Daily weekly Monthly Updates Whatsapp 03410280618 Dawn Columns 07 June 2022 Editorial oo Toxic narrative Editorial Published June 7, 2022 - Updated 17 minutes ago} FOR long, the Sangh Parivar in India has used Pakistan as a punching bag, while also lambasting Muslim emperors and sultans that ruled the subcontinent centuries ago. But when officials linked to India’s Hindu nationalist ruling party publicly started attacking Islam’s sacred figures, a red line was crossed. The vile comments directed at the Holy Prophet (PBUH) coming from two BJP spokespersons were no mere slip of the tongue. They were the result of decades of anti-Muslim poison spewed by the hard right in India; now the anti-Islam discourse has been mainstreamed, with people in power feeling free to attack the revered figures of other religions to please their rabid vote bank. The reaction from many Muslim states has been swift against the outrage. Kuwait, Qatar and Iran summoned Indian diplomats to register their protest, while Saudi Arabia and Pakistan have also issued stern denunciations against the provocative statements. For its part, the BJP has expelled one character in this sordid saga, while suspending the other. It has also issued a lukewarm For Info(Vocabulary, Current Affair, Columns, Editorial) Whatsapp 03410280618Daily weekly Monthly Updates Whatsapp 03410280618 clarification stating that it "is strongly against any ideology which insults or Idemeans any sect or religion”. If this were so, hard-core Muslim-baiters and |demagogues, such as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh and the Indian home minister, would not be key cogs in the ruling apparatus. The prime minister of India himself has a dark communal history, as the ghosts of Gujarat will testify. Moreover, the reaction to the comments has been disingenuous on part of the! Indian state. While responses to the controversy by Indian missions in Kuwait land Qatar were conciliatory, distancing themselves from the “offensive tweet’, ithe Indian external affairs ministry's reactions to the OIC generally and Pakistan's concerns over the matter were combative and thoroughly jundiplomatic. Perhaps the feeling in New Delhi is that the:billions of dollars worth of trade and remittances from the Gulf states cannot be lost over the controversy. Already there are campaigns underway in the Gulf calling for boycotts of Indian goods. |All religious minorities in India, including Christians and Dalits, have been feeling the heat as Hindu extremism has gained strength. But Muslims have been on the receiving end of the mostthateful campaigns, with their loyalty to ithe state questioned, their cultural:arid religious practices restricted, and now their sacred figures attacked. With the latest provocation, the Sangh Parivar is playing with fire. Already theré-has been violence in some areas, and unless lefforts are made to rein in-the hate-mongers, especially those who enjoy political and official patronage, the situation can deteriorate very quickly. The international community, especially the Muslim world, needs to continue to call out India for its anti-Muslim and anti-Isiam provocations. Perhaps sensitive ito censure by foreign states, and fearful of damage to economic ties, New Delhi may cfiange its attitude and seriously address these reprehensible incidents. Published in Dawn, June 7th, 2022) SEAS US Editorial Published June 7, 2022 - Updated 19 minutes ago) For Info(Vocabulary, Current Affair, Columns, Editorial) Whatsapp 03410280618Daily weekly Monthly Updates Whatsapp 03410280618 THE Election Commission of Pakistan finds itself in the middle of another needless controversy. The commission recently started displaying lupdated electoral rolls for public review and, as is quite normal, there were some anomalies in them. Among those who were affected, some took to social media to claim that their polling stations had been moved Ito new locations; in some cases, quite far away from their current place lof residence. Given the highly charged political environment and the PTI's repeated claims that the ECP is biaSed against it, these reports were viewed by some as an attempt at ‘pre-poll rigging’. The controversy grew Ito a point where the ECP was forced to issue a public statement saying there was “no truth” to such reports and that those who were facing inconvenience should immediately reach out to the commission with their complaints. While technology and-sotial media have helped the citizenry grow increasingly betterintormed of the electoral process, they have also brought lwith them theirown set of problems. In particular, the rapid spreading of misinformation on otherwise mundane issues has emerged as a key challenge. It appears. itrthis