01-FEBRUARY-2020 KEY OPINION 1 OF 11

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The United Kingdom has left the European Union following 47 years of membership.

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January, 2020:

- Coronavirus

- Qassem Soleimani killed

- Brexit

- Iran shoots down Ukrainian plane

- Kobe Bryant dies

-Natural disasters: Australia, Brazil, Indonesia, Turkey, India, Pakistan

- Trump impeachment trial

- Middle East peace plan

- Libya and Syria conflicts

Guarding mangroves
Editorial February 01, 2020

FOR centuries, mangroves have acted as custodians
of the coastline: they protected the land from soil
erosion, prevented flooding, and moderated
temperatures. Additionally, they anchored entire
ecosystems that depended on them to flourish; this
in turn supported the fishing communities of Sindh
and Balochistan. However, some of the discontents
of modernity and rapid urbanisation have wreaked
havoc on the centuries-old, natural way of life,
community and business. Mangrove forests are
chopped down for wood by timber and other
industries that use them for firewood; they are
mowed down by short-sighted land and real-estate
mafias; and they are dying an early death from
pollution, the lack of freshwater flowing into Sindh
and the resulting high levels of salinity in the water.
In an age of extreme weather and changing climate
patterns, with a greater threat of natural disasters
striking the coastal communities, the need for
safeguarding mangroves could not be more urgent.
After all, Pakistan is among the countries most
vulnerable to the long-term effects of global climate
change. And yet, according to experts, mangroves
continue to be cut down due to the greed or
ignorance of some. This is a good time as any to
remember and pay homage to two environmental
activists — Abdul Ghani and Haji Abu Bakar of the
Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum — who were gunned
down when they tried to file a public interest
petition against the cutting down of mangroves in
their village by powerful groups in 2011.
This week, the National Coordinating Body of the Mangroves
for the Future Programme Pakistan underscored the
importance of developing a plan to declare Charna Island a
marine-protected area. In 2018, the clear waters surrounding
the island had been marred by an oil spill. While the Sindh
Forest department has taken steps to carry out extensive
mangrove plantation drives in the past, there is less effort
going into the preservation of existing forests and the
biodiversity they support. Much more needs to be done to
reverse the damage.
Published in Dawn, February 1st, 2020

