

Political parties almost cease to exist as an effective separate entity after winning
elections and forming a government; instead, parties generally become a secondary
appendix to governments. The PTI, PPP and BAP, the political parties which are
leading the federal and provincial governments in Pakistan at present, should develop
and make use of party structures to freely debate and discuss the government
performance periodically. Election manifestos, which generally gather dust after
parties come to power, should be critically reviewed every year, if not more
frequently, to gauge progress on implementation. If political parties adopt a culture of
structured self-appraisal, it will spare them the embarrassment of unplanned public
disclosures and prepare them better to face the electorate.

ICEP Dawn Analysis

Right to be forgotten
Shahzad Sharjeel July 05, 2020

The writer is a poet and analyst.

ASKED how he would like to be remembered, Lee Kuan Yew, that legendary leader
of Singapore, is supposed to have said that he would like to be forgotten.

While many amongst us strive to be remembered for our achievements, real or

imagined, there are countless others who want to be and in most cases should be, if
they so desire, forgotten. An oft-repeated dialogue of the Urdu cinema of the olden
days went something like ‘samaaj bhoolnay nahin deta’ (‘society does not allow
memory lapses’). The arrival of the World Wide Web added another source of
anxiety for those who want to be forgotten as ‘the internet never forgets’.

Wanton misdeeds and crimes against humanity that rightly ensure a permanent place
in the annals of history — nay infamy — apart, the European Union now endorses
one’s right to be forgotten, at least on the internet.

It all started in 2010 when a Spanish citizen went to his country’s regulator asking
that information regarding the auction of his property be removed from the internet.
The matter was referred to the European Union Court of Justice. The court, in its
landmark judgement in 2014, ordered that Google must delete “inadequate, irrelevant
or no longer relevant data from its results when a member of the public requests it”.
Google went into appeal and, in September 2019, the court ruled that, in order to
balance an individual’s right to privacy and to be forgotten with the broader right to
information, Google need not implement the court’s earlier order beyond EU borders.
The order was further explained in the context of concerns by human rights bodies
that universal enforcement of the ruling would impinge on the rights of citizens of
other regions and despotic governments may use it to force search engines to block
information.

The internet is another source of anxiety for those who want to be forgotten.

Between 2014 and 2019, Google reportedly received 845,501 right-to-be-forgotten

requests that resulted in the removal of 45 per cent of the more than three million
links requested to be removed. The content itself remains online; however, it cannot
be found through online searches of the individual’s name.

ICEP Dawn Analysis

In the subcontinent’s context, take for example those born or thrust into the life of a
courtesan or ganey wali as she later came to be identified. No matter the excellence
they have achieved in the classical arts of music and dance, and regardless of their
fame and success, their antecedents of the bazaar are always mentioned amidst
snickering and knowing winks. It also does not matter if they completely gave up the
very art they spent their lifetime mastering so that society lets them be. Events and
circumstances beyond their control, especially accidents of birth, are constantly dug
up to ridicule people.

Some individuals derive sadistic pleasure in unnecessarily bringing up others’ past.

For instance, which female singer of yesteryear, married to which wadera
orindustrialist, used to perform the mujra. Such people need to be reminded that these
extremely gutsy individuals overcame the hardships fate flung at them with grit and
talent, and they should be allowed to move on in life with society celebrating what
they made of it, instead of constantly reminding them where they started.

Yet another aspect of one’s right to be forgotten pertains to how regimes all over the
world are employing technology to pry into citizens’ lives. Even before the advent of
Covid-19, the fast development of surveillance technology was causing concerns. In
an atmosphere bordering on paranoia, it would be unimaginable anywhere in the
world for a government to employ a tracking system explicitly designed to trace and
destroy terrorist cells for locating the victims of a pandemic.

In Pakistan, however, the prime minister does not tire of announcing that his
government has employed a software designed by an intelligence agency in the
country’s war against terrorism for tracing and isolating Covid-19 carriers. Neither he
nor any of his lieutenants has ever tried to put public concerns to rest by describing
how the spyware will be customised for civilian use and what filters will be deployed
to ensure that fundamental civil rights are not breached.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, an independent watchdog respected

globally for its work, has also voiced its concern regarding the possible misuse of the
pandemic for perpetually prying into citizens’ lives by the government. There already
are enough conspiracy theories swirling about and stigma attached to the pandemic
that we can certainly do without adding another controversial aspect to it.

How surreal is it that the internet search for this piece did not confirm the quote
attributed to Mr Yew? Maybe he said it differently, or is the internet partly honouring
his wish? One quote that surely pops up is from Hollywood icon Isabella Rossellini:
“I would like to be forgotten. What’s so good about being remembered?”

ICEP Dawn Analysis

ICEP Dawn Analysis