case that controversy arose because the ECP decided that for all voters whose addresses, registered with the ECP for voting purposes, were lothersthan the ones mentioned on their CNIC, their permanent address ja¢cdrding to the CNIC would be used. The ECP says this decision had been taken in 2017 and voters were told to get their addresses updated by January 12018. They still have till June 19 to do so. However, the commission, instead of responding to the controversy by simply explaining where the confusion was arising, only made matters worse by issuing a blanket denial that it had made changes to voter registration data. Given the current climate, the ECP cannot For Info(Vocabulary, Current Affair, Columns, Editorial) Whatsapp 03410280618Daily weekly Monthly Updates Whatsapp 03410280618 lafford to lose public trust. Clearly, there is a need for the ECP to be more transparent in its dealings with the public. It also needs to bring its practices in line with modern times. In this regard, it can benefit from close coordination with Nadra, which maintains detailed databases on citizens. It is quite unhelpful to ask affected voters to visit ECP offices in person in case they want their registration data corrected when this can easily be done online or through a phone call from a number registered against the voter's CNIC> Published in Dawn, June 7th, 2022, [Editorial Published June 7, 2022 - Updated 20 minutes a THERE'S no right way of accurately measuring the undocumented part of lan economy. Hence, the size of Pakistan's shadow economy is estimated to be in the fange of 30pc to 50pc of the nation’s total reported GDP by various studies using different methodologies. That is massive by any lyardstick. The shadow or informal economy refers to economic activities takifig place outside the tax and regulatory system, and may or may not have any backward or forward linkages with the organised sectors. Every country is grappling with the issue of parallel economy; Pakistan is not alone in this. The problem for Pakistan is that the size of the unreported leconomy has grown so big that it is now bearing down on formal sectors, penalising taxpayers, undermining tax collection, intensifying market ldistortions and creating an uneven field for organised businesses. The For Info(Vocabulary, Current Affair, Columns, Editorial) Whatsapp 03410280618Daily weekly Monthly Updates Whatsapp 03410280618 lexistence of unregulated economic activities across almost every segment of business underlines poor governance and law enforcement, weak tax administration, corruption, and the lack of political will to take laction against participants of the shadow economy. The size of the unregulated economy isn’t the only problem Pakistan must Ideal with. The state’s tolerance of the black economy means that smuggled land counterfeit products are now snatching a bigger market share from the lorganised sector, besides fostering further growth in illicit trade at the expense of consumers and industry. This is in addition to the government forfeiting large revenues through uncollected taxes that could have been used to build economic and social infrastructure to boost productivity, generate lemployment opportunities and create surplus for exports. It is, indeed, hard to document every unregulated sector. Nor is this reqUired. Many informal micro Jand small businesses linked to organised sectors.will always exist and continue to indirectly contribute to economic growth; therefore, they need not be regulated vigorously. It is the unchecked smuggling and illicit trade in counterfeit products that the authorities need to curb without further delay to protect the organised industry and.¢onsumers. Published in Dawn, June 7th, 2022) ITE STPAKISTANBUSINESSOPINIOI Confusion before the ruin rifa Noor Published June 7, 2022 - Updated 12 minutes agd # For Info(Vocabulary, Current Affair, Columns, Editorial) Whatsapp 03410280618Daily weekly Monthly Updates Whatsapp 03410280618 The writer is journalist. \A HOUSE divided against itself cannot stand, said Abraham Lincoln many moons ago, adding that it will become “all one thing, or all the other”. His words are remembered to this day as he spoke of a nation ided on Ithe issue of slavery. But what would he make of us, a land with far too For Info(Vocabulary, Current Affair, Columns, Edi l)_ Whatsapp 03410280618Daily weekly Monthly Updates Whatsapp 03410280618 {The people are divided, as are the provinces. The judiciary is perceived as ldivided. The political class was always divided; within parties there are ldivisions and the mother of all institutions is in no better mood, it is said. [The PML-N is finally in power but it appears to be struggling between its