Locust attack
Editorial February 01, 2020

PAKISTAN is facing its worst locust infestation in
more than 25 years. The crop-eating grasshopper —
which entered Pakistan in June last year, attacked
Iran and then spread to some Indian districts along
Cholistan — has already struck a large area of the
country, especially its south-western districts, in
recent months, ravaging cotton and food crops.
Locust swarms can potentially threaten our food
security and economy if left uncontrolled. Farmers
from Sindh and parts of KP have already reported
01-FEBRUARY-2020 KEY OPINION
significant crop losses caused by the outbreak. The
national food security minister acknowledged the
severity of the situation for the first time on
Thursday. He dubbed the eruption as
“unprecedented and alarming” and also hinted at
declaring a national emergency to control the threat.
His admission that the country is just one step away
from entering the most serious category of the pest
attack has raised many an eyebrow over the
authorities’ inaction ever since the swarm entered
the country. Addressing members of the National
Assembly after the issue was raised by some
opposition legislators, the minister sought to allay
the fears of farmers, saying the government had
prepared a national action plan to stop the further
spread of locusts and allocated half a billion rupees
to control the outbreak. But he didn’t elaborate on
the measures so far taken to protect the farmers and
their crops.
The outbreak is blamed in part on climate change. If lower
temperatures continue and the weather remains wet for a
Bats bite back
Irfan Husain February 01, 2020
ON the Chinese horoscope, this is the Year of the
Rat. Traditionally, the New Year begins with
celebrations and feasts, but the lethal coronavirus
has dampened all such festivities.
Many scientists trying to pinpoint the origin of this virus have
concluded that it was caused by bats from a certain cave in
Hubei province. From them it appears to have jumped to
civet cats kept in small cages in the seafood market at Wuhan
by way of urine or faeces. Some biologists conjecture that the
outbreak was caused by snakes.
Whatever the cause, it is certain that China’s food preferences
have triggered this plague.
Don’t get me wrong: as a foodie, I like to experiment and have
been known to slurp down all manner of exotic dainties. Once
in Hanoi, I was happily scoffing stir-fried locusts until my
wife stopped me in mid-bite by saying: “That one looks like a
cockroach.” To this day, I don’t know if she was joking.
People will be reluctant to visit a country that poses such a
serious health risk.
But bats? Civet cats? No way. However, not everyone is
restrained in their tastes. Most faiths practised in China do
not offer dietary guidelines, so people will eat whatever
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longer time, it will spread even further as a swarm leaves its
breeding ground on the Pakistan-India border along
Cholistan. Unless the government addresses the situation on
an emergency basis, matters are unlikely to come under
control until drier weather sets in — and that would be quite
late. The outbreak has also exposed how ill-prepared and ill-
equipped the authorities are to handle such emergencies.
Aerial pesticide spraying is said to be the only effective
control. But the government does not have any aircraft for
spraying pesticides in areas that are swarming with desert
locust, which descended on Karachi in November for the first
time in nearly 48 years. According to the United Nations, the
timing of pesticide spraying is important to stop the locust
from damaging crops, plants and vegetation. The farmers
from the affected areas have decried the inaction of the
federal and provincial governments. The rulers must realise
that further delay in spraying pesticide could multiply crop
losses, especially of the smallholders.
Published in Dawn, February 1st, 2020
catches their fancy. In fact, the rich will buy the most
expensive beast or bug on the menu. Thus, entire nations are
being stripped of their wildlife to satisfy the Chinese desire to
impress and try novel dishes.
Donkeys in Africa are being shipped to China where their
skins are turned into gelatine for traditional medicine. There
have also been proposals to export donkey hides from
Pakistan to China. The meat, of course, is eaten.
Pangolins, too, have been pushed to the edge by China’s
dietary habits. These helpless, scaly beasts are being scooped
up from East Africa to Pakistan and trafficked to China where
they are sold for $470 per kilo (as against $11 per kilo in the
1990s). The scales cost another $3,000 per kilo in Vietnam
and China, and are used in spurious cures, including as a cure
for impotence.
In fact, more endangered animals and birds have been
slaughtered in search of an elusive virility than in any other
cause. Our own houbara bustards have fallen victim to Arab
royalty’s compulsion to overcome impotence. But the killing
of rare species like the Indian tiger, the rhinoceros for its
horn, and elephants for their tusks has pushed them to the
edge of extinction.
01-FEBRUARY-2020 KEY OPINION
Fortunately, the giant panda and many types of whales are
staging a slow comeback. Partly, this is due to their appeal to
animal lovers: it has never hurt to have good PR. But if you
are a bat in a cave in Hubei province, you don’t stand a
chance. Other bears don’t fare as well: some are locked up in
cages to make them secrete bile which again is used in
Chinese medicine.
Fortunately, China has shut down the animal food markets,
but how long this ban will last — and whether it will be
rigorously implemented — is an open question. If the SARS
epidemic of 2003 is any guide, we can conclude that the
authorities in China have learned little from the past.
However, China has a lot to lose from the current outbreak:
tourists and investors will be reluctant to visit a country that
poses such a serious health hazard. Millions of overseas
Chinese are being seen as potential carriers of coronavirus.
At a time when President Xi is trying to position China at the
top table, the last thing he needs is for his country to be
dragged into pariah territory.
So is the coronavirus a case of wild animals striking back?