democratic credentials and its atavistic origins. The prime minister is trying to make all the right noises on mainstream media, promising to clear bills and lensure the right of speech, as his information minister promises to doaway lwith all the bad, mad laws of the PTI era. On the other hand, his home minister’ lof old times and the present is twirling his luxurious Hercule Poirot moustache las he treats the PTI wallahs to raids, arrests and tear gas shells. And he is now Ithreatening to do it all over again, while Shehbaz Sharif plays the great Istatesman and offers a grand dialogue, whatever that-fMleans. Let us all figure it out at D-Chowk around a table set in the middle of the tear gas clouds and providing the perfect photo op. |And then there are reported and unreported Wifferences within the family. No number of niece, uncle and cousin appearances can stop the people from lspeculating about the sheen and the noon and all those in between. The experienced ones are ho more inspiring than the inexperienced ones so far. But all this could be forgotten, if the government was governing. The lexperienced ones are no more inspiring than the inexperienced ones so far. IThe new prime mihister is obviously dealing with separation anxiety — away lfrom the chief minister's comfy job with its prolific spending habits and no headaches‘atiout earning dollars, questions about loss-making discos or a lwater.ctisis. PM Sahib still looks comfortable at hospital openings and chairing lengthy meetings — a day after announcing an austerity plan including reducing petrol expenses, he called a meeting in Lahore. Did the cabinet members get to Lahore on flying carpets or did Scotty just beam them up? |And then there are his son’s foreign appearances. Enough said. But this would get highlighted more if PTI were not running around heedlessly lor is it heedlessly2). Imran Khan is on the rampage, but without a plan. He lsurely is the man of steel whose kryptonite is a simple question: ‘what next?’ For Info(Vocabulary, Current Affair, Columns, Editorial) Whatsapp 03410280618Daily weekly Monthly Updates Whatsapp 03410280618 Now that he has called off the great march — inexplicably say some while lothers point to the low numbers that turned up — he continues to make it up las he goes along, But this time around he is confronted, as were others before him, with state violence, which is always effective as long as it isn’t being neutralised, as it was in 2014 or with the TLP on its annual picnic trips to Islamabad. Khan is beginning to learn, as did the others, that the khalai makhloog are not his BFFs. Is he listening to the lyrics "teri nazron main’hai Iteray sapne, tere sapno mein hai naraazi” (in your eyes lie your dreams, in lyour dreams there is displeasure’) from an AR. Rahman number? Oris it the makhloog which are singing this song to him or is it Shehbaz Sharif who is lserenading his brother? The possibilities are endless. |Anyway, back to Khan; he isn’t happy with his knights éither. Many Galahads ldidn’t show up at the marching party and those who did, didn’t bring enough people for Rana Sahib to beat and tear-gas. So, the party is being turned upside down once again and the nazriyati lot is taking centre stage once lagain, just in time for the hard times. FronOmer Cheema to Iftikhar Durrani lto Aun Abbas Bappi, they are being lined-up to shed blood, sweat and tears. The fair-weather friends, who werestfiere once upon a power time, are now hiding or playing water polo, lotasin hand. Khan's only unchanging plaivis to count on the powers that be to call lelections. In the meantimie; the two having fun in his party are Shaukat Tarin land Hammad AzharsTheir trolling of the Noonies is relentless; unemployment lcomes with its own perks. lOthers too have their own story. The MQM and PPP are trying hard to play nice even:though their talks are going nowhere; the fighting is feared to return,-as did the load-shedding for the rest of us. And in Balochistan, BAP and| its gévernment are perpetually on the ventilator, like so much else in Pakistan IThe PPP as always is sitting pretty, with a government in Sindh and federal ministries where photo ops are pretty much the hardest part of the day, be it BISP or the Foreign Office. Other than the selfie moment, the party spends all lday, plotting for the number of seats it needs to make it back to the PM seat. | Along with Sindh, if we can manage five from KP and 10 from Punjab and... ” For Info(Vocabulary, Current Affair, Columns, Editorial) Whatsapp 03410280618Daily wee! Updates Whatsapp 03410280618 It is less a political party and more of a math bee. But on the upside, there is lvery little indication of any friction within. Back to the divisions: there are many singing ‘tere sapno mein hai naraazi’ lamong the grand adjudicators. There is always talk about who is allowed to ladjudicate what and when as there are fears about certain crownings. However, there is yet another, most important division which is rumouited to lexist. But like Voldemort in the magic world, we Muggles can’t really’speak of it, though we do hear of it all the time. But the problem is that éven the Istorytellers are divided — about whether those who cannot be named are ldivided against Khan's ouster or the Sharifs' rise or their own U-turns. We all lwait in the dark and the heat for the truth to be revealed. It, eventually, always is. The writer is a journalist. [Published in Dawn, June 7th, 2022) in Dawn, June 7th, 202. The fringe group ruling India jawed Naqvi Published June 7, 2022 - Updated 15 minutes a fl ma For Info(Vocabulary, Current Affair, Columns, Editorial) Whatsapp 03410280618Daily weekly Monthly Updates Whatsapp 03410280618 The writer is Dawn's correspondent in Delhi. THE day the Babri Masjid was demolished in December 1992, Indian lembassies from world capitals were knocking at J.N. Dixit's door, the lphlegmatic foreign secretary from the old world school of secular Indian ldiplomats, now an endangered species. What should the embassies tell Itheir host governments, Dixit was asked. Dixit cleaned his pipe very lslowly:with deliberate pauses, before summoning his familiar pout. He issued a memorable piece of advice: “Tell the host governments that lsome right-wing hoodIums carried out the crime and they would pay for it.” This was more or less the policy stance taken by the Narasimha Rao government. Rao had, in fact, gone on to promise that the Babri Masjid lwould be rebuilt, as it was, where it was. For better or worse, it proved to lbe a tall claim. For Info(Vocabulary, Current Affair, Columns, Editorial) Whatsapp 03410280618Daily weekly Monthly Updates Whatsapp 03410280618 Until this transpired. It wasn’t snowing in Delhi the other day. It hasn't happened in living memory. Then why was India’s ruling party, the BJP, punishing its popular spokeswoman for making insulting remarks a week ago labout Prophet Mohammed (PBUH)? Another senior member from the party lwas expelled, like it or not, for supporting Nupur Sharma's views. You may have thought Islamophobia was the BJP’s métier. The world knows the party Ithrives on hate and polarisation. Today though, a new, different truth was ldawning, The party was flaunting what could pass for a revolutionary |statement. It was praising India’s secularism and hugging the constitution that its béte noire B.R. Ambedkar framed, a constitution that has protected the Ilickering candle of democracy the founders lit in 1947. Jawatiarlal Nehru lcould have drafted the statement; it was so rippling with the goodness of his India I-The BJP strongly denounces insults of any religious personalities of any religion. The [party] is also against any ideolégy, which insults or demeans any lsect or religion. The BJP does not promoté such people or philosophy.” The foreign ministry was nudged to act. It,cautioned critics against conflating fringe elements” with government.policy, That saw the BIP's former foreign minister Yashwant Sinha, coming to the nub of the matter. I"BJP’s national spokespersaivis now a fringe element, What about the party itself? The fringe is unfortunately now in the centre.” Everyone in the lopposition shared Sinha’s reaction. The Congress called it a ‘good cop bad lcop strategy’. THEBIP was flaunting what could pass for a revolutionary statement. But the BJP kept on regardless. “During the thousands of years of the history lofindia every religion has blossomed and flourished. The Bharatiya Janata Party respects all religions.” It did snow in Delhi, it seems, and it was a blizzard. “India’s constitution gives the right to every citizen to practise any religion of his/her choice and to honour and respect every religion,” the BJP wouldn't Istop. It was promising to make India a great country "where all are equal and leveryone lives with dignity..." For Info(Vocabulary, Current Affair, Columns, Editorial) Whatsapp 03410280618Daily weekly Monthly Updates Whatsapp 03410280618 [The news from Kanpur continued to mock the truant narrative though. A Ithousand ‘unidentified persons’ were charged with fomenting riots. It’s often a leuphemism for Muslims protesting. A ‘mastermind’ was arrested together with la dozen others. They were protesting after offering the Friday prayers against Ithe week-old derogatory comments by Nupur Sharma. There's a saying popular in northern India: The washerman vents his anger on the donkey, The Istate has mastered the art of pummelling the helpless and angry