Well, I’m certainly on the side of the pangolins and the
donkeys. Nobody can convince me that an animal on the
endangered list is good for me, no matter how delicious it
tastes.
FBR leadership crisis
Editorial February 01, 2020
ONCE again the Federal Board of Revenue has been
left without a functioning chairman — the second
time since news emerged that the government’s
financial adviser Hafeez Shaikh showed up at the tax
authority’s head office to complain about the
continuous shortfalls in revenue collection. This
time, as with the last, the FBR chairman said that his
leave was for health reasons, and there are no prima
facie grounds to doubt his word. But a closer look
reveals that the chairman from the private sector,
Shabbar Zaidi, is running into growing difficulties in
the job. He has the most challenging revenue target
to meet that any chairman has had to face in
decades. The FBR bureaucracy is doing its best to
undermine him at the same time, since it has
become famous for not accepting outside leadership
or change of any sort. Even before Mr Zaidi took
charge in May 2019, a court challenge was mounted
against his appointment by an FBR officer who
claimed in his petition before the Islamabad High
Court that he had a “legitimate expectation for
promotion to the post of FBR chairperson, which is
the top slot in the hierarchy of his service”. That
challenge was thrown out by August, but the
resentment of the FBR bureaucracy against the
appointment of a private-sector individual to the
‘top slot’ in the revenue authority had been
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And yet we all have our own foodie preferences that must
seem odd to foreigners. Force-feeding geese to make them
produce more liver for foie gras must be painful for the birds,
but we do it anyway to obtain the unctuous paste so beloved
by diners in luxury restaurants.
The Japanese continue to hunt whales despite worldwide
criticism. Meat from these giants of the deep is frozen and
stored. Consumption is down to a small fraction of what it
used to be during the Second World War, but the Japanese
insist that whale meat is part of their culture.
People in France, Italy and Germany still eat horse meat.
When I was a boy in Paris, it was fairly common to see
butchers with a horse’s head on the shop front. A horse steak
I once had in Italy was lean and tasty. And what would
foreigners make of the nihari/brain/marrow combination
that makes us salivate?
So it’s all about perceptions and preferences at the end. But I
still draw the line at bats.
irfan.husain@gmail.com
Published in Dawn, February 1st, 2020
registered. Lately, Mr Zaidi faced more critical
questioning about his leadership from Prime
Minister Imran Khan as well as the Supreme Court.
It would be an understatement to say that Mr Zaidi has found
himself in a hornets’ nest. It is only the sheer depth of his
experience and knowledge of the rackets that operate around
the country’s revenue system that have held him in good
stead through all this. And it is this depth of knowledge and
experience that the government badly needs to tap and
benefit from when drawing up the next budget, preparations
for which should be starting soon. Instead, there are
complications. At a time when the revenue machinery is
supposed to be developing its own vision for reform as well
as pursuing one of the largest and most vigorous exercises for
documentation of the economy and broadening the tax base,
the FBR seems to be entering into a leadership crisis.
It should be clear to the government, and particularly to the
prime minister and his finance team, that a leaderless FBR
will not help in their efforts to chase an ambitious revenue
target and wage the campaign for documentation, as well as
draw up the budget for the coming financial year. While one
wishes Mr Zaidi good health at this point, the truth is that he
does have something to return to if his stint in government
service does not work out. But, as this drama unfolds, what
are the government’s plans?
01-FEBRUARY-2020 KEY OPINION
Published in Dawn, February 1st, 2020
Why Pakistan loses its best
Pervez Hoodbhoy Updated February 01, 2020
The writer teaches physics and mathematics in Lahore and
Islamabad.
TWO weeks ago Pakistan’s only well-known
mathematician left for the Western world. He has no
plans to return. Since the country has almost no real
mathematicians — a bare half a dozen or less — the
loss was huge. But who cares? Preoccupied by
politics of the boot, busy gorging imported luxury
products, and feverishly preparing for travel to the
hereafter, our moribund culture is indifferent to
math or physics.
But in living and vibrant cultures, both new and old,
mathematicians and theoretical physicists are seen very
differently. In millennia past, Pythagoras and Plato were cult
leaders who saw in geometry the wondrous key unlocking the
universe’s secrets. They demanded from their students
accurate definitions, clearly stated assumptions, and logical
deductive proof — the very stuff that makes mathematics the
queen of sciences and the mother of physics. Everything in
the modern world from spacecraft and internet to
pharmaceuticals and chewing gum owes itself to such
rigorous mental training.
Below is a story for all who wonder why Pakistan sorely loses
out in the modern world, why its universities consistently fail
to keep our best and brightest, and why there’s no genuine
culture of learning and research. While it’s about just one
person, there are countless stories of others who returned to
Pakistan but eventually gave up.
Around 1994-1995, I received a handwritten letter from
someone saying he was deeply interested in studying
theoretical physics. It was signed by some Amer Iqbal. Filled
with neatly written formulae, it seemed moderately
interesting but little more. I replied, suggesting he visit.
This is the story of Pakistan’s most recognised
mathematician and why we finally lost him.
Weeks later, a tall lad in his late teens walked into my office
at Quaid-e-Azam University. I was then teaching a subject
called quantum field theory whose comprehension requires
years of mathematical preparation. The boy seemed bright
but I said he wouldn’t be able to follow my course. I was
wrong. He rapidly self-studied the needed background and,
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to my amazement, was soon picking out my occasional
mistakes on the blackboard.
Delighted, I suggested MIT for a PhD. Although all its
departments are extremely competitive, MIT’s departments
of theoretical physics and mathematics can be terrifying.
Even with 100 per cent perfect GRE scores and excellent
grades, overseas candidates have a hard time getting in and
then surviving. Fortunately, I had colleagues on the MIT
faculty with whom I had either collaborated on research or
who had been on my PhD committee. After an initial hiccup
it all worked out and Amer was on his way.
The rest is history. His PhD research and a series of brilliant
papers soon established Amer in high academia. MIT’s
Professor Jeffrey Goldstone — of Goldstone Boson fame (the
Higgs Boson or so-called God Particle derives from the
Goldstone Boson) — is also famously frugal for words. But in
a corridor encounter about 20 years ago, he somehow strung
together enough of them to gruffly bark a “thank you” at me
for sending Amer to MIT. At the next stage, Steven Weinberg
— who co-shared the 1979 Nobel Prize with Abdus Salam and
Sheldon Glashow — invited him for post-doctoral research at
the University of Texas (Austin).
The young man was flowering. During short subsequent
visits to the United States from Pakistan, he was co-authoring
papers with the world’s outstanding mathematicians
(Okounkov, Yau, etc) and famous string-theory physicists
(Vafa, Zwiebach, etc). Only practitioners in the super
stratified world of high science can understand what this
really means. Amer Iqbal is still the sole Pakistani invited to
lecture at high-level meetings on problems at the interface of
theoretical physics and mathematics.
None of this cut much ice with his colleagues in Pakistani
institutions. Six years of teaching and research at Lums
(2009-2015) ended with Amer’s forced resignation and
unceremonious exit. Some of his peers — jealous intellectual
midgets — were threatened by his academic stature and
conspired against him. Lums has never explained why he was
fired.
The next stint — at the Abdus Salam School for Mathematical
Sciences (AS-SMS) in Lahore — lasted another five years and
ended no better. Instead of a regular appointment, he was
given a year-to-year contract, a situation leaving appointees
01-FEBRUARY-2020 KEY OPINION
vulnerable and forced to curry favour with higher ups. For
Amer that was out of the question.
But it was his exposing a mega-scandal that ended
everything. Readers are referred to my Dawn article, ‘Our
ghost mathematicians’, which tells how at least Rs638
million were paid in fake salaries at AS-SMS. I began the
article saying: “To be named below are several persons who
would have ended up behind bars in any country where there
is rule of law. Several others — whether complicit or negligent
— would be shamed, reviled and removed from their current
official positions. Knowing that nothing will happen here in
Pakistan, this is still a story I must tell.”
That story was told and indeed nothing happened — except
that Amer’s contract was not renewed. One hears that HEC
has launched a scam investigation. But committees are made
to whitewash crimes, not to catch crooks.
Nevertheless, the truth filtered out. Days later my Dawn
article was picked up by BBC. Its diligent researchers located
several European ‘ghost mathematicians’ from 10 years ago
as well as the former director of AS-SMS who ran away with
Saturday, 01 Feb 2020 Today's Paper
Parental leaves and limitations in Pakistan
By Shaheera Anwar Published: January 31, 2020
Earlier this week, the Senate passed the bill on providing
six-month fully-paid maternity leave and a total of three-
month fully-paid paternity leave to employees of both the
public and the private sector. While the bill has been sent to
the National Assembly, it’s still a point to ponder if this new
law will help the case in Pakistan. According to the existing
law on maternity leaves, every female employee is allowed a
three-month fully-paid maternity leave, which keeps
decreasing as per the number of children she chooses to
have in the future, limiting to just being allowed thrice
during the course of her employment. Regardless of a law in
place, many private organisations across Pakistan do not
abide by it. Firms opt for leaves less than three months, and
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the loot (of course, he denies it). In essence this BBC report
(accessible at https://www.bbc.com/urdu/pakistan-
50490259) corroborated Amer’s extraordinary 456-page
investigative report. Earlier posted on the AS-SMS official
website, it was removed last month. Presumably this is to
protect others complicit in the heist at AS-SMS.
Pakistan’s universities — all of them — are cesspools of
political filth and intrigue. In a system with perverted values
and nonsensical selection criteria, duffers who fail at all else
become lauded university professors. Today they rule the
roost. Even if Pakistan somehow attracts back its best and
brightest from foreign lands, they will soon leave unless our
universities can be made to respect the rule of law and
operate on principles of strict merit, fair play and
transparency. It is hard to see how any of these conditions
can be met in the near future.
The writer teaches physics and mathematics in Lahore and
Islamabad.
Published in Dawn, February 1st, 2020
fail to offer a completely paid leave citing the company
policy. While the law – the existing one and the newly-
proposed – provides for legal action to be taken against
non-compliant firms, how does a working middle-class
employee fight legal battles against the owners of private
companies – who, financially, can afford bigger and better
lawyers to fight their case, especially if the company policy
mentions it anyway? And what if the company just chooses
to fire the employee out to seek legal remedy? Do the terms,
if the employee and the company sign a contract, allow the
latter a “return on investment” – stating that the said
employee will remain a part of the company for the next X
number of years or so?
01-FEBRUARY-2020 KEY OPINION 6 OF 11
In the past few years, many women in Pakistan have been mother’s death during childbirth, a father is typically