masses-or lanyone who comes in the way of its great march into the golden past.'So, Kanpur in BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh offered one narrative and the BJP’s lstatement another. [The fact is that the rulers in Delhi have often got away with murder as far as Ithe Western countries are concerned — how the more powerful among them promised to act on the unending saga of state brutalities in Kashmir, in particular, and the vigilantes unleashed on a hapless nation elsewhere. The rulers are smug that India is needed against China. Besides, it has a large market, of course. Which stymies the powérs that frame and interpret the covenants for assorted freedoms and rights. The Gulf countries too have indulged India. They are its lifebloodias far as dollar remittances are concerned. If the US contributed‘$11.7 billion in remittances under Prime Minister Modi’s watch in 2017,the UAE's contribution alone was $13.8bn. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar are equally critical sources of India’s dollar influx. And they have been generally nice and generous with India. Abu Dhabi Igave away land for.a\Hindu temple to be constructed. And every country has put up with daily insults and threats meted out to Indian Muslims, in Srinagar lor in Delhi or Lucknow, and now Kanpur. [This time;Qatar summoned India’s ambassador in Doha and Kuwait lsummianed the one in Kuwait City. They demanded a ‘public apology’ from New Delhi for the comments that were seen as Islamophobic. Iran too lcofiveyed its concerns and Saudi Arabia was not far behind. The controversy lerupted as India’s Vice President Venkaiah Naidu was to begin his official visit Ito Doha, part of a three-nation tour. The Iranian protest came three days before the Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian will be going for his first visit to Delhi, The 57-nation Organisation of Islamic Cooperation issued a “strong condemnation” of what it called “abuses by an official of the For Info(Vocabulary, Current Affair, Columns, Editorial) Whatsapp 03410280618Daily weekly Monthly Updates Whatsapp 03410280618 ruling party of India’, linking the comments to previous steps to ban the hijab lat educational institutions in certain Indian states, perennial violence against minorities, and demolitions of their property. In a withering comment on Twitter, Qatar's assistant foreign minister and lspokesperson Lolwah Alkhater noted that “Islamophobic discourse has reached dangerous levels in a country long known for its diversity and coexistence”. He said unless the government of India “officially and lsystemically" confronts hate speech, it would be considered a “deliberate insult” against 2bn Muslims worldwide. Mr Naidu had to cancehhis press Iconference in Doha. Dixit would have perhaps scowled and, pouted again. But lwho were the hoodiums he had in mind? [The writer is Dawn's correspondent in Dethi. jawednaqvi@ gmail.com [Published in Dawn, June 7th, 2022) (TESTPAKISTANBUSINESSOPINIOI Poetry at the presidency [Hassan Kamal Wattoo Published June 7, 2022 - Updated 17 minutes ago] Ki v For Info(Vocabulary, Current Affair, Columns, Editorial) Whatsapp 03410280618Daily wee! Updates Whatsapp 03410280618 The writer is a lawyer and columnist from Okara. IN 2009, President Barack Obama hosted a poetry night at the White House. A little-known artist walked on stage and told the crowd that he'd like to perform something from a concept album he was working on. It lwas about the life and story of someone he felt embodied hip-hop and Ithe American dream — former US Treasury secretary Alexander Hamilton. IThe crowd bursts into laughter. It's a bizarre pitch. Hamilton was till then a dull lside character from American history books; a founding father whose most memorable characteristic was his face on the 10-dollar bill. But the artist persists, painting Hamilton's story as one so inspiring it deserved to be told. What ensues is a strikingly original, expertly crafted performance on the pain For Info(Vocabulary, Current Affair, Columns, Editorial) Whatsapp 03410280618Daily weekly Monthly Updates Whatsapp 03410280618 land perseverance in this historical figure's life that ends with the crowd rising in applause. IThis performance would be the first song in a Broadway musical. Hamilton became a global phenomenon, sold a billion dollars’ worth of tickets, and won levery major prize for theatre (including the Pulitzer). A bizarre pitch, an unconvinced audience, and a politician who gave the little guy a chance) lturned the artist, Lin Manuel Miranda, into a star. In 2022, President Joe Biden invited another artist to perform poetry at the White House. This one had already reached massive success\(slie won a |Grammy