trying to earn a living, comprising a small, yet much-needed expected to, first and foremost, mourn the loss of the loved-

chunk of the workforce. Along with that, they are also one and then also think about taking care of the child. While

expected to take care of a household and grow a family of leaves are granted to all employees on the death of a family

their own – that is, get married and have children. A woman member, an additional paternity leave – in such a case –

who does all that, or tries to, is then forced – not requested gives the new father enough time, if not a lot, to think

– to compromise. If the company that she works for does straight and decide how to move forward while providing

not offer the maternity leave as stated by the law, she needs for the newborn and taking care of it as well.

to choose between earning a living and her health or her

child’s health and well-being, considering a newborn needs Looking at other countries, Finland has the best parental

its mother for feeding purposes, if not anything else. And leave policy. It allows about 170 weeks off, out of which 26

what happens in the case of a single mother who has no weeks of leave are paid at 70% of the parent’s salary, the

family to look after the baby while she is away at work, and remaining weeks are paid at a flat rate. It also has the lowest

is the only source of income that can provide for the child? use of the paternity leave as many choose to get back to work

Moreover, abiding by the company policy, if the mother – before their leaves are over. Norway offers up to 52 weeks

single or not – does get back to work sooner, does the of 80% to 100% paid parental leave. This can be extended

company provide in-house daycare services so that her baby to more weeks at a flat rate if the parent chooses to. Despite

is taken care of while she is away? Or provide her added that, many fathers choose to only avail 40% of the allowed

benefits that let her afford daycare out of the office? days off. Likewise, other Scandinavian countries such as

Iceland and Sweden also have a similar policy on parental

On the paternal front, granting a man a three-month leave leaves. It is possibly because of this reason as well that such

after the birth of a baby not only invokes that a father gets countries rank better on the Human Development Index,

closer to his baby, but also makes him an equally wherein Norway takes the top spot. Iceland and Sweden

responsible parent – meaning that the father has an equal rank 6th and 8th respectively while Pakistan falls at 152,

hand in taking care of the child and hence its upbringing in according to United Nations Human Development Report

the long run. What most Pakistani men choose to do with of 2019. While it is commendable that Pakistan is moving

their granted leaves is a debate for another day, however, towards being a gender-balanced society, it still has a long

one concern that seems to often go ignored is the death of way to go. The new bill, if approved, can be a step in the

the mother during childbirth. While statistics show a right direction for the country’s development.

considerably small amount of maternal deaths in Pakistan,

it is still a possibility that cannot be ignored. In case of the Published in The Express Tribune, January 31st, 2020.
01-FEBRUARY-2020 KEY OPINION 7 OF 11

Saturday, 01 Feb 2020 Today's Paper

Gender empowerment backlash

By Syed Mohammad Ali Published: January 31, 2020

We live in a world where vast inequalities exist between the Awareness concerning sexual harassment is also being

rich and the poor, within, and across, most countries of the increased through legislation and through recent social

world. There are different categorisations whereby gaps movements such as #MeToo.

between the haves and the have-nots can be observed such

as ethnicity or geographic location. Gender is another major However, progress on closing the gender disparities gaps is

factor based on which disparities can readily be found. slow. Glaring inequality are still evident in the power that

Because gender-based disadvantages affect half the world’s men exercise at home, in the workplace and in politics. At

population, gender inequality has rightly been termed one home, women do more than three times as much unpaid

of the greatest barriers to human development. care work as men. Based on current trends, it seems that it

will take over two years to close the gender gap in economic

Despite decades of emphasis and efforts to bridge the opportunity alone.

gender divide, the glass ceiling for women to achieve

empowerment is slowed by persistent biases, as well as Although women and men can vote equally in most

backlash. A new ‘social norms index’ recently released by countries, and many women now also hold political office,

the UNDP points out how a gender bias has grown in recent gender difference increases at higher levels of political

years. At a global level, the UNDP estimates that only 1 man power. In South Asia, several women – Benazir Bhutto,

in 10 men, and 1 woman in 7 women, show no form of bias Indira Gandhi, Khaleda Zia and Shaikh Hasina – have made

against gender equality. Back in 2017, the United Nation’s it to the highest levels of power. Yet, all these women leaders

Population Fund also found that 68 countries had larger rose to power via political dynasties rather than through the

gender gaps in 2016 than in 2015. backing of women or with the agenda to improve the lives

of other women. As a result, most of them tended to

This is, of course, not to say that no progress has been reinforce patriarchal norms rather than defy them.

achieved in terms of addressing gender disparities. Girls

around the world have been catching up on some basic The rights-based NGO, Oxfam, has righty described the

indicators, such as enrolment in primary school, and in global economic system as being sexist, given the way it

terms of improved health and nutritional outcomes. continues to exploit the cheap and unpaid labour of women.

Violence against women is also now taken more seriously. A growing number of women have joined the workforce as
01-FEBRUARY-2020 KEY OPINION 8 OF 11
a result of globalisation, but this has not improved their inequalities, which is what happens with the issue of gender

lives, as most of them work long hours for measly pay, just disparities. There is a broader backlash to change, in the

to ensure household survival. Often, when women take on form of the ongoing surge in right-wing, authoritarian

economic responsibilities, that does not lessen their burden movements, which have spurred backpedaling on women’s

of social and household obligations. Instead, many women rights in countries like China, Russia, Hungary and Turkey.

get trapped in what has been termed ‘the double burden’ of In Pakistan too, problems such as gender violence and

earning money while continuing to fulfil traditional social harassment are often cast as a product of ‘radical’ feminism

roles. or western values. And gender rights is not thought of as an

Progress is not a straightforward path. Instead, change is issue of social justice and equity, and ensuring equal access

often met with resistance. Change is especially difficult to to resources and opportunities, which is what this struggle

achieve when social and cultural norms, combined with the is essentially about.

lack of economic and political power, continue to preserve Published in The Express Tribune, January 31st, 2020.

Saturday, 01 Feb 2020 Today's Paper

Monetary policy: State Bank of Pakistan’s consistency

By Dr Pervez Tahir Published: January 31, 2020

The recent monetary statement kept the policy rate rupees to satisfy government’s lust for spending has

unchanged at 13.25%. If anything, the State Bank should get defueled a major source of inflation. The core inflation has

full marks for consistency. In its domain – external and been declining since August 2019. The main concern of the

internal value of money – there have been no U-turns. Since ordinary folks – the food inflation – lies beyond its control.

the present Governor took over, the monetary stance has It has moved in the opposite direction, reflecting climatic

been loud and clear: money will be no cheaper than other factors, federal policy ineptitude and provincial

things. A drastic devaluation and the subsequent misgovernance of the supply chain. Non-food inflation has

containment of intervention has signalled the market to been somewhat stable. On the whole, the State Bank expects

find its own value of the rupee externally. Conditions in the continued stability in its own domain but has not been able

foreign exchange market are stable and the current account to change the current year’s projection of inflation rate of

deficit continues to shrink. That it is due more to import 11-12 per cent due mainly to the continuing food price

contraction than export expansion is recognised. For pressures and the likely increases in utility prices by the

selected value-added items, there are signs of life in federal government. To keep ahead of the game, the policy