this year), but still seems to just be getting started. Arooj Aftab is Pakistani. She grew up in Lahore. Her music is almost entirely in Urdu. Uplifting your own should be an obvious choice. lYet she reached global success not because of her country, but in spite of it. She moved to the US at 19 and reached «wider audiences when Obama shared her cover of the ghazal Mohabat Karne Wale in a list of his favourite songs of lsummer, 2021. This begs the question: if foreign leaders can see enough value in our artists to uplift them, why-¢an't our own? That might sound far toayidealistic to hope for. After all, when was the last Itime Pakistan promoted.an entertainment product at the highest level? Well, lyou guessed it. Cue-the string ensemble. Tun tuna tun tuna tun. In comes our hero Ertugrul on-Horseback, here to liberate our hearts, minds, and identity crises with perpetual visuals of grand Muslim victory. Love it or hate it, that show made waves. After receiving the then PM's Iglowing endorsement, it had a cultural impact perhaps unprecedented across Ithe Pakistani populace. But it wasn’t ours to own. It was Turkish IThe information ministry was quick to express its envy, declaring its intent to produce high-quality shows on figures like Salahuddin Ayubi to awaken similar nationalistic euphoria with home-grown content. But of course, this hasn't yet come into existence, let alone recreated Ertugrul’s magic. For Info(Vocabulary, Current Affair, Columns, Editorial) Whatsapp 03410280618Daily weekly Monthly Updates Whatsapp 03410280618 [That's because it's missing a point that should be obvious — the state can't force art. At best, it can create a conducive environment for it. Ertugrul was the product of a vibrant television industry, free to take risks and unburdened by a Itrigger-happy Pemra itching to kill years of hard work in seconds lest it loffends some angry old man with too much free time. Uplifting your own should be an obvious choice. But since the folks making the decisions on this aren't known for their appreciation of the arts, remember Ithis too: while Obama was winning hearts with poetry nights, his drones were raining hell on Pakistan. Hamilton’s story was ‘the story of Amerita’, and a perfectly desirable one to show to the world. This ‘soft imagé*is a concept the Pakistani state spends money chasing every year, througli'songs and dramas ladvancing its narrative. Clearly, that hasn't been too effective. ISouth Korea is an economic juggernaut, once oftéh compared to Pakistan. Today, while we approach the IMF for $1-2 billion at a time, their music industry (K-Pop) alone contributes $10bn’a year to the South Korean leconomy. Film and television are among their greatest exports, and send tourists flocking to their shores. [The world seems to understand ‘the value of soft power, and the economic incentive to the state of a vibrant cultural scene. One would refuse to believe that our artists are any less-talented than the American, Turkish or South Korean. Ali Sethi’s Pasoori featuring Shae Gill recently reached number one on Iglobal streaming charts. Artists like Hasan Raheem, Young Stunners, Abdullah ISiddiqui, Arooj Aftab, and so many more are reaching international success. A lsuccess that warrants state recognition, not indifference. You might still want to steer clear of this idea for optics’ sake. Politics is heated, the economy is a mess, and devoting a single brain cell to the arts in times like these might seem reminiscent of Nero playing the fiddle while Rome burned. But here's a thought to consider — what if the fiddle can help put out the flames? The writer is a lawyer and columnist from Okara! For Info(Vocabulary, Current Affair, Columns, Editorial) Whatsapp 03410280618Daily weekly Monthly Updates Whatsapp 03410280618 [Published in Dawn, June 7th, 2022, | \TESTPAKISTANBUSINESSOPINION Land use concerns [Dr Noman Ahmed Published June 7, 2022 - Updated 19 minutes a [Fi im (Vocabulary, Current Affair, Columns, Editorial) Whatsapp 03410280618 = lastlDaily weekly Monthly Updates Whatsapp 03410280618 The writer is an academic and researcher based in Karachi. [THE past few weeks have seen several environmental catastrophes across Ithe country. An unprecedented heatwave raged through Sindh and the ladjoining areas, directly impacting the crop and fruit harvest, significantly reducing yields. The water crisis continues to generate ltension between Sindh and Punjab as the authorities have to decide how Ito allocate the scarce resource for irrigation and other uses. Forest fires in Ithe Margallas and parts of Balochistan and KP have reduced trees to lashes include chilghoza pines that were a source of livelihood for many in Ithe country's most impoverished