quantum terms. Internally, the end of the practice to print rate has not been changed.
01-FEBRUARY-2020 KEY OPINION
What of businesspersons’ concern about the higher cost of
borrowing, discouraging new investment and the access to
working capital? In the State Bank’s reckoning, what
matters is the real interest rate or the difference between
the nominal interest rate and the inflation rate, which is
within tolerable limits. Enterprising businesses would savvy
what to do. The IBA-SBP survey of business confidence
shows as much for the third time round. Although there is
many a slip between the cup and the lip, the release of
development funds of Rs300 billion in the first six months
compared to Rs187 billion in the corresponding period last
year, is expected to boost business activity. Where
concessions matter, as in the case of exports, incentive
credit schemes are being enhanced.
The build-up of foreign exchange reserves, another key
function of the State Bank, is proceeding satisfactorily. In
the past, the policy was to borrow from friends and the
market to maintain the desired level, rather than earn from
exports. While the objective to earn from exports is now
John Locke: The Apostle of Liberalism
Ghazali Farooqi
John Locke is one of the most influential individuals to exist
in western history and is considered to be the founder of
liberalism; well, at least philosophical liberalism, as Bertrand
Russell in his book ‘History of Western Philosophy’ writes
“The first comprehensive statement of the liberal philosophy
is to be found in Locke”. Born in 1632, this English
philosopher and physician played a vital role in setting the
foundation of western societies as they are now. In this paper
we would talk about John Locke’s main ideas such as his
theory of knowledge, concept of morality, tolerance and
slavery as it would take great amount of time to review his
each and every idea.
Epistemology or The Theory of Knowledge is an interesting
topic and Locke’s contribution in this subject is massive.
Locke is basically seen as an empiricist (which is the view that
all our knowledge is derived from experience through sense-
perception) and he is of the view that there are no innate
ideas or principles, as in one of his famous works ‘An Essay
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clearly laid out, the innovation in the short run is the
unprecedented inflow of hot money. The critics find these
inflows more destabilising than Ishaq Dar’s reliance on
friends and bonds. At the presser for the monetary policy
statement, the Governor vehemently denied that these
flows were the result of some hot pursuit. Instead, these
inflows reflected the rising confidence of the global market
players in the way the economy of Pakistan was being
managed. As a component of portfolio investment, the
investment in Treasury Bills was no different than the
investment in stock exchange. At any rate, the amount was
a small proportion of the total. There is a tacit admission by
the Governor that hot money flows are like a fair weather
friend. Let’s hope that the economic fair weather he is
contributing to is not blown away by the winds of clueless
governance at federal as well as provincial levels, leaving no
other options than Dr Mahathir Muhammad’s capital
controls.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 31st, 2020.
Concerning Human Understanding’ he writes “Let us then
suppose the mind to be, as we say, white paper, void of all
characters, without any ideas:— How comes it to be
furnished? Whence comes it by that vast store which the busy
and boundless fancy of man has painted on it with an almost
endless variety? Whence has it all the materials of reason and
knowledge? To this I answer, in one word, from
EXPERIENCE. In that all our knowledge is founded; and
from that it ultimately derives itself”. In contrast to his own
idea of empiricism, Locke also believes in things that are
metaphysical and in a state of continuous contradiction with
empiricism. Russell tells us about Locke that “Some few
certainties he takes over from his predecessors: our own
existence, the existence of God, and the truth of
mathematics.” Now how does this fit with empiricism one
may ask, since Mathematics itself is a metaphysical language
and non-empirical, or the existence of God cannot be proved
with certainty through empirical evidence etc. We can clearly
01-FEBRUARY-2020 KEY OPINION
see the inconsistency in Locke’s ideas here. Moreover, on an
occasion in his essay “A Letter Concerning Human
Understanding” Locke says “The bare testimony of divine
revelation is the highest certainty” while on another occasion
in the same book, in chapter number 19, he has been seen
saying “Revelation must be judged of by reason”. As you can
see the first and latter statements are contradictory, as in the
first statement he hierarchizes ‘Bare testimony’ as the highest
truth, but in the second statement he prioritizes ‘Reason’ over
Divine Revelation. Thus reason remains supreme. Secondly,
revelation itself is a supernatural act, therefore it cannot be
proved empirically.
When it comes to morality Locke’s position becomes weak
and throughout history Locke’s Morality has been criticized
due to its inconsistencies and fallacies. In regards to it
Jerome B. Schneewind said in the book “The Cambridge
Companion of Locke, Chapter 8, Locke’s Moral Philosophy’
that “Locke's failures are sometimes as significant as his
successes. His views on morality are a case in point. He
published little on the subject, and what little he did publish
raised more problems for his readers than it solved.” Locke’s
empiricism becomes frail when he uses theology as the
foundation of his morality, yet he goes on using several
references from the religious text to make a moral case. He
writes in his essay ‘A letter Concerning Human
Understanding’, “I am bold to think that morality is capable
of demonstration, as well as mathematics: since the precise
real essence of the things moral words stand for may be
perfectly known, and so the congruity and incongruity of the
things themselves be certainly discovered; in which consists
perfect knowledge” As you can see he compares morality with
mathematics which brings us to the first point that I had
made earlier also, that mathematics is not an empirical
science, rather it is a metaphysical language. Therefore, it
cannot be said to exist in the real world, so it’s absurd to say
that it’s as real as the truth of Mathematics. Once again
Locke’s empiricism is at odds. But what’s confusing and
ridiculous is that how does his idea of theological morality go
hand in hand with his hedonistic morality?
Locke’s hedonistic morality challenges traditional concepts
of morality, claiming that there is no essential good and bad,
rather what is ‘good’ is that which gives pleasure, and what is
‘bad’ is that which gives pain to an individual or group. John
Locke says in the same book that the only things we need to
seek are “nothing but Pleasure or Pain, or that which
occasions or procures Pleasure and Pain to us”. But the issue
with Locke’s argument in this case is that it is baseless and
cannot be proved logically or rationally, but it’s a
presumption and it is not one that ensures the well-being of
a society and its members. And such hedonistic morality can
never be acceptable for Muslims as Muslim by definition
means ‘A person who submits his will to Allah, and as Quran
says, “then know that they only follow their [own] desires.
And who is more astray than one who follows his desire
without guidance from Allah ? Indeed, Allah does not guide
the wrongdoing people.”
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Al-Qasas 28:50
As we know that desire entails pleasure, it is absurd to say
that all desires are good, for example, if a man sexually
assaults a woman for his pleasure then that would rob the
woman of her right to have her consent involved. Similarly, if
a group of people wage war against another group merely to
conquer their land, to rule over them and to force them into
perpetual slavery, then that would rob the other group of a
pleasurable life. It would in fact force them to live a miserably
painful life. Furthermore as Bertrand Russell says, “It is
possible, as happens with masochists, to desire pain; in that
case, there is still pleasure in the gratification of the desire,
but it is still mixed with its opposite”. Moreover, traditional
concepts of good and bad or right and wrong have a moral
ontological foundation unlike the liberal morality. Locke was
requested many times by his followers and friends to write
down a dedicated work to his concept of morality, such as
William Molyneux “amongst which, I hope you will not forget
your Thoughts on Morality” but it seems so that he himself
didn’t have a very good explanation for his claims therefore
he wrote about morality here and there rather than
dedicating a complete book or an essay focusing on this topic.
The fact that in the contemporary era tolerance is considered
to be one of the most fundamental tenets or principles of
liberalism, many lay people without knowledge of liberal
philosophy create their own concepts of tolerance in their
heads, but when we study the works on the concept of
tolerance by the contributors of liberalism we find it to be
very different from common belief. To break it down in the
simplest form let’s see the criteria of tolerance that was laid
out by John Locke for different groups and beliefs. For
instance, in his essay ‘A Letter Concerning Toleration’ he
writes the following regarding Muslims: “That Church can
have no right to be tolerated by the magistrate which is
constituted upon such a bottom that all those who enter into
it do thereby ipso facto deliver themselves up to the
protection and service of another prince… It is ridiculous for
any one to profess himself to be a Mahometan only in his
religion, but in everything else a faithful subject to a Christian
magistrate, whilst at the same time he acknowledges himself
bound to yield blind obedience to the Mufti of
Constantinople, who himself is entirely obedient to the
Ottoman Emperor and frames the feigned oracles of that
religion according to his pleasure.”
It is evident from the above mentioned quotation that Locke
fully understands that a Muslim’s religious identity originally
goes hand in hand with his or her national identity. If
Muslims find that their religious identity contradicts their
national identity then they would naturally prefer to follow
their religion Islam, and choose to ignore or condemn the
norms of their national identity. The text clearly shows John
Locke’s intolerance towards Muslims. Furthermore
regarding atheists John Locke writes “Lastly, those are not at
01-FEBRUARY-2020 KEY OPINION
all to be tolerated who deny the being of a God. Promises,
covenants, and oaths, which are the bonds of human society,
can have no hold upon an atheist. The taking away of God,
though but even in thought, dissolves all; besides also, those
that by their atheism undermine and destroy all religion, can
have no pretense of religion whereupon to challenge the
privilege of a toleration”. From the text we can perceive that
John Locke understands that if we take away God from the
picture, we lose the moral ontological foundation, therefore
promises, oaths, covenants and words like good and bad,
right and wrong become meaningless in an objective sense.
Hence an atheist cannot be trusted and since they spend their
lives in trying to dismantle all religions, they cannot be
tolerated unless they come together on some common
grounds. Similarly, another pioneer of liberalism Jean-
Jaques Rosseau has quite the same to say about atheists, as
Christopher Bertram summarizes Rosseau’s ideas
concerning atheists and writes “Rousseau argues that those
who cannot accept the dogmas can be banished from the
state. This is because he believes that atheists, having no fear
of divine punishment, cannot be trusted by their fellow
citizens to obey the law. He goes even further, to suggest the
death penalty for those who affirm the dogmas but later act
as if they do not believe them”
The history of western powers is the history of wars,
colonialism, genocide, oppression and slavery but John
Locke being the founder of liberalism, which talks about
democracy, freedom and equality, it is expected from Locke
This conflict is not Locke's alone; it represents the national
conflict of theory and practice, of espousing freedom while
profiting from the slave traffic
As we have proven how inconsistent and self-contradictory
John Locke is throughout in his ideas yet his ideas are so
deeply rooted in the western societies that it is nearly
impossible to challenge his ideas and provide alternatives.
References:
Locke, John. “An Essay Concerning Human Understanding”,
1689.
Sheridan, Patricia, "Locke's Moral Philosophy", The Stanford
Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2016 Edition), Edward
N. Zalta (ed.), URL = 1993)
<https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2016/entries/loc
ke-moral/>.
Locke, John. “Two Treatises of Government”, 1689.
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that he would be against oppression and slavery and
theoretically he somewhat does condemn slavery (although
not explicitly). In ‘Two Treatises of Government’, he writes
“Slavery is so vile and miserable an estate of man” or in Essay
2, Chapter 3’ “he who makes an attempt to enslave me
thereby puts himself into a state of war with me” and in
Chapter 4, ‘Of Slavery’ he writes “The natural liberty of man
is to be free from any superior power on earth, and not to be
under the will or legislative authority of man, but to have only
the law of Nature for his rule”. It’s hypocritical of Locke to
make such theoretical claims because he himself had
invested in the slave trade and drafted the Fundamental
Constitutions of Carolina (1669) and its Article #110 of the
Fundamental Constitutions clearly states “Every freeman of
Carolina shall have absolute power and authority over his
Negro slaves, of what opinion or religion soever”. In regards
to the Fundamental Constitutions, Voltaire, who was a
French Enlightenment writer said “Cast your eyes over the
other hemisphere, behold Carolina, of which the wise Locke
was the legislator”. It is utterly disgusting how these
‘Prophets’ of the west make claims and don’t abide by them
themselves, also it gives us an insight of how these westerners
contradict themselves in Theory and Practicality. Locke in
‘The Two Treatises of Government’ approves of the freedom
of individuals; all individuals are brought into the world free,
and the endeavor to oppress any individual makes a
condition of war. However Locke himself had invested into
the slave trading and drafted the Fundamental Constitutions
of Carolina (1669), which conceded total control over slaves.
Locke, John. Translated by William Popple. “An Essay
Concerning Toleration”, 1689.
Russell, Bertrand. “History of Western Philosophy”, George
Allen and Unwin Ltd. London. 1961.
Schneewind, J.B. The Cambridge Companion of Locke:
“Locke’s Moral Philosophy”, Cambridge University Press.
1994.
Bertram, Christopher, "Jean Jacques Rousseau", The
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2018 Edition),
Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL =
https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2018/entries/rouss
eau/
Locke, John, “John Locke: Political Writings”, ed. David
Wootton (Indianapolis and Cambridge: Hackett Publishing,
Hijab, Mohammed, “The Problems With Liberalism”
(S.A.L.AM)