province. As if this were'not enough, protesters set trees to fire in Islamabad, which is hard to justify for any political cause. Nature has bestowed on humanity invaluable ecoldgical assets. Every intervention by man in the name of progressand development has tampered lwith them. Mining, clearing forests to increase farmland, using the hinterland Ito expand real estate, reclaiming land for development by altering the coastline, and similar interventions Have had serious environmental repercussions that have shown the correlation between inappropriate ldevelopment choices and natural disasters. Seven out of the 17 SDGs caution lus about the irresponsible,iisé of ecological assets and material resources. IScientific land use management is the need of the hour and several coordinated initiatives-can help achieve this Land managementis a provincial subject. The provincial boards of revenue are Ithe custodian of land assets dealing with records of allotments and lallocation§ transactions and related functions. Substantial reforms have been introduced in Punjab, KP and Sindh over a period of time, and reportedly, basic maps and cadastral records are now digitised. Greater access to land information is possible in these three provinces now than it was a decade ago. However, the systems need further upgrades to include the rapid changes in land use in the form of urban development, disasters, land subdivisions, real lestate demarcations, infrastructural allocations, etc. Publication of annual reports by the land management authorities would help in the dissemination lof information to stakeholders including government agencies, businessmen, For Info(Vocabulary, Current Affair, Columns, Editorial) Whatsapp 03410280618Daily weekly Monthly Updates Whatsapp 03410280618 lentrepreneurs, environmental agencies and the common people, and make land transactions transparent, thus helping to eradicate clandestine corrupt practices. The categorisation and use of land is the next important step. Land management agencies must map land assets to identify their existing uses and prepare a list of priority actions accordingly. Ecological assets to be conserved must be notified and communicated to the public. For instance, Pakistan and AJK together have 35 national parks housing unique Iiora, fauna and ecosystems. Forests comprise an important land/use category. Forest cover in the country is only 4.8 per cent of the land area, far below internationally recommended levels. illegal tree felling, unauthorised lconstruction near or within forest lands, unsupervised camping or habitation la likely source of forest fires) and disposal of hazardous waste from adjoining lsettlements are real concerns. Comprehensive forest management plans are needed to protect the wooded areas. Protecting nature is @national effort. \Tampering with nature has led to havoc. A massive glacial lake outburst iflooding occurred in early May in-Hunza which was temporarily disconnected lfrom the adjoining areas. Amenity buildings were partially damaged and many residences had to be vacated: The Karakoram Highway often witnesses landslides, creating hazards for vehicles. Can strategic ecological conservation help? Restricting the-felling of trees and building activity would be a good step. |A major initiative to protect forest land and the environment was initiated by Ithe previous government. The federal climate change ministry launched the lambitious Ten Billion Tree Tsunami Programme that was to be undertaken lover four years at a total cost of around Rs125bn. More than 80,000 daily lwagers were engaged in this exercise. According to reports, 430 million trees lwere planted. Unfortunately, the programme was interrupted by allegations of corruption, malpractice and embezzlement of funds. It is a pity that an appropriate initiative could not achieve its targets. Politics must be put aside; the protection of forests, terrains, aquifers, woodlands, wetlands and other forms For Info(Vocabulary, Current Affair, Columns, Editorial) Whatsapp 03410280618Daily weekly Monthly Updates Whatsapp 03410280618 lof natural land formations is extremely important. A national register of lecological assets, identifying their legal status and their area, plus mapping Itheir details and explaining the risk factors should be published by the concerned authorities periodically. This document must also include innovations at a local, regional and national level to protect such assets. With more information, a better response to safeguarding the environment is likely Ito emerge. ‘The writer is an academic and researcher based in Karachi, Published in Dawn, June 7th, 2022, For Info(Vocabulary, Current Affair, Columns, Editorial) Whatsapp 03410280618